PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a multilayer film forming device capable of preventing contamination without providing gate valve on the space among each process and capable of film forming treatment of high quality. SOLUTION: This device is provided with a load lock chamber 10 taking-in a substrate holder H holding a substrate S on the upper face, a carrying chamber 11 connected with the load lock chamber 10 via a gate galve 18 capable of opening and shuttering and provided with a carrying device 19 carrying the substrate holder H in a prescribed direction, several film forming process chambers 13 to 15 arranged in a row in the carrying direction of the carrying device 19 on the upper part of the carrying chamber 11 and having lower end opening parts to be shut by the substrate holder H and elevation devices 25 to 27 raising the substrate holder H carried by the carrying device 19 and shutting the lower end opening parts of the film forming process chambers 13 to 15.


Few scholars have focused on the Chinese diaspora in the Caribbean, and it is only fairly recently that the literature written by Caribbean writers of Chinese origin has aroused interest. This essay interrogates the lack of visibility of Chinese-Caribbean writers, like Meiling Jin and Jan Shinebourne, whose ancestors arrived in Guyana in the nineteenth century as indentured workers, and are now considered to be Caribbean writers of Guyanese origin living in the UK, with the Chinese element being (almost) erased (but not quite). This essay also considers Patricia Powell since she focuses on the Chinese diaspora in the Caribbean, even though she is not of Chinese origin but a Jamaican American writer.


Aim: It has already been shown that terminal warm blood cardioplegia (TWBC) supports myocardial protection in pediatric patients when it is administered after cold blood cardioplegia. However, the myocardial protective effects of TWBC applied after cold crystalloid cardioplegia (CCC) is still a subject of debate. Materials and methods: Twenty acyanotic congenital cardiac patients were randomly divided into 2 groups of 10. In the control group (CG), moderate hypothermia, topical cooling, and cold crystalloid cardioplegia were performed for the protection of the myocardium. In the other group (TWBCG), the same procedure was supported using TWBC just before the unclamping of the aorta. Blood samples were analyzed to discover the progression of anaerobic energy metabolism potentially causing injury of the myocardium during the ischemic, reperfusion, and postoperative period. Results: There were no significant statistical differences in age, body weight, mean pulmonary artery pressure, operation procedure, cardiopulmonary bypass and aortic cross clamping time, period of respiratory support, and intensive care unit and hospital stay. Also measurement of serum cardiac troponin T (TnT), creatine kinase MB(CK-MB), and lactate levels preoperatively, just after the release of the cross clamp and at the time of postoperative 4, 12, 24, and 48 h showed no significant differences either. Conclusion: TWBC was not able to enhance the myocardial protective effects in acyanotic congenital cardiac patients when performed in addition to CCC.


Cooperation between nodes in packet forwarding is crucial to enable multi-hop communication in mobile ad hoc networks. However, in self-organizing mobile ad hoc networks where each node acts as its own authority, nodes are self-interested and tempted to drop each other's packets in order to conserve their limited resources. This selfish behavior can make it impossible to achieve multi-hop communication and high delivery success. A large number of studies have proposed different cooperation enforcement mechanisms for mobile ad hoc networks, however, most of them require each node to maintain memory of past interactions. This requirement can be a significant problem in open and large mobile ad hoc networks. In response, we propose a tag-based cooperation enforcement mechanism which enables cooperation to be enforced in mobile ad hoc networks without the need to maintain such memory.


Under the economic globalization,to realize sustainable development,the enterprises must go abroad,and carry out overseas direct investment.Since 2000,China officially proposed the strategy of "going out".China's enterprises have scale advantages,the technical comparative advantage,resource advantage,and system advantage,and the investment development is rapid.However,as the change of international economic environment,the traditional advantage of enterprise has changed.Under the background of the domestic market internationalization,the information globalization,and the resources globalization,Chinese enterprises must change the FDI advantage,and carry out international competition.


Research on sensory-motor coordination has attracted an increasing amount of interests recently. However, these works have been focused almost exclusively on visuomotor coordination. Research on olfactory-motor coordination, on the other hand, has been lacking. This paper contributes to the study of olfactory-motor coordination by devising a minimal neural network that allows a simulated creature to search for food and to avoid danger by smell.


Universit?t de Barcelona Dennett (1988) provides a much discussed argument for the nonexistence of qualia, as conceived by philosophers like Block, Chalmers, Loar and Searle. My goal in this paper is to vindicate Dennett's argument, construed in a certain way. The argument supports the claim that qualia are constitutively representational. Against Block and Chalmers, the argument rejects the detachment of phenomenal from information-processing con sciousness; and against Loar and Searle, it defends the claim that qualia are constitu tively representational in an externalist understanding of this. The core of the argument is contained in section 3. In the first part, I contrast a minimal conception of qualia, relative to which their existence is not under dispute, with the sort of view to which I will object. In the second part I set the stage by presenting the facts about (minimal) qualia on which a Dennett-like argument can be based. 1. Minimal vs. Cartesian Conceptions of Qualia Dennett's views on qualia can be seen in different ways. Sometimes he seems to be arguing for an eliminative position; at other times, only for their reduc tion to some kind of functional or representational properties. If we character ize qualia in a minimal way, proposals to eliminate them are out of the ques tion. It is only if qualia are characterized in such a minimal way that their existence can be proven, as Searle's (1992, 8) suggests, by such methods as "pinching oneself and reporting the results in the. Journal of Philosophy \ The minimal characterization includes the following propositions: (i) Qualia are types, instantiable repeatables as opposed to particulars. Earlier drafts of this paper were presented at the LOGOS seminar, Universit?t de Bar celona, at the universities of Girona, Oxford, Salamanca, Valencia and Aut?noma de Barcelona, and at the Xth congress of the Asociaci?n Filos?fica de la Rep?blica Argen tina. I would like to thank the audiences there for very useful suggestions, and in par ticular to (ii) The instantiation of qualia distinguishes the conscious mental states of a subject from those mental states subjects have even when they are not conscious (dreamlessly sleeping or in a coma, say). (iii) Qualia are paradigmatically instantiated in mental states involving sensations, emotions, and imaginings, as opposed to more purely rational conscious states like unimaginative logical or inductive rea soning or deliberation. (iv) Qualia characterize what it is like for the subject instantiating them to …


This paper proposes a method that is based on ANN for monitoring of the vehicle behavior. Considering the control loop of driver-vehicle-environment a driver should perceive the environment and the vehicle behavior by processing received information from the environment and feedback from the vehicle. The precession of the driver's percipience is the critical element in such case. In this study, an ANN is applied for perception and prediction of the vehicle dynamic performance. Several relevant parameters from the vehicle and the environment, such as accelerator pedal travel and road grade, serve as information for the prediction. After training of the network with the measured data from a test vehicle, the network will be used for prediction of the driving speed. The comparison of the measured driving speed with the predicted speed can indicate the actual performance of the vehicle, see Figure 1.© 2007 ASME


This is the third of a series of four articles describing the evaluation results for Hawaii's mandatory Court-Annexed Arbitration Program (CAAP), a program with a $150,000 jurisdictional limit. The article reports on survey data from over 600 returned surveys from lawyers in CAAP cases. The evaluation was focused on the litigation costs, pace of litigation and satisfaction of the participants because these factors reflect the goals of CAAP. The survey results might be very useful for other states considering using an arbitration program with a high jurisdictional limit. The article reports on lawyers' opinions about pretrial discovery reduction, discovery costs, the pace of litigation, satisfaction with the program, arbitrator workload, arbitrator fairness, case value and complexity, and looks at differences in lawyers' opinions depending upon whether the lawyers used contingency or hourly fees. Because most court-annexed arbitration program have much lower jurisdictional limits, the article also examines the survey results by case value – looking responses for cases valued up to $15,000, from $15,001 to $50,000, and at $50,001 and above.


The purpose of this research was to develop a matrix-type transdermal therapeutic system containing Clonidine hydrochloride with different ratios of hydrophilic and hydrophobic polymeric combinations by the solvent evaporation technique. The physicochemical compatibility of the drug and the polymers was studied by Infrared spectroscopy and U.V. spectrophotometry. The results suggested no physicochemical incompatibility between the drug and the polymers. In vitro permeation studies were performed by using Keshary -Chien cell. The results followed Higuchi kinetics (r = 0.9953-0.9979), and the mechanism of release was diffusion mediated. Based on physicochemical and in vitro skin permeation studies, patches coded as B9 (Eudragit L-100-55: PVP K-30, 3:1) and D2 (Eudragit L-100-55: HPC, 3:1) were chosen for further studies. The bioavailability studies in rats indicated that the Clonidine hydrochloride transdermal patches provided steady-state plasma concentrations with minimal fluctuations and improved bioavailability of 82.12% (for B9) and 75.90% (for D2) in comparison with oral administration. These patches go for further Skin and Stability studies. Skin irritation studies indicated that formulation produced no or very mild skin irritation. Stability studies indicated that on the basis of first order degradation kinetics and t 0.5 Shelf life was calculated to be 2.98 and 2.79 yrs.The developed transdermal patches increase the efficacy of the therapy of hypertension.


Microstructure evolution and the relationship between microstructure and mechanical properties of Q235 steel were studied by thermal simulation and industrial tests.Treated by TMCP,the plates,which can meet the requirements for Q345,were produced successfully from Q235 slabs.The TMCP treated Q235 plates have advantages of low yield ratio(0.69—0.77),high elongation(average value of 26.5%) and good welding performance.Such Q235 plates have a good foreground of application.


While the technical approach to creating a simulation project is understood, there are very important aspects of the process that are not often discussed but which are critical to the success of the project.


The term 'bibliometrics' was coined in 1969 by Alan Pritchard. He suggested that 'bibliometrics' should replace the term 'statistical bibliography' which had been used intermittently in the literature since 1923 when it was coined by E. Wyndham Hulme äs the title of his two special lectures.on bibliography at the University of Cambridge (36). Pritchard defined bibliometrics äs the application of mathematics and statistical methods to shed light on the processes of written communication and on the nature and course of development of a discipline (in so far äs this is displayed through written communication), by means of counting and analyzing the various facets of written communication (63). 'Statistical bibliography' was considered unsatisfactory because it could be misinterpreted äs bibliography on statistics. On the other hand, bibliometrics is unambiguous and analogous to such established terms äs 'biometrics', 'econometrics', and 'scientometrics'. (Scientometrics is of Russian origin and is defined äs the application of quantitative methods to the history of science; it obviously overlaps with bibliometrics to a considerable extent). The term 'bibliometrics' received quick acceptance. In the same issue of the Journal of Documentation in which Pritchard's Suggestion appeared, Robert A. Fairthorne concurred with the use of the term and used it in the title of his own review paper on Bradford-Zipf-Mandelbrot distributions. Paraphrasing Pritchard, he defined it äs the "quantitative treatment of the properties of recorded discourse and behaviour appertaining to it" (22). Raisig (65), in a critical essay on some use studies, provided a more explicit and practical definition of bibliometrics (which in 1962 was still called statistical bibliography): "the assembling and Interpretation of statistics relating to books and periodicals... to demonstrate historical movements, to determine the ria-


Abstract : The evaluation of individual thermal assistance equipment can be quantified through numerous parameters. However, to assert efficiency and interest for a military user under tropical climate, it is necessary to follow a quantifying method. This process of existing and prototyped measurements, based on simulations, with a dummy man and tests with voluntary subjects, using a scale of comparison. It has been clearly defined and used to evaluate of more as 10 systems, It allows to know the limits of each technology and the actual perspectives for equipment that are really suitable for the user. This original method based on operational ergonomic and technical criteria take into account weight, efficiency linked with the work load, infrared and sound signature, life as well as the logistic needed for the use of these different equipment. A complementary study of commercially available equipment, allows to compare and classify these equipment according to the same method. It allows the user to choose a suitable equipment to put eventually in service for overseas forces.


A five-co-ordinate manganese(II) complex [Mn(ntb)(Hsal)][ClO4], where ntb is tris(benzimidazol-2-ylmethyl)amine and Hsal– is the anion of salicyclic acid (H2sal), has been prepared and characterized by X-ray crystallography. The manganese adopts a distorted trigonal-bipyramidal co-ordination geometry with a N4O ligand donor set and bears structural similarities to the active site of manganese superoxide dismutase. The electro-chemical properties of the complex were studied in MeCN by cyclic voltammetry. The complex can catalyse the dismutation of superoxide (O2–) effectively in the riboflavin–methionine–nitro blue tetrazolium assay.


The relationship between the warm episodes of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and its remote influence over the South America atmospheric circulation and precipitation has been investigated by many authors (Kiladis and Diaz, 1989; Drumond and Ambrizzi, 2003; and others). Grimm et al. (1998) described that in spring of the El Niño (EN) years there is a tendency to higher than median precipitation in the northeastern Argentina, southern Brazil and Uruguay; on the other hand, in summer this pattern is weakened. Precipitation anomalies on these regions is part produced by the South American Low-Level Jet east of the Andes (SALLJ) that seems to be responsible for transporting large quantities of moisture from the Amazon region and Tropical Atlantic to the subtropics, producing enhanced rainfall in its exit region (Marengo et al., 2004). However, there are not many studies showing how the inter ENSO variability influence the position and intensity of the SALLJ and therefore its preferential region of activity during different seasons of the year. In a recent study, Silva et al. (2006) verified that during the austral summer (DJF) the location of the flux convergence varies depending on the intensity of the ENSO event. The daily composites indicate that the maximum of the SALLJ winds and convection seems strong and more concentrated over the La Plata basin


Modeling of light transport in tissue requires development of theoretical models and experimental procedures, as well as tissue‐simulating phantoms. Our purpose was to develop a phantom that matches the optical characteristics of human skin in the visible and near infrared spectral range.


Submarine methane seepage can potentially be promoted by the dissociation of the marine hydrates surrounding the continental margins due to oceanic warming since the Last Glacial Maximum. This seepage could be archived by authigenic carbonates at seeping sites, but the time lag caused by heat transmission through the sediment column leads to an inconsistency between the ages of the carbonate and the period of bottom water warming. Here we present the records of the authigenic carbonate crust from drilling site D1 in the Mid‐Okinawa Trough. Uranium–thorium dating results show that the carbonate crust mainly grew downwards during 14–6 ka. Gas hydrates hosted in the relatively thin stability zone dissociated in a rapid response to bottom water warming and intensified the methane seepage. Our study better supports the hypothesis that a considerable amount of methane can be released from marine hydrates due to global climatic changes.


Objective:To provide a conceptual and clinical review of Middle East respiratory syndrome. Data Sources:Peer-reviewed articles were identified through searches of PubMed using the terms "Middle East respiratory syndrome," "coronavirus respiratory illness in Saudi Arabia," and "novel (beta) coronavirus and human coronavirus Erasmus Medical Center". In addition, articles were searched on the websites of the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention using the terms "Middle East respiratory syndrome" and "novel coronavirus in Middle East." The reference lists of these articles and relevant review articles were also reviewed. Study Selection and Data Extraction:Final references were selected for inclusion in the review on the basis of their relevance. Data Synthesis:The emerging Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus causes severe pulmonary disease with multiorgan involvement and a high fatality rate. Within months after its emergence, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus was reported in several countries worldwide in people who had traveled from the Middle East. Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus is considered a zoonotic virus that has crossed the species barrier to humans, but the pathogenesis and the routes of transmission are not completely understood. There is currently no recommended treatment for Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, although supportive treatment has played an important role. Conclusions:This syndrome has raised global public health concerns about the dissemination of an emerging infectious disease and highlights the need for a coordinated global response to contain such a disease threat.


Although CDCA bioavailability has been measured using peripheral blood concentration time curves (van BergeHenegouwen & Hofmann, 1977, Gastroenterology, 73, 300309; Ponz de Leon & Hermon Dowling, 1977, Gut, 18, In press) the magnitude and timing of peak serum CDCA levels vary widely from subject to subject. The role played by such factors as gastric emptying and the pharmaceutical formulation of CDCA in the peripheral blood CDCA response is not known nor have studies of within subject variation been made. We therefore compared 4 h serum CDCA concentrationtime curves (measured by RIA) in fasting control subjects given 250 mg oral CDCA, first as a capsule and later as an entericcoated tablet, and related results to corresponding 'tolerance curves' for two poorly-metabolizable sugars, 3-O-methylglucose and D-xylose given simultaneously as markers of gastric emptying and proximal intestinal absorption. Gastric emptying was rapid as shown by first appearance of both sugars in peripheral blood 5-15 min after ingestion in all but one patient (40 min). Thereafter, serum 3-O-methylglucose and D-xylose levels rose quickly to reach maxima 15—50 min after initial appearance with little variation (5-15 min) between results for repeat studies in individual subjects—-suggesting efficient and consistent absorption. By contrast, the rise in serum CDCA was later and the concentration-time curve more protracted with greater intraand inter-individual variation than was seen with the marker sugars. There were no consistent differences in CDCA tolerance curves with different phar maceutical formulations. Individual variability in CDCA bioavailability was unrelated to variable gastric emptying. Poor reproducibility and intersubject differences make comparative bioavailability studies difficult CDCA absorption was independent of the phar maceutical formulation used.


Digital technology is a fact of modern life. With the NHS Long Term Plan embracing innovation and technology as a way to improve access to services, doctors will have to adapt to new ways of working. But while we all undergo the digital revolution we must not assume that new technology will work for everyone.

Martin Roland is cautious (doi:10.1136/bmj.l4713). Babylon's digital service, GP at Hand, provides medical care on a smartphone. A recent evaluation found that …


This paper describes an optimization approach to optical phase retrieval. Our method casts the probl em of estimating a complex image from measurements of ima ge and pupil intensities as a classical estimation problem . To this end, we first define a non-linear error function and compute its gradient. These expressions enable a quasi-Newton optimizatio n to find a stationary point, which corresponds to the final complex image estimate. One benefit of the optimization approach is that, unlike the classical Gerchberg-Saxton approach, the framew ork is easily extended to additional measurements by simply addin g terms to the objective function. We illustrate the algorithm on collected laboratory data with images of approximate size × , for a total of million unknown image coefficients. Keywords—phase retrieval; optimization


The search for new and renewable energy continues to be carried out to replace the fossil energy. One of the points of interest is the hydrogen energy from water or solution. The electrolysis method converts electrical energy into hydrogen energy which is easy to store and distribute. This research aims to determine the effect of the clamp voltage and electric current and the surface area of the electrode on the flow rate of hydrogen gas production. Research shows that changes in the voltage, electric current and surface area of the conversion of electrical energy to hydrogen by electrolysis can increase the flow rate of hydrogen products. Increasing the voltage from 9 volts to 15 volts at 1.2 Ampere electric current increases the flow rate of hydrogen gas products by 16.8% to 11.8 ml/min.


This paper describes a successful attempt to tag adult females of the European pine shoot, Rhyacionia buoliuna (Schiff.) with Co60, chosen as a tagging agent because it is a gamma emitter with a sufficiently long half-life (5.3 years). Emphasis is placed on the preparation and application of the tracer material, the absence of immediately harmful effects of radiation on the insects, and the ability of the insects to behave normally with the tags in place. This work was undertaken in order so develop techniques for following the movements of large numbers of these insects.


of what the scene means t o him, I can accept i t as an honest, i n t e r e s t i n g 1 P a t e r , Walter, A p p r e c i a t i o n s , (1889), London, Hacrai l lan, 1918, p. 109. 2 Nor could H a z l i t t who has a very s e n s i b l e comment on the scene i n h i s Lectures on the Dramatic L i t e r a t u r e of the Age of E l i s a b e t h (Lecture I T , "On Beaumont and F l e t c h e r , Ben Jonson, F o r d , and Massinger," i n Howe, op. c i t . , v o l . 6, pp. 272-273): "This i s the true f a l s e gal lop of sentiment: anything more a r t i f i c i a l and mechanical I cannot conc e i v e . " . . . that she should dance on with the same heroic p e r s e verance i n s p i t e of the death of her husband, of her f a t h e r , and of everyone e l s e whom she l o v e s , from regard to common courtesy or appearance, i s not surely n a t u r a l . The passions may s i l e n c e the voice of humanity, but i t i s , I t h i n k , equally against p r o b a b i l i t y and decorum to make both the passions and the voice of humanity give way (as i n the example of Calantha) t o a mere form of outward behaviour. 3uch a suppression of the strongest and most uncontroulable f e e l i n g s can only be j u s t i f i e d from n e c e s s i t y , f o r some great purpose, which Is not the case i n F o r d ' s playj or It must be done f o r the effect and eclat of the t h i n g , which i s not f o r t i t u d e but a f f e c t a t i o n , l l r . Lamb In h i s impressive eulogy on t h i s passage In the Broken Heart has f a i l e d (as f a r as I can judge) i n e s t a b l i s h i n g the p a r a l l e l between t h i s u n c a l l e d f o r e x h i b i t i o n of s t o i c i s m , and the story of the Spartan Boy."


The wave-energy absorber being developed at UC Berkeley is modeled as a moored compound cylinder, with an outer cylinder sliding along a tension-tethered inner cylinder. With rigid-body dynamics, it is first shown that the surge and pitch degrees of freedom are decoupled from the heave motion. The heaving motion of the outer cylinder is analyzed and its geometric proportions (radii and drafts ratios) are optimized for wave-energy extraction. Earlier works of Yeung [1] and Chau and Yeung [2,3] are used in the present heave-motion study. The coupled surge-pitch motion can be solved and can provide the contact forces between the cylinders. The concept of capture width is used to characterize the energy extraction: its maximization leads to optimal energy extraction. The methodology presented provides the optimal geometry in terms of non-dimensional proportions of the device. It is found that a smaller radius and deeper draft for the outer cylinder will lead to a larger capture width and larger resulting motion.Copyright © 2012 by ASME


The Resource-Event-Agent (REA) ontology has its roots in the accounting discipline and was originally developed as a reference framework to conceptualize economic phenomena in an enterprise. In its proposal in 1982, McCarthy already had the vision to facilitate the design of data structures of accounting information systems by means of REA [1]. Since this time the REA model has been further extended and evolved into a domain ontology [2]. All REA concepts are based on well established concepts of the literature in economic theory which is certainly one of the strengths of REA. However, REA has no dedicated representation format and, consequently, no graphical syntax. Thus, users may struggle when describing the REA models leading to the impression that REA is a rather heavy-weight approach. McCarthy feels (as he expressed during our joint work in standardization activities) that a dedicated graphical syntax such as it exists for e3-value may help in overcoming this problem and may lead to a much more significant adoption of REA. Accordingly, we have started the endeavor of developing a domain specific modeling language for REA. 1 A domain-specific language (DSL) is a small, usually declarative language. It offers expressive power through appropriate notations and abstractions focused on – and usually restricted to – a particular problem domain [3]. Besides textual DSLs, we see an increasing interest in domain-specific modeling languages [4, 5]. According to [3] the benefits of a DSL approach are manifold: They allow solutions to be expressed at the level of abstraction of the problem domain. As a matter of fact, domain experts themselves can understand, validate and often modify DSL programs/models. The DSL programs/models are concise and self documenting to a large extent. They enhance productivity, reliability and maintainability. DSLs allow for validation and optimization at the domain level. When developing our REA-DSL we followed methodological steps that have been suggested by Strembeck and Zdun for the systematic development of domain specific languages [6]. Amongst other variants, they describe the development process for extracting a DSL from an existing system, which is appropriate


This paper analyzes a policy-making process and discusses the role of policy process management in a public transit project. There has been no well-organized public transit planning done by local government in Japan, mainly because there is no national program for statutory local public transit planning in Japan. The Toyama light rail transit (LRT) project is one of the exceptional cases in which a local government has tackled local public transit planning. The planning process in this project is unveiled through intensive interviews with local stakeholders. The focus is on the framing recognized by the stakeholders. First, the process is classified into four phases. Next, stakeholder behaviors, the main agenda, the framework recognized by the stakeholders, and meetings in each phase are analyzed. The policy process management of the Toyama city government is examined, and the factors influencing the successful introduction of LRT are discussed from the viewpoint of policy management. In summary, three factors are involved: technology and topography, financial resources, and policy process management. Well-organized policy process management contributes to smooth consensus building; in this case, the process manager made the best use of the technological and topographical and financial factors and consequently guided the stakeholders to a consensus. Finally, the lessons learned from the Toyama LRT case are discussed. The following key factors, each of which influences the policy-making process, are described: appropriate vision setting and strong leadership, meeting management, viewpoint shift under certain constraints, the involvement of experts, and the framing arrangement vis-à-vis individual negotiation.


The article introduces the characteristics and harm of the landfill gas(LFG),shows the situation of building and operating power generation by landfill gas(LFG) projects both in China and foreign countries and analyzes its market prospects from the aspects of environmental benefits,national policies,domestic market and CDM.


During recent years research in pulmonary physiology has increased our knowledge of pulmonary function and improved methods of measurement to the point where they can be employed in elucidating the problems of pul- monary disease.


Environmental natural resources prepared by non-biological or abiotic, biotic or biological resources, and human resources shared resources are merged into artificial cultural resources. For that management needs to be done in synergy between these three components, and is expected to impact positively on communities around the neighborhood in particular and society in general, which ultimately is slowly but surely will be able to improve the welfare of the community. Forms of Environmental Management conducted in synergy can be the technology im-plementation of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), which combine some way to control the economic, ecological and social accountability. This research implement IPM on a red onion farming, because farming is a lot to experience problems, including the attack Pests and Diseases. The purpose of research is to analyze the technical and economic success of the implementation of IPM. In District Babakan, Cirebon. Respondents with census method making as many as 45 people, data used are primary data and secondary data, the data is tabulated and analyzed quantitatively. Results of the analysis showed that the red onion farming implement IPM technology is more advantageous and more efficient, when compared to conventional farming is done.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychological changes accompaning with the microcomputer-assisted type writing training. Two quadriplegic cerebral palsied person who had few active behaviour took part in this study. YG personality inventory was examined in order to grasp psychological changes throughout the training. Desirable psychological changes which included three processes were shown in both participants. Firstly, the cyclic tendency and the nervousness decreased in the early phase of the training. Secondly, the depression and the lack of objectivity also decreased gradually throughout the training. The third change which occurred after the aquisition of type writing skill was different in the two participants. One participant showed an increase in introspective and realistic tendency and another one showed an increase in activity and confidence.


In the imaging optical facility, the light source, the spectroradiometer and the optical path are the three fundamental elements. Most of time the light source is not a dot source and the radiation flux received by the spectroradiometer doesn't only obey the rule of the geometry optics. Experiment shows that the spectral irradiance does not obey the law of the inverse squares with the variation of the diameter of entrance aperture. Compared to the radiation flux calculated using geometry optics, there is diffraction loss due to diffraction. First, the spectroradiometer is calibrated at a fixed distance and diameter. After the calibration, the spectral irradiance is measured with the change of the two parameters. With a spectral irradiance standard lamp and spectroradiometer with double monochromator setup, the consistence of the spectral irradiance at the same condition can be higher than 0.1% easily, which makes the comparison between the experiment and the calculation feasible. From the experiment, it can be seen than diffraction effect does affect the measurement result.


The impact of public infrastructure investment on the productive performance of firms has been an important focus of the recent literature on productivity growth. The size of this impact has important implications for policymakers' decisions to invest in public capital, and productivity analysts' evaluation of productivity growth fluctuations and declines. However, detailed evaluation of the infrastructure impact is difficult using existing studies which rely on restricted models of firms' technology and behavior. In this paper we construct a more complete production theory model of firms' production and input decisions. We then apply our framework to state-level data on the output production and input (capital, nonproduction and production labor and energy) use of manufacturing firms to evaluate the contribution of infrastructure to firms' costs and productivity growth. We find that infrastructure investment does provide a significant direct benefit to manufacturing firms and thus augments productivity growth. We also show, however, that this evidence should be interpreted taking into account the social cost of such capital (which is not reflected in firms' costs), and the indirect impact resulting from scale effects.


Rapid urbanization and heavy industrialization generally result in serious aerosol pollution. Contrary to this conventional wisdom, Zhanjiang, one industrial city in the southernmost point of the Chinese mainland, is not accompanied by aerosol pollution and its air quality index always ranks high compared to other cities in China. To investigate this contradiction, 72-hour total suspended particles (TSPs) and water-soluble inorganic ions (WSIIs; including Mg2+, Ca2+, K+, Na+, NH4+, Cl-, NO3-, and SO42-) were collected in Zhanjiang, China, from November 2018 to November 2019. The relative humidity (RH) was higher than 80% throughout the whole year in Zhanjiang. However, the TSPs and WSIIs were not correlated with RH, indicating that RH can increase the particle size, but this had a minor impact on the dry deposition rate. The larger particles induced by RH were easily captured by wet precipitation, leading to a seasonal pattern with higher TSP and WSII mass concentrations during the dry and cool season and lower values during the hot and rainy season. This seasonal pattern and high aerosol acidity indicate that TSPs, WSIIs, and acidic gaseous precursors from the local sources were preferentially scavenged by the abundant rainfall and high precipitation frequency. Principal component analysis (PCA) results suggest that relatively clean marine emissions and secondary aerosols were the most important sources of TSPs and WSIIs. Our results indicate that the inconsistency between the heavy industrial activities and excellent air quality in Zhanjiang may be related to the high precipitation frequency (63%) and the marine dilution effect (27%).


In Ita ly th ere are few studies about the prevalence of bovine paratuberculosis. I n the Veneto region a serosurvey on 416 dairy farms record ed a herd seroprevalence of 49% by ELISA and in Tuscany 3.4% of bovine population tested positive by AGID. In order to have a wider evaluation of the infection in cattle population of Latium region we carried out a serological survey on 369 herds (2% of regional herds) uniformly distributed i n 5 province districts using an ELISA . A total of 19 ,627 ani mals were examin ed (6.5% of the whole population). ELISA - positives totaled 472 animals (2% ± 0.4% - CI 95%), ranging from one to a maximum of 65 cow s per farm. 155 herds were seropositive with at least one positive cow (42% ± 5% - CI 95%). F ecal samples (77) were collected from ELISA - positive herds and from at least one of the seropositive subjects and than examined by Ziehl - Nieelsen (Z - N) stain, bacteriological culture and two PCR techniques. Only in one case was the molecular test negative when culture was positive; in the remaining fecal samples we found a concordance of 99% between the serological and molecular tests. T he ELISA is useful for screen ing herds due to low cost and fast and easy execution. The results obtained confirm a widespread distribution of bovine paratuberculosis in our region, affecting up to at least 42% of cattle farms.


The factors and course of economic development of Indonesian ethnic Chinese have been analyzed Enterprise groups of ethnic Chinese produced in the post-nationalization have made positive contribution to the industrialization of Indonesia The wide external social connection of ethnic Chinese, the establishment of their world-wide commercial organization, and the opening of their world-wide commercial network make ethnic Chinese be indispensable ties for promoting the economy of Indonesia to the world Great enterprise groups of ethnic Chinese play an outstanding role in the development of outward-oriented economy, transnational business especially in the investment internalization Economy of ethnic Chinese is a component part of Indonesia's national economy that cannot be replaced National equal rights and interests should be entrusted to Indonesian ethnic Chinese To respect and safeguard the legal status of Indonesian ethnic Chinese, the greater contribution to the economic internalization of Indonesia will be made by ethnic Chinese


The mechanical material behaviour of a cast component changes significantly during casting and heat treatment. The big difference in temperature levels during the different process steps causes different deformation mechanisms to be active. The thermal gradients promote transient stresses that can lead to inelastic deformations, residual stresses and in some cases to defects in the final part. It is a big challenge to make a reasonable transition in the mechanical model, and hence material data, when modelling several different coupled process steps. It is important to use an integrated approach where the transition is included in the full load history of the part. When industrial examples are considered, the sequence of process steps typically also changes the thermal and mechanical boundary conditions significantly e.g. going from being mechanically constrained during casting to being supported point-wise during the heat treatment process. This change includes mapping of results and obtaining equilibrium in a new global system, where the further reaction forces from the supports must be handled with contact conditions to e.g. predict deformations due to gravity during solution heat treatment. The work presented in this paper is focused on modelling the mechanical fields, taking into account the changes in the mechanical material model at different temperature levels, and the transition in mechanical behaviour when the microstructure is changing during the different steps of the heat treatment process. The approach used is based on a unified model where creep effects are considered at high temperature and rate effects are included in general during cooling. Proposals are made to include cooling rate sensitivity, annealing and precipitation hardening via modification of mechanical properties in the different process steps.


Abstract A new method for the Huisgen cycloaddition using an ascorbic acid based ionic liquid and a copper catalyst in an ionic liquid, under microwave irradiation, is described. The reaction times are short and a simple procedure for separation of the products is established. Good conversions are obtained and the ionic liquid based catalytic system can be recycled.


By using the method of upper and lower solutions,we obtain the existence of solutions for boundary value problem of second order integro differential equations of Volterra type in a normal cone.


Map showing biological resources (birds, habitats, reefs, fishes, etc.) in the Cross City region of the Florida coastline. Scale 1:100,000.


We present a universal, in Vogel's sense, expression for the quantum dimension of the Cartan product of arbitrary powers of the adjoint and X2 representations of simple Lie algebras. The same formula mysteriously yields quantum dimensions of some other representations of the same Lie algebra for permuted universal parameters, provided linear resolvability of singularities is applied. We list these representations for the exceptional algebras and their stable versions for the classical algebras (when the rank of the classical algebra is sufficiently large with regard to the powers of representations). Universal formulas may have singularities at the points in Vogel's plane, corresponding to some simple Lie algebras. We prove that our formula is linearly resolvable at all those singular points, i.e., yields finite answers when restricted either on the classical or the exceptional lines, and make a conjecture that these answers coincide with (quantum) dimensions of some irreducible representations. In a number of cases, particularly, in the case of so(8) algebra, which belongs both to the orthogonal and the exceptional lines, it is confirmed that both resolutions yield relevant answers. We note that an irreducible representation may have several universal formulas for its (quantum) dimension and discuss the impact of this phenomenon to the method presented by Cohen and de Man [C. R.Acad. Sci., Ser. 1 322(5), 427–432 (1996)] for derivation of universal formulas.


NUMERICAL MODELING OF HEMODYNAMICS IN THE THORACIC AORTA AND ALTERATIONS BY DACRON PATCH TREATMENT OF AORTIC COARCTATION Ronak J. Dholakia, B.E. Marquette University, 2009 Coarctation of the aorta (CoA) is a major congenital heart disease, chara cterized by a severe stenosis of the proximal descending thoracic aorta. Traditionall y, surgery has been the treatment of choice for CoA. Dacron patch aortoplasty gained increased popularity after its introduction in the mid-twentieth century due to its advantages over other surgical treatment methods available at the time. A major complicati on wi h Dacron patch aortoplasty has been the formation of late aneurysm with as much as 51% inci dence reported in follow up studies. The change in aortic morphology and formation of aneurysms after Dacron patch surgery could lead to local adverse changes in hemodynamic conditions which have been correlated to long term morbidity. No study to date has investigated the local hemodynamics in the human thoracic aorta and the alterations occurring in thoracic aorta of Dacron patients in detail. Comput ational fluid dynamics (CFD) can be used to elucidate local hemodynamics in the thoracic aorta of Normal subjects and surgically treated CoA patients. We tested the hypothesis that Dacron patch aortoplasty causes alterations in vessel wall geometry and hem o yna ic indices in the thoracic aorta of CoA patients. Patient specific CFD models were constructed for six Normal, and six ag e and gender matched Dacron patients. CFD simulations were performed with phy siologic boundary conditions to quantify hemodynamic indices. Localized quantification of simulation results for time-averaged wall shear stress (TAWSS) and oscil lat ry shear index (OSI) was conducted to obtain axial and circumferential plots at various spati al locations in the thoracic aorta. Velocity streamlines and vectors quantified from simulation results for N ormal subjects were similar to the flow patterns demonstrated previously using medi cal imaging techniques. Spatial representations of instantaneous and time-averaged WSS as w ell as OSI were reflective of these velocity results. Alterations in patterns of velocity streamlines, vectors, TAWSS and OSI were observed for Dacron patients with res pect to Normal subjects. Altered axial and circumferential patterns of TAWSS and O SI were also demonstrated for Dacron patients by localized quantification. These resul ts may ultimately facilitate greater understanding if sites of long-term mor bidity in Dacron patients correspond with these hemodynamic alterations during follow-up.


The locations of active brain areas can be estimated from the surface recordings. We describe the localization of the sources of the brain electrical activity via spatial filtering. This method incorporates the time-frequency characteristics of the neural sources for its location. The estimation of the location of active brain area is done in non-parametric fashion. The spatial filters are implemented as weighted sum of data recorded at different sites. The weights are chosen to minimize the output of the filter subject to linear constraint. The function of the linear constraint is to pass the brain electrical signal from a specific location, while attenuating the overall variance at the output of the filter. The method exploits space time-frequency covariance matrix of the data. The proposed algorithm is suited to localizing sources of time-varying and nonstationary signals. For this reason, this paper focuses on the class of frequency modulated (FM) signals, e.g., chirp signals.


【Background and Objectives : Vocal nodule is common inflammatory vocal cord lesion which could be improved by voice rest or voice therapy. But some patients, who do not have any improvement after voice therapy, should take laryngomicorsurgery or additional long-term voice therapy. So we try to find prognostic factors which affect the results of voice therapy. Materials and Methods: There are 36 patients (response group) whose symptoms improved after initial voice therapy and 16 patients (no response group) whose symptoms did not improve at all. We compared clinical features (durations of symptoms, voice abuse, laryngopharyngeal reflux), GRBAS scale, acoustic analysis, aerodynamic analysis and voice handicap index between the two groups from January, 2006 to June, 2008. Results: Response group underwent voice therapy 4.5 times (ave.) and no response group underwent 6.7 times (ave.). No response group has longer duration of symptoms, higher GRBAS scale score, higher NIH ratio, and higher MFR than those of response group. Conclusion : This study found that the prognosis of voice therapy in patients who have longer duration of symptoms, high NIH ratio, and bad perceptional test result is not likely to be good. In those cases, we should recommend earlier surgery, voice therapy after surgery, and inform about the necessity of long-term voice rehabilitation or voice therapy in order to get favorable compliance.】


The arterial/alveolar oxygen tension ratio as an index of gas exchange function is more stable than the alveolar-arterial oxygen tension difference with changing values of inspired oxygen concentration. The lower limit of normal for the ratio appears to be approximately 0.75. Because of its relative stability, the arterial/alveolar oxygen tension ratio can be used to estimate the arterial oxygen tension to be anticipated at a given inspired oxygen concentration from arterial blood gas data obtained at another concentration.


In accordance with the Code, actions are taken to preserve nomenclatural stability of 6 taxa currently belonging to Erirhinidae. Having met the conditions of ICZN Article 75.3 the neotypes of the following taxa are designated: Curculio festucae Herbst, 1795, C. holomelanus Herbst, 1795, C. inspectatus Herbst, 1795 and C. rhamni Herbst, 1784. Lectotypes of Curculio inquisitor Herbst, 1797 and C. obliteratus Herbst, 1795 are also designated. Curculio inquisitor Herbst, 1797 is newly synonymized with Thryogenes festucae (Herbst, 1795). The following synonymies are confirmed: Notaris aethiops (Fabricius, 1793) = Curculio holomelanus Herbst, 1795, Tanysphyrus lemnae (Fabricius, 1793) = Curculio inspectatus Herbst, 1795, Grypus brunnirostris (Fabricius, 1793) = Curculio obliteratus Herbst, 1795, Notaris scirpi (Fabricius, 1792) = Curculio rhamni Herbst, 1784. Following the provisions of ICZN Article 23.9.3 the reversal of precedence of Notaris scirpi (Fabricius, 1792) (formerly Curculio) over Curculio rhamni Herbst, 1784 will be requested to the ICZN Commission. (© 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


Objective To assess the density difference in the cerebral grey and white matter in children with autistic disorder. Methods Voxel based morphometry (VBM) in conjunction with statistical parametric mapping was applied to the structural magnetic resonance images of 17 autistic disorder children and 15 normal controls. Results Compared with the controls, the grey matter density in autistic disorder children had significant decrease in the fight anterior lobe of cerebellum and increase in the bilateral inferior parietal lobule, right supramarginsl gyrus, right postcentral gyrus, right posterior lobe of cerebellum, right superior temporal gyms, left precunens and left cuneus (P<0.001). Significant dusters of reduced white matter density were found in the region of right anterior cingulated and right medial frontal gyms (P< 0.001) in autistic disorder children in comparison with controls. Conclusion The findings indicate structural grey and whim matter are significantly abnormal in children with autistic disorder and the deficits are widespread in brain regions.

Key words:
Autistic disorder;  Brain;  Magnetic resonance imaging;  Voxel-based morphometry;  Grey matter;  White matter


Rigid-flex circuit boards are becoming more prevalent as the limits are pushed on the size, mass, and geometry of electronic systems. A key aspect of designing a rigid-flex printed circuit boards (PCB) system is an assessment of the dynamic properties of the PCB and predicting system performance under dynamic loading. Among current modeling methodologies for rigid-flex PCB, a simplified modeling methodology that adequately captures the system dynamics does not exist. This article presents a novel, computationally efficient approach for modeling rigid-flex PCB systems and the calibration of the material models via modal testing. The resulting simplified model is able to capture system frequencies, mode shapes, and representative force-displacement behavior. The proposed methodology is used to model NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Pop-Up Flat Folding Explorer Robot (PUFFER) and assess the sensitivity of a system model to input parameters.


Objective To explore the situation of nosocomial infection in lung cancer patients in order to provide a basis for the clinical use of drugs.Methods The nosocomial infection in 126 cases o f lung cancer patients were retrospectively analyzed.Results A total of 148 pathogen strains were isolated from 126 cases.The main pathogenic bacteria were the Gram-negative bacilli pathogens(62.84%),Gram-positive bacteria(29.73%),and fungi(7.43%);Bacterial drug resistance was generally high;Statistically analysis confirmed that the nosocomial infection rate was obviously related with age,length of stay,lung cancer,clinical stage,invasive operation,radiotherapy/chemotherapy,the use of antibiotics,immunosuppressive agents or hormones,associated with underlying diseases.Conclusion The main pathogenic bacteria of nosocomial infection in lung cancer patients are the Gram-negative bacilli pathogens,which are often multi-drug resistant pathogens.Reasonable control the nosocomial infections related factors has important roles in guide the clinical drugs use.


This paper focuses on the physically reliable detection of fire, where the multispectral calibration of camera and multispectral-Martin-distance-based fire detection are studied. By regarding the multispectral irradiance sequence of fire as dynamic texture and studying the sequence with the Linear Dynamic System (LDS) model, we represent the sequence with the parameters of the LDS model. The multispectral Martin distance is defined to measure the degree of difference between image sequences. The fire detection method based on the multispectral martin distance realized the combination of the dynamic texture recognition technology and the multispectral-based fire detection. Experiments are conducted on two datasets to validate the effectiveness of our method. The work of this paper made the fire detection results more physically reliable.


A method for the separation of thorium (IV) and ceriuin (III) by using alginate as ion exchanger and dilute nitric acid as eluant is described.


Transcendental illusion is the main content of transcendental dialectic in Critique of Pure Reason.Transcendental illusions are invalid ideas mistaken by the transcendent employment of categories as concepts of the understanding and the pretension nature of human reason.Based on the research of Leibniz-Wolf's philosophical system and the analysis of category deduction,Kant divided transcendental illusions into three kinds,namely illusion of soul from psychological idea,illusion of world from cosmological idea and illusion of God from theological idea.Kant's interpretation of transcendental illusions of three-phase shows that traditional metaphysics is impossible,which clears the way to establish a scientific metaphysics.


China is a flood disaster-prone country, floods occur almost every year, especially in July and August. Rapid detection and assessment for floods affected areas are of great significance. The Chinese GF-3 SAR satellite, which uses active ground observation technology, has obvious advantages in flood disaster monitoring owing to its all-day, all-weather imaging characteristics. For the purpose of rapid water detection in flooding area, an automatic detection method of flood area based on GF-3 single-polarization SAR data is proposed. The proposed method consists of image preprocessing and water extraction. The experimental results show that the proposed method can realize rapid and accurate extraction of waters in flood disaster area.


In this paper, wideband waveform design for relay cognitive network will be presented. There is one transmitter, several relay nodes and one or several receivers in cognitive network. Assume there is no direct communication link between the transmitter and the receiver. We would like to jointly design the transmitted waveform and the FIR filters at the relay nodes such that the received signal to noise ratio (SNR) can beat the threshold derived from quality of service (QoS). However the general formulation of this problem is not convex. It is hard to find the global optimal solutions for the transmitted waveform plus the relay FIR filters. Thus a semidefinite programming (SDP)-based iterative method is proposed in this paper to obtain the feasible solution and the received SNR can still be guaranteed. Numerical results will be provided to evaluate the performance of wideband waveform design in the context of relay cognitive network.


1. WAGING WAR, MAKING PEACE: THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF REPARATIONSJOHNSTON, Barbara Rose (Ctr. For Political Ecology)2. REPARATIONS AND THE ILLUSIVE MEANING OF JUSTICE IN GUATEMALADILL, Kathleeen (Latin American Studies Institute, University of Texas, Austin) and Barbara Rose Johnston (Ctr. For Political Ecology)3. FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE: IMPLEMENTING REPARATIONS IN POST TRUTH COMMISSION PERULAPLANTE, Lisa J. (Praxis: An Institute for Social Justice)4. REPARATION: NICARAGUAPHILLIPS, James (Southern Oregon University)5. CALCULATING THE DAMAGES OF HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES: REPARATIONS MODELS AND THE PEOPLE OF DIEGO GARCIAVINE, David (American Univ), Philip HARVEY (Rutgers) S. WOJCIECH SOKOLOWSKI (Johns Hopkins) 6. VICTIM REPARATIONS AND PERPETRATOR IMMUNITY: THE CASE OF ALGERIA AND MOROCCOSLYOMOVICS, Susan (MIT)7. THE INNOCENT VICTIM' BEFORE CAPITAL PUNISHMENT, DI BELLA, Maria Pia (CNRS-GTMS-EHESS, Paris)8. THE PIECES OF PEACE: LAWFARE IN THE NEW CYPRUS, BRYANT, Rebecca (George Mason University)9. BEYOND RECOGNITION: STAGGERED LIMITED RETURN OF PALESTINIANS INTO ISRAEL RABINOWITZ, Dan (Tel-Aviv University)10. The Ethical Dimensions of PeaceSCHAFFT, Gretchen (American University)11. REPARATIONS AND HUMAN RIGHTSRENTLEN, Alison Dundes (USC)Index


Digitalisation creates problems: supply chains that are not completely fair, massive consumption of electricity, an immense amount of e-waste, meagre efforts to recycle, etc. This is why this book argues for a more radical culture of reducing and forgoing our use of digital technologies, which all ideas about sustainability have shied away from until now. Using the post-growth movement, the concept of a 'good life' and the ubuntu ideology, it demonstrates how one can live one's life without much recourse to digital technology.


Electronically excited carbon dioxide (CO2*) is known for its broadband emission, and its detection can lead to valuable information; however, owing to its broadband characteristics, CO2* is difficult to isolate experimentally, and its chemical kinetics are not well known. Although numerous works have monitored CO2* chemiluminescence, a full kinetic scheme for the excited species has yet to be developed. To this end, a series of shock-tube experiments was performed in H2-N2O-CO mixtures highly diluted in argon at conditions where emission from CO2* could be isolated and monitored. These results were used to evaluate the kinetics of CO2*, in particular the main CO2* formation reaction CO + O + M CO2* + M (R1). Based on collision theory, the quenching chemistry of CO2* was estimated for 11 collision partners. The final mechanism developed for CO2* consists of 14 reactions and 13 species. The rate for (R1) was determined to within about ±60% using low-pressure experiments performed in five different (H2-)N2O-CO-Ar mixtures, as follows:

where R is the universal gas constant in cal/mol-K and T is the temperature in K. Final mechanism predictions were compared with experiments at low and high pressures, with good agreement at both conditions for the temperature dependence of the peak CO2* and the CO2* species time histories. Comparisons were also made with previous experiments in methane–oxygen mixtures, where there was slight overprediction of CO2* experimental trends, but with the results otherwise showing a dramatic improvement over an earlier mechanism. Experimental results and model predictions were also compared with past literature rates for CO2*, with good agreement for peak CO2* trends and slight discrepancies in CO2* species time histories. Overall, the ability of the CO2* mechanism developed in this work to reproduce a range of experimental trends represents an important improvement over the existing knowledge base on chemiluminescence chemistry.


This study aims to examine the role of Kyai in the effort to empower students through the bil-hal da'wah method at one of the Islamic boarding schools in Yogyakarta. This type of research is field research. Data were collected through interview and observation methods. Through the emic approach, data analysis was carried out descriptively - qualitatively. The study results show that the bil-hal da'wah method carried out by Kyai has a positive impact on the students. This can be seen through three aspects; First, changes in theological morality and social morality for the better. Second, to cultivate the mentality of personality and social care. Third, create productivity of economic independence. However, it is still necessary to continue improving the students' competency skills (Human Resources). Apart from the shortcomings, the bil-hal da'wah method can be used as a role model for developing constructive da'wah, both for students and the wider community.


We introduce a new model of a club economy as a two stage game. Players derive utility from consumption of private good, consumption of public good, and the pro…le of crowding characteristics –those characteristics of a player that directly a¤ect other players –of members of the same club. In the …rst stage of the game, players choose amounts to consume of an endowment of private good. The crowding characteristics acquired by a player are determined by his choice of consumption level, as is the amount of private good remaining to contribute to the production of the club good in the second stage of the game. In the second stage of the game, given the pro…le of crowding characteristics of the total player set, club memberships are endogenously determined as outcomes of subgame perfect equilibrium. We establish conditions for the existence of equilibrium and provide some examples illustrating that characterization results from models of club economies with price-taking equilibrium do not necessarily hold.


The success of catching Laher fish using stretch fishing rods is largely determined by bait. Siswoko et al 2013) explained that fishing would be more effective if the bait used could invite or stimulate fish. The same opinion was also reinforced by Rahaningmas& Mansur (2018) which states that the bait function is a lure to attract attention so that fish come close to the fishing line to prey on bait.


In order to improve its electric vehicles, Renault, the French car manufacturer, focuses on reaching to main targets : first, the autonomy of the electric car and then, its global cost. In the firs ...


Since the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak emerged in China, several studies attempt to predict COVID-19 as an effort to reduce the spread of the virus. Indonesia is one of the countries with a Covid-19 death rate is the highest in Southeast Asia. These need early preventive measures, One of them is by forecasting the number of the COVID-19 cases. this is very important to be taken to determine the number of maximum cases as a prepare health facilities effort in Indonesia and preparations for reopening economic activities in Indonesia. The focuses of this study are forecasting future COVID-19 in Indonesia using the Multiple Linear Regression model. The data set were taken from the website: https://data.humdata.org/dataset/indonesia-Covid-19-cases-recoveries-and-deaths-perprovince. The tools using Python. The result of this study is the MLR model has high accuracy in the prediction model. This is shown by several results, among others, first the P-value smaller than α (0.005). Second, the F value is higher than the F table, where the F value is 901.665 and the F table is 3,170234. Third, the t-value of affected and recovered cases is higher than the t table. Where t-value is both of them are 4003 and 15529, meanwhile t table is 1,969. The last R2 value is 0.9999 and the Mean standard Error (MSE) is 0.0048 The predicted results shown have an average difference in results of 0.037%.


The work deals with the influence of the Roman pastor Emil Adam to particular aspects of everyday life of Romans living in chosen Roman enclaves. The work explores motivations to a conversion, transformation of Roman identity and its moral influence. The accent of this work is put to the similarities and conflicts of traditional religiosity and new components brought by the mission.


Bacteria that grow and proliferate despite having been stripped of their cell wall may provide insights into how primordial cells could have propagated billions of years ago.


Objectives Inflammation is known to be a major determinant of the progression of coronary artery disease (CAD). In the present study we have evaluated the plasma levels of cytokines – tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF), interleukin-1α(IL-1), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interferon-γ(IFN), and interleukin-10 (IL-10) – to examine the association between these cytokines and C-reactive protein (CRP) in patients with CAD. Methods Patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS; n = 20) were compared with patients with stable angina (SA; n = 20) and with control volunteers (C; n = 20). Blood samples were collected at the time of admission from all patients and 15 and 30 days thereafter. Results CRP levels (20.8 ± 8.8 mg/L) (mean ± SEM) were higher at baseline in ACS than SA patients (4.1 ± 0.8 mg/L) or the control subjects (5.1 ± 1.8 mg/L) (p < 0.05). At admission, IL-6 was detected in 50% of the ACS patients and 5% of the SA patients or control subjects, while TNF was detected in 35% of the ACS and SA patients but only in 5% of control subjects. Subsequently, IL-6 levels declined and were no longer detectable, while TNF levels increased among ACS patients at all time periods tested when compared with other patients. The presence of IL-1 and IL-10 were not detectable in the blood samples examined, and IFN could only be detected in the ACS group. A significant correlation was observed between IL-6 and CRP levels (r = 0.4; p < 0.01) in all groups. There were no correlations among any of the other cytokines and CRP levels. Conclusions Our study demonstrates raised levels of TNF, IL6, IFN, and CRP in patients with ACS and a positive correlation between IL6 and CRP but not with the other cytokines.


The energy spectrum of cosmic-ray antiprotons (p̄'s) has been measured in the range 0.17 to 3.5 GeV, based on 7886 p̄'s collected by the BESS-Polar II instrument during a long duration flight over Antarctica in a Solar minimum period of December 2007 through January 2008. The p̄ spectrum measured by BESS-Polar II shows good consistency with the secondary p̄ calculations. Given this background of secondary p̄'s, cosmologically primary p̄'s have been searched for using the observed p̄ spectrum. BESS-Polar II result shows no evidence of primary p̄'s that originated from the evaporation of PBH.


That the changes of gas from the being excavated roadway owing to the variety of the atmospheric pressure is analyzed on the plateau region,combing to the geography characteristics of Guizhou,the conditions of the coal seam endows and the characteristics that gas gushes into the roadway in Panjiang mineral District.Some measures that gas accidents should be prevented because of the variety of the atmospheric pressure are put forward in being excavated roadway,and the regulation of the variety of the atmospheric pressure may be utilized in mineral District.


Abstract This paper examines methods of low-level aerial archaeology and provides a rationale for utilizing these systems more widely in Australian archaeological projects. While the value of conventional aerial archaeology is apparent, different low-level aerial photographic methods can be employed more comprehensively by archaeologists to document, interpret and monitor sites in Australia. Kite, balloon, boom and other low-altitude remotely controlled camera platforms are rarely applied in Australian archaeology despite the fact that archaeologists overseas have used these aerial imaging platforms for decades. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and more conventional wireless remote sensing image technology will be used more consistently in the next decades to reconstruct and reinterpret the landscape of the past.


Over its eight-decade history, a selection of talented scientists has served as editors with The Journal of Experimental Biology . However, in recent years, the journal has expanded enormously to the point where no single individual could manage the peer review load. Currently, a team of nine


Nanostructured cerium oxide(CeO 2) commonly known as nanoceria is a rare earth metal oxide, which plays a technologically important role due to its versatile applications as automobile exhaust catalysts, oxide ion conductors in solid oxide fuel cells, electrode materials for gas sensors, ultraviolet absorbents and glass-polishing materials. However, nanoceria has little or weak luminescence, and therefore its uses in high-performance luminescent devices and biomedical areas are limited. In this review, we present the recent advances of nanoceria in the aspects of synthesis, luminescence and biomedical studies. The CeO 2 nanoparticles can be synthesized by solution-based methods including co-precipitation, hydrothermal, microemulsion process, sol-gel techniques, combustion reaction and so on. Achieving controlled morphologies and enhanced luminescence efficiency of nanoceria particles are quite essential for its potential energy- and environment-related applications. Additionally, a new frontier for nanoceria particles in biomedical research has also been opened, which involves low toxicity, retinopathy, biosensors and cancer therapy aspects. Finally, the summary and outlook on the challenges and perspectives of the nanoceria particles are proposed.


P238 Integrated application of geoelectric methods and low-frequency acoustic prospecting for the hydrocarbon deposits searching in Western Kazakhstan 1 S.P. LEVASHOV 1 S.L. ARUTYUNOV 2 A.E. SUNTSOV 2 N.A. YAKYMCHUK 1 I.N. KORCHAGIN 3 K.M. TASKYNBAEV 4 1 Institute of applied problems of Ecology Geophysics and Geochemistry Laboratory lane 1 Kyiv 01133 Ukraine e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com firstname.lastname@example.com SPO 'ANCHAR" Moscow Russia 2 Institute of Geophysics of Ukraine National Academy of Science e-mail: email@example.com 3 OAS "Embamunaygaz" Atyrau Kazakhstan Abstract. The results of integrated application of geoelectric methods and low-frequency acoustic exploring for the hydrocarbon deposits searching on some structure of the


Due to an increased scalability, flexibility, and reduced cost complexity, the dynamic memory allocation models are highly preferred for the real-time embedded systems. For this purpose, the different types of dynamic models have been developed in the conventional works, which are highly focused on allocating the memory blocks with increased searching capability. However, it faced some of the problems and issues related to the factors of complex operations, high time consumption, memory overhead, and reduced speed of processing. Thus, this research work objects to design an advanced and intelligent dynamic memory allocation mechanism for the real-time embedded systems. Here, a Classy Memory Management System (CyM2S) is developed by using an Isolated Dynamic Two-Level Memory Allocation (ID2LMA) algorithm for efficiently allocating the memory blocks with simple searching. The CyM2S helps to reduce the fragmentation rate and time consumption by optimally allocating the memory blocks. In this model, the small buffer has been maintained for surplus pointers, and the allocated blocks comprise the metadata and payload data. During evaluation, the performance of the proposed CyM2S- ID2LMA technique is validated and compared by using the measures of memory allocation time, release time, execution, and processing speed.


Social media is a relatively recent destination marketing tool that can shape destination images (DI). Mostly, DI are formed by destination marketing organisations (DMO), although through social me ...


Background: According to Silva and Zurrida (2000), one in eight women in the United States will develop breast cancer during their lifetime. The recent development of many beneficial treatments available for breast cancer has led to research determining acute and chronic side effects. One must know all the side effects associated with surgery, radiation therapy, biologic therapy, hormonal therapy, and chemotherapy to make the most effective treatment decisions for the patient with the least amount of negative impact. Researchers have determined many of chemotherapy's side effects. However, until recently, little was known about the effect it would have on a patient's cognitive functioning. New interest has focused on the effects of adjuvant chemotherapy on the cognitive abilities of breast cancer patients. Methodology: Twenty participants were recruited for this study. Inclusion criteria were that all participants must be female, had a diagnosis of breast cancer, and have completed a full course of chemotherapy treatment, Stage of the disease, other cancer treatments, time since chemotherapy treatment, order of all breast cancer treatments, length and type of chemotherapy, and age were noted, but disregarded as criteria. Questions used in this interview were adapted from The Cognitive Failures Questionnaire and The Cognitive Failures Questionnaire targets self-reported failures including perception, memory, and motor function. Results and Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that cognitive deficits have been reported to occur regardless of the age of the participants, length and type of chemotherapy treatment, stage of breast cancer, and the length of time since chemotherapy treatment.


Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasound Transducers (CMUTs) have many advantages compared to other ultrasonic transducer technologies, especially for implantable devices. However, they require a high bias voltage for efficient operation. To eliminate the need for an external bias voltage, a charge storage layer can be embedded in the dielectric. This study aims to compare the performance of Si<inf>3</inf>N<inf>4</inf> and Al<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf> when used as a charge storage layer. By measuring the shift in the C-V curve, Si<inf>3</inf>N<inf>4</inf> exhibits a larger shift than Al<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf>, indicating a better charge-trapping capability. When using the pre-charged CMUTs as power receivers, the Si<inf>3</inf>N<inf>4</inf> version harvested up to 80 mW -only a few mW more than the Al<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf> - with an efficiency of about 50 %. Accelerated Lifetime Tests predict a lifetime of about 7.8 and 1.2 years for Si<inf>3</inf>N<inf>4</inf> and Al<inf>2</inf>O<inf>3</inf> respectively.


From the specialty of rotary drilling technique applied in construction of Railway Qinghai to Tibet, several kinds of rotary drilling tools were developed to match the formation conditions under the railway Qinghai to Tibet, and their relative application techniques were scientifically designed. So the problems in foundation construction of railway Qinghai to Tibet which are difficult to all world were solved, making a foundation for manufacturing rotary drilling equipment and tools within China.


In this paper, a video flame detection method combining fire color and contour features is proposed. Firstly, fire color areas are obtained using fire color detection rules based on RGB color space and HSI color space. Secondly, the whole continuous and close flame contours are extracted by applying the Chan-Vese model in fire color areas. Then the moving properties of flame contours are analyzed and those with characteristic displacement and vibration features are accepted as flame objects. Experimental results show the proposed approach can remove the static or dynamic non-flame objects and segment the flame area from the complex background, and also has a high time effectiveness.


This paper presents the settlement study that was conducted in conjunction with the major freeway expansion project planned through Salt Lake City in which existing embankments will be expanded along the alignment and at interchanges. Settlement data from field monitoring programs of three instrumented embankment sections were used to assess the most suitable model for predicting magnitude and rate of settlement of the soft lacustrine clay deposits in the Salt Lake Valley. It seems that the disparity between the observed and predicted settlements is not because of the inability to predict settlement magnitudes but on the gross underestimation of the settlement rates. The idea of properly accounting for the soil macrofabric, especially in the case of thinly interbedded lacustrine sediments, in determining the length of the longest drainage path during consolidation may shed some light in the proper estimate of the settlement rates.


This paper puts forward the restrictive condition and the base algorithm of intelligently merging the contour, and realizes the algorithm based on ArcObjects.


We introduce a novel scheme which combines conventional Doppler dichroic atomic vapor laser lock (DAVLL) and nanofiber techniques for realizing frequency stabilization with sub-nanowatt laser power. The dependences of DAVLL signal on the total incident power of probe light and the quantification magnetic field amplitude indicate that the power for frequency stabilization could be minimized to only 15 pW. To evaluate the frequency stability of the locked laser, we calculate the Allan standard deviation, which shows that the relative frequency stability could reach 10−10 level at 10 s. This frequency stabilization scheme paves the road for future quantum optical device integration.


a. What is meant by this item: Differences in demographic, husbandry and severity of disease features between populations may produce measures of diagnostic accuracy that vary considerably. The item refers more to the generalisability or external validity of the results than to the possibility that the study may produce biased results. Reported estimates of diagnostic accuracy may have limited applicability (generalisability) if the spectrum of tested animals is not similar to the animals in which the test will be used in practice. It is therefore important that diagnostic test evaluations include an appropriate spectrum of animals for the test under investigation and also that a clear description is provided of the population of animals actually included in the study.


Introduction. The role of tracheotomy in the treatment of patients with
 prolonged intubation in intensive care units is known and confirmed. In
 light of the global pandemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome
 coronavirus-2 infection and consequent coronavirus disease 2019, we present
 our experiences with tracheotomy in infected patients. Material and Methods.
 A retrospective observational study of patients treated in intensive care
 units at the Clinical Hospital Center ?Dr. Dragisa Misovic Dedinje? was
 carried out in the period from March 21, 2020 to May 14, 2020. Results. A
 total of 970 coronavirus disease 2019-positive patients were treated and out
 of that number, 116 patients were treated in intensive care units (12%), of
 which 49 patients (42%) were on non-invasive mechanical ventilation and 67
 patients (58%) on intensive mechanical ventilation. The average age of the
 patients was 59.3 years; the youngest patient was 46, and the oldest 73
 years old. Tracheotomy was performed in 24 patients (21%), in 13 males
 (54.1%) and 11 females (45.9%). The mean time from intubation to tracheotomy
 was 11.6 days. Of the 24 tracheotomized patients, 12 had a successful
 decannulation (50%) and were discharged from intensive care units, 6 had a
 lethal outcome, and 6 patients were in treatment. Discussion. All the
 patients underwent tracheotomy in the hospital room, because we considered
 that any transfer and manipulation of these severe patients may lead to
 worsening of the generally serious condition. Although some guidelines
 recommend that it would be ideal to know the coronavirus disease 2019 status
 before any invasive procedure, we believe that this is not necessary,
 especially considering the clinical picture of patients during the pandemic,
 as well as computed tomography findings in the lungs. Conclusion.
 Tracheotomy has an important place in the treatment of patients with severe
 coronavirus disease 2019 infection since it provides easier maintenance of
 the airway, and in the recovery phase leads to easier transition of patients
 from mechanical ventilation to spontaneous breathing. The decision on the
 day when the tracheotomy will be performed is strictly individual and
 depends on the general condition of the patient, and the use of
 thermocautery does not affect the course of treatment and the final outcome.


QUAH, Stella R., HOME AND KIN: Families in Asia. Portland, OR: International Specialized Book Services, 2003, 245pp., $26.00 softcover.This remarkable book, which must have been difficult to research and write, provides a major new cross-cultural, cross-national examination of families and changing family values and social conditions in ten cultures in Asia. Quah looks at historical and current trends in families in East Asia [Japan, China; Hong Kong and South Korea] and in Southeast Asia [Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam]. The book is jammed full of important charts and graphs of all kinds [I found a particularly valuable one to be a four-page chart of the main parenthood-related policies in eight Asian countries]. Chapters include studying families in Asia; forming and extending families; parenthood under siege; age, grandparents and the importance of social capital; the gender issues in Asian families; conflict, divorce and the family court; and home, kin and the role of the state in social change.The author has written this book to serve as a major comparative study of East and Southeast Asian families with the goal of documenting and explaining the importance of home and kith and kin in the 21s1 century. The book looks at the past 50 years of changes to family in Asia. It is clearly and well organized to allow cross-national comparisons of all kinds. Among the major themes the author visits and revisits throughout the chapters are the relevance of marriage and parenthood in family formation, the aging process and the all-important transmission of family and cultural values, gender issues, divorce and conflict resolution, and the current pressures that socio-economic development impose on Asian families. She uses three perspectives throughout in order to organize the materials; historical, conceptual and comparative.There is an extensive bibliography at the end of the book [showing the very clear influence of the Minnesota Mafia, as the University of Minnesota School of Family Social Science is affectionately known]. The intended audience for the volume includes social scientists, sociologists, demographers, psychologists, historians, anthropologists, economists, political scientists, public policymakers, family social science faculty and students, family researchers of all kinds, undergraduate and graduate students with interest in Asia and Asian families and readers of any background with an interest in the impact of socio-economic development in Asia. The charts and tables, as already mentioned, really add a lot to the book and deal with such issues as government policy on abortion, mean age at marriage for men and women, trends in birth rates related to economic development and income levels, illiteracy rates for various age cohorts, labor force participation, and, divorce trends. The book also provides a look at the impact of colonial rule in the area. …


In 1914 Carathéodory defined m–dimensional measure in n–dimensional space. He considered one-dimensional measure as a generalization of length and he proved that the length of a rectifiable curve coincides with its one-dimensional measure.


ABSTRACT This article constructs a history of the mutual personal engagement of Native American sovereignty activists and Marxist entities in the 1970s and 1980s. Native American diplomacy attempted to reconfigure the geography of American Indian sovereignty into a fully independent Native America in alliance with revolutionary Marxism and its 'red' nations around the globe. Marxist-Native solidarity in Europe was enabled by older continental European fantasies about Indians, and sanctioned by some Eastern Bloc governments. Indian-Marxist alliances could not be sustained because of the difficulties of reconciling US patriotic anti-Communism, the Marxist revolutionary project, and the indigenous rights struggle.


In 2011, there were some series of efforts made in the Saimiri monkey(Saimiri sciureus) lab of the University of Vienna to train them to work with the touch-screen. The goal was that a monkey touches certain image out of given multiple images on the screen, then the monkey receives the reward if the touched image was correct in terms of a simple grammar such as one used in the work of Tecumseh and Hauser (2004).

To achieve this goal, a monkey must learn that 1) if one touches an image on the screen, one can receive a reward, and 2) when there are multiple images on the screen, they pertain different meanings, therefore, it could bring different results, so to speak, reward or no reward.

Two main problems emerged which can happen on works with any animal species. 1) Monkeys were afraid of the new object itself, the touch-screen. 2) Monkeys perceived the touch-screen as a whole object no matter what images were shown on it.

To help them to perceive an image as an independent object from the screen, we made the image on the screen to move around randomly which helped them to some degree. They eventually understood the concept, but it took quite long time. This study focuses on facilitating this learning process.

To help animals to perceive an image on the screen as an object, the visual sensorimotor contingency was considered in this study. The definition of 'sensorimotor contingency' in this study is simple which is that an animal acts in certain way then the animal's environment including any object in it presents itself in the corresponding way to the animal's action. For instance, if one goes around a piano toward the left, one will see the left side of the piano. Many animals with the decent visual system including human learn about any novel object in this way, by acting on it. Held and Hein (1963), O'Regan and Noe (2001).

In this study, one device, which can provide the sensorimotor contingent image to the viewer in a close distance, was developed. This device consists of the camera and a computer. The camera captures the posture of the monkey and the monitor shows the corresponding side of an object according to the animal's posture.

There was severe time limit on the period I could test on Saimiri monkeys, hence this work did not provide any specific task or rewarding system, but only the device itself and the recording of their reactions.

Due to lack of rewarding, the monkeys lost their interests on the device very quickly, therefore, the result data was not meaningful. Their reactions were active and positive on the visual stimuli on the screen. ('Active and positive' means that they were not afraid of the monitor nor image and they actively tried to examine the object on the screen. This is not a conclusion, but only a mere preliminary observation. There is no prominent conclusion so far-JUN.2012) This could be due to the sensorimotor contingency it showed, but also there are a number of other possible reasons for their behaviors such as that some of them already actively worked on another touch-screen task for a while, simply they were in the group situation so that they could be bolder, and so on.

To clarify the effect of the sensorimotor contingency of the computer image on animals, more specific tasks have to be given to animals to rule out other possibilities.

- REFERENCES -
[1] Tecumseh, W., Hauser, M. D., A Computational constraints on syntactic processing in a nonhuman primate, 2004
[2] Held, R., Hein, A, Movement-produced stimulation in the development of visually guided behavior, 1963
[3] O'Regan, J. K., Noe, A., A sensorimotor account of vision and visual consciousness, 2001


A performance model is introduced for estimating the tracking error of a Boeing 747 closed-loop digital flight control system implemented on a distributed recoverable computing platform, inspired by NASA's ROBUS-2 communication system, when it is subjected to digital upsets. A methodology is then developed for computing a mean-square error tracking performance metric as a function of the number of processing elements used, the number of redundancy management units employed, and the level of upsets the system experiences.


In recent years, with the continuous development and deepening of artificial intelligence, the amount of data required has increased dramatically. With the sharp increase in the amount of data, data access between the memory and the computing unit will cause a lot of energy consumption and increase the read and write latency, that is, the "memory wall" problem occurs. In order to solve the extra energy loss caused by the "memory wall" problem in the Von neumann architecture and to achieve better acceleration for neural network algorithms, the in-memory computing architecture is considered a promising processor architecture for future big data applications. In this thesis, we conducted research related to the in-memory computing neural network accelerator architecture based on three kinds of memories as Static Random-Access Memory (SRAM), Resistive Random-Access Memory (ReRAM), and Ferro-electric Field Effect Transistor (FeFET). For non volatile memory, such as ReRAM, FeFET, its non-volatile, low power consumption and other characteristics show obvious advantages. Using VGG-8, VGG-16, and AlexNet networks, the designed in-memory computing architecture is validated on three different datasets. The performance of the designed gas pedal is evaluated in terms of the acceleration effect of each layer and the number of Tile units used in each layer, read/write latency, read/write energy consumption, system occupied area, energy efficiency ratio, and other indicators, the experimental results show that the neural network accelerator based on in-memory calculation designed in this thesis has reached a relatively advanced level.


Studies in STEM Art (STEAM for short) have been applied to almost all ages, from kindergarten, elementary school, and high school, and at all levels of higher education. Currently, STEAM education has also been deployed on students with disabilities in different educational environments. This article mentioned to the issue of researching STEAM education for students with intellectual disability in inlusive elementary school under the General Education program in 2018. Issues of STEAM education for students with intellectual disability who are studying at inclusive elementary schools are discussed and some strategies for organizing STEAM educational activities for students with intellectual disability at inclusive elementary school are proposed in the article in order to improve the quality of STEAM education in general and STEAM education for students with disabilities in inclusive elementary schools in particular.


Freud looked at death and its effect on personality formation in terms of denial and in terms of the death drive. This paper attempts to extend Freud\'s theory and the theories of others by positing a death trauma. The death trauma refers to a human being\'s first awareness that he or she has to die. According to the author\'s and other people\'s research, there seems to be a period lying somewhere between the Oedipal and latency stages during which children first have this awareness. This initial awareness can have a profound effect, contributing to superego formation and the onset of latency, causing one of several defensive attitudes that affect personality.


It is more than three decades since the quantum inverse scattering method and the algebraic Bethe ansatz have been presented and applied in the area of many body quantum systems. These methods are playing crucial roles in the development of novel integrable and exactly solvable models. The purpose of the present thesis is to apply the quantum inverse scattering method to new contexts. The first system under consideration describes the interactions of spin-half impurities in an isotropic Heisenberg spin chain with periodic boundary condition. By employing the quantum inverse scattering method and Bethe ansatz techniques, the Hamiltonian, Bethe ansatz and associated eigenvalues of the model are derived. The properties of the system are also discussed. The main results of the thesis are obtained from an integrable and exactly solvable non-Hermitian Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer (BCS) pairing Hamiltonian with two independent, real-valued coupling parameters. Using numerical methods, we investigated the behaviour of the spectrum of the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian as the coupling parameters are varied. This allows for an identification of boundary lines in the coupling parameter space for regions of strictly real spectra. According to their dependence on the coupling parameters, the Bethe ansatz solutions may be categorised into two classes on the boundary lines. We discuss how these solutions could be associated to exotic quasiparticles obeying generalised exclusion statistics, in the sense proposed by Haldane in 1991. The outcomes of our research and additional information can be found in [1–3].