A mapping investigation of the regional geology of coal-bearing intervals and its influence on coalbed methane (CBM) potential focused on and showed that the Allegheny Formation of northern West Virginia (Allegheny Group of southwestern Pennsylvania) and basal part of the Monongahela Group (Pittsburgh coal) of these two areas contain the most prospective methane-producing coals. An "operational" Allegheny Formation/Group was defined for coal beds in the subsurface. Total in-place coalbed gas resource estimates to date are 61 Tcf for the Northern Appalachian Coal Basin. Pennsylvania's Campbells Mill pool, Indiana County, is the largest commercial CBM project with 26 producing wells. Higher gas contents, increasing rank, and possibly tighter folding indicate more favorable conditions for production at the northeastern end of the study area in Indiana County. The "potential" for CBM is affected by coal-quality parameters, particularly ash yield, rank, and petrographic composition. In West Virginia and Pennsylvania, vitrinite-rich bituminous coals range in reflectance from 0.5 to 1.9%, the rank range over which most thermally derived CBM is known. Only coals constrained by geographic (primarily tectonic) and stratigraphic (primarily depth of burial) rank factors could potentially contain commercial quantities of methane. In initial tests old (1800 to left abandoned,


Introduction: The NASA InSight lander [1] has been operating on Mars since November 26, 2018. InSight is equipped with a four degree-of-freedom robotic arm, two color cameras (one mounted on the robotic arm and one mounted on the lander), and several science instruments. The robotic arm end-effector includes a scoop which is used to interact with surface material. Background: Observations at the InSight landing site suggest a subsurface geological structure consisting of dust (microns), over unconsolidated sand (~1 cm), underlain by duricrust (7-20 cm), with a fined grained regolith layer of unconsolidated sand and sparse rocks underneath [2,3]. Images of the pits that formed beneath the lander during touchdown and around the mole (part of the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package, HP3) during hammering show steep walls (Figure 1). The pit slope angles are much greater than the angle of repose and nearly vertical in the case of the HP3 mole pit, which implies that the material has some cohesion. Stability analysis based solely on the slope angle of the pits excavated by the retrorockets beneath the lander yield a minimum cohesion > 0.02 kPa, as reported in [2]. Soil mechanics experiments aiming at characterizing the cohesion and internal friction angle have been previously conducted on Mars. Of particular interest are the investigations performed by the Viking and Phoenix lander robotic arms [4,5]. At the InSight landing site, the pit that formed around the HP3 mole offers a unique opportunity to combine slope stability analysis with measurements of robotic arm forces at the end-effector and images to estimate the mechanical properties of the martian soil.


In 2010, we drew data from 100 Barrett Values Centre Leadership Values Assessments, a 360-degree leadership development tool, to examine the perceived differences among leaders based on their personal entropy (degree of dysfunction). We recently revisited that data to compare the overall results by gender. In this study, we looked at the top values, strengths and areas for improvement that were chosen most frequently by leaders' assessors. Note that strengths and areas for improvement are submitted as free responses. We found that there are significant differences among male and female leaders that follow gender stereotypes. The Data To carry out this research, we examined the results of 100 Leadership Values Assessments (LVA) conducted during 2008-2010 in 19 countries. An LVA is a valuesbased, 360-degree leadership development tool which examines and compares a leader's perception of his or her operating style with the perception of their superiors, peers and subordinates (assessors). The 100 LVA results were divided by gender, with 81 males and 19 females among the group. At the end of this article, there are three tables that show the top values, top strengths and top areas of improvement as chosen by assessors for each gender. The countries represented in this study include: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, The Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Poland, South Africa, Sweden, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey, UK, USA, and Venezuela.


CASMACAT is a modular, web-based translation workbench that offers advanced functionalities for computer-aided translation and the scientific study of human translation: automatic interaction with machine translation (MT) engines and translation memories (TM) to obtain raw translations or close TM matches for conventional post-editing; interactive translation prediction based on an MT engine's search graph, detailed recording and replay of edit actions and translator's gaze (the latter via eye-tracking), and the support of e-pen as an alternative input device. The system is open source sofware and interfaces with multiple MT systems.


TROJAČANEC, S., S. BOBOŠ, M. PAJIĆ: Infl uence of β-carotene and vitamin A supplementation on the ovarian activity of dairy cows with chronic fertility impairment. Vet. arhiv 82, 567-575, 2012. ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to determine the infl uence of supplemented β-carotene and vitamin A on the ovarian activity during the periovulatory period in dairy cows with chronic fertility impairment. A total of 46 non pregnant Holstein cows with fertility impairment, at the age of 5-7 years, were selected for this study. The animals in three experimental groups were supplemented wit h either a combination of β-carotene and vitamin A, β-carotene only or vitamin A only. Non supplemented animals served as controls. All animals included in the survey were gynecologically examined; the estrus was synchronized and inseminated. Initial blood levels of β-carotene as well as the levels at the time of insemination and in the luteal phase as well as the ovarian structures during ovulation and formation of corpus luteum and P4 and conception rate, were monitored. Signifi cant increases in follicular size as well as luteal tissue growth were found in animals supplemented with β-carotene and vitamin A combination and vitamin A only. Positive correlation between the serum concentrations of β-carotene at insemination and at day 7 of the luteal phase and the concentrations of progesterone and the conception rate, lead to a conclusion that periovulatory β-carotene and and vitamin A supplementation could improve follicular growth and development of the corpora lutea in cows with fertility impairement.


The present invention consists in contact with soil and parts of the absorption front of the pulp material to facilitate the dirt absorption, and the central portion there is configured a waterproof printing unit ever be used for advertising and promotional purposes. Car mat according to the present invention, waste of the pulp material is formed to a predetermined thickness in the front portion in contact with the body contact portion and the absorbent; The waste-contacting and is formed on the lower parts of the absorbent sheet and the floor mat contacting smooth surface processed by a closed to prevent the penetration and various dirt on the seat and floor mats; Cover portion for covering to protect parts of the soil contact and absorption; Various advertising and promotional stationery is printed waterproof printing unit at the center of the cover portion; And it made of a bonding portion to be bonded to be placed reliably on the car seat. Car mat according to the present invention is applicable to any type of car, as well as passenger cars, buses, trucks, vans and the like.


This paper assesses the effectiveness of stabilization policies and structural reforms in Albania since 1997 and seeks to identify the remaining key challenges in various policy areas. It also draws lessons for other transition economies from the recent Albanian experience. While progress has been made toward macroeconomic stability and the establishment of a modern institutional framework, much remains to be done to enhance the sustainability of the recent favorable macroeconomic performance and reduce unemployment and poverty. Crucial areas of reform are the creation of functioning institutions, notably in the judicial field, and the establishment of a reliable supply of electricity, which has recently become an obstacle for rapid growth.


The assembled form of glass fiber reinforced plastics(GFRP) tube and 0Cr18Ni9 austenitic stainless steel pipes was designed as the radius thermal-insulating and load-supporting structure in special cryogenic vessel.The reliability of the support structure and the performance of GFRP support tube in working condition are mainly concerned,such as vacuum and cryogenic environment even including strong impact load action.Through ANSYS coupled thermal-structure analyzing method,coupled thermo-elasticity theory was applied to simulate heat transfer,deformation and stress distribution on the radius support structure under static and 10g vertical impact load respectively.The numerical results show that there is no large thermal loss and stresses on the support structure under static load.Even need to stand large temperature difference over normal and cryogenic temperature,as well as 11g inertia load through thickness direction caused by impact load,GFRP support tube is proved to be fit well as heat insulation and support part in cryogenic vessel.


Both Takagi-Sugeno and polynomial fuzzy model use the well-known quadratic Lyapunov function as a platform to derive stability analysis and control design conditions. However, stability and stabilization conditions based on quadratic Lyapunov function are mainly conservative. This paper presents a line-integral fuzzy Lyapunov function based stability conditions for polynomial fuzzy systems. In order to obtain more relax results, the copositive relaxation is considered. The derived conditions are expressed in terms of SOS which can be efficiently solved by using, for instance, the third-party MATLAB toolbox SOSOPT. Finally, a stability analysis example is provided to demonstrate that results obtained by copositive relaxation conditions are more relaxed than existing line-integral fuzzy Lyapunov function based approaches.


We extend a method of Kharaghani and obtain some new constructions for weighing matrices and orthogonal designs. In particular we show that if there exists an OD(s1,...,sr), where w = ∑si, of order n, then there exists an OD(s1w,s2w,...,8rw) of order n(n+k) for k ≥ 0 an integer. If there is an OD(t,t,t,t) in order n, then there exists an OD(12t,12t,12t,12t) in order 12n. If there exists an OD(s,s,s,s) in order 4s and an OD(t,t,t,t) in order 4t there exists an OD(12s2t,12s2t,12s2t,12s2t) in order 48s2t and an OD(20s2t,20s2t,20s2t20s2) in order 80s2t. Disciplines Physical Sciences and Mathematics Publication Details Hammer, J, Sarvate, DG and Seberry, J, A note on orthogonal designs, Ars Combinatoria, 24, 1987, 93-100. This journal article is available at Research Online: http://ro.uow.edu.au/infopapers/1026 A Note on Orthogonal Designs J. Hammer, D.G. Sarvate and Jennifer Seberry*


This paper presents an innovative method to synthesize nanowire-based microwave devices integrated inside a nanoporous alumina membrane. A laser treatment is used to destroy locally the template surface porosity, preventing the nanowire growth in the modified regions. We have realized a substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) in which the vertical walls consist of nanowire arrays. The waveguide can then be modified to achieve different types of microwave devices by properly placing nanowire arrays inside the SIW. The so-obtained devices combine the advantages of nanowire arrays (compactness, tunable permittivity and permeability,…) with those of substrate integrated waveguides (low losses). Our fabrication approach enables wide range of devices and we present promising results for integrated waveguide isolators.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of body composition and physical fitness after 8weeks combined exercise of aerobic exercise and anaerobic exercise training program. subjects were consisted of 30 middle-aged women (control group 15, exercise group 15).
The combined exercise program was composed of stretching, aerobic exercise, anaerobic exercise, performed 60~70min, 3times per week for 8weeks.
The results of this study were as follows: the weight, %fat, WHR of the exercise group before test were, higher than those of the same group after exercise.
Also, the muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, agility, power, cardiovascular endurance of the exercise group before test were higher than those of the same group after exercise.
It was concluded that the 8weeks of combined training of aerobic exercise and anaerobic exercise would have positive effect on body composition, physical fitness.


For the lower bound about the determinant of Hadamard product of A and B, where A is a n × n real positive definite matrix and B is a n × n M-matrix, Jianzhou Liu [SLAM J. Matrix Anal. Appl., 18(2)(1997): 305-311]obtained the estimated inequality as follows det(A o B)≥a11b11 nⅡk=2(bkk detAk/detAk-1+detBk/detBk-1(k-1Ei=1 aikaki/aii))=Ln(A,B),where Ak is kth order sequential principal sub-matrix of A. We establish an improved lower bound of the form Yn(A,B)=a11baa nⅡk=2(bkk detAk/detAk-1+akk detBk/detBk-1-detAdetBk/detak-1detBk-1)≥Ln(A,B).For more weaker and practical lower bound, Liu given thatdet(A o B)≥(nⅡi=1 bii)detA+(nⅡi=1 aii)detB(nⅡk=2 k-1Ei=1 aikaki/aiiakk)=(L)n(A,B).We further improve it as Yn(A,B)=(nⅡi=1 bii)detA+(nⅡi=1 aii)detB-(detA)(detB)+max1≤k≤n wn(A,B,k)≥(nⅡi=1 bii)detA+(nⅡi=1 aii)detB-(detA)(detB)≥(L)n(A,B).


Introduction: Presbyopia is the refractive state of the eye, or eyestrain, which is due to the reduction of the accommodation power of the eye, which causes a decrease in the ability to focus on nearby objects, usually appears after 40 years. Objective: To determine the common factors related to the development of premature presbyopia in patients aged 38 to 40 years of Ecuadorian Optical Vision, La Troncal canton, Canar province, May - September 2019. Methodology: For the present study a quantitative methodology is found, through an observational analytical study, it was descriptive, cross-sectional, which determined the number of people presenting premature presbyopia in relation to the study population. Results: Regarding the sociodemographic data of the crossing of age - sex variables, a predominance of the female sex is determined with 54% in women and 46% in men, women in the age of 40 years present a greater symptom of visual fatigue with 21%, the APP is one of the ophthalmological consequences that affect vision, causing near visual acuity. Conclusions: The mayor age range of premature presbyopia in patients attending a consultation in Optical Vision Ecuador was higher in women of 39 years, the predominant refractive state is hyperopia in men of 39 years with 36% followed by myopia in women with 14%, the predominant personal pathological history in women with 23%.


Using a sample of 143 managers in the U.S., we explored how and when ambivalent affect (i.e., simultaneous experience of positive and negative affects) are related to creativity (i.e., the generati...


The determination of the exact monetary value of an industry representative body by its constituency, would be an extremely challenging and in most cases an almost impossible task. It does, however, become less of a challenge if the role and the goals of such an organisation are understood and measured within the context of the direct and indirect impact it has on its immediate business environment.


The design of a sprinkler irrigation system is always associated with a full understanding of the kinematics of the droplets during their aerial path. Resolving this problem involves both theoretical and experimental considerations. Among the theoretical studies the classical mechanical approach, based on Newton's law, offers a useful tool to describe the trajectories of water droplets from the sprinkler nozzle to the ground. The problem becomes even more complicated when not just a single droplet alone is assessed but a multi‐droplet system is accounted for. In addition to the inter‐parameter dependencies, an inter‐droplet reciprocal repulsion is also observed, mainly due to electrical interactions between the hydrogen and oxygen atoms of the different water molecules. In this context, the whole classic–quantum and single‐droplet versus multi‐droplet alternatives need to be discussed and pinpointed, and these are the main aims of the present paper which focuses on the theoretical part of the issue, thus highlighting new perspectives of a deeper comprehension in the spray flow‐related phenomena. On the whole, the new approach allows us to recast the classical fluid dynamic equations into so‐called quantum equations. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Through the establishment of a multiple regression analysis model,by using SPSS software,the paper carries out the regression analysis on the internal influencing factors of innovation subjects of Jiangsu Province.The results show as follows:the internal activities of science and technology expenditure give the greatest impact on the activities of enterprise innovation;the government finance investment plays a supporting role in government investment of science and technology;a large number of scientific and technological personnel promote colleges' innovative activities.The study analyzes the key factors in the innovation subjects and other factors of inadequate contribution,then puts forward ideas for improvement.


The paper introduces the theory of distributed denial of service, in trusion detection and defense strategy. And it shows a strategy using diffusible TCP interception to withstand SYN-flooding. In a trusted-network, several route rs help the single attacked-router to finish the work of interception. Analysis of characteristic and efficiency of the strategy is given.


Regular black holes represent a conservative model in which the classical singularity is replaced by a non-singular core without necessarily modifying the spacetime outside the trapping horizon. Given the possible lack of phenomenological signatures, it is crucial to study the consistency of the model. In this short work, we review the physical mechanism leading to the instability of the central core, arguing that that non-perturbative backreation is non-negligible and must be taken into account to provide a meaningful description of physical black holes.


Computer systems operating in space environment are subject to different radiation phenomena,whose effects can be permanent or transient,and these effects may lead to a control flow fault occurring.Executable assertions provide a powerful and low-cost method for on-line detection of hardware-induced control flow faults.We propose a technique called RSCFC(Relationship Signatures for Control Flow Checking) that assigns a relationship signature and inserts some special assertions to each basic block to detect control flow faults through AND operation between the run-time signature and the basic block's location info.A fault injection experiment was performed with several C benchmark programs.The result suggests that about 20.7~68.8% of the injected branching faults produced undetected incorrect outputs without RSCFC;however,with RSCFC,the above number declines to 2.8~20.4%.Compared with previous techniques,RSCFC incurs less performance or memory overhead,with no significant loss in fault coverage.


The effects of electrical stimulation on muscle are not fully known. This review discusses the findings from some recent electrophysiological studies of human muscle in relation to functional electrical stimulation (FES) and emphasises the importance of considering muscle fatigue. Further laboratory and clinical studies are needed to provide a rational basis for selecting appropriate stimulation parameters when using FES.


Three physiological conditions were shown to promote transcriptional regulation of pepN expression: phosphate limitation, the nature of the source of carbon and energy, and anaerobiosis. The transcriptional level of regulation can be deduced from the observation of these effects in strains carrying operon fusion pepN-lacZ. Mutations in the various genes phoB, phoM, phoR, crp, and fnr (oxrA) did not affect pepN expression.


Objective: To investigate the expression of cyclooxygenase-2(COX-2) and vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) in human cholangiocarcinoma and their correlation with clinicobiological behavior.Methods: Expressions of COX-2 and VEGF in 43 cases of human cholangiocarcinoma were detected with immunohistochemistry of SP.Results:Expression rates of COX-2 and VEGF in cholangiocarcinoma were 81.40% and 76.74%,respectively.No expression of COX-2 and VEGF in caculus of bile duct was detected.The positive rate of COX-2 was significantly higher in well-differentiated and moderately-differentiated or metastatic tumors than in poorly-differentiated or non-metastatic tumors.The positive rate of VEGF was significantly higher in metastatic tumors than in non-metastatic tumors.Conclusion: COX-2 and VEGF may play a crucial role in tumorigenesis,tumor progression and metastasis in cholangiocarcimoma and both may have close relation in the angiogenesis.


Abstract As an important index of working memory burden and syntactic difficulty, Dependency Distance (DD) has been fruitfully applied in the context of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) to both native and non-native language production. Recent research has focused on DD as a predictor of writing performance across different proficiencies, while the other modality of second language (L2) performance – speaking – has been largely neglected. Moreover, while previous results reported significant positive correlations between DD and writing proficiency, a lack of control for important variables such as sentence/text length may have potentially inflated the outcomes of the analyses. In this study, we examine the effects of DD across the different modalities and proficiency levels, controlling for the effects of text and sentence lengths. Results from statistical analysis show that the mean DD of L2 writing is significantly shorter than L2 speech production, indicating that L2 writing may be a cognitively more demanding task than L2 speaking. Additionally, while significant statistical differences in DD were found across proficiency levels in both L2 writing and speech, the significance disappeared after controlling for sentence and text length. The implications of the present study for future research on DD in SLA are discussed.


Music lessons are a repetitive process of giving feedback on a student's performance techniques. The manner in which performance skills are improved depends on the particular instrument, and therefore, it is important to consider the unique characteristics of the target instrument. In this paper, we investigate the common mistakes of beginner flute players and propose a hierarchical approach to detect such mistakes. We first examine the structure and mechanism of the flute, and define several types of common mistakes that can be caused by incorrect assembly, poor blowing skills, or mis-fingering. We propose tailored algorithms for detecting each case by combining deterministic signal processing and deep learning, to quantify the quality of a flute sound. The system is structured hierarchically, as mis-fingering detection requires the input sound to be correctly assembled and blown to discriminate minor sound difference. Experimental results show that it is possible to identify different mistakes in flute performance using our proposed algorithms.


Crude glycosaminoglycan(CPG) from the whole viscera of Pinctada martensii was isolated with the two-enzyme hydrolysis and purified by the chromatograph.And the antitumor activity was studied with MTT colormetric assay. The CPG could be separated into two fractions(GAG-1, GAG-2) by the DEAE-52-cellulose ion exchange chromatograph. The contents of hexosamine of CPG,GAG-1, GAG-2 were 54.6%,50.0%,35.4%,respectively. The sulfate of GAG-2 was 13.8%. The inhibiting rates of CPG, GAG-1 and GAG-2 to HL-60 cells were 54.6%, 50.0% and 35.4%,respectively. The inhibition to HL-60 of 5-Fu could be increased by combined use with CPG, GAG-1 and GAG-2, GAG-1 was the main active fraction.


Background: Respiratory viruses play important roles in respiratory tract infections; they are the major cause of diseases such as the common cold, bronchiolitis, pneumonia, etc., in humans that circulate more often in the cold seasons. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many strict public health measures, such as hand hygiene, the use of face masks, social distancing, and quarantines, were implemented worldwide to control the pandemic. Besides controlling the COVID-19 pandemic, these introduced measures might change the spread of other common respiratory viruses. Moreover, with COVID-19 vaccination and reducing public health protocols, the circulation of other respiratory viruses probably increases in the community. Objectives: This study aims to explore changes in the circulation pattern of common respiratory viruses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: In the present study, we evaluated the circulation of seven common respiratory viruses (influenza viruses A and B, rhinovirus, and seasonal human Coronaviruses (229E, NL63, OC43, and HKU1) and their co-infection with SARS-CoV-2 in suspected cases of COVID-19 in two time periods before and after COVID-19 vaccination. Clinical nasopharyngeal swabs of 400 suspected cases of COVID-19 were tested for SARS-CoV-2 and seven common respiratory viruses by reverse transcription real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results: Our results showed common respiratory viruses were detected only in 10% and 8% of SARS-CoV-2-positive samples before and after vaccination, respectively, in which there were not any significant differences between them (P-value = 0.14). Moreover, common viral respiratory infections were found only in 12% and 32% of SARS-CoV-2-negative specimens before and after vaccination, respectively, in which there was a significant difference between them (P-value = 0.041). Conclusions: Our data showed a low rate of co-infection of other respiratory viruses with SARS-CoV-2 at both durations, before and after COVID-19 vaccination. Moreover, the circulation of common respiratory viruses before the COVID-19 vaccination was lower, probably due to non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI), while virus activity (especially influenza virus A) was significantly increased after COVID-19 vaccination with reducing strict public health measures.


This study aims to 1) design and create a damped harmonic oscillator as a learning media for damped harmonic oscillation, 2) to know the effect of the displacement on the number of waves formed and the wave period until the oscillation is stopped. The method used in this research is Design and Development Research (DDR). The specific phase of development consists of analysis, design, development, and evaluation. This research was conducted at one of the universities in Lampung. The subjects were 57 physics education students who taught the wave course. The damped harmonic oscillator consists of two systems: the first system consists of a paper drive system and the second system consists of pendulum and spring. The research results are: 1) DHO was made as a learning media on the topic of oscillation. 2) the value of displacement given affected the amplitude and wavelength as well as its period, but only slightly affected the damping coefficient 3) based on the results of usability test given to 57 students it showed that DHO is "good" to be used for teaching the subject of damped harmonic oscillations.


The soil organic matter pool represents a major part
 of the terrestrial carbon reservoir. Decomposition of
 soil organic matter contributes to important fluxes of
 the global carbon cycle. In order to understand,
 assess, and predict the impact of land use or climatic
 changes in the tropics, quantitative knowledge of
 stabilization and decomposition processes of soil
 organic matter is necessary. This thesis elucidated how
 soil properties and land use influence the carbon
 storage in bulk soil and in physically and chemically
 defined soil fractions. Furthermore, the stability of
 older forest-derived carbon and the stability of
 recently incorporated pasture-derived carbon in these
 fractions were investigated. For this purpose,
 fractionation procedures were combined with
 13C isotope analyses on soil samples from
 sites that had undergone a land use change (natural
 forest > pasture, natural forest > pasture >
 secondary forest) which was connected with a vegetation
 change from C3 to C4 or from
 C3 to C4 to C3 plants.
 Soil sampling was conducted in the humid tropics in
 northwest Ecuador. Soils developed from different
 parent material (marine Tertiary sediments and volcanic
 ashes) differing in key factors which influence storage
 and stabilisation of soil organic matter.Besides parent material, soil texture was the main
 factor which controlled total soil organic carbon (soil
 C) contents in these soils. The major part of soil C
 was bound to the mineral phase. Higher soil C contents
 in the volcanic ash soils emphasise the higher carbon
 sequestration of Al-humus complexes and non-crystalline
 hydroxides in comparison to sedimentary soils dominated
 by smectite. Results of the chemical fractionation
 point to an enhanced stability of the mineral-bound
 soil C against oxidation with NaOCl in the volcanic ash
 soils. In addition, more soil C could be extracted by
 Na4P2O7 in these soils
 indicating the importance of Al-humus complexes. In
 contrast, treatment with HCl isolated a fixed
 proportion of soil C storage in both soil types
 indicating a similar composition of organic matter in
 the soils. The higher carbon sequestration capacity in
 the volcanic ash soils could be also related to higher
 carbon storage in the light fractions.Independent of soil parent material, deforestation
 followed by pasture establishment reduced soil C
 storage. By afforesting the former pasture, the amount
 soil C increased, but the values of the natural forest
 were not reached at all sites. Changes in soil C stocks
 were more pronounced in the light fractions compared to
 bulk soil. Thus, light fractions can be used as an
 early indicator for soil C changes induced by land use
 changes. The correlation of aggregation and the amount
 of occluded light fraction and the slow turnover
 support the hypothesis, that organic matter is
 stabilised by aggregation in both soil types.The recently incorporated pasture-derived carbon
 showed a faster turnover in the volcanic ash soils than
 in the sedimentary soils. Mineral surfaces of
 sedimentary soils form stronger interactions with the
 organic matter. In contrast to sedimentary soils, no
 pasture-derived carbon could be detected in any
 fraction of the volcanic ash soils under secondary
 forest. Thus, recently incorporated carbon was not
 stabilised in volcanic ash soils. However,
 pasture-derived carbon could be detected in the
 chemical isolated fractions under pasture. This
 indicates that none of the used chemical fractionation
 techniques isolated a soil organic matter pool that is
 under field conditions stable against microbial
 degradation.


Value-at-Risk (VaR) and Expected Shortfall (ES) are increasingly used in portfolio risk measurement, risk capital allocation and performance attribution. Financial risk managers are therefore rightfully concerned with the precision of typical VaR and ES techniques. The purpose of this paper is exactly to assess the precision of common models and to quantify the magnitude of the estimation error by constructing confidence bands around the point VaR and ES forecasts. A key challenge in constructing proper confidence bands arises from the conditional variance dynamics typically found in speculative returns. Our paper suggests a resampling technique which accounts for parameter estimation error in dynamic models of portfolio variance. In a Monte Carlo study we find that commonly used practitioner methods such as Historical Simulation, which calculates the empirical quantile on a moving window of returns, implies 90% VaR confidence intervals that are too narrow and that contain as few as 20% of the true VaRs. Other methods which properly account for conditional variance dynamics, such as Filtered Historical Simulation instead imply 90% VaR confidence intervals that contain close to 90% of the true VaRs. ES measures are generally less accurate than VaR measures and the confidence bands around ES are also less reliable. La valeur-a-risque (VaR) et la mesure ES (Expected Shortfall) sont de plus en plus utilisees pour la mesure du risque d'un portefeuille, l'allocation de capital de risque et la determination des performances. Les gestionnaires de risques financiers sont donc legitimement interesses par la precision des techniques classiques de la valeur-a-risque et de la mesure ES. Le but de cet article est precisement d'evaluer la precision des modeles classiques et de mesurer l'importance de l'erreur d'estimation en construisant des intervalles de confiance autour des previsions de la valeur-a-risque et de la mesure ES. Un des problemes cles dans la construction d'intervalles de confiance appropries provient de la dynamique de la variance conditionnelle typiquement observee pour les rendements speculatifs. Notre article propose donc une technique de re-echantillonnage qui tient compte de l'erreur d'estimation des parametres des modeles dynamiques de la variance d'un portefeuille. Une analyse Monte Carlo nous montre que les methodes generalement utilisees par les praticiens, telles que la simulation historique qui calcule le quantile empirique a l'aide d'une fenetre mobile des rendements, generent des intervalles de confiance pour la valeur-a-risque a 90% qui sont trop etroits et qui contiennent seulement 20% des vraies valeurs-a-risque. D'autres methodes qui tiennent compte correctement de la dynamique conditionnelle de la variance, telles que la simulation historique filtree, generent quant a elles des intervalles de confiance de la valeur-a-risque a 90% qui contiennent pres de 90% des vraies valeurs-a-risque. Les mesures ES sont generalement moins precises que les mesures de valeur-a-risque et les intervalles de confiance autour de la mesure ES sont egalement moins fiables.


A two-mode (de)multiplexer [(DE)MUX] based on a multimode interferometer coupler and a symmetric Y-junction coupler is proposed and demonstrated on an InP substrate. By introducing a phase shifter section with a thickness-detuned core layer, a miniature two-mode (DE)MUX with mode conversion of 100% is designed and demonstrated. Simulation shows that the total length of the device can be as small as 446 μm: much shorter than other mode (DE) MUX in InP materials. Within the entire C-band wavelength range, the calculated insertion loss of the device is less than 0.7 dB, and the crosstalk is below -24 dB. A mode (DE) MUX was fabricated in InP materials, and the mode conversion of the TE0 and TE1 modes were successfully demonstrated.


Metal–semiconductor contacts are crucial components in semiconductor devices. Ultrathin two‐dimensional transition‐metal dichalcogenide semiconductors can sustain transistor scaling for next‐generation integrated circuits. However, their performance is often degraded by conventional metal deposition, which results in a high barrier due to chemical disorder and Fermi‐level pinning (FLP). Although, transferring electrodes can address these issues, they are limited in achieving universal transfer of full‐class metals due to strong adhesion between pre‐deposited metals and substrates. Here, we propose a nanobelt‐assisted transfer strategy that can avoid the adhesion limitation and enables the universal transfer of over 20 different types of electrodes. Our contacts obey the Schottky–Mott rule and exhibit a FLP of S = 0.99. Both the electron and hole contacts show record‐low Schottky barriers of 4.2 and 11.2 meV, respectively. As a demonstration, we construct a doping‐free WSe2 inverter with these high‐performance contacts, which exhibits a static power consumption of only 58 pW. This strategy provides a universal method of electrode preparation for building high‐performance post‐Moore electronic devices.


e15505Background: Esophageal cancer is projected to increase by approximately 35% through 2025 in the U.S. We investigated the characteristics of esophageal carcinoma in a veteran population. Metho...


The junction box (10) for a printed circuit board (4), especially for a solar module (4), comprising: - a housing device comprising a base member (20), a contact device cover element (22) and a potting member (24); - a contact device (12) with at least one cable conductor connecting element (14a, 14b) and at least one contact element (18a-18d), each of said contact elements (18a-18d) with an electrical conductor (6a-6d) of the circuit board (4) is contactable ; - at least one connection cable (8a, 8b) having at least one electrical conductor, wherein the electrical conductor of the connecting cable (8a, 8b) of an associated cable conductor connection member (14a, 14b) contacts the contact device (12), wherein the contact device (12) partially in one of the base member (20) and the contact device cover element (22) designed contact device receptacle (26) is arranged, wherein the potting member (24) is designed as a cast part and an intimate bond with the base member (20), the contact device cover element (22) and the at least one connection cable (8a, 8b) for the contact device cover element (22) with the base member (20) to connect and wherein no semiconductor component which is arranged on the contact device (12) by the potting member (24) is contacted mechanically.


The past years have seen numerous mergers & acquisitions of industry leaders and/or hidden champions or start‐ups. Often this results in an extended technological portfolio of the joint enterprise, or creating a new business area, respectively. That way, companies that might have been optics or laser technology enterprises, now emerge into a broader sense photonics company – just as Wiley did by merging Optik & Photonik and Laser Technik Journal into one new powerful successor, PhotonicsViews.


The impact of reordering on the Cholesky factorization of a sparse matrix in a paging environment is examined. We show experimentally that an equivalent reordering, if appropriately chosen, can reduce the CPU time and elapsed time for sparse factorization.


Semidiscrete finite element approximations of a linear fluid-structure interaction problem are studied. First, results concerning a divergence-free weak formulation of the interaction problem are reviewed. Next, semidiscrete finite element approximations are defined, and the existence of finite element solutions is proved with the help of an auxiliary, discretely divergence-free formulation. A discrete inf-sup condition is verified, and the existence of a finite element pressure is established. Strong a priori estimates for the finite element solutions are also derived. Then, by passing to the limit in the finite element approximations, the existence of a strong solution is demonstrated and semidiscrete error estimates are obtained.


The optimal use of resources has motivated the engineering community to employ controlled distribution of material within their structural designs, often relying on cellular and lattice porous structures. In this research work, a computational method is implemented to generate porous lattice structures conforming to surfaces with complex geometry. This method allows solving the problem of integrating cellular structures in engineering applications with complex macro-geometries. Examples of surface transformation are shown in this report. In addition, an applied model is shown where the effects of the transformation on the mechanical properties are analyzed.


Momentum and particle balance and neoclassical viscosity were applied to calculate the radial profile of toroidal rotation velocity in several DIII-D [J. Luxon, Nucl. Fusion 42, 614 (2002)] discharges in a variety of energy confinement regimes (low-mode, low-mode with internal transport barrier, high-mode, and high-mode with quiescentd double barrier). Calculated toroidal rotation velocities generally were found to (over) predict measured values to well within a factor of 2.


This paper explores the mechanisms employed by French judges to discharge personal debts of over-indebted households in exchange for the liquidation of their assets. We use an original database consisting of judiciary decisions between 2003 and 2005. We highlight the determinants of selection between debtors whose debts are cancelled and those who are ordered to repay them. Debtors who are less able to repay have a greater chance of benefiting from a fresh start. If the repayment capacity increases by 1 %, the predicted probability of debt discharge decreases by a little more than 1 %. Overall, courts erase household debts in a rather restrictive way, applying criteria not limited to an assessment of debtors' financial situation.


Honduras loses thousands of its citizens to the United States every year, with a total of one million emigrants to date. In February 2011, the Honduran National Congress passed landmark legislation to create a special development region (SDR) modeled as a charter city) As described by Paul Romer, professor of economics at New York University, charter cities allow for "cross-national government partnerships that facilitate the transfer of working systems of rules to greenfield locations." (2) Romer believes that importing good rules from elsewhere can trigger development, so long as the rules apply to all residents equally, and only to those who choose to live under them. (3) For Honduras, this means allowing a piece of its own sovereign territory to be developed and administered by a body beyond the control of the country's central government and allowing its citizens to move in and out as they choose. Octavio Sanchez Barrientos, the chief of staff to Honduran President Porfirio Lobo Sosa, is leading the charter-city initiative in Honduras. He discussed the project's development with the Journal's Ethan Wilkes. (4) Journal of International Affairs: What inspired the Honduran government to consider building a charter city? Octavio Sanchez Barrientos: The government wasn't talking about a charter city initially, which we are calling a special development region, or SDR. The idea originated during the administration of President Rafael Leonardo Callejas Romero, who was in office from 1990 to 1994. First, the American company Bethlehem Steel was trying to manage and develop a shipbuilding industry in the area of Trujillo, which has the third-deepest natural bay in the world. Second, before Hong Kong was returned to the People's Republic of China in 1997, there was uncertainty about that city's future; some businessmen were talking about the possibility of building a similar city here in Honduras instead. But neither of those initiatives took hold at the time. Still, during the Romero administration, we were looking for a strategy to divorce our economy from our political instability. One of the ideas that we discussed was the SDR. Journal: Can you fast-forward twenty years and describe your grand vision for Honduras's charter-city project today? Sanchez: Eventually, the SDR can become the place to do business in this part of the world. Obviously it will take a very deep commitment, a lot of work and a lot of patience to achieve this. Currently, Hondurans do not have many opportunities. This city is not just about creating better jobs, but also allowing greater exchange with the rest of the world. It is an opportunity to access better education, health-care systems and laws that will enable Hondurans to be more productive. Some say that we are aiming to build Singapore in Central America, but we don't want to compare our city to other cities. The SDR in Honduras will be uniquely open and, most importantly, autonomous from the Honduran government. It will also be a city that is built using best practices from all over the world. When you put those qualities together, it may resemble Hong Kong or Singapore because those two cities were built on similar philosophies. But ultimately our city will have its own distinct character. Journal: Who will control the charter city, and how will it insulate its economy from the political pitfalls that have plagued Honduras in the past? Sanchez: It has a lot to do with the government structure of the SDR. It is designed so that the central government has no power to intervene in this region. You may have all kinds of political crises outside of the region, but the region can make long-term plans without getting bogged down by national problems. The city will be led by a governor, who will be accountable to a body called the Transparency Commission that functions like a board of trustees. Nine independent experts will be appointed to the commission and will be charged with the hiring and firing of the city's governor. …


The hot crack defect easily occurred in precision casting thin-wall TiAl alloy castings because the addition of Al element into Ti increases alloy's liner contraction, which made the contraction hindered during solidification process of castings. To improve the hot crack defect, high polymer was added into the back-up coat slurry of shell mold, and the "I" shaped Ti-43Al-9V-0.3Y alloy specimens were cast using high frequency centrifugal casting machine. The result shows that the deformability and permeability of the shell mold are improved, and the residual strength is reduced, so the rate of finished products was increased.


List-based simulated annealing (LBSA) algorithm, which uses list-based cooling scheme to control the change of parameter temperature, was first proposed for traveling salesman problem. This paper extends the application of LBSA algorithm for 0–1 knapsack problem (0-1 KP). A hybrid greedy repair and optimization operator, which combines density-based and value-based greedy repair and optimization operators, is designed to get better balance between intensification and diversification. Extensive experiments were performed to show the effectiveness and parameter robustness of a list-based cooling scheme and to verify the advantage of using hybrid greedy repair and optimization operator. Comparing experiments, which were conducted on small-scale, medium-scale, and large-scale 0–1 KP instances, have shown that LBSA algorithm is better than or competitive with other state-of-the-art metaheuristics.


Evaluating and comparing the threats and vulnera bilities associated with territorial zones according to multiple criteria (industrial activity, popula tion, etc.) can be a time-consuming task and often requires the participation of several experts and decision makers. R ather than a direct evaluation of these zones, building a risk evaluation scale and using it in a formal procedure per mits to automate the assessment and therefore to apply it in a repeated way and in large-scale contexts and, pr ovided the chosen procedure and scale are accepted, to make it objective. One of the main difficulty of building su ch a formal evaluation procedure is to account for the multiple experts knowledge and decision makers prefere nc s. The procedure used in this article, E LECTRE TRI, uses the performances of each territorial zone on multiple crit ria, together with preferential parameters, to qualitatively assess their associated risk level. The pref erential parameters to be determined are the category limits, i.e. the limits on each criterion of the performance ran ge associated with a given risk level, and the weights associated with the different criteria. To obtain these par ameters with no direct questioning of the stakeholders, tools based on mathematical programming have been develope d t deduce these preferential parameters from assessment examples. In this article, several such tools ar e applied together in order to build a complete example leading to the definition of a territorial risk evaluatio n scale taking into account the preferences of multiple stakeholders. 1 RISK ASSESSMENT MODELLED AS MULTICRITERIA SORTING MODELS Assessing the risk levels associated with geographical zones can be a difficult task. It involves multiple, and often conflicting, point of views: a zone may have a low risk according to one criterion while being exposed to a critical risk according to an other one. Associating one risk level to a zone involves aggregating these point of views. This article suggests to use the tools developed in the domain of multicriteria decision aid, which enable a formal approach to that aggregation problem when assessing risk. The paper is structured as follows. This section describes the relation between a risk assessment problem and a multicriteria sorting problem. Section 2 describes a specific multicriteria sorting method, E LECTRE TRI (Figueira et al. 2005, Mousseau et al. 2000, Roy 1991), and discusses existing methodologies to elicit an ELECTRE TRI based risk model with experts. Section 3 suggests a strategy to build a risk evaluation model as an ELECTRE TRI model using indirect parameters elicitation. An illustrative example is given in Section 4. The algorithm used for the inference is detailed in Section 5. 1.1 MCDA problem statements Real-world decision problems such as territorial risk evaluation usually involve multiple points of view on evaluation of zones they concern. These points of view are relevant for a Decision Maker (DM), or expert (who is either a single person or a collegial body). They are formally represented by real-valued functions called criteria. Multicriteria (MC) decision aiding aims at recommending a decision which is consistent with a value system of the DM. Various methodologies have been proposed to support DMs facing a MC decision problem (Keeney and Raiffa 1976, Roy 1996, Bouyssou et al. 2006). Three main problematics structure the MC decision aiding field: choice, ranking or sorting (Tsoukiàs 2007). Given a finite setA of alternatives, the choice problematic consists in selecting a subset of alternatives (as small as possible) being judged as the most satisfactory. The ranking problematic consists in establishing a preference pre-order (either partial or complete) on the set of alternatives. These two problematics are said to be comparative, as they require to compare alternatives one to another in order to set up the choice set or the preference pre-order. The sorting problematic concerns ordinal classification of alternatives and consists in assigning each alternative to one of some pre-defined and ordered categories. The assignment of an alternative to an appropriate category relies on the alternative's intrinsic value (and not on the comparison to others). In this paper, we consider the multicriteria (MC) sorting problematic to represent qualitative risk assessment models. 1.2 Defining a qualitative risk assessment scale Most concepts used in a risk assessment problem easily map to concepts used in the MC sorting problematic. What is called a category in such a problematic represents the set of possible risk levels that the territorial zones must be mapped into. They can be e.g.:{Critical risk, Medium risk, Low risk}. Ideally these risk levels should be defined according to some precautionary measures associated with them, to give these categories a precise meaning. The point of views involved in a risk evaluation problem correspond to the criteria in a MC sorting problem. Examples include the presence of a school or the percentage of vulnerable persons. Building an evaluation scale thus amounts to build a MC sorting model. 1.3 Building a sorting model Each zone being described by a vector of risk factors associated with the point of views involved in the problem, the task at hand consists in assigning these zones to a set of risk categories. This is done using a MC sorting preference model. This model contains a set of subjective data representing the preferences of the considered DM with regard to, e.g., the relative importance of each of the criteria. These objective and subjective data together with a sorting method allow to aggregate the different point of views to assess the risk level of each considered zone. These preferential parameters may be elicited in a direct way, but this is often difficult as it requires the DM to undertand the fine details of their use in the considered MC sorting method. That is why it has been suggested to deduce the preferential parameters in an inverse way, by asking the DM examples of alternatives, or zones, and the category, or risk level, they would consider appropriate for these. A supplementary difficulty arises when the evaluation method to be defined involve multiple DMs, as different stakeholders may favor different subjective parameter values. Applying inverse elicitation in a multiple DMs context amounts to ask each DM for a set of examples, which may be conflicting, and deduce preferential parameter values that may be either entirely shared by the DMs, or shared for a part of the parameters, and individual for other values. This is the approach we use in this article. 2 ELECTRE TRI FOR RISK EVALUATION The MC sorting method used here is a simplified version of ELECTRE TRI. It is appropriate for a risk evaluation setting as it only requires ordinally evaluated performances on the different criteria. The version considered here is very close to the version studied by Bouyssou and Marchant (2007a, 2007b). 2.1 Sorting procedure ELECTRE TRI requires, as a definition of the preferences of a DM, criteria importance parameters and category limits separating the categories. The criteria importance parameters include a weight for each of the criteria and a majority threshold that defines when a set of criteria is good enough to be decisive. The category limits separate, for each criterion, two consecutive risk levels. Consider a finite set of territorial zones A, a set of category limitsB = {b0, . . . bk}, and a finite set of criteria indicesJ . A criterion gj (j ∈ J) is a function from A ∪ B to R wheregj(a) denotes the performance of the zone a on the criteriongj. The zones have to be sorted ink risk levels,c1, . . . , ck, ordered by their desirability.c1 is the worst (i.e. highest) risk level, andck is the best (the lowest) one. Each risk level ch is defined by the performances of its lower frontier, or category limit,bh−1 and its upper frontier bh of B. The performances are here supposed to be such that a higher value denotes a better performance (i.e. associated with less risks) and the performances on the frontiers are non-decreasing, i.e. ∀j ∈ J,1 ≤ h ≤ k : gj(bh−1) ≤ gj(bh). To sort the zones, E LECTRE TRI uses the concept of outranking relation. The assignment rule used here, known as the pessimistic rule, assigns a zone a to the highest possible risk level ch such that the zone outranks the category's lower frontier bh−1.A zonea outranks a frontierbh−1 if and only if there is a sufficient coalition of criteria supporting the assertion "a is at least as good as bh−1", and no criterion strongly opposes (vetoes) that assertion. To compute this, preferential parameters given by a DM are used.The coalition of criteria in favor of the outranking, ∀a ∈ A,1 ≤ h ≤ k, is defined as


A country's foreign debt is aimed at maintaining economic growth. However, in practice, it also affects bilateral relations and international behavior. Indonesia has accumulated foreign debt reaching Rp 7000 trillion from various countries and institutions. This study aims to examine the impact of foreign debt on Indonesia's foreign policy during Joko Widodo's administration from 2014-2022. The study uses a qualitative approach, with data collected through interviews of government officials and academics as well as analysis of document sources. This research uses the concepts of foreign debt, foreign policy, and complex interdependence. The results showed three patterns of Indonesia's foreign relations with debtor countries. First, Indonesia establishes positive relationships with debtor countries. Second, Indonesia avoids getting involved in conflicts with cricket-giving countries on a number of bilateral issues. Third, Indonesia is reluctant to criticize creditors involved in bilateral and international issues while carrying out free and active foreign policy.


In coaching to improve social behavior, certainly not out of the role of guidance and counseling activities in schools. Guidance and Counseling is an organization that provides assistance through special services and support activities provided to students with the aim to assist learners in the development of personal, social, learning and career. Of the many services that exist in guidance and counseling, one that can be used to improve the social behavior of learners is through group counseling services through the game. This research was conducted with the draft action research and development, while to analyze researchers used quantitative methods with experimental approaches. Based on the results obtained, we conclude that the group counseling services through the game can improve social behavior of learners, where changes in social behavior increases learners become better. Keywords : Guidance Group , Gaming , Social Behavior


Nitrogen (N) is an essential mineral nutrient necessary for plant growth and has been considered a crucial factor influencing invasion success. Former studies mainly focused on responses of alien plants to different levels of N availability. However, in natural soils, N comes in different forms. Few experimental studies have explored responses of naturalized alien species to different N forms, and whether such responses are related to their naturalization success globally. We selected 22 common herbaceous species native to Germany that have all become naturalized and thus been introduced elsewhere in the world. We grew these species under six different N conditions that differed in the amount or form of N, and assessed their growth performance in a greenhouse experiment. We found that plants produced more biomass when grown under high N levels than under low N levels, and when N was provided in inorganic form than when provided in organic form. Neither biomass production nor promiscuity to different N forms was related to naturalization success of the species. However, the biomass response to inorganic N, relative to organic N, was stronger for the widely naturalized species than for the less widely naturalized ones. Our study shows that although the widely naturalized alien species were not more promiscuous than the less widely naturalized species, they took more advantage of the inorganic-N forms. This indicates that naturalization success might be partly driven by a species' ability to take advantage of increased inorganic N levels.


Noninvasive dynamic tracing is very important to the alimentary canal micro-drug delivering device. In this paper, based on analyzing the rules of emission computed tomography images, a novel method for dynamic tracing micro-drug delivering device in alimentary canal has been proposed. The basic principle of the method is that, when the micro-drug delivering device with a mount of radioactive elements being encapsulated pass through the gastrointestinal tract, the series of medical images were detected by single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), then the location of micro-device could be deduced and dynamic 3D tracks can be achieved. Through the experiment in simulative intestinal, the proposed method can be used to tracing the radioactive elements.


The energy consumption of air-conditioning occupies a considerable proportion of the total energy consumptions in the modern society. And it is increasing year by year. For example, the proportion of energy consumption for air-conditioning in private and public areas has been increasing to 40% or more of the total electricity power supplies in the summer peak hours in China. Thus, technical developments for energy-saving in the industry of air-conditioning will redound to solving the crisis of energy source.


An evaporator assembly (10), in particular for a vehicle heating device, a carrier (12) on the carrier (12) comprising a porous evaporator medium (18) and a fuel supply line (26) for feeding liquid fuel through an opening in the carrier (12) in the porous evaporator medium (18), wherein an intermediate storage volume (34) at least in part in the porous evaporator medium (18) is designed for receiving liquid fuel from the fuel supply (24) and (to pass the received therein liquid fuel into the porous evaporator medium 18).


This essay first briefly introduced the concept of the software as a service, as well as the concept of its function configuration, and thus has elaborated that based on the software as a service after acquiring the customer's functional requirements, functional requirements configuration can be subdivided and each function deployment program can be represented with AND/OR tree. By means of heuristic state space exploration strategy, optimal scheme could be attained after the appropriate evaluation factors and weights drawn up by software customers and software designers of SAAS. At the end of this article, there is a concrete example which inllustrates it is practicable that SAAS software customer requirements can be converted into functional configuration program and by way of heuristic search strategies to get the optimal solution.


In view of the current tensions between the attempt to promote sexual education in school spaces and the anti-gender offensive, we propose to know what the main education documents say on the subject, from a documentary and bibliographic research. Such tensions have prevented the construction of a school environment that embraces all possibilities of existence, and it has been left to education professionals, sensitive to the theme, the availability to include these discussions in their teaching practice. The excerpt of the research, presented here, refers to the elaboration of the State Education Plan of Rio Grande do Sul, from the Bill to the final approved text. As a result, there were cuts related to the theme of gender and sexuality, showing the political strength of conservative movements in the construction of the document and the setback that this process represented for the construction of a welcoming and inclusive school environment.


Adenomatoid tumor (AT) is a rare benign mesothelial neoplasm of the paratesticular region and mainly involves the epididymis. A definitive diagnosis of this tumor is important because it is difficult to differentiate clinically and radiologically from other intrascrotal pathology and malignancy. Histopathological examination along with immunohistochemistry is diagnostic and conclusive for diagnosis of paratesticular tumor.
Herein, we report a case of 53-year-old male who presented with paratesticular mass. Surgical excision was performed and histopathological examination confirmed the diagnosis of adenomatoid tumor of the epididymis.


We develop a manifold sampling algorithm for the minimization of a nonsmooth composite function $f \triangleq \psi + h \circ F$ when $\psi$ is smooth with known derivatives, $h$ is a known, nonsmoo...


The objective of this study is to model the uncertainties inherent in random wave excitation of a steel jacket offshore structure. A probabilistic finite element method is used as the basis for addressing these uncertainties. To assess the performance of the method, comparison of the predictions model addressing various uncertanties in the problem will be made with deterministic predictions. Keywords: probabilistic finite element, uncertainty, wave loading, jacket offshore structure


Two-dimensional direct numerical simulation (DNS) was applied to auto-ignition of n-heptane/air mixture. The diffusion of intermediate species was studied in terms of the influence on the ignition delay. The chemical reaction process. The simplified reaction mechanism was used in this study. Likewise, the influence of turbulence was investigated by comparing the results of 0 dimensional simulation and two-dimensional direct simulation of non-turbulence condition. In conclusions, the ignition delay was strongly affected by the different diffusion speeds of intermediate species. It was shown that the outflow of OH radical having larger diffusion coefficient decreases the reaction rate at the high temperature point. On the contrary, the reaction rate was enhanced by the influx of OH radical at the low temperature point.


The interval neutrosophic set plays an important role to handle indeterminacy and inconsistency of information during decision making process. Recently, the interval neutrosophic vague sets have been proposed as an extension of the neutrosophic sets. Similar with other sets, this newly proposed set have to fulfill some algebraic operations. This paper aims to present algebraic operations for the interval neutrosophic vague sets. Some algebraic operations on interval neutrosophic vague set are introduced. Specifically, algebraic operations of addition, multiplication, scalar multiplication and power for the interval neutrosophic vague sets are presented. In addition, several related examples are also presented together with supporting proofs.


This paper represents a study of the context of improvement the parallel robots accuracy. We introduced, in the first hand, the different reasons of inaccuracy according to the different references mentioned in our paper as well as the methods used for the calibration and the accuracy improvement. In the other hand, we detailed the description of the direct and inverse geometric modeling of a biped robot with a rolling knee kinematic. The improvement of the accuracy of biped robots (moving with a high speed), while keeping the stability of the movement, and by exploiting the different models (geometric, kinematic and dynamic) as well as order, will be the target of our next publication.


Hydroponics, the practice of soilless plant cultivation, has undergone significant transformation over the years, evolving from its roots in ancient civilizations to its modern, high-tech systems. This paper explores this journey, focusing on technological advancements that have not only refined the principles of hydroponics but have also democratized its accessibility. Early accounts of hydroponic-like practices can be traced back to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Floating Gardens of the Aztecs, and historical records in China and Egypt. The formalization of hydroponics, however, took place in the 20th century, although the concept had been introduced much earlier by Sir Francis Bacon in 1627. Technological leaps in nutrient solutions have been pivotal; German botanists Julius von Sachs and Wilhelm Knop's work in 1860 set the scientific basis for soilless culture. Modern hydroponic systems such as Nutrient Film Technique (NFT), Aeroponics, and Deep Water Culture (DWC) employ pumps, timers, and nutrient reservoirs for efficient cultivation. These systems have scaled hydroponics from a lab-scale practice to a commercial-scale operation, making it accessible to both hobbyist gardeners and large-scale agriculturalists. Another transformative development is in the area of hydroponic lighting. High-Pressure Sodium (HPS) and Light Emitting Diode (LED) lights offer sustainable and efficient alternatives to natural light, thus enabling year-round, indoor hydroponic farming. The automation of hydroponic systems via computer-controlled environments has drastically reduced the manual labor required, making it accessible to individuals without specialized horticultural skills. Lastly, the paper delves into synergistic technologies like smart monitoring systems, Internet of Things (IoT), and renewable energy sources that are setting new paradigms for hydroponics. Smart sensors and analytics provide real-time data for nutrient and environmental control, while IoT devices offer remote management capabilities. Renewable energy sources like solar and wind power bring sustainability to hydroponic setups, thereby reducing the carbon footprint. These technologies collectively create an environment that is conducive not just for optimal plant growth, but also for operational sustainability and efficiency.


In recent years,Chain Retail has witnessed rapid development in China. Starting with the Multi-Product Inventory Routing Problem many chain retailers now face with,on the view of Chain Management,we put forward a set of algorithm models,based on the full analysis of current algorithms. At the same time,in according with the real demand of the operations of Distribution Center,using the joint replenishment and distribution method,effectively solve the Multi-Product Inventory Routing Problem.


The creep fracture behaviour of intermetallic compound (Fe_(60)Ni_(40))_3(V_(98)Ti_2) has
been studied under 187, 200, 215 and 248 MPa at 923 K. The variation of dislocation substruc-
ture is observed with TEM in the process of steady-state creep. It is found that there exists
a large amount of stacking faults, dislocation pairs and also high density dislocation networks.
SEM analysis of section near fracture surface points out that intergranular crack due to coale-
scence of small cavities is the main creep fracture mechanism of intermetallic compound
(Fe_(60)Ni_(40))_3(V_(98)Ti_2).


Francis of Assisi was still alive when the first convents of his Order were established in England in 1224, and during the next century and a quarter his followers enjoyed immense prestige among the citizens, at court and in the universities of this country. It seems strange, therefore, that English art shows so little direct trace of this great figure at a time when Italian painters were depicting the saint's life in ever greater detail and in a manner which transformed the whole character of religious art.' Whereas even in the thirteenth century the number of subjects included in Italian versions of the Franciscan cycle increased from the six small scenes surrounding the saint's portrait on Berlinghieri's altar-piece of 1235 in S. Francesco in Pescia (P1. Ia) to the twenty-eight frescoes in the upper church of Assisi, English artists seem to have been indifferent to all but two of these scenes: the miracle of the stigmata and the sermon to the birds. Of the former subject seventeen and of the latter fourteen English versions have been listed, mostly in illuminated manuscripts of the mid-thirteenth to fifteenth centuries, but also in mural and glass paintings and on seals of Franciscan convents. In some manuscripts both subjects appear side by side, and their association is shown to have been even closer in the minds of the artists, when the saint is depicted with the stigmata while preaching to the birds, although the legend places the sermon at a much earlier stage of his career than the stigmatization. It would, however, be a mistake to conclude from this relatively meagre record of surviving works that the story of Francis of Assisi stirred English artists less deeply than their Italian contemporaries, although it clearly affected them in a different way, a contrast which is underlined by two further considerations. Whereas the sermon to the birds is rarely included in cycles of Franciscan subjects which were painted by major Italian artists after 13oo0,2 it is found in England even in so important a book as the mid-fourteenthcentury Taymouth Horae, written for a royal lady who may have been Joan de la Tour, daughter of Edward II and, as the wife of Robert Bruce, Queen of the Scots. It also occurs in the Luttrell Psalter. Moreover no less than four of the English versions of this subject are found among the illustrations of noteworthy historical events in chronicles. One of the earliest examples (P1.ib) is by Matthew Paris, who included it some time between 1236 and 1250 in the Chronica Majora, along with a drawing of the miracle of the stigmata. But the account of the life of St. Francis which these drawings illustrate was copied by Matthew, with some additional comments, from the older work of Roger of Wendover, which differs remarkably


Introduction: The goal of this study is to report the clinical and radiographic results of 2 types of implants used to treat 3 and 4 parts fractures of the proximal humerus. Patients: Sixty-three patients (64 shoulders) were reviewed in this retrospective series. Forty women and 23 men were included, the mean age was 64 ± 12 (39–86). A group of 31 patients was managed with a 'standard' implant, a second group of 32 patients (33 shoulders) was managed with a 'fracture' implant. The delay between initial trauma and the surgical procedure was less than 4 weeks (1–30 days) for all patients. Methods: All the procedures were carried out by a senior surgeon. The patients were reviewed by an independent observer with a mean follow-up of 59 ± 38 months (12–138) for a clinical and radiographic evaluation. Results: In the 'standard implant' group; 84% of the patients were satisfied or very satisfied regarding the outcome of surgery. The subjective evaluation (SSV score) was 69% (30–100%). The active anterior elevation (AAE) was 117° ± 43° (30–180°), the active external rotation (AER) was 24° ± 20° (0–60°), the active internal rotation (AIR) was up to the T12 vertebra (buttocks-T8). The mean Constant score was 60 ± 20 points (24–95). The radiographic analysis revealed a greater tuberosity that was considered migrated, not healed or lysed in 65% of cases. The acromion – implant height was ≤ 7mm in 52% of the patients. In the 'fracture implant' group; all the patients were satisfied or very satisfied regarding the outcome of the surgery. The SSV score was 70% (20–100%). The AAE was 132° ± 36° (45–180°), the AER was 34° ± 16° (0–60°), the AIR was up to the L3 vertebra (buttocks-T8). The mean Constant score was 66 ± 16 points (33–95). The radiographic analysis revealed a greater tuberosity that was considered migrated, not healed or lysed in 33% of cases. The acromion – implant height was ≤ 7mm in 30% of the patients. The patients with a healed greater tuberosity in an adequate position had better Constant scores: 71 points versus 54 points for those with a greater tuberosity not healed/lysed or in a bad position (p=0.03). A healed greater tuberosity in an adequate position was obtained more constantly for the patients in the 'fracture implant' group (p=0.02). Conclusion: A healed greater tuberosity in an adequate position is a significant parameter influencing the outcome of hemiarthroplasty for proximal humerus fractures. A fracture designed implant allows better greater tuberosity positioning and healing.


As long ago as the 1960s, it was proposed that the infectious agent of the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), or prion diseases, was composed of protein with no essential nucleic acid component. From the beginning, one basic idea was that the causative agent was a corrupted and pathological form of a host protein that could propagate itself by causing its normal homolog to convert to the pathological form (1). This concept, now commonly known as the "prion hypothesis" (2), has been extremely difficult to prove (3). Fungi were shown to have conceptually analogous protein-only prion pathogens (4), but TSE infectivity eluded clear biochemical characterization for decades. Complicating matters were the inherent difficulties in purifying TSE infectivity, which forms sticky, insoluble aggregates that are not amenable to rigorous purification techniques. Consistent with the prion hypothesis, the major component of infectious isolates was found to be an aberrant, partially protease-resistant form of the host's prion protein (PrPSc or PrP-res) (2). However, various other molecules, including nucleic acids, could often be found in even the purest preparations (e.g., refs. 5 and 6). Because there were typically ≈100,000 PrPSc molecules per infectious unit, it was difficult to exclude the possibility that other essential components of infectivity might be much less abundant. A standard approach to establishing the essential ingredients of any biological activity is the reconstitution of the activity from defined ingredients in vitro. However, despite the seductive simplicity and apparent plausibility of the prion hypothesis, many laboratories were frustrated for years in their attempts to assemble infectivity in defined cell-free reactions. Recently, striking progress has been made toward this goal, and, as reported by Supattapone and colleagues in this issue of PNAS (7), a defined recipe for producing robust mammalian prions is at hand.


We report the bioavailability analysis for six secondary metabolites with antiviral, antioxidant and antitumor activity reported, from Curatella amaricana L. Additionally, the molecular similarity analysis of each metabolite is presented and compared with Lopinavir, Ritonavir, Darunavir, Cobicistat and Nelfinavir, which actually are in the third phase for the production of a new vaccine for SARS-Cov2. The mode of interaction through molecular docking between each structure and the zone of action for protease type 3-chymotrypsin (3CLpro) also is presented. The molecular geometry for structures were optimized at semiempirical PM6 level. The bioavailability and molecular docking calculations were performed using the algorithms incorporated in chemoinformatic servers and AutoDock Vina. The results show that the structures studied lead a moderated permeability through the cell membrane, by complying with Lipinski's "rule of 5". Molecular similarity was evaluated by averaging geometric parameters (3D-Shape) and electrostatic potential (ESP). The results show that the most secondary metabolites would have a similar mode of action as the Lopinavir, with average similarity between 0.65 and 0.73. This last idea is reinforced by the results for molecular docking with the 3CLpro active site, highlighting the interaction of the molecules studied with the amino acid residues: His-41, Phe-140, Gly-143, Ser-144, Cys-145, His-163, Glu-166 and His-172, with an range interaction-free energy between -7.2 kcal/mol and -9.2 Kcal/mol, highlighting Quercetin 3-O-Alpha-L-rhamnoside with improve affinity energy than Lopinavir.


The problem of identifying unripe fruits using a non-destructive evaluation methodology is of great interest. In this paper the natural frequency estimation methodology described by the singularity expansion method (SEM) is used to evaluate the state of maturity of the mangosteen fruit using a non-destructive classification technique. The methodology is based on a RADAR identification technique based on the scattered field data is used to accomplish this goal. The classification is carried out using the SEM poles computed using the Cauchy method using the scattered field data for a mangosteen as it matures. Then, a pole library is constructed and is used in a classification scheme.


Face mask detection is the process of identifying whether a person is wearing a face mask or not in real-time through the use of computer vision and machine learning algorithms. This technology can be used in various applications, such as security systems at public transportation hubs or in hospitals, to ensure compliance with health and safety regulations during a pandemic or other infectious disease outbreaks. The technology works by analyzing images or video streams from cameras and computer vision techniques are used to detect the presence of a face mask on a person's face. The output of the system is a binary result (i.e., mask detected or not detected) or a more detailed result that provides information about the type of mask and its location on the face.


More than half - 53% - of all American adults play video games of some kind, whether on a computer, on a gaming console, on a cell phone or other handheld device, on a portable gaming device, or online. Age is the biggest demographic factor in game play by adults. Younger adults are significantly more likely than any other game group to play games, and as age increases game play decreases. Independent of all other factors, younger adults are still more likely to play games.


In previous investigations the authors have reported a high incidence of recurrences at the level of tracheostoma in patients subjected to total laryngectomy for carcinoma, when the tracheostomy tube was left in place for a long period of time. The present report deals with a large number of cases collected from the National Cancer Institute of Milan and from the Otolaryngology Clinic, University of Milan. A total of 1842 total laryngectomies has been evaluated: stomal recurrences were observed in 63 cases (3.42%). In particular, 18 recurrences occurred among 1578 patients who did not undergo preoperative tracheostomy (1.14 %) and 45 recurrences among 205 patients after long-term use of a tracheostomy tube (21.9%). The lower was the endolaryngeal level of primary carcinoma, the higher was the incidence of recurrence. The length of interval between tracheostomy and laryngectomy influences proportionally the frequency of recurrences (from 16 % for an interval of 10–20 days, to 32 % for an interval higher than 50 days). Although a preoperative thacheostomy may slightly reduce the incidence of mortality due to pulmonary complications, the use of long-term tracheostomy tube is not advisable since it can increase the mortality for recurrent carcinoma of at least 20%.


This document is the result of the analysis of the Technology Infrastructure of the Ministry of Tourism and the design and development of a contingency plan based on the ITIL methodology, is necessary, for which it is important to have and involve security policies to take appropriate measures aiming to prevent incidents, problems, failures and impacts that could occur and are an opportunity to manage the previously mentioned events for the implementation of the Contingency Plan, the same which would involve updating and improving the Data Center.
Due to the need to ensure the proper performance of the functions of all public servants of the Department of Information Technology and Communication, in particular, and the Ministry of Tourism in general, needs related to the management and operation of equipment and computer systems, subject to the established recommendations, is necessary to define the general guidelines to ensure proper information retrieval and proper functioning of the services, through a Contingency Plan using the ITIL methodology, defined to retrieve the processing of critical resources, as well as to ensure the continuity of applications, in case of loss or total or partial damage of the systems operating in the Ministry of Tourism.


From a historical perspective, Sambas Sultanate historically had a significant contribution to the diversity of the empire and the kingdoms in the archipelago. While the educational side of this empire have also contributed to the transmission of the scientific world-Malay archipelago in the context of the development of Islamic education as a chain of intellectual authority (intellectual genealogy) which in turn result in the intensification of the Islamization of Islamic civilization in Indonesia. One role of the educational Sambas Sultanate is their success in producing the best sons of the Malay world and the Islamic world, such as Indra Crown Prince, Ahmad Khatib Sambas and H. M. Basyuni Imran. To find out more about the historical development of science Sambas Sultanate both from within and outside the palace will be presented further in this paper.


Cellproliferation isa majoreventduring early limbdevelopment. Significant levels ofgrowth factor activity, asmeasured bystimulation ofDNAsynthesis inmouse BALB/c 3T3cells, werefound inextracts ofchicken embryo limbbudsatearlystages ofdevelopment. Extracts from stage-18 limbs (3daysofincubation) were2to3times more potent thanwereextracts fromolder stages, namely 22-24 (4 days), 26(5days), and28(6days). Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) wasmeasured specifically using anRIA,andthe amountsoffactor obtained corresponded totheactivities measured bythe3T3cell-growth assay. Inaddition, most growthfactor intheextracts boundwithhighaffinity to heparin-Sepharose columns. Western (immunologic) blotting andimmunoprecipitation withanantibody specific forbFGF revealed aprotein ofidentical size tobFGF-i.e., 18kDa,inthe extracts. Thus, agrowth factor withtheproperties ofbFGFis present intheearly limb, andthelevel ofthis factor ishighest whenproliferation isa predominant cellular eventinthe developing limb. Theseandother datasuggest that fibroblast growth factor isakeyregulatory factor inembryonic growth andmorphogenesis. Themajor cellular event occurring during thefirst stages of development ofthechicken embryo limbisgrowth. Growth during thefirst several hoursoflimbdevelopment-i.e., stages 16-20 ofembryonic development, isduetomesoder- malcell proliferation andsynthesis ofextracellular matrix. Subsequently, specific regions ofthelimbmesoderm con- dense(beginning atstage 22)andthendifferentiate to cartilage ormuscle (beginning atstage 25); other regions give rise toconnective tissue. Evidence hasbeenobtained indi- cating that factors that influence growth ofembryonic limb mesoderm areproduced bytheectoderm, especially the specialized region termed theapical ectodermal ridge (1-3). However themolecular nature ofthese ectodermal factors or other endogenous growth factors produced bytheearly-limb ectoderm orbythemesoderm itself isunknown. Inthis study wedemonstrate thepresence ofbasic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) inthechicken early limbbudandshowthatits concentration ishighest attheearliest stages ofits develop- ment.Inother studies (4,5)wehaveshownthatbFGF stimulates mesodermal cell proliferation andsynthesis of hyaluronate, amajor component oftheextracellular matrix of theearly limb(6, 7).Thus, bFGFmayregulate growth inthe early limb, bothinrelation tocell proliferation andextracel- lular matrix production.


Technical making has always been one of the research topics of technical philosophy,which was discussed by such ancient Greek thinkers as Plato and Aristotle.In terms of technical making energeia,Aristotle considers it a kinesis process from dynamis to entelecheia,and what's more,physis,human and agathon are the fundamental elements in the process of technical making energeia.Physis provides hyle and the ultimate underlying subject,which can support and disturb technical making energeia;human designs and operates technical making energeia through eidos extraction;agathon offers "target"to technical making energeia which contributes to the more exquisite,ingenious and sapiential technical making energeia,and meanwhile endows technology with ethical qualities.Aristotle's thoughts of"agathon"in terms of technical guidance may still provide a useful reference to today's modern technology.


CL WL-DCB specimens were used to study the fracture properties and high strength nonhalweight concretes and of high strength lightweight aggregate concretes. A three segment fracture process zone model developed in prior studies, when modified appropriately, predicted well the relative fracture behavior of the three concretes. Modifications to differentiate between mixes were necessary primarily in the final segment of the model where the crack closing stress decreased slowly to zero with increasing crack widths. The fracture energy provided by that segment for a 112 MPa dense aggregate concrete was only about half that for a 28 MPa dense aggregate concrete. For a 79 MPa lightweight aggregate concrete the fracture energy provided by that segment was less than 10 % of that for the 28 MPa dense aggregate concrete. There was a clear correlation between the .,JUJ.VVIL-J.U_J.'"'"'" of the fracture surface and the fracture energy of that final segment.


Promising for the early diagnosis of malignant diseases of the respiratory organs and the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) is now considered a fluorescence method. This is due to its high sensitivity, making it possible to determine negligible concentrations of biologically active compounds. Feature fluorescence nature associated with the dependence of its parameters from the microenvironment of luminescence centers, the steric and electronic structure of molecules, the degree of aggregation makes it possible to study living tissues and organs, as for some of the fluorescence characteristics it is possible to monitor the changes in the functional state of these objects in particular to diagnose pathological conditions of the organism [1-4].


Objective To study the clinical diagnosis and treatment of acute fatty liver of pregnancy(AFLP).Methods The clinical data of 8 cases of AFLP were reviewed retrospectively,who were treated during Jan 1998 to Dec 2007 in the Department of obstetrics and cynecology,second people′s hospital of Lianyungang.Results Eight cases of AFLP were primiparas.The gestational age at onset was 32~36 weeks.Two cases of AFLP were single birth and six cases were twins.The survival puerperas of AFLP were 6 cases in all and the mortality of puerperas were 40 percent.Seven neonates were dead and the mortality of neonates were 50 percent.Conclusion Early diagnosis,termination of pregnancy as soon as possible and a comprehensive therapy are the key to improve the survival of mother and newborn.


Objective To evaluate self-expanding metallic stent implantation in relieving the symptoms caused by gastroduodenal malignant obstruction.Methods This study included 31 patients with inoperable gastroduodenal malignant obstruction,presenting clinically severe nausea and recurrent vomiting.Under fluoroscopic guidance,33 self-expanding metallic stents were implanted in 31 cases.Results Technical success was achieved in all 31 patients.No severe complications occurred.During the following up period,the patients could smoothly take the meal,the nausea and vomiting symptoms were markedly relieved,and the life quality was much improved.Conclusion Metallic stent implantation is an effective and simple means for relieving the symptoms due to inoperble gastric outlet obstruction or postoperative anastomotic stenosis.


The history of the belief in the existence of elements from which all matter is formed begins more than two millennia ago with the writings of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Developments in the late 17 century pioneered by Robert Boyle led to the modern concept of elemental balance, according to which the number and type of various atoms remains exactly the same in the course of a chemical reaction. The concept of the creation and annihilation of matter changed all that. According to Einstein's relativity theory, elements can be converted entirely into energy and therefore no longer exist. The present study examines this theoretical interpretation by looking in detail at the process of positronium decay. It is suggested that the electron and positron constituents of positronium are actually bound so tightly together after decay that they form a massless lower-energy state which can be identified with the photon itself. The Breit-Pauli Hamiltonian is adjusted through the addition of momentum-dependent exponential damping factors so that it possesses eigenfunctions which correspond to such a tightly bound state with 2moec binding energy. The success which the corresponding


Summary.
Freeze drying of elderberry anthocyanin extract under the proper conditions produces an intensely coloured powder with retention of both anthocyanins and physical structure. The various conditions examined included extract concentration, stabilizer concentration, pH and freeze drying conditions. It was found that minimum antho-cyanin degradation and product structure alteration occur, when the undiluted extract is adjusted to pH = 3, has DE 20 maltodextrin structure stabilizer added to a 2.5% level and is freeze dried at a maximum platen temperature of 75â°C and maximum product temperature of 60â°C. Under these conditions, the recovery of anthocyanin is 94% and physical structure and solubility is preserved.


Review(s) of: Radio's civic ambitions: American broadcasting and democracy in the 1930s, by Goodman, David, Oxford University Press, New York, 2011, ISBN 9 7801 9539 4085, xx+337 pp., A$59.95, Distributor: Oxford University Press.


Techniques for testing the frequency response of an operational amplifier (op-amp) sometimes require a buffer in the feedback path. This buffer is needed to prevent an inadvertent forward signal path from the input of the op-amp to the output of the op-amp through the feedback circuitry. The buffer must have very good linearity and a higher bandwidth than the op-amp under test. Three CMOS buffer designs are presented. Simulation results show total harmonic distortion of about 1% at frequencies as high as 10 MHz into a load capacitance at 5 pF. The buffers settle to within 1% of the final voltage in fewer than 20 ns.<<ETX>>


In this paper, we describe the initial phase of our attempt at identification and development of commonly available hardware and software components to fully exploit the idea of tele-operation or remote access to control systems over the Internet. We also present the results of a student evaluation of the system and its concept, as well as the results of a locally-organized faculty workshop and discussion on remote experimentation.


Marvels & Tales: Journal of Fairy-Tale Studies, vol. 37, No. 1, 2023 113 look back and realize how true is Zipes's contention that her tales are "entirely secular" (xii). Indeed, the fairies and their arbitrary, even occasionally petty, hand in human affairs seem almost to mount a rebuttal to the Just World Fallacy that undergirds so much storytelling in the Judeo-Christian world, the persistent belief that people get what they deserve. Despite her clear sense of duty, fidelity, and sincerity, d'Aulnoy's are worlds in which virtues and vices are not necessarily rewarded or punished—sometimes, life is just cruel and we cannot trace such cruelty back to the victim's choices. It


Abstract In this paper, we introduce the concept of δss-supplemented modules and provide the various properties of these modules. In particular, we prove that a ring R is δss-supplemented as a left module if and only if RSoc(RR) {R \over {Soc\left( {_RR} \right)}} is semisimple and idempotents lift to Soc(RR) if and only if every left R-module is δss-supplemented. We define projective δss-covers and prove the rings with the property that every (simple) module has a projective δss-cover are δss-supplemented. We also study on δss-supplement submodules.


The method described in the previous paper (1) was found useful in discriminating between the activities of materials which differed widely in their potency in producing hemorrhage in mouse sarcomas. Difficulties were encountered, however, when the potencies were of the same order of magnitude. While at times the bioassays yielded good results, on other occasions discrepancies were noted, and repetition of determinations of potency sometimes gave widely discoidant results. Often a small dose produced hemorrhage in a greater percentage of the tumors than did large doses of the same material in the same assay experiment. Sometimes the tumors of an entire batch of mice appeared to be refractory to hemorrhage production. This paper reports a modified technique which yielded more satisfactory results. Testing of the tumor mash for bacterial sterility, increasing the number of mice used per dose level, examining the interior of the tumor for hemorrhage, and including a standard material for reference in each set of bioassays were the measures which were successful in reducing the discrepancies encountered previously.


In this paper, chaotic phenomena and its impact on the small signal stability region (SSSR) of power systems are studied. A typical period-3 trajectory in a simple power system is presented for the first time. Theorem Sarkovskii and Theorem Li-Yorke are used to identify the existence of chaos in power systems. This method can avoid the confusion caused by pseudo-chaos and incomplete period doubling bifurcation phenomena. Moreover, the influence of chaos on the small signal stability region has been investigated and we conclude that, from the engineering point of view, it is not necessary to consider the existence of chaos in the studies of SSSR and its boundary. This excludes the unnecessary complexity in the study of SSSR.


HighlightsThe article describes a clinical case of a patient with metastatic breast cancer detected after aortic valve replacement. The case was initially treated as sternal osteomyelitis due to ministernotomy performed during aortic valve surgery. However, the diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer with sternal and spinal (third thoracic vertebra) metastatses, and ribs lesion was established upon further study. Adjuvant endocrine therapy was prescribed to the patient due to her age and previous surgery. AbstractBreast cancer is an urgent problem in oncology as it remains the most frequent type of cancer in the Russian Federation and world wide. Long-term treatment success and survival of patients depend on selected treatment modality, and long-term postopertive monitoring of patients as the means of the early detection of metastatic recurrence. Furthermore, concominant somatic ilness could change or mask the symptoms of local recurrence or metastasis, resulting in difficulties with establishing the proper diagnosis. We report a clinical case of metastatic breast cancer in a patient with severe aortic stenosis who underwent aortic valve replacement. We have not found analogious cases in domestic and foreign literature.