This study focuses on situating children in divorce mediation in South Africa and Australia. This study investigates how South Africa and Australia have domesticated and are implementing relevant international laws and policies that allows hearing the voices of children in divorce mediation. This study found that South Africa and Australia do not have specific legislation that provides hearing in the child's voice in divorce mediation. However, the Australian government funds on-going research to improve the hearing of a child's voice in divorce mediation. Aided by government funding, Australia has developed unique techniques to listen to the child's voice during divorce mediation. The special priority afforded to children's rights in South Africa and Australia is justified under the Capabilities approach cost-effectiveness principle because it prevents a spiralling need for state intervention later in the lives of its citizens. Some of the techniques used by the Australian government go beyond the requirements of the UNCRC and ACRWC. For example, some FRCs employ technology to screen for child abuse before hearing a child's voice in divorce mediation. Like the Office of the Family Advocate in South Africa, FRCs use a teamwork approach where child consultants and mediators work together to listen to the child's voice during divorce mediation.


We attempt to analyze the VI consumers' behavior in Korean insurance market. We pointed out economic factors that affect VI demand, and confirmed VI demand increases with stock market boom, low interest rate, high price level, and stable economic situation. Also consumers who decide to purchase VI usually consider the size, safety and profitability of a target insurance company. The asset and equity size have positive relationship with VI sales. Also reputation in traditional insurance market helps companies to attract new VI customers. The increase in the number of sales organization and sales person positively affects VI sales. In addition, we analyze consumers' behavior on choosing insurers with distinct characteristics. From the analysis, we notice that more risk averse VI customers would choose domestic companies. Foreign companies have very active marketing strategies using young and highly educated sales persons targeting less risk averse VI customers.


The invention relates to a full-autonomous flight control method for an unmanned aerial vehicle, provides a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle vision control system based on an embedded framework, and discloses a full-autonomous flight control method for a quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle based on vision SLAM. The functions of autonomous locating and flight control of the unmanned aerial vehicle without relaying on any environment information under the environment without GPS signals are achieved. According to the technical scheme, the full-autonomous flight control method for the quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle based on vision SLAM comprises the following steps that a camera arranged at the bottom of the quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle is used for collecting image information, an integrated inertial navigation unit is used for obtaining the attitude angle and accelerated speed information of the unmanned aerial vehicle, the image information and the attitude angle and accelerated speed information are used for being input, and an improved vision SLAM algorithm is operated to obtain the three-dimensional position and the attitude information of the quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle; vision position information and three-dimensional accelerated speed provided by the inertial navigation unit are fused by adopting an expansion Kalman filtering device, a PID controller is designed, and full-autonomous flight control over the quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle is achieved. The method is mainly applied to full-autonomous flight control over the unmanned aerial vehicle.


The Indo-Pacific coral Diploastrea heliopora reveals regional multidecadalto centennialscale climate variability using coral carbonate δO (δOc) as a combined proxy for sea surface temperature (SST) and sea surface salinity (SSS). However, to assess the coral's full potential in resolving climatic events, an independent SST proxy would be more advantageous. We examined both Sr/Ca and δO of Diploastrea against an adjacent Porites lobata core collected from northeast Luzon, Philippines. Winter Sr/Ca data from Diploastrea show a significant correlation to SST (r = 0.41, p < 0.05, (root-mean-square of the residual) RMSR = 0.81°C) and provide a proxy with similar sensitivity as Porites (r = 0.57, p< 0.05, RMSR = 0.62°C). An interspecies SST record is shown to be robust and used for a reconstruction of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation during boreal winter (r = 0.70, p = 0.02). While we were unable to generate a robust Diploastrea δO-SSS calibration at interannual timescale, the freshening trend toward the present, commonly observed in the region, is qualitatively captured in Diploastrea δO. Comparison with Porites δO and instrumental SSS records shows that the magnitude of freshening is consistent between coral species. Wet and dry season Porites δO provide support for the relative influence of El Niño–Southern Oscillation events and local precipitation to SSS variability at our site. The multiproxy, multispecies approach of this study further strengthens the evidence for Diploastrea as an alternate climate archive in the Indo-Pacific region and seals its potential in helping resolve less understood global-scale climate phenomena.


Abstract Kuwait is mentioned as one of the multi-national workplaces. This paper aims to identify the motivational factors that affect employees' performance in Kuwait construction industry. Many studies conducted regarding motivational factors for construction workers and site engineers, but there is limited research work aimed to identify the motivational factors for construction employees. The Relative Importance Index (RII) was used to rank the motivational factors for different surveyed categories. The study revealed that the most important motivation factors are job security followed by salary and promotion arrangements while taking responsibility is the least motivational factor. The male group of participants chose salary while the female group chose job security. Normal employees chose good relationships with work companions, while managers chose job security as the top-ranked motivational factor. ANOVA test and Spearman correlation analysis were used to analyze the distinguishing difference between different surveyed categories ranking. This analysis concluded that there is no significant correlation between most of the surveyed categories indicating that there is no consensus between study categories regarding motivational factors ranking. This study's result is important to understand motivational factors which can enhance the working environments to improve productivity for the construction industry.


Natural latex has special importance in the rubber industry for manufacturing different types of goods like gloves, balloons, male contraceptive and similar thin walled articles. This natural latex is much more sensitive a liquid to handle since it can easily become contaminated and thereby coagulated which makes it unfavourable for centrifuge and getting concentrate from it. Some other related measures also are included in consideration during the processing of concentrate latex from the natural raw latex. The problems that are being faced in a concentrate latex processing plant can be categorized in different groups like, problems related to the latex property, mechanical problems, electrical problems, handling and storage problems, transformation problems, problems related to environmental issues, etc. Among them, the most common and vital problems frequently observed in a concentrate latex processing plant are discussed here with a view to finding the measures for solution which will help to maintain the latex property in any latex processing plant.


We have had several yers of clinical experience with casting dental titanium. Although we have learned various things about titanium casting during this time, we still encounter problems with this material and cannot say that we have fully mastered the technique. Although failures certainly arise with conventional dental castings and with industrial castings, is seems that rate of failures with dental titanium is even greater. Although various reasons are given for casting failures and numerous countermeasures have been proposed, it should be pointed out that it is difficult o obtain a predictable outcome and that the countermeasures often do not hit the mark. Among these issues, we have centered our attention on the character of the molten liquid.


The dynamics of flow within the cove of a leading edge slat has been investigated using Proper Orthogonal Decomposition by the method of snapshots. The shear-layer that originates from the slat cusp contains a large proportion of the turbulent kinetic energy within the flow. Reconstructions performed with the first 10 POD eigenmodes illustrates that several smaller regions of vorticity persist within the shear-layer. Depending on the Reynolds number and the angle of attack, the shear-layer can impinge upon the leading edge of the main wing element, roll up within the slat cove, or be ejected through the gap between the slat trailing edge and the leading edge of the wing. This unsteady impingement of both the shear-layer, and the smaller features within the shear-layer could result in a very strong acoustic dipole source.Copyright © 2014 by ASME


On 17 September 1787, the same afternoon on which the delegates of the Constitutional Convention signed the US Constitution, George Washington walked into a Philadelphia bookshop and bought a copy of Don Quixote. The anecdote appears early in Sarah F. Wood's, Quixotic Fictions of the USA, 1792 1815, and richly evokes the Enlightenment optimism that set the principles of the new republic against the realities of political dissent. Washington's bit of ''retail therapy'', as Wood calls it, seems to ratify the Constitution* in its expressions of consensus and its resolution of power and liberty*as perhaps the greatest quixotic romance. Cervantes's faltering hero helped US writers think through the ideological elusiveness of a society poised between aristocratic Federalism and Jeffersonian democracy; both the seriousness of Don Quixote's idealism and the ironic displacements of Cervantes critique inform the literary legacies of the romance in a new nation that was always exceeding itself. Quixotic fiction, writes Wood, was a formative genre of the early United States, providing a flexible language of enchantment and deflation at a moment when the ideals of the Revolution were already seeming anachronistic. Don Quixote was everywhere, in fact: the second most frequently listed novel in American book catalogues of this period, it appeared in every library of note, including that of Adams and Jefferson, who kept records of reading it, as well as Washington who owned both Spanish and English editions. However, Cervantes's work resonates most in the fictional responses to it, and Wood's readings of these texts, by Hugh Henry Brackenridge, Tabitha Gilman Tenney, Charles Brockden Brown, Washington Irving and others, are as accommodating as the narratives she describes: a ''locus of contradiction'' (viii) that, in their challenge to any simple argument, are productive of meaning. Other critics have explored the reception of Don Quixote in the US and Wood provides a good survey of the scholarship. The originality of her book lies in its isolation of a moment at the turn of the nineteenth century, when the American understanding of quixotism was still derived from Tobias Smollett's English translation of Cervantes and not Charles Jarvis's more tragic version (adopted after 1815) or the chivalric reveries of Sir Walter Scott. Wood bases her argument, then, about the importance of quixotic fiction in post-Revolutionary culture on a fascinating bit of book history, which suggests that Jarvis and Scott transformed the way quixotism was represented in the US, and that this shift towards solemnity, so crucial to the nostalgia of Southern literature, has obscured our sense of the literary work of the Quixote a generation before. Smollett's Don Quixote is an ironic romp through a world in which the cerebral ideals of the knight and the ''visceral reality'' he navigates are equally burlesqued; as the most popular edition of Cervantes in the new republic and the first to have an American imprint (in 1803), it provided a literary


The study purpose is to identify the important elements in organizational alignment towards achieving high performance in MISC Berhad. For this study, the researcher chooses four elements which consist of organizational culture, customers, employee engagement, and mission. 103 respondents were chosen from two business unit which are Offshore Business Unit and Chemical Business Unit and also six departments which are Information Computer Technology, Corporate Security, Corporate Planning & Development, Group Technical Service, Fleet Management, and Finance Department. The findings of the study show that all four organizational elements have significant relationship with company high performance. Based on the results, the researcher found that the most significant variable that influenced company high performance in MISC Berhad is organizational culture. The researcher suggests that managers should promote positives cultures in the organization. Besides that, manager can also build strong relations among several business unit and departments to increase the performance of the workers. As for future researcher, the researcher suggests to study all four variables in depth that could explained the strong determinants for company high performance.


Becoming rich together is an important component of not only Mao Zedong Thought but also of Deng Xiaoping's theory. Under the instruction of Marxism and Leninism and from the real national condition of China, Ma Zedong expounded deeply the thought about becoming rich together and explored continuously in practice. In the new historical condition, Deng Xiaoping enriched and developed Mao Zedong's thought about becoming rich together.


In this letter, a modified series-capacitor (SC) high conversion ratio (HCR) dc–dc converter is proposed. The proposed converter inherits most of the advantages of the existing SC HCR dc–dc converter and can eliminate the problem of high switch-voltage stress of the existing converter encountered during start-up using a simple circuit modification. Although an extra capacitor is required in the proposed converter, total series capacitance of the proposed converter is the same as that of the conventional SC converter. In addition, input capacitance of the proposed converter can be reduced by less than half of that of the SC buck converter. A 1-kW prototype converter is built and tested to verify the performance of the proposed converter.


A systematic analysis of clastic reservoir characteristics of Badaowan formation in Jurassic in Shixi area of Junggar basin was made.It showed that the reservoir rock is characterized by low composition maturity and high texture maturity;that the diagenesis belongs to progressive buried compaction that is extensively distributed,with weak cementation,which primarily occurred in stage A1of late diagenesis;that main types of pores is dominated by residual intergranular space with partial grain solutional voids.It is believed that the important cause of low permeability of the reservoir is resulted from the serious diagenetic compaction and enriched plastic clastic as phyllite.


A class of nonlinear singular problems is discussed in this paper.The existence and uniqueness of solutions for these problems are proved by two methods and the error estimates are given.


In the age of information technology,The traditional transportation mode has blocked the social development. Such as the traffic jam,environmental pollution and the freight transportation bottle neck of E business etc. are the main problems hindered severely the development of the big cities. Due to this,many countries are studying freight transportation system through pipeline,especially the freight transportation and distribution system through underground in the urban area,which is thoroughly a new research area. This paper introduces the history and the research status of freight transportation through pipeline in the world. As an analysis result,the authors point out that the key techniques on this research focusing mainly on three aspects: the planning and construction technique of the underground pipelines,the automatic freight transportation distribution and monitoring technology,and the cost and economic analysis. To sum up,the freight transportation and distribution system through underground pipeline would become the truth in this century.


This research investigates the impact of structural conditions on- rates of black and white homicide for different regions of the U.S. Particular attention is given to the claim that significant changes have occurred in regional patterns of homicide, shifting attention awayffrom the South and toward the western region. Based on race-specific homicide rates for U.S. cities in 1990, our research provides statistical evidence of similarities in mean race-specific homicide ratesfor the southern and western regions. hile thisfinding suggests greater comparability, further exploration reveals that the similarities in regional homicide rates cannot be attributed to like circumstances or conditions once methodological pursuits of invariant structural covariates in research prevail. Given the presence of unique structural disadvantages in each of these regions, we offer explanationsfor the differences in structural and culturalforces that contribute to the race-specific homicide rates.


Helicobacter pylori infection, excessive consumption of alcohol and the prolonged use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) are the major factors that cause peptic ulcer. Previous studies from our lab revealed the potency of the ethanol extract of the plant, Cardiospermum halicacabum Linn. against ethanol induced gastric ulcerogenesis in rats. The present study intended to compare the antiulcer activity of the ethanol extract of C. halicacabum against gastric ulcers, induced by three different agents, namely; indomethacin administration, pyloric ligation and Helicobacter pylori infection in Wistar rats. Experimentally, gastric ulcer was induced in rats by oral administration of indomethacin, pyloric ligation and infection with H. pylori (2.0 × 108 CFU/ml) in three separate settings. Gastric protection by C. halicacabum was evaluated by measuring the ulcer index, gastric glutathione level, a lkaline phosphatase activity and histopathological examination. Ethanol extract of C. halicacabum in a concentration dependent manner (200-600 mg/kg) inhibited gastric ulcers induced by oral administration of indomethacin (48 mg/kg). The active extract administration reduced the ulcer index and alkaline phosphatase activity showing the protective role of C. halicacabum against indomethacin induced gastric ulceration in rats. Similarly, C. halicacabum ethanol extract reduced gastric acid secretion in pylorus ligated rats. However, the extract did not show much healing of gastric ulcer, induced by H. pylori. Omeprazole and triple therapy drugs were used as standards for indomethacin and H. pylori induced gastric ulcers, respectively. When comparing the effectiveness of C.halicacbum against the three modes of ulcer induction, the alcohol extract of C. halicacabum showed better antiulcer activity against ulcers induced by indomethacin and pylorus ligation dose dependently. However, the same extract failed to show any anti H. pylori activity when monitored both in vitro and in vivo.


AIM: To study the effects of insulin and glucose on tissue-type plamingen activator (tPA) and its inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) secretion in cultured human endothelial cells. METHODS: Human endothelial cell line ECV-304 was cultured with glucose and/or insulin at different concentrations with or without hypoxic exposure. RESULTS: The tPA, PAI-1 secretion and ratio of tPA/PAI-1 increased in endothelial cells during hypoxia. Insulin and glucose increased the tPA and PAI-1 secretion in endothelial cells exposed to hypoxia, and increase in tPA/PAI-1 ratio was also observed at 4 h and 8 h. CONCLUSION: Hypoxia stimulates the release of tPA and PAI-1. Insulin and glucose also stimulate the tPA and PAI-1 secretion during hypoxia.


Metallic oxide nanoparticle-decorated graphene oxide (GO) sheets were easily fabricated by a redox reaction between GO and metal salts, and then could be used to stabilize oil-in-water (O/W) Pickering high internal phase emulsions (HIPEs). Here, the metallic oxide nanoparticles contained Fe3O4, TiO2, and Mn3O4 nanoparticles. The effects of the concentrations of the metal salt and GO sheets used to prepare the nanoparticle-decorated GO, the internal phase fraction, and the type of oil phase on the formation and properties of HIPEs were systematically investigated. The results showed that the intermediate GO concentration used to prepare the nanoparticle-decorated GO was helpful for the formation of HIPE. And the average diameter of HIPE droplets decreased with the increase in the concentration of metal salt (iron chloride), but enhanced with the increase in the internal phase fraction. Oils with a large viscosity or containing a benzene ring structure were favorable to forming concentrated emulsions with a high internal phase fraction. Furthermore, the nanoparticle-decorated GO stabilized Pickering HIPE was used as a template to prepare functional GO-based porous foams by polymerizing the Pickering HIPE. This research paves a facile and effective way for the fabrication of functional GO-based O/W Pickering HIPEs and porous materials, which may find a wide variety of applications, such as in magnetic, catalytic and electrochemical fields.


Terahertz quantum cascade lasers with a record output power up to ∼0.23 W in continuous wave mode were obtained. We show that the optimal 2.9-mm-long device operating at 3.11 THz has a low threshold current density of 270 A/cm2 at ∼15 K. The maximum operating temperature arrived at ∼65 K in continuous wave mode and the internal quantum efficiencies decreased from 0.53 to 0.19 for the devices with different cavity lengths. By using one convex lens with the effective focal length of 13 mm, the beam profile was collimated to be a quasi Gaussian distribution.


Introduction In sighted humans a considerable area of the neocortex is part of the visual system (1,2). What are the functions performed by this considerable part of the human brain in congenitally blind subjects? Auditory processing appears to be one of these functions (3, 4), processing of tactile stimuli another. However, there is a controversy concerning the situation with congenitally blind subjects. Whereas some authors (5, 8, 11) claim V1 activation with Braille stimulation of congenitally blinds, Buchel et al. (7) recently denied V1 activation in this subject group. We wanted to contribute to this issue by using the high spatial resolution of FMRI and improved methodology to investigate a homogeneous group of congenitally blinds never experiencing residual visual perception. Methods Four congenitally blind subjects (Table 1), all experienced Braille readers (mean age 35.75 years, male), read a strip with non-contracted non-word Braille letters. The resting index finger was positioned on the platform of a MR-compatible tactile stimulation device with the strip moving at a speed of 2.4cm/sec at the finger tip. Each subject was measured on three different days and 2 runs per day were carried out resulting in 990 recordings of each slice. During each run the subject performed four different stimulation conditions four times: 1. Reading a Braille sentence consisting of 120 Braille letters. 2. Tactile imagery of Braille reading with the sentence "I am lying in the scanner and reading Braille letters". 3. Counting of the spaces between Braille letters without attention to the letter's meaning. 4. Stimulation with Braille similar characters without meaning: random dots The order of these 4 conditions was completely randomized and 1 run comprised 16 stimulation phases alternating with rest. Every run consisted of 5 resting and 4 stimulation phases per condition. During each phase 5 images were recorded per slice (990 images per slice per subject) and every phase lasted 30s. The stimulation strip was in motion during each stimulation condition, except during tactile imagery. The 4 sighted control subjects (mean age 32.0 years, all right-handed) read words consisting of 6 embossed Roman letters (strip moving at a speed of 0.33cm/sec at the finger tip). The measurements were carried out on a 3 Tesla BRUKER Medspec scanner using a phase-corrected blipped gradient-echo, single shot EPI sequence (TE/TR=60/6000ms, 128*128matrix, 256*256 FOV, 30 axial slices, slice thickness 3mm, no interslice gab, sinc pulse excitation). To avoid artifacts due to head movements individual plaster helmets were applied for optimized head fixation (13). These plaster helmets allow direct comparison of different runs recorded with exactly the same head position. The scans from each subject were realigned with a 3D-sinc interpolation using the software package AIR v3.0 (Automated Image Registration). Correlation analysis was performed using a correlation threshold of 0.4 and a box-car reference function. Reliability maps were calculated by superimposing data of different runs and colour coding pixels according to the degree of replicability (12). Results Results clearly show the primary "visual" cortex (Table 2) consistently activated within the occipital cortex of all four blind subjects for Braille reading (condition 1). We found no activation in this area for tactile imagery (condition 2) and reading of random dots (condition 4), and much less activation for counting of interspaces (condition 3) compared with Braille reading.There was no activation within the occipital cortex of sighted subjects for embossed Roman letters reading. Fig.1 shows the active pixels superimposed on anatomical slices (MDEFT-sequence). The numbers in the left corners give the distances from the shown slices to the AC-PC-plane in millimeters. Fig.1 Activated occipital areas of subject No.1 (Anophthalmos) Discussion The literature pertaining to activation of secondary visual cortex (V2, V3,...) is consistent, however there are inconsistencies concerning activation of primary visual cortex. One possible factor influencing these inconsistencies could be the existence of residual visual perception in congenitally blinds. Therefore, we wanted to investigate this issue by using a group of congenitally blinds who have never experienced any kind visual perception whatsoever. Our FMRI-study shows activation of the primary "visual" cortex in all these subjects. Since our subjects never experienced any kind of visual perception, activity related to residual vision can be excluded as an explanation of our functional results. References 1. Hasnain-MK et al, Hum-Brain-Mapp. 1998; 6(4): 301-15 2. Amunts-K et al, Neuroimage. 2000 Jan; 11(1): 66-84 3. Weeks-R et al, J-Neurosci. 2000 Apr 1; 20(7): 2664-72 4. Liotti-M et al, Neuroreport. 1998 Apr 20; 9(6): 1007-12 5. Sadato-N et al, Brain. 1998 Jul; 121 ( Pt 7): 1213-29 6. Buchel-C et al, Nature. 1998 Jul 16; 394(6690): 274-7 7. Buchel-C et al, Brain. 1998 Mar; 121 ( Pt 3): 409-19 8. Sadato-N et al, Nature. 1996 Apr 11; 380(6574): 526-8 9. Cohen-LG et al, Nature. 1997 Sep 11; 389(6647): 180-3 10. Sadato-N et al, Neurology 1999 January, 52 (2 of 2), 423 11. Hamilton-RH et al, TICS. 1998 May, Vol.2, No.5 12. Beisteiner-R et al, Neurosci-Lett. 2000 Aug 18; 290(1): 13-6 13. Edward-V et al, Hum-Brain-Mapp. 2000; 11(3): 207-213


This paper proposes a vibration control method for piping systems using a feedback control system constructed with LQ-control and a neural network featuring feedback-error learning. The piping system is normally flexible. Therefore, natural frequencies of the system fluctuate when the density of the content varies. This paper shows that the piping system change the dynamics according to increase or decrease of the mass effects. In order to reduce the first vibration mode of the piping system without spillover instability, the control system is designed using LQ-control with feedback-error learning applied to an adapted nonlinear feedback controller. Effectiveness of this control method is confirmed by the neural network simulation program named NeuroLab and is experimented data measured by the control system constructed with the digital signal processing unit.


Since the 21st century pirate activities in Southeast Asia have become well-organized,and characteristic of colluding with the terrorists,but at the same time pirate attacks have decreased,which is closely related to the joint efforts of Asian countries.Asia's Fight Against Piracy and Armed Robbery Against Ships Cooperation Agreement is still not adequate in recognition of piracy and armed robbery against ships and provisions of the cooperation mechanisms.So we have to make up for the inadequacy of the provisions of the Convention.


To evaluate the efficacy and safety of combined therapy with sodium‐glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT‐2) inhibitors plus pioglitazone versus pioglitazone alone in type 2 diabetic patients.


Democratic socialization is viewed from a cognitive developmental perspective, in which hypothetico-deductive thinking and exposure to democratic models are seen as necessary, but not sufficient to development of democratic values. The cognitive abstracting of democratic principles is thought to be dependent on more flexible inductive thinking for a humanistic resolution to social conflict. Consequently, the constructing of democratic principles by an individual is inextricably associated with his valuing them. From this perspective, a taxonomy of democratic development is offered. Relevant literature is surveyed to indicate correlates between socio-moral-cognitive development and democratic socialization. A need for curricular emphasis in education to foster democratic behaviors is suggested.


G = H⊕M, [H,H] ⊂ H, [H,M] ⊂ M. (3) There are different methods of studying correlation functions of gauged WZNW models such as the free field realization approach or the fermionization technik [2]. We shall pursue a different idea which is paralell to the analysis of the gravitational dressing of 2D field theories [3]. Our starting point are the equations of motion of the gauged WZNW model: ∇̄(∇gg) = 0, ∇gg|H = 0, (4) ∂̄A − ∂Ā + [A, Ā] = 0, where


The effects of crossflow on the growth rate of inviscid Ggrtler vortices in a hypersonic boundary layer with pressure gradient are studied in this paper. Attention is focussed on the inviscid mode trapped in the temperature adjustment layer; this mode has greater growth rate than any other mode. The eigenvalue problem which governs the relationship between the growth rate, the crossflow amplitude and the wavenumber is solved numerically, and the results are then used to clarify the effects of crossflow on the growth rate of inviscid Ggrtler vortices. It is shown that crossflow effects on GSrtler vortices are fundamentally different for incompressible and hypersonic flows. The neutral mode eigenvalue problem is found to have an exact solution, and as a by-product, we have also found the exact solution to a neutral mode eigenvalue problem which was formulated, but unsolved before, by Bassom and Hall (1991). *This research was supported in part by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under NASA Contract No. NASl-18605 while the second author was in residence at the Institute for Computer Applications in Science and Engineering (ICASE), NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA 23665. This work was also partially supported by NASA under Grant NASA 18107 and by USAF under Grant AFOSR89-0042.


In order to study the effect of various risk factors on the prevalence of subclinical mastitis, we studied the prevalence of subclinical mastitis in 104 dairy cows (416 udders) from 18 bovine herds in three wilayas in eastern of Algeria using the California mastitis test (CMT) combined with bacteriological analysis. The aim of this research was to determine the effect of 27 risk factors related to the animal, its environment and milking practices on prevalence, as well as the effects of breed, age, stage of lactation, housing and litter type, hygiene level, season, mil production, vacuum level and elimination of first jets on subclinical mastitis frequency. A survey was carried out to collect data on cow numbers, breeds, type of breeding, housing, litter and the level of hygiene in farms, the method of milking and milking practices. The CMT combined with bacteriological examination was performed to detect subclinical mastitis, the Chi 2 test was used to test for difference between the means. Prevalence values were: 24% by CMT vs 17% by bacteriology analysis. Concerning udders, we recorded a rate of 10% vs. 8.7% respectively. The results of the survey show that the Holstein breed is the most exploited and affected (P<0.05). The number of dairy cows varied from 3 to 20 cows. In this study, 56% of cows were raised on farms built of cinder blocks, which had a lower rate compared to farms built of wood and reeds (P<0.001). Animal housing consisting of a concrete floor 33% vs. 36% raised with straw bedding and were more affected (P<0.001), litter is removed only once a day for 13% of cows, which is a factor that predisposes cows to this disease. The frequency is higher during early and late compared to mid-lactation phases (P<0.05); low udder conformation and the right side of udders also had an impact on this disease alongside animal hygiene (P<0.05), and cattle producing more than 12 litres per day were more susceptible (P<0.05). However, the frequency of mastitis was only slightly modified by the lactation number of cows. High and low vacuum level of milking machines and pulsation frequency predisposed cows more to this disease (P<0.05). In this study, cows milked manually were significantly more affected (P<0.05) particularly in summer and the winter, showing high rates (P<0.05).


During the past Session the following Papers were read at General Meetings of the Society:— November nth, 1913. Mr. Ellis H. Minns: Two Greek Documents of the First Century B.C. from near Avroman in Western Media (see below). February 10th, 1914. Miss Jane Harrison : Poseidon and the Minotaur (see below). May 5th, 1914. Professor Ridgeway : The Early Iron Age in the Aegean Area (see below). June 23rd, 1914. Dr. Walter Leaf: Presidential Address. T H E ANNUAL MEETING was held at Burlington House on June 23rd, 1914. At this meeting Dr. Walter Leaf was unanimously elected President of the Society for a term of five years. Mr. George A. Macmillan, Hon. Secretary, presented the following Annual Report of the Council:—


THIS PAPER DEALS WITH A L L K I N D S of books manufactured for sale. While each category cannot be discussed in detail, the bookmaking problems of all groups have a common base; unless otherwise indicated, the statements that follow can be regarded as generally applicable. Initially, certain basic terms should be defined: bookmaking encompasses design, composition, illustration, platemaking, printing, binding, and the materials used therein; design is the conception, planning, and specification of the physical form of the book; production is the execution of the design; cover refers to an attached outer covering of the book; and jacket refers to a separate wrapper. Bookmaking is so much a product of its economic and cultural environment that any treatment of its development must relate to the factors which control and affect it: ( 1 ) The needs of other departments of publishing (editorial, sales, etc.); (2 ) Industry factors (technical improvements, labor supply, etc.); ( 3 ) Economic conditions in general as well as within the industry; and ( 4 ) cultural patterns (aesthetics, reading habits, education, leisure). The history of bookmaking in America reveals its close association with the broad problems of publishing. Indeed, from 1639, when the first book was printed in the colonies until the nineteenth century, the printer was publisher and bookseller as well, and in some notable instances, still is. Working with presses little different from Gutenberg's, he became increasingly involved in the complexities of publishing until it was impractical to operate these functions and the craft of printing from one office. Separation began with the advent of the steam-powered press about 1815,when printing became a major business in itself. With power presses capable of devouring all the handmade paper produced, it was fortunate that papermaking ma-


Carbon nanodots (C-dots) are fascinating carbon materialsthat are attracting increasing interest because they possessdistinct benefits, such as chemical inertness, a lack of opticalblinking, low photobleaching, low cytotoxicity, and excellentbiocompatibility, compared with organic dyes and othersemiconductor nanodots with heavy metal cores.


Task allocation is a critical phase of project management. Tree-type structures are frequently used constraints to obtain a pertinent task allocation. They can illustrate where one task may require numerous agents and when an agent can be assigned to different tasks (roles). The process of task allocation is made more complex when administrators need to satisfy sequential and fixed branch relationships between/among tasks (roles). This paper formalizes the tree-structured task allocation problem (TSTAP) with group multirole assignment (GMRA) and proves necessary conditions, the necessary and sufficient condition, as well as sufficient conditions, of TSTAP. The formalization makes it easy to find a solution with the IBM ILOG CPLEX optimization package (CPLEX). The necessary conditions improve the CPLEX solution by eliminating infeasible cases. The necessary and sufficient condition describes the solution space of TSTAP completely. Another exciting result is that the sufficient conditions can not only improve the CPLEX solution by describing a practical approximate solution space but also help decision-makers and human resource officers organize a team in order to successfully assign tasks. The proposed approach is verified by simulation experiments with respect to a real-world problem. The experimental results present the practicability of the proposed solutions in this paper. This paper was motivated by general cooperative projects whose tasks have tree-structured relationships. This can make the problem of successful multitask assignment extremely challenging. The traditional method of assignment such as the KM algorithm can no longer solve this problem. To solve the assignment problem with tree-structured relationships, an efficient many-to-many assignment with constraints is required. The proposed approach provides theoretical and technical foundations for efficient assignment of TSTA, which can not only provide a viable and effective assignment scheme for TSTA problems but also help human resource officers to formulate reasonable plans according to the relationships between/among tasks.


Renal transplant in highly sensitised patients is associated with increased morbidity. The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the clinical evolution of 30 highly sensitised deceased donor kidney transplants and the influence of different timing of B cell directed treatment and its importance in the outcome of these patients. All recipients had negative complement dependent lymphocytotoxicity cytotoxic T cell crossmatch and no identified anti human leucocyte antigen class I donor specific antibodies. T cell flow crossmatch was performed within 24h of transplantation with serum obtained pretransplant (historic, recent or baseline). Posttransplant flow crossmatch were performed prospectively starting on the 3rd posttransplantation day. The immunosuppressive regime included thymoglobulin, tacrolimus, mycofenolate mofetil and steroids.


A new method for remote-sensing image fusion based on variational methods and the image objective evaluation model is proposed. Different from the previous methods, the proposed method does not mak...


The progress in structure and function of receptor-like cytoplasmic kinase in resistance response,stress tolerance,growth and development,self-incompatibility,brassinosteroid signaling transduction in plants were reviewed.


Additive manufacturing is the industrial production name for 3D printing, a computer controlled process that creates 3D objects by depositing materials usually in layers. Using computer aided design (CAD) or 3D object scanners, additive manufacturing allows for the creation of objects with precise geometric shapes. Additive manufacturing processes take the information from a computer-aided design (CAD) file that is later converted to a stereo lithography (STL) file. These are built layer by layer which is in contrast to traditional manufacturing that often requires machining or other techniques to remove surplus material. Additive manufacturing has introduced a novel method in design, manufacturing, and distribution to end to end users. This technology has provided great freedom in design for creating complex components, highly customizable products and efficient waste minimization. This paper mainly concentrates on raising the importance of additive manufacturing and how additive manufacturing has advantages over conventional manufacturing process. Additive manufacturing has revolutionized the production industry by providing Freedom of design; less wastage of raw material, the desired product can be manufactured by adding materials of desired properties. The additive manufacturing includes VAT polymerization, powder sintering, hybrid, 3D printing, metal extrusion, Sheet lamination, metal jetting, Direct energy deposition..


An engineering application system in fracture mechanics was developed.It can make quick assessment for assembled vats,pressure vessels,rotational components and welded structures by using K,COD and J integral criterions and for large casting/forging components by using FATT criterion.It provides the practicing engineers with a useful tool in design and analysis of engineering components and can save much time and expense.A great deal of knowledge,method and experience were collected and knowledge bases,data bases and their base management system were built for various component types.A general inference engine and a set of track explanation engine which ensure the inference process visible and reliable were established.It is an open system which may be broadened and perfected to cover a wider range of engineering applications through the modification and enlargement of the knowledge and data bases.


Catching the attention of a new acquaintance and empathize with her can improve the social skills of a robot. For this reason, we illustrate here the first step towards a system which can be used by a social robot in order to "break the ice" between a robot and a new acquaintance. After a training phase, the robot acquires a sub-symbolic coding of the main concepts being expressed in tweets about the IAB Tier-1 categories. Then this knowledge is used to catch the new acquaintance interests, which let arouse in her a joyful sentiment. The analysis process is done alongside a general small talk, and once the process is finished, the robot can propose to talk about something that catches the attention of the user, hopefully letting arise in him a mix of feelings which involve surprise and joy, triggering, therefore, an engagement between the user and the social robot.


The { ̄1 012 } tensile twins terminating inside the grains of a deformed Mg-Y alloy were investigated by transmission electron microscopy. The crystallographic features of terminating twins and associated slip structures were quantified and correlated. The local stresses developed at a terminating { ̄1 012 } twin were computed using crystal plasticity simulations in order to interpret the observed slip patterns. Results indicate that both basal 〈 a 〉 and 〈 c + a 〉 matrix glide were involved in accommodating the plastic stresses developed in the vicinity of terminating twins. Along the twin boundary, the defect contrast consistent with that of lattice dislocations and twinning partials was observed. Based on these observations, a dislocation reaction is proposed that establishes an interrelationship between the observed matrix glide and { ̄1 012 } twinning in Mg-Y alloys. © 2020 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.


After a solemn introduction in 2 Corinthians 5:20 Paul addresses the Corinthian community with the aorist imperative passive καταλλάγητe which is invariably translated into English as tbe reconciledt. There seems to be a far-reaching consensus that the human activity that is commanded by Paul in imperative is limited to the acceptance of God's gift of reconciliation that Paul had elaborated upon in 5:18-19. This chapter focuses on tmysteryt of καταλλάγητe in 2 Cor. 5:20d. It undertakes a grammatical analysis of aorist passives in general. It then discusses the meaning of the aorist passive forms of διαλλάσσω and καταλλάσσω in Greek literature. Finally, it turns to an interpretation of 2 Cor. 5:20d in its immediate context. This analysis stresses that in 2 Cor. 5:14-21 as elsewhere Paul does not speak about human activity without having stated God's initiative. If human persons are active, they were enabled by God for such activity. Keywords: καταλλάγητe; Corinthians; God; Greek literature; human activity; interpretation; Paul; reconciled


In this final project, the objectives of the study was to find out the error of Unnes English Students in using conditional sentence orally and how is the students' achievement in using it orally.
To achieve the objectives of the study, the writer conducted a case and field study and quantitative research. The experiment was held in Unnes English Department with the subjects are 8th semester of the English Department majoring in education students
In solving the problems, the writer carried out an experimental study using question and answer instrument to gather the data and use the modificational brown's scoring method in scoring the data.
I tried out the instrument I constructed to find out that the instrument was able to elicit the answer and find out the validity and the reliability of the test. After trying out the instrument, I did the research by transcribing the recorded data that had been taken orally by using the method of question and answer.
The result of the test showed that the students in the range of scoring achieve grade A reach 35 %, grade B 10%, grade C 20%, grade D 15%, and grade E 20%. The highest score of the subject was 100 and the lowest score was 40. The mean of the result was 76.45. The data show that the average ability of the subjects are in the grade C. the highest level of error in using this conditional sentence orally is in conditional sentence type 3. The mean of precentage is 41.7% of the subjects are able to use this conditional sentence type 1 well. It means more than a half of the subjects are not able to use this material well. In conditional sentence type 1, there is no serious problem with this material. The mean of precentage is 90.7% shows that almost of the subjects are able to use this conditional sentence type 1 orally well. And also for conditional sentence type 2, there is no serious problem. The score mean is 5.05, and the precentage mean is 72.1%. That menas that they are able enough to use it orally.
Students of Unnes English Department is expected to improve their ability in conditional sentence. Good enough is not enough because they are going to be a teacher. That means, they should be precisely perfect in order to be a good role model in this material.


Now the whole life of a person has switched to online mode. These changes also affected the education system. This means the need to introduce new technologies into the educational process. Books, manuals, printed publications are being replaced by electronic educational resources. Providing up-to-date, verified information to students has always been and remains one of the most important functions of the teacher. Unfortunately, with the transition of training to the online mode, the teacher cannot use his literature when conducting classes. In this regard, there is a need to use electronic resources. On the one hand, the development of the global network implies the presence of a large number of a wide variety of sites, which cannot but be a positive aspect, because both the teacher and the student can independently choose a resource that will be most understandable. But on the other hand, the variety of Internet resources implies the presence of unverified, false information, which can negatively affect the quality of education. That is why it is necessary to analyze new information systems. The problem is the presence of a large number of information technologies and resources used in education. Purpose. The goal is to conduct a comparative analysis of educational electronic publications and resources most often used by teachers of the natural science cycle in terms of their fullness, accessibility and use in the educational process. Method or methodology of the work. The requirements for the organization of a comprehensive examination suggest an approach that includes an examination of technical and technological, psychological, pedagogical and design-ergonomic aspects of the creation and use of educational electronic publications and resources, in our work we were based precisely on generalized research methods: 1) Technical and technological expertise (technical component of the site, its position in the network). 2) Psychological and pedagogical expertise (component by the type of educational electronic publication or resource, level of education, type and form of the educational process, assessment of the content and scenario of the informatization tool). 3) Design-ergonomic expertise (assessment of the quality of interface components of educational electronic publications and resources, their compliance with uniform ergonomic, aesthetic and health-saving requirements; assessment of the quality of interface components of educational electronic editions and resources, their compliance with uniform ergonomic, aesthetic and health-saving requirements). Results. The main sites that are frequently used by teachers of the natural science cycle of disciplines are the Russian Textbook corporation, the Enlightenment group of companies, the Binom publishing house, the Digital Age School, the practical significance of the study is determined by the high level of readiness of the results obtained, during the study it was found that it is advisable to introduce an information-electronic educational site - the Russian textbook corporation - into the pedagogical practice of the implementation of natural science subjects. The advantages of this server were established and recommendations for its use in the educational process were developed. Practical implications: the results obtained are expedient to be applied in educational institutions of the Russian Federation.


A technique for thinning 1 mm wire samples of aluminium and aluminium-alumina alloys for transmission electron microscopy is described. The essential feature of the technique, which involves spark machining and electropolishing in a polytetrafluoroethylene holder followed by chemical polishing, is the application of a protective coating during polishing.


5589 Background: To determine the incidence of adnexal and lymph node (LN) metastases in endometrial stromal sarcoma (ESS).

METHODS
We identified all cases evaluated at our institution with a diagnosis of ESS from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 2007. All uterine pathology was reviewed at our center. High-grade or undifferentiated tumors and ESS arising in extrauterine sites were excluded. Pertinent clinical data were abstracted from electronic medical records. Appropriate statistical tests were performed using SPSS 15.0.

RESULTS
We identified 91 cases with ESS. All except two underwent hysterectomy. Eighty-four cases (92%) underwent salpingo-oophorectomy (bilateral in 81 [96%]). Adnexal metastases were identified in 8 (9.5%) of 84 cases. All adnexal metastases were manifested by gross adnexal tumor and occurred in patients with other gross pelvic extrauterine disease. Seven of these 8 patients also had lymph-vascular space invasion (LVSI). LVSI status was not reported in the other patient. In patients with gross pelvic extrauterine disease, adnexal metastasis did not affect survival. LN metastases were identified in 8 (24%) of the 34 patients who underwent LN evaluation. Thirty-three evaluations were performed intraoperatively and one was via postoperative CT-guided biopsy of an enlarged LN. Five of the 8 cases with LN metastases had LVSI. LVSI status was not reported in the other 3 cases. Of 20 patients with disease grossly limited to the uterus and grossly normal LN, 2 (10%) had LN metastases. Both of these cases had LVSI and extensive myoinvasion approaching the serosa. Four of the remaining 6 patients with LN metastases had grossly positive LN and other gross extrauterine disease. The final 2 patients had grossly positive LN without other extrauterine disease.

CONCLUSIONS
The incidence of LN metastases in ESS is most commonly associated with gross extrauterine disease, extensive myoinvasion and LVSI. However, since myoinvasion and LVSI status often are not assessable at the time of initial hysterectomy, LN dissection remains a reasonable option at primary surgery. The rate of adnexal metastasis appears to be negligible in the absence of gross adnexal and extrauterine tumor, but there may be a role for oophorectomy in the hormonal management of ESS. No significant financial relationships to disclose.


Introduction & Somatostatin, a peptide hormone released by neurons and secretory cells in the central and peripheral nervous system and in the gastrointestinal tract, has a broad inhibitory effect on the secretion of multiple pituitary, pancreatic and gastrointestinal hormones including growth hormone (GH), insulin and glucagon [1] . In addition, anti-infl ammatory effects have been described, but data regarding the role of somatostatin in infl ammation are controversial [2] . Effects of somatostatin are mediated through specifi c membrane somatostatin receptors (SSTR) that form a distinct group in the superfamily of Gprotein coupled receptors. To date, fi ve human receptor subtypes have been cloned [3] , which can be considered to form two subfamilies, consisting of SSTR2, SSTR3, and SSTR5 making up one family, and SSTR1 and SSTR4 forming the second family [4] . Expression of specifi c SSTR subtypes has been demonstrated in peripheral blood cells [5] , and pro-infl ammatory cytokines like tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF ) can reduce SSTR expression levels [6] . Population-based studies have demonstrated that subclinical infl ammation in the pathogenesis of T2DM is characterized by elevated serum levels of C-reactive protein, interleukin (IL)-6, TNF, and other immune mediators [7, 8] . Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that SSTR expression is down-regulated in peripheral blood cells from T2DM patients.


Controversy continues regarding the relation between the quality of Papanicolaou (Pap) smears, especially the presence of endocervical cells (ECC), with the finding of cytologic abnormalities.


Address correspondence to : Rajiv Agarwal, MD, Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, Indiana University and RLR VA Medical Center, 1481 West 10th St., 111N, Indianapolis, IN 46202, or e-mail: email@example.com. Although hypertension sets in early in the course of renal disease, nearly seven of eight patients on hemodialysis have hypertension. While nephrologists recognize hypertension and commonly prescribe treatment, control of hypertension is dismal (1). The epidemic of hypertension is worldwide, and in this issue of Seminars in Dialysis an international team of experts discusses the issues of diagnosis, pathophysiology, epidemiology, and treatment of hypertension in hemodialysis patients. The first two chapters discuss assessment of hypertension in hemodialysis patients. Due to volume swings in anephric patients, large changes in blood pressure are often seen. Lazar et al. emphasize the need for accurate determination of blood pressure; they propose guidelines on how to make accurate blood pressure measurements using a standardized technique. Subsequently Covic et al. discuss the advantages of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, especially with respect to accuracy, assessment of a decrease in blood pressure with sleep ("dipping"), and end organ damage. The next two chapters deal with pathophysiology. Wilson et al. discuss the central role of excess sodium and water in the pathophysiology of hypertension. Blankestijn and Ligtenberg emphasize the important role of the sympathetic nervous system, renin angiotensin system, and other constrictor pathways in the genesis of hemodialysis hypertension. The epidemiology of hypertension is discussed by Lynn and Foley. The relationship of high blood pressure to cardiovascular events and total mortality is discussed by Lynn. How consideration of cardiac failure in hypertensive hemodialysis patients may explain the myth of "reverse epidemiology" is discussed by Foley. Flanigan proposes that changing the delivery of sodium through dialysate can impact the control of hypertension. Ahmed emphasizes dietary sodium reduction in blood pressure control. Recognizing that most patients will need pharmacologic treatment for high blood pressure, Hörl and Hörl discuss the management of hypertension with pharmacologic therapies. The advantages and disadvantages of each class of drugs and consideration of pharmacokinetics when prescribing are emphasized. Increased frequency and duration of dialysis can improve blood pressure and cardiovascular structure and function. These emerging techniques are discussed by Saad et al. Finally, in the last two chapters, the cardiac and noncardiac vascular consequences of hypertension are discussed by Zocalli et al. and van der Sande et al., respectively. I hope that the reviews contained in this issue of Seminars have compiled the current state of the art that will allow nephrologists to make informed decisions when managing high blood pressure in end-stage renal disease. Also, I hope that this information will challenge research in this nascent area, so that we can impact cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in end-stage renal disease.


The spectrum of small perturbations about oscillating bounce solutions recently discussed in the literature is investigated. Our study supports quite intuitive and expected result: the bounce with N nodes has exactly N homogeneous negative modes. Existence of more than one negative modes makes obscure the relation of these oscillating bounce solutions to the false vacuum decay processes.


The development of temperature-driven pest risk thresholds is a prerequisite for the buildup and implementation of smart plant protection solutions. However, the challenge is to convert short and abrupt phenology data with limited distributional information into ecological relevant information. In this work, we present a novel approach to analyze phenology data based on non-parametric Bayesian methods and develop degree-day (DD) risk thresholds for Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) to be used in a decision support system for dry bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) production. The replication of each Bayesian bootstrap generates a posterior probability for each sampling set by considering that the prior unknown distribution of pest phenology is Dirichlet distribution. We computed R = 10,000 temperature-driven pest phenology replicates, to estimate the 2.5%, 50% and 95.5% percentiles (PC) of each flight generation peak in terms of heat summations. The related DD thresholds were: 114.04 (PC 2.5%) 131.8 (PC 50%) and 150.9 (PC 95.5%) for the first, 525.8 (PC 2.5%), 551.7 (PC 50%) and 577.6 (PC 95.5%) for the second and 992.7 (PC 2.5%), 1021.5 (PC 50%) and 1050 (PC 95.5%) for the third flight, respectively. The thresholds were evaluated by estimating the posterior differences between the predicted (2021) and observed (2022) phenology metrics and are in most cases in acceptable levels. The bootstrapped Bayesian risk thresholds have the advantage to be used in modeling short and noisy data sets providing tailored pest forecast without any parametric assumptions. In a second step the above thresholds were integrated to a sub-module of a digital weather-driven real time decision support system for precise pest management for dry bean crops. The system consists of a customized cloud based telemetric meteorological network, established over the border area of the Prespa National Park in Northern Greece, and delivers real time data and pest specific forecast to the end user.


In this paper, the authors describe how the tragic events of 11 September 2001 have resulted in an urgent requirement for improved and enhanced security measures at airports, larger facilities and transportation networks.


The diagnosis and treatment of pheochromocytoma depend critically on localization of the tumor. Recently, with the advance of molecular imaging and nuclear medicine, the radionuclide imaging methods for the localization are developing greatly, including scintigraphy after administration of 123 I-or 131 I-labeled metaiodobenzylguanidine( 123 I/ 131 I-MIBG), positron emission tomography (PET), the application of radiolabelled somatostatin analogue like octreotide and so on. So far, MIBG scintigraphy have been widely used in many clinical centers, as a useful measure to localize the tumor especially extra-adrenal focus conveniently. In some studies, PET and somatostatin analogue scanning both succeed in finding the small minority of pheochromocytomas that do not accumulate MIBG. They make the diagnosis more sensitive together with MIBG. However, there is little experience with PET imaging and radiolabelled octreotide scintigraphy,which need further study and evaluation.


Piston ring suitable for an aluminum cylinder, or for use in combination with an aluminum cylinder with a nitride layer at least on a sliding surface, wherein the starting material of the piston ring is a special steel, of 0.4 to 0.75 weight percent carbon, and from 7.0 to 11.0 weight percent chromium and the nitride layer has a hardness of HV 900 - having 1090, characterized in that the aluminum cylinder is made of a hypereutectic aluminum-silicon alloy.


Adiponectin is secreted by adipocyte and has antiatherosclerosis effect by adiponectin receptors.Atherosclerosis is the performance of the diabetic macroangiopathy.and the stroke which induced by the diabetic macroangiopathy is with high morbidity and severe performance.In this article,we discuss the relationship between plasma adiponectin level and diabetic cerebrovascular disease.


Saudi Aramco operates several electrostatic coalescers for bulk emulsion separation and crude desalting. One of the major challenges in operating electrostatic coalescers is the potential buildup of tight emulsions and a rag layer at the interface layer, which causes short-circuiting of the electrostatic grids which increases the risk excessive carryover of water with the crude. Conventional liquid level instrumentation cannot measure the thickness of emulsion layers since the level taps are at the clean oil and water layers. Consequently, the buildup of emulsions is normally not detected by operators.
 A capacitance-based emulsion detection system was installed at one of the electrostatic coalescers of a Saudi Aramco facility. The system is comprised of multiple probes installed at various elevations in the vessel. Each probe measures the capacitance of the liquid in which it is immersed in. The data is then transmitted to the DCS, where an algorithm computes the oil/water content. Saudi Aramco developed an enhanced predictive alarm logic and advisory tool using the measured capacitance data so that operations may take preemptive measures to prevent upsets from occurring.
 The alarm system was tested over an extended period of time and it has shown that it can accurately detect the buildup of emulsions prior to an upset in the electrostatic coalescer. What is unique about the system is that it utilizes a combination of absolute capacitance measurements and capacitance variations in the algorithm. Emulsion buildups are detected by the alarm system hours before a potential upset, providing operators ample time to take preemptive measures such as increasing the demulsifier injection rate, desludging the vessel or lowering the interface level. The system significantly reduced the number of electrostatic coalescer upsets at the facility and crude quality was enhanced. Upon inspection of the probes during shutdowns, no buildup of deposits, which impacts capacitance readings, were found on the probes since a flushing system was installed. The alarm system has been utilized for four years with no major issues.
 Utilizing the capacitance probes to develop an algorithm for an alarm system is a novel technique to detect emulsion layer buildup hours prior to a potential electrostatic grid upset. Large-scale deployment is more economical as it is more cost-effective than radioactive profilers and is logistically easier to manage.


A 54-year-old man complained of pain and livid discoloration of the left big toe three weeks after a local anesthetic procedure. The routine laboratory parameters were normal. The left pedal pulses were not palpable. Duplex sonography revealed absence of flow in the pedal arteries. Angiography was performed with the crossover technique, without any immediate complication: the angiogram showed an unusual occlusion of all three arteries of the lower leg at the level of the ankle. An interdisciplinary discussion of the further management of the case was planned, but, before this could take place, the patient sustained an acute occlusion of the common iliac artery, which was then treated with catheter-assisted thrombectomy and local fibrinolysis in the leg. A few hours later, hemiparesis developed and CT scanning revealed multiple intracranial hemorrhages, consistent with hemorrhagic metastases, as well as a large pancreatic mass with hepatic metastases. The patient died a few weeks later. Thromboembolism due to tumor-induced coagulopathy was first described by Armand Trousseau in 1865. The term "Trousseau syndrome" generally refers to venous thromboses in tumor patients, but, in this case, pathological thrombi formed in the arterial circulation. An as yet undiagnosed malignancy should enter into the differential diagnosis of any unusual arterial occlusion.


THE investigation of a new anti-microbial drug usually progresses from the test-tube to successful trials in animals followed by a cautious clinical appraisal, and the study of 5-iodo-2-deoxyuridine (IUdR), following this course, led to an accepted treatment for herpetic keratitis. In the treatment of the brain infections the order has been reversed and clinical use of pyrimidine analogues has preceded the accumulation of any satisfactory evidence from animal experiments. I propose to assess the evidence available in the literature and from our own work. Two general matters should be clarified before turning to details. First the obvious, but frequently neglected point, that to be useful a drug must affect the course of an established infection and experiments in which the drug is given before, or at the same time, as the infecting virus, have little relevance. Second, the question of the 'blood-brain barrier' and whether it is permeable to pyrimidine analogues. Clarkson, Oppelt & Byvoet (1967) studied the passage ofIUdR from plasma to cerebrospinal fluid of dogs, but they ignored the tissue of the cerebrum in which the virus replicates. Even if given the knowledge that the drug does penetrate herpes infected brain, it would still be necessary to find out whether it influences the course ofthe disease. At the present, experimental results have to be interpreted without any direct information on the penetration of brain by iodo-deoxyuridine or cytosine-arabinoside.


The article examines the use of expert systems during the development strategy of modeling business processes that are resistant to the actual conditions of market risk.


Objective:To analyze the etiology and drug sensitivity of the patients with bronchiectasis complicating infection.Methods:88 inpatients with bronchiectasis complicating infection in our hospital were performed sputum culture and drug sensitivity test.The results were retrospectively analyzed.Results:In sputum culture,45 cases were positive with the positive rate of 51.5%.Most common pathogen was Pseudomonas aeraginosa.Conclusion:Gram-negative bacillus,especially Pseudomonas aeruginosa,is the main factor causing bronchiectasis complicating infection and exacerbation to hospitalization.In use of antibacterials,the drug effective to Pseudomonas aeruginosa should be selected.


We present ongoing efforts on the development of precision Wolter mirrors for the Soft X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (SXIS) aboard PhoENiX mission proposed to JAXA for studying mechanism(s) of particle acceleration and its relationship with magnetic reconnection in solar flares. The Wolter mirrors for PhoENiX/SXIS are made by direct polishing of glass-ceramic substrates. So far, we succeeded in fabricating a small size of high precision Wolter surfaces (e.g., PSF core size of ~0.2 arcsec HPD at 8 keV) as well as good indication of extending the mirror area along the cylindrical direction. Recent status of the mirror development will be reported.


In the period of renewal and international integration like today, knowing another language is a very necessary thing. Therefore, the demand for and the number of language learners is increasing, Japanese is not an exception. Therefore, more and more people are approaching Japanese culture through many forms including Manga reading. Manga (Japanese comic) has been introduced to our country since the 90s and has left a deep impression on the comic market in our country. Manga for a long time has been an indispensable "dish" in the daily spiritual life of many people. Not only for entertainment properties only but manga also bring a greater meaning than that. This is also one of the forms of promoting Japanese culture to the world. In addition to the above, manga is also an interesting way to learn Japanese. Especially, it makes it easier for Japanese learners to memorize words, absorb Japanese culture, and use words. In this article, we will answer the reasons why reading manga in learning Japanese will show the benefits and limitations of too abusing manga to absorb Japanese.


The report analyzes the planning, organization, and operation of commuter van programs (often called van pools) in the U.S. and Canada. More than 30 existing operations have been examined and classified by considering the major organizational arrangements for providing the service. The potential benefits van commuting generates for the users, employers and community are discussed, and the paper presents guidelines on the demand environment and indicates the service characteristics that are likely to be important in attracting riders. Major legal issues including public regulation, competition with bus transit, liability and insurance, and implications of driver compensation are also reviewed. The potential for widespread van programs and the proposals for large-scale, areawide van service are also discussed.


Since the mid-1980's, calls to reform high schools have been numerous. The focus of the reforms included revising curriculum, restructuring the organization of schools, and developing learning communities within schools. General and special education teachers at Hartford High School developed CLUB (Committed to Learning, Understanding, and Belonging), a project which restructured the sophomore schedule to create within-school communities emphasizing interdisciplinary curricula and students' sense of belonging in school. This study focused on students' perceptions of their experiences in project CLUB. Focus group interviews were conducted with students enrolled in CLUB, revealing their perceptions about high school in general, relationships with their peers, relationships with their CLUB teachers, engaging interdisciplinary curricula, and their sense of their own learning. While the data show that such efforts to restructure school and revise curricula are promising, the authors suggest several cautions for educators to consider in developing interdisciplinary, within- school communities like CLUB. The Context of Reform Since the mid- 1980's, calls to reform education have been numerous. Some educators have proposed revising the traditional school curriculum to reflect new understandings of how students learn. Others have expressed concern with the apparent lack of prosocial development among adolescents. Others have argued further that any effort of reform will be futile unless we restructure the organization of schooling. Johnson, Johnson, Holubec and Roy (1984) reported that a substantial number of students feel isolated and disconnected from their parents, teachers and peers. Jacobs (1989) reminded us that "8 times a day, students leap out of their seats every 40 minutes and rush for 5 minutes to another setting, another subject, another teacher, another set of students" (p. 4). Johnson and his colleagues concluded that teachers are less accessible due to bureaucratic demands on their time and that instructional methods are equally impersonal (Johnson, et al., 1984). Marzano and his colleagues (Marzano et al., 1992) emphasized the importance of the learning environment and that the degree to which students feel accepted and comfortable relates to their abilities to learn. McDermott (1982) argued that contexts in which teachers and students have the resources to work together in a trusting environment are necessary for students to have the time and energy to devote themselves to learning. Noddings (1992) stated that the typical structures of schools work against an environment of trust and caring. Graves and Graves (1985) also emphasized the importance of the learning environment, stating it is imperative that greater attention be given to the processes of interaction in school. Typically, students' experience of learning has been piecemeal (Jacobs, 1989: Graves and Graves, 1985), with the expectation that students are able to create both social and academic connections on their own. Rather, as Graves and Graves proposed, a holistic approach to learning is necessary, enlisting a network of teachers to contribute to and to support students' learning. For the past several years, teachers and administrators at Hartford High School(1), a professional development high school (PDS) in Michigan, with strong ties to Michigan State University (MSU), have made efforts to respond to recent calls to reform high school education. Hartford, a small community outside the Lansing capital area, has an economically and increasingly ethnically diverse population One theme to emerge at Hartford High School has been the question of how to better organize interactions among students and adults in school. Thus, CLUB (Committed to Learning, Understanding, and Belonging), evolved as a project in which the sophomore schedule was restructured to create within-school communities to foster genuine relationships among students and teachers in a consistent and supportive learning environment. …


This paper investigates the evolution of industrial structure in Canadian manufacturing and its relationship to technological change. It does so by examining the extent to which plants that make greater use of advanced technologies experience higher growth in market share and productivity. Using recent survey data on technology use at the plant level, the study finds that establishments that had adopted advanced manufacturing technologies by the end of the 1990s, particularly network communications technologies, had superior productivity growth throughout the decade. In turn, gains in relative productivity were accompanied by gains in market share. Copyright 2002, Oxford University Press.


Background : The mode of harvesting autogenous bone grafts can affect the quality of harvested bone and viability. The present study was carried out to evaluate cellular viability, differentiation and proliferative power in autogenous bone graft harvested by auto chip maker versus milled bone block. Materials and Methods: 16 bone samples were harvested. In group I (n=8): auto chip maker (ACM) was used while in group II (n=8): bone blocks were harvested then milled. Flow cytometry, alkaline phosphatase activity, MTT assay, Alizarin Red Staining, and Real-Time PCR were performed. Results: Group I had a significantly higher cell viability. MTT assay revealed a significant increase in cell proliferation in the ACM group. Both groups showed decrease in (RUNX2) gene expression over four days and increase in type 1 collagen alpha 1 and osteocalcin gene expression at 4th evaluation day with a statistical significant higher level of both markers in the ACM group. Conclusion : ACM group showed better osteoblasts viability, proliferation, differentiation, and calcified tissue formation.


Steady state flow boiling experiments were carried out on several heated tubes with outer diameter 9.14 mm at outlet pressures 120, 200 and 300 kPa, inlet temperatures 64, 78 and 91 °C and approximately 400, 500, 600 and 800 kg/(m2·s) mass flux entering the vertically aligned test annulus until critical heat flux (CHF) was reached. The tubes were made of Inconel 625 with a length of 400 mm. The Inconel tubes were tested in three different modifications as smooth, abraded with 150 grit sandpaper and bead blasted. Multiple experiments were repeated on the same specimen to investigate the effect of surface characteristic changes (i.e., wettability, roughness and oxide layer morphology) on the occurrence of CHF. Despite the changes in initial wettability, the CHF dependency was not clearly observed, however, the changes in roughness led to an increase in CHF. The total number of 115 experimental runs were collected and the results were also compared with other literature experimental data.


Traditional pattern-based signatures to identify worms and similar attacks fail when confronted with polymorphic code segments. Developing new types of signatures capable of recognising malicious payload while at the same time allowing for a certain degree of variation within its structure is therefore a large and fast-moving field of research. There are several approaches to this problem, each tackling it from a slightly different angle, but they typically involve the use of byte frequency distributions instead of the more established substrings as signatures. The algorithms used to extract these byte frequency distributions from captured malicious payload also vary depending on the priorities assigned to the various subproblems within the larger task. This project implements one of these signature generation algorithms and tests some of its properties, with the ultimate goal being an evaluation of its usefulness within the NoAH project and Argos. It also proposes a subsystem that could collect and process captured worms in the same way as the SweetBait subsystem within the Argos honeypot architecture.


Background: Internet Gaming Disorder is a dependency pattern that has recently been noted worldwide. The American Psychiatric Association has already embraced Internet gaming disorder as a problem and WHO has decided in 2018 to provisionally include it in ICD-11. Depression is a major public health problem today and is associated with several deprivation patterns. Aim: Through a literature review, investigate various potential relationships between IGD and depression and the role that coping could play in individuals with IGD. Method: A literature-based study of qualitative and quantitative studies sought and collected from the databases Scopus, PsycINFO and PubMed. The articles found were scrutinized for quality and ethics, 15 were selected for content analysis. Results: A correlation between IGD and depression was found in the literature. No causal link can be found. Coping is described as mediator between these two and the individuals who suffer from IGD appear to be more likely to fall into dysfunctional strategies for managing stressful situations. Conclusion: A relationship between IGD and depression exists but the direction of the relationship is unclear and requires more research. Dysfunctional coping is common in individuals with IGD and depression where younger individuals and men are special risk groups.


In a localized routing algorithm, each node currently holding message makes routing decision solely based on the information about itself its neighbors and destination. In a unit graph, two nodes can communicate if and only if the distance between them is no more than the transmission radius, which is the same for each node. A localized routing algorithm that guarantees delivery in connected unit graphs has been described previously. Also, several power, cost and power-cost aware metrics and localized loop-free routing algorithms for wireless networks based on the exact power needed for transmission between two nodes, and/or remaining battery power at nodes were proposed. However, these algorithms did not guarantee the delivery of a message in connected unit graphs. This paper proposes such localized routing algorithms, aimed at minimizing total power for routing a message, or maximizing the total number of routing tasks that a network can perform before a partition. The algorithms are combinations of known greedy power and/or cost aware localized routing algorithms and an algorithm that guarantees delivery. A shortcut procedure is introduced in later algorithm to enhance its performance. The efficiency of proposed algorithms is verified experimentally by comparing their power savings, and the number of routing tasks a network can perform before a node loses all its energy, with, the corresponding shortest weighted path algorithms, and localized algorithms that use fixed transmission power at each node. Significant energy savings (which depend mainly on network density and maximum transmission radius) are obtained.


Narrowly defined, contrastive analysis investigates the differences between pairs (or small sets) of languages against the background of similarities and with the purpose of providing input to applied disciplines such as foreign language teaching and translation studies. With its largely descriptive focus contrastive linguistics provides an interface between theory and application. It makes use of theoretical findings and models of language description but is driven by the objective of applicability. Contrastive studies mostly deal with the comparison of languages that are 'socio-culturally linked', i.e. languages whose speech communities overlap in some way, typically through (natural or instructed) bilingualism.


Accurate and rapid detection in remote sensing images is of great significance in military navigation, environmental monitoring, and civil applications. Due to the small object detection problem of remote sensing images, higher requirements and challenges are put forward for object detection technology. In recent years, the one-stage object detector and the two-stage object detector based on convolutional neural network have made great achievements in the field of image classification and detection. The one-stage object detector is generally superior to the two-stage object detector in detection speed, but the detection accuracy is inferior to the two-stage target detector. In this paper, YOLOv3 is used as a one- stage target detector for small aircraft detection of remote sensing images. We chose appropriate anchors to cover the size distribution in our experimental data by using dimension clusters. The experimental results show that YOLOv3 not only exceeds the conventional one-stage object detector in speed, but also well match the accuracy of the two-stage object detector. The YOLOv3 achieved excellent detection accuracy and low processing time at the same time for small aircraft detection.


Containing fine cassiterite,the magnetic separation tailings from Pb-Zn separation process in Bainiuchang mining area of Mengzi Mining and Metallurgy Co Ltd were used as the raw ore.With BY-9 as collector,P86 as bubble breaker after the sulphide minerals were removed by butyl xanthate,and,BY-5 and sodium carbonate as gangue depressants,rough concentrate with a grade of 8.56% and a recovery of 61.61% can be obtained after the first stage of tin flotation.After the second stage of flotation,a high-tin concentrate with grade and recovery of 53.58% and 81.35% respectively,and a tailings with grade and recovery of 1.84% and 18.65% respectively,were obtained.After these two flotation stages,the total recovery of high-tin concentrate was 50.12% and the recovery of tailings was 11.49%.


The structure and properties of nanoscale magnetic island arrays for bit patterned media (BPM) have been studied. A periodic Si nano-island array was fabricated by nano-imprint-lithography (NIL), with the trenchfilling and flattening achieved by resist spin coating followed by reactive ion back-etching. A Co/Pd multilayer magnetic media with a perpendicular anisotropy was then sputtered and lifted-off so that the processed nanostructure array now has the magnetic material only on the top of the pillars. This process significantly improved the magnetic characteristics of BPM. A planarization by hydrogen silsesquioxane filling reduced the tribological interference of the protruding nanoisland heights in BPM.


This paper examines how values should be assigned to health states when policy decisions must be made about who should receive treatment. The paper demonstrates that, if priority were to be assigned to those people who would benefit most from treatment, standard health-state utilities might fail to identify resource allocations that would maximize total health-related well-being in society. A new measurement instru ment is proposed that is based on the direct comparison of the well-being achieved by different people in various health states and thus captures such community priori ties. A sample of 72 health administration students used the instrument to evaluate speech and mobility dysfunctions as they afflicted hypothetical people who differed by gender, family status, and occupational type. This preliminary analysis indicates that the instrument is feasible to use, and that the valuations of respondents did, for some health conditions, significantly depend on the type of person afflicted. Key words: util ities ; interpersonal comparisons; ethics; health policy; extended-sympathy instrument. (Med Decis Making 1997;17:10-20)


Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that occurs in elder people and affects movement with visible symptoms gradually escalates to a maximum over a period of time. Basic body functions namely walking, hearing, speaking, etc., are affected by this disease. Analysis of this disease can be done using ensemble learning algorithms that produce good results. As a result, the best one picked will have the maximum accuracy in determining if the patient has the condition. Dataset is obtained from the UCI ML (Machine Learning) depository, and is named Parkinson disease dataset which has repeated features that are acoustic in nature and contains a list of 240 cases with 48 different features whose performance metrics are measured by utilizing various ensemble learning techniques. As a consequence, the ideal outcome is chosen with the greatest precision since applications in medical management often demand greater precision and efficiency is of the utmost importance. Random forest, Bagging, AdaBoosting and Gradient Boosting are the models used in the process. These models can be useful to doctors in predicting disease by anticipating the symptoms exhibited in patients.


Objective To test whether or not the modified design of the test implant (intended to increase primary stability) has an equivalent effect on MBL compared to the control. Methods Forty patients were randomly assigned to receive test or control implants to be installed in identically dimensioned bony beds. Implants were radiographically monitored at installation, at prosthetic delivery, and after one year. Treatments were considered equivalent if the 90% confidence interval (CI) for the mean difference (MD) in MBL was in between −0.25 and 0.25 mm. Additionally, several soft tissue parameters and patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) were evaluated. Linear mixed models were fitted for each patient to assess time effects on response variables. Results Thirty-three patients (21 males, 12 females; 58.2 ± 15.2 years old) with 81 implants (47 test, 34 control) were available for analysis after a mean observation period of 13.9 ± 4.5 months (3 dropouts, 3 missed appointments, and 1 missing file). The adjusted MD in MBL after one year was −0.13 mm (90% CI: −0.46–0.19; test group: −0.49; control group: −0.36; p = 0.507). Conclusion Both implant systems can be considered successful after one year of observation. Concerning MBL in the presented setup, equivalence of the treatments cannot be concluded. Registration This trial is registered with the German Clinical Trials Register (ID: DRKS00007877).


Seasonal influenza (also known as flu) is responsible for considerable morbidity and mortality across the globe. The three recognized pathogens that cause epidemics during the winter season are influenza A, B and C. The influenza virus is particularly dangerous due to its mutability. Vaccines are an effective tool in preventing seasonal influenza, and their formulas are updated yearly according to the WHO recommendations. However, in order to facilitate decision-making in the planning of the intervention, policymakers need information on the projected costs and quantities related to introducing the influenza vaccine in order to help governments obtain an optimal allocation of the vaccine each year. In this paper, an approach based on a Controlled Elitism Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (CENSGA) model is introduced to optimize the allocation of the influenza vaccination. A bi-objective model is formulated to control the infection volume, and reduce the unit cost of the vaccination campaign. An SIR (Susceptible–Infected–Recovered) model is employed for representing a potential epidemic. The model constraints are based on the epidemiological model, time management and vaccine quantity. A two-phase optimization process is proposed: guardian control followed by contingent controls. The proposed approach is an evolutionary metaheuristic multi-objective optimization algorithm with a local search procedure based on a hash table. Moreover, in order to optimize the scheduling of a set of policies over a predetermined time to form a complete campaign, an extended CENSGA is introduced with a variable-length chromosome (VLC) along with mutation and crossover operations. To validate the applicability of the proposed CENSGA, it is compared with the classical Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II). The results indicate that optimal vaccination campaigns with compromise tradeoffs between the two conflicting objectives can be designed effectively using CENSGA, providing policymakers with a number of alternatives to accommodate the best strategies. The results are analyzed using graphical and statistical comparisons in terms of cardinality, convergence, distribution and spread quality metrics, illustrating that the proposed CENSGA is effective and useful for determining the optimal vaccination allocation campaigns.


Ion temperature gradient (ITG) modes in helical systems are studied. The gyrokinetic equation for ions, the adiabatic assumption for electrons, and the charge neutrality condition are used with the ballooning representation to derive a kinetic integral equation, which is solved numerically to obtain the linear growth rate, the real frequency, and the eigenfunction of the ITG modes. Using a simple helical field model, cases with L = 2 and 2 < M < 10 are investigated where L and M are the poloidal and toroidal polarity numbers characterizing the helical field ripple, respectively. The effects of the toroidal polarity number M on the dispersion relation and the mode structure of the ITG modes are clarified. 1. lntroduction The ion temperature gradient (ITG) modes are electrostatic drift waves and have been studied as a candidate to explain anomalous heat transport in high temperature plasmas []. For toroidal systems such as tokamaks and stellarators, the properties of the ITG modes are significantly affected by the magnetic field geometry through the VB and curvature drift motion of particles. For tokamaks, the magnetic field strength is given by the large-aspect-ratio approximation as B/Bo = It ,cos0 where 0 is the poloidal angle and e, = r/R is the inverse aspect ratio representing the toroidal ripple where r and R denote the minor and major radii, respectively. Many studies have been done on the ITG modes in tokamaks 12,3,41. In this case,the ITG modes are confined mostly in the outside of the torus,-nl2 < 0 < nl2, which corresponds to the bad curvature region. For helical systems, the magnetic field strength is approximately given by Bl Bo= I-€tcos 0-en cos (Le-M€), (1) where (is the toroidal angle and the term with e6 in the right-hand side represents the helical ripple with the poloidal and toroidal polarity numbers denoted by Z, and M, respectively. For example, we have L = 2 and M = 10 for LHD and L = 2 and M = 8 for CHS. Since the helical magnetic ripple affects the particles' drift motion, the properties of the ITG modes stability in helical systems can be different from those in tokamaks t5l. In the present work, we investigate the properties of the ITG modes for the helical systems with I = 2 and 2 < M < l0 which are compared to the tokamak case. Especially, the effects of the toroidal polarity number …


The utility model provides a real-time monitoring and acousto-optic alarm device for vehicle storage batteries, which comprises a normal voltage detecting circuit, an over-voltage display and alarm circuit, an under-voltage display circuit and an auxiliary battery to realize real-time online detection to operating state of vehicle storage batteries. As for normal battery charge/discharge, a green light works. In case of higher charging voltage, a red light flickers and emits acousto-optic alarm. As to inadequate voltage, a yellow light flickers, thus visually and accurately knowing and grasping battery operating state, judging failure cause and ensuring normal service life of the storage battery. The utility model is characterized in simple structure, lower cost, small size, high durability, easy mounting, convenient operation, great practicality, etc.


The output levels of intensive livestock farms are sustained with imports of feed. The imminent losses associated with the vast nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fluxes through these farms need to be addressed. A blunt reduction of intensity (i.e. output levels) evidently alleviates the environmental pressure but does not necessarily contribute to a proper utilization of resources, among which N and P. The present paper shows some alternative nutrient management options.


The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of product quality and brand image on purchase decisions Asus laptop. The population in this study were students of the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Stikubank (Unisbank) Semarang, which in 2014 amounted to 1699 students. Samples were selected from students who purchase and or use the Asus laptop. Determination of the number of samples by using the formula Slovin. Based on this formula, the number of samples in this study defined as many as 100 students. Data collected by using a questionnaire. Data already collected then tabulated and tested by using validity and reliability. After fulfilling the criteria of valid and reliable, the multiple regression analysis to obtain information influence of each independent variable on the dependent variable. The results showed, that the quality of the product is not positive and significant impact on purchasing decisions Asus laptop, while the brand image positive and significant impact on purchasing decisions Asus laptop. The results of this study are still too low to explain the factors that influence the purchase decision, because only limited to two independent variables, while it was still a lot of other variables that can influence purchasing decisions. In addition, this study only examined students into consumers Asus laptop at the Faculty of Economics and Business Unisbank Semarang. Therefore, it is advisable to subsequent researchers to add other variables, as well as increase the population and the sample so much more. Keywords: product quality brand image and purchase decisions.