This study aims to explore the relationship among psychological contract, job satisfaction, and turnover intention of dispatched consulting engineers. Questionnaire survey is performed to collect data. The subjects are the dispatched professional employees of the engineering consulting companies who are assigned to execute the construction project for a steel plant. 125 questionnaires were randomly distributed and 120 were collected where 110 (with 92%) were valid. The methodology of this research includes the factor analysis, multi-variable analysis of variance (MANOVA), Pearson correlation coefficient analysis, and stepwise multiple regression analysis. The results from this study are as follows. 1.The questionnaires for measuring psychological contract, job satisfaction and turnover possess good validity and reliability. 2.For dispatched consulting engineers with different background do have significant difference in psychological contract, job satisfaction, and turnover intention. 3.For dispatched consulting engineers, there exist significant correlation among psychological contract, job satisfaction, and turnover intention. 4.For dispatched consulting engineers, turnover intention can be significantly predicted by psychological contract and job satisfaction variables.


"The residential Classic of the Yellow Emperor" is a geomantic book on residential construction, its ecological construction outlook of "moderate construction acclimation to the nature" still has positive meaning in constructing a contemporary economical society. City construction also need to follow the principle of moderate development and sustainable development. Cities in 21st century should be the cities which respect the harmonic development between the ecological environment and the human society.


For some, the voice of the career education movement presently grows silent as financial and leadership supply lines are no longer loaded at the federal level. For these people, career education has been a job, not a lifework, being followed for financial, not just for personal reasons. But, surprising to many, education's baby of the 1970s is not dead. It's just that life of the child is now being entrusted to the United States and its citizens as its federal parents planned upon its conception. Each state and citizen must now address the question, &dquo;How does a reform movement survive childhood without guidance and financial assistance from mom and dad in Washington?&dquo; And this question has to be addressed in a climate in which employment for all, not just for young adults, proves a burning matter. As disheartening as it may be for some, the career education movement is therefore now being placed firmly on the shoulders of individual and state educational planners in terms of resources they marshall 1 for themselves rather than have categorically augmented from federal appropriation. Thus, maturation of career education now depends upon the further conceptualization and implementation of a presently relatively well defined innovation which, in the 1981 survey of the National School Boards Association, was the number one institutional concern of school boards across the country. How such an effort which created, in Ken Hoyt's words, &dquo;Literally thousands of alternative approaches for


Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to batter the world economy, strain the limited global
health resources and dominate the world media. Even with the emergence of vaccines, there is still a substantial level of uncertainty. The study analyses the effects of COVID-19 incidence, government intervention and level of development on media coverage, and investor sentiments.
The study uses daily data from the Ravenpack finance for the period January 2020 to November 2020 for 75 countries. The results show that NPIs increase the media attention, increase panic and depress market sentiment. Furthermore, higher number of COVID-19 cases and deaths affect promote panic and depress sentiment. We also show that a higher human development index increases media coverage, and depresses the sentiment, while a higher level of digital adoption reduces panic and depresses the market sentiment.

Keywords: COVID-19, Ravenpack Indices, Media Attention, Stringency Index.
JEL Classification: G40, G41.


The study primarily aimed to determine the influence of school heads' instructional competencies on the teachers' management behavior in Leyte division, Philippines. The descriptive-correlational design was adopted with the use of survey questionnaire as the tool in data gathering. The teacher's performance for the last three years was very satisfactory. The level of instructional competence of the school heads fell on the competent category. In professional competency, the school heads evaluated their teachers very competently. The school heads showed the competence in motivating their teachers. The management behavior of the school heads was highly effective. In the areas key processes and core components, the school heads were highly effective. The instructional competencies of the school heads did not relate or affect their management behavior.


Abstract This study aims to quantify dispersal of airborne traffic-related elemental pollutants and concurring responses – relative growth rate (RGR), maximal quantum yield of PSII (F v/F m), and chlorophylls (Chl ab) – in four epiphytic lichens (Lobaria pulmonaria, Parmelia sulcata, Ramalina farinacea, Usnea dasopoga). Lichens were transplanted from 25 September to 26 March to 1·5 m tall stands in open farmlands at 10, 15, 30, 50 and 100 m from the E6 highway (SE Norway), along three transects on each side usnea dasopoga of the road. The concentrations of most elements (Ca, Mg, Na, Fe, Al, Zn, Ba, Cu, V, Cr, Ni, Co, Sn, As, Mo) significantly increased with increasing proximity to the road. Elements in bold had elevated concentrations relative to controls, at least in some species at 100 m. The heavy metal accumulation increased from foliose to fruticose lichens in the order: P. sulcata>L. pulmonaria>R. farinacea≫U. dasopoga. However, L. pulmonaria was the only species with strong pollutant-dependent reductions in growth, F v/F m, Chl ab, and Chl a/b-ratio. The RGR and viability parameters were adversely affected by the roadside environment near the road only (≤15 m), and only after substantial heavy metal accumulation. Measurement of metal accumulation in lichens is thus a far more sensitive way of monitoring road pollutants than recording growth and lichen viability. Despite strong species-specific contrasts in elemental concentrations, most road pollutant elements responded similarly to distance from the road in all species.


Abstract Aluminium alloy AA2024 is one of the most susceptible alloys to solidification cracking. The influence of Nd:YAG laser welding parameters on cracking severity of AA 2024 alloy was studied. Welding was performed in two modes: single spot welding and overlap spot welding. In single spot welding mode, the formation of columnar zone increases cracking severity in the fusion zone. In overlap spot welding mode, the solidification cracks were characterised as: cracks propagated from previous spot, cracks initiated from the fusion line with the previous spot, and cracks initiated from the fusion line with the base metal. It was established that in comparison there is very limited tendency for initiation of new cracks from the fusion line with the weld metal of a previous spot.


The soil condition can bp quantified by its environmental impacts and suitability to crop production. Soil through the favourable physical and biological features, can be simultaneously the main factor for the cultural environment and crop production (Birkas, 2002). In conventional tillage system, which based on ploughing is not the best choice, for that farmers, who like to preserve the fertility, the humus contents and best suitable condition of the soil. In an agronomical aspect, ploughing may cause severe risk, if it increases the erosion harm, or gives a bad quality (extremely cloddy or puddly) and increases the number of secondary operations (possible recompaction and dust formation). At the same time the cold and dust formation or increasing the erosion and compaction harms are the environmental risk factors of the ploughing. Other environmental risk factors of the ploughing are the, increasing C02 emission, decreasing organic mattpr decomposition and disturbing the life site of the earthworms (Birkas et al., 2001).


Excess water production is a major problem that leads to early well abandonment and unrecoverable hydrocarbon in mature oil fields. Gel treatments at the injection wells to preferentially plug the thief zones are cost-effective methods to improve sweep efficiency in reservoirs and reduce excess water production during hydrocarbon recovery. A recent gel process uses the preformed particle gels (PPGs) to overcome distinct drawbacks inherent in in-situ gelation systems, i.e. lack of control on gelation time, uncertain gelling due to shear degradation, chromatographic fractionation or change of gel compositions, and dilution by formation water. This paper describes the results of PPG injection in both fracture and sandpack models where the experimental results were used to develop and validate mechanistic models to design and optimize the flowing gel injection for conformance control processes. Crucial properties gel such as in-situ rheology and swelling ratio in addition to oil recoveries were investigated. The water and oil permeability reduction factors were measured and modeled as a function of gel strength, rock permeability, and flow rate. The PPG transport models were successfully implemented in a reservoir simulator and validated against the laboratory experiments.


Abstract Complexes of the type M(4-MPipzcdt)nFeCl4 (M = Fe(IV), Co(IV) when n = 3; and M = Ni(III) when n = 2 and 4-MPipzcdt = 4-methylpiperazine-l-carbodithioate, have been obtained by oxidation of M(4-MPipzcdt)n (M = Fe(III), Co(III) when n = 3; and M = Ni(II) when n = 2) with anhydrous iron(III) chloride. They have been characterized by elemental analyses, room temperature infrared and electronic spectral and magnetic susceptibility measurements. The results of the magnetic and spectral studies suggest that the iron(IV) and cobalt(IV) complexes in octahedral geometries are low-spin species while the nickel(III) complex exhibits a low-spin, square-planar geometry. In all three complexes, however, the iron(III) ion (of the FeCl4 anion) in hexa-coordination is assumed to exhibit a high-spin low-spin equilibrium phenomenon.


CLOSET is an effective algorithm for mining frequent closed itemsets.Ithis paper,we discuss the shortcomings of CLOSET on closure checking and pruning.Based on the discussion,the concept of co-occurrence itemsets is introduced,and an improved algorithm is proposed based on the characteristics of co-occurrence itemsets.


In this paper, we propose a methodology for distance learning lessons with the aim of stimulating pupil's desire to learn while enhancing their creative abilities. Based on this concept, we constructed the educational system hiring the modern technologies of CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work) and multimedia communication, and conducted the verification experiments in some elementary schools in Japan with a result of confirming the efficacy of the proposed methodology.


The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of website quality and trust on repurchase intentions at online stores. Sampling using purposive sampling method as many as 130 respondents who are career women who live in Malang and make purchases at online stores at least 2 times. Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that the quality of the website and trust had a significant effect on the intention of repeat purchase through online.


We construct a starburst model for the hidden starbursts in Arp 220 based on the new Starburst99 models of Leitherer and coworkers. Comparing these stellar population synthesis models with observations, we show that the hidden power source must be due to star formation (as opposed to an active galactic nucleus) at the 50% level or more in order to avoid an ionizing photon excess problem and this starburst must be young (<7 × 107 yr). We derive a current star formation rate of 270 M☉ yr-1 and an extinction AV > 30 mag for our line of sight to this hidden starburst.


Climate change is one of the main challenges for future agriculture since it can severely affect plant growth and development. The Mediterranean area is one of the most vulnerable regions where climatic models have forecasted a significant increase in frequency and severity of drought events. Ongoing climate change is aggravating some critical issues in the production of the autochthonous grape variety Greco, widely cultivated in the Campania Region (southern Italy) and used alone or blend in many quality label wines.

Nowadays, there is a high risk for the economic sustainability of Greco cultivation due to the following main issues: reduced vine productivity, low selling price of grapes, and territory fragmentation. Such criticisms induce the abandonment of small/medium-sized farms due to either crop conversion or consolidation into larger farms.

The Greco variety may represent a study model to introduce innovative and integrated management of cultivation techniques, such as pruning and soil management, with the aim to resolve similar problems affecting other autochthonous regional cultivars. They include issues, such as low fertility, that cause an unbalanced ratio among sugars, acids, and affect grape metabolites important for the oxidative stability and sensory quality of wine.

The GREASE project, funded by Campania Region within the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, falls within the framework of sustainable management of vineyards (from economic, environmental and social viewpoints) with an insight to climate change. The general objective to improve the potential production of Greco concerns the management of major cultivation practices in viticulture by the realization of a cultivar-specific model for vine canopy and soil management. Optimization of parameters is important in order to achieve a good vegetative and reproductive balance that enhances grape and wine quality, improves farm profitability and environmental sustainability. This project is conducted in a vineyard of Vitis vinifera L. subsp. vinifera ‘Greco’ located in southern Italy (Feudi di San Gregorio farm).

The projects has 3 main inter-disciplinary actions: A1) to determine the effect of diverse vine pruning systems on plant resource use, through the reconstruction of vine eco-physiological history (dendro-anatomical and -isotopic analyses); A2-A3) to analyse the effect of soil management and of vine training systems on the continuum soil-plant-atmosphere system. Specific activities include: pedoclimatic, vegetative and reproductive, physiological and hydraulic characterization; microvinification and characterization of grapes and wine produced in the different trials; evaluation of resources use efficiency, pests, footprint family markers; model development.

The impact of the project on other wineries of the Campania Region will be significant due to an increased understanding of how cultivation systems influence the efficient use of available resources in the Greco vineyard. Such knowledge would be useful to design simple modifications to the presently used agronomical practices, to achieve production and economic gains without long-term structural investments. This know-how will also favour other downstream technologies and biotechnologies of viticulture and enology production, as well as the associated companies (e.g., producers of fertilizers, seeds for green manure) to realize products and services better adapted to the development of cultivar-specific viticultural and enological production systems.


—State-of-the-art polarimeter calibration is reviewed. Producing many quasi-random polarization states and moving/bending a fiber without changing power allows finding a polarimeter calibration where the degree-of-polarization reaches unity and parasitic polarization-dependent loss is small. Using a polarization scrambler/transformer and a polarimeter a device-under-test can be characterized. Its Mueller matrix can be decomposed into a product of a nondepolarizing Mueller-Jones matrix times a purely depolarizing Mueller matrix. Test polarizations may drift over time. With help of an optical switch the reference device can be measured against an internal reference path. Later, with possibly different test polarizations, the actual device-under-test is measured against the internal reference. Polarization drift and need for repeated reference device measurement are thus overcome. When a patchcord is inserted, connector PDL can be measured, provided that errors are calibrated away, again by fiber moving/bending. Experimentally we have measured PDL with errors <0.004 dB. This easily suffices to measure connector PDL, which is demonstrated. PDL >60 dB was measured when the device under test was a good polarizer. A 20 Mrad/s polarization scrambler with LiNbO 3 device generates the test polarizations. The polarimeter can sample at 100 MHz and can store 64M Stokes vectors. During laser frequency scans Mueller matrices can be measured in time intervals as short as 5 


In this research, Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) and Bayesian Artificial Neural Network (BANN) were used in forecasting the imports and exports of the Philippines and the comparison of two models are one of the main objective of this research. The data were gathered from Philippines Statistical Authority with a total of 100 observations from the first quarter of 1993 to fourth quarter of 2017. Furthermore, it can be determined in this research the best fit among the models in forecasting the imports and exports of the Philippines and the researchers will give the forecast values of imports and exports from the first quarter of year 2018 to the fourth quarter of year 2022 using the most fitted model. The researchers conducted a Statistical test in order to formulate and compare the statistical models of ARIMA and BANN for imports and exports then applied the forecasting accuracy such as MSE, NMSE, MAE, RMSE, and MAPE to compare the performance of the two models. By comparing the results, the researchers concluded that Bayesian Artificial Neural Network is the most fitted model in forecasting the imports and export of the Philippines. Upon using the Paired T-test, the p-value for both imports and exports are greater than the level of significance (α = 0.01) which means that there is no significant difference between actual and predicted values for both imports and exports of the Philippines. This study could help the economy of the Philippines by considering the forecasted Imports and Exports which can be used in analyzing the economy's trade deficit.In this research, Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) and Bayesian Artificial Neural Network (BANN) were used in forecasting the imports and exports of the Philippines and the comparison of two models are one of the main objective of this research. The data were gathered from Philippines Statistical Authority with a total of 100 observations from the first quarter of 1993 to fourth quarter of 2017. Furthermore, it can be determined in this research the best fit among the models in forecasting the imports and exports of the Philippines and the researchers will give the forecast values of imports and exports from the first quarter of year 2018 to the fourth quarter of year 2022 using the most fitted model. The researchers conducted a Statistical test in order to formulate and compare the statistical models of ARIMA and BANN for imports and exports then applied the forecasting accuracy such as MSE, NMSE, MAE, RMSE, and MAPE to compare the performance of the two models. By comparing the results, ...


This article examines the unique challenges facing Kenya's public higher education institutions. It explores the struggle to develop quality and quality assurance mechanisms against a background of rapidly diminishing income, brain drain, political interference and the negative aspects of globalisation. The challenges have consequently led to a decline in the quality of education and left higher education hanging on a thread. The article argues that the higher education sector requires clear policies of rewarding and retaining talented staff and ways of dealing with the politically instigated expansion. It provides an opportunity for reflection on policies and practices in Kenya's higher education sector and suggests an urgent need for reforms. Quality assurance could play a key role in initiating these reforms.


In axiomatic formulations, every two points lie in a (straight) line, every three points lie in a plane and every four points lie in a three-dimensional space (3-space). In this paper we show that every five points lie in a 3-space as well, implying that every set of points lie in a 3-space. In other words, the 3-space occupies the entire space. The proof is based on the following four axioms: 1) every two distinct points define a unique line, 2) every three distinct points, not lying on the line, define a unique plane, 3) if 𝐴 and 𝐵 are two distinct points in a 3-space, then the line defined by the points 𝐴, 𝐵, entirely lies in this 3-space, 4) if 𝐹1, 𝐹2, 𝐹3 are three distinct points in a 3-space, not lying in a line, then the plane defined by the points 𝐹1, 𝐹2, 𝐹3, lies entirely in this 3-space.


This paper describes work in progress to enhance the performance of the Ground Processing Scheduling System (GPSS). The GPSS is a constraint-based scheduler that deals with three kinds of constraints: temporal, resource, and configuration. It starts with a complete schedule that may have some constraint violations (conflicts) and gradually improves the schedule by reducing the violations. The objective is to optimize the schedule in terms of constraint violations and resource utilization. The enhancement is accomplished by improving heuristics currently used for constraint satisfaction and adding an extra feature which we call fencing. Fencing allows for obtaining a conflict-free sub-schedule within a selected period of time.


Based on the comprehensive analysis of the waterfront natural and human tourism resources in Shimian county,the article proposes the theme and image of Shimian's tourism,gives five principles of the division and development of the tourism space and combines with the spatial distribution of the tourism resources to hold the tourism spatial layout.According to the charac-teristics and distribution features of the tourism resources,seven functional tourism zones have been divided and the content and form of developing each functional zone have been arranged in detail,which studies on the tourism function zoning and development of the mountainous waterfront small or medium-sized cities.


At the beginning of the Revolution the Feuillants successfully nationalized ecclesiastical property while adopted and put the Civil Constitution of Priest into effect.The Feuillants'gaining control of the church affairs marked the political faction's initial victory over the Roman Catholic Church as well as hostile forces within the country.The Reformation still had a long way to go,and its process brought both negative and positive impacts upon the Revolution.


Robots with human movements and facial expressions are easy to approach for children. If such a robot has some artificial intelligence, it can help children learn a variety of things. Therefore, by interacting with this robot, children can learn English and practice daily conversations in English, even learning how to get along with people and develop good social skills. Hence, the purpose of this research is to use an online graphical programming tool -CodeLab- to create a good interaction mode between humans and Kebbi Air robots, and help children learn and talk in English in an interactive way. By using this tool, this research created a function so that users can recognize English Words in a period of time. In this way, preschoolers can easily learn basic English Words and simple daily conversations to lay a good foundation for language education. In addition, parents can remotely observe their children's learning through the AI robot camera, and use the robot to discuss learning content with their children. The research results showed that artificial intelligence robots are beneficial to improve children's learning enthusiasm and attention, build their self-confidence, and encourage them to learn, listen and speak English.


Aims: In comparison with volume-controlled ventilation (VCV), the pressure controlled ventilation (PCV) improves oxygenation and ventilation. PCV method decreases peak airway pressure in laparoscopic surgery. The aim of this study is comparison of PCIRV with I: E ratio 1.5:1 and PCV with I:E ratio 1:2 in laparoscopic cholecystectomy with LMA. Study Design: Before-after clinical trial study. Methodology: Forty patients who were candidate of elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy were selected. Preparation and medication for anesthesia were same for all patients. Anesthesia ventilation was started by VCV mode, co2 insufflation was done and ventilation continued by PCV mode. Pulmonary and cardiac parameters were examined at baseline. After 20 min results were recorded and then I: E ratio was changed to 1.5:1 and PEEP of 5 cm of H2O continued. Results were recorded after 10 min of PCIRV. Results: The mean age of patients was 41±11.8 years old. About of participants 25% were male and the mean of BMI was 25.6±2.57. The Peak pressure were higher in PCV (p-value: 0.001). Plateau pressure was higher during PCIRV (p-value: 0.762). Our results revealed Etco2 significantly increased in PCV. (p-value: 0.023). Airway pressure significantly increased in PCIRV (p-value: 0.001). Tidal volume significantly increased during PCIRV (p-value: 0.001) too. Also in PCIRV mode spo2, heart rate, complliance and PAW were significantly increased. According to our findings there was a significant association between BMI and changes in plateau pressure (p-value: 0.01) and Etco2 (p-value: 0.03) in PCVIR method. Conclusion: Our study suggests PCIRV as an effective mode of ventilation that could be used in laparoscopic surgery especially in moderately obese patients.


A favorite example of the ubiquitous nature of the normal distribution is a quincunx, also known as a Galton board or a bean board. Figure 1 shows a quincunx. Devised by Galton in about 1860, it consists of a number of balls dropped one at a time onto a peg located so that each ball bounces to the left or to the right with equal probability. Below that peg are two pegs, each positioned so that any ball that collides with it also has equal probability of bouncing to the left or to the right. This continues for a number of layers, and then the balls are collected in bins at the bottom. As can be seen, as the number of balls becomes large, the distribution of balls in the bins goes to a Gaussian.


The concept of geodiversity has its roots in the fossil record as part of the Earth's biodiversity and in the need for conservation of fossil localities and other sensitive geological sites. The geomorphological component of geodiversity is central to landscape conservation and is examined as a response to the operation of magmatic and surface processes interacting over long time periods. Differentiation of landforms can arise directly from formational processes or develop over time as result of varying sensitivity to earth surface processes. In the tropics, the susceptibility of rocks to chemical weathering is a key source of geomorphic diversity, particularly in the denudation of geologically stable terrains. The accumulation of weathering products as duricrusts, and as quartz sands can, however, can lead to reduction in both geodiversity and biodiversity, locally and regionally. Numerical methods for quantifying geomorphological diversity need to take account of these factors. The unique features of many iconic landforms also add to the difficulties of using terrain indices of geomorphic diversity derived from digital elevation models.


When a tool is used to tap onto an object or it is dragged over the object surface, vibrations are induced in the tool that can be captured using acceleration sensors. Based on these signals, this paper presents an approach for tool-mediated surface classification which is robust against varying scan-time parameters. We examine freehand recordings of 69 textures and propose a classification system that uses perception-related features such as hardness, roughness and friction as well as selected features adapted from speech recognition such as modified cepstral coefficients. We focus on mitigating the effect of varying contact force and hand speed conditions on these features as a prerequisite for a robust machine-learning-based approach for surface classification. Our system works without explicit scan force and velocity measurements. Experimental results show that our proposed approach allows for successful classification of surface textures under varying freehand movement conditions. The proposed features lead to a classification accuracy of 95% when combined with a Naive Bayes Classifier.


Topological Dynamical SystemsIntroduction to TopologyIntroduction to Topological ManifoldsTopology for AnalysisTopologyConvex and Set-Valued AnalysisSet Theory and Metric SpacesA Primer on Hilbert Space TheoryReal Variables with Basic Metric Space TopologyIntroduction To Topology And Modern AnalysisEntropy in Dynamical SystemsA Course in Metric GeometryA Course in Point Set TopologyAn Introduction to Metric SpacesTopological SpacesUndergraduate TopologyNon-Hausdorff Topology and Domain TheorySchaum's Outline of Theory and Problems of General TopologyIntroduction to Mathematical AnalysisGeneral TopologyTopologyIntroduction to Metric and Topological SpacesTopology of Metric SpacesA First Course in TopologyPrinciples of TopologyGradient FlowsTopological GroupsMetric and Topological SpacesFrom Geometry to TopologyElementary TopologyIntroduction to TopologyMetric SpacesIntroduction to Topological Quantum ComputationIntroduction to TopologyAn Illustrated Introduction to Topology and HomotopyTopology Through InquiryIntroduction to TopologyIntroduction to Metric and Topological SpacesIntroduction to Metric and Topological SpacesIntroduction to metric and topological spaces


Abstract : This is a review of the Hydrologic Criteria and Drainage Design Manual (Clark County Regional Flood Control District 1999) of the Clark County Regional Flood Control District (CCRFCD). Areas of needed research relative to channels conveying supercritical flow and corresponding channel appurtenances have been identified. The extension of features common to supercritical channel flow is presented. A case is made that extension of hydraulic design guidance of supercritical confluences (trapezoidal channels and laterals from storm drains), extensions to bridge piers, and access ramps for trapezoidal channels is needed.


The objective of this paper is to present an overview of preliminary results obtained during the SemiArid Land-Surface-Atmosphere (SALSA) programme. It highlights some of the findings in the fields of remote sensing and surface-atmosphere interaction.


Department of Communication studies UIN SUSKA Riau, Indonesia currently applies the selected of interest (concentration) to students aimed at directed stu-dents to more focus on certain courses based on their interests and academic abili-ties. The concentration that exist in the Department of Communication stuides are public relations, broadcasting and journalistic. Determination of concentration se-lection is carried out by the head of the department. However, to select the right concentration for students, Department have several problems in selection the concentration process. This is because students' data and value of courses must be classified first, then by conducting an interview to determine the level of stu-dent interest. So that with this process requires a long time. For this reason, a system that can help the selection process of concentration is needed. In the datamining, there is a classification to allow users to group data based on their class. In this study classification will used the Modified K-Nearest Neighbor (MKNN) algorithm. In this study, the parameters used are the values of 6 courses namely introduction to public relations, introduction to journalism, the basics of broadcasting, news writing, mass communication and advertising and the interest of the students concerned. The test was carried out on a concentration classifica-tion system that had been built using confusion matrix. Confusion matrix results obtained are the highest accuracy in the 90% data training scenario and 10% data test with k = 2 and k = 3 values that is equal to 78.08%.


This article attempts to assess the relative explanatory power of three theoretical perspectives on foreign policy—one that emphasizes national attributes, one that emphasizes goals, and one that emphasizes international communication structures‐for explaining the strong correlation between national size and level of foreign policy activity. Physical controls are placed on the CREON data to eliminate variation due to different contexts of prior behavior for events. Then path analysis is used to estimate the strength of the causal association between bureaucratic capabilities and activity of national role conceptions on four types of foreign policy activity. Results strongly support the position of the national attributes perspective that the government's capacity to act is the crucial determinant of the level of activity. The activity of national role conceptions has a meaningful impact only on one type of activity, third party responses.


Economic reforms involving the agricultural sector, such as those being proposed in the WTO Doha Round negotiations, will affect household behavior in developing countries. This paper proposes an empirical methodology to assess the impacts of agricultural price reforms on household outcomes like consumption patterns, sources of income, labor supply, health outcomes, and educational decisions. The method uses an empirical model of demand to extract price information from unit values, and uses this information to estimate the response of households to price changes and price reforms. By correcting unit values for quality effects, the method overcomes the endogeneity and measurement error problems of using unit values as regressors. The methodology is applied to study the responses of household agricultural labor income and labor supply in rural Mexico. I find that higher prices of corn and fruits and vegetables, key goods produced in rural Mexico, significantly increase the agricultural wage income of rural Mexican households. Instead, corn prices do not seem to affect the labor market decision of young adults. It is shown that using unit values instead of prices may lead to inconsistent results, and that the corrections suggested in this paper may be empirically important. ∗Very preliminary note. Comments are welcome. The outstanding research assistance of Jorge Balat is greatly appreciated. I thank I. Brambilla, A. Deaton, P. Goldberg and G. Grossman for useful comments on an earlier version of this paper. I assume full responsibility for all the errors and omissions. Comments and suggestions are very much welcome. The views expressed here are my own and are not necessarily endorsed by the World Bank Group. †Correspondence: Guido Porto, MailStop MC3-303, The World Bank, 1818 H Street, Washington DC 20433. email: email@example.com


We have identified a chitinase with antifungal activity in the bulbs of the plant Urginea indica(Indian squill) and purified it about 26‐fold. The purified preparation contained a Mr 29 kDa protein that was an active growth inhibitor of the fungal pathogens Fusarium oxysporum and Rhizoctonia solani in an in vitro assay. Amino acid sequence analysis of the Mr 29 kDa protein revealed it to be highly homologous to the family 19 glycoside hydrolases, which are known to possess chitinase activity. The U. indica chitinase lacked a cysteine‐rich N‐terminal domain (characteristic of class I chitinases) and contained a conserved motif indicative of the signature 1 of family 19 glycoside hydrolases. It shared a ∼70% sequence identity with the 26 kDa endochitinase of Hordeum vulgare, a typical class II chitinase of family 19. The five cysteines in the partial sequence of the Mr 29 kDa chitinase were found to be identical in location to five of the seven cysteines present in the catalytic domain of the H. vulgare enzyme. The molecular weight, the lack of an N‐terminal cysteine‐rich sequence, and the striking identity to the H. vulgare endochitinase suggest that the Mr 29 kDa U. indica protein is a putative class II chitinase. The antifungal activity is presumably mediated through the chitinolytic activity of the Mr 29 kDa protein.


Relatively few studies have examined the fathers' influence on their child's sexual health and how it can be utilized in a practitioner setting. The research that has investigated the father–child relationship has been limited by confounding variables, discrepancy in terminology, and lack of diversity in samples. In reaction to this need, this study looked at the impact of both the presence of the father and the quality of the father's relationship with their child on their child's later sexual behaviors, attitudes, and relational satisfaction. Based on the results, recommendations are provided to therapists on how to further understand the relational aspects of the father–child relationship and how it might impact multiple levels of their child's sexual health.


In the present study, we investigate the structures of glucosylated curcumin derivatives with DFT at B3LYP/6-31G* level. A conformational analysis is performed in order to determine the conformational minimum (GS) and rotational transition state (TS) of curcumin derivatives and then their electronic features are evaluated. HOMO and LUMO frontier orbitals and maps of electron density potential (MEPs) are plotted and compared. In order to correlate their predicted spectroscopic properties with IR, UV–vis and NMR experimental data we extended the theoretical study on electronic properties to different solvents (H2O, MeOH, ACN, DMSO). The main finding is that the curcuminic core maintains the same geometrical and electronic structures in all compounds miming the metal coordination capability showed by curcumin. Therefore, we may confirm that the presence of glucose does not affect the electronic properties of the derivatives. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


A V-shaped nano-aperture flanked with surface corrugations at exit side for beam focusing is introduced in this paper. Our finite-difference time domain (FDTD) numerical algorithm results demonstrate that the V-shaped aperture with width at incident side d(2) as small as 10 nm and surrounded with 14 grooves with a constant depth of 80 nm can intensely excite a transmission and focusing the beam in far-field region. The beam propagating with 78.91 mu m focal length and similar to 4 mu m spot size can be obtained for the practical V-shaped nano-aperture which can be naturally formed during the FIB fine milling. Changing the groove number and aperture width at exit side d(1) has limited contribution on the transmission due to their nonlinear relations with the electric field intensity vertical bar E vertical bar.(2) The V-shaped nanostructures may be useful in nanophotonics devices.


Dilute solution properties of poly(2-biphenylyl methacrylate), (poly[1-(2-biphenylyloxycarbonyl)-1-methylethylene], POB) were studied by viscosity, sedimentation, light scattering and osmotic pressure in different solvents. The solvent dependence of intrinsic viscosity, [η], Huggins constant, KH, Mark-Houwink exponent, a, and expansion factor, αη, is very weak, although the chemical nature of the solvents is quite different (CHCl3, tetrahydrofuran, benzene, 1,4-dioxane). For poly(4-biphenylyl methacrylate) (poly[1-(4-biphenylyloxycarbonyl)-1-methylethylene], PPB) and other aromatic polymethacrylates the changes of [η], KH, a and aη are very high. The unperturbed dimensions calculated from viscometric and light scattering data by different methods, are in excellent agreement with one another and good agreement with those obtained from sedimentation data. POB has a higher flexibility factor (σ = 2,8) than PPB (σ = 2,7). In our opinion this is due to the fact that the 2-biphenylyl group is closer to the main chain than the 4-biphenylyl group. The very high value of σ explains the weak solvent dependence of [η], KH, a and αη in the case of poly(2-biphenylyl methacrylate).


To protect the environment and prevent the growth of social and environmental risks, the concept of sustainable development has been shaped. This means meeting the needs of people today without harming the environment or creating other problems in the future. The concept of sustainability is constantly changing, and different people will have different ideas about how best to implement it. In the article, with the help of modern methods of scientific knowledge, an analysis of theoretical approaches to the interpretation of sustainable development is carried out. The relevance of theoretical and methodological studies of the concept of sustainable development as the basis for the development of modern society is substantiated. Based on methodological generalizations, the principles of the concept of sustainable development have been clarified. Based on the basis of the study of the modern understanding of the essence of the concept, the directions for achieving the goals of sustainable development of society are highlighted, and approaches to assessing the sustainable development of socio-economic systems are identified.
The article analyzes the dynamics of the world sustainable development index and establishes its growing trend over the past decade and the recession during the global crisis caused by the pandemic. The presented analytical data indicate the intensification of the transition of countries to sustainable development, and this activity is much higher in low-income countries compared to high-income countries. The article substantiates the conclusion about the need to form an appropriate investment potential to ensure the sustainable development of society, which requires a strategic approach that would be based on changing the entire philosophy of thinking and political activity.


We discuss equivalent axiomatic characterizations of distortion risk measures, and give a novel and concise proof of the characterization of elicitable distortion risk measures. Elicitability has recently been discussed as a desirable criterion for risk measures, motivated by statistical considerations of forecasting. We reveal the mathematical conflict between the requirements of elicitability and comonotonic additivity which intuitively explains why only Value-at-Risk and the mean are elicitable distortion risk measures in a general sense.


Dimensionality reduction (DR) is an important preprocessing step for hyperspectral image (HSI) classification. Recently, graph-based DR methods have been widely used. Among various graph-based models, the local graph discriminant embedding (LGDE) model has shown its effectiveness due to the complete use of label information. Besides spectral information, an HSI also contains rich spatial information. In this paper, we propose a regularization method to incorporate the spatial information into the LGDE model. Specifically, an oversegmentation method is first employed to divide the original HSI into nonoverlapping superpixels. Then, based on the observation that pixels in a superpixel often belong to the same class, intraclass graphs are constructed to describe such spatial information. Finally, the constructed superpixel-level intraclass graphs are used as a regularization term, which can be naturally incorporated into the LGDE model. Besides, to sufficiently capture the nonlinear property of an HSI, the linear LGDE model is further extended into its kernel counterpart. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, experiments have been established on three widely used HSIs acquired by different hyperspectral sensors. The obtained results show that the proposed method can achieve higher classification performance than many state-of-the-art graph embedding models, and the kernel extension model can further improve the classification performance.


We developed and evaluated a new partially ionized beam (PIB) source to deposit high quality Cu films. The novelty of the PIB source lies in the fact that the crucible and ionization parts are spaced in one cylindrical shell to make its structure compact and to get a uniform beam profile, but their electric circuits are not separated. In this article, we report the characteristics of the PIB source, such as voltage‐ampere characteristics of the crucible and ionization parts, Cu+ ion beam uniformity with a change of the ionization currents, and deposition rate.


(Zn1−yMgy)1−xAlxO powders were synthesized by the polymerized complex method and then consolidated by spark plasma sintering apparatus. The microscopic structure and thermoelectric properties were examined comparing with the experimental results of the samples prepared by the conventional solid-state reaction method. A small amount of ZnAl2O4 spinel phase as the second phase was observed in the sintered samples with x⩾0.02 by x-ray diffraction and a scanning electron microscope. The grain size of the samples prepared by the polymerized complex method is much smaller than that of the samples prepared by the conventional solid-state reaction method. The absolute values of the Seebeck coefficient and electrical resistivity decrease with increasing x up to about x=0.01, but above x=0.01 they are almost independent of x. This result indicates that the solubility limit of Al in Zn1−xAlxO is about x=0.01, which is also confirmed by 27Al nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. At a fixed composition of x, the ab...


Optical Packet Switching(OPS) is an ideal technology to realize the seamless convergence of IP network and optical transport network.In this paper,the application of optical packet switching in the next generation electric power communication network is studied in detail.The basic knowledge of the OPS is in-troduced first.Then,the traffic characteristic of the network is analyzed.According to these characteristics,four OPS node architecture,i.e.,SMOP,FWBFWC,OFBFWC,and RFWC-ROB are described.


Reinforcement Learning (RL) attracts much attention as a technique of realizing computational intelligence such as adaptive and autonomous decentralized systems. However, in general, it is not easy to put RL into practical use. This difficulty includes a problem of designing a reasonable state space of an agent, i.e., satisfying two requirements in trade-off: to reduce the search space for making a learning process be fast and to keep the characteristics of the search space for seeking better strategies. In this paper, in order to overcome the above difficulty, we propse a concept of a "state space filtering", and a method to adjust the search space adaptively by referring to an entropy. Then, through computational experiments by using a robot navigation problem with continuous state space, the validity and the potential of the proposed method have been comfirmed.


Thin films of Fe1+δSe1−xTex (δ∼0.18 and x∼0.5) have been successfully grown on (100)-oriented single-crystalline SrTiO3 and LaAlO3 substrates by pulsed laser deposition. The crystal structure was characterized by x-ray diffraction and the superconducting properties by electrical resistivity measurements. X-ray diffraction analysis establishes the growth of films with c-axis orientation. Atomic force microscopy showed a smooth surface morphology for the films grown on SrTiO3 substrates. All the films are observed to be superconducting with a transition temperature, Tc of ∼8–14 K, depending on the deposition conditions. The deposition parameters were optimized to obtain good quality films with Tc comparable to that of the target material. The upper critical field shows a positive curvature near Tc unlike the opposite behavior observed in conventional superconductors.


Collisions of heavy nuclei at ultrarelativistic energies lead to the formation of Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP), a hot and dense state of matter where quarks and gluons (together known as partons) are the effective degrees of freedom rather than hadrons. Soon after the collision the system reaches a state of local thermal equilibrium due to multiple rescatterings and production of secondaries as a result of gluon multiplications. The system or the fireball cools by expansion, hadronizes, and finally decouples and hadrons thus produced reach the detector. It is believed that, a few microseconds after the big bang our universe was in the state of Quark-Gluon Plasma. Various experiments performed at the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) at CERN, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at BNL and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN have provided significant insight about the properties of QGP and the theory of strong interactions. The upcoming Future Circular Collider (FCC) facility at CERN is aimed to study P+P collisions at centre of mass energy 100 TeV, which is about 7 times higher than the top LHC energy for P+P collisions. Heavy ion collision at FCC (Pb+Pb at √ sNN= 39 TeV) [1] is expected to produce initial states having much larger initial temperature and energy density than those produced at LHC and RHIC energies. One also expect to have a long lived QGP and larger system volume at FCC. We study evolution of the hot and dense matter produced at FCC using ideal hydrodynamic model, production of thermal photons from that and compare our results with those


To determine the correlation between the TrueDx TSH assay and the standard 3rd generation chemoluminescence microparticle immunoassay (CMIA)
This is a cross sectional study involving 212 healthy volunteers who participated in a hypothyroidism awareness campaigns carried out at several shopping malls in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Upon obtaining an informed consent, sociodemographic characteristics and full medical history were documented, followed by a complete physical examination. Capillary blood was obtained for the TrueDx TSH assay while venous blood was withdrawn and sent to a centralized chemical pathology laboratory for TSH testing using the 3rd generation TSH CMIA (Architect system). The TSH TrueDx test machine was provided by Merck Malaysia.
The mean age of the subjects was 45.2 ± 13.9 years. Majority of volunteers were females (68.4%). The ethnic distribution was 66.0% Chinese, 27.8% Malays and 5.7% Indians. The median levels for TSH measured by TrueDx assay and TSH CMIA were 1.79(1.32,2.61) and 1.08(0.70,1.48)uIU/mL respectively. The TrueDx TSH assay has a modest correlation with the 3rd generation TSH CMIA (Spearman's rho = 0.66, p < 0.001). The positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) for TrueDx assay in detecting hypothyroidism were 0.20 and 1.00 respectively, with the sensitivity and specificity of 100% and 96%. While the PPV and NPV for TrueDx assay in detecting hyperthyroidism was 0.50 and 0.98, respectively with the sensitivity and specificity of 63% and 97%.
TrueDx TSH assay is too sensitive in diagnosing hypo- and hyperthyroidism on it's own (PPV 20% for hypothyroidism, PPV 50% for hyperthyroidism) but with the very high specificities and NPVs for both hypo- and hyperthyroidism it serves as a satisfactory screening test for thyroid disorders. However, subjects who returned with TSH levels suggestive of either hypo- or hyperthyroidism with TrueDx must have a confirmatory test with the 3rd generation CMIA TSH test.


. The need to investigate new solutions and novel 3D building strategies not only requires the development of new slicing algorithms and the exploitation of machines with more than 3 Dofs, but also a safe and reliable test-bench to optimize all the phases of the process. The following article describes the assessment by simulation of suitable control architectures for the realization of a Fused Deposition Modeling printer based on a 6 Dofs serial manipulator. The focus is put on the obtained position and speed profiles for unidirectional and multi-directional 3D printing to determine the week points associated with each control strategy.


Introduction: One of the most important consumer rights is the right to comfort and safety in consuming goods and/or services. The emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic has become a challenge for consumers, both in consuming goods for their daily needs and services through e-commerce sales and purchase agreements. Therefore, the right of consumers to comfort and safety in consuming goods and/or services is based on Article 4 of Law No. 8 of 1999 concerning consumer protection during the Covid-19 pandemic.Purposes of the Research: This study aims to find out how consumer legal protection is during the Covid-19 pandemic and how the impact of Covid-19 on the parties in e-commerce agreements.Methods of the Research: In writing this thesis the author uses normative research methods, uses a factual approach and statutory approach. Normative legal research is also known as doctrinal legal research, and is then analyzed qualitatively descriptively in order to produce a conclusion.Results of the Research: Based on the research results obtained, that consumer protection is all efforts made to protect the interests and ensure legal certainty for consumers. In this effort, the rights and obligations of consumers and business actors cannot be separated. The Covid-19 pandemic has had a major impact on consumers' rights to comfort and safety in consuming goods and/or services in e-commerce agreements. Therefore, legal protection for consumers is needed both preventively and repressively so that every consumer's rights can be protected and their rights are maintained.


DCLAK11 is a novel small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor with remarkable effects on cell proliferation and apoptosis in non‐small cell lung cancer cells. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the molecular mechanisms of action of this compound. In this study, we investigated the antitumor effect that DCLAK11 exerts through inhibition of the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway.


Neuroendocrine tumors of the gastrointestinal tract are rare. Existence of primary nodal gastrinoma is rare and mired with controversies as to whether it is a primary nodal disease or a metastasis to a lymphnode from primary in the pancreas or gastrointestinal tract. They usually occur in the nests of embryonic tissue and lymph nodes in the region of gastrinoma triangle. Rarely the nodes may be located outside the Passaro triangle. Here we report one such case of gastrinoma with only discernable nodal disease located outside the confines of the conventional gastrinoma triangle and discuss the relevant available literature.


We prove that the existence of a Haantjes structure is a necessary and sufficient condition for a Hamiltonian system to be integrable in the Liouville-Arnold sense. This structure, expressed in terms of suitable operators whose Haantjes torsion vanishes, encodes the main features of the notion of integrability, and in particular, under certain hypotheses, allows to solve the problem of determining separation of variables for a given system in an algorithmic way.
As an application of the theory, we prove theorems ensuring the existence of a large class of completely integrable systems in the Euclidean plane, constructed starting from a prescribed Haantjes structure. At the same time, we also show that some of the most classical examples of Hamiltonian systems in n dimensions, as for instance the Gantmacher and Stackel classes, all possess a natural Haantjes structure.


SUMMARY Latinos with disabilities have historically been underrep-resented in efforts to set the disability agenda and promote disability rights. This manuscript describes a capacity-building approach to community empowerment. Our goal was to empower Latinos with disabilities, increasing their degree of control over services and decisions that directly affect them. The capacity-building approach is grounded in a contextual/behavioral model of empowerment of people with disabilities. This approach emphasizes developing partnerships with local advocacy organizations and encourages active participation of people with disabilities and their families in identifying and addressing their own needs. Such capacity-building includes six major steps: (1) community entry and project planning; (2) identifying community concerns and strengths; (3) community organizing; (4) action planning; (5) monitoring and feedback; and (6) sustaining community organizing efforts. We illustrate the process with an example of an effort to promote compliance with the American with Disabilities Act in the Latino communities of Chicago, which resulted in over 70 actions and 24 outcomes over a period of 10 to 16 months. The capacity-building approach represents a community psychology effort to support ethnic minority individuals with disabilities in their struggle for equality and justice. To date, it has yielded encouraging results. Challenges for implementing this approach to community empowerment are discussed.


This paper presents a comparison of different guest file systems on the specific hosted hypervisor. Chosen hypervisor was the VMware Workstation 15.1 and used file systems were XFS, Btrfs and ext4. To receive the most realistic results we decided to set identical virtual machines (VM) for all measurements: first with a single VM and latter with two VM running at the same time. The host operating system (OS) was Windows 10 and guest OS Centos 7.9. To analyze expected behavior from our hypothesis we have used Filebench measuring tool for getting test results.


MoO2/Mo2N hybrid nanobelts doped with gold nanoparticles (AuNPMoON) were synthesized via one-step thermal-treatment of MoO3 nanobelts and HAuCl4. AuNPMoON nanobelts with a width of ca. 200 nm and an Au content of 1.08 wt% prepared in the presence of HAuCl4 exhibited a higher specific capacitance of 348 F g−1 than those prepared in the absence of HAuCl4 (21 F g−1) at a current density of 0.5 A g−1. The influence of Au content on the electrochemical performance of AuNPMoON was investigated. For practical application, two types of supercapacitor devices, PANI||AuNPMoON and AC||AuNPMoON, were assembled. The PANI||AuNPMoON device delivered an energy density of 10.64 W h kg−1, which is higher than that of the AC||AuNPMoON device (8.11 W h kg−1). Meanwhile, the specific capacitance retentions were 87.8% and 85.5% for the PANI||AuNPMoON and AC||AuNPMoON devices after 2000 cycles, respectively.


The pharmaceutical industry is under extraordinary strain. Facing the wrath of consumers because of the cost of products, constantly answering the questions of state and federal legislators looking to control health care costs, and losing value in the marketpl ace, the industry's hands are more than full. A less discussed but substantial problem impacts all of pharma ceutical industry 's other problems, counterfeiting. The World Health Organization estimates that counterfeit drugs make up about 10 percent of the g lobal medicine market, and more than 25 percent in developing countries. With counterfeit drugs increasingly finding their way into global distribution chains and ultimately into patients' mouths, it is essential that pharmaceutical companies have effectiv e enforcement strategies to combat the manufacture and distribution of counterfeit drugs.


A study was conducted to assess the effect of long-term application of different combination of individual nutrients(CK,NK,NP,PK and NPK) on greenhouse gas fluxes.After long-term fertilization,soil CO2 in all treatments showed the similar change pattern,which was influenced by soil temperature and water.Soil CH4 and N2O fluxes showed different temporal patterns among different treatments,but had no obvious relationship with soil temperature and water.Seasonal average gas fluxes were used to elucidate the effect of long-term fertilization.The difference of greenhouse gas fluxes was related with the chemical properties and crop growth after long-term fertilization.Soil CO2 emissions were in the increasing order of CK,NK,PK,NP and NPK.There was no significant difference of CH4 fluxes among different treatments.CK and PK treatment showed lower N2O emissions,while.NP,NK and NPK showed higher N2O emission.In addition, Soil N2O fluxes were also affected by the application of nitrogen fertilizer during the growth season.


K-State Research and Extension has been conducting research and extension efforts with subsurface drip irrigation since 1989 and over the years there have been many questions about this technology that we have attempted to answer. This paper will highlight some of the most pertinent questions and perhaps help practitioners have better conceptual understanding of the opportunities and challenges of this relatively new irrigation technology for the Great Plains.


Objective To find out the relationship between the anxiety and coronary heart disease. Methods 102 patients with CHD and 102 healthy persons were tested by EPQ and SAS. Results The patients group had significantly higher scales of N and SAS than the healthy group. Conclusion Doctors must show concern for both the mental health and coronary heart disease.


The Fifth Annual Meeting of the International Society for Computer Assisted Orthopaedic Surgery (CAOSInternational) was held in Helsinki, Finland, on June 19–22, 2005. The overall quality of the program at this year's meeting was remarkably high, with many important and interesting developments being reported. Accordingly, the editors of Computer Aided Surgery proposed to publish a special issue of the journal showcasing some of the most noteworthy research presented at the meeting. With the support and assistance of the meeting organizers, the editors invited those presenters whose abstracts had been rated most highly by the Program Committee to submit full-length manuscripts for possible inclusion in the special issue. Despite the relatively short interval between completion of abstract review and the deadline for manuscript submission, response was enthusiastic. After subsequent completion of the peer-review and revision processes, a total of nine manuscripts were finally accepted for inclusion in this expanded issue of the journal. The editors would like to thank the members of the CAOS-International Executive and Program Committees for their invaluable assistance with this project, and are confident that the papers presented in this issue attest to the excellence and diversity of the orthopaedic research promoted by the society.


Animals frequently use the camouflage method to disguise themselves. On the battlefield, it is also employed to cover military equipment. Camouflaged objects blend into their environment by adopting colors and textures that match their surroundings. Because of its size and extreme likeness to its surroundings, a camouflaged object cannot be recognized using a general detection approach, making its detection more challenging than that of a general object. This work analyzes the available approaches to address the issue and proposes a camouflage object identification algorithm based on the YOLOv7 algorithm. The self-created military camouflage target data set was used for training and testing, and compared with YOLOv5 with multiple data sets.


In recent years evaporative water loss (EWL) in birds has undergone extensive study. Although some investigators have assumed that because of the lack of sweat glands, all evaporation occurs in the respiratory tract, others have recognized the potential importance of avian skin as a site for evaporation. To date significant cutaneous evaporation has been reported in pigeons, Columba livia (Smith 1969; Smith and Suthers 1969), and Painted Quail, Excalfactoria chinensis (Bernstein 1969, 1970, 1971). This report provides data on both cutaneous and respiratory evaporation in four species of small birds native to mesic and xeric habitats. The results indicate that evaporation from the skin in all four species at thermoneutrality constitutes a major proportion of total EWL. Hence, with the documentation of cutaneous EWL in rodents (Tennent 1945; Chew 1955; Stupfel and Geloso 1959) and in reptiles (Chew and Dammann 1960; Bentley and SchmidtNielsen 1966; Dawson et al. 1966; and others), it can now be stated that the skin represents a major pathway for water loss in non-sweating representatives of all three classes of terrestrial vertebrates.


SYMPOSIUM PROCEEDINGS I 970 high temperature during the initial stage of digestion and much lower temperatures in the latter stages. We used control settings of ( I ) 89 and ( 2 ) 37, which gave the following temperatures in the three segments of the digestor: ( I ) 320°, (2) 1 5 0 ~ and (3) 120'. As we were using much less acid for digestion than is recommended, it was also necessary to reduce the amount of sodium hydroxide added for neutralization. High concentrations of sodium hydroxide may result in loss of ammonia and so we reduced the concentration from 35% (w/v) to 100/0 (w/v). Ammonium sulphate was used as a standard. There was a satisfactory correlation between the values obtained by this method and those obtained by the microKjeldahl method.


Aim: To evaluate the antimicrobial efficacy of triple antibiotic paste (ciprofloxacin, metronidazole and cefaclor) with chitosan, calcium hydroxide and normal saline against Enterococcus faecalis.
Introduction: An infected root canal system is a unique niche for selective yet multiple species of microorganisms. There are broad spectrum species especially Gram-positive facultatives, which possess greater resistance to antimicrobial agents used during endodontic treatment. To prevent reinfection of a treated root canal, it is mandatory to disinfect the pulp space & dentinal tubules thoroughly with an endodontic irrigant or intra canal medicaments.
Methodology: E. faecalis grown at a concentration of 1.5 ×108 CFU/ml is inoculated into 21 extracted human teeth with single root canal and incubated. These teeth are divided into 3 groups based on medicament used. Each experimental canal is placed with intracanal dressing TAP + Chitosan , calcium hydroxide and Normal Saline in group 1, 2, 3. Dentinal shavings are collected at 24 hours and 21 days interval following which post colony counts for microbial evaluation are calculated.
Results: All groups except normal saline showed negligible microbial counts after 24 hours. At 21 day interval, there was significant increase in microbial count from 24 hours to 21 days. TAP+ chitosan had maximum antimicrobial efficacy while least by Calcium hydroxide.
Conclusion: From the findings, it can be concluded Triple antibiotic paste with chitosan can be used as possible alternative for intracanal dressing over longer period of time.

Keywords: Intracanal medicaments, Triple antibiotic paste, chitosan, calcium hydroxide, enterococcus faecalis


The author argues that under Russian conditions privatization does not foster real competition but only fragments the rail complex, impedes coordination of functions, increases transaction costs, and harms efficiency.


The aim of this study was to explore mechanisms by which salvianolic acid A (SAA) revealed its anti‐inflammatory activity, in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‐stimulated RAW264.7 cells.


Spreadsheet workbook contents are simple programs. Because of this, probabilistic programming techniques can be used to perform Bayesian inversion of spreadsheet computations. What is more, existing execution engines in spreadsheet applications such as Microsoft Excel can be made to do this using only built-in functionality. We demonstrate this by developing a native Excel implementation of both a particle Markov Chain Monte Carlo variant and black-box variational inference for spreadsheet probabilistic programming. The resulting engine performs probabilistically coherent inference over spreadsheet computations, notably including spreadsheets that include user-defined black-box functions. Spreadsheet engines that choose to integrate the functionality we describe in this paper will give their users the ability to both easily develop probabilistic models and maintain them over time by including actuals via a simple user-interface mechanism. For spreadsheet end-users this would mean having access to efficient and probabilistically coherent probabilistic modeling and inference for use in all kinds of decision making under uncertainty.


Two different polyurethane composites containing proteins from extracellular matrix (elastin and collagen) and glycosaminoglycanes (condroitin sulphate (CS) and hialuronic acid (HA)) with embedded AgNPs 0.5% and 1.5% have been prepared. The composites have been evaluated for their antimicrobial properties against three bacteria associated with urinary tract infections: Lysteria, Escherichia Coli and Salmonella. The mucoadhesion properties have been evaluated in vitro by determination of the maximum force of detachment and the work of adhesion on the bladder mucosa at pH 5. The hydrolytic stability of the polyurethane-based composites was determined by FTIR spectroscopy at pH 5 and 7.4.


Computer system development requires a variety of modeling and analysis techniques. These include queueing networks for mathematical analysis, Petri nets for concurrency descriptions, state transition assertions for program verification, and simulation models for investigations of operational behavior. When theoretical or simulation postulations appear inappropriate, hardwarebased experimental studies are often used. Hardwarebased experiments for computer system development focus on assessing system and component behavior, and experimental investigations require an environment that facilitates the observation of that behavior. Experience gained in the development of experimentation environments for centralized computer systems has been used to establish methodologies and tools for centralized system experimentation. For distributed computer systems, however, there is not yet a rich experience base for developing tools and methodologies to provide an experimental environment. A distributed system testbed-a vehicle for experimentation-is distinguished from a distributed system by facilities that allow the distributed system topology to be varied and the behavior of the distributed system to be readily observed and recorded. This difference gives rise to the logical structure of a distributed system testbed. It generally contains three major components: a multinode experimentation subsystem, an instrumentation subsystem, and a support subsystem. Each node in the multinode experimentation subsystem contains a computer with an autonomous control nucleus, interfaces to the communication network, and input/output facilities. The physically separated experimentation nodes retain processes and resources that are fragments of overall system processing activity. A node does not need access to the (disjoint) memory spaces of other nodes, nor does it need systemwide control authority. Rather, system control functions and state inHelmut K. Berg and William T. Wood Honeywell Corporation


In this work, we will treat two types of melanoma cells with different cytoglobin (CYGB) expression levels, as well as a normal cell line, as a benchmark, with a micro-plasma jet. A comparison of the cell lines for their sensitivity to plasma treatment is made, and the effect of plasma power, gas flow rate, treatment distance and treatment time is investigated.


This study explores the sources of information that first year engineering students use to decide which engineering major to pursue for their undergraduate studies. The purposes of this study are twofold: (1) to understand how students make an informed decision of which engineering major to pursue and (2) to help the First Year Engineering (FYE) program administration improve the informational resources they provide the students. This study was framed within the FYE population of a large Midwestern university and was commissioned by the FYE program. FYE administration conducts regular student surveys for feedback and improvement purposes. We analyzed different survey data collected over a period of one year and found out that students identified "Self-Led Exploration of Engineering Disciplines" (SLE) as the single most important source of information in selecting a major. SLE is a broad, ill-defined term, which students may interpret differently. Hence, we developed a qualitative study to investigate how students perform SLE. We conducted individual interviews with 12 students enrolled in the FYE Program. These students were selected so that they were representative of the entire student population in terms of gender. The qualitative findings of this study reinforce that the students are basing their decision of a major using SLE. These findings also helped us unpack the meaning of SLE, and we further came up with 6 different types of SLE. Finally, our findings also indicated that direct interaction with people was highly valued by the students while selecting a major.


Sugi (Cryptomeria japonica D. Don) is an important conifer used for afforestation in Japan. The field of functional genomics is rapidly developing. The genomics of this gymnosperm species is currently being studied. Although its genomic size is 11 Gbps, it is still too large to assemble well within a short period of time. Transcriptomics is the one another approach to address this. Moreover, it is a necessary step in obtaining the complete genomic data. Here we designed a three stages assembling workflow using the de novo transcriptome assembly tools, Oases and Trinity. The three stages in transcriptomics are independent assembly, automatic and semi-automatic integration, and refinement by filtering out potential contamination. We found a set of 49,795 cDNA and an equal number of translated proteins (CJ3006NRE). According to the benchmark of BUSCO, 87.01 % were complete genes, including very high "Complete and single-copy" genes–78.47%. Compared to other full-length cDNA resources, the extent of the coverage in CJ3006NRE suggests that it may be used as the standard for further studies. When two tissue-specific libraries were compared, principal component analysis (PCA) showed that there were significant differences between male strobili and leaf and bark sets. The highest three upregulated transcription factors stood out as orthologs to angiosperms. The identified signature-like domain of the transcription factors demonstrated the accuracy of the assembly. Based on the evaluation of different resources, we demonstrate that our transcriptome assembly output is valuable and useful for further studies in functional genomics and evolutionary biology.


Constructing the science technology innovation system of the Chinese universities means to build an effective joint with the national innovation system. The key tasks are how to guide and regulate the scientific research activities under the management systems and operating mechanisms. The countermeasures include that how to strengthen the building platform of science technology innovation and industrialization,how to strengthen team-work in science technology research,how to establish a suitable assessment system about the science technology innovation system of the Chinese universities itself,etc.


Abstract Fundamental demographic data of insular populations of Otus owls are not available for most species. This study investigated the population size and the sex ratio of the Ryukyu Scops Owls Otus elegans on Hateruma Island. Capture-recapture data was obtained by intensive marking and route census surveys from July to September in 2021. Analysing the data using a site-occupancy model combined with a data-augmentation technique, the population size was estimated as 155.470 individuals (97.575 males and 57.895 females), with a significant male-biased sex ratio (0.631).


Loss of Nationality — Denaturalization of Naturalized Citizens — Conviction for Espionage — Conviction prior to Denaturalization — Liability to Deportation — The Law of the United States of America.


The current study aimed to measure the testicular ultrasonographic dimensions (length, width, thickness and volume) as well as spectral Doppler indices (resistive index and pulsatility index) of testicular artery, and to investigate the possible differences between the paired testes based on testicular dimensions and blood flow Doppler indices. Five Awassi rams of normal fertility, with a body weight 50-65 kg and aged 3-5 years were subjected to testicular ultrasound examination for testicular dimensions and pulsed-wave Doppler, twice monthly for five consecutive months. The testicular volume of the left testis (69.34±6.66 mm3) was higher than the right testis (66.85±5.46 mm3). Testicular thickness was significantly affected by the laterality of the testes (P 0.05) in the right testicular artery rather than the left one. In conclusion, the testicular ultrasound measures and Doppler flow indices varied between the paired right and left testes in mature rams. In addition, the blood flow indices are highly correlated in the testicular artery of rams.


Phase separation is widely observed in multiphase systems. In this study, it has been investigated using Shan–Chen lattice Boltzmann method. The adhesion parameter in SC model leads to the desired fluid–fluid phenomenon, which was varied to specify the strength of separation between two phases to present emulsified performance in oil production. In order to describe such behaviors quantitatively, graphical distributions were described with time and were corresponded with a statistical index–Fourier structure factor that is able to predict complex phase separation behaviors, thereby providing a measurement for calculating such random distribution during the process of separation as well as evaluating heterogeneous degrees of the entire domain. The repulsive interactions are specified as low, intermediate, and high values. Phase separations with clear boundaries have been observed and each stage of separation evolvement has been discussed in this study. Magnitudes of structure factors are increased with higher degrees of fluctuations.


1. The reviewer's comment: The biggest concerns of mine is the sounding time for RS is 2000LT, which is roughly 6 hours before the CALIPSO nighttime overpass at Wuhan. The inter-comparison of BLH between CALIPSO and RS (Fig. 9) seems flawed. I guess that the authors hypothesize the PBL does not vary considerable over time during nighttime. At the very least, however, the authors should discuss this issue in detail.


The invention belongs to the field of file sharing technology, and particularly discloses a data sharing method and a data sharing system based on geographic position service. The data sharing method includes the following steps: (1) first data which needs sharing is uploaded to a cloud server through a fist user terminal, (2) the first data is transmitted to a second user terminal within a sharing range a user appointed through the cloud server. The appointed sharing range refers to a geographic position covering range with a first geographic position where the fist user terminal is located as a circle center, and within a semi-diameter appointed by the user. The user who starts a file data sharing does not need to appoint every target of the file sharing, thus a large amount of communication time and operation cost can be saved for the user when the number of sharing targets is large. Users receiving the sharing file data can receive the file in real time and avoid inconvenience caused by the subsequent checking, and timeliness of file sharing is maintained.


There are difficulties for drilling in foreign country not only in construction technology but also in the construction environment,language and some others never encountered.The paper described the difficulties of drilling construction and the solution in a gold deposit of Laos.


We describe semantic mappings of four high-level programming languages to our delegation-based machine model for aspect-oriented programming. One of the languages is a class-based object-oriented one. The other three represent extensions thereof that support various approaches to modularizing crosscutting concerns. We explain informally that an operational semantics expressed in terms of the model's concepts preserves the behavior of a program written in one of the high-level languages. We hence argue our model to be semantically sound in that sense, as well as sufficiently expressive in order to correctly support features such as class-based object-oriented programming, the open-classes and pointcut-and-advice flavors of aspect-oriented programming, and dynamic layers. For the latter, being a core feature of context-oriented programming, we also provide a formal semantics.


Fu, Q , Zhang, J , Huang, G , et al. microRNA‐29b inhibits cell growth and promotes sensitivity to oxaliplatin in colon cancer by targeting FOLR1. BioFactors. 2020; 46: 136–145. https://doi.org/10.1002/biof.1579


Disruptive requirements that currently drive the so-called Industry 4.0 (I4.0) are increasingly present in today's industries, where factories are forced to innovate in search of improvement in the quality of manufacturing of products aligned with the reductions of: manufacturing time, environmental and cost impacts with the manufacturing process. For this, an Information Systems (IS) architecture is proposed to reduce the negative impacts on an industrial operation caused by manual configuration failures in manufacturing systems, machines that are worn out in the production process and unstable integrations between industrial subsystems. The suggested SI model uses the Viable Systems Model adapted to Maintenance 4.0 technologies (Cyber-physical Systems (CPS), Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), Data Mining and Digital Manufacturing concepts/technologies) with the goal to create an automatic purchase flow to replace parts by mitigating impending failures in industrial equipment through data mining and predictive analysis.


According to the Norwegian Dyslexia Alliance (Dysleksiforbundet), serious dyslectic disorders occur in 5-10 per cent of the Norwegian population, in addition, several hundred thousand people have varying kinds of dyslexia. This means that print disabled students appear in almost every Norwegian classroom. DAISY is a system for producing, storing and playing digital books. In Norway, DAISY is used as a reading aid system for print disabled. This paper presents a broad study of primary and secondary school students' use of DAISY. Few investigations on the use and usefulness of DAISY have been carried out. Some qualitative studies have been conducted from a pedagogical perspective, but the results from such studies are hard to transform into clear, measurable criteria for the improved development and design of DAISY. This study uses a different approach, and reveals how and why DAISY is used within a specific sample. The perspective is that of software development, with special attention given to functional usefulness. Quantitative data on system features, their importance and the quality of playback software help determine which areas of the DAISY system that need improvement. The paper also provides measurement scales for evaluation of system features. The results show that DAISY is useful for the target group. However, the needs of students with dyslexia or general reading and writing difficulties should receive more attention, especially regarding playback software. DAISY playback devices have been developed chiefly with visually impaired users in mind. Problems with the use of the system can be solved by giving attention to the design of the playback interfaces, applying strategies like user participation, interaction design principles and usability tests. Six core features that best suit the user group in the sample have been identified. Suggestions are made for improving the usefulness of the DAISY standard and playback software.


In recent decades, the dual-earner couple has become increasingly normative, potentially reducing the time couples and families spend together. The authors investigated how coupled individuals allocated time together, alone, with children, and as a family, exploring changes between 1990 and 2010 in Sweden using three waves of the Swedish Time Use Survey (N = 9,544). Ordinary least squares and decomposition analyses find a trend toward time together over time alone, with childless couples spending similar time together and parents increasing family time. The shift toward family time evolved differently for men and women, indicating gender convergence in private and public spheres, but at higher costs of time alone for women. Change is behavioral and general, applying quite equally across gender and educational groups. There are educational gradients concerning time with children and certain qualitative aspects of time together, indicating that dual-earner society may be family friendly, but not equally for all.


Introduction: Mak nyahs (male-to-female transgenders) often consume feminizing hormones to achieve and maintain the female physical appearance. They do it without professional prescription/advise, and often take excessive doses. This renders them at risk of developing complications of hormone consumption. This paper provides some quantitative data on hormone consumption among mak nyahs in Kuantan, Pahang, in Malaysia. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out from July to August in 2015 among 35 mak nyahs. Convenience sampling was used. Participants who gave consent answered an interview-guided questionnaire which documents socio-demographic profile, hormone usage, and morbidities as a result of hormone consumption. Data was analysed using SPSS, Version 16.0. (version 16). Results: Majority of the subjects were Malays (91.4%) and Muslims (97.1%), their median (IQR) age being 31 (±17) years, more than half (57.1%) were between 20 to 40 years old. Most (80.0%) of them are sex workers. Oral hormone was most commonly used (88.6%), while more than half (67.7%) of them added hormone injections. Almost all subjects purchased hormones over the counter from local pharmacies (94.2%). However, many received information on hormone from non-professional sources. Possible adverse effects of hormones reported among subjects were hypertension, ischemic heart disease, diabetes mellitus, and venous thrombo-embolism. Conclusion: Hormone consumption was very common among the subjects in this study, and may be associated with certain medical problems. Medical personnel must pay more attention in educating the mak nyahs on adverse effects of hormones consumption. Mak nyahs should also be screened for complications every time they seek medical attention.


A method of a SMC (sliding mode control)-based guidance law design is proposed for an exoatmospheric missile with constant positive acceleration. By analyzing the nonlinear kinematic equations of the missile, a class of nominal motions that requires no maneuver effort can be defined. The unique time-to-go, the corresponding nominal heading angle and the nominal heading angular rate can be solved from the equations that are derived from the properties of the nominal motions to guarantee a perfect interception with a desired impact angle. A nonsingular SMC-based guidance law is designed for the disturbed heading angle tracking system such that the tracking is guaranteed in finite time.


Let P(i) = (1 0)B' be a peobability assignment on the set of nonnegative integers where 0 is an arbitrary real number, 0 < 0 < 1. We show that an optimal binary source code for this probabiliiy assignment is constructed as follows. Let I be the integer satisfying 0' + @+ 1 < 1 < 8' + @-I and represent each nonnegative integer i as i = b'+ r when j = [i/l], the integer part of i/l, and r = [i] mod 1. Encode j by a onary code (i.e., j zeros followed by a single one), and encode r by a Huffman code, using codewords of length /log2 11, for r < 2L'os 1+11 I, and length [log* I] -t1 otherwise. An optimal code for the nonnegative integers is the concatenation of those two codes. Theorem 2: M jointly ergodic countable-alphabet stochastic processes can be sent separately at rates R,,R,,. . .,R, to a common receiver with arbitrarily small probability of error, if and only if & R, 1 H(X"), i E S 1 X"), i E SC) = H(X'l' $2) 9 ,e. -,XcM') H(X"), iESC) (16) for all subsets S cl {1,2,. . . ,M}, where SC denotes the complement of S, and H denotes the entiopy of the set of processes indexed by S conditioned on the processes indexed by SC. We have used the obvious extension of (2) to define the entropy H. Note, in the particular case M = 3, that these equations coincide with the following equations exhibited by Wolf [6] for the independent identically distributed case: The Huffman source coding algorithm [1], [2] is a wellknown algorithm for encoding the letters of a finite source alphabet into a uniquely decipherable code of minimum expected codeword length. Since the algorithm operates by successively "merging" the least probable letters in the alphabet, it cannot be directly applied ts infinite source alphabets. In this correspondence, we show how the Huffman algorithm can be used indirectly to prove the optimality of a code for an infinite alphabet if one can guess what the code should be first, Naturally it is not always easy to guess the structure of an optimal code, but if the structure is simple enough, and if one starts with the simplest cases, guessing oftefi works. The particular case that we deal with here is that of the nonnegative integers with a geometric probability assignment, R, 2 H(X"' j X"', Xc3') R, r H(XC2' I X"', X(j)) R, 2 H(X'"' j X"', XC2') R1 + R2 2 H(X'I', XC2' 1 XC3') R, + R3 z H(X"', XC3' j X"') R, -tR3 2 H(X"', XC3' 1 X"') P(i) = (1 8)8', i>O (1) for some arbitrary 8, 0 < B c 1. This particular distribution arises in run-length doding, where if one has an independent letter binary source, with 8 being the probability of a zerb, then P(i) is the probability of a run of i zeros. The distribution also arises in other ways such as encoding protocol information in data networks. RI + R, + R3 2 H(X"' X"' XC3') 3 5 * (17)


It is necessary to support diversified industry-academia collaboration activities including joint industry-academia technology development, customized technical guidance for difficulties and education for employers of industry, etc. by utilizing capabilities and resources that universities have in order to undergo transition to learner-oriented education that can fulfill the demands of future society. This study is on industry-academia collaboration type cases executed with corporations with the university playing the lead role through LINC project. This study aimed to create and proliferate a leading model by analyzing the operational cases of a design department at a college in capital region. In addition, the effects of this project was reviewed by analyzing its effects on establishment of foundation for industry-academia collaboration and cultivation of competent persons, and sharing and collaboration performances, etc. thereof through improvement of the university system into industry-academia collaboration system. As the result of the study, technology development performances in specialized areas including the effects of cultivation of competent persons by the university and effect of strengthening of industry-academia collaboration of companies, etc. increased continuously, thereby making contribution towards local development.


Reticulate porous ceramics employed in high-temperature processes are characterized for heat and mass transfer. The exact 3D digital geometry of their complex porous structure is obtained by computer tomography and used in direct pore-level simulations to numerically calculate their effective transport properties. Two-point correlation functions and mathematical morphology operations are applied for the geometrical characterization that includes the determination of porosity, specific surface area, representative elementary volume edge size, and mean pore size. Finite volume techniques are applied for conductive/convective heat transfer and flow characterization, which includes the determination of the thermal conductivity, interfacial heat transfer coefficient, permeability, Dupuit–Forchheimer coefficient, residence time, tortuosity, and diffusion tensor. Collision-based Monte Carlo method is applied for the radiative heat transfer characterization, which includes the determination of the extinction coefficient and scattering phase function.


Data sources: Searches were conducted of the Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literatures (CINAHL), Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), Medline, Language and Linguistics Behavior Abstracts (LLBA), and PsycINFO using the keywords 'Rett syndrome', 'Retts disorder' and 'communication'. The initial search was limited to Englishlanguage publications, with no date restrictions. Ancestral searches were conducted of the reference lists of identified studies and hand searches were conducted of journals containing identified articles for the period 1987–2008. A further search was also conducted of the electronic databases using the names of authors of articles that were included. Study selection and assessment: Studies were included if they examined the effects of an intervention on communication in at least one participant with Rett syndrome. Studies that described or documented existing communication and those concerned with assessment were explicitly excluded. An evaluation of inter-rater reliability on study selection was conducted for all but one of the articles, which was used for training, with 84% inter-rater agreement. Discrepancies were resolved with the examination of studies by a third rater. Included studies were summarized by the first author and independently checked by one of three co-authors for accuracy using a checklist. Agreement on the accuracy of the summaries was reported for 93% of checklist items and summaries were revised in the cases of disagreement. Included studies were also evaluated for quality, providing an index of certainty of evidence. Studies were initially evaluated to determine if they had an acceptable (e.g. multiple baseline, ABAB) or unacceptable (e.g. AB, descriptive case studies, pre–post test without control group) experimental design. Studies using an acceptable design were further examined for (a) convincing evidence of an For correspondence: E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


This study deals critically with the mission theology, its policy, and the cultural view of church. This is done by looking at the contrast between...


Deep reinforcement learning (DRL) algorithms have successfully been demon1 strated on a range of challenging decision making and control tasks. One dominant 2 component of recent deep reinforcement learning algorithms is the target network 3 which mitigates the divergence when learning the Q function. However, target 4 networks can slow down the learning process due to delayed function updates. An5 other dominant component especially in continuous domains is the policy gradient 6 method which models and optimizes the policy directly. However, when Q func7 tions are approximated with neural networks, their landscapes can be complex and 8 therefore mislead the local gradient. In this work, we propose a self-regularized and 9 self-guided actor-critic method. We introduce a self-regularization term within the 10 TD-error minimization and remove the need for the target network. In addition, we 11 propose a self-guided policy improvement method by combining policy-gradient 12 with zero-order optimization such as the Cross Entropy Method. It helps to search 13 for actions associated with higher Q-values in a broad neighborhood and is robust 14 to local noise in the Q function approximation. These actions help to guide the 15 updates of our actor network. We evaluate our method on the suite of OpenAI gym 16 tasks, achieving or outperforming state of the art in every environment tested. 17


Background: Graft-versus-host disease(GVHD) refers to the spectrum of organ dysfunction that occurs when immunocompetent leukocytes attack specific tissue in a relatively immunocompromised host. The most common clinical setting for GVHD is after bone marrow transplantation(BMT). Acute GVHD occurs in about 40% to 50% of HLA-matched allogeneic transplants and skin is the most commonly involved. Despite intense interest in the GVHD, little is known regarding the histopathologic change in cutaneous graft-versus-host reaction(GVHR). Objective: We investigated the clinical and histological features of acute cutaneous GVHR in recipients receiving allogenic BMT. Methods: On the basis of the patients' charts, photographs and biopsy specimens, we investigated the clinical manifestations and histological characteristics of acne cutaneuos GVHR in 70 patients from January 1, 1998 through December 31, 1999. Results: 1.The most common cutaneous involvement sites are the chest(48.6%) and other frequent site are the face(21.4%), palm(20.0%), and extremities(10.0%). 2.The clinical grades of 70 patients of acute cutaneuos GVHR were 31 patients(44%) for grade 1, 25 patients (36%) for grade 2, 14 patients(20%) for grade 3, and 0 patient(0%) for grade 4. 3.Clinically, acute cutaneous GVHR mainly presented as pruritic erythematous maculopapules or patches. 4.Histopathlogic grades of 70 patients of acute cutaneous GVHR were 25 patinets(36%) for grade 1, 38 patients(54%) for grade 2, 7 patients(10%) for grade 3, and 0 (0%) patient for grade 4. 5.Histologically, the most common epidermal change in acute cutaneous GVHR is vacuolar degeneration (95.6%). Other epidermal findings are epidermal dyskeratotic cell(76.5%), hyperkeratosis(61.8%), spongiosis(61.8%), exocytosis(61.8%), atrophy(52.9%), and parakeratosis(13.2%), acanthosis(11.8%) and subepidermal cleft(10.0) are rarely seen. In addition, dermal changes include perivascular lymphohistocytic infiltration(94.1%), telangiectasia(57.4%), pigmentary incontinence(44.1%), endothelial swelling(33.8%), band-like infiltration(30.8%), neutrophilic infitraion(20.6%), periappendageal infiltration(14.7%) and extravasation of erythrocytes(13.2%).