A plethora of modern technologies rely on permanent magnets for their operation, including many related to the transition towards a sustainable future, such as wind turbines or electric vehicles. Despite the overwhelming superiority of magnets based on rare-earth elements in terms of the magnetic performance, the harmful environmental impact of the mining of these raw materials, their uneven distribution on Earth and various political conflicts among countries leave no option but seeking for rare-earth-free alternatives. The family of the hexagonal ferrites or hexaferrites, and in particular the barium and strontium M-type ferrites (BaFe12O19 and SrFe12O19), are strong candidates for a partial rare-earth magnets substitution, and they are indeed successfully implemented in multiple applications. The manufacturing of hexaferrites into dense pieces (i.e. magnets) meeting the requirements of the specific application (e.g. magnetic and mechanical properties, shape) is not always straightforward, which has in many cases hampered the actual substitution at the industrial level. Here, past and on-going research on hexaferrites sintering is reviewed with a historical perspective, focusing on the challenges encountered and the solutions explored, and correlating the sintering approaches with the magnetic performance of the resulting ceramic magnet.


In the first lecture I constructed instantaneous point source solution, or so called ZKB-solution of the nonlinear diffusion equation. This solution exhibits finite speed of propagation property which is in sharp contrast to classical linear heat/diffusion equation. In fact, ZKB solution is not a solution in a classical sense, and even first order derivatives are discontinuous along the interfaces or free boundaries separating the regions where solution is positive from the region where it is zero. To justify this important and physically relevant solution, we introduced the notion of the weak solution. Recall the definition of the weak solution to the Dirichlet problem:


Background After several years of decreasing injury rates, in 2010, there began an upward injury fatality trend in Kentucky fueled largely by increases in accidental drug overdose and suicide. In 2012, Kentucky's age-adjusted injury fatality rate had increased from 76.1 in 2010 to 81.8 per 100,000 population. Description of the problem The state has 120 counties and a total population of 4.4 million. Numerous agencies are charged with injury prevention, however there is a lack of coordination and local injury data, making prevention efforts fragmented and inefficient. We adopted the Safe Communities model as a way to address rising injury rates. The Safe Community model originated with the World Health Organisation's Collaborating Centre on Community Safety Promotion's Karolinska Institute. Results In 2012, the Kentucky Injury Prevention and Resource Centre (KIPRC), Kentucky's lead injury prevention agency, became a Safe Community Affiliate Support Centre and entered into a partnership with the National Safety Council (NSC) and Safe Communities America with the following five year goals: (1) half the population of the state living within a Safe Community, (2) assist with local prevention planning and, (3) develop local data reports. As of July 2015, there are 8 communities certified or in process, holding nearly 40% of the state's population, and injury data reports are available for all counties. Conclusions The Safe Communities approach has been shown to be effective in saving lives and reducing costs. A recent NSC study showed that after 10 years of rising injuries and injury rates in one community, the decision to seek Safe Community accreditation was followed by a 2-year decline in injury hospitalizations. In those two years, the study showed that nearly 300 hospitalizations may have been prevented, saving the community over $14 million in health care costs.


Making the most of precipitation is a availability method in water saving irrigation, increasing water temperature and raising yield. Just based on this, through applying the theory of season random time series, according to the data of average monthly precipitation (1980-1999), the paper builds up the forecasting model in the area of well irrigation rice in Sanjiang Plain. Through contrasting with practical value, the model has good effect. So, it can be used in water irrigation management.


Historically, binational governance of the Columbia River Basin has been controlled by federal agencies in the United States and federal-provincial agencies in British Columbia, both supported by the International Joint Commission. While this management system has served the region well for many years, it is now showing signs of strain. In both countries, stakeholders have identified a number of issues of concern, including the narrowness of the Columbia River Treaty. At the same time, there are pressures to create new management goals and more balanced systems of river basin planning and governance. Both countries are attempting to respond to a range of unresolved problems and concerns individually at the national level and bilaterally in the transboundary context. In this paper, we explore a spectrum of possible management outcomes that could emerge in the current search for a new consensus. All relate to questions of the values that should be sustained, and to the nature of an acceptable binational governance framework needed to achieve such values. The Context The Columbia basin has been used by societies in a variety of ways. Beginning as a provider of sustenance, water, and as a transportation artery for native peoples who first inhabited the area, its functions gradually evolved during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to include large-scale commercial fisheries, transportation, water supplies, hydroelectricity, and recreation. Beginning in the 1930s, federal dams were built on the Columbia and its tributaries, while many nonfederal projects were devised to support the numerous uses of the basin by diverting, regulating, and storing water for consumptive and instream uses (United States, BPA 1991, 5). Investment in these dams and the related infrastructure has enabled many uses to coexist. In recent years, the basin has been described not only as a scenic treasure and ecological gem, but also as the economic backbone of the entire Pacific Northwest in the United States and central interior of British Columbia (Tetra Tech 1996, 1). Although high technology industries such as aerospace engineering, scientific instruments, and computer programming now contribute 42 percent of all employment in the basin south of the 49th parallel (United States 1995c, 2-7), the Columbia basin remains a supplier of many raw materials and semifinished manufactured goods (United States 1995c, 2-1). Average runoff from the Columbia is 198 million acre feet (maf) (275,022 cubic feet per second) at the mouth, making the Columbia's discharge second only to the Missouri-Mississippi River in the United States (United States 1995b, 1-1). The river originates in central British Columbia in the Rocky Mountains. Its waters flow 1,214 miles (1,954 km) to the Pacific Ocean near Astoria, Oregon, making it the fourth longest river on the continent. Its drainage basin covers 219,000 square miles (567,200 km2) in seven states, which include Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and small parts of Wyoming, Nevada, and Utah, as well as 39,500 square miles (79,000 km2) in the province of British Columbia (United States 1995a, 2; Coulson 1996, 2) (fig. 1). Natural stream flows on the Columbia have fluctuated enormously. Prior to construction of the basin's storage dams, the river's volatile waters regularly flooded, destroying portions of communities situated on dangerous flood plain locations along its banks, causing death and the destruction of property and real estate. Reservoirs were constructed to act as a safety buffer and help prevent these disasters. They created adequate storage space for times when the river is at high levels. Today, flood control takes priority over all other uses (British Columbia 1993b, 2). Given this context, a variety of mechanisms were created, mostly during this century, to govern the resources in the Columbia, separately in each country as well as binationally. From relatively simple systems initially, these have grown into increasingly complex, overlapping institutions. …


We have recently published evidence that a retrovirus nay be etiologically related to KD (Lancet, Sept. 6, 1986). We have performed co-cultivation of acute KD patient peripheral blood mcnonuclear cells. (PMBC's) with the human lymphoblastoid cell lines MOLT-3, MOLT-4, NC-37, and HUT-78 in RPMI 1640 media containing PHA, IL-2 and in some cases, polybrene, anti-αinterferon, and PHA-stimulated normal adult or cord blood PBMC's. Culture supernatants were assayed weekly for Mg++-dependent RT activity: aliquots were centrifuged, and the pellet resuspended in tris-HC1 with KC1, DTT, MgCl2, Triton X-100, poly(rA) oligo(dT) and 3H-TTP. After incubation, duplicate aliquots were spotted onto glass fiber filters, washed, dried, and counted. RT activity was detected in 16/341 KD co-cultivation flask supernatants but in only 2/278 flasks containing control lymphocytes (p<0.01). None of 4 convalescent KD sera had antibody to gp120 or gp41, envelope glycoproteins of HIV (HTLV-III), by immunoblot analysis. None of 8 convalescent KD sera had IgG antibody to HTLV-I, and none of 7 had IgM antibody to HTLV-I or IgG antibody to HTLV-II by ELISA's utilizing purified whole disrupted virus. The finding of RT activity in co-cultured supematants supports the possibility of a retroviral etiology for KD, but serologic studies thus far do not show cross-reactive antibodies to HTLV-I, HTLV-II, or HIV in patients with KD.


II ere WC develop and 1.csL a parallel 8chcrnc for the solution or linear 8Y81.crns or ordinary initial value prnblPms ba.sPd on the box scheme and a modifiPd recursivP doubling tPchniquP. The box scheme ma,y be replacPd by any stablP intPgrator. The algorithm can be modified to solve boundary value problems. Soft:ware for both problems is available upon request..


Improvements in the visualization module MOM2D and graphical client QtClient of the TALGAT system are presented. Visualization and editing of information in the MOM2D module, implementation of the circuit diagram editing and enhancements of the graphical client are described.


In this paper we test whether the use of Fair Value accounting has an effect on the design and structure of debt contracts. We examine the occurrence of debt covenants, the strictness of covenants, and the promised yield. Using a sample from Thompson Reuters LPC/Dealscan database on private loan agreements in the United States from 1990 to 2012, we find that fair value accounting results in the decreased use of covenants in debt contracts and firms that use fair value observe stricter debt covenants than non-fair value firms. Finally, we find that the use of fair value accounting results in an increase in the cost of debt. We have used robustness tests to ensure that our results are not biased due to endogeneity issues, and we conclude that the results from the robustness tests agree with the results from the main regressions. JEL Classifications: G14, G15, G18, G30, G34, K22, M41, M48


Srinivasan Arumugam, Rames C.Panda #1 Department of ECE, GKMCET, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. *2 Department of Chemical Engineering, CSIR-CLRI, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. email@example.com *2 firstname.lastname@example.com Abstract-Valve stiction is one of the prominent stand-alone reasons for oscillatory behavior in process industry. Stiction is a common problem in spring diaphragm type valves, which are widely used in the process industry. This behavior leads control valves to deliver accurate feed and thereby allowing wastage of utility. Recently, there have been many attempts to understand, define, model and detect stiction in control valves. Most of the available methods cannot simultaneously detect and quantify stiction. The paper presents an Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy methodology for identification of stiction. For a vertical two tank level process with Kano's model of stiction is considered to obtain necessary required data to formulate objective function. The proposed methods for detecting and quantifying stiction are applied on the flow control valve using MATLAB/Simulink platform. Keyword-ANFIS, Control-Valve, Dead-Band, Identification, Modelling, Nonlinear, Stick-Band, Stiction,


This paper stresses the algebraic (as opposed to analytic) nature of the concept of almost invarianoe, which has been introduced by Willems (1980) as a means of studying asymptotic aspects of linear systems. Based on an interpretation' in terms of difference equations, it is shown that the basic properties and a number of characterizations of tho four fundamental classes of subspaces can be derived in a relatively simple and purely algebraic fashion. Among other things, this paper also extends the results of Hautus on the frequency-domain interpretation of ordinary ( A, B)-invariant subspaces, re-derives the pencil characterization of Jaffe and Karcanias (1981), and obtains a new ' hybrid ' type of characterization. The last result also loads to a rank test for almost invariance.


Abstract – This research aimed to examine the opinions of pre-service mathematics teachers towards proof. The students received low scores in the items containing the self-evaluation of the proof in the quantitative dimension, a qualitative form was applied to obtain more comprehensive information. Therefore, quantitative and qualitative research approaches were used together along with mixed methods. Although all students expressed their opinions on the necessity of proof, it was concluded that they had difficulties in the proof process due to the difficulty level of proof and their lack of mathematical knowledge in their self-evaluation. And also, a great majority of pre-service teachers stated that they intended to use alternative learning approaches instead of proof in their future careers. Although proof is seen as a necessary process, pre-service teachers' proof self-efficacy levels are low and their thoughts on using proof in their professional life are insufficient. Therefore, it can be recommended to include proof in pre-graduate education and to eliminate the students' lack of basic knowledge.


Synopsis This report presents the TAU Temporal Object Model. The TAU Model is a high level data model that extends the ODMG Object Model in order to support temporal semantics. The basic concepts introduced by the TAU Model are valid time, transaction time, temporal objects, temporal extents, lifespans, temporal attributes, temporal relationships, property histories and temporal literals.


Teenagers who experience 5 or more serious sunburns before their 20th birthday could be increasing their lifetime risk of skin cancers by as much as 80%, according to new data from a 20-year study.


Reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT)-controlled block copolymer synthesis using dispersion polymerization in supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) shows unprecedented control over blocking efficiency. For PMMA-b-PBzMA and PMMA-b-PSt the blocking efficiency was quantified by measuring homopolymer contaminants using the techniques of GPC deconvolution, gradient polymer elution chromatography (GPEC), and GPC dual RI/UV detection. A new, promising method was also developed which combined GPC deconvolution and GPEC. All techniques showed that blocking efficiency was significantly improved by reducing the radical concentration and target molecular weight. Estimated values agreed well with (and occasionally exceeded) theory for PMMA-b-PBzMA. The heterogeneous process in scCO2 appeared to cause little or no further hindrance to the block copolymerization procedure when reaction conditions were optimized. High blocking efficiencies were achieved (up to 82%) even at high conversion of MMA (>95%) a...


Tomato cultivars Ângela I.5100, Floradade, IPA-05, Jumbo AG-592, Santa Clara and their diallel crosses, not including reciprocals, were evaluated as to ten morphologycal and five fruit quality traits, using Gardner and Eberhart's methodology. Enough variability among parental was detected for the majority of the studied traits. The results clearly indicated that significant increases in total carotenoid and beta-carotene contents are to be expected in crosses involving Ângela I.5100, Floradade and Jumbo AG-592 while the cross AG-592 x Ângela I.5100 is the most proper for increases in vitamin C content. Taking into account all the characters tested, cultivar Ângela I.5100, Floradade and Santa Clara showed the best potentials for plant breding purposes.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the cutaneous adverse reactions to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), clinical characteristic and the association with HLA-B*1502.

METHODS
A retrospective analysis of four cases of antiepileptic drug hypersensitive syndrome (AHS) were performed on the basis of clinical data, cutaneous adverse reactions to carbamazepine (CBZ) (n = 2) including Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) (n = 1) and hypersensitivity syndrome (HSS) (n = 1); phenobarbital-induced HSS (n = 1) and oxcarbazepine (OXC)-induced HSS (n = 1). All patients received the examinations of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with sequence specific primers to analyze HLA-B*1502. Two healthy subjects had no history of using antiepileptic drugs as the control.

RESULTS
All patients had manifestations of fever, eruption, mucosal involvement and visceral injury. Two cases were diagnosed as Stevens-Johnson syndrome associated with apparent bullae formation. Genotype positive for HLA-B*1502 was association with 2 patients with CBZ/OXC-induced SJS while the other 1 case of CBZ and 1 case of phenobarbital-induced HSS were genotype non-HLA-B*1502.

CONCLUSION
AHS usually occurs within 1 to 2 weeks after initiation of AEDs therapy. The typical presentations are fever, eruption and internal organ involvements, etc. The epileptic patients with CBZ/OXC-induced SJS are related with HLA-B*1502 genotype. But it is not found in HSS patients.


Through systematic studies on the ch aracteristics of the ore deposits an d ore-controlling structures,the time-space relationship betwee n structures and ore formation,the a uthors think that the Q-joints of the uplifted areas in the endocontacts w ere further evolved into ore-contro lling structures,and ore-fluid flo wed down from the contact strips,conseq uently the mode of ore bodies occurre nce was large-vein type and the mineralization revealed the phenom enon of reverse zoning but do not takk on the characteristics of"Five-storey".


This article aims to present the theme of the presence of Syrian refugees in Brazil since 2011, the year in which the war in Syria broke out. This study is part of a research on the labor trajectories of Syrian refugees, taking into account their integration in the Brazilian social fabric in the context of an economic, political crisis and precarious work. The methodology applied in this investigation is the biographical narrative. We analyzed the role of host networks. We identified, through the narratives, cases of discrimination in the work paths of Syrian refugees.


It is generally believed that the spacing of simultaneous~ initiated collar primed multiple charges is not dependent on the charge length. The stresses generated by explosive charges have been assumed to propagate through a material in a cylindrical manner. This assumption implied that the stress generated in any plane along the charge diameter would have been uniform in magnitude and direction. A , finite explosive velocity along with a conical stress wave causes the . stresses near the collar to differ from those farther down the column. For this reason~ the spacing of charges would be dependent on charge length • .An experimental technique using models was employed to investigate charge length and other spacing parameters. Materials with different properties were selected as models for the purpose of' determining to what extent material's properties influenced the spacing. This investigation showed that charge length was of extreme impor tapce in the spacing of instantaneously ini tiated charges of short length. This could be attributed to decreased stress i ntensities in the collar region caused by noncoherent wave fronts in this region.


Abstract The aim of this study was to conduct a comprehensive literature review of the dimensions of open science in research processes. A total of four databases and snowball searching were used for the comprehensive literature review during 2011–2020; then, we were able to find 98 studies based on the inclusion criteria. Also, we used thematic method to review the relevant studies and identified three categories of dimensions in the research process, namely (1) the publication and sharing category including open access, open data, transparency and reproducibility, citizen science, and crowd sourcing; (2) the infrastructure and cultural category including open infrastructure, open education, open tools, budget mechanism, open culture, and communication; and (3) governance and evaluation including policies, governance, and the ethical principles associated with open science. Open science emphasizes the efforts to open and make the scientific research process more inclusive so as to engage the inside and outside actors in the research process.


As is well known, generators are important reactive support devices in power systems. Due to difference in location, active output and other factors, however, specific generators are of differing importance to the system. There is a need to develop an index to measure the relative importance of the generators. Modal analysis is extended to include entries for generators. A generator ranking method is then developed based on the participation factors related to the critical mode in the vicinity of the point of voltage collapse. Simulation and verification studies are conducted on different scale systems including a 1000-bus real-life system. The results show the validity of the proposed method and that the participation factors are a comprehensive index taking into account all related factors. An example is also provided to illustrate the application of this ranking index.


The goal of designing Common Warehouse Metamodel (CWM) is to establish a standard proposed for interchanging Metadata in Data Warehouse and Business Analysis environment conveniently. It has become a core component of a new strategic direction on Model Driven Architecture (MDA). In this paper, we present the enterprise Metadata integration based on CWM, design an pattern on Object-to-Relational Mapping , and offer an application case.


In this study, to determine the elastic and inelastic structural responses of mid‐rise building frames under the influence of soil–structure interaction, three types of mid‐rise moment‐resisting building frames, including 5‐storey, 10‐storey and 15‐storey buildings are selected. In addition, three soil types with the shear wave velocities less than 600 m/s, representing soil classes Ce, De and Ee according to AS 1170.4–2007 (Earthquake action in Australia, Australian Standards), having three bedrock depths of 10 m, 20 m and 30 m are adopted. The structural sections are designed after conducting nonlinear time history analysis, on the basis of both elastic method and inelastic procedure considering elastic‐perfectly plastic behaviour of structural elements. The frame sections are modelled and analysed, employing finite difference method adopting FLAC2D software under two different boundary conditions: (a) fixed base (no soil–structure interaction) and (b) considering soil–structure interaction. Fully nonlinear dynamic analyses under the influence of different earthquake records are conducted, and the results in terms of the maximum lateral displacements and base shears for the above mentioned boundary conditions for both elastic and inelastic behaviours of the structural models are obtained, compared and discussed. With the results, a comprehensive empirical relationship is proposed to determine the lateral displacements of the mid‐rise moment‐resisting building frames under earthquake and the influence of soil–structure interaction. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This paper presents the subject Digital Techniques for Communications (DTC). DTC is taught at the Escola Politecnica Superior de Castelldefels (EPSC), which belongs to the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC). It is a compulsory subject for undergraduate electrical engineering students specialized in telecommunication systems. It covers sampling theory, efficient IQ modulation and demodulation, phase-locked loops, and direct digital synthesis. The practical part consists of four laboratory exercises, where students in groups of two gradually implement a simple communications system on a fixed-point digital signal processor. This paper discusses the SDR practices that our students learn during the laboratory session. We conclude with our positive experience of teaching SDR principles to undergraduate students.


This article addresses the question on whether companies from emerging economies—China create shareholder value through cross-border Mergers and acquisitions.The standard event study methodology is used to ascertain the abnormal returns around the announcement day.The study covers the period from 2004 to 2010 with a sample size of 29 events.The announcement effect is positive and significant around the announcement day.The average abnormal return is 2.04% on day 0,and the two day(days 0 and 1) cumulative abnormal return is 2.52%.Due to the limitation of sample size,a cross-sectional analysis about the variation among firm's abnormal return is unable to be carried out.However,based on statistical analysis of the data,the common characteristics of acquires and their acquisition can still be found: the acquirers have significantly larger scale and lower debt ratio than their peers.Moreover,they prefer to acquire the target in their similar industry,carry out relatively-small size deal and aim to obtain control rights,which reflect the typical motivation of Chinese listed companies are for long-term strategic effect and have stronger capacity to avoid the risk of cross-border acquisitions.Those may help to explain why the shareholders of these firms can benefit from the cross border MA announcements.


PurposeThe objective of this study was to analyse the influencing factors of citizens' dissatisfaction with government services during the COVID-19 pandemic to help government departments identify problems in the service process and possible countermeasures.Design/methodology/approachThe authors first used cosine interesting pattern mining (CIPM) to analyse citizens' complaints in different periods of the pandemic. Second, the potential evaluation indices of customer satisfaction were extracted from the hotline business system through a hypothesis analysis and modelled using multiple regression analysis. During the index transformation and standardization process, a machine-learning algorithm of clustering and emotion analysis was adopted. Finally, the authors used the random forest algorithm to evaluate the importance of the indicators and obtain the indicators more important to citizen satisfaction.FindingsThe authors found that the complaint topic, appeal time, urgency of citizens' complaints, citizens' emotions, level of detail in the case record, and processing timeliness and efficiency significantly influenced citizens' satisfaction. When the government addresses complaints in a more standardized and efficient manner, citizens are more satisfied.Originality/valueDuring the pandemic, government departments should be more patient with citizens, increase the speed of the case circulation and shorten the processing period of appeals. Staff should record appeals in a more standardized manner, highlighting themes and prioritizing urgent cases to appease citizens and relieve their anxiety.


Yellow passion fruits post harvest conservation has been done by the use of agrochemical substances and air refrigeration. This has been the cause of concern not only because of public health but also because of the financial onus with which low income farmers are faced. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the hydrothermic treatment and calcium chloride for the conservation of yellow passion fruits. The experimental units were arranged according to a split-plot completely random design where the plots consisted of I. the check treatment, II. the immersion of the fruits in a 2% cal- cium chloride solution for 1 hour, III. the immersion of the fruits in water at 35 °C for 1 hour (hydro- thermic treatment), IV. the immersion of the fruits in a 2% calcium chloride solution at 35 °C for 1 hour, and V. the immersion of the fruits in water at 35 °C for 1 hour followed by washing the fruits in water at 20 °C for 20 minutes and then exposing the fruits to a 2% calcium chloride solution for 1 hour. The sub-plots consisted of the periods of 0, 4, 8, 12, and 16 days during which the fruits remained in stor- age under environmental conditions of 21 ± 2 °C and relative humidity of 70%. The effects of those treatment-combinations were evaluated by the loss of fresh weight (PMF), skin color (COR) variation, pulp yield (RP), juice yield (RS), soluble solids content (SS), titratable acidity (AT), and the relation SS/AT. The post harvest treatments did not retard senescence under the adopted storage conditions. AT and SS levels showed a daily reduction of 0.12% and 0.14 °Brix, respectively. SS/AT, PMF, RP, and RS showed daily increments of 0.04, 2.63%, 1.09%, and 0.72%, respectively. Calcium chloride


The lyrics express the wish that antelopes will eat
grass, leopards and tigers eat fruit, and that families
will be happy together. This song is sung at weddings
and during New Year celebrations. It was very
common in 2008.
歌词表达了希望羚羊们能吃草、老虎和豹能够吃水果、家人在
一起能够高兴。在婚礼和新年时唱这首歌。 这首歌比较广泛,
在二零零八年村里几乎每个人都能唱。


Novel biologically important mono- and bicyclic iminosugars have been synthesized from commercially available sugars following high yielding and short synthetic sequences. These unnatural N-heterocycles have been further tested against several glycosidases and some of them showed good inhibition of the enzymes with moderate selectivity.


A thorough investigation has been conducted on the microstructural and crystallographic features of Electric Current Pulse (ECP) treated Cu-40%Zn alloys. The phase transformation orientation relationship (OR) and its correlation with crystal defects have been studied and the formation mechanisms of ECP induced crystal defects in the parent phase and the sub-structures in the β precipitates were also analyzed. The α to β heating phase transformation can be induced by ECP treatment with the formation of fine β precipitates that can be remained to the room temperature. With the increase of the electric current density, the amount of precipitates is increased and the formation sites increase from α grain boundaries to grain interiors. The β precipitates follow different ORs depending on the formation site. The grain boundary β phase obeys the Kurdjumov-Sachs (K-S) OR; whereas the intragranular β respects the Nishiyama-Wasserman (N-W) OR. In the former sites, the {111}α / α dislocations are observed, whereas in the latter, the {111}α/ α stacking faults are found. Transformation strain analyses revealed that under the K-S OR the maximum lattice deformation required is a shear on the {111}α / α slip system, whereas under the N-W OR the maximum deformation is a shear on the {111}α / α system. Thus the existing {111}α / α dislocations along the α grain boundaries provide pre-strain required by the transformation via the K-S path, whereas the {111}α / α stacking faultsboarded by {111}α / α partial dislocations offer pre-strain facilitating the transformation via the N-W path. Different types of crystal defects are formed in the α matrix by the ECP treatments depending on the current density. At low density, large amount of {111}α / α stacking faults and then nano twins are produced in the α matrix. At high density, dislocation nets are formed near the β precipitates that are composed of edge typed {111}α / α perfect dislocations and the Frank typed dislocations. The volume misfit between the α and the β phase analyzed with transformation deformation reveals that the transformation from α to β requires an expansion along [110]α direction and a contraction along [111]α direction. The former results in the appearance of the {111}α / α edge typed dislocation arrays in front of the {311}α broad faces and the latter induces the formation of the Frank typed dislocations in front of the {121}α broad faces. Thus, dislocation nets formed along the edges of the broad faces of the β precipitates where the two kinds of dislocations meet. Furthermore, the β precipitates contain two kinds of nano-sized and diffuse atomic clusters with the  structure obeying the Burgers OR and with the ω structure obeying the Blackburn OR with the β matrix. They were each formed through a two-stepped atomic displacement. For the  structure, the first step is the atomic shuffle of each second {110}β plane in the βdirection and the second is a structure change mainly by a shear on the {112}β / β. For the ω structure, the first is an atomic shuffle on each second and third {112}β plane in the ±[111]β directions and then normal strains in three mutually perpendicular directions ( β, β and β). The concomitant appearance of the two structures lies in the fact that the volume increase accompanying the  formation can be canceled by the volume decrease accompanying the ω distortion, which minimizing the transformation strain energy. The results of this work provide fundamental information on the Cu-40%Zn alloys for interpreting the impact of the crystal defects on the solid phase transformation ORs, on the formation of various types of crystal defects induced by the ultra-rapid phase transformation and on the formation mechanisms of sub structures in the product phase.


Lateralization is one of the central questions in neurology, neuropsychology, and other related scientific disciplines. There has been very little change in the proportion of left-handers since the Upper Paleolithic Age about 10,000 years ago and it is estimated to be around 10%. As the history of human thinking has developed from superstition to science, the explanation of left-handedness transformed from ?devil?s work? to neurological specificity. This paper presents this very interesting historical change by analyzing the data on left-handedness and the attitudes towards it in human societies from prehistory to today. Even in a relatively open-minded society, parents and teachers may encourage a left-handed child to switch to right-handedness to make their lives easier in a largely right-handed world. On the other hand, left-handedness is increasingly seen as a special gift, and left-handed people have started to favor themselves as more competent in relation to the right-handed people.


The utility model discloses a horizontal flow type circulating water solid building waste separator, which comprises a separating tank, wherein holding parts for collecting different materials are arranged on the bottom of the separating tank, flowing water with scheduled height is arranged in the separating tank, flows to the other side of the separating tank from one side of the separating tank in the effect of a water circulating driving device; a solid building waste feeding part is arranged above the separating tank and higher than the horizontal plane; separated materials enter into the flowing water from the feeding part, the materials with bigger specific gravity enter into the first holding part below the feeding part in the effect of the flowing water, materials with small specific gravity enter into other holding parts nearby the first holding part sequentially, the other holding parts comprise a second holding part to a Nth holding part, and N is great than one. The horizontal flow type circulating water solid building waste separator has the advantages of being low in separating cost, recycling all separated materials, and according with the ideas of environmental protection and sustainable development.


For large rivers with compound cross section, the downstream channel has a very wide water surface during the fl ood season. Wide water surface, high water level, superimposed on a larger wind speed will cause higher waves, increasing the threat of fl ooding to the dike. A design concept of combined-type wave break forest was put forward to achieve better wave elimination effect. The main idea of this concept is to plant different vegetation at different locations in front of the dike. Three single-type forest and four combined-type forest schemes were designed under seven different water depth conditions. Both physical experiment and wave numerical simulation were carried out for each scheme to study the wave attenuation effect. The results showed that the effect of wave attenuation of the single-type of wave forest was signi fi cantly different under different water depth conditions, and the overall effect of the combined-type of wave forest was better. Combined-type wave break forest coordinates the advantages of different vegetation in different water levels, which makes it more economical and reasonable to build the forest in the river with large water level variation. The proposed design ideas and methods could provide theoretical support for ecological revetment engineering of large rivers and insight regarding to practical applications.


In this essay the author points out the differences and the connections between science, technique and technology, starting with the most popular attitudes of the 'public opinion'. The attitudes, however, need to take into account the process of ideologization of science and of technology, that have consequently led to scientism and technologism, bringing science and technology to establish themselves as 'autonomous systems'.


In recent years various methods has been proposed for speech recognition and removing noise from the speech signal became an important issue. In this paper a fuzzy system has been proposed for speech recognition that can obtain accurate results using classification of speech signals with "Ant Colony" algorithm.  First, speech samples are given to the fuzzy system to obtain a pattern for every set of signals that can be helpful for dimensionality reduction, easier checking of outcome and better recognition of signals.  Then, the "ACO" algorithm is used to cluster these signals and determine a cluster for each input signal. Also, with this method we will be able to recognize noise and consider it in a separate cluster and remove it from the input signal. Results show that the accuracy for speech detection and noise removal is desirable.


: The present study was designed to investigate the lecithin and mixtures of quercetin and lecithin (1:1, W/W ) and mixtures of rutin and lecithin (1:1, W/W ) in the protection of triolein models stored under oxidative conditions for 15 days in the dark at 60°C. The progress of oxidation was tested by measuring the peroxide value (PV). The factors influencing the oxidative stability (OS) of different triolein models were also discussed. Inverse relationships were noticed between peroxide values and oxidative stabilities at termination of the storage. Also a biological study was carried out to evaluate the hypolipidemic effects of all previously studied additives. Oral administration of lecithin and mixtures of quercetin and lecithin and mixtures of rutin and lecithin to hyperlipidemic rats induced a highly decreasing effect on the levels of serum total cholesterol (TC), triacylglycerols (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) and increasing the levels of serum high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL), It is suggest that, phenolipids (quercetin-enriched lecithin) and (rutin -enriched lecithin) has a significant health benefits and can be explored as a potentially promising food additive for the prevention of hyperlipidemia diseases. triplicate


In the age of the ever-growing number of tasks generated from the Internet of Things (IoT) devices, one of the most crucial problems with enhancing the Quality of Service in multi-access computing (MEC) is to have a low overdue-task rate (tasks with processing time greater than their deadlines) while minimizing the energy consumed. To properly formulate the task offloading in a vehicular network, we consider both the number of overdue tasks and the total energy consumed by the edge system. We focus not only on maximizing the users' experience by minimizing the percentage of overdue tasks rate but also on saving energy for the service provider. Thus, our Deadline-constrained and Energy-aware problem requires finding a task offloading strategy to reduce the total power consumption of the edge system while still minimizing the number of overdue tasks. Findings from a 2D-street real-data bus traces are also provided for analysis. Furthermore, we develop a schema based on rein-forcement learning techniques named Deadline Constrained and Energy-Aware Task Offloading (DCEAO) to solve the problem. It proves to reduce the base station's power consumption by 38% to 51% while maintaining competitive overdue-task rate to other benchmarks that only focus on minimizing overdue-task rate.


A prism-based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor deposited with reduced graphene oxide/maghemite is presented for the detection of lead ions (Pb2+) in water. The SPR setup proposed followed the Kretschmann configuration with the installment of the nanocomposite integrated bilayer sensor chip onto the prism. For protection, the nanocomposite active layer was coated with 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-carbodiimidehydrochloride/N-hydroxysuccinimide. When the sensor was tested with different concentrations of Pb2+ in static water, the limit of detection was achieved at 0.001 ppm with a resonance angle shift of 0.184°. As an improvisation, a sample circulation design was adapted into the setup in order to increase the interaction rate between the sample and the sensing layer. This managed to improve the detection limit to 0.3 ppb.


To improve vehicle driving safety in urban environment,an active safety collision avoidance system was presented and implemented.A distributed architecture was adopted in the low-level system,uC/OS-II employed as the real-time operational system of the bottom software.The communication system was realized by CANopen protocol.Since the road curvature always changes drastically in urban environment,an adaptive warning area based collision detecting method was proposed using scanning laser radar.The stability of the system and the validity of the proposed method were proved by the real experiments.


This report describes research leading to the development of new catalytic materials based on hydrous metal oxide (HMO) ion exchangers. Present in this part, the second of two parts, are results of catalyst-related research and application of the materials to catalytic reactions for direct coal liquefaction processes. HMO materials are inorganic ion exchangers, derived from the alkoxides of Ti, Zr, Nb, or Ta, that exhibit a number of properties applicable to the preparation of catalysts. Research on the catalytic properties of HMO's has focused on the hydrous titanium oxide (HTO) system. However, exploratory coal liquefaction experiments with hydrous niobium oxides (HNO's) and hydrous zirconium oxides (HZO's) have demonstrated that these HMO's also exhibit potential as coal liquefaction catalysts. Studies performed during the course of this research include (1) preliminary coal liquefaction and hydrotreating tests, (2) tests of hydrogenation, hydrodesulfurization, hydrodeoxygenation and hydrodenitrogenation activity using model compounds, (3) development of catalyst pretreatment and activation procedures, (4) modification of HTO supports with silicon, (5) preparation and testing of thin film HTO catalysts, (6) synthesis, characterization and evaluation of base and noble metal catalyst deactivation tests, and (9) exploratory tests of applications other than direct liquefaction. The versatility of the HTO system formore » synthesis of catalysts allows great potential for further improvements in activity and selectivity as well as tailoring of catalysts for specific processes. Research is continuing in these areas. 54 refs., 63 figs., 25 tabs.« less


Purpose: Value P-TFO curative effect to prevent and cure infantile respiratory trace infection. Methods: Divide 80 patients discharged from hospital after recovery into 50 in observation and 30 in contrast. Observation group: One P-TFO each day taken orally, 30 days as a course of treatment,3 courses of treatment in all. Contrast group: compound Vitamin B syrup taken orally as a consolation therapy for 3 months. Through the observation to clinical curative effect, measure and determine the level of serum antigen before and after the treatment. Result: The clinical curative effect of observation group is much superior to that of contrast group and moreover, the abnormal body fluid immunity from the former is rectified. Conclusion: P-TFO can be used to prevent repeated infant respiratory trace infection , which has a distinct curative effect and is worth application and dissemination.


In burn scar rehabilitation, electronic patient-reported outcome measures (ePROMs) are increasingly being used in research and clinical settings as part of patient- and family-centred care. These measures can identify patients' needs and monitor the therapeutic progress of both adults and children. The feedback of information from ePROMs to clinicians treating patients with scarring and psychosocial issues may have therapeutic benefits. However, testing the effectiveness of ePROMs used in the routine clinical care of patients with burn scarring is in its infancy, and one of the greatest challenges remains the implementation of ePROMs in real-world clinical settings. The aim of this paper is to provide a guide for clinicians and researchers involved in burn scar rehabilitation to assist in implementing ePROMs in clinical settings. The guide outlines strategies, processes, and considerations for ePROM implementation and the accompanying resources. Two real-world case studies of ePROM implementation are presented in burn scar clinics in Belgium and Australia. Additionally, ten recommendations for the implementation of ePROMs are provided based on research evidence and the lessons learned by the authors. The information provided should pave the way forward for using and testing these ePROMs in research and practice.


Five patients with subclavian artery stenosis, reversed vertebral artery blood flow, and basilar arterial insufficiency have been described. Four patients were successfully treated by arterial reconstruction.Serial angiography demonstrated in each case a stenosis of the subclavian artery proximal to the origin of the vertebral artery, withdelayed retrograde flow through this vertebral artery to the subclavian artery distally.


A working hypothesis issues from patterns of methylation in the 5′-UTR of the DAT1 gene. We considered relationships between pairs of CpGs, of which one on the main-gene strand and another on the complementary opposite strand (COS). We elaborated on data from ADHD children: we calculated all possible combinations of probabilities (estimated by multiplying two raw values of methylation) in pairs of CpGs from either strand. We analyzed all correlations between any given pair and all other pairs. For pairs correlating with M6-M6COS, some pairs had cytosines positioning to the reciprocal right (e.g., M3-M2COS and M6-M5COS), other pairs had cytosines positioning to the reciprocal left (e.g., M2-M3COS; M5-M6COS). Significant pair-to-pair correlations emerged between main-strand and COS CpG pairs. Through graphic representations, we hypothesized that DNA folded to looping conformations: the C1GG C2GG C3GG and C5G C6G motifs would become close enough to allow cytosines 1-2-3 to interact with cytosines 5-6 (on both strands). Data further suggest a sliding, with left- and right-ward oscillations of DNA strands. While thorough empirical verification is needed, we hypothesize simultaneous methylation of main-strand and COS DNA ("methylation dynamics") to serve as a promising biomarker.


Op-amps are the most versatile and widely used component of electronic devices. Here in this work, a two stage CMOS Op-amp has been designed using both 180nm and 90nm technologies. The two stage CMOS op-amp has been designed which dissipates power as low as 0.19mW along with a propagation delay as low as 5.39ns. The circuit has a unity gain bandwidth of9.78MHz with a phase margin of 93.69°in 180nm technology while a unity gain bandwidth of 5.05MHz and phase margin of 82.89° in 90nm technology. Comparative analysis for both the 90nm and 180nm technologies has been done. Effect of scaling has also been discussed which results in gain bandwidth almost two times that before scaling. Layout has been designed for two stage CMOS op-amp in 180nm and 90nm technologies. All the work has been done using tanner EDA v14.1 tools. The schematic has been made using S-edit while the netlist was being created using T-spice and results were viewed using W-edit tool. The layout has been designed using L-edit tool.


According to the irrational design of the plate dimension in the roof bolting system caused the failure and the bolting system lost effectiveness,the static analysis module of the finite element software ANSYS was applied to the similar simulation analysis on the bolt plate with different sphere shell height and different thickness.The rational dimension parameters of the bolt plate under the foxed axial load role were obtained.In combination with the actual condition and the available economic and technical conditions,a comparison analysis was conducted on the blots with the same sphere shell thickness and different sphere shell height and with the same sphere shell height and different sphere shell thickness.Thus the leading factors influenced to the plate mechanics features under the above conditions were provided and could provide the basis to optimize the dimension parameters of the plate.


Solvent refining of Fushun shale oil with furfural as a solvent extraction agent was investigated. The results showed that raffinate yield decreased with either the increasing of agent/oil mass ratio or reaction temperature; the extract yield increased under the same conditions, while the quality of raffinate oil was better. At agent/oil mass ratio of 3/1, reaction temperature of 60 °C and residence time of 30 min, the raffinate yield was 55.37%, and the extract yield 43.60%. The heavy component from the extract oil was used for blending different grades of asphalt such as heavy-traffic paving asphalt and building asphalt, the light component from the extract oil was used for separation of non-hydrocarbon compounds; a range of light fuel oil was produced through catalytic cracking experiment with the denitrified raffinate oil, the removed nitrogen compounds were also used for separation of nonhydrocarbon compounds.


Despite common circumspection often attaching to technological determinism, academic paradigms which identify elements of cause and effect between the implementation of technological innovation and changes in patterns of audience consumption of media content, suggest audience behaviour among early adopters of such new technology to be worthy of at least cautious analysis. Within this framework, the present comparative study focuses on four European countries to analyse audio media consumption patterns among young people. The age group of young adults between 18-34 is often located within that psychographic group characterized as 'Generation C' because of their higher propensity to include 'early adopters' of new communication technologies, and the established medium of radio. This paper aims to contribute to the academic discussion regarding the use of audio media, with emphasis on the radio, by young and heavy media users who are daily using interactive media and networks to communicate, interact, work or entertain themselves. It further situates its conclusions within wider contexts of technological innovation and audience interaction.


We construct a partition function of N anyons in a constant external magnetic field and in an external harmonic potential well. From this we find an equation of state for the free anyon gas. The equation of state exhibits quantum behavior when the density of the anyons is of order of 1/Nλ T 2 , where λ T is the mean thermal wavelength


Background: Iron overload cardiomyopathy that prevails in some forms of hemosiderosis is caused by excessive deposition of iron into the heart tissue and ensuing damage caused by a raise in labile cell iron. The underlying mechanisms of iron uptake into cardiomyocytes in iron overload condition are still under investigation. Both L-type calcium channels (LTCC) and T-type calcium channels (TTCC) have been proposed to be the main portals of non-transferrinic iron into heart cells, but controversies remain. Here, we investigated the roles of LTCC and TTCC as mediators of cardiac iron overload and cellular damage by using specific Calcium channel blockers as potential suppressors of labile Fe(II) and Fe(III) ingress in cultured cardiomyocytes and ensuing apoptosis. Methods: Fe(II) and Fe(III) uptake was assessed by exposing HL-1 cardiomyocytes to iron sources and quantitative real-time fluorescence imaging of cytosolic labile iron with the fluorescent iron sensor calcein while iron-induced apoptosis was quantitatively measured by flow cytometry analysis with Annexin V. The role of calcium channels as routes of iron uptake was assessed by cell pretreatment with specific blockers of LTCC and TTCC. Results: Iron entered HL-1 cardiomyocytes in a timeand dose-dependent manner and induced cardiac apoptosis via mitochondria-mediated caspase-3 dependent pathways. Blockade of LTCC but not of TTCC demonstrably inhibited the uptake of ferric but not of ferrous iron. However, neither channel blocker conferred cardiomyocytes with protection from iron-induced apoptosis. Conclusion: Our study implicates LTCC as major mediators of Fe(III) uptake into cardiomyocytes exposed to ferric salts but not necessarily as contributors to ensuing apoptosis. Thus, to the extent that apoptosis can be considered a biological indicator of damage, the etiopathology of cardiosiderotic damage that accompanies some forms of hemosiderosis would seem to be unrelated to LTCC or TTCC, but rather to other routes of iron ingress present in heart cells. Citation: Chen M-p, Cabantchik ZI, Chan S, Chan GC-f, Cheung Y-f (2014) Iron Overload and Apoptosis of HL-1 Cardiomyocytes: Effects of Calcium Channel Blockade. PLoS ONE 9(11): e112915. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0112915 Editor: Alexander G. Obukhov, Indiana University School of Medicine, United States of America Received February 23, 2014; Accepted October 20, 2014; Published November 12, 2014 Copyright: 2014 Chen et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: This work was supported by Children's Thalassemia Foundation and Edward Sai Kim Hotung Pediatric Education and Research Fund (http://www. thalassaemia.org.hk). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. * Email: firstname.lastname@example.com (GCFC); email@example.com (YFC)


In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in crack detecting and locating using Pulsed Eddy Current (PEC) thermography. PEC thermographic is an emerging integrative non-destructive testing (NDT) with the ability to inspect defects over large areas. The heating and diffusing results can be obtained easily and quickly from a thermal camera. In this paper, numerical modeling and experimental studies are applied to understand depth and tip effect on PEC thermography with different depths of defects, including transient heating propagation and magnetic flux distribution. This fundamental understanding of transient heating propagation and magnetic flux distribution will aid in the development of feature extraction and pattern recognition techniques for the quantitative analysis of PEC thermography images and crack characterisation.


A discrete-time adaptive predictive control system is proposed for compensating the unmeasurable and time-varying disturbance. The disturbance is compensated by two mechanisms. One is the disturbance compensation based on the result from an observer for the unknown disturbance and the other is a feedback loop with a predictor for the output. This system can be interpreted within the framework of a 2-port system recently proposed by Stephanopoulos and Huang. Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the performance and robustness of this proposed system.


This article summarizes a case load of cumulative trauma disorder (CTD) patients seen during 1993 and 1994, outlines a suggested protocol for the case management of CTD cases, and proposes a new model or "law" of repetitive motion. The actual techniques have been described previously and must be developed by the provider through personal hands-on instruction and careful application over a period of 1 to 2 years.


With the resource scarcity and environmental deterioration,green supply chain management(GSCM),as a practice of circular economy at the enterprise level,has become an important strategy for manufacturers to realize sustainable development.Based on the literature and suggestions from international and domestic environmental experts,we developed a questionnaire and completed a survey.Through factor analysis,we identified main factors of GSCM pressure/drivers among Chinese manufacturers.Considering situations abroad and in China,we study on affecting mechanism of these factors and thus put forward a driving model of GSCM for Chinese manufacturers.Suggestions on how to implement GSCM among manufacturers are summarized in the end.


The regional lymph node cells of the mice sensitized with Ehrlich ascites tumor cells is known to possess a substance that shows antitumor activity on target cells (JTC-II cells). For the purpose to clarify the
localization of this substance the regional lymph node cells from such sensitized mice were treated with trypsin solution of different concentrations (1.0 %, 0.2 %, and 0.01 %), and the tissue culture was carried out
with JTC.II cells. As a result it was found that these lymph node cells lost antitumor activity. Next, by the differential contrifugation of these sensitized lymphocytes we obtained F1 fraction (700 g, sediment), F2 (8,500 g sediment), F3 (100,000 g sediment) and F4 (100,000 g supernatant). In the presence of
each of these fractions tissue culture was conducted with JTC-II cells as target cells, and it was found that the substance with antitumor activity is contained abundantly in F2 fraction (8,500 g sediment) and F4 fraction
(100,000 g supernatant). After giving due consideration to the results of these two experiments and also to the available data in the literature, we assume that the substance with antitumor activity is contained in the cell membrane component.


On the basis of reviewing the previous reading strategies research, we find that the previous three general models of reading strategies have their own limitations and that, although all the previous models take notice of the role relevance plays in reading, they invariably fail to specify how relevance functions in reading. Relevance is not only a notion of large category which includes relevant information, relevant knowledge of language, culture, background, context, etc. necessary for reading comprehension, but also a mechanism by which these aspects of information and knowledge are accessed and retrieved for reading process and comprehension process. Enlightened by the Relevance Theory, the authors in the present research aims at analyzing strategy for reading and reading instruction and proposing a relevance-based approach to reading and reading instruction. They have given in it a systematic analysis of the cognitive features and cognition laws involved in reading and comprehension and put forward the notion of Relevance Strategy in reading and reading instruction, arguing that reading or reading instruction is a cognitive-inferential process, with Relevance as the kernel, of searching relevant information and knowledge and arriving at maximal relevance (i.e. solution or interpretation of reading material). Either the bottom-up, or top-down, or interactive models of strategies cannot ignore the kernel function of relevance. In the application of sub-strategies, relevance is also playing a major role. The authors, therefore, also argue that the traditional decoding model of Reading Comprehension instruction should be replaced by a pragma-cognitive model. Reading (Comprehension) should not be regarded as merely decoding words, phrases or sentences, but as an integral cognition of the reading material. A teacher should help students form a unitary cognitive environment so as to cognize the reading material as a whole.


We discuss high-pT production processes at forward rapidities in hadron-hadron collisions, and describe recent results from using QCD high-energy factorization in forward jet production at the LHC.


The provision of financial services, especially credit and saving facilities plays an important role in the development of the economy. Despite the efforts of microfinance institutions to take microfinance services within the reach of poor people and MSEs that have not benefited from the conventional formal financial system, growth and expansion of MSEs sector had not shown any sign of growth and expansion. The main objective of this study was to investigate the effects of microfinance institutions lending on micro and small enterprises performance within Kitale Municipality. This study adopted a descriptive survey research design and the target population was 1,200 MSEs which were registered within Kitale Municipality and had operated for at least three years. The target population was stratified into homogeneous categories as wholesalers, retailers, restaurants and service delivery. A sample of 120 MSEs was drawn proportionately and randomly from the strata. A semi- structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Completed questionnaires were verified and coded by the researcher in a computerized package then analyzed and summarized in frequency tables, pie charts and figures. The association between microfinance lending and MSE performance variables was established through Chi square and correlation tests at 95% significance level. A multivariate logistic regression was used for significant bivariate variables at 95% significance level. The amount of loans is significantly and positively related with performance of MSEs in Kitale Municipality. Microfinance institutions should reduce the period required for MSEs to participate in training and group formation to facilitate speedy access to MFI loans. The amount of loan given by MFIs to MSEs should be increased to enable the MSEs grow to medium scale enterprises.


The current experimental research is devoted to comparison of bond glass fiber reinforced plastic with concrete before and after long-term (quarter year, half year and one year) exposure in the concrete on the air and in the water. The comparative analysis of experimental results was performed.


We report on how to achieve and measure director tilt angle distributions θ(z) in cross-linked nematic liquid crystal polymer (LCP) films by means of generalized anisotropic ellipsometry. LCP-alignment is made by linearly photopolymerized (LPP)-photo-alignment of LCP films on single substrates. For the first time arbitrary tilt angle distributions are achieved and experimentally verified. It is shown that not only the birefringence Δn of novel LCP-materials, which exhibit values up to Δn=0.4, but also the tilt distribution θ(z) of the LC director can be varied. θ(z) is shown to be tunable between substrate surface and LCP/air interface over the entire range 90°≥θ≥0°. The control of the tilt distribution in thin LCP-films on single substrates is essential for many applications, for instance in LPP/LCP wide-view films designed to increase the field of view of liquid crystal displays (LCDs).


As nonprofit human service agencies become increasingly involved in financial resource development they will face issues that can potentially compromise the ethical conduct of such activity. The authors discuss six issues that can potentially compromise ethical resource development and they examine the implications they may create for social administration. The six issues are (a) the ambiguity of organizational identity, (b) the portrayal of the agency's cause and its relationship to fund development strategy, (c) resource development as cause-oriented advocacy, (d) the potential vulnerability of the donor, (e) the nature and content of the resource development plea or request, and (f) the provision of adequate information to potential donors. An agency can empower potential donors by respecting their personal situations, including their vulnerability to manipulation, and by equipping them with the understanding and information they need to make good decisions about whether and what to contribute.


This document defines a P2P IPTV Usage for Resource Location And
Discovery (RELOAD). The IPTV Usage provides the functionality of IPTV
servers in a fully-distributed system using P2PSIP RELOAD. The IPTV
Usage provides the metadata storage, channel peer list storage, and
channel peer group storage using the P2PSIP overlay.


We present the analysis for the higher order continuous GalerkinPetrov (cGP) time dis- cretization schemes in combination with the one-level local projection stabilization in space applied to time-dependent convection-diffusion-reaction problems. Optimal ap riorierror estimates will be proved. Numerical studies support the theoretical results. Furthermore, a numerical comparison between con- tinuous GalerkinPetrov and discontinuous Galerkin time discretization schemes will be given.


The Youth Violence Prevention Task Force, YVPT, is a branch of the United Way that strives to reduce and prevent violence among youth in the county. The task force functions using a public health approach that emphasizes prevention, intervention, and suppression. In response to the high violence rates among youth, the task force organized dialogue sessions in the community. During the dialogue process, there was a growing need to create a resource for community partners involved in the process. Consequently, a web page that includes; information, updates, and supplemental documents was created to educate partner organizations, the community, and others doing similar work. The project focused on telling the organizing story behind the community dialogues as well as creating a space for future updates on the dialogue process. The primary purpose of creating this project was to be a resource to the YVPT organizing team and their partners. The development of the web page was divided into four phases; research, web page development, gathering documents, and outreach. The project increased participant's awareness and knowledge of the dialogue process to achieve rich participation. It is recommended to assign someone to update the page as the task force continues with the dialogues.


AbstractThis study sought to identify the many sorts of logical fallacies used in Indonesian television debates, notably those made by students who participated in the 2019 protests and rioting there. This is a descriptive study that takes a qualitative approach. In this study, the five categories and sixty-two types of fallacies introduced by Damer's (2009) theory of fallacy classification were used. There were eighteen of the sixty different types identified. First, the results revealed that students consistently violated the acceptability and rebuttal criteria in their arguments, using five different fallacies in each category. Second, with a frequency of 27.98%, poisoning the well was the type of fallacy that students used the most frequently, followed by the two-wrong fallacy with a frequency of 10.29% and manipulation of emotion with a frequency of 8.82%.


Recently, several modifications of Yee's well known FDTD method to locally refined grids or non-orthogonal coordinates have been presented. These methods sometimes show an unexpected unstable behavior. In this paper we will classify such instabilities in order to derive rules how to avoid them. As an example, we present a long term numerically stable subgridding scheme which will be examined by regarding a microstrip phase shifter.


This report will reveal a series of fatigue test results for high-strength steels at 100 Hz and 20 kHz and discuss frequency effects on gigacycle fatigue properties. The 20 kHz fatigue testing machine is an effective tool to conduct gigacycle fatigue tests in a reasonable term, while frequency effects have to be carefully investigated before applying the machine. The fatigue tests were conducted for two kinds of high-strength steels, that were a low-alloy steel and a spring steel. These fatigue test results showed that the frequency effects were negligible even at 20 kHz in case of fish-eye fracture. The fatigue properties in the fish-eye fracture region showed a good agreement between the 100 Hz and 20 kHz tests. Besides, ODAs (Optically Dark Areas) were also observed on the fracture surface even in 20 kHz tests and no difference was found in the ODA sizes between the 100 Hz and 20 kHz tests. These results meant that the 20 kHz tests could provide us appropriate results at least in the fish-eye fracture region. Therefore, the 20 kHz tests were applicable on the evaluation of gigacycle fatigue properties in high-strength steels.Copyright © 2004 by ASME


This manuscript presents the experimental demonstration of multi-band Fano resonances in planar terahertz metamaterial. The proposed metamaterial structure resonates at two distinct frequencies at 0.25THz and 0.4275THz respectively. The broken in the structural symmetry provides two other Fano resonances at 0.27 and 0.31THz respectively in addition to the desired resonances. The variation in the two Fano resonances for broken geometrics is studied numerically using CST Microwave studio software and the geometrical parameters are optimized for the desired resonances. The transmission characteristics for various incident angles have been done to analyze the structure for angular independency operation. In addition, the current distributions through the surface of the metamaterial structure are also studied numerically. The optimized metamaterial geometry can be fabricated easily using femtosecond laser micromachining process.


Sorption and diffusion are the most important processes governing the migration behavior of Np (t1/2 = 2.1 × 10 a) and other long-lived radionuclides in the near and far fields of a high-level radioactive waste repository in an argillaceous host rock. Opalinus clay (OPA) from the Underground Research Laboratory in Mont Terri, Switzerland, was selected for studying the sorption and diffusion behavior of Np(V) in a natural clay. The sorption of Np(V) on OPA was studied as a function of pH under ambient air (pCO2 = 10 atm) and anaerobic (pCO2 = 10 atm) conditions. The Np concentration was in the range of 9 × 10 to 8 × 10 M. The solid-to-liquid ratio was varied between 2-20 g/L. The sorption maximum for Np was at pH 8.5, i.e., 60% was sorbed under aerobic conditions and 90% under anaerobic conditions, respectively. The reduction of Np(V) to Np(IV) was found to be the reason for the stronger sorption of Np under anaerobic conditions. At pH > 8.5, the sorption of Np decreased with increasing pH due to complexation with carbonate in aqueous solution. The diffusion of 8 × 10 M Np(V) in an OPA bore core with synthetic pore water (pH = 7.6) as mobile phase was studied under ambient air conditions. The direction of diffusion was perpendicular to bedding. The diffusion properties of the intact OPA were characterized by throughand out-diffusion experiments using HTO and Na as tracers [1]. The diffusion of Np(V) in OPA was studied by the indiffusion method [2] due to the strong sorption of Np(V) on OPA. The diffusion parameters for Np(V) in OPA are De = (6.9 ± 1.1) × 10 m/s and α = 243 ± 4. Using the diffusion accessible porosity e = 0.15 ± 0.01 of HTO, the distribution ratio of Np(V) in intact OPA was calculated as Kd = (0.10 ± 0.01) × 10 m/kg. The Kd measured under identical conditions with OPA powder suspended in pore water was equal to (1.5 ± 0.9) × 10 m/kg.


Objective To study the effect and mechanism of G usongkang (GSK) capsule, as a yin-yang-tonifying and blood-flow promoting tra ditional chinese medicine, on postmenopausal osteoporosis Methods According to the Guiding Principles for Clinical Study of Traditional Chine se Medicinnal Herbs, the changes of symptoms, signs and bone density in osteopo r osis patients were observed and compared between these indices before-and after therapy with GSK and between groups of GSK and of calcium lactate as control Results GSK improved the osteoporosis patients' symptom (P 0 01 vs control),and elevated BMD (P0 05 vs before therapy) Concl usion GSK can remove patients' discomfort from osteoporosis and improve BMD GSK can treat osteoporosis with none of side effects


A process to produce a through-hole by a stacked semiconductor wafer assembly comprising: a first semiconductor wafer (110) having a first surface (112), a dielectric material which is exposed at the first surface (112) and metallic structures (115) that are exposed at the first surface (112) and extending from the dielectric material; a second semiconductor wafer (150) having a second surface (114), a semiconductor material that is exposed at the second surface (114) and metallic patterns (155) are exposed at the second surface (114) and away from the semiconductor material protruding, wherein the second surface (114) of the first surface (112) faces and the metallic structures (115) of the second semiconductor wafer (150) with the metallic structures (155) of the first semiconductor wafer (110) are combined, and a gap ( 195) in the interface region between the adjacent facing first and second surfaces (112, 114) exist, the method comprising: a) etching a hole (200) which extends (through the first wafer 110) and (through the gap 195) extends to the second surface (114) of the second wafer (150) is partially exposed, wherein the hole (200) has a first wall (210) extending in the vertical direction (212) and a second wall (215), the inwardly with an inclination of the first wall (210) to an inner opening (192) in the first surface (112) leaves, wherein the second surface (114) through the inner opening (192) is exposed; b) line of particles in the hole (200) and sputtering of semiconductor material (400) of at least one of ...


Through improving construction wallboard structure and material,we enhance wallboard quality,increase wallboard comprehensive functions and enlarge its usage scope to achieve the research target of taking the construction wallboard as bearing wallboard material.


Preliminary steps toward development of an instrument for investigation of decision-maker attitudes in juvenile detention are described. A factor analysis of responses of ninety-two correc tional experts to twenty-five case examples identified two factors, interpreted as reflecting the use of detention for protection of the child (Factor J) and for protection of society (Factor 2). A second factor analysis, based on 141 subjects, confirmed the first. Police and probation officers differed in scores on both factors; police scored higher. Factor 2 scores were found to be associated with a classification of counties according to relatively high or low de tention rates; higher scores were associated with higher deten tion rates.


In the preceding volume of the Entomologist (vol. xvi., p. 186) an account is given of some of the Coleoptera found in September on Brigantine Beach, N. J.; and having been there this season from the 1st till the 18th of the same month, I propose to give a further account of some of the insects inhabiting that region. Cicindela dorsalis Say is found in great abundance on the shore between the lines of high and low tide, keeping as close to the water as it can get. If too closely pursued it frequently takes wing, alighting in the surf and coming to the shore in the foam, from which it usually escapes before it can be taken. It is sluggish in its movements, running about a yard, then stopping, and so on alternately, and flying only when pursued, and then for but short distances. More than two-thirds of the females captured want either a part of an antenna or of a hind leg, these mutilations occurring on the right side in a large majority.


Acta Derm Venereol 95 © 2014 The Authors. doi: 10.2340/00015555-1937 Journal Compilation © 2015 Acta Dermato-Venereologica. ISSN 0001-5555 A 38-year-old woman was referred to our dermatology clinic with a 6-month history of erythematous plaques on her torso. Despite partly severe pruritus, the skin lesions were largely asymptomatic and the patient's general condition was good. The patient reported a vacation in South America prior to the emergence of the skin alterations. The woman suffered from epilepsy, which had been treated continuously for 15 years with the same combined therapy regimen (sodium valproate 500 mg twice daily and phenytoin 100 mg in the morning and 150 mg at night). Physical examination revealed 6 isolated, non-scaling erythematous-to-brownish plaques on the upper back, around the neckline and the chest (Fig. 1). Basic laboratory tests (complete blood count, basic metabolic panel) were normal. Histopathology revealed a dense, subepidermal, band-like lymphocytic infiltrate. Discrete, focal epidermotropism was seen without formation of Pautrier microabscesses (Fig. 2). The infiltrate consisted of small lymphocytes without striking polymorphism admixed with histiocytes. Immunophenotyping revealed an overall mixed-cell infiltrate, predominantly consisting of CD3+ and CD4+ T lymphocytes as well as CD20+ and CD79a+ B lymphocytes. CD79a+ cells accounted for 10–20% of the infiltrate. Both biopsies revealed a clonal rearrangement of the T-cell receptor-γ-gene.


This paper introduces the use of Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) to uncover semantic structures/concepts hidden in entity contexts towards improving named entity recognition (NER) on the Web. The underlying idea of the paper is that words surrounding entities of the same category are potentially related to each other in one way or another. Analyzing such relations helps build implicit concepts around entity types, making entity contexts more discriminative, and avoiding data sparsity for a better classification. Our experiments on a Web data collection of entity contexts show that semantic analysis can give a significant error reduction.


Currently, high-performance organic solar cells (OSCs) are mainly composed of narrow band gap (NBG) nonfullerene acceptors and medium band gap (MBG) polymer donors, whereas the solar cells based on...


Consciousness-based education balances academic challenge with students' ability to master the material (1) using a block system to spread academic work across the semester, (2) teaching strategies to connect individual lectures to larger discipline principles, and (3) incorporating Transcendental Meditation practice into the curriculum. Brain integration and constructive thinking were compared in 27 freshman/senior pairs involved in consciousness-based university education. As seniors, these subjects had higher levels of brain integration, associated with emotional stability and success in life, and higher global constructive thinking, associated with work success and stable personal and social relationships. These variables typically do not change during college.


Isaac Van Zandt and his son Khleber Miller Van Zandt were instrumental figures in the growth of Texas and the development of the town of Fort Worth, Texas. Isaac Van Zandt was one of the main members of the delegation from Texas to the United States who negotiated for annexation. He also played a major part in the Texas Constitutional Convention of 1845 and made a run for governor before his death in 1847. His son, Khleber Miller Van Zandt was a Confederate soldier and businessman who saw something in the outpost of Fort Worth that was worth developing. Along with an influential group of other businessmen he was a part of every major development that occurred in Fort Worth until his death in 1930. Both Van Zandts' roles are discussed and the importance of their actions is brought to light.


[Objective] To compare the difference of fingerprints of Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth. from different places of origin. [Methods] The chemical components of Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth. from 6 places of origin were detected by thin-layer chromatography. [ Results ] The thin-layer chromatogram of volatile components of Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth. from different places of origin was similar. The contents of methanol-extract and petroleum-ether-extract from Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth. planted in Gaoyao, Guangdong differed greatly from those in other places of origin, which can be used to identify the herb of Pogostemon cablin ( Blanco) Benth. from Gaoyao, Guangdong. [Conclusion] Thin-layer chromatographic fingerprints can be used as the parameter to differentiate Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth. from different places of origin.


(Received: January 6, 2014; Revised: April 2, 2014; Accepted: April 9, 2014)Abstract : In this study, trends in the sales of antimicrobials for use in livestock facilities and fisheries from 2003to 2012 were investigated with regard to antimicrobial group, antimicrobial usage, and animal species. The overallamount of antimicrobials sold each year from 2003 to 2007 was 1,500 tons, after which they decreased, with thelowest sales being 936 tons in 2012. The total volume of antimicrobials used for feed additives decreased markedlyby 94% from 2003 to 2012, which was mainly attributed to banning of feed additives. However, antimicrobialconsumption through self prescription by farmers for disease prevention and treatment increased by 25% from 2003to 2012. The largest volume of antimicrobials sold was for use in pigs (48~57%), followed by poultry (18~24%),fisheries (11~25%), and cattle (5~8%). Tetracycline was the highest selling antimicrobial, followed by penicillinsand sulfonamides, although the overall sale of all three antimicrobials gradually decreased over the study period.This study demonstrated that the total consumption of antimicrobials has gradually decreased since 2008.Nevertheless, usage by nonprofessionals increased, which can ultimately cause emergence and spread of antimicrobialresistance. Thus, early establishment of veterinary prescription guidelines for prudent use of antimicrobials is urgentlyneeded in Korea. Keywords : antimicrobials, fisheries, livestock, sales


With increasing numbers of elderly people of the world's populations, Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) has become a critical health concern. It represents the main cause of death worldwide. Accordingly, preventing aged people from CVD has been extremely considered nowadays. The aim of this study is to determine proper recommendations to the elderly who have high risks of CVD complication for preventing themselves. Therefore, this paper applies the concept of an objective distance which is a measurement used as the indicator for recommendations. It defines the distance between the current status of the elderly people and objective level of each attribute for deriving the proper recommendations. Significantly, this distance provides the effective direction for their personal lifestyle adjustment. An experiment is performed in the context of hypertension, which is one of the main risk factors of CVDs. Data is gathered from 60 elderly people who are at the high risk of CVD in Chiang Rai, Thailand. A result of this experiment presents that the proposed objective distance can be efficiently employed for providing the appropriate recommendations to each elderly person. Also, they successfully modified their lifestyle behaviors for protecting themselves from CVDs, accounted for 90 percent accuracy.


Niemann Pick type C (NPC) disease is a rare autosomal recessive neurodegenerative lysosomal storage disease caused by a mutation in the NPC1 or NPC2 genes. The functions of the proteins these genes encode are not fully understood, but are thought to be involved in free cholesterol egress from the acidic compartment. The pathogenic cascade in proposed to begin with sphingosine accumulation followed by reduction of acidic store calcium levels. This results in impairing intracellular trafficking and storage of multiple lipid substrates in the late endosome/lysosomal compartment. In this thesis, multiple potential therapies have been tested in a mouse model of NPC1 disease including neuroprotective compounds. Positive effects were observed with some compounds, as reflected by increased life span and/or improved neurological function. In the course of these studies, I discovered another factor that affects the outcome of treatment with liver metabolised drugs. In the NPC1 mouse the cytochrome P450 system is impaired as is the case in the NPC1 cats and in patients. This thesis therefore sheds light on the impairment of this system at the genetic and functional level and presents data on why this aspect of pathology must be considered when designing therapeutics for this fatal neurodegenerative disease. This defect was partially corrected with bile acid supplementation, resulting in an unexpected functional improvement suggesting benefit in the CNS. Another aspect of NPC disease investigated was Crohn's-like intestinal inflammation that occurs in some NPC patients. This has been investigated in the Npc1-/- mouse model using two colitis models showing a partial protection by the Npc1 mutation with different infection kinetics and secretory cytokine profiles. Taken together, this thesis therefore provides insights into two novel aspects of pathogenesis (Crohn's-like intestinal inflammation and a drug metabolism defect) and provides new leads on treatments that target unique aspects of the pathogenic cascade.


Purpose

This paper aims to determine the influence of various corporate characteristics such as total assets (TA), total sales (TSE), return on assets (ROA), return on sales (ROS), liquidity and age on leverage of the listed non-financial companies in the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).

Design/methodology/approach

A non-probability sampling technique has been used in this study, and the leverage of 106 companies listed in the DSE has been examined for the time period 2011-2015. Multiple regression models are used to estimate the influence of corporate characteristics on leverage and leverage is measured by the debt ratio, that is, total liabilities divided by total assets (TA).

Findings

The results obtained from the regression models show that TA, ROA and age are negatively and significantly related to the leverage of companies.

Research limitations/implications

Considering only non-financial companies as the sample is a limitation. Hence, the results may not extend across all listed companies in Bangladesh. The study explores only six corporate characteristics variables; other factors influencing the leverage of the firm such as the number of foreign shareholders, ownership structure and auditors' opinion could be explored in further studies.

Originality/value

The finding of this study contributes to the regulators and enforcement agencies such as Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh (ICMAB), Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the DSE. It will enable the regulatory agencies to aim at greater compliance with the local and international standards and also enforce penalties for non-compliance.


In‐person lifestyle interventions for obesity treatment yield significant improvements in depression. These improvements may be attributed to the excellent weight losses produced by in‐person interventions. In contrast, Internet programs yield more modest weight losses, and their effect on depression is unknown. This study is the first to examine whether Internet‐delivered obesity treatment impacts depressive symptoms.


Relational databases are periodically vacuumed to remove tuples that have expired. During the discovery phase of litigation, plaintiffs ask defendants for access to information related to their case. The requested information is then subject to a litigation hold, which means that the information cannot be deleted. Vacuuming exposes a database to a new threat -- adversaries can try to thwart database auditing mechanism by masquerading an illegal tuple deletion as a vacuuming operation, and delete an unexpired tuple, or a tuple under a litigation hold.
 In this paper, we provide a generic framework for auditing vacuuming, augment existing database integrity audit mechanisms to support vacuuming, formalize the notion of a litigation hold, and identify key issues in the context of database systems for long-term, high-integrity records retention. Then, we propose several schemes for efficiently implementing trustworthy litigation holds. Finally, we evaluate the efficiency and tradeoffs of the different schemes using a series of experiments.


This long article by Kang Xiaoguang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences is an effort to sum up the state of society and politics in contemporary China and to ask the critical question: Is it stable? In some ways, the picture that Kang draws is encouraging: the intellectual elite is more reconciled to the political system than it has been since the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC), the economic elite finds the political status quo comfortable, and the political elite is more willing to absorb rising elements (intellectual, economic, or social) than it has ever been. Although the public faces many problems and is discontented, Kang believes the overall situation is stable.


Objective To observe the therapeutic effect of Danshen root and ligustrazine injection on diabetes mellitus complicated vertebrobasilar ischemia. Methods Eighty cases of diabetic patients complicated with vertebrobasilar ischemia were introduced in this study and were further divided into treatment group and control group. The patients in the treatment group were administrated with Danshen root and ligustrazine injection 10 ml per day dripping intravenously,while those in the control group were given with erigeron breviscapus injection 30 ml per day,the therapeutic course lasted for two weeks. Results Compared with the control group,the total effective rate in the treatment group was significantly elevated(P0.01)and the symptoms of vertebrobasilar ischemia was obviously improved. Conclusion Danshen root and ligustrazine injection might have significant therapeutic effect on the patients of diabetes mellitus complicated with vertebrobasilar ischemia.


Libera Brilliance Single Pass is a standard device for single pass position measurements. Initially, the device was intended for beam position monitoring at injector system for the FEL machines, this was afterwards followed by the idea of using it on transfer lines on the same 3rd generation light sources. The device can be used on pickup buttons and on striplines. The measurement principles and results of Libera Brilliance Single Pass at ESRF, as beam-charge monitor and injection-efficiency monitor, are presented. INTRODUCTION During injection process at synchrotrons, a part of the electrons, arriving from the LINAC, is lost. The injection efficiency studies are necessary to study and optimize this process. The benefits from such optimizations are broad, from minimizing the disturbances to the stored beam during injection, to the unwanted radiation reduction. To perform these studies, Libera Brilliance Single Pass units were installed along the ESRF injection system. The goal of the tests was to study the injection process, and to evaluate the Libera Brilliance Single Pass performance through whole dynamic range, from nominal to extremely low currents. The beam current in booster is routinely determined using commercial electronics – DCCT current monitors. The current measurement from this device was used as a reference point in normal regime. At extremely low currents, the DCCT measurement became unreliable. MEASUREMENT PRINCIPLE Four identical signal processing chains on the Libera Brilliance Single Pass are in charge of analog signal processing, digitalization on fast ADCs and digital signal processing. On every external trigger event, the 8k samples of each channel in the Libera Brilliance Single Pass ADC rate buffer can be acquired. This means that ca. 75 us of data can be analyzed on each trigger event, in ESRF case this equals to ca. 75 booster turns. The acquired raw data is furthermore processed to achieve readable data in terms of bunch signal amplitudes. Various algorithms can be used for this purpose, in our case, the convolution and filtering algorithm is applied over the batch of data. We were interesting in the sum of all four channels, which is proportional to the beam current. MEASUREMENTS All the measurements were performed in the ESRF injection system, where 3 Libera Brilliance units are installed and used for the injection efficiency studies. The three units are connected to the striplines, which are installed on the transfer line from the linac to the booster (TL1), booster (SY) and the transfer line from the booster to the storage ring (TL2). Figure 1 depicts the setup. Figure 1: Injection system at ESRF lightsource Injection at ESRF is scheduled twice a day, at 9 AM at 9 PM. The typical current in the ring is ~200 mA immediately after the injection, decreasing to a minimum value at ~150 mA before the next injection. The detailed injection procedure is dependent on current bunch fill pattern in the storage ring. In our case, with the fill pattern of 7/8 + 1, two-bunch pattern is being injected first, followed by four-bunch pattern, to fill the 7/8 of the ring with uniform fill. At the end, single bunch is being injected, to fill the single bunch in the middle of the gap. Whole process is automatic and lasts for approx. 2 minutes. Transfer ine 1 to ooster fficiency To make these experiments wider and more detailed, the TL2 was closed in order to keep the users undisturbed. Beside three bunch patterns, described above, we experimented with so called "long pulse" pattern, where booster is uniformly filled during ramping. In all modes, the instrument behaved perfectly stable. Furthermore, during the measuring session we were already able to observe some phenomena which directly affect the efficiency of the injection. For example, on Fig. 2, the injected long pulse, coming from TL1, is longer (almost two times) than the revolution time of the booster. Since the gate is opened only for one turn, a good portion of the beam is lost, causing unwanted radiation and energy loss. B E L TUPEC032 Proceedings of IPAC'10, Kyoto, Japan 1790 02 Synchrotron Light Sources and FELs T12 Beam Injection/Extraction and Transport Figure 2: Injection of long bunch at 1.1 mA. The excesive length of the pulse form TL1 can be observed. During tests, we observed interesting phenomenon during the injection of short bunches in the booster. In some cases, bunches are not completely ejected from the booster to TL2, a small fraction of them surviving until the next injection. This can be seen on Fig. 3, where the injected (red) bunches from TL1 overlap with small bunches from the previous cycle (blue). This phenomenon was randomly appearing, and needs to be further investigated. Figure 3: Injection of four bunches into the booster – signal overlapping Comparison with xisting urrent onitors ESRF booster is equipped with the DCCT current monitor, its performances were compared to the Libera Brilliance Single Pass. Various injections of long bunches at different beam currents were performed to evaluate absolute current measurement. The results are presented in the Table 1. Table 1: Current readings at long bunch injection DCCT current reading [μA] Libera Brilliance Single Pass reading [μA] and attenuation setting [dB]


The paper presents dynamics of environmental quality of surface water of Suoi Hai lake, Ba Vi district, Hanoi city from June 2020 to February 2021. There are 11 studied environmental parameters, including transparency, temperature, conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen concentration, BOD, COD, total nitrogen, total phosphate, hardness and chlorophyll a. The results of analyses show that the lake water is showing signs of pollution. Some parameters at the sampling points during the monitoring period exceeded the permitted limits of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Enviroment's national technical regulations on surface water quality (QCVN 08-MT: 2015/BTNMT). The results of this work also give assessments and comments on the dynamics over time, rainy and dry seasons of the studied environmental parameters. The results of present work provide reference material for regulatory bodies, as well as for follow-up studies on the environment and ecology.


This paper proposes a structured parallel programming paradigm, based on the principles of communication closed layer(CCL), to support general parallel programming across different platforms. The proof of normal form of causal order provides theoretical foundation for parallel programming in "SEQ OF PAR" style. The nice properties of CCL make it possible to design, optimize and verify parallel programs through algebraic transformation approach. Thus, the framework provides a natural integration of task and data parallelism and maintains portability and efficiency.