We developed a bioenergetics model for European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) that estimated mortality from baitings with CU Bird Carrier pellets treated with 1% DRC-1339 Concentrate and diluted 5:1 (untreated:treated pellets). A bioenergetic analysis of heat and radiative energy exchanges between the starling body surface and surrounding environment was converted to daily caloric demand based on a steady-state energy balance. The amount of Bird Carrier eaten per starling was governed by subroutines in the model that used probability distributions to simulate variability in dietary intake at the bait site. Mortality was estimated through dose-response regression analysis. Compared to onsite preand post-baiting counts conducted during winter 2004-2005 at 33 Midwestern dairies, model estimates were greater for 23 of the 33 counts. Onsite counts estimated 148 mortalities/kg pellets removed from the site compared to 204/kg for the model. The model was programmed in Visual Basic with Microsoft Excel 2002 as the platform. The model requires input of 11 variables, including ambient temperature, latitude, wind speed, and amounts of bait applied and remaining. The model can be modified for use with other bird species, baits, dilutions, and concentrations.


In the process of composite casting, two metals are cast simultaneously into the same mould. This process can be applied, for example, to the joining of copper and aluminum in heat sinks with very high thermal conductivity. We have investigated the process of ultrasonically assisted composite casting by experiments with aluminum and Magnesium, using copper plates as a separation layer. First experiments, which were performed without ultrasound showed that the connection between copper and aluminum was poor. Based on the hypothesis that the main reasons for the poor connection were impurities and oxide layers on the plate, the application of ultrasound was proposed. And, indeed, it was possible to achieve better connection qualities when ultrasound was applied. In this contribution we report studies on a process where aluminum is cast into a mold, in which a solid block of copper is already present. The ultrasound is applied while the melt is still liquid. To achieve a good connection between the entire copper block and aluminum a high energy ultrasound field is generated, which triggers cavitation all over the copper block's surface. The shape of the sound field depends on the radiation characteristics and on the impedance matching of the ultrasonic horns of the excitation system. Various types of horn designs have been studied and evaluated. SOUND FIELD DESIGN FOR ULTRASONICALLY ASSISTED


A microenzyme-linked immunosorbent assaywas usedtodetect thepresenceofamoebic antigen in polyethylene-glycol-precipitated circulating immunecomplexes (CIC). Acutoff dilution ofgreater than1:160 fortheprecipitates wastaken tobeofclinical significance. Amongthepatients withamoebic liver abscess, 93% (14of15confirmed cases) hadindications ofamoebic antigen inCIC.In57%ofthesuspected casesofamoebic liver abscess, amoebic antigen could bedetected inCIC.Thespecificity ofthetechnique forthedemonstration ofspecific amoebic antigen isindicated bytheundetectable levels ofamoebic antigen inCICinserumsamples fromnine casesofnonamoebic hepatic diseases and10apparently healthy subjects. Itisthusbelieved that the specific diagnosis ofanindividual caseofamoebic liver abscess canbemadebydemonstrating specific amoebic antigen inCIC. Amoebiasis occursworldwide. A recentestimate indicated that 480million people carryEntamoeba histolytica in their intestinal tract; 10%ofthetotal, i.e.,48million people, annually haveintestinal mucosal or liver invasion (26). Antiamoebic antibodies areregularly produced insymptomatic andinvasive amoebiasis butwithvariable frequencies


This special issue on ultra-processed foods considers the role and utility of food processing-based classification systems in food and nutrition research and public policy. Such classification systems have been developed as industrialised food processing and the transnational corporations that drive the production, advertising and sales of industrially processed foods have become a major influencer in the global food system and an important determinant of nutrition-related health outcomes. As highlighted by Monteiro and colleagues in this special issue, in the past decade, food processing-based classification systems have been increasingly acknowledged in reports and commentary from the WHO, FAO and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). During this time, such systems have also been applied in nutrition monitoring and in epidemiological and intervention studies published in Public Health Nutrition and other journals. Globally, there are at least seven frameworks that have been devised for classifying foods according to their level of food processing. The most commonly applied framework is the NOVA system, first defined in a commentary published in Public Health Nutrition in 2009 and further refined to include four food groups: unprocessed or minimally processed foods, processed culinary ingredients, processed foods and ultra-processed foods. Originally developed in Brazil, its global application is evident from the range of countries represented in this special issue, spanning Latin America, North America, Europe, the Middle East and Australia. The term 'ultraprocessed' foods is unique to the NOVA system and is defined as '...not modified foods but formulations made mostly or entirely from substances derived from foods and additives, with little if any intact food'. Ultra-processed foods dominate the food supply in high-income countries and this is increasingly the case in lowand middle-income countries, where urbanisation, a globalised industrial food supply including massively increased foreign direct investment in locally based food companies, and mass and now social media marketing have dramatically shifted population diets away from unprocessed or minimally processed foods and freshly prepared meals. Population nutrition monitoring studies presented in this special issue highlight this dominance of ultra-processed foods, particularly in North America and Europe but also in Latin America. According to these studies, all applying the NOVA system to national 24 h dietary recall data, the energy contribution of ultra-processed foods was 57·6% for children and adults in the USA, 35·9% for French adults, 29·8% for Mexican children and adults and 28·6% for Chilean children and adults. It has been noted that ultra-processed foods contribute substantially to population intakes of micronutrients across many countries. Findings from the studies in this special issue challenge that assertion and demonstrate an association between higher consumption of ultra-processed foods and poorer nutritional intakes, including higher intakes of energy and free/added sugar and lower intakes of fibre, micronutrients and protein. Epidemiological evidence has previously demonstrated that ultra-processed food consumption is associated with poorer diet quality in the USA, Canada and Brazil; obesity in Brazil, Guatemala, Spain and Sweden; hypertension in Spain; metabolic syndrome in Brazil; and dyslipidaemia in children in Brazil. Papers in this special issue reinforce the aetiology between ultra-processed food consumption and nutritional outcomes and chronic conditions, and extend such evidence to new populations. Notably, two papers describe the relationship between ultra-processed food consumption and nutrition and health outcomes in First Nations peoples in Canada and are the first studies to apply NOVA to Indigenous populations. Higher energy contribution from ultra-processed foods was significantly associated with poorer diet quality and with metabolic syndrome in First Nations peoples. Percentage energy intake from ultra-processed foods has been proposed as a summary indicator of population diet quality. Evidence presented in this special issue supports this idea, with ultra-processed food consumption being a better predictor of metabolic syndrome in an Indigenous Cree population compared with other indices of diet quality. Other papers in this special issue find positive associations between ultra-processed food consumption and poorer diet quality (in Brazil and Colombia), obesity (in young people; and in adults in Europe) and metabolic syndrome (in Lebanon). To date, a small number of longitudinal studies have specifically applied the NOVA system for classifying diets and they support identified associations between higher ultra-processed food consumption and chronic conditions. Other cohort studies (e.g.) identify associations between specific ultra-processed products, such as sugary drinks, and nutritional and health outcomes. The reanalysis of existing cohort study data using the NOVA classification would be a worthy endeavour. P u b lic H ea lt h N u tr it io n Public Health Nutrition: 21(1), 1–4 doi:10.1017/S1368980017002853


A new path planning algorithm for unmanned combat air vehicle(UCAV) is proposed for achieving optimal local path replanning under complicated air-battle environment.Firstly,an improved Voronoi diagram based on different locations land grades of threats is constructed.By utilizing our improved Voronoi diagram,the Dijkstra algorithm is implemented to find an initial threat-avoiding UCAV path.For matching dynamic battlefield situations and tracking the status of different threats,dynamic Bayesian network(DBN) model is exploited based on multisensor data fusion.The Viterbi algorithm is then used to estimate the grade of threat.Local path replanning of UCAV is done while local improved Voronoi diagram is reconstructed for enhancing the chance of survival.Our experimental results demonstrate the improved accuracy and efficiency of local path replanning.


Coupled controllers are vital for safely handling vehicles, especially in critical driving situations that include changing lanes to avoid obstacles. Controllers specialized in emergencies must keep road users safe in critical situations. In this paper, we develop the coupled controller to handle evasive maneuvers for an over-actuated vehicle. The controller is based on the second-order sliding mode control theory. We use the bicycle model to establish the equivalent and robust steering equations as a control-oriented model. The lateral and longitudinal vehicle motions are coupled to each other by the lateral vehicle information on the longitudinal sliding surface, and the dependence of the lateral sliding surface on the longitudinal velocity. The torque vectoring method based on fuzzy logic adjusts the yaw moment. We address the tire slip circle on the slip controller to stabilize the vehicle while maneuvering. We simulate and evaluate our controller in a rear-end collision situation with a short time window to maneuver the vehicle. The ego vehicle detects the preceding vehicle and performs an evasive lane change while simultaneously applying brakes to bring the vehicle to a halt. Our research is the earliest in providing an ultimate emergency control to successfully avoid crashes up to 130 km/h in short time crash detection.


Building awareness of rhyme and rhythm and promoting a positive attitude towards books, this rhythmical, repetitive text encourages very young children to anticipate words and participate in the reading experience.


Efficiency of muscular work is usually measured as the relationship between work load and maximum exercise duration. The present study analyzes the efficiency feature as a ratio between mechanical work (WK) and the energy (E) of the surface electromyographic signal (SEMG). This relation (WK/ESEMG) was compared with the most common electromyographic descriptors and its behavior was observed during muscle fatigue. A total of sixteen healthy men (26.8 ± 4.7 yrs, 175.7 ± 4.7 cm, and 79.2 ± 9.4 kg) performed three sets of ten maximal concentric repetitions of dominant knee extension at 60º/s on an isokinetic dynamometer, with 1 minute of rest interval between the sets. The SEMG signals were recorded during the exercises. With the view to minimize the factors other than fatigue that also influence the SEMG descriptors behavior, the only isokinetic repetition phase considered for measurements was the load range. Statistical analyses showed significant correlations between WK/ESEMG and the traditional electromyographic fatigue indicators.


M. Hurd (1987) provided evidence from the Longitudinal Retirement History Survey that the retired elderly dissave. This paper attempts to refine and extend that analysis in several ways. The author determines how sensitive Hurd's results are to his method for estimating missing data. He calculates median dissaving rates, a more robust measure of dissaving. The author provides confidence intervals for those rates. Finally, he computes estimates based on a method that weights all households equally. The results are mixed. Hurd's dissaving finding is confirmed in many specifications but questions are raised about dissaving among couples and the method of elderly dissaving. Copyright 1995 by The International Association for Research in Income and Wealth.


Background: Stunting is a growth and development disorder that is characterized by a short body condition that exceeds the deficit (-2) standard deviation below the median height line by measuring the height for the child's age, through the child's height curve.
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine nutritional services in primary health care to reduce the incidence of stunting.
Research Metodes: The method used in writing this article uses a literature review through the Google Scholar database.
Results: The results obtained are that in theory the implementation of the program can be carried out properly and continuously, but in the field it is not necessarily able to be implemented properly. Many factors can affect the implementation of nutrition services in Primary Health Care, but broadly it is divided into three factors, namely Provider, User and Program factors.
Conclusion: Nutrition services in Primary Health Care should focus on providing complete and continuous knowledge at the community level, regular checks on mothers and children on a regular basis, as well as interventions that must be at the individual and community level such as supplementary feeding and others.


This study examines the impact of Research and Development (R&D) to corporate risk in Indonesia. The sample in this study consists of 70 companies observed for 18 years starting from year 2000 to 2017. The total sample size is 748 observations after altering for missing data. I estimate the unbalanced panel data with panel regression method. The results show that R&D is effective to reduce the corporate risk. There is no significant difference in risk reduction effectiveness for R&D performed on year 2000 to 2006 or year 2007 and so on. Nevertheless, Indonesian companies which routinely invest on R&D have relatively less effectiveness in reducing the corporate risk


The entrepreneurship of the founder can be flexible and adaptable with the changing environment when it is transferred to the capacity of the company, as the company is developing. In this study I present the point of view where risk-taking and innovations are the entrepreneurship`s positive impact on the outcome of innovation and its capacity. Based on data of ventures and innobizcompanies where entrepreneurship are considered important, structural equation model (SEM) was conducted. From an empirical analysis, this study found interesting results as follows: First, the entrepreneurship has a positive influence on innovation capability and innovation performance. Second, innovation capability has a positive impact on innovation performance. Third, the relationship between entrepreneurship and innovation performance is mediated by innovation capability. In conclusion, this study will discuss the problems and results of an empirical analysis, adduce limitation, and indicate the direction for future study.


In this paper, we strive to better understand how household investment is affected by participation in migration in rural China. After we describe investment patterns across different regions of rural China, we use a theoretical model to describe a relationship between migration and investment and to generate hypotheses about the relationship consistent with our descriptive findings. We test the hypotheses using household data collected in rural China in 2000 and find that in poorer areas migration increases consumptive investment by nearly 20 percent. We find no evidence of a link between migration and productive investment.


Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is characterized by a prominent desmoplastic stroma in the tumor microenvironment. This histologic feature arises from deposition of extracellular matrix that increases tissue stiffness and limits vascularity (1,2).


Chen, S. (1992) "Xanthomonas Maltophilia Endophthalmi tis After Implantation of Sustained-Release Ganciclovir" American J. of Ophthalmology 114(6):772-773. Chisp, P. and S.P. Clissold (1991) "Foscarnet. A Review of its Antiviral Activity, Pharmacokinetic Properties and Thera peutic Use In Immunocompromised Patients with Cytome galovirus Retinitis" Drugs 41(1):104-129. Cohen, S. et al. (1991) "Controlled Delivery Systems for Proteins Based on Poly(lactic/glycolic Acid) Microspheres" Pharmaceutical Research 8(6):713-720.


The Holarrhena antidysenterica plant is a deciduous lactiferous shrub or small tree 3040 ft. high and upto 4 ft. in girth, with a clear bore of 10-20ft., occurring almost throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. In India, this plant is found upto an altitude of 400 ft., often gregariously in deciduous forests and open waste lands. It is especially abundant in the sub-Himalayan tract. The bark of the plant is rather rough, pale brownish or greyish, peeling off in irregular flakes. The seeds are usually light brown in colour, 0.3-0.5 inch long (Ali Shah et al., 2010).


In the last Pisa evaluation, in 2015 (OECD, 2016), among the 73 participating countries, Brazil occupied the 66 place. Such data demonstrate that Brazilian schools are not preparing its students to become citizens, capable of critical judgment, nor able to the qualified labor market, not to mention exclusion from the information society and the aesthetic pleasures that literature provides. As a linguist and psycholinguist, reflecting on the low education quality in Brazil, I concluded that the main cause is inadequate early literacy teaching. It lacks scientific foundations, based on cutting-edge sciences such as neuroscience, linguistics, psycholinguistics and neuropsychology; educators' continuing education, based on such fundamentals and pedagogical material, both for educators and students, prepared by specialists applying such fundamentals. I present Scliar Early Literacy System and its successful application to public schools in Brazilian Northeastern. The priority was to accompany educators, particularly those from Sergipe and Alagoas, because these two states were among the four worst performance in reading and writing in the last National Literacy Assessment in 2016 (INEP, 2017).


Ensemble properties of nonequilibrium theories for quantum steady-state processes, introduced by Caroli et al. and Feuchtwang, are investigated. Starting from an uncoupled state of separate grand-canonical ensembles of two leads and a microcanonical ensemble of an isolated intermediate region, it is shown rigorously how these formalisms lead to the correct coupled state of a joint ensemble whose physical properties cease to depend on the initial occupation number of the intermediate region.


Rectal neuroendocrine tumors (RNETs) represent a clinically and molecularly distinct, yet poorly characterized subtype of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NET), with a virtually uncharted genetic landscape. Given their rare nature, compared with their small intestine (SI-NET) or pancreatic (PNET) counterpart, there have been no systematic efforts to elucidate the genetic landscape of RNETs and understand whether these tumors may present a common genetic etiology and predisposition. We have assembled a discover and a validation cohort comprising blood and tumor samples from 31 and 21 metastatic RNET patients, respectively, which was very challenging given the ultra-rare nature of these tumors. Whole-exome profiles were used to identify both rare and common germline variants that may be predictive of metastatic RNET predisposition, which is suspected to have a strong genetic component, given their frequent multifocal presentation. Among nonsynonymous rare germline variants (MAF < 0.05 in the general population), 314 were significantly over-represented in the discovery cohort (FDR ≤ 0.05), based on ethnicity-matched controls from the 1,000 Genome Project. Of these, 144 were also identified in samples from the validation cohort. Of the 40 that were statistically significant in both cohorts, 11 were deemed pathogenic by CADD Phred-scores analysis (≥ 20.0), including 8 in regulatory regions. This includes pathogenic variants harbored by ALKBH8, LRRC71, PSPH, MUC16, SCRT2, YARS, MICAL3, KDM6B, SYCP2L, and TTN. We validated six statistically significant variants in both cohorts by Sanger sequencing. Critically, a classifier trained on the 314 statistically significant variants in the discovery cohort produced perfect classification (area under the receiver operator curve AUROC = 1) in predicting the tumor bearing vs. healthy individuals in the validation cohort and in an equivalent number of ethnicity matched control samples, shuffled 1,000 times. Moreover, a weighted, graph-based biological pathway analysis method identified co-segregation of genes harboring tumor-predictive variants in cancer related pathways, including genome integrity, DNA replication fidelity, extracellular matrix organization, glycosylation, and the inflammasomes, among others. Taken together, these results support a common, uniquely distinctive genetic etiology for RNETs, suggesting a strong germline predisposition. More critically, the accuracy and sensitivity of the predictor suggests that these rare variants may be effectively used as a biomarker to identify individuals at risk of developing RNETs.
 Citation Format: Subrata Saha, Adina Grunn, Andrea Califano. Genetic predisposition of rectal neuroendocrine tumors [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 5040.


There are four ways for dispersing flying seeds: parachuting flight with fine filaments or pappi and gliding, rocking and spinning (or autorotational) flights with a wing or wings. A bundle of pappi applied to small seeds of flowering plants enables the seed to drift in a wind at a low rate of descent less than 0.5 m/s, whereas the wing utilized widely for flowering trees makes the seed flyable at the rate of descent less 0.5 m/s for gliding seeds and near 1.0 m/s for spinning seeds. These values are not irrelevant to their environmental condition and season of dispersion. Flying fish and squid make gliding flight with a pair of pectoral fins and membraned legs, respectively. The aspect ratio of their wing is so large (more than 5) that they are high performance flyers without beating their wings. The flying fish obtains its take-off speed by the violent fanning of the lower part of caudal fin immersed in the water and by exposing other parts of body in the air to reduce the drag. On the other hand, the flying squid attains its take-off speed by the water jet expelled from a nozzle of mantle where the water is stored. During the flight, in responding to the speed reduction due to the drag, the squid increases the trimmed angle of attack or the lift coefficient and keeps the flying height constant. Flying mammals, amphibians and reptiles have a membranous wing, the aspect ratio of which is less than 2, and make the gliding flight with a poor gliding ratio. However, the low aspect ratio wing enables them to perform highly maneuverable flights and to land either on the horizontal ground surface without over-running or on the vertical tree surface.


Abstract Carbonaceous clusters-supposed to be the carriers of electric conductivity-are formed along latent tracks of energetic ions in polymers. The different experimental techniques for cluster determination are summarized. Here we present some new results which have been derived from UV-Vis spectrometric examinations. Especially the initial phase of cluster growth is studied in detail. There are hints that a threshold energy density has to be deposited in the polymer before cluster growth sets in. This threshold is similar to the one for producing radicals (as seen by EPR studies), and to the one for the onset of strong polymeric conductivity. The cluster growth is shown to scale rather well with the mean transferred electronic energy density. The increase in cluster growth with energy density is much slower than the one of radical formation and conductivity.


It is known that coronary thrombosis is found in 71% of myocardial infarction (massive type), and that the bundle branch block depends on size of thrombosis. There is surely relationship between the myocardial infarction and thrombosis.Platelet aggregation and the fibrin formation mechanism are of course concerned with the thrombosis, but we are interested specialy in the involvement of the fibrin stabilizing factor. From this respect, we observed the behavior of FSF in myocardial infaction, and reconfirmed from the experiment with dogs that it is specific in the heart. The tests of about 100 normal plasma showed the age dependency, which means the increasing FSF concentration in plasma, is related to age. The mean-SD in adult was 21±3μM MDC/10min. The typical changing pattern of plasma FSF in the myocardial infarction is as follows; it holds at a high level just after the onset, within a short period it then rapidly decreases, next it goes down to the minimum between the 5th-7th day, gradually increases thereafter, and finally returns to a normal level at about the 14th day.This profile was almost the same as that found in case of experimental dogs, but was not observed in the control surgical operation and brain bleeding or thrombosis in patients. Platelet count and fibrinogen concentration were also checked simultaneously.The experiment of Master two step test to see the effect on plasma FSF level gave an interesting result illustrated in Fig. 5.When soluble fibrin monomer appear after the attack while FSF is decreased, there are no noticeable dangerous side effect. The reason of FSF diminution should be investigated; its consumption or correlating inhibition.


A technique for determination of the wear resistance of the surface layers of rubbing frictional pair is presented. The layers were obtained by different methods of hardening, including coatings applied by the plasma bake on procedures both in conditions of the steady-state friction and upon of acceleration or deceleration of the frictional pair. The method is based on determination of the wear and antifriction properties of cylindrical disc-type specimens, one of them is the reference one, and the other is hardened under conditions of rolling and sliding friction at a normal temperature. The error of measuring the friction coefficient is 0.5%. To increase the wear resistance of the machine parts, a large number of methods aimed at strengthening the material are used: thermal hardening, surface-plastic deformation, alloying of the workpiece material, additional machining, depositing of special, wear-resistant coatings on the surface of the part upon manufacturing or reconditioning. Experimental studies of the wear resistance of the coatings recovered by plasma selective baking demonstrated that the developed technique is advantageous for high accuracy and can be successfully used for evaluation of the quality of coatings.


The differential cross sections for the scattering of low-energy electrons by helium atoms have been calculated using the R-matrix method with partial waves up to L=4. Results for the elastic collision and excitations to the 23S and 21S states of He are presented and compared with experiment.


Based the perspective of internal audit division of the BT project investor,this paper analyzes the questions existed in the process tracking audit,including audit objectives are not definite,audit positioning is not clear and audit depth is not enough. Then combined with examples,discuss the implementation points of the process tracking audit and grasps the BT contract,project cost,time and cost claims,risk management audit emphasis,makes valuable exploration of the standard project tracking audit procedure.


Introduction: In radiation therapy, in order to double-check the dosimetric results of the main treatment planning system (TPS), a distinct TPS, with few capacitances in terms of contouring and a variety of dose calculation algorithms is used. This system has the capability to double check the planification and the accurate prediction of dose distribution in order to be ensured of the accuracy of the primary TPS results. The purpose of this study was to investigate the performance of Monte Carlo based algorithm, PRIMO, to double check the primary treatment planning software, and resolving the problem of limited budgets of radiotherapy centers in purchasing such systems. The present study evaluate the validation of the PRIMO code, in simulation of conformal treatments, which was performed with an Elekta Precise linear accelerator and an ISOgray treatment planning system.

Materials and Methods: In this study, the PRIMO code version 0.3.1.1626 was used. This code contains the geometry of Eleckta, Varian, Siemens linear accelerators and also CyberKnife system. The CT images of the Alderson Rando phantom, and the slab water phantom, contouring and treatment planning including photon energy, treatment fields and dose prescription point which was taken from ISOgray system in Dicom format were inputs of the PRIMO software. DICOM Editor Tools was used to solve the possible problems in reading these dicom files. To accelerate the simulation, the phase space files of a 6 MV photon beam derived from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) database.

Results: The gamma criteria of 3%/. 3 was used to compare the calculation results the simulation PRIMO code with ISOgray TPS system.

Conclusion: The results of this study indicate the potential of the PRIMO code for treatment planning in radiation therapy.


In 2009 Elinor Ostrom received the Nobel Prize for her analysis of economic governance of the commons. Specifically, by challenging the conventional wisdom at the time, demonstrating how communities can successfully manage the common resources without any regulation by central authorities or privatization. Ostrom proposed eight design principles that identify the underlying criterion of institutions that have successfully maintained CPRs over time. I examine whether Ostrom's Eight Design Principles affect the long-run functionality of borehole wells in Uganda using quantitative methods. I find that the one of the principles, clearly defined boundaries, is significant in all four estimations, and remains significant after all robustness test. The author would like to thank Bruce Wydick my advisor; Morgan Adams and David Berger for all there helpful input and comments; Jermey Ainebyona and Elizabeth Auma for outstanding help with data collection and Living Water International for their in-country support.


The interferometry method described in the present article is a modification of the Schlieren method. The time varying profile of the plasma, whose density decreases in the radial direction is determined by the observation of the amplitude reduction rate and the number of fringes. These values are calculated for the parameters of the Gaussian and parabolic density distributions. In experiment both a coupled cavity laser interferometer and a Michelson interferometer are utilized for the determination of electron density profiles of the order of 1016∼1017 cm-3. The laser interferometer has a 3.39 µm wavelength He–Ne laser beam which is aligned perpendicularly to the plasma axis. The Michelson interferometer has a 0.63 µm wavelength He–Ne laser beam which is aligned along the axis. The plasma is produced by the discharge of a condenser in a cylindrical tube filled with He gas at a pressure of 3 torr. The obtained profiles are checked against the photographs of the features of the discharge taken by an image converter camera, and are confirmed to be reasonable.


Carbadox is a veterinary antibiotic and widely used in livestock production as feed additives. Carbadox and its metabolites have the potential of provoking a tumor-inducing mutation. In this study, the influence of carbadox addition on composting performance and its removal during thermophilic composting were investigated. The results showed that the carbadox addition slightly influenced pH variation and C/N ratio, and also improved the decomposition of organic matter. However, XRD analysis indicated that carbadox addition did not affect mineralization. Carbadox removal ranged from 75.8-79.4 % after 26 days of composting, and the half-time of carbadox was 9.12-9.37 days, suggesting that composting provides an option for the treatment of animal manure with carbadox contamination.


The presented essay tries to compile the hitherto knowledge about this questions. It is focused on the attitude of employees to the missions and aims of the Probation and mediation service of the Czech Republic. The first chapters of the essay regard mainly the explanation of basic terms, origin history and philosophical bases of the Probation and mediation service. The fifth chapter regards the single mission, aims and principles of this institute. Consequent chapters regards the tools, which are utilzed by probation workers at probation and mediation, more detail explanation of the terms probation, generally advantageous jobs, mediation and a chapter about young people and children as a specific field of the activities of the Probation and mediation service. In these chapters, the text is inset by case studies and the fragments of consultations of probation officers with clients. All the essay is inset with the results of a questionnaire survey with the employees of the Probation and mediation service and is complemented with all the terms of the empirical survey, which are included in the last part of the essay together with an analyses of the statistics of the Probation and mediation service for 2002 and 2008.


As a new wireless communicating protocol,bluetooth has a strong function of data and sound transforma-tion within a short distance.The structure and advantages of ICU monitoring system based on bluetooth protocol and the comparison of bluetooth protocol based system with traditional monitoring or network monitoring system based on TCP/IP protocol were discussed on this paper.


Reorganisation and Resistance represents the most recent output from the International Sociological Association's Working Group on the Comparative Study of Legal Professions. Founded by Philip Lewis and Richard Abel in the late 1970s, the Working Group, in its earliest manifestation, was responsible for the seminal study published as Lawyers in Society. 1 This volume is a welcome update of developments since the late 1980s. Bill Felstiner has here collected ten substantive essays exploring developments in the legal professions of nine countries (England, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, Korea, Mexico, Canada and the United States), and one continent, namely South America. Two countries, Mexico and Korea, were not considered in the original Lawyers in Society volumes, but, as Felstiner notes in his introduction, there are also seven other countries that were part of the original project that are not considered here. The overall mix thus reflects, as it did in the 1980s, the geographical slant of the Working Group towards the developed world, with two-thirds of the content focused on Western Europe and North America. This is perhaps one of the main limitations of the collection. Nothing is said about Africa, nor about the challenges facing lawyers in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The major reforms in Japan also are discussed only in the context of their (mutual) influence on Korean legal education and training. However, the largest elephant in this particular room must be China, and the absence of any discussion of either changes to professional development, organisation and practice in that country, or its position as a significant potential market for the providers of global legal services, seems a significant lacuna. 2


Macedonian question has opened twentieth century Balkan political scene. Historical framework offered broad definitions including political, cultural and identity aspects. The population mix in Macedonia in the late Ottoman Empire created preconditions of a variety in political affiliations in which regional confronted great power interests. In this context, an autochthonous independent Macedonian revolutionary movement was created in the face of the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (MRO), which later crystalize its goals into the idea of a unified independent Macedonian state. Although in the turmoil of the Balkan Wars and First World War Macedonia was divided by its neighbors, Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece, after World War Two Macedonian statehood was created in part of the original ethno- geographic territory.
After the dissolution of Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), in 1991, the Republic of Macedonia gained full independence. But during the period of international recognition, generated by the original cultural, political and identity aspects a "New Macedonian question" arise. The complexity of this reframed Macedonian question can be summarized in few salient points: The name issue problem with Greece, Unwillingness of Bulgaria to recognize independent Macedonian language and national identity, the Serbian pretensions towards the Macedonian Orthodox Church, Complex inner multiethnic context and Macedonian-Albanian relations, and finally, the geostrategic position influenced by the blockade for integration into the EU and NATO and new positioning of regional and world powers related with the latest Syrian and Ukrainian crisis.
Keywords: Macedonia, Balkan, Macedonian question, identity, Name issue


This article analyzes the reading of Athenian democracy by Foucault: specifically, the commentary of the work Ion of Euripides. Later we discuss the author's conclusions by presen- ting other possible readings. The argument focuses on two points: first, the relationship between the constitution of the citinzehsip and legitimacy and, secondly, the relationship between formal rights to political participation and effective participa- tion. The article highlights the interest of the French philosopher's perspective based on the dif- ference between speaking ability and opportunity to do so openly.


Aspect methods and systems enable interaction with projected user interface through user input gestures performed on a mobile device. The mobile device may project the user interface image on an external surface, such as from a pico projector, and detect user input gestures performed by users. The mobile device may interpret the detected user input gestures, and change the projected user interface image in response to the interpreted user input gestures. User input gestures may be in the form of touch gestures performed on a touchscreen of the mobile device and/or in the form of hand gestures performed by turning, rotating and/or hoping the mobile device.


The most important Italian public policies regarding digital libraries are examined. The arguments, more political-institutional than technical, will give extensive emphasis to the project of the Italian Digital Library promoted by the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities, but with at least equal extensiveness they will also try to explain, on the basis of a confrontation with this project, a sort of ontology of digital libraries. The term ontology is used simply to indicate the specifications of a particular conceptual sphere together with its relative relations and for defining the commitment that language assumes towards that same sphere. Basically it will be sought to enumerate and define a minimum nucleus of objects and concepts included in the dominium of interest the boundary of which is marked by digital libraries, to outline a possible agreement (in ontology it would be defined an ontological commitment ) on a vocabulary that is coextensive with that dominium. The commitment to agree on the adoption of a shared vocabulary is after all essential for attempting to outline a vision or at least for imagining a long-term strategy for public policies in this sector. The IDL ( Italian Digital Library) project (born between the end of 1998 and 1999 within the sphere of the General Management for library heritage, cultural institutions and publishing) and the subsequent scenario of integration of systems designed by the NTC project, apart from a few debatable architectural elements, define a national strategy of the sector. The success of this strategy will depend on the capacity to deal with three orders of problems: 1) share this strategy with all levels of government foreseen by our social order; 2) guarantee the participation of library services and cultural institutes; 3) define a new cooperative environment that is able to make different institutes (archives, libraries, museums and other agencies involved in the digital world), different cultures and languages, cooperate with one another without sacrificing their differences and without sacrificing their overall intelligence, or their ability to manage the whole.


The soil fauna is composed by organisms very sensitive to variation, natural or human-induced, of soil environment. Due to this behavior, the characters of soil microarthropods population and its biodiversity can provide useful information on soil status. In this paper the results of three years application of a soil quality index based on the evaluation of soil microarthropods (QBS) were presented. Data presented were obtained in soils of different environment and allowed to assess the reliability of this method for the evaluation of biological quality of northern Italian soils. The experiments tried to evaluate the variations in QBS values according to different land use and crop management practices. Arable lands generally showed QBS values lower than 100, while permanent grasslands and forest soils were characterized by the highest QBS values. The biological soil quality of arable lands was also affected by agronomic management, showing highest values in organic farming soils and/or low input crops. A significant correlation between QBS values and the intensity of human disturbance was also shown.


Financial data volumes are increasing, and this appears to be a long-term trend, implying that data managementdevelopment will be crucial over the next few decades. Because financial data is sometimes real-time data, itis constantly generated, resulting in a massive amount of financial data produced in a short period of time.The volume, diversity, and velocity of Big Financial Data are highlighting the significant limitations oftraditional Data Warehouses (DWs). Their rigid relational model, high scalability costs, and sometimesinefficient performance pave the way for new methods and technologies. The majority of the technologiesused in background processing and storage research were previously the subject of research in their earlystages. The Apache Foundation and Google are the two most important initiatives. For dealing with largefinancial data, three techniques outperform relational databases and traditional ETL processing: NoSQL andNewSQL storage, and MapReduce processing.


The cytologic smears were obtained with cotton swabs during the initial phase of the investigation. In the majority of cases, however, a wooden Ayre's spatula was employed. The specimens were collected separately from the pool in the posterior fornix and from the vaginal portio including the cervical canal. The specimens were then spread out on two slides. The smears were immediately lowered into jars containing alcohol-ether fixative. The fixation time was at least 30 minutes, after which the slides were stained according to the method of Papanicolaou. Screening was performed by trained cytotechnicians using an ordinary light microscope. The abnormal smears were classified by one of the present writers (E. J.) using the system described before (p. 7). Differential cell counts were made in a few selected cases in order to correlate the distribution of cell types with the degree of severity of the dysplastic lesions and the specimens of carcinoma in situ.


Since there has been an explosive growth of online documents, the knowledge extraction from natural language texts becomes more important to complement limited human ability. In this paper, we introduce existing methods for temporal information extraction from input texts in two viewpoints. One is the researches about language-independent feature generation. Even though linguistic features have been generally utilized to extract time expressions, we need different features which are independent from language characteristics in order to overcome the boundary of particular language. Another is the researches about temporal information extraction based on the common patterns or knowledge bases. By summarizing and discussing existing researches, we can see the current research direction on this field to help better understanding of the temporal information extraction methods.


In this article,we study the ecological characteristic of the village architectures in West Hunan from architecture sites,structure characteristic,climate adjusting from the outside to the inside, choices of building materials,etc,and put forward suggestions of improving the durable development of mountain architectures.


Previous UK studies have reported disparities in HIV treatment outcomes for women. We investigated whether these differences persist in the modern antiretroviral treatment (ART) era.


The decomposition of 4′-substituted benzenesulphenanilides (1a–d) in the presence of trifluoroacetic acid (0.6 equiv.) leads to N-arylbis(benzenesulphen)amides (6a–d) in variable yields, depending on the 4′-substituent, in addition to disulphide (4) and anilines (3a–d), whereas products arising from sulphenylation of the N-aryl ring result from 3′-methoxybenzenesulphenanilide (1g). The 4′-nitro- and 3′-nitro-benzenesulphenanilides (1e,f) react with a slight excess of trifluoroacetic acid to give only (4), the thiosulphonate (5), and aniline (3e,f). The findings are interpreted in terms of possible nucleophilic attack at the S–N bond of a protonated sulphenanilide by the nitrogen or the N-aryl ring of another sulphenanilide unit, according to the nature of the substituent and its position, with displacement of aniline (3). The reaction of (1a–d) with 1.5 equiv. of trifluoroacetic acid leads to complete disappearance of the initially formed amides (6a–d) with concomitant formation of phenazines (9) and/or p-quinone di-imines (8). Similar results are obtained by using boron trifluoride–diethyl ether. Di-imines (8) and phenazines (9) are explained on the basis of a mechanism initially involving nucleophilic attack by (1) and/or (6) and/or (3) at the ortho and para positions of an intermediate cation, possibly (18A) or (18B), and loss of the disulphide (4).


Imatinib is a potent inhibitor of tyrosine kinases, including abl, c-kit, and platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR). A role for PDGF in PV has been suspected, and direct inhibition of PV colonies with imatinib has been reported. We initiated a phase II trial of imatinib in pts with PV diagnosed by the Polycythemia Vera Study Group criteria. Pts were treated with imatinib at 400 mg daily; if no significant response after 1 month (mo) of therapy, the dose could be escalated to 800 mg daily. Hydroxyurea could be used only during the first mo of therapy, but anagrelide was allowed at any time. 9 patients have been treated (6 male, 3 female). Median age was 51 years (yrs) (range 28 to 72 yrs); median duration of PV was 8 years (range 1/4–35 years). ECOG performance status was 0 for 2 pts and 1 for 7 pts. Most common symptoms included fatigue (n=7), intractable pruritus (n=5) and headache (n=4). 4 pts had splenomegaly, 1 had hepatomegaly, and 1 had prior splenectomy. All patients were dependent on repeated phlebotomies. All pts had diploid cytogenetics except one who had 20q − (prior therapy with 32 P). FISH and PCR confirmed absence of Bcr-Abl translocation. After a median follow-up of 4 mo (range, 2 to 37 mo), 3 pts have ≥50% reduction in phlebotomy requirements. These include one pt with complete remission defined as hemoglobin


The present work of his professional proficiency as an administrative assistant
was carried out in the company Garna Industrial S.A.C; dedicated to the manufacture and services of machining parts for the metal-mechanic industrial sector. Being a young company, the demand for the service is variable and subject to various factors. In an initial diagnosis, he said that he had problems with liquidity, skilled labor and problems in the delivery of mechanized parts at the agreed times. One of the weaknesses of this company is directed by people with limited managerial knowledge; Even with this limitation, investors survive that new competitors are entering, which means that the business has to adopt new management and
development strategies, based on customer satisfaction and thus face the strong
competition of the sector. This report aims to analyze the quality of service and customer satisfaction, in order to position the brand, retain their customers and attract potential customers; as well as the good management of the company. Making an analysis of my work performed, the functions such as: technical visits to the different companies in the sector, quoting in the port B2MINIG, supervision, invoice management efficiently. Finally the work carried out and the proposed proposals were analyzed, the partners determined that they are economically feasible and of contribution for the company, which leads me to satisfaction for the function performed.


Model updating may be defined as an adjustment on the FE model through modal parameters experimentally obtained, in order to better represent its dynamic behavior. From this definition, structural health monitoring (SHM) methods can be considered closely related with these procedures, because it refers to the implementation of in situ non-destructive sensing and analysis of the dynamic system characteristics, which aims to detect changes that could indicate damage. Within this context, the present paper evaluates an iterative model updating approach when it is subjected to experimental vibration data. In addition, after getting the experimental adjusted model, a numerical damage detection procedure is also proposed. Since in ambient vibrations situations, it is only available the structural response, particular emphasis is given on output-only system identification. Two damage cases are created and dynamic tests are numerically simulated with a varying added measurement noise. In order to localize and quantify the damage, an index (damage detection index DDI) is also proposed in this paper. It can be noticed that the obtained results were very accurate, and the proposed index DDI was able to correctly localize and quantify the damage in all situations, even considering an output only system identification procedure, noise presence and multiple damage case.


The aim of the present research was twofold. First, we aimed to replicate a recent study by Sharot et al. (2010), which found evidence for the spreading of alternatives (SOA) effect. Second, we investigated the hypothesis that cognitive dissonance, which may explain an existing SOA effect, is accompanied by significant changes in pupil diameter. Our results provide neither support for this hypothesis nor do they replicate the SOA effect. We conclude that more research is needed to investigate the SOA effect and call for deploying more suitable experimental paradigms to investigate the link between cognitive dissonance states and pupillary changes.


"Binswanger disease" is a controversial eponym frequently used to indicate a form of vascular dementia characterized by white matter rarefaction and lacunar infarcts. Clinical features of Binswanger disease are variable, and the psychiatric manifestations have been less well described. We report a case of a 78-year-old female presenting with 3-month history of precognitive experiences, hallucinations in multiple modalities, inappropriate behavior, insomnia, and deterioration in self-care. Patient is a known case of hypertension and has a past history of multiple transient ischemic attacks. Mini-Mental State Examination, Montreal Cognitive Assessment, and Frontal Assessment Battery showed significant dysfunction. Neuropsychiatric inventory confirmed presence of psychopathology. Salient findings on magnetic resonance imaging brain included cerebral atrophy, chronic white matter ischemic changes, and multiple lacunar infarcts. The patient was prescribed second-generation antipsychotic along with cholinesterase inhibitor, NMDA receptor antagonist, and an antihypertensive. The patient improved with regard to psychotic symptoms and insomnia and is attending regular follow-up.


This paper researched and developed a new type of self-compacting backfill material behind the wall of underground pipelines, and compared and analyzed the relationship between the water-binder ratio, porosity and compressive strength of the two backfill materials. The average pore size of the foam backfill material increases with the water-binder ratio. While increasing, the porosity tends to decrease with the increase of water-binder ratio, and the compressive strength first increases and then decreases with the increase of water-binder ratio; self-compacting backfill material has excellent properties such as self-compacting, light weight and anti-vibration. It is a new type of building materials which can meet the requirements of fluidity and strength for backfilling after penetrating the yellow pipe wall.


Critical micelle concentration(CMC) and micelle aggregation number(N) of the four branched surfactants sodium Guerbet tetradecyl polyoxyethylene ether carboxylate were determined by steady-state fluorescence probe method in which pyrene was used as fluorescence probe and benzophenone as quencher.The results showed that the CMC of this kind of surfactants can be determined by steady-state fluorescence probe,which fairly approached to that determined by surface tension method.Critical micelle concentration(CMC) and micelle aggregation number(N) decreased with the increasing of number of ether oxide units for all four surfactants,while the micropolarity of the micelles was less sensitive to the increasing of number of ethylene oxide units.


Marketing is the group of various activities and techniques which are helping people to purchase a particular product and these various activities initiates from targeting markets and ends with the after sales service to the customers. All these activities includes communicating the value of the product, service or brand to the customers, for the purpose of promoting or selling that product, service, or brand. Marketing techniques which starts with choosing target markets through market analysis and market segmentation, and analyzing the consumer behavior and advertising a product's value to the customer.
 In conventional style of trading and business the concept of marketing was used to take in different meaning, but with the passage of time with the advancement of science & Technology, the concept of marketing has changed to the great extent Marketing satisfies these needs and wants through exchange processes and building long-term relationships.
Recent approaches in marketing include relationship marketing with focus on the customer, business marketing or industrial marketing with focus on an organization or institution and social marketing with focus on benefits to society.[4] New forms of marketing also use the internet and are therefore called internet marketing or more generally e-marketing, online marketing, "digital marketing", search engine marketing, or desktop advertising. It attempts to perfect the segmentation strategy used in traditional marketing. It targets its audience more precisely, and is sometimes called personalized marketing or one-to-one marketing. Internet marketing is sometimes considered to be broad in scope, because it not only refers to marketing on the Internet, but also includes marketing done via e-mail, wireless media as well as driving audience from traditional marketing methods like radio and billboard to internet properties or landing page.


This article aims to progress the UK debate on the initial design of New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM) and sprayed-concrete-lined (SCL) tunnels, and provides practical guidance on methods of analysis. After the collapse of an NATM tunnel under London Heathrow Airport in 1994, some tunnelling engineers tended to discard using the term 'NATM' to describe tunnels with sprayed concrete linings (SCLs). Actually, 'NATM' relates to a construction philosophy that requires a controlled deformation of the ground before the permanent tunnel lining is constructed. Not all SCLs are made using this philosophy. In 1996, the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) published a design and practice guide for SCLs for tunnels in soft ground. The guide briefly describes and discusses the methods of analysis for SCLs and the primary support for NATM tunnels. It provides a reasonable survey of analysis methods for primary lining support design. The present paper discusses some design considerations of the more traditional design approaches, and presents a methodology for the detailed design of the primary and secondary linings of an NATM tunnel. If properly executed, this approach can be used to design a demonstrably safe and secure initial NATM lining. Finite element and finite difference techniques are especially appropriate here.


The advantages of utilizing the polymeric shape memory effect for deterministic assembly of microscale objects are explored in this letter. The assembly is performed by transfer printing, which involves a polymeric stamp with reversible adhesion as a manipulator. The dynamic rigidity control afforded by heating or cooling a shape memory polymer (SMP) stamp across its glass transition temperature allows for a dramatic increase in adhesion during pick-up. Furthermore, the shape-fixing and recovery property of the SMP material enables substantial freedom in stamp design, such as more complex surface patterning and heterogeneous surface features to further reduce adhesion during release not otherwise available.


Ultrasonic transducers for NDE applications are commonly based on Lead Zirconate Titanate or PZT, an inorganic compound and ceramic perovskite material. Usually these conventional transducers are fabricated in piezo-composite technology in order to adapt the acoustic impedance of the active element to the specific material under test. For applications with low signal amplitudes, high electronic noise and small transducer elements, the performance of ultrasonic probes can be significantly enhanced by using Lead Magnesium Niobate-Lead Titanate (PMN-PT) instead of PZT. This single-crystal material offers significantly better piezo parameters and leads to a higher sensitivity and larger bandwidth. Similar to PZT it can also be fabricated in 1-3 piezo-composite technology. In a cooperation between Fraunhofer IKTS and Ibule Photonics, PMN-PT ultrasonic transducers are developed and optimized. As a result various single element and phased array transducers with improved performances are available. In the present paper several PMN-PT probes are presented and compared with identically constructed PZT transducers. Moreover, a short outlook to the next generation PIN-PMT-PT (lead indium niobate-lead magnesium niobate-lead titanate) NDE probes is given.


Methanotrophs, the inhabitants of irrigated rice soils, were monitored using molecular tools. Methanol d ehydrogenase coded by mxaF locus has been used as the genus -specific locus. The presence of the locus has been demonstrated in DNA extracted from soil sa m ples as well as in methanol utilizing isolates derived from those samples. Further, ARDRA pattern and cluster analysis revealed the following closely related genera – type -I methanotrophs Methylomonas and/or Methylocaldum in rhizosphere soil and co-existence of both type-I (Meth ylomonas and/or Methylocaldum ) and type-II methanotrophs Methylo -ba cterium and/or Methylocella in non -rhizosphere soil. M


The purpose of this research is to offer a contribution to the study of the growth of anti-establishment political groups in the UK, specifically, the United Kingdom Independence Party, a typically perceived right-wing political movement whose main belief is the separation of the UK from the European Union.

First part of the research will mostly draw upon literature review on Political and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), a multifaceted approach to the study of text and talk: discourses influence social relations and knowledge systems through language, and the theoretical structure of CDA demonstrates the complex workings of power and ideology in discourse in sustaining particular orders. What is intended to prove, where verifiable, is a re-shape of the negative biased definition of the term 'populism' which has been attributed for years by mainstream politics. The study will give an overview on the interchangeable Other-construction depending on one of the great three issues at stake: anti-European Union, anti-Immigration (Economic Migrants) and anti- establishment political talk. Substantial through the data analysis is the shift from a biological to a cultural concept of racism now conceived as ethnopluralism, that is the straightforward realization of an impossible coexistence among different culture within one nation.


In this paper was observed performances of developed three degrees of freedom (dof) parallel mechanism named 3-URU spherical parallel mechanism. The mechanism is composed of three identical limbs mounted symmetrically to base (fixed link) and platform (output link). The limb is constructed by universal-revolute and universal joints. The kinematic constants of mechanism consisting of link lengths, radius of platform, radius of base, mounting angle of limb and platform to base and platform were determined with consideration of velocity transmission and force constraint indices. To evaluate performance of mechanism, it was manufactured a prototype of mechanism designed base on these two mentioned indices. There are three steps proposed to realize the mechanism, (i) kinematic synthesis to determine of kinematic constants, (ii) design of mechanical components to define shape and dimension of links and joints by considering collision in wokingspace and static analysis, (iii) evaluation of mechanism performances consisting of workingspace, controllability of platform motion and static payload. Based on obtained results, it can be clarified that, the mechanism can produce spherical motion of platform which rotates on steady point recognized as center of platform rotation. The platform can achieve maximum inclination angle, 80 degree and at this posture occurs translational error, 0.0102 mm. On the other hand, the mechanism can support payload ten times of weight of moving parts.


Let It; denote the xaiting tim.: of customer k. k 2 0, in an initially empty GI/G/l queue. Fix a > 0. \{'e prove ucak limit theorems describing the behavior of -, 0 < k 5 nl; given I\',, > na. Let X have the distribution of the dlffcrcnce betxecn the scrvicz ar.d interarrival distributions. \Ye consider queues for which Cramer type conditions hold for X: and queues for which X has regularly varying positive tail. 11, n I. ISTRODECTIOS In this paper we describe how large dcla)s build up in a GI/G/l q u a e . The ngineering motivation for thls investigation comes from the dcsir.: to design computer networks to minimize the rale of occurrence of bad evcnts, such as bufl'cr overllo\r, or the occcurrcnce of large delays. Typically, the probability 3f occurrence of such events needs to be datcrmincd by smulation. Kno;\ing how such events occur can lead to fast simulation schcmx The relevant id-as are briefly discussed in Scclion 11. \Ye are given an initially empty GI/G/l queue. Customer 0 arrives at tim: 0 and customar Xat time A: , , . A i , u here A,, i = 1, 2, , , , are i.i.d. , Let E , , i = 1, 2 , , , , be i.i.d. service times. B*-; being the service time of customer k . If u e Ict X, = E , A,, t h m X,, i = 1, 2 , . , , are i.1.d. , Let EX: = u. p, > 0. The waiting time ! i ; of customer k txfore receiving service is given by thc equations: n; = 0. \irkL: = max(0, IV, + X,-:), k 2 0. Let C d-note C[O, I ] , the space of continuous functions on the uni t interval i i ~ t h the topology of unirorm convcrgence, and D denote D [ 0 , I ] , the space of right continuous functions wirh left limitj on the unit intenal, Kith the topology of uniform convergence. For each n 2 1 . let I<.(.) E C denote the polygonal path, and si.,(.) E D denote the piecewise constant right continuous path, construclcd from the points (-, ) > 0 5 k 5 n. k n n FIX a > 0. Let P, denote the conditional distribution (!g,(,)l!i', > no), and p,, thc conditional distribution (\CKt)I lVn > na). P, (resp. P,J is a probability distribution on C i m p . D). In Theorem 1, a.e idcntify the ueak l i m t of (P,J undcr the following moment conditions on X:: (C) Let m(f) = E exp :X1. Thxc is an interval S = (f, r J containing 0, such that: m(i ) < m for all : E S, Thls situation covers the SW.t'l queue and a large class of GI/G/l queues with rapidly decreasing tail distributions for X;. In Thwrsm 2, we identify the weak limit of ( P , ) under the following moment conditions on X;: (D) There is q > 0 and a slowly v q i n & function L(,) such that: EX! < m, P(X: > x ) x% ( x ) us x -+ = This situation covers a large class of GIiGil queues where X, has a fat positive tail . 11. MOTIVATIOS The motivation for undersmdmg how rare events occur comes from the need to speed up the estimation of the probability of occurrence of these events via simulation. This need arises in the design of computer networks to minimize the rate of Occurrence of bad events such as buffer overflow or the occurrence of large dclays. In a network that is performing reasonably when it is well approximated by a slationary model, these events are already relatively rue. Further, it is typically not easy to give tractable analytical formulas for the probabilities of such events. Let (R, F, P) be a probability space, for example, the space of paths of a computer network, and A E R be a rare evcnt, i.e. P ( A ) is small. To estimate PU) we may obscrve indcpmdcnt samples 1':. \'z, , . , with distribution P and construct the empirical estimator ClCXly, EpFn = P ( A ) and barp\, = [ P(A'l(1Pi'4i), J. n Suppose instead % e simulate the nctuork undcr a modified set of dynamics corresponding to a different probability distribution Q on (n, F ) . \\-c obscrve samples by, 1<. . . . with distribution Q and construct the estimator I.',= ll,l; E A) 1 " d P n k] a


The development of lupus‐related end‐stage renal disease (ESRD) confers the highest mortality rates among individuals with lupus. Lupus‐related ESRD is also associated with higher morbidity and mortality rates compared with non‐lupus ESRD. We review the evidence that persistent lupus activity, hypercoagulability, and continuing immunosuppression may contribute to unfavorable outcomes in dialysis and renal transplantation among lupus patients. Robust epidemiologic studies are needed to develop individualized evidence‐based approaches to treating lupus‐related ESRD. In the meantime, managing lupus‐related ESRD presents a significant challenge for clinicians and requires a team approach involving nephrologists and rheumatologists. Goals of therapy after developing ESRD should include continuing monitoring of lupus activity, minimizing corticosteroid exposure, and choosing the most appropriate renal replacement therapy based on patient's risk profile and quality‐of‐life considerations.


For traditional directed diffusion routing protocol network node large energy consumption,network redundancy serious of interest in network and large time delay,etc. This paper proposes a layered and directed diffusion routing protocol based on RSSI. The protocol take the nodes in the network of layering in the process of the spread of interest,realize the interest message transmission between layer and layer,reduce the interest repeat transmission greatly. At the same time,each node records the RSSI value of the propagation path,when it finds the data source node of matching the interest,an optimal path can be determined for data transmission. The simulation results show that this protocol compared with the traditional Directed Diffusion Routing Protocol,it reduces the number of nodes in interest diffusion,reduces the average energy consumption of nodes while reducing the delay,the network performance is significantly improved.


As a new and promising mode of transportation, high-speed maglev train has attracted increasing attention. The DC/DC converter with high reliability performance plays an important role in the maglev train to provide stable and reliable output power. To improve the efficiency and logic of reliability analysis, this paper presents the forward comprehensive reliability analysis (FCRA) method, a kind of new reliability analysis method based on Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) and Fault Mode Effect and Analysis (FMEA). After analyzing the frame and principle of a DC/DC converter, a FMEA table of DC/DC converter is established based on the theoretical analysis of converter. With the FMEA table, the fault tree is constructed from the top event step-by-step in order. Finally, the paper makes qualitative and quantitative evaluations for fault tree and makes suggestion to improve the reliability of DC/DC converters. This method can effectively analyze the reliability of DC/DC converter and help with maintenance and repair work.


The authors expound the sources, origins, modes of transport, hydrodynamic conditions and paleoflow directions of different Quaternary gravel beds on terraces in the Xiangquan River valley and Qangze area in the Zhanda basin, Ngari area, Tibet, from a fabric analysis of the Quaternary gravel beds and analyses of the composition, particle size, shape and preferred orientations of gravels in the bedrocks and Quaternary gravel beds. Studies indicate the following: gravels of the gravel beds of the Zhanda basin mainly came from fluvio-lacustrine strata upstream of the basin. The weathering degree of the gravels is generally low. The paleoflow direction of the Xiangquan River valley was approximately the same as that of modern rivers in the valley. The flow of the Xiangquan River has had a tendency to decrease with the wholesale uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.


SPREADING post-operative gangrene of the skin is a rare complication, which has been observed usually after operations upon cavities lined with endothelium, and most of the cases have followed operations either for appendicular abscess or for empyema. Two cases are recorded in which it followed operation for perforated duodenal ulcer. In the case described here it followed lateral pharyngotomy for the excision of a postcricoid carcinoma. Some forty cases have been recorded. In most cases the disease has continued to spread until the patient has died from toxic absorption and general exhaustion, but if recognized in time it can be arrested by cutting a gutter in the skin with the diathermy knife beyond the advancing edge. Although the superficial area of sloughing can be enormous it does not extend in depth beyond the skin. Pathological examination shows only abscesses and granulation tissue in the skin which has been attacked and the bacteriological examination always shows a mixed infection with streptococci and staphylococci.


Programmed death 1 (PD-1) immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have demonstrated efficacy for recurrent and/ or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (R/M-SCCHN). On the other hand, some patients are refractory to these inhibitors; although the efficacy of salvage chemotherapy after ICIs has been shown, there have been few reports on subsequent drug therapy options. Herein, we present a case of recurrent oral cancer that showed significant efficacy in with multiple use of nivolumab and chemotherapy agents interchangeably. A 76-year-old female was previously treated with the EXTREME regimen (combined with cetuximab, 5-fluorouracil, and cisplatin) for recurrent oral cancer. Since the lesions clinically progressed, nivolumab was applied as second-line treatment. After nivolumab treatment, weekly Paclitaxel was administered as third-line salvage chemotherapy due to tumor progression. Then, nivolumab was administered multiple times with chemotherapy alternately, and a partial response was obtained. After 33 months from the first-line chemotherapy for recurrent oral cancer, the patient chose to receive palliative care owing to the development of a new lesion on the tongue. The patient died as a result of progressive disease one month later.


In this work the infrageneric taxa of DiplotropisBenth. (LEG. FAB.) - Tribe So -phoreae s. latoare analised and discussed. A new secion (Sect. RacemosaeLima) is described and keys for identification of the sections, species and varieties ore provided.


In this work, the expressions of molecular dissociation rate and isotope enrichment coefficient in an strong IR field, as the functions of the laser energy per pulse, the focal length of lens, the number of laser pulses, and etc., were derived by using the kinetic theory. The theoretical expression of isotope enrichment coefficient was compared with the experimental results for SF6, and good agreement was found. In addition, the theoretical expressions compared with experiments would provide some useful informations of the molecular dissociation in the strong IR field.


In order to reduce computational effort and to allow for the use of periodic boundary conditions, electrostatic interactions in explicit solvent simulations of molecular systems do not obey Coulomb's law. Instead, a number of "effective potentials" have been proposed, including truncated Coulomb, shifted, switched, reaction-field corrected, or Ewald potentials. The present study compares the performance of these schemes in the context of ionic solvation. To this purpose, a generalized form of the Born continuum model for ion solvation is developed, where ion–solvent and solvent–solvent interactions are determined by these effective potentials instead of Coulomb's law. An integral equation is formulated for calculating the polarization around a spherical ion from which the solvation free energy can be extracted. Comparison of the polarizations and free energies calculated for specific effective potentials and the exact Born result permits an assessment of the accuracy of these different schemes. Additional...


In this report, different methods for balancing and monitoring battery cells are discussed and evaluated. The chosen method is built in a modular approach which enables the system to be extended ...


The synergy between ceria and loaded metal nanocrystals (NCs) greatly promotes the catalytic properties for many reactions. Nevertheless, the clear relevance of structures to properties in catalytic systems is hard to establish in that the catalysts studied either featured unstable microstructures or were too heterogeneous. Herein, we show both the facile tool of NC assembly to derive stable and efficient catalytic materials, in which the metal NCs are tailored in terms of their spatial positioning on the nanometer scale (i.e., entrapped in the internal concave ceria surface or deposited on the external convex ceria surface), and how to probe their structure–function relationship. The performance for producing renewable energy sources from hazardous greenhouse gases on a NCs-in-concavities structure is distinct from that on a NCs-on-convexities configuration, elucidating a pivotal impact by the spatial positioning. The current investigation suggests that there exists a clear relationship between the surface adsorbate bonding strength/type and the catalytic properties in reforming CO2/CH4 to hydrogen energy and syngas. Control over the bonding strength/type and activation mechanism of the adsorbates on the catalyst surfaces through changing the support surface curvature orientation is indicated to be a potential strategy for modulating the reaction activity. The insights focus on grasping the surface chemistry of the ceria surface curvature in optimizing the catalysts and can be enlightening for rationally exploring other state-of-the-art heterogeneous nanomaterials.


Maintaining of high quality of petroleum products is an urgent task, since the use of low-quality fuel containing dissolved or emulsified water can increase the likelihood of rapid deterioration or breakdown of an internal combustion engine which uses the fuel. Water is present in petroleum products and in oil in various states: in a dissolved state, in a free state, and in the form of an emulsion. The transition of water from one state to another is determined by the following factors: pressure, temperature, pH, viscosity and chemical composition of the fluid. If free water is removed by conventional methods such as settling, coalescence, and centrifugation, then removal of bound water (emulsified and dissolved water) is a difficult task. The method of chemical absorption of water was investigated for the purification of gasoline from dissolved water, and polyacrylamide-based superabsorbent and cellulose fiber were considered as absorbents. The filtration rate of gasoline with a content of 10.6% emulsified water through a layer of sorbent 10 cm and a diameter of 0.9 cm was 4.3 cm 3 / min. The degree of removal of water by the absorbent containing 30% polyacrylamide was 99.8%. The absorbent can be used to clean fuels from emulsified and dissolved water.


Accountants have long been interested in the drivers of tax compliance; however, empirical challenges have impeded a deep understanding of what motivates people and organizations to fulfil their tax obligations. In this study, we present two field experiments that alleviated some of these concerns. First, we present a large natural field experiment that tested messages aimed at increasing tax compliance. A second natural field experiment built on the results of the first experiment to further investigate what kinds of costs are salient to taxpayers. Specific financial incentives did not increase payment rates, whereas stating non-specific costs of inaction did, especially if costs of further action were made salient. Overall, our study shows that tax authorities can use short messages to increase tax compliance; the estimated accelerated revenue from the two studies amounts to £9.9m.


This paper aims to examine the purchase intention of Generation Z and the impact of 'Country of Origin' image on the purchase intention of Chinese Mobile Phones. Another objective is to observe the relationship between 'Country of Origin' and factors such as brand loyalty, purchase intention and perceived quality. Generation Z members are used as samples in our study. A structured questionnaire was distributed to the samples and received 230 responses. The data was analysed using SPSS software. Exploratory Factor Analysis was run to identify the relationship between the variables. Results show that the members of Generation Z do consider the 'Country of Origin' cue while purchasing the product and the factors- brand loyalty, purchase intention and perceived quality have significant relationship with 'Country of Origin' image. Amidst of umpteen research articles on COO, and with a preconceived negative image over Chinese products, this paper makes a humble attempt to understand why Generation Z Indians prefer to buy mobile phones from China.


There are approximately 155,000 Vietnamese born people in Australia, with 46,000 in Victoria. The majority came to Australia as refugees. Many were subjected to the reality or threat of war, persecution, imprisonment, discrimination, economic deprivation, violence, the loss of family or other major stressors. These stressors have included the hazards of the escape, lengthy stays in refugee camps and, on arrival in Australia, lack of familiarity with English and with the culture. The Vietnamese Community in Australia was expected to have a high prevalence of mental illness, especially when newly arrived from refugee camps. In a study published in 1986 as "The Price of Freedom" [1] 32% of the young Vietnamese adult group was found to suffer from psychiatric disorder. At follow-up two years later, the prevalence of psychiatric disorder, without any major intervention, had dropped to 5–6%, a prevalence lower than that in the Australian-born community. In addition, the Vietnamese community's use of mental health services (inpatient and community-based) is lower than that of any other ethnic group.


In the construction of civil structures, the strength of the foundation is of high importance, so engineers face many challenges such as bearing capacity, settlement, high groundwater level, etc., especially if the structure is on sandy soil. In order to deal with these problems, solutions have been proposed, one of which is the use of skirted foundations. In this method, walls skirt the surface foundation and are buried deep in the soil, which are called skirted foundations. In this study, using numerical Analysis, taking into account the parameters of different lengths of skirted foundation walls, different percentages of soil densities and wall thickness, have been investigated under static load. On the basis of the obtained results, a series of charts are presented to estimate bearing capacity improvement, Skirted foundations resting on sand are dense more beneficial than those resting on medium and loose sand.


UWB systems are among the most exciting technologies due to their capability of transmittin g data over a wide frequency spectrum with very low power and high data rates. In a UWB receiver circuit the LNA is the first stage. It is the most important noise contrib utor to the overall noise of the receiver. The performance of IR-UWB system is mainly dependen t on the LNA characteristics. In this paper, we have des igned a wide band LNA, implemented using Agilent's ADS soft ware. The LNA achieves a flat gain over 12.5 dB and a low n ise figure NF of 2.4 dB. A UWB OOK transceiver was desi gned in MATLAB/SIMULINK to evaluate their performance. Then, the effects of the LNA non idealities on th e IR-OOKUWB receiver performance were investigated. The rec iv r system performance was evaluated in terms of bit er ror rate (BER) versus signal to noise ratio (SNR). The simulation results show that for a constant LNA gain, the change in the LNA noise figure NF of LNA direct ly affects the performance. A better performance is ob tained with a low NF.


Abstract This paper presents a simple methodology for detecting and measuring deception. Actual impressions of subjects exposed to advertising rather than the opinions of "experts" are used. Newspaper advertising is used as a stimulus and substantial evidence of deception regarding price is found. Further, the results indicate that simple "one price" advertising themes may cause greater deception than complicated pricing structures.


Copolymers of methacrylic acid and natural terpene monomers (α-pinene; β-pinene; ∆3-karene) with the molecular weight of (0.3–0.5)∙104 and a content of carboxyl groups of 14.5–16.3 % were synthesized. For the synthesized copolymers, hydrodynamic radius and the Kuhn segment, which characterizes flexibility of a polymer chain, were determined, as well as the Huggins constant in aqueous and saline solutions, and concentration regions for formation of supramolecular structures. In the presence of a cationic surfactant (benzetonium chloride, Hyamine), depending on the concentration of copolymers in the system, polymer-surfactant complexes were formed in soluble and insoluble forms. It has been shown that the effectiveness of the stabilizing action of soluble complexes with respect to an aqueous dispersion of calcium carbonate increases with an increase in the content of nonpolar groups in the polymer chain. A cationic surfactant (Hyamine) has been proposed as a precipitant in the method for the quantitative determination of carboxyl-containing polymers in aqueous and saline media.


The new national standard on"tolerancing principle"and"geometrical tolerancing-maximum material requirement,least material requirement and reciprociey requirement"are compared with ISO and old national standard.The differeces have been investigated.


The sum rate capacity of the multi-antenna Gaussian broadcast channel has recently been computed. However, the search for computationally efficient practical schemes that achieve it is still in progress. When the channel state information is fully available at the transmitter, the dirty paper coding (DPC) technique is known to achieve the maximal throughput, but is computationally infeasible. In this paper, we analyze the asymptotic behavior of one of its alternatives - the recently suggested so-called vector perturbation technique. We show that for a square channel, where the number of users is large and equal to the number of transmit antennas, its sum rate approaches that of the DPC technique. More precisely, we show that at both low and high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), the scheme under consideration is asymptotically optimal. Furthermore, we obtain similar results in the case where the number of users is much larger than the number of transmit antennas


The Multi-activity Combined Timetabling and Crew Scheduling Problem (MCTCSP), considers a set of clients that demand one or more Services in schedules and established locations. The objective is to minimize the amount of workers required to satisfy the demand. Some applications of this problem are associated with medical visitors schedule planning and home repair Services, etc. In this work is proposed an extension of the MCTCSP considering heterogeneous workers, with different abilities and stochastic time travel between the geographic locations of every Client.
A metaheuristic was design to solve the deterministic version of the problem, in this case it was used a Tabu Search, and then a Montecarlo simulation model was integrated. In the hybridization technique, the simulation model was used for the solution construction. In particular, is proposed the use of simheuristics. To compare the quality of the Solutions it were used four Service indicators, percentage of not accomplish appointments, total late time, total idle time and workload.
The results show the importance of taking into account the stochastic travel times in the construction of the solution, which allows the solution to be high quality in terms of the Service indicators. In comparison with the Tabu search, the simheuristic method presents a reduction of 20% on the percentage of unfulfilled appointments and the workload was balanced.


Amavata is a chronic disorder that has both skeletal and extra skeletal manifestations. The chief pathogenic constituents are Ama and Vata which simultaneously affect the joints and causes stiffness of the body. Based on the clinical presentation, RA (Rheumatoid arthritis) shows more resemblance with Amavata. The condition is managed by DMARDs (Disease Modifying Anti-rheumatic drugs) and corticosteroids, but still remains a challenging problem to the medical field as it doesn't completely eradicate the disease. Ayurveda has given a detailed description regarding the management of Amavata which includes Langhana (procedures like fasting, drying etc.) ,Swedana(sudation), Deepana(appetizing) with Tikta -Katu rasa (astringent-pungent), Virechana ( therapeutic purgation) etc. After analysing the treatment principle of Amavata, by Acarya (preceptor) Cakradatta, a combined intervention of Langhana, Swedana, Deepana and Virechana was undertaken. We hereby present a case report with regards to a patient who has been successfully treated for one month with follow up for another one month. The combined interventions included internal medications with Rasnasaptaka kashaya and Dasamoola haritaki avaleha, externally with Valuka sweda (Sudation with heated sand pack) & Patrapotali sweda (sudation with pack of medicated leaves) and Virechana with Moorchita (processed form) eranda taila. Internal medications were continued for another 15 days. Subjective and Objective assessment criteria including Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for pain and ARA (American Rheumatoid Association) criteria for diagnosing Rheumatoid Arthritis were assessed before and after trial for the efficacy of treatment. Substantial clinical improvement in the symptoms was reported after two months of Ayurvedic treatment protocol thus improving the quality of life.


In this paper we begin by weighing the importance that the access to information assumes nowadays and, at the same time, the growing need of people to fulfill the time spent getting to and from their workplace. Afterwards we made an approach to the podcast's concept comparing its educational potentialities, specially the role it can play in granting the user the access to "mobile" training modalities at anytime and in anyplace. Finally, concerning the podcasts' episodes quality available on the web, we have decided to develop a set of recommendations at five levels, based on a bibliographic revision – general, introduction, content, conclusion and group work – that can improve the production quality of podcasts' episodes, making them clearer and more effective towards the promotion of learning.


The averaging technique is used in flash analog-to-digital converters to reduce non-linearities resulting from random offset voltages of the pre-amplifiers, which stand before the comparators. The main contribution of this paper is to provide further insight into this technique through exact closed form expressions obtained for the output voltage, gain and offset in averaged pre-amplifiers. The results obtained from these expressions are compared with HSPICE simulations, and a very good agreement is found.


The form in which the blackcurrants are ingested influenced the bioavailability of phenolic antioxidants in a model system. Berries may act as slow release vehicles for the antioxidants preventing their degradation and increasing their bioavailability in the serum and small intestine where they can assert their bio-effects. Green teas are known to inhibit salivary α-amylase and reduce the oral concentration of fermentable sugars after eating starchy foods (3). The inhibition of α-amylase by strawberry (and other soft fruit) extracts may provide a more palatable means of protecting against dental caries, especially in young children. In addition, similar inhibition of pancreatic α-amylase by soft fruit extracts may provide a means of controlling post-meal blood glucose levels in patients with non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) without recourse to artificial α-amylase inhibitors (4). References


Phosphonylation of adenosine 5′-diphosphate (ADP) with inorganic diphosphonate was investigated by use of 31P NMR spectroscopy and the coupled system of high-performance liquid chromatography and flow injection analysis. ADP was phosphonylated by inorganic diphosphonate to form an H-phosphonate analogue of adenosine 5′-triphosphate (ATP) in aqueous solutions. The yield of the H-phosphonate analogue of ATP varied strongly depending on reaction conditions: pH and initial concentration of inorganic diphosphonate. The maximum yield of the H-phosphonate analogue of ATP was 56% under the following conditions: initial concentration of inorganic diphosphonate and ADP were 1.8 and 0.1 mol dm−3, respectively; 50 °C; pH 5; 90 min. In basic solutions, 2′ or 3′-hydroxyl group on ADP was predominantly phosphonylated.


The influence of small near-resonant perturbations on the period-doubling bifurcations in a nonlinear series resonance circuit has been investigated in detail. The series resonance circuit contains ferroelectric triglycine sulfate (TGS) as nonlinear capacitor. If the temperature of the TGS-crystal is below the Curie-temperature this dynamical system is a good experimental realization of a Duffing-like oscillator with double-well potential. The depth of the double-well potential may be changed easily by temperature variation of the TGS-crystal. Variation of the amplitude of the driving voltage in the order of magnitude of the coercive field strength and the frequency of the driving voltage in the range of domain relaxation can be used to tune the system towards period-doubling bifurcations. An additional near-resonant perturbation has been introduced into the system by amplitude modulation of the driving voltage. The observed effects (small signal amplification, shift of the bifurcation point, multiple-sid...


Monitoring the humidity and pressure(density) of SF6 in electrical equipment has been used as the monitoring and management method for many years, however there is no obvious corresponding relationship between the data obtained by these methods and equipment faults. Now the detection of decomposition product of SF6 gas has been widely applied as a gradually popularized analysis method in the diagnosis of abnormal situation and fault of SF6 electrical equipment. However, factors such as sampling container material, sampling time, detection time, self-hydrolysis or adsorption by adsorbent of gas decomposition products and the structure of the equipment itself will affect the accuracy of the test data and the judgment on operating conditions of equipment. Through many cases dealing with faults of SF6 electrical equipment and the deep research on factors mentioned above, we have effectively improved the supervision level of SF6 electrical equipment. And it is proved that the detection of SF6 gas decomposition product is an effective method for monitoring and diagnosing SF6 electrical equipment, which is of great significance realizing the diagnosis and predicting SF6 electrical equipment fault.


New media and the student work in colleges and universities is still an emerging research field, it is also in the initial stage. WeChat provide convenience for college student life and learning at the same time, also to let students work provides a new thought way. This paper introduced the wechat platform for the development and function of the characteristics, analyzes the advantages when used it to college students work, finally it has proved college student applies wechat is feasible.


Writing is one of the language skills that plays important role in human communication. It is used to communicate with other people in society and also to express our opinion in writing form. The teaching of writing requires the students to write accurately. Have a good competence in English does not only mean to be fluent speakers of the language, as many people have in mind but in writing as well; a lot of varieties of occupations require skilled people in English both in speaking and writing. There are some factors that influence the students' ability to write; they are the vocabulary, the interesting topics were given the interest of students in learning writing such as picture, map, graphic, etc and the time to teach writing in English course or inappropriate technique. Among these factors, technique is an important factor that should be given a special attention because by applying a good technique, the students can improve their ability to organize their ideas into a good writing. This research is intended to find out the improvement of the students' writing ability by using Information Transfer Technique at first semester students' of Muhammadiyah University of Makassar. The method will use a Pre-Experimental research with the one group pretest and posttest design. The sample is only one class that consisted of 40 students which were selected by using Purposive sampling technique. The data were obtained through writing test.


Background and objectives: The aerial part extracts of Eremostachys macrophylla  from Labiatae family, which has been traditionally used in wound healing, snake bites, rheumatism and joint pains, were investigated for general toxicity, anti-proliferative, free radical scavenging and anti-bacterial effects.Moreover, preliminary phytochemical investigations were carried out on the extracts. Methods: Extracts were prepared using a soxhlet apparatus with n-hexane, dichloromethane (DCM) and methanol (MeOH), respectively. Brine shrimp lethality test (BSLT) and 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay were performed to evaluate general toxicity and free radical scavenging properties, respectively. Anti-proliferative and anti-bacterial activities were assessed by 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and disc diffusion methods, respectively.  MTT assay was carried out on one normal and two cancer cell lines including human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC), human colorectal adenocarcinoma (HT-29) and human lung carcinoma (A-549), respectively. Additionally, all the extracts were tested for the presence of various phytoconstituents by different reagents. Results: The n-hexane extract was the most active fraction in BSLT whereas the MeOH extract showed significant free-radical-scavenging activity. The results indicated that the n-hexane and MeOH extracts possessed anti-proliferative effects against HT-29 cells while all the three extracts were effective against A-549 cell line. None of these three extracts showed any significant effect against HUVEC.The extracts didn't show any antimicrobial effects against Gram positive, Gram negative and Candida albicans species. Conclusion: Considering the results, the species might be a good candidate for further phytochemical and biological studies for the isolation of active and pure ingredients and clarification of anti-neoplastic mechanism.