ABSTRACT The gradual depletion of fossil fuels has greatly enhanced the necessity to look for alternative fuels for automobile engines. In response to this, biodiesel is being considered as a promising and potential alternative substitute to conventional petroleum diesel. However, long-term storage stability of biodiesel is poorer compared to conventional petroleum diesel. The aim of the project work is to study the long-term storage stability of biodiesel (B100) and its blend (B20) prepared from used frying oil in different conditions of storage. In this work, the effect of antioxidants and temperature on long storage stability of biodiesel obtained from with respect to storage period is analysed using response surface methodology (RSM). The long storage of biodiesel obtained from used frying oils were optimised by varying parameters such as antioxidant concentration, storage period by Box-Behnken RSM. The properties such as the acid value and the viscosity of biodiesel were initially measured. The results of the investigation showed that the addition of sufficient concentration of antioxidant (pyrogallol) significantly maintains the acid value and viscosity of biodiesel and helps to store for a longer storage period at the given storage temperature.


The key points the author gives out in the thesis are the possible adjustment of the speciality chiefly focused on the electric industry and the prospect for the construction and the development of the subjects in Shanghai University of Electric Power, as a teachingoriented university.


Ventucopa Transfer Station is located on Highway 33 in Ventucopa, California. This facility can process up to 80 cubic yards of waste during each day that it is open. Waste from


Taking into account the COVID-19 pandemic, the EI2E 2020 conference was held virtually as agencies around the world are now issuing restrictions on travel, gatherings, and meetings in an effort to limit and slow the spread of this pandemic. The health and safety of our participants and members of our research community is of top priority to the Organizing Committee. Therefore, the EI2E 2020 conference was held online through VooV software. There are 54 individuals who attended this on-line conference, represented many countries including Indonesia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Canada, and China. The conference provided a useful forum for both offering the latest research and exchanging recent findings in Environmental, Industrial and Energy Engineering and related areas. To our great pleasure, also a considerable number of young students and Postdocs lively participated. The conference speakers and also the colleagues who presented posters gave an impressive performance. The proceedings, being a compilation of technically sound papers, covers two chapters, namely Energy and Industrial Systems Engineering and Civil and Environmental Engineering.


The flora of Kharimkotan, the middle Kuril Islands, had not been known prior to field work pelformed under the auspices of the International Kuril Island Project (IKIP) in 1996 and 2000. A first checklist of the vascular plants including the old specimens collected by Tatewaki in 1930, is provided here. The list represents 46 families, 121 genera, 182 species, and 4 subspecies for the island. Dominant families are; Asteraceae (17 spp.), Poaceae (17 spp.), Cyperaceae (17 spp.), Brassicaceae (10 spp.), Rosaceae (10 spp.) and Ericaceae (10 spp.). The outline of the vegetation of Kharimkotan is also given.


Of the taxa included in Plectronia by Chiovenda in Flora Somala 2 (1932), only the two species described by other authors (P. glauca (Hiern) Schum. and P. schimperiana (A. Rich.) Vatke) can be attributed to the genus Canthium in which the Rubiaceous element of Plectronia is now placed. None of Chiovenda's remaining three species even belong to the same tribe as Canthium, the Vanguerieae. It seems most likely that P. guidottii Chiov. is a species of Polysphaeria in the Hypobathreae, but in the absence of the type specimen (Somalia, Mansur, Guidotti 212 (holotype ubi?)) one cannot be sure. Plectronia rhamnifolia Chiov. and P. sennii Chiov. belong to different genera in the tribe Coffeeae and it is unfortunate that their identification has necessitated the following new combinations:


The aims of this study is to provide an explanation of the teacher's strategy in fostering the morals of Madrasah Ibtidaiyah (MI) students. This study uses a type of qualitative research with the intention to understand the phenomenon of the things experienced by research subjects in a descriptive way. The research was carried out with the stages of preparation, implementation, and completion. The research subjects were teachers of the Akidah Akhlak subject, students, and parents of class 5A MI Al Fithrah Surabaya. Data collection techniques using observation, in-depth interviews, and documentation. Data analysis through the stages of data reduction, data presentation, and drawing conclusions. The results of the study revealed that the strategy used by Akidah Akhlak teachers in fostering akhlakul karimah class 5A students through the 8C program at MI Al Fithrah Surabaya. This program is very helpful in building children's character so that akhlakul karimah can be formed through habituation. The teacher's obstacle in implementing this strategy is the difficulty of directly monitoring the development and evaluation of students. Constraints experienced by students, namely the limitations of the learning process directly with the teacher and the lack of support from parents at home. The solution to this obstacle includes actively involving parents in raising awareness, responsibility, and discipline in their children.


This paper evaluates new security threats due to the processor frontend in modern Intel processors. The root causes of the security threats are the multiple paths in the processor frontend that the micro-operations can take: through the Micro-Instruction Translation Engine (MITE), through the Decode Stream Buffer (DSB), also called the Micro-operation Cache, or through the Loop Stream Detector (LSD). Each path has its own unique timing and power signatures, which lead to the side- and covert-channel attacks presented in this work. Especially, the switching between the different paths leads to observable timing or power differences which, as this work demonstrates, could be exploited by attackers. Because of the different paths, the switching, and way the components are shared in the frontend between hardware threads, two separate threads are able to be mutually influenced and timing or power can reveal activity on the other thread. The security threats are not limited to multi-threading, and this work further demonstrates new ways for leaking execution information about SGX enclaves or a new in-domain Spectre variant in single-thread setting. Finally, this work demonstrates a new method for fingerprinting the microcode patches of the processor by analyzing the behavior of different paths in the frontend. The findings of this work highlight the security threats associated with the processor frontend and the need for deployment of defenses for the modern processor frontend.


Honey bee poisoning incidents and monitoring schemes Background: During last years several cases of bee losses have been reported during the period of corn sowing in different European countries. In Italy an institutional system for bee losses survey does not exist and therefore some Italian regions decided to organise an official network to collect data and analyse dead bee samples. Results: Collected data indicate that the higher number of bee losses events occurred in intensively cultivated flat areas, located in the North of Italy, mainly during or after corn sowing. The chemical analyses of dead bees revealed the presence of three neonicotinoid residues: imidacloprid was found in 25.7% of the sample, thiamethoxam in 2.8%, clothianidin in 25.7%, both imidacloprid and thiamethoxam in 4.7%. The visual examination and the virological analyses excluded pathological causes. Conclusion: The spatial and temporal correlation between hive damages and corn sowing and the presence of residues of active ingredients used for seed dressing (imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and clothianidin) in almost half of the samples confirms the connection between spring mortality and the sowing of corn seed dressed with neonicotinoids. Keywords: honeybee mortality, neonicotinoids, seed dressing, corn sowing, dust dispersion.


The state-of-the-art object detection networks for natural images have recently demonstrated impressive performances. However the complexity of ship detection in high resolution satellite images exposes the limited capacity of these networks for strip-like rotated assembled object detection which are common in remote sensing images. In this paper, we embrace this observation and introduce the rotated region based CNN (RR-CNN), which can learn and accurately extract features of rotated regions and locate rotated objects precisely. RR-CNN has three important new components including a rotated region of interest (RRoI) pooling layer, a rotated bounding box regression model and a multi-task method for non-maximal suppression (NMS) between different classes. Experimental results on the public ship dataset HRSC2016 confirm that RR-CNN outperforms baselines by a large margin.


Introduction - 'These great marts of human corruption': urbanisation & urban policy in comparative perspective - I African Urbanisation & Colonial Policy, c. 1919-46 - Dar es Salaam between the wars - The 'town native' & colonial order, c. 1919-38 - The problem of the urban African: accelerating urbanisation & the colonial response, c. 1938-46 - Unemployment, migration & urban order, c. 1938-45 - II Crime In Colonial Dar Es Salaam, 1919-1961 - Interpreting crime in colonial Dar es Salaam - The Dar es Salaam underworld - Legitimate lawlessness? The informal economy in colonial Dar es Salaam - An unwelcome presence: African mobility & urban order - III Urbanisation & Colonial Order, c. 1947-61 Development, diversification & growth: Dar es Salaam in the late-1940s & 1950s - Remaking urban society: stabilisation & citizenship in late colonial Dar es Salaam - Purging the town: the removal of undesirables - Conclusion: urbanisation, development & crime


Transthoracic echocardiography After presenting at a district general hospital the patient with a suspected dissection should undergo transthoracic echocardiography. Most district hospitals now have either a technician or a cardiologist capable of performing a thorough echocardiographic examination. The advantages of echocardiography are the speed and relative ease with which the technique can be used in a haemodynamically compromised patient. Reports of the accuracy of the method vary. The key echocardiographic sign is the detection of a flap of intima and media within the lumen of the aorta. Different studies have shown a sensitivity of between 14% and 100%.`-3 Other findings such as aortic root dilatation, thickening of the aortic wall, and evidence of a pericardial effusion or aortic regurgitation are nonspecific. The studies indicated that transthoracic echocardiography is limited in its usefulness"3; though if skilled operators are available, it certainly has a role in triage at the district general hospital.


Music education in Spain was regulated and structured in the late twentieth century by means of the Educational Act LOGSE (1990) although, previously, there were several attempts to start an educational musicality among children and youth. In the following pages we show a brief but clarifying, context of educational legislation about music education produced during the twentieth century focused primarily on the Spanish primary education. The main objective of this article is to highlight the performances of acculturation and music education carried out during the first third of the last century. For that, we want to emphasize the great innovation that even on a European level was carried out, on the one hand, by the Patronato de Misiones Pedagogicas, driven by the second Spanish Republic, under the ideology of Free Institution of Education and on the other hand, by the Seccion Femenina, with a decisive role played by both itinerant chairs and the professorships Jose Antonio and the Frente de Juventudes, sponsored by the Franco dictatorship. We used as a research method the analysis of information, maintaining objectivity and accuracy in our interpretations showed.


Is There an Ideal Execution Model in Basketball Individual Skills? Highly skilled players execute motor skills in a variety of ways, and in many cases different from those described in the technical manuals. However, its execution is characterized in all cases by having a very high degree of effectiveness. What is the reason? Is there then more than one ideal model of movement? A more in-depth analysis of the techniques used would lead us to conclude that in the technical execution of all experts there are a few common, basic and fundamental elements. That is why we must determine those aspects that must always be carried out in the same way. We will call these elements key elements. Once these elements are detected, the practice activities must, through repetition, ensure their automation. The rest of the practice conditions must be very varied, in order to facilitate the possibility of adapting it to different contexts, that is, we must enhance the variability around the stable and repetitive execution of a series of fundamental aspects. The perfection of the automatism does not reside in the invariable linkage of the muscular actions, but, on the contrary, in its possibilities of reorganization in all the instants of the execution and in the course of the successive executions.


The Chancellor reiterated a commitment to keep UK corporation tax at low levels in this year's Budget. Grace Blakeley explains why Hammond's figures are flawed, and writes that, as public sector workers, public services, and universal credit recipients all face hardship, people have every right to question the Government's priorities.


The impact of road public transport in urban transportation cannot be ignored, however, the quality of services provided is not high enough. This has made it unattractive to prospective passengers and less competitive to private transport. One of the ways of resolving these challenges with a view to increasing the quality of service is by the provision of platforms that provides travel information in real time to prospective users. This was achieved in this paper using web, mobile, and short messaging service platforms. The developed platforms employed an artificial neural network-based bus arrival time prediction model for predicting bus arrival time. The accuracy of the prediction model was evaluated using mean absolute error and mean absolute percentage error while the performance and impact of the developed platforms were assessed from users' perspective through a survey based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model.


This paper examines wealth effects and changes in the systematic risk associated with the return structure of the "three‐pillar" functional system in Greece, resulting from the introduction of the eight major European Union Banking Directives over the period 1990‐94. The findings indicate that the systematic risk for the insurance and investment firms dramatically increased, while the systematic risk for commercial banks slightly increased through the passage of the Free Capital Movement Directive. Evidence was also found to show that the Free Capital Movement Directive created significant wealth effects for the investment firms, but insignificant wealth effects for banks. In addition, a marginal wealth effect was created for the insurance firms. Conversely, the results suggest that the Solvency Ratios and Own Funds Banking Directives produced no wealth effects for the banks, significant wealth effects for the insurance firms, and insignificant wealth effects for the investment firms. The wealth effects of the rest of the EU Banking Directives on the functional "three‐pillar" Greek financial system were neutral.


Intumescent coatings formulated with coconut fiber (CCN), wood waste (MDP), and peach stone (PEA) biomasses were tested. Different formulations with variable concentrations of biomasses were carried out. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) confirm that lignin and cellulose are constituents of these compounds. Fire-resistance testing confirms the percentage of 9% in dry mass as the optimal amount of CCN and MDP, while 6% is ideal for PEA. IR thermal images show the thermal protection and high expansion on the intumescent coatings (600% for CCN9, 1300% for MDP9, and 1600% for PEA6) and corroborate the data of the thermocouple. The maximum temperatures on the back of the substrate were 120 °C with biomass-based intumescent coatings and 474 °C for uncoated steel. TGA and X-ray diffraction of the coatings confirm the formation of stable oxides. Optical microscopy images show the presence of pores in the char layer.


This study focuses on identifying and understanding the core phenomena behind winter-related issues with regard to railways. State-of-the-art knowledge regarding the mechanical deterioration of wheels and rails is employed to obtain a first estimation of the influence of the different phenomena and to find out under which circumstances they are influential. The interaction between these different phenomena is discussed, as this additional level of complexity is necessary to develop a complete understanding.


Objective To study the resistance of clinically-isolated Staphylococcus aureus to antimicrobial agents so as to facilitate the rational use of antibiotics.Methods The pathogenic bacteria were evaluated by VITEK32.Drug susceptibility test was carried out by K-B method.The results of 158 strains of Staphylococcus aureus were analysed by WHONET.Results 96 strains of MRSA were detected from 158 strains of Staphylococcus aureus,which accounted for 60.76%.All the MRSA was resistant to penicillin and ampicillin but was sensitive to vancomycin.The resistance rate of MSSA to penicillin and ampicillin was 69.35% and 67.74%,respectively,and all the MSSA was sensitive to linezolid,quinupristin/dalfopristin and vancomycin.Conclusions Staphylococcus aureus is one of the main pathogens of clinical infection.Analysis of drug resistance of Staphylococcus aureus can guide the clinical use of antibiotics.


The approach consists of imbedding the original control problem tightly in a convex mathematical programming problem on the space of measures and then solving the latter problem by duality in convex analysis. The dual problem is to find the supremum of all smooth subsolutions to Bellman's equation. Because of the effect of stops at the boundary of the domain, a different formulation of strong and weak problems is adopted to make use of the duality method. Results on the decomposition of weak measures provide a clear interpretation for such an effect in the weak formulation of the control problem. The convex duality approach of W.H. Fleming and D. Vermes (1989) is used to study a deterministic optimal control problem for stopped processes.<<ETX>>


Early in 1982, when I had just finished Fly Away Peter and was writing back and forth to my publisher at Chatto about how it was to be publised, I wrote an afterword to the book. It was an account of my experience with the world of birds and of my early discovery of flying.


Shilu ore field in Hainan island is a polymetallic ore accumulation zone.A new conception is proposed based on the comprehensive analysis of existing exploration data and three iron,cobalt and copper(gold) ore target areas including Beiyi-Hualishan,Nankuang(southern ore)-Chaoyang and its periphery(Jixin,Wulie and Jinniuling) area are delineated through geological,geophysical and geochemical exploration.Expected prospecting result has been achieved by drilling test program and is great significance for further prospecting.


Leonardo ENERGY is an initiative managed by the European Copper Institute and its European network of 11 offices, dedicated to building information centres to serve designers, engineers, contractors, architects, general managers, teachers and students, who are professionally or otherwise involved with electrical energy. Through various projects, including the award-winning Leonard Power Quality Initiative, over 130 partners from leading academia and industry are involved with Leonardo ENERGY. The website www.leonardo-energy.org delivers a range of virtual libraries on a broad range of electrical energy related topics providing users with regularly updated articles, application notes, briefing papers, reports and interactive training. Copper Development Association is a non-trading organisation sponsored by the copper producers and fabricators to encourage the use of copper and copper alloys and to promote their correct and efficient application. Its services, which include the provision of technical advice and information, are available to those interested in the utilisation of copper in all its aspects. The Association also provides a link between research and the user industries and maintains close contact with the other copper development organisations throughout the world. CDA is an IET endorsed provider of seminar training and learning resources. The European Copper Institute is a joint venture between the world's mining companies (represented by the International Copper Association, Ltd (ICA)) and the European copper industry. Through its membership, ECI acts on behalf of the world's largest copper producers and Europe's leading fabricators to promote copper in Europe. Disclaimer The content of this project does not necessarily reflect the position of the European Community, nor does it involve any responsibility on the part of the European Community. European Copper Institute, Epri and Copper Development Association disclaim liability for any direct, indirect, consequential or incidental damages that may result from the use of the information, or from the inability to use the information or data contained within this publication. Introduction Loads such as programmable logic controllers, relays, power suppliers, contactors and motor drives are common in automated continuous manufacturing processes. A voltage dip induced error in the process can quickly lead to a cascading shutdown of the entire process. The resulting downtime can be costly and can result in lost production. This application note examines typical problems in continuous processes caused by voltage dips and suggests economic, effective and proven measures to 'harden' these processes. A minor voltage dip to 70% of nominal (i.e. a 30% reduction), lasting less than …


The article shows that a merger of two departments which, in an earlier article, the Head of the merged department had judged very positively, particularly as regards financial viability, in fact did not achieve the objective laid down for it, i.e. that the work of both the merging departments should be maintained. Thus Fielden's verdict, that financial considerations should not be put uppermost in mergers, was confirmed in this instance. Furthermore, as the work of one of the merging departments has been largely discontinued, the university in question effectively sustained a serious financial loss through not being able to reap the benefits of the resource investment made previously in this work.


The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) is under construction to measure the expansion history of the Universe using the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation technique. The spectra of 35 million galaxies and quasars over 14000 square degrees will be measured during the life of the experiment. A new prime focus corrector for the KPNO Mayall telescope will deliver light to 5000 fiber optic positioners. The fibers in turn feed ten broad-band spectrographs. We describe the DESI corrector optics, a series of six fused silica and borosilicate lenses. The lens diameters range from 0.8 to 1.1 meters, and their weights 84 to 237 kg. Most lens surfaces are spherical, and two are challenging 10th-order polynomial aspheres. The lenses have been successfully polished and treated with an antireflection coating at multiple subcontractors, and are now being integrated into the DESI corrector barrel assembly at University College London. We describe the final performance of the lenses in terms of their various parameters, including surface figure, homogeneity, and others, and compare their final performance against the demanding DESI corrector requirements. Also we describe the reoptimization of the lens spacing in their corrector barrel after their final measurements are known. Finally we assess the performance of the corrector as a whole, compared to early budgeted estimates.


Studies on diseases of mites caused by entomopathogenic fungi have been undertaken in Poland about a half a century later than in West European countries. Nevertheless, during the last 30 years almost 40 species of arthropod pathogenic fungi have been identified, among them 23 species of Entomophthorales, 12 species of Hyphomycetales and four species of ectoparasitic Laboulbeniales. The most common are representatives of the genus Hirsutella , found both on phytophagous and parasitic or predaceous mites. Percentage infection by H. thompsonii in populations of some tarsonemid and eriophyid mites increases slowly from the end of spring reaching a maximum of 30-60% in August-September. Neozygites floridana is a common entomophthoralean species causing epizootics in spider mite populations; infection also peaks in late summer and autumn. The most numerous fungal taxa have been identified from the resting spores produced internally within the body of the host and show features of the genus Tarichium . From the total number of the taxa recorded within these studies, 22 were described as species new to science. Current research on invertebrate pathology in Poland includes many groups of mites and among their pathogens fungal diseases seem to be the most common.


A method for the separation and preconcentration of Sr in rock samples by Sr-spec selective specific resin was established for the analysis of 87 Sr/86 Sr ratios by mass spectrometry.Detailed experiments have been carried out to investigate the behaviour of matrix elements and Rb during the separation.Experiment results showed that matrix elements and Rb in rock sample could be effectively removed from the resin using 6 mol/L HNO3,and Sr could be recovered using 0.05 mol/L HNO3.The method was used to separate Sr in 5 reference rock materials,namely SRM607 from USA,JA-2,JB-2 and JF-2 from Japan and GBW04111 from China.87Sr/86Sr ratios for the samples have been measured on a MAT262 mass spectrometer.The obtained results were in good agreement with those reported in the literatures.In comparison with the conventional separation procedures,the method has the advantages of fewer steps of separation,less usage of elution solutions and lower reagent blanks.The method is fast and effective.


Objective To investigate the clinical significance of serum high sensitivity C-reactive protein(hs-CRP)detected in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD).Methods The serum hs-CRP in COPD patients(n=72)and normal control(n=35)was detected.Results The levels of serum hs-CRP of COPD patients in acute exacerbation phase and stable phase were higher than those of the control group(P0.01).The levels of hs-CRP in stable phase decreased significantly than those in acute exacerbation phase(P0.01),but still higher than those of the control group(P0.01).Conclusion The detection of serum hs-CRP can be used to evaluate the disease and to observe the therapeutic effect of COPD as a sensitive indicator.


The algebraic approach known as functions' algebra is used to develop the necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of state transformation and static state feedback that linearize the system equations. The advantage of this method is that it allows considering also non-smooth systems. The main object in functions' algebra is the set of vector functions, divided into equivalence classes, which form a lattice. Both discreteand continuous-time cases are considered. The solutions to the feedback linearization problem are expressed in terms of a finite sequence of vector functions, which contain all the independent functions having certain relative degrees. The theoretical results are illustrated by numerous examples.


BACKGROUND: This study aimed to determine the necessity of pregnancy test in women of reproductive age admitted to emergency department (ED) in routine practice. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the records of patients who presented to the ED between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2010 and received a pregnancy test. RESULTS: The median age of 1 586 patients enrolled into the study was 27 years. Of these patients, 19.55% had a positive result of pregnancy test. The most common complaint at admission was abdominal pain in 60.15% of the patients, and pregnancy test was prescribed. 15.83% of the patients with abdominal pain had a positive result of pregnancy test. Of the patients, 30.64% had nausea-vomiting at admission, and 11.52% had a positive result of pregnancy test. When other complaints were considered, the most commonly observed complaints were non-specific symptoms such as dizziness, malaise and respiratory problems. Of the patients, 70.93% were not remembering the date of last menstruation, and 9.51% showed a positive result of pregnancy test. Urinary tract infection (UTI) was commonly diagnosed with an incidence of 17.65%, which was followed by non-specific abdominal pain (NSAP) (16.77%) and gastrointestinal disorders such as gastritis and peptic ulcer (6.87%). Of the patients, 88.40% were discharged from ED, and 11.60% were hospitalized. CONCLUSION: Pregnancy test should be given to women of reproductive age as a routine practice in ED in developing countries like Turkey.


Shear friction between the steel base plate and base mortar contributes to the shear resistance of standard column bases. A value of 0.5 is adopted as the coefficient of shear friction in AIJ's design specifications, but the associated background data are limited. To investigate the dynamic shear resistance behavior between the base plate and mortar, a shake table study is undertaken using a large rigid mass supported by steel contact elements that rest on mortar surfaces fixed on the shake table. Horizontal input accelerations are considered for various magnitudes and frequencies. The results provide a constant friction coefficient during sliding with an average value of 0.78. Comparisons with previous test and numerical analysis are also carried out, and good correlation among them is noticed.


Objective To investigate the effects of clozapine and chlorpromazine on blood glucose(BG)in pa- tients with chronic schizophrenia.Methods After receiving long-term antipsychotic treatment,patients contin- ued to use oral clozapine(clozapine group,n=43)and chlorpromazine(chlorpromazine group,n=32)were in- volved in this study.The fasting blood glucose(FBG)and 2h-blood glucose after meals(2hBG)were measured at different time points.The statistical analysis was performed.Results At the end of 3 months after receiving con- tinuous clozapine and chlorpromazine treatment,no elevated FBG and 2ht~ were found in both groups,compared to baseline values,there were no statistical differences(P0.05).But 6 months or 12 months after the treatment, FBG and 2hBG were elevated in both groups,compared to baseline values,there were statistical significant differ- ences(P0.01).In comparison of FBG and 2hBG between clozapine group and chlorpromazine group,there were statistical differences(P0.05 or 0.01)at the end of 6-month or 12-month treatment.The incidences of ab- normal FBG and 2hBG(FBG≥7.0mmol/L,2hBG≥11.1mmol/L)in clozapine group were higher than those in chlorpromazine group,there was statistical difference(P0.05)between clozapine group and chlorpromazine group in comparison of 2hBG at the end of 12-month treatment.Conclusion Clozapine and chlorpromazine can affect BG metabolism of patients with chronic schizophrenia,and clozapine even more obviously.


A digital implementation of curvelet transform is proposed which offers exact reconstruction and low redundancy (<16/3). We improved the finite ridgelet transform (FRIT) Minh N. Do and Martion Vetterli., (2003) by mains of frequency lapped orthogonal transform. Our curvelet transform uses FRIT as a central step and implements curvelet subbands with a combined wavelet filter bank. Despite the crudeness of our thresh-holding rule, the new strategy enjoys a competitive denoising capability and surprising visual performances shown by numerical experiments.


Teresa Hernandez's critical teaching in Juan Rejano's later book of poems La Tarde Abstract: Juan Rejano died in exile in Mexico in July 1976 when he was just about to finish the arrangements for his return to Spain. La tarde, being Rejano's last lyrical piece, has been regarded as his poetic testament. This paper examines the lyric keys of this book according to the analysis proposed by Teresa Hernandez, one of the top specialists in the literary production of this writer.


The objectives of this study ranged from presenting an integrated academic achievement of feasibility analysis on a Formula One event in Thailand to explore the possible alternatives for any potential event and understanding the ramifications of the decision for planning such an event. There were two tranches to this thesis, the first was a study of the public perceptions of all factors affecting any event and the second tranche takes that information and uses it to analyze the financial implications. The findings indicated that a Formula One event in Thailand would be financially feasible, based on a street circuit in Bangkok and there was significant support for government funding. However, there was a gap between the expected revenue and the costs. The study concluded that such an event was overwhelmingly popular and the perception was that it was extremely positive (91.1%). A large majority of those sampled believed that it was acceptable to use government money to support such a bid to bring Formula One to Thailand (68.8%).The results suggested that there is little ambiguity in choosing the track location, with costs and timescales prohibiting any building of a specialist venue. The only logical and financial proposal is for the track to be a street circuit located in Bangkok. (Journal of Sports Science and Technology 2014;14(1): 131 -144 ) KEYWORDS: Formula 1; Research strands; Peripheral events; Geopolitical; Thailand


The goal of my graduation thesis is to analyze systems of management in enterprise organizations in the insurance industry and create a model of management in a chosen insurance company – Generali Slovakia. The thesis is divided into five chapters. It contains 10 pictures, 4 tables, 6 graphs, and 8 enclosures. The first chapter is focused on the insurance market, basic definitions and legal rules of insurance. In the second chapter the attention is concentrated on the basic theoretical starting-points of management and a complex view of management. The third chapter is dedicated to financial management, strategic planning in an insurance company and a general model of management in two chosen insurance companies in Slovakia. The attention is focused on analysis of basic economic indicators, which are the key factors for keeping an insurance company on the market. In the fourth chapter the thesis discusses a process of merging and methods of management in Generali Slovakia. In the fifth chapter, I propose visions of changes and innovations for management based on the SWOT analysis and STEP factors which should provide a stability of Generali Slovakia on the market and its growth in the future expansion.


"Presents a set of well-tested, practical output measures that all kinds and sizes of academic libraries can use to evaluate their services to users". -- PreviewCovers basic measurement principles and methods as well as the administration and analysis of user surveys. Includes sample survey reports and blank measurement forms.


This study aimed to determine the influence of mineral supplementation on the concentration of macroelements and microelements in the seminal plasma and the semen characteristics of young buffaloes. To this end, 60 animals were kept under rotational grazing and were randomly divided into two groups: G-Bov (conventional mineral supplement recommended for bovine cattle; n = 30) and G-Buf (mineral supplement recommended for buffaloes; n = 30). Mineral supplement consumption was calculated from the difference between the amount of supplement offered and the leftover bunk, calculated every 28 days. Eight ejaculates from each animal were collected. The means of the response variables were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis test, with a significance level of 5%, and Pearson's correlation was analyzed between the concentration of minerals in seminal plasma and fresh semen characteristics. Animals in the G-Buf group had lower mineral supplement consumption (G-Bov = 83.18 vs. G-Buf = 77.14 g AU-1 day-1, P < 0.05) and had higher ejaculate volume, sperm motility, sperm vigor, and sperm mass motility than did the animals in the G-Bov group. This research presented the concentration of macroelements and microelements in the seminal plasma of buffaloes receiving different mineral supplements. In addition, the study concluded that the physical and morphological characteristics of the semen of young buffaloes are influenced by the formulation of the mineral supplement, which resulted in better sperm quality in the animals receiving a species-specific supplement. Among the minerals present in buffalo seminal plasma, phosphorus is the element that shows the highest positive correlation with semen characteristics.


Objective To observe the position and dynamic changes of thioredoxin(Trx) in the retina of diabetic rats.Methods Adult Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into two groups:normal control(NC) group and diabetes mellitus(DM) group.Rats in DM group were injected streptozocin.Rats in NC group were injected equal amount of citric acid buffer.Immunohistochemistry was used to observe the protein expression of Trx at 4 weeks,8 weeks and 12 weeks after injection.The mRNA levels of Trx were determined by real-time PCR.Results Immunohistochemistry was showed that the expression of Trx was in the nerve fiber layer,retinal ganglial cell layer and inner nuclear layer both in NC group and DM group.The results of real-time PCR showed that Trx mRNA was expressed in the retina of normal rats.Compared with those in NC group,the mRNA levels of Trx in DM group decreased.The mRNA relative level of Trx in DM group was 0.42±0.03 at 4 weeks,which was about 0.42 times to that(1.00±0.03) of NC group;The mRNA relative level of Trx in DM group was 0.57±0.04 at 8 weeks,which was about 0.57 times to that(1.00±0.03) of NC group;The mRNA relative level of Trx in DM group was 0.82±0.08 at 12 weeks,which was about 0.82 times to that(1.00±0.07) of NC group,there were statistical differences(all P0.05).The mRNA levels of Trx in DM group increased from 4 weeks to 12 weeks.But at week 12,the mRNA level of Trx did not reach the normal level.There were significant differences between the DM group at 4 weeks and at 12 weeks(P=0.00).Conclusions The expression of Trx mRNA decreases in diabetic retinopathy.It is caused by the excessive ROS which are generated by oxidative stress.With the development of diabetes,the expression of Trx mRNA gradually increases in the retina.That may be a compensatory response to the decreasing of Trx system functions and increasing of free radicals.


Application of the color indicators to kimchi packages was investigated in order to monitor the ripeness of commercial kimchi products during storage and distribution. Kimchi was packed in polypropylene (PP) tray and nylon/cast polypropylene (Ny/CPP) lid where the indicating sachet consisting of absorbent and chemical dye (bromocresol purple and methyl red) was attached. The ripeness of kimchi during storage at was measured in terms of pH and titratable acidity (TA), which were compared with Hunter color values of the indicators. The color of bromocresol purple dye turned from light blue to purple, while that of methyl red turned from light yellow to red. Regardless of the storage temperatures, Hunter b values of bromocresol purple type and Hunter a values of methyl red type appeared to be proportional to both the pH and TA values of kimchi. These results suggest that the color indicators be employed as one of the effective techniques for sensing the ripeness of packaged kimchi products without destructing the package.


The influence of inherent tire char ash during co-gasification with coconut hydrochar prepared at different intensities was investigated by thermogravimetric analysis to ascertain the extent to whi...


The percent of available relief in the form of free-face slope and the percent of valley width as floodplain change systematically throughout drainage networks in response to changes in network position. The energy level and discharge of strains at the bases of slopes may be assessed by means of a cumulative stream-ordering system wherein the stream order is directly related to discharge. Investigations of several small drainage basins on the rim of the Denver Basin, Colorado, by means of field measurements, interpretation of aerial photography, and operation of a computer model provide data that indicate that the distribution of near-channel slopes responds to changes in land use, and particularly to suburban development. Increasing suburban development causes increases in the size and frequency of both free faces and floodplains.


A coupled ocean-atmosphere climate model is used to provide concrete predictions of climate properties and processes in the eastern tropical Pacific during the early Paleogene in equilibrium with 560 ppm pCO2. This climate model simulation provides estimates of upwelling, temperature, current velocities, thermocline tilt, and salinity (independent of climate proxy interpretations) to provide a framework for comparison with Leg 199 data. The simulated east-west temperature gradients are comparable, although somewhat (~2°C) stronger, to modern temperature gradients, with vigorous upwelling in the eastern equatorial Pacific. Near-surface and intermediate-depth current structures are extremely variable, both spatially and temporally, making generalizations about current directions and strengths difficult. A North Atlantic water mass traveling through the open Panamanian Isthmus at intermediate to deep levels in the equatorial Pacific provides a signal of "young" water at depth at the location of Leg 199 sites. Estimates of seawater and calcium carbonate oxygen isotopic compositions are also made. Some implications of possible differences between findings based on data from Leg 199 and this modeling study are briefly discussed.


Tricomi, F., Integral Equations, Wiley Interscience, New York, 1957, pp. 141-143. Conway, H. D. and Dubil, J. F., "Vibration Frequencies of Truncated Cone and Wedge Beams." Journal of Applied Mechanics, Vol. 32, Series E. No. 4, Dec. 1965, pp. 932-934. Steele, Charles R., Application of the WKB Method in Solid Mechanics," Mechanics today, Vol. 3, edited by S. Nematt-Nasser, Pergamon Press, 1976, pp. 243-295. References ^astep, F. E., "Estimation of the Fundamental Frequency of Beams and Plates with Varying Thickness," AIAA Journal, Vol. 14, Nov. 1976, pp. 1647-1649. Conway, H. D. and Dubil, J. F., "Vibration Frequencies of Truncated Cone and Wedge Beams," Journal of Applied Mechanics, Vol. 32, Series E, No. 4, December 1965, pp. 932-934.


We consider how to predict defect sizes, depth and width, from wave forms of the leakage flux obtained by the magnetic leakage flux method. Measurements of leakege flux were carried out using plane specimens with various values of depth and width of the defect and the lift off which is the distance between the specimen surface and the probe, and a quasi-weld reinforcement specimen. The absolute value of maximum leakage flux was affected by the plate thickness or the shape of reinfo cement not but by the defect shape. Therefore the absolute value method used by many researchers is not suitable for estimating the sizes of defect in a joint in which the average flux is not known. However, the wave form of leakage flux is almost unaffected by factors other than the defect sizes. The depth and width of the defect are estimated by the proposed method that the two feature points of the wave form, for example the maximum leakage flux and one-tenth of the maximum value, of experimental value are combined to the above feature points of the wave form calculated from the dipole modeling.


In this paper we use world cycling records to study the pattern of technological development of the track bicycle. We find that there is a strong evidence of 'contagious' effects among cycling records which in turn provides indirect evidence of 'contagious' effects among technological innovations. Interestingly, the 'contagiousness' of records is not a salient characteristic of track and field competitions where, arguably, technology plays a smaller role.


The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between perfectionism inclination and self-directed learning ability of dance-gifted. As a result, first, the study showed female students had higher perfectionism inclinations of dance-gifted than male students. Second, the study demonstrated that differences were all found in gender, age, and the beginning period of dance regarding self-directed learning ability of dance-gifted. Third, the study also showed perfectionism inclination of dance-gifted was correlated with the self-directed learning ability.


Three-dimensional numerical simulations were performed to study the internal flow of a mixed-flow pump impeller under design conditions, by using commercial CFD software - NUMECA, specifically developed for the flow analysis of turbo-machinery. The agreement between the calculated results and the experimental data proved that the adopted numerical methods and models were reasonable and accurate. By analyzing the calculated distribution of the static pressure and the velocity, the internal flow characteristics of the impeller were revealed that there were some flow problems caused by unsuitable local structural design, such as the vortexes and flow separations. Then in order to solve these problems, the blade profile optimization method was confirmed and made through a multi-parameter, multi-objective optimization process. The optimization results showed that the vortexes and the flow separations were apparently weakened, and the efficiency was improved by 4.2 percentage points. The obvious optimization effect indicated the optimization process was accurate and effective.


We consider the generalized additive model when responses from the same cluster are correlated. Incorporating correlation in the estimation of nonparametric components for the generalized additive model is important because it improves estimation efficiency and increases statistical power for model selection. In our setting, there is no specified likelihood function for the generalized additive model, because the outcomes could be nonnormal and discrete, which makes estimation and model selection very challenging problems. We propose consistent estimation and model selection that incorporate the correlation structure. We establish an asymptotic property with L2-norm consistency for the nonparametric components, which achieves the optimal rate of convergence. In addition, the proposed model selection strategy is able to select the correct generalized additive model consistently. That is, with probability approaching to 1, the estimators for the zero function components converge to 0 almost surely. We illustrate our method using numerical studies with both continuous and binary responses, along with a real data application of binary periodontal data. Supplemental materials including technical details are available online.


-- It was developed and validated a new technique for HPLC analysis, which proved to be effective, reproducible and reliable for the identification and quantification of norfloxacin and phenazopyridine hydrochloride, associated as active partners in oral capsules. The technique of analysis took into account sample preparation for both assets can be quantified in a single system (mobile phase chromatographic column, wavelength). As step before to the validation of the technique of analysis, there was assessed the adaptability of the chromatographic system, assuring hereby, the suitable functioning of the system. For the development of validation parameters were taken into account the following parameters: selectivity, linearity, accuracy, precision and robustness; results that were submitted to statistical evaluation which confirmed that the proposed analytical technique for the quantification of active principles is selective, linear, accurate, precise and robust, likewise the reliability of the new technique, guaranteeing the quality, efficacy and safety of the drug.
-- Key Words: Norfloxacin, phenazopyridine hydrochloride, high-resolution liquid chromatography, validation, analytical technique.


We describe a unique gait phenomenon of bent knees in 9 patients with idiopathic Parkinson disease (mean age, 73.1 ± 11.1 years), 3 of whom also manifested tiptoeing. The bent‐knee posture appeared only during ambulation; in the recumbent position, full or nearly full extension was possible in all patients. The abnormality emerged after long‐standing disease (6–23 years from onset) and failed to respond to dopaminergic treatment. Most of the patients also had bent spine (camptocormia). The pathogenesis of these phenomena are unknown, but they might represent a rare type of dystonia.© 2004 Movement Disorder Society


A processor is configured to facilitate the transmission and storage for predicting a target branch instruction (CTI) is. In certain embodiments, the processor may be multi-threaded and supports a plurality of threads for the prediction target storage. In some embodiments, CTI branch target storage element may be composed of a processor and stored in the label may indicate the target location. Tags can be associated with CTI, rather than the complete target address associated with CTI. When the CTI processor reaches the execution stage, the label can be used to retrieve the predicted target address. In some embodiments utilizing the prediction target tag retrieval, CTI processor instructions from different threads may be interleaved without affecting the prediction target retrieval.


In this paper, an optimal waveform design method for target recognition is proposed based on the relative entropy. Since the target recognition can be considered as a hypothesis test procedure, the detection probability could be the cost function to characterize the recognition performance. Then the cost function associated with the relative entropy is maximized to optimize the waveform for improving the recognition performance. The most proposed optimal waveform design methods just only consider the energy constraint. However, only the energy constraint is impractical. In this paper, we do not only consider the total energy limit, but also add the constant modulus constraint from the practice side to design the optimal waveform, since the radar systems commonly require constant modulus waveforms in order to utilize nonlinear power amplifiers. Finally, the simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.


A three-stage process starting with the deposition of (In,Ga)/sub 2/Se/sub 3/ precursor films has been successful in the fabrication of graded band-gap Cu(In,Ga)Se/sub 2/ thin films. In this work we examine (1) the reaction of Cu+Se with (In,Ga)/sub 2/Se/sub 3/, which leads to a spontaneous grading in the Ga content as a function of depth through the film, and (2) modification of the Ga content in the surface region of the film through a final deposition of In+Ga+Se. We show how band-gap grading can be enhanced by the formation of nonuniform precursors, how counterdiffusion limits the degree of grading possible in the surface region, and how the Cu/sub x/Se secondary phase acts to homogenize the film composition.


Abstract Precipitation samples were collected at stations in the Eastern United States for two extratropical cyclones during the Genesis of Atlantic Lows Experiment (GALE) of 1986 and analyzed for their δ18O values. They represent the first synoptic-scale datasets of isotopic values. Measured isotope ratios are explained in terms of physical principles and meteorological processes. They are shown to be related to vertical profiles of ω cloud-top temperatures, evaporation beneath cloud base, isotope equilibration, and water vapor sources for the precipitation. Measured isotope ratios are then compared to values obtained from simple models of convective and stratiform precipitation. Both storms are shown to exhibit a consistent pattern of isotope ratios, with lowest δ18O values occurring in the stratiform precipitation well within the cold air, and highest values associated with the convective precipitation of the warm sector. A pronounced-amount effect, in which δ18O values decrease as rainfall totals incr...


In her pastoral work Faunus , Sibylla Schwarz reproduces the male discourse exactly, but with a female voice, which is, therefore, different and new. The author knows how to stylize different kinds of texts and tailor them to different speech acts. In the search for self-assurance and the suitable literary style, she stages a difficult dialogue of perspectives and voices. This paper investigates the extent to which her own and another's voice interpenetrate, and the way in which meaning positions of speaker, addressee, and of what is discussed are expressed.


From BMJ USA 2002;October:541

It is increasingly clear that the traditional way of measuring blood pressure in the clinic or office frequently produces numbers that grossly overestimate a patient's true blood pressure level. This is a major problem, since it is one of the most important and frequent measurements made by physicians. Two major trends have brought this issue to the forefront: first, the development of new technologies for measuring blood pressure; and second, the increasing body of evidence that even mild elevations of blood pressure are associated with increased cardiovascular risk.

The traditional gold standard for evaluating blood pressure has been clinic readings made by a physician using a mercury sphygmomanometer. It is hallowed by time, and also by the fact that it has been the standard method for evaluating the risks associated with high blood pressure and the benefits of treating it. It has been known for more than 50 years that the blood pressures recorded in …


12 I tishard.lysurprisingthatAustralians are being urged to save more-the nation's savings ratio is at its lowest level in more than :30 years. The major thrust in the campaign has been in superannuation, with the introduction of industry superannuation schemes in the mid-eighties and the initiative in the 1991 budget to introduce mandatory superannuation for all employees. The expected growth of superannuation funds brings questions about the investment of the large volume of Australian savings that will find their way into such funds. The selection of managers for the funds and the monitoring of their performance are of particular concern. In partial satisfaction of these concerns, various monitoring agen: cies (in particular, actuarial and investment consultants) are collecting regular data on the performance of superannuation fund managers. The performance tables that result from such surveys are considered so topical that they are published frequently in popular business magazines. The scrutiny of funds goes further, with the 1991 budget foreshadowing stricter prudential controls for superannuation funds. These controls will, in particular, require a corporate trustee to be appointed to funds over a certain size and will make individuals with responsibility for funds subject to the strictures and penalties of the Corporations Act. The upshot of this is that trustees, who are already cautious about their duties, will be more so and will rely even more on performance reporting in ensuring that they are adequately discharging their duties. As a final component to this rapidly chanr,ring background, investment management has, over the past decade, become an increasingly complex business, particularly because of frequent asset-allocation changes, and the use of derivative securities and more sophisticated products. Such is the backdrop to the investment industry in the nineties. It is one of increased product complexity, increased regulation and prudential standards, and greater pressures to perform well with everlarger amounts of money over longer investment horizons.


Introduction: Early detection of bladder carcinoma is very important clinical problem. Diagnostic yield of white light cystoscopy with random biopsies remains poor. The use of exogenous fluorescence significantly increases the sensitivity, but specificity remains low. We analyzed diagnostic efficacy of OCT during white light cystoscopy and combined use of OCT and fluorescence cystoscopy. Materials and methods: An OCT device (1280 nm wavelength with 3 mW power, 8 Fr endoscopic probe, in-depth resolution 15 μm in tissue, lateral resolution 30 μm, acquisition time 1.5 sec for a 200x200 pixels image) was used in combination with a standard Karl Storz fluorescence cystoscope. A 3% solution of 5-ALA was instilled intravesically for 2 hours before the procedure. Initial examination was made under white light. OCT imaging and biopsy of all fluorescence zones were performed in blue light. 20 patients were studied. The study is ongoing. Results: 80 fluorescence zones (16 exophytic and 64 flat lesions) were analyzed with OCT. All exophytic zones were correctly detected by OCT and white light cystoscopy. Out of 64 flat fluorescent areas, 56 had benign histopathology readings, with 45 of them having the benign type of OCT images. Of 8 fluorescent zones with neoplastic histopathology, OCT correctly detected all 8. Based on this preliminary data, OCT could help to avoid 80% of unnecessary biopsies/resections. Conclusion: Combined use of OCT imaging and fluorescence cystoscopy can substantially improve diagnostic yield of bladder neoplasia detection.


Heisenberg algebras are the only Lie algebras (𝔤, [,]) which verify [𝔤, 𝔤]=𝒵(𝔤 ) and dim (𝒵(𝔤 ))=1, where 𝒵 denotes the center of the algebra. We classify nilpotent Lie superalgebras that verify the same algebraic conditions in arbitrary finite dimension. We study the geometrical properties with the aid of the software Mathematica.


Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Malakand, Chakdara, Pakistan, Calgary Prion Research Unit, Department of Comparative Biology and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada, Center of Excellence in Genomic Medicine Research, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Department of Medical Laboratory Technology, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia


What is post normal science? What are the reasons and what the consequences for encountering it in one's professional life? I share my own experience of readings, practices and discussions with PNS' fathers, supporters and detractors. Difficult to explain and translate into formulae or checklists, PNS provides practitioners with useful keys which may open relevant doors, allowing multiple perspectives to be brought to bear while widening the space of the possible solutions. Seen by some as a solution and by some as a problem, its message has not lost its radical or revolutionary edge. PNS is rigorous in its quest for quality. It is not value-free nor neutral, not shy of engaging in negative theology (what is not), nor of using irony in the process. Seen in retrospect, PNS has proven capable of prophetic diagnoses of the trajectory of science. Its disenchanted and circumspect gaze over the wonders of technology provides a useful antidote to persistently reductionists and techno-optimistic narratives which dominates the policy discourse. roles in decision making: (i) normal scientist in academia – generating analysis providing robust information about effective solutions to well defined problems; (ii) consultant - doing the above triangulation together with the clients in order to co-produce decisions; (iii) post-normal scientist – participating as team members of an extended peer community charged with ensuring the quality of decisions to be made. welcoming postnormal uncertainty, value disputes and high as experienced for example during the covid-19 pandemic, that it is important to resist the urge to 'solve' uncomfortable situations and rather see them as a site from which to reflect upon what it means to do science in the context of complexity and pluralism. Post-normal science offers valuable insights on letting go of the ideal of science speaking with one voice, navigating the contradictions and possible inconsistencies that emerge from within science, and focusing on the quality of the processes of knowledge production that and open-ended. Post Normal Science (PNS) inspires a new scientific practice, reflexive and inclusive of other perspectives. This is challenging for researchers working under constraints of "peer -or- perish". Informal science communication initiatives can be a stimulating setting for a cultural shift towards this new way of reframing own research practices and relationship with society, through the empowerment of audiences and the valuing of their worldviews and experiences. This is particularly relevant in the ecological field, where it is increasingly clear that the environmental crises and those //affecting society, culture, ethics, policy and economy are closely related. Within this complexity and uncertainty, new communication models inclusive of emotions, narrative and collective identities are needed, and researchers are requested to critically reflect on their ways of perceiving, understanding and describing the natural environment. In this paper we report reflections from the 5- year experience "Cammini LTER", an informal and itinerant science communication initiative carried out within the Italian Long-Term Ecological Research network (LTER Italy), which originated from questioning abou t the ecological researcher's role and responsibility to finally address the need of a cultural change overcoming own disciplinary boundaries and able to explore a broader idea of Nature that include cognitive, philosophical, ethical, emotional and spiritual dimensions beyond the scientific one. science and society, which may orient ex ante the very process of scientific production, by interfacing the probabilistic projection of alternative scenarios typical of the contemporary scientific method with the plurality of values, but also of imaginations and aspirations emerging from society (Appadurai 2013). I will highlight both some potential strengths and weaknesses of this new regulative ideal. Several risk mitigation options were prepared on the basis of extensive fieldwork aimed at better understanding local views and perspectives. Each option was comprised of a mix of active and passive measures, including relocation. On the basis of the results of discussions in working groups, a compromise solution for risk mitigation emerged from the stakeholder discussions and expert advice. This led to the implementation of nature based solutions on one of the most endangered slopes. This pilot study demonstrates the potential and challenges of public participation in decisions characterized by high stakes, values in dispute and intricate technical, economic and social considerations. complex issues. Science-based controversies highlight the need for academic knowledge to equip itself with new tools – and even a new paradigm – in order to deal constructively with complex issues, lying on the difficult line between expert knowledge and public values and which require adequate consideration of the existence of shared narratives, capable of conditioning choices and positions. The BRIDGES project (Building Reflexivity and response-ability Involving Different narratives of knowledGE and Science), through the case study of soil fertility, intends to experiment a transdisciplinary and innovative research pathway, inspired by post-normal science and oriented to the construction of extended research communities outside and inside academia. Through a series of research activities, the project aims to bring out the boundaries that define and legitimise different forms of knowledge, describing and revealing the narratives on science and technology shared in the Italian research world, and the boundaries by which researchers define and legitimise different forms of knowledge, with the ultimate aim of experimenting with transdisciplinary methods for the co-production of hybrid research that stimulate systemic and relational thinking and are able to generate responsible, inclusive and relevant knowledge. presence of contradictions. The Campania waste conflicts expose the dark side of modernization processes, marked by the top-down instrumental use of techno-scientific knowledge and by the exclusion of local environmental knowledge. This approach has led to the mystification of science and technology and to the marginalization of citizens' committees and experts not aligned with power. In response, committees built their own "research centers" and legitimacy protocols, establishing an awareness of environmental problems and alternatives. Their contribution created a debate around political choices passed off as science and made visible the reality of rural areas transformed into cheap socio-ecological dumps for toxic waste. Thanks to the social mobilizations, the enlarged space of deliberation that post-normal science calls for has been created. Therefore, we argue, conflict is not the problem to be solved in cases of contested environmental governance, but one of the ways by which problems become visible and can be solved. In their landmark article, Funtowicz and Ravetz stated that in the 'post - normal age' (PNS) "science is called on to remedy the pathologies of the global industrial system". By touching upon the frame of PNS, this contribution will discuss the case of Xylella fastidiosa in Italy and the pathologizations and medicalizations proposed to the plant pathology Olive Quick Decline Syndrome: a "pathology of the global and local agricultural system". In 2013 the plant pathogen and quarantine organism Xylella fastidiosa was discovered in Apulian (Italy) olive trees suffering from severe and extended desiccations. While the sole presence of this alien pathogen was enough to trigger urgent phytosanitary measures (via the removal of infected and possibly infected plants) and to completely capture the attention of experts from the capital of the region, other local plant scientists and, most of all, socio-environmental movements that instead mobilized in the following years in favor of an epistemic and political de-centralization of the role of Xylella in the pathology. These movements addressed other possible causes of such disease (i.e. the role of microbially poor and chemically polluted local soils and other already known pathogenic factors) which in their view were - and still are - the real and ignored cause of the disease. In doing this, over the years social movements resorted to different tactics aimed not only at impeding the removal of infected olive trees, but also at reclaiming and pursuing the "undone science" of this plant disease through what we can define as a call for an 'extended peer community'. Basing on ethnographic research conducted between 2017 and 2020, and by theoretically moving at the intersection of Studies of Expertise and Experience, Ignorance and Social Movements Studies, I will try to re- examine the "Xylella controversy" and this case study with the lenses of PNS. Indigenous knowledge and western science are domains of knowledge perceived as distant and incompatible. Climate science, as it is traditionally understood, is dominated by Western academic contributions. Indigenous heritage, especially languages, contain unique knowledge also on the relationship between man and the environment, risks disappearing forever. Making climate science more inclusive is not only an ethical duty, but also a possible way to seek solutions in knowledge systems that have not been adequately valued and exploited to date. By including a 'plurality of legitimate perspectives' in decision -making about science and technological issues, post-normal science (PNS) fundamentally re-shaped the relationship between science and society. Yet, significantly under-explored are the implications of PNS in relation to the multiple purposes of education, which this contribution aims to discuss as a series of educational 'shifts': from 'I' before the world (reductionist science – that describes and measures); t


We present three joint adaptive mean squared error receiver structures for a time division duplex down-link scenario in which a single mobile station is allocated several code-multiplexed channels. The first structure is a bank of single channel MiWE receivers. The second is composed pf an equaliser common to all the received channels anda bank of matchedfilters$r desprwding. The equaliser can be updated wing a multiple-etrorjilteredX LMS algorithm. The final proposed structure features both an equaliser and a bank of MABE receivers. The performance of the three architecturm is tested and compared u d e r multipath fading channel pmpagation conditions and BER valuer are provided.


I Considered as an example of American science policy, the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) seems virtually unique. There is no parallel from the rich and diverse menu of the past that can provide a plausible model for the probable evolution and fate of SDI as a piece of "big science." It is best described as a large scale, exploratory technology assessment, with very vague and open-ended technical goals, and considerable debate and disagreement as to its true strategic purpose. Despite the clarity and simplicity of the President's speech of March 1983,' his goals have not been accepted as technically feasible even by many participants in the program,* and there appears to be no general consensus on the research and development (R&D) strategy required for progress to whatever goals there are. One goal is advertised to the public-rendering nuclear weapons "impotent and obsolete"; but a much more modest and less clear-cut goal is set for the technical community-that of assessing the outer limits of a defensive technology against ICBMs. This incongruity is necessitated, in part, by the discontinuity in strategic significance between a good defense and an almost perfect defense, a defense of military-strategic targets and a defense of population centers. Compared to the Manhattan Project of World War 11, the scientific and technological basis for an SDI may be somewhat better understood than was the military exploitation of nuclear fission in 1941, but the nature of the ultimate goal differs in crucial respects that make this better technical understanding largely irrelevant. The Manhattan Project aimed at a specific "ultimate weapon," whose general characteristics could be pretty well defined in advance, at least in qualitative terms. In essence, the aim was a demonstration of a single weapon that was not part of an elaborately articulated weapons system, where many different elements had to work in harmony simultaneously. Moreover, the nature of the weapon, combined


The present study,which examines five kinds of alkali-silica active aggregates including four natural aggregates with expansion ratio for 14 days i.e.about 0.1%,01%~0.2%,0.2%~0.3%,0.3%~0.4% respectively,and one high activity quartz glass with expansion ratio over 0.4% through the accelerated mortar-bar methodi,nvestigates the inhibition effect ofgranulated blast furnace slag(GGBS)on alkali-silica reaction(ASR) compared with adding 25% fly ash in weight.The experimental results indicate that adding GGBS more than 40% in weight into the cementitious materials has the inhibition effect on ASR for four natural aggregates.When the adding rate of GGBS reaches 70 %t,he expansion ratio for 28 days of the quartz glass sand is reduced to 0.05%.The inhibition effect of GGBS on ASR is mainly related to its chemical composition,especially to its content of Al2O3.And the inhibition effect of GGBS is largely owing to alkali dilution and consolidation in the cementitious materials,where as the improvement of the pore structure can only play the assistant role.


INTRODUCTION The character of the Yuan dynasty, through which the Mongol conquerors from Khubilai Khan onward ruled China, has been interpreted in many ways and at present is still much at issue among scholars. Nonetheless, one fact about it is unambiguous. Its ability to govern –to maintain order in society, to administer provincial and local government, and to collect taxes – was eroding well before the middle of the fourteenth century. Chu Yuan-chang (1328–1398), the founder of the Ming dynasty, was born into a family of desperately poor tenant farmers in the Huai River plain of modern Anhwei province on 21 October 1328. He never experienced the normal conditions of China's stable agrarian society until, as emperor forty years later, it fell to him to rule over the empire and to guide its rehabilitation. The Ming dynasty was spawned during a half-century of intensifying chaos, an age of breakdown in which throughout most of the country the conduct of daily life increasingly depended on direct recourse to violence. It provides a classic example of the gradual militarization of Chinese society and, because of that, of the struggle among potent rivals to succeed the Mongol regime by imposing, through military force, a successor regime that could claim the Mandate of Heaven. Despite the traditional Chinese penchant for subsuming this into the stylized pattern of breakdown and regeneration provided by their dynastic cycle theory, the way the Yuan dynasty disintegrated and the Ming dynasty emerged is by no means typical of the dynastic changes that punctuate imperial Chinese history.


We developed software for recording and reusing user actions and associated effects in various VR applications. In particular, we implemented two plugin systems that allow 3D motion data recorded in VR to be transferred to a machine learning module without programming. One is a system that runs on Unity and records actions and events in VR, and it is called "VRec." The other is a system for using data recorded with VRec for machine learning, called "VR2ML."


We present an effort to provide teachers with a dedicated environment for designing location based games conducted via mobile phones. Treasure-HIT allows teachers to define a set of locations (usin ...


Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to reconcile the multidimensional nature of poverty with a population's cultural conditioning for the purpose of policy evaluation. Design/methodology/approach - Structural equation modeling is the strategy used to compare nested models. Findings - The results show that the observed differences in the dimensions of poverty significantly, but not exclusively, result from differences in cultural valuation systems between groups. Culture influences poverty in two ways: differences in perceptions and differences in the poverty determinants. Practical implications - In consideration of these results, we propose a participatory, decentralized and cautious approach in developing credible poverty-alleviation strategies which respond to the needs expressed by the relevant populations. Originality/value - In this research, the authors adopt a quantitative approach which applies some statistical tests to analyze the effects of cultural values on poverty.


In the study,four self-incompatible DH lines' stigmas of Brassica oleracea L.var.italica were treated with NaCl solutions of different concentration separately.The results showed that the NaCl solutions could overcome the self-incompatibility(SI) of DH07-2 line,but could not overcome the SI of the other three DH lines.Different NaCl solutions possessed significantly various effects on overcoming DH07-2 line's SI,and 10% NaCl solution was most effective with the compatible index of 4.53,which was had extremely significant difference with other NaCl solution treatments.


The invention provides a cathode material for a silicon-carbon compound lithium ion battery and a preparation method thereof. The cathode material comprises a substrate, a cobalt oxide on the exterior of the substrate and a carbon layer on the exterior of the cobalt oxide, wherein the substrate is micron silicon, nanometer silicon or porous silicon and the cobalt oxide is selected from cobaltous oxide, cobalt sesquioxide or cobaltosic oxide. The preparation method comprises the following steps: preparing silicon powder; adding the silicon powder into an alkali salt solution and mixing; adding a cobalt salt solution; washing, drying and burning, thereby obtaining Si/CoxOy powder; stirring, drying, mashing and burning Si/CoxOy powder and carbon source, thereby obtaining a cathode material Si/CoxOy/C of the compound lithium ion battery. According to the invention, after a layer of CoxOy is wrapped on the surface of the silicon substrate, the problem of volume expansion of silicon in the charging/discharging process is solved. The three-layer material Si/CoxOy/C can extremely optimize the cycle performance, reversible capacity and rate capability of the lithium ion battery.


With the advent of an aging society, community landscape design should pay attention to the psychological aspects of the elderly population besides the physiology. We analysis the general psychological characteristics of elderly people and explore their demands, raise and investigate issues in the community landscape design which should be attached importance to on the purpose to create a good environment for living landscape and build a harmonious community environment.


An advanced metering and monitoring system based on autonomous, ubiquitous and maintenance-free wireless sensor networks is of great significance to the smart grid. However, the power supply for sensor nodes (especially those installed on high-voltage side) remains one of the most challenging issues. To date, miniaturized, reliable, low-cost and flexible designs catering the massive application of self-powered sensor nodes in the smart grid are still limited. This paper presents a nonintrusive design of power supply to support the sensor network applied in the smart grid. Using a cantilever-structured magnetoelectric (ME) composite, the energy harvester is able to scavenge energy from the power-frequency (50 Hz) magnetic field distributed around the transmission line. Design considerations for this specific type of scavenger have been discussed, and optimized energy harvester prototypes have been fabricated, which are further tested on a power line platform. Experimental results show that the single-cell and double-cell energy harvesters are capable of producing 0.62 mW and 1.12 mW at 10 A, respectively, while corresponding power outputs are enhanced to 4.11 mW and 9.40 mW at 40 A. The good energy harvesting ability of this particular ME composite indicates its great potential to make a nonintrusive, miniaturized, flexible and cost-effective power supply, which possesses great application prospects in the smart grid.


Purpose – The objective of this paper is to examine the health seeking strategies of Latin American migrants in London.Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on a small case study analysis conducted with Latin American migrants in London and relevant stakeholders.Findings – The paper highlights that even where Latin American migrants do have entitlements to use the NHS, a series of informal barriers limits their access. As a consequence many employ a range of transnational health‐seeking strategies in order to seek resolution to their health problems. These findings repeat those identified in other studies and point to the need to gain a better understanding of migrant's exclusion and marginalisation in relation to formal health care providers. At the same time, the findings point to the lack of long‐term resolution many migrants experience in relation to their health care needs, raising important questions about health inequalities.Research limitations/implications – Latin Americans represent a hu...


Abstract This paper describes shaking table model studies conducted on unreinforced and reinforced soil slopes. A computer controlled hydraulically driven single degree of freedom shake table was used in these tests. Model soil slopes were constructed using clayey sand (SC) in a laminar box. Two different slope angles were used in tests. Two different types of reinforcement, namely, a woven geotextile and a biaxial geogrid were used in the tests. The models were instrumented with ultrasonic displacement transducers and accelerometers at different locations. The slopes were subjected to horizontal base shaking of known acceleration and frequency and the displacement and acceleration were monitored for time increments. Comparison of displacement and acceleration of tests with different slope angles and with reinforcing layers of different stiffness values resulted in some important observations regarding the response of these soil slopes under seismic shaking conditions. Tensile stiffness of the reinforcement plays an important role in controlling the seismic deformations and the beneficial effects of reinforcement are more pronounced in flatter slopes. Acceleration amplifications did not alter with the inclusion of reinforcing layers in the model studies reported in this paper because of the dimensional limitations. Numerical modeling of the geosynthetic reinforced soil slopes subjected to base shaking is also presented and the models are verified with the experimental results.


FIELD: power engineering. SUBSTANCE: invention relates to power engineering. The method of control of working point of gas turbine comprising compressor, combustion chamber and turbine. The method includes the estimation of the reference curve of temperature of exhaust gas of the turbine as a function of pressure ratio of the turbine, controlling the distribution parameter of fuel. A controller for controlling the working point of the gas turbine is offered as well. EFFECT: invention allows to ensure more accurate control of combustion temperature, burning parameters, emission of exhaust gas. 13 cl, 21 dwg, 1 tbl


Interferometric reconstruction of three-dimensional flow fields, that is, interferometric tomography, can be a very useful diagnostic tool. It is noninvasive and can capture gross fields; however, it frequently confronts a challenging problem of reconstructing fields from insufficient data. In most cases, flow-field interferometric data are sparse, nonuniform, noisy, and incomplete in projection and scanning because of opaque objects present either inside or outside the field. Recently, a new method has been developed in an effort to improve reconstruction under these ill-posed conditions. The method is appropriate for reconstructing flow fields with the distinct data characteristics, being based on natural pixel decomposition of the field. It employs rectangular grid elements of different sizes and aspect ratios. It thus reflects intrinsic spatial resolution information contained in the data and allows better resolution and accuracy in the region with more probing rays. Computer simulation of
experiments has demonstrated superiority of the method to the conventional one. In simulation, the temperature field of a gravity-driven flow of two interacting heat sources, produced by a numerical code, are tested. Both the maximum and average reconstruction errors are reduced appreciably. Especially, the reconstruction demonstrates substantial improvement in the region with dense scanning by probing rays.


Background: To contain the COVID-19 pandemic, governments worldwide restricted social and physical contact by issuing lockdown and social-distancing measures. Yet, lockdown measures may induce mental health problems and increase the occurrence of domestic violence (DV). We examine mental health and DV in lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual and asexual (LGB+) persons under lockdown. Methods: An online self-report questionnaire on relationships, stress and aggression was administered to a non-probabilistic sample of participants living in Belgium. Participants were sampled through national media, social media, and snowballing procedures. Occurrence of DV including psychological, physical and sexual violence, stress, alcohol and drug use, suicidal ideation, suicide attempt, self-harming behaviour, and help-seeking behaviour in LGB+ persons during the first four to six weeks of the hygiene and lockdown measures in Belgium were assessed. Results: 383 LGB+ participants were included in the analysis. In addition to high levels of stress, alcohol and drug abuse, suicidal ideation and self-harming behaviour, a third of LGB+ participants reported at least one incident of DV under lockdown. Conclusion: LGB+ persons have been exposed to DV and experienced lower mental health and wellbeing during the lockdown related to the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings highlight the possible need for public health measures and sociocultural changes preventing DV and improving mental health during lockdown in LGB+ persons.


The design and optimization of the TOPHAT feed horn is presented. This horn is a nonimaging antenna with a few modes. Diffraction effects are approximated using ray-trace techniques with the addition of phase information.


: Southern Appalachian spruce-fir forest is a restricted and imperiled habitat characterized by two evergreen species, Red Spruce, Picea rubens , and endemic Fraser Fir, Abies fraseri , found at high elevations in North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee. This habitat contains rare and imperiled species such as the Federally Endangered spruce-fir moss spider. Spruce-fir forests have been severely impacted by historical logging, acid rain, and invasive balsam wooly adelgid. The forests are likely to be severely impacted by warming climates, as they are restricted to a narrow climatic window. Remote sensing utilizing LandSat 8 surface reflectance data is an important and effective tool for identifying and mapping evergreen ecosystems such as spruce-fir forest. GIS layers and maps produced from this data can help researchers and conservation practitioners gain a greater and more nuanced knowledge of the ecosystem as a whole. Currently no published research is available outlining a comprehensive and statistically sound validation of spruce-fir habitat classifications or derived population level statistics. The purpose of this study is to develop an understanding of the effectiveness of classification algorithms for identifying spruce-fir Forests and utilize this classification to understand the coverage and environmental parameters of these forests. Careful consideration of choices made in the classification and validation process establishes a methodology for both producing and using remotely sensed presence/absence maps. Three machine learning habitat classification algorithms, Support Vector Machines, Random Forest, and MaxEnt, were compared, as was the addition of EVI and NDVI vegetation indices. A proportional validation scheme was developed to produce relevant and comparable measures of classification accuracy. Machine learning classifications of spruce-fir forests were found to be an effective and efficient method to produce presence-absence classifications and population level parameters for spruce-fir forests, with Support Vector Machines classification performing best.


This study aims to clarify the impact of the application of cloud accounting on accounting programs in Palestinian universities from the point of view of academics working in Palestinian universities. A questionnaire has been used to solicit the opinions of specialists in this field, the questionnaires were distributed to all academics working in the accounting and financial science programs in the Palestinian universities, which are eleven universities, offer the accounting and financial sciences program. 33 valid questionnaires were retrieved for analysis... The study concluded that the application of cloud accounting to accounting programs in Palestinian universities may have the greatest impact in reducing the cost of traditional programs and the number of credit hours. It may also increase student's rehabilitation. Accounting will lead to an increase in the number of students enrolled in accounting programs in the Palestinian universities.


A method is described for predicting the unsteady pressure on a rigid rectangular wing in subsonic flow from its acoustic signal. Presently, convected vortical gusts interacting with the wing serve as the unsteady disturbance responsible for the acoustic field: however, the inversion method is also valid for incident acoustic disturbances and for oscillating wings. The linearized Euler's equation is used to model the problem. Subsequently, the acoustic signal and the unsteady surface pressure are related by an integral equation. Determining the near-field pressure from the radiated sound is an inherently ill-posed problem. This is reflected in the ill-conditioning of the matrix equation obtained from the integral equation. Collocations series are used to obtain the matrix equation and the Singular Value Decomposition is used to solve the system of equations. To handle the ill-conditioning, either a spectral cut-off regularization scheme is embedded in the SVD method or an a priori cut off is used to truncate the collocations series appropriately. Preliminary tests, using numerically generated input data, show the inversion is feasible for low Mach numbers and low-tomoderate reduced frequencies. The location of the Copyright ©1996 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Inc.. All rights reserved. •Assistant professor. Member AIAA 'Professor. Member AIAA acoustic field measurements do affect the inversion, however, an optimal choice for the locations has not been determined.


Compared to dictation systems, recognition systems for spontaneous speech still perform rather poorly. An important weakness in these systems is the statistical language model, mainly due to the lack of large amounts of stylistically matching training data and to the occurrence of disfluencies in the recognition input. In this paper we investigate a method for improving the robustness of a spontaneous language model by flexible manipulation of the prediction context when disfluencies occur. In the case of repetitions, we obtained significantly better recognition results on a benchmark Switchboard test set.


Li Shi-hong's idea of "learning for the society" provided a fierce attack to the Imperial Examinations characterized by stereotyped writing.His thought originated from his own accumulated experiences as well as the influences from such ancient Chinese scholars as Li Shi-xiong and Wei Li.What's more,the view not only advocated a tradition of learning from the classical writings in the Tang and Song Dynasties,but brought Changting literature into a healthy development.


Background: Self-Ligating brackets were originally designed with the intention to reduce the time needed to change wires compared with the use of wire ligatures. However, the advent of elastomeric ligatures meant that this perceived advantage was diminished. Objective: To compare aligning efficiency, rate of retraction and torque expression of Self Ligating bracket (SLB) system with Conventional Pre adjusted Edgewise bracket (CLB) system. Materials and Methods: Twelve patients were selected and divided into two groups treated with self ligating brackets (SLB, n=6) and conventional ligating brackets (CLB, n=6). The brackets used were 0.22 slot McLaughlin Bennet Trevesi (MBT) prescription. Aligning was evaluated with 0.14 Niti followed by 19X25 Heat Activated Ni Ti and then 19X25 stainless steel wires for retraction within 4 months. The rate of retraction was evaluated per month and torque loss after space closure was also estimated. Results: Alignment Efficiency shows significant changes with SLB compared to CLB and also save more than 30% of chair side time during wire adjustments while rate of en masse retraction in SLB shows statistically non significance as compared to CLB system. In case of upper incisor changes when compared between two groups showed less torque loss in SLB than CLB although which was statistically no significant but % difference show SLB have better improvement result than CLB.


V -; the 23rd of October the posterior wall of the meatus was chiselled open, and the bullet could be reached in the tympanum, broken in several pieces; the largest part lay on the floor close to the anterior wall of the cavity in contact with the carotid canal, from which place it was removed with considerable difficulty. The promontory was driven in. The patient still remained under treatment, and a sequestrum had detached itself from the posterior wall. Dundas Grant.


Abstract Thyroid function of chicks after withdrawal of goitrin, a goitrogen in rapeseed, from the diet following 21 days feeding was investigated. Increased thyroid weight (about 4 times that of the control) and thyroidal 131 I uptake (about 2.7 times that of the control) induced by 21 days feeding of 0.05% goitrin were decreased gradually after withdrawal of goitrin. Other synthesizing steps of thyroid hormone in the gland, such as iodination of tyrosines and coupling of iodotyrosines and synthesizing of thyroxine, and plasma level of thyroid hormone were completely recovered within 2 days after withdrawal of goitrin. Distinct rebound phenomena were observed in circulating level of thyroid hormone and synthesis of thyroxine in the gland after the withdrawal. These results suggest that depression in metabolism of thyroid hormone induced by administration of goitrin may be restored in a relatively short time after withdrawal of goitrin, despite hypertrophy of thyroid gland which persist for relatively longer time.


Tuberculosis(TB) in India is the world's largest TB epidemic [1] leading to 480,000 deaths every year [2]. Between the years 2006 and 2014, Indian economy lost $340 billion(USD) due to TB. This, combined with the emergence of drug resistant bacteria in India makes the problem worse [3]. The government of India has hence come up with a new strategy which requires a high-sensitivity microscopy based TB diagnosis mechanism [2]. We propose a new deep neural network based TB diagnosis methodology with recall and precision of 83.78% and 67.55% respectively for bacillus detection from microscopy images of sputum. The proposed method takes a microscopy image of sputum with proper zoom level as input and returns locations of suspected Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacilli as output. The high sensitivity of our method gives it the potential to evolve into an effective and accessible screening tool for TB detection, when trained at scale.


Within the development era, cellular phones are not only used for communication purposes but can also be used to access information purposes which we need quickly and efficiently with the internet oriented applications via WAP technology. In this final task discussed about expert system of handling damage single needle sewing machine which would accessible via cell phone that has the WAP browser and GPRS facilities. Knowledge representation which used is production rules with inference engine backward chaining and forward chaining. The results of the application expert system of handling damage single needle sewing machine expected to give solutions how to repair type of damage that occurred.


A substrate cleaning apparatus for reducing a limitation of a layout of a chemical liquid nozzle and a rinsing liquid nozzle, while enabling a load cell to be installed at an optimal location and achieving a larger adjustment range, is provided. The substrate cleaning apparatus includes a roll assembly (95) including at least a roll cleaning member (46) to be brought into contact with a substrate (W) and a roll arm (42) that rotatably supports the roll cleaning member (46), a support arm (58) for supporting the roll assembly (95); an adjustment screw (83) extending through the support arm (58) and screwed into the roll assembly (95); and a screw support (84) that fixes a relative position of the adjustment screw (83) in a vertical direction with respect to the support arm (58) and rotatably supports the adjustment screw (83).


This paper analyzes grasp synthesis in multi-fingered robot arm equipped with a tactile sensor to handle objects located at arbitrary positions. We developed an 11-dof multi-fingered arm and a novel optical three-axis tactile sensor system based on an optical waveguide transduction method. The tactile sensor can simultaneously acquire normal and shearing forces. We analyzed normal and shear force distribution to grasp real object. The slippage direction acquired from the shear force data was used to control arm movements in the incipient grasp and release motion. Normal force is used to distinguish object stiffness and to generate optimum grasp pressure. The analysis results are compiled in a control algorithm inside the robot control system. The algorithm was evaluated in experiments with real objects, and the results revealed good performance of the robot arm when handling arbitrary located objects.