Abstract This study focuses on the spatial transformation of Taipei in colonial Taiwan from 1895-1945, and draws attention to the relationships of the following terms: the colonizer, the colonized and the urban form. The article consists of three main sections: introduction of current scholarship and major debate; discussion on the theories in relation to space and body; Taipei as a case study in light of "city-as-text" and "text-as-city" contributed by both the colonizer and the colonized subjects. The purpose of this article is to probe and to discover whether the construction of such a colonial modernity in Taiwan was a process not anticipated by its contemporary colonized subjects.


A series of experiments were conducted with Al-5.7%Cu alloy to investigate the effect of probe horizontal location on solidification structure and grain-refining efficiency of ultrasonic ingots.The mechanism of grain refinement in ultrasonic field was discussed.The equiaxed grain zone is the biggest when the probe position was at the centerline of the mould.The equiaxed grain zone is reduced to the probe end when the probe position was nearby the mould wall.Application of ultrasonic vibration resulted in forming acoustic cavitation,leading to supercooling of micro-area and dynamic nucleation.The acoustic streams make breaking-up of solidifying dendritic crystal and supplied germ nucleus,therefore,the solidification structure of ingots get refined. It is a complex dynamic process.


high-echo-genicity with acoustic shadowing on B-mode scan. This study aimed to distinguish two specific types of SG-LAIs at the gluteal muscle. Forty-seven patients [risperidone (RLAI): 28 patients, aripiprazole (ALAI): 19 patients] were examined using grayscale histogram analysis of echo-intensities. Pre- and immediately after (post)-injected SG-LAI region of interest (ROI) was placed on the same sites of gluteal muscle, and the grayscale histograms were recorded. Pre- and post-injected echogenicity values were analyzed using paired t -test, and Pearson's moment correlation coefficient. Mixed effects model regression analysis was performed on variations in average echogenicity from age and medication type. Statistical significance was at 5%. There was no significant correlation between age and average echogenicity of ROI pre-intramuscular (IM) injection ( r = 0.26, p = 0.078). In both RLAI and ALAI, the mean echogenicity post-IM injection was significantly higher than pre-IM injection ( p < 0.001). With increasing age, the values of echogenicity of post-injection was decreased significantly ( p = 0.002). The increasing values of the echo-intensities post-injections of RLAI showed significantly higher than ALAI ( p = 0.002). It was considered that administered type of LAI could be identified because each LAI exhibits specific echographically findings, it also will be able to applied clinically.


Biosensors provide a unique platform for analyte detection, generating a dose‐dependent response through a binding‐specific conformational change. While most ligand‐binding biomolecules are not biosensing by default, many can be engineered to be so through the introduction of an alternative nonbinding (and thus nonsignaling) conformation. While this strategy has been met with limited success with proteins, the sequence‐structure‐function relationship inherent with oligonucleotides has led to the creation of structure‐switching aptamer‐based biosensors for many target ligands. G‐quartet sequences (GQS) generate a characteristic structural motif in the presence of potassium ions. While previous work has been done to engineer this motif into structure‐switching biosensors for potassium, no work has been done to edit their dynamic ranges. Here, we report the rational design of six sequences to bind potassium with different apparent binding affinities. We demonstrate a correlation between the experimentally determined binding affinity for potassium (via circular dichroism) and the theoretically determined free energy of the alternative structure (determined computationally by nearest‐neighbor parameters). This work demonstrates the ability to rationally design an aptamer‐based biosensor to operate in any desired range of analyte concentration weaker than the intrinsic binding constant.


Rotational molding has become one of the most important polymer processing methods for producing hollow plastic articles. However, the long-cycle time required by the rotational molding process has confounded the overall success of this technology. Molds with extended surfaces (fins) have the potential to enhance heat transfer by increasing surface area. This report aims to investigate, both experimentally and numerically, the heating/cooling process of rotational molds enhanced with fins. Rotational molding experiments were carried out in a laboratory scale uniaxial machine, which is capable of measuring internal air temperature in the cycle. Molds enhanced with three types of fins, including pin, rectangular, and triangular fins, were used to manufacture the parts. It was found that the mold surface enhanced with pins exhibited the highest heating and cooling rate. Nevertheless, from a design perspective, ease of manufacturing needs to be taken into account which could make triangular fin geometry a better choice to enhanced heat transfer. In addition, an unsteady-state, nonlinear heat transfer model of rotational molding has been proposed to numerically simulate the internal air temperature profiles. It is shown that the numerical predictions are in good agreement with experimental data. This model enables prediction of the heating and cooling time of rotational molding enhanced with fins, and hence the overall cycle time for the process. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008


This study included 29 patients in whom arthroscopic resection of isolated symptomatic mediopatellar plica was performed between January 1990- December 1992. There were 18 males and 11 females whose ages ranged 19 to 61 years (mean36.4 years).In 18 of these patients chondromalacia was also accompanied. Clinical outcome after arthroscopic resection was evaluated at an average of 42.7 months (ranged 30 to 63 months). Excellent and good results were obtained in 22 (%76) of the patients according to Lysholm scale. Rest of the patients who did not improve showed Grade II and III chonrdomalacia. The period between onset of symptoms and evaluation of the patients was nearly one year . It is concluded that arthroscopic resection of isolated symptomatic mediopatellar plica was effective in %76 of 29 patients and poor results were mostly seen in patients with higher Grade of chondromalacia.


In their paper, the authors assume ambipolar diffusion across a magnetic field. This is not true in a strong field and in most practical applications. The actual ion transport may be much larger and entirely different from that calculated by the authors.


The methanolic extract of Capparis spinosa was studied to evaluate the phenolic content, and flavonoid content, α-amylase inhibition and antioxidant activities using in-vitro methods. The extraction of the medicinal plant was carried out by maceration in methanol. The findings revealed the presence of elevated amounts of phenols and flavonoids in C. spinosa. The phenolic content was 555±0.5mg gallic acid equivalent per gram, while the flavonoid content was 102.59±0.6mg rutin equivalent per gram. The plant displayed a considerable free radical scavenging activity on DPPH with IC50 of 0.07±0.02mg/ml in comparison to the standard antioxidant gallic acid (IC50 0.03±0.002mg/ml). The α-amylase inhibitory activity of the extract exhibited an IC50 value of 0.34±0.003mg/ml compared to the reference drug acarbose (0.064±0.001mg/ml). The methanolic extracts of the aerial parts of C. spinosa have significant antioxidant and α-amylase inhibitory activities. This outcome indicates that caper can be employed in the development of plant-based foods for the treatment of diabetes mellitus.


Five rhynchonelliform brachiopod taxa, including Bastamorthis multicostata n. gen., n. sp., Saucrorthis obtusus n. sp. and Semnanostrophia lata n. gen., n. sp., are described from the lower part of the Lashkarak Formation at Deh-Molla and Simeh-Kuh, eastern Alborz Mountains, northern Iran. Associated conodonts indicate an early to middle Darriwilian (Lenodus variabilis to Lenodus pseudoplanus biozones) age for the fauna. The Early to Middle Ordovician benthic faunas of the Alborz Region show closest affinity to South China, which is accentuated by the occurrence of brachiopod genera such as Martellia, Saucrorthis and Yangtzeella in the Darriwilian. In the Alborz Region, Yangtzeella is already present in the late Floian-early Dapingian where it is represented by Y. longiseptata n. sp. However, the early Darriwilian brachiopod fauna shows an increased degree of endemicity, which coincides with invasion of the cold water Neseuretus trilobite biofacies and may be a reflection of cooler climate at that time. It is demonstrated that in the Alborz Region, the base of the Lashkarak Formation (as originally defined) coincides with a widespread unconformity at the beginning of the Darriwilian, and its extension to the Lower Ordovician and Dapingian sediments within the Alborz Region is not justified.


A prospective single center study to assess the objective impact on motion performance of a VATS simulation program on thoracic surgery trainees.

 We developed a 6-month VATS simulation training program including exercises of progressive complexity on 3 different black box simulators: a 2D and 3D lobectomy model (Stupnik®) and a 3D perfused lobectomy model (Crabtree®). Between November 2019 and 2020, all consecutive thoracic surgery residents (study group) were prospectively enrolled in this weekly training program that was supervised by a board certified thoracic surgeon. We compared an objective performance evaluation of the study group before and after the training program by assessing movement parameters (distance in cm, time in sec) and absence of shock/extreme motion (%) on 3 simple standardized thoracoscopic exercises (peg placement on a board, rope insertion in loops and precision circle cutting) using the Simball®. Also, we determined the objective performance 6 months apart of 5 final year medical students (unexperienced controls) that were not trained.

 There were 7 residents (2 female and 5 male, median age: 29 [range: 26-34] years) who completed the 6-month VATS simulation training program. Five residents were in their first year while two had >3 year experience. The study group's objective performance improved significantly for all three movement parameters in all standardized exercises (Figure 1) after the training program. The objective performance of the unexperienced control group was comparable to the study group before training, but it remained unchanged at 6 months (p > 0.05). When comparing unexperienced and advanced residents, we observed that the training program had more impact on improving the performance for unexperienced residents (p < 0.05).

 This study suggests that the implementation of a VATS simulation training program improves the objective performance of trainees compared to controls. Such programs could be interesting adjuncts for residents.


In a general way it is obvious that the developmental cycles of libraries reflect those of their parent institutions, the universities. Thus, libraries, like universities, have experienced a period of intense growth and diversification in the past four or five decades. This has been followed by a period of increasingly severe resource constraint relative to need while high expectations have continued almost unabated. It is now widely acknowledged that basic changes in the way information services are provided are inevitable, even though there is not yet complete consensus about what the nature of those changes can or should be. Clearly there is a powerful connection between the new Fiscal realities of universities and our capacity to resolve the information management requirements of this new era.


This study aims to describe the existing papaya processing in Nagari Batu Kalang and know the financial feasibility of papaya processing in Nagari Batu Kalang. This research was conducted due to Nagari Batu Kalang District Padang Sago Subdistrict Padang Pariaman Regency is one of the areas whose irrigation channel is severely damaged cause the impact of the earthquake of West Sumatera in 2009. The rice farmers in this area switched to cultivate papaya plants and there is a processing papaya into various products. The method used in this research is descriptive method. The data was analyzed by descriptive analysis and financial feasibility analysis by calculating R / C Ratio and B / C Ratio. The results showed Nagari Batu Kalang has 3 types of papaya processing into an agroindustry which produces sauce, dodol, and stick snack. The processing of the three types of products are almost same, and from 3 types of papaya product, the most feasible financially to be developed is processed sauce papaya with R / C Ratio of 2.760 and B / C Ratio of 1.760. Because the value of R / C Ratio and B / C Ratio owned is greater than 1.


Ancient crust of weathering bauxite often has many paragenesis and associated minerals in China.Using Bayer method or sintering process to produce aluminum oxide,the most associated minerals enter into the red mud,and a partial vanadium,gallium and so on enter into the aluminate solution,they are recovered in the next several working procedures.At present,the beneficial paragenesis and associated components of bauxite are not yet fully utilized in China,the mineral resources are wasted enormously and the environment was affected.Great attention should be paid to the research and development of the comprehensive recovery and utilization technology of bauxite resources.The mechanism of bauxite resources disposition which links up the level of the comprehensive development and utilization should be established.And the investigation and development of bauxite in coal formation can be promoted.


Traditional semantic similarity computing methods mostly regard the text as a set of words, by calculating the number of words occurred in the text to build the feature vector, then using the metrics such as cosine distance between the vectors to calculate the text similarity. However, these methods only consider the word level of the sentence, not the semantic level, which may ignore many important information, including syntax and word order. This paper proposes a new deep learning method, which combines the attention mechanism with BiLSTM based on Siamese network to achieve the semantic similarity matching for given question pairs. Experimental results show that our models can make full use of the semantic information of the text, and the F1 value in the dataset provided by the CCKS2018 question-intention matching task is 0.84586, achieving fourth place in the final test.


Efforts by Haitian and international health personnel to contain the cholera outbreak on the devastated island are being hampered by violence and widespread insecurity, top humanitarian officials and agencies say.

Violence and instability since the 28 November presidential and legislative elections, "has had a detrimental effect on the fight against the cholera epidemic," says the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the regional arm of the World Health Organization.

Similarly, the European Union's Humanitarian Affairs commissioner Kristilina Geogieva, said that insecurity in Haiti "is killing more people by preventing treatment than by violence in the streets."

The Haitian ministry of health …


A specialized high performance Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)-based back-end Path Computation Element (PCE) to compute re-optimization in Flexgrid networks is presented. Experimental results show 6× speedups compared to single centralized PCE.


The present communication reports the first record of intraspecific euploid cytotypes (2x, 4x) in Arabis recta from the cold deserts of North-West Himalayas in India. The study included the detailed male meiosis, microsporogenesis, pollen fertility and morphometric parameters in the accessions of 2x and 4x cytotypes. Both the diploid and tetraploid cytotypes exhibited normal meiotic behaviour characterized by normal chromosome pairing, regular segregation of chromosomes and nearly cent percent fertility. The 2x and 4x cytotypes grow under similar extreme cold desert conditions on mountain slopes between 2800 to 4500 m altitudes. The 4x plants grow much taller and possessed much larger sized pubescent leaves. The two cytotypes could also be differentiated on the basis of size of stomata and pollen grains, which are significantly larger in the 4x compared to the 2x.


The research illustrated in this thesis was performed under the guidance of Professor Dennis C. Johnson beginning in March 1987. Chapter 2 concentrates on the development and electrocatalytic properties of iron-doped {beta}-PbO{sub 2} films on noble-metal substrates. Chapter 3 focuses attention on the preparation and characterization of iron-doped {beta}-PbO{sub 2} films on titanium substrates (Fe-PbO{sub 2}/Ti). Chapter 4 discusses anodic evolution of ozone at Fe-PbO{sub 2}/Ti electrodes. Chapter 5 describes electrochemical incineration of p-benzoquinone (BQ) at Fe-PbO{sub 2}/Ti electrodes. In addition, the Appendix includes another published paper which is a detailed study of {alpha}-PbO{sub 2} films deposited on various types of stainless steel substrates.


We report a case of bacterial arteritis of the external iliac artery complicated by mycotic aneurysm following coronary angioplasty. To our knowledge, this is the first reported instance of arterial wall infection caused by coronary angioplasty at a distance from the insertion site equal to the length of the sheath.


In the title compound, C18H18Br2O5·H2O, the solvent water molecule is bonded to two O atoms of a crown ether molecule by O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds. In the crystal structure, molecules of this macrocycle form columns along the [100] crystallographic direction as a result of stacking interactions between aromatic rings (centroid–centroid distance 3.5 A).


The purpose of the study is to consider the main identification parameters of ornamentality in the decorative and applied art of the Turkic world. The research methodology is based on the comparative typological method, because the comparative analysis reveals, on the one hand, the general universals of ornamentation in the decorative and applied art of the Turkic-speaking peoples, on the other hand, their specificity. The methodology of the study is also based on the principle of historicism because the principle of historicism orients the study on the interrelationships of cultures in the space of stages in the history of peoples. It is the historical and cultural vector that allows us to fully present the picture of the common dominants of ornamentality in the decorative and applied art of the Turkic peoples. The conclusions of the article indicate that the decorative and applied art of the Turkic-speaking peoples has certain typologically significant grounds for kinship. The article formulates provisions that have a certain perspective on the classification of the material. The effectiveness of the study also concerns its practical significance, because it allows us to interpret ornamentality as a single functional principle of the morphological system of arts. The scientific novelty of the presented article lies in the fact that for the first time the general bases of ornamentality in the decorative and applied art of the Turkic-speaking peoples are generalized and differentiated. Ethnocultural models of the worldview of the Turkic peoples and their connection with ornamental formulas are involved in the analysis.


For Optical Pickup Units (OPU), the dissipation of laser heat is a primary requirement for performance reliability & life expectancy of the device when operated continuously at extreme service temperatures. Heat sinks are components that enhance heat dissipation from a hot source to a relatively cooler ambient in order to maintain the laser device within the specified service temperature for continuous operation. Typically the heat dissipated by the laser diode anchored inside a plastic housing is fed to a copper sheet heat sink for air convection cooling through a conductive path comprising thermal interface silicon elastomer pad & thermal compounds. In this paper, descriptions pertain to steady-state heat transfer FEA simulation utility in evaluating and optimising heat sink profiles for a multi-component (8 materials) configuration. Temperature distribution has been evaluated for varying heat sink profiles & convection area in order to limit the laser stem (case) temperature below 70°C while dissipating heat.


Silica-encapsulated ZnSe nanocrystals (NCs) were prepared by a safe and simple synthesis method, utilizing a sodium bis (2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate (AOT)/water/cyclohexane microemulsion system and characterized by UV–vis analysis, photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). For the encapsulations, two reverse micellar solutions [one for tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and the other for ZnSe] containing different water volumes were employed. The size of silica particles containing ZnSe NCs could be controlled from 13–37 nm by varying the water content W (W=[H2O]/[AOT]). On the other hand, the size of encapsulated ZnSe NCs was almost unchanged (about 2.5 nm) even though the size of the silica particles was increased. At W = 7, the maximum PL efficiency of 6% was obtained and the photostability was increased markedly after ZnSe NCs were encapsulated by silica.


AbstractAttack graphs are useful for network defenders, illustrating paths an attacker can use to gain access to a targeted network. Defenders can then focus their efforts on patching the vulnerabilities and configuration errors thatallow the attackers the greatest amount of access.We describe the optimal placement of intrusion detection system (IDS) sensors andprioritization of IDS alarms, using attack graph analysis. Our attack graphs predict the various possible ways of penetrating a network to reach critical assets. .We have created a new type of attack graph, the multiple-prerequisitegraph, and that scales nearly linearly as the size of a typical network increases. We have built a prototype system usingthis graph type. In particular, automated analysis of network configuration and attacker exploits provides an attack graph showing all possiblepaths to critical assets. We then place IDS sensors to cover all these paths, using the fewestnumber of sensorsthe prototype uses readily available source data to automatically compute network reachability, classify vulnerabilities, build the graph, and recommend actions to improve network security.Then, through our predictive vulnerability-based attack graphs, weprioritize IDS alarms based on their level of threat (attack graph distance) to critical assets. The predictive power of our attack graphs then provides the necessary context for appropriate attack response.We have tested the prototype on an operational network with over 180 nodes, where it helped to discover a previously unknown configuration error.


In this study, a method to design gain scheduling controller for a crane is proposed. A dynamical model of the crane is derived by the Euler-Lagrange equation. The model includes the rope length, its velocity and acceleration, that are time-varying parameters. A first characteristic of this study is that the velocity and the acceleration of the rope length are not ignored in the state equation, moreover they are used as gain scheduling parameters of the controller. A second characteristic is to construct an affine linear parameter varying system not ignoring a nonlinearity of the time-varying parameters. Using linear fractional transformation and descriptor representation, a state equation is led to be linear for the time-varying parameters. Then, the problem of the controller design is formulated by linear matrix inequality via parameter dependent Lyapunov function. The controller is constructed by a state feedback. The gains are given as a function of the time-varying parameters that are the rope length, its velocity and acceleration. Comparing with conventional methods a conservativeness of the proposed method is reduced. The effectiveness of the proposed method is illustrated by simulations.


ion as opening up space-times, are equally important to the embodied affordances of miniature wargaming, a practice 'expanding' the 'spaces and places of war' (Reich 2014, p.52) through producing them. Approaching war 'as a realm of experience rather than a set of cause and correlates and abstract actors' (Sylvester 2013, p.13), the thesis contemplates how wargame models (rulebooks (as the 'warfare model') and miniature model soldiers) offer particular embodied engagements with conflict and without the 'lived body' (Anderson and Wylie 2009) coming under threat. Drawing upon Caillois's concepts of 'teleplasty' (2003) and 'mimetic play' (1961), it is shown how warfare models are made to enable particular feeling, emotional and imaginative states relating to other human bodies and space-times in the contexts of the military and battlespace. Enthusiasm, enchantment and love with aspects of war, but also war-as-game, from atmospheres to 'terrain and tactics', become mobilised through practice with abstract models (warfare models) and miniature models (model soldiers). As noted earlier, enthusiasm towards several of the models discussed in this thesis can lie with the difference as much as the similarity between the 'model' and the world by which the model 'makes sense'. Both wargaming and model railways might be understood as mediums and mediums delightful as such. Like scientific models more generally, engagements with hydraulic models are rather different. Whilst in hydraulics there may be pleasure derived from working on and/or engaging with physical models and/or computer models, movement between or a working with both rests not on sentiment, but pressure or impetus as to how best to 'model' a phenomenon or environment. This raises a question about the desire of abstraction, but as McCormack observes 'abstraction is [...] crucial to the articulation and imagination of actionable futures' (2012, p.728). Although abstraction can be problematic in hydraulics, and this thesis attends to this in relation to questions of scale and mimesis, it is often only through abstraction such a precautionary action as hydraulic modelling becomes possible and relevant. Hydraulic model studies attempt to make futures 'actionable'. In taking account of the embodied affordances of hydraulic models and relations with the miniature and abstraction, the following concepts are brought together: Uncertainty (Brown 2010), nonhuman affect (Ash 2014), threat, decision-making (McCormack and Schwanen 2011), material and object agency, government-science relations and finally futures (Anderson 2010a). It is shown how hydraulic models, alongside modelling practices and knowledges, try to intervene on uncertainty about possible infrastructures/interventions within water


Summary The allergic response of rabbit platelets as observed by increased membrane permeability to 86 Rb and by histamine release is Mg ++ -dependent. There is competitive inhibition by Ca ++ at optimal levels of Mg ++ (1 to 3 × 10 -4 M). Calcium can substitute for Mg ++ at suboptimal levels of the latter, but is less effective. Calcium increases the range of Mg ++ levels for an optimal response, possibly by stabilizing a reaction intermediate. The latent period for 86 Rb efflux is brought to a minimum of about 1 min, by optimal Mg ++ concentrations. The minimal latent period for histamine release is about 5 min. The initial rate is inhibited by excess Mg ++ . The latent period is far less responsive in this respect. The data suggest that increased membrane permeability and histamine release are successive steps in the allergic response of platelets, in which only a Mg ++ requirement has been identified.


Image authentication techniques have recently gained great attention due to its application in a large number of multimedia applications. Digital images are increasingly transmitted over non-secure channels such as the Internet. The recent growth of data intensive multimedia-based web applications has not only sustained the need for more efficient ways to encode signals and images but have made compression of such signals central to storage and communication technology. Data compression which can be lossy or lossless is required to decrease the storage requirement and better data transfer rate. One of the best image compression techniques is using wavelet transform. It is a new technique and has many advantages over other techniques. Wavelet transform uses a large variety of wavelets for decomposition of images. The state of the art coding techniques like EZW, SPIHT (set partitioning in hierarchical trees) and EBCOT(embedded block coding with optimized truncation) use the wavelet transform as basic and common step for their own further technical advantages. The wavelet transform results therefore have the importance which is dependent on the type of wavelet used. In our project, we have used HAAR wavelets to perform the transform of different test image and the results have been discussed and analyzed. The analysis has been compared based on accuracy, memory requirements and time complexity.


The demand for ground water in Sri Lanka has grown rapidly over the past few decades, mainly as a result of population growth, economic development, and shortages of rainfall. Recent estimate show that over 55 percent of the population now relies on groundwater for their domestic water requirements. As a free and easily tapped commodity, groundwater today is utilized in a wide variety of uses. In some parts of the country including many locations in Kandy and Colombo, high pumping rates have lowered the groundwater table, causing the wells to go dry and affecting the natural water courses including those used for drinking. If these situations get worse, water shortages could become severe, especially during the more frequent extended dry spells being experienced, possibly due to climatic changes. Further, water pollution from domestic, agricultural and industrial sources is contaminating the surface water and groundwater and affecting the environment and further placing more pressure on the available water resources. Therefore this paper identifies several critical issues as urgent challenges to be immediately addressed and proposes policy recommendations to achieve sustainable groundwater resources in Sri Lanka.


Following the manuscript battles of the 1880s, Czech literary studies adapted fairly rapidly to the fact of the nineteenth-century origins of the Dvůr Králové and Zelená Hora manuscripts and the poetry they contained, and from the early twentieth century onward, histories of Czech poetry, studies of Czech prosody, and discussions of Czech literature in the period all regularly treat the manuscripts as a part of the literary production of the time. 1 In this sense, the Czech forged manuscripts have had a better fate than some other forged literature, like Macpherson's Ossianic poems or Chatterton's Rowley poems, which until very recently remained mostly outside the purview of legitimate English literary history. 2 On the other hand, the purported authors of the manuscripts, Václav Hanka and Josef Linda in particular, have been relegated to the margins of the literary canon and their other works have been studied, when at all, largely only for the indirect (if often damning) evidence they provide of the authors' participation in the forgeries. 3 Thus it would seem that Czech literary scholarship has managed to sever the manuscripts from their authors in order to treat the poetry as literature while still treating the authors as damned forgers. One of the ways this has been accomplished is by treating the poetry of the manuscripts primarily only in other contexts: their verse forms in relation to the metrical and prosodic experimentation of the time; their mythic picture of Czech nationhood in connection with the developing ideology of the Czech national revival. Questions of authorship have remained largely neglected. Dalibor Dobiáš recently noted that while the likely participants in the creation of the manuscripts have been identified, the details of the particular contributions of each author to specific poems has not been resolved, so that the authorship of the poems remains an open question (Dobiáš 2010: 190, 264-65). This neglect of the question of authorship is not by chance, but follows from the nature of the manuscripts themselves as they present their implicit authorship. As I will argue below, the possibility of attribution of the poems to any individual author was a powerful argument in the inauthentication of the manuscripts, and detailed analysis and allocation of responsibility was unnecessary to the economy of such arguments. The stigma attached to ―forgery‖ in the dominant moral framework has also largely inhibited the possibility of the reexamination of the activities of Hanka, Linda, et al. in


Acute pancreatitis(AP)remains a common critical disease.Recently,the diagnosis and treatment of AP have made remarkable progress,early diagnosis and standard life support therapy could markedly improve prognosis of patients with AP.Nevertheless,AP is complex and variable;physicians are often required to make correct clinical decisions within a very short period of time.In fact,it is very important to establish a scientific rational decision making of AP,which could efficiently guide the appropriate diagnosis and treatment of patients with AP.Clinical physicians should strive to fully learn and use the dialectical thinking,deeply understand the genesis and pathophysiological mechanisms of AP,and develop the reasonable diagnosis and treatment.We believe that these findings could lead to significant improvement in our therapeutic approach to AP.


Neutrino radioactivity (NR), i.e., nuclear transitions involving emission of a neutrino and an antineutrino, is discussed. The probability of this transition and its role in stellar evolution are evaluated. At T approximates 10/sup 9 deg / neutrino emission due to NR can carry away energy from a star comparable to the energy released in nova and supernova outbursts. (auth)


Proprioception while standing is important for the balance control, but the proprioception has not been investigated in the unconstrained standing conditions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of age and gender on the thresholds of perception and muscle response in response to the support surface rotation. The experiment was designed so that the thresholds depend mainly on the proprioception, i.e., quasistatic condition (0.2∘/s rotation of the platform) with eyes closed. Fifty-two healthy subjects (half young and half elderly) participated in this study. A platform was developed which can be rotated in four directions. Perception threshold angle was registered from subjects' pressing a button. Muscle response threshold angle was determined as the earlier onset of EMG in lower limb muscles. Two standing conditions (feet together and natural stance) were tested. Repeated-measures ANOVA showed that both thresholds increased with age. Post hoc tests revealed (1) that the perception threshold was greater for women than men in the elderly and (2) both thresholds of the elderly were greater for the feet-together stance than natural stance. Inferior perception sensitivity of platform rotation in elderly women may be associated with inferior performance in cortical postural control and greater fall ratio compared to elderly men, which suggests the need of proprioception trainings.


Using a novel wave equation, which is Galileo invariant but can give
precise results up to energies as high as mc2, exact quasi-relativistic quantum mechanical solutions are found for the
Hydrogen atom. It is shown that the exact solutions of the Grave de Peralta equation
include the relativistic correction to the non-relativistic kinetic energies
calculated using the Schrodinger equation.


In this paper a boiling water reactor (BWR) core concept that meets various requirements for a next-generation light water reactor is proposed. This BWR core can be operated as either a high-burnup core or a high-conversion core simply by replacing the fuel assemblies and control rods. The high-burnup core is suitable for a once-through nuclear fuel cycle and has a low fuel cycle cost due to the adoption of advanced spectral shift technology. The high-conversion core is suitable for nuclear fuel recycling and reaches a high-conversion ratio by adopting a tight-lattice arrangement of mixed-oxide fuel rods in the fuel assemblies and using control rods with a zirconium follower. The reactor structures are essentially identical, and they are designed to be as simple as the current BWR to achieve high reliability. The reactor core also has high operability due to the spectral shift water rods that are operated with all control rods withdrawn. At reactor shutdown, the core has a large reactivity control capability due to the cruciform control rods with wider blades and has an ample safety margin.


Geographers have generally been slow to realize the potential offered by land reform for geographical study. This paper provides an introduction to land reform studies. Various types of land reform and agrarian reform are defined. Some theoretical considerations on land reform's possible contribution to development are presented, using a three-stage growth model and with emphasis on man-land relationships. An important theme is the recurring conflict between social equality and economic efficiency, although in the short term the political motivations of land reform are often the most important aspect. Drawing on a variety of literature, several land reforms are evaluated to see if they have contributed to economic development.


Time efficiency is a basic characteristic for spectrum management and sharing in cognitive radio networks (CRN). In this paper, we introduce an incremental metric time into dynamic spectrum management and sharing problem, which could make the spectrum resource management more reasonable. On the one hand, to motivate the idle spectrum holders to share the spectrum more actively and regulate the spectrum leasing markets better , a spectrum management rule (SMR) is introduced. Accordingly, a spectrum lease rule (SLR) is proposed from the perspective of factual application requirements of unlicensed users (UUs). One the other hand, we formulate the spectrum sharing process as a two-dimensional packing problem, in which UUs utilize the spectrum resource through forming cooperative groups (CG). Finally, a distributed fast spectrum sharing algorithm (DFSS) is proposed to realize the process of CG forming promptly. Simulation demonstrates that DFSS algorithm can adapt to the cognitive radio networks effectively, and the average spectrum utilization ratio can reach about 83.42\%.


A new-style experiment teaching system is a design for single-chip teaching-Automotive Collision Avoidance System.It integrates powerful functions into the system:distance diaplaying,voice broadcasting,calendar displaying,automatically braking and alarming.A high performance croconverter spec061A ia used as the control core in the system,configuring a liquid crystal module.It has the advantage of simple hardware circuit design,facility man-machine conversation interface,convenient operation with low price.So it plays a very important role in student comprehensive professional practice.


The present invention relates to a welding method for a polymer material weldable pipe (1) and a polymer material can be welded sleeve (7), wherein the pipe has an end portion (1a, 1b), wherein the method comprising: an overlapping manner the sleeve (7) is provided at the ends of the pipes (1a, 1b); through the conduit between (1) and the sleeve (7) is provided with a conductive (L, 9) the sleeve ( end 7) welded to the pipe (1a, 1b), the strip is permeable to molten plastic; and the power supply (PU-DC, PU-AC) is connected to the band (L via feed cables (M), 9 ), and current is supplied to the heating zone (L, 9) and the surrounding polymeric material, such that they band (L, 9) surrounding melted together to form a weld, wherein the method comprises: measuring a welding before the initial heating zone ambient temperature T0; the UL voltage measuring tape; current IL supplied to the measuring tape; calculated prior to the heating zone with the initial resistance R0; resulting increase in current supplied to the band; the voltage based on the resistance R is calculated and the measured current band ; calculating a change in resistance [Delta] R; is calculated based on a change in resistance of the belt Increase in temperature ΔT, and by the initial temperature and the ambient temperature of the weld zone T0 of increase [Delta] T is calculated by adding the welding temperature Tw. The present invention further relates to a pipe (1) for a polymeric material weldable to the welding apparatus.


In this paper, volatility is estimated and then forecast using unobserved components-realized volatility (UC-RV) models as well as constant volatility and GARCH models. With the objective of forecasting medium-term horizon volatility, various prediction methods are employed: multi-period prediction, variable sampling intervals and scaling. The optimality of these methods is compared in terms of their forecasting performance. To this end, several UC-RV models are presented and then calibrated using the Kalman filter. Validation is based on the standard errors on the parameter estimates and a comparison with other models employed in the literature such as constant volatility and GARCH models. Although we have volatility forecasting for the computation of Value-at-Risk in mind the methodology presented has wider applications. This investigation into practical volatility forecasting complements the substantial body of work on realized volatility-based modelling in business. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


How many departments in your organization have requirements for visual inspections? How many of the codes, regulations, and legislative mandates demand that visual inspections be performed on a regular, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual basis? Think of the requirements for slings and wire ropes, aircraft parts, hazardous waste containers, and every commercial vehicle and load—the list goes on and on. Yet how many of those same codes have a single line that requires the inspectors (your employees) to be able to see and see correctly?


Every asphalt pavement rehabilitation, apart from benefits in terms of safety, comfort and speed for users, also has its negative side, i.e., adverse effects on the environment. Some of these impacts, such as carbon dioxide equivalent emissions, cannot be limited to the immediate environment where the works are carried out, but are global. In order to limit the increase in the average temperature on Earth caused by increased CO2e emissions to below 2oC, and in accordance with Serbia's internationally accepted obligations, it is necessary that all industries, including construction, make their maximum contribution. When we talk about the rehabilitation of asphalt curtains, one of the possible ways to greatly reduce CO2e emissions is the application of thermostable geogrids for asphalt reinforcement. The main effect achieved by the application of geogrids for asphalt reinforcement is the extension of the durability of the new asphalt layer while reducing maintenance costs. According to the manufacturer of asphalt reinforcement nets and delaying the appearance of reflected cracks, the durability of the new asphalt layer increases 3-4 times. The paper provides a detailed analysis of the achieved carbon dioxide equivalent savings as well as the financial benefits of applying the HaTelit C 40/17 geogrid during the rehabilitation of the pavement on the project: Enhanced maintenance of state road IB no. 12, Žabalj-Zrenjanin.


cerebellar ectopia. The value of negative contrast studies was emphasized by Wickbom and Hanafee (1963), who analysed the findings of 418 air encephalograms carried out for suspected intracranial space-occupying lesions and found six type 1 and one type 2 anomaly. In Sweden, France, Italy, and Germany air myelography is the method of choice, and iophendylate is rarely used. Jirout (1966) performed air myelography with the patient sitting and the head flexed well forwards. The classical appearance of the herniated tonsils in cerebeilar ectopia is tongue-shaped as described by Liliequist (1960). Unfortunately, occasionally, as in Case 1, the tonsils are not of this shape and are impossible to distinguish from herniated tonsils secondary to raised intracranial pressure. In patients presenting with the disorder in middle life it is imperative to exclude a tumour, and clearly the rest of the posterior fossa and also the cerebral hemisphere must be examined either by air myelography or by arteriography before performing a decompression. In the non-acute case neuroradiological studies may be performed without risk and at leisure. However, in acute cases investigations may be hazardous. Thus in Case 3 the performance of an air study which failed to outline the fourth ventricle and an iophendylate myelogram, followed shortly afterwards by ventriculography, undoubtedly contributed to the eventual fatal outcome. It is suggested that when sudden deterioration occurs in such a case only one examination should be carried out and posterior fossa decompression performed. The radiologist (J.S.) involved in Case 3, while aware that the fourth ventricle was low, was bent on excluding a lesion pushing it down. This is an extremely common clinical problem. Awareness that the malformation alone may produce such a gross clinical picture is important and may help to prevent similar unfortunate errors. The importance of adequately examining the upper cervical canal in both the prone and the supine position has been stressed by Baker (1963) and E. G. P. H. du Boulay (personal communication, 1966). Unfortunately, this is by no means routine even with syndromes suggesting upper cervical cord involvement. It is difficult to be dogmatic about whether supine positive contrast myelography is superior to gas myelography. The former is simple and requires no special equipment. The latter is more refined, more time-consuming, and requires special equipment. However, it demonstrates the anatomy so much better that we feel that it will eventually become the method of choice.


Employment flexibility is commonly associated to greater labour mobility and thus faster cross-regional adjustments. The literature however offers very little hard evidence on this and quite limited theoretical guidance. This paper examines empirically the relationship between employment flexibility and cross-regional adjustment (migration) at the regional and local levels in the UK. Employment flexibility is associated to higher labour mobility (but only at a rather localised scale) and at the same time seems to reduce the responsiveness of migration to unemployment. This suggest that rising flexibility may be linked to higher persistence in spatial disparities, as intra-regional adjustments are strengthened while extraregional adjustments weakened.


ABSTRACT Introduction: To provide a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCT) comparing semi-rigid ureteroscopic lithotripsy (URS) with laparoscopic ureterolithotomy (LU) for the treatment of the large proximal ureteral stone. Materials and methods: A systematic literature review was performed in June 2015 using the PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases to identify relevant studies. Article selection proceeded according to the search strategy based on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis criteria. Results: Six RCT including 646 patients were analyzed, 325 URS cases (50.3%) and 321 LU cases (49.7%). URS provided a significantly shorter operative time (weighted mean difference [WMD] = −31.26 min; 95%CI −46.88 to −15.64; p<0.0001) and length of hospital stay (WMD = −1.48 days; 95%CI −2.78 to −0.18; p=0.03) than LU. There were no significant differences in terms of overall complications (OR = 0.78; 95%CI 0.21-2.92; p=0.71) and major complications – Clavien ≥3 – (OR = 1.79; 95%CI 0.59-5.42; p=0.30). LU led to a significantly higher initial stone-free rate (OR = 8.65; 95%CI 4.18-17.91; p<0.00001) and final stone-free rate (OR = 6.41; 95%CI 2.24-18.32; p=0.0005) than URS. There was a significantly higher need for auxiliary procedures in URS cases (OR = 6.58; 95%CI 3.42-12.68; p<0.00001). Conclusions: Outcomes with LU for larger proximal ureteral calculi are favorable compared to semi-rigid URS and should be considered as a first-line alternative if flexible ureteroscopy is not available. Utilization of flexible ureteroscopy in conjunction with semi-rigid ureteroscopy may impact these outcomes, and deserves further systematic evaluation.


In this communication, the incorrectness of phenomenological approach to the logistic growth equation, proposed by Castorina et al. is presented in detail. The correct phenomenological approach to logistic growth equation is also proposed here. It is also shown that the same leads to different types of biological growths also.


The funding of international solidarity NGOs is characterized in France by a predominance of private money, a marginal transfer of public development aid, and local authority grants for micro and mini organizations. This kind of ""exception"" brings about the poor visibility of small, yet numerous and active, structures. It emphasizes the risk of dependence vis-a-vis local political choices. "French IPSI" would gain from networking with national advocacy campaigns of large NGOs, and from better interaction with them.


Introduction This case involved a 15-year-old boy, who slipped and impaled his left hand on a wooden beam. An initial anterior–posterior radiograph was obtained prior to referral to plastic surgery for further management (figure 1). Figure 1 Clinical photographs and initial X-ray taken of the impalement injury. Clinical examination was restricted due to access. The patient reported general pain on limited movement of all digits but normal neurology. He received appropriate initial treatment of broad-spectrum antibiotics and tetanus care in the emergency department. His medical and social history were unremarkable. Question What is the next most appropriate intervention? Immediate removal of the impaled structure under tourniquet control in an operating theatre. Immediate removal of the impaled structure in the emergency department under nerve block. Further imaging is needed. Urgent surgical consultation.


Several biotic and abiotic factors including poor regeneration, changing environment and edaphic factor along with poor regeneration affects health and establishment of Shorea robusta nowadays. No systematic attempts were made to understand the dynamism of its natural regeneration and to suggest management inputs to encourage its regeneration. The present study deals with the regeneration status and population structure of four sites of Sal dominating tropical dry deciduous forest during 2016–18. Regeneration status of the forest was determined based on population size of seedlings and saplings. A total of 24 species of 19 families were encountered. Regeneration status in all the study sites is dissimilar. In the entire four sites, site quality I was good regenerating because of the high density of seedlings and saplings in forest site. The results indicated that the average number of regeneration of Sal seedlings per hectare worked out to be 2562 ha, which are quite adequate. It was also observed that Shorea robusta showed uninterrupted type of distribution pattern along with abundant regeneration in the forest stand which showed healthy sign of establishment and growth of this species in the past. Other associates showed different growth patterns. Efforts are needed to conserve the forest for their diversity and existence.


Summary form only given. The design is presented for a 250 MW X-band coaxial ubitron-FEL amplifier. The device operates in the TE/sub 01/ mode of a coaxial circuit using a hybrid wiggler with inner and outer annular permanent magnets. The use of the TE/sub 01/ mode minimizes RF breakdown, since the electric field is zero at the walls. The coaxial geometry allows for a non-scalloping PPM-type stability condition with zero guide field. By choosing /spl omega//sub p//sup 2/=(/spl gamma//2) /spl Omega//sub W//sup 2/, where /spl omega//sub p/ is the plasma frequency and /spl Omega//sub W/=eB/sub /spl Gamma///mc, the beam's space-charge force balances the magnetic v/sub /spl perp///spl times/B/sub z/ radial force. The space-charge field and B/sub z/ both change sign at the radius of the magnetic minimum if the beam is properly centered, resulting in stable focused flow. Although this coaxial PPM confinement geometry is ideal for ubitrons since it produces a strong azimuthal quiver motion, it can also be utilized to propagate high current annular electron beams for higher power, coaxial analogs of conventional linear-beam devices such as klystrons. Kiloampere-level electron beams can be transported for voltages in the range of 100-500 kV. An 11.4 GHz ubitron using a 500 kV, 1 kA electron beam has been designed to produce 250 MW using a self-consistent slow-timescale simulation code. An efficiency of 37% with a saturated gain of 53 dB is predicted for an ideal beam in an untapered device with a length of 117 cm.


I n this issue, volume 4 # 1, we are initiating a publication schedule of six issues per year. In the first three volumes, we published quarterly. For those interested in submitting manuscripts, we estimate an average interval of 10 weeks from initial submission to potential publication determined by the review and copyediting processes, although we will expedite on an individual basis. The initial submission deadline for volume 4 # 2 was February 1. The next available submission deadline is April 1 for the volume 4 # 3, mid-June issue. We have nine manuscripts in this publication. There are three research articles: an important survey of patient preferences (which are usually not considered in study design) regarding endpoints in cardiovascular clinical trials (1); a multicenter trial of the application of a new less invasive diagnostic approach to pulmonary nodule assessment (2); and an excellent graduate medical education study showing improvement in the approach to upper respiratory infection treatment by community hospital medical residents (3). There is a review on technological advancements in the percutaneous approach using atrial exclusion devices for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation patients when chronic anticoagulation is problematic (4). There are four case reports: a complication related to abdominal aortography (5); the challenge in diagnosing the source of colonic perforation when stercoral colitis and diverticulosis co-exist (6); a remarkably illustrative presentation of skin, lung, and colon findings related to the same pathologic process (7); and a case of central post-stroke pain, demonstrating the challenges in diagnosis and treatment (8). The final paper is in the Clinical Images column (a column initiated in the December 2013 issue) with an image of classic tophaceous arthritis (9). References 1. Chow RD, Wankhedkar KP, Mete M. Patients' preferences for selection of endpoints in cardiovascular clinical trials. Finley DJ, et al. Thoracoscopic detection of occult indeterminate pulmonary nodules using bronchoscopic pleural dye marking. Percutaneous methods of left atrial appendage exclusion: an alternative to the internist. Pant S, et al. Acute mesenteric ischemia: a sequela of abdominal aortography. Mody K, et al. Perforation in a patient with stercoral colitis and diverticulosis: who did it? A case of ulcerative colitis presenting as pyoderma gangrenosum and lung nodules.commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


Accurate energy‐size dependence of excitonic transitions in semiconductor nanocrystals in the strong confinement regime using classical theoretical approaches such as effective mass (EM) approximation, tight binding (TB), or empirical pseudo‐potential is difficult. We propose a simple empirical expression with three fitting parameters that accurately relates the size dependence of most known excitonic transitions in CdSe and in InAs nanocrystals. We show that this empirical expression can be deduced from a phase jump approach if the charge carriers are considered to travel on the atomic lattice of the nanocrystal and gain energy upon bouncing at the nanoparticle boundaries. This empirical expression is also tested on the atomically flat CdSe nanoplatelets (NPLs) without any adjustment of the parameters obtained with the CdSe spherical nanocrystals, and provides an estimation of the CdSe NPLs thickness that matches exactly the experimental observations. These results suggest that a phase shift approach could be useful to describe the electronic transitions in semiconductor nanocrystals.


The word zhi-yan has been regarded as a scholium term to indicate the origin of a Chinese character, but this study makes a new discovery after analyzing the zhi-yan in Zheng Xuan's Annotations on the Three Rites. In the Annotations on the Rites of Zhou, Zheng follows the traditional method of using it mostly to trace word origins and occasionally to explain word meanings. In the Annotations on the Book of Rites, it is equally used for word origins and word meanings; in the Annotations on the Mao Poetry, it is mainly used to explain word meanings. Clearly, Zheng Xuan first uses zhi-yan etymologically but in the end explanatorily.Zheng Xuan's zhi-yan is a turning point in the development of Chinese terminology. The term is firstly used to rectify word meanings in the Mengzi, and this usage prevails most when Dong Zhong-Shu's emphasis on sound glosses leads to the prosperity of New Texts studies and text divination. Then dictionaries such as the Explaining and Analyzing Characters and the Explaining Names use it to describe word origins instead. Under the influence of Zheng Xuan's annotations, zhi-yan is gradually used to explain word meanings, and this usage later becomes the mainstream of scholium studies.


Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is subtle cardiac dysfunction in patients with chronic venous insufficiency.
Methods: Age and sex matched 56 patients with a score of C3 and above in the Clinical, Etiological, Anatomical, Pathophysiological classification and 56 healthy volunteers were included in the study. All subjects were evaluated by detailed echocardiographic examination, including two-dimensional strain echocardiographic analysis by speckle tracking method.
Results: Mitral E wave deceleration time (EDT), E and A wave velocity, E/e' ratio for left ventricle, tricuspid EDT, E/e' ratio for right ventricle and systolic pulmonary artery pressure were found high as significant statistically in patients groups (p < 0.05). But no any statistically significant difference was observed in other parameters between two groups.
Conclusions: There may be an increase in diastolic filling pressures in patients with chronic venous insufficiency due to the increased preload in the supine position. This condition seems to be clinically important in patients at high risk for heart failure due to the presumption of the early treatment of chronic venous insufficiency may reduce the risk of heart failure evolvement.


A surgical cutting instrument comprises an outer tubular member having a proximal section, an intermediate section and a central lumen. An inner tubular member is rotatably received within the central lumen and includes a distal end forming a cutting member extending distally beyond, and exposed relative to, the distal section of the outer tubular member. A bearing assembly is coupled to the outer tubular member and the inner tubular member.


Cancer has been the most deleterious disease in recent times, and unfortunately its spread is increasing. Systemic treatment with chemotherapeutics remains the conventional way of treating many cancers, despite the serious damage long-term chemotherapy can cause in healthy tissues. Many therapeutic strategies have achieved popular practical applications, but drug delivery systems still face challenges associated with safety, and this has led to the development of safer drug delivery methods composed of biocompatible substances. In this respect, lipid-, polymer-, and peptide-based drug delivery systems have been proposed as safer candidates for cancer therapy. These delivery methods are expected to as biodegradable systems with low cytotoxicity for cancer therapy. Therefore, in this chapter, the authors discuss use of lipids, polymers, and peptides as delivery vehicles for chemotherapeutic agents and their structural characteristics.


This digest summarizes the mission performed October 17-31, 2002, under Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Project J-3, International Transit Studies Program. The digest includes transportation information on the cities and facilities visited, lessons learned, and discussions of policies and practices that could be applied in the United States. The mission focused on how transit agencies in Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Russia are adapting to the major social and economic changes that have occurred as these countries have moved from centrally planned economies to market-based economies. The team met with staff from agencies that plan and operate public transport systems in Warsaw and Gdynia, Poland; Budapest, Hungary; Bucharest, Romania; and Moscow, Russia. The discussions covered financial and economic issues, market share, land use and right-of-way, specialized transit, and community support for transit.


This research — beginning in 2017 — has as main objective understanding a whole set of agents/events/demonstrations/artifacts/fruitions which have been acting as producers/ translators/commutators/transmitters of "new" Portuguese contemporary urban culture. They are overflowing artistic, social and territorial borders, which gives them uniqueness in the current processes of reconfiguration of identities. This implies an approach of a set of "actors/settings/scenes" that have been developing activities since the beginning of XXI century in the different cities of the country with particular impact at the crossroads of arts, territories (local, global and translocal) and identities, whose interventions constitute themselves as relevant cultural agents in a perspective of glocalization. We are considering cultural and social spaces with a local basis, which are territorially embedded and with a significant identity nature, whose processes and dynamics will provide a new dimension to explore Portuguese culture, once overflowed to other territories and dimensions (international, for example).


We report a high density liquid crystal (LC) droplet array for non-contact inspection. The incident light is modulated by changing the shape of each droplet using a dielectric force even though the electrode and droplet array are separated by a fairly large air gap. The reshaped LC droplets cause colour change which is easily inspected by the human eye. In a sample with 30 µm thick polymer cavity and 130 µm air gap, LC droplet surface reshaping is clearly observed as the applied voltage exceeds 40 Vrms. Potential application of such a LC droplet array for inspecting the defected thin-film-transistor pixels is emphasized.


A composite comprising the objective lens without any diffraction to transmits part of the incident bundle of the lens to form a hologram and diffracts transmitted light to form a bundle of the remaining part of the incident first-order diffracted light, and means for condensing the transmitted light so that a thin section a front surface forming a first information medium and a thin light spot on the objective lens converges a second light diffraction to form a focal point on the front surface of the second information medium is thick. Since the hologram lens from the concave lens effect is selectively diffracted light, the transmitted light is different from the curvature of the curvature of the diffracted light. Thus, the composite lens has two focal points.


High temperature polymer membrane fuel cells (HTPEMFCs) are promising devices for future mobile applications. To minimize phosphoric acid migration from the membranes and to reduce the total stack weight and size metallic bipolar plates are a promising alternative. So far only very few published results are available on the use of metallic bipolar plates in HTPEMFCs. During this work a single test cell was equipped with metallic endplates to investigate the possibility of using metallic bipolar plates in HTPEMFC stacks. Furthermore we tried to simulate the environments present in an HTPEMFC by furnace exposures in an attempt to develop a simplified test method for accelerated corrosion of bipolar plate materials. It was found that the performance of the HTPEM test cell decreased by about 15 µV h−1. More corrosion products were seen on the cathode side samples, whereas on the anode side sample the corrosion attack of the steel was more severe. These results were successfully replicated in simulated furnace experiments.


Based on the analysis towards the universality, duality and plasticity of desire, the author of this paper discovered the characteristics of desire and its inherent law. And provided some theoretical basis for acknowledging desire and adjusting it. And particular attention was given on how to effectively restrain the irrational desire.


The numerical solution for mathematical model of unsteady-state flow for high-pressure gas pipeline is conducted by characteristic line method.The energy equation is considered,and the theo- retical analysis of unsteady-state flow for gas pipeline network is carried out.The problem of low calcula- tion precision caused by ignorance of the energy equation is solved.The dynamic simulation program of pressure,temperature and flow rate distributed along pipeline during variation of gas consumption load with time is generated,and the calculation example is given.The simulation data are very close to the ac- tual data.


This thesis explicates the rebellion theories of three renowned Christian political thinkers and evaluates the extent that each can communicate an intelligible rebellion theory to a non-Christian audience. Augustine of Hippo, at the dawn of the medieval ages, John Calvin of Geneva during the Reformation and John Adams of the USA in the midst of the Enlightenment are the three thinkers selected for consideration. These thinkers have produced ideas that have transcended time and geographical location. Rebellion is an issue of the utmost political importance as it reveals the limits, and the first principles of politics. The issues surrounding the involvement of religion in politics have created a place for confusion in minds of many people today. The issues surrounding religion and politics need further elucidation. The way these thinkers were able to translate the divine command from Romans 13:1, which decrees an absolute prohibition against rebellion, into an intelligible rebellion theory to non-Christians, is an important consideration in this thesis.


Introduction Prenatal seizures cause serious damage in the fetal nervous system leading to cognitive and behavioral deficits in newborns. This study examined the effect of trans-cinnamic acid on cognitive impairment and hippocampal cell damage in the rat model of Penthylentetrazole (PTZ)induced prenatal seizure. Materials & Methods 30 pregnant Wistar rats were randomly divided into 5 groups: control, PTZ + NS, PTZ + SIN25, PTZ + SIN50, and PTZ + SIN100. Rats were treated by repeated injections of PTZ (40 mg/kg; i.p) on embryonic day (ED) 13 for 7 consecutive days. The two hours before PTZ injection, pregnant rats were gavaged with normal saline (PTZ + NS) or cinnamic acid (PTZ +SIN groups with 25, 50 and 100 mg/kg doses). The working memory, avoidance learning, and anxiety-like behaviors were evaluated in one-month-old male offspring. Then, brains were histopathologically analyzed for hippocampal cell damages. Results In comparison to controls, the PTZ + NS group showed a significant decrease in alternation behavior (working memory), latency time to the darkroom (avoidance memory) and increase level of anxiety with decrease of cell density in different areas of hippocampus (P˂ 0.05(. However, the cinnamic acidtreated groups showed a significant increase in working, avoidance memories and hippocampal cell density in comparison with PTZ + NS groups (P˂ 0.05(. Conclusion The cinnamic acid with reduction of hippocampal cell damage was ameliorating cognitive deficits in rat model of prenatal seizures.


Emphysematous pyelonephritis is a highly mortal, acute necrotizing disease charactarized by gas formation in either renal parenchyma or perirenal area. Although it is seen quite rare; it usually diagnosed in diabetes mellitus patients. Predominantly it is caused by microorganism Escherichia coli, many other possible microorganism can play a role. It is diagnosed with clinical assesment, radiological imaging and labrotary results. It can be treated with parenteral antibiotic therapy, percutaneous drainage or nephrectomy. There are a small proportion of patients whom can be treated with antibiotic treatment only. In this case report, we will discuss a patient with type 2 emphysematous pyelonephritis whom received only antibiotic treatment and showed clinical improvement. The patient signed a conset form to allow us share her personel data.


This paper presents a case study of a satellite communications site at which equipment was damaged during a lightning storm. The transient ground potential rise (GPR) and stress voltages on the damaged equipment (HPA) during a lightning storm are obtained using the electromagnetic field theory method. The stress voltage on the HPA is reduced by 75% (from 25 kV to 6 kV) when the isolated signal ground wire is electrically bonded to a nearby equipment ground. An extended grounding system has little influence on the stress voltages at the beginning of the transient period; however, it reduces the stress voltages significantly (by about 50%) after the first 3 /spl mu/s.


It would seem that in spite of the influx of Native literatures that evidence vibrant Native identities and perspectives, there are still those who would claim that Natives have vanished. The "vanishing Native" in current scholarship emerges from the idea that there is no such thing as a "pure" Indian identity, or the surprisingly widely accepted view of Native literature as simply one way among others of subverting Western culture. A growing number of scholars insist, however, that these arguments are outdated and unacceptable, and they provide alternative and Nativecentered ways of approaching Native literature, criticism, and identities. Eva Marie Garroutte (Cherokee) makes a powerful argument for what she calls "Radical Indigenism" in her book Real Indians: Identity and the Survival of Native America: "Radical Indigenism has the potential to help us formulate definitions of identity that can contribute to the survival of Indian people, even as it teaches the academy about philosophies of knowledge it has failed to see and understand. But it will also require the researcher to enter the tribal philosophies. Second, it will require him to enter tribal relations." 1 What Garroutte points out here are two areas in which scholars writing about Native issues from outside of Native communities often fail. Certainly, as a white American myself, there is a sense of uncertainty in being called upon to delve into the unfamiliar in order to approach Native literatures in a respectful and ethical way. A central word in Native studies is "community," however. Community is an acknowledgement of Native sovereignties; community is accountability as an outsider in asking to be allowed to discuss Native issues; and community is an opportunity to engage in discussions with the people being written about on an intimate level. Canonizing Craig Womack


Tests were conducted with contrived inlet modulated sinusoidal pressure generator to study possible use in calibrating pressure sensors. Results indicate concept is feasible and applicable to transducer evaluation.


Purpose: The main purpose of this work was to fabricate an indigenous computer controlled two dimensional Radiation Field Analyzer (2D RFA) for external beam radiotherapy machines to measure the output, PDD, TMR, TPR and isodose profile automatically. The 2D RFA is fast, accurate, simple and easy to setup. Methods: This 2D RFA consist of water phantom, DC stepper motor, electronic circuit, acrylic chamber holding assembly, Buzzer and LED. An automatic ionization chamber movement tool was fabricated for radiation dose measurement in X direction using a DC stepper motor. There was an arrangement helping to move the ionization chamber in the Y direction. A cylindrical rod was made of acrylic and the other setup also made up of the same low atomic number material to avoid the scatter contribution from the water phantom. An easy mechanism was provided to fix the movable chamber holder setup in the water phantom. Results: The beam output, PDD, isodose profile for different field sizes and, off‐axis ratio were measured for external beam radiotherapy machines using the 2D RFA device with a 0.6cc farmer type ionization chamber. The device was used to measure the dose profiles for various field sizes at various depths. The values were normalized at 0.5cm depth. The measured values and values obtained by BJR25 were compared. The measured values agreed well with those published in the BJR25 report. The average difference was found the maximum variation of 2 percentage. Conclusion: Dosimetry is important for external beam teletherapy machines. The routine machine output calibrations can be performed with this device. From this, it can be concluded that it is very suitable for routine radiotherapy dosimetery produces. Salient features of the 2D RFA is its speed, accuracy, simplicity, and low cost.


Thermal radiation sources are often used in thermal imaging sensors as reference sources for offset equalization and gain normalization of the infrared detecting elements. For best results, the `t-number' by which the detector elements view these sources must be exactly equal to that with which they view the external scene. If the t-numbers for different detecting elements are not the same, the result will be inaccurate offset equalization and imperfect gain normalization. The relationship between the scene temperature, reference source temperature, and t-number differences are derived. Quantitative values for the errors in gain and level normalization are calculated.


INTRODUCTION: The period of switched over from secondary school to University life is considered as a critical period for students to develop & adhere to the unhealthy eating behaviours as it can effect adolescents health in a longer run, in a later life. OBJECTIVE: To assessing factors influencing nutritional behaviors of postgraduate students in Khyber Medical University, Peshawar. METHODOLOGY: A qualitative multiple case study in which In-Depth interviews with 4-8 participants from each constituent institute of Khyber Medical University have been conducted. Total no. of participants in in-depth interviews were fifteen. Each institute is taken as one case, selected through purposive maximum variation sampling technique. RESULTS: A variety of factors influences University students eating behaviour and dietary consumption. Five themes that emerged were "Individual factors" indicating the lack of sense of prioritization about personal health in relation to other concerns and taste preference for other foods. Intrapersonal factors include lifestyle, knowledge, skills & eating behaviours i.e. cooking Skills, level of knowledge about healthy food , taste preference for specific food, family eating behaviours hinder the development of eating patterns; "Social Environment" indicating lifestyle and unhealthy eating behaviors of pathans; as a part of culture & tradition, friends & family influence in making food choices "physical Environment" indicating a need for easy availability, affordability, accessibility of healthy food options in both outside & university setting ,also identify barriers, opportunities to healthy eating. CONCLUSION: It is concluded that a variety of factors i.e. intrapersonal, interpersonal, and environmental is responsible for developing eating behaviours and food consumption. Therefore, desighning of multilevel nutritional programs may be worthwhile to promote healthy eating behavior and dietary intake among university students. KEY WORDS: Exploring, factors, influencing, eating behaviors and postgraduate students.


The reproductive development from pollination until seed maturity for Pacific silver fir (amabilis fir; Abies amabilis (Dougl. ex Loud.) Dougl. ex J. Forbes) was studied at two sites in British Columbia. Ten trees growing at varying elevations at each site were flagged and two or more cones were collected from each tree every 1 or 2 weeks. Following size measurements, cones were dissected and 20 ovules from each cone were sampled, fixed, embedded in paraffin, sectioned, and stained for anatomical study. Ovule, megagametophyte, and embryo size was measured and stage of ovule or seed and embryo was determined. At both sites the phenology and details of development were similar. The major causes of cone loss were frost at pollination and insect damage following pollination. The seed potential per cone was 359-408, but the filled seeds per cone based on cutting tests and X-raying was only 18-22%. The major causes of seed loss were insect damage (32-39%) during ovule and seed development and failure of ovules ...


Background: Infertility is a worldwide problem, relates to a devastating condition that can destroy couples striving to have children. It can affect both men and women, and cause psychological related distress, depression, and low self- -esteem. Most interventions using directional, complete, and integrated approach have been focused on improving the quality of life of infertile men or women. Supportive psychotherapy is an example of such interventions. Objective: The study aimed to measure the effectiveness of supportive psychotherapy intervention in treating depression among infertile women. Method: A quasi experiment design using a pre and post- -test with a control group was employed in this study. Subjects were women (n=80) with infertility cases who sought for treatment at PermataHati Clinic Dr. Sardjito hospital. during the period from April to September 2014. A modified short supportive psychotherapywas to groups of patients over the course of four sessions. The sessions were managed by trained facilitatorscomprising psychiatrist and psychologist. Personal data and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)were then used to assess the patients depression state. Result and Discussion: Findings indicated that 59.37% of the study subjects were found to have mild depression, whereas the other 40.63% had moderate depression. A significant change in BDI scores within the treatment group was found after intervention. Conclusion:Modified short supportive psychotherapy intervention can effectivelly reduce depression on infertile women. Keywords: modified short supportive psychotherapy, depression, infertile women


We examine the density dependence of the hydrodynamic response of superfluid helium to classical rotational motion of a molecular impurity within the assumption of an adiabatically following helium density. The sensitivity of the hydrodynamic response to small changes in the helium density is assessed by performing three-dimensional hydrodynamic calculations for different fits to a microscopic helium density around the octahedral SF6 molecule generated by finite-temperature path integral Monte Carlo simulations. The sensitivity to systematic errors in the helium solvation density is assessed by comparing the hydrodynamic results obtained with finite-temperature path integral Monte Carlo densities to the corresponding results obtained using zero-temperature diffusion Monte Carlo densities that possess trial function bias. Our analysis shows that the finite-temperature densities provide a robust upper bound on the hydrodynamic response that amounts to at most 10% of the experimentally measured moment of ine...


During the past 30 years, the European management scholars' community, traditionally characterized only by national association, has witnessed the birth of two European associations: the European Group for Organizational Studies and, later on, the European Academy of Management. There is a wide ongoing interest on how these two actors are playing the game of international academia, traditionally represented by the Academy of Management. Analyzing the evolution of the international network of scholars we focus on European Academy of Management and we argue that to increase its reputation within the academia there are two choices: a generalist and a specialist approach. We discuss the risk and opportunities of the two alternatives.


Background: A dental implant is an artificial root inserted surgically in the process of single or multiple teeth replacements. This study aims to evaluate the awareness, knowledge, and approval of dental implant treatments among dental patients in our hospital. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among 442 adult patients attending the Dental Clinic of Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital Sokoto State, Nigeria, from March 2021 to February 2022. After obtaining ethical approval, participants were recruited using a structured questionnaire. This questionnaire consist of 12 questions, assessing the patient's awareness, knowledge, and willingness to approve a dental implant as an option for teeth replacement. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS (IBM SPSS) software version 20. Results: There were 293 (66.3%) males and 149 (33.7%) females with an mean ± standard deviation of age 37.4 ± 12.4 years and a range of 20–65 years. Two hundred and forty-six (55.7%) were unaware of a dental implant as an option for missing teeth replacement and 196 (44.3%) have heard of a dental implant. The majority of respondents (73%) heard about dental implants from a dentist, followed by social media (19.4%). Responses from questions yielded variable responses about the knowledge of implant. Regarding the patient's approval, 80.1% expressed their willingness to replace missing tooth/teeth with a dental implant. Conclusion: This research revealed a below-average level of awareness of dental patients about a dental implant as an option for teeth replacement. Dental surgeons need to do more on information dissemination about the use of dental implants.


as well, and, of these, some do more good than harm at reasonable cost". Arguably the same can be said of testing done in the context of routine clinical practice to inform diagnosis or prognosis. Editorials and correspondence in the medical literature have discussed the problems associated with over-reliance on diagnostic testing, and cite examples of clinical harm and waste of scarce resource caused by inappropriate testing. A recent editorial highlighted the problems associated with a large increase in requests for measurement of blood concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D. It is thought that some of the reasons for the inappropriate use of tests include inadequate training of clinicians in dealing with clinical uncertainty, healthcare systems that encourage testing, and perceived concerns that medicolegal systems punish clinicians for "doing too little" but not for "doing too much". This is a complex issue influenced by many factors that may include testing that is financially incentivised, or the practice of defensive medicine ("just to be sure"). In addition, there is no single professional body or group to bring this whole area together and provide definitive advice.


In user-centered product design, empathizing with users is an effective way to step into their shoes. Ideally, it helps designers understand user needs better and in more depth. However, the degree to which accurate empathic understanding contributes to needfinding and what exactly constitutes a 'good' need remain unclear. In this study, 13 designers watched a standard stimulus contextual user interview, performed an empathic accuracy task, and identified user needs based on the video. The needs identified from all participants were affinitized and summarized into a set of 23 user needs. They were scored for overall need quality, consisting of importance and satisfaction with current solutions as well as for need depth and latency. Designers' empathic understanding was measured as the accuracy with which they could infer users' mental contents and emotional tone. The designers' emotional tone accuracy correlated with their performance in identifying important unfulfilled needs and needs where the users were most satisfied with existing solutions. However, no correlations were found for the empathic understanding of mental contents. In addition, need depth or latency was not found to correlate with any empathic understanding measure. These results are among the first to link empathy and designers' performance in needfinding, but further studies are necessary to replicate and validate the results.


This paper presents a strategy to improve the navigation solution of the HRC-AUV by deploying a model-aided inertial navigation system (MA-INS). Based on a simpler three-DOF linear dynamic model (DM) of the vehicle, and implemented through a Kalman filter (KF), the performance of the proposed MA-INS is compared to state-of-the-art solutions based on non-linear models. The model allows the online estimation of the sea current parameters before and during the navigation mission. Qualitative and quantitative evaluations as well as a statistical significance test are performed using both simulated and real data, demonstrating the usefulness of the proposed model-aided navigation.


Introduction Although an understanding of the patient work system has been increasing in the field of Ergonomics and Human Factors, the role of informal caregivers (unpaid, nonprofessional caregivers) within the patient work system remains largely unexplored (Holden, Schubert, & Mickelson, 2015; Holden, Valdez, Schubert, Thompson, & Hundt, 2017). Informal caregivers include the family members and friends of persons with dementia (PwD), or anyone else who is unpaid, and a non-professional caregiver for a PWD(Reinhard, Given, Petlick, & Bemis, 2008). Nevertheless, informal caregivers are often unsupported and lack guidance with caregiving activities(Alrashed, 2017; Bossen, Christensen, Grönvall, & Vestergaard, 2013). This study represents a first step to define the work of informal caregivers, identify variations in caregiver involvement across multiple caregivers, and explore the perceptions of the primary caregiver (PC) regarding the care network. Understanding the specific roles and work associated with providing care can help us to support and prepare future and current informal caregivers on how to overcome barriers in the work system and increase quality of care for the PwD. Methods Semi-structured interviews were used to encourage 20 self- identified primary caregivers to discuss their daily experiences in providing care to a PwD. Interview questions related to: 1) the daily activities of informal caregivers; 2) the strategies, tools, and resources used and developed by informal caregivers to manage caregiving responsibilities; 3) unmet needs in providing care; and 4) the context in which informal caregiving occurred. We used a thematic analysis with the goal of understanding informal caregiving roles in the PwD work system. Guided by the research questions, structural coding of passages in the transcripts was performed by two members of the research team. The team also mapped the caregiver networks to understand the differences in each role network level. Results The results revealed that the work of informal caregivers of PwD consists of a wide range of tasks that can be physically challenging as well as mentally and emotionally burdensome. Our analysis also revealed distinct variations in care networks and primary caregiver perceptions of other themes: 1) informal caregivers operate at three role levels of care within the care network; 2) PwD care networks vary greatly in size and relationships, and 3) PCs act as gatekeepers to the care network. Caregivers were mapped across three levels of the PwD's care network based on frequency of interactions with the PC and PwD, communication patterns, and contributions to the care activities. Care networks varied between 2 and 11 caregivers who contributed to the care activities in some capacity. The relationships between caregivers and PwD varied greatly, including spouses, children, siblings, neighbors, and volunteers. Further, we found that there is usually one PC for every PwD. The PC acts as a gatekeeper to the care network by regulating interactions between other caregivers and the PwD. The PC also had different expectations for each caregiver based on their relationship to the PwD. Discussion This research presents preliminary findings on the roles of informal caregivers of persons with dementia. These results warrant further investigation into role delineation, primary, secondary, and tertiary caregiver expectations, and the full conceptualization of caregiver work. A formal network analysis that maps caregiver activities to specific roles may be beneficial to understand all the contributions to the care network. These findings are valuable to inform patient work system design in informal care settings. Currently, there is a lack of guidance on how informal caregivers should coordinate care for patients with chronic illness in their homes, and a lack of support for these informal care activities. Defining caregiver work and understanding caregiver perceptions of work can pave a path towards designing better patient work systems to connect the network more efficiently, while improving care quality in informal settings.


Soil organic C plays an essential role in carbon cycle and carbon storage in a native ecosystem reflects that ecosystem's capacity to sequester carbon. Based on soil map of Jiangsu Province (1:500000) combined with a soil database from the soil survey of Jiangsu, topsoil organic carbon storage were estimated for Jiangsu using geographical information system.Carbon density of different soil types ranged from 4.8 kg m~(-2) to 20.32 kg m~(-2).In total, about 0.67 Pg C was stored in topsoil. The amount of carbon varied significantly at different districts in Jiangsu.Huaiyin and neighood had low carbon density, forelang area had more carbon density, Xinghua, Nantong and Wuxi had the most carbon density.


OBJECTIVE
This study was aimed to investigate the effect of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) on subsets and cytokine secretion of T lymphocytes.

METHODS
Umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells (UCBMSCs) were isolated by density gradient and were cultared by amplifying culture. The subsets and cytokine secretion of T lymphocytes were detected by flow cytomety after being co-cultured with UCBMSC.

RESULTS
The proliferation of lymphocytes was inhibited. CD4(+)T cell subsets were increased, CD8(+)T cell subsets decreased when co-cultured with UCBMSC; Th1 and Tc1 level significantly reduced, while Th2 and Tc2 level slightly increased.

CONCLUSION
The UCBMSC can inhibit the proliferation of lymphocytes, especially CD8(+)T cell subsets. In addition, UCBMSCs can reduce Th1 and Tc1 cells, and increase Th2 and Tc2 cells. UCBMSC may have the clinical application potential for preventing and remedying GVHD.


—The recently described species Brookesia micra is endemic to the islet of Nosy Hara in northern Madagascar, and is the smallest chameleon species that has been described. Here, I present the first quantitative data on density, behavioral, habitat selection, and natural history on B. micra. I observed 117 B. micra from 10–23 April 2015. Estimated density was 3,100 individuals/ha (assuming 70% detection), and through satellite image analysis of Nosy Hara, I estimated that the population size was between 100,000–150,000 individuals. I found adult males to have a significantly larger snout-vent length (SVL) than adult females, and juvenile males to have significantly larger SVL then juvenile females. I also found no significant difference in roost height between males and females of all age classes, but I did find a positive correlation between SVL and roost height. I found individuals significantly closer to tsingy outcroppings than to trees during night and day, indicating that this is a tsingy-associated species. I support the International Union for the Conservation of Nature designation of nearthreatened due to the high population density, but threats due to tourism and small range size could pose problems for the conservation of the species.


The aim of this work is the production and the characterisation of (SnO2: (Mn, F)) thin films with appropriate optoelectronic properties required for application as ohmic contacts in photovoltaic application devices. Transparent conducting Manganese-fluorine co-doped tin oxide (SnO2: (Mn, F)) thin films have been deposited onto preheated glass substrates using the chemical spray pyrolysis (CSP) method. The ([Mn2+]/[Sn4+]) atomic concentration ratio (y) in the spray solution is varied between 0 and 8 at. %. The structural, the opto-electrical and the photoluminescence properties of these thin films have been studied. It is found that the deposited thin films are polycrystalline with a tetragonal crystal structure corresponding to SnO2 phase having a preferred orientation along the (200) plane. Transmission and reflection spectra reveal the presence of interference fringes indicating the thickness uniformity and the surface homogeneity of the deposited samples. Photoluminescence behaviour of Mn-F co-doped SnO2 thin films was also studied. Photoluminescence spectra reveal the presence of the defects like oxygen vacancies in the materials. In addition, The electrical resistivity, volume carrier concentration, surface carrier concentration and electrical mobility were determined from Hall Effect measurements and the following results were obtained: n-type conductivity in all the deposited thin films, a low resistivity of 1.50×10-4 Ω cm, and a high electrical mobility of 45.40 cm2 V-1 s-1 with Mn co-doping concentration equals to 7 at. %. These experimental results show that the electrical properties of these thin films where greatly improved making them suitable as ohmic contacts in photovoltaic applications devices.


We consider a robust version of regularized discriminant analysis (RDA) classifiers to account for potential spurious or mislabeled observations in the training data set. To build a robust discriminant rule, a robust estimation of the covariance matrix is essential. In this work, we propose to use a regularized version of Tyler's covariance estimator, in the regime where both the number of variables and the number of training samples are large and of similar order. Building upon fundamental results from random matrix theory, we show that the robust classifier is asymptotically equivalent to traditional, non-robust classifiers when the training data is free from outliers. Simulations on synthetic and real datasets confirm our theoretical observations and further attest to the benefits brought by the robust classifier when the data is corrupted by outliers.


We investigated the structure–property relationships between poly(vinyl acetate)-based (co)polymers and their solubility in supercritical carbon dioxide. Building on RAFT/MADIX polymerization, key macromolecular characteristics—chain length, chain-end group and composition—of these (co)polymers were studied. Their solubility in sc-CO2 was determined by high-pressure infrared spectroscopy, thereby providing guidelines for their design.


In the last decade the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) has successfully entrenched a conditional understanding of state sovereignty that makes human rights the touchstone of sovereign rights. This chapter explores why one should conceive of military humanitarian intervention as a form of war. It argues that by doing so, one deforms the key aspects of humanitarian intervention, which in turn underlies the significant political controversy that the practice continues to generate. The chapter suggests that we approach it through the paradigm of what is called as human sovereignty. Conceiving of humanitarian intervention as a particular kind of war was a natural step because most commentators have approached the issue of intervention squarely from within the framework of just war theory. Limits on the political character of intervention have shallow roots within the conditionality account of humanitarian intervention.