Inducible nitric oxide synthase (NOS‐2) accounts for the accumulation of oxidative and nitrosative mediators in brain after stress. To determine whether and when repeated exposure to immobilization stress leads to persistent oxidative status in rat brain, male Wistar rats were immobilized for 6 h/day for 7 or 14 days (S7, S14). Cerebral cortices were obtained immediately after the last session of stress or 1 day later. Stress increased NOS‐2 activity after S7 or S14. This enzymatic activity returned to basal values 1 day after S7, but not 1 day after S14. Stress increased malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulation in cortex after S7 and S14. MDA levels returned to basal values 1 day after S7 but not 1 day after S14. In order to elucidate the possible mechanisms involved in this short‐term persistence of oxidative status, brain levels of the cytokine tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF‐α) were determined. TNF‐α levels did not increase after S7 or 1 day after S7, but increased after S14 and 1 day after S14. This was paralleled by an increase in TNF‐α converting enzyme (TACE) activity in brain. When the increase in TNF‐α at S14 was blocked by BB1101, an inhibitor of TACE, or its effects were blocked with anti‐TNF‐α, the accumulation of MDA and NOS‐2 activity 1 day after S14 did not take place. These findings indicate that TACE and TNF‐α account for stress‐induced short‐term persistence of NOS‐2 activity and MDA accumulation after 14 days of repeated exposure and support a possible neuroprotective role for specific blockers of TNF‐α in this situation.


Demand response (DR) programs incentivize consumers for using their elastic demand for demand shaping, supply-demand balancing, and other ancillary and network support services. This paper proposes a dynamic nonlinear pricing scheme for behind-the-meter distributed energy resources (DERs), such as residential batteries, plug-in electric vehicles, and smart appliances, participating in a DR program, based on distributed mechanism design concepts. The underlying method is a faithful mechanism that can overlay any tractable dual-decomposition algorithm that solves the DER management and coordination problem in a distributed fashion. Since electricity is a continuously produced and divisible commodity that cannot be invariably allocated or stored, the pricing scheme is designed to couple the negotiated allocations and the actual consumption in a proportionally fair way, which means that it assigns lower payments to consumers who require less energy and are more accurate in following these requirements. Specifically, this pricing scheme is based on the Lagrange multipliers, which are the byproducts of any dual-decomposition algorithm that solves the nonconvex DER management and coordination problem. As a result, and in contrast to most existing time-varying pricing schemes, this pricing strategy does not suffer from rebound peaks repercussions. Furthermore, the proposed distributed mechanism is proven to be asymptotically faithful, i.e., faithful when the number of households grows large, collusion proof and weakly budget balanced.


The spectrum of the highly obscured infrared source W33 A from 4.5 to 8 microns is measured in order to investigate the intervening cold, dense interstellar material. Spectrophotometry at a relative spectral resolution of about 0.015 by an airborne filter-wheel infrared spectrometer reveals strong absorption features at 4.61, 5.99 and 6.78 microns. The absorption at 4.61 microns is attributed primarily to the fundamental vibration-rotation band of CO at a column density (at least 10 to the 19th/sq cm) which is 10% of the carbon inferred from silicate abundances. The strengths and line widths of the absorption agt 5.99 and 6.78 microns are interpreted as evidence of absorption in the resonance bands of carbonyl, carbon-carbon double, methyl and methylene bonds of hydrocarbons associated with interstellar dust.


This paper develops teaching assessment model to resolve the complexity of quality evaluation process of teaching quality, with the structural characteristics and self-learning function of BP neural networks. The concept of teaching evaluation index is quantified to the determinate date as input, teaching effectiveness as output. Through MATLAB software used for the empirical research, it can be found that the method applied to evaluation of teaching quality, not only overcome the subjective factors in the evaluation process, but also receive satisfactory results, has a wide applicability.


The globalization and commercialization of the world have created a space for interconnected markets. International markets have been studied by many researchers for the presence of interdependency (Agmon, 1972; Byers & Peel, 1993; Richards, 1995; Cheung & Mak, 1992; Huang, Yang, & Hu, 2000; Belke & Keil, 2016). The economic and political integration of stock markets results in the financial integration of markets (Voronkova, 2004). The financial integration brings higher growth through free-flowing capital in different countries, which then leads to high net returns for investors' portfolios. Thus, it would not be wrong to state that financial integration is a way towards ensuring the economic development of a nation. There are two optimistic gains arising from financial integration: first, to diversify risk, and second, to increase the effectiveness of a capital market. In the modern globalized world, capital markets are more integrated than ever. This shift has brought an increased flow of capital all over the world and opened new economic opportunities for investors and arbitrageurs to diversify their portfolios and achieve better economic returns. Foreign flows of capital can be increased around the world through financial amalgamation to motivate an economic outlook regarding growth and integration. It includes containing or reducing the risks that arise due to financial, economic, and political uncertainties existing among and across international borders (Borensztein, De Gregorio, & Lee, 1998). Abstract


Recent popular and theoretical literature emphasizes the significance of communication technology for collaboration and information sharing across organizational boundaries. We hypothesize that due to the collaborative nature of their work and the way they are organized in work groups, technical employees, as compared with administrative employees, will communicate laterally, and will use the telephone and email for this purpose. We studied technical and administrative employees in seven departments of a large telecommunications firm. From logs of communication over two days, we examined vertical and lateral communication inside and outside the chain of command and department, and the use of telephone, email, and voice mail for this communication. Technical employees did have more lateral communication than administrators did, but all lateral communication not just that of technical employees tended to be by telephone. Over 50% of employees' communication was extradepartmental; extradepartmental communication, like lateral communication, tended to be by telephone. When employees used asynchronous technology, technical employees used email whereas administrators, especially those at high levels, used voice. Differential boundary-crossing by technical and administrative employees could be explained in part by the flatter structure of the technical work groups. Our results are consistent with Powell Powell, W. W. 1990. Neither market nor hierarchy: Network forms of organization. Res. Organ. Behavior12295--336., Barley Barley, S. 1994. The turn to a horizontal division of labor: On the occupationalization of firms and the technization of work. National Center for the Educational Quality of the Workforce, University of Pennsylvania, available from author. and others who have argued that the rise of technical work and the horizontal organization of technical workers increases collaboration and nonhierarchical communication. Organizations can encourage communication flows across organizational boundaries by strengthening horizontal structures for technical workers, especially and supporting old and new technology use by all employees.


178 Background: Prostate cancer comprises one third of male Veteran cancers and is their second leading cause of cancer death. Metastatic prostate cancer is lethal. Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) of somatic tumors is recommended for metastatic prostate to identify actionable alterations targeted with approved therapies. Veterans with prostate cancers harboring alterations in genes involved in the DNA damage response (e.g. BRCA1/2) or high microsatellite instability (MSI-High) may be eligible for PARP inhibitors or checkpoint blockade immunotherapy, respectively. Potential candidates may be identified for ongoing clinical trials of novel precision oncology approaches. Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of clinical, genomic, demographic data from Veterans with metastatic prostate cancer who underwent somatic NGS using the Foundation Medicine NGS platform from 2019-February 2021. To be included, prostate cancer was submitted diagnosis for the NGS testing and metastatic disease determined by the VINCI natural language processing tool. Variables included demographic, clinical, and pathological characteristics (self-identified race/ethnicity, age, rurality of residence, Gleason score, specimen site, other cancer diagnosis, mutation frequency). Primary outcome was mutation rates in homologous recombination (HR) genes under current FDA approval for olaparib (ATM, BARD1, BRCA1, BRCA2, BRIP1, CDK12, CHEK1, CHEK2, FANCL, PALB2, RAD51B, RAD51C, RAD51D, RAD54L) or MSI-High. Raw variant data, submitted diagnosis, and clinical data were extracted from the NGS reports and harmonized for further variant annotation. Variant data included chromosome, position, reference and alternate allele, total depth, variant allele depth, and quality scores. Variants were annotated using ANNOVAR. Likely oncogenic and oncogenic mutations were identified using OncoKB. Results: 1,597 Veterans with metastatic prostate cancer underwent FMI NGS testing (63% White, 33% African American, 4% other). Median age was 66 years, 78.6% of cases from >60 years. Of the 1,597 who underwent blood or tumor testing, at least one likely oncogenic mutation in an HR gene under FDA approval for olaparib was found in 369 (23.1%) of Veterans (19% of tissue-based tests, 32.9% of blood-based tests). Of 651 liquid biopsy tests with at least one HR gene mutation, 125 of 214 (52%) had mutations at a variant allele frequency (VAF) <0.5% or were found in an MSI-High sample that could indicate a spurious mutation due to clonal hematopoiesis. 33 patients (2.1%) were MSI-High, (21 tissue-based and 12 blood-based). Frequencies of alterations in ATM (3.6%), CDK12 (5.6%), and BRCA2 (4%) in tissue-based tests were not significantly different from those reported in other series. Conclusions: NGS of somatic tumors from Veterans with metastatic prostate cancer identifies alterations that impact management and clinical outcomes.


1. Periodic structure 2. Lattice waves 3. Electron states 4. Static properties of solids 5. Electron-electron interaction 6. Dynamics of electrons 7. Transport properties 8. Optical properties 9. The fermi surface 10. Magnetism 11. Superconductivity Bibliography Index.


The 10th National Games of The People's Republic of China gives the demonstration stage to all the various trades and occupations of Jiangsu. Specially the news media bears the brunt. The Sports Leisure Channel of the Jiangsu Broadcast Television Co. ,which is main broadcast television station of the 10th Games ,undertakes the propaganda task. As a result of a large number of young editions and reporters, who devote themselves to the 10th Games, used the many kinds of manifestation to enhance the scene feeling of news, the news of the 10th Games, which have the unique angle and the comprehensive content, is more and more affinity.


A new thermistor technique is proposed in this paper. Both thermal conductivity and difiusivity can be obtained simultaneously with high accuracy. A two-dimensional numerical thermal model is proposed to simulate the thermistor inserted in the medium. Experimental set-up is simple, small, and inexpensive. For the calibration of the thermistor bead, mercury and glycerol are used as standard materials. Thermal properties are extracted trough minimization of the mean deviation between calculated and experimental temperature histories. The validity of this new method has been done through experimentations using pure water and also high compressed bentonite powder. One of the main advantages of the present method is that it requires always a small sample. This fact allows it to be well indicated to measure low diffuse porous materials and rare liquids, or paniculate material like martian surface for example. Our aim is to establish this method as a new standard method for the estimation of thermophysical properties of liquids, powders and also solids.


Although research on team cognition has focused mostly on sharedness and its benefits, differences in team member cognition (i.e., representational gaps) may not always have negative effects. In this article, we develop theory and test the positive and negative effects of representational gaps (rGaps) among team members in cross-functional product development teams and the central role of task conflict and conflict management (problem-solving and yielding) in predicting team cognition. rGaps are examined both in terms of average level within the team and the patterns of shared representations across members from different functional areas. These patterns capture potential asymmetries within the team.


Despite the great difference between Poussin and Cessane in way of observation, painting language and style, there are lots of connection between the two. The thesis explores the inner connectin between their landscape paintings from the aspects of reasonal principle that they followed and construction of picture composition.


: The Pope Francis's encyclical Laudato si' Continuation of the Church's teaching or an attempt at a new perspective? The encyclical Laudatio si' is the first social encyclical letter by Pope Francis. Its key ref erence point is the apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium promulgated in 2013. In the latter, the pope presents four "principles": 1. "Time is greater than space"; 2. "Unity prevails over conflict"; 3. "Realities are more important than ideas"; 4. "The whole is greater than the part." The encyclical Laudatio si' in its entirety is devoted to ecology. However, by ecology the pope means the "integral ecology." And this is where the previously mentioned principles apply. Following the footsteps of St. Francis, the contents of the encyclical offers new perspectives to the teaching and praxis of the Catholic Church.


In WRSNs (Wireless Rechargeable Sensor Networks), the wireless energy transfer technology enables charging sensor batteries and maintaining perpetual operation of the network. The MC (mobile charger) is able to provide stable and reliable energy supply for sensor nodes. Although many researchers study the efficient scheduling of the MC, none of them considers the situation where both the static sink and the MC can collect packets. In this case, each sensor node should choose the appropriate destination, i.e., the static sink or the MC. In this paper, we propose closer destination selection scheme for mobile sink and charger enabled WRSNs where a static sink and an MC coexist. In order for each sensor node to send packets to the closer destination, i.e., the static sink or the MC, when an MC tours to charge sensor nodes, it constructs another temporal tree-based topology network by sending a route construction packet to sensor nodes within the limited area. Whenever the MC stays at a sensor node, it calculates the maximum number of hops that sensor nodes should switch to a temporal network. This temporal network that the MC creates does not disturb the original network. By constructing a temporal network, an MC relaxes the load of sensor nodes around the static sink without unnecessary path extension. We evaluate the performance of our scheme through the computer simulation. Results indicate that our scheme improves the packet arrival rate and energy efficiency compared to the conventional scheme.


Summary: Air cargo transport is an important driver in industrial development, integrating cargo transport and logistics, facilitating intermodality and fostering imports and exports, resulting in a significant increase in airline revenue. In addition, competition in the sector requires that these companies use strategic management tools, such as decision-making and efficiency analysis methods, in order to remain competitive and operational on the market. Due to the sector's great importance, this survey presents a methodology for the evaluation of relevant criteria for the hiring as well as for the choice of domestic air cargo companies, using the Hierarchical Analysis (AHP) method. It is further believed that the results of this work will be directly useful to airport administrators, cargo terminals, cargo agents, highway transport companies, airlines and also to the National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) in putting forward efficiency–boosting suggestions by way of process improvements and audits, personnel training, infrastructure planning, and demand management.


The eighth in a series on blunders made by the Supreme Court of the United States. In this article the case of Cramer v. United States (325 U.S. 1, 1945) is reviewed. The blunder made is that the United States Supreme Court applied this section to a citizen of the United States, under the Fourteenth Amendment, when this section relates to a citizen of a State who is a citizen of the several States (united), under Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution of the United States of America.


A 53-year-old, non-diabetic lady was evaluated for worsening breathlessness over the past 1 year. She was diagnosed with a lung lesion a year ago, but the prevailing COVID-19 situation prevented her from seeking further evaluation. She began to have early morning episodes of symptomatic hypoglycemia over the previous 4 months, which were relieved with dextrose infusions. The evaluation showed low insulin, low C-peptide, and high insulin-like growth factor-2 to insulin-like growth factor-1 ratio. High-resolution computed tomography scan of the thorax showed a 19.5 cm x 16.6 cm x 23.8 cm mass in the left hemithorax, and a microscopic examination of a biopsy specimen of which was consistent with the diagnosis of solitary fibrous tumor. The patient underwent sternotomy with left anterior thoracotomy with successful excision of the fibrous tumor. Post-operatively, histopathological diagnosis of solitary fibrous tumor was confirmed. There were no further episodes of hypoglycemia, and the patient was completely recovered.


The purpose of this study is to analyze the factors that influence management actions in non-financial companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. The factors that become independent variables in this research are leverage, profitability, liquidity, firm size, firm age, institutional ownership, and audit quality on earnings management. This study uses data from 477 companies that have met the sampling criteria from 2017 to 2020 using the purposive sampling method. The results of this study indicate that the profitability variable has a significant effect on earnings management, meaning that the current high level of profitability makes the opportunity for future profitability declines to be greater, so that the company's performance looks less stable. The audit quality variable also has a significant effect on earnings management because good audit quality will make it difficult for companies to carry out earnings management. While the other independent variables, leverage, liquidity, firm size, firm age, and institutional ownership have no significant effect on earnings management.


Abstract Palladium-catalyzed [4+2] annulation of aryl and alkenyl carboxamides with 1,3-dienes via C–H functionalization is developed using air as the terminal oxidant. The method demonstrates good functional group tolerance and high stereoselectivity, affording a series of 3,4-dihydroisoquinolones and 5,6-dihydropyridinones in yields of up to 99%.


cancer associated with overt bone mar− row metastasis in the form of osteoblastic lesions. A 71−year−old man was referred to the Department of Internal Medicine because of an incidental finding of anemia and in− creased alkaline phosphatase. The patient had no specific medical history and his la− boratory results showed his hemoglobin level to be 9.2 g/dL and his alkaline phos− phatase to be 2366 IU/L. It was concluded that his anemia was due to chronic ill− ness. Gastroscopy was performed and four flat erosions were found at the great− er curvature and anterior wall of the an− trum (l" Fig. 1), which were biopsied. No abnormalities were found in the stomach or in any other organs on abdominal com− puted tomography (l" Fig. 2). Bone scinti− graphy showed increased uptake, espe− cially in the diaphyses of the long bones (l" Fig. 3). The endoscopic biopsy was re− ported as showing signet ring cell carci− noma (l" Fig. 4), and signet ring cells were also found in a bone marrow biopsy. The patient was eventually diagnosed with early gastric cancer with bone mar− row metastasis (l" Fig. 5).


It has already been shown that the dif- ferential method of Chandezon is well suited for analysing multilayer diffraction gratings [1]. Lifeng Li has reported significant improvments to this method [2] . He used the R-matrix propagation algo- rithm to remove the limitation on the layer thickness and on the number of layers. As far as we are con- cerned, we have allowed for different interface pro- files within the grating structure although all must share the same periodicity [3]. Preist et al have done it also [4]. Boundary conditions were expressed with the scattering matrix approach which is an alterna- tive to the R-matrix approach. The aim of this paper is to analyze multi- layer crossed gratings with the Chandezon method and the S-matrix formulation. It consists of a genera- lization of the formalism already used for 2D multi- coated gratings. The basic features lies in the use of a coordinate system that maps the interface onto a plane. In the new frame, the structure is analogous to a planar stratified medium. As in the 2D case, we are led to a linear system of differential equations whose solution is obtained through the calculation of the ei- genvalues and eigenvectors of a matrix dependant on the geometry and on the index of the medium. As an example, we shall consider cases where "anomalies" in the diffracted efficiencies occur, that is when a suitable phase matching between the incident wave and the guided wave is achieved.


Having around 6,500 languages worldwide, handwritten numerals recognition has been a domain of research for decades now as numerals are a common phenomenon among all these diverse languages. Previously, researchers have contributed significantly to recognize the handwritten numerals of diverse literature. Different approaches have been discovered to be feasible for language-specific numerals recognition. However, finding a common architecture to recognize numerals have been a goal from the very beginning. But despite having many efforts, discovering a common architecture for high recognition of numerals of diverse literature has always been a challenging task to solve and not many contributions have been made in this regard. Therefore, in this research, we focused on seven benchmark datasets of six languages and proposed a modified DenseNet-201 architecture. Our proposed architecture achieved an overall accuracy of 99.04%, 99.33%, 98.83%, 99.50%, 99.83%, 99.54%, and 99.74% for Bengali (CMATERdb 3.1.1), Devanagari (CMATERdb 3.2.1), Arabic (CMATERdb 3.3.1), Telugu (CMATERdb 3.4.1), Nepali, ARDIS II, and ARDIS III datasets respectively which outperformed all notable previous works by a noteworthy margin.


A topic to which students of higher education politics and public policy have paid no attention is the resurgent direct democracy movement in the American states. This article seeks to clarify the nature and scope of the statewide ballot phenomenon as it affects the higher education policy domain. The article embeds the issue of higher education balloting in historical context by examining the conceptual origins and contemporary debate surrounding the direct democracy movement in the United States. The article then defines the boundaries of higher education ballot activity by analyzing ballot trends affecting higher education over the past decade. Results reveal that although voters recently have decided a range of important campus governance questions, the two most significant areas of ballot activity over the past decade involve money and morality. The authors explore a variety of theoretical implications of the research.


An 86-year-old man had repeated episodes of septic shock due to MRSA pneumonia. In 1948, he had undergone extrapleural pneumonolysis (plombage) with polymethyl methacrylate (Lucite) balls to treat pulmonary tuberculosis.


The spatial organization of Mediterranean grassland in Spain is described, based on samples from 71 sites covering the existing variation in slope exposi- tion and inclination.The whole set can be regarded as representing a trophic gradient, along which gradual variation in soil, species composition, biomass, and coverage were quantified. Corresponding to other studies from varying habitats, maximal species richness, diver- sity, and heterogeneity were observed on moderately infertile sites. Maximum species richness, over 60 spe- cies, occurred on sites with biomass values from 150 - 350 g / m2. Species richness values are much higher and biomass values are much lower than those found in temperate grasslands. The decrease in diversity towards the most eutrophic communities is stronger than expected, but can be easily explained by the high grazing pressure here. The variation in diversity observed runs parallel with that in heterogeneity. Zones with a high species richness also have a high heterogeneity, meaning a low amount of dominance. Grazing is understood as a biotic form of disturbance. Differences in grazing pressure may modify the relation between richness and fertility. While the greatest grazing pressure coincides with the most eutrophic communities, decreasing progressively towards the oligotrophic ones, the trend predicted by the resource availability theory is maintained; species diversity will be maximal at inter- mediate levels of disturbance. Absence of grazing in the eutrophic communities would lead to an investment in the soil of the unconsumed organic matter.


Covering a wide range of novels, poetry and drama, including Shakespeare, this pack offers teachers a selection of possible strategies for teaching Key Stage 3 texts. It consists of teacher's notes, and photocopiable worksheets for pupils. The authors included are taken from the Key Stage 3/4 reading list in the revised English Curriculum, operative from September 1995. The pack has implicit links with the "Thornes Classics" series, but it can be used with any literature series.


Abstract Environment quality, clean energy and worldwide water scarcity have been established today as central disciplines in modern science, engineering and technology. The innovative desalination technology of saline water (SW) contributes to alleviate these problems by producing fresh water from SW, mainly seawater and brackish water. Desalination plants (DPs) have a high level of corrosion risk as they handle and process aggressive SW under severe operating conditions, which include filtration, heat exchange, distillation, evaporation, agitation and circulation and high flow velocities, often turbulent. These SW, that is, sea, brackish and brines, cause localized corrosion such as pitting, crevice, galvanic and stress corrosion. In addition, biological fouling and mineral scaling are frequent nuisances that alter the equipment surface performance and induce corrosion. Two main technologies are used to obtain potable water and a brine for disposal: thermal evaporation and membrane separation, called reverse osmosis. The main way to minimize corrosion is the correct selection of corrosion-resistant materials for the fabrication of DP equipment, structures, installations and machinery. To protect the DP materials, industrial paints, polymeric coatings and rubber linings compatible with the DP fluids are applied. Cathodic protection with sacrificial anodic metals and/or impressed direct electrical current and corrosion inhibitors are supplied.


The third species of the genus Amyllocerus, A. quadrisignatus Kojima, sp. nov., is described from South Vietnam as the first representative of the genus from the country. Weevils were collected from the canopy of an evergreen oak of the genus Castanopsis (Fagaceae). Weevils of the genus Amyllocerus Kojima et morimoto, 2006 inhabit evergreen oak forests and are presently represented by two species, one from Japan and the other from Laos (morimoto et al., 2006; Kojima & Yoro, 2010). The third, peculiar species of the genus was discovered from the mountainous area of South Vietnam as described below. The type specimens are preserved in the Laboratory of Entomology, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Atsugi (TUA) and Institute of Ecology & Biological Resources, Vietnamese Academy of Science & Technology, Ha Noi (IEBR). Amyllocerus quadrisignatus Kojima, sp. nov.


This paper aims to examine social media usage by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the context of business continuity. A key concern for businesses in times of disasters, such as the COVID19 pandemic or hurricanes, is continuity. This is especially true for SMEs that lack the expertise, awareness, and ability to dedicate specific resources to disaster planning and management. SMEs are quick to explore social media for functions such as customer acquisition, perhaps due to greater flexibility and agility than large companies. However, SMEs are constrained by a lack of resources, limiting the extent to which they can exploit social media. We collect data from 68 SMEs and analyze the extent to which they explore and exploit social media tools. Our findings suggest that the firms fail to exploit their social media presence to leverage long-term strategic benefits, which would be helpful during a disaster. Our contribution includes ways to analyze social media exploration and exploitation and suggestions to strategically manage social media use for business continuity.


Ritual, a phenomenon that covers a wide range of African spirituality, is a religious expression that has been in existence from time immemorial in Africa, and in the Diaspora. And thus, its efficacy is never in doubt as its cosmic significance is recognized. However, from the colonial era in Africa, religious understanding has been influenced by Western thought, and therefore, any religious phenomenon that could not be subjected to its rationality was simply regarded as superstition. In contrast, this paper is a rejoinder to some skeptics who argue that ritual is ineffective because it cannot be subjected to a systematic scientific investigation. However, this brief survey suggests that rituals in traditional African environments represent a complex and invaluable phenomenon that enables communication and communion with the spiritual world that proposes tentative explanations about phenomenon or phenomena observed relevant to the cosmos and the natural world.


The mechanical properties of self-piercing riveted(SPR)lap joints in dissimilar metal sheets of aluminum 5052 and copper H62 were investigated by experiments.The force-displacement and load-life curves were obtained to characterize the joint properties.A mathematical statistic method was used to analyze the validity of the experiment data.The strength,stiffness,impact resistance,failure modes and failure mechanism of the joints were studied.Results show that the stiffness varies with load of the joint,but fatigue strength improves with the increase in stiffness.The static strength of SCC is the highest,SAA2 second,while SAC is slightly higher than SAA1.The static strength of SPR joints are influenced by the length of rivet,thickness and property of the sheets,and the effect of the upper sheet property is prominent.The effect of the lower sheet on impact resistance is prominent.The displacement at failure is related to the sheet thickness,and the failure mode is the rivet pull-out from the lower sheet.The failure strength of SCC is the highest,SAA2 is better than SAC.The fatigue strength is influenced by the slight slip,the thickness and property of the sheets.Joints of the same metal mainly fracture in the lower sheet,while joints of dissimilar metals fracture in the soft material.


Recently, the study of coexistence between Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) systems in common Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) bands is a hot topic. For such a study, an appropriate measurement setup with reliable evaluation process is essential. In this paper, we present a simple laboratory measurement testbed to measure and evaluate coexistence scenarios of LTE-Downlink (LTE-DL) and Wi-Fi systems in indoor environment. Completely automated measurement of the objective parameters on the physical layer (PHY) level, real-time evaluation of the results and flexibility are the main advantages of the proposed concept. Different coexistence scenarios between LTE-DL and Wi-Fi (using IEEE 802.11n/ac technologies) in the 2.4 GHz ISM band were selected to validate our proposed measurement setup in an indoor environment. At the evaluation of the obtained results it was observed, that the LTE-DL system influenced by IEEE 802.11n/ac systems, similarly IEEE 802.11n/ac influenced by LTE-DL, has different performance.


Osteogenic and odontogenic tumors in the maxillofacial area sometimes involve the orbit or skull base and are clinically malignant, even if the histology is benign.We report four cases of such extensive tumors: fibrous dysplasia, cementifying pibroma, osteoma and chondroma.Our patients are described and the past literature is reviewed. Ophthalmological and multiple craniall nerve symptoms are frequently noted, so these tumors are considered to be clinically malignant.These tumors cannot readily be diagnosed by conventional X-ray examinations. Bone target CT scans revealed characteristic patterns in each of our patients. Therefore, we recommend bone target CT scans for the differential diagnosis of osteogenic and odontogenic tumors.Treatment is also discussed. Conservative operations for cosmetic and functional restoration are appropriate for these histologically benign tumors.


Terahertz (THz) nonlinear optics is an emerging field thanks to recent developments in the generation of intense THz pulses. THz radiation interacts with the vibrational/rotational resonances of molecules. For example, water molecules in the atmosphere show a very rich absorption spectrum with hundreds of sharp resonances below 3 THz. We report on the first experimental demonstration of the nonlinear interaction of THz pulses with water vapor. We observed a strong nonlinear response of the vibration/rotation resonances to the THz pulses. The frequency response of the nonlinear Kerr coefficient is extracted from the experimental results.


We report experimental demonstration of transverse shift of reflected optical beams having non-zero orbital angular momentum. Possibility of using such shift for measurement of orbital angular momentum state of a single photon is discussed.


Objective To analyze the relationship between cingulate gyrus volumes and age,in order to provide basal morphological data for the study of correlative disease.Methods A total of 1000 Chinese healthy volunteers were divided into 5 groups according to age:Group A(18—30),group B(31—40),group C(41—50),group D(51—60)and group E(61—80).Each group consisted of 200 subjects(100 females and 100 males,respectively).Brain scans were performed on all the subjects with T1 weighted three-dimensional magnetization prepared rapid acquisition gradient echo sequence.Cingulate gyrus volumes were semi-manually measured using 3D volume analysis software,and were corrected by total intracranial volume.Cingulate gyrus volumes among different age groups were compared with one-way ANOVA.The relationship between cingulate gyrus volume and age was analyzed with Pearson correlation and regression analysis.Results Corrected cingulate gyrus volumes(mm3)among group A,B,C,D and E were as follows:Left:9734.8±1492.2,9741.8±1754.8,9459.8±1500.4,9421.6±1392.4 and 9149.7±1471.8;Right:10 673.7±1437.8,10 584.2±1560.8,10 559.8±1495.5,10 258.2±1435.2 and 9985.0±1472.9.Significant difference was found among different groups(F=5.232,7.428,all P0.05).Cingulate gyrus volumes of both sides were negatively correlated with age(r=-0.140,-0.167,all P0.001).Conclusion Cingulate gyrus volumes of both sides have negative linear correlation with age,though the correlation coefficient is not high.


This paper proposes new concept for conversion of eco-environmental resources from unvalued resources into valued resources and comments that eco-environmental resources could be realized their commercialization through commercial exchange.This paper also suggests eco-environmental protection and construction could be managed using market mechanism system.The author considers that the new concept could be applied into constituting and revising related laws,regulations and po1icies,establishing new management system,seeking implement measure.


Abstract : One means available for the United States to shape a future environment to its advantage, and assist the stabilization of many countries and regions, is through the use of developmental humanitarian assistance. This kind of humanitarian assistance is vital to U.S. national security and is a strategic, economic, and moral imperative. Through developmental assistance, the United States can advance democracies, improve human rights, strengthen international partnerships, increase global economic growth and maintain the United States as a world leader. Effective support of development is essential to advancing U.S. security objectives to promote security, prosperity, respect for universal values, and a just and sustainable international order. This Strategy Research Project (SRP) examines current U.S. humanitarian assistance (HA) policies and proposes ways to align HA efforts with the National Security Strategy. The global environment with rapid population growth, competition for resources, and ethnic conflicts all threaten to undermine the political and economic stability in many countries and regions. International development is a means available to the United States to promote stability in the world and vital U.S. strategic security interests. Both Congress and President Obama find international development vitally important to the United States, but do not have a comprehensive strategic plan to accomplish this endeavor. President Obama has issued and implemented his PPD but the following changes are required for it to be effective: Designate USAID as the lead agency for development; resource USAID properly to meet strategic developmental goals; incorporate USAID under DOS; require integrated strategic planning between agencies on development; leverage the United Nations to support U.S. developmental initiatives; and require strategic leader training programs for all senior USAID officials.


In this paper, we consider the impact of a weaker model of eventual consistency on distributed multi-player games. This model is suitable for networks in which hosts can leave and join at anytime, e.g., in an intermittently connected environment. Such a consistency model is provided by the Secure Infrastructure for Networked Systems (SINS) [24], a reliable middleware framework. SINS allows agents to communicate asynchronously through a distributed transactional key-value store using anonymous publish-subscribe. It uses Lamport's Paxos protocol [17] to replicate state. We consider a multi-player maze game as example to illustrate our consistency model and the impact of network losses/delays therein. The framework based on SINS presented herein provides a vehicle for studying the effect of human elements participating in collaborative simulation of a physical world as in war games.


Form the emergence of enterprise merger and acquisition in 1960s,the global foreign merger and acquisition market has initially formatted with the rapid expansion of multinational corporation and the deepening of the fifth merger and acquisition wave in 1990s. Economic globalization,scientific and technical innovation,and investment liberalization are critical to the formation of global foreign merger and acquisition market. There are industrial transfer rule,regional transfer rule and industry developing rule in the formation of global foreign merger and acquisition market.


Research related to optical sensors (optodes) directed the attention towards plasticized polymeric membranes containing more than one ionophore at the same time. Studying the potentiometric behavior of such membrane systems helps to characterize the effect of cross-contamination in multi-electrode systems used for biomedical applications. In this article, a theoretical model is introduced, which describes the potentiometric behavior of membranes doped with two different ion carriers. The theory is compared to those results obtained with a model system containing both K+ and H+-ionophores in the membrane phase. The study has also been extended to ion-selective membranes containing two other ion-selective carriers in different ratios. These results give guidelines to optimize the physical arrangement of potentiometric multi-electrode systems.


We have studied the histological structure of the cervix of 200 pregnant women with multiple biopsies taken during labor or immediately after him; then, in order to ascertain whether the histological changes found after senalaremos- which were permanent or only temporary and dependent on pregnancy, new biopsies 50 women, six and twelve weeks postpartum were taken, they are included in this group all wherein in the first biopsy showed these changes. In ten women (5%) histological alterations indistinguishable from carcinoma in situ was found; even in four of these cases they showed images suggestive of infiltration of the corium. In 18 women (9%) was found. nuclear atypia, which came to constitute some real monstrous cells. In 20 (10%) could be observed in cell disorder stratification and nuclear hyperchromatism. In 29 women (14.5%) increase in the number and size of nuclei in both the endo and ectocervix in was observed. In biopsies control post partum period was not possible to find the persistence of alterations described here; for this reason we conclude that these changes are not really carcinomas but transient changes caused by biological changes of pregnancy. The age of the pregnant woman, her condition primiparous or multiparous, and finally the number of previous births did not influence the development of the changes we have outlined. Finally hypertrophy was observed in the squamous epithelium of the ectocervix in 61 cases (30.5%), squamous metaplasia in the endocervix in 43 cases (21.5%), basal layer hyperplasia in 86 cases (43.0%), decirduales stromal changes in 21 cases (10.5%), and congestion and edema in 120 cases (60.0%). In most cases, these lesions have disappeared or dimmed in Control biopsies post partum; in these biopsies could observe however persistent chronic inflammatory changes, ie, cervicitis. The problem of diagnosis and treatment of carcinoma in situ of the cervix during pregnancy is discussed, and concluded that a diagnosis of intra-epithelial carcinoma of the cervix in a pregnant woman made is doubtful. In these circumstances you should expect to end the pregnancy to confirm through new biopsies and only then treat the patient.


The authors firstly accomplish a description of the implemented automatic measurement station for efficiency measurements on high and low power electrical drives. Then, the adopted testing procedure, based on central composite rotatable design for multilevel multivariables, implemented to obtain the information requested to minimize the amount of measurements necessary to fully evaluate VSD performance, is discussed in detail. The paper is completed with a trial of the proposed methodology by means of experimental results obtained on a 380 V, 5 kW variable speed drive.


In order to solve the problem of maximum power point tracking (MPPT) of photovoltaic (PV) array, a MPPT method based on the combination of variable step size incremental conductance (INC) method and short circuit current method is proposed. When the external environment of the PV array suddenly changes, the short circuit current method is used for preliminary tracking. When the working point of the PV array approaches the maximum power point (MPP), in order to avoid large power oscillation, the variable step size increment conductance MPPT method is used for further tracking. The experimental results showed that, the improved method not only can make up for the shortcomings of the short circuit current method in accuracy, but also effectively solves the problem that the variable step size increment conductance MPPT method needs to weigh the power oscillation and response time. Thus, the improved method may enhance the efficiency of the PV system.


"Be afraid. Be very afraid." These words could have been reasonably spoken at almost any time during the French Revolution, as actual and imagined threats seemed both constant and ubiquitous. This was certainly true of the days surrounding the storming of the Bastille. In the evening of Sunday, July 12, 1789, a crowd gathered in front of the Hôtel de Ville in Paris. News of King Louis XVI's dismissal of the popular financial minister Jacques Necker had reached the city that afternoon, followed shortly thereafter by clashes between a protesting crowd and royal troops stationed in the city. The municipal electors, whose official task of organizing elections for the Estates General meeting in nearby Versailles had been completed in early May, hurried to the city hall as well. Like the gathering crowd, they feared an attack on the capital by royal forces.


Field experiments were conducted to test the hypotheses that
Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis) display small-scale spatial structure within longline catches, relative
to other species and empty hooks, or within-species based on sex or length. Sequential hook-by-hook inventories,
along with length and sex data, were taken at thirty-one survey stations. Two-dimensional spatial statistics were used to test for 1) aggregation, defined as the clustering of individuals within a given demographic of size or sex over small intervals of distance; and 2) segregation, defined as the sequential occurrence of individuals within a given demographic of size or sex, uninterrupted by other observations, irrespective of the distance between individuals. Statistically significant structure was detected within catches that is more commonly associated with fish length than sex. Significant spatial structuring
occurred at 60% of all stations tested. Significant aggregation of halibut of legal length for commercial retention (≥82 cm) was detected at 44% of stations and aggregation of sublegal-size halibut was detected at 11%. Maleand female-based aggregations were observed at 22% and 11% of stations, respectively. Significant segregation of females was observed at 20% of stations, male segregation occurred at 8% of stations, and segregation by size at 16% of stations. Understanding small-scale spatial structure within longline catches may help us interpret changes in survey and commercial catch data. If structure is generated
by behavior, then observed size-at-age or relative sex-ratios may be biased relative to underlying distributions.
Although physical processes such as gape limitation should remain stable over the time, dynamic processes may be spatially and temporally variabl


The primary objective of this article is to promote a reevaluation of the adequacy of information-based solutions to product safety problems. The perspective that is introduced serves to redirect the current conceptual and empirical approach to the issue of consumer safety. Thus far, most of the attention has been placed on the resolution of consumer problems via labels and warnings. However, these are not a complete solution to the problem. Labels are often ignored or unavailable at the time of usage, and the representation of hazard information in memory is often inadequate. To achieve a more complete understanding of product safety, the extent to which consumers actively control their actions must be examined. Solutions to the safety problem still in evidence require far greater attention to the reasons for and the dimensions of product consumption. These issues are discussed, and the significance of this expanded view is addressed both in terms of policy initiatives and basic consumer research.


While merely part of a hobby trend just a couple of years ago, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are on the verge of transitioning into the business world, as the benefits of capturing images of varying degrees from a couple of hundred feet off the ground are beginning to be explored by state departments of transportation (DOTs). In Michigan, North Carolina and Ohio, platforms are already being built around the potential of UAVs by the DOTs. Issues of safety, public perception, regulation surveying and data collection are addressed.


In the English-speaking Caribbean, the Advanced level qualification is the traditional and preferred route to accessing an education at the University of the West Indies (UWI). However, applicants with nontraditional qualifications—such as the associate degree qualification, teacher certificate, diploma, and mature student status (meaning one who is out of school for five years and over, is over the age of 25 years, has demonstrated academic potential, and has gained academically relevant knowledge and workplace experience)—are also considered for admission into the UWI degree programs. The objective of this study was to establish whether students with the traditional qualification, that is, two Advanced (A) level subjects, are better able to cope with the requirements of undergraduate study than those with an associate degree, which is one of the nontraditional qualifications. The study compared the performance of two groups of students in the University of the West Indies Faculty of Social Sciences three-year bachelor's degree program (University of the West Indies, 1996, 1997, 1998). One group held the Barbados Community College (BCC) associate degree with a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 2.5 and the other group consisted of persons entering with two Advanced level subjects from colleges/secondary schools in Barbados. The study compared the performances of 1999, 2000, and 2001 UWI graduates to ascertain whether entry qualifications were related to the type of degree attained. The findings suggested that there is no significant relationship between qualifications at the time of entry and performance.


Diblock copolymers possessing amino or aldehyde functions within one of their blocks were prepared using RAFT polymerization techniques. These polymers were shown to cross-link through dynamic imine bonds to form core cross-linked star polymers which display a size-dependency upon the concentration at which the cross-linking reactions are performed.


Quasi-f-power increasing sequence has been used for infinite series to establish a theorem on a minimal set of sufficient conditions for absolute Cesàro φ-|〖C,α;δ;l|〗_k summable factor. Further, a set of new and well-known arbitrary results have been obtained by using the main theorem. The presented main result has been validated by the previous result under suitable conditions. In this way, the Bounded Input Bounded Output (BIBO) stability of impulse response has been improved by finding a minimal set of sufficient conditions for absolute summability because absolute summable is the necessary and sufficient condition for BIBO stability.


With the increasing popularity of online video, efficient captioning and displaying the captioned text (subtitles) have also been issued with the accessibility. However, in most cases, subtitles are shown on a separate display below a screen. As a result, some viewers lose condensed information about the contents of the video. To elevate readability and visibility of viewers, in this paper, we present a framework for displaying synchronized text around a speaker in video. The proposed approach first identifies speakers using face detection technologies and subsequently detects a subtitles region. In addition, we adapt DFXP, which is interoperable timed text format of W3C, to support interchanging with existing legacy system. In order to achieve smooth playback of multimedia presentation, such as SMIL and DFXP, a prototype system, namely MoNaPlayer, has been implemented. Our case studies show that the proposed system is feasible to several multimedia applications.


where the best possible constant Mk is 7r for k ? 1/2 and 7r csc 7rk I for 1/2 <k. Thus, when considered as a linear operator on the complex sequential Hilbert space 12, Hk is a bounded symmetric operator. Magnus [8] showed that the 12 spectrum of Ho is purely continuous and consists of the interval [0, 7r]. In this note we shall exhibit for each real k a monotone function Pk(X) and an isometric map Vk of '2 onto L2(dpk) such that VkHkV17' is a multiplication operator. This will allow us to determine the spectral nature of Hk. In [9] we studied an isomorphism of 12 with L2(0, oo) that transforms the Hilbert operator Hk into an integral operator which we shall now denote by 30k,1/2. It can be easily checked that 0k,1/2 formally commutes with the differential operator Lk which is defined below. Indeed, we shall prove that 30k,1/2=ir sech 7rL1/2. Since Lk can be diagonalized by a now standard procedure so 32k,1/2 and hence Hk can be diagonalized.


This research aims to determine the relationship between self-regulated learning and mathematics achievement in junior high school students. The dependent variable in this research is mathematics achievement which is measured using the mid-term examination. The independent variable is self-regulated learning measured using a scale of self-regulated learning developed based on Zimmerman's theory (1989). Hypothesis was there is positive relationship between self-regulated learning and mathematics achievement. Subjects were 129 grade VIII students of SMP Negeri X in the year of 2016/2017. Data was analysed using Pearson's product-moment correlation technique. Results showed that there is a significant positive relationship between self-regulated learning and mathematics achievement, r = 0.351 (p < 0.01). As a conclusion, the hypothesis was accepted.


A study was undertaken from September 1971 to October 1973 with the scanning electron microscope (SEM) to investigate the surface epithelium of the human Fallopian tube during fetal reproductive and postmenopausal life. The aim was to obtain information on the normal conditions and possible cyclic behavior of the ciliated and nonciliated cells. The study was also extended to include the investigation of the intracellular content of DNA and the concentration of various trace elements of the endosalpinx in the normal menstrual cycle. Quinacrine dihydrochloride is known to bind to DNA forming a clot in the intramural portion of the tube. The effect of different trace elements on Quinacrine was studied. It was determined that the ciliated and nonciliated cells of the endosalpinx are fully developed early in embryonic life. The ciliated cells exhibit no specific cyclic behavior in the adult while a pronounced cyclic behavior is found in the nonciliated cells. Pregnancy gives the picture of late secretory phase which is most pronounced at term when there is a period of cellular rest. Activity and restoration take place in the postpartum period. Progestational agents generally give a picture of late secretory phase and estrogen gives a proliferative picture. There appears to be no synchronization of the DNA synthesis in the epithelium of the tube in the menstrual cycle. Increased DNA values were observed around ovulation which are probably due to the influence of 17-beta-estradiol with the effect of loosening of the chromatin swelling of the nuclei and a higher dye binding capacity of the nuclei. Trace elements concentrations are fairly constant in the menstrual cycle when the endosalpingeal values are compared with those of the endometrium.


Multiple comorbidities are observed during pregnancy and there are many challenges for pregnant women with a previous history of diabetes. Pancreatic β-cell dysfunction is associated with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). This study intends to explore LncRNA-5657's
 effect on proapoptotic cell proliferation and insulin secretion in gestational diabetes. Real-time quantitative fluorescence PCR measured LncRNA-5657 expression in GDM patient placental tissues along with analysis of cell activity, proliferation and insulin secretion by MTT assay, BrdU staining
 and ELISA. The relation between LncRNA-5657 and NOX4 was assessed by dual luciferase reporter assay. LncRNA-5657 was overexpressed in placental tissue of GDM patients compared to normal pregnant women. LncRNA-5657 overexpression promoted cell proliferation and insulin secretion, which was
 reversed by LncRNA-5657 downregulation. In addition, LncRNA-5657 negatively regulated NOX4 expression. Overexpression of NOX4 abolished the effect of LncRNA-5657 mimics on pancreatic β-cells, and knockdown of LncRNA-5657 promoted insulin secretion by upregulating NOX4 expression.
 In conclusion, LncRNA-5657 inhibits insulin secretion and β-cell proliferation by targeting NOX4, indicating that LncRNA-5657 might be a novel target for the treatment of GDM.


ABSTRACT In this paper, we explore personal testimonios from a Latina's first year in a tenure-track position. We share testimonios and personal narratives based on mentorship and a friendship that was cultivated between a tenured white female professor who helped the Latina professor learn to navigate the landscape of a working at a Hispanic Serving Institution (HIS). Through dialogue and reflections of specific moments during that first year, our story reveals the following themes: (1) validating emotions and overcoming imposter syndrome, (2) strategizing and balancing scholarly opportunities, (3) how assessment and evaluation impact novice tenuretrack faculty members and (4) the role that a White mentor takes in helping a Latina faculty member when there are no other tenured Latinas in her department.


Topological indices have important role in theoretical chemistry for QSPR researches. Among the all topological indices the Randic index has been used more considerably than any other topological indices in chemical and mathematical literature. Most of the topological indices as in the Randic index are based on the degrees of the vertices of a connected graph. Recently novel two degree concepts have been defined in graph theory; ev-degrees and ve-degrees. In this study ev-degree Randic index is defined by using ev-degree concept as parallel to their corresponding classical degree version. This new ev-degree Randic index is compared with the Randic index by modelling some physicochemical properties of octane isomers. It is showed that the ev-degree Randic index give better correlation than the Randic index to predict the entropy, acentric factor and  standard enthalpy of vaporization of octanes.  Also the exact values of the ev-degree Randic index for the well-known graph classes such as; paths, cycles, stars and complete graphs are given.


Basic chiral QCD parameters (the pion decay constant, the quark and gluon condensates, the dynamically generated quark mass, etc) as well as the vacuum energy density have been calculated from first principles within a recently proposed dynamical equations approach to QCD at low energies. The zero modes enhancement (ZME) model of quark confinement and dynamical chiral symmetry breaking (DCSB) based on the solution to the Schwinger-Dyson (SD) equation for the quark propagator in the infrared (IR) domain was used for this purpose. There are only two independent quantities by means of which calculations should be done within our approach. Our unique input data was chosen to be the pion decay constant in the chiral limit given by the chiral perturbation theory at the hadronic level (CHPTh). Phenomenological estimates of these quantities, as well as the vacuum energy density, are in good agreement with our numerical results. The nonperturbative vacuum structure which emerges from the ZME model, appears to be well suited to describe quark confinement, DCSB, current-effective (dynamical)-constituent, as well as constituent-valence quark transformations, the Okubo-Zweig-Iizuka (OZI) rule, dimensional transmutation, etc. The importance of the instanton-type fluctuations in the true QCD vacuum for the ZME model is also emphasized. This allows to predict new, more realistic values for the vacuum energy density (apart from the sign, by definition, the bag constant) and the gluon condensate.


This project tries to inquire into USA's education system, focus on Utah, and the Spanish education system with emphasis in physical education. It compares two different realities analyzing their defects and strengths with the intention that both systems feedback and boost each other thought an exchange of information.


At present, the development of algorithms is particularly relevant high-level analysis of video sequences, including tracking of objects in a video stream and their implementation in information and communication systems. In the proposed approach the pretreatment step uses optical flow calculation for each frame video sequence, as well as low-level features (such as a representation of each pixel in the color space YIU). For moving objects optical flow is more important than for a stationary background and allows you to find the foreground objects in video sequences and adjust the weighting function in determining the histogram similar to the adjacent frames, taking into account the motion of objects.


This article discusses the Youyan Poetry during Jianan Period. By means of describing the life of the feudal nobles, the author gives a faithful representation of the specific stratum's fashion and nature. It delineats the inner world of the sholar-officials and their aesthetic conceptions. It is an important component of Jianan Period literature. It has great influence on the poetic development of later ages.


Recently, global economic turmoil has led to the rise of many grass-roots movements and communities that share a strong sustainability agenda and the desire for political, economic and societal change in the world. Digital technologies play a role in supporting these growing communities in achieving their goals, maintaining and extending their practices and connections. This marks a new area of research for HCI, that of Connected Sustainability. In this workshop, we seek to understand the values and practices of such communities; the role of digital technologies in shaping and sustaining identity and community action; and existing challenges and opportunities.


The role of excitons in the laser action of ternary II–VI quantum wells is investigated. As a consequence of an increased stability due to localization on alloy disorder, bi‐excitons are dominant up to temperatures clearly above 100 K. Steady‐state pump‐probe measurements reveal a bi‐excitonic gain as large as 2.5×104 cm−1. Above 200 K, the threshold density grows steeply and the laser emission turns into electron–hole plasma recombination.


The creation of the perturbed initial conditions is done separately for upper air fields and surface fields. The generation of the perturbed upper air fields base on 16 members from the ECMWF-EPS system. Since these EPS-members only consider large scale perturbations due to the lower resolution of the ECMWF-EPS with respect to the ALADIN-LAEF system (50 km against 18 km) these fields are combined by a digital filtering method (blending) with small scale perturbations that stem from a breeding cycling method. For the generation of the small scale perturbations by breeding, pairs of 12h forecasts from the LAEF-system are scaled by a predefined factor with respect to the ECMWF control run. Since the use of the ECMWF-EPS surface fields lead to a high bias of low level surface parameter a non-cycling blending/breeding technique is implemented to create surface perturbation fields. Therefore the surface of the ECMWF-EPS members is exchanged by the ARPEGE surface analysis and a 12h forecast of the 16 system members is done to achieve 16 perturbed surface fields.


PT. Kemasan Ciptatama Sempurna, is one company that produces various kinds of foam products are Styrofoam, Cylinder Foam, Corrugated carton Box, PE Foam, Air Bubble, and the Lunch Box, etc. However, there are several obstacles still faced by PT. Ciptatama Packaging Foam Perfect production process that is still often the case of defect in the manufacturing process. One product that is often experienced Cylinder Foam defect. With the existence of such defect will cause rework or disposal of defective product even occur that result in smaller profits. Therefore, product quality improvement project to be implemented urgently Foam Cylinder and selected as research objects.
The main objective of this research is to refine the process to reduce defects that occur on the production floor. This study applied the approach to six sigma DMAIC cycle with a single.
Define stage to identify problems, measure to determine the issues that affect quality, analyze contain about fish bone diagrams to help pinpoint the main problems and improve the cause of the defect is about FMEA (Failure Mode and Effect Analysis) to assist in determining the alternative proposals that would improve granted, this study focuses only on defect repairs on the selected CTQ.
Collapse defect is critical defects that needed to be addressed, given the improvement of this defect is to do periodic checks on the inner ear mold, and cooling the incoming cooling water channels on the mold. This can be done by making a checklist or documentation. By reducing the critical defect is expected to be able to improve the quality of product produced on production floors.
Keywords: Six Sigma, DMAIC, FMEA, CTQ, Collapse


Patent collection is increasing incrementally. Most of the new technological information is from patent documents, and retrieving specific patents in such a large pool of documents has become a challenging issue for both patent examiners and normal/inexperienced users. Nowadays, most of the retrieval systems (patent retrieval systems) search for the exact match of the query string inside the collection to return a result. However, based on natural language processing, most words have different meanings and each concept can be expressed by more than one word. Since patent documents include lots of new technical terms, searching among them by exact match needs lots of experiences and it is an exhausting task. In this study we aim to investigate this problem by using expansion techniques. We propose a new semantic expansion approach, namely, vector-based semantic expansion (VSE). To do the expansion, we use external knowledge sources, WordNet and Wikipedia. We also examine the affects of using their combination on the expansion results. We do word (VSWE), query (VSQE), and document (VSDE) expansion in this thesis to demonstrate the performance of our approach. We show that our approach with combination of these two knowledge sources can be effective to find similarity between two units of language which might be word, sentence or text. We apply our technique on Miller and Charles dataset to find word-word similarity. Also, our experiments which are based on clef-ip 2011 shows that our technique increases the recall-rate in query expansion, especially for shorter queries.


This paper presents the results of an experimental and numerical study of the compressive capacity of longitudinally cracked wooden columns retrofitted using self-tapping screws. The screws were driven into the wood perpendicular to the wood grain to alleviate the propagation of existing cracks and to improve the structural integrity of the cracked columns. Full-scale concentric and eccentric compression tests were conducted to investigate the failure modes and maximum load carrying capacity of such columns. A 3D finite element model was developed, verified, and then used for a parametric study. The test results indicated that the cracks (of 6 mm wide) caused a resistance loss of up to 19% compared with an intact column, but most of this resistance loss can be remedied by using self-tapping screws. It was also found that such resistance loss and recovery are dependent on the seriousness of the cracking, and generally increase with the increased initial mid-height deflection and decreased screw spacing, whereas a screw spacing of 100 mm would be sufficient for most cases considered in this study.


The present Special Issue is devoted to papers, which deal with the subjects of liquid dielectrics. Most of the papers included in the present Special Issue are concerned with innovative insulating liquids belonging to the family of natural and synthetic esters. The large interest in ester liquids is due to their positive property to have a much higher flash points and fire points of over 300 °C, almost two times more than traditional mineral oils; in addition, natural esters are readily biodegradable and come from renewable resources, made out of seed crops, such as soybeans. In fact, scientific researches on advances related to these liquids are needed for the development of safer power transformers as essential part of the forthcoming announced green-economy, now no longer postponed for the benefit of our planet. The main validation points for these innovative liquids remain their dielectric behavior and their aging performance and for this reason outstanding researches are still going on. Other papers included in this Special Issue deal with important studies related to breakdown, partial discharge (PD) and the effort made worldwide to improve the liquid insulation properties through the use of innovative nanomaterial additives.


Thin plates of highly nonlinear optical organic crystal DAST (4'-dimethylamino-N-methyl-4-stilbazolium tosylate) have been grown and prepared for THz generation experiments and integrated optics. The thickness is in the range of 20 microns to 1mm. DAST is an organic salt with one of the highest nonlinear optical susceptibilities and electro-optical coefficients. DAST crystals are therefore seen as good candidates for many photonic applications such as microring resonators or for THz-devices. The quality of such organic crystal is crucial for any application.


Eighteen patients with benign chronic bullous dermatosis of childhood were studied and the findings compared with those of dermatitis herpetiformis (twenty‐two cases) and bullous pemphigoid (five cases) beginning in childhood.


### Learning objectives

The generation of mineralised matrix within arterial conduits is common (see Figure 1). About 10%–20% of atherosclerotic vessels contain architecturally complete trabecular bone with fully formed marrow cavities with haematopoietic cells and vascular sinusoids. Although it is recognised that bone formation and arterial vessel calcification have common biochemical pathways, this so-called vascular calcification is a complex and incompletely understood phenomenon, which has proved difficult to prevent and treat.1 The process of extraskeletal ossification is not unlike embryonic ossification pathways which can be triggered by a variety of metabolic, inflammatory and genetic factors. For example, it is likely that proteins that normally restrict biomineralisation to skeletal bone are diminished (eg, fetuin A, matrix GIa, among others), and raise the prospect of identifying targets for therapeutic intervention. The two types of calcification—atherosclerotic (intimal calcification) and medial artery calcification—have different mechanisms, but both affect arterial stiffness and physiology, and increase the risk of adverse cardiovascular events.2

Figure 1
Three-dimensional reconstruction showing extensive aortic and coronary calcification (image courtesy of Dr V Parish).

### Vascular calcification: therapeutic targets

Vascular calcification is more common with ageing, patients with diabetes mellitus, hypertension, renal dysfunction, hypercalcaemia and hyperphosphataemia, but can occur in patients without any of these characteristics. Patients with a high calcium diet do not have an increased risk of coronary calcification, suggesting that the pathogenesis lies in dysfunctional regulatory pathways. There is a substantial literature on the potential genetic and acquired mechanisms for this process, but specific mechanisms leading to therapeutic prevention have proved elusive. For example, small studies using statins, calcium blockers, hormonal therapies, phosphate …


By the onset of the Battle of Okinawa in 1945, the Japanese had mastered the use of terrain as a defensive ally. The subject of the environment has gained increasing attention in the study of military history. Japan, being less industrialized than other nations at the time, increasingly relied on weaponized landscapes for the purpose of defense following the Battle of Saipan in 1944. By the onset of the Battle of Okinawa in 1945, the Japanese had mastered the use of terrain as a defensive ally. This thesis uses Okinawa as a case study to explore the environmental history of the Pacific theater. Through the use of interdisciplinary sources from biology, geology, and entomology, along with primary sources from the National Archives in College Park Maryland and the U.S. Army Heritage Education Center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, this research will reveal the natural world's role as an active combatant in the Battle of Okinawa. It will also highlight the post-war weaponization and militarization of landscapes in the Cold War period, blurring the line between wartime and peacetime military occupation.


Ground geomagnetic survey was conducted around Iseyin Area, part of Ado-Awaiye in order to map and ascertain the nature of variability in the magnetic signature of the subsurface rock, structure of the magnetic basement as well as the depth to basement top. This was aimed at revealing the subsurface basement configuration, lithology and its mineralization. Total field intensity were measured and recorded at each station with the value of the magnetic anomaly ranging from 30446.47 nT to 33536.10 nT (nanotesla). Regional-residual separation and half - width methods were applied and after necessary data processing, the results were presented in form of magnetic map and profiles. Qualitative and quantitative interpretations were made based on the maps and profiles. Variation in the magnetic data reveals variation in the basement lithology with the higher value corresponding probably to the amphibolite (basic) component and the lower value corresponding to the granitic or


The multi-threading technology is an important software technology of Win32 operating system.It can develop the parallel tasks well and enhance the system performance.It also has the obvious merit in avoiding blocking,reducing the running time and making most of multi-processor performance.After introducing the virtual instrument in brief,data acquisition using multi-threading technology based on CVI software was researched and designed.According to the application of multi-threading in virtual instrument software design,system performance and CPU efficiency are enhanced greatly.


The relationships between severity of iron deficiency anemia, response to iron treatment, respiratory and gastrointestinal illness and weight changes were assessed before (T1) and after (T2) iron therapy. Seventy-five pre-school children from rural Guatemala received daily oral iron (ferrous sulfate 5 mg/kg/day) for eleven weeks, and were classified into one of three groups: (1) severe iron deficient (Hgb 1g/dl Hgb response (T2-T1) to Fe Rx; (2) moderately iron deficient (Hgb 9.25 g/dl to 11.5 g/dl and T2-T1 > 1g/dl); (3) normal controls (Hgb > 11.5 g/dl and T2-T1 11.5 had more days ill than those classified as severely or moderately anemic. There was no other statistically significant associations between initial Hgb levels and morbidity. On the other hand, there was a statistically significant negative correlation between delta (T2-T1) Hgb and number of days ill with gastrointestinal symptoms. All other covariates accounted for the percentage of days ill from gastrointestinal sorbidity, decreased approximatelymore » 1% for each 1% increase in delta Hgb.« less


Under ambient excitation of white noise, structural modal parameters can be identified from cross-power spectrum calculated from structural outputs, without known input. The minimization of difference between theoretical value and test value of cross-power spectrum — the former is an equation including modal parameters to be identified, and the latter is computed based on the output-only data of structure — is adopted as an objective function for optimization. The optimal objective function value can be obtained through optimal modal parameter search. Quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization (QPSO) — swarm intelligence optimization algorithm based on particle swarm optimization (PSO) — is used for optimization to identify the modal parameters of structure under the ambient excitation. Then, the modal parameter identification method based on QPSO presented herein had been demonstrated by a numerical simulation of three-span continuous beam and experimental results of a three story structure. The computed results indicated that QPSO can be effectively used in the structural modal parameter identification under ambient excitation.


This paper introduces the browser for multi-dimensional dataset such as global climate change simulation datasets and the visualization system for access logs to the datasets which we are now constructing. Many of large scientific datasets have multi-dimensional structures and it is necessary to consider multi-dimension to browse such datasets in order to utilize the data efficiently and to understand the behavior of the requests for them.


Two driving features of Black feminism are care and collectivity. This article considers them as vectors for Christian preaching. I focus on a specific speech event that involves Alice Walker, Angela Davis, and June Jordan, and treat it as a case study for Black feminist preaching. Ultimately, I propose a triptych approach to preaching that entails layering sermonic messages, accommodating dissonance, and foregrounding mutuality.


BILATERAL STENOSIS or occlusion of the internal carotid arteries caused by arteriosclerosis is found frequently by arteriography. Sometimes collateral circulation is sufficient to maintain cerebral function with few or no neurological symptoms. Congenital absence or hypoplasia of the internal carotid artery is extremely rare. We have studied a patient with small internal carotid arteries which we believe have resulted from developmental hypoplasia. Clinical, arteriographic, and postmortem studies which support this interpretation are the basis of this report.


Post-transplntation lymphocele is a well known complication, and lymphatic filariasis (LF) has occasionally been found to present as post-transplantation lymphocele. However, incidentally detected LF during transplantation surgery has not been reported. We present an incidentally detected LF presenting as enlarged lymph node in the right iliac fossa of a recipient during transplantation of donor kidney. He was subsequently treated after transplantation and had stable graft function without any complications after 8 months of follow-up.


One of the fundamental principles of the criminal law is consistency: like offenders must be treated alike. However, research has shown that when it comes to sentencing in New Zealand there is in fact substantial regional disparity in the penalty imposed on similarly situated offenders. The situation is unacceptable, and undermines the integrity of the criminal justice system. This paper will explore three different mechanisms for guiding judicial discretion in the pursuit of sentencing consistency. It will undertake an analysis of mandatory sentences and the 'instinctive synthesis' approach, both of which will be shown to be unsatisfactory. Instead, the paper will argue that the establishment of a Sentencing Council with a mandate to draft presumptively binding guidelines is the most appropriate way forward for New Zealand. This option finds the correct equilibrium between giving a judge sufficient discretion to tailor a sentence that is appropriate in the circumstances of the individual case, yet limiting discretion enough to achieve consistency between cases.


Aim To study the action mechanism of hy-perin(Hyp) on neonatal rat's neuron with anoxia/reox-ygenation(A/R). Methods The dissociated neonatal rat brain cells were subjected to 30 min of anoxia or followed 40 min of reoxygenation. Lactate dehydrogenase( LDH),malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide (NO)in the supernatant were measured. The intracel-lular free calcium concentration([Ca2+]i ) in brain cells was assayed with Fura 2-AM method. Results Anoxia induced a significant increase of LDH in the supernatant from (62.0±13.0) U·L-1 (Sham group) to ( 116.0±16.6) U·L-1 (Control group,P0.01),and reoxygenation markedly increased LDH and MDA in the supernatant from (45. 6±9.2) U·L-1 and (9.1±0.9) μmol·L-1(Sham group)to (106.0±17. 4) U·L-1 and (16.4±2.7) μmol·L-1(Control group,P 0.01),respectively. In the range of 1.0~16.0 μmol·L-1,Hyp markedly and concentrationdependently inhibited anoxia-or reoxygenation-evoked increases of LDH and MDA. 1.0~16. 0 μmol·L-1 Hyp not only inhibited anoxia-induced increase of NO in the supernatant and rise of [Ca2 + ]i in brain cells(P0.05 or P0.01),but also attenuated reoxygenation-evoked increases of NO and[Ca2+]i(P0.05 or P0.01),Hyp 16. 0 μmol·-1 significantly reduced NO and[Ca2+]i from (34.4±6.3) μmol·L-1 and (640 ±94) nmol·L-1 to (25.0±5.1) μmol·L-1 and (331±56) nmol·L-1,respectively. Conclusion The protective effect of Hyp on A/R-injured neurons may be related to the inhibition of overload of[Ca2+]i, NO release and lipid peroxidation.


We propose that stress can decrease the internal friction of amorphous solids, either by increasing the potential barriers of defects, thus reducing their tunneling and thermal activation that produce loss, or by decreasing the coupling between defects and phonons. This stress can be from impurities, atomic bonding constraints, or externally applied stress. Externally applied stress also reduces mechanical loss through dissipation dilution. Our results are consistent with the experiments, and predict that stress could substantially reduce dielectric loss and increase the thermal conductivity.


The climate in the eastern part of the tropical Pacific Ocean – off the coast of Mexico, Central America and as far south as Chile – fluctuates irregularly between warm and rainy "El Nino" and cold, dry "La Nina" conditions. El Nino occurs approximately every three years and has a global effect on the atmosphere – it is associated with failure of the monsoons over India, droughts over southern Africa, the western tropical Pacific and parts of Australia, and unusual weather patterns over northern and southern America. The oscillation in the climatic state corresponds to a natural mode of the coupled ocean-atmosphere system, but reasons for the irregularity, and hence limited predict–ability, of El Nino are uncertain.


Taking erect stepped mechanical legs for analytic target, describe the whole coordination about the sport position of shank when walking with mechanical leg. Namely the sports of the thigh, shank,foot and the crooking stretching sports of knee and ankle joint. To achieve it mechanical dynamics mathematics model of leg has been set up,which has been demenstrated very useful for designing robot.


From the perspective of ecology,this paper expounds the meaning of technical knowledge sharing and diffusion,puts forward four factors which influence the technical knowledge sharing and diffusion:the investment degree for technical knowledge sharing and diffusion,sharing willing,learning ability,channels of sharing and diffusion,establishes fundamental system dynamics models based on the four factors,tries to analyze feedback loops,reveals the impact of various factors on the technical knowledge sharing and diffusion,and finds out the feedback loops which restrict technical knowledge sharing and diffusion.Then based on ecological principles,the article puts forward relevant countermeasures to improve feedback relationship,in order to improve the level of technical knowledge sharing and diffusion.


A new dynamic still for the determination of vapor−liquid equilibrium (VLE) data has been constructed in stainless steel. Both the liquid and vapor phases are recirculated. The operating procedure is based on the Cottrell pump principle. The liquid mixture is placed in an inverted double-walled vessel and heated. The equipment performance has been verified by measurements on mixtures that have been previously studied by various authors. VLE data have been determined for the ethyl acetate + methanol binary system at (0.1, 0.5, and 0.7) MPa. The experimental data have been tested with the point-to-point test of Van Ness, employing the program of Fredenslund, and are shown to be consistent.


Purpose; Hunteria umbellata has been found to have therapeutic potentials in the treatments of diseases such as yaws, peptic ulcers, diabetes, piles and infertility in Nigeria; hence, the statistic al analysis on the determination of acute toxicity of Hunteria umbellata was carried out in mice. Methods; Data on the acute toxicity studies of the seed extract of Hunteria umbellata administered via the intraperitoneal route was analyzed using the two-parameter Weibull model. Results; The median lethal dose (LD 50 ) was 1.61 g/kg of body weight. This result falls in the neighbourhood of the median lethal dose earlier obtained in previous reports. Conclusion; The results show that Hunteria umbellata may be slightly toxic when administered intraperitoneally.


One of the main problems of recognizing faces in videos is to achieve accurate algorithms which can be used in real-time applications. Recently, Fisher Vector representation of local descriptors (e.g., SIFT) has gained widespread popularity, achieving good recognition rates. In this work, we propose to use Fisher Vector encoding of binary features for video face recognition, in order to speed up the computation time of the representation. The experimental evaluation was conducted on the challenging YouTube Faces database, showing that the proposed method is very efficient, and has an accuracy comparable with state-of-the-art methods.


The effectiveness of two laryngoscopes, the English Macintosh and the Flexiblade (a levering laryngoscope), were compared in a clinical setting.


In this paper, we derive new xed-point algorithms for the blind separation of complex-valued mixtures of independent, possibly non-circularly-symmetric, and non-Gaussian source signals. Leveraging recent results in complex independent component analysis, we construct iterative procedures for complex signal mixtures whose evolutionary characteristics are identical to those of the real-valued FastICA algorithmwith kurtosis contrast. Our methods are fast, computationally simple, and easy to use. For extracting multiple sources, symmetric and asymmetric signal deation procedures can be employed. Simulations for both noiseless and noisy mixtures indicate that the proposed algorithms often have equal or better nite-sample performance than existing separation methods for complex-valued mixtures.


ABILITY scribed as to a plan measure has of been intellidescribed s a easure of i telligence. And planning is thinking thinking through the ramifications and implications of an executed act before it is executed. The almost universal requirements for water have made its management and use a powerful tool for controlled development and indirectly great social and economic change. Kansas has water problems. The geographical location of Kansas is such that it is subject to extremes in climatological conditions, fluctuating alternatively between floods and droughts. Floods and droughts are sometimes going on simultaneously within the state. There are also great variations in geology which may affect the quantity and quality of the water resources. Experience has shown that if the economy of Kansas is to be normalized and stabilized, our water resources must also be normalized and stabilized. The objective of these efforts is to provide protection against floods, to provide dependable water supplies during periods of drought, and to provide for a quality of water which is compatible with water needs. The consequence of having either too much water or too little water makes living conditions difficult and hampers economic growth. Our collective jcb is to find a method to overcome the difficulties and then implement those methods as rapidly as possible.


-2 s -1 . Two isomers, proximal and distal , were isolated and show distinctly different electrochemical properties. Only the d isomer is catalytic towards water oxidation, but it isomerizes to the p isomer under photo -irradiation . By attaching a phosphonate group onto the terpyridine ligand (see Figures 1 and 2) , the catalyst can be anchored onto metal oxide surfaces , including light absorbi ng semiconductors, for increased stability of the catalyst, and electroc hemical and mechanistic studies . Here, we present e lectrochemical and photoelectrochemical experiments , Pourbaix diagrams, pH dependence behavior, and spectroelectrochemical characteri stics of phosphonated (Ru(tpy)(pynap)(OH 2)) 2+ catalysts attached onto FTO, ITO and WO 3 surfaces . The results are compared to known electrochemical and mechanistic properties of the bare catalyst. Overall, phosphonating and immobilizing the catalyst s do not significantly alter its redox chemistry, suggest ing ruthenium oxidation pathways are similar with or without surface attachment . Challenges with catalyst loading and anchoring stability limit long -term mechanistic studies of these composite photoelectro de s. These investigations may have important implication s in the functionalizion of semiconductor surfaces with redox catalysts and the general design of composite PEC c


Memory used for storing the configuration bitstream of field programmable gate array in space applications often encounters single event upset problems, which may disrupt the integrity of data in memory and lead to unpredictable failures. For commercial memories used in low Earth orbit (LEO), single-bit errors and double-byte errors account for a large proportion. Meanwhile, error detection and correction (EDAC) schemes, e.g., triple modular redundancy, linear block codes, memory scrubbing, and the combination of these schemes, are very popular in LEO missions. To further these works, a novel EDAC scheme with cascaded "Bose–Chaudhuri–Hocquenghem and cyclic redundancy check" codes and a proper scrubbing method is presented in this paper. The performance of the proposed design is measured and compared with state-of-the-art EDAC schemes in terms of hardware overhead, time overhead and error correction and detection capabilities. It is concluded that the proposed EDAC scheme is better suited for memory in space applications.


The author's four-year experience of lecturing the calculus of variations in the faculty of engineering in Hiroshima university is reported rather informally to give advice to teachers who have a plan to open its lecture. After some technical matters in teaching the variational calculus are discussed, an opinion is stated about under what principles mathematics should be lectured for students learning engineering.


Abstract Optical properties of polyimide film with dispersed metalloporphyrin (ZnTPDPI) and those of polyimide film containing tetraphenyl-porphyrinzinc in polymer backbone (POTPPI) were compared. For ZnTPDPI, the increase of the content of ZnTPP in PI film exhibited the increase of absorption and emission. POTPPI showed higher emission and absorption than ZnTPDPI. Relative fluorescence quantum yield of POTPPI was 0.218, while that of ZnTPDPI was 0.125.


Abstract Cape Moreton - Gunumbah - on Moreton Island, Queensland, is an area of high cultural value to the Ngugi traditional owners, and has considerable archaeological significance. The extensive area of stone outcrops is the largest raw material source for stone artefact manufacture in Moreton Bay, yet there is no evidence for extraction activities or stone working associated directly with the outcrops. Stone working is only visible at two nearby workshop sites. Furthermore, the area is made up of multiple outcrops of different raw material types. Each quarry is owned by a particular family, and the quarries were a major focus for trade on Moreton Island. Significant places close to the quarries imposed restrictions on access to the stone and obliged visitors to behave in accordance with Ngugi Law. Although several archaeologists have analysed the Cape Moreton stone outcrops, the full meaning of Gunumbah can only be determined by including Aboriginal knowledge of the entire place.


Science thrives when ideas, hypotheses, data and knowledge are quickly and easily shared within disciplines and communities. Traditionally, this was done through personal interactions, letters, lectures, and articles in professional journals. The advent of the Internet and Web accelerated information sharing with tools like email, online publishing, digital libraries and comprehensive search engines such as Google. Researchers and developers are now exploring a new idea that many believe will further enhance scientists' ability to share knowledge on the Semantic Web.


. Basing on energy-related analysis, the article discusses the issues of creating integrated approaches to providing for environmental friendliness and safety of the technological processes of form-shaping and the methodology of quantitative evaluation of ecological effectiveness of these processes. Energy-related analysis allows to find the interrelations between energy efficiency and environmental friendliness of technological processes, to create a joint methodology for improving these indices by reducing energy losses and compensating the "underload" of electric motors of processing equipment. The established interrelations allowed to compose the integrated ecological quality index, making possible to estimate numerically the environmental friendliness and safety of technological processes for each particular implementation. As an example, the article presents the formation of a comprehensive criterion for environmentally justified selection of LCTA and systems for LCTA application as one of the possible approaches to detailing of environmental friendliness and safety of technological processes based on rational choice of LCTA.


cross-sectional follow up studies. Even though a small number of subjects and low quality in these studies may be a limitation, the mindfulness meditation showed effects reducing craving of smokers during study period. In addition, mindful attention awareness status could be a good predictor of successful smoking cessation. Further good quality studies are necessary to gather evidence clarifying the association between mindfulness mediation and smoking cessation.


This thesis enters in the frame of a purely geometric approach of three-dimensional artificial vision. Its interest is in the processing of range images, which are collections of positions measured at object surfaces. More precisely, its subject is the segmentation of a range image, i.e. the sharing of the set of measured points into subsets according to a geometric model of surface. The thesis defends a segmentation approach based on the loosely constraining model of first order continuity and proposes a new detection method of 0th order and 1st order discontinuities to perform the segmentation. In addition, this work provides a deep study in several processing techniques which are linked to the proposed method. The discontinuity detection method is the core contribution of this work. It is a local method characterized by the three following features. First, an unique detector is used for detecting both 0th order and 1st order discontinuities. Second, the noise, which disturbs the detection of discontinuities, is damped by combining smoothing with discontinuity detection. Third, discontinuity detection and smoothing are controlled according to an estimate of the noise level, so that the signal is not smoothed more than necessary. The method is called Minimal Detector Minimal Smoothing (MDMS). Compared to other methods which also combine discontinuity detection with smoothing, the MDMS method is original in regard of two aspects. First, it is the only one that takes into account an estimate of noise level to control discontinuity detection and smoothing. Second, it is xiv Segmentation et traitements préliminaires des images de profondeur the only one that combines the detection of 0th order and 1st order discontinuities with the use of diffusion for smoothing. The interest of this work goes beyond its practical contribution related to the MDMS method, since it makes a deep analysis of the following problems involved in the processing of range images: segmentation, discontinuity detection, noise estimation, and noise attenuation. An important part of this thesis is devoted to the description and the comparison of existing methods for solving these problems.