The newspaper is a very widely used medium for transmitting news and information in today's society. Some of the published information is very important and therefore required to be kept for future reference. The cutting and subsequent retrieval of newspaper articles is a tedious process. The retrieval process is also very laborious. Electronic newspaper cutting is required to replace the manual process. A library newspaper cutting system was developed at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. The system enables librarians to cut, index and store news articles interactively. Readers can retrieve news articles via World Wide Web (WWW) browsers. Different abstract generation techniques, including location method, indicative‐phrases, keyword frequency and title‐keyword method, are incorporated into the retrieval interface to filter out irrelevant news articles. In this paper, different abstract generation techniques and their effectiveness as a means to generate indicative abstracts for news articles are discussed.


The basic characteristics and habitat characteristics of extinct Brasenia schreberi community in Lichuan were surveyed.The endangered causes of extinct Brasenia schreberi in Lichuan were studied as follows:human activities such as farming,run-off of water pollution,and excessive exploitation,fragmental habitat and its disadvantages in the species competition.


Control of phase contrast in electron microscope images is presently achieved by fine vernier control of the dc objective lens current. An incremental change δJ in lens current produces a corresponding increment δf in focal length and a focal separation in object space of δL o . L o is the distance from lens to conjugate object plane so that ΔL o is the axial separation of conjugate object plane and scattering specimen. The defocus phase at the image plane of a ray scattered at angle β relative to the axial ray is $\chi ={\vert K \vert \over 2} \triangle L_{\deg}\beta^{2} \qquad \eqno{hbox{(1)}}$ with |K| = 2π/λ. The phase contrast G in the image goes as $G \sim {\rm sin} \chi {\vert K \vert \over 2} \triangle L \deg \beta^{2} \qquad \eqno{\hbox{(2)}}$ ignoring spherical aberration, astigmatism, etc., for this purpose. Precise control of phase contrast for a spacing "a" = λβ−1 requires that the focal separation increments δL o be as small as 100 a and preferably less.1, 2


This paper analyzes the reform in the teaching system in the content of Mechanical Drawing and summarizes several ideas on it.It also raises the measures of improving the teaching effect of Mechanical Drawing with the modern teaching methods.


Data and information are the important assets in many activities, including
educational ones. Office of Education in Merauke, recently there are some
systems to support the need of data and information on educational environment,
however, one system to another are not in a single entity, therefore they are not
able to provide data and information quickly and integrated. A technology need to
integrated data and information, and this technology called the data warehouse.
Data Warehouse is a relational databases to query and analyze, not for transaction
process. It can save and process a lot of data from many sources, then integrate
them to be analized. The purpose of this research is to find how to integrate the
whole student�s data which are spread in differents schools into the data
warehouse.
Logical model data of data warehouse in this research use the star schema,
which can show the relation in each table as dimension and measure that, will
figure out the informational needed and to answer the question from the user. The
analysis of the data warehouse using OLAP (On-Line Analytical Processing), to
analyze the student score and data at Office of Education in Merauke. The result
show that the multidimensional data is designed to analyze the average score of
national examination of student�s perspective, school�s type, school�s level,
school`s status, and the number of students based on school�s name, school`s
status, school`s type, school�s level, student`s gender, and ethnic. The
multidimensional data analysis (OLAP) consist of Contourcube component , that
can operate a rotation/pivoting, filtering, sorting, slicing/dicing, and drill-down/drillup,
and allows the user to analyze from different point of view with an output
graphic display created by user.


Nigeria as a comparatively newly independent state has not developed extensive practice and case law in the area of immunity of foreign state owned property within the country. However, it is possible to glean from the existing laws and the attitude of the Nigerian government in disputes on this subject what may be generally regarded as the Nigerian practice in this field.


The title compound, [Ag(C6H5ClNO3S)(C6H8N2)]n, has a chain structure, where the AgI cation is four-coordinated by three N atoms from two different 2,5-dimethylpyrazine molecules and an NH2 group of a 2-amino-5-chlorobenzenesulfonate anion, and one sulfonate O atom. N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds stabilize the structure.


Abstract : In this work, we are investigating the use of microfabrication technology to create a micromachined fluidic control system (consisting of micromachined actuators, sensors, and control/drive circuitry) with a goal of application in practical fluids problems, such as UAV-scale aerodynamic control. Our approaches include: (1) the development of suitable micromachined synthetic jets (microjets) as actuators, which obviate the need to physically extend micromachined structures into an external flow; and (2) a non-silicon alternative micromachining fabrication technology based on metallic substrates and lamination (in addition to traditional MEMS technologies) which will allow the realization of larger scale, more robust structures and larger array active areas for fluidic systems.


Central and Eastern Europe have clearly "returned to Europe," integrating with formerly Western institutions such as NATO and the European Union. Yet while this process may seem to be simply a part of inevitable globalization, national goals and bilateral relations still play a key role as well. This article will examine the role of Germany and of German-Polish relations in the EU expansion process. It will show that German economic and political interests drove it to push hard for the 2004 expansion and Poland's inclusion in it, often over the objections o f its EU partners. Thus, while underlying globalization may have set the stage, even in an organization like the E U which seems to embody "post-national" ideals national goals still play a role.


Abstract A model for predicting the wear profile of the ductile cast iron roll during rod (or bar) rolling is proposed using Archard's wear equation. Archard's wear equation was reformulated as an incremental form and the hardness of the roll was expressed as a function of rolling time under a high temperature. The wear profile of the roll is calculated at each deformation step by consideration of relative sliding velocity and normal roll pressure at contact area. The coefficients required in the proposed wear model have been obtained using the high-temperature wear tester of pin-on-disc type. A three-dimensional finite element analysis coupled with the proposed wear model has been carried out for the oval-round pass rolling sequence widely used in present continuous rod (or bar) rolling mills. To describe the deformation behaviour of material at the roll/material interface better, a contact-searching algorithm that can be applied efficiently to the finite element mesh was also suggested. The results showed that, for an oval groove, the maximum wear occurs at the centre part of the roll and, for a round groove, at the shoulder area of the roll. The wear profiles moves to the spread direction of workpiece (i.e. roll axis direction) as well as the direction of roll centre as the production (tonnage) increases. The proposed wear model might be used for adjusting the gap (pass height) of rolls to set up a suitable rolling schedule for keeping dimensional tolerance of the product and avoid catastrophic failure of rolls after rolling a characteristic tonnage.


Mixed‐lineage kinase 3 (MLK3), the mitogen‐activated protein kinase kinase kinase (MAP3K), has been recognized as a player in tumorigenesis and oncogenic signalling, yet its detailed functions and signalling in cervical cancer have not been fully elucidated. Here, we identify that cervical cancer cells display higher mRNA and protein levels of MLK3 than normal cervical epithelial squamous cells. In HeLa and SiHa cell, MLK3 knockdown using siRNA remarkably suppressed cell survival and promoted cell apoptosis, with increased expression of the apoptosis‐related protein Bax and reduced Bcl‐2. Moreover, MLK3 knockdown promoted cell autophagy, demonstrated by increased ratio of autophagy‐related proteins LC3II/LC3I and decreased p62 expression in MLK3 depletion cells. Furthermore, MLK3 knockdown remarkably abolished Notch‐1 expression in cervical cancer cells. By co‐treating Hela cells with MLK3 specific siRNA and pcDNA3.1‐Notch‐1 overexpression plasmid or autophagy inhibitor 3‐MA, we found that MLK3 played its role in cervical cancer cells via the Notch‐1/autophagy network. Our results demonstrate the importance of MLK3 in cervical cancer progression via modulating the Notch‐1/autophagy network, and suggest that MLK3 is a promising therapeutic target for cervical cancer.


We describe a real-valued and periodic representation of quantum states. This representation can be defined operationally using generalized position and momentum measurements on coupled systems. It turns out that the emerging quantum interference terms encode the complete state information and also allow us to formulate quantum dynamics. We discuss the close connection to the theory of analytic functions.


A compressibility pressure‐temperature cycle has been developed for polyethylene oxide (PEO) by which both the melting and freezing points of this polymer are easily determined. It was found that PEO supercools about 10°C and that the pressure dependencies of the melting and freezing points are approximately the same. Using the pressure dependence of the bulk modulus for PEO the Gruneisen constant, γ, was calculated to be about 5 and was found to have an anomalous temperature dependence. It is shown that the Gruneisen constant and the Rao constant are approximately equal and that Wada's rule holds for transitions in which the volume does not change.


Summary A significant problem associated with the commercial acceptance of biodiesel is poor oxidative stability. This study investigated the effectiveness of individual and binary antioxidants to improve the oxidative stability of different types of biodiesel and distilled biodiesel. Results indicate that different types of biodiesel have different levels of oxidative stability, and that natural antioxidants and FAME composition play significant roles in determining oxidative stability. Synthetic antioxidants can enhance the oxidative stability of different types of biodiesel, and antioxidant activity increases as a function of its concentration. However, the effective activity level of antioxidant is dependent on biodiesel feedstock. Binary antioxidant formulations (TBHQ and PY) have a synergistic effect on oxidative stability of biodiesel. After long-term storage at room temperature, the oxidative stability of untreated SBO-based biodiesel significantly decreases as a function of time, while the addition of the antioxidant TBHQ can improve and maintain oxidative stability of biodiesel over an 18-month period. However, the effectiveness of PY significantly decreases even after 2-months.


The aging process is a process experienced by all living organisms. For human beings, this process occurs gradually starting at a young age. It is believed that proteins in some parts of the human brain play an important role in the aging process. Therefore, the protein interaction network for the aging process is aimed at obtaining characterization of essential proteins. Samples of proteins are obtained from ArrayExpress. Subsequently, data from Data of Interacting Protein (DIP) is used to obtain the connected proteins to generate network interactions for the aging process. A total of 38 networks are produced by age and gender, however we only focus on 24 networks that belong to 2 age classes. Using information from GeneAge, essential proteins for the aging process are extracted from all generated networks. Thereafter, five measurements were used to characterize all the essential proteins which are Degrees, Closeness Centrality, Betweenness Centrality, Local Clustering Coefficient and Number of Triangles. The results showed four out of five measurements were able to provide the main characteristics of essential proteins in which Degrees, Betweenness Centrality, Local Clustering Coefficients and Number of Triangles. All the characteristics of this protein are compared to age group and gender. Each age group and gender assigned different major protein markers. Therefore, a unique protein, which is the essential protein that "stands out" from other essential proteins based on every measurement in each class age and gender are identified. This analysis shows that there are several unique essential proteins to men and women that each have a distinctive characteristic in the protein interaction network for the aging process.


Global Chassis Control (GCC) stands for functional and architectural networking of the vehicle's individual chassis systems. The networking is of vital importance for enhanced driving safety, driving comfort, and driving pleasure. Based on the general advantages of Global Chassis Control, this paper describes the chassis subsystems brakes, steering, suspension and tires. Their structure, function, interfaces to other subsystems and their significance for the networked system are discussed. The intermediate steps towards the development of a "dry" drive-by-wire chassis are explained. We reveal the functional potential due to networking the systems by looking at first spin-offs of Global Chassis Control.


We study the loss of information (measured in terms of the Kullback?Leibler distance) caused by observing "grouped" data (observing only a discretized version of a continuous random variable). We analyze the asymptotical behaviour of the loss of information as the partition becomes finer. In the case of a univariate observation, we compute the optimal rate of convergence and characterize asymptotically optimal partitions (into intervals). In the multivariate case we derive the asymptotically optimal regular sequences of partitions. Furthermore, we compute the asymptotically optimal transformation of the data, when a sequence of partitions is given. Examples demonstrate the efficiency of the suggested discretizing strategy even for few intervals.


marks the launch of CASHMERE WORLD,the only trade fair dedicated exclusively to the whole supply chain of the global cashmere industry.It is the first-ever event jointly organized by the CFNA(China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Foodstuffs,Native Produce


This paper presents the study of mathematical characteristics of generalized Bessel polynomial that can be applied to approximate a sine-squared pulse for designing matched filters in communication systems. The proposed pulse can be designed by using the transfer function, in which the numerator is the five pairs of a transmissions zero pairs, and the generalized Bessel polynomial is used as the denominator. A parameters of generalized Bessel polynomials can be adjusted by particle swarm optimization to find the best parameter value. From the simulation results can be found that a parameter can be adjusted. A proposed pulse is close to the ideal response in mainlobe, and one sidelobe to four sidelobes with stability, which outperformed previous research.


Bis(trimethylsilyl)mercury reacts with cyclohexanone at room temperature to give cyclohexyloxytrimethylsilane, cyclohexenyloxytrimethylsilane, and 1,1′-bis(trimethylsiloxy)bicyclohexyl. Acetone and acetophenone give analogous products. Bis(trimethylsilyl)mercury appears to react initially with one or two molar equivalents of the ketone R1R2CO, to produce an intermediate radical R1R2ĊO·SiMe3, which dimerizes or disproportionates to give the observed products. Reactions of the mercurial with benzophenone, benzoquinone, mesityl oxide, and wet acetone have also been studied.


Objective To discuss the clinical importance of second-trimester maternal serum screening for aneuploidy in advanced maternal age.Methods The results of serum screening and the detection rate of chromosomal abnormalities in women with different indications for invasive prenatal diagnosis were retrospectively analyzed in 1247 women(group A,maternal age of 35 to 44 years old) and 7916 women(group B,maternal age of 25 to 34 years old).Results A total of 1084(86.9%) mothers in group A were completed this follow-up study.Of 56 cases with adverse pregnancy outcomes,16 chromosome aneuploids were detected with one case of trisomy 21 undetected during pregnancy.Cytogenetic diagnosis was carried out in 368 mothers,in which high screening risk was indicated in 162 cases,advanced age in 195 cases.Congenital malformations found by regular ultrasound scanning were 11 cases,of which chromosomal abnormalities were diagnozed in 3 cases.Chromosomal abnormalities were diagnozed in 9 of 162 cases in high risk group,which was only one case in 195 cases with simple advanced maternal age.Conclusion Second-trimester screening tests increases the efficiency of prenatal diagnosis in mothers with advanced age.Maternal biochemical screening combined with ultrasound scanning decreases the risk of missed diagnosis of plasma tests.


Advanced research concepts of tools and techniques of data mining can be adopted by many recent industries to generate the intelligence for making their process of decision making more efficient. Like as in the education system to make efficient decision making for educational institutes, students performance and student employability. These are at the main focus of any education system. So the core target should be the efficient analytics of the educational data. So now higher education institutions are making the use of these techniques for improving the system with respect to increasing student performance and student retention. Educational data mining is helpful for teachers and management of the institutes to enhance their way of taking classes and making their schedule to improve student's overall performance and these techniques are also helpful for the students while taking the right decision for their bright academic career. The main aim of this paper is to analyze on how the education quality can be improved with the help of educational data mining concepts and techniques.


In the medium-term (i.e. to 2020), employment in the European Union (EU) will be characterised by a continuing shift away from the primary sector (especially agriculture) and manufacturing towards services, with potentially serious consequences for rural economic prosperity. A component of strong regional resilience (the ability to withstand and/or recover from economic shocks) is a broad mix of economic sectors. This paper summarises the potential for new sources of employment beyond agriculture in rural areas across the EU, as identified in the pilot areas research undertaken by the EU Framework 7 project 'RuralJobs'. It concludes that the potential for new jobs exists in most sectors in most areas, and that innovation and local resources are important determining factors of job creation


Real-car experiments on eight urban underground roads in Shanghai Municipality were conducted in this paper.A total of one hundred and fifty-six measured data were used to fit four presented characteristic and prediction models.The stepwise linear regression method was employed to predict the proper 85 th percentile operation speed on urban underground road.Four regression models were used to investigate the relations between operating speed and corresponding roadway factors including lane width,slope grade,number of the lanes and speed limit,etc.The prediction made by using the presented models can meet real-car experimental results on a ninth urban underground road very well,which indicates the applicability and reasonability of the models.In addition,the speed limit was found to have very small effect on the operating speed in underground roads.The models put forward in this paper are believed to be useful for operating speed prediction for urban underground road with four to eight lanes at a design speed of 40 to 80 km·h-1.


Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCL) other than anaplastic large cell lymphoma are rare in children, and data about outcome and treatment results especially regarding the role of stem cell transplantation (SCT) are scarce. Here we present the results of a retrospective study of SCT for pediatric patients with PTCL within the European Group of Bone marrow transplantation (EBMT). Out of 125 patients aged <18 years with PTCL diagnosed between 1995 and 2015 who were registered to the EBMT database, reports about the primary therapy and data about the course of SCT were sufficient for analysis in 55 patients. 37 (69%) had PTCL not otherwise specified (NOS), 7 (13%) hepato-splenic T-cell lymphoma, 4 (7%) angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, 3 (6%) NK/T-cell lymphoma, 2 (4%) subcutaneous panniculitis-like T-cell lymphoma, and 1 systemic EBV-lymphoproliferative syndrome. Median age at PTCL-diagnosis was 13.0 years (range: 0.7-17.6), and was 13.9 years (range: 2.5-17.9) at SCT, respectively. 35 (65%) of the patients were male. 43 (81%) of the patients had received T-NHL/ lymphoblastic lymphoma-type therapy; radiotherapy (RT) was given to 7 patients (16%) prior to SCT. 45 (83%) patients underwent allogeneic SCT (16 from related and 29 from unrelated donor), and 9 (17%) patients received autologous SCT (ASCT). Myeloablative conditioning (MAC) was used in 44 (88%) patients, 6 (12%) patients received reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC). Total body irradiation (TBI) was part of the conditioning regimen in 26 patients (48%).
 After SCT the 5-year overall survival (OS) and lymphoma-free survival (LFS) probability was 57% (95% CI 44.5-72.5) and 56% (95% CI 43.4-71.2), respectively. Relapse incidence was 25% (95% CI 14.1-37.9), whereas the non-relapse mortality (NRM) rate was 18% (95% CI 9.4-29.7).
 Patients with younger age (0-9 years, vs. 10-18 years) at diagnosis of PTCL had a tendency for better outcome (OS 80% vs. 50%, respectively p=0.069), whereas age at SCT and gender had no influence on outcome (p=0.2 and p=0.6, respectively). Year of SCT (1995-2007 vs. 2008-2015) was of no significance for the outcome (p=0.31).
 A tendency for better outcome (OS/LFS) was observed in patients who received RT in the pre-transplant treatment, and for patients who achieved first/second complete remission (CR1/CR2) before SCT, as compared to those with later/ without CR prior to SCT (OS 72% vs 46%, p=0.1). Patients receiving MAC conditioning had a better OS compared to patients receiving RIC (66% vs. 33%, p=0.07). LFS was inferior after ASCT compared to allogeneic SCT, resulting in non-significant difference in OS .
 Acute Graft-versus host disease (aGvHD) grade III/IV was seen in 6 (14.6%) patients. 6 patients suffered from chronic GvHD, 2 of them from the extensive form.
 In conclusion, SCT for pediatric patients with PTCL in CR1/CR2 is a valid option of treatment. MAC may currently be chosen for conditioning in order to possibly prevent relapses.

 Bader: Neovii: Research Funding; Cellgene: Consultancy; Riemser: Research Funding; Novartis: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Medac: Patents & Royalties, Research Funding.


One key problem need to be solved in using classical logic to handle knowledge system and information mining is Scott Law.Base on the general knowing,we could give Scott Law a new solving strategy which differ from present logic system's.In the knowledge implication propositional logic system which build on this strategy,1.implication property suit for Intuition,2.the basic law of classical logic is reserved in this system,3.negation and conjunction's property is not changed,4.Scott Law is wrong in this system.At the basic of knowledge implication propositional logic,a system of knowledge implicational model prepositional logic system has been built.It can describe inference mechanism of inconsistent knowledge system which includes in modal information.According to given formal semantic,it has been proven the soundness and completeness of this system,and paradoxes of strict implication does not be occurred in this system.


The use of the ordinary Poisson iterative reconstruction algorithm in PET requires the estimation of expected random coincidences. In a clinical environment, random coincidences are often acquired with a delayed coincidence technique, and expected randoms are estimated through variance reduction (VR) of measured delayed coincidences. While numerous analytical methods exist for reducing the variance of measured random coincidences, iterative methods have the advantage of being easily adapted to any acquisition geometry and of allowing the estimation of the singles rate at the crystal level, when the number of crystals is relatively small. In this paper we present a VR algorithm with a simultaneous update, which is derived by using surrogate functions. A monotonic algorithm is designed for data in line-of- response projection or list mode formats. The updated equation requires the knowledge of a fan sum of random data; therefore, the algorithm is extremely fast. The algorithm derivation provides a theoretical basis for a more heuristic simultaneous update algorithm, which was used in our previous work with list mode data. Measured data from a Siemens TruePoint clinical scanner were used to validate the algorithm.


Steady state gene frequencies around a suming single gene inheritance and no dompocket of differential fitness have been forinance, Teich (1970) demonstrated that mulated by Hanson (1966) in a generalizapopulations of both jack pine and lodgepole tion of the work of Haldane (1948). A pine (Pinus contorta Dougl.) fit Hardypocket of differential fitness would result Weinberg expectations. The elegant analyin a pocket-of-variability, assuming that sis of Sittmann and Tyson (1971) makes it the radius of the area of contrasting fitness highly probable that inheritance is singlewas large in relation to the vagility of the gene and that serotinous-coned trees and organism. Conversely, the absence of a open-coned trees are the respective homopocket-of-variability is predicted whenever zygotes while trees with both types of cones dispersal is broad relative to the size of the are heterozygotes. I t seems likely that the pocket of differential fitness. Around the serotinous cone habit in all pines is basipocket, a cline would be established through cally under the control of a single locus. the interaction of migration and selection. With the long generation time of trees, decThe slope of the cline would depend on the ades may be required for further verificawidth of the band of intermediate fitness, tion. being steepest where the band was absent. In pitch pine some trees bear serotinous The change in gene frequency with distance cones. Pond pine (Pinus serotina LIichx.), from the pocket would be rapid in the band with a nearly allopatric range to the south of intermediate fitness values and approach of pitch pine, is nearly 100% closed-cone limiting values asymptotically in the areas (Fowells, 1965). Pond pine was treated of contrasting fitness. with specific status by Critchfield and Little The serotinous cone habit in pitch pine (1966) but was considered a subspecies of (Pinus rigida Mill.) provided us an exampitch pine by Smouse (1970). On Cape ple of a pocket-of-variability. A serotinous May, New Jersey and on the Delmarva cone is one that remains closed for at least Penninsula a transition type occurs which one year after maturity. The cone scales belongs to neither group, according to are held together with a resin seal and heat Smouse (1970). Little et al. (1967) also is required for prompt opening. Normally, reported that these areas were zones of intemperatures in the tree crown do not reach tergradation. levels sufficient to open serotinous cones. Variation in the frequency of serotinousSerotinous cones do open and shed seed folconed trees has long been a subject of speclowing a fire, so that serotiny seems to be ulation. I t would be reasonable to hyan adaptation to fire, ensuring reproduction pothesize that the variable occurrence of a t the most opportune time in relation to serotinous cones in pitch pine is related to site availability. the influence of pond pine through active T o properly relate patterns of variability hybridization and gene flow, and that the to Hanson's model, characteristics confrequency of pitch pine with closed cones trolled by a single gene should be conwould decline with distance from Cape sidered. For Jack pine (Piaus banksiana May. A second hypothesis is that the disLamb.) there is evidence that the closedtribution of trees with the closed-cone habit cone characteristic may be under simple is related to some underlying selective facgenetic control (Rudolph et al., 1959). Astor (s), possibly fire.


Removing the epicuticular wax from mature pads (cladophylls) of Lindheimer pricklypear increased picloram absorption by four- to sixfold in the laboratory, while the addition of surfactant had little effect on absorption. Absorption decreased with increasing pH of the picloram solution, indicating that picloram diffused through the cuticle as the undissociated molecule. Picloram entered detached pads at the areoles more readily than through the surrounding cuticle. In the glasshouse, whole plants consisting of an old, mature pad supporting a young, growing pad absorbed picloram very slowly whether picloam was applied as a spray to old or young pads or to the soil. About 90 and 80% of the applied picloram remained on the waxy surface of old and new pads, respectively, and about 2% of the applied picloram was recovered from within the epicuticular wax after 30 days. Picloram concentrations within pads treated in the glasshouse were greater when the herbicide was applied to new pads (4.6 μg/g) than old pads (1.9 μg/g) after 30 days. More picloram was translocated basipetally from treated new pads to untreated old pads than in the opposite direction, but concentrations in untreated pads were low (<1 μg/g). Little picloram was absorbed by roots, compared to pads, and little was translocated into or out of roots. These results conflict with the view that the effectiveness of picloram for pricklypear control is attributable to extensive root uptake and acropetal transport. However, observations of plants 6 months after treatment indicated that soil applications were more effective than sprays in the glasshouse.


The electrochemical reduction at mercury and platinum electrodes of a series of perfluoroalkyl (RF) and alkyl (RH) cobalt(III)NN′-ethylenebis(salicylaldimines)[CoR(salen)] has been studied in tetrahydrofuran by several techniques. Each class of compound is reduced similarly, [CoIIIR(salen)] [graphic omitted] [CoIIR(salen)]– [graphic omitted] [CoIR(salen)]2–, with the CoIIIRF complexes reducing most readily. Electron transfer and subsequent chemical reaction rates are different at the mercury and platinum electrodes implying that mercury-bridged intermediates may be formed at the mercury electrode. The [CoRF(salen)]– species are more stable than the alkyl complexes but do decompose to [Co(salen)] and perfluorocarbanions. The [CoRH(salen)]– anions rapidly yield [Co(salen)]– and the alkyl radical. Both complexes [CoR(salen)]2– decompose very rapidly to [Co(salen)]–.


The Tamil language is more than 2,000 years old, age-old, and has dialects. The Tamil language has the nature of being a mother tongue and has the ability to mix with other languages. Classical literature, which encompasses all the characteristics, serves as a mirror of time that describes the life of man. Ancient Tamils did not explore science to the extent of exploring love and heroism, the gifts of fame and justice, which were two eyes in life. If the news is examined scientifically, one can learn the deep scientific knowledge of ancient Tamils. Tolkappiyam, one of the grammar books, looks at the distinctions between life and the five land distinctions, the measurement names mentioned by them, the characteristics of the planets, etc., with a scientific eye. It is also aimed at examining various scientific aspects of the solar system in the classical literature, such as the movements of the solar system, the calculations of the time, the observations on the disk, the rotation of the air, the rotation of the air, the space travel of the ancient Tamils, the use of aircraft, the knowledge of astronomy, etc.


Species exhibit a range of specialisation in diet and other niche axes, with specialists typically thought to be more efficient in resource use but more vulnerable to extinction than generalists. Among herbivorous insects, dietary specialists seem more likely to lack acceptable host plants during the insect's feeding stage, owing to fluctuations in host‐plant abundance or phenology. Like other herbivores, bee species vary in host breadth from pollen specialisation (oligolecty) to generalisation (polylecty). Several studies have shown greater interannual variation in flowering phenology for earlier‐flowering plants than later‐flowering plants, suggesting that early‐season bees may experience substantial year‐to‐year variation in the floral taxa available to them. It was therefore reasoned that, among bees, early phenology could be a more viable strategy for generalists, which can use resources from multiple floral taxa, than for specialists. Consequently, it was expected that the median dates of collection of adult specimens to be earlier for generalist species than for specialists. To test this, phenology data and pollen diet information on 67 North American species of the bee genus Osmia was obtained. Controlling for latitude and phylogeny, it was found that dietary generalisation is associated with significantly earlier phenology, with generalists active, on average, 11–14 days earlier than specialists. This result is consistent with the generalist strategy being more viable than the specialist strategy for species active in early spring, suggesting that dietary specialisation may constrain the evolution of bee phenology—or vice versa.


Abstract : This report discusses operation of the hydrazine decontamination apparatus in the multicurie cell; the testing of ion exchange resins; the installation, testing, and modification of the AGN-302 Experiment at the MTR; liquid level probe difficulties; post-irradiation beamport plug removal and inspection; and analytical modifications.


Objective Discussion heart electricity guardianship meter examination blood pressure after clothes to blood pressure result influence.Methods Picks attentively the electricity guardianship meter separately and separates clothes and does not separate the clothes according to the standard to survey the identical group object of study separately the right upper limb brachium arterial blood pressure.And carries on statistics analysis to the result.Results Two methods obtain the systolic pressure and the diastolic pressure have the remarkable difference in statistics.Picks attentively the electricity guardianship meter and separates the systolic pressure which and the diastolic pressure clothes obtain obviously is higher than the blood pressure value which the standard method obtains.Conclusion Separates the clothes to pick attentively the electricity guardianship meter examination blood pressure influence test result,when the nursing staffs survey the blood pressure,cannot separate the clothes survey blood pressure,should defer to the standard to carry on the survey.


The current state of hardware used in ophthalmology is observed, an avenue of development of small portable research and diagnostic tools is proposed. The particular instrument under consideration is hand slit lamp for rapid diagnostics of frontal and rear eye cameras. Results of detailed calculation of the first Russian hand slit lamp schematic performed in 2013 is presented.


The electronic conductivity, σ e , Hall constant, R , and thermoelectric power, Θ, in α Ag 2 Te are measured as the Ag/Te ratio is varied by the use of the galvanic cell Ag|AgI|Ag 2 Te|Pt, where the e.m.f. of the cell, E , represents the position of the Fermi level relative to Ag-saturated Ag 2 Te. According as Ag is removed across the cell, starting from the Ag-saturated composition, σ e decreases at first, and then increases. Θ changes its sign at the minimum of σ e , although R is always n-type, duing to the large mobility ratio (∼100). The energy gap is, therefore, as narrow as several k T . When Ag is removed further, σ e decreases again, keeping E constant. This is a mixed state of Ag 2 Te and a new phase mentioned below. After a minimum of σ e is attained, σ e and E increase again, suggesting a new phase, Ag ∼1.93 Te. The energy gap of this phase is fairly larger than that in Ag 2 Te phase and the mobilities of electron and hole are far smaller than those in Ag 2 Te. When Ag is removed still furthe...


The CHCl3 fraction of the MeOH extract of Ganoderma gibbosum (Ganodermataceae) exhibited cytotoxic activity on five cancer cell lines (MDA-MB-231, SK-hep1, A549, HCT116, and SNU638). Six highly oxygenated lanostane-type triterpenoids (lanostanoids) were isolated by column chromatography to test cytotoxicity on cancer cells. The five known lanostanoids were identified as gibbosic acids A, B, D, G, and H by comparison of molecular ion peaks with the literature data. The structure of a new lanostanoid, gibbosic acids I, was identified to be 3β,8β,15β,20S-tetrahydroxy-7,12,23-trioxolanost-9(11)-en-26-oic acid on the basis of NMR and MS spectroscopy. The three lanostanoids of gibbosic acids A, H, and I of the six isolates significantly suppressed the growth of cancer cells. In particular, the IC50 of gibbosic acid H was prominently low ranging from 2.64-6.56 μM.


The rabbits have a special feature for adaptation to the different types of food and climate. In addition, the composition of food and the mode of farming have a consequence to the mode of growth and body composition of the rabbit. In Madagascar, the research focused on rabbits is very rare. In this case, we found an absence of documents of reference concerning the growth of existing rabbits in the region of Amoron i Mania. A thorough research for the biological characteristics of these existing breeds is desired in order to improve this field. Then the objective of this study is to understand the type of rabbit growth in this region of study within a mathematical equation. During the conduct of this study, 1052 rabbits from the 100 family farms are measured. For the population of the rabbit measured in this region, the global allometric coefficient is 2.32 which is significantly equal to the theoretical allometry (b = 3), equivalent to an isometric growth. Therefore, the increase in weight is evolving in parallel with the increase in the length. The result by race has always shown the same type of growth except the blue of Vienna variety which presented a negative allometric growth. The distribution of samples by sex and by district has also figured this type of isometric growth. This type of growth belongs to rabbits which reach slowly its weight. This state of slow growth could be a result of the practice of an extensive and traditional breeding system which generally stands on a poor diet to the rabbit. Then this study allows establishing a tool to estimate the weight of the rabbit from the total length. The equation LW = 0,3558LT2,3224 was chosen as a model of allometric equation applicable to livestock.


Piperidine alkaloids are found in many species of plants including Conium maculatum, Nicotiana spp., and Lupinus spp. A pharmacodynamic comparison was made of the alkaloids ammodendrine, anabasine, anabaseine, and coniine in; SH‐SY5Y cells which express autonomic‐type nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR), and in TE‐671 cells which express fetal muscle‐type nAChR. Both cell lines were cultured in DMEM supplemented with fetal bovine serum and penicillin/streptomycin. Membrane depolarization responses were measured by changes in fluorescence of a membrane potential‐sensitive dye. The alkaloids and their enantiomers were more effective in depolarizing TE‐671 cells relative to SH‐SY5Y cells. The rank order of potency in TE‐671 cells was: anabaseine > (+)‐anabasine > (−)‐anabasine > (±)‐anabasine > (−)‐coniine > (±)‐coniine > (+)‐coniine > (±)‐ammodendrine > (+)‐ammodendrine. The rank order potency in SH‐SY5Y cells was: anabaseine > (+)‐anabasine > (−)‐coniine > (+)‐coniine > (+)‐ammodendrine > (−)‐anabasine > (±)‐coniine > (±)‐anabasine > (−)‐ammodendrine. The actions of these alkaloids at nAChRs in both cell lines could be distinguished by their maximum effects in depolarizing cell membrane potential. It is possible that the mechanism behind the toxic potential of these compounds is the activation of muscle‐type nAChR followed by desensitization. Research supported by ARS‐USDA.


The invention provides a user scheduling method of a coordinated multiple point (COMP) transmission technology. According to the invention, multiple iterations are adopted, a first sector iterated for the first time is scheduled by adopting a single sector scheduling method, and other sectors are scheduled with user information scheduled by the sector in front of the current sector, so that the current user is scheduled. The user scheduling method has the advantages that a polling manner is adopted, SLINR is improved for carrying out circulating priority scheduling, the principles of SINR maximization and interference leakage minimization are taken into consideration, the cooperative transmission user and concrete precode are determined by considering all user conditions of a plurality of cells cooperatively, so that the spectral efficiency of cell edge is promoted in a key-point manner.


This study presents design considerations and an evaluation of a full-scale process chain for methanol and advanced drop-in fuel production derived from lignite/solid recovered fuel (SRF) feedstock. The plant concept consists of a high-temperature Winkler (HTW) gasifier coupled with an air separation unit (ASU), which provides a high-purity (99.55%) gasification oxidant agent. The concept includes the commercially proven acid gas removal (AGR) system based on cold methanol (e.g., Rectisol® process) for the removal of BTX and naphthalene components. With the involvement of Rectisol®, an almost pure CO2 off-gas stream is generated that can be further stored or utilized (CCS/CCU), and a smaller CO2 stream containing H2S is recovered and subsequently driven to the sulfur recovery unit (e.g., Claus process). One of the potential uses of methanol is considered, and a methanol upgrading unit is implemented. The overall integrated process model was developed in the commercial software Aspen PlusTM. Simulations for different feedstock ratios were investigated, ensuring the concept's adaptability in each case without major changes. A number of parametric studies were performed concerning (a) the oxygen purity and (b) the reformer type, and a comparison against alternative methanol production routes was conducted. Simulations show that the proposed system is able to retain the cold gas efficiency (CGE) in the range of 79–81.1% and the energetic fuel efficiency (EFE) at around 51%. An efficient conversion of approximately 99.5% of the carbon that enters the gasifiers is accomplished, with around 45% of carbon being captured in the form of pure CO2. Finally, the metrics of EFE and total C for the conversion of methanol to liquid fuels were 40.7% and 32%, respectively, revealing that the proposed pathway is an effective alternative for methanol valorization.


The application of Darboux transformation was made to discuss the Boussinesq-Burgers equations.The three kinds of Darboux transformation were found in this equation,with the relations and new solution obtained about two basic Darboux transformation matrices.With those just mentioned,the exact solution of the equation was got.


Currently, there is a high need to determine the shortest distances to form freight and passenger transportation routes. One of the most effective ways to determine routes of minimum length are methods of finding the shortest distances in a graph. The article discusses algorithms for finding shortest distances, as well as other methods based on the principles of their operation. It was conducted a comparative analysis to identify the advantages and disadvantages of using these methods in routing tasks.


The β1 integrins are a family of heterodimeric adhesion receptors involved in cell‐to‐cell contacts and cell‐to‐extracellular matrix interactions. Through their adhesive role, integrins participate in transduction of outside/inside signals and contribute to trigger a multitude of cellular events such as differentiation, cell activation, and motility. The fibronectin integrin receptors, α4β1 and α5β1, can function as costimulatory molecules in T‐cell receptor (TCR)‐dependent T‐cell activation. In the current study the Jurkat T‐cell line was used as a model system to investigate the TCR‐independent role of cell adhesion to fibronectin in the activation of Zap‐70, a central molecule in the signalling events in T cells. Upon adhesion to plastic immobilized fibronectin but not to bovine serum albumin (BSA) the phosphorylation of p125FAK, a protein kinase that localizes to focal adhesion sites, was induced. Moreover, clustering of fibronectin receptors led to the detection of a p125FAK/Zap‐70 complex. Finally, while the complex between fak‐B, another protein kinase localized to focal adhesion sites, and Zap‐70 was detected in cells plated either on BSA or on fibronectin, the formation of the p125FAK/Zap‐70 complex appeared specifically induced following fibronectin‐mediated integrin clustering. These data suggest the existence of a high degree of specificity when the members of the β1 integrin family mediate signalling pathways in T cells.


Handling resource constraints in resource-constrained scheduling is always a NP-hard problem. In the beginning of this paper, the overview of the approaches to managing resource constraints and the deficiency of them are shown. Then a hybrid mechanism based on CBA rules and resource energy forward checking is proposed. By applying this mechanism, the generality and the efficiency of our system are heightened.


Considered the role of the pyrazol as the base system in the creation of new biologically active organic acids. Shown their high growth activity on agricultural plants.


Through a thorough review of the literature, four antennas were designed in software and fabricated to the simulated parameters. The software model was an extensively iterative process. However, once the impedance match and circularly polarized antenna gain of the models were acceptable, the assembled antennas confirmed the software models through their performance. It has been shown all four antennas exceeded the specification requirements through their high gain and narrow directivity.


Abstract In this paper, we investigate the parameterization of all robust stabilizing repetitive controllers for single-input/single-output continuous time non-minimum phase systems. The repetitive control system is a type of servo mechanism designed for a periodic reference input. When repetitive control design methods are applied to real systems, the influence of uncertainties in the plant must be considered. In some cases, the uncertainties in the plant make the repetitive control system unstable, even though the controller was designed to stabilize the nominal plant. The stability problem with uncertainty is known as the robust stability problem. Several papers to design robust stabilizing repetitive control systems have been published. However the parametrization of all robust stabilizing repetitive controllers has not been considered. In this paper, we propose the parametrization of all robust stabilizing repetitive controllers for non-minimum phase systems. Finally, a numerical example is illustrated to show the effectiveness of the proposed parametrization.


Inhaled anesthetics depress the response of spinal dorsal horn low-threshold (LT) neurons to peripheral receptive field stimulation. Part of that depression may be mediated by anesthetic interactions with &ggr;-aminobutyric acid type A (GABAA) and strychnine-sensitive glycine inhibitory neurotransmitter systems. In this electrophysiological study, we attempted to antagonize halothane depression of LT neurons by administering bicuculline (a competitive GABAA antagonist) and/or strychnine (a competitive glycine antagonist) systemically, alone or in combination, to decerebrate, spinal cord-transected rats. We observed that both bicuculline and strychnine, alone or in combination, significantly but only partially reversed halothane depression of LT neuronal responses to receptive field stimulation. The inability of bicuculline and strychnine, alone or in combination, to completely reverse halothane depression suggests that although GABAA and glycine systems are involved in the observed halothane depression, additional mechanisms of action are also required for halothane depression of LT spinal sensory neurons.


This paper deals with the front-end vacuum system of the X 8 beam line at the Daresbury synchrotron radiation source. The vacuum system is represented by a matrix to allow calculation of pressure profiles for many sets of pumping-speed and desorption parameters. It is shown that, for a mass spectrum consisting mainly of CO and N2, it is possible to operate the machine side of the front-end system in the 10 to the -10th power Torr pressure region, and proof is given that the two conductance-stage can provide a pressure difference of 1:100.


The unprecedented enthusiasm into the public domain promoted the development of donation during the anti- Japanese War. In recent years,the academia has carried on researches on the fund- raising organization,the fund- raising activities,and fund-raising policies. However,researches on the matters are insufficient on the whole,which still need to be taking further efforts on the research fields,datas and research methods.


An entropy-based spatial frequency domain 2D image dissimilarity measure is proposed and demonstrated. The metric is an extension to pixel-pixel based entropy dissimilarity measures (EDM) proposed by Tsai and Wu. The new spatial frequency domain EDM maintained all desired features of EDM while overcoming limitations such as requiring the two digital images to be compared to have the same size in pixels. The research in inspired by the need of analyzing the Advanced LIGO time series data sets in developing a real-time and blind gravitational wave event detection algorithm. Compared to other dissimilarity measures, frequency domain entropy dissimilarity measure (FD-EDM) is spatial information sensitive and agnostic to image sizes and resolutions. It also further improves the computational efficiency of normal pixel-pixel EDM.


Plasma corticosteroids have been studied in primary (p.a.i.) and secondary adrenocortical insufficiency (s.a.i.). In eight cases of p.a.i. and in four cases of s.a.i. the circadian rhythm was absent; all except one had low values of plasma corticosteroids at 7 a.m. The 4‐hour intravenous ACTH test was carried out in nine cases of p.a.i. and in eight cases of s.a.i. In p.a.i. no adrenal response was found; in s.a.i. no response was found in one case, subnormal responses in six cases and a normal response in one case. Baseline values of radioimmunologically determined serum corticotropin were elevated in three cases of p.a.i.; in two cases of p.a.i. a circadian rhythm of serum corticotropin was demonstrated. Insulin tolerance test (ITT) was carried out in eight cases of s.a.i.; no pituitary‐adrenal response was found. The diagnostic values of ITT and the metyrapone test in s.a.i. are discussed. It is concluded that early morning baseline values of plasma corticosteroids are often abnormally low in p.a.i. and in s.a.i. During a 4‐hour ACTH test no adrenal response is to be found in p.a.i.; in s.a.i. a variable response will be found. A partial response is diagnostic for s.a.i. Subnormal responses during metyrapone test but normal during ITT have been reported in a few cases of s.a.i. However, subnormal responses during ITT indicate that the responses during the metyrapone test are also subnormal.


Tire/pavement noise measurements were made on a newly constructed, unopened portion of California State Route 58 that bypasses the City of Mojave. Initially, three different Portland Cement Concrete surface textures were tested including longitudinally tined, burlap drag, and longitudinally broomed. Afterwards, eight test sections of the original pavements were ground and/or grooved to various surface texture geometries and the noise measurements repeated on all eleven pavement textures. Noise measurements were made near the tire/pavement interface using the on-board sound intensity (OBSI) method and at the wayside using limited, controlled vehicle pass-bys. Interior noise testing was also done for comparative purposes. Audible slaps from the concrete joints were also isolated in the OBSI recordings of the test surfaces. Noise from the slaps was also clearly apparent in the vehicle pass-by data. The effect of grooving/grinding operations on joint slap was also evaluated


Pot experiments were conducted to determine the effect of different water regimes (100%, 80%, 60% and 40% of field capacity, FC) on vegetative growth (plant height, leaf area and plant fresh and dry weights), photosynthetic pigments (chl a, chl b and carotenes), mineral content of leaves (N, P and K), proline content, yield components (pod and seed numbers/plant, seed weight/plant and 100 seed weight), nutritional value of produced seeds (N, P, K and Ca soluble sugars, total carbohydrate, total amino acids and protein contents). The role of ascorbic acid (0, 100, 200 and 300 mg l) in alleviating the effect of water stress was also studied. All growth parameters were significantly reduced with low treatment of FC (60% and 40%) while ascorbic acid, particularly at 100 and 200 mg l , tended to mitigate the harmful effect of high water deficit on growth and chemical constituents in soybean plants. It is suggested that Ascorbic acid could be a promising material used to reduce the harmful effect of water stress on the growth and yield of Glycine max plants grown in Saudi Arabia. .


The Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model by Blei et al [BNJ02] is a generative model for a collection of exchangeable discrete data. LDA has mainly been used to model text corpora, where the notion of exchangeability corresponds to the "bag-of-words" assumption that is commonly employed in such models. More recently, Sivic et al [SRE05] and Li and Perona [FFP05] have applied the model to collections of images, where the "visual words" correspond to quantized local feature vectors. The model is simplest to describe for text corpora. In a nutshell, LDA models each document as a mixture over topics, where each vector of mixture proportions is assumed to have been drawn from a Dirichlet distribution. A topic in this model is defined to be a discrete distribution over words from some finite lexicon. For example, if a topic is "astrophysics", then the word "quasar" would presumably be assigned a higher probability than the word "burrito". More precisely, let D be a collection of M documents and w be a document with words w1, . . . , wn. We assume that each word corresponds to one of K possible topics, and that for each word, there is a latent topic assignment zi which takes on values 1, . . . ,K, indexing into the set of topics. By convention, we will represent zi by a K dimensional vector with one component set to one indicating its value in 1, . . . ,K and the rest set to zero. The generative process is as follows:


Though risk for cocaine use disorder, like most complex disease, is subject to considerable inter-individual variation, the sources of that variation -- including genetics and sex -- are frequently ignored in non-human animal studies. Here, we studied both males and females of eight different inbred mouse strains whose reproducible genomes capture 90% of the genetic diversity mice. In this population, individual differences explain a substantial proportion of variance in important cocaine-related behavioral, physiological, and striatum transcriptional responses traits. Individual differences thus represent a crucial source of biological information about addiction mechanisms missing in typical studies.


In this paper, the three-dimensional Landau model of austenite-martensite transformations constructed in Part I is generalized to include transformations between an arbitrary number of martensitic variants. The model can incorporate all temperature-dependent thermomechanical properties of both phases for arbitrary crystal symmetries, including higher-order elastic constants, and it correctly describes the characteristic features of stress-strain curves for shape-memory alloys and steels, namely, constant transformation strain tensors, constant or weakly temperature dependent stress hysteresis, and transformation at nonzero tangent moduli. Geometric representations of the conditions for phase equilibrium and phase transformations in six-dimensional stress space are developed. For the cubic-tetragonal phase transformation, equilibrium and transformation surfaces in three-dimensional stress space and the corresponding lines in the deviatoric-stress plane are found at various temperatures, and transformation processes are analyzed. All model parameters are obtained for the NiAl cubic-tetragonal phase transformation using the results of molecular dynamics simulations available in the literature.


Various aspect ratios of CNTs reported based on alteration of annealing temperature using thermal-chemical vapor deposition (TCVD) method. Also the growth dependent and independent parameters of the carbon nanotube (CNTs) array were studied as a function of synthesis method. The FESEM images indicate that the nanotubes are approximately perpendicular to the surface of the silicon substrate and form carbon nanotubes in different aspect ratios according to the applied annealing temperature. Furthermore, due to the optimized results it can be observed that, the mechanism of the CNTs growth is still present in the annealing step as well as deposition process and the most CNTs with crystalline aspect, produced in the annealing temperature, which was optimized at 700 - 900 ˚C. This result demonstrates that the growth rate, mass production, diameter, density, and crystallinity of CNT can be controlled by the annealing temperature.


Application of fundamental parameter (FP) method to quantitative analysis of 20 different elements in airborne particles by EDXRF was reported in this article. Only a few standard samples were used in the totally nondestructive analysis. The detection limits for most elements are 10 ng/cm2. The results are in agreement with certified values with precision of 0.5%~18.1% RSD (n=10).


Usage of The Induced Electrical Polarization technique over the past years has proven to be one of the most successful geophysical methods in providing in situ information about rock mineral composition especially in search for disseminated minerals with electronic conductivity. In this case, the technique is being applied in quite a new field, which concerns materials that do not contain conductive minerals but rather clay minerals. However the method has been used, rarely in the field of hydrogeology [8, 23], oil and gas field exploration [19] and in environmental studies such as mapping of polluted land areas [22]. The induced polarization method has been recognised as a useful method in the detection of organic liquids electrical response both in field [24] and laboratory conditions [6, 25, 26]. Several environmental studies have used geophysical methods to delineate oil-contaminated sites [1, 2]. More recently [21] obtained power law dependence for IP measurements carried out on clay free unconsolidated sediments from a sandy aquifer and unsaturated sands, respectively. Polarization is a geophysical phenomenon which measures the slow decay of voltage in the ground after the cessation of an excitation current pulse (time domain method) or low frequency variation of the resistivity of the earth (frequency domain method) [9, 20]. The IP effect reflects the degree to which the subsurface is able to store electric charge, analogous to a leaky capacitor. If the current is interrupted, a difference in potential, which decays with time, is observed. The IP phenomenon can be modelled with equivalent parallel circuits composed by two resistances (R1 and R2) and one capacitor (C ) (Fig. 1). In this case, R2 represents the behaviour of resistive ionic conduction in unmineralized current paths near a metallic mineral. The resistor R1 represents the resistance due to blocked conduction paths within mineralized rock, and the capacitor C can be associated with the double-layer capacitance and Warburg impedance [9, 10, 20]. The rate of decay of this potential (IP potential) depends on the lithology of the rock, its pore geometry, degree of liquid saturation and type of liquid. The IP effect in earth materials having non metallic minerals is usually referred to as membrane polarization. This requires the presence of particles such as clays, with a negative surface charge, which in the presence of an electrolyte like water, attracts cations and forms an electrical double layer on the particle surface. The volume property of soil related to this phenomenon is the cation exchange capacity [12] which is proportional to the surface charge density and the specific surface area of the solid phase [3]. Polarization and the complex nature of electrical rock conductivity are attributed to zones of unequal ionic transport properties along the pore channels caused by charged interfaces and constrictions. Interactions at and near the contact area of the solid and liquid phases are the main causes of the formation of an electrical double layer. They depend on pore space structure and microstructure of the internal rock boundary layer. Therefore, they contain information about internal surface area, rock porosity, rock permeability and fluid properties.


【 Abstract 】 Objective The purpose of this study is to discuss the expert consensus process of the determination of PICO questions, which were included in the practice guideline for acupuncture and moxibustion for nonspecific low back pain. Method The modified Delphi method was used to investigate and consult the target population, and calculate the positive coefficient,coordination coefficient and authority coefficient for quality control, and then determine the clinical questions included in the guidelines. Results In the end, 10 clinical questions were finally included. Conclusion The clinical questions that need to be included in this guideline were identified by the modified Delphi method,which has an important guiding role for the follow-up development of the guideline. The


Aims: The aim of this study was to determine the mortality risk factors of hospitalized moderate-to-severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients in Tehran. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively evaluated the baseline characteristics and clinical and paraclinical parameters of 223 deceased and discharged patients who were hospitalized in Firoozabadi General Hospital between March 1 and April 1, 2020. Results: According to our multiple logistic regression model, advanced age (odds ratio [OR], 1.06; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02–1.09; P < 0.01), reduced oxygen saturation (OR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.87–0.96; P < 0.01), and hypertension (OR, 2.59; 95% CI, 1.04–6.46; P = 0.04) can be perceived as independent risk factors for mortality. Conclusion: Our results suggest that patients with older age, lower oxygen saturation, and hypertension are predisposed to an increased risk of mortality. Thus, to lower the COVID-19 mortality rates, patients with these characteristics should be the primary targets for early treatment, vaccination, or monitoring strategies.


Mortar samples were saturated with NaCl solutions of various concentrations and subjected to freeze– thaw cycles. Passive and active acoustic emission (AE) testing was conducted. The freezing temperature of the NaCl solutions in mortar corresponded with the sudden observation of passive AE events. The acoustic energy and damage parameter were calculated to evaluate the extent of freeze–thaw damage. The influence of the NaCl solution concentration and whether the solution freezes on freeze–thaw damage are discussed.


This study aims to develop MTB-MLE instructional material such as alphabet primer for the use of Grade 1 pupils in Iyakan language and to test its effectiveness. 100 pupils (Grade 1) participated in the study from a selected public elementary school in a particular city and province in Mindanao, Philippines. The study used a one-group pre-test-post-test design where the worksheets were taken from the Iyakan Alphabet Primer as instruments. Experts in mother-tongue education and members of the community validated and critiqued the alphabet primer. The results of the study demonstrated that the alphabet primer may be tailored to meet the needs of students at the Grade 1 level. Word identification, alphabet knowledge, spelling knowledge, and handwriting are all areas where the learners have shown substantial improvement. The findings suggest that the mother-tongue alphabet primer has potential as a means of raising students' achievement. Based on the findings, it is suggested that the developed alphabet primer book be used as a supplementary resource for teachers of MTB-MLE with the Iyakan language as L1, that additional teaching guides be created to support teachers in the classroom, that more instructional materials in the first or local languages be created and used in the classrooms, and that the alphabet primer be translated into other dialects or languages in the city or province to maximize their use.


Drawing on real-life examples and the philosophical literature on moral rules, this chapter discusses the problems that can arise because organizations are rule-based structures. From a moral perspective, rules are double-edged: there are good moral reasons to obey them, especially in organizational contexts, but they are blunt tools that can do injustice to the underlying social reality, which is far more fine-grained and complex than rules could ever grasp. In addition, rules have a psychological dimension, especially when they are tied to incentives: they can refocus our attention, and crowd out the intrinsic motivation to do the right thing. To live with the 'iron cage' of organizational rules, individuals and organizations need to remain attentive to their double-edged character, and install mechanisms for preventing injustice to atypical cases. This analysis also throws light on the use of 'codes of ethics' in organizations.


The Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CCTSI) aims to translate discovery into clinical practice. The Partnership of Academicians and Communities for Translation (PACT) represents a robust campus–community partnership.


While there has been a long tradition of public space related land speculation and development, the recent success of the High Line in New York has highlighted the transformative effect carefully designed and curated public spaces can have on the local economy. By prioritising exchange value over use value, governments and developers are exploiting the production of public spaces as a means for financial, political and other forms of returns. This paper argues that commodification of public space both transcends and encompasses other processes such as privatisation and commercialisation, and it is essential to study how it is manifested in different urban contexts. This paper sets out to examine how commodification of public space has taken form in Hong Kong, a global city where public spaces have always been an afterthought and box-checking exercise in the planning process. By reflecting on the social production of three recently completed waterfront public spaces across the city, this paper suggests that even though the commodification of public space has taken on very different forms in Hong Kong, the public spaces in question all have certain characteristics and features that can be attributed to the decline of publicness and inclusivity in public space. (Less)


A brief overview about the recent progress in developing the methods to calculate the properties of defects in solids is given and some recent examples on vacancy-related defects in SiC are presented.


The objective of this study was to examine whether an easy to apply no-show policy can substantially reduce no-show behavior of 16–25-year-old clients undergoing individual outpatient treatment at a community mental health center. After introduction of the new no-show policy, the no-show percentage was significantly reduced with 32.1%. This reduction was not due to terminating significantly more treatments of clients with no-show behavior. It seems likely that this easy-to-apply no-show policy can substantially reduce no-show behavior of clients with a broad variety of mental disorders undergoing individual outpatient treatment.


A 60 year old diabetic woman presented with atypical chest pains. Cardiac assessment did not reveal abnormalities, and the chest x ray was normal. Two years later she developed progressive heart failure, with mildly elevated troponin T values, and regional left ventricular (LV) wall motion abnormalities. Diagnostic coronary angiography showed mild wall irregularities. She was treated …


Significance Inferring connections forms a critical step toward understanding large and diverse complex networks. To date, reliable and efficient methods for the reconstruction of network topology from measurement data remain a challenge due to the high complexity and nonlinearity of the system dynamics. These obstacles also form a bottleneck for analyzing and controlling the dynamic structures (e.g., synchrony) and collective behavior in such complex networks. The novel contribution of this work is to develop a unified data-driven approach to reliably and efficiently reveal the dynamic topology of complex networks in different scales—from cells to societies. The developed technique provides guidelines for the refinement of experimental designs toward a comprehensive understanding of complex heterogeneous networks. Extracting complex interactions (i.e., dynamic topologies) has been an essential, but difficult, step toward understanding large, complex, and diverse systems including biological, financial, and electrical networks. However, reliable and efficient methods for the recovery or estimation of network topology remain a challenge due to the tremendous scale of emerging systems (e.g., brain and social networks) and the inherent nonlinearity within and between individual units. We develop a unified, data-driven approach to efficiently infer connections of networks (ICON). We apply ICON to determine topology of networks of oscillators with different periodicities, degree nodes, coupling functions, and time scales, arising in silico, and in electrochemistry, neuronal networks, and groups of mice. This method enables the formulation of these large-scale, nonlinear estimation problems as a linear inverse problem that can be solved using parallel computing. Working with data from networks, ICON is robust and versatile enough to reliably reveal full and partial resonance among fast chemical oscillators, coherent circadian rhythms among hundreds of cells, and functional connectivity mediating social synchronization of circadian rhythmicity among mice over weeks.


This article aims to reveal the reasons for the action of the main character in the novel and the existing meaning of the novel. By utilizing Gerard Mead's symbolic interactionism theory, this research fosters the stages experienced by the main character into four stages namely impulse, perception, manipulation, and consumption. After the phases experienced by the main character are known, followed by interactions experienced by the main character with other characters and concepts circulating in his mind. The result of this reading is that the main motive of the main character in carrying out the killings is to protect his power. The killings were carried out because the character 'I' considered death a pleasure and victory, because he had experience with killing hedgehogs who attacked from behind when feeling threatened. The meaning of this novel is that the writer wants to convey that the current Syrian leader in the eyes of the writer is nothing more than someone who has the desire to kill as a pleasure with the ultimate goal of victory.Keyword: al qanfadz novel, Islam Abu Syakir, symbolic interactionism, Arabic literature, Mead


The invention provides a method to extract aluminum oxide from a fly ash, and relates to a technological method which is to extract aluminum oxide from the fly ash and comprehensively utilize the residue after extracting aluminum oxide. The invention is characterized in the method which is as follows: ammonium sulfate is mixed into the fly ash to sintering, and the solid is dissolved to obtain the solution containing aluminum-ammonium sulfate; the solution is crystallized to form solid aluminium-ammonium sulfate; solid aluminium-ammonium sulfate reacts with ammonia gas to obtain aluminium hydroxide and ammonium sulfate, and aluminium hydroxide and ammonium sulfate are washed and filtrated to obtain solid aluminium hydroxide; solid aluminium hydroxide is calcined to obtain aluminum oxide; ammonium sulfate can be circularly used after being evaporated in the liquid phase. The ammonium sulfate which is used by the method of the invention is weak acidic, the corrosiveness on the equipment is small, and the ammonium sulfate can be used circularly. The whole process is easy to industrial application. The requirement of the corrosion resistance on the equipment is low. The amount of the residue is small which is beneficial to the comprehensive utilization of the residue after extracting the aluminum oxide.


The present invention, glucagon or a derivative thereof, to pharmaceutical composition for the prevention and treatment of obesity comprising the same covalently linked novel sustained glucagon conjugates and the polymer carrier by a non-peptide linker as an active ingredient. Persistent glucagon conjugate according to the present invention, improved in vivo persistence and stability, when combined administration of anti-obesity drugs, reducing the intake of what these side effects without weight and food, such as blood glucose fluctuations It has a synergistic effect. Therefore, persistent peptide conjugate according to the present invention is extremely effective in the prevention and treatment of obesity. .FIELD 1


A method of an equipment for controlling header compression context during handover in a data exchange between a transmitter and a transmitter and a receiver of an IP mobile data network wherein data packets are transferred comprising a header portion and an information portion. The transmitter comprises a header compressor and the receiver comprisesa header decompressor arranged for operating in accordance with a header compression scheme. In the case of a handover the header compressor is notified of the initiation of a handover and starts transmitting packets arranged for controlling the header compression context between the header compressor and header decompressor. After completion of the handover, the header compressor is notified of the completion of the handover and resumes header compression in accordance with the header compression scheme during normal data exchange not involving a handover.


ABSTRACT Introduction: The review provides a comprehensive overview about applicability of serological detection of autoantibodies against aberrant glycans as cancer biomarkers. Areas covered: Clinical usefulness of autoantibodies as cancer biomarkers is discussed for seven types of cancers with sensitivity and specificity of such biomarkers provided. Moreover, an option of using serological antibodies against a non-natural form of sialic acid – N-glycolylneuraminic acid (Neu5Gc), which is taken into our bodies together with red meat, as a potential cancer biomarker is discussed shortly as well. Expert opinion: In the final part of the review, we discuss what measures need to be applied for selective implementation of autoantibody assays into a clinical practice. Moreover, we discuss key challenges ahead for reliable and robust detection of autoantibodies against aberrant glycans as biomarkers for disease diagnostics and for stratification of cancer patients.


Abstract Eco-friendly and regioselective synthesis of 3-(isoxazol-5)-yl)indoles had been developed from the cyclocondensation reaction of β-ethyltho-β-indolyl-α, β-unsaturated ketones and hydroxyl -amine hydrochloride. It was found that in the presence of 1 equivalent of 4-dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid (DBSA) in boiling water, β-ethyltho-β-indolyl-α, β-unsaturated ketones efficiently reacted with hydroxylamine hydrochloride to afford 3-(isoxazol-5)-yl)indoles in good yields and with good to excellent regioselectivity. The method features the advantages of eco-friendly process, good yield and regioselevtivity, operational simplicity, broad substrate scope and ease of scale-up. Graphical Abstract


Japan's Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power plant caused no serious accident in beyond de- sign basis earthquake.It proves that the Japanese nuclear power plants have the capacity of resist with be- yond design basis earthquake.It is worth closer attention on that the Japan how to examine,repair the nuclear plant and recover the operation of the plant.This article puts forward some views on the multi-reactor sites,earthquake and emergency,the responsibility of the owner and the investigation of the geology and earthquake.


of the index finger; then, with a finger in the incision and one in the rectum, I examined to see where I was. I then withdrew my finger from the rectum, and, by moving the catheter in the bladder, found that as yet I was going correctly. In this way, by cutting, tearing, dilating, and examining, I proceeded on until I had penetrated about three inches into this substance, when the knife appeared to enter a cavity. I suspected at once that I had entered the cavity of the abdomen, but upon introducing a male silver catheter, straightened for the purpose, I found that it stopped abruptly aftcr enterinabout six or seven inches from the external orifice. Considerable hmmorrhage followed, and she complaine(d of sevcre p'iiin in thl bou:.cls arnd 1iins. 1 .r.truductd my finger, which passed readily up the whole length, but coukl detect no uterus. I introduced a gum elastic tube, the size of the ring-finger, six or seven inches, put her to bed, and gave a pill of opium and calomel. She wore this tube for six weeks, during which time it was taken out several times, and an endeavour to introduce a larger one made, but this was impossible. So great was the tendency to contraction, that if the tube was left out for two or three hours, it was very difficult to introduce it again. She suffered much from pain and inflammation in the bowels, having several attacks, which were relieved by venesection, calomel and opium. At the end of six weeks she discontinued the tube, and the incision soon closed, so that she is now in the same condition as before the operation. [The preceding case is an exceedingly interesting one, and the careful manner in which the examination was conducted, as well as the condition of parts developed by the operation, seem to leave no room to doubt that the uterus was entirely deficient. It may not be considered entirely out of place here to invite attention to operations performed to gratify the wishes of patients-or, as they are termed by the French, " Op6rations de complaisance." It has been remarked, and we believe on good foundation, that such operations rarely terminate favourably; and although that performed by our corrc4pondAint be an exception to the rule, a sufficient number of cases might be cited from the records of our science to establish its truth. A few of these wve shall briefly notice. In January 1829, a man, 21 years of age, entered the Hdtel Dieu de Paris with a congenital deformity of his right leg, and urgently begged that the limb might be removed. The pain and risk which he would incur were fully represented to him, but as he still persisted in desiring the operation, Dupuytren amputated the leg. The patient was young, and his constitution good, nevertheless the result was fatal. Sabatier amputated a leg in a similar case, and the termiiinationi was equally unfortunate. Dupuytren has seen the most severe consequences from the amputation of a malformed toe; and death to result from the extirpation of a supernumerary finger. Dr. Desgranges, of Lyons, reports a case of urinary calculus, in which he operated to satisfy the urgent desire of the patient, and death followed on the third day. One of the most striking cases we remember to have met with on record, is that of a servant who entered the Hotel Dieu de Paris, with an ulcer of his leg of many years' duration, whiclh lhe bad long sought in rvain to have permanently healed; and as it gave him much inconvenience, he solicited Pelletan to amputate the leg. T'hlis distiniguislied surgeon at first refused, but ultimately yielded to the urgent importunities of the patient, after fully representing to him the sufferings and risks he would incur. For a day or two every thing seemed to promise stuccess, but serious symptoms then supervened, violent inflammation of some important organs took place, an(d thte patient was soon conveyed to his tomb). Just before his death, he collected his strength, and rising up in his bed, with an eloquence wlich could not have been expected from an une(lucated man, he reproached Pelletan in tile s .icst terms for having been so weak as to yil d tO hiis solicitations to be o)erated on. llavinuttered this censure, he fell back and expired. Pelletan, was deeply affected, and long remembered the painful scene. It seems to be considered by most surgeons, that, when they have laid before their patient all the risks of an operation, if he still (lesires its performance, they are relieved from all responsibility as to the result. Even if this wvere the case, which we are not, however, prepared to admit it to be to the full extent, still the consciousness of having hastened the death of a fellow-creature, must be a most painful feeling to a sensitive miind. T'his consideration should be sufficient to deter surgeons from performing unnecessary operations, and lead them firmly to refuse to operate merely to gratify patients.]-American Journ. of Med. Sciences. April, 1841.


Quasicrystal (QC) has no periodicity but has a unique rotational symmetry forbidden in periodic crystals. Lack of microscopic theory of the crystalline electric field (CEF) in the QC and approximant crystal (AC) has prevented us from understanding the electric property, especially the magnetism. By developing the general formulation of the CEF in the rare-earth based QC and AC, we have analyzed the CEF in the QC Au-SM-Tb and AC (SM=Si, Ge, and Ga). The magnetic anisotropy arising from the CEF plays an important role in realizing unique magnetic states on the icosahedron (IC). By constructing the minimal model with the magnetic anisotropy, we have analyzed the ground-state properties of the IC, 1/1 AC, and QC. The hedgehog state is characterized by the topological charge of one and the whirling-moment state is characterized by the topological charge of three. The uniform arrangement of the ferrimagnetic state is stabilized in the QC with the ferromagnetic (FM) interaction, which is a candidate for the magnetic structure recently observed FM long-range order in the QC Au-Ga-Tb. The uniform arrangement of the hedgehog state is stabilized in the QC with the antiferromagnetic interaction, which suggests the possibility of the topological magnetic long-range order.


This paper presents the results of a complex research of oesophagus under condition of portal hypertension using experimental dogs and materials of human corpses when death was caused by bleeding from varicosely dilated veins of oesophagus. The dynamics of the process of compensatory-plastic reconstruction of venous and lymphological channels of oesophagus under condition of experimental portal hypertension was studied. The extension of the gap and the increase of the number of lymphatic vessels in the sides of oesophagus witness for the rise of the lymphatic system load and makes it possible to consider the oesophagus lymphatic system as a collateral way of lymphatic outflow from the abdominal cavity. When studying the pathology-anatomical materials of human corpses where liver cirrhosis was found and death was caused by bleeding from varicosely dilated veins of oesophagus, lympho-venous connections between the unpaired vein and the pectoral lymphatic channel were discovered, cavity transformation of veins in the lower part of oesophagus is described. Significance of the cavity transformation of veins in pathogenesis of oesophagus bleeding is registered.


The Programming period 2007-2013 was the first seven-year period in which the Slovak Republic could draw funds from the cohesion policy of the European Union. Towards to the cohesion policy has been increasing pressure placed on individual states to ensure the efficient use of resources of cohesion policy on areas where support will contribute to the achievement of sustainable, competitive economy based on knowledge and innovation. The theoretical part introduces to the reader the basic concepts and principles of cohesion policy, followed by the characteristic of the basic documents related to the area of cohesion policy. The practical part analyzes the implementation of the OP KaHR with an emphasis on identifying the problem areas and their causes. At the conclusion measures are proposed to ensure the efficient implementation of cohesion policy in the 2014-2020 programming period.


Minority rights, which are amongst the oldest recognised rights internationally, have traditionally been concerned with ensuring that members of specific groups are not only protected from persecution but are able to practice their distinct languages, religions and cultures in private and public. These two broad areas - whether minorities have and how to address multiple discrimination - may mean that special standards are needed for the vulnerable within minorities. To assess this it is necessary to examine what the problems actually are affecting vulnerable groups within minorities, and whether the problem is that the existing framework and international legal standards are inadequate, and therefore new ones are needed. Minority rights, i.e. the rights of those belong to ethnic, religious or culturebased groups that happen to be a minority within a particular territory, date back to before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Keywords: framework; international legal standards; minority rights; multiple discrimination; universal declaration of human rights; Vulnerable Groups


What we can see from the studies included here are that most cases of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) persist from the preschool years into elementary school and on into adolescence, although trajectories vary considerably across individuals. Several studies here identified a small set of unique developmental trajectories for the symptoms of ADHD. All in all, the longitudinal studies of ADHD included here have greatly advanced our understanding of the developmental course and outcomes associated with childhood ADHD.


Fourteen new 1‐[(N, N‐disubstituted thiocarbamoylthio)acetyl]‐3‐(2‐thienyl)‐5‐aryl‐2‐pyrazoline derivatives (7a–n) were synthesised by reacting 1‐(chloroacetyl)‐3‐(2‐thienyl)‐5‐aryl‐2‐pyrazolines (5a–g) and appropriate sodium salts of N, N‐disubstituted dithiocarbamoic acids (6a, b). The structures of the synthesised compounds were confirmed by elemental analyses, UV, IR, 1H‐NMR and FAB+‐MS spectral data. Their antibacterial activities against Proteus vulgaris (NRRL B‐123), Escherichia coli (NRRL B‐3704), Aeromonas hydrophila (Ankara University, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences), Salmonella typhimurium (NRRL B‐4420), Streptococcus feacalis (NRRL B‐14617), Micrococcus luteus (NRLL B‐4375) were investigated and in this investigation, a significant level of activity was illustrated. Antifungal activities of the compounds against Candida albicans and Candida globrata (isolates obtained from Osmangazi Uni. Fac. of Medicine) were found to be inactive. Compounds 7c–n were also evaluated for antituberculosis activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv using the BACTEC 460 radiometric system and BACTEC 12B medium. The preliminary results indicated that all of the tested compounds were inactive against the test organism.


This paper describes a method used to produce a video of a road in which the foreground items which obstruct the view of the road have been removed i.e. other vehicles. Once these regions have been identified they are replaced using suitable images that closely resemble the original background. The work considers an approach that uses multiple video sequences of the same road (C1...Cn). One video is identified as video Cp , that requires the least repair. All instances of vehicles in each frame of video were identified using a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). The regions associated with each vehicle were then filled using suitable regions from the frames from the remaining streams (assuming at least one of these streams has a background region visible which matches our query region in Cp ). To match frames and locate suitable patches ideally the video sequences need to be aligned both temporally and structurally. To match the frames temporally a bag of visual words approach was taken. To align the frames structurally a template search was performed on regions surrounding the region to be replaced. Given the template matches, the region between these templates in the matching frame were used to fill where the vehicles were previously, leaving behind only the background.


The time reversal phenomenon in sound waves for the discrete case is revisited. Our purpose is to improve a previous explanation of this problem in which there was a more limited scope. We develop a formulation which includes sink terms in the time reversed process, which allow going beyond the diffraction limit. By employing a reversed signal it is possible to reach a definition of a fourteenth of the wavelength. In the present work we discuss a matrix formulation for the discrete case in terms of the Fourier transforms of the input and output signals and the Green function. With this function it is possible to characterize the propagation of signals emitted by an array of devices. We are able to express the time reversed signal and precisely select the destination site, among other useful objectives. Finally we show an experimental arrangement using a Michelson interferometer in order to observe this phenomenon. Time Reversal originates from the second order time derivative in the wave equation. This is...


In this paper, we proposed a dynamically tunable broadband microwave absorber based on active frequency selective surface (AFSS). The unit cell of the AFSS is composed of PIN diode and two reverse anchor patches. When the bias voltage of PIN diode is changed between 0.6 and 0.78 V, the reflection coefficient of the absorber can be less than −10 dB from 7 to 13 GHz, and the absorbing frequency band can be tuned within the specific range. The fabricated AFSS absorber is light, thin enough and achieves a broad tuning bandwidth. It has the potential to be applied in smart radar absorbing materials.


There are approximately 45 million blind & visually impaired people world-wide according to the World Health Report. Vision loss limits the access of these individuals to the educational opportunities, social events, public transportation and leads to a higher rate of unemployment.

Many efforts have been invested in the last years, based on sensor technology and signal processing, to develop electronic travel aids (ETA) capable to improve the mobility of blind users in unknown or dynamically changing environment. In spite of these efforts, the already proposed ETAs do not meet the requirements of the blind community and the traditional tools (white cane and guiding dogs) are still the only used by visually impaired to navigate in their working and living environment.

In this paper, research efforts to improve the main two components of an ETA tool: the Obstacles Detection System (ODS) and the Man-machine Interface (MMI) are presented. Now, for the first time, the ODS under development is bioinspired from the visual system of insects, particularly from the Lobula Giant Motion Detector (LGMD) found in locusts. LGMD is a large neuron found in optical lobule of the locust, which mainly responds at the approaching objects. Starting from the mathematical model of the LGMD, known in the literature, it has been developed an ODS that can be used by visually impaired to navigate autonomously with obstacles avoidance. The already obtained results are very promising, but some improvements are also possible. We are developing now preprocessing algorithms for the visual information applied to the input of the LGMD neuron, in order to improve the response of the ODS. In the proposed solution, the position of the detected obstacles is correlated with the attitude parameters of the subject's head. In this way, the visually impaired person detects obstacles in a similar way as a subject with normal sight is looking for obstacles in front of him.

The man-machine interface developed in the present research exploits the remarkable abilities of the human hearing system in identifying sound source positions in 3D space. The proposed solution relies on the Acoustic Virtual Reality (AVR) concept, which can be considered as a substitute for the lost sight of blind and visually impaired individuals. According to the AVR concept, the presence of obstacles in the surrounding environment and the path to the target will be signalized to the subject by burst of sounds, whose virtual source position suggests the position of the real obstacles and the direction of movement, respectively. The practical implementation of this method encounters some difficulties due to the Head Related Transfer Functions (HRTF) which should be known for each individual and for a limited number of points in the 3D space. These functions can be determined using a quite complex procedure, which requires many experimental measurements. The proposed solution in our research avoids these difficulties by generating the HRTF's coefficients using an Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The ANN has been trained using a public data base, available for the whole scientific community and which contains HRTF's coefficients for a limited number of individuals and a limited number of points in 3D space for each individual.

The ODS and the MMI presented in the above have been implemented on a specific hardware build around an ARM-based microcontroller system. The obtained results and some conclusions are also presented.


Although studies show that organizations engaged in controversial actions often aim to minimize the release of threatening information, scholars know relatively little about what may prompt organizations to increase transparency in these situations. In this study, we focus on support from public opinion as a condition that may influence the disclosure of sensitive performance information to the public. Using the second Iraq War as an empirical context, we focus on the extent to which public officials—Pentagon spokespersons—release and frame information about war performance. This outcome is critical because the way in which organizations communicate their performance to outsiders has often been regarded as a key defensive impression management tactic. We hypothesize that high public support for the war will increase the likelihood that Pentagon officials release information about sensitive combat performance indicators in their press briefings and identify contingencies, such as adversity and organizational spokespersons' power, that moderate this relationship. We also explore whether high public support decreases the strategic use of alternate performance frames that emphasize metrics that signal progress toward a desirable end state. Using a unique data set based on the coding of press briefings, public opinion data, and other public sources, we find support for several of our hypotheses. We discuss implications for understanding the relationship between public opinion and impression management and highlight the importance of extending this research to nongovernmental organizations.


The gothic a form that inherits from romance : extravagant & fanciful; blurs distinction supernatural and natural Gothic rose in the 18 C, shadowing (ie darkening and following) the Enlightenment: darkness reclaiming its rights after having been dispelled by reason __ gloom and uncertainty Also a different perception of natural scenery: mountains admirable bec of their irregular lines __ also idea of size and grandeur/vastness that exceeds human comprehension: what the eye cannot grasp, nor the mind; produces wonder and terror


Burgess J.W. Raby, Esq., and William L. Raby, Esq., both associated with the Raby Law Office, Tempe, Ariz., discuss cases dealing with failures to remit payroll taxes to the government.