Barr body [1], is of the X chromosomes formed from random inactivation and condensation of one of the two female chromosomes in virtually all the somatic  cells of female mammals. The inactive X appears as a facultative heterochromatic body existing visible  during interphase as dark-staining, peripheral nuclear structure in a somatic cell nucleus of normal  female but absent in male tissue [2]. It has normal size of about 1μ with average of 0.7-1.2μ in sectio n of human, is preferentially located at the peripher y of the cell nucleus and is considered heteropyknoti c X [3]. In the segmented nuclei of granulocytes, it may form a characteristic appendage the so called drum-stick. Barr body (X-chromatin) can be seen well on the nuclear membrane of squamous epithelial cells of the epidermis and buccal mucosal cell s as round, oblong, triangular, plano-concave, or fla ttened body lying adjacent to the nuclear membrane internally [4]. The distribution of Barr body prese nt in an individual cell per se when there is more tha n one X-chromosome in the chromosomal structure can be understood by the knowledge of Lyon inactivation hypothesis [5]. Also molecular basis of Xinactivation is well explained, and is said to invo lve a unique gene called Xist [6]. Xist produce none 52 G.I.N. Ndubuka


ABSTRACT The current study was conducted to investigate the effects of Mexican oregano essential oil (MOO) extracts from Lippia berlandieri Schauer (LBS) and Poliomintha longiflora Gray (PLG) on performance, blood profiles, carcass variables, and meat composition of broilers at slaugther. A total of 360 one-day-old Ross broilers were randomly distributed into four dietary treatments with six replicate pens per treatment and 15 birds per pen. The dietary treatments were: a basal diet (control), control + 0.40 g of LBS/kg of [...]


Traditional architecture simulators provide an integrated CPU and system as a host application. While these simulators provide insights into CPU activity and offer assembly language targets, they do little to expose students to the complete system architecture as the virtual operating environment and peripheral devices are usually trivialized.


The empirical analysis revealed in this work refers to the regional transportation of Sao Paulo state, focusing on the State's power action on management and modal planning. The authors emphasize the productive deconcentration and the territorial integration as cause and effect to the development of the air sector at the Paulista countryside, forming the modal growth with the deconcentration of industrial activities. In this way, the authors discuss the genesis and the state's air transport development, considering the demand and deal of flow at the spatial circuit of air circulation. So, the authors point out the management and policy of development of regional air transport and the infrastructural question of airline ground and the necessity of investments to this sector as a way to promote the development and growth of air transportation in a regional segment.


Context: Methanolic extract of C. pareira stem and T. peruviana leaves are capable of producing antifertility activity in female rat by increasing estrogen level and decreasing progesterone level. Aim: The aim of the present study is to C. pareira L stem and T. peruviana (Pers.) K. Schum leaf for estrogenic activity. Material and Method: Methanolic extract were made from C. pareira stem and T. peruviana leaves (after removal of cardiac glycoside) using cold maceration process. Extracts were tested for estrogenic activity on female immature rat (50-60 gm) at dose level of 250mg/kg. Obtained data were compared with control and standard (estrogen treated) group data. Statistical Analysis: Statistical analysis of all data was made with statistical packages (GraphPad Instat) and ANOVA followed by Dunnett's ttest was used for statistical analysis. Result: Decrease in the absolute weight of the uterus and uterine weight to body weight ratio in CPS-Me and TPL-Me-G group treated were significant (p<0.05) as compared to control. Conclusion: In our earlier studies it was found that methanolic extract of C. pareira stem and T. peruviana leaves increased serum estrogen level and decreased progesterone level in pregnant rat. In the present study, these extracts decreased the absolute weight of the uterus and uterine weight to body weight ratio significantly (p<0.05). So, we can conclude that these two-extract possessed partial estrogenic activity.


Objective To explore the intervening effect of group therapy on job burnout of pediatric nurses.Methods 40 pediatric nurses were randomly divided into intervention group and control group, 20 persons in each group.Nurses in intervention group were taken to attend group therapy for 8 sessions in 8 weeks, while no intervention was did in control group.Job burnout between the two groups was compared.Results Compared with the sample of Maslach, the nurses have higher scores of emotional exhaustion [(29.80 ± 6.52) vs (22.19 ± 9.53), t =2.47, P < 0.01] and lower scores of depersonalization and personal accomplishment (P < 0.05).Emotional exhaustion score difference in intervention group was different from those in control group [(- 4.21 ± 2.37) vs(-0.64±1.76), t =5.21, P <0.01].Emotional alienation, low personal accomplishment were reduced (P<0.01).Conclusions Group therapy can reduce the job burnout of pediatric nurses.

Key words:
Cognitive-behavioral interactive group therapy; Pediatric nurses; Job burnout


The study is designed to x-ray the level of preparedness of librarians in Nigerian Public libraries towards integrating social media to the provision of library and information services (LIS). The survey research method was adopted using public libraries in south-east geo-political zone of Nigeria. The population of study comprises of core librarians working in the various public libraries in the south-east geo-political zone of Nigeria. It was revealed that the level of readiness among librarians in public libraries towards integrating social media to library service delivery is very low. Paucity of funds, indifferent attitude of public library managers, non-existence of social media policy, low level of ICT literacy among librarians in public libraries are the major constraints to effective integration of social media. This study has not only provided empirical evidences on the readiness of librarians in public libraries towards integrating social media tools to library and information services but also recommends ways for successful integration of social media into the public library system.. Keywords: community libraries, public libraries, social media, information services, south-east


The high initial cost of ground heat exchangers (GHE) is a primary hurdle preventing wider adoption of ground source heat pump (GSHP) systems. GHEs used for commercial GSHP systems commonly consist of vertical boreholes installed on a grid with equal spacing between boreholes. Significant thermal loads require a large number of boreholes to be present in the field. However, due to thermal interactions among boreholes, the ground formation in the center of a bore field can, over time, become thermally saturated when the thermal load is not balanced on an annual basis. The loss of effectiveness due to thermal saturation at the center boreholes in regularly spaced borehole fields suggests that larger spacing near the center of the bore field could be more optimal, and in return reduce initial costs. Through computer simulations using the latest development of a GHE modeling tool, this study evaluates the impacts of various unconventional designs of the borehole field on the performance and cost of the GHEs of a typical commercial GSHP system. The unconventional designs include irregular spacing among boreholes with decreased spacing around the perimeter and increased spacing in the interior of the field. The unconventional bore field design shortens the total drilling length by up to 42% while giving better heat transfer performance than a conventional bore field design. The significant total bore length reduction is due to improved heat transfer effectiveness of each borehole in the unconventional bore field.


Using core analysis, thin slice identification, logging analysis and seismic interpretation, systemic study upon sedimentary types, sedimentary facies, physical and oil bearing properties of each sedimentary microfacies, etc presenting in underwater alluvial fan of Kerqin oilfield of Kailu basin in China, is performed. To identify sedimentary characteristics of underwater alluvial fan and determine its oil bearing property so as to develop this type of reservoir reasonably and effectively. Underwater alluvial fan comprises of 5 kinds sedimentary facies: clastic flow, high density flow, low density flow, overflow and river channel sedimentation. Further division includes three sub-facies, i. e. tail, body and front part of underwater alluvial fan, among which braided structure of body part features favorable accumulation and oil bearing properties. Underwater alluvial fan is formed from the double action mechanisms of gravitational flow and traction flow. Body microfacies are primary oil bearing play and braided channel is the main future development target.


It is desirable to calibrate electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) instrumentation using a Randles circuit. This presents a challenge as realistic loads, simulated by this circuit, contain theoretical components (Warburg elements) that are difficult to model. This paper proposes a state-space solution to this problem that facilitates digital realizations of high accuracy Randles circuit approximations for the purposes of verifying and calibrating instrumentation. Using Valsa, Dvořák, and Friedl's network approximation of a Warburg element, a collection of state-space relations describing the impedance of a Randles circuit are derived.


By using summation algorithms of hypergeometric series,the author got a series of summations of hypergeometric series which widen the research results of ZHANG Xiang-de,TAO Ching-qi.In the paper,by continuing to use the summation algorithm of hypergeometric series,the author obtains two results for the summation of hypergeometric series.


Aim: In this research article, the aim is to analyze and compare the performance of Residual Neural Network and Bayesian Regression for accurate recognition of human actions. Materials and Methods: The proposed machine learning classifier model uses 80% of the UCF101 dataset for training and the remaining 20% for testing. For the SPSS analysis, the results of two classifiers are grouped with 20 samples in each group. The sample size is determined using a pretest with G-power, with a sample size of 80%, a confidence interval of 95%, and a significance level of 0.014 (p<0.05). Result: The findings suggest that the novel residual neural network classifier and Bayesian regression classifier achieved accuracy rates of 95.63% and 93.97%, respectively, in identifying human activities accurately.The statistical significance value between residual neural networks and Bayesian regression has been calculated to be p=0.014 (independent sample t-test p<0.05), indicating a statistically significant difference between the two classifiers.


When fluid therapy is not successful in reversing a shock state, adrenergic agents are used, most commonly dopamine or norepinephrine. These agents


After house jobs at St Mary's and the Brompton, Kenneth Michael Mackenzie ("Michael") joined the army in 1944. He married his fiancee, Rachel Perry, before being deployed to Rangoon. After returning from the war and reunited with Rachel, he became a general …


In order to study the TVOC pollution status in new decorated rooms,of TVOC pollution degree in 10 newly decorated rooms were monitored. The contents of TVOC in different periods,the change of TVOC concentration in ventilation,and the distribution of benzene series in the TVOC were discussed. The results showed that the TVOC pollution should not be ignored,must cause people's attention.


This paper deals with a method that evaluates the dynamics on the indexing cam mechanism, given a natural frequency of the output members and a rise time. The amplitude ratio of the residual vibration, as one of the dynamic characteristics and a factor of positioning accuracy is used as a criterion for this evaluation. As most of the items in the specifications such as mass, stroke, timing etc of the cam mechanism operated at high-speed are pre-fixed, a designer wants to select the best motion curve among the several ready-made curves. However, doing to evaluate a motion curve through the experiment, it is more difficult to rightly select the best motion curve due to many factors which are difficult to anticipate. For those reason, a numerical simulation and a quantitative criterion corresponding to the actual vibration without the experiment are perfered. Regarding a cam mechanism as the single degree-of-freedom model, calculating the amplitude ratio of the residual vibration from the equation of motion, this ratio is adopted as the quantitative criterion in this proposed method. Consequently, using the criterion, the positioning error which is affected by the residual vibration for the several motion curve are evaluated. Moreover, the experimental results to verify this method and above simulated results are shown.


The present research progress and the latest development of 5 types of bionic robots,including bionic flying robots,bionic terrestrial robots,bionic underwater robots,bionic amphibious robots and humanoid robots,are presented based on the natural bionic creatures.Then the characteristics of bionic creatures,the basic structure,the performance characteristics and the application prospects of bionic robot are described in detail.Finally,the research direction and some important research issures of bionic robot mechanisms are discussed,which are principles of bionic robot redundant actuation,underactuated bionic principle,design of metamorphic structure,design of motion stability,design of high bearing weight ratio and design of novel biomimetic material.


In this paper,an experimental investigation on heat transfer performance of a micro capillary groove evaporator for heat dissipation of high power electronic chip had been performed.The binary liquid mixture used in this experiment was 2-Methylpentane and methanol.Compared with the available results in the previous studies,the experimental results showed that the temperature of the chip could be reduced in the range of 7~9℃at the same heat flux.


Form and motion have been considered to be analysed separately in different streams of the visual system and then recombined at a later stage of computation of forms in motion. Nevertheless, motion analysis is required in visual tasks like breaking of camouflage and this suggests that motion mechanisms respond directly to form attributes. This second possibility was investigated by using stimuli in apparent motion, consisting of two frames in which a target element segregates by an orientation gradient from a texture background of uniformly oriented line elements. Frame-duration thresholds for target-orientation discrimination were measured to assess if they depend on: (1) whether the target is static or moving horizontally (left/right); (2) whether the target is oriented in parallel or orthogonally to the direction of motion; (3) the amount of dynamic noise present in the background texture (dynamic jitter). Thresholds for direction of motion discrimination were also measured as a function of orientation and dynamic jitter. Thresholds for orientation discrimination were lower for a moving than for a static target. Thresholds for orientation discrimination were lower than those for discrimination of motion direction. Thresholds for orientation and direction discriminations were lower when the target was oriented orthogonally to the direction of motion. Dynamic noise interfered only at high levels of background jitter. These results suggest that orientation discrimination occurs before motion-direction discrimination on the basis of a directionally selective mechanism also responding to form attributes. Form discrimination is likely to be enhanced by the motion component carried by contour motion processing similar to that involved in second-order motion which cannot specify direction of motion at its absolute threshold.


Reaction of 2-formylpyridine (and quinoline) in the presence or absence of solvent ives N-cyclohexyl-α-oxocarboxamides (e.g., III) of the corresponding hetero-cycles in excellent yields.


Let Rn be the real n-dimensional euclidean space. Elements of Rn are denoted by x = (xl • • •, xn), and ‖ x ‖ denotes the euclidean norm of x. The open ball B(x, r) with center x and radius r is defined by


Sedentary behavior (SB) has been evidenced as a risk factor associated with the prevalence, complications and mortality due to diabetes mellitus (DM) and systemic arterial hypertension (SAH). The objective of this study was to analyze the factors associated with SB among Family Health Strategy (FHS) users with type 2 DM and / or SAH in the four macro-regional health poles of the state of Pernambuco. A cross-sectional study was performed with a sample of 391 diabetics and / or hypertensives enrolled in the FHS, aged 20 years or older. Data were collected from the users regarding demographic, socioeconomic, behavioral and clinical factors, as well as data related to SB from the long version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), considering the total sitting time during a week day and a day of weekend. The SPSS version 19 was used for the analysis, considering as a variable outcome the sitting time > 6 hours. To verify the associations between the independent variables and the outcome, the Binary Logistic regression was performed. For entry into the adjusted analyzes, the variables with p value 6 hours was 21.9% and 23.9% on weekdays and weekends, respectively. The factors associated with SB > 6 hours after adjustment were: Week - indoor (p = 0.001), men (p = 0.008), age > 75 years (p = 0.005); income 75 years (p = 0.002). SB is a relevant issue today and it is important to emphasize the importance of health care for users with chronic diseases, with public policies that consider the reduction of this behavior. Therefore, other studies are necessary to better understand the impact of SB on the health of users with DM and SAH in Brazil.


There is an increasing need for the development of supportive technology for elderly people living independently in their own homes, as the percentage of elderly people grows. A crucial issue is resolving conflicting goals of providing a technology-assisted safer environment and maintaining the users' privacy. We address the issue of recognizing ordinary household activities of daily living (ADLs) by exploring different sensing modalities: multi-view computer-vision based silhouette mosaic and radio-frequency identification (RFID)based direct sensors. Multiple sites in our smart home testbed are covered by synchronized cameras with different imaging resolutions. Training behavior models without costly manual labeling is achieved by using RFID sensing. Privacy is maintained by converting the raw image to granular mosaic, while the recognition accuracy is maintained by introducing the multi-view representation of the scene. Advantages of the proposed approach include robust segmentation of objects, viewindependent tracking and representation of objects and persons in 3D space, efficient handling of occlusion, and the recognition of human activity without exposing the actual appearance of the inhabitants. Experimental evaluation shows that recognition accuracy using multi-view silhouette mosaic representation is comparable with the baseline recognition accuracy using RFID-based sensors. Introduction and Research Motivation There is an increasing need for the development of supportive technology for elderly people living independently in their own homes, as the percentage of the elderly population grows. Computer-based recognition of human activities in daily living (ADLs) has gained increasing interest from computer science and medical researchers as the projected care-giving cost is expected to increase dramatically. We have built the Laboratory for Assisted Cognition Environments (LACE) to prototype human activity recognition systems that employ a variety sensors. In this paper, we address the task of recognizing ADLs in a privacy-preserving manner in next-generation smart homes, and present our ongoing research on Assisted Cognition for daily living. Copyright c © 2008, Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (www.aaai.org). All rights reserved. Our system uses multiple cameras and a wearable RFID reader. The cameras provide multi-scale and multi-view synchronized data, which enables robust visual recognition in the face of occlusions and both large and small scale motions. A short-range, bracelet form factor, RFID reader developed at Intel Research Seattle (iBracelet) remotely transmits time-stamped RFID readings to the vision system's computer. RFID tags are attached to various objects including furniture, appliances, and utensils around the smart home. Although we currently use commercial-quality cameras and a high-end frame grabber to integrate the video feeds, the decreasing cost of video cameras and the increasing power of multicore personal computers will make it feasible in the near future to deploy our proposed system with inexpensive cameras and an ordinary desktop computer. Previous approaches to recognizing ADLs have depended upon users wearing sensors (RFID and/or accelerometers) (Patterson et al. 2005), audio-visual signals (Oliver et al. 2002) or using a single camera vision system (Abowd et al. 2007; Mihailidis et al. 2007). Recently, (Wu et al. 2007) employed a combination of vision and RFID. The system was able to learn object appearance models using RFID tag information instead of manual labeling. The system is, however, limited by a single camera view, which entails view dependency of the processing. The system also did not attempt to model or learn the motion information involved in performing the ADLs. We propose a multi-sensor based activity recognition system that uses multiple cameras and RFID in a richer way. Understanding human activity can be approached from different levels of detail: for example, a body transitioning across a room at a coarse level, versus hand motions manipulating objects at a detailed level (Aggarwal and Park 2004). Our multi-camera based vision system covers various indoor areas in different viewing resolutions from different perspectives. RFID tags and reader(s) detect without false positives the nearby objects that are handled by the user. The advantages of such a synergistic integration of vision and RFID include robust segmentation of objects, view-independent tracking and representation of objects and persons in 3D space, efficient handling of occlusion, efficient learning of temporal boundary of activities without human intervention, and the recognition of human activity at both a coarse and fine level. System Architecture Overview Figure 1: The overall system architecture of the Multi-scale multi-perspective vision system. Fig. 1 shows the overall system architecture. The clear modules compose the basic single-view system, while the hashed modules compose the multi-view functionality. Activity analysis is performed with the features transformed from the input modules. The planar homography module locates persons for activity analysis. The dashed enclosing boxes indicate that the silhouette and motion-map generation processes could be performed at hardware level with infrared or near-infrared cameras to ensure the privacy. In multi-view mode, the foreground image is redundantly captured to represent the three-dimensional extension of the foreground objects. Using multiple views not only increases robustness, but also supports simple and accurate estimation of view-invariant features such as object location and size. Multiple View Scene Modeling Contrary to single camera systems, our multi-camera system provides view-independent recognition of ADLs. Our vision system is composed of two wide field-of-view (FOV) cameras and two narrow FOV cameras, all synchronized. The two wide FOV cameras monitor the whole testbed and localize persons' positions in the 3D space based on a calibrationfree homography mapping. The two narrow FOV cameras focus on more detailed human activities of interest (e.g., cooking activities at the kitchen countertop area in our experiments). Currently, four cameras are used (Fig. 2) to capture the scene from different perspectives. Two wide-FOV cameras (in darker color) form the approximately orthogonal viewing axes to capture the overall space (views 1 and 2 in Fig. 3), while the two narrow-FOV cameras (in lighter color) form the approximately orthogonal viewing axes to capture more details of certain focus zones such as the kitchen (views 3 and 4 in Fig. 3.) The four synchronized views are overlaid with a virtual grid to compute scene statistics such as pixel counts in each grid cell. Both the track and body-level analysis can be used for the activity analysis depending upon the analysis tasks. In this paper, we focus on multi-view silhouette mosaic representations of detected foreground objects Figure 2: Multi-camera configuration. Two wide-FOV cameras (in darker color) and two narrow-FOV cameras (in lighter color) form the approximately orthogonal viewing axes, respectively. Figure 3: Distortion-compensated multi-view images 1 to 4 of the ADLs experiment in which a person performs the prepare cereal activity. The virtual grid is overlayed to compute scene statistics. for privacy-preserving recognition of activities. In Fig. 1, dynamic contextual control with optional user involvement can be incorporated with activity analysis, and provides constraints to other processing modules as feedback. The top-down feedback flows in the system are marked as red arrows. Appearance-Based Segmentation and Tracking ADLs may involve multiple objects moving simultaneously (Fig. 3), which can create challenges for a vision system — for example, changing backgrounds and object occlusion. We adopt a dynamic background model using K-means clustering (Kim et al. 2005). The background model is updated with a memory decay factor to adapt to the changes in the background, and foreground-background segmentation is achieved at each pixel. Silhouette representation of the foreground regions may obscure object appearances to preserve privacy (Fig. 4), but it also loses the useful information about object identities. RFID reading provides a smart way for identifying the obFigure 4: Binary foreground maps corresponding to the multi-view images in Fig. 3. The whole image forms the super foreground map Γt. Black areas represent effective foreground regions (i.e., inverted for visualization only.) ject types. The onset and offset of a specific RFID label stream may provide a useful clue for the onset/offset of a certain activity that typically manipulates the corresponding objects. Representation of Scene Statistics Figs. 3 and 4 show the process of representing scene statistics. We denote the m-th camera image and its foreground map at time t as I m and F t m, respectively, (m ∈ {1, 2, 3, 4}, See Fig. 3). A super image θ and its associated super foreground map Γ are obtained by juxtaposing the individual images I 1, . . . , I t 4 and F t 1 , . . . , F t 4 , respectively. Therefore if I m is of sizeW ×H pixels, θ and Γ are of size 2W ×2H . (In our implementation, image width W = 640 pixels and image height H = 480 pixels.) A virtual grid overlays the super foreground map Γ (Fig. 4) for decimation as follows. Each of the grid cells with cell size of S × S pixels (S = 40 pixels) counts the number of foreground pixels (in Fig. 4) within its cell boundary and divides the number with the cell area as follows. δ i,j = ∑ foreground pixels


Abstract Dynamic viscoelastic properties of three liquid crystalline polymers with different spacer length (n) were investigated with parallel-plate simple shear geometry and under uniaxial extension geometry. Temperature dependence curves of G' for the polymers were obtained at various frequencies. It was found that the slope of G' above T cl was smaller than that below T cl. In particular, G' of the polymer with the shorter spacer length (n = 5) varied very slowly with the temperature above T cl. The values (103-105 dyne/cm2 varied with the frequency) of this quasi-plateau modulus indicate that the plateau region is not due to the entanglements between the main-chain. The existence of loose entanglements between the large, rigid side chains is suggested.


The article considers peculiarities of underwater monitoring of moving objects in the shallow water areas, particularly seaports. These areas are characterized by a multitude of factors influencing the efficiency of detection. Nonstationarity conditions of sound propagation and specific interference caused by shipping are the major factors. The various algorithms for the space-time signal processing have been tested and some experimental results are presented. It has been shown that the use of clipped mode in conjunction with the correlation processing of wideband signals and subsequent speckle tracking allow realizing high efficiency of monitoring.


Fluoroaluminate glasses of the composition 2Ва (РО3)2–98MgCaSrBaYAl2F14-xErF3, where x=0, 0.1, 0.5, 1.0 mol. % have been prepared by melt quenching technique and characterized by optical absorption, emission spectra and decay curve analysis. Measured transmission spectra indicate the high practical relevance of the composition of glasses under investigation for photonics and optoelectronics products. In the region of 500–700 nm, luminescence spectra with peaks at about 522, 550, and 665 nm were obtained. The positions of the luminescence bands have been described using an erbium ion energy scheme. The concentration dependences of the absolute quantum yield values for the series of Er3+-doped fluoroaluminate glasses were also established. The maximum value of absolute quantum yield was found for a sample with Er3+ concentration 0.21∙1020 сm-3. The main reason for reducing the values of absolute quantum yield is concentration quenching.


Thank you very much for reading control policies of the reichsbank 1924 1933. Maybe you have knowledge that, people have search hundreds times for their favorite books like this control policies of the reichsbank 1924 1933, but end up in malicious downloads. Rather than reading a good book with a cup of tea in the afternoon, instead they juggled with some harmful virus inside their laptop. control policies of the reichsbank 1924 1933 is available in our digital library an online access to it is set as public so you can download it instantly. Our digital library spans in multiple locations, allowing you to get the most less latency time to download any of our books like this one. Merely said, the control policies of the reichsbank 1924 1933 is universally compatible with any devices to read.


This paper presents a method on how to organize 3D remote sensing images and how to publish these images quickly. We use two levels of grid-based spatial index to organize massive images. First, we divide a huge digital city image into many map sheets (big images). All of map sheets construct a matrix structure. We use row number and column number to encode every map sheet. Second, by using resample and bilinear interpolation method, we build pyramid for every map sheet to form multi-scale hierarchical structure. At the same time building pyramid, we adopt JPEG compression technology to produce JPEG image format files. The number of output image files equals to the number of pyramid layers. Third, divide every pyramid layer image into many small image tiles. The size of each tile image is 256*256 pixels. All of small tiles of each pyramid layer image also construct a matrix structure. We also use row number and column number to encode every small image tile. We create a file directory for each map sheet in order to store all of small image tiles. we neatly combine the spatial index structure with the file name of each tile, which make server be able to return tile to browser side very quickly without any query operation. With the proposed method, we can provide users with a fast and efficiently tool to publish their own spatial information without involving any programming work. The system performance is very good and the response time is almost identical for different size images.


Objective: To explore the susceptible factors of epilepsy secondary to cerebral infarction and monitor electrical activity of brain using 24 hours AEEG. Methods: Sixty-five patients with epilepsy secondary to cerebral infarction (study group) and sixty-five in-patients with cerebral infarction (control group) were monitored using 24h AEEG. The AEEG and clinical data of two groups were analyzed comparatively. Results: Age, sex, based diseases and degree of the lose of neurofunctions were not enough to deduce the susceptible factors of epilepsy secondary to cerebral infarction. The epileptiform wave of patients whose infarction lesions was in substantia corticalis was more significantly than that of patients whose infarction lesions was in deep white substance (P0.05). There was no significant difference between the lacunar infarction group and cerebral infarction group in epileptiform wave (P0.05). In study group, there was much significant difference between the epileptiform wave of the patients with single infarction focus and that of those with multiple foci (P0.01). Conclusion: AEEG monitoring is of great value for patients with epilepsy secondary to cerebral infarction. Whether cerebral infarction will be seconded by epilepsy is determined by location and amount of infarction focus to great extent.


AbstractThis study develops a new methodology based on computational metrology techniques to measure rail surface roughness from vertical axle-box accelerations. A VIA rail passenger rail car, oper...


J. BRANA and G. SCHIFF (Wien. ned. Woch., September 15th, 1934, p. 1013) point out that both the medical profession and the general public are at present inclined to attach much importance to the prognostic evidence blood-pressure readings. But the authors' investigations during the last seven years have made them sceptical this matter, and they have come to the conclusion that essential hypertonia is a condition which may have lasted


A new peridynamic fatigue damage-cumulative hybrid model is developed in
this study, which is modeled by Kinetic Theory of Fracture(KTF) and
Paris formula. The compact tension specimen and modified compact tension
specimen are used to study the convergence of the fatigue crack growth
path and fatigue life. Then constant amplitude cyclic loading and
variable amplitude cyclic loading of the specimens are simulated. By
comparing with the experimental results, the accuracy of the model is
verified. Compared with the fatigue model that only uses KTF, the hybrid
model predicts the fatigue crack growth rate more accurately. The model
is based on the stress damage criterion in the fatigue crack initiation
stage, which can be a basis for fatigue prediction and safety design of
components in complex stress state in actual engineering.


To assess the effects of long-term, low-dose-rate neutron exposure on mechanical strength and ductility, tensile properties were measured on irradiated 20% cold-worked Type 316 stainless steel. Samples were prepared from reactor core components retrieved from the EBR-II reactor following final shutdown. Sample locations were chosen to cover a dose range of 1-47 dpa at temperatures from 371-385 C and dose rates from 0.8-2.8 x 10{sup -7} dpa/s. These dose rates are about one order of magnitude lower than those of typical EBR-II in-core experiments. Irradiation caused hardening, with the yield strength (YS) following approximately the same trend as the ultimate tensile strength (UTS). At higher dose, the difference between the UTS and YS decreases, suggesting the work-hardening capability of the material is decreasing with increasing dose. Both the uniform elongation and total elongation decrease up to the largest dose. Unlike the strength data, the ductility reduction showed no signs of saturated at 20 dpa. While the material retained respectable ductility at 20 dpa, the uniform and total elongation decreased to <1 and <3%, respectively, at 47 dpa. Fracture in the 30 dpa specimen is mainly ductile but with local regions of mixed-mode failure, consisting of dimples and microvoids. The fracture surface of the higher-exposure 47 dpa specimen displays significantly more brittle features. The fracture consists of mainly small facets and slip bands that suggest channel fracture.The hardening in these low-dose-rate components differs from that measured in test samples irradiated in EBR-II at higher-dose-rate. The material irradiated at higher dose rate loses work hardening capacity faster than the lower dose rate material, although this effect could be due to compositional differences.


The effect of brewers' dried grain (BDG) on the egg production, egg weight and egg quality characteristics was studied in Japanese quail laying hens for a period of 18 weeks (9–27 weeks). A basal diet based on maize-soybean meal-deoiled rice bran was formulated. Two test diets were formulated by incorporation of BDG at 5 and 10% level by partially replacing maize, soybean meal and deoiled rice bran (DORB) of the basal diet. The chicks were randomly distributed in to 3 dietary treatments in a completely randomized design. All the diets were fed ad lib. to three replicates of 15 laying quails throughout the experimental period of 18 weeks. Egg production, feed conversion ratio and egg weight were significantly improved (P<0.05) by the inclusion of 5% BDG by replacing maize, soybean meal and DORB in control diet. The feed consumption and percentages of egg contents, albumen, yolk and shell and shape index were similar across all the treatments. The net profit in quails fed 5% BDG was higher than those fed control diet. However, the shell thickness was decreased significantly (P<0.05) due to inclusion of BDG. It may be concluded that brewers' dried grain can be incorporated at a level of 5% in the diet of Japanese quail layers by partial replacement of maize, soybean meal and de-oiled rice bran for improvement in egg production performance and higher profit margin.


This article considers the reproduction of gender inequality in Italy today. The post-Fordist regime is seen to exclude the former relationship between capital and labour: the absence of social and economic regulation assigns to the international division of labour the affliction of redistribution and reduces government's interest and efforts to produce social cohesion and remove discrimination. Accordingly, the unavoidability of the work of social reproduction, the transformations of family structures and the inadequacy of state intervention in social policies present significant challenges to the welfare system. The analysis of the working and living conditions of Italian women illustrates the close relationship between the structure of the labour market and social reproduction, and allows us to examine the impact of economic and social changes on the role of both men and women in public life and in the private sphere.


and the Blacksmiths. It gave him both pride and pleasure that his son Richard has maintained and furthered the standing of BJS. At the crest of his commercial activity, Leslie gave time and energy to our Institute. He is remembered as a fine, clear-thinking President. In this office, he was not exclusive; he strongly supported and facilitated ISFEC 92, a joint International Surface Finishing Exhibition and Conference led by the IMF and sponsored with the BSTSA, the MFA, the Paint Makers Association and the trade journal finishing. He was not a prolific writer but his essay on Faraday contributed to Transactions in the August 1991 issue is a model of clarity and succinctness. With his Presidential forerunner, Ian Christie, he insisted that the Institute should face the necessity to adapt in changing circumstances. An enduring message! This brief record cannot do justice to the warmth of a person most generous in companionship. He was splendidly supported by his wife, Diana, herself a gifted artist. Our sympathy goes to Diana and Richard: the friends Leslie made in the institute share their loss and offer them our condolences.


FIELD: transportation. SUBSTANCE: present invention relates to precious stone automatic orientation. Disclosed group of inventions includes precious stones orientation device, artificial precious stones sorting device and individual precious stones orienting method. At that, precious stones orientation device contains movable surface providing travel path for these precious stones, two opposite walls passing, substantially, along said travel path, and vibrator made with possibility of corresponding oscillating motion generation between said two walls and movable surface in direction, substantially, perpendicular to said travel path, so that when using said two walls communicate transverse force to precious stones and thus makes them to orientate into most stable position as they move along travel path. Disclosed individual precious stones orientation method includes following stages: said precious stones placement on travel path; use of two opposite walls passing, substantially, along travel path; and corresponding oscillating motion generation between said two walls and said travel path in direction, substantially perpendicular to this travel path, so, that said two walls communicate transverse force to precious stones and thus makes them to orientate into most stable position as they move along travel path. EFFECT: technical result consists in provision of automated process, which provides increasing of precious stone orientation speed and efficiency. 32 cl, 7 dwg


This third article in our series on African horse sickness entails an overview of treatments used at the moment, despite very little scientific evidence regarding their efficacy. Explanations of their alleged working are those of the proponents of the particular treatment.


The paper presents the design of a recovery system for a suborbital payload of an Atlas E rocket. This program utilizes off-the-shelf and previously qualified avionics, flotation, and decelerator systems. A brief history of liquid-engine recoveries is presented first, then the system design utilizing two self-contained structurally-identical pods diametrically mounted to the thrust section is outlined. A mortar-deployed drogue and the main parachute are described, and experimental procedures are considered. Data obtained from one tricluster drop employing a cylindrical test vehicle and helicopter is analyzed, and a satisfactory load balance between the parachutes is observed.


Poly(pyridine ether)s were prepared in two ways: the polycondensation of silylated 1,1,1-tris(4-hydroxyphenyl)ethane (THPE) with 2,6-difluoropyridine (method A) and the polycondensation of free THPE with 2,6-dichloropyridine (method B). With method A, the THPE/difluoropyridine feed ratio was varied from 1.0:1.0 to 1.0:1.6. Cycles, bicycles, and multicycles were the main reaction products, and crosslinking was never observed. When ideal stoichiometry was used exclusively, multicycles free of functional groups were obtained. These multicycles were detectable in matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectra up to B 38 C 76 with a mass of approximately 32,000 Da. With method B, the reaction conditions were varied at a fixed feed ratio to achieve an optimum for the preparation of multicyclic polyethers, but because of the lower reactivity of 2,6-dichloropyridine, a quantitative conversion was not achieved. The reaction products were characterized with MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, viscosity measurements, and size exclusion chromatography.


Purpose:To study the etiological role of Val384Asp in hMLH1 gene in gastric and esophageal cancer.Methods:Genomic DNA were extracted from peripheral blood and were subjected to PCR SSCP and DNA sequencing to screen Val384Asp in hMLH1 gene in 79 gastric and 76 esophageal cancer patients, and in 79 and 76 first degree relatives of gastric and esophageal cancer patients respectively, and in 100 healthy persons. Results:There is a significant difference in the frequency of Val384Asp between gastric cancer patients with family history and healthy controls ( P 0 05). Significant differences also exist in the following comparisons:①the relatives of gastric cancer patients with family history to healthy controls ( P 0 01);②the gastric cancer patients whose ages are 45—64 years to healthy controls, and ③the relatives of gastric cancer patients who are younger than 45 years to healthy ( P 0.05). There is no significant difference between the esophageal carcinoma patients, the relatives of esophageal carcinoma patients and healthy controls ( P 0.05). Conclusions:The alleles frequency of Val384Asp in Chinese is 3%. It may partly play an etiological role in some of the stomach cancer patients.


Weeds, insects, diseases, nematodes, rodents, birds and animals have been called "pests" when they cause an economic loss or create health and esthetic problems. Synthetic pesticides developed in World War II started keeping pests under control and increasing food production that brought about a higher standard of living. However, adverse environmental effects began to appear in some cases. The interaction between these two forces is bringing a healthy change in pest control strategies. This review of the pest management literature is from a collection development point of view, and an attempt has been made to present a balanced picture of growth and sound environment literature.


This study aims at quantifying the thermal response of mountain permafrost in southern Norway to changes in climate since 1860 and until 2100. A transient one-dimensional heat flow model was used to simulate ground temperatures and associated active layer thicknesses for nine borehole locations, which are located at different elevations and in substrates with different thermal properties. The model was forced by reconstructed air temperatures starting from 1860, which approximately coincides with the end of the Little Ice Age in the region. The impact of climate warming on mountain permafrost to 2100 is assessed by using downscaled air temperatures from a multi-model ensemble for the A1B scenario. Borehole records over three consecutive years of ground temperatures, air temperatures and snow cover data served for model calibration and validation. With an increase of air temperature of ∼1.5C over 1860–2010 and an additional warming of ∼2.8C until 2100, we simulate the evolution of ground temperatures for each borehole location. In 1860 the lower limit of permafrost was estimated to be ca. 200 m lower than observed today. According to the model, since the approximate end of the Little Ice Age, the active-layer thickness has increased by 0.5–5 m and >10 m for the sites Juvvasshøe and Tron, respectively. The most pronounced increases in active layer thickness were modelled for the last two decades since 1990 with increase rates of +2 cm yr −1 to +87 cm yr−1 (20–430 %). According to the A1B climate scenario, degradation of mountain permafrost is suggested to occur throughout the 21st century at most of the sites below ca. 1800 m a.s.l. At the highest locations at 1900 m a.s.l., permafrost degradation is likely to occur with a probability of 55–75 % by 2100. This implies that mountain permafrost in southern Norway is likely to be confined to the highest peaks in the western part of the country. 1 Background and objectives Permafrost in general and mountain permafrost in particular experiences increasing interest due to its sensitivity to climate variation and importance for geomorphologic and geotechnical processes (Harris et al., 2009), such as slope stability and natural hazards (Gude and Barsch, 2005; Huggel et al., 2010; Gruber et al., 2004a; Fischer et al., 2006; Haeberli, 1992). There is a need to address the response of ground temperatures (GT) to climate forcing, especially the modulation of the response of GTs to the effect of snow cover and different types of surficial material and bedrock. This study aims at the quantification of subsurface warming and changes in active layer thickness (ALT) over a ca. 250 yr period from the approximate end of the Little Ice Age (LIA) in the mid 19th century to 2100 at three highmountain sites in Southern Norway. Significant warming occurred during that period and is expected to continue. In relation to these changes, we intend to identify the possible zonations of former, present and future permafrost. Finally, we aim to characterise these responses for different environmental settings in terms of bedrock properties, sediment-cover and snow. We suggest that these assessments are fundamental prerequisites for spatially distributed permafrost modelling in Scandinavia, and for understanding geomorphological process patterns and ultimately landscape development (Berthling and Etzelm̈uller, 2011). One-dimensional heat flow models have been applied in various permafrost studies to assess the response of permafrost to climate change, such as for arctic permafrost (Burn and Zhang, 2009; Etzelm̈ uller et al., 2011; Osterkamp and Romanovsky, 1999; Romanovsky et al., 2007; Sazonova et al., 2004; Zhang et al., 2006, 2008) and mountain permafrost in the European Alps (Engelhardt et al., 2010; Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. 554 T. Hipp et al.: Modelling borehole temperatures in Southern Norway Fig. 1.Location of the study sites and boreholes in Norway ( ). As a rough estimate of possible permafrost distribution all areas with MAAT < −3C during the last normal period 1961–1990 are shown in blue (Etzelm üller et al., 2003). Local site overview of (b) Juvvasshøe, (c) Jetta and(d) Tron, each indicating the locations of boreholes (BH), where GST measurements (MTD) and TAIR , GST and snow depth measurements are performed. Gruber and Hoelzle, 2008; Gruber et al., 2004b; Hoelzle et al., 2001; Luetschg et al., 2008; Noetzli and Gruber, 2009; Noetzli et al., 2007; Scherler et al., 2010; Stocker-Mittaz et al., 2002). In this study, we apply a 1-D heat flow model (Etzelm ü ler et al., 2011; Farbrot et al., 2007) to simulate GTs and ALT for the time period of 1860 until 2100 in the mountains of Southern Norway. In addition to the existing PACE borehole (Isaksen et al., 2001) in 2008 12 shallow boreholes have been established recording GT, GST and TAIR at three different mountain areas in Southern Norway. Forcing the calibrated model using reconstructed and projected TAIR series, we assess how sensitive GT and ALT react to warming at the investigated sites, including an assessment of model limitations and related uncertainties of our approach. 2 Setting, instrumentation and climate at the study sites We use borehole measurements from three locations in Southern Norway in this study (Fig. 1a): Juvvasshøe (6140 N, 0822 E, 1894 m a.s.l.), Jetta (61 53 N, 917 E, 1560 m a.s.l.) and Tron (62 10 N, 1041 E, 1640 m a.s.l.). At these sites, ground temperature records are available at 13 borehole locations covering the period September 2008 to July 2011. At Juvvasshøe, the PACE borehole ground temperature data is available from 1999 (Isaksen et al., 2001, 2007). Data from all boreholes were used in this chapter to give an introduction to the climate and geomorphological settings at the study sites. However, only a selection of nine boreholes (Table 1) was used for the modelling study. The Cryosphere, 6, 553– 571, 2012 www.the-cryosphere.net/6/553/2012/ T. Hipp et al.: Modelling borehole temperatures in Southern Norway 555 2.1 The borehole sites and instrumentation At Juvvasshøe (1894 m) (Fig. 1b) first ground temperature measurements started by Ødeg ård et al. (1992) and the later drilling of the 129 m deep PACE borehole (Harris et al., 2001; Isaksen et al., 2001). The site is characterised by extensive block fields at higher elevations and finer till material at lower elevations (Ødeg̊ ard et al., 1988). Six boreholes were drilled in addition to the existing PACE boreholes, resulting in an altitudinal transect from 1894 m a.s.l. (PACE) down to 1307 m a.s.l. (Juv-BH6) (Fig. 1b). The boreholes have different stratigraphies: PACE, Juv-BH1 and Juv-BH3 are located in block fields; Juv-BH4 was drilled in bedrock and Juv-BH6 in a sandto gravel-rich ground moraine. At Jetta (Fig. 1c) block fields are present down to elevations of 1500 m and 1100 m a.s.l. on the north and south exposition, respectively, with thicknesses ranging from 3 to 10 m (Bø, 1998). Three boreholes were drilled 10 m into bedrock at 1560 m a.s.l. (Jet-BH1), 1450 m a.s.l. (Jet-BH2) and 1218 m a.s.l. (Jet-BH3), respectively. Tron (Fig. 1d) is located further east in a more continental climate setting. Two boreholes were drilled 10 m into fine-grained morainic material (Tro-BH1, Tro-BH2), while the uppermost borehole (Tro-BH1, 1640 m) was drilled 30 m into a block field. At all boreholes, GST,TAIR and snow depth (SD) are recorded. Following the approach by Lewkowicz (2008) Maxim© iButton temperature loggers ( ±0.5C accuracy) at fixed heights above the ground surface (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 80, 100, 120 cm) were used to extract SD. At PACE and Tron automatic weather stations record several meteorological variables to characterise the surface energy balance. 2.2 Climate and ground thermal conditions at the study sites The sites are situated along a continentality gradient from a more maritime influenced climate at Juvvasshøe to a more continental climate setting at Tron (Farbrot et al., 2011). The entire observation period from September 2008 to July 2011 was divided into three parts (S1: September 2008 to August 2009; S2: September 2009 to August 2010; S3: September 2010 to July 2011) to analyse the inter-annual variation (Table 1). As S3 does not cover a complete seasonal cycle, it is not used for comparison or n-factor calculations. At Juvvasshøe MAATs during S1 ranged from −3.4C to −0.6C and during S2 from−4.5C to −2.3C between 1894 m a.s.l. and 1307 m a.s.l. At higher elevations snow cover is highly variable and generally thin ( <20 cm) due to strong redistribution by wind (Fig. 2a). A thick snow cover is found at lower elevations (70–140 cm) (Table 1, Fig. 2b). The lower limit of permafrost along the instrumented slope is at ca. 1450 m a.s.l. (Farbrot et al., 2011). Permafrost thickness at the PACE borehole was estimated to be approximately 380 m (Isaksen et al., 2001). During the study period, observed ALT varied between 1.6 m (Juv-BH1) (Fig. 2a) and 8.6 m (Juv-BH4). The mean annual ground temperature at 10 m depth (MAGT10) ranges from−2.5C to −0.3C within permafrost and reaches up to +1.7 C (Juv-BH6) in non-permafrost areas (Table 1). At Jetta, MAATs between−2.2C to −0.2C were recorded during S1 and −3.7C to −1.6 C during S2 between 1560 m a.s.l. to 1218 m a.s.l. (Table 1). A long-lasting, thick snow cover ( >140 cm) is recorded at the uppermost borehole (Jet-BH1) (Fig. 2c), while Jet-BH3 had no significant snow cover due to strong wind drift (Fig. 2d). Therefore, despite the lower elevation, the GST recorded at JetBH3 is even lower than at Jet-BH1 during S2. The MAGT 10 increases from−0.8C at Jet-BH1 to ca. 1.7 C at Jet-BH3 during the observation period (Table 1). An ALT of ca. 6.9 to 9 m was recorded at Jet-BH1 (Table 3, Fig. 2c) while seasonal frost penetrates down to 6 to 9 m depth at Jet-BH3 (Fig. 2d). At Tron, MAAT during S1 ranged from 3.6 C to −0.9C and during S2 from−4.5C to −2.3C b


In the title compound, C6H4N4S3, the 1,3,4-thiadiazole ring is essentially planar, with an r.m.s. deviation of 0.001 Å. The two N—C—S—C torsion angles in the molecule are −23.41 (15) and 0.62 (14)°. One acetonitrile group is above the plane of the 1,3,4-thiadiazole ring and the other is below it, indicating syn and anti orientations. In the crystal, C—H⋯N hydrogen bonds link the molecules into ribbons along [010].


Ultrasound has long been the radiological investigation of choice for right upper quadrant pain for the detection of gallstones and cholecystitis. However, previously reported sensitivity, specificity and other diagnostic metrics have varied widely and the underlying patient numbers have been small. We present robust and exhaustive diagnostic metrics based on a large series of 793 patients.

 All laparoscopic cholecystectomies at our university hospital were prospectively logged between 2017 and 2020. The ultrasound findings, Nassar operative difficulty and histopathological findings were all collected in addition to patient biometrics.

 In our large patient series, sensitivity of ultrasound for cholecystitis was lower than previously reported at 75.7% for acute cholecystitis, 34.6% for chronic cholecystitis and 42.7% overall. Moreover, we show that sensitivity degrades with the time between ultrasound and cholecystectomy, falling below 50% at 140 days. Finally, we show that ultrasound strongly predicts Nassar difficulty grade of cholecystectomy and that its ability to do so is greatest where the interval between ultrasound and cholecystectomy is less than 27 days.

 We present robust diagnostic metrics for ultrasound in the diagnosis of cholecystitis. These should caution the clinician that ultrasound may miss a quarter of cases of acute cholecystitis and over half of all cases of cholecystitis. Conversely, the finding of a thickened gallbladder on ultrasound can predict a "difficult cholecystectomy" and highlight the need for appropriate expertise and resources. Both this prediction and the diagnostic sensitivity are best if the ultrasound is done less than 27 days before cholecystectomy.


Objective To study the effects of nonylphenol(NP) on spermiogenesis function of mice through digestion and its mechanism.Methods Healthy mature male mice were successively given NP for 5 days through gavage,and grouped according differnet dosages of 100 mg/kg , 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg respectively.Mice were randomly sacrificed on the 14 th and 35 th day after the first exposure of NP.The weights of spermary,epididymis and spermatocyst were measured.Chromosome aberration of primary spermatocyte was examined on the 14 th d and the amounts of sperm,viability,motility and deformity were measured on the 35 th d.Results The amounts of spermary of mice exposed to 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg NP decreased obviously.Amount of non motile sperm,deformity rate and chromosome aberration of primary spermatocyte increased.Viability dropped only in mice of 400 mg/kg group.Significant difference existed in the viability of 400 mg/kg group compared with the control shoring a dose response relationship(P0 05).Conclusions NP could damage the spermiogenesis function of mince.NP directly injures the spermatogenic cells and the chromosome of primary spermatocyte might be one of mechanism for produce above mentioned results.


Mind.Forth, also referred to as Project Mentifex, describes an artificial intelligence program begun by Arthur T. Murray. Murray describes himself as the 'night auditor at a small 33-room hotel in Seattle'. In fact, he is obviously a full-time scholar and AI buff. Project Mentifex was originally written as 'Mind.rexx' about four years ago; it has been rewritten in the Forth language and reemerged as Mind.Forth. Murray appears to have made this change to capitalize on the superb hardware control capabilities of Forth [1], and to elicit the cooperation of the small but creative Forth programming community. But programming languages alone are not his main focus: it is the 'Theory of Mind' behind the program which is far more important to him, as well it should be.


Production of mechanical pulps (MP) have been increased for useful utilization of woods and global environmental problems. However, light-induced color reversion of mechanical pulps is the biggest problem on use of it. But, the problem of the color reversion has not solved yet though many researches on prevention of the color reversion have been conducted.This paper describes about the chemical and biological prevention of light-induced color reversion of mechanical pulps. And furthermore, a mechanism of the color reversion, change of lignins caused by pulping process and effect of the changes on the color reversion, and effect of bleaching of MP on the color reversion are also described.


The stability properties of a non-neutral plasma diode [Pramanik et al., Phys. Plasmas 23, 103105 (2016)] have been investigated for the stationary states taking arbitrary value of the neutralization parameter. A constant magnetic field is also assumed to be applied externally along the transverse direction. The (η, e)-diagram technique is used to study the stability features of all types of solutions with respect to small aperiodic perturbations. Employing the first order perturbation theory, a relevant dispersion relation has been derived and analyzed for the regimes when electrons are not turned around by the magnetic field. These regimes of solutions belong to the "Normal C branch" and "C-overlap branch" of the "emitter field strength vs. diode gap"-diagrams. With the help of this dispersion relation, both aperiodic and oscillatory stability properties of such solutions have been presented.


This article explores issues and research relevant to sport tactical knowledge development and expertise. A discussion of the controversies concerning methodological tools is accompanied by a presentation of the possible levels of analysis (continua) in sport research. Theories of knowledge development and a protocol structure model for sport tactical knowledge are included. Knowledge development trends based on expert-novice cross-sectional research are presented, followed by longitudinal research exploring issues of instruction and player development. A concluding discussion concerns the role of tactical knowledge in contemporary motor skill theory and limitations of learning and instruction theory.


The energetic or adhesive interaction between binder matrix and solid fillers as well as plasticizers and fillers is a property determining mechanical properties as strain capacity and stress at maximum or stress at break. To know such interaction energies is therefore of interest. An isoperibolic solution calorimeter is used to measure such interaction energies or heats of immersion of the solid propellant components ammonium perchlorate (AP) and aluminium (AL) with the liquid plasticizers bis-(2-ethylhexyl) adipate (DEHA) and azido-terminated oligomeric glycidylazide (GAP−A). The determined heats indicate wettability and interaction energy in units of energy per surface area of the solid component. For AP, three different grain sizes with mean diameter about 200, 90, 42 μm were used. Results indicate dependence of AP wetting on mean particle diameter: Successful wetting occurs for AP at diameters from above 90 μm. The polar interactions between the ionic AP and GAP−A greatly enhance wetting as compared to DEHA.


As the offshore oil and gas fields are maturing, the water production rate from the reservoir is increasing progressively year by year. The methane hydrate formation in water-continuous systems has...


The steady-state and transient behaviors of packaged IR LED arrays have been studied via numerical simulations. The waste heat generated by LEDs must be removed through a cold plate or a cryogenic cold finger attached to the backside of the driver array. Therefore, this heat must travel across the LED array-driver interface and through the driver array. The modeling results demonstrate that the thermal resistance of these components can be significant. The steady-state temperature profiles across several configurations are used to identify the thermal bottlenecks. Transient simulations are used to quantify the rise and fall times of the IR LEDs, and the fall times can be significantly reduced by changes in the LED layout. These proposed guidelines to minimize thermal issues in LED arrays should result in better performing and more reliable IR LED arrays.


A field transformation method for near-field imaging using irregularly distributed sampling locations is investigated. Starting from frequency-wavenumber-algorithms used in conventional synthetic aperture radar imaging, this approach utilizes a multi-level fast spectral domain decomposition of the measurement data. The observation region is first subdivided into subdomains. As a second step, the plane-wave representation for each subdomain is calculated by a discrete Fourier transform followed by a hierarchical aggregation scheme as commonly utilized in the multi-level fast multipole method. It is shown that this algorithm establishes a flexible imaging method, which is robust with respect to noisy data and positioning errors. It is compared to the standard backprojection algorithm based on synthesized as well as simulated data.


Aiming at the identification and classification requirements of welding defects, the electromagnetic eddy current detection technology method is used to establish a welding data acquisition system, the continuous wavelet transform (CWT) is used as a preprocessing technology to reveal rich electromagnetic information, and a network model of CBAM-inception-res is proposed. For classification, the inception multi-scale convolution is integrated into the front end of the network, the receptive fields of different sizes are increased, and the features of different scales are spliced and merged to improve the classification accuracy. The verification of this method shows that the accuracy of discrimination can reach 99.88%.


The objective of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of two methods for dyestuff removal from a textile waste stream. In the first step, different types of dyes used in textile industries were studied in order to determine the types with highest usage rates. In this regard, basic, reactive, disperse and acidic dyes were selected. In the second step, dye biodegradability was studied through Zahn-Wellens method (ISO-9888 1999). Results showed final chemical oxygen demand (COD) and dye rejection coefficients (R%) of (61%, 57%), (73%, 76%), (25%, 14%), (32%, 8%) for acidic, basic, reactive and disperse dyes, respectively. In the third step, spiral-wound membrane modules nanofilter (NF) with a molecular weight cut off (MWCO) of 300 and 600 dalton (Da) and reverse osmosis (RO) of 50 Da were used. The operating conditions in phase 3 were adjusted as: temperature 30 to 35°C, pressure 4 bar for NF membranes and 7.5 bar for RO, flow rate of 10 L/min, and dye concentration of 0.01%. Results showed that COD and dye rejection coefficients for NF with 300 Da and for acidic, basic, reactive and disperse samples of dyes were (6%, 55%), (44%, 70%), (33%, 36%) and (71%, 93%), respectively. These results for NF with 600 Da were (7%, 54%), (64%, 76%), (33%, 29%), (59%, 92%) and for RO were (95%, 99%), (96%, 98%), (45%, 99.6%). Results clearly showed higher removal efficiency for the membrane treatment than for biodegradability studies.


The effects of grain size, reduction and heat input on recrystallization in weld-heat affected zone of cold rolled commercial-purity aluminum were examined quantitatively using the method proposed by the authors previously. That is, the relation between grain size or reduction and the value of constants in recrystallization equation was obtained. Then, the effects of grain size, reduction and heat input on recrystallization width of weld-heat affected zone were obtained by combining recrystallization equation and heat conduction equation.


Environmental pollution caused by conventional building material, had given borth to treh quest for green technology. This work evaluated the impact of cassava starch on some structural properties of sandcrete blocks produced from recycling paper. The sandcrete blocks were produced by replacement of river bed sand (sharp sand) with waste paper, at the rate of 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50% and 60% partial replacement; while the 1% of the cement was replaced with cassava starch powder. All the sandcrete blocks were produced at a fine aggregate to cement mix ratio of 6:1. The compressive strength, bulk density and water absorption rate of the blocks produced were dome at 28 th curing day. Results obtained from the compressive strength test depicted that, regardless of the paper pulp volume, the blocks produced with cassava starch had higher compressive strength, compared to the blocks produced without cassava starch. At curing day 28, the blocks produced 10% and 20% paper pulp and cassava starch, developed compressive strengths of 2.65 N/mm 2 and 2.32 N/mm 2 , respectively. In terms of the bocks bulk density, the result portrayed that the weight of the blocks produced with paper pulp were lighter, when compared with the control unit. It was also revealed by the results that the block containing cassava starch power had lower water abortion rate, compared to block produced without cassava starch. This study results had shown that using cassava starch as admixture, paper pulp can be used to produce sandcrete blocks for building walls of a framed structure at a little quantity (1% 20% partial replacement).


Background. Individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) report upper limb function as their top recovery priority. To accurately represent the true impact of new interventions on patient function, evaluation should occur from home. Recent work has used wearable cameras to monitor hand function of individuals with SCI in a home environment, and these egocentric videos were automatically analyzed using computer vision. A key step of this process, hand detection, is difficult to accomplish robustly and reliably, hindering the deployment of a complete monitoring system in the home. Objective. Generate an algorithm for fast and reliable hand detection in egocentric videos by combining object detection and tracking algorithms. Methods. We generated an egocentric hand detection dataset (167,622 frames) using videos of 17 individuals with SCI performing activities of daily living in a home simulation laboratory. Using existing detection and tracking algorithms, we introduced two novel combination methods: 1) using detectors to reset trackers and 2) using trackers to generate hand proposals for


Abstract Decreasing fall risk and maintaining independence is vital for community dwelling older adults. Nutritional status and rural residence may be independent predictors of falls. The aim of this study was to evaluate if nutritional status and rurality are positively associated with fall risk and predictive of future falls in community-dwelling older adults. We used data from a health risk assessment conducted by the Support and Services at Home organization serving Medicare beneficiaries in Vermont in 2017-2019 (N=3109; 79.6 years ±8.4, 75% female). Measures included the Fall Risk Questionnaire, Determine Nutrition Risk questionnaire, and fall history. Descriptive statistics from baseline measures and logistic regression analyses were used to identify predictors of a new fall with respect to rurality, fall risk, and nutritional status. At baseline, 67% of participants lived in rural communities, 37% had high nutrition risk, and 60% had elevated fall risk. Independently, rurality and high nutrition risk were significantly associated with fall risk (p<0.001) and high nutrition risk was associated with rurality (p<0.001). In the adjusted model, rural residence was not significantly associated with a fall within one year from baseline, whereas participants at high nutrition risk had a 50% higher odds of falling (p= 0.001). These findings suggest that falls may be associated with nutrition risk, but not living in a rural setting. Community-based initiatives should consider including nutrition screens as part of fall risk assessments. Further research is needed to understand the relationship between nutrition status and falls risk.


Newly age-eligible Medicare enrollees who receive any form of State support are more likely to have comorbidities, use health care services, and have higher Medicare payments associated with the services they use. Since its enactment in 1965, the Medicare program has provided health insurance for older adults who qualify for retirement benefits through Social Security or the Railroad Retirement Board. For these individuals, Medicare hospital services coverage is an entitlement; those who want Medicare coverage for outpatient and physician services must pay annual premiums. All beneficiaries must pay an annual deductible (currently $162) for physician/ outpatient services plus a 20 percent copayment after deductible. Care in hospitals and nursing homes also requires annual deductibles, and longer stays require copayments. Thus, Medicare beneficiaries may face significant costs for their health care. Some older adults face additional economic hardship from high costs for services not covered by Medicare, such as extended stays in a nursing home. Long-term care costs are the primary reason older adults "spend down" their assets and become Medicaid and Medicare eligible. In 1988 and again in 1993, assistance for poor older adults expanded from full Medicaid coverage only to a broader array of options. These options include help with premiums, copayments, and deductibles.1


For WSN to optimize the design of the distribution of routing nodes,the artificial immune evolutionary algorithm has limitation of geometry selected area limits,thus lead system converges to local optimal solution.An improved immune clone algorithm is proposed in this paper.According to the principle of WSN node coverage,an adaptive artificial immune WSN routing nodes distribution model is built.The information probability of concentration of chromosome is calculated by the immune balance mechanism in each node deployment in the grid.WSN nodes redundant concentration in network is monitored by using the clone detection algorithm.Each WSN routing node radiation pheromones is therefore maximized to breakthrough the limitation of geometry selected area and to realize the optimal node deployment and coverage.Simulation experiments show that the new algorithm can improve the utilization rate of network connectivity and node.


SUMMARY Meiobenthos, here defined as metazoans passing through a ½ mm screen, is described from core samples collected on muddy grounds at 100-140 m depth in the North Sea and off the west coast of Scotland between February 1962 and August 1963. Sixteen cores of 2·2 cm diameter were collected from Loch Nevis, and 14 from the Fladen ground. The top 7 cm of each core was passed through a 500μ then a 76μ screen. The residues were examined entire, and the nitrate of the finest mesh was subsampled. The fauna consisted mainly of nematodes, kinorhynchs, ostracods, copepods, polychaetes, and lamellibranchs. Between 61 and 97 % of the population consisted of nematodes, but copepods were second in importance and were more abundant than recorded on other subtidal grounds. The fine mesh (76μ) retained almost all specimens of every animal group except Nematoda. Numerically 38% of the nematode population passed through the fine sieve, but this represented only 18% by weight. The mean dry weight of meiobenthos on Fladen was calculated as 0·76 g/m2 and the average number of individuals was 196 × 104/m2. In Loch Nevis the corresponding weight was 1·28 g and the number 101 × 104. The loch had a larger and more varied population of all groups except nematodes, which were particularly abundant on Fladen. The data do not indicate significant population fluctuations throughout the year in the permanent meiobenthos. Compared with other subtidal grounds Nevis and Fladen seem to support much richer populations, and the high values for Fladen are of particular interest since this is a poor macrobenthos area. An attempt is made to indicate the possible level of meiobenthos productivity and it is suggested that there may be competition between meio- and macrobenthos for available organic matter which could result in a less efficient production of fish food.


Abstract A direct inverse method is presented for inferring numerical model open boundary conditions from interior observational data. The dynamical context of the method is the frequency-domain 3D linear shallow water equations. A set of weight matrices is derived via finite-element discretization of the dynamical equations. The weight matrices explicitly express any interior solution of elevations or velocities as a weighted sum of boundary elevations. The interior data assimilation is then cast as a regression problem. The weight matrix may be singular, which implies there may be an infinite set of boundary conditions that fit the data equally well. With the singular value decomposition technique, a general solution is provided for this infinite set of minimum-squared-misfit boundary conditions. Among them, a particular boundary condition, which minimizes potential energy on the boundary (hence the whole domain), is studied in detail: its confidence interval is defined and a way to smooth it is discuss...


The Coastal Zone Management Act was designed to promote U.S. energy self-sufficiency while providing for adequate state and local planning and regulation through a state management program. The Act was not intended to hamper coastal growth and development by impeding activities on the Outer Continental Shelf or preventing the transshipment or processing of imported resources. A summary of the Act covers both procedural requirements on how programs are to be developed and implemented and substantitive requirements for specific environmental issues. Issues for evaluating each phase of program development and adoption cover questions of adequacy, enforceability, management organization, and program review. Substantive requirements include, among others, boundary identification, definition of permissible uses, areas of particular concern, guidelines on use priorities, and environmental safeguards. 102 footnotes.


The article reexamines the most common academic criticisms of "mandatory" arbitration of consumer disputes. First, it presents the results of an empirical study of "unfair" arbitration clauses, based on a sample of dispute resolution clauses in franchise agreements. The study finds that while some provisions identified by arbitration critics as unfair are common in the sample, others (such as clauses providing for biased arbitrators) are very rare. Second, it describes plausible circumstances under which both parties to pre-dispute arbitration clauses -- even clauses containing "unfair" provisions -- will be made better off by arbitration. Third, it argues that business reputation and arbitration institutions may constrain corporate opportunism in the use of pre-dispute arbitration agreements. Accordingly, increased government regulation of arbitration may be unnecessary, or at least more limited than some have proposed.


Abstract А clinical case of non-union in a cat after open fracture repair by intramedullary ostheosynthesis of the radius was described. The patient was presented with non-weight bearing lameness, fistulas with purulent discharge, swelling and severe pain. During the surgical revision, after bone sequestrum removal, the bone defect was filled with cancellous and cortical bone autografts. Osteosynthesis with a modified external bone fixator, made of Duracryl® Plus – a rapidly self-curing metacrylate polymer – and 6 Kirschner wires passing perpendicularly through both radial cortices was performed. The post-operative period was smooth, and after 23 weeks the external fixator was removed. Radiography showed very good bone healing, with excellent clinical result. The use of the ulna as a donor bone was very convenient because it allowed collecting a cortical graft of larger size. The extremely light model of external bone fixator provided adequate strength of fixation elements and proved to be an efficient and not expensive technique for osteosynthesis in cat with non-union fractures of the distal radius and ulna.


Summary form only given. Discusses a satellite system for remote sensing. The authors briefly describe features of the satellite and its equipment together with its communication link with the ground and the transmission of information.


Intrinsic synchronisation algorithms increase the data throughput of a system at the expense of processing. The trellis extracted synchronisation technique (TEST) is an intrinsic synchronisation algorithm for the combined decoding and synchronisation of error control block codes. This paper illustrates two enhancements to the TEST algorithm which improves synchronisation performance and reduces processing. Inherent errors due to the linearity and cyclic properties of block codes are corrected. A simple estimate of future synchronisation points in a data stream can be efficiently used to decrease the processing with no expense of coding performance


Immunogenic composition comprising an isolated or purified polypeptide comprising a) the amino acid sequence of the spinal protein polypeptide of severe acute respiratory syndrome virus (SARS) SEQ ID NO: 6042, or b) an amino acid sequence with> 80% identity of sequence with SEQ ID NO: 6042, or c) a fragment of at least 10 consecutive amino acids of SEQ ID NO: 6042; provided that the polypeptide is not MFIFLLFLTLTSGSDLDRCTTFDDVQAP.


Considering the fierce competition, brand loyalty as core dimension of brand equity, is essential for any company that plans to maintain long term competitive advantages. The importance of brand loyalty has been widely adopted in many countries but yet insufficiently understood by Iranian companies. Therefore, we tried to analyze the factors which affect the brand loyalty in Iran using Multinomial Logit Model. As an empirical investigation, we selected 642 costumers of Pegah brand of dairy products by clustered, random-sampling technique. Results showed that 16.64% of respondents are switcher (with on brand loyalty), 10.90% are habitual (with no reason to change), 36.44% are satisfied (with switching costs), 24.68% likes the brand, and 11.33% are committed to the brand. Also the results of estimation of Multinomial Logit Model indicated that among the Kapferer's brand identity factors, the physique variable has the most effect on Pegah brand loyalty.


A protocol solving the k-set consensus problem [13] has to provide three properties: k-agreement non-faulty processes has to decide on at most k values, validity every decision value must be an input value of some process, and termination each non-faulty process must stop with a decision value after some nite number of steps. It has been proved [8] that this problem can be solved using only read / write operations in the presence of f crash failures if and only if f < k. One way to subvert this impossibility result is to restrict the possible assignments of input values to processes. This thesis presents a new problem, DS;DL-restricted k-set consensus, which limits the possible input vectors to a set DS , and requires termination of non-faulty processes only when the initial con guration is taken from a smaller set, DL. A characterization of the nite sets that allow a wait-free solution of DS;DL-restricted n-set consensus in a system with n + 1 processes, using only read and write operations is proved. Using this characterization, a polynomial algorithm is provided, which decides if two sets of input vectors, DS and DL, enable solving DS ;DL-restricted n-set consensus or not. 1 Abbreviations and Notations Sn | Simplex of rank n+ 1. sn | a simplex of rank n + 1 from a subdivision facev(Sn) | The set Sn n fvg. v Tm | The m+ 1-simplex, Tm [ fvg. hp; i | A vertex representing a process p and its local state . V al(v) | Process' state , when v = hp; i for some p. Proc(v) | The process p, when v = hp; i. O | Output complex. (Sn) | Standard chromatic subdivision of Sn. DS | Set of input vectors ensuring validity and agreement DL | Set of input vectors ensuring termination K(I) | Input complex induced by a set of input vectors I 2 Chapter


Protocol conformance testing can be used to detect whether protocol implementations are conform to the protocol specification. 6LoWPAN neighbor discovery protocol is designed for neighbor discovery and address registration in low-power WPAN. In order to accomplish the conformance testing for this protocol, formal methods are introduced to model the entities in the protocol and an enhanced algorithm is proposed to generate test sequences. Then, based on TTCN-3 architecture, a conformance testing system is implemented. The result indicates the generated test sequences are shorter with less redundancy. The system can perform conformance test properly, and thus provide reference for the development of 6LoWPAN protocol testing system.


Teh Li Chin1*, Alasdair P. MacGowan1,2, Karen E. Bowker2, Felicity Elder2, Charles R. Beck3 and Cliodna McNulty4 Specialist Microbiology Services South West, Public Health England, Southmead Hospital, Bristol, UK; Bristol Centre for Antimicrobial Research and Evaluation, Department of Infection Sciences, North Bristol NHS Trust, Southmead Hospital, Bristol, UK; Field Epidemiology Services, Public Health England, 2 Rivergate, Temple Quay, Bristol BS1 6EH, UK; PHE Primary Care Unit, Gloucester Royal Infirmary, Gloucester, UK


The geology of the Yasukuni landslide area consists mainly of tuffaceous clastic rocks and acidic volcaniclastic rocks of the Upper Miocene Ikutawara Formation, in which an interstratified illite/smectite minerals zone exists, formed by hydrothermal alteration related to the 8.1-7.7 Ma Ryuo hydrothermal system. The slide clays and debris contain large amounts of interstratified illite/smectite minerals. The occurrence of the Yasukuni slide is strongly related to the unstable nature of the interstratified illite/smectite minerals zone, the bulk of which is swelling clay mineral. This fact is useful in evaluating landslide risk and creating a hazard map of such slides in ancient and active hydrothermal fields.


Physicians should not perform involuntary drug testing on an adolescent with decisional capacity without strong medical or legal reasons, even if the parents request the test. Virtual Mentor is a monthly bioethics journal published by the American Medical Association.


A 120° optical hybrid based on 3× multimode interference coupler is reported. The device exhibits less than 10° phase deviation over 55 nm in the C- and L-band.


This paper considers the potential for dual mode bike/rail transportation in the Perth metropolitan region. It suggests that there are many advantages to the use of bikes and trains and that there are a range of deterrents which are currently acting against a more balanced transport system. Analysis of census data shows that 41 per cent of the population of the Perth metropolitan region live within 10 minutes (3.2 kms) cycling distance of a railway station. A total of 178,473 work journeys originated in Perth's bike/rail catchment region in 1981. If, with appropriate encouragement for cyclists, 12 per cent of those journeys, currently made by singly occupied cars, could be converted to bike/rail journeys then there would be an increase of around 20,000 rail trips each day. This is an increase of 60 per cent in rail patronage and petrol savings in the order of 26,000 litres/day or 1.3 per cent of Perth's average consumption. Bike/rail integration could be facilitated in the following ways: (I) improvement of facilities for security of bicycles against theft and wet weather at stations. (II) reviewing fare structure for carriage of bicycles on trains, with a view to encouragement of carriage during off-peak periods. (III) active marketing of bike/rail facilities eg, bike carriage provisions, fares and storage facilities. (TRRL)


To the editor: During the 20 years that Bendectin has been available it has been prescribed for some 5 million pregnant women in the United States and for approximately 20 million pregnant women world-wide. Approximately 9 million Bendectin tablets were sold in Canada in 1976. The average prescription is for 30 to 45 tablets, but we do not know the number of repeat prescriptions or, indeed, that all prescriptions or "over-the-counter" sales are for the control of nausea during pregnancy. However, a conservative estimate is that in Canada more than 85 000 fetuses are exposed to Bendectin each year. In the United States until 1976 Bendectin contained three ingredients: dicyclomine (Bentylol), an antispasmodic; doxylamine, an antihistaminic with an-


Sesquioxides have been identified as having great potential for use as host materials for lasers due to their exceptional thermomechanical and optical properties as well as crystallographic properties well suited to the incorporation of rare-earth dopants [1]. However, fabrication of sesquioxide hosts is challenging due to their high melting points (>2400°C), making it difficult to grow high-quality crystals from a melt. Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) is a well-established method for growing thin-films of a variety of materials, including doped sesquioxides, without the need for attaining such temperatures. It is also possible to exploit the non-equilibrium process to grow crystals not readily achieved via standard techniques, such as ternary or quaternary mixtures. In this paper we report the growth and characterization of Yb-doped mixed lutetia and scandia films, which are of interest for ultrashort-pulse (USP) generation in thin-disk or waveguide lasers/amplifiers [2].


This paper is based on the recent changes and trends in convergence education trends that focus on art. The goal is to closely investigate and analyze the current status of art convergence education for all higher education institutions in Korea and provide basic data on determining how to operate it. As a research method, the process of conducting a typification process, determining the subject of the investigation according to the third level of screening criteria, and collecting data using online and offline were conducted. In particular. I focused on materials in four fields literature, art, music, and movies. As a result, contents such as 'the trend of expanding the opening of convergence departments and convergence departments', 'the existence of many curricula for the operation of culture and arts educators', and 'the dominance of literature-led art convergence education cases' were confirmed. It is time to listen to the voices of the art community demanding a change in the approach of convergence education, and reflect on and enhance the behavior of opening competitive convergence education in a simple way.


This paper argues that Wang Jin gong's modifying of poetry reflects that the poets of song dynasty attend to find a new way in the narrow space left by the poets of tang dynasty,to imitate the poets of tang dynasty is considered to be the condition-prerequisite of the creation of the poetry in song dynasty,with futher research of Han and Du,the modifying of poetry become a common phenomenon among the poets of song dynasty,however,Wang Jin gong's modifying of poetry attracts special attention,we are able to conclude that there are two reasons:first,he likes to midyfy,he desires to excel and never lack curiosity;second,He does well in modifying,he is full of talent and knowledge.


OTA Background Papers are documents containing information that supplements formal OTA assessments or is an outcome of internal exploratory planning and evaluation. The material is usually not of immediate policy interest such as is contained in an OTA Report or Technical Memorandum, nor does it present options for Congress to consider. Foreword Technology exerts a powerful influence over the lives of everyone, making life easier, more fulfilling, but sometimes more painful and frustrating. This is especially true for people with disabilities. The appropriate application of technologies to diminishing the limitations and extending the capabilities of disabled and handicapped persons is one of the prime social and economic goals of public policy. The Federal Government is deeply involved in programs that affect the development and use of technologies for disabilities. Congress and other institutions have been increasingly interested in how well programs that directly develop technologies and support their use have been performing. The Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources requested the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) to conduct a study of technologies for handicapped individuals. That study examined specific factors that affect the research and development, evaluation, diffusion and marketing, delivery, use, and financing of technologies directly related to disabled people. The problems and processes of the development and use of technologies were analyzed in the context of societal allocation of resources and the setting of goals for public policy. The main report of the study Technology and Handicapped People was released in May 1982. This case is background paper #1 of the study. A number of case studies will be published as part of the assessment, and each will be issued separately. The case studies were commissioned by OTA both to provide information on specific technologies and to gain lessons that could be applied to the broader policy aspects of technology and disability. Drafts of each case study were reviewed by OTA staff; by members of the advisory panel to the overall assessment, chaired by Dr. Daisy Tagliacozzo; by members of the Health Program Advisory Committee, chaired by Dr. Frederick Robbins; and by numerous other experts in medicine, disability policy, Government, economics, public interest and consumer rights, and rehabilitation engineering. We are grateful for their assistance. However, responsibility for the case studies remains with the authors.


We use Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) measurements of 870 μm thermal emission from a sample of midsized (15–40 km diameter) Jupiter Trojan asteroids to search for high-albedo objects in this population. We calculate the diameters and albedos of each object using a thermal model which also incorporates contemporaneous Zwicky Transient Facility photometry to accurately measure the absolute magnitude at the time of the ALMA observation. We find that while many albedos are lower than reported from WISE, several small Trojans have high albedos independently measured both from ALMA and from WISE. The number of these high-albedo objects is approximately consistent with expectations of the number of objects that recently have undergone large-scale impacts, suggesting that the interiors of freshly-crated Jupiter Trojans could contain high-albedo materials such as ices.


we see that although this might have been the case during his appearance before the Select Committee, his experience travelling the provinces was rather different. In speech after speech at provincial towns and cities across England and then in Scotland, Tzatzoe insisted on speaking of land loss and injustice, as well as of the redeeming power of the Bible and of literacy. What is more, his concerns were picked up by members of his audience. It may not be going too far to claim that Tzatzoe's presence in Britain from 1836-8 was a key contributor to the popularisation of the humanitarian three Cs (Christianity, Commerce and Civilization) in Britain, specifically as a rebuttal and rejoinder to more dispossessive settler colonial projects. That his worldly, as well as his evangelical concerns were listened to sympathetically by hundreds, if not thousands of Britons, becomes clear because of Levine's determination to trace reports of his activities beyond the national press and into the pages of the provincial newspapers. To be picky, some readers might object to the need to consult extensive endnotes for the historical and geographical contextualization of the events mentioned in the main text, and there are a few minor slips of historical detail along the way. But these are minor and quite trivial. Levine has imaginatively and determinedly tracked an elusive historical figure through multiple archives, using insights into his selfformation to cast light on a much more extensive set of processes by which the settler colonial world at large was formed. Tzatzoe's story, as elaborated by Levine, tells us a great deal more about how the promise of cultural fluidity raised by European encounters with indigenous peoples was turned into the racial hierarchy of the settler colony. It also convinces us of the devastating consequences of that transition for the individuals who sought to capitalize upon that promise, both for themselves and for their communities.


RGB-D sensors are being widely used in the computer vision world. Depth information is particularly attractive and suitable for object detection application as it is complementary with RGB information in solving many classic issues such as shadow interference, illumination change impacts and noise. In this paper a novel object detection method is proposed based on Gaussian mixture codebook model. Firstly, we establish the Gaussian mixture codebook model by combining the Gaussian model with codebook model by using the color data and the depth data. A four-dimensional Gaussian model based on R, G, B and D components is built in codewords. Then the object detection result is obtained based on the proposed model and the model updating method given. We then evaluated the method using publicly available datasets. The qualitative and quantitative experimental results show that the proposed method is more effective than the compared methods in complex scenes.


The immense interest in the electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate (NO3-)/nitrite (NO2-) to ammonia has been driven by promising prospects as an eco-friendly and energy-efficient approach for wastewater treatment and ammonia...