Spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana (Clemens)) defoliation is known to regularly produce radial growth decrease in black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb.) in the boreal forest of Quebec. Some studies have already shown that the first year of defoliation does not induce growth losses in the stem but could occur in other tree parts. We therefore examined the timing and duration of the growth reduction caused by the last outbreak in black spruce by also considering the branches. More than 79% of branches and 65% of stems exhibited a >40% growth decrease.The re- duction was first registered in the upper part of the stem before being detected lower in the stem in 87% of the trees. Proba- bilities of growth reduction in the upper part of the stem were highest in 1976 and 1977. In the lower stem, the probabilities were highest in 1978. An interesting finding was that in 69% of the studied stands, the probability of growth reduction started earlier (1-2 years) in the branches than in the stem at 1.3 m. Branch analysis should be considered when- ever questions arise in regard to the evolution of spruce budworm defoliation as well as the timing of observed growth re- duction in black spruce. Resume : On sait que la defoliation par la tordeuse des bourgeons de l'epinette (Choristoneura fumiferana (Clemens)) en- traine regulierement une baisse de la croissance radiale chez l'epinette noire (Picea mariana (Mill.) Britton, Sterns & Pog- genb.) dans la foret boreale du Quebec. Des recherches ont deja demontre que la premiere annee de defoliation n'induisait pas de pertes de croissance dans la tige, mais pouvait en causer ailleurs dans l'arbre. Nous avons par consequent etudie le


The invention discloses a continuous casting mould flux for low nickel and high manganese stainless steel and a preparation method thereof. The continuous casting mould flux comprises the following chemical compositions in percentage by weight: 38.0 to 42.0 percent of CaO, 32.8 to 38.0 percent of SiO2, 3.6 to 5.0 percent of MnO, 2.0 to 4.0 percent of MgO, 3.0 to 4.0 percent of Al2O3, 10 to 14 percent of fluxing agent containing NaO, F and Li2O, and 1.5 to 2 percent of Fc, wherein the ratio of the Cao to the SiO2 is 1.0-1.28. The preparation method comprises that: various raw materials are mixed and pelletized; and the pellets are melted in a liner-free furnace with water-cooling wall, subjected to water quenching, drying and crushing, added with a carbon material, namely 1.5 to 2.0 percent of Fc, and then prepared into hollow spherical mould flux in a spray prilling tower. Compared with the prior art, the mold powder has the advantages of eliminating vertical cracks on the surface of a casting blank, preventing cinder inclusion on the surface of the casting blank, avoiding oscillation marks on the casting blank, reducing surface conditioning of the casting blank, and having the surface quality of a slab equal to 304 austenitic stainless steel.


This paper briefly sets out two main themes. The first is concerned with how information technology may be seen as both offering opportunities and posing problems from the perspectives of developmental psychology and education. The second delineates the main features of cognitive science and suggests ways in which it can help in formulating the solutions to some of these problems.


At 500–600°C and 500–800 atm, in alkaline solutions, two mechanisms of the migrations of Ti, Zr, and Hf are experimentally indicated: a) in the absence of fluorine and other halogens, these metals migrate as titanates, zirconates, and hafnates of K and Na, the forms which are conducive to their dissipation but not deposition-accumulation in the rocks, within a wide range of temperature, as long as the pH of the solution remains alkaline; b) in the presence of fluorine, Ti, Zr, and Hf migrate as fluoride complexes (with Na and K) from which they may be liberated by hydrolysis and deposited at decreasing temperature, as the corresponding oxides.


Molecular classification in pathological anatomy is an important task as it is extremely convenient for the diagnosis of cancer and its subtypes for adequate therapeutic choice. With the development of computer vision, cancer classification has become an interdisciplinary subject in both medicine and computer vision.A multi-input convolutional neural network is designed for the molecular classification of cancer based on a collected dataset, which contains four tissues treated with four antibodies; each one of them is composed of 33 images. The proposed model achieves a satisfactory accuracy of 90.43% after data augmentation. Even though the data augmentation contributes to the model, the accuracy is still limited by the lack of sample diversity.


Study of the solar system has been enjoying a renaissance for several years. New observational techniques are making available a much wider spectrum of information than can be obtained with ground-based visual telescopes. These include radio telescopes on the ground and in orbit, X-ray, Llltraviolet and infrared sensors in orbit or on rozkets, and particle counters on space probes that sample the interplanetary matter directly. All these kinds of instruments can be put on probes that go near the planets, and ultimately, Ecientists hope, on spacecraft that will land on the planets or penetrate their atmospheres. Radio astronomy was the first of the new techniques to be applied to the planets, and there has probably been more observation of the planets by radio than by any technique except visible light. Nearly all the planetary radiations are thermal. Heating of the surface or atmosphere by the sun or some other source causes atomic and molecular vibrations that generate the microwaves. Planetary radio astronomy is now to the point where it compiles radio spectra of individual planets and makes theoretical models of their physical composition. Discrepancies between the radio observations and theoretical expectation about the surface of Mars and the atmospheres of the outer planets have aroused great interest, as exemplified in a series of articles in the current issue of ICARUS. The Martian data most discordant with theory concern radio wavelengths radiated by the planet's soil within a few centimeters of the surface. The theoretical prediction is derived from assumptions about the composition of the soil of Mars and the proposition that its temperature decreases with depth. This would be expected since the top layer of soil would be heated by the sun. Because shorter wavelengths come from nearer the surface, the brightness temperature, or apparent temperature of the source of radiation, should rise as observation passes from the centimeter to the millimeter range of wavelengths. It ultimately should approach the infrared average of 235 degrees K. (For comparison room temperature is about 300 degrees K; water freezes at 273 and boils at 373.) Unfortunately for the theory, the radio spectrum appears to remain flat or even turn down at short wavelengths. Since the brightness temperature depends on the radio emissivity of the substance radiating the waves as well as the true temperature, the presence of a substance with a lower emissivity in the outer part of the Martian surface could account for the turndown. It would give a lower brightness temperature than the soil just below it even though its actual temperature were higher. The observed situation "could be approximated," says Dr. Eugene E. Epstein of the Aerospace Corp. in Los Angeles, "if the top few centimeters of the surface material contain some liquid water. This water might result from the partial melting of a permafrost layer. Drs. Carl Sagan and Joseph Veverka of Cornell University Itake up this idea more strongly. "There's no question that liquid water will give such a curve," says Dr. Sagan. "It's the only explanation. We tried everything else we could think of." That is, he says, unless the data are in error. There is evidence for some water vapor in the Martian atmosphere, but there are arguments against liquid water on the surface. Dr. Andrew P. Ingersoll of the California Institute of Technology argues, in a paper published in SCIENCE a year ago, that under Martian conditions, atmospheric water vapor would condense to ice. The evaporation rate is so high, he says, that evaporation would keep the ice cooled below the freezing point regardless of any local heat sources. Pure ice would never melt, he says, and liquid water could exist only in concentrated salt solutions. Dr. Ingersoll's argument notwithstanding, Drs. Sagan and Veverka find the idea of a melting permafrost layer attractive because their observations show that on the surface the temperature drops off as one looks toward the poles of Mars. This dependence of the temperature on latitude "could be due to heat sinks related to phase changes at the boundary of such a layer," they say. Since the relevant electrical properties of ice are similar to those of rock, Jupiter/NASA


When the temperature and moisture deviates from the normal two values in agriculture, plant growth is affected and the disease is invasive. Stra over model for plant growth, the appropriate hormonal balance for optimal growth and performance is said to be necessary. When the growth conditions deviate from the normal value, hormonal balance is changed and suffer plant growth. The present invention provides a proof for explaining the relationship between the supporting and hormonal levels and plant growth this model. Obvious understanding of this relationship would accelerate the crop processing aims to eliminate these problems. Although we can not regulate the climate, you can adjust the damage caused by environmental stresses by manipulating the level and / or ratio of plant hormones in various plant tissues. Hormones in root tissue, especially by regulating auxin and cytokinins, levels and / or ratios, we can help plants in overcoming or offset the environmental stress.


Objective This paper established a RP-HPLC method for determination of a flavanone exhibiting potential anti Alzheimer's disease activity in Iris tenuifolia. Methods The separation was carried out with an Agilent 1260HC-C18column( 4. 6 mm × 250 mm,5 μm) by gradient elution using methanol-1% acetic acid as mobile phase at a flow rate of 1 m L·min-1. The detection wavelength was 295 nm and the column temperature was maintained at 25℃. Results Good linear relationship was observed in the range of 37. 6~ 188 mg·L-1( R2= 0. 999 4). The recovery rate was 101. 26 %( RSD = 1. 17 %). And the content of this active compound in Iris tenuifolia was very high,which reached 57. 70 ~ 59. 35 mg·g-1Conclusions The method had the advantages of acuteness and precision,which was suitable for determination of 5,2',3'-trihydroxy-6,7-methylenedioxyflavanone in Iris tenuifolia.


Objective: To study the chemical constituent of volatile oil from Zhuang drug Adenosma indianum(Lour.)Merr..Methods:The constituents were analysed with capillary gas chromatography and GC-MS.Rerults:57 compounds were obtained and 50 of them were identified.Terpinolene(27.84%),limonene(24.72%),1,8-cineole(8.22%),α-pinene(6.04%),α-caryophyllene(6.23%)and β-caryophyllene(5.93%)are main compositions of the volatile oil in Adenosma indianum(Lour.)Merr..Conclusion:All compounds were first identified from the plant and 37 of them were identified from Adenosma R.Br.family for the first time.


It discusses the combination of the on-line blind source separation (BSS) for non-stationary signals with noise reduction (NR) aimed at improving the quality of signals. BSS, which has turned out to be successful, is an updated way to process signals by means of the combination of frequency range analysis and independent component analysis. The experiment is done to illustrate the combination of BSS with NR method.


This study proposed a dual-pathway model consisting of a supply-driven pathway and a demand-driven pathway to explain the green value endorsement process. The supply-driven pathway embodies a business' espoused value of global environmental value through value integration, which leads to the endorsement of green value. The demand-driven pathway is the consumer's identified value that reflects the consumers' specific environmental value process to form green value endorsement. The study conducted a research survey on 623 customers who had experience with purchasing environmentally friendly products in Taiwan. The empirical study model used was structural equation modeling. The main path indicated that the consumer's identified value positively affected the value-bridging frames, which mainly positively affected the endorsement of green values. Our study indicated that the demand-driven pathway played the main role in forming the green value endorsement. Green enterprises tend to merely emphasize their own business' espoused values. This study is the first to examine a dual pathway in the green value endorsement process and considered both the supply-driven and demand-driven pathways in green value endorsement, which marks new ground in taking into account the value interpretive frames and value-bridging frames of value integration in the extant literature, providing a highly effective and useful profile for green marketing.


Isometopus gharaati n. sp. and I. praetermissum n. sp. are described as new species from the Middle East and southernEurope. Isometopus praetermissumbelongs in the subgenus Isometopus Fieber whereas I. gharaati belongs in the subge-nus Jehania Distant; and with their description, the number of known species for the genus Isometopus Fieber in Europe and the Middle East is now ten. A key for separating all these species is presented.


The Quality of Life in Rome in a Health Perspective - This contribution lies in the opening between the interest of social research for a deeper understanding of phenomena tied to the quality of life, and the need to intervene in public health as well as identify priority areas of action for the promotion of peoples' health and quality of life. The pilot study carried out in Rome in fact aimed to test a survey instrument on the quality of life from a health perspective. It analyzed the interaction between the environmental dimension, the social-economical and the psychosociological ones and their impact on the quality of life of people who live in urban areas. The purpose of this first contribution is to consider what might influence the promotion of wellbeing, in relation to different levels of human action (macro, meso and micro). The results underline a prominent influence of the psycho-sociological dimension on the perception of individual quality of life and a less substantial influence of the socio-economical one. The absence of a relation with the macro factor, which ecological data of the Municipalities of Rome characterizes as an element of urbanization of the territory, needs further investigation. This can be obtained through a sample survey that guarantees the representativeness of the Roman population.


She was never even supposed to be in the hospital. We got a telephone call from an ophthalmologist who suspected a stroke in a woman in her early 70s after finding a visual field defect. She had gone to the clinic because she was bumping into objects for a few days, but she expected to do a few tests, get a diagnosis, and go home, because whatever was wrong did not even bother her much. Instead, she was treated to an admission to our stroke center and a nothing by mouth designation overnight after she failed the nurse's swallowing screening. The ambient music of the ward—the echoes, beeps, snoring, and nurses and physicians shuffling about—meant she did not get much sleep that night. The next morning, the junior resident physician presented her case: the patient with a medical history including systemic lupus erythematosus and multiple organ failure, admitted for a stroke. The neurological examination was largely intact, other than a left homonymous hemianopia. The resident had localized the problem to the right parietal or occipital lobe, calling the causative mechanism a likely infarction. As the resident physician on the stroke service, I was assigned to look after her care while she was in the hospital. The allied health team worked with her for a few days, and she was back to eating and moving at her baseline level. A magnetic resonance image confirmed the on-call resident's localization to the occipital lobe, but also showed infarctions in the right anterior parietal and left frontal lobe. The cynical part of me, the part that usually crops up in a post-call state of sleep deprivation, would have asked why we even bother localizing the lesion when magnetic resonance imaging is just a call away. But in this case, it not only told us what our examination had missed, it also gave us a clue on causation: the infarctions involved 3 different vascular territories, suggesting a proximal, cardioembolic source. Meanwhile, the nurse came up to tell me an update: the patient and her family wanted to go home. I was taken aback. "Isn't that irresponsible?" I thought. "I mean, she's in the hospital for a reason." "Okay, I'll talk to them," I told the nurse. I walked into the patient's room, going through the scenario in my head, hoping I could convince them not to leave. "So, I heard you wanted to go home," I said after greeting them. The patient replied that that was true; she wanted to go home instead of staying a moment longer. When I asked why, she said she had already been in the hospital for a few days and wanted to be with her family. When she asked me why she was still an inpatient, I gained confidence. I could certainly reason with her. I explained that she was still missing a few more tests, and their results were needed to make a decision regarding her long-term treatment. I paused to give her a chance to object, but none came. I explained that her MRI had revealed strokes in multiple areas, but some were so small that she either did not notice them or had recovered quickly. I referred to her medical history and how she was at a higher risk of cardioembolic stroke given the imaging findings. With additional considerations that included her individual bleeding risk, proper information was necessary before choosing a treatment plan that may include anticoagulation. After I explained this, she looked down as if she was afraid I would consider her a difficult patient. Then she quietly repeated that she had been in the hospital for a few days and just wanted to go home. I conceded some of the tests could be done as an outpatient, but cautioned that it was difficult to have them rushed. If she was lost to follow-up without a proper treatment plan, she could be at a higher risk of further strokes or possibly even death. Death. That word caused the patient and her family member to burst into tears. She slowly explained that she understood what I was saying, and she realized the risks she would take. She asked rhetorically if I knew what another physician had told her in a previous clinic visit. I didn't respond. She looked up at me again and slowly uttered a word as if careful not to mispronounce it: terminal. Wiping back tears, she explained her physician had already told her that her life expectancy was 3 months, perhaps 12 months in the best-case scenario. She apologized, but said she just wanted to go be with her family in the time she had left. When I registered what she had just told me, I immediately felt so small. My throat felt dry, so I coughed. Then I paused. "You know what? You're right. I'm so sorry about all that. We will do our best to make sure all of this is done as an outpatient. I'm going to get you out of here." When she heard this, she whispered, "Thank you." After I left the room, I discussed the case with the attending neurologist and filled out her discharge paperwork. Even though I could confidently present her entire case from memory to my attending physician, I realized I had not known my patient at all. I was fixated on minimizing risk ratios and probabilities, when she was focused on maximizing her time with people she cared about. She was prepared to face death, even if it was a week away, as long as it meant she was where she was comfortable. I had reduced her identity to a patient with a stroke while neglecting her humanity, her desires and fears. I had strongly felt she had to stay in the hospital because she was sick, but she wanted to leave the hospital precisely because she knew how sick she was. ON THE BRAIN


One method used in the selection of circuit breakers for application to low-voltage a-c circuits is based on the assumption of "bolted" faults. Some engineers, however, believe that these fault currents never are reached in practice. An extensive series of tests shows a distinct need to clarify the situation in so far as the effect of arc drop is concerned.


Approximately 30% of human patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) develop IgG autoantibodies to the highly conserved 90 kDa heat shock protein (hsp90). The development of anti-hsp90 antibodies is shown here to be paralleled in the Mrl/lpr mouse, which is an acknowledged model for SLE, but not in control BALB/c mice (P = 0.005). The generation of these antibodies appears to be closely linked to the onset of disease and titres of these antibodies increase with age, but there is no correlation with well-established clinical parameters of disease. Antibodies to hsp70 and hsp65 are also observed in the Mrl/lpr model; these antibodies appear to be unrelated to the pathogenesis of the disease.


Abstract : A comprehensive high-fidelity simulation environment of networked optical space surveillance sensors has been created under an effort called TASMAN (Tasking Autonomous Sensors in a Multiple Application Network). One of the first studies utilizing this environment was focused on a novel resource management approach, namely covariance-based tasking. Under this scheme the state error covariance of resident space objects (RSO), sensor characteristics, and sensor-target geometry were used to determine the effectiveness of future observations in reducing the uncertainty in orbit estimates. The different observation effectiveness metrics evaluated in this study predicted the amount of error reduction in the position, velocity, or semi-major axis estimate for the RSO. These observation effectiveness metrics were used to schedule the most effective times for the sensors to observe the RSOs in different sensor tasking scenarios. The tasking scenarios included fully distributed sensor schedulers, a fully centralized network scheduler, and a baseline case that did not use observation effectiveness in order to roughly mirror the current Space Surveillance Network tasking. The different tasking and scheduling techniques were compared by evaluating their impact on the accuracy of the orbit estimates in the RSO catalog. The observation effectiveness metrics measuring reduction in position or velocity error all substantially reduced the errors in the catalog estimates when compared to the baseline tasking scenario and would enable a more efficient use of the sensor network for catalog maintenance.


With reference to some comments recently made by the well known and informed author A. VIRELLA BLODA in a wide and detailed report on the Congress referred to, published in the Technical Review CEMENTO-HORMIGON, concerning the Round Table of Theme IV: POZZOLANAS AND FLY-ASHES and particularly to a paper presented under this item, the author of this work makes some personal considerations on pozzolanas in general and particularly on fly-ashes, dealing with general aspects of them, and more specifically with those related to reinforcement corrosion, which is the main object of the mentioned paper.


I read with interest the paper by Midha et al 1 which brings a new perspective on non-alcoholic chronic pancreatitis in India which raises some concerns.

The term 'tropical pancreatitis' was used to denote a form of chronic pancreatitis unassociated with alcohol abuse which occurred in the tropics and subtropics. The subtropics, by definition, denote geographic areas adjacent to the tropical zone (usually 20–40° latitude) where daytime temperatures remain above 10°C for >8 months of the year. India's geographic latitudinal extent is 6.74678°N to 37.09681°N and daytime temperatures do exceed 10°C for >8 months, and hence qualifies as being 'tropical'.

In the study, the definition for chronic pancreatitis is vague. Our own preference is to use four …


As Oral Cancer Awareness Month comes to a close, DPR Products Editor Michael Quirk reached out to Joana Breckner, an oral cancer survivor, to learn more about this disease from the patient's perspective.


The proliferation of web services in both number and variety implies the co-existence of a wide number of service options, input/output data types, and encapsulations. Consequently, composing services into usable workflows has become increasingly development intensive. In order to leverage the design of a workflow and facilitate its reusability and maintenance, many research efforts have advocated to compose services at the type level instead of the instance level while using customized glue code to map service types to service instances. Another challenge then appears: Service types, either manually defined by domain experts or automatically generated from an ontology, cannot be automatically instantiated into concrete services due to the coarse granularity of service types and the complexity of input/output parameter mapping. This paper proposes a platform to automatically extract instantiable abstract operations from registered services and that enables the automatic generation of glue code that links concrete services to service types in order to produce reusable executable workflows.


Honesty and credit are traditional virtues of our country.Constructing economic system of honesty and credit is a historic choice to construct economy of honesty and credit.It includes constructing goverment of honesty and credit,constructing economic organizations of honesty and credit and constructing brokers with honesty and credit persons of economy of honesty and credit.This is an integrated chain connecting and restricting with each other.


Some might feel that reviewing a manuscript for a journal is a thankless chore. Nonetheless, we must consider the importance of high-quality, thoughtful peer review. Although time-consuming, a detailed review helps everyone. It elevates the article's attributes and citations and lifts the journal's importance to a higher level of respect. A comprehensive review educates those writing the review and those receiving it at both the author and editorial levels. Dr. Amit Kumar Sinah way of manuscript analysis and productive comments helped mentoring the authors and added to their benefit. Our warmest thanks to all our reviewers and especially to Dr. Amit Kumar Sinah. Reviewing manuscripts is a demanding undertaking. However, it is one of the most crucial stages in the editorial process before publishing. The review report is vital to the quality of the scientific expression. The reviewers are the hidden guardian angels of our journal. Although the authors take credit for publishing the articles, we want to recognize the reviewers for their vital work. Therefore, the Israeli Journal of Aquaculture - Bmidgeh publishes the reviewers who engage in the editorial processes.


Reality? No. Delusional thinking. Reality tells us this person is, and always has been, female; because she is a woman, she was able to conceive and carry a child, to give birth and became a mother - and her feeling-based "male identity" can't change the reality that she's a mom, not a dad.


T HE BELIEF ON the part of many in the industry that mechanical refrigeration is nearing a saturation point among the upper income levels, and the tendency on the part of the industry to look to the low-income groups for a new volume market makes a consideration of the turn-over among purchasers of mechanical refrigerators pertinent. Although such a consideration must be based on estimates, the past history of the industry is well enough known to allow the use of approximately reliable data in such an analysis.


Jakobson (1968) was one of the first to propose that children's early u tterances would exhibit 'unmarked' linguistic structures. For example, h e predicted that children would first use segments such as /p/, /n/, and /a/ that are wi dely attested in the world's languages. Given the variability found in childr en's early utterances, even within a specific language, this hypothesis has been somewh at difficult to test, and has therefore remained somewhat controversial. Recent developments in phonological theory, where 'unmarked' structures such as binary feet (or 'minimal words') play an important role, have renewed interest in the status of 'unmarked' structures in natural language (e. . McCarthy and Prince, 1994). Researchers of language acquisition have been quick to recognize the importance of such developments, especially with respect to higher level prosodic units such as syllables and prosodic wor ds (e.g. Fikkert, 1994; Demuth, 1995; Gnanadesikan, 1995; Pater, 1997; Ota, 19 99). For example, it has been noted that many children learning English and Dutch init ially avoid the use of coda consonants, producing early words with unmarked 'cor ' CV syllables, whereCVC word targets are often realized as CVCV, with an epenthetic final vowel: (1) /bVk/ ! [bVk ] Matthei (1989)


Abstract A convenient and highly sensitive analytical system was constructed for the estimation of microbial spoilage in meat. Putrescine and cadaverine produced by bacteria were degraded by an immobilized putrescine oxidase column and the hydrogen peroxide generated was determined by luminol chemiluminescence. Peroxidase from Arythromyces ramosus was used as a catalyst to obtain high sensitivity and a photodiode was used as the detector to construct a conventional chemiluminescence –flow injection analysis system. The calibration curves were linear in the 100 pmol/mL – 200 nmol/mL range for putrescine and 200 pmol/mL – 80 nmol/mL for cadaverine. The coefficients of variation were 2.87% – 3.15% for putrescine solution and 3.34% for the specimen solution. This system was able to detect putrecine and cadaverine after the bacterial count reached 4.3 × 10 6 cells/g in meat and the response increased with the increase in bacterial count. The regression equation between putrescine and cadaverine levels as determined by HPLC and this system was y =1.015 x −0.501, and the correlation coefficient was 0.911.


the text itself has a dialectical structure which represents the evolution of his thought. The earlier account of the nature of reality is based on an ontological dichotomy between the human intellect and the nature of divine existence. The latter is essentially concerned with itself, while human existence is transient and variable and as a consequence, imperfect. We can perfect ourselves insofar as we can direct our attention exclusively to our intellect, abstracting from the particular historical and personal context within which we live. History does come into it, in that the possibility of human perfection is dependent upon appropriate historical circumstances, and this is a point which takes on much greater significance later in the book. Halevi rejects the abstract nature of the relationship between God and his world, and comes to argue for the importance of the empirical fact that dialogue between God and his creatures has taken place and that there is evidence for it in the experience of individuals and groups. History, and specifically the history of the Jewish people, assumes great significance in that God is no longer accessible through the natural processes of the world but rather through the miraculous events which go against the principles of regularity. God's communication with the world, like his creation of it ex nihilo, is a historical event which he chose to bring about and which is directed at something outside himself. Perhaps the issue on which there is most distance between the Aristotelian philosopher and the religious believer is that of anthropomorphism. The Philosopher in the Kuzari talks of a deity who is immanent in the world as the principle of form. As a result of this role, God is inaccessible via anthropomorphic language, which can only be a mistaken and crude attempt at representing materially what is essentially non-material. The later Halevi, though, values human ways of knowing such as the imagination, the senses and emotions, and sees in these valid ways of approaching and coming to know God. God is still immanent and has an essence which is unknowable, yet he is knowable in a sense through his spontaneous activity in the world of generation and corruption, and primarily through his revelations to his creatures. In that case, anthropomorphic language has a valid use and needs to be employed. The history of the Jewish people, then, comes to have a religious significance which is very different from the entirely abstract way in which the Philosopher seeks to describe the links between the deity and human beings. Through its history, the Jewish people have a route to an understanding of God which is both personal and unique, and their particular access has a value and a meaning which surpasses the very limited emphasis on the intellect provided by the Philosopher. How plausible is the central claim that the Kuzari represents Halevi's intellectual and spiritual development from Aristotelian philosophy to an entirely different approach to the nature of reality? There is no evidence at all for such a view from the text itself, but it could be an explanation for the variety of opinions which we find in the text. Of course, this variety is not an enormous problem for Halevi since the text itself takes a dialogical approach which allows different participants to express different views, and there is no need for all such views to end up with a resolution, although the King does eventually come down on one side rather than another. Silman's argument that the text represents a dialectical process which explores what is basically unsatisfactory about the Aristotelian view from a religious perspective seems strange, and the central problem here is the description of the Philosopher in the book as an Aristotelian, whereas he is really, of course, a Neoplatonist. There is scope for the Neoplatonist to develop his account of the links between God and the world in ways which are amenable to religious meanings and values, and this played a large part in the popularity of Neoplatonism as a philosophical technique at the time, in both Jewish and Islamic philosophy. Silman sets up too stark a contrast between the Philosopher and Judaism, a dichotomy which in the text itself is often bridged and weakened. These qualms aside, there can be little argument about the high quality of this excellent book, which is by far the best philosophical treatment of Halevi in English to date.


This study describes a remote surgical guidance and navigation system developed for surgery using "Open-MRI" and
high-speed network. We connected Osaka University Hospital and Kawasaki Hospital which has deployed Open-
MRI with high speed IP over ATM network. The distance between two hospitals is approximately 50 km. Two
video cameras were installed with an angle of 40 degrees on an open-MRI gantry to obtain intraoperative images.
Two pairs of CODEC (AD/DA converter) were equipped on the network to transfer both images and sound in real
time. A pointer system to indicate a region on an image was also developed. MRI images obtained by Open-MRI
were transferred to a 3D workstation in Osaka University Hospital. The system was designed for a senior surgeon in
Osaka University to advise regarding accurate needle direction for a remote patient by checking the reconstructed 3D
images and schemata shown by the navigation software. The schemata were also superimposed on intraoperative
images from two cameras, and the superimposed images were sent back to Kawasaki Hospital. This system allowed
a surgeon in the operation room at Kawasaki Hospital to accurately view navigation schema under supervision by a
senior surgeon in a remote university hospital with superimposion of intraoperative images. The pointer system
allowed both doctors to share intraoperative images during a virtual-real surgical operation. A successful biopsy
case using this newly developed system illustrates the effectiveness of this system.


This paper describes the evaluation of an oscillation-based approach specially thought for testing a low-power analog system that monitors an implantable biomedical device (intelligent stent). Fault simulation analysis has been performed on the basic blocks of the CUT, and oscillation parameters (frequency and amplitude) have been measured at the output of the last system block, an oscillator. Taking advantage of fault reflection from the rest of the blocks, the proposed testing method will avoid the need of adding extra circuitry to convert the different partitions of the CUT into oscillators, reducing circuit complexity and possible performance degradation. The results obtained show that a good fault coverage figure for catastrophic faults can be achieved.


A wide range of spatially-explicit simulation models have been developed to forecast landscape dynamics, including models for projecting changes in both vegetation and land use. A key challenge facing these models is how to incorporate uncertainty, including the future effects of climate change, into their projections. I present here a general framework, called a state-and-transition simulation model (STSM), for incorporating uncertainty into projections of landscape change. The STSM method divides a landscape into a set of spatial units, and then simulates the discrete state of each spatial unit forward in time as a stochastic process, in response to discrete transitions, using a Monte Carlo approach. The method also allows for any number of continuous stocks to be defined as stochastic processes for each spatial unit, along with continuous flows to move material between these stocks over time. I demonstrate the STSM method using two different applications. The first is a model of land use/land cover (LULC) change for the State of Hawaii. This model explores interactions between possible future changes in LULC, combined with projected shifts in moisture zones due to


The rise-level-fall structure is a unique melody structure of Chinese folk music widely used in banqiang-style traditional Chinese operas and tanhuang opera in particular.The paper analyzes and elaborates the rise-level-fall structure in Shaoxing Opera.


The European Spallation Source is currently under construction in Lund, Sweden. Consisting of a linear accelerator delivering an unprecedented 5 MW proton beam to the spallation source, i.e. a rotating Tungsten disk, it will deliver high-flux neutron beams to multiple beamlines at which scientific experiments will be conducted in many scientific disciplines.

To simulate the proton beam and for creating accelerator physics applications, scripts and services, the open source multi-purpose accelerator physics software platform OpenXAL is used. It is based on a pure Java open source development environment, which thus far has been used with an ellipsoidal (bunched) beam to account for space charge effects. The virtual machine (VM) for the ESS Low Energy Beam Transport (LEBT) section would profit from having a properly derived continuous (DC) beam model as the beam travelling through the LEBT is DC, and the space charge effect has a strong impact on a low-energy beam.

Thus, in this thesis, a DC beam has been derived, implemented in the OpenXAL and compared against other simulation codes. The results from these comparisons were consistent, suggesting that the deriva- tion and implementation have been properly executed. After the good results from the comparisons, a first prototype of the ESS VM GUI was developed. It covers some basic functionalities and is able to simulate a DC and a bunched beam, and visualize the trajectory of the beam and its envelope.


The Hilbert coefficients of the normal filtration give important geometric information on the base ring like the pseudo-rationality. The Sally module was introduced by W.V. Vasconcelos and it is useful to connect the Hilbert coefficients to the homological properties of the associated graded module of a Noetherian filtration. In this paper we give a complete structure of the Sally module in the case the second normal Hilbert coefficient attains almost minimal value in an analytically unramified Cohen-Macaulay local ring. As a consequence, in this case we present a complete description of the Hilbert function of the associated graded ring of the normal filtration. A deep analysis of the vanishing of the third normal Hilbert coefficient has been necessary. This study is related to a longstanding conjecture stated by S. Itoh.


There is an urgent need to develop a mechanistic understanding of how site-specific properties can lead to irreversible vegetation changes. We show, by means of a bifurcation analysis of two mathematical models, how site-specific properties determine the resilience of vegetation changes in semi-arid grazing systems. The models predict that if available soil water limits plant growth, the vegetation supported by sandy soils is generally resilient to herbivore impact and rainfall fluctuations, unlike the vegetation on clayey soils. This depends on the capacity of vegetation communities to improve the structural and water-holding capacities of the soil. In contrast, if plant growth is nutrient limited, vegetation on sandy soils is generally not resilient to herbivore impact and fluctuations in external nutrient input, unlike the vegetation supported by clayey soils. This is affected by the nutrient retention capacity of vegetation communities. We stress the applicability of the general theory provided by this model to the Sahel environment. The model predictions are consistent with field observations documented in the literature.


This paper examines the contribution of sociology to the making of Dakwah studies. From epistemological point of view, dakwah studies develops through five elements: factors, systems, interpretative, developmentalism and participatory. These five elements can be developed based on sociological theories. Through a sociological approach, dakwah studies will be able to contribute to general discussion on the sociology of Muslim societies. The article further argues the inclusion of social science is a pattern of knowledge development based on the integration of science, namely the phenomenon of dakwah as an object of study, while utilizing other social science as approaches.


^T rom the first days of this project, we knew that it would be impossible to provide t/ a complete list of the works of Dominique Desanti, whose writing career now spans almost sixty years. Much of her early newspaper and magazine work, by its very nature, was ephemeral. However, some of the periodicals to which she contributed may yet be uncovered. This list must then be considered an ebauche for a more comprehensive bibliography to come. Dominique Desanti has been a determined and prolific writer since her early twenties. During the German Occupation of France she wrote, produced and distributed Resistance broadsides and tracts (Sous la botte and Socialisme et liberte). Her early years with the French Communist Party - as the foreign correspondent for L'Humanite after the Liberation - provided a rigorous forum for her articles, interviews, and reportages. She began writing politically charged fiction during the Occupation, culminating in one published novel in 1951, Abras le corps. Following her resignation from the Party in 1956, to ensure readership on nonpolitical subjects, Dominique Desanti often used the pseudonym Camille Destouches for both articles and full-length works.


Beyond Fragmentation: Ill-structured Domains, Networks, Complex Systems, and Biofunctional Science Asghar Iran-Nejad (firstname.lastname@example.com) Franco Zengaro (email@example.com) Sally Zengaro (firstname.lastname@example.com) Program in Educational Psychology, University of Alabama, 306 Carmichael Hall, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 USA Keywords: Ill-structured domains; complex systems; wholetheme integration; biofunctional science. The most outstanding feature of 20 th Century research in psychology was fragmentation. Widespread signs in the literature now suggest the momentum favors integration. We critically examine what is known in support of the bold claims that (a) the natural level for understanding integration is the biofunctional level, (b) the common denominator for successful integration is the how in the functioning of the physical nervous system, (c) researchers would do well to step away from the reductionist beating-around-the-bush stances on static- knowledge or passive-behavior structures and instead address head on (d) the biofunctional dynamics of the physical nervous system in the global context of a pervasive ecosystem of systems, and (e) the details of such a biofunctional theory are already in the literature waiting to be examined by researchers. We describe the evolution in the last quarter of the century of this comprehensive biofunctional science approach in line with (a)-(e) above. widespread, forcing underground or even melting disciplinary fences in favor inclusion (Rosch, 2000). As a result, the number and scale of all-encompassing concepts are on the rise today. Examples currently enjoying popularity are complex systems (Jacobson & Wilensky, 2006) and system of systems (Sage, 2005). This presentation reviews the literature on the perceived shift from fragmentation to integration, and describes the transitional landmarks involved in its evolution. We further discuss the comprehensive biofunctional perspective on how the physical nervous system functions in the wholetheme context of the biofunctional ecosystem of systems, review its existing empirical base, and outline its implications for deeper cross-disciplinary integration in cognitive science. References Throughout the 20 th Century, topics like learning, perception, attention, knowledge, memory, or problem solving were investigated in piecemeal studies done for the most part in the separate behavioral, cognitive, social, and neural camps. Consequently, psychological science had many of its growing pains in the cold and cruel grips of fragmentation. Piecemeal work was tolerated, often justifiably, for various reasons like we must build a science of the observable; and psychological topics are too complex and their basic components take long to isolate for understanding (Bartlett, 1932; Iran-Nejad, McKeachie, & Berliner, 1990). Widespread indications in the literature for the past three or so decades suggest that the tide is now rising for integration. Of these, the emergence of the interdisciplinary field of cognitive science is the most obvious. A number of multiple-discipline constructs like association, schemas, information processing, and constructivism crossed disciplinary lines, densely populated the broader field of psychology, and enjoyed popularity in disciplines as diverse as neuroscience, engineering, computer science, and artificial intelligence (Iran-Nejad, 2000). However, to shake off fragmentation, cognitive science had to do more than circulating free-standing constructs. Absent was a global coherence context—a wholetheme, for lack of an existing term—for psychological research and practice (Iran-Nejad, 1994, Iran-Nejad, Clore, & Vondruska, 1984). The last two decades of the 20 th Century were especially productive in this regard. Calls for integration grew more steady and Bartlett, F.C. (1932). Remembering: A study in experimental and social psychology. Cambridge University Press. Iran-Nejad, A. (1990). Active and dynamic self-regulation of learning processes. Review of Educational Research, Iran-Nejad, A. (1994). The global coherence context in educational practice: A comparison of piecemeal and wholetheme approaches to learning and Teaching. Research in the Schools, 1(1), 63-76. Iran-Nejad, A. (Volume Editor). (2000). Brain, Knowledge, and self-regulation. Journal of Mind and Behavior, Iran-Nejad, A., Clore, G. L., & Vondruska, R. J. (1984). Affect: A functional perspective. The Journal of Mind and Behavior, 5, 279-310. Iran-Nejad, A., McKeachie, W. J., & Berliner, D. C. (Guest Editors). (1990). Toward a unified approach to learning as a multisource phenomenon. Special Issue. Review of Educational Research, 60(4). Jacobson, M. J. & Wilensky, U. (2006). Complex Systems in Education: Scientific and Educational Importance and Implications for the Learning Sciences. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 15(1), 11-34. Rosch, E. (2000). The brain between two paradigms: Can biofunctionalism join wisdom intuitions to analytic science? Journal of Mind and Behavior, 21(1&2), 189- Sage, A. P. (2005, October). Systems of systems: Architecture based systems design, and integration. Paper presented at 2005 International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Waikoloa, Hawaii.


Traffic engineers have long used posted speed limits and other control devices to regulate vehicle speeds and to promote road safety. If the engineers' judgement of the correct speed limit differs from that of most motorists, it is likely that there will be a high number of speed-limit violations. In recent years, speed cameras have been used increasingly as a form of speed enforcement, often with the view of lowering crash occurrence. Using Holland Road in Singapore as a case study, this paper examines the effectiveness of the speed camera by comparing the change in observed traffic speeds, the speed-limit compliance and the number of crashes before and after the installation of the camera. Following the installation of the camera, an overall reduction in mean speeds was observed as far as 500 m away from the camera position. A higher level of speed-limit compliance was also observed in the vicinity of the camera as motorists adjusted their speeds when they were within about 200-300 m of the camera position. The speed camera has also resulted in fewer crashes along the entire study roadway. (A)


Background: Palmoplantar dermatoses have frequently been encountered in the dermatologic field. Many previous studies have focused on the specific diseases of palmoplantar dermatoses; however, none of them have included a the comprehensive study of palmoplantar dermatoses. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the epidemiological aspects of palmoplantar dermatoses, with a brief review of the common palmoplantar dermatoses. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the data of 237 patients who had been biopsied for palmoplantar dermatoses between January 2000 and December 2004 at Our Lady of Mercy Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea. Results: The results were as follows; Female to male ratio was 1:1.01. The mean age at diagnosis was 37.5±20.1 years. The mean duration of the disease was 35.9 months and ranged from 2 days to 50 years. Palmoplantar dermatoses appeared on the palms in 49 (20.6%) patients, the soles in 123 (51.9%) patients, and both the palms and soles in 65 (27.4%) patients. The most common five diseases of palmoplantar dermatoses were palmoplantar pustulosis (23.2%), verruca (11.4%), pompholyx (10.1%), palmoplantar keratoderma (8.9%), and contact dermatitis (8.0%). Of the 237 patients, 65 (27.4%) patients were accompanied with other dermatoses; fungal infection (13.9%), eczema (7.6%), onychodystrophy (3.4%), psoriasis (1.7%), erythema multiforme (1.3%), hyperhidrosis (1.3%), drug eruption (0.8%), or lichen simplex chronicus (0.4%). Of the 237 patients, 51 (21.5%) patients were accompanied with systemic diseases; Cardiovascular diseases (8.4%), endocrine diseases (6.6%), hepatobiliary diseases (4.6%), malignancy (3.4%), pulmonary diseases (2.5%), or gastrointestinal diseases (1.3%). Conclusion: Our study shows that the biopsy of palmoplantar dermatoses is gradually increasing. Further investigation with a wider and larger population is necessary to understand the epidermiology of palmoplantar dermatoses, and, based on the epidermiology of palmoplantar dermatoses, accurate diagnosis and proper treatment of palmoplantar dermatoses could then be achieved. (Korean J Dermatol 2006;44(6):714~720)


A novel photocatalyst of iron(II)–tetra(5,6-dichloro-1,4-dithin)porphyrazine (abbreviated as FePz(dtnCl2)4) has been found to exhibit high catalytic activity to activate hydrogen peroxide for oxida...


The application of MBO in the ideological and political education has promoted the scientization,formalization,and regularization in this field. As the Internet gets more and more popular,we should pay much of our attention to the influence of Internet on the MBO of ideological and political educations in the university.The Internet can pose positive influence on the establishment of objectives,supervisal and adjustment of MBO,and realization of MBO of ideological and political education in the university,whenever it is appropriately utilized in this field.However,the Internet is a two-edged sword.The bad information impairs the effect of ideological and political education;the weakening of morality makes the obstacles between the achievement of ideological and political education objectives and the educatee;and the weakening of heteronomy causes additional difficulty for the objective realization.The educator should utilize the positive side of this influence,be aware of and take action to keep away from the negative side of it.The traditional ideological and political education methods can be immerged with the Internet to effectively take advantage of the Internet in the ideological and political education MBO,therefore to realize the objectives of ideological and political education.


A boost DC/AC converter is popular in AC line-integrated energy storage systems (ESSs) based on low-voltage DC sources such as battery, fuel cell, or supercapacitor. The direct DC/AC power conversion in the boost inverter introduces a second-order harmonic ripple current at the DC side of the boost converter, which leads to internal heating of the energy storage devices and degradation of their lifetime. In this paper, a novel current feedback method is proposed to mitigate the second-order harmonic current component at the DC side. The proposed method is able to significantly reduce the second-order harmonic component in the DC-side current of the boost inverter without increasing other harmonic components. Performance of the proposed method is validated on a single-phase grid-connected DC/AC boost inverter-based battery ESS experimental prototype.


In order to develop safe and economic novel antifungal agents, we prepared 73 methanol extracts from medicinal and edible herbs and examined their 365 solvent fractions using n-hexane, methylene chloride, ethylacetate, butanol and water residue based on the sequential organic solvent fraction method. When using the various fractions in the screening step for antifungal activity, we discovered ethylacetate fraction of Morus alba L., methylene chloride fraction of Pimpinella brachycarpa (MCPB), and n-hexane fraction of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge, which all have activities in methanol extracts, as potential sources of antifungal agents. Amongst these, the antifungal activity of P. brachycarpa has not to date been reported on. In addition, the mycelial growth inhibition and spore germination inhibition activities of MCPB against A. niger were confirmed by disc-diffusion assay in a 10 day culture. The MIC and MFC of MCPB were determined as 0.25 and 0.5 mg/ml, respectively. The MCPB has no hemolytic activity against human RBC at 0.5 mg/ml and glycoside-flavonoids are theorized to be active constituents. These results suggest that MCPB has a prominent antifungal activity and that the application of sequential organic solvent fractions, instead of simple natural product extracts, is useful in the screening process of novel bioactive substances.


The habitat,soil physical and chemical properties of planting Asparagus cochinchinensis were determined by field investigation and soil-agrochemical methods to provide a reference for its standardization cultivation in Guizhou.The results show that Asparagus cochinchinensis grows under the forest with shrubs and weed trees or between stone gaps with an elevation of 600~1 600meters,the soil texture is sandy loam,pH is 6.0~6.9,and the content of organic matter,total nitrogen,alkali-hydrolysable N,slow available potassium,active potassium and available phosphorus is 160.00~190.00g/kg,1.00~7.00g/kg,0.20~0.60g/kg,0.10~0.40g/kg,0.10~0.40g/kg and 1.00~15.00mg/kg respectively.The field with fertility,good irrigation and shade density should be selected in standardized cultivation of Asparagus cochinchinensis in Guizhou.


DNA microarray covering the whole genome of Staphylococcus aureus strain N315 was prepared to investigate transcription profiles. The microarray analyses revealed that vancomycin induces transcription of 139 genes. Forty‐six genes among them failed to be induced in the vraSR null mutant KVR. Part of the genes regulated by VraSR system is associated with cell‐wall biosynthesis, such as PBP2, SgtB and MurZ. Other cell‐wall synthesis inhibitors also induced VraSR, suggesting that the sensor kinase VraS responds to the damage of cell‐wall structure or inhibition of cell‐wall biosynthesis. Additionally, the vraSR null mutants derived from hetero‐ and homo‐methicillin‐resistant S. aureus showed significant decrease of resistance against teicoplanin, β‐lactam, bacitracin and fosfomycin but not of d‐cycloserine and levofloxacin. The observation strongly indicates that VraSR constitutes a positive regulator of cell‐wall peptidoglycan synthesis, and that is deeply involved in the expression of β‐lactam and glycopeptide resistance in S. aureus.


Part 1 Theory: phase segregation in copolymer and homopolymer and multi-component mixtures dynamics of phase-separation and its application to polymer mixtures. Part 2 Structures: miscibility and critical phenomena in binary polymer blends block- and graft copolymers phase separation and morphology of chemically reacting polymer blends multiphases in polymeric gels shear dependence of the equilibrium and kinetic behaviour of multicomponent systems. Part 3 Properties: surface organization and dynamics in multicomponent polymer systems rheology of multiphase polymeric systems polymers at interfaces thermal conductivity of multiphase polymers plastic deformation mechanisms of polymers and rubber-modified thermoplastic polymers future directions of researches in multiphase polymeric materials.


Over the past 40 years, the research on workforce diversity has increased significantly. Despite this increased research, little attention has been given to the application of diversity and integration indices to departments with small workforces. Even less attention has been given to inferences that are made based on the diversity or integration scores that are obtained from the application of diversity indices. These issues are important because human resources managers and administrators are likely to modify or implement diversity policies or initiatives based on the diversity scores they obtain. This article applies three diversity indices to departments with small workforces and evaluates how data aggregation affects diversity scores and the inferences made based on those scores.


Basic ideas from convex geometry in Euclidean space are developed. The finite and infinite versions of Helly's theorem are proved. Some applications of Helly's theorem are examined. Our study culminates in proof of Krasnosselsky's Art Gallery Theorem in n-dimensional space.


The3 subunit of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) is not widely distributed in the brain, but it is expressed in brain regions important in drug dependence and reward including the ventral tegmental area, substantia nigra, nucleus accumbens and medial habenula. In addition, receptors containing the 3 subunit have been implicated in dopamine release from terminals in the mouse striatum. Human genetic studies suggest that allelic variation in CHRNB3 is associated with smoking dependence vulnerability. Nevertheless, surprisingly little is known about the role of 3-containing nAChRs in nicotine dependence and reward. A recent study reported that oral nicotine consumption in the two-bottle choice paradigm was decreased in 3 KO mice. In this study, we assessed nicotine dependence behaviors in 3 wildtype (WT) and knockout (KO) male and female mice. We first evaluated nicotine reward in the conditioned place preference (CPP) test and then measured nicotine withdrawal signs after chronic exposure to the drug. WT mice and 3 KO mice were tested for nicotine preference in unbiased CPP test for a 5-days procedure. Nicotine-induced CPP did not differ between 3 KO and WT mice. Consistent with these findings, levels of nicotine intake were similar in WT mice and 3 KO mice across a broad dose-range in the intravenous nicotine selfadministration procedure. For the withdrawal studies, mice were continuously infused with 24 mg/kg/day of nicotine using surgically implanted osmotic mini-pumps for 14 days. Mini-pumps were removed at day 15, and withdrawal signs (somatic signs, hyperalgesia, anhedonia using the sucrose preference test and anxiety-like behaviors using the light dark boxes) were collected at 24-h intervals for three days following spontaneous withdrawal of nicotine. Our results showed that 3 KO mice displayed similar somatic symptoms and hyperalgesia compared to the WT mice but showed significant absence in affective (anhedonia and anxiety-like behaviors) withdrawal signs in nicotinedependent mice. These observations demonstrate that the 3 nicotinic subunits does not seem to influence nicotine reward and reinforcement but instead plays an important role in nicotine withdrawal. These results may contribute to our understanding of brain molecular mechanisms underlying nicotine dependence.


The rapid and reversible phase change in chalcogenide phase-change materials is an unusual property with many technological applications in rewritable optical memory, such as CD, DVD, or Blu-ray Disc. Phase change materials are a promising candidate for next-generation electronic memory applications, and the first devices became available in 2012. In this thesis, we studied the structure and dynamics of four phase-change materials: Ge15Te85, Ge2Sb2Te5, GaSb and GaSb7 by simulating the structural models using the density functional (DF) theory of electronic structure. We developed a new model for Ge15Te85 by fitting experimental high-energy x-ray and neutron diffraction data with an atomic structure that had a low DF energy. We studied the crystallization progress of Ge2Sb2Te5 by simulating the structures with a fixed seed to promote crystallization at 500 K, 600 K and 700 K. In the final article, we used molecular dynamics simulation to mimic deposition of GaSb and GaSb7 thin films and modeled the as-deposited and melt-quenched polymorphs of those alloys. The new model for Ge15Te85 incorporates Ge-Ge bonds, which were excluded from most earlier models. In this material, germanium has two different local environments (tetrahedral and defective octahedral), and tellurium can be classified in two cases depending on its binding with Ge. Nanosized cavities calculated using a Voronoi prescription comprise 22-24% of the total volume. Ge2Sb2Te5 crystallization simulations at different temperatures agreed with the experimental result for the fastest crystallization speed. We show that the crystalline structure has "wrong bonds", which are absent in the idealized model of the structure, and that percolation of the crystalline cluster starts at an early stage of crystallization. Cavities (vacancies) aid the atomic rearrangements during crystallization. GaSb simulations reveal tetrahedral local coordination for both species, as in crystalline GaSb. This can explain the very fast crystallization speed of this material. In GaSb7, gallium is again bonded tetrahedrally, but antimony has the defective octahedral coordination found in elemental antimony. GaSb has no rings with more than eight atoms but GaSb7 has larger rings. The lack of large rings in GaSb was attributed to the lack of suitable cavities that would allow long irreducible rings to surround them. GaSb structures include Ga-rich clusters similar to the crystalline gallium structure.


The phenomenon of digitizing reference services in the XYZ Library has been going on for more than a decade beginning in the early 2000s. The existence of information and communication technology in the digital era implemented in XYZ Library has broken down the limits of distance and time of library services. The remote access feature facilitated by the XYZ Library makes it easy for the librarians and library users to communicate. The focus of this research is on how the transformation of reference services from conventional or manual to digital reshapes the complexity of human and technological relationships, power relations between librarians and library users, as well as among librarians themselves, in the frame of political economic studies by Vincent Mosco (2009). This research was conducted by using descriptive qualitative approach, and case study method. Data are collected by interview and via email. Informants in this study were reference librarians, Doctorate students, and professors. Within the framework of Mosco's political economy theory, commodification, spatialization, and structural practices also occur in the activities of XYZ Library governance. The commodification of library users and individuals involved in the XYZ Library program is a form of implementation of Mosco's commodities. While the commodification of XYZ Library websites is a form of practice on the media commodification in Mosco's political economy theory. The practice of commodification of audiences and media in XYZ Library is the capital that managers use to improve services to the users as well as to show the performance of library manager to the University managers.


The prevalence of Monoclonal Gammopathy of Undetermined Significance (MGUS) in Japanese population and that in radiation-exposed population have not been accurately determined. We performed a M-protein screening to determine the prevalence of MGUS and a cohort study to determine the probability of progression from MGUS to multiple myeloma (MM) in a large Japanese population exposed to radiation. In this study, if we could find any effects of radiation-exposure on outcomes, we may provide etiological clues for MGUS and its progression to MM, or, even if we could not, we may provide the Japanese-specific prevalence of MGUS and its progression. The target population included atomic bomb survivors living in Nagasaki City as of October 1, 1988 (N=71,062; median age 58 years at 1988; range 42 to 97). The screening process consisted of agarose-gel electrophoresis, immuno-electrophoresis and quantitative immunoglobulin. General laboratory test and physical examination were also conducted. Serum samples were obtained from 52,525 subjects (73.9% of population) during October 1, 1988 to March 31, 2004. We identified 1,087 cases of MGUS among screened subjects. The crude prevalence of MGUS was 2.1% (95%CI, 1.9 to 2.2) in all subjects, and was 2.4% when limited subjects 50 years or older at 1988. MGUS prevalence increased by age same as many previous studies had reported. The prevalence was significantly higher in men than in women (2.8% vs. 1.6%, odds ratio 1.7, 95%CI, 1.5–1.9). To investigate the effect of radiation-exposure on occurrence of MGUS, a multiple logistic regression analysis, adjusted for age-at-1988 and sex, were performed including three radiation exposed-states: exposed within 1.5km from the atomic bomb hypocenter, 1.5–3.0km, and beyond 3.0km. There was a significant interaction between age-at-1988 and the exposed distance. We suspected that age at exposed to radiation might influence the occurrence of MGUS. Therefore, we performed multiple logistic regressions separately by dichotomized exposed age at 1945, under 20 years or 20 years or more, including sex, age-at-1988 (every 10 years as continuous data), and exposed distance category as covariates. In both age groups, male sex and the aging were strong risk factors of occurrence of MGUS. The exposed distance was not affected in exposed age 20 years or more at 1945. However, in exposed age under 20 years at 1945, MGUS prevalence was higher in those exposed within 1.5km than those beyond 3.0km (adjusted OR=1.4, 95%CI, 1.7–2.4, p


In Chapter 3 [1], we have calculated the linear absorption, linear dichroism (LD), and circular dichroism (CD) spectra of cylindrical molecular aggregates and shown that the helicity may give rise to a complicated and seemingly erratic behavior of the CD spectrum with varying cylinder length. In our calculations we took advantage of the cylindrical symmetry by reducing the problem of finding the exciton eigenstates of the cylinder to the problem of solving for the eigenstates of a set of independent effective one-dimensional exciton systems. For general cylinder lengths, these effective systems were diagonalized numerically. For long cylinders, we also found analytical expressions for the spectra, by imposing periodic boundary conditions (p.b.c.) along the direction of the cylinder's axis. In this limit, studied previously by Somsen et al. [2], the linear spectra are governed by three superradiant states. Unfortunately, while it is of obvious interest to have analytical expressions for the exciton wave functions and spectra as a function of the cylinder length, the analytical solution with p.b.c. is strictly valid only in the limit of infinite length. Of course, one may impose p.b.c. on cylinders with a finite length, but it turns out that, while for the absorption and LD spectra this gives reasonable results, for the calculation of the CD spectrum a finite cylinder length is incompatible with imposing p.b.c. This is due to the helical term in the CD spectrum, which involves the relative position vector of pairs of molecules along the axis direction. A similar type of size consistency problem occurs for the absorption spectrum in tight-binding models for one-dimensional electron systems, in which the dipole is given by the electron position measured along the direction in which one would like to apply p.b.c. [3, 4]. For the electron chains, this problem may be solved by making the chain's geometry consistent with the p.b.c., i.e., by turning it into a circle. The equivalent for our cylinder would be to consider a torus arrangement, which, however, for


Abstract : In previous study, make an attempt to estimate exhaust valve seat and seat-ring wear acceleration factor for engine durability test with measuring and consideration of wear mechanism. But found abnormal initial wear rate in exhaust valve seat-ring. And have to improve exhaust valve seat-ring wear rate for reliability reason, because next GDI /Turbo engine is based on this engine and GDI /Turbo engine have higher combustion pressure and higher thermal load. In this study, Trying to find the cause of abnormal wear factor, improve valve-train durability by change specification & design of parts and verify variant parts for improving durability of valve-train. And then I would like to propose a design guide line of valve-train system in a reliability point of view, besides make a complement of previous study.Key words : Exhaust valve( j\j%ku ), Seat-ring( pE€¥g® ), Durability test( ^i[YpEƒA ), Wear( gµh• ), Reliability( pIfo ) 1. o fM 1) sAw±uE Zat pEu'uE t[Yv]Zas½ ceio jawŠ\Ynua uýz \%siw½s½ cei aAtž _u- pIfoua t[Yb `N . [aeU^ pIsAw± ^i[Yo Z j uE uru's½o ` aAEui j\e¶ \viu)fI aAtž _u- {‰fZe YiZ–Zau®fu1 ZIfƒasi ƒE` pNvuaeio pIfo |has½o ` uaun 'nfIv€¥ja`N kug™ƒI v]Zas½o aA vxu- oZegi `Uoƒasi ƒE` sifts½ w®haƒEZy b `N .cýƒI , sAw±uE tiƒvv]Zaua n™t–u}t- wsUs½ ceio `Ngah] , sAw±u1 [YoƒE` system uE sa"A hA|N`µw a± system j±fI `NgaZI , [a hA|N`µw u}zia± sa , sa {–Z– , , w±aAE , Zâz , 'uwµ bÞuE jâƒVuiue toyuE siƒ'ue uaufI ^i[Yo Z j u- sifti sisUuah] , ^i[Yo ¶YipEƒA h•bEuE wozuiue Z j iu Z vua ƒ1tƒE`N .


ABSTRACT This paper presents a critical review of prior research on theme parks. By critically reviewing 195 academic publications in major hospitality and tourism journals as well as other journals covering theme park-related disciplines, a total of 138 studies were included in the final analysis. The results propose a conceptual framework that delineates the concepts, theoretical foundations, and multi-relations among critical stakeholders within the theme park arena. The proposed framework indicates the links between the theoretical concept and industry practices and provides a holistic view for industry practitioners to understand the fundamental concepts and visitors' demands. Accordingly, this study provides a benchmark to help industry practitioners design their theme park products. Furthermore, the framework identifies vital mediators (social factor, technical factor, economic factor, environmental factor, and political factor) in theme park destinations, guiding macro policies to promote the local theme park industry. Given the fragmented understanding of theme park research's conceptualization and its emerging popularity in hospitality and tourism research, this paper provides valuable contributions to the knowledge base of theme park research.


In order to use the high potential of Woehler curves as material and not component based data for life time estimation in part design, a time effective test strategy has been developed appropriate for short fiber reinforced thermoplastics. In addition to classical force-controlled Woehler tests for the basic material characterization, strain-controlled tests were used which allowed boundary conditions suitable for viscoelastic material behavior. E. g. the maximum strain rates in each test are constant and do not vary due to the creep behavior of the specimen. On the basis of the results of the investigated Polybuthyleneterephthalate, it is shown that the total number of Woehler curves to be determined for one type of matrix material can potentially be reduced due to the matrix-dominated material behavior of mainly transversely oriented test specimens. In addition, the test frequency can be increased in a defined way, as a certain self-heating due to dissipation of the material in Woehler tests is allowed. The acceptable temperature range is determined with the help of temperature dependent viscoelastic material data. The validated accelerated Woehler data are then used exemplarily in an integrative structural simulation method developed for thermoplastics to calculate the fatigue strength behavior of a model component. The results show good agreement with test data.


Isatin and its chloro derivative have been reacted with 5-amino, 8-Hydroxy-quinoline to form Schiff bases and the N-Mannich bases of these compounds were synthesized by reacting them with formaldehyde and several secondary amines. Investigation of antimicrobial activity of the compounds was made by the agar dilution method. The compounds are significantly active against bacteria and fungi.


Objective To study the effect of Huaier granule on the recurrence and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)and immune rejection in the postoperative patients with liver transplantation for HCC.Methods Twenty-eight patients of liver transplantation for HCC who had taken Huaier granule orally for more than 6 months from September 2001 to March 2007 in West China Hospital were included as treatment group,and other 56 patients of liver transplantation for HCC who didn't take any Huaier granule in the same time were included as the control group according to the same stage of TNM,degree of tumor differentiation(Edmondson grading)respectively with the treatment group.The method of retrospective cohort study was used to compare the incidence of immune rejection and the 6-month,1-year,and 2-year recurrence and metastasis of HCC,disease free survival rate,and survival rate between two groups after 2 years' follow-up beginning from the date of surgery.Results The 6-month,1-year,and 2-year tumor recurrence and metastasis incidences in treatment group were 14.3%,32.1%,and 39.3% respectively,which were 23.2%,32.1%,and 50.0% respectively in control group,and the 2-year tumor recurrence and metastasis incidence of the treatment group was lower than that of the control group.The 6-month,1-year,and 2-year disease free survival rates in treatment group were 85.7%,67.5%,and 60.0% respectively,which were 76.7%,67.6%,and 49.3% respectively in control group,and the 2-year disease free survival rate of treatment group was higher than that of the control group.The 6-month,1-year,2-year survival rates in treatment group were 92.9%,78.6%,and 67.9% respectively,which were 89.3%,75.0%,and 62.5% respectively in control group.But the 2-year tumor recurrence and metastasis incidence(P=0.353),2-year disease free survival curve(P=0.386),and 2-year survival curve(P=0.620)were not significantly different between two groups.The incidence of immune rejection was 14.29% in the treatment group and 16.07% in the control group,which was not significantly different between the two groups(P=0.831).Conclusions Huaier granule can increase the 2-year tumor-free survival rate and restrain the recurrence and metastasis of HCC,and does not increase the incidence of immune rejection.Huaier granule as a treatment of HCC in patients with liver transplantation is safe and effective.


A search for CP violation in D ± → η (cid:3) π ± and D ± s → η (cid:3) π ± decays is performed using proton–proton collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb − 1 , recorded by the LHCb experiment at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV. The measured CP -violating charge asymmetries are A CP ( D ± → η (cid:3) π ± ) = ( − 0 . 61 ± 0 . 72 ± 0 . 53 ± 0 . 12 ) % and A CP ( D ± s → η (cid:3) π ± ) = ( − 0 . 82 ± 0 . 36 ± 0 . 22 ± 0 . 27 ) %, where the first uncertainties are statistical, the second systematic, and the third are the uncertainties on the A CP ( D ± → K 0 S π ± ) and A CP ( D ± s → φ π ± ) measurements used for calibration. The results represent the most precise measurements of these asymmetries to date. 2017 Funded 3 .


Abstract A crystal of the complex borate Rb 2 Co[B 6 O 7 (OH) 6 ] 2 ·4H 2 O was synthesized in the molar ratio Rb 2 O/CoCl 2 /B 2 O 3 =4:1:9, and its structure was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. It belongs to the P 1 triclinic space group, with the following unit cell parameters: a =7.549(1) A, b =7.872(1) A, c =10.980(2) A, α =107.87(1)°, β =94.83(1)°, γ =90.27(1)°, Z =2, V =618.45(19) A 3 . The crystal structure was solved from 2162 independent reflections until R =0.0127. The crystal structure of Rb 2 Co[B 6 O 7 (OH) 6 ] 2 ·4H 2 O consists of [B 6 O 7 (OH) 6 ] 2− polyborate anions, Co–O octahedra and Rb–O polyhedra. The isolated [B 6 O 7 (OH) 6 ] 2− polyborate anions are separated by free water molecules and Rb and Co cations. Dehydration of this hydrated mixed borate occurs in two steps and leads to an amorphous phase which undergoes crystallization.


This present paper adapts the theory of bifurcation, chaos, fractal geometry and self-organization in modern non-linear science to study the typical dynamic phenomena occurring in the pocess of exploitation activities in mines, analyses the non-linear mechanism of those phenomena and points out the non-linear dynamic behavior of the exploitation system. The results are of positive significance to controlling mine disters and guiding exploitation.


Investigation of the photoelectric properties of several metal/β‐FeSi2/Si heterostructures is presented. For thin silicide samples (200 A), the photocurrent follows a Fowler's law with a threshold Φ1 lower than the silicide band gap Eg. For thicker silicide samples (2500 A), the behavior of the photocurrent is different because the optical absorption within the silicide can no longer be neglected: a maximum of the photocurrent is observed instead at Eg. The variations of Eg and Φ1 with temperature are compellingly similar and show the strong effect of the electron‐phonon coupling. We suggest that the threshold Φ1 corresponds to transitions between a trap localized near the heterojunction and the silicide conduction band.


A sustainable way for food and energetic security in rural and the city regions, is presented with the application of the solid state fermentation for the biotransformation of lignocellulosic by-products and agro-industrial wastes with white-rot fungi. Inamush as advantages of this technology, is showed the cultivation of mushroom Pleurotus spp.on coffee pulp, cedar chip , coconut and cocoa shells, and the influence of it´s mixture (1:1), trough examination of their growth rates and conversion efficacy to fruiting bodies, which cause contamination of soil and water, because of large volumes and difficult management. The use of residues for these cultive was consolidate such as alternative viable for food production, capable to satisfy the protein and nutritive necessity of population in the non-developing countries, besides low cost production, high protein content and obtention in large quantity in short time. In addition to produce complements for animal feet, such as the spent oyster mushroom substrate postcosecha is detoxified, has proteic content and better digestibility than original substrates,and can be used as animal feed or fertilizer, at the same time, was eradicated the problem of environmental contamination of these residues provoking and further contribution at sustainable development of the communities.


Fabrication procedures for a micromethanol reformer including catalyst preparation, coating, and patterning on a wafer are described. Cu-based catalyst was prepared by coprecipitation method. The effects of precipitation conditions on the catalytic activity and adhesion of coated catalyst on the substrate were tested to find the optimum precipitation condition. For coating purposes, the prepared catalyst was ground into powder and mixed with binder in the solvent. Simultaneous precipitation of catalyst and binder on the wafer produced catalyst layer that is uniform and rigidly found to the wafer surface. The amount of coated catalyst on the wafer was 5-8 mg/cm 2 with a thickness of 30 μm. By repetition of coating procedure, catalyst mass up to 15 mg/cm 2 was obtained with increased reactivity. Patterned catalyst layer was obtained by novel lift-off process of polyvinyl alcohol sacrificial layer A micromethanol reformer was fabricated using a typical lithography procedure including catalyst coating and patterning process. Typical methanol conversion was higher than the conventional packed bed reactor.


The object of the present paper is to prove some interesting sufficient conditions for p-valently close-to-convex and starlike functions in the unit disk.


Conformal field theories corresponding to two-dimensional electrically charged black holes and to two-dimensional anti-de Sitter space with a covariantly constant electric field are simply constructed as SL(2,R)/Z Wess-Zumino-Witten coset models. Four-dimensional spacetime solutions are obtained by tensoring these two-dimensional theories with $\frac{\mathrm{SU}(2)}{Z(m)}$ coset models. These describe a family of dyonic black holes and the Bertotti-Robinson universe.


Sixteen fungi were found colonizing young cream-colored cysts of Heterodera glycines lchinohe on soybean roots in North Carolina soils. Five, namely Exophiala pisciphila McGinnis and Ajello, Fusarium oxysporum Schlecht., Fusarium solant (Mart.) Sacc., Neocosmospora vasinfecta Smith, and Phoma leveillei Boerema and Bollen, were prevalent in all soil samples surveyed. Several other species of Phoma Sacc., were also implicated as early invaders of cysts. Upwards of two thirds of the cysts examined were found to be invaded and many showed signs of disease, bearing discolored, aborted or physiologically disordered eggs. The significance of early colonization is discussed.


This paper briefly traces the 50-year history of the journal Pis'ma v Zhurnal Eksperimental'noi i Teoreticheskoi Fiziki (JETP Letters), whose first issue was published on 1 April 1965. The journal is intended for a wide circle of physicists-readers as a fast publication channel for short communications on new results from research of the highest significance and highest priority in all areas of experimental and theoretical physics. Today, the journal celebrates numerous important contributions to the development of physics both in Russia and worldwide. Over a historically short period, JETP Letters developed into a highly authoritative and influential source for physicists engaged in a wide range of fields. Due to the wise and well-timed editorial policy, the journal continues to retain its leadership position, despite the difficulties the entire science periodical literature – and indeed the whole of science – is currently experiencing in Russia.


This paper examines the main challenges facing the oil palm industry in order to position itself as an environmentally-sustainable business. To this effect, it analyzes the current situation and the implications of its possible expansion in the framework of sustainable development.


This study was designed to determine whether there was a positive relationship between an individual's selfesteem and their achievement in a leadership development and assessment setting. While correlational studies have been conducted utilizing self-esteem and achievement as variables, no known study has been conducted with achievement at ROTC Advance Camp as a dependent variable. The hypothesis tested focused on determining if there is a positive relationship between self-esteem and achievement at ROTC Advance Camp. Sixty-six ROTC cadets from five select universities in the state of Illinois were administered the Barksdale Self-Esteem Evaluation Number 35. The results of their evaluation was compared to their achievement at the ROTC Advance Camp held at Fort Lewis, Washington in the summer of 1993. The major finding of the study was a statistically significant positive relationship between self-esteem and achievement at ROTC Advance Camp.


Tetranitro-oxacalix[4]arenes 1–5, prepared by direct SNAr reaction of 1,5-difluoro-2,4dinitrobenzene with the appropriate aromatic diol (pyrocatechol, resorcinol, hydroquinone, 2,7dihydroxynaphthalene, and 4,4 ́-dihydroxybiphenyl), were subjected to Raney-nickel reduction to provide the corresponding tetraamino-oxacalix[4]arenes 6–10, which upon treatment with an excess of 1-octyl isocyanate were converted into the title compounds 11–15, featuring a pair of 1,3-bis-[N-(1-octyl)ureido]phenylene moieties doubly connected at their 4,6-positions by rigid spacers of varied geometry. All new oxacalix[4]arenes were characterized by MALDI-TOF spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy. H NMR data and ab initio calculations support saddleshaped conformations for oxacalix[4]arenes incorporating pyrocatechol, resorcinol and 2,7dihydroxynaphthalene nucleophilic components, and boat-shaped conformations for derivatives possessing hydroquinone and 4,4 ́-dihydroxybiphenyl spacers.


In the global era, technology plays a vital role in determining the strong market position for the modern-day organizations. Food aggregators make efforts to identify the reasons for service failure in case of customers not in direct communication with them. The ascending online food ordering market has augmented the involvement of peers' day-to-day interaction on social media resources. Food ordering brands like Swiggy, Food panda, Zomato who have garnered quite a reputation by tapping their audience online via enticing them with the idea of getting quality restaurant meals right at their doorstep with just a click are slowly being victimised by their web of problems. Online marketing had made daily food ordering easy for the users but, the excessive demand of orders at a time can lead to delay in deliveries, loss in quality etc. henceforth, targeting brand's esteem and loss of valuable consumers. These food ordering websites collaborate with a wide network of restaurants/hotels in a city and provide quick delivery of food products to their customers using aggregator business model. They act as middlemen who deliver the food from restaurants to user's home maintaining a brands name. The current study focuses on tracking the sentiments of the customers through which these brands can identify the issues which leads to unsatisfactory responses or reviews on various online and social sites. Further study pave ways for innovative service recovery mechanism to frame a sustainable business practice for gaining competitive advantage. In this study, sentiment analysis tools like IBM Watson, social mention and tone analysers were used to observe the reactions of customers and used disruptive technology to analyse how brands could improve their service recovery behaviour to secure and reach more customers by figuring out the reasons of service failure.


As part of the Consolidated Fuel Reprocessing Program (CFRP) of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), compact centrifugal contactors were designed and prototypes were built for the Breeder Reprocessing Engineering Test (BRET) facility. These contactors were designed for a nominal throughput of 0.1 metric tons of heavy metal per day. While construction of BRET has been put on indefinite hold, development of the 5.5-cm-diam rotor centrifugal contactors has advanced due to their broad applicability in other areas of reprocessing. Development has been concentrated in three areas: (1) mass transfers, (2) hydraulics, and (3) fabrication. Mass transfer development has involved determining how the stage efficiency is affected by the rotor speed, phase ratio, and feed flow rate. Hydraulic efforts have focused on the cascade operation with individual stage failures. Fabrication development has resulted in reducing the number of rotor components from seven to four. This paper discusses the results of these development efforts. 20 refs., 10 figs., 6 tabs.


This paper summarizes Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) firstly,which gives a brief introduction of CMMI's background,primary contents,forms and basic functions,then,discusses the ap- praisal requirements in the process of software development,appraisal process classification and standard ap- praisal procedures for CMMI,finally,presents methods to improve appraisal efficiency.


Emergent knowledge does not come from a particular document or a particular knowledge source, but comes from a collection of documents or knowledge sources. This paper proposes a system which combines the social web contents and the semantic web technology to process the emergent knowledge from the blogosphere. The proposed system regards blog postings as experiences of people on particular topics. By annotating postings in the selected domains with ontology vocabularies, the system collects experiences from various people into an ontology about people and experiences. The system processes this ontology with semantic rules to find the emergent knowledge. Users can access previously unavailable facts, concepts and trends which are emerging from system.


The research on the effects of roadway geometry on truck crashes is relatively limited in comparison with predictive models developed for total vehicle crashes. The most common predictive models currently used are Poisson and negative binomial models. This study uses a negative binomial model but applies the full Bayes' methods for improving model performance. To use Bayes' methods successfully, a learning process was used to develop a final model, which was then compared with a separate validation data set to verify its accuracy. The data set used for this study is based on rural two-lane collector and arterial horizontal curves in Ohio, comprising 15,390 observations from crash records between 2002 through 2006. Specific areas of interest in this study include the impact of shoulder width, horizontal curve radius, curve length, and other traffic parameters. The final results indicate a significant increase in truck crashes due to both horizontal curvature and passenger vehicle volumes. The final model's predictions were improved compared with the initial model, indicating that the learning process is a viable tool for future crash model development.


Provision of electricity can bring betterment to any human's life by augmenting up the levels of health, education, social status, prosperity, and technology. However, access to grid electricity is limited due to inappropriate terrain for grid installation and low socio-economic conditions unable to pay for expenses that occurred and services taken. Thus the provision of electricity through gird seems to be an expensive option. When the possibility of grid electricity is slim, the many chances for off-grid energy systems are promoted by many stakeholders. It serves as curative support to rural areas that are already poverty-ridden. Among many off-grid technologies existing, the solar photovoltaic (PV) is advocated for its high potential to generate electricity efficiently with lower means of expenses. Nonetheless, any solar systems' far disposal some engagement system is mainly called the technological innovation system (TIS). Studies on TIS have been conducted to discourse the process and challenges of development and diffusion of renewable energy technologies, mainly in developed countries. Nevertheless, very few works have been put on TIS's significance and the role of its system functions on developing and emerging economies. Based on the longitudinal methodology, this paper attempts to review and analyze best practices and challenges within community engagement and its role in a buildup of system functions inclined to the diffusion of PV technology by establishing TIS around this field in Pakistan. Our case study highlights the broader application of the TIS framework in the context for which it was born. The study recommends a policy involvement in structuring healthy TIS for quicker diffusion and further developing solar PV-based systems in Pakistan.


This article presents the conceptual approach of behavior analysis applied to reading and spelling. It covers the heorethical view of reading and spelling in terms of stimulus control over verbal behavior and equivalence relations. he work also makes a review (not intending to be exhaustive) of research on reading and spelling based on this approach. Key-words: behavioral analysis, verbal behavior, reading, spelling


The initial/secondary absorption and compressive strength of alkali-activated slag (AAS) paste has been investigated. Emphasis has been given to secondary absorption of AAS paste based on the method described in ASTM C1585-04 [Standard Test Method for Measurement of Rate of Absorption of Water by Hydraulic Cement Concretes, Annual Book of ASTM Standards, ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, 2004, pp. 1–4]. The paste was produced by activating blast furnace slag with sodium hydroxide/potassium hydroxide and sodium silicate solution. The major parameters studied were alkali content, silicate content, and the type of activator. Experimental investigation revealed that initial rate of absorption (Si) and secondary rate of absorption (Ss) decreases with increase in alkali and silicate content up to a certain limit with an increase in compressive strength. The maximum compressive strength was found to be 50.40 MPa for the specimens having lowest sorptivity. It was also found that the sorptivity ratio (Si/Ss) plays a significant role on compressive strength in turn on the durability of AAS composites. This paper is an attempt to introduce the simple method of measuring initial and secondary sorptivity described in ASTM C1585-04 to study the strength and durability of AAS. The microstructure study was carried out using SEM/EDAX.


New issues in criticality safety continue to emerge as spent fuel storage facilities reach the saturation point, fuel enrichments and burn-ups increase and new types of plutonium-carrying fuels are being developed. The new challenges related to the manipulation, transportation and storage of fuel demand further work to improve models predicting behavior through new experiments, especially where there is a lack of data in the present databases. This article summarizes the activities of the OECD/NEA working groups that coordinate and carry out work in the domain of criticality safety. Particular attention is devoted to establishing sound databases required in this area and to addressing issues of high relevance such as burn-up credit. This is aimed toward improving safety and identifying economic solutions to issues concerning the back end of the fuel cycle.


The main propose in this research work is to investigate the temperature and pressure increase resulting from the variable valve of a mass flow controller during the charging and discharging of helium gas, which is being used as an alternative to hydrogen gas in a vessel. In the operation of this experiment, the high-pressure gas stored in the main tank is first reduced to low pressure using an electronic solenoid valve within a regulator to control the flow rate. Subsequently, the flow rate is precisely measured using an MFC (Mass Flow Controller) and supplied to the experimental tank. Throughout this process, temperature and pressure sensors detect changes in physical behavior, collect data using LabVIEW cDAQ, and repeat the process of analyzing and verifying reliable data according to the experiment's conditions. The mass flow controller valve opening was set at 20%, 60%, and 100% while operating the LabVIEW programming. Also, this experiment was conducted at 20 °C ambient temperature and 0 bar gauge pressure. Both the temperature and pressure increase as the MFC valve opens further because the helium gas flow is accumulating during the valve opening time. Furthermore, in the case of helium temperature, it increases significantly when the gas is charged rapidly, compared to the pressure characteristics. Therefore, one can see that the vessel increases as the valve opening time increases, and the temperature changes; the temperature is more significant when the helium gas is charged rapidly during the valve opening time.