Regenerative sustainability is emerging as an alternative discourse around the transition from a 'mechanistic' to an 'ecological' or living systems worldview. This view helps us to reconceptualize relationships among humans' technological, ecological, economic, social and political systems. Through exploration of 'net positive' or 'regenerative' development lenses and the traditional sustainability literature, the conceptualization and approaches to achieve sustainable development and ecological modernization are expanded to articulate and to explore the evolving sustainability discourse, 'regenerative sustainability'. This Special Volume of Journal of Cleaner Production (SV) is focused upon various dimensions of regenerative sustainability (e.g. regenerative design, regenerative development, and positive development) applied to the urban built environment at scales, which range from individual buildings, neighborhoods, and urban developments to integrated regional sustainable development. The main focus is on how these approaches and developments are evolving, how they can help us to prevent or adapt to climate change and how these approaches are likely to evolve in the next two to three decades. These approaches are addressed in four themes: (1) reviewing the theoretical development of the discourse of regenerative sustainability, its emerging principles and practices, (2) explaining how it can be measured and monitored, (3) providing encouraging practical pathways and examples of its implementation in multiple cultural and climatic contexts, and (4) mapping obstacles and enablers that must be addressed to help to ensure that more rapid progress is made in implementing the transitions towards an urban built environment that supports genuinely sustainable societies.


This article examines the principles which lay on the basis of modern contracts for turnkey construction. As a result, the features of project management within the frame of turnkey contracts and, for instance, the influence of this contract model to cost, time and quality management were discovered.


We investigate how a non-Hermitian photonic system will respond when excited with quantum states of light after dynamically encircling an exceptional point. We find that photon transport is chiral even in the quantum domain.


Despite its dual role in determining cell fate in a wide array of solid cancer cell lines, autophagy has been robustly shown to suppress or kill acute myeloid leukemia cells via degradation of the oncogenic fusion protein that drives leukemogenesis. However, autophagy also induces the demise of acute leukemia cells that do not express the known fusion protein, though the molecular mechanism remains elusive. Nevertheless, since it can induce cooperation with apoptosis and differentiation in response to autophagic signals, autophagy can be manipulated for a better therapy on acute myeloid leukemia. Review Autophagy is a ubiquitous process in which 野bad冶 cytosolic molecules, damaged organelles, or invaded pathogens are sequestered within doublemembrane vesicles called autophagosomes that deliver their contents to lysosomes for degradation and/or recycling of the resulting macromolecules. Indeed, autophagosomes were found to specifically target damaged mitochondria [1] , peroxisomes [2] , and protein aggregates that lead to DNA damage and genomic instability [3,4] , thereby maintaining intracellular organelle and protein homeostasis [5]. Autophagy may also provide nutrients through lysosomal degradation of intracellular components of mitochondrial oxidation [3,68]. Autophagy is more frequently compromised in solid cancer cells compared with their normal counterparts and acts as a protective mechanism in response to both extracellular and intracellular stress. However, stimulation of autophagy in cancer cells was observed in response to anticancer treatments when enhanced autophagy destroys large proportions of the cytosol and organelles, which causes irreversible cellular atrophy and consequent collapse of vital cellular functions [913]. Heterozygosity for the autophagyessential gene Beclin1 led to greatly increased rates of tumorigenesis [1315] , possibly because of genomic instability when autophagy is reduced [3]. Conversely, autophagy has also been shown to promote the survival of solid cancer cells following stress or nutrient deprivation [6,1618]. Therefore, autophagy can protect cells against death or mediate cellular demise, depending on the autophagic stimuli and cellular context. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is characterized by an accumulation of abnormal hematopoietic progenitor cells, which exhibit the morphology of a certain stage of myeloid differentiation, in the bone marrow and the peripheral blood. The blocked differentiation restrains progenitor cells from maturing and subsequently undergoing apoptosis [19] , and it may also enhance their selfrenewal capabilities [20,21]. Unlike normal hematopoietic cells that require cell extrinsic signals to maintain metabolism and survival, leukemia cells often express constitutively active oncogenic kinases that promote these processes independent of extrinsic growth factors. When cells receive insufficient growth …


To fully automated inflation timing and deflation timing of the intra-aortic balloon pump, it must be considered a unique some delay into the system. Process for calculating these delays, determining a nominal inflation command time (104), and it adds the nominal inflation command time dither time period in order to obtain the actual rise time (108), and and a determining shrinkage command time. Inflation / deflation cycle is then be treated, where the intra-aortic balloon pump, is expanded by the actual inflation command time, and is contracted by contracting command time. Blood pressure data during the inflation / deflation cycle is collected from the patient (116), and effect of subsequently inflating the intra-aortic balloon is analyzed to determine the realized time to be realized on the blood pressure waveform. Now, the total delay time between the actual inflation command time and implementation time can be determined.


Abstract : This report is an iteration of the ongoing definition of software first. Section 2 provides the philosophy of software first. Section 3 describes the history of the phrase software first, which provides the historical perspective for the methodology being developed in this research effort. Section 4 provides a description of software first from the topdown perspective. This section details the goals and principle objectives of this methodology. Section 5 identifies activities that are central to the successful implementation of software first and warrant special consideration. Section 6 details selected technical approaches to meeting the challenges of software first. Section 7 takes a bottom-up approach to software first by investigating the potential for reusing components of existing methodologies and using existing tools. Software first is a new approach to system development. The software system development methodology provides a means to alleviate problems associated with traditional development methodologies. The basic tenet of the software first approach is to postpone selection of the target hardware until as late as possible in a system's development. The major technological advancement that makes the software first approach feasible is the Ada language.


This research aims at investigating the perception of the third-grade students on learning vocabulary through NHK channel at Madrasah Aliyah Masembo Maros. The method of this research was quantitative descriptive method. The population was all the students of the third grade in Madrasah Aliyah Ainus Syamsy Masembo Maros that consisted of 50 students. The samples were selected purposively, that were those who already watched NHK channel that consisted of 14 students. The data were collected through questionnaires. The data were analyzed by looking for the means score and intervals to classify them. The result indicated that there was a positive perception of watching NHK channel on students' learning. It was proved by the mean score of total number of all of the questions as 56,6 which was classified as very high. Therefore, it is concluded that learning vocabulary through NHK Channel has good response from third grade students of Madrasah Aliyah Ainus Syamsy Masembo Maros or in the other words the use of media as learning tool such as NHK channel can help students in learning vocabulary


A structure change from a polycrystal to single‐crystal layer in ion‐implanted Si samples has been obtained by single‐pulse ruby‐laser irradiation with a power density threshold of about 70 MW cm−2 (pulse length 50 nsec). Under these conditions surface mechanical damage is produced. A laser pulse train shaping technique was adopted to reduce the residual disorder in the layer after laser irradiation and to prevent mechanical damage.


Gout is the most common form of inflammatory arthritis. Hyperuricaemia is the pre-requisite for gout and is influenced by variable modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors. Clinical features unique for gout are due to deposition of monosodium urate (MSU) crystal in articular and extraarticular tissues. Among various treating agents, anti-inflammatory drugs and urate lowering therapies (ULT) are used widely and successfully, however, non-medicinal means are also effective in the disorder. In their updated guidelines, ACR (2012) and EULAR (2016) recommended both medicinal and non-medicinal approaches that could be used in treating gout, though some of the recommendations are based on lower level of evidence. Moreover, researchers' continued effort in finding new gout managing agents appear promising, for example, role of Lesinurad in gout management (CLEAR1, CLEAR2). In this new synthesis the author is aimed to provide updated information on gout management based on a systematic review including published work within last ten years between 2008 and 2018 and for this purpose, using 'clinical trials in gout management' string, published worked searched in PubMed database from 1 September 2018 to 30 October 2018. Besides the recent ACR and EULARevidence based management guidelines, the author reviewed another 91 (total 93) articles to make this new draft – 39 articles describe role of pharmacological agents and 54 describe different gout risks, pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics of ULT, association between raised sUA level and renal impairment, efficacy of non-pharmacological agents in reducing sUA. According to published work, anti-inflammatory agent is the most appropriate drug group in mitigating inflammatory symptoms of gout, though they often adversely affect over other vital Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 7 December 2020 doi:10.20944/preprints202012.0156.v1 © 2020 by the author(s). Distributed under a Creative Commons CC BY license. 2 organs with impaired function. Besides ULT, uricase analogues are also found useful in nonrefractory gout. Since anti-inflammatory agents and ULT contraindicate in some clinical conditions, intra-articular steroid and or adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) are appropriate alternatives instead. However, head-to-head comparison between different NSAIDs, NSAID and prednisolone, NSAID and colchicine are yet to perform. Use of combined anti-inflammatory preparations in gout is also based on lower level of evidence. Regarding effective maximum dose and long-standing impact of ULT on vital organs we are yet to reach a conclusion. Likewise, non-medicinal approaches are widely using in achieving target sUA level, though some of them are based on biased study outcomes and or study with inadequate power, requiring further analysis. Among non-pharmacological approaches, life-style modification, restriction of purine rich diets, avoidance of gout inciting agents are important, but inconclusive. Educating patients' about diseases, risk factors, available treatment options and side effects from them are also important in terms of achieving sUA level, nevertheless too much counseling sometimes could be worthless.


Abstract
 This chapter provides an overview of land tenure reform, which should, in theory, prove a potent trigger towards equitable land relations between men and women in the customary land sector. This has been progressively underway in Africa since the 1990s. Broadly, a common objective is to release customary rights from their historical subordination as occupancy and use rights on presumed unowned lands, and much of which land remains vests in governments as ownercustodians. Or, where national laws have treated customary rights more equitably, a principal aim of reforms is to increase their security by these rights to be registrable without their extinction and conversion into statutory private rights. In short, this new phase of African land reform could signal the end of 70 years of intended disappearance of customary tenure as formally advised by the East African Royal Commission in 1955 and core elements of which were also adopted by France in respect of its own African possessions.


The spin-density wave (SDW) on Cr(001) has been investigated at temperatures between $20--300\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{K}$ by means of spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy (SP-STM). Although neutron-scattering data measured on the same crystal clearly show a spin-flip transition from a transversal (T)-SDW to a longitudinal (L)-SDW at the expected spin-flip (SF) temperature ${T}_{\mathrm{SF}}=123\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{K}$, no change was found on the Cr(001) surface with SP-STM. Throughout the entire temperature range the Cr(001) surface maintains a topological antiferromagnetic order with an in-plane magnetization that inverts between adjacent atomically flat terraces separated by monatomic step edges. The experimental results are interpreted by an absence of a spin-flip transition in the near-surface region probably driven by the surface anisotropy. The continuous connection of the surface T-SDW to the bulk L-SDW is accomplished by the formation of a 90\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} domain wall just below the surface.


We show how slow-light enhanced four-wave mixing in dispersion engineered photonic crystal waveguides can result in ultra-compact devices enabling different applications, namely time-division demultiplexing of 160Gbaud data streams and the generation of correlated photon pairs.


The (M-H2O)+/M+ ratio in the mass spectra for the stereoisomeric 4-t- butyl-cyclohexane-1,2-diols is markedly dependent on their stereochemistry. No such dependence is found for the 1-methyl, 2- methyl, and 1,2-dimethyl derivatives.


Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy of remifentanil combined with ketamine and prpofol for general anaesthesia in children. Methods 100 children with ASAⅠ-Ⅱ were randomly divided into two groups A and B,with 50 patients each.In the usual way,the patients in group A received ketamine by continuous infusion and midazolam,in group B,received remifentanil combined with ketamine and propofol by continuous infusion.Blood pressure,heart rate,percutaneous Oxygen Saturation(SpO2) and BIS were monitored during operation.Meanwhile,postoperative ketamine requirement and recovery time were recorded. Results BP,SpO2 was kept well in two groups,but compared than before operation,HR were increased significantly in group A(p0.05);and decreased significantly in group B(p0.05). In group B,postoperation recovery time decreased significantly than in group A(p0.05) and ketamine requirement decreased in group B. Conclusion Remifentanil combined with ketamine and propofol could be used in children general anaesthesina with safety and effectiveness,and with the advantages of reducing drug requirement and its side effects.


Objective To study relationship of patients orthodontic treatment satisfaction with malocclusion severity of pre-and post-treatment of patients,which could aid in medical care.Methods Apply the PAR index which representing patient malocclusion severity on dental casts of 88 patients'who have completed the orthodontic therapy.The sample consisted of 23 males and 65 females.The patients or their parents were asked to complete standardized questionnaires in which orthodontist behavior items were evaluated.Compare the corresponding patients satisfaction score with the PAR score.Results Stepwise multipul regression analyses showed that there exists sex difference among patient satisfaction.Males are more satisfacted in evaluating orthodontic treatment.Severity of malocclusion correlates with patient satisfaction.Conclusion Males are more satisfacted in evaluating orthodontic treatment than females.The severity of patient malocclusion correlates with patient satisfaction.


We consider the problem of estimating the L1 distance between two discrete probability measures P and Q from empirical data in a nonasymptotic and large alphabet setting. We construct minimax rate-optimal estimators for L1(P,Q) when Q is either known or unknown, and show that the performance of the optimal estimators with n samples is essentially that of the Maximum Likelihood Estimators (MLE) with n ln n samples. Hence, we demonstrate that the effective sample size enlargement phenomenon, discovered and discussed in Jiao et al. (2015), holds for this problem as well. However, the construction of optimal estimators for L1(P,Q) requires new techniques and insights outside the scope of the Approximation methodology of functional estimation in Jiao et al. (2015).


This paper gives an exact expression about parallel beelines of the sequence of random generated by liner congruential generators (LCG). It is proved that both computing the least number of parallel beelines of LCG and the special test are only to compare convergent of A/M and its interpolations, and to gain a speedy algorithm on the twodimensional structure of the sequence of random generated by LCG.


The need for interdisciplinary studies is the basis of ambitious research (ARCHEM Project) that is carried out in the argaric settlement of Penalosa (Banos de la Encina, Jaen), combining organic residues analysis and techno-typological studies of pottery found in funerary contexts. Manufacture and use of pottery could inform us about customs and traditions that remain hidden in time and in the archaeological record. Knowing the implications and decisions of potters as well as the functionality of those vessels deposited inside the graves can approach the idiosyncrasy of a society in the Bronze Age in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula. The methodology used to identify patterns of functionality is highlighted by the combination of cutting-edge analysis techniques in both fields such as the application of different chromatographic techniques (GC-MS, UPLC-HRMS and GC-C-IRMS) that allow to identify the organic compounds in the ceramics and the application of analytical techniques from Earth Sciences (Stereomicroscopic, X-Ray Diffraction and Petrography), which allow us to characterize ceramic pastes and knowing the catchment of raw materials. This study highlights the Penalosa site as a melting pot of new research and it brings us closer with the use of a complex methodology combined to the societies 4000 years ago.


Can we solve inferential problems using a learning approach? We explore the use of learning systems, as black boxes, in solving the compressed sensing problem. In particular, we derive a regression problem from the compressed sensing problem, and investigate how the convolutional neural networks and the variational auto-encoders perform under various settings.


A new mild and practically simple alkyne hydroarylation protocol for the synthesis of 3‐(indol‐3‐yl)‐3‐(trifluoromethyl)acrylic acid esters by the reaction of indole derivatives with ethyl/methyl 4,4,4‐trifluoro‐3‐(indol‐3‐yl)but‐2‐enoates in trifluoroethanol was developed. This method has the following advantages: no catalyst, atom economy, high yields, broad substrate scope, and large‐scale synthesis. The potential application of this protocol was further demonstrated by the synthesis of a variety of CF3‐substituted synthons and a new class of (un)symmetrical 3,3ʹ‐diindolylmethanes with a quaternary carbon core that might be biologically active.


Niemann Pick type C (NPC) is a rare neurovisceral disorder characterized by progressive hepatosplenomegaly, neurodegeneration, and premature death; it is caused by mutations in genes coding for two...


The application of biodegradable plastics is a possibility to reduce the quantity of garbage. Such biodegradable materials were developed on the basis of starch acetate by DOW (BSL Olefinverbund GmbH in Schkopau, Germany). The aim of investigations was to verify the biodegradability of four different samples of Sconacell in different soils (Chernozem, Cambisol, Podzol). The biological activity in the soils was measured by IR with an automated technique for estimating soil respiration and soil microbial biomass. The carbon dioxide release rate was similar for all materials in the different soil samples. After 8 to 10 days the level of different plastics was similar, yet higher than in the control soils. At the end of the experiments it turned out that the highest microbial biomass developed in the plastic-supplemented samples of chernozem. The microbial biomass of fungi showed with 80-90 % no significant differences to the non-treated soil samples. Only in the sandy soil, one plastic material caused a reduction of the fungi biomass. The investigations revealed that increases of the microbial biomass and changes in the composition of microbial spectrum are possible when adding biodegradable materials to different soils. The laboratory trials must be followed by investigations under practical conditions.


We give an explicit formula which describes the solution of the problem of the linear elastic string vibrating against a plane obstacle without loss of energy. This formula allows us to prove continuous dependence on the initial data; a regularity result in some bounded variation spaces is given. A numerical scheme is deduced from the explicit formula.Finally we prove the weak convergence of a subsequence of solutions of the penalized problem to a "weak" solution (i.e. one which does not necessarily conserve energy) of the problem with an obstacle when the obstacle is arbitrary; when the obstacle is plane, all the sequence strongly converges to the solution of the obstacle problem which conserves the energy.


Critical success factors (CSFs) have been around since the late 1970s and have been used extensively in information systems implementations. CSFs provide a comprehensive understanding of the multiple layers and dimensions of implementation success. In the specific context of learning analytics (LA), identifying CSFs can maximise the possibilities of an effective implementation and harness the value of converting data into actionable information. This paper proposes a framework that aims to identify and explore the CSFs for the implementation of LA within the higher education sector by examining the viewpoints of higher education professionals. To obtain a rounded insight into stakeholders' perceptions, we conducted a mixed-method inquiry with factor analysis, profile analysis and thematic analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data collected with an online questionnaire from an international sample. The responses validate five CSFs of LA implementation: strategy and policy at organisational level, information technological readiness, performance and impact evaluation, people's skills and expertise and data quality. Results also disclose diverse views about the CSFs' priorities and the associated difficulties and achievements.
Implications for practice or policy:

Higher education practitioners should consider CSFs for implementing an LA initiative successfully.
This study validates five dimensions of the CSFs of implementing LA in higher education.
The validated framework enumerates several factors in each of the main dimensions for achieving optimum results.
Stakeholders have diverse opinions about the priorities of CSFs, particularly in organisational commitment, data quality and human capital.


The world of telecommunications is providing us with a lot of communication paradigms that can be utilized as a means of wireless communication between mobile and stationary agents or between mobile agents themselves. As transportation engineers, we are interested in knowing the schemes that can be applied to the field of transportation engineering to alleviate traffic problems like safety, congestion, environmental degradation and off late, energy consumption by the vehicles, to name a few. Intelligent Transportation Systems are undergoing a transition from demonstration projects to becoming part of the mainstream set of options available to transportation planners. Hence, evaluation of ITS is one of the most critical and important steps to be taken before any ITS technique can be deployed. Safety has been recently emerging as an area of increased concerns, attention and awareness within transportation engineering. It has been extremely difficult to evaluate safety for new and innovative traffic treatments. In this paper, we first review all the available techniques for communication between various vehicles among themselves and with the infrastructure. The aim of this is to have a complete overview of all the possible communication techniques that the world of electronics and telecommunications have proposed in the last years that can be applied for accomplishing the task of enabling vehicles communicate and interact with other vehicles as well as with the infrastructure. Then we propose a method to evaluate safety based on safety parameter called Risk Index (R.I.) to evaluate the use of vehicle to vehicle and vehicle to infrastructure communication technologies for safety.


Abstract : With better natural language semantic representations, computers can do more applications more efficiently as a result of better understanding of natural text. However, no single semantic representation at this time fulfills all requirements needed for a satisfactory representation. Logic-based representations like first-order logic capture many of the linguistic phenomena using logical constructs, and they come with standardized inference mechanisms, but standard first-order logic fails to capture the graded aspect of meaning in languages. Distributional models use contextual similarity to predict the graded semantic similarity of words and phrases but they do not adequately capture logical structure. In addition there are a few recent attempts to combine both representations either on the logic side (still, not a graded representation), or in the distribution side (not full logic). We propose using probabilistic logic to represent natural language semantics combining the expressivity and the automated inference of logic, and the gradedness of distributional representations. We evaluate this semantic representation on two tasks, Recognizing Textual Entailment (RTE) and Semantic Textual Similarity (STS). Doing RTE and STS better is an indication of a better semantic understanding. Our system has three main components, 1. Parsing and Task Representation, 2. Knowledge Base Construction, and 3. Inference. The input natural sentences of the RTE/STS task are mapped to logical form using Boxer which is a rule based system built on top of a CCG parser, then they are used to formulate the RTE/STS problem in probabilistic logic. Then, a knowledge base is represented as weighted inference rules collected from different sources like WordNet and on-the-fly lexical rules from distributional semantics.


The importance of large-scale magnetic fields in H I rotation curves of spiral galaxies is investigated. In contrast to other papers that try to render dark matter unnecessary, we assume that galaxies are embedded within a modified isothermal dark halo. The NGC 1560 magnetic field is derived from a simple prescription suggested recently by Sanchez-Salcedo for large luminous spirals. The detailed shape of the observed rotation curve fits reasonably well with a magnetic field strength -1 /-LG. This magnetic fit is as good as that for modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND). We conclude that prominent structure in the rotation curves of dwarf galaxies is compatible with dominant dark haloes.


A recently published study in Natural Sciences Education explores the perceptions, attitudes, and competence of secondary school agriculture, food, and natural resource (AFNR) educators regarding the use of instructional games as a teaching tool. The researchers found two predominant factors supporting teacher utilization of games during instruction: utility value and competency beliefs. Other factors such as lack of clear student learning outcomes and resource costs may inhibit teachers' use of games to educate.


To solve the problem of bus voltage dynamic response under the droop control method in DC microgrid, a parallel dynamic compensation structure of converter based on disturbance observer was proposed. Firstly, the problems existing under the traditional DC droop control are analyzed. The state space model is established for the parallel models of multiple converters in the DC microgrid. The current changes caused by the common load switching in the parallel state are analyzed. The synchronous measurement method (PMU) is applied to the disturbance current. The measurement distribution is carried out. According to the left and right mutual decomposition theory and the Youla parameterized stability controller theory, the parallel dynamic compensation structure of the converter based on the disturbance observer is obtained. The model matching algorithm is used to obtain the Youla parameterization matrix Q(s). The current loop compensation structure M(s) is designed to counteract the effect of the compensation signal on the current loop. Simulation results show that the structure can accelerate the dynamic response speed of DC bus voltage when the common load is switched. At the same time, the structure can suppress the double frequency disturbance of DC bus voltage caused by an unbalanced load and keep the bus voltage stable.


This paper first elaborates the three views of scientific socialism by the classic Marxist writers and then analyses the goal of China's reform in economic system. The new economic system has laid a basis of economic system for socialist harmonious community. The paper also refutes the nihilist historical attitude toward the economic vicissitude of the new China and in the end points out that the innovative Marxist economists are reform pioneers.


It is demonstrated that early main-sequence mass loss by the sun can solve the case of the missing solar Li. The mass loss is 0.10-0.11 solar if the ZAMS Li-7/H ratio is taken to be 1.0 {times} 10 to the -9th, the maximum value observed in Population I main-sequence stars. The mass loss is 0.12-0.13 solar if ZAMS Li-7/H is taken to be 2.6 {times} 10 to the -9th, the meteoritic value. The required amount of mass loss is nearly independent of the mass-loss time scale. A simple formula exists to estimate the amount of mass loss required by an observed Li depletion. Constant-mass models burn Li and Be at temperatures of 2.5 and 3.3 million K, respectively. Higher initial temperatures are required in mass-losing models. A prescription has been developed to estimate these temperatures as a function of initial stellar mass and initial mass-loss rate. 35 refs.


In order to find the possibility of recycling an industry waste solid red mud from earth, a kind of geopolymer material system based on red mud-fly ash-carbide slag has been developed entirely from waste. The microstructure and composition of the geopolymer material system at the age of 28 days was tested by the scanning electron microscope (SEM), back scattered electron (BSE), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric-differential scanning calorimetry (DSC-TG). It was showed that the compressive strength of the geopolymer sample was 15.1 MPa when the liquid solid ratio (L/S) was 0.7, sand-binder ratio was 3:1, alkaline activator used wet-based carbide slag, and the fly ash, red mud and carbide slag were prepared as the proportion of 4:3:3. Through scanning electron microscope, back scattered electron, energy dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and thermogravimetric-differential scanning calorimetry results, the spherical beads in fly ash were dissolved in the alkaline environment to form silicon and aluminum monomers and polymerized to synthesize C-S-H and C-A-S-H gels. Wet-based carbide slag played the role of calcium component support in C-A-S-H, C-S-H gels and alkaline activator.


The time is not far when at your favourite fast food corner instead of paying cash you will be transferring the money to their account. Mobile commerce has led to regular purchase of goods and services in a wireless environment. Massive growth of mobile phone subscribers has led to a boom with electronic commerce on mobile. Mobile phones have become an alternative channel for availing banking services. Mobile web payments, Mobile Billing, SMS based transactions, contactless near field communication have become the modes of payments. The need to carry physical money is fast disappearing. Your Sim card will soon act as your debit and credit card. M-Payments are being used to pay electricity bills, mobile phone bills & recharges, hospital bills, fare taxi & buses, etc. One such system of Mobile money: "M-Pesa" proposes a mobile payment system in which any person can send money to the receiver using his mobile phone. The system considering the unbanked population of India uses Mobile money accounts which can be recharged through vouchers. The sender specifies the amount in the application and sends it to the receiving party. The unbanked receiver can easily withdraw the amount from his mobile money account. MPesa's eventual goal is conversion of every mobile money account into a fully functional savings account.


Formation of second organic phase due to limiting solubility of tetravalent actinide solvates in organic solvent has been studied in a qualitative manner by several researchers. Quantitative relations for interactions among various solutes for second organic phase formation were not reported in open literature. In this contribution, an empirical model for U(IV) third phase formation in biphasic U(N03)4 H20-HN03-30%TBP/n-dodecane system has been reported. Empirical models were also developed for correlating various third phase characteristics like temperature dependency of third phase formation, volume and concentration of constituents-U(IV) and TBP. Performance of the reported models has been compared with models previously reported. For mutual separation of uranium and plutonium in contemporary salt-free PUREX flowsheets, it is customary to use a reducing agent (U(N03)4 or hydroxylamine nitrate) to reduce Pu(IV) to Pu(IIO and utilise practical inextractiblity of latter in the organic solvent. In reprocessing campaigns, due to several operational reasons, consumption of U(IV) (or any other reductant) is observed several times of that required stoichiometrically. It was reported that during the extraction of tetravalent actinide (i.e. U(IV), Pu(IV) and Th(IV», organic phase was to split into two phases whenever concentration of solvate exceeded it's solubility limit in the solvene-s. Thus for high plutonium flowsheet having U(IV) based partitioning, quantitative knowledge of limiting organic concentration of U(IV) is required for safe design of partitioning step. Siddall I discussed third phase formation in Th(IV) extraction from HN03 solutions with 30% TBP-Ultrasene solvent. Mills and Logan3 report~d third phase formation and reported solubility limits for Th(IV), Pu(IV) and U(IV) under limited conditions. Horner4 mentioned that lim~ting organic concentration. of Pu(IV) could be correlated to aqueous acidity, total nitrate salting strength or total ionic strength of the aqueous


In this paper, in order to evaluate quantitatively the effect of classroom teaching, an information communication model had been established based on modern information theory and Floridi's semantic information formula, under some hypotheses, and some logical conclusions had been gotten. An important theoretical approach had been proposed to analyze the improvement of the teaching effect.


A major challenge to state and jurisdictional policy makers in implementing the Early Intervention Program for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities, Part C under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA, 2004), continues to be determining definitions of developmental delay and criteria of eligibility for services to young children, birth through 2 years of age, and their families. Under Part C, participating states and jurisdictions must provide services to two groups of children: those who are experiencing developmental delays, and those who have a diagnosed mental or physical condition that has a high probability of resulting in developmental delay. In addition, states may choose to serve children who are at risk of experiencing a substantial developmental delay if early intervention services are not provided. (See Table 1 on page 2 for the statutory language relating to eligibility of infants and toddlers under Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004. Please note that as of June, 2006, federal regulations for this reauthorization have not been proposed. However, there were no substantive changes in the law in this area that would suggest regulatory changes. When the regulations are available this paper will be revised accordingly.) The task of defining the eligible population has been a challenge for states. Eligibility criteria influence the numbers and types of children needing or receiving services, the types of services provided, and ultimately the cost of the early intervention system. Over the years, several states have revised their definitions: some have narrowed their eligibility criteria and others have expanded them. Soon after the creation of the Early Intervention Program under IDEA, many states were interested in serving children at risk, but fears of highly increased numbers of eligible children and, therefore, highly increased costs, reduced the number of states that included children at risk in their eligibility definition. Several states that are not serving children at risk under their definition indicate that they will monitor the development of these children and refer them for early intervention services as delays are manifested.


Background Indoleamine 2,3-Dioxygenase(IDO)regulates the catabolism of Tryptophan(Trp) and suppresses T cells proliferation and enhances T cells apoptosis by consuming Trp. In normal physical status, IDO expresses in planceta preventing allogenic fetal rejection by catabolism of Trp. Expression of IDO in malignant tumor, elevated by the effect of IFN-γ, plays an important role in the mechanism of the immune escape which is the cell extrinsic traits of cancers. Many researches reveal increasing IDO level in malignant tumor, including colon cancer, bladder cancer and breast cancer, etc., related to the advanced stage and poor prognosis. The emphasis of this study is on the expressions of IDO and IFN-γ in pathological specimens from oral squamous cell carcinoma(OSCC)and the correlation between these expressions, clinical and pathologic parameters, and the survival time. Materials and Methods The goal in this study is examining the expression of IDO and IFN-γ in 62 specimens diagnosed as OSCC by immunohistochemistry(IHC) staining and recording the grade of positive staining as labeling index(LI). The correlations between the expression of IDO and IFN-γ, clinical and pathological parameter, the disease-free survival and overall survival were analyzed via student T test, ANOVA, linear regression, correlation analysis, including point-biserial correlation, Pearson correlation, Spearman correlation, Survival analysis, including Cox proportional hazard regression model and Kaplan-Meier plots. Results The average labeling index of IDO in OSCC specimens is 27.26%, and the average labeling index of IFN-Υ is 55.81%. The rate of specimens with high-IDO expression (LI≥40) in all OSCC specimens is 27.12% and the rate of the specimens with high-IFN-γ expression is 79.66%. The expressions of IDO and IFN-γ have significant correlation between each over (p=0.001), R=0.41 The labeling index of IDO has significant correlation between T status and tumor stage (p=0.22) (p=0.05). In the group with marginal involvement, the labeling index of IFN-γ is elevated significantly and there is a significant correlation between marginal involvement and LI of IFN-γ. The correlation between lymphovascular invasion and LI of IFN-γ is significant too. There is no correlation between the other clinical parameters and the expression of IDO and IFN-γ. In univariate Cox proportional hazard regression model, LI of IDO, N status and tumor differentiation are statistically significant. In multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression model, only N status is significant. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that patients had shorter overall survival time with high LI of IDO. The Log-Rank Test p value is 0.037. High LI of IFN-γ indicates the tendency of decreasing overall survival time in OSCC patients, but is not statistically significant. Conclusions The labeling index of IDO has significant correlation with the labeling index of IFN-γ, T status of tumor, and tumor stage. In OSCC patients, high expression of IDO indicates shorter overall survival. IDO and IFN-γ may have influence on each other and indicate advanced tumor stage and poor prognosis.


The thermal stability of UC was investigated using a modified Langmuir vapor pressure technique. Uranium monocarbide vaporized congruentiy over the range 2010 to 2230 deg C. At 2175 deg C, the congruently vaporizing composition was UC/sub 1.1/. The dominant mode of vaporization in the temperature range studied was UC/sub 1.1. yields U(g) + 1.1 C(g). The vaporization rate in a high vacuum environment ranged from 2.0 x 10/sup -6/ g/cm/sup 2/-sec at 2010 deg C to 38.3 x 10/sup -6/ g/cm/sup sec at 2230 deg C. The pressure of U over UC varied approximates linearly from 1.3 x 10/sup -7/ atm at 2010 deg C to 26 x 10/ sup -7/ atm at 2230 deg C, while the carbon pressure varied from 0.3 x 10/sup -7/ to 6.4 x 10/sup -7/ over the same range. The free energy change for vaporization in the range 2010 to 2230 deg C may be expressed as DELTA F = 306,000 -- 65T ( plus or minus 35 Kcal/gfw). The heat of vaporization of UC at 298 deg K is 324.6 plus or minus 2 Kcal/gfw. The standard heat of formation of UC/sub 1.1/ at 298 deg K is --19.4 plus or minus 2.0more » Kcal/gfw. (auth)« less


We consider delay differential algebraic equations (DDAEs) to model interconnected systems with time-delays. The DDAE framework does not require any elimination techniques and can directly deal with any interconnection of systems and controllers with timedelays. In this framework, we analyze the properties of the H-infinity norm of interconnected systems with time-delays. We show that the standard H-infinity norm may be sensitive to arbitrarily small delay perturbations. We introduce the strong H-infinity norm which is insensitive to small delay perturbations and describe its properties. We conclude that the strong H-infinity norm is more appropriate in any practical control application compared to the standard Hinfinity norm for systems with time-delays.


Abstract The crystal and molecular structure of the title compounds have been determined by X-ray analysis (N-(trichloroacetyl)morpholine, C6H8Cl3NO2, P21/a, a = 9.869(1) Å, b = 12.287(1) Å, c = 16.060(1) Å, β = 98.773(7)°, Z = 8; 2,6-di(trichloroacetyl)cyclohexanone, C10H8Cl6O3, Pbca, a = 10.553(1) Å, b = 15.405(2) Å, c = 18.435(2) Å, Z = 4). The morpholine and cyclohexane rings of both compounds adopt the chair conformation. There are some intra- and intermolecular hydrogen bonds in the title compounds, so the crystal structures of them are stabilized by C—H...Cl and C—H...O intra- and inter molecular hydrogen bonds.


In parallel to the unique history of writing instruction, Canadian writing specialists have drawn on different theories and principles from the U.S. literature in building their writing studies scholarship (Giltrow, 2016; Graves, 1993; Graves & Graves, 2006; Pare, 2017; Smith, 2006). This is evident in the "Statement on Writing Centres and Staffing" published by the Canadian Journal for Studies of Discourse and Writing (Graves, 2016). As a doctoral student researching U.S.-based writing centres from day one of graduate school, one striking cross-border difference I find was the statement's clear recommendation that writing centres are fundamentally teaching units in which students learn to write in their disciplines. In American writing centre theory, peer tutoring is the basis of writing centre philosophy, with some claiming that the tutor's unfamiliarity of the tutee's discipline enhances the non-hierarchical learning environment (Bruffee, 1995; North, 1984; Pemberton, 1995).


with it an inevitable challenge to traditional modes of behavior. This may or may not be. Likewise, Gomez speaks of social change in Peru and cites increasing school enrollment from the slum areas as an example. That the school system is different in one sense cannot be doubted. But whether this has led to a basic change in the underlying complexion of the school system or, more importantly, in the larger political system is an open question. In both cases the authors are making statements about relationships that are implied by the models; they are not, however, relationships that have been empirically verified. Indeed, if a good deal of evidence from Latin America is to be believed, many so-called modernizing forces have not brought about any fundamental alteration of the existing systems. A more useful model might have been one that concentrated less upon "transitional" politics, with all of its problematic implications, and more upon what is fixed or stable in many Latin American countries: namely, the essentially closed, often coercive and illegitimate nature of the systems involved. Such a model has its own limitations. Yet it would avoid the problem of trying to classify and weigh the importance of traditional, as against modern, behavior patterns and would focus attention upon actual power relationships. In particular, it would tend to stress the extent to which both traditional and emerging elites have acted rather consistently, and often by force, to maintain a fundamental distance between themselves and the vast majority of the population. Gomez does recognize these factors in various places but his actual discussion of specific elites and their relationship to the system is extremely limited. The Church, for example, is dismissed in two paragraphs, the economy is briefly outlined but virtually no mention is made of the large landowners, and the APRA party is seen as providing a basic "cleavage" within society rather than as a force tending to maintain the status quo. The result is to omit from consideration important environmental forces which often fuse with and reinforce the elitist qualities of the administrative system itself and consequently to place that system in a kind of political limbo. These points are less applicable both to Mexico itself and to Fernandez' study. It could be argued, however, that Mexico is less open and adaptive than presented and that greater attention could have been devoted to the continued or increased disparity between social classes, the close interplay between private and public power, the often alienative impact of administration at the local level, and the sharply repressive response of the Mexican government to the 1968 student riots. Both studies would seem to be best suited for undergraduate use. The Mexican study is well recommended, the Peruvian analysis less so.—GILES WAYLAND-SMITH, Allegheny College.


Measurements are presented of the frequency dependence of Rayleigh scattering in a bidirectional optical system at 0.83 and 1.3 μm. The results are compared with a theoretical model. The functional forms of the frequency dependencies at both wavelengths are in good agreement with theory; however, the absolute magnitudes of the Rayleigh back-scattered light levels are lower than predicted.


OBJECTIVES:Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is used by 42% of the U.S. population. Its use among patients with chronic liver disease has not been well defined. Toward that end, we surveyed patients in six geographically diverse liver disease clinics in the United States for use of CAM.METHODS:Patients attending six liver disease clinics were polled via a common questionnaire regarding their use of CAM. Demographic information was obtained to identify predictors of CAM use. Statistical analysis included univariate and multivariate analysis using logistic regression.RESULTS:A total of 989 patients completed the questionnaire. Of these, 389 (39%) admitted to using some form of CAM at least once during the preceding month; 21% admitted to using herbal preparations, and 13% used herbs to treat their liver disease. Five variables were found to be predictive of alternative therapy use: female sex, young age, level of education, annual income, and geographic location. In all, 74% of patients reported using CAM in addition to the medications prescribed by their physician, but 26% did not inform their physician of their CAM use.CONCLUSIONS:CAM use is as common among patients visiting liver disease clinics in the United States as in the general population (39% vs 42%). Many patients are using herbs to treat their liver disease but are declining to discuss this use with their physician.


Abstract A study surveying 247 local education inspectors responsible for visiting and supervising 57,314 teachers is reported in order to build a portrait of conditions in Nigerian primary schools several years after the initiation of universal primary education. Inspectors described training and living conditions of their teachers and conditions of schools and supplies. The results suggest that many teachers are undertrained, additional classrooms are needed and basic teaching aids and textbooks are in short supply. The study concludes that quality education does occur in Nigerian primary schools; that a cadre of trained teachers is developing; and that the potential for high-quality mass primary education exists.


Naturally occurring gravity currents include events such as air flowing through an open front door, a volcanic eruption's pyroclastic flow down a mountainside, and the spread of the Bhopal disaster's methyl isocyanate gas. Gravity currents typically have a small height-to-distance ratio. Plastic models were designed and constructed with a restricted horizontal liquid flow using a series of connected cells that produced high viscosity laminar liquid flow planar and radial gravity currents. Because these gravity currents had a large height-to-distance ratio, they were easy to observe. Incremental transfer equations were used in spreadsheets to calculate the expected gravity current profiles. The calculated profiles were in good agreement with the liquid heights in the model's cells at steady state. The steady-state profile for the planar viscous laminar flow gravity current was an x axis parabola.


Microbial turnover of soil organic matter (SOM) is key for the terrestrial carbon (C) cycle. Its underlying mechanisms, however, are not fully understood. The role of soil microbes for organic matter turnover has so far been studied mainly from the point of view of microbial physiology, stoichiometry or community composition. In this project, we aim to shed new light on it from the perspective of complex systems science.


The question remains, are Health care provider (HCP) are able to give them QOL? 4. There is inequality in life expectancy across gender in India, makes women outlive men and face financial social and psychological problems, which in turn affects their QOL 5. In India, chronic NCDs: CVDs, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes, typically start a decade earlier (around 45 years and older) than in high‐income countries. Multimorbidity steeply rises in middle‐aged adults with the accumulation of different chronic conditions, which plateaus among the elderly cause of poor QOL 6. At most important, there is no government focus on programs related to the midlife health of men and women. Government of India (GOI) focus is confined to sexual and reproductive health; there is an urgent need for political will to roll out health programs for midlife of the health of men and women to improve their health QOL productivity so they can contribute to nation building.


According the tourism development in Jinan, a Travel Information System (TIS) based on WebGIS was designed in this paper. The system adopted the implementation method of WebGIS technology based on ASP and SurperMap to issue the maps, consequently makes tourist to obtain interactive and dynamic tour map including maps, words and voice. The system's construction will provide reliable information and evidence for the management and development tourism of Jinan.


PURPOSE: A complex bad smell removing purification apparatus using an underwater plasma generating device is provided to purify polluted gas, and to secure the excellent process efficiency. CONSTITUTION: A complex bad smell removing purification apparatus using an underwater plasma generating device comprises the following: the underwater plasma generating device(100) including an underwater plasma reactor, a regulator, a electronic neon-transformer, and a porous bubbling unit; a tower type cleaning device(200) including a water treatment tank(204), promoting the forced circulation and the contact oxidation reaction of plasma processing water; and an activated charcoal hollow tower(300) for processing high concentration generated discharge ozone generated from plasma.


ADDITIONAL INDEX WORDS. benefits of plants, emotional responses, foliage plants, human-horticulture relationships, human issues in horticulture, human well- being, pain, people-plant interactions, response to nature, room assessment SUMMARY. A well-known research report showed that being in a hospital room with a view of trees rather than a view of a building was linked to the use of fewer pain-reducing medications by patients recovering from surgery. The experiment reported here was designed to further examine the role of plants in pain perception. We found that more subjects were willing to keep a hand submerged in ice water for 5 min if they were in a room with plants present than if they were in a room without plants. This was found to be true even when the room without plants had other colorful objects that might help the subject focus on something other than the discomfort. Results from a room assessment survey confirmed that the room with colorful, nonplant objects was as interesting and colorful as the room with plants present, but the presence of plants was perceived as making the air in the room fresher.


fundamentals of baseball. The local professional team was a "single A" (one step above "rookie league") affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. Her request was a surprise because the only experience she'd ever had with baseball was as our college team's "bat girl" when I was coaching. I agreed to sign her up because I've always encouraged her to try new challenges. As the first day of the camp approached, she was both excited and nervous, hoping she'd not be embarrassed either because of her gender or because of a lack of great hitting or fielding skills. It reminded me of how my students, especially "nontraditional" freshmen, feel just before the start of their first semester. Unwarranted apprehension is often the greatest killer of students' spirit. No one wants to look silly or out of place. The first morning at the ballpark, I stood in a long line, with dozens of other parents, to get Ashley registered (she received a team cap and T-shirt, along with a promise of lunches each day). There were about a hundred kids, most of them twelve and younger-and most of them boys-all milling around the infield, tossing baseballs and running the bases on this "real diamond." Although most of the parents sped away in their minivans, I decided to stick around for a little while, mainly to give Ashley moral support. I was also curious about how effective the instruction would be, from an educator's standpoint. I wound up staying for the entire time-not just that day, but all three days. Running the camp was the team manager, Ruben Amaro, a former major league Gold Glove shortstop with several teams, primarily the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees. Also on the field with the kids


There has been growing scholarly discourse on the topic of diversifying the teacher workforce. However, the perspectives of human resource officers (HROs), who are often involved in the hiring of teachers, are excluded. As a result, this qualitative study explores 12 school district HROs' perspectives on diversifying the teacher workforce and how intuition specifically influences their hiring decisions of teachers of color. Findings suggest HROs use intuition in determining a candidate's fit for the organization, but they have conflicting perspectives on whether intuition should be used in hiring decisions. The participants admit teacher diversity is not always their primary goal in hiring decisions while also acknowledging the importance of a diversified teacher workforce. These findings first point to the importance of including HROs in the scholarly discourse on diversifying the teaching profession as in many ways they operate as gatekeepers for teacher candidates. Moreover, given that participants earned their advanced degrees in educational leadership, findings from this study signal the importance of educational leadership programs being intentional in providing coursework on equitable hiring practices, so hiring decisions are not based only on intuitive hunches, but rather on data.


Public funds have been the subject of many discussions regarding its implementation. The funds allocated to different sectors of the public administration, in fact, has been applied in a rational way and based on the principles of economy and supply the actual needs. To understand on expenses related to public funds transferred by the Federal Government and Municipal to public schools that serve elementary school in the city of Santa Maria RS, this study aims to identify the application of resources for current expenses (cost) and investment in education at the municipal level of Santa Maria / RS. This study is a documental research, with a quantitative approach. Data collection was conducted in 52 elementary schools, which 1 Aluna do Pós-Graduação Lato Sensu em Gestão Pública da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria. 2 Professor orientador do estudo, curso de Pós-Graduação Lato Sensu em Gestão Pública da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria.


Concerning the complexity of the economic changing and aiming at enhance the system performance,the system structure and each agent designing thought are given in research on the designing strategies about economic forecasting system based on agent.


The Yiddish folksongs, born among the poorer sections of the Jewish population in Eastern Europe, reflected the needs, the sorrows and the hopes of the ordinary people, oppressed by poverty and the whims of the authorities and their collaborators in the Tsarist Pale of Settlement. The following article, presented in two parts (the second part to follow in a forthcoming issue), discusses some aspects of the history of Yiddish folksongs, with illustrations by transliterated Yiddish texts, accompanied by literal translations which cannot fully convey the flavour of the original. Ruth Rubin, a pioneer in the field of research on the subject and herself, of course, a popular singer of the folksongs in her own unique interpretation, is the author of 'VOICES OF A PEOPLE, the Story of Yiddish Folksongs', published by McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York (2nd edition, 1973).


Nowadays, the CAN bus technology has become a popular communication way in more vehicles. Each electronic control unit in the automotive control network based on CAN bus can be regarded as an intelligent node, in which ID address, bitrates, work mode, etc. are set through programming. In this paper, the hardware rationale and the control software of the intelligent node were elaborated in details. Additional, the anti-jamming measures in the automobile work circumstance were introduced.


This paper focuses on selecting a suitable standalone power supply system for a small and remote off-grid town in Western Australia, Australia. To limit the cost of power supply system and to propose the most economically feasible solution for this town, different systems are considered. The considered systems, varied from a diesel-generator-based option towards a hybrid system composed of a diesel generator, wind turbine, a photovoltaic system and battery energy storage are analyzed by the help of HOMER software and using the real demand data of the town as well as the prices of different electrical components in the Australian market. The scenario which yields the minimum cost of energy and the minimum net present cost is defined and suggested. A sensitivity analysis is also performed to evaluate the impact of uncertainties of some of the parameters in the outcome of the study.


A user authentication scheme that uses any form of social knowledge, utilizes users" trust relationships, monitors users" social contexts, or records users" friend associations for granting or denying access to any resource is considered a social authentication scheme. "The direct or indirect utilization of social knowledge or trust relationships in human-computer authentication systems deployed in online or offline contexts." In this study we analyze the security of social media in basic prospective of type of authentication, possible threats and terms to protect authentication from that threat.


The main issue in the labour markets of the 1980s will be technological innovation and its consequences. About this I propose to ask four questions.


We present results from a study of the performance of the MMT thermal system. The 6.5-m MMT primary mirror consists of a borosilicate honeycomb structure that is thermally controlled with a forced-air ventilation system. We will give an overview of both the measurement and control systems. Our goal is to define an algorithm for control of the ventilation system such that the primary mirror temperature closely tracks ambient while minimizing thermal gradients. Future work will include a study of correlations between the thermal state of the primary mirror and both seeing and wavefront errors. The thermal system is currently controlled by the telescope operators, but the results from this work will assist in fully automating the system.


Multiple fractal dimensions are used to characterize morphological changes that occur when an aerosol composed of irregularly shaped agglomerates is subject to condensation followed by evaporation. The agglomerates change from a branched, chainlike structure to a more regular, near-spherical or clumplike structure reflected in a decrease in the structural fractal dimension. The textural fractal dimension remains constant because the primary particles, of which the agglomerates are composed, do not change in shape. The degree of supersaturation and the number of condensation-evaporation cycles that the aerosol undergoes are major factors that influence morphological change. Even at low supersaturations, increasing the number of condensation-evaporation cycles makes the agglomerates more regular and thus decreases the structural fractal dimension. The transition point in the Richardson plot is a good indicator of the size of the primary particles in the agglomerate.


trans N-acylation of acetanilides with α-chloropropionyl chloride catalysed by AlCl3 has been shown to occur efficiently, affording 2-chloro-N-phenylpropanamides in preparative yields.


This paper discusses the residues of a somatic countertransference that revealed its meaning several years after apparently successful analytic work had ended. Psychoanalytic and Jungian analytic ideas on primitive communication, dissociation and enactment are explored in the working through of a shared respiratory symptom between patient and analyst. Growth in the analyst was necessary so that the patient's communication at a somatic level could be understood. Bleger's concept that both the patient's and analyst's body are part of the setting was central in the working through.


Based on the ahievement of epitaxial growth in several Perovskite oxide films,we discuss the importance of substrate temperature (T s ) and substrate material in the epitaxial growth of per-ovskite oxide thin films.Influences of T s on growth orientation and epitaxial threshold temperature were observed.The results indicate that during the growth of the oxide films the phase formation and growth dynamics should be taken into considera tion.The threshold temperature for epitaxial growth depends on the substrate materials.This demonstrates the influence of substrate material on the initial nucleation and epitaxial growth.


Purpose: To assess edentulous patient awareness, expectations, and source of information about dental implants (DIs). Materials and methods: Edentulous patients' knowledge and awareness in using DIs, as an option in replacing missing teeth, either in implant-supported fixed prosthesis or implantsupported overdenture, were evaluated through a standardized self-explanatory questionnaire distributed in three places: King Saud Hospital, AL Harkan Private Dental Clinics (in Unaizah), and College of Dentistry, Qassim University. The questionnaires were either handed to the patients during their regular dental visits or asked by the dentist. A total of 178 subjects were included in this survey. Results: About 93.3% of participants were aware of DIs, with statistically significant difference between the study groups (p = 0. 012). The participants' friends and relatives were the main source of information (49.40%), followed by dentists (33.70%). Approximately 41.60% were moderately informed about DIs. Over one-third of patients expected an implant to require more care than natural teeth (39.80%). About 65.3, 73.6, and 80% of single missing, partially, and completely edentulous patients respectively, preferred to have their teeth replaced with DIs. Improvement in function was the predominant reason for completely edentulous patients (57.9%) to consider DIs, while 37.6 and 41.4% of single missing and partially edentulous patients were considered DIs to avoid adjacent teeth damaging. Fear of surgical risks was the major factor in preventing patients from choosing DIs (13.5%), followed by high cost (9.6%) and unknown side effects (6.2%). Conclusion: There was a high awareness about DIs among removable denture patients; however, this awareness was associated with a low level of accurate information. Recommendations: There is a need to provide more accurate information about DIs to the patients by the dentists.


The unified theory of dynamic space has been conceived and written by Professor Physicist Naoum Gosdas, inspired from the principle of antithesis (opposition), because of which all natural phenomena are created. These phenomena are derived from the unique absolute dynamic space. So, the explanation of Michelson-Morley experiment is based on the above theory, namely on both actual and the known apparent reduction of light speed, without the second postulate of relativity. The actual reduction of light speed happens only when the light is transmitted on moving material systems, on which the cohesive pressure of the proximal space is reduced.


Marine phospholipids contain a high amount of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), which have documented beneficial effect on human health. Due to this, marine phospholipids have a high potenti ...


Most of the mineral matter was extracted from Illinois No. 6 coal, a representative bituminous coal, by first leaching it with a hot alkaline solution and then with a dilute mineral acid. The alkalis employed, in decreasing effectiveness, were: (1) NaOH, (2) Na2CO3, (3) NaHCO3. The results generally agreed with those obtained in leaching quartz, kaolinite, and iron pyrite individually under similar conditions. The quartz was solubilized by the stronger alkalis. Kaolinite was largely converted to sodium hydroaluminosilicates such as analcime, hydroxycancrinite, and natrodavyne. A portion of the iron pyrite was converted to hematite, the amount depending on alkali strength and temperature. The sodium hydroaluminosilicates and hematite were subsequently extracted by acid. Disciplines Catalysis and Reaction Engineering | Other Chemical Engineering | Petroleum Engineering Comments Reprinted (adapted) with permission from Mineral Matter and Ash in Coal, Chapter 34, pp 462–472. Copyright 1986 American Chemical Society. This book chapter is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cbe_pubs/270


Low penetrance of Parkinson's disease (PD) associated with GBA pathogenic variants indicates the presence of modifiers genes. Clusters of PD cases in certain families with GBA variants would serve as a strong evidence for the clinical relevance of such modifiers. We studied eight family trees of non-Parkinsonian, GBA-N370S homozygote, Gaucher probands, with multiple cases of PD. Differences in PD risk associated with different GBA variants were balanced by variant homozygosity. In these families, all PD cases stemmed from only one of the proband's parents. This observation provides a direct epidemiological evidence for genetic modifiers determining PD risk in GBA variant carriers.


In this paper, a novel method called offset modulation (OM-OFDM) is proposed, to control the peak-to-average power ratio of an OFDM signal. The theoretical bandwidth occupancy of the proposed offset modulated signal is derived. Using this bandwidth occupancy a closed form theoretical bit error rate (BER) expression for an offset modulated transmission is further derived, validated and compared to OFDM. Thereafter, the authors present a newly applied decision metric, which is used to compare the offset modulated method to the traditional OFDM transmission. After studying these results, OM-OFDM is shown to offer between 1.23 dB - 1.65 dB net performance gain at a BER of 10^-4 when compared to an OFDM transmission in frequency selective fading and additive white Gaussian noise channel conditions respectively.


It has long been recognised that there is a correlation between Gross National Product and energy consumption. The same could be said of education, because the availability of financial resources affects the scope of educational policy. Global energy problems demonstrate the need to improve both the level of energy awareness of the general public and the level of higher education in energy–related fields. These needs are especially acute in the developing world. Unesco, with the assistance of eminent scholars from around the world, is creating a series of engineering courses designed for use in both academic and industrial institutions. The courses have a practical rather than academic bias, while maintaining a strong intellectual base.


This paper discusses a novel deposition route of size-selected metal clusters, specifically AgN+ (where N = 2700), on graphite. The clusters are produced via a magnetron sputtering, gas aggregation cluster beam source and are size selected via a lateral time-of-flight mass filter. These clusters are deposited on a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) target predecorated with surface defects via Ar+ sputtering. Scanning tunnelling spectroscopy (STM) reveals a stable, randomly dispersed array of Ag2700 clusters after deposition.


ADAMTS-13 is a protease, member of the ADAMTS family (A Disintegrin and Metalloproteinase with ThromboSpondin type 1 repeats-13), which cleaves the cell bound large ultrapolymeric von Willebrand factor (vWF) strings. Circulating ADAMTS-13 is primarily synthesized and released from hepatic stellate and endothelial cells. Acquired functional deficiency of ADAMTS-13, usually due to inhibitory IgG autoantibodies, results in excessive platelet aggregation and disseminated vWF/platelet-rich thrombus formation. A possible association of low levels of ADAMTS-13 Ag with arterial thrombosis and endothelial dysfunction has also been reported. Hivert and colleagues (Blood 2012;120:3214-21) and our group have shown that increased levels of vWF, the only known substrate of ADAMTS-13, are associated with poorer prognosis in patients with symptomatic Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia (WM). Thus, our aim was to investigate the possible association of ADAMTS-13 antigen (Ag) levels with features of WM and possible biologic implications of the ADAMTS-13 / vWF interaction in WM patients' prognosis. Our study included 42 patients with symptomatic WM who were treated and followed in the Department of Clinical Therapeutics of the University of Athens (Greece), from 1999 to 2012, 22 patients with asymptomatic WM and 19 healthy controls of matched gender and age. For the purpose of this study we used stored serum, which had been collected before initiation of any therapy. ADAMTS-13 antigen levels were measured using a commercially available kit (R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN, USA), which has a detection limit for ADAMTS-13 13 (ng/mL) with intra- and inter-Assay Precisions of The median age of patients with symptomatic WM was 65 years (range: 37-83 years) and 54% were males. Anemia (Hb 3 mg/dl in 56%, while 7.5% had serum LDH ≥250 U/L and 58% had serum albumin The median levels of ADAMTS-13 in patients with symptomatic WM were 848 ng/ml (range 471-1622 ng/ml), while those of patients with asymptomatic WM were 875 ng/ml (range 280.5-1466 ng/nl) and of healthy controls were 1170 ng/ml (range 770-1598 ng/ml). Thus, there was a statistically significant difference in the levels of ADAMTS-13 between patients with either symptomatic or asymptomatic WM and normal individuals (p 0.5 for both), and thus, a direct link between increased vWF Ag levels, which are found in patients with WM, and compensatory ADAMTS-13 Ag levels cannot be supported by our data. The levels of ADAMTS-13 Ag had no prognostic association with overall or progression free survival in patients with symptomatic WM. In conclusion, this is the first evaluation of ADAMTS-13 Ag levels in the serum of patients with WM, in which we found that the levels of ADAMTS-13 Ag are lower compared to healthy controls and these reduced levels inversely correlate with IgM levels, beta2-microglobulin and the degree of bone marrow infiltration. Levels of ADAMTS-13 do not increase in compensation to increased levels of vWF Ag, a marker of endothelial activation and this fact may have biological implications yet to be investigated. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


This paper describes a measurement set up based on a synchronous sampling system which allows the realization of the henry directly from the ohm and the second. This new set up improved the realization of the henry at METAS by a factor of 5. For the calibration of a 100 mH inductance standard at a frequency of 1 kHz, the expanded uncertainty amounts now to 15 muH/H.


The article reviews the present status of production technologies and supply/demand of polypropylene in the world,the perspective of development of polypropylene in the 5 coming years is presented.


The sudden decline of Nova Herculis in April 1935 was explained by W. Grotrian1 as a result of sudden cessation of ejection of material from the star. If the photosphere is simply an optical level in the expanding cloud, a decrease of ejection will produce an apparent decrease of effective photospheric radius and luminosity of the star. The recovery of light was attributed by Grotrian to the increase of brightness of the emission bands of the nebula as the ionization gradually adjusted to the new energy distribution of the continuum of the central star. More recently F. J. M. Stratton2 has suggested that the deep minimum was caused by the formation of a molecular cloud between the star and the outermost (principal) ejected shell. D. ter Haar3 has made some calculations that tend to support this hypothesis. Both Stratton and ter Haar indicate that the oscillations of Nova Persei 1901 also may have been due to variable obscuration. On the other hand, B. Vorontsov-Velyaminov4 regards the oscillations as due to variations of dimensions and temperature of the effective photosphere, a view essentially in accord with that of Grotrian.


We prove a new formula for the number of integral points on an elliptic curve over a function field without assuming that the coefficient field is algebraically closed. This is an improvement on the standard results of Hindry-Silverman. 2000Mathematics subject classification : primary 11G05; secondary 14H52.


Some members of the operating team need thirty strokes of the brush, others only nine. It depends largely on how often they scrub and how well.


Food and water are inextricably linked. As the virus moves to low-income countries and water scarce regions, its worst impact could be among vulnerable populations with no access to basic water services. Many of the world's poor do not have access to running water and soap, the first line of defence against COVID-19. UN-Water recently reported that 2.2 billion people do not have safely managed drinking water, 4.2 billion go without safe sanitation services and three billion lack basic handwashing facilities. Furthermore, an estimated 896 million people use health care facilities with no water and 1.5 billion use health facilities with no sanitation. These conditions present a source of stress and disease, particularly for vulnerable and marginalised communities where people sometimes need to skip bathing to save water for cooking.


Existing infrared (IR) small target detection methods are divided into local priors-based and nonlocal priors-based ones. However, due to heterogeneous structures in IR images, using either local or nonlocal information is always suboptimal, which causes detection performance to be unstable and unrobust. To solve the issue, a comprehensive method, exploiting both local and nonlocal priors, is proposed. The proposed method framework includes dual-window local contrast method (DW-LCM) and multiscale-window IR patch-image (MW-IPI). In the first stage, DW-LCM designs dual-window to compensate for the shortcomings of local priors-based methods, which easily mistake some isolated weak-signal targets. In the second stage, MW-IPI utilizes several small windows with various sizes, which can not only decrease the redundant information generated by sliding windows, but also extract more discriminative information to prevent some pixels in the strong-border edge from being falsely detected. Then, multiplication pooling operation is employed to enhance the target separation and suppress the background clutter simultaneously. Experimental results using five real IR datasets with various scenes reveal the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method.


Although diffusion processes take place in a variety of social systems, they have rarely been studied within the context of an organization. Yet when the intraorganizational part of the diffusion of an innovation is gradual or differs among organizations, the overall diffusion of that innovation is affected.The authors explore the applicability of the traditional diffusion perspective in an intraorganizational context. They compare the explanatory power of factors emphasized by the traditional diffusion perspective with that of factors deemphasized or neglected by that perspective. The setting is the diffusion of electronic switching technology within the operating companies of the Bell System before its divestiture. The results suggest that the traditional perspective may not apply exactly within organizations because factors other than those traditionally emphasized seem to play an important role in the diffusion of innovations within organizations.


AbstractThe effect of curing conditions (sealed and standard) on the mechanical properties of fly ash (FA) and ground-granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBFS)–based alkali-activated materials with NaO...


Normally the vitreous body is a gel in a high state of turgescence. According to Duke-Elder, the vitreous contains only 0.0652 per cent total protein, divided into mucoprotein, residual protein, albumin and globulin. On filtered vitreous, Hesselvik (1939) differentiated by electrophoresis globulins, albumins, and hyalomucoids. The albumin was a somewhat faster moving component than the serum albumin. Brunish, Rowen, Rodman and Irwine (1954) distinguished albumin, alpha and beta-globulin in vitreous, but no gamma-globulin, and noted that albumin/globulin quotient was lower than in serum. Rao, Kulkarni, Cooper and Radhakrishnan (1955) found large amounts of gamma-globulin, some albumin, and a small, faster moving component. The vitreous is readily transformed to sol. if slightly traumatized or treated with hyaluronic acid. The liquefied vitreous of which the ophthalmologists have great experience in connection with cataract extractions, is due, according to Duke-Elder, to changed metabolism owing to low-grade toxins or to slight inflammatory processes. Supply of foreign inflammatory products from inflammations of uvea and retina causes accumulation of exudate, invasion of leukocytes, etc. On measuring the albumin content of the vitreous, Franceschetti and Wieland (1928) obtained 0.213 per cent in a case of glaucoma. Foreign albuminous substances are readily absorbed by the vitreous. Even if an eye is preserved at a temperature of 0 degrees for a day only, the protein will increase to the double (Brunish, Rowen, Rodman and Irwine, 1954). Among previous investigations by paper electrophoresis, that of Stemmerman (1952) may be mentioned. In a case of melano chorioideae with yellowish liquefied vitreous, he obtained a blood-serum-like proteinogram. In the same year d'Erno, in a case of tuberculous uveitis, obtaine& hyalomucoid 21.9 per cent, albumin 9.6 per cent, and globulin 13.2 per cent. Cagianut and Wunderly (1953) used paper electrophoresis in four cases: one each of melanoma and hydrophthalmus, and two of glaucoma. After concen-


Clathrate hydrates are solid inclusion compounds in which cages formed by a water host structure accommodate guest molecules of appropriate size and shape. Dynamic properties of the clathrate hydrate containing tetrahydrofuran (THF) guest molecules have been investigated using solid-state 2H NMR techniques, including line shape analysis and spin−lattice relaxation time (T1) measurements. 2H NMR results for THF−D2O suggest that there are at least two dynamically distinguishable types of water molecule, both undergoing four-site tetrahedral jump motions but with different rates. The population ratio may be assigned as 3:1, consistent with the known crystal structure. Above 193 K, the dynamics of both components are in the intermediate motion regime (10-7 s ≲ τc ≲ 10-3 s). From analysis of the 2H NMR line shapes, the jump rates have been determined as a function of temperature, and activation parameters have been estimated. The 2H NMR spectrum for THF-d8−H2O comprises a single line, which broadens and change...


SummaryAll five abscissants tested enhanced lemon fruit removal compared with unsprayed controls when the fruits were mechanically shaken off the trees one week after treatment. However, two abscissant combinations incorporating dikegulac-sodium or ethephon were no better than either compound used alone. Ethephon as Ethrel, which was the most effective of the compounds used, induced 88% removal of mature lemons with 43% true abscission and reduced the fruit detachment force from 8.9 to 6.8 kg cm-2. It also resulted in the lowest percentage of fruit removed with stems, 51% compared with 69% for untreated fruit.


Abstract. The characteristics of ecosystem functions are of great significance for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services. Ecosystem functional types (EFTs) are land surface areas similar in carbon dynamics that are not defined by the structure and composition of vegetation and represent the spatial heterogeneity of ecosystem functions. However, identification of EFTs based on low-resolution remote sensing data cannot satisfy the needs of fine-scale characterization of regional ecosystem functionality patterns, and a more accurate and optimized method of identifying EFTs also deserves attention. Here, we characterize EFTs at a county scale based on subtractive fuzzy cluster means (SUBFCM) and Sentinel-2 time-series data. The normalized difference vegetation index, the fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation, and canopy water content and their derived variables in the growing season were selected as ecosystem functional indicators to characterize regional EFT diversity patterns. The correspondence analysis method was used to reveal relationships between the EFTs and land cover structure information, and further analysis of EFTs was performed with soil type data. Our results showed that the selected variables indicating carbon and water flux of the regional ecosystems could be adopted in ecosystem functional classification. The SUBFCM algorithm can automatically divide EFTs with faster convergence speed and reduced subjectivity. The obtained EFTs based on Sentinel-2 images reflected the internal structure of carbon balance well and the distribution pattern of ecosystem functional diversity at a fine scale. A reference for further optimization of the EFT identification algorithm and development of the understanding of spatial heterogeneity of temperate terrestrial ecosystem functions was provided.


This is the second article in a continuing education series on chronobiology. The first article presented an overview of the general concepts and terminology of this new biological discipline. This article focuses on chronobiological variations in endocrine function, including the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of endocrine and endocrine-related diseases. Chronobiological signals from a neuroendocrine, biological clock located in the brain result in cyclic hormone secretion from the pituitary and peripheral endocrine glands into the bloodstream. These cyclic secretory patterns result in predictable fluctuations in hormonal levels that occur every 24 hours or less. With few exceptions, the normal reference ranges for hormonal analytes found in clinical laboratory handbooks fail to reflect these daily rhythms of hormone secretion. As a result, the collection and interpretation of endocrine laboratory data


Robotic technologies can provide people with disabilities the invaluable tools to perform Activities of Daily Living (ADL). Few studies have investigated how effective and accessible the control of robotic aids is for people with severe physical disabilities with respect to their needs and current facility with technology. Though present-day robotic aids can help people with disabilities with important daily living tasks, there is still room for improvement. In this chapter, an overview of the state-of-the-art robotics that help promote independence for people with disabilities, especially individuals with physical limitations, is presented. Active research areas supporting tasks and services for persons with physical disabilities include development of robotic prototypes, designed specifically for domestic applications, rehabilitation, mobility assistance, personal hygiene care and meal assistance, and education and employment. Existing challenges and recommendations to support and increase independence for persons with motor limitations with robotics technologies are provided as insight to advance research.


Producinghigh-quality products has emerged-as a crucial component of corporate success in today's marketplace. In this regard, establishing and holding to software product to assess the present quality standardto environment and promote system to improvethe quality of the productit significance. Testing software is an essential step in the software development process. This technique is more accurate and effective when it is automated. Emerged new testing tools for automated testing. The selection of the proper tools has become a challenging and confusing activity as a result of the abundance and variety of testing instruments. The current study attempts to assess the current research areas and trends on this subject that have appeared in the literature over the previous twelve years. Based on their titles and abstracts, 50 conference and article papers on SPQM published in the interval 2010 and 2022 were subjected to Systematic Mapping (SM) research. The findings are presented using a combination of diagrams, written explanations, and mind-mapping techniques, which include a trend map for the period from 2010 to 2022, details about the field and measurement techniques, identified areas for improvement, and consistency across sources such as conference papers, journal articles, and internationally recognized quality models. Future research that aims to advance this important topic may build on the outcome of this study. This research may provide a starting point for further investigations meant to advance this vital area of study


In order to research the differences of degradation effect on coke between potassium and sodium, gaseous adsorption experiments on coke in potassium and sodium atmospheres were carried out,and the coke samples were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy(SEM),energy dispersive spectrometry(EDS),X-ray diffraction(XRD) and thermal properties test.It is found that sodium more easily covers the surface of coke in surface-absorbed form,so the absorption amount of sodium is greater than that of potassium in the alkali atmospheres with the same mass ratio. Alkali metals absorbed on the surface of micropores have resistant effect on the solution loss reaction of coke.Compared with sodium in sodium-adsorbed coke,in the same absorption amount condition,more potassium in potassium-absorbed coke chemically combines with carbon and thus potassium-absorbed coke has a higher reactivity.In addition,potassium has strong destroying effect on coke.Potassium atoms can intercalate into carbon layers and cause the multidimensional expansion of microcrystals,which leads to breakages in the microstructure of coke.These new cracks result in the different ways of solution loss between potassium-adsorbed coke and sodium-adsorbed coke.


The presently reported finding of leopard pleco, Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps (Kner, 1854) (Loricariidae), in open waters of the Brda River in the centre of Bydgoszcz, constitutes the first record of a southAmerican loricariid fish species in Poland. The specimen found is described and illustrated. The finding is discussed in association with other alien species sightings in Poland. The described leopard pleco is possibly the next example of an emerging alien fish species in inland Polish waters.


Badminton is a very complex sport that requires the players to have speed, strength, endurance, and dexterity during the game. It is one of the most demanding racquet sports. Because of the changes in direction and of the jumping, many badminton players suffer from injuries in their lower limbs. Most badminton players suffer from various leg and foot injuries, such as: sprains, strains, ligament tears, etc. The rate of injury in badminton is quite high, and it is important for the athletes to perform a good warm up and to use special equipment for this sport, in order to prevent such injuries.


Full Immunization (a child having received BCG, 3 doses of oral polio, three doses of pneumococcal conjugate, three doses of pentavalent and measles vaccine) against vaccine preventable diseases reduces deaths of under-fives in developing countries. Zimbabwe records show low full immunization coverage of 69.2% in 2015 and the causalities are poorly understood. We examine factors undermining full immunization coverage among children aged 12-23 months in Chadereka community, Centenary district. We adopted a cross sectional study design using modified cluster sampling method to select study participants. Fifteen systematically selected clusters of 8 children were utilized to determine full immunization coverage. Data collection was done using a pretested structured questionnaire and analysed using excel software. Mothers (n=120) with children (aged 12-23 months) were sampled and history of immunization was extracted from child's baby card plus mother's history. We found that 64.2% (95% CI: 53.9-74.5) of study participant had achieved full immunization. Specific vaccine coverage for BCG, three doses of polio, three doses of pneumococcal conjugate, three doses of pentavalent, and measles vaccine were 90.8%, 89.4%, 86.1%, 82.4% and 70% respectively. Source for immunization were health centre (53.5%), outreach services (37%) and hospital (9.5%). Mother's awareness (p-value 0.0317) and wealth status (p value 0.01592) were the major predictors of full immunization coverage. Reasons given for failure to fully immunize children were obstacles (74.4%), lack of motivation (11.6 %), lack of information (9.3%) and community factors (4.7%). We conclude that improved awareness to mothers and empowering women potentially increase the national full immunization coverage.


Li[Ni1/2Mn1/2]O2 material was synthesized by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis method. Li[Ni1/2Mn1/2]O2 was characterized by means of X-ray diffraction, charge/discharge cycling, and cyclic voltammetry. The discharge capacities of Li/Li[Ni1/2Mn1/2]O2 cell at 30 and 55 °C slowly decreased with cycling and remained at 166 and 175 mAh/g after 50 cycles, which are 99 and 94% of initial capacities, respectively. The cyclic voltammogram studies of the Li[Ni1/2Mn1/2]O2 electrode showed only one redox peak. This phenomenon might be related to the initial activation process and/or stabilization of Li[Ni1/2Mn1/2]O2 electrode.


Noise emitted to environment is one of the basic factors connected with wind farm operation. That is the reason why each wind farm localization should be analysed to assess the impact on environment considering noise. At the stage of the project, the prognosis of localization results considering emitted noise may be only predicted theoretically, mostly by computer simulation. The exist-


We introduce partially defined dynamical systems defined on a topological space. To each such system we associate a functor s from a category G to Top^op and show that it defines what we call a ske ...


Second language (L2) learners are a growing population in Canadian school systems, and acquisition of literacy skills is critical to their success in Canadian society. While much research has been devoted to writing development in first language (L1) learners, text-level writing remains relatively underexplored in L2 populations. The present study sought to address this gap by considering the relative contributions of component oral language and word-level literacy skills to writing in elementary students speaking English as a first (EL1) or second (EL2) language. A sample of 124 kindergarten students (56 EL1, 68 EL2) and 112 grade three students (51 EL1, 61 EL2) completed a battery of standardized measures assessing oral language, wordlevel literacy, and writing skills. An ordinary least squares (OLS) regression-based mediation path analysis was used to test associations among oral language, word-level literacy, and writing skills in each group. Results indicated that word-level literacy skills had a significant direct effect on writing in all groups, but that oral language had no significant direct effect on writing in any groups. Instead, the effect of oral language on writing was significantly mediated by wordlevel skills in the kindergarten EL1 and EL2 groups, and the grade three EL1 group. The indirect effect of oral language on writing through word-level skills was not significant in the grade three EL2 group. Despite this, no significant differences in variable associations were found between EL1 and EL2 groups in either grade. Oral language skills were additionally found to have a significant effect on word-level literacy skills in the kindergarten EL1 and EL2 groups and the grade three EL1 group; the significance of this effect in the grade three EL2 group was unclear. Results of this study are discussed in relation to existing literature, and existing theories of L1 and L2 writing.


The relative proportion of tissue types in undigested samples ranged from 1.9±0.20% for phloem tissue to 35.9±1.26% for mesophyll tissue. Standard deviations of measurements from digested samples ranged from 1.1 to 12.2%. Degradation of xylem and phloem was difficult to measure and had the highest standard deviations of 9.8 and 12.2%, respectively. This method requires approximately 15 min per sample, and although it is more time consuming than visual estimation methods, it has the advantage of measuring extent of digestion on an area basis more objectively than other methods currently used


Deep‐sea foraminiferal δ13C records contain abundant 400‐kyr cycles indicating a link between eccentricity forcing and ocean carbon reservoir change. Here we simulate the oceanic δ13C maxima events forced by the Earth's orbital geometry during the Miocene Climate Optimum (MCO, 17‐14 Ma) using a box model. The simulated results of both surface and deep water δ13C display co‐varying 400‐kyr cycle. Modulated by orbital parameters, weathering induced carbon input will change the burial ratio of carbonates to organic carbon and further result in periodic changes in the oceanic δ13C. The increase of riverine nutrient input, which is synchronous with riverine carbon input, often stimulates primary productivity and burial of organic carbon. Our results support that eccentricity maxima (minima) enhance (reduce) weathering intensity and nutrient supply, which lead to minima (maxima) of δ13C. The prominent 400‐kyr cycle of ocean carbon reservoir is interpreted as likely caused by a long memory of carbon in the ocean.