In the task of 3-D topography measurement by fringe projection profilometry (FPP), it is crucial to establish mapping from the phase map to the 3-D coordinates, known as 3-D calibration. The traditional methods are prone to select some specific functions to fit the phase-to-coordinates' relationship, which needs to make a compromise between measurement accuracy and efficiency. This article proposes a novel calibration method based on the Gaussian process (GP) regression to solve this problem. In this work, according to the geometric and other systemic constraints, a pixel-dependent semiparameterized calibration model is derived to guarantee the efficiency of computation and data storage. Based on the spatial correlations of the calibration data, the GP regression method is applied to enhance the fitting ability and flexibility of the calibration model without any specific functions and parameters. The GP regression method is also applied to remove random noise from the phase map, which further improves the accuracy of 3-D coordinates. The experimental results of measuring a whiteboard and a double ball bar demonstrate the superiority of the proposed GP-based calibration model in terms of accuracy and robustness when compared with the traditional models.


Pentecostals regard the doctrine of the second coming of Christ as very important. All passages in the Bible deemed to be "prophetical" are interpreted in premillennialist terms. Bennie Kleynhans' interpretation of the dream in Daniel 2 is used to demonstrate how an endeavour to find relevance through a contemporary interpretation of a Biblical passage, easily be- comes outdated. He was of the opinion that communism, the Council on Foreign Relations and the European Economic Community with its ten members would introduce the Antichrist as the leader of a one-world government, eventually leading to the second coming of Christ. Daniel 2 is read as "prophecy", describing the global situation at the latter half of the twentieth century. This demonstrates that the differences in interpreting the dream in Daniel 2 reflect different ways of viewing and treating the Bible. A fundamentalist perspective sees the Bible as a blueprint of what God is going to do in future and how he is going to do this. The "future" – the "last days" just before the second coming of Christ – is inevitably linked to the present day.


In resource‐limited settings, augmenting primary care provider (PCP)‐based referrals with data‐derived algorithms could direct scarce resources towards those patients most likely to have a cancer diagnosis and benefit from early treatment. Using data from Botswana, we compared accuracy of predictions of probable cancer using different approaches for identifying symptomatic cancer at primary clinics. We followed cancer suspects until they entered specialized care for cancer treatment (following pathologically confirmed diagnosis), exited from the study following noncancer diagnosis, or died. Routine symptom and demographic data included baseline cancer probability assessed by the primary care provider (low, intermediate, high), age, sex, performance status, baseline cancer probability by study physician, predominant symptom (lump, bleeding, pain or other) and HIV status. Logistic regression with 10‐fold cross‐validation was used to evaluate classification by different sets of predictors: (1) PCPs, (2) Algorithm‐only, (3) External specialist physician review and (4) Primary clinician augmented by algorithm. Classification accuracy was assessed using c‐statistics, sensitivity and specificity. Six hundred and twenty‐three adult cancer suspects with complete data were retained, of whom 166 (27%) were diagnosed with cancer. Models using PCP augmented by algorithm (c‐statistic: 77.2%, 95% CI: 73.4%, 81.0%) and external study physician assessment (77.6%, 95% CI: 73.6%, 81.7%) performed better than algorithm‐only (74.9%, 95% CI: 71.0%, 78.9%) and PCP initial assessment (62.8%, 95% CI: 57.9%, 67.7%) in correctly classifying suspected cancer patients. Sensitivity and specificity statistics from models combining PCP classifications and routine data were comparable to physicians, suggesting that incorporating data‐driven algorithms into referral systems could improve efficiency.


PARRELLA, Nadia Nardely Lacerda Duraes. Genetic characterization and quality of castor seeds. 2009. 86 p. Thesis (Doctorate degree program in Agronomy) – Universidade Federal de Lavras, Lavras, MG*. Due to the high global energy requirement, the search for renewable and less environmental aggressive sources of energy as in the case of biodiesel is desirable. One alternative for the production of oil might be the use of Castor oil plant (Ricinus communis L.), once it is a traditional cultivated plant by small and middle size growers, with an elevated economical and social appeal including the Southeast region, Brazil. With the recently increase in production of Castor oil plant, plant seeds had become one extremely rare input and one of the biggest challenges for agricultural research is the production of cultivars with genetic stability, high quality and production potential. In that sense, the existing genetic materials must be well characterized for its utilization in plant breading programs and for market supply. Nowadays, molecular analysis in the area of seed production and technology are made, principally, form seedlings samples, thus implying additional time consumption for seed germination before evaluation. Under such circumstances, one of the objectives of the present work was to verify the viability for genomic DNA extraction directly from Castor oil plant seeds. The analyses were performed at the Seed Analysis and Molecular Genetic Laboratories – UFLA, Brazil. Five Castor oil plant commercial cultivars were used and DNA was extracted from two types of vegetal material: seeds and seedlings. In order to verify DNA viability after storage period, two storage stages were also used: fresh harvested seeds and seeds stored in cooling chamber during a period of two years. DNA was extracted according a modified methodology from Rogers & Bendich (1988). The statistical analysis was made in a completely random design with three replicates, each replicate constituted by the DNA esxtracted from five seeds or seedlings in a 5x2x2 (cultivars: seeds and seedlings: material stored or not), factorial scheme. Genetic material of good quality was obtained directly from Castor oil plant seeds in sufficient quantities for its utilization in molecular studies. Castor oil plant DNA concentrations were variable according to the genotypes, vegetal material used for extraction and time of seed storage. For molecular characterization of seeds collected in the producing regions and the qualitative evaluation of Castor oil plant seeds used during 2006 harvest in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil, 12 seed lots sampled in producing counties by the Technical Assistance and Rural Extension Enterprise from Minas Gerais State, EMATER-MG, were used. According seed's quality tests performed, there was difference among seed lots physiological potential, with 75 % having germination averages below the


I am deeply honoured and much humbled by the invitation to respond to Richard's well-argued lecture. Some of you, myself included, may think it somewhat impertinent of me even to attempt to criticise such a distinguished academic's work. However, my time as an audit partner, a finance director, a non-executive director and a partner in an investment management firm have all contributed to a passionate belief that annual financial statements by companies to their shareholders DO matter and that a degree of prudence in their preparation matters too. I, therefore, jumped at this opportunity.


This paper investigates the spectrum handoff problem in Cognitive Radio Network. Making the Handoff decision in wireless networks designs is one of the most challenging issues because the sources of information that available are interpreted qualitatively, inexactly or uncertainly and there are many parameters which have to take into account when the secondary user makes the handoff decision. Secondary user makes handoff if it cannot modify its transmitted power within the tolerable interference limits or if the quality of service received by a secondary user is not satisfactory. This paper proposes a fuzzy based approach that able to make effective spectrum handoff decisions using new information for handoff operation. The parameters data rate, the received power at the secondary user from the primary user and the probability of primary user's occupancy are considered as inputs of the proposed system. Therefore, it reduces the probability of spectrum handoff. Consequently; the performance of Secondary user's communication will be improved.


E-Court function is to manage electronic records in court. E-Court is expected to give such a lot of help for effective judicial delivery in Malaysia. Thus, by this research the implementation of e-Court is going to be explored in order to improve the system at all courts in Malaysia. This research applied qualitative case study methodology and data collection will be conducted at three units of high courts and will interview the stakeholders of the e-Court system. This is a conceptual paper to explore the implementation of e-Court system in Malaysian Judiciary, investigate judicial delivery issues in Malaysia and to propose a legal framework for e-Court in Malaysian civil courts. The study reviews literature on e-Court system and surveys from Malaysia and others countries. Studies related to this topic were analyzed and discussed throughout the paper in the context of implementation process, the judicial delivery issues and the future legal framework to be proposed.


Introduction Primary family caregivers provide substantial support in the management of lymphoma, potentially affecting their quality of life and increasing household health care costs. Our aim was thus to determine the economic costs and quality of life of primary caregivers of children with lymphoma. Methods This cross-sectional study involved primary informal caregivers of children with lymphoma attending the pediatric cancer unit at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital. The study adopted a cost-of-illness approach to estimate the direct costs (medical and non- medical) incurred and indirect cost (productive losses) to caregivers over the one-month period preceding the data collection. Zarit Burden Interview was used to determine caregiver burden and EUROHIS-QoL tool was used to determine the quality of life of primary caregivers. Results The average cost of managing lymphoma in children was estimated to be US$440.32, 97% of which were direct costs. On average, caregiver burden was 26.3 on the scale of 0 to 48. About 94% of caregivers reported high burden, with more males reporting high burden. Overall, average quality of life among caregivers was 2.20 on the 1 to 5 range. Approximately 85% of respondents reported low quality of life, with females reporting lower quality of life than males. Discussion This study shows that lymphoma is associated with substantial cost and increased burden, and affects quality of life of family caregivers. Future studies can explore the impact of social protection interventions (in the form of health insurance) to reduce the household economic burden of managing lymphoma in children.


iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1: Freshwater macroalgae as a biofuels feedstock: mini-review and assessment of their bioenergy potential 3 CHAPTER 2: The influence of nutrient availability on freshwater macroalgal biomass production 27 GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 42 LITERATURE CITED 44


Social media hasn't just changed society—it's changing the way in which criminal law is prosecuted, defended, and adjudicated. This fascinating book explains how.
 While social media has become embedded in our society as a way to stay connected with friends, it serves another important purpose: to support the prosecution and defense of criminal cases. Social media is now used as proof of a crime; further, social media has become a vehicle for criminal activity. How should the law respond to the issue of online predators, stalkers, and identity thieves? This book comprehensively examines the complex impacts of social media on the major players in the criminal justice system: private citizens, attorneys, law enforcement officials, and judges. It outlines the many ways social media affects the judicial process, citing numerous example cases that demonstrate the legal challenges; and examines the issue from all sides, including law enforcement's role, citizens' privacy issues, and the principles of the Fourth Amendment. The author also shines a critical spotlight on how social media has enabled new types of investigations previously unimagined—some of which present ethical problems.


The aim of the present paper is to find a relationship between the results of cars brands by sales and their strategies with regard to the number of segments served and his dedication, in the Spanish market. So, the new tourism vehicles supply is considered in the year 2010 and we use a two- dimensional conceptualization of diversity in companies to distinguish employed strategies, in order to contrast the new categorization with the situation with respect to sales through an ABC analysis. In conclusion, an high number of brands can be cataloged of low diversity, with a small number of segments and low product/segment ratio, and the unrelated diversification marks are usually marks protagonists, with high share of sales.


Introduction. The authors attempt to trace the evolution of relations between students and superintendents based on archival materials of Pedagogical Institute and St. Petersburg University.

Methods. The research is carried out within the framework of the systems approach using historical methods to determine the specifics of the power relations in Russian universities in the first half of the 19th century.

Analysis and results. University relationships were changed under the influence of social and political factors, the evolution of the organizational foundations of the university. The relations of students and a superintendent, who was initially chosen from professors, were of a "patriarchal" nature, and the small size of the university community and its isolation from the urban life of Saint Petersburg contributed to the design of a special "family style" of communication. With the increase in the number of students, it becomes necessary to clarify the legal boundaries of student freedom and strengthen police supervision. A detailed system of norms and prohibitions was legislated, and supervision of its implementation was entrusted to a superintendent, who was elected from civilian or military officials. Excessive strengthening of disciplinary supervision of students ended in all sorts of conflicts between students and superintendents.


Background. The analysis of N‐myc expression in some neuroendocrine tumors has been reported to provide prognostic information. To the authors' knowledge, no attempts have been made thus far to correlate N‐myc expression with the clinical outcome of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC).


The invention relates to a chisel holder with a plug-in lug and a retaining lug, said retaining lug having a pick receptacle, and wherein the retaining shoulder at least partially protruding into the tool feed direction by or through the plug-in projection. Such a tool holder is designed life optimized characterized in that the holding extension has a support portion with a rigid, integrally formed supporting surface, which is arranged in the feed direction at least in sections in front of the plug-in projection. The invention further relates to a base for receiving a chisel holder mentioned above.


In the contentious debates surrounding the arrivals of migrants in Europe, some actors, notably right wing politicians, have claimed that migrants pose a threat to public health because they "bring infectious diseases."1 In fact most migrants are healthy and migration does not cause a rise in rates of infectious diseases in host communities.2 Instead, a different problem emerges, which this essay addresses. Migrants who arrive in Europe by sea are often "exposed to infection (particularly to HIV infection, to other sexually transmitted infections and to tuberculosis) due to frequent episodes of violence, torture, abuse and deplorable conditions of vulnerability they are submitted to along the migratory route".3 Upon arrival they routinely receive screening for hepatitis B and C, tuberculosis and HIV. Those with a positive diagnosis are offered treatment at local clinics. But this model assumes that these migrant patients lead sedentary lives and that once they have been assigned to a clinic, they would report for prescribed treatment. In partnership with a collaborator based at a hospital in Sicily, we have gathered preliminary evidence, which suggests that in practice this is not the case.4 Healthy or otherwise, migrants rarely settle in the first port of arrival. Instead they continue to move, disappearing from view of the doctors who first diagnose them. This means that in spite of a positive diagnosis, their medical treatment is interrupted or abandoned, endangering their own, and potentially also other lives. Our research suggests the need to examine how the trajectories of migrant patients affect their relationship to healthcare systems in host countries. In Italy and beyond, there is limited qualitative data capturing the responses of the healthcare system to migrant mobility. This impedes potential viable alternatives to the status quo, which, as we argue, does not ensure equitable access to health care and may conflict with the human right to health as both a normative ideal and a public policy goal.


This research titled CARE TO ELDERLY LIVING IN THE GERIATRICO "HOME OF NAZARETH" Paccha PARISH CENTER During October to December 2013, it was conducted through a descriptive cross-sectional study, using the survey as a technique, we worked with the variables individual characteristics, types of diseases and types of care offered by the staff. The universe was composed of 47 elderly and the sample for 100% of the total population.


In this paper,a partial sequence of TNF-α gene were amplified with PCR and sequenced on \%Bos grunniens.\% The result showed that the TNF-α gene fragment (1160 bp) consisted of exon 3~4, intron 2~3,partial sequence of 3' flanking region and exon 2.The comparison analysis of the fragment sequence with \%Bos taurus \%through blastn of GenBank,the homologies of the nucleotide sequence with \%Bos taurus \%were 98%. This research provide the scientific theoretical foundation on functional gene project and molecular breeding of \%Bos grunniens.


Flow-chart of patient enrolment. The flow-chart shows the process of eligibility testing of the FMS patients before enrolment. (PPT 72 kb)


Abigail Hammond's costume design was exhibited in the Society of British Theatre Designers quadrennial exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The exhibit consisted of stills and a short documentary of the costume design process for 'Riot Offspring', a Sadler's Wells Production.

About the exhibition:
The exhibition title, Make/Believe, indicates the vision, skills and commitment found in the diversity of performance design today. It featured work that defines the edges of this artform-in-industry – in music festivals, large scale events such as the Olympics, Paralympics, community opera, found space and promenade performance, in digital, landscape, heritage and media contexts, as well as the intimate and highly valued work that designers are currently doing in education, health and various community settings.

The exhibition celebrated the high quality of designs for a variety of theatre spaces, the traditions of pantomime design, the ravishing visuals that transform many children's books into stage spectaculars as well as the dance and opera designs by UK designers that are notable around the world. Make/Believe also acknowledged and promoted the development of new performance spaces, the re-envisioning of old and existing buildings and the increasing commitment to sustainable design and practices in both production and performance environments.


This note studies an interesting phenomenon for stability conditions of discrete-time systems with time-varying delay. The underlying reason behind this phenomenon is revealed, and thereafter some conclusions are drawn: (i) Stability conditions of discrete-time systems with time-varying delay are generally divided into two types: those obtained by summation inequalities with free-matrix variables and those obtained by the combination of summation inequalities without free-matrix variables and the reciprocally convex lemma; (ii) The conservatism between the two types of stability conditions can not be theoretically compared. To clearly demonstrate this interesting phenomenon and meanwhile, to further verify these conclusions, several bounded real lemmas are obtained via different bounding-inequality methods and applied to a numerical example.


China takes the road of tourism development, and the tourism industry is gradually branded, which is also a surface of tourism management to adapt to the trend of the times. Tourism is an important economic project for the participation of the whole people. By optimizing the local resources, the tourism space is carried out in an orderly manner, and the rich tourism products are displayed in front of the tourists. With the development of tourism, the scientific tourism system has been established, but the globalization of tourism has been realized. To promote the healthy development of tourism, tourist signs are essential. From the current established tourism sign system, there are still some problems, which make the quality of tourism management affected. It is necessary to take corresponding countermeasures for this. This paper focuses on the causes and coping strategies of the existing problems in the tourism identification system.


The flow structure in a three-phase gas-oil-water separator and its performance was the main objective of the presented investigations, for which the Euler-Euler multiphase model to simulate the flow was used. The main assumption of the model is that secondary phases, consisting of oil and water droplets, are mono-dispersed with no coalescence and breakup. The considered separator is a part of the installation operated by a drilling company. In general, the investigation of separation process is very computationally expensive and timeconsuming, therefore it is desirable to search for some simplifications in order to be able to carry out engineering analysis of the processes taking place in a separator. Hence, the three-dimensional coalescer was investigated as a porous element in order to find pressure losses dependence on flow velocity, which was required to simulate the existence of coalescers and baffles. As the next step, a transient Eulerian multiphase simulations were carried out for gas-oil-water mixture in a real horizontal gravity separator for twoand three-dimensional case. Required data for calculations was derived from real exploration well. In the two-dimensional case, the worked out dependence of the pressure drop with respect to velocity was used to model the flow through the porous coalescers. In three-dimensional case, the coalescers and baffles were modelled without any simplifications. It was found that general trends can be predicted despite the simplification of the geometrical model in which coalescer and baffle geometries have been replaced by a porous medium. The calculations confirmed that the complexity of geometry requiring time-consuming calculations can be usually replaced by introducing simplifications allowing for engineering analysis of separator operation that is acceptable by the industry, because the basic parameters regarding the separation process can be determined.


Refinement of previous theoretical formulations and numerical computations of pressure waveforms as applied to atmospheric traveling infrasonic waves could include a description of their asymptotic behavior at high frequencies. In the present paper, calculations based on the W. K. B.J. approximation and similar to those introduced by Haskell [J. Appl. Phys. 22, 157–167 (1951)] are performed to describe the asymptotic behavior of infrasonic guided modes as generated by a nuclear explosion in the atmosphere. The results of these calculations are then matched onto numerical solutions which have been given by Harkrider, Pierce and Posey, and others. It is demonstrated that the use of these asymptotic formulas in conjunction with a computer program which synthesizes infrasonic pressure waveforms has enabled the elimination of problems associated with high‐frequency truncation of numerical integration over frequency. In this way, small spurious high‐frequency oscillations in the computer solutions have been avo...


One more and more upcoming challenge for IT systems used in the Facility Management domain is the automated acquisition and processing of distributed heterogeneous data. Especially for approval or maintenance processes the mobile access to necessary data constantly gains significance. But because of their limited size particularly mobile devices require new ways for representing the needed amount of information. This conceptual paper discusses new approaches of knowledge acquisition and representation, which enable the efficient support of facility managers in their daily tasks. The underlying research project develops concepts and solutions for the semantic modelling and linking of distributed data as well as its context-based representation on a mobile device via Augmented Reality.


We have fabricated single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) arrays, about 85% of which are semiconducting. Fe nanoparticles, which were used as a catalyst, were produced simply and cheaply from Wistar rat blood. The SWNT arrays generally grow parallel to the gas flow. Hundreds of devices with varying SWNT density in the channel were measured and we found that the on–off ratio for such devices with the quasi-parallel, semiconducting-rich SWNTs in the channel can be easily increased via an electrical breakdown method. Thus, large-scale fabrication of FET devices is possible simply by controlling the width of the channel. Finally, we determined that the mobility of the devices reached 3900 cm2 V − 1 s − 1.


The Seventh Special Session of the United NationsGeneralAssembly meeting over the first two weeks of this month (when this issue went to press) can prove momentous for every single nation and par ticnlarly for those of the Third World. How far can the Programme of Action for bringing about a New International Economic Order be imple mented is the crucial question that will be answered at this Special Session. A clearer understanding of the events and pressures that have led to this meeting should help to place this Session in its true perspective.


Abstract : This report presents results of studies, investigations, and technique developments which will be useful in future HF long range radar applications. This report is intended to aid the radar engineer in design and evaluation of HF radar systems. Major emphasis is on signal processing techniques and their effect on detection probability.


ABSTRACT Although people with disabilities are considerably less likely to vote than those without a disability, empirical explanations as to why remain underdeveloped. The present study investigates whether this discrepancy in turnout rates is directly related to voting procedures. Analyzing data from the Cooperative Congressional Election Study, we assess the ways in which people with disabilities are disenfranchised by election administration barriers. Specifically, we identify how experiences with voter registration, voter identification regulations, and methods of ballot submission impact those with and without disabilities. Also considered is the degree to which disability affects one's own political competence and political interest. Reflecting on these findings, we offer recommendations for reducing such electoral hurdles and providing pathways by which comprehensive political incorporation of all individuals with disabilities might be achieved.


Abstract The Siberian Shrew, Crocidura sibirica, is distributed in northwest China and extended to Mongolia and central Asia. It has been listed as Near Threatened (NT) species recently by the red list of China's vertebrates. Firstly, we obtained complete mitochondrial genome of Crocidura sibirica. In this study, the mitogenome sequence is 17,192 bp in length, containing 13 protein-coding genes, two ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, 1 replication origin (OL) and 1 control region. This data provides basic data to application in conservation genetics and evolution for this Near Threatened species.


Recent researchers have pointed out that designers should not only be able to solve problems, but also to find and identify them. Many design curriculum publications and syllabi also have unequivocally indicated that design students should be able to identify and state clearly the needs and opportunities for design activities through investigation of the contexts of home, school, recreation, community, business and industry. However, "problem finding" is still a deficient area in Hong Kong design curricula. By conducting a comprehensive review on the development of design education at secondary and tertiary levels of Hong Kong, this paper traces the changes in the objectives and learning activities within design education, and identifies the reasons behind


We introduce chiral gradient metasurfaces that allow perfect transmission of all the incident wave into a desired direction and simultaneous perfect rotation of the polarization of the refracted wave with respect to the incident one. Besides using gradient polarization densities which provide bending of the refracted wave with respect to the incident one, using metasurface inclusions that are chiral allows the polarization of the refracted wave to be rotated. We suggest a possible realization of the proposed device by discretizing the required equivalent surface polarization densities realized by proper helical inclusions at each discretization point. By only using a single optically thin layer of chiral inclusions, we are able to unprecedentedly deflect a normal incident plane wave to a refracted plane wave at $45^{\circ}$ with $72\%$ power efficiency which is accompanied by a $90^{\circ}$ polarization rotation. The proposed concepts and design method may find practical applications in polarization rotation devices at microwaves as well as in optics, especially when the incident power is required to be deflected.


In recent works by Yang et al. (2017a,b), and Yagli et al. (2019), geographical, temporal, and sequential deterministic reconciliation of hierarchical photovoltaic (PV) power generation have been considered for a simulated PV dataset in California. In the first two cases, the reconciliations are carried out in spatial and temporal domains separately. To further improve forecasting accuracy, in the third case these two reconciliation approaches are sequentially applied. During the replication of the forecasting experiment, some issues emerged about non-negativity and coherence (in space and/or in time) of the sequentially reconciled forecasts. Furthermore, while the accuracy improvement of the considered approaches over the benchmark persistence forecasts is clearly visible at any data granularity, we argue that an even better performance may be obtained by a thorough exploitation of cross-temporal hierarchies. To this end, in this paper the cross-temporal point forecast reconciliation approach is applied to generate non-negative, fully coherent (both in space and time) forecasts. In particular, (i) some useful relationships between two-step, iterative and simultaneous cross-temporal reconciliation procedures are for the first time established, (ii) non-negativity issues of the final reconciled forecasts are discussed and correctly dealt with in a simple and effective way, and (iii) the most recent cross-temporal reconciliation approaches proposed in literature are adopted. The normalised Root Mean Square Error is used to measure forecasting accuracy, and a statistical multiple comparison procedure is performed to rank the approaches. Besides assuring full coherence, and non-negativity of the reconciled forecasts, the results show that for the considered dataset, cross-temporal forecast reconciliation significantly improves on the sequential procedures proposed by Yagli et al. (2019), at any cross-sectional level of the hierarchy and for any temporal granularity.


In recent times Cloud Computing[CC] has emanated as a substitute paradigm for hosting and providing services over the Internet. Software as a Service (Saas) is one among such services that deliver services to the end-users on pay-as-you-go manner. In spite of all its advantages, security always seems to be major drawback. For securing the users' data on the cloud, this paper proposes an application model for any SaaS application hosted on a private cloud environment. The application is divided into two micro-services, where the first one is Application Layer Firewall and second one is a secured application to login and send sensitive data. The application layer firewall checks for any malicious activity and prevents the intruder to access the features present in the application. Subsequently, a Hidden Markov Model layer is implemented which is a probability-based intrusion detection technique. The second micro-service uses Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption algorithm to encrypt documents having sensitive data, which have to be transferred within the private cloud. Further security is provided by proposing a novel Video Steganography approach using the Least Significant Bit (LSB) technique. This paper gives a detailed structure of hiding the data using multiple levels of security. Thus, this paper provides a holistic approach to implement a high level of security in SaaS applications.


The retinal neurovascular unit (NVU) is paramount to maintaining the homeostasis of the retina and determines the progression of various diseases, including diabetic retinopathy (DR), glaucoma, and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). Although some studies have investigated these diseases, a combined analysis of disease-wide etiology in the NUV at the single-cell level is lacking. Herein, we constructed an atlas of the NVU under in�ammatory and hypoxic conditions by integrating single-cell transcriptome data from retinas from wild-type, AireKO, and NdpKO mice. Based on the heterogeneity of the NVU structure and transcriptome diversity under normal and pathological conditions, we discovered two subpopulations of Müller cells: Aqp4 hi and Aqp4 lo cells. Speci�cally, Aqp4 lo cells expresses phototransduction genes and represent a special type of Müller cell distinct from Aqp4 hi cells, classical Müller cells. AireKO mice exhibit experimental autoimmune uveitis (EAU) with severe damage to the NVU structure, mainly degeneration of Aqp4 hi cells. NdpKO mice exhibited familial exudative vitreoretinopathy (FEVR), with damage to the endothelial barrier, endothelial cell tight junction destruction and basement membrane thickening, accompanied by the reactive secretion of proangiogenic factors by Aqp4 hi cells. In both EAU and FEVR, Aqp4 hi cells are a key factor leading to NVU damage, and the mechanism by which they are generated is regulated by different transcription factors. By studying the pattern of immune cell in�ltration in AireKO mice, we constructed a regulatory loop of "in�ammatory cells/NVU - monocytes - APCs - Ifng + T cells", providing a new target for blocking the in�ammatory cascade. Our elucidation of the cell-speci�c molecular changes, cell ‒ cell interactions and transcriptional mechanisms of the retinal NVU provides new insights to support the development of multipurpose drugs to block or even reverse NVU damage. NVU, characterize two resident Müller cell subtypes and elucidate their biological properties and transcriptional regulatory mechanisms. Our study comprehensively characterizes the in�ltration of immune cells in the NVU, revealing the pro�le of the in�ammatory cascade. In conclusion, our study elucidates the important role of the NVU in retinal diseases, provides a comprehensive analysis of the NVU in two different states (AireKO and NdpKO), and provides insights for the development of new therapies to alleviate disease progression. These results suggest that the in�ammatory environment in AireKO mice induces monocytes to convert to DCs or macrophages and activate Ifng + T cells through antigen presentation. Therefore, a closed loop of "in�ammatory cell - monocyte - APC - Ifng + T cells" is formed to produce an in�ammatory cascade. their derived cells act directly the T-cell population by secreting


The nocturnal land breeze at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) is both operationally significant and challenging to forecast. The occurrence and timing of land breezes impact low-level winds, atmospheric stability, low temperatures, and fog development. Accurate predictions of the land breeze are critical for toxic material dispersion forecasts associated with space launch missions, since wind direction and low-level stability can change noticeably with the onset of a land breeze. This report presents a seven-year observational study of land breezes over east-central Florida from 1995 to 2001. This comprehensive analysis was enabled by the high-resolution tower observations over KSC/CCAFS. Five-minute observations of winds, temperature, and moisture along with 9 15-MHz Doppler Radar Wind Profiler data were used to analyze specific land-breeze cases, while the tower data were used to construct a composite climatology. Utilities derived from this climatology were developed to assist forecasters in determining the land-breeze occurrence, timing, and movement based on predicted meteorological conditions.


METHODS: Between January of 2012 and December of 2015, 31 women (62 breasts) underwent consecutive bilateral primary mammaplasty performed by a single surgeon for the treatment of breast ptosis (grade 2 or 3) or breast hypertrophy. The assessments considered the degree of satisfaction of patients and the evaluation of the 62 breasts by two referees in a scale from 1 (poor) to 3 (good) with preoperative and postoperative photographs. Each patient could be scored from 2 (poor) to 6 (excellent). The agreement between the referees was measured by Cohen's Kappa statistics. Patient's age, Body Mass Index (BMI), number of pregnancies, resected breast volume, and complications were also analyzed. The technique used was performed under general anesthesia. The aesthetic breast reduction/mastopexy, with skin markings designed in a Pitanguy/Wise inverted "T" pattern, proposes a parenchymocutaneous flap tethered to the thoracic wall (simulating a breast implant) supported by a bipedicled pectoralis major muscle flap.


The description of the White-Light Sensing Fiber Michelson Interferometer (WSFMI) by Li et al.[71], indicates that the basic WSFMI system may be successfully used with a sapphire fiber sensing head. The length of the sapphire fiber sensing head need only be long enough to protect the silica fiber, which is used throughout the rest of the WSFMI system, from the hot measurement zone. Limiting the length of the sapphire fiber is expected to limit signal losses and mode mixing, both of which are expected to be significant in the sapphire fiber, that occur in the interferometer. Section 4.1 discusses the use of a silica graded-index multimode fiber sensing head in the WSFMI as an precursor to the use of a sapphire fiber sensing head. Silica graded-index multimode fibers are well understood and of predictably good quality, unlike sapphire fibers, and will thus serve well for an exploratory experiment. The graded index multimode fiber is designed so that all of the guided modes possess nearly the same optical path length. Because of this, the white light interferogram generated by the interferometer in the multimode sensing head case should closely resemble that of the singlemode fiber sensing head case. However, in the multimode sensing head case, it is expected that the modes can mix at perturbations in the fiber and adversely affect performance through reduced fringe visibility. This experiment is also conducted to identify any other multimode effects that should be recognized before the incorporation of a sapphire fiber sensing head into the system. After the successful implementation of a silica graded-index multimode fiber sensing-head into the WSFMI, a sapphire fiber sensing head is attached. The results and


Bhitarkanika is the second largest mangrove forest of India, situated in the East Coast of Orissa. It stretches over an area of 672 sq. km inhabiting several flora and fauna. The rare and endangered species like saltwater crocodile ( Crocodylus porosus ) is found in Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary. The salt water crocodile breeding centre started from 1975 with 24 number of crocodiles. Within 36 years of its existence, the salt water crocodiles have reached up to 1610 during 2009-10. The water temperature of the sanctuary varied from 27.6°C to 36.10°C, and air temperature from 27.3°C to 35°C. The pH value ranged from 6.7 to 9.2. Salinity fluctuated from 8.1 to 31.2 ppt. The dissolved oxygen concentration ranged from 5.1 to 9.9 mL/L. The highest percentage of population of saltwater crocodile result was +26.58 % in the year 1999-2000 and the lowest percentage was -6.70 % in the year 2004-05. Though, there is an increase in the crocodile population over the years, it is not quite satisfactory. Therefore, it is our obligatory duty to conserve the rare and endangered species of salt water crocodile and to make proper management plan for increase in its population in Bhitarkanika sanctuary.


Since the 1980s, a particular challenge for many Indigenous authors of collaborative life-writing has been how to manage their own textual agency so that this is not reduced either to mere 'presence' or marshalled as 'evidence' in the service of a non-Indigenous collaborator's theoretical or professional agenda. A parallel challenge for non-Indigenous editors of such texts has been how to manage the realities of their role in ways that do not mimic strategies that disavow Indigenous textual agency and authority. Historically, editorial strategies have diminished or denied the role of Indigenous authors in the production of their stories as texts. Sometimes Indigenous authors have been written out of the work altogether, as occurred with the 1930 publication of David Unaipon's collected Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines under the name of William Ramsay Smith.1 In other cases, non-Indigenous editors have been at pains to insist on the stark demarcation between their role as creators of written text as opposed to the Indigenous author's contribution as oral 'storyteller' or narrator, a feature of more recent works such as Jack Bohemia and Bill McGregor's Nyibayarri: Kimberley Tracker?


The flow of liquid through pipes with various configurations is found in many energy and technological processes. Knowledge of the distribution of velocity and flow through these pipes allows hydrological engineers to find resistance through the pipes and optimize the fluid pumping process. The article suggests a simple engineering method for finding the velocity over pipe sections


Summary 1. The average concentration of procaine in pleural fluids removed with this anesthetic was 0.0002%. 2. Sulfapyridine in concentrations as high as 0.005% was inhibited by procaine in vitro. 3. Concentrations of urethane as high as 0.05% do not inhibit the action of sulfapyridine in vitro.


Nonlinear control of the squirrel induction motor is designed using sliding mode theory. The developed approach leads to the design of a sliding mode controller in order to linearize the behaviour of an induction motor. The second problem described in the paper is decoupling between two physical outputs: the rotor speed and the rotor flux modulus. The sliding mode tools allow us to separate the control from these two outputs. To take account of parametric variations, a model-based approach is used to improve the robustness of the control law despite these perturbations. Experimental results obtained with a laboratory setup illustrate the good performance of this technique.


Love, joys, sorrows, caring, and sharing are all aspects of life. Desires, avarice, lust, and negative characteristics such as hatred, dislike, and others contribute to life's complexity. When life takes unexpected turns and changes the course of our destiny, it is also described as complex.This paper explores the character evolution of protagonist Willa Drake in Anne Tyler's novel "Clock Dance". Usually, Willa Drake is a naturally calm person. Her life's defining moments when she was eleven and her mother vanished being proposed to at twenty-one; and the accident that left her a widow at forty-one – were all precipitated by others. We realise Willa has not lived an unhappy life at the age of 61, but rather a bittersweet one, tinged with occasional regrets. Willa leaves everything and files across the country, despite her second husband Peter's displeasure, when she receives a phone call informing her that her son Sean's ex-girlfriend has been shot and needs her help Willa's rash decision to look after this woman and her grand-daughter, as well as her dog will take her into unknown territory.


Sodium as trace element in olivine can be measured by electron-microprobe and using high currents (<600nA). The lower limit of detection is 0.0015 wt.% Na2O in olivine. Results are veryfied by ionprobe and identical within errorbars. The distribution coefficient of Na between olivine and melt has in Fe-free systems a value D(Na) = 0.00139 ± 0.00039 and is not temperature dependant. There is a linear dependance between D(Na) and the FeO-concentration in olivine. This depencance can be expressed by the empirical formulae D(Na) = 0.00014 (±0.000095) * FeO(ol) + 0.00145 (±0.00075). The zonation of Na2O in olivine during crystallization from a chondritic melt was modelled. These data were opposed with results of analyses in real chondrule olivine grains. The starting values of this ratio scatter between 0.6-1.5. This variations become smaller with ongoing crystallisation and approach to the model. A scattering around a value = 1 can be caused by measuring inaccuracy. In this case chondrules have to e considered as completely closed systems. Alternatively, these differences can only be caused by processes of evaporation and condensation. In this case, the chondruled had different Na-bulk contents at the beginning of their formation and at their final freezing. Then at least 60 % of the chondrule sodium is primordial and at most 40 % of the Na is recondensed. The zonation of Na across core-rim-profiles of chondrule olivine grains mirrors the magmatic evolution of a chondrule. Basicly, chondrule formation is a closed system process. Results of Na evaporation experiments of various workers can be used to limit the conditions of chondrule formation. The canonic formation model is based on a low solar nebular total pressure (10-6 to 10-4 bar). In that case all Na would have been evaporated within minutes. The possibility of a heating event of only a few minutes duration to avoid Na evaporation is disaccording to chondrule textures and can be excluded. A complete secondary reentry of the analysed Na can also be excluded with regards to zonation profiles of the olivine grains. Therefore only a formation at higher total pressures is reasonable. A constant total pressure of 1 bar leads to a variation of time for complete Na evaporation, lasting from minutes to hour and days. The significant parameter controlling this time is the oxygen partial pressure (pO2). Only a high pO2 of about 10-7 bar can extend the time for full Na evaporation towards hours. Only a change of pNa or pO2 can delay the chemical equilibrium Na2O(liq) = 2 Na(g) + 0.5 O2 in that way that a significant evaporation is avoided. An increase of pNa is connected to a high dust/gas ratio. But this ratio can not be achieved by a disproportionately high increase of chondrule numbers as it should result in a higher number of collisions and in early destruction of the chondrule texture. Therefore an increase of the oxygen partial pressure by addition of water/ice to the solar nebular is suggested.


The main reason for a scientific society is communication among scientists. There are two principal mechanisms for this communication: meetings and journals. Thus essential to the effectiveness of a society is not only the vigor of its meetings but the strength of its journals.

While in meetings the AGU dominates basic geophysics and space physics, it does not do so to the same extent in journals. For some subject areas there are significant competitive publications. Such competition is healthy: pluralism of institutions is important to the vigor of science, as it is for any activity, by affording alternate outlets for differing points of view, by testing various ways of doing things, and by keeping alert those who run the institutions. However, in times when there is simultaneously a leveling off or a decline in support of basic research and an inflation in costs (as for most technical activities, out-running the cost-of-living index), particular attention to the competitive position of AGU journals is needed.


&NA; Cystic fibrosis (CF) is an autosomal‐recessive disease caused by mutations in the CF transmembrane conductance regulator gene. Many patients with CF have asthma‐like symptoms and airway hyperresponsiveness, which are potentially associated with altered airway smooth muscle (ASM) contractility. Our goal in this study was to assess the contractility of the CF intrapulmonary ASM. ASM strips were dissected from human control and CF intrapulmonary airways, and assessed for methacholine‐induced shortening velocity, maximal force, and stress. We also assessed isoproterenol responses in maximally methacholine‐contracted ASM. ASM strips were then incubated for 16 hours with IL‐13 and measurements were repeated. Myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) expression was assessed by Western blotting. Airways were immunostained for morphometry. ASM mass was increased in CF airways, which likely contributes to airway hyperresponsiveness. Although ASM contractile properties were not intrinsically different between patients with CF and control subjects, CF ASM responded differently in the presence of the inflammatory mediator IL‐13, showing impairment in &bgr;‐adrenergic‐induced relaxation. Indeed, the percentage of relaxation measured at maximal isoproterenol concentrations in the CF ASM was significantly lower after incubation with IL‐13 (46.0% ± 6.7% relaxation) than without IL‐13 (74.0% ± 7.7% relaxation, P = 0.018). It was also significantly lower than that observed in control ASM incubated with IL‐13 (68.8% ± 4.9% relaxation, P = 0.048) and without IL‐13 (82.4% ± 9.9%, P = 0.0035). CF ASM incubated with IL‐13 also expressed greater levels of MLCK. Thus, our data suggest that the combination of an increase in ASM mass, increased MLCK expression, and inflammation‐induced &bgr;‐adrenergic hyporesponsiveness may contribute to airway dysfunction in CF.


Single antenna co-channel interference cancellation for cellular TDMA networks by means of joint delayed-decision feedback sequence estimation is proposed. The performance can be increased by a novel adaptive state allocation technique.


Based on the relevant studies in recent years at home and abroad, the biological characteristics and efficacy of bifidobacterium and its application situations in animal husbandry production were introduced, so as to provide theoretical basis and reference for its further application in animal husbandry production.


This paper describes the optimization of the extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in sediment samples from a river by applying an ultrasonic bath for quantification by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The factors n-hexane and dichloromethane proportion in the solvent mixture, solvent mixture volume and sonication time were optimized to take into account a 33 Box–Behnken design with a triplicate central point. The optimum extraction conditions achieved through a response surface methodology study consisted of 15 minutes of sonication time and 10 mL of solvent mixture composed of 55% of n-hexane. The optimized conditions were validated by assessing the percentage recovery obtained for the blank spike and the sample spike using n-hexane–dichloromethane (55:45) and n-hexane–acetone (55:45) as solvent mixtures. The extraction with n-hexane–acetone (55:45) presented lower percent relative standard deviation and greater efficiency in the extraction process, since hexane–acetone (55:45) led to higher mean percentages of recovery of the blank spike and the sample spike.


AbstractOverweight and obesity are more common among adult people with mobility disability (MD). Epidemiological studies are sparse in Sweden when it comes to the prevalence of MD and weight, differences between people with MD compared to those without MD, as well as the association to HRQoL. In addition, general guidelines in obesity prevention and treatment adapted to people with MD are lacking in Sweden. This thesis comprises two quantitative (I, II) and two qualitative (III, IV) studies. The aim of Study I and Study II was to investigate the prevalence of mobility disability, overweight or obesity and the association to HRQoL and participation in society in two different populations in Sweden. The aim of Study III was to explore the experience of healthy weight among people with mobility disability and the aim of Study IV was to develop a theory which could explain how public health nurses adapt guidelines to decrease overweight and obesity in people with mobility disability. The results from Study I and Study II showed that people with mobility disability had higher prevalence of overweight and obesity in comparison to people without mobility disability. Despite this, Study II showed that the BMI did not increase more in people with mobility disability in comparison to those without mobility disability.The overweight or obesity has no higher association to low HRQoL or participation in society among people with mobility disability in terms of "a double burden". In addition, Study II showed that people with mobility disability had lower HRQoL and partcipated in society to a lesser extent than people without mobility disability. The results from Study III revealed that people with mobility disability experienced problems with maintaining or regaining a healthy weight. They experienced a vicious circle where overweight/obesity excercerbated both the mobility disability and the pain. This led to difficulties in being physical active, which in turn resulted in difficulties in maintaining or regaining a healthy weight. They said also that it was difficult to receive good advice from the health care professionals because of lack of competence. The results from Study IV revealed that the public health nurses hesitate to initiate a conversation about overweight or obestiy independently of whether the people in front of them have mobility disability or not. They experienced that initiating a conversation with people with overweight or obesity was a sensitive issue but could be facilitated if they worked in teams at the health centres and had more time and resources. Despite the fact that people with mobility disability are overweight and obese to a greater extent than people without and have lower HRQoL and participate in society to a lesser extent, they are not a prioritized group with regard to health prevention. People with mobility disability experienced that health professionals at health centres do not raise the question of health prevention; or if they do, they do not understand their patient's situation. Public health nurses confirm that they do not raise the subject of overweight and obesity independetly of whether the patient has mobility disabiliy or not, because of its being so sensitive topic. Both people with mobility disability and public health nurses revealed that overweight and obesity prevention is not highly prioritized, and teamwork is suggested as a means to foster better lifestyle to decrease overweight and obesity.


3D face reconstruction from a single 2D facial image is a challenging and concerned problem. Recent methods based on CNN typically aim to learn parameters of 3D Morphable Model (3DMM) from 2D images to render face alignment and 3D face reconstruction. Most algorithms are designed for faces with small, medium yaw angles, which is extremely challenging to align faces in large poses. At the same time, they are not efficient usually. The main challenge is that it takes time to determine the parameters accurately. In order to address this challenge with the goal of improving performance, this paper proposes a novel and efficient end-to-end framework. We design an efficient and lightweight network model combined with Depthwise Separable Convolution and Muti-scale Representation, Lightweight Attention Mechanism, named Mobile-FRNet. Simultaneously, different loss functions are used to constrain and optimize 3DMM parameters and 3D vertices during training to improve the performance of the network. Meanwhile, extensive experiments on the challenging datasets show that our method significantly improves the accuracy of face alignment and 3D face reconstruction. Model parameters and complexity of our method are also improved greatly.


Global food security problem has raise concerns on the best agricultural practices that will stand the test of time to replace the already failing conventional agriculture. Yields are reportedly decreasing despite the increasing use of imputes. In the quest of solving this problem, researches have revealed that organic agriculture can get the needed results in a more sustainable manner. Activists of organic agriculture are therefore of the view that it is the best option for food sustainability especially in developing worlds like Africa. Critics also think organic agriculture is a sort of luxurious lifestyle being champion by some few rich consumers at the expense of the vulnerable majority. It is therefore unclear whether organic agriculture is the answer to Africa's food crisis. It was shown by literature that organic agriculture is the best model of agriculture for Africa in tackling the food needs of the continent. The superiority of organic agriculture over conventional agriculture was seen in its high yielding crops, high nutrient food produced, less energy consumption and less greenhouse gas produced during production, high drought and flood resistant crops with an overall positive impact on the ecosystem. However, challenges such as lack of national organic agriculture policies, low/no research in organic agriculture, high cost of organic certification and imputes, high illiteracy rate, and under developed markets in most African countries hampers widespread adoption of organic agriculture in Africa. Until these challenges are addressed by governments of African countries, organic agriculture cannot be the answer to Africa's food crises.


Polyamines in various Flavobacterium strains and related eubacteria were analyzed. The major polyamine was homospermidine in all 12 strains of the eight authentic species of the genus Flavobacterium studied (F. aquatile, F. breve, F. balustinum, F. gleum, F. meningosepticum, F. odoratum, F. multivorum, and F. spiritivorum), and in F. ferrugineum, whose taxonomic position is uncertain but related to Flavobacterium. Spermidine was not detected in these flavobacteria. In another seven Flavobacterium species that are taxonomically different from Flavobacterium and belong to other genera, homospermidine was not detected. Key words: Flavobacterium, homospermidine, spermidine, arginine decarboxylase.


Abstract The triple-tower suspension bridge is a brand new type of structural form that is equipped with a dominant mid-tower. The dynamic characteristics of this multiple main-span suspension bridge present a significant difference with that of the conventional single main-span suspension bridge. Hence, taking the Taizhou Yangtze River Bridge as an example, the buffeting performance of a long-span triple-tower suspension bridge under strong winds is comprehensively investigated via finite element method. Specifically, the sensitivity of structural buffeting performance to some major structural parameters, aerodynamic parameters as well as parameters of turbulence inputs is analysed in time domain. It was found that the structural buffeting performance heavily depends on the dead load of the main girder, sag-to-span ratio of the main cable, longitudinal stiffness and structural type of the mid-tower. Also, appropriate selection of aerodynamic admittance function, power spectrum model of fluctuating wind and the spatial coherence coefficient is important in the buffeting analysis. Besides, the self-excited forces have small impact on the calculation of buffeting responses of such a bridge. The analytical results can provide references for the buffeting analyses and wind-resistant design of similar long-span triple-tower suspension bridges.


We examine how political ties influence the strategic actions that firms take and the performance impact of these actions during transition towards market-based institutions. We theorize that firms...


A dense point-based registration is an ideal starting point for detailed comparison between two neuroanatomical objects. This paper presents a new algorithm for global dense point-based registration between anatomical objects without assumptions about their shape. We represent mesh models of the surfaces of two similar 3D anatomical objects using a Markov Random Field and seek correspondence pairs between points in each shape. However, for densely sampled objects the set of possible point by point correspondences is very large. We solve the global non-rigid matching problem between the two objects in an efficient manner by applying loopy belief propagation. Typically loopy belief propagation is of order m^3 for each iteration, where m is the number of nodes in a mesh. By avoiding computation of probabilities of configurations that cannot occur in practice, we reduce this to order m^2. We demonstrate the method and its performance by registering hippocampi from a population of individuals aged 60-69. We find a corresponding rigid registration, and compare the results to a state-of-the-art technique and show comparable accuracy. Our method provides a global registration without prior information about alignment, and handles arbitrary shapes of spherical topology.


Technology is taking its lead towards growth and it should be timely used properly for complex problems. Everything is available with us and it should be planned properly for better technology and its usage. This paper deals with core technology that will save time and cost for high resolution images. Which are used for movies, virtual games and simulations? Multi-cores are not new to the society; they are taken their shape into different transitions. Now we are in dual core technology with more processors and speed. We can utilize the cores properly if we have software technology. Main objective of this paper is to utilize cores proper for specific work with interrelating them. Finally they have to be organized properly with governance of the software. For performance HT Technology is used to select core for specific job. By selecting different cores we can gain performance, same way increase the speed and high resolution of images.


Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS) is an acute inflammatory, demyelinating, polyneuropathy that causes acute flaccid paralysis. There are two main methods of treatment for this condition. These include intravenous immunoglobulin infusion and plasmaphoresis. Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) by in vitro plasma separation is known to improve the outcome in GBS. However, TPE by filtration has so far not been reported in Sri Lanka. Therefore, this study aims to observe the outcome of continuous TPE using a plasma filter, on GBS patients.


Abstract In this paper, the application of Elliptic Curves in the generation of pseudorandom sequences is discussed. An Elliptic Curve of the form y 2+xy=x 3+ax 2+b, over GF(28) is considered. A base point P of large order N, of elliptic curve has been found. Using Linear Feedback Shift Register (LFSR) for generating sequence of integers {k i } modulo p, a prime, where p≥N, from which random key sequence {k i P} is obtained. The details of randomness tests [9] performed on the binary form of the sequence {k i P} of Elliptic Curve points are discussed for a sample example. The generated sequences have passed most of the FIPS 140–2 statistical tests. Hamming Correlation of random sequences generated is determined and results are discussed. Such sequences find applications as key sequences in the Stream Cipher Systems. Some of the results obtained in such applications are also given in this paper.


Abstract This study examines the flow characteristics of a turbulent boundary layer over different sand-grain roughness created by P$24$ and P$36$ and P$60$ sandpapers. The experimental dataset is acquired with high-resolution planar particle image velocimetry in the streamwise–wall-normal plane for a range of Reynolds number between $\delta ^+=1200\text {--}6300$, which consists of a number of transitionally and fully rough flow conditions where $30\leq \delta /k_s\leq 111$. The conditions formed over different rough surfaces (having identical surface morphology) enable us to compare rough flows at matched $k_s^+$ or $\delta ^+$ (roughness Reynolds number and Kármán number, respectively), including matched conditions from other studies in the literature. For all the cases, the friction velocity is determined from the direct wall shear-stress measurements using a floating-element drag balance. Mean streamwise velocity profiles exhibit a logarithmic behaviour in the inertial region, and their defect forms are observed to collapse in the outer layer even for the transitionally rough cases at relatively low Reynolds numbers. However, the diagnostic plot of the streamwise velocity intensity suggests that the wall similarity only holds for $k_s^+\geq 75(\Delta U^+\geq 7)$. Analyses at several matched $\delta ^+$ cases show that the mean streamwise velocity defect and turbulence profiles (streamwise and wall-normal velocity variances and the Reynolds shear stress) are self-similar in the outer layer independent of the surface roughness. This similarity extends closer to the wall for the wall-normal velocity variances and Reynolds shear-stress profiles for the weaker roughness (lower $k_s$), which could be a result of higher $\delta /k_s$ for these cases compared with the P$24$ grit sandpaper. For the matched $k_s^+$ conditions, all the profiles were observed to collapse better for fully rough conditions. However, in the transitionally rough regime, the current turbulence statistics are observed to deviate in the outer layer from those reported in other studies (Squire et al., J. Fluid Mech., vol. 795, 2016, pp. 210–240; Morrill-Winter et al., Phys. Rev. Fluids, vol. 2, 2017, 054608). Higher values of roughness function, turbulence intensity and Reynolds shear stress in the current study could be due to overstimulation of the boundary layer. Despite the differences in the turbulence profiles observed, the average large-scale structures across all wall-normal locations are found to be independent of $k_s^+$ and $\delta ^+$.


(57) Abstract: completely melted without a method for obtaining by compaction and the waste powder coating to baked product, the reusable powder coating process this waste. During the preparation of the powder coating, powder coating residues are continuously separated, are continuously compacted, compacted product without the extrusion process to produce a coated powder, the same coating It is continuously triturated with new grinding material from powder charge.


1522 Background: The role of adjuvant whole-brain irradiation (WBI) in PCNSL remains to be defined. Eliminating WBI from the initial treatment could reduce neurotoxicity but also adversly affect disease control and survival.

METHODS
Fifty-six patients were included in this prospective multicenter trial to evaluate the role of adjuvant WBI in PCNSL:. All received chemotherapy (CHX) composed of carmustine, high-dose methotrexate (HD-MTX) 1.5 g/m2, procarbazine, and dexamethasone (only in course 1). Patients without complete response (CR) received salvage chemotherapy with idarubicine and ifosfamide or high-dose cytarabine. Patients with CR after CHX were randomized to either WBI or one additional CHX course.

RESULTS
The CR rate after CHX was 61% (34/56), but only 23 patients were randomized to the two study arms. With a median follow-up of 40 months median overall survival (OAS) of all 24 patients without adjuvant WBI was 28.5 months (95% CI 7.7-49.2 months), that of all 10 responders with adjuvant WBI 12.8 months (95% CI 0-40.4 months; P=0.97). Responders to CHX had significantly longer survival than non-responders (18.2 versus 9.9 months, P=0.02). Median OAS was significantly longer at institutions accruing at least 4 patients than at those with fewer patients (31.5 versus 9.5 months, P=0.03). Late neurotoxicity developed in 5/24 (21%) patients younger than 60 years as compared to 6/32 (19%) older patients (P=0.84) and in 6/28 patients after WBI as compared to 5/22 without WBI treatment (P=0.91).

CONCLUSIONS
Response to CHX and treating institution were predictive of survival. The neurotoxicity rate was independent of age and WBI. The high drop-out and low randomization experience of this study led to a similar ongoing multicenter trial with HD-MTX monotherapy and upfront randomization. No significant financial relationships to disclose.


The development of blockchain, along with the creation of Bitcoin, opened the road to the first digital currency that is secure against double-spending without the need for a trusted authority or centralized server. The architecture of traditional blockchain structures like the one used in Bitcoin is, however, not very scalable because of its limiting slow global consensus mechanism. To address this limitation multiple paths have been explored and one of these is represented by Trustchain. Its architecture is based on a pair-based ledger system; where pairs of nodes register their transactions on entangled blocks stored in local, immutable and ordered chain. This technology guarantees high transaction throughput but has a big drawback; it is not possible to actively prevent fraudulent operations like double-spending but only to detect them a posteriori. The goal of this thesis is to research and evaluate mechanisms that can be implemented to reduce the detection time of this fraudulent activity, in a system like Trustchain. The first strategy involve relying on global dissemination, but this is quite inefficient. The second one uses anonymous auditing and localized dissemination to better perform regarding efficiency, at a small expense in terms of transaction duration. The performance improvements are confirmed by simulations. If compared to the existing mechanism, the second proposed solutions achieved double-spending detection in just a fraction of the original time at a cost of a small overhead. Umeer A. Mohammad Delft, 26 November 2019


George Ho was a professional translator with more than 15 years' translation and editing experience both in New Zealand and China, which covers commercial, technical, scientific, medical, military, official, legal and general translations. He also has experience in interpreting, translation for multimedia packages, software and web localization projects, as well as in linguistic consultancy. He was awarded a PhD Degree in Translation Studies by the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He has published several papers, including the one entitled "Translating Advertisements across Heterogeneous Cultures", which appears in the special issue of The Translator [SSCI/AHCI] in November 2004. Dr. George Ho was invited to establish the Department of Translation and Interpreting by Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages in Kaohsiung, Taiwan in August 2005. He has been the Chairman of the Department since.


We report an analysis result of NSRO-CDAW10 (Coordinated Data Analysis Workshop) that was held at Nobeyama Solar Radio Observatory from Oct. 25 to Oct. 29, 2010. When a solar flare occurs, a large amount of electrons are accelerated, they emit hard X-rays, gamma-rays and microwaves. Especially, the nonthermal emissions from flare loop-top sources are related to acceleration/transportation processes of electrons under the magnetic reconnection point. So in order to understand acceleration/transportation processes of electrons under the reconnection point, it is important to study temporal and spatial variations of loop-top sources by using data of multiwavelength observation. We studied an M3.7 class flare which occurred on Jul. 27, 2005. This flare took place behind the limb. So we can see only loop-top source itself without any effects of emissions from the footpoints. We used two frequency data of Nobeyama Radio Heliograph (17GHz and 34GHz, both of them are emitted by MeV electrons). According to a simulation (Minoshima et al. sub-mitted to ApJ), we expect that loop-top microwave source of 34GHz is located lower than that of 17GHz, because higher energy electrons which emit 34GHz microwave can reach to a lower altitude with less collisions during the transportation. But we got a result that the loop-top source of 34GHz was located higher than that of 17GHz during the whole period of the flare. And it was found that around the peak time of the flare, the height difference between the 17GHz and 34GHz loop-top sources became larger. In this presentation, we discuss why the loop-top The mutual loss of magnetic flux due to the apparent collision of opposite-polarity magnetic elements is called "magnetic flux cancellation" as a descriptive term. This flux cancellation is essential to the process of replacement of old magnetic flux with newly emerging flux in the quiet Sun on a timescale of a few days, and also to the process of removal of sunspot magnetic flux from the photosphere. An Omega-loop submerging below the surface or a U-loop rising through the photosphere is the usual idea to explain the magnetic flux cancellation. Magnetic reconnection may be crucial for the formation of these loops, especially for the submerging Omega-loop. In fact, chromospheric and coronal activities are often observed at the cancellation sites. We investigate the evolution of 5 cancellation events of the opposite-polarity magnetic elements at granular scales by using accurate spectropolarimetric measurements with the Solar Optical Telescope aboard Hinode. We find that the horizontal magnetic field, which is expected in both submerging Omega-loop model and emerging U-loop model, does not appear between the canceling magnetic elements in 4 of the 5 events. The approaching magnetic elements in these events are more concentrated rather than gradually diffused, and they have nearly vertical fields even while they are in contact each other. We thus imply that the actual flux cancellation is highly time dependent event near the solar surface at scales less than a pixel of Hinode/SOT (about 200 km). At the polarity inversion line formed by the canceling magnetic elements, highly asymmetric Stokes-V profiles are observed. We confirm that such asymmetric profile can be made by the sum of the profiles at the opposite-polarity magnetic elements next to the polarity inversion line. This means that the approaching bipolar flux tubes still keep their nature within the pixel where they come in contact with each other, and thus supports the unresolved flux We review spectroscopic observations of solar flares with the Hinode EUV Imaging Spectrometer (EIS). EIS has been observing two EUV wavelength bands, 17-21 nm and 25-29 nm since Dec 2006. These wavelength bands contain many emission lines that are emitted from hot plasmas with temperatures of the transition region, the corona, and solar flares. A lot of information is indeed included in these emission lines that can simultaneously be observed in EIS observations. We especially introduce results of EIS spectroscopic observations in terms of the hot-plasma generation and flare-plasma dynamics in the impulsive phase with complementary imaging observations. Solar Radio burst occures with flare of Coronal Mass Ejection(CME), and is classfied with freqency and timescale, and each type has defferent information. Type II radio burst occures when shock wave from flare or CME excites electron and electromag-netic wave occures with the plasma freqency. Type II burst has information of coronal shock wave. Cho et al(2008) suggested that type II burst occures not only from shock wave propagation to tha radial direction but also the interaction between CME and streamer. And at ASJ 2010 autumun anual meeetig, we suggested that the derection of shock wave propagation is associated with appearance of type II burst. We reserch the occurrence of type II burst with MHD simulation. The viewpoint is interaction between streamer and flare or CME, and direction of propagation. We are going to report this analysis. It question in the particle acceleration problem in solar flares how much energy is to non-thermal. In non-thermal dominant cases, flares trend to generate high energy particles, such as electrons that is responsible to strong non-thermal emission in hard X-rays and in microwave as well as protons and alpha particles. Therefore, it is important not only for solar physics but also for space weather studies to understand what the conditions of intense non-thermal energy release are, and to quantify how much energy is. To estimate the ratio of thermal energies to non-thermal energies, we aim for the emissions from solar flares in thermal and non-thermal conditions. We treat other conditions such as duration of solar flares, and we think that the ratio of a flux of the thermal to the non-thermal emission gives a solution of the problem of the ratio of thermal to non-thermal energies. An empirical raw, so-called the effect", has a key to connect thermal and non-thermal energies. This suggests that the integration flux of non-thermal emission X ray, microwave) is consistent with the temporal behavior of thermal emission X ray). the soft X-ray emission estimated from non-thermal emission is different from the observed soft X-ray flux and the error is about one order of magnitude. These problems can be thought that the ratio of the energies converted to the non-thermal energy in solar flare is not a number of the electrons. Another difference of hard X ray observation is that hard X ray observation watch emission from electrons of few keV to few hundred keV, on the other hand, microwave observation watch emission from electrons of few hundred keV to few MeV. Therefore, which energy gives Neupert effect, or chromospheric evaporation effectively is not revealed yet. We compare soft X ray, hard X ray and microwave emissions, and evaluate the fraction of non-thermal energy in flares and the effectiveness of Neupert effect. We investigate soft X ray data taken by GOES and RHESSI, hard X ray data by RHESSI, and microwave by Nobeyama Radioheliograph (NoRH). We compare the time integration of non-thermal emissions to maximum flux of thermal emissions statistically. We discuss which energy band range (hard X ray or microwave) is effective for the Neupert effect using data of NoRH, RHESSI. We also investigate the morphology of flare loops and the energy release conditions using data of SOHO MDI/EIT, TRACE. In the solar atmosphere, interaction between magnetic fields and surface convection produces varieties of structures over the broad spatial scale from 100 to 10ˆ5 km. The energy produced by the interaction is transferred to the upper solar atmosphere, and causes coronal heating and solar wind acceleration. Spatial power spectra of velocity and magnetic fields on the solar surface provide a clue to understand in which scale kinetic and magnetic energies are generated, transferred, and dissipated in the solar atmosphere. HINODE is the most suitable instrument to study it observationally because of high and stable image quality and precise measurements of velocity and magnetic fields. We present results of the power spectral analysis of two dimensional fluctuations of surface temperatures, velocities, and magnetic fields, and their implication on properties of magneto-convection in the solar atmosphere. The two dimensional spatial power spectra of the surface temperatures and velocities clearly exhibit a peak at the granular scale (around 1000km) and a power-law at the spatial scale smaller than granules, which indicates that kinetic energies are injected at the granular scale because of the thermal convection, and they cascades into smaller scale through turbulent action of convection. But the power-law slope of the kinetic energy is stepper than the Kolmogorov's slope of -5/3 in the isotropic turbulence. A power spectrum of magnetic energies has very broad spectrum between super-granular (10000 km) and granular scales (1000 km). The slope of the magnetic energy spectrum is less steep than that of kinetic energies, and it is found that there is a signature of deviation from the power law at the spatial scale smaller than 300km. It suggests that coupling among convection, magnetic fields and radiation becomes important at that scale. The power spectra do not depend on mean magnetic flux in the regions, which suggests that they are universal properties of magneto-convection on the solar surface. It is suggested that magnetic fields in the quiet Sun is created by local dynamo due to convective turbulence. In order to operate the local dynamo efficiently, kinetic and magnetic energies have to be enhanced at the smaller scale. However the study of the power spectra indicates that these energies are rather suppressed at the smaller scale, and no evidence to support the local dynamo as the origin of magnetic fields in the solar atmosphere. The catalog of solar flares have been made whi


Motivated by the fact that disordered data may appear in accelerated performance degradation tests when the sample is small, a new storage life evaluation method is proposed to mining information from the existing data. Combining the knowledge that the mean value of the performance parameter will degrade, isotonic regression are used to order the data. Meanwhile, the variance of the parameter is revised by mechanism consistency boundary. Finally, with the ordered data, linear degradation model and accelerated model are used to evaluate the storage life. The prediction method is applied to a battery's data which contains disordered data from accelerated performance degradation tests as example and works well. Keywords--disordered data; storage life; isotonic regression; mechanism consistency


Based on the analysis of the design methods of USB interface driver program under Linux system and considering of hardware characteristics of USB interface of micro-spectrometer, USB interface special driver program for micro-spectrometer based on Linux system was designed by the way of kernel module. Spectral signals through the micro-spectrometer USB interface were obtained. Information transmission of micro-spectrometer under Linux system was successfully realized.


Aims Climate change is expected to cause changes of carbon cycling in forest ecosystems, and prediction research suggests there is dramatic spatial heterogeneity and uncertainty in responses of carbon balance of forest ecosystems to climate change. The goals of our research were to predict and analyze impacts of climate change on the carbon cycling of warm temperate forests in Beijing mountain area in the next 100 years and to understand the heterogeneity and uncertainty on the ecosystem scale with LPJ-GUESS model. Methods The ecosystem model was used to learn how forest ecosystem productivity and carbon bal-ance change in a long-term time scale and to learn about differences of carbon balance among various ecosystems by comparing ecosystem components of carbon balance. The dynamic vegetation model (LPJ-GUESS), used for the first time in China and driven by A2 and B2 greenhouse gas emission sce-narios of the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) of IPCC, projected climate change impacts on carbon balance for three typical warm temperate forest ecosystems (oak, birch and Chinese pine forests) in the Dongling Mountain area of Beijing, China. Important findings Net ecosystem primary productivity (NPP) and heterotrophic respiration (Rh) will increase in the three forests, and the A2 scenario was associated with larger changes in NPP and Rh than the B2 scenario. Because of differences in species composition among the forests, increases in NPP and Rh were different and changes in net ecosystem exchange (NEE) were different among the forests: oakforest switched from a sink to a small source of carbon, birch forest remained as a smaller sink of carbon, and Chinese pine forest became a larger carbon sink over the next 100 years. Also, carbon biomass will generally increase in the forests by 2100. Comparing SRES A2 with B2, there was larger carbon storage in the relative lower emission scenario (B2). Projected differences in carbon balance among these forests in the same area were more dependent on species composition than climate factors (A2 and B2 scenarios) under future climate change.


-1 of carbon decreased bulk density by about 0,0065 Mg m -3 . Fresh treatments (fresh oat, fresh farmyard manure plus fresh oat), with high contents of fibre, decreased the average values of maximal bulk density in 5 and 7% respectively, increasing the corresponding moisture levels in 4 and 5%.


The anti-fatigue effect of macadamia (Macadamia integrifolia) protein and hydrolysate prepared with basic protease were investigated. Random mice grouping was carried out to create 4 groups including the control group and protein hydrolysate groups at low (150 mg/kg·d), medium (500 mg/kg·d) and high (1500 mg/kg·d) doses. All groups were treated by gavage for 28 consecutive days. Weight-loaded swimming test, serum urea nitrogen, serum creatine kinase activity, blood lactic acid and liver glycogen assays were performed to assess its anti-fatigue effect. The results showed that macadamia protein hydrolysate could significantly prolong weight-loaded swimming time, promote synthesis of liver glycogen and decrease blood urea nitrogen and lactic acid. Moreover, it can also significantly reduce serum creatine kinase activity. Therefore, macadamia protein hydrolysate had significant anti-fatigue function.


Context. Several young supernova remnants (SNRs) have recently been detected in the high-energy (HE; 0.1 100 GeV) gamma-ray domains. As exemplified by RX J1713.7−3946, the nature of this emission has been hotly debated, and direct evidence for the efficient acceleration of cosmic-ray protons at the SNR shocks still remains elusive. Aims. We study the broadband gamma-ray emission from one of these young SNRs, namely RCW 86, for which several observational lines of evidence indirectly point towards the presence of accelerated hadrons. We then attempt to detect any putative hadronic signal from this SNR in the available gamma-ray data, in order to assess the level of acceleration efficiency. Methods. We analyzed more than 40 months of data acquired by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on-board the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope in the HE domain, and gathered all of the relevant multi-wavelength (from radio to VHE gamma-rays) information about the broadband nonthermal emission from RCW 86. For this purpose, we re-analyzed the archival X-ray data from the ASCA/Gas Imaging Spectrometer (GIS), the XMM-Newton/EPIC-MOS, and the RXTE/Proportional Counter Array (PCA). Results. Beyond the expected Galactic diffuse background, no significant gamma-ray emission in the direction of RCW 86 is detected in any of the 0.1-1, 1-10 and 10-100 GeV Fermi-LAT maps. The derived HE upper limits, together with the H.E.S.S. measurements in the VHE domain, are incompatible with a standard hadronic emission arising from proton-proton interactions, and can only be accommodated by a spectral index Γ ≤ 1.8, i.e. a value in-between the standard (test-particle) index and the asymptotic limit of theoretical particle spectra in the case of strongly modified shocks. In such a hadronic scenario, the total energy in accelerated particles is at the level of / (with the distance d2.5 kpc ≡ d/2.5 kpc and the effective density ≡ /1 cm-3), and the average magnetic field must be stronger than 50 μG in order to significantly suppress any leptonic contribution. On the other hand, the interpretation of the gamma-ray emission by inverse Compton scattering of high energy electrons reproduces the multi-wavelength data using a reasonable value for the average magnetic field of 15-25 μG. In this leptonic scenario, we derive a conservative upper limit to ηCR of 0.04 d/. We discuss these results in the light of existing estimates of the magnetic field strength, the effective density and the acceleration efficiency in RCW 86.


The Children's National Service Framework emphasises the importance of education in all aspects of children's pain management (DoH 2003). Therefore it is paramount that courses educating health professionals on managing children's pain continue to be accessible to an increasing number of NHS staff. Many health professionals find difficulty in accessing further education due to increased workload, reduction in budgets and personal commitments. Having the chance to study pain management in children, at a pace and time individual to their own learning need is welcomed. Management has the dual responsibility of enhancing the quality of care sick children receive whilst meeting the continuing professional development needs of the health professional. The Managing Children's Pain module was developed as an e-learning blended course in response to these changing workforce needs. Collaborative working between academic and IT staff and initial investment in extra time and staff development was to reap rewards in the increase of students accessing the course and the freedom of lecturer time normally taken up by face-to-face teaching. All module outcomes were mapped against the core principles of KSF (DoH 2004) which were dovetailed with staff appraisal systems, providing robust evidence of life long learning and continuing professional development. The first cohort attended the university for two days, with the remaining content accessed through the virtual learning environment at home, in their workplace or in the university. Students participated in on-line discussion boards to provide one another with support for the written component of the assessment. Further support mechanisms included personal and electronic supervision by the module team. The managing children's pain module by e-learning enabled the health professionals to learn in a manner that was adaptable to their workplace and promoted life-long learning by developing independent learning skills. Following evaluation from the first cohort, changes to assessment strategy are underway to enable students to deliver their assignment in an electronic manner, thus enabling the module to be accessible to a wider national and international audience. The development of the module content was all encompassing and the challenges surrounding the implementation and evaluation of the modular content will be disseminated with opportunity for delegates to examine some of the materials developed. As educators of future health professionals it is important that we continue to develop more flexible approaches to post registration education.


We demonstrate multiwavelength channel optical logic operations on the Bloch vector of a quantum two-level system in the structured electromagnetic vacuum of a bimodal photonic crystal waveguide. This arises through a bichromatic strong-coupling effect that enables unprecedented control over single quantum-dot (QD) excitation through two beams of ultrashort femtojoule pulses. The second driving pulse (signal) with slightly different frequency and weaker strength than the first (holding) pulse leads to controllable strong modulation of the QD Bloch vector evolution path. This occurs through resonant coupling of the signal pulse with the Mollow sideband transitions created by the holding pulse. The movement of the Mollow sidebands during the passage of the holding pulse leads to an effective chirping in transition frequency seen by the signal. Bloch vector dynamics in the rotating frame of the signal pulse and within the dressed-state basis created by the holding pulse reveals that this chirped coupling between the signal pulse and the Mollow sidebands leads to either augmentation or negation of the final quantum-dot population (after pulse passage) compared to the outcome of the holding pulse alone and depending on the relative frequencies of the pulses. By making use of this extra degree of freedom for ultrafast more » control of QD excitations, applications in ultrafast all-optical logic and, or, and not gates are proposed in the presence of significant (0.1) THz nonradiative dephasing and (about 1%) inhomogeneous broadening. « less


When Mississippi Gov. Ronnie Musgrove said he wanted an Internet-accessible computer in every public elementary and secondary classroom in the state by the end of 2002, some wondered how he could achieve that goal. The answer was simple: go to the students. And that is just what the state did, as more than 400 Mississippi students came together last year to build nearly 6,000 computers for the state's younger children. A series of "Computer Blitz Build" events were held throughout 2002, where students spent an entire day assembling and packaging computers to be sent to various schools throughout the state. By the beginning of December, they had helped the governor reach his goal--32,354 public classrooms each had an Internet-accessible computer. This made Mississippi the first state to ever accomplish this feat, according to the National Governors Association. The participating students were enrolled in the ExplorNet Computer Engineering program, which is active in about 40 Mississippi schools. The program is a hands-on class in which students participate as part of their regular curriculum. Its goal is to teach students how to assemble new computers from scratch, as well as how to upgrade donated or used computers by replacing parts with new components. Each student is taught everything about the machines, including how to build, troubleshoot, operate and repair them. "It was a really exciting event, and for the governor to have that vision for his state and to actually do it was remarkable," says David Boliek, CEO of ExplorNet. "It says a lot about him and the people of Mississippi who helped influence the future of their state." Governor's Dream The Governor's Task Force for Classroom Technology was created last year with the sole purpose of placing an Internet-accessible computer in every public elementary and secondary classroom in the state. The governor's aspiration was to achieve two objectives: to enhance the educational experience for Mississippi students and help bridge the digital divide for all Mississippians. "Education is my No. 1 priority and the foundation to building a strong community and a strong state," says Musgrove. "Providing the world's resources to our children makes learning better. Now any teacher or child in Mississippi public schools has every resource at his or her fingertips. This initiative improves the opportunities to learn for our children, and provides a stronger foundation for our children as they move into college or into a job." In addition to working with ExplorNet on the Blitz Builds, the governor's office requested vendors to offer aggressive discounts on technology, creative pricing arrangements, and value-added products and services to help make his dream a reality. Everyone who participated in the project had nothing but praise for it. Student volunteer CedrickJames, from Humphreys High School, was glad his efforts at the December Blitz Build would assist younger children. "[ExplorNet] is a great project because it teaches us about computers and lets other students use computers to do their schoolwork at the same time," he says. …


Measurements of the underwater acoustic pressure and pressure gradient can be used to calculate the components of the acoustic intensity vector. The intensity vector points in the direction of net power flow and can therefore be used to find the direction or bearing angle to an acoustic source. Use of intensity measurements for determination of bearing is of interest because high‐angular resolution can be achieved using a relatively small array with physical dimensions less than 1/4 of the wavelength. The usefulness of this technique was investigated in a series of experiments on the Scotian Shelf in 70 m of water. The intensity sensor is an array of six hydrophones arranged as three orthogonal dipoles. The hydrophone spacing is 11.4 cm with a frequency range of 500–4000 Hz. For signal‐to‐noise ratios greater than 10 dB, bearing angles to a source were determined with a standard deviation of less than 0.1 deg. However, offsets of several degrees from the correct bearing angle were often present. The offse...