The excellent review of exposure to benzene and resulting leukemia and other hematopoietic disorders by Hayes et al. [2001] enhances our knowledge about one of the most widely used carcinogenic chemicals. The review reinforces the observation that benzene causes hematopoietic malignancies at lower levels than earlier described. It confirms for us that the biological mechanism or mechanisms by which benzene causes these malignant transformations are not fully understood. It places the recent results of a US National Cancer Institute/Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine Research Project in the context of older studies about benzene.

For all the merit of this research review, it prompts me to raise several critical questions for all researchers dedicated to protecting workers. I arrive at these questions not solely from our experience studying benzene, but from the broad and encouraging history of occupational health research, as well as our rather discouraging record for applying the scientific results.


Improving mill grade recovery relationships is always good business. Inco's Clarabelle mill has just undergone a $16 M process upgrade that was designed to improve nickel recovery by 2%. The Mill Redesign Project was completed on time, under budget and delivered the promised improvement in recoveries. This paper describes the methodology of the Mill Redesign Project team, details of the process improvements and the critical success factors that helped the team deliver on its promises. With a payback of under one year, the Mill Redesign Project will play a key role in ensuring a competitive edge as Inco embarks on its second century of operation.


Regional groundwater models used for analysing groundwater systems (infiltration-discharge relations) are often quasi-steady state and therefore need long-term average recharge input. On the other hand, the spatial variation in the recharge due to distributed land-use, soil type, slope, groundwater level, meteorological conditions, etc. can be significant and should be accounted for. Hence, WetSpass was built as a physically based methodology for estimation of the long-term average spatial patterns of surface runoff, actual evapotranspiration and groundwater recharge. The model is especially suitable for studying long-term effects of land -use changes on the water regime in a basin. The computer model was integrated in the GIS ArcView. Its set-up is extremely flexible; it allows easy new definition of natural or man -made land-use types. This paper describes the concept of the model and gives an example of a calibrated WetSpass recharge map.


The psychological literature has, historically, portrayed people with an intellectual disability as socially incompetent, with low levels of community participation being seen as a consequence of this incompetence. More recently the literature has suggested that structural features of service design and staffing practices may affect the levels of community participation achieved by people with an intellectual disability. This study contributes to the ongoing debate in the literature by evaluating levels of social interaction achieved by people with intellectual disabilities across agency settings, and by re-examining the assumption that the interactional incompetence of people with intellectual disabilities is a primary determinant of poor service outcomes.

Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies, the current study examined the community living experience of 43 service users living in supported accommodation in rural and urban locations. In Part One, quantitative results indicated few differences in service outcomes between the two locations. In keeping with the international literature, few people had a range of relationships in the wider community and most spent their time at home, in the company of staff or others with a disability.

In contrast to the existing literature, however, qualitative analyses conducted in Part Two suggest that absolute levels of service users' interaction competence, as gauged by the quantitative measures used in Part One, do not permit the assumption that service users' deficits per se are a necessary and sufficient cause of impoverished social relations. Conversation analysis of naturally occurring interactions between service users and members of staff indicated that many staff behaviours prohibit the display of interactional competence by intellectually disabled people.

This study serves to add weight to the growing recognition that locating people in houses in the community is not enough to meet the policy goals of service providers. The study also suggests that the current romanticising of small, rural, communities as promoting high levels of integration may be mistaken. In conclusion it is suggested that service providers may profit from directing their attention to the fine grain of staff client interaction, rather than directing resources towards individually-based social skills training, if the policy goal of increased social integration is to be realised.


Emergent and floating macrophytes in relation to some  physicochemical parameters were assessed in Waya pond, Bauchi. Water and macrophytes were sampled monthly between October 2019 to March 2020. Ten physicochemical parameters were measured and twelve macrophytes species recorded. The diversity index was 1.38, evenness (0.55) and abundance were 12 species. The site was polluted as all the values of dissolved oxygen (DO) were ˂ 5 mg/L, nitrogen ˃ 18 mg/L and pH ˂ 7 except for December.  Pearson's correlation coefficient revealed that DO correlated with Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) (r = 0.936, p˂0.01), Phosphate (r = 0.927, p˂0.01) and Nitrate (r = -0.953, p˂0.01). TDS correlated with Phosphate (r = 0.969, p˂0.01) and Nitrate (r = - 0.938, p˂0.01). The significant correlation between physicochemical parameters and macrophytes were: Nymphaea nouchali with DO (r = - 0.849, p˂0.05), TS (r = 0.88, p˂0.05). Panicum repens was negatively correlated with TDS, DO, TS, Phosphate but not Nitrates. Eichhornia crassipes, Nymphaea micrantha and Nymphaea lotus at p˂0.05 were negatively associated with TDS, DO, and Phosphate but positively with Nitrate. Nuphar lutea, Nelumbo nucifera and Echinochloa colona related positively with Turbidity. Nuphar lutea positively related with Nitrate but negative with DO, and TS. Typha latifolia with TS (r = - 0.871, p˂0.05). Potamogeton natans with phosphate (r = 0.927, p˂0.01). The state of water pollution in the study-area corresponded with low diversity, evenness and abundance of species. This puts biodiversity and sustainability at risk.


Objective:To analyze the monitor results of drinking water in Changzhi City from 2006 to 2008 for health supervision in accordance with the rules.Methods:In accordance with the GB/T5750-2006 Drinking Water Standard Test Method and GB5749-2006 Drinking Water Standard for Health,Analyzing the data of drinking water in Changzhi City from 2006 to 2008.Results:Major results qualified rate of turbidity was 80.06%,88.42% qualified rate of total rigidity was 88.42%,qualified rate of total coliform bacteria was 89.17%,qualified rate of total colonies was 90.76%.Conclusion:Quality of drinking water in Changzhi City from 2006 to 2008 have no change,but quality of centralized water supply is better than quality of decentralized water supply.


Transport collision integrals of interacting atoms or ions play a crucial role in modeling transport properties of high-temperature gases and plasmas. Here, we obtained the potential energy curves (PECs) of CH+ using the internally contracted multireference configuration interaction method with the Davidson correction (icMRCI+Q) method. The PECs were then used to investigate the transport cross sections and transport collision integrals for the C+(2P)–H(2S), C(3P)–H+(1S), C(1D)–H+(1S), and C+(4P)–H(2S) interactions using the classical mechanical approach and a quantum mechanical treatment of the scattering with Wentzel–Kramers–Brillouin approximations of the scattering phase shifts. The transport cross sections were obtained in the collision energy of 10−6–1 hartree, which were used to compute transport collision integrals for C–H+ and C+–H systems over the temperature range of 500–40 000 K. The C(1D)–H+(1S) and C+(4P)–H(2S) interactions are considered for the first time. Our transport collision integrals can provide data references for computing transport properties of high-temperature plasmas involving C and H atoms/ions.


This article provides a critical review of the theoretical underpinnings of two core concepts in language socialization research: input and communicative competence. We organize our discussion alon...


Abstract : The material in this thesis can be divided into two major parts: the first part deals with methods of simplification of flow graphs, and the second part deals with general topological analysis of network determinants. It is shown that a general network determinant can be evaluated by means of directed trees and directed 2-trees. There is no sign problem. The products of such directed trees and directed 2-trees will automatically give the correct signs. Furthermore, this new method can be applied to either the node-admittance matrix or the loop-impedance matrix. Some applications of directed linear graphs, such as determining the stability of a system and inverting matrices, are also discussed. (Author)


The utility model relates to a main pump oil absorption combination device which comprises an oil tank, a main pump loop and a circulation loop. The main pump loop comprises a plurality of parallel branches which are composed of main pump motor sets, overflow valves and one-way valves, and one end of each parallel branch is led out from an oil outlet pipeline. The circulation loop is communicated with the oil tank and comprises a circulating pump motor set, a cooler, a filter and an electromagnetic relief valve. The electromagnetic relief valve is arranged between the circulating pump motor set and the cooler. The other end of each parallel branch is communicated with the circulation loop to form an oil absorption main pipeline. An oil absorption auxiliary pipeline is branched from the oil absorption main pipeline, and the oil absorption auxiliary pipeline is provided with a one-way valve. The main pump oil absorption combination device has the advantages that the electromagnetic relief valve is additionally arranged on the circulation loop, the cooling function and the filtering function of hydraulic media in an original system can be kept, and the hydraulic media with certain pressure are provided for the main pump motor sets; the branch pipeline with the one-way valve is led out from the oil absorption main pipeline, hence, the oil absorption smoothness of a main pump can be guaranteed, and the service life of the main pump is prolonged.


Teachers' IT capabilities training is an important part of teachers' professional development. With the development of networks, new media technology and other emerging technologies, there is a prominent demand for a large number of high-quality educational resources and services in the process of teacher training, such as real-time interaction service. The innovative training model is also very urgent for teachers. This paper proposes a ubiquitous training model, called integration of 'training, research and application', relying on the on the platform and resources of Guangdong Education Cloud. It not only provides high-quality resources and interactive communication services for teachers' training and research, but also plays an important role in application of teachers' everyday teaching practice.


Abstract : Workshop on Power MEMS is an international workshop on battery-replaceable new small energy sources for wearable/portable systems and related MEMS technology. In this workshop, we focus on MEMS gas turbines, micro-rocket thrusters, small fuel cells, a micro-generator for a wrist watch and so on.


Much of the existing literature contends that household income is a key determinant of the household energy transition towards clean modern fuels. Yet the causal connection between income and fuel choice is difficult to pin down, given the obvious endogeneity bias that may arise from reverse causality and omitted (unobserved) confounding variables that are correlated with both income and energy use. We exploited exogenous variation in household income resulting from a unique natural experiment in South Africaage discontinuity in eligibility for Old Age Pension(OAP) benefitto identify the causal effect of income on fuel choices. Using a regression discontinuity design with categorical outcome, we find that household's energy choices do respond to changes in income. In particular, we find strong evidence that additional pension income for an elderly person encourages his or her household to shift towards greater electricity use, and to decrease use of both biomass and other traditional fuels. This result remains generally consistent when we disaggregate the results into three major energy services – lighting, heating and cooking – for which these fuels act as substitutes. Moreover, our analysis of the effect of the income transfer on conditional energy demand indicates that consumption of electricity and other energy sources increases overall, suggesting that energy use is a normal good. Overall, our study presents the first causal evidence of the role that income plays in the hypothesized climb up of the energy ladder, in the context of an important and populous middle-income country.


People need health information to attain good health and make health care decisions. This paper discusses the transition from print-based to new modes of electronic dissemination of multimedia-based consumer health information. Developed in the context of the federal national information infrastructure initiative, the issues presented relate to the entire enterprise of public and private consumer health information production, delivery and use.


This article is a review of literature pertaining to women's philanthropy. The purpose is to provide a basis for research related to reasons women donate to athletics and sports. An analysis of women donors as portrayed in the non-profit and political sector philanthropic literature is provided. Inferences for sport fundraising are explored in terms of private donor giving to intercollegiate athletics, especially that which may enhance women's sporting opportunities. Emphasis is placed on the role of women as financial donors and philanthropists during the 1990s. Projections are made relative to the potential for and nature of female philanthropy in the future.


A new paradigm for a parallel and distributed evolutionary computation is proposed in this paper. The main idea of the proposed approach is based on considering a given system as a multi-agent system with game-theoretic models of interaction between players. For this purpose a model of noncooperativeN-person games with limited interaction is considered. Each player in the game has a payoff function and a set of actions. While players compete to maximize their payoffs, we are interested in the global behavior of the team of players, measured by the average payoff received by the team. To evolve a global behavior in the system, we propose three distributed schemes with evaluation of only local fitness functions. The first scheme uses ?-learning automata and is compared with two coevolutionary schemes, which we call loosely coupled genetic algorithms and loosely coupled classifier systems, respectively. We present simulation results which indicate that the global behavior in the systems emerges and is achieved in particular by only a local cooperation between players acting without global information about the system. The models of multi-agent systems are applied to develop parallel and distributed algorithms of dynamic mapping and scheduling tasks in parallel computers.


Abstract. We describe in detail a high energy, high power ultrafast thulium-doped fiber laser system. The pulse energy of 156 μJ was realized. The laser system is comprised of a mode-locked 2020-nm seed oscillator and multiple-stage power/energy amplifiers. The seed oscillator output pulses at a repetition rate of 2.5 MHz. The seed pulses were stretched with the anomalous dispersion fiber to the duration of 320 ps. An acousto-optic modulator was used as a pulse picker to lower the repetition rate. A two-stage preamplifier was used to boost the pulse energy to 3 μJ. The pulse energies of up to 156 μJ and the average power of 15.6 W were obtained from the final stage of power amplifier at a repetition rate of 100 kHz with a slope efficiency of 26%. The pulse durations of 780 fs were obtained after pulse compression. High optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) and low background noise were also achieved at this low repetition rate.


A novel method for producing a highly-(100) orientated, large grain of poly-Si seed layer on glass by multi-round aluminum-induced crystallization (AIC) is developed. A flat 200nm poly-Si layer was first fabricated by regular AIC process to be a based layer. The second round AIC process was carried out immediately on the based layer to epitaxially grow up to a 400nm poly-Si layer by solid phase epitaxy (SPE) mechanism. The structure of enlarged epitaxial grain was examined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), the orientation map as well as histogram of grain size from large area were performed by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), and the crystallinity of multi-round AIC was verified by Raman spectrometry. The lateral growth and grain suppression can be clearly observed in cross-sectional TEM analysis. The average grain size can be determined from analysis of histogram. The speed of epitaxial growth is strongly influenced by the orientation of the growth plane. We utilize this characteristic to promote the {100} proportion and reduce others to achieve a highly oriented seed-layer for followed thickening step. The population of {100} crystallographic plane is obtained statistically from orientation map and a pole figure analysis. The mechanism of the multi-round AIC will be discussed in detail in the conference.


Based on analyzing the structure feature of runway, a fast algorithm to detecting runway from high resolution remote sensing images was presented in this paper. Edge detection with embedded confidence and straight-line-based primitive extraction were introduced, former increase the reliability of the detecting results, latter expedite the detecting speed. The experimental results showed that the algorithm is speedy and robust.


Yellow rasbora (Rasbora lateristriata) is a riverine fish that has unique spawning behaviour. Observation on its spawning aspects become interesting to carry out. Purpose of this research was to describe spawning site of the fish in Ngran-cah River, Kulon Progo Regency. The study was conducted by survey methods and direct observation in the field. The result showed that yellow rasbora has spawn in shallow riverside with sand and gravel riverbed. Spawning occurred at challenging from wet to dry monsoon with clean and freshly water, enough of oxygen, low water level and low temperature. The characters had been used by fisherman for increasing fish catch ability by make an artificial spawning site modification.


There is provided a light emitting device package (1), including at least one light emitting device (11); a lead frame (12) electrically connected to the light emitting device (11); a body part (10) supporting the light emitting device (11) and the lead frame (12) and including a cavity (13) opened so as to expose the light emitting device (11) and the lead frame (12); a reflecting part (20) fitted and fixed into the cavity (13) so as to surround the light emitting device (11); and a sealing part (30) filled in the reflecting part (20) and sealing the light emitting device (11).


Traditional medicine of the Island Caribs of Dominica: an assessment of the impact of tropical deforestation Results are presented for an ethnobotanical study of the Island Carib Indians of The Common wealth of Dominica, West Indies. Information about the history and current status of the community is given. A description of the study site and methodology is provided. The study focuses on the impact of tropical deforestation on the local medicinal practices of the Carib healers. Data from the last documented study of the Carib medicinal practice performed in 1940 is compared with current findings, revealing a shift in the Carib herbal pharmacopoeia toward dependence on nonforest species over the 54-year period. In 1940, 33 of the 114 (28.9%) plants reported to have been employed medicinally were forest habitat plants. Currently, a total of 89 species of plants are accounted for based on 4 months of intensive collecting and interviewing. Only eight (11.1 %) of these plants currently employed were forest species. This shift away from forest species is assessed in light of the current state of deforestation on the island. Recommendations for prevention of this loss ofcultural medicinal tradition are offered.


Elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) offers a viable alternative to Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) by delivering equivalent security with a smaller key size. This has several advantages, including smaller bandwidth demands, faster key exchange, and lower latency encryption and decryption. The fundamental operation for ECC is scalar point multiplication, wherein a point P on an elliptic curve defined over a finite field is multiplied by a scalar k. The complexity of this operation requires a hardware implementation to achieve high performance. The algorithms involved in scalar point multiplication are constantly evolving, incorporating the latest developments in number theory to improve computation time. These competing needs, high performance and flexibility, have caused previous implementations to either limit their adaptability or to incur performance losses. This thesis explores the use of a hybrid-FPGA for scalar point multiplication. A hybridFPGA contains a general purpose processor (GPP) in addition to reconfigurable fabric. This allows for a software/hardware co-design with low latency communication between the GPP and custom hardware. The elliptic curve operations and finite field inversion are programmed in C code. All other finite field arithmetic is implemented in the FPGA hardware, providing higher performance while retaining flexibility. The resulting implementation achieves speedups ranging from 24 times to 55 times faster than an optimized software implementation executing on a Pentium II workstation. The scalability of the design is investigated in two directions: faster finite field multiplication and increased instruction level parallelism exploitation. Increasing the number of parallel arithmetic units beyond two is shown to be less efficient than increasing the speed of the finite field multiplier.


A Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) actually consists of a huge amount of small and tiny individual sensor nodes which are well capable of sensing and collecting data samples from the environment and are treated as the information source. These sensor nodes helps in monitoring physical or environmental conditions and also pass their data samples to the main location through the network. In wireless sensor networks the central point of failure is a base station which collects data from several intermediate nodes. But problem occurs when these intermediate nodes fail to forward the data to the destination node. Attacker examines the packet traffic and can easily reach the base station to destroy it thereby rendering the entire sensor network inoperative. In this paper the proposed privacy preservation mechanism mainly focuses on minimizing the energy consumption thereby increasing the network life time and hence reduces the communication overhead in the network as a whole. Hence our proposed scheme involves generation of fake packets by the nodes considering remaining energy of each node.


Cement industries typically produce portland cement, although they also produce masonry cement (which is also manufactured at portland cement plants). Portland cement is a fine, typically gray powder comprised of dicalcium silicate, tricalcium silicate, tricalcium aluminate, and tetracalcium aluminoferrite, with the addition of forms of calcium sulfate. Different types of portland cements are created based on the use and chemical and physical properties desired. Portland cement types I V are the most common. Portland cement plants can operate continuously for long time periods (i.e., 6 months) with minimal shut down time for maintenance. The air pollution problems related to the production, handling, and transportation of portland cement are caused by the very fine particles in the product.


The two members of the 140-day permanent Salyut-6 space flight were exposed to 5 LBNP tests at -25 and -35 mm Hg for 2 and 3 min, respectively. Circulation responses to the LBNP tests were measured with respect to the heart rate, arterial pressure, chronocardiogram and cardiac output. As compared to the preflight data, inflight responses were characterized by a greater tachycardia, preload insufficiency, and vascular tone in the absence of orthostatic intolerance. Possible mechanisms of the changes in the circulation responses are discussed.


The relationship between trade openness and unemployment in Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries remains an area of significant interest and concern. While trade openness is often advocated for fostering economic growth and development, its potential effects on employment outcomes are complex and multifaceted. Understanding the nature and nuances of this relationship within the SADC region is crucial for policymakers and stakeholders seeking to design effective strategies that balance the benefits of trade openness with the goals of reducing unemployment and promoting inclusive growth. This study evaluates the effect of trade openness on unemployment in SADC from 1980 to 2019 using panel ARDL (pooled mean group—PMG) estimation techniques. The findings of the study show that trade openness and exports negatively impact unemployment, whereas imports positively affect unemployment in the long run. This suggests that while boosting exports and real trade, openness decreases unemployment, and imports increase job losses in the long run in the SADC region. This calls for more caution on trade openness regarding what to export and import when addressing regional unemployment reduction policies.


The literature on Orthoptera (sens. lat.) includes a number of cursory notes describing laboratory drinking in various species, but an extended discussion of this behaviour is not available. The author has spent the past seven years studying the feeding behaviour of Michigan Orthoptera, during which time he has also made observations and conducted experiments on intake of water. Findings with respect to the latter, although of a preliminary nature, are given in the following paper.


INTRODUCTION: As medicine becomes increasingly evidence-based, it is crucial to understand the level of evidence informing healthcare decisions. Systematic reviews are thought to provide high-quality evidence, but they vary markedly in methodological rigor. A MeaSurement Tool to Assess systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) was created in 2007 to evaluate scientific quality using an 11-item scale. Studies are classified as high (scoring 8–11), medium (4–7), or low quality (0–3). The following investigation uses AMSTAR criteria to assess the quality of systematic reviews in the plastic surgery literature.


While scholars have noted French composer Erik Satie's association with Impressionists, Dadaists, Cubists, and Surrealists, they have struggled to make his music fit within the bounds of his friends' movements.  Certain aspects of Satie's life and work—namely, repetition, preoccupation with interiors, and a penchant for ornamental details—point more clearly to correspondence with a previously unexamined possibility: Art Nouveau.  Highlighting Art Nouveau as the best of many possible interpretive lenses for Satie, this paper examines the movement during Satie's primary years of activity, anecdotal information about Satie's life, and the large collection of writings and drawings he left behind.


As part of designing a multi-sensory VR environment, in addition to evaluating the visual subsystem, acoustic presence must be evaluated. This paper proposes two experiments to examine the effects of human head movement and latency compensation in 3D sound localization. There are two hypotheses, the first hypothesis is that through the computer simulation of 3D sound, dynamic head movement can help in the localization of sound in space, as compared to fixed head position. The second hypothesis is when there is latency introduced in the computer generation of 3D sound, a human subject can perform better in a sound locating task with latency compensation than the one without compensation. The results of two proposed experiments corroborate with the above two hypotheses. Moreover, we are able to identify that with dynamic head movement, the human capability can be enhanced by more than 90% in the localization of sound in space and at the same time reduce the front-back ambiguity. In the second experiment involving a typical system latency at 300ms, it is shown that with compensation for latency the average time to perform sound locating task can be reduced by more than 50% than that without compensation. A priori study of the latency effects indicates that if the latency is larger than I50ms, human performance of locating a 3D sound source is noticeably decreased.


Let G be a simple connected graph with the vertex set V(G) and the edge set E(G). The distance between two vertices u and v, denoted by d(u, v), is the length of a shortest u − v path. If W = {w1, w2, w3, …, wn} is a finite set of vertices of G and v ∈ V(G), then the representation of v with respect to W is an ordered n-tuple r(v|W) = (d(v, w1), d(v, w2), d(v, w3), …, d(v, wn)). The set W is called a local metric generator for G if every two adjacent vertices of G has distinct representations. A minimum local metric generator is called a local metric basis for G and its cardinality is called the local metric dimension of G. A lollipop graph Lm,n for m ≥ 3 and n ≥ 2 is the graph obtained by joining a complete graph Km to a path graph Pn with a bridge. A web graph Wn for n ≥ 3 is a generalized prism graph Yn+1,3 with the edge of the outer cycle removed. A friendship graph fn for n ≥ 2 is a graph constructed by joining n copies of the cycle graph C3 with a common vertex. In this paper, we determine the local metric dimension of a lollipop graph, a web graph, and a friendship graph.


Background : In patients with β-thalassemia major, hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) gene therapy has the potential to induce production of β-globin, γ-globin or modified β-globin in the red blood cell lineage and reduce or stop the need for blood transfusions. We have previously presented early results for 2 subjects with β/βE -thalassemia major that suggested that transplantation with autologous CD34+ cells transduced with a replication-defective, self-inactivating LentiGlobin BB305 lentiviral vector containing an engineered β-globin gene (βA-T87Q) resulted in near-normal levels of total hemoglobin (Hb) early after HSC infusion. Herein, we provide additional follow-up data on these two subjects.

Subjects and Methods : After obtaining informed consent, subjects with β-thalassemia major underwent HSC collection via peripheral blood apheresis and CD34+ cells were selected. Estimation of the mean ex- vivo vector copy number (VCN) was obtained by quantitative PCR performed on pooled colony-forming progenitors. Subjects underwent myeloablation with intravenous busulfan, followed by infusion of transduced CD34+ cells. Subjects were monitored for hematological engraftment, βA-T87Q-globin expression (by high performance liquid chromatography) and transfusion requirements. Integration site analysis (ISA, by linear amplification-mediated PCR and high-throughput sequencing on nucleated cells) and replication-competent lentivirus (RCL) assays were performed.

Results: As of 31 July 2014, two subjects with β0/βE thalassemia major (Subjects 1201 and 1202) have undergone infusion with drug product. The outcome of these two subjects to date is shown in Table 1. The initial safety profile is consistent with myeloablation, without serious adverse events or drug product-related adverse events. Both subjects remain transfusion independent. ISA analyses in both the subjects at 3 months shows polyclonal reconstitution. An additional 2 subjects have been enrolled in this study but have not yet undergone drug product infusion.

Conclusion: In the first two subjects, early transfusion independence was achieved and has been maintained as of 31 July 2014. Further follow up data on these two subjects and additional data on subjects who have undergone drug product infusion in this study will be presented. Gene therapy using autologous HSC transduced with LentiGlobin BB305 lentiviral vector is a promising approach for the treatment of patients with β-thalassemia major.

| Subject | Age (years) and gender | Genotype | BB305 Drug Product | Day of Neutrophil Engraftment | Drug Product-related Adverse Events | Day of last pRBC transfusion | Day of last follow up | βA-T87Q-Hb at last follow-up visit /Total Hb (g/dL) |
| ------- | ----------------------------- | -------- | ------------------ | ----------------------------- | ----------------------------------- | ---------------------------- | --------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- | -------- |
| VCNa | CD34+ cell dose (x106 per kg) |
| 1201 | 19 F | β/βE | 1.5 | 8.9 | Day +13 | None | Day +10 | Day +180 | 7.2/10.2 |
| 1202 | 16 M | β/βE | 2.1 | 13.6 | Day +15 | None | Day +12 | Day +90 | 6.8/11.0 |

Abstract 4797. Table 1.
Preliminary Results of Dosing Parameters and Transplantation Outcomes

As of 31 July 2014

a VCN, mean vector copy number

Disclosures Payen: bluebird bio, Inc: Consultancy. Beuzard: bluebird bio, Inc: Consultancy, Equity Ownership. Sandler: bluebird bio, Inc: Employment, Equity Ownership. Soni: bluebird bio, Inc.: Employment, Equity Ownership. De Montalembert: Novartis : Speakers Bureau. Leboulch: bluebird bio: Consultancy, Equity Ownership, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Patents & Royalties, Research Funding.


The invention discloses a process for distributing grinding materials of a grinding disc of a ship body made of brass solder super-hard grinding materials. The process comprises distributing materials at the edge of the outer end of the grinding disc, distributing materials at the inclined plane of the grinding disc and distributing materials at the plane of the top end of the grinding disc; the granularity of the grinding materials distributed at the edge of the outer end of the grinding disc ranges from 16 meshes to 80 meshes; the transverse distance of two adjacent grinding materials ranges from 1.6d to 4.5d; the longitudinal distance of two adjacent grinding materials ranges from 1.5d to 5.5d, wherein d is the maximum granularity of the grinding materials; the granularity of the grinding materials distributed at the inclined plane of the grinding disc ranges from 25 meshes to 100 meshes; the distance range of the adjacent grains along the radial direction of the grinding disc ranges from 1.5d to 4d; the distance range of two rows of grinding materials distributed along the radial direction ranges from 1.5d to 6d; the grinding materials distributed at the plane of the top end of the grinding disc is of cluster shaped grinding materials; a single cluster shaped grinding material is formed by closely arranging 1-115 grinding materials; the granularity of the grinding materials ranges from 35 meshes to 140 meshes; and the area of the cluster shape ranges from 3 mm to 15mm . The grinding disc has the characteristics of high grinding efficiency, light hand feeling, small vibration, no odor, long service life, appearance attractiveness and the like; and a traditional resin grinding wheel is replaced relatively perfectly, and thus the process is the direction of the development of the grinding disc of the ship body in the ship manufacturing industry.


The utility model discloses a reinforcing component on the inner skin of the middle door of the passenger vehicle. The reinforcing component is a strip-shaped stamping forming component, the sectional plane of the reinforcing component is sunken at the middle part and bowl-shaped, a welded raised edge is respectively stamped at the left side, the right side and the upper part for welding with the plates inside and outside the door, and the welded raised edge at the upper part is saw-toothed. The reinforcing component is designed in the symmetrical form of left structure and right structure, thus conveniently realizing the common use of the parts for the left door and the right door. Moreover, the weight of the reinforcing component is lightened in order to ensure the intensity, and a plurality of raised edges are respectively stamped on the reinforcing component to reduce in weight of the reinforced hole. Interior trimming panel installation holes are arranged at the position close to both ends of the lower part of the reinforcing component, to realize the fixing and supporting function to the interior trimming panel of the vehicle door. The mechanism can increase the intensity of the parts, to realize the better fixing and supporting function to the outer skin of the middle door, reduce the weight and increase the versatility.


To evaluate the contribution of Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria (SRB) to the carbon flux from marine salterns, sulfate reducing activity (SRA) was measured for a year (Sept 2000–Aug 2001) This covered the pre-monsoon period (Feb–May), the monsoon (June–Sept) and the post-monsoon (Oct–Jan) in the salterns of Ribandar, Goa, India. Sulphate reduction was examined to gain insights into the decomposition characteristics (kinetics) of organic carbon; this connection is based on the theory of stoichiometric coupling between anaerobic carbon degradation and sulphate reduction to sulphide. SRA was measured using radiotracer techniques. Spatially, recalcitrance of the substrates, as depicted by the reaction rate coefficient (k), increased with depth, except during the monsoons. The values ranged from 0.0061 during the pre monsoon to 0.06 month−1 during the post-monsoon at 5–10 cm depth. The recalcitrance was highest at the surface during the monsoons at a k value of 0.014 month−1. The anaerobic degradation of labile organic matter followed first order kinetics or G model during non-monsoon seasons when the substrate was limiting due to closure of the system to the addition of extraneous source of organic matter. However, the integrated recalcitrance or the reaction rate coefficient was much higher during the post monsoon at 0.642 month−1 compared to 0.053 month−1 during the pre-monsoon season. Interestingly, the reaction rate followed zero-order kinetics when the substrate was non-limiting during monsoon due to exposure to external inputs.


About the Author: Jiří Kolář (1914–2002) was a graphic artist, poet, essayist and translator. He came from Kladno, and he called himself "a simple worker". He started his creative career in the early 1930s with surrealist poems, later belonged to the left-oriented artistic and literary Group 42. Due to the Communist coup in 1948, he was banned from 1949 to 1957. In 1950, he wrote one of his substantive books of poetry → The Liver of Prometheus. He spent eight months in prison in 1953 for this "subversive manuscript". For which, among others, he used the text by the Czech writer Ladislav Klíma and the short story By the Railway Track (→Medallions) by Zofia Nałkowska. At the end of 1950s, he gradually concentrated on artistic work and visual experiments. His visual poetry and collages won him world fame with dozens of exhibitions. His entire work was exhibited in the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 1975 and in other major Western museums of modern art. In the 1970s and 1980s, again, he could not publish except in samizdat or exile. In 1977, Kolář signed the human rights manifesto Charter 77 and while on a scholarship in West Berlin, the Czechoslovak government decided to force him to emigrate with no permission to return. He lived in Paris from 1980 to 1989, and afterwards he regularly travelled between Paris and Prague. From the late 1990s, due to his declining health, he stayed in Prague and spent his last years in a Prague hospital.


This research presents the relationship between the position of outrigger and the size of the external columns in minimizing the building responses to wind. Outrigger system has been one of the many structural systems in tall buildings used to reduce the building responses to wind load. The study on the usage of this system has been given little or no attention to the effect of the size of the external columns to the optimum position of outrigger. This research involves the position of the outrigger being varied and the responses: displacement and acceleration being computed. The procedure is repeated for each different size of the external columns. This analysis is carried out with the use of structural analysis computer software to determine the natural frequency of the building and Excel spreadsheet to determine the responses. The observations from the analysis will provide the conclusion on the relationship between the size of the external columns and the outrigger location with respect to the building response to wind.


Two metal-organic frameworks,[Cd(bib)2(NO3)2] (1) and [Cd(bib)Br2] (2) were synthesized by reactions of ligand 1-bromo-3,5-bis (imidazol-1-ylmethyl)benzene (bib) with corresponding cadmium(Ⅱ) salts,respectively. Their crystal structures were determined by X-ray crystal structure analyses. The results showed that 1 crystallizes in triclinic,space group P1 with a=0.836 18(14) nm,b=0.887 62(15) nm,c=1.165 9(2) nm,α=84.211(3)°,β= 74.321(3)°,γ=69.805(3)°,V=0.781 9(2) nm3,Z=1,Dc=1.849 g·cm-3,F(000)=430,μ=3.314 cm-1,R=0.032 7,wR= 0.085 0; while complex 2 crystallizes in monoclinic,space group P21/c with a=0.741 86(9) nm,b=1.423 77(18) nm,c=1.596 0(2) nm,β=94.729(2)°,V=1.680 0(4) nm3,Z=4,Dc=2.330 g·cm-3,F(000)=1 112,μ=8.435 cm-1,R=0.030 1,wR=0.066 7. Complex 1 has a 1D chain structure,which is further connected by Br…π interactions to generate a 2D network. In the case of complex 2,2D sheet structure was further linked by Br…Br interactions leading to the formation of a 3D framework.


The realist school of international relations regards the international environment as anarchic. Sovereign states are perceived as being engaged in a struggle to maximize their individual interests. Therefore, the states' chief priority is to counter threats from their adversaries so as to ensure the security of their citizens. In this context, the concept of security has traditionally been understood as an environment that is free of danger and threats. As International Relations IR theory has evolved, however, new approaches to the concept of security have been developed. New understandings of security have made the concept more multifaceted and visionary. This article firstly focuses on security studies field, in this regard and asks what can be done to combat global terrorism and how the conditions for peace and stability can be ensured? Given the rise of new global disputes and cultural perspectives, security can no longer be isolated venture; rather, it is a collective endeavor. In the contemporary era, greater international collaborations and broader alliances are needed to provide international security. This article discusses the effectiveness of such global alliances -especially NATO- in providing global security.


Abstract : The nanometer dispersion of inorganic ultra-thin layered fillers in polymers have been proven a very successful route to concurrently enhance several properties of the polymer matrix, and result in multifunctional nanocomposite materials. Understanding the structure/property relations in polymer/clay nanocomposites is of great importance in designing materials with desired sets of properties. Along these lines, critical overview is attempted on the physical and molecular origins of material properties enhancements in polymer/inorganic hybrid nanocomposites, in the context of designing a multifunctional composite.


Four digestibility trials were conducted to evaluate the plant pigment (chromogen) method of determining dry matter digestibility of pasture herbage Grass was cut from a native permanent pasture and dehydrated artificially to approximately 90 per cent dry matter In one trial with sheep the digestibility coefficients obtained by both the chromogen ratio and the chromogen formula methods of Reid et al were practically identical to those obtained by the conventional total faecal collection technique In three trials with steers a slight wavelength adjustment was necessary to obtain optimum agreement between the three methods It was concluded that the plant pigments may be useful indicators of the dry matter digestibility of pasture herbage but various grazing conditions should be investigated further


The invention discloses a fresh-water cooler environmental simulation test device which is characterized by comprising a fresh-water circulation system, a sea water circulation system and a test data acquisition control system; wherein, the fresh-water circulation system comprises a water tank, a heater, a fresh-water heating control circuit and a fresh-water timing circulation pipeline; the sea water circulation system comprises a sea water pool and a sea water timing circulation pipeline; the test data acquisition control system comprises timing elements, pumps and sensors which are respectively arranged at the fresh-water timing circulation pipeline and at the sea water timing circulation pipeline; the device also comprises a field signal acquisition adjustment and distance transmission module connected with the timing elements, the pumps and the sensors, a data acquisition module bidirectionally connected with the field signal acquisition adjustment and distance transmission module and a data control module connected with the data acquisition module by a data bus. By adopting distributed bus control technology, a field signal is sent into a computer over long distance at real time for record and analysis, thus meeting requirement for performance test and verification.


Although all men age >50 years are at an increased risk for the development of prostate carcinoma, 2 major factors increase this risk: family history and race. This article outlines the influence of family history on the risk of prostate carcinoma and current understanding of factors that increase this risk.


A method to increase the temperature that is used for controlling the temperature of a fuel cell stack at a system start-up of frost of a cooling fluid. The method includes determining that the cooling fluid is frozen or nearly frozen, and if this is the case, a disable excessive power drain on the fuel cell stack to minimize stack waste heat, and activating a cooling fluid heater to heat the cooling fluid. Once it is determined that the cooling fluid is not frozen or flows, the algorithm then starts a normal system operation.


Acknowledgements The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution of Enterprise Geelong to this report. In particular, the work done in collecting data and constructing input-output tables based on the REMPLAN modelling program. We would also like to thank the Geelong Chamber of Commerce for their motivation for the study, Barry Cooper and Pedro Gomis Porqueras for their suggestions. Disclaimer This report is a preliminary analysis, based on information made available as at July 2014. It represents an estimate of the impact of projected changes in employment, output and gross regional product, based on currently available data.


What can we, as science teachers, contribute to remaking our society? We should provide the best possible opportunities for our students to learn science.


Long QT Syndrome and Potentially Pathogenic Genetic Variants To the Editor Dr Van Driest and colleagues1 presented a negative study on novel criteria for secondary variants for long QT syndrome. They identified 127 candidate SCN5A or KCNH2 variants and considered 63 potentially pathogenic, using unspecified review criteria in 3 clinical laboratories. This number reflects an overall rate of 3.1%, which, as they noted, is unexpectedly high and biologically implausible, because the upper estimate of long QT syndrome prevalence is 1 in 2500 (or minor allele frequency [MAF] of 0.02%). As expected, by using such liberal criteria, they found that these variants were not associated with an abnormal phenotype. Previously, criteria for reporting secondary variants in these genes were developed that required a MAF no higher than that for the disease overall and either 3 independent reports of pathogenicity or 2 such reports and supporting evidence (typically functional data) with no conflicting benign data.2 Applying more restrictive criteria to the 127 variants identified by Van Driest and colleagues would likely identify few as pathogenic. Van Driest and colleagues1 overinterpreted their data in concluding, "These findings raise questions about the implications of notifying patients of incidental genetic findings." The most appropriate conclusionisthatthethresholdsofthe3clinical laboratoriesinvolved are less stringent and have lower positive predictive values (PPVs) than current standards and that further filtering is required prior to reporting. Had these data been analyzed according to the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) recommendations3 and previously published recommendations for long QT syndrome,2 no variants would have been reported, which is a superior outcome compared with that reached by Van Driest and colleagues. It is inevitable and desirable that the ACMG incidental findings gene list3 should evolve by the removal of genes that can be demonstrated to have poor PPV and the addition of genes that can be shown to have good PPV. If the findings of Van Driest and colleagues are generalizable and clinical laboratories cannot effectively identify secondary variants in these genes, change to a model of only reporting secondary variants from a robustly vetted list of unambiguously pathogenic alleles may be necessary. The paradigm of sacrificing sensitivity for PPV was part of the original ACMG recommendations, and it may be worth pursuing that approach further for genes that are difficult for clinical laboratories to interpret. KCNH2 and SCN5A may be examples where this approach has merit, although more data would be needed before adoption.


Matched field processing has a advantage of detection of multiple targets. But, if a strong interferer is moving fast near a quiet target, detection of the target is difficult due to the motion effect of the interferer. The motion of the interferer introduces energy spreading and results in poorer detection. A waveguide‐invariant‐based motion compensation algorithm was proposed to mitigate the motion effect of a dominant signal component, which is estimated by eigenvalue method. The eigenvalue method is good for a strong interferer, but not good for multiple targets. In this presentation, we will propose a steered beam processing method to mitigate the motion effect of multiple targets. We will verify the proposed method with numerical simulations and SwellEx96 data processing.


Findings of the family planning radio announcement study of the National Research Institute of Family Planning which attempted to learn about radio listening habits of Hyderabad District West Pakistan residents and to determine the effect of short-spot family planning broadcasts are presented in this preliminary report. Major initial findings include: 1) 67% of respondents listened to the radio; 2) 33% of rural people and 60% of urban females listen at home; 3) music and customized rural programs were successful and popular; 4) median number of listening hours a day for rural males rural females and urban females was 3 and it was 2 hours/day for urban males; 5) 30-44% of all respondents reported hearing the messages estimating an audience of 300000; 6) 33% of rural hearers recalled dialogue and another 33% remembered slogans; 7) 1/2 of urban hearers remembered the dialogues and another 15% remembered the suggestion to visit the clinic; 8) 35.2% of those who heard the message stated that they had talked to others who had heard it; 9) 14.8% of message hearers reported taking some kind of action the majority acquiring an IUD. Analysis of clinic records showed that more IUD clients reported they were radio listeners than those in the random sample (86.2 vs. 58.7%). Initial studies indicate that proof of significant increase in family planning clients during the broadcast period may be impossible.


Discloses a method for determining the continuity of the method of the fuse / circuit, the circuit comprising a first current and a second current isolators isolator and a fuse signal generating means and signal detection means, said signal generating means and signal detection means each is communicatively coupled to a current isolator. Signal is transmitted and received by a second current through the isolator via a first current detection isolator unit. Generating a detection signal indicative of whether there is a closed electrical circuit including the fuse. Describes a continuity determining circuit for fuse, said fuse comprising a ground fault detection circuit in the photovoltaic array.


A Research Project Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Award of a Master of Business Administration Degree (Finance), School of Business, Kenyatta University.


According to the distribution characteristics of default data in the credit rating companies in China,by using the principle of regression analysis,the paper proposes an approach to testing the credibility of rating results from the credit rating agencies. It's found that by using this method the rating results for the top 24 credibility of the rating agencies are being improved year by year. Meanwhile,we also address the shortcomings and deficiencies of the method,and put forward proposals for future research.


Introduction Our project aims to use transfer learning in order to classify different types of waste. We were motivated to do this with the ultimate goal of improving the efficiency of waste management systems, eventually reaching the point where people do not need to sort their waste, and an autonomous system can process it according to what type of waste it is. The end goal is to have a model that distinguishes recyclable waste from garbage, and labels recycling according to five classes, which are described below in the dataset section. Such a model could be used either in waste management facilities or in households to help educate people on what can and cannot be recycled. The input to the algorithm is a set of images, and the output is predictions corresponding to one of six classes of waste. We utilized transfer learning from a well-known neural network architecture called DenseNet121 [15], which has enabled us to take advantage of a model trained on a wealth of data, which benefits us as our dataset is comparatively small (2,527 images before data augmentation). We also utilized data augmentation in an attempt to improve our accuracy.


Radiotherapy, a primary treatment for cancer, seeks to deliver a lethal dose to the tumor while sparing surrounding healthy tissue. Cumulative evidence indicates that microRNAs (miRNAs) participate in the regulation of tumor radiation response. Therefore, characterizing the regulatory association between miRNA and cancer radiation response is essential for increasing the efficacy of radiotherapy. Traditional biological experiments often face the challenge of low efficiency and high failure rate. Here, we proposed the method, called BPRMCRA, to predict potential miRNA-cancer radiation response regulatory associations based on biological experimental data obtained from published literature. Firstly, we employed the Bayesian personalized ranking matrix factorization method to decompose the potential features from the regulatory association matrix composed of biological experimental data. Secondly, we introduced relevant features of miRNAs and cancer from a biological perspective and utilized the deep auto-encoder to decrease the feature dimensions of miRNAs and cancer. Finally, the soft voting method was applied for the prediction of regulatory association. The results demonstrate that the BPRMCRA method robustly outperforms other methods, and is therefore a very valuable approach for accurate prediction of the miRNA-cancer radiation response regulatory associations.


Because of the influence of the disadvantageous change in global labor situation and enterprise ownership structure, the supply exceeding demand in the labor market of our country and the structure contradiction of supply and demand, the rights that the employees of our country enjoy at present are at a low level and the protection of employee rights has the characteristics of hierarchy, difference and complexity. To strengthen the protection of employee rights, it is necessary to construct a new labor relation that is fit for the inherent need of socialist market economy, clarify the basic principles for the protection of employee rights, further perfect the labor law system of our country and the effective mechanism for the protection of employee rights, exert the leading function of the government and the positive function of the labour union and employers and balance the power and rights of the two sides of labor and management.


A second-order expansion is established for predictive distributions in Gaussian processes with estimated covariances. Particular focus is on estimating quantiles of the predictive distribution and their subsequent application to prediction intervals. Two basic approaches are considered, (a) a "plug-in" approach using the restricted maximum likelihood estimate of the covariance parameters, (b) a Bayesian approach using general priors. Calculations of "coverage probability bias" show that the Bayesian approach is superior in the tails of the predictive distributions, regardless of the prior. However they also imply the existence of a "matching prior" for which the second-order coverage probability bias vanishes. Previously suggested frequentist corrections do not have this property, but we use our results to suggest a new frequentist approach that does. We also compute the expected length of a Bayesian prediction interval, suggesting that this might be used as a design criterion combining recent "estimative" and "predictive" approaches to network design. A surprising parallel emerges with the recent two-stage estimative-predictive approach of Zhu and Stein.


SPIE is a nonprofit organization with 11,000 members worldwide. The society's constituency comprises optical and optoelectronic scientists and engineers in communications, biomedical, manufacturing, aerospace, and other applications. The perceived need to link our technical community electronically is both a response to a future scenario of pervasive interconnectivity among the scientific community and a need to address the issues raised by a changing paradigm for technical publishing, wherein the rise of electronic communication may obviate the need for the traditional publisher (and its capital investment). Through a growing but still modest effort over the last two years, SPIE has created an array of online services that are essentially paving the way for our organization's future offerings in the electronic publishing world. Many of our experiences and observations may apply to any group involved in setting up such a resource, and we hope this case study will provide some assistance to others embarking on that process.


Hamilton College combines data from Voyager ILL, Ariel Document Delivery, RAPID ILL, and ConnectNY, a consortial union catalog using INN-Reach, into a single reporting section of requests and direct PDF delivery on the My account page in Tomcat Web Voyage. Not a how-to for others to emulate exactly, the demonstration illustrates the power of open architecture for personalized services in Voyager. We employ XSLT, PHP, and Perl using our own Apache 2 instance to integrate data from Oracle, MS Access, and web services.


Platelet concentrates for prophylactic or therapeutic treatment of patients can be isolated from whole blood using the platelet‐rich plasma‐method or the buffy coat‐method on one hand, or can be collected by apheresis with return of unwanted blood cells to the donor on the other hand. A number of variables among the methods, including the anticoagulant, centrifugation and processing after collection, and pre‐ or post storage pooling, affect storage characteristics of platelets. Data suggest, however, that most differences balance out, both based on in vitro studies, and on recovery and survival studies. A marginal difference in corrected count increment in favor of apheresis platelets was observed, but the practical consequence is likely to be small. The need for pooling of whole‐blood‐derived platelet concentrates increases donor exposure, and thereby potentially increases the risks associated with transfusion of whole‐blood‐derived platelet concentrates. Indeed, risk of viral and variant Creutzfeldt‐Jakob disease transmission is at least two‐fold higher for whole‐blood‐derived platelet concentrates, but allo immunization rates, acute reaction rates, and transfusion related acute lung injury rates are not different. Apheresis donation procedures have fewer adverse events. The various benefits and disadvantages of the methods have to be balanced when choosing a preferred way of platelet collection.


We study the problem of multiview representation learning using kernel canonical correlation analysis (KCCA) and establish non-asymptotic bounds on generalization error for regularized empirical risk minimization. In particular, we give fine-grained high-probability bounds on generalization error ranging from O ( n − 1 / 6 ) to O ( n − 1 / 5 ) depending on underlying distributional properties, where n is the number of data samples. For the special case of finite-dimensional Hilbert spaces (such as linear CCA), our rates improve, ranging from O ( n − 1 / 2 ) to O ( n − 1 ). Finally, our results generalize to the problem of functional canonical correlation analysis over abstract Hilbert spaces.


Degradation testing and life testing are two types of significant reliability tests for evaluating the lifetime of a product. When it is difficult to obtain failure time data via life testing, degradation testing can also be conducted to collect performance degradation data for parameters estimation and reliability assessment. In this paper, an optimal design method is proposed to determine the number of units allocated in degradation testing and life testing under constrains. Firstly, the degradation characteristic is described by using Wiener process model, and the reliability model and parameters estimations are derived both using degradation data and lifetime data. Secondly, based on V-optimality criterion, under the constraint that test cost does not exceed a predetermined budget, the optimal design of test number in each test is obtained by minimizing the asymptotic variance of the maximum likelihood estimator, which is the p-quantile of the lifetime distribution. Finally, a numerical example is presented to illustrate the use of the proposed method in practice, and show its meaningful in improving the estimation accuracy.


What makes a pension scheme sustainable? Most answers to this question have revolved around expert assessments of pension schemes' affordability or adequacy. This study shifts focus from the financial or social sustainability of pension scheme designs to their political sustainability. Political sustainability refers to policymakers' ability and willingness to sustain pension schemes in the face of perceived challenges. We seek to fill a key research gap concerning the political sustainability of pensions by highlighting the processes of parametric adjustment through which pension schemes are sustained. We show how capital, labour and state actors have been able to actively sustain collective defined benefit (DB) pension schemes in two coordinated market economies, Finland and the Netherlands. The two countries have managed to sustain their DB pensions for relatively long periods of time despite facing the same sustainability challenges that have motivated paradigmatic shifts in other pension systems. We find that sustaining has been successful thanks to a governance culture in which policymakers have been willing to keep all pension scheme parameters open for negotiation and an institutional context that made policymakers able to turn parametric pension reforms into power resources for further reforms. Our findings also explain recent changes in the Netherlands, which moved the Dutch system towards collective defined contribution pensions.


ABSTRACT The electronic schoolbag (eSchoolbag) is an enhanced one-to-one computing environment compatible with various digital devices. The eSchoolbag provides instructors with an intelligent teaching management system. It also offers students a highly interactive learning environment. However, findings of students' performance in the eSchoolbag environment are mixed due to the great variety of digital devices. Moreover, the research on the temporal change in students' motivation in the eSchoolbag environment is still in its infancy. This study addressed these gaps by examining the longitudinal changes in students' performance and motivation in two types of eSchoolbag environments: a computer class and a tablet class. A total of 102 students participated in this study for one year. Findings from this research suggested that the tablet class performed better than the computer class, and students' utility value and cognitive cost towards the eSchoolbag changed over time. These findings inform the successful implementation of eSchoolbag programmes.


production of ink. Thus, West Africa and the Sahara were integral parts of a global production of literature, further connecting traders and communities worldwide. Of course, the one snag in this reasoning could be a discrepancy in paper traded in bygone centuries and the volume of paper left to us in the Sahara from the nineteenth century, but this is easily dismissed by the general rise of paper production and use in paper economies worldwide, with which the Saharan trade was simply in line. This is a rich book. Its scope ranges from a discussion of terminology of directions and the meaning of 'Sahel', via a history of tea consumption in the Sahara, to theoretical arguments on early modern trade networks. As a Saharan would say, 'Lydon has drunk deep'.


Gyromitra esculenta (Persoon ex Fries) mushrooms have been responsible for severe intoxications and even deaths. Clinical data are characterized primarily by vomiting and diarrhea and after a while by jaundice, convulsions and coma. Other Gyromitra species which may be of concern are G. fastigiata and G. gigas; nevertheless, recent advances in chromatography, biochemistry and toxicology have established that other species within the Ascomycetes may also prove toxic. Their toxins, mainly gyromitrin (N-methyl-N-formylN-acetyl-hydrazone) and their higher homologues are converted in the milieu of human stomach into N-methyl-N-formylhydrazine (MFH), then into N-methylhydrazine (MH). The toxicity of these latter chemicals, which are mainly hepatotoxic and even carcinogenic, has been established through in vivo and in vitro experiments with cell cultures and biochemical systems. Considering the chemical structure and the reactivity of these natural compounds, chemical and biochemical mechanisms are defined in order to explain their intrinsic biological activity. These findings imply that consumption of G. esculenta could present a carcinogenic as well as an acutely toxic health hazard.


PURPOSE: To provide an IC card which is of simple configuration and whose memory capacity can be confirmed. CONSTITUTION: A maker code, a device code, and the number of mounted ICs packaged on one IC card are scored in an ID code memory part 27 provided independently of a data memory part 26 for storing data. Then, a control part 24 selects one of the data memory part 26 and the ID code memory part 27 in accordance with a mode setting command latched by a command latch circuit 23. COPYRIGHT: (C)1993,JPO&Japio


Software metrics - helpful tools or a waste of time? For every developer who treasures these mathematical abstractions of software systems there is a developer who thinks software metrics are invented just to keep project managers busy. Software metrics can be very powerful tools that help achieve your goals but it is important to use them correctly, as they also have the power to demotivate project teams and steer development in the wrong direction.


Classical stochastic signal modeling is applied to DNA microarray images. The data reflects a small exponential additive noise process and a larger Gaussian fluctuation that scales with spot intensity. The later is likely do to the array fabrication (i.e. printing) process. Correlations are observed amongst pixels in the spot and between test and control images.


Fe3O4 nanoparticles have been a research focus area for many years and have been applied in fields like medical treatment, catalysis and sensors. Particularly, they can be coated and dispersed in a solvent to prepare magnetic fluids. Magnetic fluid sealing is a high-performance sealing method, but it is still not capable to work in extreme conditions such as elevated temperatures. Here we present a new sealing method with nano-micro magnetic powders as the sealing medium. Fe3O4 particles with average sizes of 20 nm, 200 nm, and 25 <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> are prepared by the chemical co-precipitation method. The fluid permeability of magnetic powders is estimated by Darcy's law. Finally, a static sealing prototype is designed and optimized based on magnetic field distribution analysis. Sealing experiments show a strong relevance between particle sizes and leakage rate. The mixture of nano and micrometer-sized Fe3O4 particles leads to a significant decrease in leakage rate, making magnetic powder sealing a promising novel sealing method.


This paper specifies optimization of a low active reflection coefficient (ARC) array element with a cavity-backed microstrip patch (CBMP) using a genetic algorithm (GA) at wide-band and 2-dimensional (2D) wide angle. Both the GA implemented with a user-defined MATLAB code and a 3-dimensional (3D) full-wave electromagnetic simulator CST MWS are simulated with a real-time direct link. An optimization method using not a traditional unit cell or a small array but a 15×15 finite array structure is proposed to apply to a large-scale array antenna. The CBMP array antenna to meet a design goal of a max ARC is optimally designed at equally divided 9 frequencies and 11374 beam angles for S-band 400 MHz operating frequency bandwidth and beam scan coverage (Az = −60◦ ∼ +60◦, El = −3◦ ∼ +90◦). Measurement results show that a prototype and a full-scale array antenna have low ARC below −8.1 dB and −6.9 dB, respectively for required wide frequency bandwidth and beam scan coverage. It is confirmed that the proposed method is a good solution for optimizing a large-scale array antenna.


Background: Many people in Indonesia. Hematocrit examination is one of the important examinations to help diagnose dengue fever. Increased hematocrit (hemoconcentration) occurs with dengue hemorrhagic fever caused by plasma leakage. Hematocrit examination can be done by microhematocrit method and automatic method. The microhematocrit method has the principle that the blood with anticoagulants is centrifuged at a certain speed, the erythrocytes will separate from the plasma. While the automated hematology analyzer uses the principle of flowcytometry which detects based on the height of the erythrocyte pulse. Purpose: To know the differences in hematocrit values of the microhematocrit method and the automatic method in patients with hemoconcentration of Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever. Methods: The study was conducted by observational analytics in March 2019 with a total of 30 samples at RSU. Haji Surabaya. The data obtained was analyzed using the Paired Sample T-Test with the SPSS 16.0 program to determine whether there were significant differences in hematocrit values between the microhematocrit method and the automatic method. Results: The results showed that the hematocrit examination results of microhematocrit method obtained an average of 46.93%, while the automatic method obtained an average of 45%. This shows the hematocrit examination results of the microhematocrit method are higher than the automatic method. Based the results of paired sample statistical tests t Tests obtained a significance value of 0.00 were less than 0.05. Conclusion: There are significant differences between the hematocrit examination results of the microhematocrit method and the automatic method.


The mobility of electron denotes how quickly electron can move through any metal or semiconductor, when pulled by an electric field. In our work, we present an analytical device model specially for a Graphene Nanoribbon Field Effect Transistor (GNRFET). A highly conducting substrate whose mobility is very high plays a vital role of the back gate, but the top gate tends to control the drain current. In our model, we calculated the potential distributions in the GNRFET as a function of back gate voltage, top gate voltage and drain voltage.


PURPOSE: An eco-friendly and clean energy extraction device using vortex induced vibration is provided to prevent the destruction of natural ecosystem by preventing greenhouse gas exhaustion. CONSTITUTION: An eco-friendly and clean energy extraction device using vortex induced vibration comprises a vortex inducing cylinder(10), a lever axis(20), a hinge supporting frame(30) and a generator(40). The vortex inducing cylinder has up and down vortex induced vibration by making vortex after the peeling of vortex from the surface by a flow rate. The lever axis is fixed to one end of the vortex inducing cylinder and amplifies the organic amplitude of vibration of the vortex inducing cylinder. A hinge part is combined in the lever axis and the hinge supporting frame circulates both end point of the lever axis to the top and bottom repetition.


Abstract The 3-triazenopyrroles, a new class of pyrrole derivatives, were synthesized in quantitative yield by coupling 3-diazopyrroles with secondary amines.


This communication presents a methodology to construct the aperture-coupled dual-mode patch resonators (AC-DMPRs)-based periodic element to realize single- and dual-band high-order bandpass frequency selective surfaces (FSSs). Initially, a single patch resonator (PR) loaded with two sets of shorting pins is theoretically studied by using the characteristic mode analysis (CMA) method and by applying periodic boundary conditions, respectively. The results demonstrate that the radiation pattern and resonant frequency of TM00 mode in the PR can be effectively reshaped and controlled by the shorting pins, so that the TM00 and TM01 modes can be simultaneously excited under the normal incidence of a plane wave. As such, the single-mode PR is transformed into a DMPR. Moreover, such DMPRs are arranged in a back-to-back manner with coupling apertures etched on the common middle metallic layer to form an AC-DMPR-based bandpass FSS element. By reasonably reallocating the resonant frequencies of these two resonant modes and etching different apertures to provide magnetic and/or electric couplings in the AC-DMPR, single- and dual-band high-order bandpass FSSs can be conveniently and flexibly constructed, respectively. Finally, the conceptual designs are validated by measurements.


Drum brakes are frequently found at the rear side of heavy vehicles and budget two-wheelers. The noise radiated from these brakes during typical operation plays a critical role in the passenger ergonomics. The acoustic behavior of an automotive drum brake during braking depends significantly
 on vehicle speed and actuation force as they change frequently. This work attempts to experimentally estimate the effect of these two braking conditions on the noise generated by a two-wheeler drum brake. A sub-scaled experimental setup (with instrumentation) of a drum brake has been developed
 for this purpose. The radiated sound pressure signals are captured as a result of varying these operating conditions. The acoustic effect of each condition is quantified using the sound pressure data. It is envisioned that the experimental analyses presented in this work will be helpful in
 better understanding the dependence of acoustic characteristics on the braking conditions, further leading to improvements in the design of brakes.


Abstract Until the past few decades, lipids contained in plants and animals from the marine and freshwater bodies of the world have not been considered important to human nutrition. Today, with the findings that highly unsaturated omega‐3 (n‐3) fatty acids in marine lipids can be important in preventing or reducing certain premature heart diseases, inflammatory disorders, and many other health problems, there is an increasingly active interest in seafood and its component oils. A review of the role of lipids in human nutrition must also include consideration of the source of marine lipids and how the fishing industry can, and does, get high‐quality oils to the consumer. There are many practical considerations involved in the harvesting or growing of seafood, processing the products, and handling and distributing to market that must be considered in the overall program of getting prople to consume more n‐3 fatty acids. Except in regard to those persons requiring medical attention and needing large doses of...


The graphene material is currently being used in the design of nano components and devices for wireless applications in terahertz (THz) regime as it possesses a number of desirable electromagnetic and mechanical properties that assist in providing flexible and reconfigurable structures. The material tunable conductivity accounts for the superior electromagnetic properties. Very little efforts however are being done to provide simplified solution of the graphene surface conductivity to be utilized for design of nano devices. Hence the authors have presented the simplified analytical solution for graphene surface conductivity expressed in terms of the chemical potential.


-S73 the function of miRNAs, expressions of which significantly differ between tumor and not-tumor tissues, we performed in vitro study using three immortalized human HCC cell lines (Huh-BAT, SNU475 and SNU761). MiRNA expressions were up-and down-regulated by its mimics and inhibitors, respectively. Cellular proliferation was measured by MTS assay. Results: Out of 449 miRNAs assayed, we identified 21 miRNAs differentially expressed in HCC tissues by the false discovery rate procedure. Among them, high expression of miR-345 was significantly associated with longer disease-free survival (p=0.01). In vitro study showed that inhibition of miR-345 in cultured HCC cells significantly increased HCC cell proliferation, while enhancement of miR-345 expression significantly decreased HCC proliferation (both p<0.05). In addition, enforced miR-345 expression caused multidrug resistance-associated protein 1 down regulation, whereas anti-miR 345 induced its up-regulation. Conclusions: These results indicate that miR-345 expression in HCC tissues may predict a low risk of HCC recurrence. In addition, the modulation of miR-345 expression may be useful as an anti-proliferation strategy for HCC treatment.


Noise noise reduction system having a remote detector. The present invention relates to a noise reduction close to at least one of the at least one remote system noise detector noise source is placed, the detection information is transmitted to the main apparatus, where it is used for noise reduction. Thereby, a sound signal enhancement may be achieved via the at least one remote noise detector, since the noise estimate is transmitted to the controller for noise reduction signal obtained from the primary source.


A dual band and dual circularly polarized (CP) microstrip antenna with low elevation gain improvement for China's Compass Navigation Satellite System (CNSS) is proposed in this letter. The nested structure patches fed by capacitive‐coupled discs to achieve the dual band performance. The dual CP performance is obtained by adopting a 3dB hybrid coupler. The key design is four copper sheets which are set up to improve the low elevation gain. Details of the proposed antenna design and results are presented and discussed. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 58:1016–1022, 2016


This paper is a literature review intended to establish a practical approach to estimating costs and benefits of alternative riparian management scenarios. Although the review did not address the specific objective of estimating marginal economic benefits associated with changes in the riparian management zone width and management practices, a few key findings were noted in this review:  Several studies provide examples of integrated physical, biological, and economic analysis of forest management and riparian restoration. However, most of these call for scenarios with significant management changes.  The areas of valuation literature most relevant to the objective of this review were 1) hedonic property values studies of water quality and 2) aquatic-based recreational demand studies. In particular, the benefits of improving or preventing degradation of water quality and recreational fishing literature was the most numerous and beneficial.  Spatial differences are significant and should be a factor in riparian management. For example, riparian areas near population centers are more valuable, especially due to increased recreational opportunity. Differences in how areas are managed directly contributes to differences in values and GIS analysis is invaluable in this area.


Background: The
interference of metformin with thyroid function has been recently reported in
several studies. In the present research, we assessed the effect of metformin
on thyroid function tests in patients with subclinical hypothyroidism
associated with metabolic syndrome.
Method: In a
double-blind clinical trial, 60 patients were selected among who referred to
outpatient endocrine clinics and met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were
considered for the study. Inclusion criteria were the presence of metabolic
syndrome and subclinical hypothyroidism (2.5<TSH<10 mIU/l). Screened
patients used no medications interfering with TSH level. Pregnancy, GFR less
than 50 ml/min and intolerance of metformin were also considered as exclusion
criteria. Patients were divided into case and a placebo groups. In the case
group, patients received 1000 mg/day of metformin for 12 weeks. Anthropometry,
liver and thyroid function tests, and lipid profile were evaluated before and
after the intervention.
Results: A total
of 44 patients fully participated for the whole study period. The mean age was
44±14 years and 15 patients (34.1%) were male. The mean TSH and FT4 levels
before and after intervention were 5.8±2.15, 4.8±2.7 and 1.10±0.19, 1.14±0.26,
respectively. The positive TPO-ab was seen among 18 (40.9%) patients. TSH
(4.12±2.07, p=0.013) and FT4 (1.18±0.23, p=0.007) levels were decreased and increased,
respectively, compared to the placebo group. Furthermore, a reduction in
metabolic element was observed.
Conclusion: Our data showed that
metformin reduced the TSH level in subclinical hypothyroid patients, especially
in patients with TSH baseline level higher than 5mIU/l and TPO-ab positive
patients.


The ArTe contest encourages students of age 13 to 15 to work in meaningful cooperative projects with the goal of producing novel forms of new media art. The ArTe project is focused on the relationships between new media art and openness, organized around three topics: the relation between the author and the audience, the media of the artwork, and the tools used to realize the artwork. This paper presents eight open source tools evaluated according to the ArTe goals. new media art, open source software (key words)


Static and dynamic characteristics of NC machine tool's feed driving system are very important because they determine servo characteristics and machining performance of machine tools. The conventional methods for measuring these characteristics require many measuring apparatus and are time consuming. Here, a simple method is introduced for measuring static and dynamic characteristics of NC feed driving system. In this method, the static characteristic is found from the relation between amount of lost-motion and armature current of servo motor. For dynamic characteristics, the slider is accelerated and stopped suddenly and the generated inertia force is used to vibrate the slider on the condition that position loop is switched off and only velocity loop is switched on. Dynamic characteristic is found from the transfer function between armature current of servo motor and vibration acceleration of driven part during the vibration. The results by this method agree well with the results by conventional methods.


Importance: Depression and anxiety are common mood disorders that show higher prevalence in adults with joint hypermobility, a consequence of a constitutional variant of connective tissue structure. In adolescents, an association between mood disorder and hypermobility may enhance the potential understanding of risk factors for emotional disorder and provide opportunities for early intervention approaches. Objective: To test the hypothesis that joint hypermobility, a consequence of constitutional variant of connective tissue, is associated with common mental illness in adolescents. Design: This was a longitudinal prospective study. Setting: The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) is a prospective ongoing general population birth cohort study based in Avon County, England. Participants: The original data set comprised 6105 individuals from the cohort with data available on joint hypermobility at age 14 years; a sub-sample (n=3803) had later psychiatric assessments. Measurement of Exposure: Joint hypermobility was measured by physical examination at age 14 and 18 years, using the Beighton Scale Main Outcome and Measures: Participants were assessed at age 18 years. ICD 10 diagnoses of Depression and Anxiety were obtained using the Clinical Interview Schedule-Revised (CIS R) and levels of anxiety quantified using the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI) Results: Presence of generalized joint hypermobility (GJH) at age 14 years predicted depression at 18 years in males (Odds Ratio (OR) 2.10; 95%CI, 1.17 - 3.76) but not females. After accounting for missing data it was determined that this relationship was mediated by heart rate, a potential measure of physiological arousal. Symptomatic hypermobility ((GJH plus chronic widespread pain (CWP)) at age 18 years was further associated with the presence of anxiety disorder (OR 3.13; 95% CI 1.52 - 6.46) and level of anxiety (Beta = 0.056, t(3315)=3.27), depressive disorder (adjusted OR 3.52; 95%CI, 1.67 - 7.40) and degree of psychiatric symptomatology (Beta 0.096, t(2064)=4.38) Conclusions and relevance: Generalized joint hypermobility and symptomatic hypermobility are associated with common mental disorders in adolescence. Consideration of hypermobility may provide important opportunities for intervention to mitigate psychiatric disorder.


Flooding of soil for 55 days altered the rate of growth and stem anatomy of 9‐month‐old Cryptomeria japonica seedlings. Although flooding did not affect height growth it reduced the rate of dry weight increment of seedlings while increasing stem diameter. The reduction in dry weight increment of seedlings resulted largely from decay of roots and, to a lesser extent, from inhibition of growth of roots and needles. The increased diameter growth of flooded seedlings resulted largely from an increase in bark thickness associated with increased phloem production and greater amount of intercellular space. Flooding reduced xylem increment in submerged stems but increased it above the water level because of larger tracheids rather than more tracheids per radial file. Flooding also increased lumen diameters of tracheids, decreased tracheid wall thickness (as a proportion of tracheid diameter), and stimulated formation of axial parenchyma cells in the xylem. Cryptomeria japonica seedlings adapted to flooding by for...


The early development of focal ischemia after permanent occlusion of the right middle cerebral artery (MCA) was studied in six rats using interleaved measurements by diffusion‐weighted NMR imaging (DWI) of water and two variants of proton spectroscopic imaging (SI), multiecho SI (TE: 136, 272, 408 ms) and short TE SI (TE: 20 ms). Measurements on a 4.7‐T NMR imaging system were performed between the control phase and approximately 6 h postocclusion. In the center of the ischemic lesion of all rats, the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) decreased rapidly to 84.4 ± 4.2% (mean ± SD) of the control values approximately 2 min postocclusion. Approximately 6 h postocclusion, the ADC was reduced to 67.1 ± 5.9%. In contrast, large differences between the animals were observed for the temporal increase of lactate (Lac) in the ipsilateral hemisphere. The maximum Lac signal was reached in four rats after 0.5‐1.5 h, and in two rats was not reached even after 6 h postocclusion. Six h postocclusion, SI spectra measured at a TE of 136 ms revealed a decrease in the CH3 signal of N‐acetylaspartate (NAA) to 67 ± 13% of the control values. Differences were observed between the spatial regions of decreased NAA and increased Lac. In the lesions, a T2 relaxation time of Lac of 292 ± 40 ms, considering a J‐cou‐pling constant of 6.9 Hz, was measured. Furthermore, a prolongation of the T2 of the CH3 signal of creatine/phosphocre‐atine (Cr/PCr) was observed in the lesion, from 163 ± 22 ms during control to 211 ± 41 ms approximately 6 h postocclusion. The experiments proved that DWI and proton SI are valuable tools to provide complementary information on processes associated with brain infarcts.


AbstractPrepared for the Seminar on Cultural Factors in the Prevention and Promotion of Gender- Based Violence held at UNESCO Bangkok on 17-18 May 2012, this article presents the current state of the subject in the patrilineal, patrilocal and patriarchal (H)mong society. After delineating carefully (H)mong GBV through rape, marriage customs, domestic verbal and physical abuses and, in some cases, murder, the author investigates the roots of GBV in different directions: gender asymmetry and inequality; tribal culture and the clan system; the function of the bride price; women's social mobility in the U.S. and values clashes with American values. After a thorough anthropological analysis, the author concludes that GBV has nothing to do with the clan system, the backbone of the tribal society, but rather involves a long-lasting borrowing of Chinese patterns from the (H)mong past in Imperial China, which could be amended. Gender inequality will hopefully regress if shame, a powerful means of social control among the (H)mong, is used to deter GBV.Key words: tribal culture, clan system, gender inequality, bride-price, pride and shame, Chinese patterns.This article was prepared for the Seminar on Cultural Factors in the Prevention and Promotion of Gender-Based Violence held at UNESCO Bangkok on 17-18 May 2012. I was asked to present the best of our knowledge on this sensitive subject among the (H)mong and the Yao. Here, I shall only consider (H)mong society which, in my eyes, epitomizes a patrilineal, patriarchal tribal organization in a clear cut treatment of gender problems. I use the word 'tribal' because it depicts perfectly the kind of society the (H)mong are living: an egalitarian structure where kin relations prevail over all other social relations. This society has neither a centrally governing authority nor territorial boundaries. As Marshall Salhins (1966) explains: "It builds itself from within, the smaller community segments joined in groups of higher order, yet just when it becomes greatest the structure becomes weakest...Its economics, its politics, its religion are not conducted by different institutions especially designed for the purpose but coincidentally by the same kinship and local groups: the lineage and clan segments of the tribe, the households and villages, which thus appear as versatile organizations in charge of the entire social life." Incidentally, what we usually call ethnic subgroups, the White, the Green, the Leng, the Red, the Black, the Striped Sleeves (H)mong, etc., are but different tribes of the same (H)mong tribal society2IntroductionThis article has provided an opportunity for me to revisit my field-notes and two previous papers dealing with (H)mong gender issues3, and above all to discover the extraordinary wealth of new data provided by the (H)mong refugees resettled in the U.S. and in France. For the first time the silent females I have discreetly observed in traditional villages have started expressing experiences and feelings on this subject which is now wideopen to our speculation. Taken at face value in the context of Western societies this evidence and the emerging Western analyses are telling blows for a (H)mong traditional culture already in a generational gap crisis. This makes all the more urgent the necessity to sort out facts and analyze how they relate to (H)mong culture and hopefully try to formulate what, in my eyes, should be preserved and what should be amended. Considering the diasporic character of (H)mong society I present evidence dating from 50 years ago collected in my field work in Laos and published to some extent in my first book on the Lao Green Mong published in 1972 and generally confirmed by Nusit Chindarsi (1976) and W.R. Geddes (1979) who also investigated the Green Mong of Thailand in the early 1960s. The evidence is further supplemented by other fieldwork on the (H)mong in Thailand, in the 1970s conducted by R. Cooper (1983,1984), in France and Laos in the late 1980s and early 1990s by Kao-Ly Yang (1999)4, in Thailand by Prasit Leepreecha (2001), Patricia V. …


High accuracy measurement of torque for the automatic control and other areas of manufacturing industry has a very important significance, a torque measuring device is designed in this paper, including the magnetoelectric induction type torque sensor and signal processing circuit. The load torque is converted into angular displacement of windings by magnetoelectric induction principle, and output a corresponding electrical signal, the analog signal for load torque is converted into a digital signal corresponding to the signal processing circuit. Finally, the torque measuring device is calibrated by using high precision torque meter, and the resolution of this device is 0.5N·m.


Abstract Using the Gaussian Rényi-2 entropy, we analyse the behaviour of two different aspects of quantum correlations (entanglement and quantum discord) in two optomechanical subsystems (optical and mechanical). We work in the resolved sideband and weak coupling regimes. In experimentally accessible parameters, we show that it is possible to create entanglement and quantum discord in the considered subsystems by quantum fluctuations transfer from either light to light or light to matter. We find that both mechanical and optical entanglement are strongly sensitive to thermal noises. In particular, we find that the mechanical one is more affected by thermal effects than that optical. Finally, we reveal that under thermal noises, the discord associated with the entangled state decays aggressively, whereas the discord of the separable state (quantumness of correlations) exhibits a freezing behaviour, seeming to be captured over a wide range of temperature.


In this paper we present a bandgap circuit capable of generating a reference voltage of 0.54 V. The circuit, implemented in a submicron BiCMOS technology, operates with a supply voltage of 1 V. In the bandgap circuit proposed we use a non-conventional operational amplifier which achieves virtually zero systematic offset, operating directly from the 1 V power supply. The bandgap architecture used allows a straightforward implementation of the curvature compensation method. The proposed circuit achieves 5 ppm / K of accuracy without requiring additional operational amplifiers or complex circuits.


In stealth applications, absorbers are specially designed structures to reduce the reflections of incident electromagnetic waves. In this paper, a Smith chart approach is detailed which enables the designer to visualize the layer-to-layer admittance and matching performance of the absorber. A conventional single-layer Salisbury screen and multi-layer Jaumann absorbers are designed and their performance is analyzed with the Smith chart. The parameters affecting the absorbers' performance are analyzed with the Smith chart and possible enhancement methods are discussed. The Jaumann absorbers with 2 to 8 layers are designed, and the impact of the layers on bandwidth enhancement is discussed. The mathematical calculations involved in the absorber design are detailed, and the calculated Smith chart results are verified with the EM solver simulated results.


The failure of charge coupled devices (CCD ) irradiated by 800nm fs laser with pulse duration of 60 fs was studied.The result shows that the failure threshold of CCD irradiated by fs laser is 4.22×10~(-3) J/cm~2. and it is 2~3 order lower than the failare threshold of CCD irradiated by ns laser. According to the micro-analysis of CCD, it is found that the damage does not take place at the light activated elements but at the grid electrode of the device.