Computational study of ethanol complexes with H2O, H2S and HF molecules has been carried out using a MP2 level of theory. Carbon bonding and hydrogen bonding interactions have been analyzed in this study for all the complexes. The interaction between the carbon atom of CH2 group of ethanol and electron-rich centre of other molecules such as the O atom of water has been found. In addition to C· · · X interaction, CH· · · X interaction has also been observed for all the complexes. Ab initio calculations and Atoms in Molecules (AIM) theoretical calculations confirm this. The hydrogen bonding interactions with the OH group of ethanol have also been analyzed.


In mice heterozygous for endothelin-1 gene mutation and wild-type littermates power spectrum of systolic arterial pressure (SAP) was determined in a conscious stare by forward-backward autoregressive model with maximum entropy method. It was composed of low (LF) and high frequency components (HF). LF reflected sympathetic vasoconstrictor activity, whereas HF was inversely related to respiratory movement. In ET-1 heterozygous mice LF and HF were both significantly elevated than in wild-type mice. The authors conclude that power spectral analysis is a useful mathematical tool to study the autonomic cardiovascular control and respiration in mice and that sympathetic vasoconstrictor activity was increased in ET-1 heterozygous mice. The latter finding may account for observed elevation of arterial pressure (AP) in these mutant mice.


Social innovation is about solving important problems in new ways. In professional exchange fields, however, structuring and constraining forces make introducing new solutions exceedingly difficult, and known pathways that introduce new solutions are unlikely to be successful. In this article, I examine how social innovation can be encouraged in a professional exchange field. I identify three kinds of disrupting action (entwining problems, reconfiguring arrangements, and actively waiting) that can be used to encourage social innovation. These actions interrupt and expand essential elements of professionals' work and they condition parts of the field to be supportive of and susceptible to social innovation. This research contributes to literature in three ways. First, it examines social innovation in a setting that has not been explored, uncovering an amalgamation of pathways that encourage social innovation. Second, it describes three types of disrupting action that set pathways in motion. Third, it conceptually links disrupting action to social innovation.


J. Freed-Brown, M. Holder, M. E. Orrison and M. Vrable introduced a new generalization of Euler's totient function, Mk(n), defined to be the number of sequences (g1, . . . , gk) of elements in Zn such that if Gi is the subgroup of Zn generated by {g1, . . . , gi} , then {0} < G1 < · · · < Gk−1 < Gk = Zn. They also defined the function M(n) to be Mk(n) where k is the largest integer such that Mk(n) is nonzero. They gave the formulas for Mk(p) and M(pq ) where p and q are distinct primes and k, e and f are natural numbers. In this article, some more properties of Mk(n) and M(n) are investigated.


Background: Wogonin as a flavonoid compound is known for its anticancer effect through growth control, differentiation, and apoptosis. This study investigates the possible activity of wogonin in inducing cell death of breast tumors MDA-MB231. Materials and Methods: The level of cell proliferation was evaluated by MTT assay. Cycle analysis and the apoptotic rate were assessed by flow cytometry. mRNA level of Bax, Bcl-2, p53, and survivin was evaluated by real-time PCR. Western blot was utilized to assert the relative protein expression. Results: Wogonin inhibits the proliferation of MDA-MB231 over time, and in particular, wogonin can induce the arrest of phase G1 of MDA-MB231 cells. The apoptosis of wogonin was related to a remarkable decrease in Bcl-2 and survivin and an increment in p53 and Bax. Wogonin also significantly elevated the active apoptotic forms of caspase-3, -8, -9. Z-DEVD-FMK, a specific inhibitor of caspase-3, remarkably inhibits cellular apoptosis caused by wogonin. Wogonin suppresses PI3K/Akt phosphorylation and ERK-derived phosphorylation. PD98059, a specific ERK inhibitor, significantly blocked the apoptosis caused by wogonin. Also, LY294002, a specific suppressor of PI3K, remarkably elevates the cellular apoptosis caused by wogonin. Various studies demonstrated that LY294002 not only modulates the expression of the survivin gene alone but also enhances the suppression of the expression of survivin with wogonin. Conclusion: The apoptotic role of wogonin is observed by the triggering caspases and ERK and is associated with the suppressive pathways of the PI3K/Akt/survivin signal in the MDA-MB231 cells.


Rates of HIV transmission are at least three times lower in HIV-discordant couples in which the partner with infection is receiving antiretroviral therapy, compared with HIV-discordant couples in which the partner with infection is not receiving therapy. Among HIV-discordant couples in which the infected partner has a CD4 cell count of 350 to 550 per mm3 (0.35 to 0.55 × 109 per L), evidence suggests that treating the infected partner with antiretroviral drugs confers a statistically significant decrease in the risk of transmission to the uninfected partner.


Some schools across the country have recently reduced the time and frequency that students spend participating in physical education. During the school day children spend considerably more time sitting and listening than they do moving and being physically active. Devoting more time to academics may be producing more knowledgeable and academically gifted students, but increasing the time that children spend being physically active and learning movement skills would enhance students' knowledge even further <Wilson, 1998).


How can we talk of private enterprise as (good) citizens? This short paper originates from the attempt to answer this question and tries to explore some of its consequences. The answer normally makes reference to the notion of accountability and to its ability to mobilize the concepts of legitimacy and identity. Accountability has to do with the giving and taking of accounts on the activity conducted by economic and social agents (Mouritsen and Munro, 1996). Based on such a broad definition, relationships of accountability can be established and analyzed at multiple levels but the one of interest here is the one between private firms and their social and natural environment. The construction, re-construction and maintenance of a relationship of accountability require the use of a language that allows for communication between those that produce the account and its recipients. Discussions and discourses can develop once such language is made available and its rules shared by the interested parties. There is therefore a linguistic issue at the hearth of the transformation of private firms into public actors: the managerial discourse of corporate citizenship is to a significant extent dependent on the possibility of representing the firm as capable of expressing the ways in which it contributes to society and the environment (Sahlin Andersson, 2006). Thanks to these specific types of representations the firm is in the position of enhancing its social and political legitimacy (Meyer, 1994). But the availability of such language and the development of a discursive potential for corporate citizenship is in itself problematic. It is not only a question of inventing a new language but also to come to terms with the one that firms normally use to account for their results. The private firm has indeed traditionally used a language – the financial one – to affirm its identity and communicate its performances to interested parties. In doing so the corporation has established a specific type of legitimacy on purely economic grounds and constructed a relationship of accountability with those parties that are solely interested in the financial returns it generates. Throughout the history of capitalism these characteristics of the language of business have rarely been seen as fundamental limitations and the role of the firm within society was seen as accurately represented by its ability to generate financial profits. This attitude has been radically challenged by the advent of corporate social responsibility, which has invited to a fundamental redefinition in the language of business. The discourse of corporate citizenship has drawn attention to the limits of the mainstream business language and evoked the existence of more appropriate ways of narrating the identity and the functioning of the private enterprise. Corporate citizenship is to a significant extent constituted by the demand and supply of new forms of corporate accountability that should supplement the existing mainstream ones. But what does this call for new, improved accountability imply? What it is precisely that has to be redefined in order for private firms to be made more "transparent" to the public scrutiny? The critique of traditional forms of accountability invites us to take into consideration the role of the accounting language. Although in an indirect manner, discourses of corporate citizenship criticize accounting for its inability to account for those aspects that manifest the identity and action of the firm as a good citizen. What is seen a problematic is the technical language that is conventionally used to report on the functioning and performance of the corporation. It comes therefore as no surprise that the development of new forms of corporate accountability is paralled by corresponding calls for transformation of the tools and principles of accounting.


We formulate two types of extensions of the large deviation theory initiated by Bahadur in a non-regular setting. One can be regarded as a bound of the point estimation; the other can be regarded as the limit of a bound of the interval estimation. Both coincide in the regular case but do not necessarily coincide in a non-regular case. Using the limits of relative Rényi entropies, we derive their upper bounds and give a necessary and sufficient condition for the coincidence of the two upper bounds. We also discuss the attainability of these two bounds in several non-regular location shift families.


Based on the project of Shenmu No.1 Tunnel of Yuyang-Shenmu Highway,the paper introduces the resolution to sand leakage in excavation and deformation control after support construction.The construction technologies of using horizontal rotary jet grouting pile for pre-reinforcement of aeolian sand layer contains reinforcing mechanism,grouting parameters,construction process and precautions.Combined with tests and monitoring,the measured data show that horizontal rotary jet grouting pile can keep the stability of aeolian sand layer when tunnel starts to be excavated and prevent sank leakage effectively so that safe and fast construction of the tunnel could be guaranteed.In addition,any further required improvement of horizontal rotary jet grouting pile is indicated.


The United States possesses some of the best renewable energy resources in the world, but it also faces a serious challenge: there is a lack of transmission capacity to deliver that energy to market. Clean Line Energy Partners LLC is an independent developer of long-haul transmission lines that will deliver thousands of megawatts of renewable power from the windiest areas of the United States to communities and cities that have a strong demand for clean, reliable energy but that lack access to clean energy resources.


Abstract A boron-containing 1.8–2.0-GPa-grade hot-stamping steel, which has been attracting great attentions as reinforcing automotive parts, often leads to the deteriorated resistance to hydrogen embrittlement due to its high strength level. The micro-alloying elements such as Nb and Mo have been known to improve the resistance to hydrogen embrittlement by refining grains and providing interfaces of precipitates. Ti is also utilized for the mentioned purposes; however, the effect of Ti on hydrogen embrittlement, particularly in (Nb + Mo) multi-alloyed system, has not been revealed clearly yet. In this study, therefore, the alloying effects of Ti on resistance to hydrogen embrittlement were investigated via controlling Ti content and conducting slow-strain-rate tensile (SSRT) tests and thermal desorption analyses (TDA) after the hydrogen charging. The complex addition of Nb, Mo, and Ti promotes the formation of nanoscale (Nb,Ti)C and (Nb,Mo,Ti)C complex precipitates along with coarse Ti(C,N) particles. The increased Ti content to 0.03 wt% increases the volume fraction of nanoscale precipitates, which effectively refines the prior austenite grain size and interfacial incoherency, thereby providing stable hydrogen trapping sites with the higher activation energy for hydrogen desorption. Although the increased Ti also promotes the formation of brittle coarse Ti(C,N) particles, this negative effect of the particles can be minimized or prevented by the decrease in particle size due to the interaction with Nb and Mo.


Two cases (20 and 15 years old) of shoulder joint synovial chondromatosis were initially treated with arthroscopic debridement. One was further treated with a second arthroscopy and partial synovectomy (case 1); the second was fully treated by arthroscopic surgery (case 2). The postoperative control X-ray revealed no loose body and the joint was normal. One of the cases (case 1) was affected by Degenerative Joint Disorders (DJD) according to X-ray and arthroscopic findings after treatment; physiotherapy was started as soon as possible. The use of arthroscopic surgery allowed the patients to return to normal activity much sooner than a formal open synovectomy. Additionally, the morbidity associated with arthroscopic techniques is much lower than that of an open procedure. Synovial chondromatosis is a condition resulting from intrasynovial formation of multiple metaplastic cartilaginous foci. When these foci are enlarged, they become pedunculated and are extruded into the joint as loose bodies. Subsequently, these loose bodies cal-cify and ossify and continue to grow because they are nourished by the synovial fluid that surrounds them. Although synovial chondromatosis can affect most joints, it very rarely affects the shoulder joint.


This paper presents an adaptive feedforward (FF) compensation technique on the basis of the deadbeat control framework for the fast and precise positioning of mechatronic systems. Plant perturbations due to temperature variations or aging in mechanisms and/or actuators generally deteriorate the positioning performance with response variations. A robust controller design against the perturbations, therefore, is one of important issues for industrial applications. In this research, an adaptive deadbeat FF control approach is applied to provide the robustness against the plant parameter perturbations due to temperature variations. The proposed approach identifies the parameters in on-line manner using an adaptive identification system, and then, redesigns the deadbeat FF controller according to the identified parameters to achieve the nominal performance under different temperature conditions. Effectiveness of the proposed approach has been verified by numerical simulations using a prototype of galvano scanners.


More schools are going for technology‐but does this approach to science lead to better teaching or greater understanding? This article, the first of a series, examines the under‐lying arguments for change.


Background and Aim: Police force requires a model whose factors are in line with organizational excellence. The improvement of these factors can lead the organization to excellence. This study aimed to predict the productivity of NAJA employees based on perceived organizational justice, job satisfaction and citizenship


The aim of this paper is to introduce a technique for the computation of the principal matrix of the linear system associated to an ordinary differential equation with constant cofficients, through symbolic computation, via an algebraic processor which works with matrices of quasi—polynomials.


This research aims to reveal the types and implied meaning of implicature found in an online lecture courses of English education study program at one of the university in Yogyakarta. In this research using descriptive qualitative research methods by a theory from Grice (1975). The data findings consist of the three main implicatures consist of generalized conversational implicature with 14.3%, particularized conversational implicature with 8.6% and conventional implicature with 8.6%. Then, the four implicature functions are reach the intended meaning with 20%, deliver an entertainment as humor with 8.6%, boosting the power's of person's message with 14.3%, and specific information needs to be added with 25.6%. By adding up the total between main implicature and implicature functions, it turns out to be 100%. The three main implicature most widely used is generalized conversational implicature. As well as the most frequently used in the implicature function is, specific information needs to be added.


Objective
To explore the clinical features and optimal treatments of colorectal vascular malformation in children.

Methods
From Jan.2010 to Feb.2014, a total of 14 patients with colorectal vascular malformation were recruited. Clinical manifestations, imaging examinations, surgical treatments and outcomes were analyzed. The ratio of boy and girl was 3.7∶1. The mean age of onset was 1.5 years. The average time of delay in diagnodis was 4.1 years. There were independent diseases (n=11) and Klippel-Trenaunay syndrome (n=3). Aggravated rectal bleeding and anemia were typical manifestations. The preoperative daignosis was made by colorectal ultrasound and colonoscopy. And computed tomography angiography (CTA, n=13) and MR angiography (MRA, n=1) were performed. Colonoscopy revealed that there was a distinct boundary between lesion and normal tissue. Mucosal hyperemia, edema and fuzzy vascular network were present in 13 cases. And 1 case had purple swelling of various sizes. The procedures included transabdominal Soave (n=12), ligation of abnormal repeated vessels (n=1) and laparoscopic exploration and transanal Soave (n=1).

Results
The mean postoperative hospitalization stay was 15 (4-25) days. Anal dilation started from a mean time of 20 (14-25) days. Follow-ups were conducted by outpatient visits and telephone interviews during a mean period of 16 months. Four patients suffered hemafecia and two of them had bloodshot in stool occasionally. One case of hip infection was cured after antibiotics and local incision with drainage therapy. One patient became lost to follow-up. All blood routine tests showed normal hemoglobin level.

Conclusions
The combined use of colorectal ultrasound, CTA and colonoscopy can define the severity of vascular malformation and prevent its misdiagnosis. And transabdominal Soave procefure may completely and safely remove the lesion and cure or improve hemafecia effectively.

Key words:
Vascular malformations; Colon; Rectum; Diagnosis; Digestive system surgical procedures


The magnetic properties of bis(8-hydroxyquinoline)copper (CuQ2) were investigated by experiments and first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The as-prepared CuQ2 film shows paramagnetic behavior. After annealing in air, room temperature ferromagnetic (FM) properties were found in CuQ2 film. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis indicates a new vibrational mode related to out of plane O–H bend in the annealed film. DFT calculations show that the energy difference between the FM and the antiferromagnetic (AFM) states is greatly increased after O doping, which may be responsible for the room temperature ferromagnetism in the annealed CuQ2 film.


The invention relates to a device for engraving screen-based impression cylinders, particularly for intaglio printing, by means of an engraving element in an electronic engraving machine. An engraving element (4) controlled by an engraving signal engraves a series of wells into the rotating impression cylinder (1) line by line. Said wells are arranged according to a screen defined by presettable engraving parameters and their engraving depths represent the engraved tone values. So as to engrave the whole surface area of the wells, the engraving element (4) moves in a feed motion along the impression cylinder in the direction of the axis of said impression cylinder (1). The screen geometry is determined by the peripheral speed of the rotating impression cylinder (1) and the feed motion of the engraving element (4). By controlling the engraving machine using automatic process control, several sequential engravings with different engraving parameters, such as screen parameters, are carried out in one step on at least one impression cylinder (1) with at least one engraving element (4). Said sequential engravings are multiple engravings or reengravings from first engravings.


Abstract There are indications that vestibular rehabilitation might be an effective treatment for vestibular migraine. However, randomized controlled trials addressing the subject are lacking. The aim of this study was to describe two patients, one with definite vestibular migraine and one with probable vestibular migraine, their assessment and treatment. Both patients were treated with vestibular rehabilitation and both experienced a reduction in symptoms after only a short period of rehabilitation. This suggests that vestibular rehabilitation might be a cheap and non-invasive treatment for vestibular migraine. Even though this study has a single-case design, we hope that it can be useful for physiotherapists and doctors who meet these patients in their practice.


Many countries mandate affirmative action in university admissions for traditionally disadvantaged groups. Little is known about either the efficacy or costs of these programs. This paper examines affirmative action in engineering colleges in India for "lower-caste" groups. We find that it successfully targets the financially disadvantaged: the marginal upper-caste applicant comes from a more advantaged background than the marginal lower-caste applicant who displaces him. Despite much lower entrance exam scores, the marginal lower-caste entrant does benefit: we find a strong, positive economic return to admission. These findings contradict common arguments against affirmative action: that it is only relevant for richer lower-caste members, or that those who are admitted are too unprepared to benefit from the education. However, these benefits come at a cost. Our point estimates suggest that the marginal upper-caste entrant enjoys nearly twice the earnings level gain as the marginal lower-caste entrant. This finding illustrates the program's redistributive nature: it benefits the poor, but costs resources in absolute terms. One reason for this lower level gain is that a smaller fraction of lower-caste admits end up employed in engineering or advanced technical jobs. Finally, we find no evidence that the marginal upper-caste applicant who is rejected due to the policy ends up with more negative attitudes towards lower castes or towards affirmative action programs. On the other hand, there is some weak evidence that the marginal lower-caste admits become stronger supporters of affirmative action programs. 1 This project was funded by the National Science Foundation. We are grateful to Hardy K. Dewan for his assistance in obtaining the data, and IMRB for conducting the fieldwork. We thank Jessica Pan for outstanding research assistance. We thank seminar participants at Bocconi, Pompeu Fabra, the "Labor Markets in Transition and Developing Economies: Emerging Policy and Analytical Issues" conference (University of Michigan), the BREAD/CEPR conference (LSE), Caste Western Reserve University, NYU and University of Houston/Rice for helpful comments.


In this paper, we present a sensitive measurement method of the Verdet constant of magneto-optic materials with an auto-balanced photodetector and a lock-in amplifier under weak alternating magnetic fields in the near infrared wavelength region. We describe the theories and formulas for the measurement method by accounting for the characteristics of the auto-balanced photoreceiver and lock-in amplifier. The measurement method was verified by measuring the Verdet constant of the well-known BK7 samples at 1,310 and 1,550 nm wavelengths. This method was used to measure the Verdet constant of the regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) thiophenes (P3HT) materials prepared at various baking and cooling conditions for the wavelengths of 1310 and 1550 nm.


The first demonstrations of CW and pulsed microchip lasing in ZnS:Cr2+ and ZnSe:Cr2+ crystals are reported. Slope efficiencies up to 53% with output power up-to l00mW for CW and energy up-to 1 mJ for pulsed pumping were achieved.


Wearable flexible electronics often require sustainable power sources that are also mechanically flexible to survive the extreme bending that accompanies their general use. In general, thinner microelectronic devices are under less strain when bent. This paper describes strategies to realize ultra-thin GaAs photovoltaics through the interlayer adhesiveless transfer-printing of vertical-type devices onto metal surfaces. The vertical-type GaAs photovoltaic devices recycle reflected photons by means of bottom electrodes. Systematic studies with four different types of solar microcells indicate that the vertical-type solar microcells, at only a quarter of the thickness of similarly designed lateral-type cells, generate a level of electric power similar to that of thicker cells. The experimental results along with the theoretical analysis conducted here show that the ultra-thin vertical-type solar microcells are durable under extreme bending and thus suitable for use in the manufacturing of wearable flexible electronics.


Telemedicine history goes back to the nineteenth century. According to this history, this phrase was introduced with one of the first reports published in the twentieth century,4 at which time electrocardiography data was transmitted over telephone wires.5 Commercial equipment for the development of telemedicine in the 1960s was used by the military and space technology departments as well as private individuals.6 The use of TV to facilitate relationship between specialists at a psychiatric institute and general practitioners at a state mental hospital,7 and providing medical advice from a major teaching hospital to an airport medical center can be noted as some examples of early technological milestones in telemedicine.8 Many parameters have been described as drivers of telemedicine over the past decade, the biggest ones include recent advancements in, and increasing availability and utilization of, ICTs by the general population, rapidly creating new possibilities for health care service and delivery. Developing countries and disadvantaged areas of industrialized nations follows this.9 The use of telemedicine among health-care providers has been increased due to the replacement of analogue forms of communication with digital methods, combined with a rapid drop in the cost of ICTs. These have made health care organizations enable to imagine as a future possibility and use new and more efficient methods of providing care. The speed of the advancement of communication and information technology has increased with the introduction of the Internet, after which the telemedicine domain has expanded into web based applications and multimedia approaches. The creation of a tapestry rich in telemedicine programs is the result of these advances that can be used in various parts of the world.


The present study examined numerical processing abffity in Japanese children with mathematical difliculties (IV=6), children without mathematical diMculties (jV=95), and adults C.7V=ll). TK-style Japanese language and mathematics diagnostic tests were used to evaluate the children's academic achievement, Numericai comparison task was administrated in order to investigate the processing speed of numerical magnitude and the distance effbct, which is a phenomenon in which reaction time decreases as the numerical distance between the stimuli increases. The main results of the nurnerical comparison task were as fo11ows; (a) Processing speed decreased with age. Furthermore, the children


So is a frequently used word in English with multiple functions and meanings. The purpose of the current study is to examine the use of English connective so in Korean EFL students' essay writing from the perspective of pragmatics. This study is particularly interested in investigating the way Korean students develop the discoursal use of so, which has become an issue in studies of second language acquisition (Trillo 2002). The central research questions are in what sentence structures and context students employ so and what semantic and pragmatic meanings and functions it manifests when it occurred in a text. In tackling these matters, the study analyzes the data collected from the essay writings of first-year English students in a Korean university. The assumptions based on the previous corpus-based studies are that Korean students may not be used to encoding so with its pragmatic use, and that the overuse and inappropriate use of so in Korean students' essay writings may be due to their unawareness of the stylistic differences between spoken and written English and the influence of EFL teaching materials.


The current breeding status and utilization of bee lineage structures on main apiculture areas in Jilin province were surveyed by using sample investigation.The bee lineage structures of Apis mellifera in Jilin province was discussed.The raising scale,distribution,types of productive bees and diversity of bee species were analyzed.The limiting factors of bee germplasm resource diversity in Jilin province were discussed.It will lay the foundation for beekeeping sustainable development of Jilin province.


Finger vein identification has become a promising biometric modality due to its anti-spoofing capability, time-invariant nature, privacy and security when compared to other predominant biometric traits. In the wake of the recent epidemics and pandemics, the world has recognized the need for hygienic and contactless identification techniques such as finger vein. Although finger vein biometrics has been around for some time, there doesn't exist any classification scheme for finger vein images similar to the Henry classes for fingerprints. For large scale biometric identification systems, an accurate and consistent classification mechanism can significantly reduce the search space and time for matching. In this paper, we first show that finger vein patterns can be classified into four classes namely, Fork, Eye, Bridge and Arch (FEBA) and then propose an identification scheme based on this classification. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first-ever attempt on classifying finger vein images based on intrinsic anatomical features. We obtained a classification accuracy of 95.88% using convolutional neural network and an average reduction of 86.89% in matching time on a heterogeneous database consisting of 4 different datasets. Cross dataset validation and comparison with existing algorithms have been performed to show the efficacy of the proposed classification and matching mechanism.


Objective:To study the addition and subtraction TGD serum of patients with essential hypertension nitric oxide(NO)and endothelin(ET-1)the impact of the addition and subtraction TGD observe the clinical efficacy of addition and subtraction TGD antihypertensive mechanism of action.Methods:60 patients with essential hypertension were randomly divided into treatment group and the control group,n=30,respectively,with addition and subtraction TGD and nitrendipine oral treatment for 4 weeks before and after treatment in patients with blood pressure,serum NO,ET-1 changes,and clinical symptom scores before and after treatment,evaluation syndromes.Results:After treatment,the treatment group and control group in the antihypertensive efficacy equivalent and in the syndromes,serum nitric oxide(NO)changes than the control group(P0.05).Conclusion:Modified TGD can increase serum NO,lower serum ET-1 levels in patients with essential hypertension to improve impaired endothelial function;subtraction TGD also has the same nitrendipine antihypertensive effect.


We studied the specimens of the genus Bactrocera collected from Yunnan and recognized 2 new record subgenera,Javadacus Hardy and Papuodacus Drew,1 new record species,Bactrocera(Javadacus)trilineata(Hardy),and 2 new species,Bactrocera(Javadacus)apiciflava Yu,He et Chen,sp.nov.and Bactrocera(Papuodacus)sinensis Yu,Bai et Chen,sp.nov.The type specimens are deposited in the Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine(CAIQ),Beijing.


This Project presents Structural analysis and design of post-tensioning the slabs in the structures in order to achieve economy, efficiency, quicker construction and lower lifetime cost of the structure. Because Post-Tensioning enhances concrete strength under both compressive and tensile stresses.  Post-tensioning tendons are installed in a parabolic profile prior to placing the concrete and later stressed to a specified concrete strength. This process introduces compressive force in the concrete and this stress is counterbalanced by loads coming on it. Thus the benefits are substantial. Post-tensioning is used in the structural elements to meet the challenges that other design methods simply cannot. The reduction in concrete in thinner concrete members is approximately 20%, in other sizes may be more and Rebar in slabs is reduced by 60% to 75%. Due to decrease in the sizes of the structural elements, there by dead loads, thus reduction in rebar and concrete required in conventional way design. Improved crack control and waterproofing properties. Longer spans and fewer columns give greater flexibility in floor slabs arrangements. Lower overall maintenance and lifecycle costs of the structure. Reduced building height also results in energy savings, especially for work-places based buildings' use the SAFE software for the Design of PT slabs for this project. SAFE the Structural analysis and design software product of CSI Software Company of USA. And generally SAFE is used for structural design of the PT Slabs and also for conventional other slab types and also for some types of footings including Raft footings.


The influence of wind velocity on the behavior of ovipositing female Hessian flies, Mayetiola destructor (Say), was examined in a wind tunnel. Females exposed to wind speeds ranging from 0 to 2.0 m/s, tended to stay for longer on wheat, Triticum aestivum L., plants when the wind speeds experienced were higher, than when they were lower. However, although flight departing from plants was suppressed at higher wind speeds, on-plant behavior was not suppressed under these conditions. Thus, females that stayed longer on plants because of higher wind speeds laid more eggs per visit than females at lower wind speeds. Flight direction upon leaving a host plant was also influenced by wind. As winds increased >0.9 m/s, females no longer exhibited flights to upwind groups of wheat plants and were more likely to land in downwind groups of plants or to be blown out the end of the wind tunnel. When groups of females were released into host plant patches in low (0.1 m/s) or high (0.7 or 1.2 m/s) wind speeds, females in higher winds laid most of their eggs in the patches they were released into and in patches downwind of release patches. Alternatively, females in low winds laid eggs in upwind as well as downwind patches. In this experiment, the total number of eggs laid during the test period was greater in lower versus higher winds. The effects of the above responses to the reproductive biology of Hessian flies are discussed.


Myofascitis is a local manifestation of a toxic condition of the blood, evidenced by low grade inflammation or toxic involvement of the muscles and fasciae, the symptoms predominating at the fascial insertions of muscle to bone. Since the symptoms are so combined that both muscles and fasciae are affected, the compound term seems most descriptive. In a large percentage of instances it is practically synonymous with the following diagnoses as made by many eminent men in the profession: sacro-iliac strain or relaxation, lumbago, sciatica, and muscular rheumatism, which conditions are merely simulated, and empiric diagnoses made as a result of centering the attention on local symptoms. In 90 per cent of cases of myofascitis the toxic absorption is primarily from the colon; in the remaining 10 per cent, from teeth, tonsils, sinuses and gallbladder, often with secondary toxicity of the colon. To distinguish between real and supposed traumatic lesions of


This paper explored the perceptions of special education staff and college students with disabilities about self-advocacy instruction provided in high schools. Data revealed differing perceptions about the level of self-advocacy instruction that students with disabilities receive while in high school between teachers and students.  The implications for this research and practice include opportunities that high schools must have to teach students with disabilities self-advocacy skills to prepare them for post-school success.


Abstract This paper discusses the galvanic interaction between a heavy nickel electrodeposit and a turbine disc steel. This interaction was determined via electrochemical and immersion tests conducted in various environments.


Web co-link analysis and co-word analysis are efficient methods to explore competitive relationship structure of companies in the era of Internet.The research takes top banks of the world as empirical objects and combines two methods to study the competitive mapping of global banking industry.Web co-word analysis is used to get high-quality blog data sources and further content analysis is done to explain the variations and get trends of competitive situation.The result shows that Key words selection,data source coverage and language of retrieval tools,for example,all have significant impact on the analysis.Compared with co-link analysis,web co-word analysis has some significant advantages such as rich data sources,time featured data and being fit for further content mining,though study on its basic theory and methodology needs to be strengthened.Web co-link analysis and co-word analysis are complementary and thus should be combined to use.


According to the data of water quality monitoring in Poyang Lake,we analyzed the status of the water quality and its changing trend in the water system of Poyang Lake.The result indicates that the water quality in the water system and Poyang Lake itself is dropping,low water period being worse than high water period;the main pollutants are NH3—N,TN and TP in water system,TP and NH3—N in Poyang Lake and the water quality is of medium-eutrophication and will run to eutrophication step by step.


In this paper, we present a low-complexity coordinated beamforming transmission scheme for multiuser multiple-input-single-output (MISO) systems. With a minimum overhead signaling, the proposed scheme selects the beamforming vector and users while considering the interference from other cells. We develop the exact analytical expressions of the ergodic sum-rate for the resulting system for dual-cell scenario. Based on the analytical results, we compare the performance of the proposed scheme with other MISO transmission schemes in multiple cell environment, and then analyze their respective superiority and shortcomings. We show through selected numerical examples that our proposed coordinated beamforming scheme achieves tremendous performance gain over conventional schemes while only requiring beam index sharing between base stations.


Power sharing control among grid forming dc sources employing a conventional voltage droop approach meets inaccurate load sharing and unacceptable voltage regulation performance. Thereby, communication-based secondary and supervisory controllers have been presented to overcome the aforementioned issues. Furthermore, with the aim of eliminating communication system, frequency-based droop approaches have been introduced for low-voltage dc grids where the frequency of the superimposed ac signal onto the dc voltage is proportional to the output power. However, in reality, dc grid structures can be applied to medium and high voltage applications with different X/R ratios. This paper generalizes the frequency-based droop scheme for dc microgrids with different low, medium, and high X/R ratios. Obtained simulation and experiment results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control method.


These additions to the bibliography compiled by Jane Wesson, which appeared in the first two volumes of this journal, have been compiled by Michael Pearson of the Australian Heritage Commission. The same problem of defining the field of historical archaeology has faced this bibliographer as faced the original compiler. The approach to this update of the bibliography has been to include recently published references, a range of earlier publications including some not strictly archaeological but directly relating to sites and matters of relevance to archaeologists, and a number of references to New Zealand publications and theses. In addition to this, a proportion of the entries are unpublished reports which are generally available only in the libraries of the departments or clients who commissioned them. These are included as they still constitute a major proportion of the documented historical archaeological work in Australia.


Serum ferritin levels were estimated in 78 normal subjects (46 males and 37 females) using radioimmunoassay techniques. The mean serum ferritin level in normal men was 83 ng/ml (range 7.4 190.0 ng/ml), compared with 43 ng/ml (range 5.1 — 104 ng/mI) in normal women. The difference in the mean ferritin level between the two sexes was significant. A concentration below 10 ng/mI was associated with a low transferrin saturation (< 15%) in both males and females (JPMA 37: 63, 1987).


Alternative splicing contributes to the vast complexity of mRNA transcripts and protein isoforms. It has been estimated that the majority of protein-coding genes are subject to alternative splicing in humans. Alternative splicing plays a critical role in physiological processes and cell development programs, and dysregulation of alternative splicing is often associated with pathologic conditions such as cancer. Indeed, the abnormal splicing is frequently found in lung cancer, which produces various protein isoforms with properties that may have different functions and therefore even diverse effects on tumor malignant development. In this highlight, we summarize the evidence supporting the functional role of alternative splicing in lung cancer, discuss the regulation of alternative splicing, and highlight the relevance of splicing variation on lung cancer therapy.


Most enterprises use single model to forecast market price, so that the precision of the result is limited by the model. In this paper, a new model system is introduced, which synthetically applies time series model, nonlinear regression and combination forecasting model to forecast the change of the market price. This system searches the method to forecast market price from various angles and the model system has been validated by appliance in a steel enterprise.


recognition [1], the problem of mixing [5] and the portfolio selection [9]. Several algorithms have been developed for the problem and sorne good computational results are reported regardless of their exponential time complexity, see [31, [4] and [11]. In this paper we consider a generalization of・the minimum norm point problem, i.e., the problem of finding the minimum nerm point in an unbounded convex polyhedron. This problem alse has applications in the field similar to those above mentioned. Fathi and Murty [61 ha;ve proposed a critical index algorithm for finding the point in a simplicial cone which is closest to the


This research is aimed to find the character type of Lord Voldemort as described in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince and the most dominant character of Lord Voldemort using a formalistic and psychological approach. The writer formulates the problem by making the following questions: (1) what are the characters type of Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince novel?, (2) what is the dominant character of Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince Novel?. In the process of study and analysis of the character type of the main characters in the Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince novel, the writer uses a formalistic and psychological approach to analyze, examine and understand some of the main character's personality in a novel. The writer also conducts library research in completing this analysis. The theory used in analyzing the character until finally found one dominant character of the main character.


Some of the problems involved in the approval of electrical equipment for use in Class I Hazardous Locations are outlined, and some steps which can be taken to improve the present situation are recommended. Items discussed include intemational standards, test procedures, modifications, special acceptance procedures, and new programs.


Leaky-mode photonic lattices exhibit intricate resonance effects originating in quasi-guided lateral Bloch modes. Key spectral properties are associated with phase-matched modes at the second (leaky) stop band. One band edge mode suffers radiation loss generating leaky-mode resonance whereas the other band edge mode becomes a bound state in the continuum (BIC). Here, we present analytical and numerical results on the formation and properties of the leaky stop band. We show that the frequency of the leaky-mode resonance band edge, and correspondingly the BIC edge, is determined by superposition of Bragg processes chiefly generated by the first two Fourier harmonics of the spatial modulation. We derive conditions for the band closure and band flip wherein the leaky edge and the bound-state edge transit across the band gap. Our work elucidates fundamental aspects of periodic photonic films and has high relevance to the burgeoning field of metamaterials.


The gorgeous frontispiece to this book depicts a sinuous green devil inviting a solemn Christ to indulgence, while its back cover is populated by a rainbow of demons tormenting the damned. With its crisply reproduced images drawn from stained glass windows, manuscripts and the plastic arts, and its oversized, glossy pages and its generously spaced, wispy typeface, Debra Higgs Strickland's Saracens, Demons and Jews is more than an outstanding work of scholarship. The book itself is a work of art. Strickland discerns in the western depiction of monsters a movement from innocent fascination to a hatred-spurred rejection. Monsters are in the process transformed from marvels to contemplate into enemies to destroy. This metamorphosis in cultural meaning is catalysed by Christians' burgeoning desire to distance themselves from rival ethnic and religious groups. As a result the so-called monstrous races*/creatures of strange body and even stranger custom who have haunted the imaginative spaces of the West since at least the time of the early Greeks*/stop referring to mythic beings that dwell in some great and ambiguous Beyond, and begin to embody those towards whom Europeans harboured a real and growing animus. Once the vocabulary of monstrousness inherited from the classical tradition was applied to the Jews who lived among the Christians, and the Muslims of Iberia and the Holy Land, the possibility that these peoples might be of equal worth tended to vanish. Strickland's book, then, is less about monsters per se than about the process of monsterization , a heterogeneous set of representational practices that varies over time and place but always had the same outcome: the denial of humanity to the people represented. Saracens, Demons, and Jews begins with a succinct preface that lucidly articulates the main themes, and contains a series of five chapters that flesh out the analytic framework through close engagement with a series of specific and usually related images. Comprised of a quick excursion through classical and Christian theories of monstrosity, the first chapter is the least innovative, covering ground that scholars have been treading for several decades. The chapter culminates, however, in the bold thesis that the classical monstrous races, 'with their deformed bodies, strange dwellings, barbaric habits, and sinful behaviors', were the template upon which later mediaeval constructions of non-Christian groups were based. This emerging tradition of monstrous religious Others was hybridized with Christianity's Patterns of Prejudice, Vol. 39, No. 3, 2005


In higher educational institutions, graduation rates are one of the many aspects to assess the quality of the learning process. Al-Hidayah Islamic University in Bogor is one of the established private Islamic universities to create skilled human resources with moral values required by many companies nowadays. Having another institution in Bogor as a competitor with the same direction and objective is a challenge for Al-Hidayah Islamic University. Thus a solution is required to face the competition. One solution is to predict the student graduation timeliness of the students using data mining method with classification function. The implemented methodology in the data mining is Discovery Knowledge of Database (KDD), starting from selecting, preprocessing, transformation, data mining, and evaluation/ interpretation. There were two Algorithm models used in this paper, namely C4.5 and Support Vector Machine (SVM). The classification procedure consists of predictor variables and one of the target variables. Predictor variables are gender, Grade Point Average, marital status, and job status. Rapid Miner software was used to process the data. The final results of both Algorithms show an 81% precision rate and 80% accuracy level for the C4.5 Algorithm, while SVM has an 88% precision rate and 85% accuracy level.


Abst ract- Channel Equalization is a necessity of the communication system. In this paper a channel Equalizer based on Adaptive Kalman Filter is presented. The performance indexes used for measurement are mean square error (MSE), Rate of convergence and signal to noise ratio (SNR). This analysis is compared with some other Adaptive Equalizer like recursive least square (RLS) and experimental results shows that this approach gives a less mean square error which is better than other equalizer with fast rate of convergence. Also experimented for different communication system like QAM (64 QAM, 16 QAM, 4QAM), QPSK and BPSK, results shows that this Equalizer is quite compatible with different digital modulator.


The synergies and trade-offs between the various dimensions of sustainable development are attracting a rising scholarly attention. Departing from the scholarly debate, this article focuses on inte ...


Abstract : This document presents a detailed discussion of the bookkeeping system used in PITAP to account for aeropropulsion forces. It also presents the data correlations which provide a basis for the generalized data plots used in the PITAP procedure. A catalog of useful inlet data is presented which provides geometric and performance data for several specific configurations. This catalog of data contains a number of sets of data already prepared in the PITAP input format. These data can be used directly to generate installed performance data for inlet configurations which are like those for which data are available. The purpose of this document is to provide a ready source of reference material that will be useful in understanding and using the PITAP procedure. To achieve this objective, as much information as possible is presented that could be helpful. It is set up in a manner that will make it easy to add additional data as it becomes available.


Introducing the fractional (cid:2) -derivative, with the corresponding (cid:2) -fractional spaces, the fractional beam bending problem is presented. In fact, non-local derivatives govern the beam bending problem that accounts for the interaction of microcracks or materials non-homogeneities, such as composite materials or materials with fractal geometries. The proposed theory is implemented to the fractional bending deformation of a simply supported beam and a cantilever beam under continuously distributed loading.


Solar energy is a pollutant-free renewable energy source (RES) that is abundantly available. Solar photovoltaic (PV) panel's output power is linearly related to the amount of irradiance reaching the arrays at any one time. To mitigate the power fluctuations, a storage system can be used to amend the unbalance between the PV output power and the demand power of the grid. This paper aims to integrate solar PV with a utility grid to supplement the demand of a load. Energy management system (EMS) estimates and monitors the actual energy generation and use. The optimum solar PV EMS with electric vehicle (EV) as a storage unit is developed based on the load data. The linear program-based optimization method is used to decrease the extent of energy import from the utility grid and the total cost of variable-priced electricity. The proposed system operational performance is analyzed using MATLAB with EV as a storage unit.


In practical applications, the observations collected by a spherical array may be mixed far-field and near-field signals. A new approach which exploits the recursive relationship of spherical harmonics is proposed to estimate the direcitons of arrival (DOAs) of multiple mixed sources. The algorithm is independent of the far-field or near-field assumption in the spherical harminics domain. It avoids high dimensional search and provides accurate estimation. Simulation results demonstrate better estimation performance.


Cite this Record Perttula, Timothy K. (2018) "8th Edition of The Archaeology, Bioarchaeology, Ethnography, Ethnohistory, and History of the Caddo Indian Peoples of Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas," Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State: Vol. 2018, Article 1. https://doi.org/ 10.21112/ita.2018.1.1 ISSN: 2475-9333 Available at: https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/ita/vol2018/iss1/1


We present a generic approach, which allows to adapt sparse blind deconvolution and blind source separation algorithms to arbitrary sources. The key idea is to bring the problem to the case in which the underlying sources are sparse by applying a sparsifying transformation on the mixtures. We present simulation results and show that such transformation can be found by training. Properties of the optimal sparsifying transformation are highlighted by an example with aerial images.


tion of the anatomy of the spleen is of importance in either diagnosis or treatment. Hereditary spherocytosis is usually satisfactorily controlled by splenectomy. Preoperative visualization of the spleen aids in confirming the diagnosis as well as in recognizing accessory spleens. Figures 1 and 2 show the clarity with which the spleens in these two cases were visualized. Multiple views are important to determine the size and position of the spleen. The left anterior oblique view most frequently visualizes the organ best. The finding of splenomegaly at operation in these two patients with hereditary spherocytosis confirmed the value of this procedure as an aid in determining spleen size. Though it appears that the spleens were large enough to be found on physical examination alone, the patient's body habitus and the posterior position of the organ precluded this in these patients, suggesting the possibility that spleens of lesser size may be missed even more frequently. The ease and safety of the procedure further enhances the desirability of scintophotography as a diagnostic tool. For less enlarged spleens there are methods of predicting volume with reasonable accuracy although in obviously enlarged organs, such as these, visual examination alone is usually sufficient.


Purpose: For most surgeons, colon interposition after gastrectomy remains an infrequently performed procedure because of its complexity. The aim of this study was to assess its technical feasibility and safety as a post-gastrectomy reconstruction method by reviewing our experience with colon interposition. Materials and Methods: From March 2001 to February 2002, 30 colon interpositions after-gastrectomy were done with using the ileo-ascending or transverse colon. We analyzed the clinicopathologic features and the surgical outcomes. Results: There were 16 males and 14 females in this study with a mean age of 67.5 years (range: 31 to 76 years). Twenty-five ascending colons and 5 transverse colons were used for the interposition, respectively. The mean operation time was 373 minutes (range: 204 to 600 minutes). There were 9 operative morbidities (30%) and 1 operative mortality. The restoration of bowel motility was noted at 3.8 postoperative days; a soft diet was started at 4.9 postoperative days and the duration of the hospital stay was 18.2 days. The percentage of weight loss in the patients with total, proximal and distal gastrectomy was 16.3%, 14.0% and 8.8%, respectively, at 6 months, and thereafter the weight loss gradually recovered as 8.1%, 7.5% and 5.6%, respectively, at 5 years postoperatively. Gastric stasis was the one of the most meaningful long-term complications, and especially in the patients who underwent distal gastrectomy with colon interposition. Conclusion: Colon interposition after gastrectomy was a very complex procedure with a long operating time and many anastomosis sites. The postoperative outcomes failed to achieve satisfactory weight gain and the patients displayed postprandial symptoms. This suggested that this procedure was not an appropriate procedure for conventional reconstruction after gastrectomy.


Intestinal intussusception is a rare entity in which a segment of intestine (intussusceptum), contracted by a peristaltic wave, enters the immediately distal segment (intussuscipiens). Once trapped, the invaginated segment is propelled distally by peristalsis, dragging its mesentery behind it. Next, we present the case of a 41-year-old female patient who presented an intestinal intussusception, with clinical manifestations of an intestinal obstruction and underwent an exploratory laparotomy, where the diagnosis was made and a moderately adenocarcinoma-type colon lesion was resected. Differentiated, in the city of Barranquilla in 2016.


The present investigation was aimed at determining the impact of the macrolide antibiotic Tylosin in reduced HRT at constant organic loading rate (OLR) by varying feed substrate concentration in an up-flow anaerobic stage reactor (UASR). The antibiotic concentration was maintained at 200 mg.L-1, at constant OLR of 1.88 kg COD.m-3.d-1, by varying feed substrate concentration to the UASR and the HRT was decreased gradually from 4 to 1 d. Throughout the operation period, brewery wastewater was used as simple feed substrate to elevate the concentration of easily biodegradable carbon in comparison with the concentrations of more recalcitrant Tylosin substrate. The reactor alkalinity was controlled in all the stages of UASR by adding 1000 - 2000 mg.L-1 CaCO3. Results showed the total COD removal efficiency at 4 d HRT was around 92%, after which point there was a slight decrease at 3 and 2 d HRT (average 82%), and this was reduced further (average 77%) at a HRT of 1 d. The UASR showed stable operation with effluent volatile fatty acid (VFA) less than 300 mg.L-1 throughout the experimental period (HRT 4 - 1 d). Moreover, the average methane yield (CH4.kg CODr-1) showed a relatively constant profile and was largely unaffected by HRT in all the stages of UASR. These results show that bacteria were readily adapted to wastewater containing Tylosin at lower HRTs and did not affect the reactor performance substantially.


Michael Bolger is an AVMA Director and local contact. As a result of medical negligence, he is paraplegic and confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He won substantial damages in the High Court after suing the Health Authority and senior consultant concerned. Michael has written several articles and has been interviewed on radio and television about his experience as a victim of medical negligence and as a plaintiff and has views on the need for change. In this article, Michael describes the seminar at which he was the lead speaker at the AVMA Medical Negligence Conference, held on 4–5th July 1997, where he discussed the impact of medical negligence on victims and doctors with a group of senior hospital doctors and consultants, the first time that a face-to-face discussion of this kind has taken place.


Rice husk generated during rice cultivation is generally used as an alternative source for fuel. Rice husk provides a vital natural source for silica. It mostly constitutes SiO 2 as the major product along with oxides such as Al 2 O 3 , Fe 2 O 3 , CaO, MgO etc. As the major constituent, the predominance of silica primarily depends on the types of soil on which the grain is generated. The availability of various mineral and metal oxides in the soil sources are responsible for constituting the rice husk. In the present study an attempt has been made to collect rice husk released from the rice grain cultivated in different types of soil. The study includes the analysis and comparison of various physical composition and mineralogical texture changes for different rice husk samples generated from various soils. Also trial has been made to optimize and identify a particular type of rice husk that can be utilized adequately for the generation of metallurgical grade silica.


During the early stages of this project, the author developed the first whole-body boron MRI technique. They found that, for the first time, information concerning both the location and the quantity of boron present in living tissues could be obtained through the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) respectively. However, it was also discovered that boron MRI was not without problems. Both naturally occurring isotopes of boron (boron-10 and boron-11) possess magnetic moments, making them amenable to MR detection. The author found that there are difficulties in obtaining boron MRI images which are a consequence of the inherently poor magnetic resonance characteristics of the boron nucleus. The magnetogyric ratios of both boron-10 and boron-11 are smaller than those of hydrogen, which makes boron much less sensitive to magnetic resonance detection. In addition, both isotopes of boron posses nuclear electric quadrupole moments which serve to shorten their magnetization relaxation times; this causes the MR signal to broaden and decay rapidly, often before the receiver coils can collect the MR information. The rapid rate of signal decay is enhanced in biological systems which leads to further signal loss and a decrease in the signal to noise ratio (SNR).


The issue of the separation of ownership from control and the alignment of management and shareholder via the managerial ownership of equity remain the key topic of Chinese listed companies. Through the empirical study, this paper reveals that the managerial shareholding has no effect on management performance. The fundamental resolution to get the stock option incentive work in China is to set up a reasonable ownership structure and an effective capital market.


The paper refers briefly to the d.c. electrification and to some operating statistics on the Indian Railways and gives a few details of the electrification schemes undertaken in the Second and Third Five-Year Plans, using a 25 kV single-phase industrial-frequency system. Power supply arrangements, traction overhead equipment, ancillary civil, signalling and telecommunication engineering work and a.c. rolling stock are described. It outlines the technical improvements made in fixed installations and rolling stock in the light of experience gained so far, the organisation set up for the execution of electrification projects and the efforts made to develop the manufacture of rolling stock and other equipment in India.


A PGSS (Particles from Gas Saturated Solutions) process designed to generate nano-particles using supercritical fluids has been conducted for the fabrication of Poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) microparticles that encapsulate a protein drug. It is demonstrated that the polymer and the dry powder of a protein can be mixed under supercritical carbon dioxide conditions and that the protein component retains its biological activity. In this experiment, the mixture of polymer which is plasticized and dry powder protein was sprayed to form solid polymer that encapsulate the protein. It is found that supercritical fluid process give fine tuning of particle size and particle size distribution by simple manipulations of the process parameters. Porous 53 CLEAN TECHNOLOGY, Vol. 12, No. 2., June 2006, pp. 53~61. 54 청정기술, 제12권 제2호, 2006년 6월 Figure 1. The lysozyme reaction. particles were formed with irregular shape. Protein encapsulated in the polymer was found to have enzymatic activity without significant loss of its initial value.


Canagliflozin reduces hospitalizations for heart failure (HF) in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Its effect on cardiorespiratory fitness and cardiac function in patients with established HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) is unknown.


While automated grading systems are useful for generating real-time feedback for students, they also highlight some obstacles. In particular, when a student's program contains bugs, automated systems report this fact, but not how to locate or correct them. This paper reports on a study inspired by current research on automatic fault localization - techniques to programmatically locate bugs within a piece of code under test. The goal is not to "identify" or diagnose the bug, but simply to locate where it is in the code, to give the student a direction to investigate. Before employing this technique live with students, this study validates that automated fault localization can be performed with the level of accuracy needed to give meaningful guidance. We used the GZoltar statistical fault localization library for Java to analyze 135 CS2-level student programs, and then manually debugged the programs to find the locations of their faults. This paper provides the analysis of this information, which produced a feasible strategy for providing accurate, automated suggestions to students for "where to look" in order to fix their own programs.


The goal of this paper is to study the organization and quality management development from a system dynamics point of view and to evaluate the capabilities of IT tools as a support for top management striving for business excellence. Subgoals are the identi® cation of areas covered by computer-aided quality (CAQ) and the comparison with management/leadership topics, i.e. the exploration of management support versus development order obtainment support. To reach the objective indicated in the Introduction, the following steps were taken:


A cascade type interferometric nonlinear imaging apparatus based on CARS(Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering) is provided to improve medium molecule detecting sensitivity of a measuring sample by exciting medium molecules of a standard sample to allow the phase difference between beams passing through the measuring sample to be modulated. A cascade type interferometric nonlinear imaging apparatus based on CARS comprises a light source(10), a phase change device(30), a scan device(40) and a detector(60). The light source generates stokes light(1) having arbitrary frequency band and pump light(2) for exciting medium molecules of a sample with the stokes light. The phase change device allows the Stokes light and the pump light generated from the light source to pass through a standard sample(20), and changes the phase of the passed light and anti-stokes light on the same path. The scan device scans the phase-changed light to the space of a measuring sample(50). The detector measures light interference by using a phase difference between a light signal generated passing through the measuring sample by the scan device, and the light signal passed through the standard sample.


Comprehensive development of human freedom is the Marxist theory of the highest value proposition of the theoretical system,is also his spirit of a new era for the future high-level overview.Through the development of Marx's theory of free and comprehensive in-depth study and careful analysis of the advent of the process of historical materialism,especially the free and comprehensive development of Marx's theory of the formation process is divided into three stages: before the formation of the initial Materialism exploration stage,with the stage of historical materialism and the materialist conception of history to establish the setting is established,under the guidance of the development of historical materialism and satisfactory.


Keywords Casestudies.Risk.Harm.Narrative.Meaning.TeachingbioethicsIn Utilitarianism, John Stuart Mill wrote that "[t]hereexists no moral system under which there do not ariseunequivocal cases of conflicting obligation" (1957,¶2.25). This is what makes the practice—as well asthe teaching—of bioethics so difficult and the reasonthat many students and members of the general popu-lace are wont to believe that doing "the right thing" isrelativistic. Engaging in careful, protracted moral re-flection, particularly in cases that clearly present such"conflicting obligation," is hard. It is intellectually andemotionally taxing as well as time-consuming, requir-ing material resources and ongoing, honest dialoguewith others. Unfortunately, our modern systems ofbiomedicine that train health care professionals arehard-pressed to include in curricula (in meaningfuland lasting ways) "people skills," communicationskills, and cultural competence, not to mention thephilosophical foundations of ethics that might guidepractitioners through tough cases. There are, of course,many reasons for this: The biomedical framework hasbeen late (or errant) in formally recognizing and pri-oritizing these less "clinical" gaps in education; thebiomedical industry in many nations leaves little time(and often fails to sufficiently reimburse) for non-mechanistic care; and society in general has increas-ingly become enamored with being fast, being first,being famous. One need only turn on the television,whether so-called "reality" programs or cable news, towitness contestants, broadcasters, business moguls, orpoliticians clamoring to cook the best food, sew thebest dress, report the latest scandal, and generally beatout the competition before the clock runs out. Notonlyis there no reason to work together and no time fordeliberation in such an environment, today'sworldoften rewards those who "do what they have to do"to get ahead, the spoils of this mock war going to themost titillating and dramatic, not the most contempla-tive or most sincere. (For an interesting exploration ofthe rise of self-aggrandizement and "spectacle" inmedia, politics, education, science, and culture, seeHedges 2009.)While it is true that time is of the essence in manyhealth-related settings, requiring practitioners to takeimmediate, life-saving actions with little room for


ABSTRACT A meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies was conducted to examine the relation between fruit and vegetables (FV) consumption and the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). We searched PubMed and EMBASE up to June 2014 for relevant studies. Pooled relative risks (RRs) were calculated and dose–response relationship was assessed. Thirty-eight studies, consisting of 47 independent cohorts, were eligible in this meta-analysis. There were 1,498,909 participants (44,013 CVD events) with a median follow-up of 10.5 years. The pooled RR (95% confidence interval) of CVD for the highest versus lowest category was 0.83 (0.79–0.86) for FV consumption, 0.84 (0.79–0.88) for fruit consumption, and 0.87 (0.83–0.91) for vegetable consumption, respectively. Dose–response analysis showed that those eating 800 g per day of FV consumption had the lowest risk of CVD. Our results indicate that increased FV intake is inversely associated with the risk of CVD. This meta-analysis provides strong support for the current recommendations to consume a high amount of FV to reduce CVD risk.


This paper employs a ML–Hedonic approach to quantify the value of uniqueness, a type of "soft" information embedded in real estate advertisements. We first propose an unsupervised learning algorithm to quantify levels of semantic deviation ("uniqueness") in descriptions, the textual portions of real estate advertisements. We then estimated the impact of description uniqueness on real estate transaction outcomes using linear hedonic pricing models. The results indicate textual data disseminate information that numerical data cannot capture, and property descriptions effectively narrow the information gap between structured real estate data and the houses by conveying "soft" information about unique house features. A one standard deviation (0.08) increase in description uniqueness compared to neighboring properties leads to a 5.6% increase in property sale prices and a 2.3–day delay in the closing time, controlling for house characteristics, transaction circumstances, and agent unobservables. This paper provides theoretical and empirical insights on how to utilize the emerging Machine Learning tools in economic research. ∗Lily Shen, firstname.lastname@example.com, Clemson University Finance department. For helpful comments and discussions we would like to thank seminar attendees at Clemson University/Finance, the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. We are especially grateful for comments and suggestions from Brent Ambrose, James Conklin,Chris Cunningham, Bruce Fallick, Kris Gerardi, Roberto Pinheiro, Stuart Rosenthal, Vincent Intintoli, and Stephen Ross. All errors are our own.


Narrative Medicine is a clinical practice, a scholarly field, and a site of intensive research worldwide. This essay describes the inauguration of the field of narrative medicine in 2000 at Columbia University in New York, NY, USA and the principles and practices that have devolved from the initiating work. Clinical implications of narrative concepts of health care as learned from actual medical practice are described. The three movements of narrative medicine—attention, representation, and affiliation—are explored as means of engaging participants in creative acts of discovery and relation. Examples are provided of narratively-informed teaching and health care practice. Conceptual frameworks from aesthetic theory, phenomenology, literary and narrative theories, and cognitive sciences are advanced to portray the integrated study of individuals-in-the-world made possible by contemporary narrative medicine thought.  Emerging concepts of enchantment, embodiment, and enactivism suggest future directions for the field.


The antibacterial activity of naturally contaminated minced meat samples against food poisoning organisms was studied. Bacterial growth was monitored by automated turbidometry in a medium prepared from minced meat. The growth of the food pathogens tested was minimal after a storage for 3 days at +6°C. Furthermore, antibacterial activity was studied in minced meat samples irradiated and thereafter inoculated with Pseudomonas spp., Lactobacillus spp., Pediococcus damnosus or Brochothrix thermosphacta.


Dynamic optimization problem (DOP) is a kind of problem that contains a series of static problems with different problem characteristics. The main idea of the existing dynamic optimization algorithms is to continuously locate and track changing optimal solutions using limited computational resources. Hence, how to strengthen the exploration ability for locating the optimum of the static problem in an environment and how to improve the adaptation ability to the changing optima in different environments are two key issues for efficiently solving DOP. To address these issues, we propose a diversity-driven multi-population particle swarm optimization (DMPSO) algorithm. First, we propose a center information-based update strategy to strengthen the exploration ability of the PSO algorithm in each subpopulation. Second, a stagnant subpopulation activation strategy is proposed to activate the stagnant subpopulations, and a random walk strategy is proposed to improve the optima tracking capability of the best-performing subpopulation. Third, an archive-based initialization strategy is proposed to reinitialize the population. Experimental studies are conducted on the moving peaks benchmark to compare the DMPSO algorithm with some state-of-the-art dynamic optimization algorithms. The experimental results show that the proposed DMPSO algorithm outperforms the contender algorithms which validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.


High frequency acoustic imaging represents a powerful technique for the nondestructive evaluation of optically opaque materials. In this report the Scanning Laser Acoustic Microscope (SLAM) is used to detect and characterize flaws in ceramics. SLAM micrographs showing typical examples of cracks, laminar flaws, porosity and solid inclusions. are presented. The various flaw types are easily differentiated on the basis of their characteristic acoustic signatures. The importance of an imaging approach to the nondestructive evaluation of ceramics is demonstrated.


Keyword queries on information bases offer easy accessibility to data, however usually suffer from low ranking quality, i.e., low exactitude and/or recall, as shown in recent benchmarks. it'd be helpful to spot queries that square measure probably to own low ranking quality to improve the user satisfaction. for example, the system could recommend to the user different queries for such onerous queries.. We set forth a high-principled framework and proposed novel algorithms to live the degree of the issue of a question over a dB, exploitation the ranking strength principle. supported our framework, we tend to propose novel algorithms that with efficiency predict the effectiveness of a keyword question. Our intensive experiments show that the algorithms predict the issue of a question with comparatively low errors and negligible time overheads.


St. Joseph's/Candler Health System takes the Foster G McGaw Prize for its holistic approach to improving the well-being of the people it serves. Puppets are even involved.


Indonesian food security for chicken production as staple protein foods is essential for ensuring the availability to be consumed by toddlers, teenagers, and adults. Ensuring a good price to farmers and a stable of chicken food for the customers also should be achieved. Chicken (meat and eggs) food is most consumed than beef food in Indonesia. Hence, this paper develops a modeling of chicken production for Indonesian protein food security to capture the causality between variables in corn supply, feed mill plant, chicken production, and customer demand system. Modeling of chicken production using Geographic Information System (GIS) approach and developing of system dynamics model are used in this study. The findings of this study suggests that corn productivity, feed mill production, fodder consumption for chicken, and chicken meat and eggs demand and stock as well are critical variables within the model.


The invention discloses a telescopic insulation rod device. The telescopic insulation rod device is used for ground electricity testing and ground picking and hanging grounding wires of sets of grounding wire used for overhead lines. The telescopic insulation rod device comprises a telescopic insulation rod and an insulation clamping pipe, wherein the telescopic insulation rod comprises at least two sections of insulation rods which are sequentially sleeved in an embedded mode. A lock catch device is arranged at the joint of each two adjacent sections of insulation rod. One end of the telescopic insulation rod is connected with the insulation clamping pipe, and the other end of the telescopic insulation rod is a holding end. A first hole cavity and a second hole cavity which are communicated in a stair-shaped mode are formed from one end of the insulation clamping pipe to the interior of the insulation clamping pipe, wherein the first hole cavity is used for accommodating an electroscope handle and the second hole cavity is used for accommodating a grounding rod handle. An L-shaped opening is formed in the insulation clamping pipe, and the telescopic insulation rod is fixedly connected to one end, the first hole cavity is not formed, of the insulation clamping pipe. The telescopic insulation rod device is simple in operation, saves labor and time, and can ensure personal security and greatly shorten time for testing electricity and picking and hanging the grounding wires.


The Iron Age in East Yorkshire has long seemed something of an anomaly, its rich array of square barrow cemeteries, chariot burials, linear earthworks and ladder settlements appearing at odds with ...


Palm organizers are widely used in a multi-tasking fashion. Users switch from one application to another without losing the context established in either of them. Despite its obvious usefulness there is no automatic support for this convenience in the organizer's operating system, PalmOS. Programmers must implement event callbacks that use the PalmOS database API to save and reload specific application state. In this report we describe how this burden can be eliminated.

We enhanced the Spotless JavaTM virtual machine for the Palm organizer with transparent multi-tasking support that automates persistence.

As a consequence, running Java programs can be transfered between two Palm organizers using the infra-red link. A transfered program will resume on the receiving organizer in the exact same state as it had on the sender. In addition, a HotSync operation can effectively be used to establish a checkpoint for each Java program involved.

Originally, the address range available for running programs was restricted to a few tens of KB in the dynamic RAM area. By directly addressing the much larger static RAM area our modified VM supports address ranges of several MB.

We provide an easy-to-use protocol that leverages persistent threads for automatic life cycle control of external resources (e.g. windows, forms and databases). When applied at the library level, this protocol maintains complete persistence transparency for the application programmer.


This work tries to analyze topic order in Spanish with particular attention to its position in sentence. It starts from the general perspective of Siewierska, in which pragmatic factors occupy the highest hierarchy in the determination of word order. This work describes, first of all, various morphological, syntactic and semantico-pragmatical characteristics of the topic in Spanish and estimates its topic-configurationality. Secondly, it makes comparative analysis of topic and focus after indicating particular functions and positions of the focus in Spanish. From all this, the following conclusions can be derived : (i) In Spanish the topicalization occurs mainly through left-dislocation, and, additionally, through right-dislocation and subject topic. The right-dislocation weakens topic function making the topic an additional information and the subject topic can lose its distinctive function as it is simply a subject in preverbal position. (ii) The presence of the topicalization can be proved by revising compatibility with en cuanto a except in preverbal subject topics. (iii) The topic is syntactically an argument and can asume any semantic function, so the topic is a NP or at least has to be nominalized. (iv) Normally the topic requires pronominal copy in the predication, but when the topic is related pragmatically with some element of the predication the pronominal copy is not necessarily obligatory. (v) Spanish is a language that shows a topic-configurationality in a weaker sense. (vi) In Spanish the topic and the focus can constitute a complementary distribution and can be neutralized when the topic is focalized and asumes preverbal subject function. (vii) In Spanish the topic occurs mainly in preverbal position, while the focus is free in its position, therefore the topic order has to be considered with priority in the determination of word order


FRIEDRICH SCHLEIERMACHER'S interpretation of Christmas was central to his entire theological viewpoint. Nowhere within the considerable literature on his thought, however, has a clear, systematic delineation of it appeared. A fair amount of controversy has been waged over the one book Schleiermacher devoted to the subject: his 1806 dialogue Christmas Eve, a slightly revised edition of which appeared in 1827.1 But the historical background has never been adequately picked up in these discussions, the dialogue has seldom been treated as a whole, and its connection with other interpretative material on Christmas by Schleiermacher has remained largely unnoticed. Hopefully this situation can be remedied to a reasonable degree here. The procedure will be to begin with a historical and substantive discussion about Christmas Eve, to augment this with an examination of the Christmas sermons, and to conclude with a brief look into Schleiermacher's presentation of incarnational doctrine in The Christmas Faith. Those whose attitudes about Schleiermacher's theology have been formed by the wrenching critique of Karl Barth-and the interpretation of others who treat it as a thoroughgoing Romantic, anthropocentric, culture-


Bench scale studies were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of pre-ozonation on the treatment of surface water in conjunction with simulated direct filtration. Water quality parameters including turbidity, total organic carbon (TOC), UV absorbance and manganese were investigated at different pH conditions. It was found that pre-ozonation followed by alum coagulation under acidic conditions resulted in a 30% reduction in turbidity when compared with the case of no ozonation treatment and coagulation without pH adjustment. There was a 64% reduction in coagulant usage in terms of turbidity reduction requirements. The optimal ozone dose for turbidity reduction was about 1.5 mg l−1. Total organic carbon was slightly reduced (about 10%) with ozonation and no pH adjustment and also slightly reduced (about 7%) at a lowered pH of 6 at ozone doses ranging from 0.0 to 7.16 mg l−1. With ozone doses ranging from 0.0 to 7.16 mg l−1, UV absorbance was reduced by about 24% by ozonation. The maximum manganese removal achi...


The development of real estate derivative markets requires (a) an appropriate underlying asset, (b) a demand and (c) a launch market. In France, these requirements are now fulfilled by (a) the Notaires- INSEE home price indices, (b) significant housing price volatility, households' hedge demand and portfolio managers' diversification demand and (c) several potential launch markets.


This article summarises the environmental effects on human health and the roadside environment caused by air pollutants from road traffic. The major pollutants are nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, lead, benzene and polyaromatic hydrocarbons. Problems caused include respiratory problems, damage to vegetation, smoke deposits on buildings, acid rain, smog and lead deposits which enter the food chain via roadside vegetation. The European Community and the World Health Organisation have both issued guidelines regarding acceptable values of these pollutants. Technologies for reducing transport emissions are the high compression lean burn engines (which also reduce fuel consumption) or three-way catalytic converters which reduce thermal efficiency and so raise fuel consumption. When used to capacity, public transport can be up to ten times more energy efficient than private cars. Rail based systems are four times more efficient at transporting freight, and light rapid transit systems are electrically powered so do not directly pollute the atmosphere. Measures to restrict private cars, such as road pricing, higher taxes on petrol and preferential rates of tax on new cars with low emission rates, are consistently proposed. The impact of road traffic pollution is particularly harmful since people and vehicles exist in close proximity.


The present article compares the mechanical properties of natural rubber (NR) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) filled natural rubber composites. Four types of nanocomposite specimens are fabricated with different MWCNT loadings: 0 wt% (pure natural rubber), 1 wt%, 3 wt%, and 5 wt%. The specimens are tested for their mechanical properties. It is observed that the tensile strength, hardness and elongation break of CNTs filled rubber composites are remarkably higher than that of raw rubber indicating the inherent reinforcing potential of CNTs. Percentage of the elongation at break of rubber CNTs composites is lower than that of raw rubber.The present article compares the mechanical properties of natural rubber (NR) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) filled natural rubber composites. Four types of nanocomposite specimens are fabricated with different MWCNT loadings: 0 wt% (pure natural rubber), 1 wt%, 3 wt%, and 5 wt%. The specimens are tested for their mechanical properties. It is observed that the tensile strength, hardness and elongation break of CNTs filled rubber composites are remarkably higher than that of raw rubber indicating the inherent reinforcing potential of CNTs. Percentage of the elongation at break of rubber CNTs composites is lower than that of raw rubber.


The Bacillus subtilis WP(100000000000 live spore/g) were compared with conventional control efficacy of 40% isoprothiolane EC in controlling rice blast to evaluate its control effect. The test results show that Bacillus subtilis agent has better control effect on Rice Blast, and it is likely to increase rice yields, save labors in applying pesticides and increase economic returns.


Protein kinases are critical component in the regulation of signal transduction pathways, including neurotransmitters. Our previous studies have shown that serotonin (5‐HT) altered under diabetic condition was accompanied by alterations of protein kinase C‐α (PKC‐α) and CaMKII, and those alterations were reversed after insulin administration. The current study showed that alloxan‐induced diabetic animals revealed hyperglycemia and was associated with an increase in the content of 5‐HT, PKC‐α expression and PKC activity (P < 0.05) simultaneously in striatum (ST), midbrain (MB), pons medulla (PM), cerebellum (CB), and cerebral cortex (CCX) from 7 days to 60 days. Although the 5‐HT levels in hippocampus (HC) and hypothalamus (HT) were not altered, the PKC‐α expression and PKC activity showed increases (P < 0.05) in level in HC. Insulin administration reversed all these changes to a normal level. In contrast, the in vitro study has shown that the 5‐HT levels correlated with PKC‐α expressions as well as PKC activity (P < 0.05) only in ST, MB, and CB either after induction with phorbol 12‐myristate 13‐acetate (PMA) or blocking with chelerythrine, whereas PM and CCX remained elevated (P < 0.05), implying a regulatory role for PKC‐α only in ST, MB, and CB. However, our consecutive studies have shown that the 5‐HT level in PM was regulated by p38‐mitogen‐activated protein kinase (p38‐MAPK) both in vivo and in vitro, whereas the 5‐HT level in CCX was coregulated by S‐100β by protein–protein interaction with serotonin transporter (SERT) via 8‐bromoadenosine 3′,5′‐cyclic monophosphate sodium salt (8‐Br‐cAMP)‐induced cAMP/PKAII pathway(s). © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


In this paper, an adaptive inverse control with internal model control (IMC) structure is proposed and implemented on a robotic arm manipulator system. The plant is stabilized using a simple lead-lag controller and the inverse of the plant is estimated using normalized least mean square (nLMS) algorithm. Radial base transfer function is used as an input mask to the adaptive algorithm. A delayed version of the reference signal is compared with the plant output to produce the error for the adaptive algorithm. The error signal is masked by a hyperbolic tangent sigmoid transfer function and the learning rate is adjusted automatically. A rate limiter is used in the model identification part to eliminate oscillatory plant output behavior. Comparison between adaptive inverse control and IMC structure is implemented and results are shown to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method


A variety of active flow control (AFC) methods have been successfully applied to low speed flows; however, AFC techniques available for high-speed, supersonic applications are very limited. Under the Air Force Office of Scientific Research sponsorship, The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory is investigating a device intended for highspeed flow control called the SparkJet actuator, which manipulates high-speed flows without active mechanical components. Actuator characterization to date has included computational and experimental techniques, including parametric studies and flow visualization over a variety of operating conditions. This paper focuses on the development of an analytical model accompanied by experimental acquisition of the pressure inside the SparkJet cavity. Previous experimental efforts included the use of high-resolution particle image velocimetry and digital speckle tomography to measure the plume velocities and temperature distribution, respectively, in the core of the SparkJet plume. While these tests gave high-resolution results, the results were incomplete and the high velocity core remains difficult to quantify experimentally. Therefore, attention turned to internal chamber pressure measurements to help validate computational fluid dynamics and analytical models. The analytical model presented previously has been expanded to include the unchoked portion of the discharge and preliminary model development of the refresh stage has begun. Experimental testing includes variations in electrode configuration and power supply design intended to improve SparkJet performance. This preliminary characterization study resulted in an actuator design 3.5 times more efficient as previous actuator designs. As a result of this work, a maximum efficiency factor of 35% has been demonstrated so far for the SparkJet actuator based on the experimental peak pressure inside the SparkJet cavity. Future work will include improving SparkJet efficiency further, expanding the model to predict high-frequency actuation performance of a single actuator and testing various SparkJet configurations to enhance the model validation and understand the model limitations.


A new approach for the representation of 3D general Julia sets is put forward on the basis of tri-dimensional polynomial maps. The condition for a 3D polynomial map to be equivariant is theoretically analyzed and proved. The equations of two classes of 3D polynomial maps that are equivariant with respect to the rotational symmetries of either a regular tetrahedron group or a regular octahedron group are strictly given, on the basis of which the properties of the general Julia sets created by these 3D polynomial maps are discussed and proved. A ray-tracing volume rendering algorithm, which defines the color and opacity of every discrete point within a Julia set according to its escaping distance, is proposed in order to acquire high quality 3D fractal images. Experimental results demonstrate that the approach of generating 3D Julia sets from 3D polynomial maps not only enables us to predict the characteristics of Julia sets according to the properties of the maps, but also makes it possible for us to obtain various kinds of Julia sets with different rotational symmetries by altering the parameters of the maps. Consequently, drawbacks such as monotone structure of the resulting fractals and inability to predict fractal shape in the existing methods for generating 3D fractal sets can be effectually avoided. Furthermore, the method of generating 3D Julia sets by 3D polynomial maps can be applied to the construction of other 3D fractals, and hence would result in a different perspective for the generation of 3D fractals.


Exploiting opportunistic contacts between mobile devices to enable deployment of real applications through reliable and efficient data transfers poses a significant research challenge. Indeed, accurate prediction of contact volume, defined as the maximum amount of data transferable during a contact, can improve performance of deployments. However, existing schemes for estimating contact volume that make use of preconceived patterns or contact time distributions may not be applicable in uncertain environments. In this paper, we propose a novel scheme called PCV that predicts contact volume in soft real-time to enable efficient and reliable data transfers in opportunistic networks. An Android Application that learns data rate profiles has been developed to facilitate PCV. In addition, an analytical model has been developed to depict variable data rates between mobile devices. Extensive simulations are carried out on both synthetic and real world mobility traces to validate the usefulness of PCV. Experimental results show the effectiveness of our approach in terms of reliable data transfers.