In this paper,three main problems on permanents of incline matrices are discussed.First,we prove that the rows and columns of matrix A are mutual complement when Per(A) = 1.Thus a necessary and sufficient condition is given for a matrix A with Per(A) = 1 to be invertible.Second,the relations among Per(A),Per(AB) and Per(A + B) are investigated.Third,a decomposition is given for Per(A).These results can be regarded as the generalizations of the previous results on the permanents of matrices over distributive lattice and commutative incline.


SPR720 (phosphate pro-drug of SPR719) is a novel aminobenzimidazole bacterial DNA gyrase (GyrB) inhibitor in development for non-tuberculous mycobacterial lung disease (NTM-LD) and pulmonary tuberculosis. SPR719 has broad-spectrum activity versus clinically relevant mycobacteria in vitro and in murine and hollow fiber (HF) infection models. In this first-in-human single ascending dose (SAD) /multiple ascending dose (MAD) study, the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics (PK) of SPR720/SPR719 were evaluated in healthy volunteers.

 This was a Phase 1 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial with 7 SAD cohorts (including a food effect cohort) and 5 MAD cohorts. Healthy volunteers (n=8/cohort, 3:1 randomization) received SPR720 or placebo in single oral doses of ranging from 100 mg to 2000 mg or repeat total daily doses ranging from 500 mg to 1500 mg for 7 or 14 days. Safety monitoring and PK sampling occurred throughout the trial. Plasma and urine concentrations of SPR720/SPR719 were measured by validated LC-MS/MS methods. PK parameters were calculated using non-compartmental analysis.

 A total of 96 subjects (including 8 healthy elderly subjects, age ≥ 65 years) were randomized and received study drug. SPR720 was well-tolerated at daily doses up to 1000 mg for up to 14 days. Across SAD/MAD cohorts, the most common adverse events were gastrointestinal (nausea, vomiting and diarrhea) and headache, all of mild or moderate severity and dose dependent. No serious adverse events were reported. Across SAD cohorts, a dose proportional and greater-than-dose proportional increase in SPR719 plasma Cmax and AUC0-24, respectively were observed. SPR720 was rapidly absorbed with a mean SPR719 t1/2 of 2.9-4.5 h. Dosing with food decreased SPR719 plasma AUC by ~20%. No clinically meaningful effect of age on plasma AUC was observed. In the MAD cohorts, SPR719 plasma exposure declined approximately 40% between Day 1 and Day 7, suggesting induction of an elimination pathway. However, plasma AUC0-24 was similar at Days 7 and 14.

 Together with HF pharmacodynamic data, human PK and safety data for SPR720 suggest that predicted therapeutic exposures can be attained with a well-tolerated once-daily dose. Further evaluation in a Phase 2 NTM-LD trial is planned.

 Angela Talley, MD, Spero Therapeutics (Employee, Shareholder) Archie Thurston, Jr., PhD, Spero Therapeutics (Consultant) Grayson Moore, BA, RN, Spero Therapeutics, Inc. (Shareholder, Independent Contractor) Vipul Kumar, PhD, Spero Therapeutics (Employee, Shareholder) Suzanne Stokes, PhD, Spero Therapeutics (Employee, Shareholder) Aaron Dane, MSc, Spero theraputics (Consultant) David Melnick, MD, Spero Therapeutics (Employee)Spero Therapeutics (Employee)


This paper explores the optimal methods for processing CBERS-02B images and using them to classify the land uses of karst mountain areas with 3S technologies, especially the RS digital image processing technology. Through multiple experiments and analysis, the difficulty of CBERS-02B images in distinguishing water from mountain shades, construction land from dry land and paddy field are satisfactorily removed. And the combination of band 421, based on OIF method, is proved optimal for classifying the land uses of karst areas. After comparing and evaluating the effect of HIS, PCA and HPC based image fusion methods, the HIS transformation based image fusion method is found best for CBERS-02B HR and CCD data fusion in the case of karst highland mountains. Based on the experiments, this paper proves that CBERS images are capable of large scale land use classification for karst areas, a competent substitute of TM images for karst mountain area land use survey.


Despite current barriers to developing and implementing nonpharmacological or behavioral cognitive-linguistic treatments for dementia, a growing evidence base indicates that individuals with dement...


This paper is concerned with the equivalent extensional and flexural rigidities of a single layer graphene sheet by treating it as a plane lattice structure made of tightly packed carbon atoms into an array of honeycomb-shaped cells. Each carbon atom is modeled as a node with concentrated atomic mass and prescribed six degrees of freedom. The covalent bond between adjacent carbon atoms provides axial, bending, and torsional stiffness. Using the Poisson's ratio of 0.16 and thickness of 3.4 A, the equivalent Young's moduli are found to be approximately 0.112 TPa for bending and in the range of 1.03–1.04 TPa for in-plane modes. Subsequently, the graphene structure is simulated by a classical plate with prescribed geometric and mechanical properties. The in-plane and out-of-plane free vibration analyses of the rectangular plate provide the natural frequencies and associated mode shapes. Results are compared with eigen analyses of the lattice structure model for different sizes of graphene. Examples are consid...


We study the structure of a minimum dominating set of $C_{2n+1}^n$, the Cartesian product of $n$ copies of the cycle of size $2n+1$, where $2n+1$ is a prime.


The photocurrent spectrum was measured for a solid-state organic photoelectric cell with ITO and Al electrodes. A large difference was observed between absorption and photocurrent spectra for merocyanine J aggregate Langmuir−Blodgett (LB) films as an organic photoconductor of the cell. The spectra indicate that the J aggregate in the LB film is not responsible for the photocurrent. To confirm the origin, the angular distribution of emission from the metal was measured using a coupler prism under the excitation of the J aggregates. P-polarized directional emission, which distinguishes surface plasmon polaritons (SP), was observed for a coupler prism/Al/LB film system. It is evident that excited J aggregates on metals are quenched by coupling with SP. The quenching seems to have a close relation with the difference between absorption and photocurrent spectra. The emission spectrum was also measured to compare with the fluorescence spectrum of the J aggregate LB film. The fluorescence spectrum was sharper an...


A 13-year-old girl who had complete transposition of the great arteries after Mustard repair at 2 months of age developed superior baffle obstruction. During cardiac catheterization and as a guide for balloon dilation, the obstruction was imaged by transesophageal ultrasound and angiography (Fig 1⇓). Before dilation, the mean pressure gradient was 8 mm Hg, and a small …


lated volume. When all the elements are working in phase for 40 s, a volume of 6–8 cm 3 can be ablated. However, the mechanical juxtaposition of single lesions is still necessary for treating one tumor with a diameter of 2 cm. The objective of this study was to combine this toroidal transducer geometry with electronic beam steering to ablate tumors with adequate normal tissue margins and without any mechanical displacement of the high-intensity focused ultrasound device. In vitro tests demonstrated that the coagulated volume obtained from 130 s of total exposure has an average diameter of 41.4 ± 4.0 mm and an average length of 53.3 ± 6.1 mm. This single lesion can be used to treat various size of metastasis, located at depths in the liver ranging 5–45 mm. (E-mail: Jeremy. firstname.lastname@example.com) 2013 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology.


A bench-scale study of the atmospheric reactions of smog was carried out in a pressure and temperature controlled reactions system. Results from the experiments indicate that the photochemical oxidation process involving hydrocarbons and nitrogen dioxide is both pressure and temperature sensitive. The peak oxidant concentration is increased by an increase in the reaction temperature and decreased by an increase in the reaction pressure. 4 references, 6 figures, 1 table.


OF THE THESIS A GRADUATE PIANO RECITAL by Shih-Ying Wu Florida International University, 2003 Miami, Florida Professor Miguel Salvador, Major Professor PROGRAM The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Prelude and Fugue XXI in B flat major Prelude and Fugue XXII in b flat minor Sonata N. 11 in A major, K.331 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 1791) Theme and Variations


Biomaterials have gained immense attention for various diseases due to their unique advantages over chemical drugs regarding cost, ease of production, toxicity, and therapeutic efficacy. However, these materials need an inert delivery system that locally delivers cells and minimally elicits foreign body response (FBR). In this aspect, various immunomodulatory biomaterials, including silk, collagen, fibrin, hyaluronic acid, and alginate‐based biomaterials, have great potential due to large natural sources, ease of extraction, low cost, chemical inertness, facile surface functionalization, long‐term polymeric stability, high biocompatibility, and fine tunability of biomaterials sizes and shapes. In this review article, the recent advancements in the biomedical applications of immunomodulatory biomaterials in different diseases, including diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, bone regeneration, etc, are highlighted. Moreover, the FBR on immunomodulatory biomaterials is discussed and the current and future strategies for the potential mitigation of considerable immune responses toward immunomodulatory biomaterials and devices are highlighted.


: In this study, it was aimed to determine the structural characteristics of the farms producing rainbow trout in the province of Bayburt. The research data were collected from 8 farms using the complete inventory method with a survey. The data includes the activities of the farms in the year 2013. 62.5% of these farms use net cages to produce rainbow trout, while the remaining 37.5% use concrete pools on land. The population per farm is recorded as 1.6 person for the farms using net cages and 2.3 persons for those using concrete pools on land. The feed conversion rate of the farms was found as 1.10. In the farms, the sales weight of the portion-size trout was determined as 250 gr, and the sales weight of the trout fry was determined as 2-5 gr. As a result of the study, the current status and problems of rainbow trout farms were determined.


Using the improved receiver plate 20, there is provided method of manufacturing a brake assembly (22) including a friction material 24 molded to the backplate (26). The back plate 26 and includes a plurality of openings 30, the openings have the respective opening diameter (D The receiver plate 20 includes a plurality of pins 28 extending in a transverse direction from the receiving surface (34). The method may include aligning the pin 28 of the opening 30 of the back plate 26, receiver plate 20. Each pin 28 has a small pin diameter (D The friction material 24 and the receptor plate 20 for heating, the friction material 24 by being pushed to pass through the aperture 30 of the friction material 24. Backplate 26 is a back plate 26 to be molded. The pin 28 is to improve the extent of cure of the layin friction material 24 into the central portion 32 of the friction material 24.


The problem of preventing fatigue failure is highly relevant in all branches of engineering, especially for such structures, the failure of parts in which can lead to accidental effects. But this problem is becoming incredibly important recently due to the need of intensively increasing of the service life and reliability of machines during operation. As a rule, particular attention is paid to the study of the areas in the details with the sharp change in share and size, in which local zones with stress changes exist, leading to the appearance of cracks and, ultimately, to the destruction of these parts. The most extensive research in this area has been performed on various samples. However, the obtained results do not allow to describe the stress state and the stress concentrators with the help of analytical dependencies, especially in the case of sharp cuts and when superposition of stress concentrations, because they do not take into account the scale factor, state of material, etc. In particular, sharp depressions and small cuts (scratches), which do not reduce the strength of the material according to their concentration coefficients, are of special scientific interest, as well as the development of methods for controlling the destruction process. The usage of numerical methods (in particular, the finite element method) significantly expands the possibilities of analysis of stresses in the concentrators of samples and parts. However despite the results achieved, it is considered that it is still difficult to obtain a satisfactory solution for the stress field in the part's concentrator, taking into account local design features. The article examines the stress state and fatigue resistance under bending loading of the on specially developed physical models of a crankshaft produced with different technologies, having a sharp decrease in the radii of fillets. Models with applied sharp concentrators of various geometries were tested. The performed studies allow to conclude that research in this direction is promising, since new knowledge about stress concentrators and their effect on the fatigue strength of full-scale parts can open up new reserves for increasing the fatigue strength of full-scale structures.


Non-Hermitian quantum Hamiltonians dealing with oscillator-like interactions are discussed when realized in terms of creation and annihilation operators that are no longer adjoint to each other. Specific differential realizations are exploited and lead to real spectra and typical eigenfunctions including (unexpected) Freud orthogonal polynomials. Hermiticity is finally revisited with respect to new scalar products of specific Hilbert spaces.


Police hold a unique and distinctive status compared to any other occupation in society with their authority to use force. With such responsibility, communities expect law enforcement to be held accountable when force is applied. One of the many proposed solutions embraced by authorities and the public to decrease the number of force encounters is body-worn cameras (BWCs). The purpose of this chapter is to examine BWCs as a measure of reducing force by law enforcement, explore the technology as an enhancement to transparency within the context of police-community relations, and offer recommendations for adoption rooted in best practices. For the public, it is imperative to recognize BWCs as just one part of improving law enforcement oversight as opposed to providing an all-encompassing solution that will completely resolve issues of transparency.


ABSTRACT In this article, we explore what cosmopolitanism looks like in particular institutional contexts in higher education and the sorts of conditions and pedagogic practices which nurture and sustain this within the overall running and administration of the institution. Cosmopolitanism is sometimes popularly assumed to refer to the global and the culturally diverse, rather as if encounters with different cultures and ethnicities from different geographical locations could add up to a cosmopolitan perspective. Our view of cosmopolitanism and our concern start from local and everyday occurrences or 'ordinary cosmopolitanism' in the context of higher education. We develop an understanding of cosmopolitanism as embedded practice in the particularities of local institutional contexts and administration and what cosmopolitanism means in the 'local'. Small illustrative sketches are drawn on to exemplify aspects of 'ordinary cosmopolitanism' – what it is, why it is important and its enactment in everyday academic practice in higher education.


In order to investigate the effect of feed restriction on chickens'intestinal structure,the chickens of the present study were divided into the free feeding group,the quantitive restriction group and the energy restriction group in the initial four weeks.The free feeding group was only fed freely,the quantitive restriction group was restricted on its feed quantity of 70% of the free feeding group,and the energy restriction group was restricted on energy of 70% of the free feeding group.The chickens were killed when they were eight weeks old and their intestine lengths were measured then the intestines were made into histological paraffin sections of duodenum,jejunum and ileum.Their intestinal villus lengths and intestinal recess depths were measured so as to study the effect of feed restriction on intestinal full-length,villus length and intestinal recess depth of duodenum,jejunum and ileum.The results showed that the intestine length of the chickens which were given feed restriction reduced,the intestinal full-length and jejunum length of the free feeding group significantly or extremely significantly higher than those of the energy restriction group;the duodenum villus length of the free feeding group was significantly higher than that of the energy restriction group and the quantitive restriction group,while duodenum,jejunum and ileum intestinal recess depths,villus length/intestinal recess depth differed unsignificantly among each group.All the results mentioned above indicated that feed restriction had great effect on chickens'intestinal structure.


In order to assess the effects of Yanmenguan HVDC grounding electrode on buried metal facilites, it is necessary to build up the soil model of Yanmenguan converter station. Soil resistivity was measures by Wenner and magnetotelluric method. Then the soil structure of Yanmenguan converter station was inversed based on the experimental data. It was shown that the soil structure of Yanmenguan converter station was three-layer horizental soil. The resisitivity of three layers was 101.7·m, 1037.5·m and 76.4·m. The thickness of three layers was 400m, 4600m and infinite.


Abstract Many disability scholars and activists have embraced crip theory, a critical discourse that positions disability as a subset of the queer narrative. In doing so, I argue, they have embraced a theoretical framework that does not bridge the gap between the academy and the actual lives of disabled people. Instead, crip theory silences actual disabled experience and fractures the community, harming instead of helping. I propose that we must move beyond the limiting framework of crip theory and find a new discourse that originates in the disabled community itself.


The present invention relates to a content management apparatus and method, a digital rights management according to the invention: An apparatus for managing the generated content by applying a (Digital Rights Management DRM) is a content execution unit for executing content; If determine if contents belonging to the first period during which the content can be executed successfully, and if the period during which the content is part of the first period, the second period of time running the content properly, and there is a period during which the content belongs is not the first time period , it includes a first control unit for controlling the content execution unit to execute the contents to be distinguished from the execution of the during the first period. According to the present invention, it is possible to allow to control the execution of the content, the expiration time closer to perform the management of the expiration time of the content to the user. DRM, content, licenses, validity period, grace period


From the great mass of literature that has been written throughout the ages on political theory there are a select few books that have achieved a measure of permanency and have been raised to the status of "classics." The list of favored authors is, generally speaking, as follows: Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Burke, Hegel, Marx, and Mill. The process by which the elevation of these authors took place is, to say the least, obscure. The present hierarchy emerged for a wide variety of reasons, mostly now forgotten. The composition of this hierarchy, however, is relatively stable, for teachers prefer to teach what they themselves were taught. Thus I know, or think I know, what the "classics" are. They are the books I had to read when I was a student. This rather unsatisfactory reason is the first one that would come to mind were it suggested to me that the list of "classic" thinkers ought really to be constituted as the fol-


Fifty-three individuals reviewed articles in 2013, of which nine work in non-Brazilian universities. According to RBFin policy, each reviewer may perform no more than one review per year, with the exception of follow-up reviews of the same article. During the year, 79 individuals were invited to review, averaging 2.3 invitations for each one of the 35 articles approved in the desk review phase. Of those, 50 accepted the invitation (63%), but three did not send the promised review, 7 justified their denial, and 22 did not respond.


or metabolic syndrome may be considered for bariatric surgery, if deemed beneficial. The publication of these guidelines will inevitably mean more people will become eligible for surgery, but will these guidelines be practical; and can health services cope with the potential demand for bariatric surgery? The proportion of people with class III obesity (body mass index 40), who are automatically eligible for surgery, has been steadily increasing in the UK for many years and currently stands at 1.7% of men and 3.1% of women, with one projection indicating that this could reach 3% of men and 6% of women by 2030. 6 Furthermore, the number of people eligible for bariatric surgery in the UK is likely to have been underestimated 7 ; concurrent data from


Istradefylline (IST), an adenosine A2A receptor antagonist, has been used since 2013 in Japan as an adjunctive therapy to levodopa (L‐DOPA) for patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). The long‐term use of IST as an adjunct to L‐DOPA (IST‐LD) was herein investigated to clarify the cooperative potential to keep motor functions, and an epigenetic modification for disease‐specific up‐regulated A2AR signals.


In this paper, an efficient Face recognition system based on Haar wavelet and Block Independent Component Analysis (BICA) algorithm is presented. The Adaptive boosting classifier is trained with Haar features to classify and to detect face. To recognize the detected face, the dimensionality reduced approach of Independent Component analysis; BICA is used. This system is capable of detecting the presence of faces in the field of view of camera in real time and verify the person's identity if the image of the person is already been trained by the system. The system is able to detect the face even with slight occlusions and under varying illumination conditions, improving the recognition significantly.


It is widespread practice around the world that corporate entities pay taxes to the country where they are formally registered and to the country in whose territory they have a permanent establishment. While the former is generally known as the ?country-of-residence? the latter is usually referred to as the ?country-of-source?. This article questions separate taxation based on this distinction between the country-of-residence and the country-of-source. It argues for a departure from the traditional international allocation of the right to tax corporate income and suggests that a corporate entity should instead pay income tax exclusively to the countries in which it has relevant business activities. Moreover, in examining the question of where business activities of multinational corporations effectively take place, this article describes criteria for determining source countries. Furthermore, it offers a method for formulary apportionment of corporate income between those countries in which a given multinational corporation generates income. The article argues that source taxation of corporate income would be coherent with the economic nature of corporate income taxation. Source taxation of corporate income would also make the arbitrary concept of corporate residence irrelevant, and it would allow the outdated legal concept of permanent establishment to be abolished. This article takes an interdisciplinary approach to argue from both legal and economic perspectives. It adds to the body of literature that discusses how countries should tax corporate entities doing business across national borders. It also contributes to the ongoing debate about the OECD?s recent controversial efforts to prevent corporations shifting profits between countries to minimize their exposure to national tax systems (base erosion and profit sharing, or BEPS).


The article concentrates on the reuse of the oil sludge at Zhongyuan Oilfield.Through an indoor experiment,it reaches the following conclusions:the average solid content of sludge is 75.18%;moisture content 24.82%;oil content 5.4%;calcium carbonate 62.15%;magnesium carbonate 15.295%;sodium chloride 2.696%.When the proportion between waste fluid and sludge is under 1:4,the waste fluid is purified effectively.The employment of recycling technology reduces the sludge production.


A number of numerical modeling studies of transient sea level rise (SLR) and seawater intrusion (SI) in flux‐controlled aquifer systems have reported an overshoot phenomenon, whereby the freshwater‐saltwater interface temporarily extends further inland than the eventual steady state position. Recently, physical sand‐tank modeling has shown overshoot to be a physical process. In this paper, we have carried out numerical modeling of SLR‐SI to demonstrate that overshoot can occur at the field scale within unconfined aquifers. This result is contrary to previous conclusions drawn from a restricted number of cases. In addition, we show that SI overshoot is plausible under scenarios of gradual sea level rise that are consistent with conditions predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change. Overshoot was found to be largest in flux‐controlled unconfined aquifers characterized by low freshwater flux, high specific yield, and large inland extent. These conditions result in longer timeframes for the aquifer to reach new steady state conditions following SLR, and the extended period prior to reequilibration of the groundwater flow field produces more extensive overshoot.


A field experiment was carried out at central research field, Department of horticulture, Naini Agricultural Institute (NAI) SHUATS, Prayagraj, U.P. India during 2022 session. The experiment was conducted to study the different levels of N: P: K on yield and fruit quality of guava to find out the optimum dose of N: P: K for guava trees under meadow orchard system. The experiment was conducted on eight years old Allahabad safeda guava trees planted at 2x1 m spacing. There were eight treatments of different levels of NPK viz. (T0) control, (T1,) 100:50:50 g NPK/tree, (T2) 150:75:75 g NPK/tree, (T3) 200:100:100 g NPK/tree, (T4) 250:125:125 g NPK/tree, (T5) 300:150:150 g NPK/tree (T6 )350:175:175 g NPK/tree, (T7) 400:200:200 g NPK/tree. The experiment was arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replicates and each replicate was represented by one tree. All the cultural operation were carried out as per recommendations. The observation on yield and fruit quality aspects of guava cultivation under different treatments were recorded, analyzed and presented.
The results of this experiment indicated that, different levels of N: P: K has shown different response to yield and fruit quality. The application of N: P: K @400:200:200 g NPK/tree (T7) produced superior yield of guava in terms of fruit volume (165.56cm3), fruit weight (61.53g), fruit diameter (6.72cm), number of fruits per branch (21.26), number of fruits per plants (322.15) and fruit yield per plant (55.30kg). The fruit quality with application of N: P: K @400:200:200 g NPK/tree (T7) was also superior in terms of TSS (12.17obrix), Total sugar (8.84%), ascorbic acid (167.86 mg) and minimum acidity (0.205%). Hence it can be concluded that, for guava trees grown under meadow orchard system at 2x1 m spacing the dose of application of N: P: K @ 400:200:200 g/tree was found optimum for getting higher yield and superior fruit quality of guava. Further the treatment of application of N: P: K @ (T6) 300:175:175 g/tree produced at par result for most of the parameters under the study of this experiment indicate the scope of increasing the fertilizer dose as per the age of the trees.


Heart failure (HF) affects 5 million Americans, of whom three-fourths are over age 65 and half are over age 75.1 HF is currently the leading cause of hospitalization among older adults in the U.S., and it is the most costly medical illness by a factor of almost two.……


This paper describes a study which examined the effectiveness of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) over a range of weather incident and demand conditions. The three ITS components that were studied included incident management, adaptive and coordinated signal control, and advanced traveler information systems. Focus was on examining the effectiveness of these systems deployed in combination over a realistic range of variation in both roadway supply and travel demand.


its potential when observing its fairly good agreement with respect to measurements and to the simulations performed with EllipSys and OpenFOAM on the HypGrid mesh. Nevertheless, the utility has its limits, as many problems are encountered when meshing the relatively shallow Askervein hill. Moreover, it is found difficult to maintain the total amount of cells to a reasonably low value because of the maximum aspect ratio limitation of the background mesh. Abstract and OpenFOAM 6 are run using the same turbulence model (RANS steady state k-epsilon), using a QUICK scheme and a SIMPLE pressure solver and a multigrid solver. Hoxey's y 0.5 .


Objective:To investigate the clinical features,histochemical characters and microstructure under electronic microscope of muscle in patients with mitochondrial myopathy,and to improve the diagnosis accuracy.Methods:The muscle biopsy specimens from 4 patients were examined with lightmicroscope and transmission electron microscope.Results:The histochemical staining light findings showed ragged red fibers(RRF)in 3 cases.All cases had diffusive proliferation of mitochondria and paracrystaline inclusion bodies between the myofibrils and beneath the sarcolemma and morphologic abnormalities.Conclusion:Histochemical MGT staining light shows RRF,accumulation of abnormal mitochondrials,especially the paracrystaline inclusion which plays an important role in diagnosis.


The goal of the current work was to visualize the interaction between silver nanoparticles of 8.916.73 nm and some microorganisms as well as to estimate the morphological uniqueness of naturalassemblage of some mycosynthesized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) with different bacteria and fungi, to ascertain the prospect of the antimicrobial potential of the biosynthesized AgNPs that were systematically evaluated against fourteen pathogenic bacteria and eight fungal isolates included four isolates of yeast like fungi. Remarkably, the AgNPs-antimicrobial activity was evident particularly against highly infectious tested isolates ai eacab fa efib methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Alcaligenes faecalis, Escherichia coli, as well as several fungal pathogens of Candida albicans, C. tropicalis, Trichoderma reesei, Aspergillus niger, and Penicillium marneffei. Moreover, electron microscopy visualizations of the interactions between AgNPs and tested microorganisms showed that AgNPs were very harmful to some of them causing complete damage to the cells, while it binds compactly to the exterior of some others and/or entered the cell with no observable injures to them, indicating satisfactory natural- assemblage capability. Conclusively, our outcomes showed the way that biosynthesized AgNPs interact with the investigated microorganisms which indicate possibly using the AgNPs as a potent antibacterial and/or antifungal agent against broad spectrum pathogenic bacteria and fungi.


The management and service of public information at the Bengkulu City KPU is based on the KPU regulations which serve as guidelines for the Bengkulu City KPU in carrying out a program of activities. Through the writing of this thesis, the problem raised is how to implement public information management and service policies at the Bengkulu City KPU and what factors are the obstacles and supporters in the implementation of public information management and services at the Bengkulu City KPU. The purpose of this study is to find out and understand how the implementation of public information management and service policies at the Bengkulu City KPU and to find out what are the inhibiting and supporting factors in the implementation of public information management and service policies at the Bengkulu City KPU. This study uses a qualitative method which ultimately produces descriptive data in the form of written or spoken words from people and observed behavior. Data collection techniques used in this thesis are observation, interviews and documentation. This study uses the theory of policy implementation from Charles O Jones. The results of this study reveal that the implementation of public information management and service policies at the Bengkulu City KPU is quite good, because the services provided have met the requirements written in PKPU No. 1 of 2015 concerning the management and service of public information.


This work presents a Modified Common Spatial Subspace Decomposition (CSSD) for electroencephalogram (EEG) feature extraction targeting the discrimination between left or right hand movement.In the preparation of self-paced key tapping for potential application in brain computer interface (BCI). Three classifiers, Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), Quadratic Discriminant Analysis (QDA) and Mehalanobis Discriminant Analysis (MDA), are used to test the accuracy of predicted results. Using data set IV of BCI Competition II, we achieved an accuracy of 95% as compared to earlier reported 86%.


Using the classical stacking-fault pyramid as an internal reference, the fault planes and stair-rod dislocations in stacking-fault trapezoids and stacking-fault tubes in pseudomorphic ZnSe/GaAs(001) epitaxial layers have been characterized. The acute-obtuse stair-rod dislocation pair in a stacking-fault trapezoid form an extended C dislocation dipole. Stacking faults with a lozenge-shaped cross-section in a stacking-fault tube intersect to give rise to dislocation dipoles of alternating acute-obtuse stair-rod dislocations. The extended dislocation dipoles of the stacking-fault trapezoids and stacking-fault tubes can act as diffusion channels for pipe diffusion of point defects during the degradation process.


THE SUBJECT of schizophrenia is responsible for a fast growing but increasingly indigestible mass of clinical descriptions and experiments. Many of these data are valuable, but some conceptual scheme for ordering and organizing these observations would be helpful. The obvious parallels between human thought processes and computer programs have inspired some useful models; thus, I was led to explore a computer analogy for schizophrenic thought-process disorder. Some years ago, before phenothiazines, a fire broke out on the back ward of a state hospital. Most of the patients were hallucinated, chronic, process schizophrenics. However, they quickly queued up and marched out as sane as you please. Mannerisms, responses to hallucinations, and other gross signs of disorder vanished until after they reached the safety of the yard; then things returned to normal, or, in this case, to abnormal. With such a clear


Dear Editor,

We read the publication on 'The challenge given by Zika virus' with a great interest.[1][1] Rodriguez and Sebastian mentioned that ' No sexual transmission of Zika virus from infected women to their partners and from infected people without symptoms has been reported'.[1][1]


A new approach has been proposed for the ab initio crystal structure prediction of small organic molecules. This exercise forms a part of the recent blind test on crystal structure prediction conducted by the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre. The method uses as a starting point lists of low energy structures generated by an exhaustive computational procedure, namely, the Polymorph Predictor program in Cerius2. Such computational procedures take into account only the enthalpic factors in crystallization. A further difficulty is that information relating to crystallization kinetics is very hard to obtain directly. However, such kinetic information is implicitly contained in the experimental structures that are found in crystallographic databases. Therefore, in our approach, the low energy structures obtained in the Polymorph Predictor program are reranked after consideration of experimental structures of structurally similar molecules. Operationally, this is most conveniently carried out after identif...


We compute the expansion of the cohomology class of the permutahedral variety in the basis of Schubert classes. The resulting structure constants $a_w$ are expressed as a sum of normalized mixed Eulerian numbers indexed naturally by reduced words of $w$. The description implies that the $a_w$ are positive for all permutations $w\in S_n$ of length $n-1$, thereby answering a question of Harada, Horiguchi, Masuda and Park. We use the same expression to establish the invariance of $a_w$ under taking inverses and conjugation by the longest word, and subsequently establish an intriguing cyclic sum rule for the numbers. We then move toward a deeper combinatorial understanding for the $a_w$ by exploiting in addition the relation to Postnikov's divided symmetrization. Finally, we are able to give a combinatorial interpretation for $a_w$ when $w$ is vexillary, in terms of certain tableau descents. It is based in part on a relation between the numbers $a_w$ and principal specializations of Schubert polynomials. Along the way, we prove results and raise questions of independent interest about the combinatorics of permutations, Schubert polynomials and related objects.


We consider the photon statistics and wave-particle correlations of an EIT system, in free space and a cavity. We find nonclassical behavior that cannot be explained by coupled oscillators, unlike the transparency itself.


Financial accounting practices in the UK and the US have often been assumed to be highly compatible. The similarity of the institutional and business context, as well as of the professional environment reinforced this commonly shared perception. In general, the US and the UK are perceived as belonging to the 'Anglo-Saxon' part of the accounting world, where standards are driven by the market and have a micro-economic, and possibly user-friendly, orientation (Nobes, 1992). However, a number of studies have also pointed out that a number of technical differences still exist in the rules (Nobes, 1988; Ghosh and Elwell, 1992; Pereira et al., 1994; Price Waterhouse, 1997) and that at a deeper analysis UK and US financial results do not appear as close as one would expect (Weetman and Gray, 1990, 1991; Weetman et al., 1993). Within a larger research project on the measurement of European company accounts conservatism, this empirical study aims at shedding some further light on the proximity of the UK and the US financial reporting, drawing on the most recent available data (1994-96). To this end the entire population of UK companies listed on American official stock exchanges has been considered. These companies are bound to produce a statement reconciling their UK net profit and shareholders' equity with US GAAP. This reconciliation then permits a detailed and reliable evaluation of the claim that UK and US accounting practices are highly compatible. Some interesting insights seem to emerge as to the respective degree of conservatism and the relative impact of the expected major qualitative differences between the two accounting systems.


Abstract This paper presents a functional analysis approach, called an analytical approach, used to model automated production systems (APSs). In addition, Unified Modelling Language models taking into account the various business concepts (i.e. the concepts used in our interest field) involved in this approach are proposed. The final goal of this study is the automation of an analytical approach to enable an expert to obtain the functional graph of an existing APS. This graph has proved useful in developing fault detection and isolation, and fault-tolerant control techniques for flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs) and complex plants such as nuclear power plants or chemical plants. However, industrial applications have revealed difficulties in manually constructing functional graphs for complex systems, thus justifying automation for this modelling process. The originality of our approach lies in the fact that it is generic, i.e. it is not specific to a particular set of APSs. This property results both from the use of generic concepts such as the notion of function that is independent of the application context and from the adoption of an object-oriented approach for our analysis process. This study allows us to develop an efficient software tool. It also allows enrichment of an existing reference frame which regroups different models of an FMS from various points of view.


The article refers to the institution of contract invalidation as a way of protecting civil rights and interests. In general, the article clarifies the types of invalid contracts based on the content of the dispute, the main features of invalid and disputed transactions, the term for appealing invalid transactions and the grounds that caused the contract to be declared invalid. The problems of the ratio of recognition of the contract as null and void as an independent means of protection of civil rights are considered.
The rapid development of market relations requires the stability of contractual structures, which are ensured by their validity. However, due to various reasons, the transaction may be declared invalid. The fact of the existence of shortcomings provided for by the Civil Code of Ukraine is the basis for applying to the court with the demand to cancel the legal decision that arose as a result of the conclusion of the agreement.
Within the scope of this article, judicial practice was studied, where from the given examples of court decisions, in some cases, the lack of a unified approach to resolving cases of invalidity of transactions and the application of the consequences of their invalidity is clearly observed, in others, they serve to reinforce the authors' position regarding the application of civil law norms legislation. I. Therefore, in modern conditions, there are many not only theoretical, but also practical problems associated with the unequal application by courts of the same norms of material law when making decisions regarding the invalidity of contracts.
Based on the conducted research, the authors come to the conclusion that despite the attention to this issue in the literature, as well as the presence of certain conclusions of higher judicial bodies, for the doctrine of civil law there is no unity in the ratio of non-conclusion and invalidity of contracts.


The child protection process has been characterized by some commentators as being primarily concerned with the scrutiny of mothering. For a variety of reasons, social workers tend to spend relatively little time working with men in families where children are considered to be at risk. Even where a man is considered to be the primary abuser in a family, the usual approach is to concentrate on the mother's "failure to protect" the children. This article presents an analysis of data from an ethnographic study in a child and family social work team in the United Kingdom, which set out to explore this concentration on mothering and avoidance of men. The article outlines some discourses of masculinity in the occupational culture of child protection social work: men as a threat, men as no use, men as irrelevant, men as absent, men as no different from women, and men as better than women. The author's contention is that if injustice to women in social work provision is to be addressed, these gendered constructions of clients have to be made explicit and their implications understood.


While China will probably become more proactive in its multilateral diplomacy and increase its influence in global multilateral settings, various concerns and constraints make it unlikely that it will completely overhaul or even dramatically reshape the multilateral architecture at the global level. Stuck in defining its identity, China is caught up between posturing as a leader of the developing world on some policy issues and siding with the developed countries on others. China's involvement in global multilateralism is likely to be guided by pragmatism rather than grand visions.


Progress in software development and in preliminary analysis of MAGSAT tracks crossing the Indian Ocean is reported. Tracks crossing the Java Trench, Broken Ridge, the Southeast Indian Ridge, and the Ninetyeast Ridge show that magnetic anomalies correlate with some of these features. Preliminary study of anomaly profiles indicates that tracks of anomaly data (the observations minus a core field model) have a power spectrum decreasing as the inverse square of the spatial frequency. An apparent noise floor of about one to two gammas rms is reached at wavelengths of about 360 km, corresponding to approximately 10 samples of the decimated Investigator tape data at a sampling rate of approximately 4.9 sec/sample.


The solar radio burst event of 6 April 2001 had maximum amplitudes > 10−18 W/(m2 Hz) (equivalent to > 10,000 solar flux units) at 1.2 GHz. Such noise levels could readily have caused interference in any cell site antenna that might have been viewing in the direction of the sun at the time of the event.


be a push-down store. In this model the machine is constrained to overprint a blank symbol before each right shift of its working tape head. For this restricted machine model, it is shown that there is a maximal complexity class. This paper summarizes the known results on the tape complexity of context-free and context-sensitive languages. It also presents a number of new results in the area. The notions of tape complexity used are those introduced in the article reviewed above. The principal new results deal with context-free languages. A number of specific context-free languages are presented and their exact location in the tape complexity hierarchy is determined. It is shown that all context-free languages are (log «) 2 -tape recognizable. The proof of the (log n) 2 -tape bound is quite intricate, and this article gives only a sketch of the proof. The proof is, therefore, hard to read; however, the techniques are interesting and useful. The reader with perseverance will be rewarded for his effort.


The evolution of family farming cannot be analyzed only from the perspective of production. Since it is also a kinship unit, the family farm reveals social tensions that contribute to the migration of young people, especially for young women. This study presents an analysis of the factors that contribute to this migratory process, considering youth and gender variables. The analysis is based on a participatory diagnosis, multisectoral interviews and surveys in thirty-three communities located in the center of the Ceará State (Northeastern Brazil). The research reveals that the main factor of this migratory process is the lack of appreciation of family farming by the qualified rural youth, who participate little in decision-making. When the analysis of the migration is gender-focused, the invisibility of young women productive and reproductive work stands out as the main driver of migration to urban areas and proves to be greater than for young men. Rural youth migration will shape the rural territory and will probably change the format of family farming. Understanding its factors may help to propose public policies more adapted for family farming.


In this paper, experimental observations of the folded shearing phonons are presented. A simple nearest-neighbor linear chain model was used to extract the shearing force constants (SFC's) in these compounds. In our model the layer stacking sequence (ABAB ... for pristine graphite) is ignored, since the perturbation by the stacking sequence on the transverse acoustic phonon branch should be small. It is shown that the folded phonon energies depend on the specific sample used. This may indicate a variable layer stoichiometry of K layers in these compounds, although it is commonly believed that the stoichiometry of AGIC's is fixed with the composition MC/sub 12//sub n/ (M = K, Rb, Cs and n = 2, 3 ...).


It has been shown by one of us 1 that tetanus toxin is destroyed by a few minutes'exposure to ultra-violet light if toxic broth be diluted to decrease the concentration of protein and reduce the color absorptive factor. Previously, however, it has not been determined whether toxin so treated retains its antigenic potency. Low-enstein's 2 tetanus toxin, treated with 0.2% formalin and subjected to ultra-violet light was atoxic and antigenic, but since it is now well known that formalin alone renders certain toxins atoxic while preserving their antigenic powers, the effect of the irradiation in his experiments is uncertain. An experiment was therefore undertaken using as an immunizing agent tetanus toxin rendered atoxic by ultra-violet light. A mixture of 2 tetanus toxins after titration was diluted to contain 1 M.L.D. in each 1 cc. This was irradiated with "C" carbons (National Carbon Co.) at a distance of 25 cm. in the apparatus described in a previous publication, 3 keeping the toxin below room temperature by a current of cool air. A 2-minute irradiation period failed to destroy the toxin completely, as about half of the inoculated animals developed late tetanus. A further irradiation of 2 minutes rendered the material atoxic. Using not more than a quantity originally containing 1 M.L.D, 9 guinea pigs were given 5 subcutaneous injections of this irradiated toxin at 6 or 7 day intervals and were inoculated 3 weeks later with freshly titrated tetanus toxin in doses of from 1 to 10 M.L.D.'s. No signs of tetanus developed. The period of observation was 45 days.


At present, carbon fiber automatic placement technology is mainly applicable to the preform of large and complex components, while the preform of small size and large curvature carbon fiber components mainly relies on manual placement, which has the problems of high labor cost, slow speed, and low repeatability. In order to realize the automatic placement of carbon fiber components with large curvature and small size, this article adopts the carbon fiber patch placement method to make the preforms. By combining the surface subdivision method and the finite element optimization method of carbon fiber patch placement angle, a discrete path planning method of robotic carbon fiber patch is proposed. This method divides the complex surface into surface fragments with similar curvature and normal angle, which can effectively reduce the wrinkles in the process of carbon fiber patch placement and improve the utilization of carbon fiber patch. At the same time, the stiffness optimization design of carbon fiber patch composite preforming is realized by combining the finite element optimization method of placement angle. The helmet surface was selected as the research object of carbon fiber placement path planning, and the path planning of helmet surface placement was carried out, and the simulation tests of helmet placement in different regions and overall placement were compared. It was found that the stiffness of carbon fiber patches placed in different regions of the helmet surface was better than that of the overall placement.


Scientists in bioinformatics research utilize multiple software tools and models for their analysis of genomic data. This involves a mixture of stand-alone and custom software. Stand-alone application tasks include computational data analysis and data visualization. The genomic data links the software together; the output from one may be suitable as input for another. Scientists often create custom tools and scripts to perform additional computational and processing tasks, such as filtering, before passing data from one tool to the next. This interoperating collection of tools and models becomes a "federation" of collaborative software. We propose an approach using aspect-oriented programming and Linda-style tuple space coordination language to facilitate connecting the individual components of the federation together; we assemble the separate components into the larger complex system, ideally without altering the original components. This paper describes the concepts behind our approach of using AOP and tuple spaces to intercept, filter and transform data as well as manage tool execution and coordination.


Domestic production and import/export of organic pigment in 1999 showed a highincreasing tendency,but the earning did not increase sometimes .After analyzing the production and import/export status ,some advice was put forward:to control the production to avoid surplus supply,adjust product mix after researching on relative industries and export markte,reduce the cost and improve the product's quality,expedite exploiting European and American market and self support export to increase export benefit.


Fast Fourier transform (FFT) is one of the fundamental signal processing algorithms widely used in radar applications. The Radon–Fourier transform (RFT) can be seen as an FFT generalization that can overcome some of its limitations. This work derives three spectral RFT (SRFT) based approaches to address major challenges of the multiple-input multiple-output automotive radars. First, two SRFT-based approaches are derived to increase maximal target detection range by mitigation of target migration in range and direction of arrival, jointly, and by multidwell integration processing, which increases the radar coherent integration time without compromising its detection update rate. Next, SRFT-based approach is proposed to address the cluster-to-track association problem that arises in multiple distributed target tracking scenarios that characterize automotive radar operation in dense urban environments.


In this review a wide range of laser-based techniques for chemical analysis is discussed with reference to the principles and practical utilities of each technique. Thus techniques for atomic spectrometry, elemental analysis, molecular spectrometry, LIDAR, photothermal spectrometry and mass spectrometry are considered. Where possible qualitative comparisons are made with alternatives for particular analyses, e.g. atomic absorption and emission spectrometry. Where alternatives do not exist e.g. LIDAR, the practical utility and applications of such techniques are discussed.


Objective:To study the effects of tanshinone on myocardial fibrosis in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR)and the mechanism.Methods:Twenty four male SHR were randomly divided into positive control group,tanshinone group and valsartan group.Eight male Wistar rats were as a normal control group.After 4 weeks intervention,blood pressure of the rat tail,weight of myocardium were measured,the collagen volume fraction(CVF)in the myocardial tissues were calculated by VG staining and the expression of TIMP-2,MMP-2,MMP-9 mRNA were determined by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR).Results:The blood pressure,ventricular mass,ventricular mass index and CVF of positive control group were higher than other groups(P0.01).The expressions of TIMP-2,MMP-2 and MMP-9 mRNA in positive control group also increased significantly than that in other groups(P0.05).After 4 weeks intervention,the blood pressure(P0.01),ventricular mass,ventricular mass index(P0.05)and CVF(P0.01)of tanshinone group and valsartan group were lower than positive control group.The expressions of TIMP-2,MMP-2 and MMP-9 mRNA in tanshinone group and valsartan group also decreased significantly than that in positive control groups(P0.05).Conclusion:Tanshinone could depress blood pressure and inhibit myocardial fibrosis of SHR,which may be by suppressing the expression of MMP-2,MMP-9,TIMP-2 and improving the balance of TIMPs and MMPs.


Research Objectives: within an IAC framework, voice recognition and face recognition may usefully be viewed as parallel pathways. The demonstration of cross-modality priming of voices by faces and vice versa would add weight to such a view. Design: repetition priming of celebrity individuals was examined under within-modality and cross-modality conditions. Method: sixty participants completed a 2-stage method involving semantic decisions to celebrities at study, and speeded familiarity decisions to primed and unprimed celebrities at test. Results: expected within-modality priming effects emerged: Faces primed subsequent face recognition, and voices primed subsequent voice recognition. Additionally, voices successfully primed face recognition, however, faces did not prime subsequent voice recognition. Conclusions: the emergence of cross-modality priming adds support to the integration of voice recognition within a person perception model such as IAC. Results are discussed with respect to the relative strength of face and voice inputs in these two parallel pathways


Web usage mining is the type of web mining techniques to web click stream data in order to extract usage patterns. More researchers have developed Web usage mining (WUM) algorithms utilize Web log records to evolving and extracting useful information to be used in supporting business aspects and decision making. Web usage mining is useful to track the user's behavior. This work finds patterns from large Web log files from the real world demanding aspects. Web usage mining, includes evolve user history and ontology based Web content. Using the current algorithm we can identify only "Who" the users are "Where" they looked and "What" is the time consumption . The latest use algorithm is H-UNC approach (Unsupervised Niche Clustering (UNC), is a multivariate dataset based on clustering. However the Pure GAs is not well suitable to fine-tuning solutions that are close to optima, and this result in their having a long runtime. To improve the search efficiency, this Research incorporate local searches into the regeneration step of GAs, create the so-called MAs (Mimetic Algorithm), is essential if competitive GAs are to be used. This process should consider all the previous works from client side data. This unsupervised niche clustering successfully find clusters in feature space and determines the cluster automatically. This research also extends the previous work with semantic based approach.


Dry rock disposal (DRD) of nuclear waste in high-relief areas where the groundwater has been artificially drained is discussed. Disposal of high-level nuclear waste can involve multiple problems th ...


The purpose of this paper is to better understand what recruiters are looking for in potential job applicants. Past studies tend to be unclear on how GPA ranks in relation to soft skills (traits and social skills important in interacting with others). Also, most of these studies were conducted at either Ivy League colleges, where the admissions policies filter students by academic ability and might dilute the importance of GPA to recruiters, or in Fortune 500 companies, where expensive training programs shape employees and may make academic performance less important than other qualities. Our survey of recruiters at a regional university career fair found that factors demonstrating soft/social skills ranked highest in recruiter preferences. Surprisingly, GPA and work experience tended to be least important to recruiters. Minor differences were found between Fortune 500 and non-Fortune 500 recruiters, but preferences were largely consistent between groups. By understanding this apparent shift in recruiter preferences, universities can better position themselves to help students develop desired skills. In addition, this study has important implications for brick and mortar universities struggling to find their place among all the online alternatives, as focusing on programs to develop soft skills may be a competitive advantage for them. Keywords: Recruiter preferences, interpersonal skills ********** We have entered a new age--the age of communication. This is probably not new news but like every era, the change brought about oftentimes has unintended consequences. In this case, thinking through the unintended consequences of this communication revolution may mean reexamining the kind of characteristics organizations might be seeking in new hires, and thus mean changes in how business schools prepare students to obtain jobs. For example, a quirk of the communication revolution is that the proliferation of quick ways to communicate has potentially made us worse communicators. While we may have become experts at texting, our reliance on easy, lower-order communication may have eroded our higher-order communication skills, such as negotiation and conflict resolution--two skills necessary for successfully working well with others (Tumlin, 2013). As a result, we may be seeing the beginning of a paradigm shift, where in the past academic achievement was the key to landing a job (e.g., Werbel, Phillips and Carney, 1989), and now recruiters are becoming more concerned about hiring people who can communicate and work well with others (Alsop, 2006; Colvin, 2014; Taylor, K. A. 2003; Taylor, W. C. 2011; White, 2013). Many new studies have come forth discounting the importance of grade point average and lifting the relevance of social skills in obtaining a job (Bryant, 2013; Nisen, 2015; Schramm, 2013). This study will contribute to this research in three ways. First, while many associations (e.g., Schramm, 2013), magazines (e.g., Adams, 2014) and companies (e.g., Bryant, 2013) have posted their recent research findings that companies are placing a high preference on candidates who can communicate and work well with others, it has not been entirely clear where academic success falls in their preferences. Many of these studies do not appear to include academic success in their lists of applicant qualities. Second, these previous studies have primarily focused on organizations (e.g., Google) that heavily recruit from Ivy League schools, where recruiters may be able to uniquely disregard academic success because entrance into these universities may be enough of an intellectual indicator. Potentially, this suggests that recruiters actively seeking job candidates from universities that serve a wider public might place more importance on academic success than recruiters focused on the Ivy Leagues. This study addresses this issue by surveying recruiters at a university career fair where student capabilities are far more diverse than those found in the Ivy Leagues. …


Silver-carbon (Ag/C) contact materials with different types of carbon, including diamond, graphite, carbon black, and carbon nanotubes were fabricated by high-energy ball milling and hot-pressing. Their microstructures, arcing properties, and stability of the carbon structures were investigated. The results show that Ag/C nanotubes material displays a scallop-like morphology, which is significantly different from the microstructure of other Ag/C materials with dispersed particles. During the process of discharge, the diamond and carbon black in Ag/C materials are partially graphitized, while the morphology and crystal structure of graphite component have little change, indicating the graphite structure of Ag/C materials is the most stable of all


Malaysia's construction industry is rapidly growing from time to time. The bidding decision of construction projects is a very complex decision-making process which affected by several factors. Usually, to obtain good quality, cost, time, and safety is the primary goal of the construction project, which the contractors will compete in the tendering process to get a project, and most of the construction work in Malaysia was awarded based on competitive tendering. With the limited information and time, the contractor has to decide whether to tender or vice versa. The paper aims to explore the challenges in conducting strategic decisions in tendering among contractors in Malaysia. A set of questionnaires are used to collect the data for the study. The sampling method used in this study was random sampling and quota sampling. The study only focuses on the contractors in Klang Valley as Klang valley is known as the heartland of Malaysia's industry and commerce. The data was gathered and analysed by using SPSS. The result of this study was in the form of ranking with the mean value as the ranking indicator. As a result of the questionnaire, most respondents agree that the biggest Challenges in conducting strategic decisions in tendering are the need of the contractor to win a project. The contractor must have sufficient data in deciding to tender. Adequate information regarding the project is vital as it acts as a reference for an estimator to estimate the project cost. Estimating is a critical factor that influences the contractor's success in the tendering and ensures that the contractor can do the work diligently as stated in the contract.


ABSTRACT This study aims to uncover the gamers' cognitive process during the gameplay and explore the differences between groups in the gamers' playing behavior according to their expertise: experts, intermediate players, and novices. To this end, the empirical experiment was conducted in 'World of Warcraft' game which is a good representative of MMO(Massively Multi-player Online) game currently. Verbal protocol and action protocol collected from the empirical experiment were analyzed according to the gamers' expertise. As a result of this study, we found that the different behavior patterns result from standardizing pattern of their actions for experts and forming the learning curves and the specific patterns of action for intermediate game players and novices. While three functional-actions as a collection action concentrates on the early stage of the game for experts, the novices' behavior pattern dispersedly appeared in all seven functional-action, such as search, combat, three type collections, avoid, and communication in the whole gameplay. This study represents the consistency and the difference derived from the comparison analysis between groups according to the expertise. This study is concluded with key implications to support game design guidelines according to experts, intermediate players, and novices. Consequently, the result of this study provides the basic to the development of MMO content for game novices.Keyword : MMO Game Design, Protocol Analysis, Problem Solving, Play Theory접수일자 : 2009년 02월 02일심사완료 : 2009년 03월 05일 ※ 이 논문은 2008학년도 동서대학교 교내학술연구비 지원에 의한 연구임.


AbstractAn international committee on shear and torsion reported that giving physical significance for the torsion design is an upcoming challenge. The purpose of this paper is to propose a reasonably accurate and relatively simple model capable of predicting the torsional strength of concrete beams reinforced with glass fiber–reinforced polymer (GFRP) stirrups. In this paper, a database for concrete beams reinforced with GFRP stirrups, tested under torsion, is compiled. The implementation of the torsion design provisions of the conventional steel-reinforced-concrete design codes is discussed. A few selected strength models were used to predict the ultimate torsional strength of the tested beams. The predicted strength was compared with that measured during testing. The comparison showed that more improvement is required in calculating the inclination of the diagonal concrete strut and the effective strain in the GFRP stirrups. Two strength models were modified and proposed. The proposed models showed bet...


ABSTRACT Algae and bacteria establish complex relationships reciprocally influencing their growth. Associated bacterial communities alter microalgae metabolism and physiology, affecting biomass yield and quality. In this study, 203 bacterial isolates (33 different genera), recovered from Tetraselmis suecica F&M-M33 cultures, were identified and phenotypically characterized in relation to the microalgal growth-promoting (MGP) features of indol-3-acetic acid (IAA) and siderophore production. IAA production was observed in 30 isolates belonging to 10 genera, whilst siderophore production was observed in 12 isolates belonging to nine genera, indicating that bacteria which are phylogenetically different within the phycosphere community may contribute in similar ways to boosting algal growth. Moreover, strains belonging to a single genus (e.g. Bacillus, Muricauda, Labrenzia and Amorphus) showed different MGP features, but none of these isolates were capable of producing both growth-promoting factors. Twenty-two selected strains were further tested in co-culture assays to evaluate their effect on T. suecica F&M-M33 growth; four induced an increase in microalgal productivity. The exo-metabolome of T. suecica F&M-M33 cultures, either axenically or when co-cultured with either Vitellibacter strain AAD2 or Sphingopyxis flavimaris strain AG5, was determined using a non-targeted metabolomics approach using an Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography (UHPLC) system. This allowed for the detection of 133 entities (small chemical molecules, e.g. metabolites), of which 84 were identified. Most of the entities were common in all three cultures, showing that the T. suecica F&M-M33 phycosphere was rich in small peptides and organic acids, and a high number of terpenes were also observed. Seventeen entities were culture-specific, suggesting that they were directly related to microalgae–bacteria interactions.


Abstract Planets open deep gaps in protoplanetary discs when their mass exceeds a gap opening mass, Mgap. We use one- and two-dimensional simulations to study planet gap opening in discs with angular momentum transport powered by MHD disc winds. We parameterise the efficiency of the MHD disc wind angular momentum transport through a dimensionless parameter αdw, which is an analogue to the turbulent viscosity αv. We find that magnetised winds are much less efficient in counteracting planet tidal torques than turbulence is. For discs with astrophysically realistic values of αdw, Mgap is always determined by the residual disc turbulence, and is a factor of a few to ten smaller than usually obtained for viscous discs. We introduce a gap opening criterion applicable for any values of αv and αdw that may be useful for planet formation population synthesis.


Theology, as many Puritans saw it, was a combination of sound doctrine, practical exhortation, and precise method. The Marrow of Sacred Divinity by William Ames, a great favorite in many seventeenth-century Puritan homes, owed much of its reputation to a blend of these ingredients of doctrine, practical divinity, and method. Although Puritan theologians wrote few systematic theologies except for creeds and catechisms, the Marrow is one example of theology from a scholarly Puritan perspective. The writings of Ames with their Congregational theories were most at home in Congregational New England, perhaps, but Puritans in England also read and studied Ames. William Ames, 1576–1633, was born in East Anglia and educated at Christ's College, Cambridge; but he lived for over twenty years in the Netherlands as a religious exile. Like his life, his theology combines English nonconformity and Continental Calvinism.


Cytotoxic chemotherapy is a suboptimal therapeutic 'one-size fits all' approach for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Bevacizumab, a monoclonal antibody that targets vascular endotheli...


A cDNA of avian paramyxovirus comprising at least the 5 '- terminal of disease virus (NDV) corresponding to the end genome 5' '- terminal of NDV as shown in Figure 6, which generates an infectious copy of avian paramyxovirus


Triorganotin compounds (TOTs), in particular tributyltin (TBT) and triphenyltin (TPT), are recognized as compounds with high toxicity towards aquatic organisms and populations. Due to their widespread use as antifouling agents in boat paints, and as fungicides for wood and crop protection, they are considered as contaminants of global concern. Despite worldwide restrictions in the use of TOTs as antifouling agents in boat paints, high concentrations may persist in sediments which act as ultimate sinks for TOTs in aquatic environments. Reports on total TOT concentrations in sediments are abundant, but little is known about the concentrations actually available for the organisms. The impacts of TOTs on sediment-dwellers are therefore difficult to predict. This work focuses on the fate of TOTs in a representative freshwater sediment organism and on the bioavailability of TOTs. Midge larvae Chironomus riparius were exposed to TBT and TPT solutions to gain insight into the mechanisms of bioconcentration and into important factors that determine the bioavailability. In order to obtain quantitative toxicokinetic data for TBT and TPT, the laboratory culture of Chironomus riparius larvae was optimized for maximum densities. A fast analytical technique with high accuracy and precision was developed for the determination of organotin compounds in biota sampies of small size, using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GCIMS). The bioconcentration experiments were conducted at pB 5 and pB 8. A pB of 5 was chosen, because the positively charged TBT+ and TPT+ species predominate, and the conditions are still reasonable for Chironomus larvae. At pB 8, more than 98 % of the TOTs are present in the neutral TBTOB and TPTOB form, respectively. A two-pool model could successfully describe both uptake and elimination data in simultaneous fits, and uptake, excretion, and metabolism rate constants could be derived with high reproducibility for different batches of larvae. Bioconcentration was found to be significantly lower for TBT than for TPT, although TBT is more hydrophobic. The major reason was the rapid metabolism of TBT to DBT (dibutyltin) and further to MBT (monobutyltin) with similar rates at pB 5 and pR 8. If the metabolism rate constants were set equal to zero, the model


She left the hospital in excellent health on October 12th, weighing 9 st. 13 lb. I did not see the patient again until August 26th, 1908. She then told me that she had remained quite well until a month previously, when she began again to suffer from pain in the epigastrium bearing no relation to food. On passing a tabe in the early morning the stomach was found empty. After a test meal 40 c.cm. of gastric contents were drawn off, containing a good deal of mucus and some blood.


Carbon nanofibers functionalized with aminobenzoyl groups (CNF–aminobenzoyl) were prepared via direct Friedel–Crafts acylation in polyphosphoric acid. The functionalization of CNFs was characterized using XPS, FTIR, TGA, and Raman analyses. Hexafluoroisopropylidene-containing polybenzimidazole (6FPBI) composite membranes containing pristine CNFs or CNF–aminobenzoyl were prepared using solvent-assisted dispersion and solvent-casting methods. In this work, the influence of the incorporation of functionalized CNFs on several physicochemical properties of the 6FPBI nanocomposite membranes, including their thermal stability, mechanical strength, and acid doping level, was studied. The results showed that CNF–aminobenzoyl provided better mechanical reinforcement for the nanocomposite membrane, compared to pristine CNF. The SEM observation confirmed the good compatibility between the CNF–aminobenzoyl fillers and the 6FPBI matrix. For the 0.3 wt% CNF–aminobenzoyl/6FPBI composite membrane, the tensile stress was increased by 12% to be 78.9 MPa (as compared to the 6FPBI membrane), the acid doping level was improved to 12.0, and the proton conductivity at 160 °C was measured above 0.2 S cm−1. Furthermore, the fuel cell performance of the membrane electrolyte assembly (MEA) for each nanocomposite membrane was evaluated. The maximum power density at 160 °C was found up to 461 mW cm−2 for the MEA based on the 0.3 wt% CNF–aminobenzoyl/6FPBI composite membrane.


In high frequency (HF) skywave over-the-horizon radar (OTHR), radar signals are subjected to phase contamination as they propagate through the ionosphere, leading to severe degradation capability of OTHR radar, so that it needs to be corrected. According to the high spatial correlativity of the ionosphere contamination and the adjacent range cells are subjected to the same contamination, a new approach is applied to the ionosphere decontamination of OTHR echoes based on maximum likelihood estimation auto-focus method in ISAR and clutter suppression. The decontamination procedure is divided into two steps: firstly eigenvector projection is used to preprocess signals, and secondly using maximum likelihood estimation method to estimate contamination. The simulation and real data processing results show that the method is of effectiveness and robust performance on different kinds of ionospheric phase contaminations.


The institute of res judicata is a fundamental and constitutional guarantee. However, the Brazilian legal system has admitted its relativization in exceptional cases, even if the two-year term for the reversal of judgment action has already elapsed, since the immutability of the sentence cannot be an obstacle to the pursuit of real truth. With large scientific and technological progress and the subsequent emergence of DNA testing, the relativization of res judicata has been admitted in lawsuits involving paternity investigation, due to the fundamental right to identity and the principle of human dignity.


Helene Cixous's "The Laugh of the Medusa," the controversial manifesto of l'6criture feminine, opens forcefully: "I shall speak about women's writing: about what it will do" (245). Revolutionary myth as much as practice, "feminine writing" celebrates the libidinal multivalence of a woman's body and imagines a uniquely female writing that disrupts, mimics, exceeds, and dismantles what is known in feminist discourse as the patriarchal symbolic.3 Since the 1975/1976 publication of "Laugh of the Medusa," Cixous has been accused of ahistorical essentialism, of conceptualizing a female bodyscene that keeps off-stage political and material differences within and between genders.4 For Caryl Churchill, who began writing professionally in the activist climate


Abstract Iamblichus took a clear stand in the late-antique debate on the origin of matter: in his view, matter is generated, in the sense that it is brought about by a higher principle (primary causes) outside physical time. Two passages testify to this conception: In Tim. fr. 38 Dillon (= Procl. In Tim. I, p. 386.8-13 D.) and Ad Porph. (De myst.) p. 196.14-19 Saffrey-Segonds (= VIII3, p. 265.6-10 Parthey). The relation between the two, however, is rather problematic and scholars stand divided: some maintain that Proclus drew the conception expounded in In Tim. fr. 38 from Iamblichus' commentary by the same title, others that he drew it from Ad Porph. The question is a far from marginal one. It is connected to the problem of the attribution of Ad Porph. and strongly bears upon the issues of Iamblichus' work method and of his doctrine. Moreover, the very reconstruction of the text of Ad Porph. closely depends on how the analogy connecting it to In Tim. fr. 38 is understood. A reading of the two passages, first each in its own context and then in the light of one another, reveals that In Tim. fr. 38 is based on the lost commentary on the Timeaeus. Consequently, the two passages are seen to adopt a reverse perspective on the subject, so to speak: In Tim. fr. 38 elucidates Plato through Hermes, while Ad Porph. elucidates Hermes by introducing Platonic notions. Finally, with regard to Ad Porph. p. 196.14-19, a suggestion is made to retain the transmitted text.


Two new species, Exobasidium rhododendri-nivalis on Rhododendron nivale and E. pyroloides on Gaultheria pyroloides, are reported. They were collected from Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces. Exobasidium rhododendri-nivalis causes small galls on leaves, stems and shoots, while E. pyroloides causes red leaf spots. Exobasidium cylindrosporum on Rhododendron sp., collected from Jiangxi Province, is reported as new to China. Key words—Ustilaginomycetes, symptoms, taxonomy Two new species of Exobasidium, collected from southwestern China, are described and illustrated. The first new species was collected in 2007 from Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces at altitudes of 4300 m and 4650 m. It is parasitic on Rhododendron nivale (subfamily Rhododendroideae of Ericaceae), causing small galls measuring 1–4 mm in diam. on leaves, stems and shoots. On leaves there are 1–5 (or more) galls on the lower surface. Diseased leaves are convex on the upper surface. The galls are red when fresh and become pale yellowish brown to black when old. Basidiospores with short germ tubes were observed in some microscopical slides of fresh material. The new species is described as: Exobasidium rhododendri-nivalis ZhenYing Li & L. Guo, sp. nov. Figs. 1, 4-7 MycoBank MB 511910 Hymenium album. Basidia clavata vel cylindrica, 7–18 × 4–8 μm, hyalina, terminaliter 2–4 sterigmatibus 4.5–7 × 1–1.5 μm praedita. Basidiosporae ellipsoideae, curvae, 10.2–13 × 2.5–3 μm, hyalinae, laeves, primo continuae, dein 1-septatae; per hyphas germinantes.


A novel instructional method for physics and related fields is introduced. The materials presented are discussed with regard to content, mediation (mechanics of communication), and scoring and control. Several examples are given along with results from student evaluation.


We present a study of magnetocaloric effect in the A site doping colossal magnetoresistance material (La\-\{0.55\}Gd\-\{0.15\})Sr\-\{0.3\}MnO\-3. From the measurement and calculation of magnetization under various temperatures, we have discovered large magnetocaloric effect with the ferromagnetic paramagnetic transition, additional magnetism exchange action introduces additional magnetic entropy change.


Bonds of Civility. Aesthetic Networks and the Political Origins of Japanese Culture. By Eiko Ikegami. Cambridge University Press, New York, 2005. 475 pp. $80, £45. ISBN 0-521-80942-8. Paper, $36.99, £20.99. ISBN 0-521-60115-0. The author explores the interrelations between the culture and politics in medieval and early modern Japan.


Tirbanibulin 1% ointment eradicates HPV-16 (+) vulvar high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion Editor, Tirbanibulin was approved for topical treatment of actinic keratosis (AK) by the European Commission in 2021 and by the FDA in 2020 based on data from two pivotal, randomized, double-blind, vehicle-controlled Phase III studies. In contrast to other treatments for actinic keratosis (AK) which target toll-like receptors 7 and 8 (imiquimod), DNA synthesis (5-fluorouracil) and inflammation along the COX pathway (diclofenac), tirbanibulin directly inhibits tubulin polymerization to prevent cell proliferation in addition to decreasing Src activity through indirect disruption of Src signalling to promote apoptotic cell death. 3 In a previously published case report, tirbanibulin 1% ointment eradicated a periungual HPV-57 (+) squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) at the location of a recalcitrant wart. 5 Recently, tirbanibulin was also found to have efficacy in anogenital warts. In the current case, a 55-year-old female past smoker was referred for excision of vulvar high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL), previously termed VIN3, that extended to the left medial thigh. Pertinent history included cervical excision of the transformation zone 35 years previously for severe cervical dysplasia with subsequent normal annual pap smears, hidradenitis suppurativa, acne vulgaris and hirsutism. Physical examination revealed a 2.7 x 1.3 cm scaly, erythematous plaque on the left labia majora extending laterally to the left medial thigh (Fig. 1a). To minimize excision size, 1% tirbanibulin ointment was prescribed off-label for application for five nights, with improvement after one course. Mild redness and scaling without pain at the application site were noted between days 5 and 8. Two more five-night courses were prescribed over the next 2 months, with near-complete resolution after three courses over 3 months (Fig. 1b). No recurrence was noted 3 months after cessation of tirbanibulin. HPV type 16 was detected through HPV typing by nested PCR with PGMY-GP+ PCR. The obtained putative HPV-PCR product was purified, cloned and sequenced followed by NCBIBLAST search (Fig. 2). HPV 16 and 18 are the most commonly associated HPV genotypes with genital HSIL and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Szalmas et al. found that in HPV 16 cell lines, HPV E7 oncoprotein phosphorylation of Src and other kinase family proteins triggers oncogenesis and cell proliferation. Inhibition of tubulin polymerization for indirect disruption of Src activity by tirbanibulin is hypothesized to prevent HPV16


Acaricidal activity of flufenoxuron alone and mixed with alphacypermethrin or fenbutatin oxide was evaluated in laboratory and field studies. In a laboratory study with the twospotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch, flufenoxuron alone and mixed with alphacypermethrin was highly effective against immature stages, but ineffective against eggs and nontoxic to adults. A mixture of flufenoxuron and fenbutatin oxide was effective against all stages of T. urticae . Flufenoxuron had no repellent activity, but flufenoxuron + alphacypermethrin exhibited strong repellency. In females treated as deutonymphs with flufenoxuron alone and mixed with alphacypermethrin, we observed substantial reduction in egg viability but there was no obvious effect on number of eggs laid. In a field study of a population of European red mite, Panonychus ulmi (Koch), and a population of T. urticae , efficacy of flufenoxuron and its mixtures, expressed as a protective value at 30 d in each treated plot relative to an untreated plot, was similar to that of the commonly used azocyclotin or hexythiazox. Based upon laboratory and field data, flufenoxuron or mixtures described may be used to prevent damage by P. ulmi and T. urticae .


Although the necessity of sensitivity analysis for frictional contact problems arises from many engineering fields, the research works have been rarely reported due to the complexity of the problems. In this paper, a sensitivity analysis approach for frictional contact problems with large deformation is presented. The continuum mechanics based formulation is carried out first and then a diseretized form is derived. The stick state is modeled by introducing a penalty type constraint. The unbalance force due to the variation of design parameters is evaluated numerically in the present sensitivity analysis method, thus the related routine of an existing FEM code can be utilized without paying an attention to the employed friction law. A couple of numerical examples including a realistic leaf spring problem are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.


The main thrust of this work is on the penalization of the pairwise state estimates used to enforce consensus in spatially distributed filters. It is assumed that a spatially distributed process has a network of in-domain sensors with spatially distributed filters corresponding to each sensor in the network. To better improve the agreement of the distributed filters, the spatial gradient of the pairwise difference of state estimates is used as a means to penalize their disagreement. Additionally, a proportional penalization and an integral penalization for the pairwise differences are also examined in order to lay down the foundation for a spatial proportional-integral-derivative penalization of the spatially distributed filters. Addressing the partial connectivity issue, a condition that resembles the Lagrangian potential for infinite dimensional systems is given in terms of the inner product of the state errors and their pairwise differences. In a forward looking approach, the extension to a more general class of partial differential equations, written as evolution equations in an appropriate Hilbert space, are examined and the conditions regarding the network connectivity are expressed as conditions on the inner product of the consensus operator and the pairwise difference of the state estimation errors.


Watery diarrhea due to enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is mediated by heat-labile enterotoxin (LT) a n d / o r heat-stable enterotoxin (ST) produced by the organism which colonizes the small intestine. Colonization of ETEC is the first step for this organism to elicit pathogenicity and is usually, at least in some human strains, correlated with the presence of pili-like surface structures, colonization factor antigens ( C F A / I and C F A / I I ) [1,2]. Recent reports showed that strains with these colonization factor antigens always have high bacterial surface hydrophobicity [3,4]. Lindahl et al. [4] recently reported a simple test, the 'salting out ' test, to measure the relative surface hydrophobicity of bacterial cells. We have examined 100 clinical isolates of ETEC for hydrophobicity, mannose-resistant agglutination of human and bovine erythrocytes and for production of LT and ST. From these results the strains can be divided into 5 major groups. Our data suggest that some of the strains examined may possess previously unknown colonization factors.


The mechanism of budding of influenza A virus revealed important deviation from the consensus mechanism of budding of retroviruses and of a growing number of negative‐strand RNA viruses. This study is focused on the role of the influenza A virus matrix protein M1 in virus release. We found that a mutation of the proline residue at position 16 of the matrix protein induces inhibition of virus detachment from cells. Depletion of the M1‐binding protein RACK1 also impairs virus release and RACK1 binding requires the proline residue at position 16 of M1. The impaired M1‐RACK1 interaction does not affect the plasma membrane binding of M1; in contrast, RACK1 is recruited to detergent‐resistant membranes in a M1‐proline‐16‐dependent manner. The proline‐16 mutation in M1 and depletion of RACK1 impairs the pinching‐off of the budding virus particles. These findings reveal the active role of the viral matrix protein in the release of influenza A virus particles that involves a cross‐talk with a RACK1‐mediated pathway.


The study aimed to identify the reality of using active learning strategies among secondary school female teachers of the Arabic language in Taif city. It also aimed to find out the significant differences according to the variables of qualification, years of experience and training courses. Two instruments were used in the study: a questionnaire and an observation. Both were used on a sample of 32 female teachers at secondary governmental schools. A one sample t-test and Mann Whitney were used. The results of the study revealed that the degree of using active strategies among female teachers was low; the role of the educational supervisor in encouraging female teachers to use active learning strategies was medium, and the degree of difficulties of using active learning strategies was large. Additionally, the findings indicated that there were no significant differences in using active strategies attributed to the variables of qualification and training courses, whereas there was a significant difference in using active strategies attributed to the variable of experience in favor of teachers who have more than 10 years of experience. However, there were no significant differences in the role of the educational supervisor and the degree of difficulties in using active learning strategies attributed to the variables of the study.


The ATS-6 is the most advanced experimental satellite that has evolved from the Application Technology Satellite Program conducted and implemented by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA/GSFC). This project utilizes a state-of-the-art spacecraft and ground terminal network to perform advance studies and to conduct technological demonstrations in a large number of scientific areas. The design and implementation of this unique spacecraft permitted multiple experimentation simultaneously. The control of the spacecraft is performed at ATS Operational Control Center (ATSOCC) located at NASA/GSFC. Experimentation which was performed covered a wide spectrum of communications, technological, meterorological, and scientific subjects. Three principal ground terminals are utilized to assist the experimenters to acquire data. Data reduction and analysis are performed by the many facilities at NASA/GSFC in support of the experimenters.


The community of La Gamba has experienced several problems concerning monocultural land use, unemployment and the supply of social services, as well as pressure caused by the increasing scarcity of natural resources. In terms of human-environmental interaction, the conflict between the conservation of biodiversity and the local population's dependence on natural resources is discussed from the formation of the settlement up to the year 2006.


Financial benefits from quality may be derived from revenue expansion, cost reduction, or both simultaneously. The literature on both market orientation and customer satisfaction provides considerable support for the effectiveness of the revenue expansion perspective, whereas the literature on both quality and operations provides equally impressive support for the effectiveness of the cost reduction perspective. There is, however, little evidence for the effectiveness of attempting both revenue expansion and cost reduction simultaneously, and some of what little empirical and theoretical literature is available suggests that emphasizing both simultaneously may not work. In a study of managers in firms seeking to obtain a financial return from quality improvements, the authors address the issue of which quality profitability emphasis (revenue expansion, cost reduction, or both) is most effective. The authors examine firm performance using managers' reports of firm performance and longitudinal secondary data on firm profitability and stock returns. Although it is clear that no company can neglect either revenue expansion or cost reduction, the empirical results suggest that firms that adopt primarily a revenue expansion emphasis perform better than firms that try to emphasize cost reduction and better than firms that try to emphasize both revenue expansion and cost reduction simultaneously. The results have implications with respect to how both theory and practice view organizational efforts to achieve financial returns from quality improvements.


This paper represents the system is based on the identification of human body, object and suspicious activity detection. The survey of videos is important solution for people having priorities in market, buildings, train stations, courts, religious places and airport etc. Video provided as input then it converted into sequence of frames and these frames are used for the detection of object. The contributions for activity observation are proposed. It is challenging task for object tracking and video surveillance and because of illumination changes, quick variations in object appearance, similar non target objects in background and obstacle. The algorithm includes of different steps having video compression, object detection, and object localization. The main advantages of this algorithm are accurately moving object and doubtful activity recognition.


The composition and technical characteristics are introduced for the drive and control system for DF8CJ AC drive diesel locomotive. Improvements, which have been proved primarily in 2 locomotives produced later on, are made according to the development of railway transportation, and based on the problems occurred during the operation.


This study aims to verify whether there is a relationship between the fractal dimension (Dtot) and the internal friction angle (ψ) of sandy materials while also considering the mineralogical composition of these materials. Geotechnical and morphometric tests were therefore carried out on both natural and artifical samples which differed markedly from one another in terms of shape and roundness and yet all the samples fell within the granulometric band ranging from 177 to 710 μm. A linear relationship was found between the internal friction angle and fractal dimension that can be expressed by the equation : ψ=237.89Dtot-218.2. In addition, a relationship was also found between the internal friction angle and the textural fractal dimension (D1), as well as the structural fractal dimension (D2) of the analysed samples. In the first case, the two parameters are linked by the linear equation ψ=399.47D1-381.28 ; in the second case, the general relationship that links the friction angle and structural fractal dimension is ψ=109.83D2-89.362.


A quality control programme for the GC analysis of sugars in cane molasses is described. Multi-level standard calibration reduces systematic bias. Repeatability and target values for check molasses samples are used as the control parameters to evaluate day to day precision and accuracy.