The ability to localize visual objects that are associated with an audio source and at the same time seperate the audio signal is a corner stone in several audio-visual signal processing applications. Past efforts usually focused on localizing only the visual objects, without audio separation abilities. Besides, they often rely computational expensive pre-processing steps to segment images pixels into object regions before applying localization approaches. We aim to address the problem of audio-visual source localization and separation in an unsupervised manner. The proposed approach employs low-rank in order to model the background visual and audio information and sparsity in order to extract the sparsely correlated components between the audio and visual modalities. In particular, this model decomposes each dataset into a sum of two terms: the low-rank matrices capturing the background uncorrelated information, while the sparse correlated components modelling the sound source in visual modality and the associated sound in audio modality. To this end a novel optimization problem, involving the minimization of nuclear norms and matrix ℓ1-norms is solved. We evaluated the proposed method in 1) visual localization and audio separation and 2) visual-assisted audio denoising. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.


Oxidation of silver top electrodes in polymer solar cells induces the devices to exhibit a transition from conventional to inverted photovoltaic characteristics. As silver oxidizes, its work function increases from 4.3 to 5.0 eV. The silver top electrode thus reverts from collecting electrons to collecting holes during device operation. We have quantified the extent of this transformation and find it to be correlated with the rate of silver oxidation, which we can influence by altering the annealing sequence of the polymer photoactive layer, ultimately varying the grain size of silver in the top electrode.


Doreen Kelso (right), the host of the radio programme "Person-to-person" on 2ZB in Wellington, with her guest Mrs Margaret David. Photograph taken 11 August 1976 in the studio at Broadcasting House, Bowen street, Wellington, by an Evening Post staff photographer.
Quantity: 1 b&w original negative(s) negative strip with 1 image.
Physical Description: Cellulose triacetate negative, 35mm


Objective To investigate the efficacy and safety of 0.25%, 0.3%, 0.375% ropivacaine, and to compare the efficacy of ropivacaine with 0.25% bupivacaine. Methods Eighty ASA physical status I or II patients scheduled for upper extremity surgery were randomly assigned to four groups(n = 20per group). Brachial plexus block was performed separately with 40 ml of 0.25%, 0.3%, 0.375% ropivacaine or 0.25% bupivacaine in four groups, then monitored carefully if any patients felt uncomfortable. Sensory and motor function were evaluated at 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 45 and 60 mm after local anesthetic injection. Results The anesthesia efficacy of ropivacaine was increased along with the increase of its concentration. The anesthesia efficacy of 0.25% ropivacaine was significantly less than that of 0.25% bupivacaine, and the satisfactory rate of block with 0.25% ropivacaine was low, only 85%. Ropivacaine showed the equal efficacy with 0.25% bupivacaine when its concentration was raised to 0.375%. Conclusion 0.3%, 0.375% ropivacaine had a short onset time, a complete efficacy, and few side reactions. The most appropriate concentration is 0.375%.


'Huid, contentos, de mi triste pecho' is exceptional in Fray Luis's 'Odas originales' in terms of both form and content. It is the only example among them of the verse form of the terceto, or terceto encadenado, while the tone of the poem is largely pessimistic, introspective, and self-analytical. Critics have usually interpreted it as referring to a moment of hope which came to nothing during his long imprisonment, and which may indeed have spurred its composition. However, this article is more concerned with the poem's literary connections, its imagery, and some of the puzzles of interpretation which it poses. It examines in particular the nature of the first-person voice, in the context of the clear allusions to Garcilaso's poetry in the opening verses and of the links with Fray Luis's own verse translation in tercetos of the book of Job, and it suggests how his subtle handling of language can shed light on some of the poem's more problematic passages.


We present simple examples of gravity wave ducting due to the background thermal and velocity structure in the atmosphere and examine the consequences of such ducts lying in close proximity. The dispersion curves for individual thermal and Doppler ducts exhibit similar behavior, with normal and inverse dispersion at higher and lower frequencies, respectively, and with smaller phase velocities and larger group velocities for higher modes. In the presence of two ducts of different character, the dispersion curves are given approximately by the intersection of the curves for the individual ducts, with modal character changing dramatically at resonance points near which the dispersion curves for individual ducts cross. Such ducting of gravity wave activity is likely to be a common occurrence in the atmosphere and the oceans and may provide a means of transporting vertically the energy and momentum associated with high-frequency wave motions.


Timely restoration of tissue‐level cerebral blood flow is the goal of thrombolytic therapy in patients presenting with an acute ischemic stroke. We aimed to identify the incidence and predictors of reperfusion immediately following treatment with intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (IV rt‐PA).


The unlocked hex-core i5-8600K from Intel's latest Coffee Lake generation of processors is the new flagship of the i5 series, succeeding the Kaby Lake quad-core i5-7600K. The 8th generation of processors brings the largest performance uplift since Sandy Bridge by adding more cores at each of the i3, i5 and i7 product lines. Like the other Coffee Lake processors, the i5-8600K is built upon optimized 14nm architecture, marginally improved upon from Kaby Lake and Skylake. The 8600K has a 95W TDP and a nominal stock clock of 3.6 GHz, which boosts to 4.1 GHz for all six cores, 4.2 GHz for dual/quad and 4.3 GHz for single core. Early benchmarks put the i5-8600K's effective speed 15% ahead of the i5-7600K. A 50% increase in multi-core speed is explained by two additional cores and thanks to the quad-core clock bump from 4 GHz on the 7600K to 4.2 GHz on the 8600K there is also an additional 5% performance boost across all workloads. All Coffee Lake processors require a 300-series chipset, making a straight CPU upgrade unfeasible despite sharing the same socket as their Z270 predecessors. Even though most games still use less than 4 cores simultaneously, the i5-8600K is a great choice for gamers (especially streamers) but for $80 less, the 8350K which is faster than last years 7600K and only marginally weaker for gaming than the 8600K is certainly well worth considering as well. [Oct '17 CPUPro]


The many college graduates who work not by their field of knowledge. Obtained show that the horizontal alignment of < 80% in the last three years has not reached the ideal value. The question that often arises is why this can happen and what influences can determine the quality result of graduates why they don't work in their fields. we need a model that is used to see a pattern of graduates to work according to their scientific fields. In this research, the neural network algorithm method is used to see a pattern of graduates who work according to their scientific fields. The neural network is an algorithm method that can be used as a reliable classification algorithm but has shortcomings in its selection of features, wherewith the combination PSO has a good ability to solve problems that have non-linear and nondifferentiable characteristics, multiple optima, large dimensions through good adaptations. derived from social psychological theory. We have obtained a higher accuracy of 71.51% using the combination of neural networks with PSO than that of one of the methods without PSO.


This study has the purpose of providing a differentiated program accommodating the participational desire of physical activities in elderlies, and effective teaching methods, member management, improvement of drawbacks of teachers, expert teacher distribution, and additionally, the basic data for the smooth performance of the role as a teacher and measure for the initiation of physical activities in elderlies, by constructing a role template of teachers based on the participational desire of physical activities in elderlies. To achieve this purpose, the opinions of an elderly physical activity expert (university `elderly physical activity` department professor, researcher in its laboratory, administrative management employee, and site leader) on participational desire of elderlies in physical activities (reliance on teacher, HSP value, intention of continued participation, intention of conversion) was collected. 35 aspects based on the role of the teacher was acquired through similar delphi analyses, with the ultimate extraction of 27 aspects passing through an editing process of synthesis and separations. Further collection of subjective opinions have been executed from physical activity teachers, comparing with prior perceptions in which common positive opinions were seen, resulting in a more practical analysis of the role of an elderly physical activity teacher, leading to the construction of its template, giving the following conclusions. Firstly, the elderly physical activity teacher must induce motivation within the participating elderly. Secondly, the planning and preparation of classes must be thoroughly conducted. Thirdly, the teacher must induce recognition of the effect of exercise by the participating elderly. Fourthly, a sense of professionalism must be attained. Lastly, the teacher must induce recognition of the necessity of exercise by the participating elderly. Further concurrence of the role of the teacher included systematic process, providing of various information, understanding of the elderly, composition of class atmosphere, program development/distribution, maintenance of friendliness, responsibility, personalized teaching, goal proposal, providing of opportunities, and grasp of individual nature. On the other hand, an insufficient awareness of the role of a teacher was seen relating to member management.


A systematic method for optimal modeling is proposed. The pattern recognition technique is employed to discriminate the section of good data from the section of bad data. Based on the data in the good section and controllable section, we use the artificial neural network combined with genetic algorithm to model the process plant. The results of experiments indicate that the model is adaptable to most cases. It can be used to solve the problem of optimal control for complex system effectively.


The use of medicinal plants in South Africa is cultural. Withania somnifera is one of the medicinal plants used to treat various ailments in the country. The plant species has been used by traditional medicine practitioners to treat inflammation and painful conditions like rheumatism. It is also known to be used as a sedative and hypnotic drug. Despite the claims, there is no information in literature to corroborate the therapeutic success of Withania somnifera in the treatment of inflammation and insomnia. The study, therefore, investigated the anti-inflammatory and central nervous system depressant activities of the leaf aqueous extract of the plant species in mice and rats. Fresh leaves of W. somnifera were collected from Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, South Africa, authenticated by a taxonomist and a voucher specimen (UWC 005) deposited in the University's Herbarium. Leaf aqueous extract was prepared using standard extraction methods. The carrageenan-induced rat paw oedema test was used to determine the anti-inflammatory effects while pentobarbitone-induced sleep and locomotor activity tests were used to evaluate the sedative effect of the plant species. Phytochemical qualitative analysis, acute toxicity and HPLC studies of the plant species were also carried out using standard methods. The phytochemical qualitative analysis carried out on the dried powdered leaves of W. somnifera showed the presence of saponins, tannins and triterpene steroids. Leaf aqueous extract of W. somnifera (100-200 mg/kg IP) significantly prolonged pentobarbitone (40 mg/kg, i.p.)-induced sleep in mice in a dose dependant manner. Diazepam (0.5 mg/kg, i.p.) significantly prolonged pentobarbitone (40 mg/kg, i.p.)-induced sleep in mice. The doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg (i.p.) of the plant species and 0.5 mg/kg (i.p.) of diazepam significantly reduced the locomotor activity of mice. Leaf aqueous extract of the plant species (50-200 mg/kg, i.p.) significantly reduced the oedema produced by carrageenan (1%) in rats over 90 min period of testing. Indomethacin (20 mg/kg, i.p.) significantly reduced carrageenan (1%)-induced oedema in rats over 120 min period of testing. The LD50 value obtained for the leaf aqueous extract of the plant species following inter-peritoneal injection was 1,600 mg/kg while that following oral administration was probably over 4,000 mg/kg. The HPLC finger-print of the aqueous extract showed distinct peaks at the following retention times 2.977, 3.594, 4.154, 4.406, 4.660 and 15.267 min. The results obtained show that leaf aqueous extract of W. somnifera has both sedative and anti-inflammatory effects.


Author explains why empiric and philosophical knowledge is so ineffective in this case, why it does not make us more tolerant when a significant part of people in western civilization are convinced that tolerance in the world of globalization, in the world of moving people and their cultures is a social necessity. She asserts that in modern political philosophy, it is not possible to reach a consensus on the matter of tolerance. This consensus could be helpful in conforming to necessity and in calculating tolerant behaviour. The impossibility to co-ordinate the positions clearly shows that these positions are only partial, almost ethnic truths. Theoretical nihilism leads to practical nihilism. The only way out from that crisis is to try to overcome theoretical nihilism.


In the context of the growing Zika virus epidemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has published an update on diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of Zika virus for pediatric providers. Highlights include the following:


These two texts are designed for adolescents and adults who have difficulties with written English. Vocabulary and directions are appropriate for older students who are turned off by anything that seems too childish. Media Materials, Inc. of Baltimore, Maryland publishes the books. The grammar book breaks language down into two categories: language and usage. The composition text comprises three facets of language: writing sentences, writing paragraphs and using sentences and paragraphs in everyday writing. Ideas for original language are creative and interesting for the writer. These books also make an excellent supplement and/or drill for more advanced classes.


The cost of electricity contributes significantly to the operating expense incurred in hosting cloud services. It is necessary to consider this cost while charging the consumers for their service utilization. In this work, we arrive at a metering mechanism for cloud services, in which the price of a cloud service tracks the variable input cost of electricity from a smart grid. The power-aware cloud metering developed here is a dynamic pricing and billing model where tariff for a cloud service is varied in accordance with the input electricity cost. We arrive at a model for power consumption of virtual machines hosted on the cloud infrastructure. This power consumption model is used in calculating the cost of operation of the service. A cloud instance leased by a consumer is billed based on the cost of operation obtained, and its resource utilization. Experimental results validate the approach presented.


S hared decision making for advanced heart failure has become both more challenging and more crucial as duration of disease and treatment options have increased. High-quality decisions are chosen from medically reasonable options and are aligned with values, goals, and preferences of an informed patient. The top 10 things to know about decision making in advanced heart failure care are listed in Table 1. Providers have an ethical and legal mandate to involve patients in medical decisions. Shared decision making recognizes that there are complex trade-offs in the choice of medical care. 1 Shared decision making also addresses the ethical need to fully inform patients about the risks and benefits of treatments. 2 In the setting of multiple reasonable options for medical care, shared decision making involves clinicians working with patients to ensure that patients' values, goals, and preferences guide informed decisions that are right for each individual patient. Grounded in the ethical principle of autonomy, 3 judicial decisions (eg, Cruzan v Missouri Department of Health 4) and legislative actions (eg, the Patient Self-Determination Act 5) have repeatedly affirmed the rights of patients or duly appointed surrogates to choose their medical therapy from among reasonable options. 6 The formal process of informed consent before procedural interventions is an embodiment of this concept in that it underscores the clinician's obligation to ensure that the patient has the opportunity to be informed. 3 An informed patient is one who is aware of the diagnosis and prognosis, the nature of the proposed intervention, the risks and benefits of that intervention, and all reasonable alternatives and their associated risks and benefits. 7 A major purpose of a high-functioning healthcare system is to provide the resources with which an activated, informed patient can engage in productive discussions with a proactive, prepared healthcare team. 8 Shared decision making moves beyond informed consent. It asks that clinicians and patients share information with each other and work toward patient-centered decisions about The American Heart Association makes every effort to avoid any actual or potential conflicts of interest that may arise as a result of an outside relationship or a personal, professional, or business interest of a member of the writing panel. Specifically, all members of the writing group are required to complete and submit a Disclosure Questionnaire showing all such relationships that might be perceived as real or potential conflicts of interest. by selecting either the " By …


Based on geographic planting data of winter wheat during 1991~1999 and meteorological data, the climatic northern boundary of winter wheat in Liaoning province was studied systematically The accumulated temperature before overwintering was the key climate factor influenced the cropping of winter wheat by the analysis of grey correlation The northern boundary of winter wheat in Liaoning province in the rate of 80% climatic guarantee was obtained by analysis of the accumulated temperature before overwintering The results were verified by using the indices of the negative ground temperature


The present study was conducted in four blocks of Varanasi district (Uttar Pradesh). A total 332 respondents from 63 villages were selected by the researcher. The objective of the study was to know the awareness level of respondents towards the organic fertilizers, organic farming, sources of information regarding awareness, and duration of practicing organic agriculture. It was found that around 43.97 percent of the respondents were aware of the organic farming in the study area. However only four types of organic fertilizers Organic Manure, Vermicompost, City compost, and PROM, known to the respondent out of 10 fertilizers recommended under FCO 1985, amended in July 2021. Most of the respondents practiced organic farming within the last 6 to 8 years, concurrent with the government policies emphasizing organic farming. The most important source of information regarding awareness towards organic farming was Krishi Vigyan Kendra and NGOs in the study area.


The use of computers and the internet has spread rapidly over the course of the past few decades. Every day, more and more people are coming to rely heavily on the internet. When it comes to the field of information security, the subject of security is one that is becoming an increasingly important focus. It is vital to design a powerful intrusion detection system in order to prevent computer hackers and other intruders from effectively getting into computer networks or systems. This can be accomplished by: (IDS). The danger and attack detection capabilities of the computer system are built into the intrusion detection system. Abuse has occurred and can be used to identify invasions when there is a deviation between a preset pattern of intrusion and an observed pattern of intrusion. An intrusion detection system (IDS) is a piece of hardware (or software) that is used to generate reports for a Management Station as well as monitor network and/or system activities for unethical behaviour or policy violations. In the current study, an approach known as machine learning is suggested as a possible paradigm for the development of a network intrusion detection system. The results of the experiment show that the strategy that was suggested improves the capability of intrusion detection.


A METHOD IS PROPOSED OF CALCULATING HIGHWAY TRANSPORTATION COSTS BASED UPON COMPUTATION OF COST OF ROAD MAINTENANCE AND CONSTRUCTION AND OF VEHICLE OPERATION. THE ITEMS OF INFORMATION NEEDED FOR THE DETERMINATION OF HIGHWAY COST ARE SHOWN IN A FIGURE. THE RESEARCH IS INDICATED WHICH IS NEEDED TO OBTAIN THE CORRECT DATA FOR THE SOLUTION.


The early phase of the auroral substorm is characterized by poleward motion of the poleward boundary of the auroral oval and by a poleward shift of the auroral electrojet. By Using records from a Canadian north-south chain of magnetic stations, data from Vela satellites, and published observations by the Imp 2 satellite, first-approximation meridian profiles of the concurrent changes in the auroral oval and in the plasma sheet are obtained. It is shown that a sudden enhancement of energetic electrons (Ee>45 kev) occurs in the magnetotail during the electrojet's poleward motion. In the 33 examples studied, the electron enhancement always occurred after the electrojet reached dipole latitude 69°. The length of the delay from this time strongly depends on the perpendicular distance of the detecting satellite from the neutral sheet; specifically, a satellite within 1 or 2 RE of the neutral sheet detects the electron enhancement about 20 minutes after this time or when the electrojet reaches dipole latitude ≈ 74°. The delay times depend less strongly on the satellite's radial distance from the earth (within the radial distance range of the observations, i.e., 11 to 19 RE). The sudden enhancement of energetic electrons is usually accompanied by a large increase of the number density of lower energy plasma particles. The energetic electron enhancements are thus associated with mass transport through the magnetotail and not caused by the passage of a 'disturbance' through the ambient plasma. The immediate source of the moving plasma is not known at present.


Prospects and specific features of the application of thermoelectric heat flow sensors in the systems of diagnostics of the thermal state of electric machines are considered. A method for calibrating sensors is improved by implementing a step-by-step procedure, in resulting the verification procedure without demounting the sensor and can be carried out at the site of operation. The correction factor for the refinement of the conversion factor under operating conditions was determined. The correction is a characteristic of the heat flow sensor and depends on the design, technological and thermophysical parameters of a particular sensor


In a recent study in Journal of Marketing, Read et al. (2009) conduct an experiment to identify how experts approach marketing in uncertain, entrepreneurial contexts. In response, the current study adapts Read et al.'s model slightly to make it relevant to practicing entrepreneurs and tests it on a randomized database of experts and novices in the process of creating for-profit organizations in the United States. The results suggest that these best marketing practices are largely reflective of those employed by practitioners. The author then conducts tests to determine the degree to which social entrepreneurs employ these best marketing practices. The results suggest that social entrepreneurs are less likely than commercial entrepreneurs to implement several best marketing practices.


This study was conducted to assess the impact of Nigerian Agricultural, Co-operative and Rural Development Bank Loan on beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries fishermen in Lake Kainji. A total of fifty fishermen (25 beneficiaries and 25 non-beneficiaries) were randomly selected from five fishing villages along the lake basin. Data collected were scored and the percentages of the parameters were calculated appropriately. The types of loans disbursed to beneficiaries revealed that 52% was cash and 48% was in kind. The credit package ranged between N5, 000 to N150, 000 only. Only 48% of the loans granted were paid while the rest remained unpaid. The results obtained from the membership of fishermen Cooperative showed that 64% of beneficiaries were members while 36% were non-members. Also 36% of non-beneficiaries were members while 64% were not. The Common fishing gears used by the two categories of fishermen include gillnets longline, castnet and driftnets. Sixty percent of beneficiaries and 8% of non-beneficiaries fishermen were using canoe with outboard engines while the rest used canoes with paddles. Beneficiaries earned a higher income (N1, 000 to N9, 000) daily than non-beneficiaries (N1, 000 to N6, 000) daily from sales of fish caught. Major contrainsts to increased catch and income identified include inadequate capital, non- availability of fishing inputs, stealing of fishing gears, lack of access to credit facilities and menace of stump and water hyacinth in the lake. Lastly, recommendation were made for the bank management, government and other lending institutions on how to improve the livelihood of the Artisanal fishermen by increasing the loan usually granted


A survey on tilapia-shrimp polyculture was conducted in Thailand from March until June 2002, to assess the current status of Thai farmers' practices of tilapia-shrimp polyculture. Sixty-one farmers who culture fish in their shrimp farms in 12 provinces of Thailand were selected and interviewed using a structured checklist and open-ended type of questionnaires. Results showed that three versions of tilapia-shrimp polyculture, namely: a) simultaneous, b) sequential, and c) crop rotation systems, are practiced by Thai shrimp farmers. Among the farmers, 42.6% use a simultaneous polyculture system, while percentages of farmers using sequential and crop rotation systems are 34.4 and 6.6%, respectively. The remaining 16.4% of farmers stock fish in reservoir ponds and use a monoculture system for shrimp. Among the farmers who adopt the simultaneous tilapiashrimp polyculture system, 76.9% released tilapias directly into shrimp ponds, and 23.1% stocked tilapias in cages suspended in shrimp ponds. Tilapia-shrimp polyculture is practiced in a wide range of salinity levels from 0 to 30 %. Tilapias used in the polyculture include red tilapia (Oreochromis spp.), Nile tilapia (O. niloticus), and Mossambique tilapia (O. mossambicus). The survey revealed that shrimp production and economic returns from the two simultaneous polyculture systems and in sequential polyculture systems were higher than Tilapia-Shrimp Polyculture in Thailand Yang Yi1 and Kevin Fitzsimmons2 1 Asian Institute of Technology PathumThani, Thailand 2University of Arizona Tucson, AZ USA 27 July 2007 Publication Number: CRSP Research Report 04-A18 The CRSP will not be distributing this publication. Copies may be obtained by writing to the authors.


Abstract Shell measurements of samples of Plaxiphora aurata from Chile, Macquarie Island, Campbell Island, Antipodes Island, and Auckland Islands do not support the separation of the New Zealand populations as the subspecies Plaxiphora aurata campbelli (Filhol, 1880) from the South American form, which was previously believed to be more ovate.


Objective To evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of mechanical ventilation (MV) for patients with acute respiratory failure(ARF). Methods 95 patients with ARF were retrospectively analyzed. Results There was significant improvement in pH、PaO2、PaCO2、SaO2. Of all the patients, 68 patients were successfully treated (71. 58 percent) ,27 patients died(28. 42 percent), 29 patients occurred complications ( 30. 53 percent). Conclusion MV is an effective method to treat patients with ARF in clinical practice. However, its timing plays a vital role in treating primary diseases.


The largest number of distinct molecular species in cellular metabolism are the lipids where tens of thousands of distinct molecular species exist in cells/tissues. We have developed novel liquid chromatographic‐mass spectrometric based lipidomics techniques termed "CLASS" [1] to solve lipidomics problems, often in the context of an overall omics analysis of immunologically‐activated macrophages integrating transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics of lipid metabolites [2]. As part of the LIPID MAPS Consortium [www.lipidmaps.org], our laboratory has developed a robust and comprehensive approach to the lipidomics analysis of hundreds of fatty acids, acylethanolamines and inflammatory eicosanoids [3]. We have built on our previous application of lipidomic analysis to characterize "synergistic" cellular lipid signaling of Toll‐like (TLR) and purinergic receptors in stimulated macrophages as models of bacterial infection and inflammation. This has recently led to an elucidation of the dual role of aspirin in enhancing lipoxin formation during inflammasome formation [4] and the dual role cytosolic PLA2 [5] plays in lipoxin synthesis. We have also elucidated the details of how cytosolic and calcium‐independent PLA2s associate allosterically with a membrane and extract the phospholipid substrate so as to release arachidonic acid for eicosanoid formation [6]. We will also discuss recent results on the precise nature and molecular dynamics of the interaction of these enzymes with novel inhibitors and how new potent and selective inhibitors block substrate phospholipid binding [Supported by LIPID MAPS Glue Grant U54 GM069338 and R01 GM020501]


Here we reported a patient with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that relapsed two times after resection of the tumor, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and a targeting therapy during a disease course of nearly 4 years. In the second relapse, huge intracranial metastases occurred with symptoms such as severe headache, bedridden and dying feelings. After using the anti-programmed death-1 (anti-PD-1) antibody Pembrolizumab for 2 months, NSCLC disappeared completely and symptoms improved greatly at least for 6 months, indicating that anti-PD-1 antibody has great potential for treatment of NSCLC. In addition, antibodies targeting PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint are safe and well tolerated.


When two spatial point processes are overlaid, the one with the higher rate is shown as clustered points, and the other one with the lower rate is often perceived to be background. Usually, we consider the clustered points as feature and the background as noise. Revealing these point clusters allows us to further examine and understand the spatial point process. Two important aspects in discerning spatial cluster features from a set of points are the removal of noise and the determination of the number of spatial clusters. Until now, few methods were able to deal with these two aspects at the same time in an automated way. In this study, we combine the nearest‐neighbour (NN) method and the concept of density‐connected to address these two aspects. First, the removal of noise can be achieved using the NN method; then, the number of clusters can be determined by finding the density‐connected clusters. The complexity for finding density‐connected clusters is reduced in our algorithm. Since the number of clusters depends on the value of k (the kth nearest neighbour), we introduce the concept of lifetime for the number of clusters in order to measure how stable the segmentation results (or number of clusters) are. The number of clusters with the longest lifetime is considered to be the final number of clusters. Finally, a seismic example of the west part of China is used as a case study to examine the validity of our method. In this seismic case study, we discovered three seismic clusters: one as the foreshocks of the Songpan quake (M = 7.2), and the other two as aftershocks related to the Kangding‐Jiulong (M = 6.2) quake and Daguan quake (M = 7.1), respectively. Through this case study, we conclude that the approach we proposed is effective in removing noise and determining the number of feature clusters.


As the exponential growth of computer users, huge data flows become a normal event around us. The aims of communication method increase, people begin to use digital media to transmit valuable data through public accessible network. Now a day's most important thing is to secure data while sending using a public network. Potential for exactly tracing maliciously altered pixels is currently desired in image authentication. This paper proposes a efficient novel approach as fragile pixel-wise watermarking using neighborhood location technique based on two bits (Binding & position) bits. In this scheme Binding & position bits are embedded as a watermark into the first two LSBs of each pixel of the host image. On the receiver end, by comparing the extracted LSBs and recalculated Binding & position bits, one can easily recognize the altered pixels of the host image .Improve the data security and integrity using two key at the time of embedding watermark as well as the same key is used for extraction and recalculated at the receiver end to recognize the altered pixels of the host image.


A systematic study on the effect of molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth parameters on lattice-matched AlGalnP solar cells on GaAs is presented. MBE has been used to grow the highest efficiency, lattice-matched triple-junction (3J) solar cells to date, and expanding the range of available bandgap energies for the top cell will be an important step towards future 5-6J devices. In this work, we describe ~2.0 eV AlGaInP cells with internal quantum efficiency values of ~80% and bandgap-voltage offset values of ~600 mV. While these values significantly exceed prior reports of MBE-grown AlGaInP, more work is needed to match the performance of AlGaInP cells grown by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy.


AB G. Sohlbergs has a main office and central warehouse and the company also has three branches. The project resulting in, after investigating the software for warehouse administration, that it now ...


A temperature sensor with two series PNP transistors in TSMC 0.18μm mixmode process using PN-junctions of the CMOS substrate PNP transistors as temperature sensor's cells.These two series PNP transistors reduce the effect of the voltage offset,a folded cascode amplifier increases the precision of the whole circuit,and a negative feedback structure improves the stability of VPTAT the circuit. The simulation results show a perfect linearity of and temperature from-20℃ to 120℃ and a 140dB power supply ripple rejection of the circuit.


ABSTRACT The present study used a person-oriented approach to examine gender differences at the level of achievement profiles and examine such differences in the context of urban and rural schools. The achievement test scores in English, math, and science of 2,408 tenth-grade students were used to derive achievement profiles through agglomerative-hierarchical and k- means clustering techniques. Four profiles were derived: 1) Low Achievers, 2) True Average Achievers, 3) High Achievers with weak math and science skills, and 4) High Achievers with strong math and science skills. Significant gender and urban/rural school differences among the profiles were found after performing cross-tabulation analyses with chi-square testing. The so-called "female advantage" in education was more evident among Low Achievers, but not among the High Achievers. When the urban/rural school context was considered, the female advantage tends to disappear and the urban school advantage becomes more definite. Finally, the High Achievers with weak math and science skills were mostly females in urban schools. The findings suggest that it is important to situate gender differences in a certain context. Implications for practice are provided, as well as recommendations for future research. KEYWORDS: Gender differences, urban and rural schools, achievement profiles, cluster analysis, Filipino students


Purpose – This article was written to offer an introduction to blogging.Design/methodology/approach – The initial research was undertaken as a project stemming from a request to present on blogging at the Virginia Library Association Paraprofessional Annual Conference in May of 2006.Findings – The article covers a range of topics from history, to a description of what a blog is, and why to create or use one (personally and professionally).Originality/value – Libraries have only just begun to think about blogging and this introductory piece may help novices.


With distributed communication, computation, and storage resources close to end users/devices, fog computing (FC) makes it very promising to develop cognitive portable ground penetrating radars (GPRs) operating intelligently and adaptively under varying sensing conditions. However both strict performance requirement and tradeoffs between communication and computation pose significant challenges. This paper presents a fog computing framework for cognitive portable GPRs. Specifically, the system architecture of an FC-enabled cognitive portable GPR is developed. Based on the identification of various involved computation tasks, an offloading policy was proposed to determine whether computation tasks should be executed locally or offloaded to the fog server. Experimental results show the efficacy of the proposed methods. The framework also provides insight into the design of cognitive Internet of things (IoT) supported by fog computing.


The paper studies the role of the cafe as a specific social institution in the French culture and arts of the 19th century. In discussing the psychological and historical aspects of the cafe atmosphere and its influence on the appearance of revolutionary movements and new styles, historical data and available paintings have been used. In the psychological sense, cafes had a cathartic function and represented a specific type of protected locations providing support to artists in their expressing new and original ideas. The cafe was an alternative location for the restrictive and rigid Ecole des Beaux-Arts, which did not accept any deviation from the classical principles of painting. The cafe is presented in the light of various characters of individual artists and also in the light of their artworks. In addition to the positive social role of the cafe, the paper also deals with its negative influences such as alcoholism and absmthism, and bases this discussion on the analysis of paintings and several individual artist careers. Particular attention has been paid to the connection between the changes in Van Gogh's style of painting and the dynamics of his psychological crises. A short presentation is given of the results of an empirical study on the change in Van Gogh's painting techniques from five distinctive periods, based on the Martindale's scales of arousal potential and primordial content. Finally, the topic of the cafe is discussed in the light of psychoanalytic theories of art as sublimation, catharsis and regression in the service of the ego.


In the globalization era business competition is very tight, it's good competition between firms within a
country, regional and global. A new company who is entering the busness world has to be equipped with the
right strategy to compete not only the already well establish company but also the other new comers.
Franchise (franchising) is as an alternative to choose from in determining strategies to grow the business
because of the capacity of the market are affected by the conditions, purchasing power and limited
consumption patterns


A fuel delivery system comprising a plurality of individual performance and improved fuel economy and reduced environmental pollution combined member. The improved system includes a neck portion - stability check valve, a fuel heating system, a filter water separator, the fuel tank alleviate stress in the pump chamber, the partition wall in the filter, the filter head improved fuel passage formed in an inverted cup-shaped positioning and holding for changing the fuel filter does not leak when the fuel filter head.


In the following, there is first a short survey of Bake category results in convexi ty (Section 2), then two new results are presented: one on minimal ellipsoids (Section 3), and one on lattice packings of convex bodies (Section 4). A convex body in d-dimensional Euclidean space Ed is a compact convex subset of Ed with nonempty interior. Denote by V the space of all convex bodies in Ed endowed with its "natural" topology. This topology is induced by, e.g., the Hausdorff metric or the symmetric difference metric dS, defined by


Different IoT systems based on small devices, controllers and smart networks were developed in recent years. The need to transmit data as far as possible required the introduction of new types of networks that use specific communication protocols, such as LoRa (Long Range Wide Area) networks and the LoRaWan protocol. The power supplies needed for these networks are low power, which allows the use of autonomous power systems, charged from renewable energy sources. This study proposes the description of the power supply system of an IoT system consisting of two sensors networks. The two sensors networks collect the data in two communication nodes and then transmit them to an intermediate data server from where they are sent and recorded on a final server. This system was designed and developed in the laboratory. It uses a 30 W solar panel, a controller with outputs on 2 voltage levels (5 V DC, 12 V DC) and a battery at 12 V, 20 Ah capacity. The autonomy of the power supply system is computed nodes relation to the nodes consumption corresponding to the two sensors networks and to the forecast performance of the system given by the particularities of the location. The software of the IoT system controllers was adapted for optimal operation. The described system is a cheap one and ensures a total autonomy of operation of over six days.


Of the different modes that characterize Michael Gilbert's multi-modal theory of argumentation, the kisceral is in many ways the most challenging to understand and employ. It appears to bypass the processes of reason that have dominated accounts in the Western tradition, diverting us toward the private worlds of hunches and gut reactions. This paper explores the nature of kisceral arguments, comparing them to the way intuition operates in William James' examination of mystical experience. Having provided an account of kisceral arguments and their operation, the discussion turns to the even more challenging issue of how such arguments should be evaluated.


The analysis of nancial statements is an analysis which is very important because it can be discovered by analysis of a company's ability to meet nancial obligations that must be met (liquidity) and can measure the level of business eciency and pro tability achieved by the company. Methods of research on the author is to analyze nancial statements. (LIMITED) Telkom Tbk. in the period 2005 - 2009 is quite good. This can be seen from the company's ability to meet short-term liabilities increased and also can be seen from the asset increases. Penamaan File: 21205470


The construction and operation of buildings is resource and energy intensive. As a sector buildings are responsible for roughly a quarter of all greenhouse gasses globally and represent a key intervention point in the fight against climate change. Energy and green building certification schemes are an example of tools that can be used in the design and construction high-performance buildings to help mitigate the negative environmental effects of the built environment. The US Green Building Council's (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a market-based third party rating and certification framework increasingly used in the design, construction and operation of buildings in North America.
In Ontario, Canada despite LEED's increasing use both as a government mandated policy tool and private sector certification scheme, the number of buildings registered and certified under the rating system remains small given the overall size of the Ontario building market. With this in mind this research was designed as a qualitative study to investigate what barriers and to what extent those barriers exist in the Ontario building market that prevent the wider implementation of LEED. The study also examined the perception of building industry professionals on the use of LEED as a mandated policy and the potential implications such a policy may have in the building market. Semi-structured interview with building industry experts from four actor groups build design professionals, owners and clients, construction professionals, and green building consultants were used for data collection. The data was analysed through the use of an established barriers to LEED framework.
The analysis confirmed the existence of barriers to LEED present in four categories, applicability, process, knowledge, acceptance, and cost. Cost was shown to be the largest barrier to the wider application of LEED while applicability was shown to have the least influence as a barrier. In addition, industry professionals viewed the mandating of LEED with apprehension citing a number of concerns relating funding and liability issues, and LEED being forced into a role it was not intended to fill.


Abstract In this paper, some methods to get piezoelectric ceramic materials for high temperature and high frequency applications based on modified PbTiO8 piezoelectric ceramics were introduced. A solid solution system (1 -X)PbTiO8+ XPb(Cd1/8Nb2/8)O8 was studied for their piezoelectric properties as B position complex substitution of ABO8 perovskite structure. The system(X = 14mol%) has good piezoelectric properties by adding some proper modified additives, such as WO8, MnO2 and NiO. The Curie temperature, is over 450°C and the dielectric constant, ϵ S, is about 200 at room temperature. The piezoelectric coupling factor kt is 0.45 and mechanical quality factor Qm can be changed from 500 to 2400 according to different situation. Their high stability makes it possible to be used in high temperature and high frequency situations.


Poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) based thin coatings were electro-synthesized by cyclic voltammetry on Au-coated quartz crystal surfaces to study different solid—liquid interfacial processes. By varying the electrochemical parameters and the presence or not of a crosslinking agent, films were obtained with thicknesses ranging from 5 to 90 nm. Surface characterization was performed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and static contact angle measurements. Using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring to investigate the relationship between the film thickness and the swelling behavior, it was found that these characteristics can be modulated by varying either the number of voltammetric cycles or the presence of the crosslinker. Cell adhesion and biocompatibility tests indicate that these film coatings were suitable for biomedical applications.


This study aims to describe the real situation/state of the management of character education through example and habituation in schools. The approach taken in this study uses a descriptive qualitative approach. Data collection techniques were carried out by observation, interviews, and documentation. Data analysis was carried out in three steps; data condensation, data presentation, and conclusion drawing. The conclusions of this study indicate: a) program planning to strengthen character education has several stages, namely observation, coordination, compiling work programs, program implementation, supervision, and evaluation, b) school principals are assisted by teachers, vice principal and related parties c) program implementation through four stages of activities, namely integration, exemplary, civilizing/ habituation , and cooperation with parents, d) direct program supervision process, e) program evaluation through the stages of evaluation preparation, data processing, and improvement. The findings in the field can be ascertained that the management of character education through exemplary and habituation is in accordance with the theories of several experts and the field in every process of activity in management to improve character education through exemplary and habituation continuously in one period according to the existing situation and conditions.


The results of a ray-trace analysis of several glancing-incidence X-ray optical systems are presented. The object of the study was threefold. First, the vignetting characteristics of the S-056 X-ray telescope were calculated using experimental data to determine mirror reflectivities. Second, a small Wolter Type I X-ray telescope intended for possible use in the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite program was designed and ray traced. Finally, a ray-trace program was developed for a Wolter-Schwarzschild X-ray telescope.


Following hybridization studies using the cloned Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bti) 27 kDa insecticidal toxin gene and B.t. var. morrisoni strain PG14 DNA (1,2), a 1.2 kb TaI fragment containing a gene encoding a 27 kDa protein has been cloned from the 74MDa plasmid of PG14. The nucleotide sequence of this gene, presented below, is highly homologous to the Bti 27 kDa toxin gene (3,4), and the gene product, expressed in E. coli, shows cross-reaction with anti-Bti 27 kDa toxin serum. A single base-pair difference ( G replacing C, arrowed), resulting in an alanine residue in PG14 rather than the proline found in Bti, distinguishes the two. Interestingly there are no 'silentw substitutions, and downstream regions, including inverted repeat sequences (underlined), are conserved. The putative ShineDalgarno sequence is boxed.


We report Hubble Space Telescope images of Jupiter during the aftermath of an impact by an unknown object in 2009 July. The 2009 impact-created debris field evolved more slowly than those created in 1994 by the collision of the tidally disrupted comet D/Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL9). The slower evolution, in conjunction with the isolated nature of this single impact, permits a more detailed assessment of the altitudes and meridional motion of the debris than was possible with SL9. The color of the 2009 debris was markedly similar to that seen in 1994, thus this dark debris is likely to be Jovian material that is highly thermally processed. The 2009 impact site differed from the 1994 SL9 sites in UV morphology and contrast lifetime; both are suggestive of the impacting body being asteroidal rather than cometary. Transport of the 2009 Jovian debris as imaged by Hubble shared similarities with transport of volcanic aerosols in Earth's atmosphere after major eruptions.


Since the early 1990s, Malawi has tried to undertake economic reforms, including the restructuring of the public sector, even as it embraced democratic reforms. Paucity of human and financial resources has made the process difficult and drawn out. However, towards the end of the 1990s, the reforms began to bear fruit. Notably, the efficiency of the civil service improved, while the government continued to emphasise the importance of accountability and established an agency to fight corruption. This chapter analyses the factors, which have influenced public sector reforms in Malawi, with emphasis on the nature of reforms implemented by the government and the incentive structure in the civil service. Not unlike many other African countries, top political support has been important for the successful implementation of public sector reform in Malawi. However, sustainability will only be ensured when support for the programmes is spread among broad sections of the population.


With the assassination of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March in 44 BCE, the political fortunes of one of Caesar's lesser political partisans began to wane. Gaius Sallustius Crispus, a minor political figure, formerly involved in scandal and now left without a backer, retired from politics and began to write history. His first project was an account of a failed coup d'état from some decades before. Sallust recorded the efforts of a thwarted candidate for Rome's highest office named Lucius Sergius Catilina to raise an army of disaffected Romans and foreigners and to install himself and his partisans at Rome. In the end, though, nothing much came of the plot: some were arrested and killed; some fought and died; others who had not been caught in too manifest support of Catiline were suddenly expressing their enmity for the monster.


Method of encoding speech signals which is based upon determining the roots of the linear prediction polynomial describing the spectrum of an analog speech signal, wherein the roots are candidates in determining the formants of the speech signal. The method involves the analysis of respective frames of sampled digital speech data using a linear predictive technique to determine a set of reflection coefficients or K-parameters which are then converted into the equivalent predictor coefficients or A-parameters describing a prediction polynomial having a plurality of roots corresponding to the poles of an all-pole filter characterizing the vocal tract. A modified Bairstow technique is then empolyed for factoring out quadratic factors which are then sorted in an ordered arrangement in terms of ascending bandwidths. In performing the modified Bairstow technique, initial estimates of the successive quadratic factors for a current frame of digital speech data are made in sequence, and the prediction polynomial is successively deflated to a reduced order polynomial in determining the respective quadratic factors thereof. The initial estimate of the first quadratic factor is the same as the smallest bandwidth root as determined from the previous frame of digital speech data. These removed quadratic factors or roots are candidates for determining the formants of the speech signal.


The thermodynamic analysis of both interfacial SiO/sub 2/ and silicide reactions, and phase separation of HfO/sub 2/ and ZrO/sub 2/ are performed. The analysis includes gaseous species, because typical gate dielectrics are ultra-thin layers and diffusivities for species from the surrounding atmosphere, such as oxygen, may be high. Calculations for the ZrO/sub 2/-SiO/sub 2/ show that compositions between /spl sim/45 mol% and /spl sim/90 mol% SiO/sub 2/ lie within the metastable extension of the spinodal at typical annealing temperatures of 1000 C. Grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) are used to investigate phase separated microstructure in hafnium silicate films after rapid thermal annealing between 700 and 1000 C.


In recent years, ideological and political education play an important role in modern higher education. Therefore, in this paper, we concentrate on the problem of evaluating ideological and political education quality using fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method. Firstly, we design an index system for ideological and political education quality evaluation, including: 1) Educational elements, 2) Educational way, 3) Education effect, and 4) Characteristic project. Secondly, we provide a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method to solve the education quality evaluation problem, and then we illustrate the framework of the quality evaluation system for ideological and political education. Finally, experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method.


Alcohol-sensitizing compounds : studies on the biochemical and pharmacological effects of disulfiram (antabuse), cyanamide and coprine on rats, with special reference to the disulfiram-ethanol reaction


We present a passive sensor transponder with readout circuitry to evaluate the state of external passive switches. The tag operates at 868MHz and complies with the ISO standard 18000-6C (EPC Class 1 Gen 2). The transponder contains four additional bond pads. The external switches can be connected between these pads and the ground pad. The tag then determines if the resistance between the two terminals is high or low. This way, the tag is able to detect the binary state of up to four external devices and the reader receives additional information about the environment, such as whether a door is open or closed.


Background : Life quality is regarded as one of the most significant issues in the areas of psychology and psychiatry. One of the main purposes of psychologists and other mental health experts is to find life quality-related factors  through which they are the quality of life can be enhanced and improved. The present study aimed to examine the relationship between spiritual intelligence and life quality among elderly people residing in nursing home in Tehran. Method : This is a descriptive correlational study conducted on 193 elderly men residing in nursing home in Tehran, using available sampling method. The participants completed Spiritual Intelligence Self-Report Inventory (SISRI) and Life Quality Questionnaire. Descriptive statistical method (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistical method (correlational coefficient and simultaneous regression) were then analyzed. Findings :  The statistical analysis of data indicated that spiritual intelligence is significantly and positively associated with the overall score of life quality, physical and mental health. In addition, spiritual intelligence can predict life quality and its components. Conclusion : The present study examined the relationship between spiritual intelligence and life quality among the elderly people. The results obtained from the study revealed that there is a positive significant relationship between spiritual intelligence and life quality. In addition, the variable spiritual intelligence is able to predict life quality. Keywords : Spiritual Intelligence, Life Quality, Elderly people


The aim of this work was the evaluation of fatty acids contents in meat and selected offal in lambs fed a diet containing silage of whole plants of genetically modified maize (Bt) MON 810 line. The material consisted of 14 Polish Merino lambs of mean start body weight 24 kg. There were two feeding groups selected of 7 lambs each. In the control group (K) the lambs were fed isogenic maize silage, which in the second group (GMO) was substituted with the modified maize silage (Bt) MON 810 line. After 70 days of feeding (feed portions were standardised according to the DLG system) the lambs were slaughtered and dissected. The results were evaluated statistically and the significance of differences was calculated with the two factor variation analysis (nutrition, tissue). Feeding genetically modified maize silage did not change, in a statistically significant way, the contents of any main fatty acids in the pool of all acids nor the contents of the totals and their proportions, while the factor causing clear differences was the tissue. Differences for the majority of the results were statistically significant. Statistically significant interactions noted (nutrition x tissue) are probably due to different values of these traits in the analysed tissues.


In this paper,the trials of the growth characteristics of Takifugu flavidus under artificial culturing condition were conducted.By experimental data processing and analysis,the results showed that the T.flavidus reached average total body length of 20.84±1.07 cm,average body weight of 242.11±28.23 g after 197 days rearing from average total length of 14.07±1.31 cm,average body weight of 77.49±26.50 g.The total length increased by 0.03 cm on average,the growth ratio was 48.12%,and the body weight was gained at the rate of 0.71 g per day on average and the growth ratio was 212.44%.The linear relationship of total length and body weight was W=0.033 7 L2.912 2(R2=0.936 7).The power was near 3,which indicated the growth of weight was the same as that of total length.The linear relationship of total length and culture time was L= 0.035 T+14.191(R2=0.977 3),and the linear relationship of body weight and culture time was W= 82.616 e 0.005 7 T(R2=0.985 8).


Rainfall and stream water quality were investigated in the area surrounding the Avonmouth industrial complex. The specific conductivity values of the rainwater were significantly higher downwind of the complex during single storms. The long‐term effect of this change in rainfall quality is to produce a marked increase in stream water solute levels to the north‐east of Avonmouth.


A passive millimeter-wave sensor based on optical up-conversion that is sensitive to the polarization state of incident radiation is described. This system up-converts incident millimeter-wave radiation to an optical frequency and then recreates the polarization state of the millimeter-wave radiation in the optical signal. A division of time approach is then used to extract the Stokes information from the signal using optical techniques. Results are shown which verify the feasibility of this approach and demonstrate the ability to control the phase of the signal to enable the measurement of Stokes information.


All the GCC states provide their domestic economies with energy at a fraction of the international price, using both direct and indirect subsidies. Although such subsidies reflect important economic and social goals, they also impose large costs on their economies. The increasing scale of such subsidies is becoming harder to justify and a strategy for their reform will become ever more pressing.


Radiotelevisione Italiana recently financed a number of feature films by directors of international reknown, including Antonioni, Rossellini, Rocha, Cavani, Rossi, Jancso, de Seta, Bresson, Andrade, Sanjines, the Taviani brothers, Pasolini, Bertolucci, and Godard, many of whom are avowed revolutionaries. Two of these films-San Michele Had a Rooster by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani,1 and The Night of San Juan (also called The Courage of the People) by Jorge Sanjines2-are important new works in themselves and are also lucid examples of two very different styles of revolutionary cinema: the case-study (subjective) approach, and the process-study (objective) approach. While these films are perhaps not the definitive examples of their "type," I have selected them because they are excellent and because they are virtually unavailable to American audiences; as such, I felt a responsibility to enter them into the critical record.


The purpose of this paper is to predict financial distress explored how the proposed by experts. As we know that the Financial Distress is an early predictor in assessing the financial performance of the company, for this prediction in need of external and internal analysis of the company. The methodology of this research is the study of literature and secondary data. This paper is expected to provide a comprehensive picture of the company's financial performance through the prediction of financial distress that has been widely used some previous researchers. The results of this study will be a contribution to the development of literature and provide a comparison of the application of financial distress prediction model that has been done so create a model of financial distress research using external and internal analysis. The results of this study will also provide an explanation that there has been no study of financial distress by using external and internal factors simultaneously and integrated. Keywords : f inancial , distress, performance , company, external , internal factors


Ionic liquids (ILs) with aprotic heterocyclic anions (AHAs) have been developed primarily for CO2 capture applications. However, they have also been considered for cofluid CO2/IL vapor compression refrigeration cycles and for various electrochemical applications. In all of these cases, reducing the viscosity of the IL is of primary importance. Therefore, the focus of this work is tuning the cation to produce AHA ILs with both low viscosities and low melting points. Toward this goal we have synthesized 40 AHA ILs paired with phosphonium, ammonium and imidazolium cations, as well as a number of ILs with the bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide anion to use for comparison. The azolide anions investigated were 2-cyanopyrrolide, 4-nitropyrazolide, various substituted imidazolides, 1,2,3-triazolide, and tetrazolide. Melting points, glass transition temperatures, and decomposition temperatures were measured for all ILs. Viscosities and densities were measured from 278.15 to 343.15 K and 283.15 to 353.15 K, respecti...


To learn how Human Factors Research can help top management create better training a case study comparison is made of two new training departments one in a large manufacturing corporation and the other in a state government. Using the findings from participant observer and thermodynamic system techniques two lists for training improvement are derived: 1. Training Department Manager's Check List and 2. Future Human Factors Research.


Tuberous sclerosis (TSC) is an autosomal dominant multisystem disorder, characterized by the widespread development of hamartomata. TSC is genetically heterogeneous, with trait causing loci on 9q34 and 16p13.3. Last year the TSC2 gene on 16p13.3 has been identified by the European Chromosome 16 TSC Consortium. The TSC2 gene acts as a tumour suppressor gene and encodes a 198 kD protein (tuberin) with a small region of homology to the rap1-GTPase-activating-protein. Allowing for heterogeneity, we have performed a linkage analysis on 14 Dutch and British families. Combined analysis (ICA) of both chromosomal regions revealed an overall lod score (under heterogeneity) of 8.92. We assigned the TSC1 locus to a region in between the Abelson oncogene and the ABO bloodgroup locus. On chromosome 16 the peak lod score was obtained at marker 16AC2.5. This finding confirms the accuracy of the imaginary chromosome approach (ICA), since 16AC2.5 is known to be at less than 200 kb from TSC2. The proportion of ABO linked families (TSC1) was estimated to be 65%. In the ABO region we have mapped about 200 cosmids in 6 contigs ranging from 40 to more than 300 kb. With respect to TSC2 we focused on the construction of a fullmore » length cDNA clone and the generation of antibodies against fusion proteins and synthetic peptides. These are being utilized in studies on the cellular localization, the tissue distribution and the normal and impaired function of tuberin.« less


Objective: To compare and analyze the usage of prophylactic antibacterial drugs during perioperative period in type I incision operations before and after intervention,and provide references for rational use of antibacterial drugs in clinic.Methods: According to the content of the national renovation of the antibacterial agents and the requirement of our hospital,a comparative study of the usage of antibacterial drugs was conducted on the 180 cases of type I incision operations collected from January to June of 2011(pre-intervention) and 180 others from January to June of 2012(post-intervention).Results: Compared with pre-intervention in 2011,the percentage of prophylactic use of antibacterials decreased from 98.33% to 46.11% after intervention in 2012;the rate of combination use of drugs decreased from 22.60% to 2.41%;the rate of reasonable choice of antibacterials increased from 29.38% to 67.47%;the rate of rationality of administration time and medication duration increased from 16.38% to 61.45% and from 8.47% to 53.01%,respectively.Conclusion: The intervention measures were proved to be practicable and effective in improving the rationality of prophylactic use of antibacterial drugs during perioperative period in type I incision operations.Still there were some irrational problems,such as high rate of prophylactic use of antibacterial drugs and long duration time for preventing infection.Therefore,we should strengthen the management to promote the rational use of antibacterial drugs during perioperative period.


McGregor, E M., Campbell, C. P., Miller, S. P., Purslow, P. P. and Mandell, I. B. 2012. Effect of nutritional regimen including limit feeding and breed on growth performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality in beef cattle. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 92: 327-341. The effects of nutritional management regimen and breed on growth performance, carcass attributes, and meat quality were evaluated in 68 British (BRIT) and Continental (CONT) crossbred steers, managed on one of three nutritional regimens: (1) ad libitum access to a 77% corn diet (ALGRAIN), (2) limit feeding initially of the 77% corn diet, followed by ad libitum access to the 77% corn diet (LFGRAIN), and (3) limit feeding initially of a 90% haylage diet, followed by ad libitum access to the 77% corn diet (LFHAYL). Nutritional regimen by breed interactions (P<0.02) were present for average daily gain, dry matter intake (DMI), gain to feed, and shear force. LFHAYL regimen decreased gains to a greater extent for BRIT steers than CONT steers managed on ALGRAIN or LFGRAIN. Feed intakes were similar across nutritional regimens for CONT steers, while DMI was depressed in BRIT on LFHAYL as compared with steers started on ALGRAIN or LFGRAIN. Gain to feed was greater in BRIT cattle on LFGRAIN vs. ALGRAIN, while gain to feed was similar in CONT started on grain (ALGRAIN, LFGRAIN). Shear force was lower for beef from LFHAYL BRIT vs. beef from BRIT on ALGRAIN or LFGRAIN, while the converse was true for CONT. Limit feeding of a high-energy diet may be appropriate for cattle of British background to reduce feed input costs, while ensuring tenderness.


The first approach to this region was made by Lieut.
Laycock in 1807 when, with several men, he ascended the Lake
River to Wood's Lake and proceeded to the Derwent along the
Clyde. Thomas Toombs, a ticket-of-leaver informed Calder
the surveyor, years after the event, that he had seen the
Great Lake in 1815. No doubt, many such men, attracted to
the wild, lonely plateau came hunting for the more elusive
creatures, thought to be living there.


A scheme of excitation controller based on the DSP F2812 is presented.The functions concerning with hardware,such as AD sample,pulses generation and frequency measurement are implemented with the peripheral on chip.Block diagrams on hardware and flow chart of part software are listed.Some detail on implementation is discussed.Dynamic simulations on a physical model verify the scheme.The controller has operated in a hydropower plant.Some curves of experiments onsite are also given.


Reasonable analysis of hypersonic flows requires a thermodynamic non-equilibrium model to properly simulate strong shock waves or high pressure and temperature states in the flow field. Energy Relaxation Method (ERM) has been used to model such a non-equilibrium effect which is generally expressed as a hyperbolic system of equations with a stiff relaxation source term. Relaxation time which is multiplied with source term is responsible for non-equilibrium in the system. In the present study, a numerical analysis has been carried out with varying values of relaxation time for several hypersonic flows with AUSM (Advection Upstream Splitting Method) as a numerical scheme. The results obtained showed that, as the relaxation time tends to zero, the solution marches toward equilibrium, while it shows nonequilibrium effects, as the relaxation time increases. The present computations predicted the experiment results of hypersonic flows with good accuracy.


"German system" of educating the deaf-mute. The German system, or " artificial method," developed by Heinicke 1760, was to cultivate what remained of speech " by developing all its power, Avhicli exists in all (save a very few)." " There ought to be a commissioner in every State to examine and classify the deaf and dumb, where all who are found to possess any degree of hearing or any remnant of speech (having lost hearing after learning to talk), or any who manifest a marked facility in vocal utterances, should be assigned to the articulating schools, while all others should be placed in the older establishments, where the language of signs" {i.e. French system) "is made the basis of instruction." The German system is now made use of in educating the deafmute in two schools in London. In Edinburgh, although it was the method used by the Braidwoods, it is not now in use?chiefly,


AMP‐activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a stress signaling enzyme that orchestrates the regulation of energy pathways. Intrinsic AMPK activation protects the heart against ischemic injury, but whether the pharmacologic AMPK stimulation by aspirin mitigates ischemia‐reperfusion (I/R) damage is unknown.


Introduction: This single-center, prospective, randomized, double-blind study compares the effect of intrathecal fentanylbupivacaine and tramadol-bupivacaine on the onset and duration of sensory and motor blockade, as well as postoperative analgesia in lower abdominal surgeries. Materials and methods: Patients of either sex, aged 18 to 60 years, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) grade I/II undergoing lower abdominal surgeries like appendicectomy, inguinal hernia repair surgery, and hydrocele surgery were administered either 2.5 mL of 0.5% bupivacaine + 0.5 mL (25 μg) of fentanyl citrate (group F) or 2.5 mL of 0.5% bupivacaine + 0.5 mL (25 mg) of tramadol (group T) intrathecally. Monitoring of the vital parameters, onset and duration of sensory and motor block, duration of postoperative analgesia, visual analog scale (VAS) score, sedation score, and any adverse drug reactions was done at predetermined intervals. Results: Sixty patients were randomized to the group F (n = 30) and group T (n = 30). The duration of sensory blockade was significantly prolonged in group F (314.66 ± 49.25 minutes) as compared to group T (261.66 ± 27.92 minutes). Similarly, duration of motor blockade was longer in group F (263.66 ± 40.97 minutes) compared to group T (214.66 ± 26.61 minutes). The total duration of analgesia was significantly prolonged (p < 0.001) in group F (412 ± 97.888 minutes) compared to group T (301 ± 38.75 minutes). Hemodynamic parameters, such as pulse, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and oxygen saturation were comparable in both the groups. Visual analog scores were significantly lower in the group F patients as compared to the group T patients. The group F patients had got significantly higher sedation scores as compared to Group T patients. Discussion: Fentanyl 25 μg, when added to 2.5 mL of 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine, confers prolonged duration of sensory and motor blockade than 25 mg tramadol added to 2.5 mL of 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine. The bupivacaine-fentanyl combination prolonged duration of sensory and motor blockade, improved analgesia, as manifested by lower pain scores, and prolonged duration of postoperative analgesia.


The aims of this thesis were to characterize the molecular ecology of the hyporheic zone – between dissolved organic matter (DOM) and microbes – and to test whether seasonal and spatial patterns existed in correlation with seasonal ecosystem processes. The hyporheic zone is an area of vertical integration between groundwater and surface water, and lateral integration between terrestrial and stream ecosystems. Colonization corers were used to collect in situ DOM and bacterial communities from the hyporheic sediments of two streams that varied in hydroperiod (i.e., permanent vs. intermittent). DOM was collected using passive samplers and analyzed using 1H NMR and fluorescence spectroscopy; bacteria were characterized using terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism. At the permanent site, bacteria correlated significantly with seasonal environmental factors including: fall communities with DOM concentration; spring and winter communities with nitrate concentrations; and summer communities with temperature. Bacterial communities at the intermittent site were significantly correlated with flooding as a function of hydrologic connectivity. Sediment communities were


For vehicle nodes are characterized by high mobility,intermittent connectivity,and so on in VANET,an efficient data dissemination scheme for parked vehicles is proposed,the roadside parked vehicles to buffer and perform data dissemination is exploitinged.And also a routing scheme to distribute each data message to roadside parked vehicles is offered,and introduced the pub/sub scheme into the last stage of data dissemination.The theoretical analysis and the simulation results show that the superiority of the data dissemination scheme for parked vehicles,namely,this scheme achieves a higher data delivery ratio at lower network traffic overhead and reasonable delay.


The paper presents a robust digital watermarking algorithm based on the fractal dimension in color images. First, R, G and B planes of the host color image are divided into blocks with fixed size of 8/spl times/8. Second, the concept of fractal dimension is used to select edge block positions in the R plane as embedding positions in G and B planes. Third, the characteristics of the human visual system (HVS) and the relationship among DCT-coefficients are applied in the embedding procedure. During the extracting procedure, the original color image is not needed. Experimental results show that this algorithm can get good perceptual invisibility. It is also robust against geometry attacks and low-pass filter and high-pass filter processing.


Abstract : The objective of the research effort is to achieve detailed understanding of the excitation mechanisms operative in the xenon and helium-xenon gas lasers. The BatesDamgaard lifetime estimates were extended to include eleven different sets of xenon levels as well as four sets of neon levels. The upper laser levels in xenon (i.e. the 5d levels) are predicted to have extraordinarily long lifetimes. Eighteen known helium cross-sections and the two presently available for xenon, were carefully examined and certain general properties noted. Combining the results of the lifetime and cross-section considerations, a general explanation for the properties of a dischargeexcited laser system was developed. Instabilities in the plasma observed during the course of Langmuir probe studies were identified with running striations. The 'clean-up' of xenon has been studied. Short term stability with respect to the xenon pressure was obtained by deliberately 'saturating' the walls with xenon.


US Government Influenza Vaccine Initiatives Mike Perdue (HHS) discussed HHS mandates covering pandemic flu. Funds have been used for advanced development, stockpile acquisitions and infrastructure development. Current major programs include stockpiling of H5N1, cell-based influenza vaccine development, antigen-sparing technology, recombinant vaccine development and building US domestic manufacturing capacity. He identified program problems as efficacy trials being hampered by unpredictable influenza infection rates year to year, comparisons of egg and cell-derived vaccines being complicated by the fact that the seed stock is egg derived, and FDA concerns about consequences of producing live vaccine in permanent cell lines. Recent initiatives including mix and match clinical trials where NIH has tested different manufacturers antigens (GSK and Novartis) with each other's adjuvants (MF59 and AS03). The audience raised concerns that no trials of pandemic vaccine were being conducted in children, but he explained this was not something that HHS could influence but was in the hands of the companies developing the vaccines. BARDA has built a pandemic H5N1 antigen stockpile of 20 million doses and has also purchased 5 million adjuvant doses. BARDA would like to see an increased uptake of use of seasonal flu vaccines to stimulate extra US manufacturing capacity that could provide surge capacity in event of a pandemic.


With the immense loss of life and property witnessed in the last couple of decades alone in India, due to failure of structures caused by earthquakes, attention is now being given to the evaluation of the adequacy of strength in framed RC structures to resist strong ground motions. In this study symmetrical (G+10) and irregular (G+13) reinforced concrete structure has been considered, which lies in Zone II, according to IS 1893:2000 classification of seismic zones in India. Masonry in-fills have been considered as non-structural members during this entire study. Conventional analyses of the buildings is done by taking the base of the structure to be fixed but in the real life the scenario will be different as compared to a fixed end condition because the soil beneath the foundation will vary the earthquake forces and thus varying the lateral forces acting on the structure. The analysis of structural members is done using STADD PRO. The results of the analysis obtained, necessitated a trial step requiring the variation in its dimension due to its plan irregularity. Further the comparison in the drift in X-direction and Z-direction were obtained.


Abstract : It is shown that phase-locked loops with noise corrupted inputs can be represented by non-linear differential equations with randomly varying coefficients. Conditions for the stability of the linearized form of these equations are determined. The method used in the stability analysis is that of bounding the nth order system impulse response with that of a first order system, and determining where the first order system is stable. This is the method developed by Bershad. The results of this analysis are then applied to second and third order systems to determine their stability regions. These stability regions are experimentally verified. Parameter optimization, utilizing the stability criterion as a constraint, is then performed upon the second and third order systems to minimize their steady-state error to a noise-free ramp phase input. The results of this procedure yield the optimum filters for second and third order phase-locked loops. A comparison is then made to determine which of the two loops has a smaller steady state error to a ramp phase input. Experimental results are given for a phase-locked loop with an optimum filter designed by the above procedure. (Author)


The article critically examines the effectiveness of the UN (peacekeeping) Operation mission in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI). In doing so, it elucidates the challenges associated with employing Chapter VI and Chapter VII (i.e., non-military coercion [Article 41] and forcible military action [Article 42] to resolve the ethnic conflict amongst the disputed parties. In particular, it considers the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) as 'forcible military action' and argues that the implication of the framework has resulted in effective peace enforcement (i.e., UNOCI completed its mandate in June 2017). The article also illuminates several underlying factors that led to violent conflict eruption in Côte d'Ivoire. The analysis has been presented through the Hourglass model and conflict triangle to realize the engagement of R2P encompassing relevant stakeholders for sustained peace in a conflict-ridden country.


This paper introduces the applying mechanism and conditions of the frequency control in the water supply system, and briefly expounds the merits and demerits of the frequency control in water- supply system for domestic consumption and fire- fighting application.


ABSTRACT Water shortage is a critical issue worldwide, and it may adversely impact non-food landscape plants. Thus, the impact of two levels of evapotranspiration-based (ETc) water stresses and two biostimulants consisting of s-abscisic acid (s-ABA) and glycine betaine (GB), and their combined applications on perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) under climatic and soil conditions of the Intermountain West, USA, were studied. Clippings with 50% ETc had higher percentage dry weight (DW) but lower fresh weight (FW) and chlorophyll index (CI) than those with 75% ETc. The performance rating of plots with 75% ETc was significantly higher (better) than those receiving the 50% ETc treatment. Clippings with the 75% ETc treatment had higher concentrations of nitrogen (N), nitrate, phosphorous (P), sulfur (S), potassium (K), sodium (Na), and copper (Cu) than those with the 50% ETc treatment. Considering all mineral nutrient values, CIs, and performance ratings, we conclude that the application of 75% ETc is sufficient for maintaining a healthy turfgrass with a satisfactory appearance, while we can save 25% water as compared to the application of water at 100%. The application of biostimulants had no effect on clipping or root FWs, DWs, or percentage DWs. Clippings from GB-treated turfgrass had significantly higher N than those from all other biostimulants or non-treated control. Additionally, clippings from the plots with the GB treatment had significantly higher S, K, and Cl but lower Zn. Clippings from the s-ABA-treated turfgrass also had significantly higher K than those in non-treated control. Average performance ratings in s-ABA and GB, and s-ABA and GB were significantly higher than those in non-treated control, underscoring the values of these biostimulants in the reduction of drought stress.


Poem "Aku" is one of a collection of poems belonging Chairil Anwar. Each stanza in the poem "Aku" has the meaning of the spirit of the struggle for independence. The meaning can harks back to Indonesian freedom fighters of his time. Alih wahana to be one good means to channel the spirit of the meaning of the poem "Aku" into a scenario. Interested to alih wahana poem "Aku" into a scenario, will give birth to a new story that is tailored to the meaning of the poem "Aku". New stories are created can not be separated from the plot that determines the course of the story. Plots were used to determine the course of the story is a linear plot. Linear plot is a plot of all the conflicts that lead to the main character so that readers focused on the main issues. The use of these plots will create a new story with a hero character in accordance with the meaning of the poem "Aku". This scenario is expected to be the spirit of ancient warriors to the younger generations now in maintaining independence. Keywords: Poetry "Aku", Alih Wahana, scenario, linear plot


The measures which should be taken to resolve the serious bottleneck in residual refuse disposal are the subject of dispute within political circles and amongst the population. The comparison of ecological advantages and disadvantages of various options for community waste management requires a set of instruments, which satisfy scientific criteria, in order to arrive at sustainable quantitative evidence. Reproducibility of the results of a comparison of different methods of disposal is an essential pre-requisite for their acceptance by the public.


Sorting, preparing, and packing for strawberry shipment take farmers a lot of time. Therefore, a communal strawberry sorting system at JA was developed and put into practical application. It consists of weight measuring units, a non-destructive quality analyzer which uses near infrared rays to measure sugar and acid content in strawberry, pans carrying strawberries, and conveyors transporting them. All strawberries can be sorted with an efficiency of 3 strawberries per second. By focusing on the distribution of the sugar content in each strawberry, the analyzer predicted with a higher level of accuracy than the SEP 0.5brix% for sugar content and SEP 0.2wt% for acid content. The sorting system is expected to provide farmers with data that will help them to increase the areas that is cultivated by sharing labor more efficiently.


The possibility to use the theory of active perception in evaluating the distortion degree of a speech signal is in-vestigated.


Context and Aim: Evasion of activity is an elemental reaction that normally allows an injury to heal, but among patients with chronic pain, avoidance behavior is found to persist longer than it takes for the actual injury to heal. This may lead to kinesiophobia which is an irrational, weakening, and devastating fear of movement and activity stemming from the belief of fragility and susceptibility to injury. Studies have shown that older people with low back pain (LBP) demonstrate high levels of kinesiophobia with prevalence ranging up to 80%. Despite the pain and fear that they experience, advising them to avoid painful movements or activities may actually be counter-productive as it will decrease their functional independence. Hence, the aim of the present study was to assess the impact of kinesiophobia on disability and quality of life (QOL) in elderly LBP patients. Subjects and Methods: With ethical permission and informed consent from 125 elderly patients with chronic LBP fulfilling the inclusion and exclusion criteria, three scales were administered to assess kinesiophobia (Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia), disability (Oswestry Disability Index), and QOL (WHO QoL scale). Statistical Analysis Used: Data were collected and statistically analyzed for correlation using Spearman's correlation coefficient. Results: Sixty-five percent of the study population were male of which 82% had clinically significant kinesiophobia and 45% were female of which 85% had clinically significant kinesiophobia. Kinesiophobia was found to have a moderate positive correlation with disability (r = 0.6061) and a strong negative correlation with QOL (r = −0.7598). Conclusions: Kinesiophobia has a moderate-to-severe impact on disability and QOL and should be addressed as a separate symptom and adequate intervention strategies should be incorporated so as to minimize its impact.


Abstract This article investigates the nature of intellectual critique and social criticism Rainer Forst's critical theory of justification enables. I introduce a taxonomy of three forms of power – namely, 'relational', 'structural' and 'systemic' – and related to them types of domination, and assess the capacity of Forst's conceptual framework to address each of them. I argue that the right to justification is a potent tool for emancipation from structural to relational forms of domination, but claim that Forst's particular conceptualisation of power prevents him from addressing injustices generated by 'systemic domination' – the subjection of all actors to the functional imperatives of the system of social relations.


Purpose: This article proposes the utility of using activity theory as an analytical lens to examine the theoretical construct of distributed leadership, specifically to illuminate tensions encountered by leaders and how they resolved these tensions. Research Method: The study adopted the naturalistic inquiry approach of a case study of an elementary school in Singapore in the process of implementing a project using information and communications technology for instruction. The leaders identified included the principal, vice principals, and middle managers, including a senior teacher. Activity theory was used as the lens for data analysis. Findings: The article makes three contributions to distributed leadership. First, boundary-spanning aspects of work give rise to tensions in the distribution of leadership. Second, tensions provide a context for the exercise of influence by leaders—demonstrated through innovative solutions to counter the tensions. Third, the distribution of leadership is dynamic with the centrality of leadership shifting between multiple levels of leaders as they interact in intersecting activity systems. The case study also confirms the importance of studying the relation between structure and human agency in examining the distribution of leadership.


Analysed in this paper are the causes of fracture emergence and development of the shaft kilm frame beam in a cement plant. The vertical fracture is mainly taken shape by such factors as the sudden overload, shortened construction period, earlier form removal, insufficient curing and influences of the equipment installation; the date-stone fracture is mainly taken shape by such influences as the concrete initial setting shrinkage and excessive water cement radio. A brief survey is given about the technology and results of the reinforcement of the frame beam with chemical grouting, and an evaluation is set on this approach.


Text Mining is a field that extracts hidden, not yet discovered, useful information from the text document according to user's query. And Text Classification is one of the text mining tasks to manage the information efficiently, by classifying the documents into classes using classification algorithms. Any text classification method uses a set of features to characterize each text document, where these features should be relevant to the task at hand. Not much work has been done for Punjabi text classification. Adequate annotated corpora are not yet available in Punjabi. This paper introduces preprocessing techniques, features selection methods for Punjabi and classification algorithm to classify the Punjabi Text documents. General Terms Natural language processing, Text classification


The results of a small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) investigation of microstructural evolution in martensitic steels, developed for use in future fusion reactors, are presented. Specifically, modified martensitic steel DIN 1.4914 (MANET type), subjected to different thermal treatments, was studied. The separate analysis of the size distribution functions determined from the nuclear and magnetic SANS components provides information on the presence of different inhomogeneities: large carbides and very small (~1–nm) C–Cr elementary aggregates. In the latter case, since they are such small particles at the resolution limit of the technique, the general problem of extracting their SANS signal from the background has been addressed.


A training guide for college students serving as leaders, tutors, counselors, or advisors to their peers, this book offers guidance on tasks such as tutoring, student orientation, residence hall advising, crisis intervention, and coaching. Chapters focus on maturation, intercultural competence, comm


The financial independence of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and municipalities is one of the most important conditions for their full-fledged functioning, as well as for more active involvement in the processes of strategic planning. To ensure the long-term socio-economic development of municipalities, regions and the country as a whole, strategic development and planning is of great importance, while there are problems associated with the implementation of this tool on the ground and in the regions, which determines the relevance of this study. The processes of centralization in the distribution of budget revenues in Russia hinder the effective use of the potential of the regional and local budget system for the development of regions. The main purpose of this research is to study the general and distinctive features of the formation of regional and municipal finance in the Russian Federation. The article examines the regulatory and legal framework for budgetary support for strategic planning of regions and municipalities, studies the current works of Russian and foreign authors on this topic, provides the experience of foreign countries, analyzes the existing principles of the budgetary systems of regions and municipalities, touches on the problems of budgetary provision of regional and municipal strategic planning, as well as proposed solutions to the identified problems, formulated directions for further research. In the course of the work, the authors identified trends in the budgetary reallocation of funds in the regions, proposed ways to improve and optimize it in order to increase the efficiency of regional and municipal strategic planning. The results of the study make it possible to determine the role of the distribution of budgetary funds within the region, as well as interbudgetary transfers in the process of strategizing, as well as to outline ways to improve the existing systems.


Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) engine has attracted great attention due to its improved performance and emissions compared to conventional engines. It can reduce both Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) and Particulate Matter (PM) emissions simultaneously without sacrificing the engine performance. However, controlling its combustion phasing remains a major challenge due to the absence of direct control mechanism. The start of combustion is entirely initiated by the chemical reactions inside the combustion chamber, resulted from the compression of its homogeneous mixtures. Varying some critical engine parameters can play a significant role to control the combustion phasing of HCCI engine. This paper investigates the characteristics of HCCI combustion fuelled with n-heptane (C7H16) using single-zone model computational software. The model enabled the combustion object to vary from cycle to cycle. Detailed simulations were conducted to evaluate the effects of air fuel ratio (AFR), compression ratio (CR) and intake air temperature on the in-cylinder pressure and heat release rate. The simulation results showed that the single-zone model was able to predict the two-stage kinetic combustion of HCCI engine; the Low Temperature Heat Release (LTHR) and the High Temperature Heat Release (HTHR) regions. It was found that minor changes in AFR, CR and inlet air temperature led to major changes in the HCCI combustion phasing.