Laboratory screening tests are often used to exclude physical illness in psychiatric patients, but there is no recognised consensus as to which tests should be routinely used. UK Consultant Psychiatrists selected at random were asked by questionnaire to identify these laboratory tests which they use for routine screening. There was wide variation in practice, with significant changes in practice since a previous survey in 1981. Most psychiatrists use routine laboratory screening for inpatients, but few for outpatients. The usage of laboratory screening tests by psychiatrists is variable and inconsistent. This may reflect a relative lack of sound evidence on which to base practice.


Groote Schuur Hospital is a major tertiary care hospital situated on the southernmost tip of Africa, serving the whole of the Cape Province up to 800 miles northeast and northwest of Cape Town. In 1980, the Hand Clinic at Groote Schuur Hospital, which had been in existence for 10 years, extended its scope to formal care of brachial plexus injuries. Narakas's 1978 paper was used to plan the repair of traction lesions' and Gilbert's paper of 1980 contributed to the obstetric palsy repair concept.' In 1980 and 1981, 127 brachial plexus injuries were seen at the Hand Clinic (Table 1 ) and an already busy clinic with insufficient operating time for all hand trauma was now further burdened by the brachial plexus surgery. Prior to 1980 no real management plan for brachial plexus injuries existed, and only stab injury repairs (end-to-end) were attempted. Obstetric injuries were treated conservatively and only tendon transfers done later. The new brachial plexus clinic adopted the management plan of Narakas for all traction injuries and that of Gilbert for all obstetric traction injuries. The immediate load of cases flooded the available theatre time and, although further theatre time was soon allocated, modification of the management plan had to be made. It was noted that adult traction injuries from rural areas often presented after 3-4 months with a clear history of significant improvement in the first few weeks after the injury. Surgery was planned as soon as possible, ruptured nerves were grafted, and partially functioning nerves were neurolysed. Dramatic improvements were sometimes seen after extensive neurolysis, with recovery occurring within weeks in injuries of 4-6 months' standing. This encouraged us to delay surgery rather than operate in the first weeks after injury, and decompressed the waiting list somewhat; occasionally a patient would recover sufficiently so as not to require surgery. Similarly, because only one surgeon (R.S.B.) was available, the extensive number of supraclavicular3 stab injuries also presented a logistic problem. The principle of primary exploration and nerve graft of all stab


The article presents an example of satellite propagation modeling, applying the radio channel transfer function analysis as described and experimentally verified in scientific literature. The simulation of a satellite radio channel is executed by employing "ray tracing" and the uniform geometric theory of diffraction-based method for an assumed urban and suburban environment and different polarizations. Derived results regarding the channel transfer function are analyzed via a simulation of the wideband propagation measurement system and the Fourier transform procedures. It has been concluded that, contrary to ground cell radio system situations, where two-ray models usually suffice, a more detailed calculation should be considered for wideband satellite radio systems. Moreover, it is shown that the conclusions derived for the path loss and the delay spread depend not only on the specific propagation scenario, but also on the building permittivity.


Since 1948 a number of papers published in Great Britain have demonstrated the feasibility of studying the incidence and prevalence of both major and minor psychiatric disorders in general practice (3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14, 16, 17, 18). Few, however, have focused on the health of West Indian immigrants in Great Britain, some 125,000 of whom have entered the country since that time (2, 12, 13, 20). This paper reports on the results of a six-month psychiatric morbidity survey of a group general practice in Brixton, the main purpose of which was to collect and compare data on the illness and consultation patterns of West Indian and English patients attending the same general practice.


Even aspects of supply chain management itself have become increasingly specialized. Transportation management is becoming a specialty distinct from overall logistics management, whereas purchasing is specializing in applied topics like sourcing strategies, supplier quality methods, value engineering, and so on. The supply chain is treated as integrity which is composed of many operating elements realizing their own goals by means of taking part in the chain. From the point of view of each unit the integrity is subject to modeling and is the potential area for optimization. This depiction of the supply chain means that the chain is (in material meaning) a separate and independent organization with defined goals, defined internal structure and financial resources. In this way, supply chain becomes a separate economic unit (at least in theory) who is able to compete with other chains on the market and also may be a research subject of the organization and management theory. The present paper explores the following issues: Development of the concept of supply chain, The need for supply chain management., Type of supply chain management model(s), Framework of the supply chain management model(s). Supply chain performance measures, Issues in the design of supply chain management framework. Supply chain decisions. Quantitative methods and supply chain management (SCM).


One of the power system crucial problems for stability is the oscillation at low frequencies. The low frequency oscillation (LFO) is a small signal stability of the power system and has a passive impact on the maximum power transfer (load flow) in power systems. The inter area oscillation using eigenvalue method is presented and analyzed by modeling and linearizing the system around the operating point. This paper introduces the inter area oscillation using Eigen value method by presenting and discussing a proposed power system of two-area, 4-machine into two different cases: The first case is the system running without power system stabilizer, and the second case is to deploy the power system stabilizer firstly in area 1 afterwards area 2 and finally in the two areas at the same time. The advantage of the damping of oscillations is found clearly in the system ability to increase the tie-line power flowing in the proposed system. All simulations results are carried out using MATLAB software.


TO THE EDITOR: The endothelium regulates vascular tone and growth by releasing factors such as endothelin-1 and nitric oxide (1). Impaired endothelial function and elevated levels of endothelin-1 contribute substantially to cardiovascular disorders (2-4). Oral contraceptives containing ethinylestradiol are associated with an increased cardiovascular risk (5). It is not known whether this risk is caused by changes in endothelium-derived factors. We investigated whether 7-day therapy with ethinylestradiol, 50 g/d, causes changes in the potent vasoconstrictor endothelin-1. Participants were 10 healthy premenopausal women (mean age, 32.4 years). Three fasting blood samples for the measurements of endothelin-1, progesterone, and estradiol levels were taken during the pretreatment cycle as follows: sample 1, cycle days 2 through 4; sample 2, 7 days after sample 1; sample 3, cycle days 20 through 24. To correspond with the pretreatment cycle, the blood samples during the treatment cycle were taken at cycle days 2 through 4 (before treatment) and 7 days after the first sample (after treatment). During the pretreatment cycle, endothelin-1 levels decreased significantly (from 3.89 ng/L to 2.93 ng/L; P<0.04) whereas estradiol levels increased (Figure). Ethinylestradiol treatment led to a significant decrease in endothelin-1 levels compared with baseline levels during the treatment cycle (from 2.94 ng/L to 2.26 ng/L; P<0.03) and compared with all measurements during the pretreatment cycle. Figure. Decrease in endothelin-1 levels ( left ) and increase in estradiol levels ( right ) during the normal menstrual cycle in 10 women. We conclude that for studies concerning endothelin-1 during premenopause, investigators must consider that levels of this peptide change during the menstrual cycle. Ethinylestradiol treatment significantly decreases plasma endothelin-1 levels. This finding indicates that this potent synthetic estrogen can profoundly affect an endothelium-released substance. This, in turn, might influence the cardiovascular risk seen with oral contraceptive use.


Current Text-to-Speech (TTS) systems are trained on audio-book data and perform well in synthesizing read-style speech. In this work, we are interested in synthesizing audio stories as narrated to children. The storytelling style is more expressive and requires perceptible changes of voice across the narrator and story characters. To address these challenges, we present a new TTS corpus of English audio stories for children with 32.7 hours of speech by a single female speaker with a UK accent. We provide evidence of the salient differences in the suprasegmentals of the narrator and character utterances in the dataset, motivating the use of a multi-speaker TTS for our application. We use a fine-tuned BERT model to label each sentence as being spoken by a narrator or character that is subsequently used to condition the TTS output. Experiments show our new TTS system is superior in expressiveness in both A-B preference and MOS testing compared to reading-style TTS and single-speaker TTS.


ABSTRACT Recent circumstances (e.g., COVID-19, socio-political tensions) exacerbate persistent teacher shortages, reinforcing the need to attend to factors associated with teacher retention. In this multimethod study, we explore outcomes of an online, year-long professional development focused on collaboration and autonomy – two factors correlated with teacher retention. The professional development exposed educators to deeper learning and personalized learning approaches, and sought to transform collaborative practices. Findings reveal that teachers' practices expanded and beliefs became more positive over time. Further, teachers believe they must forego prior expectations for teaching and learning through mind-set changes that strengthen collaboration and embrace new pedagogical approaches.


It is clear that the practice of child labour in the society would deprive the child of his basic human rights; his right to education and learning; his right to entertainment and interact with peers as also his right to enjoy the beauty of the world around him and to develop a rounded personality. The children drawn to the labour force are not themselves choosing to work at such an early age. They are rather compelled to join the labour force against their will by certain familial and social circumstances. The circumstances which bring the minor children to work in the labour force can be characterized as socioeconomic compulsion such as poverty, unemployment of the adult family members etc. The present study has been conducted in the urban localities of Gujarat state. The study focuses mainly on the factors, which compel the children to adopt occupational roles at a tender age. This study is based on primary data collected from 400 working children in Diamond Industry of Gujarat state.


Abstract As a state that occupied an unstable position on the continuum of late nineteenth-century European inter-imperial system of sovereignty—oscillating between a subject and an object of new forms of imperialism—I argue that the Ottoman Empire presents a unique case study through which to examine the process of legalistic exclusion of non-Western states from an emerging international system of legal relations. This article investigates the precarity of Ottoman sovereignty in the Horn of Africa at the end of the nineteenth century in relation to a growing European global legal hegemony. It historicizes the process of Ottoman exclusion from the 'family of sovereign nations' with all the rights and privileges that belonging to this exclusive group of European imperial states entailed. This is done through an excavation of the roots of nineteenth-century international law and its relation to the Ottoman state, followed by the demonstrative example of the Ottoman-British negotiations surrounding Ottoman rule in Zeila (Somalia) and Massawa (Eritrea) between 1885 and 1895.


Seismic intensity map which reflects the actual situation of destruction in a certain area after the earthquake, and it is of great significance in guiding relief work and assessing damage loss. Based on cloud monitoring method proposed, we developed software, which can quickly investigate the seismic intensity distribution and draw the intensity map after the earthquake using the big data collected by individual smart phone questionnaire in earthquake zone. According to seismic attenuation law, we generated some seismic intensity values to test our system and successfully drawn out of the seismic intensity map.


Abstract Background Epithelioid sarcoma (ES) is a rare soft-tissue sarcoma (STS) (1%). Few recent studies describe pathological and clinical characteristics of ES. Little is known about management and outcomes of patients with localized diseases. The objectives are to study tumor characteristics and clinical management of ES patients with local and locally-advanced disease. Methods This is a retrospective study from the nation-wide French sarcoma network (NetSarc). From 2000 to 2016, patients with confirmed ES by expert pathologists, and with a localized disease were included. R2 were excluded. Results A total of 98 patients were analysed from 13 centres. Median age was 38 years (range 9-90) with male predominance (56%). The median size was 4 cm (0.3-72). Most common location was distal upper limb (40%). Pre-surgical biopsy was performed in 46% of patients. R0 resection was obtained for 64 patients (79%), R1 for 17 patients (21%). Margins revision surgery has been performed in 51% of patients. Limb-sparing was possible in 73% patients and amputation in 27%. Twenty-five patients (26%) received neoadjuvant treatments mainly chemotherapy with doxorubin-based regimen or isolated limb perfusion in 8 patients (10%). After surgery, 40 patients (43%) received adjuvant treatment, mainly radiotherapy (93%) and 20% received chemotherapy. After a median follow-up of 66.2 months (IC 95 48.4-74.7), 52% patients relapsed : locoregional relapse for 25 patients (52%), distant metastases for 35 patients (75%). The median disease-free-survival (DFS) was 54.5 months (IC95 33.7-105.6). Five-year overall survival (OS) rate was 71% (IC95 59-80). By univariate analyses, locally advanced disease and size larger than 5 cm were identified as a poor-prognosis factors for DFS and OS. R1 surgical margins were prognostic for OS. Proximal location, necrosis, mitosis index had no significant prognostic impact. Conclusions ES have a high rate of recurrence, particularly as locoregional relapse. Locally advanced disease, size larger than 5 cm, R1 surgical margins were identified as a poor-prognosis factors. Legal entity responsible for the study Perrin Christophe. Funding Has not received any funding. Disclosure All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.


Since 1991, the groundwater monitoring has been carried out in the experimental watershed of Porijôgi River (276 km), South Estonia. Water samples to analyze the content of NH4, N02 , N03> P04 , total-P, and S0 4 in water were taken from 46 dug wells (with 0.5-10 m depth) four times a year (in spring, summer, autumn and winter). Three main subwatersheds (upper course, forested area and extensive agricultural use, 12 wells; Sipe subwatershed, moderate agricultural use, 11 wells; Vânda subwatershed, intensive agriculture, 23 wells) have been studied. The mean values of N 0 3 in groundwater top layer of intensively used agricultural areas exceed the official EC quality standard for drinking water: 50 mg H. In the study area, only in forested and extensively used upper course watershed the N0 3 concentration is still low (<15 mg l" , in some springwater even <1 mg H). In the intensively used subwatershed, the maximal values reached 51 and mean values 19 mg NO3-N 1. Highly significant correlation (R=0.78) between the N fertilization intensity and N0 3 concentration in the groundwater top layer was found. In dug wells of the intensively used subwatershed with non-fertilized buffer zones (perennial grasslands with hedges or tree rows), the content has been significantly lower than in those adjacent to fertilized fields. Also, negative correlation between the well depth and N 0 3 concentration in water was found. The mean value of S04-S concentration is also related to fertilization intensity but is relatively low (<60 mg H). Phosphorus concentrations (mean: <0.1 mg l") have been found higher under the sandy soils. Despite decreasing N0 3 concentrations in stream runoff of the study area during the last years, there was no decrease of N 0 3 in groundwater. As expected, in the water samples of early spring and late autumn N 0 3 concentrations have been found significantly higher. Some alternative measures to clean up the contaminated with nitrates drinking water and to control nutrient fluxes in the intensively used watershed (planted soil filters combined with coral chalk filters, macrophyte ponds, reconstructed manure composting sites, buffer zones and buffer strips) have been proposed.


FIELD: medicine. SUBSTANCE: invention relates to field of medicine. In method realisation mammograms at two different energies of irradiation are obtained. Standard with known distributions of density, thickness and effective atomic number is placed neat mammary gland. Coefficients of connection of atomic number with difference and ratio of logarithms of number of photons, which have passed through mammary gland without interaction at two different energies of irradiation are determined and used to visualise its distribution in mammary gland. EFFECT: method makes it possible to increase reliability of identification of microcalcinates at early stage of their formation due to combination of dividing and subtracting mammography, ensuring suppression of density variation and isolation of only variation of effective atomic number. 2 dwg


Abstract Introduction: Cranioplasty following decompressive craniectomy is routinely performed to restore integrity of skull and improve neurological function. However, reconstructing the cranial defect brings many challenges to neurosurgeons and search for ideal implant materials is one of the most controversial issues. Although many studies have compared the outcomes of titanium and polyetheretherketone (PEEK) cranioplasty, yet no prospective study exists to guide the choice of titanium and PEEK materials. Methods/design: A non-randomized, partially blinded, prospective cohort study is described that comprehensively compares the long-term outcomes of titanium cranioplasty versus PEEK cranioplasty. One hundred forty-five patients for each group will be recruited. Eligible patients are those with cranial defect due to traumatic brain injury (≥ 16 years), defect size is over 25 cm2 and they must agree to participate in the trial. Each participant is evaluated before surgery, on discharge, 3, 6, and 12 months after cranioplasty. The primary outcome is the infection, implant failure and implant deformation requiring revision surgery within 12 months. Secondary outcomes include postoperative complication rate, neurological outcomes, motor function, and cosmetic outcome over a 6-month period. Discussion: Search for ideal implant materials is throughout the history of cranioplasty. This study will provide robust evidence for the choice of cranioplasty materials. Trial registration number: ChiCTR2000033406


ABSTRACT While there has been ample research on the roles of managers, no similar studies have been conducted regarding the roles of Managing Partners in law firms – a subgroup of professional service firms (PSF). However, the many differences between PSFs and industrial or other service providers suggest that the existing research on the role of managers cannot be applied to law firm Managing Partners. In order to fill that gap and analyze the roles of law firm managers, evidence was collected in 34 interviews with 36 Managing Partners from large and mid-size law firms in the DACH-Region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) regarding their function as their firms' top managers. Analysis shows that while the Managing Partner function varies considerably between law firms, the activities of Managing Partners can be clustered into 15 distinct roles. This study adds empirical evidence to the existing practice literature and supports our understanding of the Managing Partner function in law firms and other PSF.


Difficulties for student-youth are connected with primal socialization in higher education institution, with occupation change and acquaintance with new collective. Aiming students successful social adaptation, pedagogue, curator and psychologist provide adaptational trainings, joint trips, mass arrangements.


The impact of various process parameters on the surface roughness during the ultrasound turning finishing process was discussed. The best combination of process parameters was investigated,and the relationship between the various factors and the test indicators was analyzed by using the Taguchi methods. The test results indicate that the surface roughness is much smaller when the ultrasonic vibration is added during turning finishing. When no ultrasonic vibration was attached,the biggest factor of impact on the surface roughness is the speed,and the minimal of that is feed. When ultrasonic vibration was added,the greatest impact factor on the surface roughness is speed,and minimal of that is cutting depth.


The botanical species of Paphiopedilum are found in the jungles of the Far East and Indonesia. Paphiopedilum is also called lady's slipper or slipper orchid.


Although short reverberation in a room may help speech perception, it is known that long reverberation causes degradation in speech comprehension. This is especially true for elderly people, the hearing‐impaired, and non‐native listeners. In order to prevent intelligibility degradation, we can apply a signal processing technique to the public address system of a room before speech signals are radiated through the loudspeakers. So far, we have developed several such preprocessing techniques. The two main techniques are modulation filtering [Kusumoto et al., Speech Commun. 45, 101–113 (2005)] and steady‐state suppression [Arai et al., Acoust. Sci. Technol. 23, 229–232 (2002)]. Both techniques essentially enhance the temporal dynamics of speech between 1 and 16 Hz [Arai et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 105, 2783–2791 (1999)]. Steady‐state suppression, which suppresses steady‐state portions of speech, reduces overlap‐masking and improves speech intelligibility for young, elderly, and non‐native listeners in reverb...


The development of cloud storage technology has brought us great convenience that we can store data in remote servers and access it on any connected device. However, the frequent leakage of private data has brought more and more attention to the protection of private data. To solve related problems, the distributed storage schemes have been proposed. Considering security and fault tolerance, many of those schemes adopt threshold secret sharing techniques which are wildly used in distributed storage systems with disaster tolerance function. Nevertheless, in practical situations, the bandwidth between users and different servers may be unbalanced or even unfixed, which leads to low communication efficiency of the schemes when adopting original secret sharing. To obtain higher communication efficiency under different communication loads, we proposed a novel adaptive bandwidth secret sharing scheme in distribution cloud storage systems. In addition, we consider the scenario in which we use Shamir's secret sharing scheme and Staircase codes respectively in order to improve the applicability of the adaptive bandwidth scheme. We make the comparative of performance analysis to show the advantages and disadvantages of these two schemes. In general, compared with the non-adaptive schemes, the proposed adaptive bandwidth scheme can make full use of unbalanced bandwidth and achieve higher average communication rate when the upper bound of bandwidth is large enough.


David Giles did not know when he directed the BBC Richard Il that he would also be the director for all of the second Tetralogy and what might readily be styled the Henri ad. ' However, by the time Giles started into I Henry IV, Cedric Messina, producer for the first two years of the series, had committed himself, and Giles was looking forward to a sequence of three plays. With Messina's support, he determined to shoot the plays as a unity. For example, / Henry IV begins with a flashback to Richard's death, and in 2 Henry IV "Before the play opens we see, in flashback, King Richard II handing the Crown to Bolingbroke," then "Bolingbroke (now King Henry IV) at his prayers," and finally, "Prince Hal in mortal combat with hotspur on Shrewsbury field" (BBC 2H4 29). As a result, we are able to watch the development of Bolingbroke, Falstaff, and Hal from play to play. Our Henry V has also been our Hal and has had to come to terms with the shift on film. As John Wilders, literary advisor to the BBC Shakespeare series, told me in a 1987 interview, "I think that certainly to see the two parts of Henry IV and Henry V as a sequence makes an enormous difference. . . ." In fact, Hal becomes tremendously important since he is the only major character to appear in all three films, and his development, his shift from prince to king, becomes the unifying pattern in the tapestry of the BBC second Tetralogy. A very clear example of this was the overall subordination of Falstaff to Hal. Anthony Quayle, one of this century's best-known Falstaffs, director as well as star of the 1951 Stratford productions, offered a powerful interpretation of the fat knight. But it is a measure of the success of Giles's skill as coordinator as well as director that Quayle's Falstaff exactly suits this Prince Hal, that the Henriad advances smoothly in spite of the Falstaffian hill of flesh which might have impeded its progress. As Anthony Quayle himself says, "Shakespeare seems somewhere to have decided to go on to write the heroic, nationalistic play of Henry V and he's going to turn Hal . . . into the national hero. ... He cannot have Falstaff hanging round his neck" (Fenwick, 2H4 24). The removal and rejection of Falstaff has, however, troubled audiences from the time of Maurice Morgann to the present. As a means of minimizing Falstaff's importance and highlighting Hal, David Giles and Anthony Quayle have reduced the duration and therefore the warmth and impact of Falstaffs last performance. The scene becomes the occasion for Hal, in the course of the Henriad, to move on to Henry V, not the tragic end to the play's most beloved character. Anthony Quayle says, "I think the audience must love Falstaff to the end but they must also say: 'Hal had to do that, he really had to!'" (Fenwick, 2H4 24). Pushed in among a crowd that is held back with a rope, Falstaff shouts to his new King, but the shouts are difficult to hear, and one might wonder why Hal bothered to stop in the first place. Once he does stop, the camera is almost constantly on the young King. The camera turns to Falstaff for "My king! My Jove! I speak to thee my heart!" (V.v.47). There is then a cut to Hal, and next a cut to Falstaff seen over Hal's shoulder. This shot indicates (if any proof were needed) that the scene could have been filmed much differently because, though Hal is looking upscreen at Falstaff, three quarters of his face is visible. With a slight modification of the camera angle, the reactions of old knight and new king would have been simultaneously available. Instead, there is a cut back to Hal, full face and staring straight ahead, the posture he maintains for most of his next speech, which begins now with "I know thee not, old man. Fall to thy prayers" (V.v.48).2 There is a brief cut to Falstaff at V.v.49, "How ill white hairs become a fool and jester!," and there is also the obligatory cut following "Know the grave doth gape/For thee thrice wider than for other men" (V. …


Abstract SCI-47 Red cell transfusions are associated with the development of acute lung injury in critically ill patients, yet the mechanisms for this association remain unknown. We have previously shown that stored red blood cells (RBCs) express the advanced glycation end-product Ne-carboxymethyl lysine (Ne-CML) (1). Advanced glycation end-products (AGEs), a heterogeneous group of adducts formed during states of increased oxidative stress or hyperglycemia, are thought to exert their effects by binding to membrane receptors, including RAGE (the receptor for advanced glycation-end products). RAGE is a multiligand pattern-recognition receptor implicated in vascular disease whose function in lung endothelium remains unknown. Our previous data demonstrate that RAGE ligands on stored erythrocytes can induce reactive oxygen species in lung endothelial cells. We therefore hypothesized that RAGE ligands on the surface of stored RBCs exacerbate lung inflammation by interacting with the pulmonary endothelium, thus possibly participating in the pathogenesis of lung injury following transfusion. We first examined lung endothelial cells at baseline using multiple techniques and observed low basal expression of RAGE. Because RAGE ligands can induce the expression of RAGE, and stored red blood cells (RBCs) express the RAGE ligand Ne-carboxymethyl lysine (Ne-CML), we investigated whether RBC transfusion would augment RAGE expression on lung endothelium utilizing a syngeneic model of RBC transfusion. Increased lung endothelial RAGE expression and enhanced lung inflammation and endothelial activation was observed, as evidenced by increases in lung high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) and vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM-1) expression following transfusion. These effects were mediated by RAGE, as endothelial activation was absent in RBC-transfused Rage knockout mice. Therefore, functional consequences of RBC transfusion are augmented RAGE expression, increased RAGE ligation, and endothelial activation, thus linking RAGE activation to lung inflammation following RBC transfusion. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


We report on the preparation of Alkyl-Graphene by hydrothermal method, and their dispersion in lubrication oil. The alkylated graphenes with variable alkyl chain lengths (Cn = 8, 12, 18) are prepared by coupling of alkylamine with carboxylic groups of graphene oxide (GO). FTIR, XPS, TGA methods were used to analyze and assess the GO modified ability by amine. The morphology and microstructure of prepared GO and alkyl-graphene were examined using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD). The experiments confirmed the formation of GO and alkyl-graphene. Stably distributed system of alkyl-graphene in SN500 reached 13.2 g/l with octylamine and 9.5 g/l with decylamine and 6.0 g/l with dodecylamine. The lubricating characteristics of lubrication oil containing alkyl-graphene was determined according to ASTM D2783. Evaluation of the reduction performance of SN500 oil when adding with alkyl-graphene: modified GO by octylamine gave the best performance compared to decylamine, dodecylamine. The reduction of abrasion reached 11.3 % at 0.3 g/l and 12.5% at 0.4 g/l of octyl-graphene.


Nanotechnology is novel and having full scope of contribution in the field of human health care. Recent advances suggest that nanotechnology will have a profound impact on diseases prevention, diagnosis and treatment. It will allow faster drug absorption, controlled dose release with minimized side-effects. Nanotechnology plays a crucial role in revolutionizing the field of surgery, detection of disease like cancer. Drugs with high toxic potential can be given with a better safety profile with the utility of nanotechnology. It is an ideal targeting system should have long circulating time, it should be present at appropriate Concentrations at the target site, and it should not lose its activity or therapeutic efficacy while in circulation. Our aim is to review the potential applications and various drug delivery system of nanotechnology. Keywords: Nanotechnology, health care, side-effects, revolutionizing, concentrations.


During sterile vagina dilator for single use deflection test,the expander to exert pressure with the deformation,the paper on the trial process,whether the change in test conditions were analyzed.


This paper belongs to the mathematical modeling used as a teaching tool field, essential in teaching linear algebra to future telecommunications engineers. We present several technical examples in which linear algebra plays an important role, and describes how these examples can be used to achieve a better understanding of algebraic concepts discussed. At the end of the paper, some of the results obtained in the experiment conducted in the ETSEEI La Salle (Ramon Llull University) are discussed, and some significant conclusions can be drawn regarding the influence of technical examples on the final performance of students.


People in industry and government who should know better are hounded by the fear that intensified mechanisation by computer, micro-chip and other advanced technologies will 'destroy' jobs. 'Where will the new jobs come from?', they ask mechanically. Professor Patrick Minford retorts that their fears are largely groundless because their reasoning is superficial. The long-term outlook for employment could be bright if government helped rather than hindered fluidity in the labour market.


List of Illustrations Introduction Chapter 1 Elegance, Comfort, Durability! Class, Contours and Corsetry Chapter 2 Corsetry and the Invisibility of the Maternal Body Chapter 3 The Child, the Corset and the Construction of Female Sexuality Chapter 4 Corsetry and the Reality of Female Complaints Chapter 5 Breathless with Anticipation: Romance, Mobidity and the Corset Chapter 6 Gender, Gym and the Cultivation of the Nineteenth-Century Body Conclusion Bibliography


This study is descriptive research to investigate frequency of performance, self-confidence and performance assessment scores of core nursing skills by 227 nursing students. As the result of this study, they who experienced more than 10times in clinical practice was V/S and they never experienced items such as transfusion, enema and T-tube care. For pre self-confidence, they had the highest V/S and the lowest transfusion. For post self-confidence, they had the lowest IM. As a result of the evaluation, oxygen therapy with nasal cannula was measured highest, and IM was measured lowest. Frequency of performance had positive correlations with self-confidence(r=0.414, p<.001) and performance assessment scores(r=0.322, p=.007). Self-confidence with performance assessment scores had positive correlation(r=0.281, p=.003). Study results suggested that clinical practice is carried out, non-invasive, simple measurements, and they had low self-confidence of the items with low frequency of performance, so convergency training methods to complement this point are needed.


Tactical decisions characterize team sports like soccer or basketball profoundly. Analyses of training sessions and matches (e.g., mileage or pass completion rate of a player) form more and more a crucial base for those tactical decisions. Most of the analyses are video-based, resulting in high operating expenses. Additionally, a highly specialized system with a huge amount of system resources like processors and memory is needed. Typically, analysts present the results of the video data in time-outs (e.g., in the half-time break of a soccer match). Therefore, coaches are not able to view statistics during the match. In this paper we propose the concepts and current state of Herakles, a system for live sport analysis which uses streaming sensor data and a Peer-to-Peer network of conventional and low-cost private machines. Since sensor data is typically of high volume and velocity, we use a distributed data stream management system (DSMS). The results of the data stream processing are intended for coaches. Therefore, the front-end of Herakles is an application for mobile devices (like smartphones or tablets). Each device is connected with the distributed DSMS, retrieves updates of the results and presents them in real-time. Therefore, Herakles enables the coach to analyze his team during the match and to react immediately with tactical decisions.


The article describes the main types of universal educational actions, determines the directions in which information technologies can be implied in the process of future teachers training aimed at formation of universal educational activities in primary school


In recent years, the EU has adopted a series of new directives to promote "equality" and to fight "discrimination". Further measures are planned. But given that they are based on highly abstract concepts leaving wide margins of interpretation, the true meaning and impact of these new laws is difficult to understand in advance. In this article, I analyse three recent cases that give a foretaste of where European legislators, in their quest for more "equality", may be heading.


This paper outlines an implementation of an analytic framework that addresses the need to understand socio-technical networks as intertwined processes at local and network levels of agency distributed across various media. We integrate data sources in a single abstract transcript of events, and identify empirical relationships between these events to build a graph of uptake relations -- how one act builds on another. We then use cohesive sub graph detection to identify "sessions" in the space-time dimensions represented by these graphs. Analysis can then focus on individual sessions and identify key actors within these sessions using sociometrics, or find relationships between sessions that might be vectors for the transmission of ideas or practices. An example is provided using data from the Tapped In educator professional network.


This repor t describes the morphological features of a p r imary in t racerebral neoplasm which warr an t s classification as a re t iculum cell sarcoma. Ev idence is p resen ted to demons t r a t e t h a t this t u m o r arose f rom the advent i t i a l his t iocytes and provides an except ional ly clear example of the dis t inct ive origin of this t ype of neoplasm. Cri teria useful for recognizing this t ype of t umor and necessary for its diagnosis are presented.


This article demonstrates that it is not only possible, but urgently necessary, to apply principles of finance and economics — efficient use of scarce capital, price transparency, and lowered transaction costs — to environmental issues. From limiting acid rain with the sulfur dioxide‐allowance market to the implementation of the Clean Water Act, market‐based solutions have proven consistently more effective in protecting the environment than government regulation alone. Project financing, public‐private partnerships, and tradable permits have come to supplement or replace conventional command‐and‐control regulation and purely tax‐based instruments. Tradable permit systems have been deployed to phase down use of leaded gasoline, end the use of ozone‐depleting chloro‐fluorocarbons, and even reduce air pollution in the smoggy skies above Los Angeles. And the United Nations Environment Program has launched a Finance Initiative as a formal means of mobilizing the financial sector to take a more active role in protecting the environment. Such an approach can minimize the aggregate costs of achieving environmental targets while providing dynamic incentives for the adoption and diffusion of greener technologies.


This work deals with consumers' preferences about coffee. Firstly, a choice experiment is performed on a sample of potential consumers. Following this, a sensory test involving the tasting of two varieties of coffee is carried out with the respondents, after which the same choice experiment is supplied to them again. An innovative approach for building heterogeneous choice designs is specifically developed for the case‐study, based on approximate design theory and compound design criterion. Panel Mixed Logit models are used, thereby allowing for the inclusion of correlation among consumers' responses; choice‐sets are supplied to a proportion of respondents according to optimal weights. The estimation results of the Panel Mixed Logit model are satisfactory, confirming the validity of the proposed approach.


Objective:To design the employment training pattern of college graduates,promoting comprehensive qualities and employment capability of college students.Methods:Systematic employment training modules and contents were designed scientifically;study objectives were trained on employment intensively for short time in various forms;after the training a simulative job fair was held;an experimental group and a control group were set for blind assessment;training effect was checked and assessed.Results:The comprehensive score of the experimental group was 87.6±3.09,and that of the control group was 63.5±7.20.The difference was statistical significance(P0.01).Conclusions:The designed employment training pattern after graduation is practical with obvious effects and realistic significance,which can provide practical,systematic and standard training scheme for colleges in graduate employment and can also be the reference for relevant colleges in graduates training and guidance.


This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of organic fertilizer (i.e. cow manure) and inorganic fertilizer application on nutrient uptake and yield of sweet corn (Zea mays saccharata Sturt). Inceptisols possesses low soil fertility and relatively low to moderate level of organic matter content. Application of organic fertilizer in combination with inorganic fertilizers is expected to increase N, P and K uptake and yield of sweet corn. This study has been conducted from October 2018 to February 2019 at the Field Experiment of Agriculture Faculty, Universitas Padjadjaran, Jatinangor, West Java. The study was performed in a Randomized Block Design consisting of 10 treatments and 3 replications. The treatments were as follow: A = Control, B = Standard NPK, C = 0 NPK + 1 organic fertilizer, D = ¼ NPK + 1 organic fertilizer, E = ½ NPK + 1 organic fertilizer, F = ¾ NPK + 1 organic fertilizer, G = 1 NPK + 1 organic fertilizer, H = ¾ NPK + ¼ organic fertilizer, I = ¾ NPK + ½ organic fertilizer and J = ¾ NPK + ¾ organic fertilizer. The results showed that the treatment I (¾ NPK + ½ organic fertilizer) resulted the highest N, P and K uptake, i.e. 52.11 mg plant−1; 80.85 mg plant−1 and 54.17 mg plant−1, respectively and the heaviest weight of sweet corn of 400.15 g.


Introduction and methods:
Thanks to developments in perinatal and neonatal care, the survival rate of premature babies has increased. Depending on the development level of countries and units, some of the morbidity rates may increase, while others may decrease. In this retrospective cross-sectional study; the morbidity and mortality results of very low birth weight (VLBW) infants were evaluated by comparing the results of the infants in our previous study and the data of developed countries.
Results:
203 infants were included in the last group. The mean birth weight of these babies was 976±308 g and the mean gestational age was 27.8±2.5 weeks. The rate of babies with a gestational age of 28 weeks and above were significantly lower than the first group containing 173 infants. Regarding major morbidities, the rates of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (moderate to severe) and necrotizing enterocolitis (>stage 2) were significantly higher in the last group; while the rates of retinopathy of prematurity (>grade 2), intraventricular hemorrhage (>grade 2) and periventricular leukomalacia were also similar among the two groups. While survival rates were found to be similar, the survival rate without major morbidity was significantly lower in the last group.
Conclusion:
While the survival rates remained unchanged despite the observation of smaller babies in terms of birth weight and gestational age in the last period when mortality and morbidity data were compared with developed countries, the study demonstrated a need for improvement in mortality rates especially in small gestational weeks, while major morbidity rates were generally encouraging.


This chapter reviews theories and perspectives, such as role theory, the life course perspective, and the resource perspective, pertaining to retirement and how passion for work relates to the main theoretical background used to study retirement. An extensive review of the research that has examined the role of passion for work in retirees' psychological adjustment is presented. Results show that harmonious passion for work is positively associated with retirees' psychological adjustment, whereas the opposite if found for obsessive passion. The chapter concludes with suggestions for future research in this important area as well as with practical implications aimed at organizations, workers and retirees to facilitate a smoother life transition and to experience a more fulfilling retirement.


Cutting your losses and running from a property? What you need to know if you want SARS to chip in towards your loss.


An etchant for microstructure analysis of interstitial free steel is provided to improve measurement reliability by efficiently preventing ghost grains and stepped corrosion, etc., thereby preventing error from generating when analyzing the grain size and measuring the microstructure. An etchant for microstructure analysis of interstitial free steel comprises less than 0.05% by weight of carbon. The etchant for microstructure analysis of interstitial free steel is a composition prepared by adding 0.1 to 2 ml of hydrochloric acid to 100 ml of a mixed solution comprising 1 to 5 g of picric acid, 3 to 5 ml of nitric acid, and the balance of methanol or ethanol.


Water is one of the most precious of the world's natural resources, yet too little effort is made to conserve
and preserve the limited available supply. Fresh water resources available for consumption vary
considerably around the world. This abundance in some regions tends to create a perception of an infinite
supply and that conservation is of minimal concern. These fresh water resources are being depleted every
year primarily because withdrawal exceeds the rate of recharge. Recycling our water through reuse will
help to preserve our finite available resources for future generations. Modular production systems can be
developed utilizing recycling technology to preserve resources and enhance the quality of life,
particularly for rural inhabitants of the world.


Phenyl Certification: Public Perception and Impacts of Certification of the Local Scale Forest Management (Study Case in Selopuro and Sumberejo Villages, Batuwarno Sub District, Wonogiri Regency, Central Java)In 2002, Indonesian Ecolabel Institution (LEI) established the so-called Sustainable Community Based Forest Management Certification system (PHBML). In 2004, with a PHBML certificate award, the community forest management units in Selopuro and Sumberejo villages, Batuwarno sub district, Wonogiri Regency, Central Java were anknowledged as the best institution in sustainable yield function, social function, and ecological function aspects. This research was aimed to find out the community's kind of perception, as well as that of KPS (Certification Farmer Community) officials and members in particular, to PHBML certification implementation. Also, the study was intended to discover the impact of PHBML certification upon the local scale forest management.The research findings indicated that the community's level of understanding to PHBML certification was poor when compared with that of KPS officials. This condition due to the official failure to share the knowledge they had receivedfrom NGO with the KPS members. With PHBML certification, the institutional management by forest farmers had been proven improved however, there have not been yet any significant improvement to farmer income, and to forest product marketing. In addition to this, what was meant by significance, did not fully answer the farmer expectation of better sustainable forest principle realization.


The origin of ions in matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry is currently a matter of active research. A number of chemical and physical pathways have been suggested for MALDI ion formation, including gas-phase photoionization, ion–molecule reactions, disproportionation, excited-state proton transfer, energy pooling, thermal ionization, and desorption of preformed ions. These pathways and others are critically reviewed, and their varying roles in the wide variety of MALDI experiments are discussed. An understanding of ionization pathways should help to maximize ion yields, control analyte charge states and fragmentation, and gain access to new classes of analytes. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Mass Spec Rev 17: 337–366, 1998


The large oscillator strengths of transitions between subbands of quantum wells1 have led to investigations of their application to mid and far IR detectors, lasers, and nonlinear optical devices. We discuss here the extremely large quadratic susceptibilities [χ(3)] predicted2 and observed3,4 in structures with inversion symmetry broken through bias electric fields or compositional asymmetry, using the conduction subbands of AlGaAs quantum wells as a prototype.


One of the many benefits of quantitative methods in the digital humanities is their ability to test intuitions and assumptions about a body of textual material quickly and efficiently. This is often most useful when the corpus is extremely large, and regular methods of reading or analysis are not possible. While quantitative methods can provide a level of certainty to results or conclusions, their use in exploratory hermeneutics is equally valuable.1 This chapter intends to explore the viability of these methods in order to investigate a small corpus of Babylonian astrological material concerned with the association between ingredients used in medical treatment and the signs of the zodiac. The methods employed are relatively simple and can be performed using free open-source software, yet they allow for an iterative process of knowledge creation and investigation that produces multiple results at different stages of the research.2 In the spirit of this volume, a significant amount of explanation will be included to break down the techniques and methodology behind the processing and analysis of the texts. The underlying goal of this analysis is to understand the scholarly practices behind the composition and editing of the some unique examples of Late Babylonian astrology. The period under Achaemenid and Hellenistic rule in Babylonia (late sixth to second centuries bce) saw a flourishing of scholarly activity recorded on cuneiform tablets in southern Iraq. Astronomy and astrology were, in particular, realms experimentation and rapid development. The texts under consideration in this chapter comprise one of many new types of astrology, each borrowing and building on previous forms of knowledge. The


This is a very readable book about the legendary American photographer Edward S. Curtis (1868–1952). There is a great deal that is charming and provocative about it, but it is a book for the general reader more than for the scholar. For scholarship about E. S. Curtis and his life one must still go to Mick Gidley's publications. Egan reviews Curtis's personal history and details his photographs of American Indians from his 1896 portrait of Angeline, Chief Seattle's daughter, through to his work with the Inuit in 1927. A large number of Curtis's images were reproduced in his 20-volume magnum opus, The North American Indians [1907–1930; republished by Taschen, 1997]. For this work he intended to document some 80 tribes and to collect audio recordings of Indian songs and languages [86]. And he did accomplish most of his goals. Curtis also photographed non-Indians, including the family of President Theodore Roosevelt— both formal and informal portraits [102–103]. The photographs in this illustrated work are strangely secondary to the text, not detailed in a table of contents, not keyed into the place in the text where they are described, and indeed not reproduced very well. Egan waxes and wanes regarding a number of the images, but the descriptions are evocative and do not advance our factual knowledge of the subject or the photographic event. For example, Egan describes the photos of Angeline: ''What emerged from the many takes and the alchemy of developing chemicals was a face that could knock a door down with its slit-eyed stare . . . The lines of her face are so deep, so prominent, they look like scars from a knife fight, as if someone had carved her visage from a pumpkin . . . To look at the face and not see humanity is to lack humanity'' [17]. Although this photograph of Angeline is found on p. 21, very few of the Curtis images that the author discusses are actually reproduced in this book, Visual Anthropology, 28: 183–185, 2015 Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0894-9468 print=1545-5920 online DOI: 10.1080/08949468.2014.950109


The reexamining the feasibility and cost impact of sustainable data center design is in the light of increased market adoption. Life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) of data centers is a system approach for appraising and predicting the total cost of facility ownership. It must be taken into account all costs of feasible, estimating, acquiring, operating, maintaining, and disposing of data center ecosystem. This research classified LCCA of data center into four phases: planning, implementing, operating, and transforming. The qualitative research was conducted through investigating triangulation, interviews, focus groups and case studies. Data center's consultants, system integrators, and project owners are the focus groups for in-depth interviews. The research findings propose data center cost capsule (DCCC) model which identifies all associated costs of entire data center life cycle; before, during, and after operations. The DCCC model is designed to comply with international standards e.g., ISO 9001: 2008 and TIA 942. Moreover, the DCCC model foresees the total costs of ownership of data center.


A review of contemporary Btu meters that could be used with hydronic heating systems was conducted with the goal of identifying either a system suitable for multi-family dwellings and office complexes or the research issues that need to be addressed to develop such a system. Numerous Btu meters are currently marketed; however, they have not received as wide a distribution and use in the U.S. as they have in Europe where they are used extensively in district-heating systems. A reliable, accurate, and low-cost Btu metering system is expected to find a ready market in the U.S.; however, the quality and cost of the units available in the U.S. need to be optimized. The report presents a synopsis of the state-of-the-art in Btu meters and their main components like flowmeters, temperature sensors, and Btu calculating units.


Both the theoretical analysis and computing simulation were done for the photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS) of an actual particle system,and the results showed that the relative error of the reversed particle size could be up to 100% if the mixed PCS was reversed only by the self-beating or heterodyne arithmetic. So we presented a method of reversing the particle size from a mixed PCS. A simulated experimental arrangement which can give rise to the mixed PCS was built. Two particle systems,composed of standard polystyrene latex spheres with nominal diameters of 60nm and 200nm,were examined with the arrangement. The experiment result shows that compared with their nominal values,the relative errors of the reversed particle sizes are all within 5% when the mixed PCS is reversed by the proposed method.


An automotive supercharger includes a blower wheel (2), which is situated, in use, in the inlet duct of an automotive engine that is connected to a shaft (4) and a turbine wheel (6), which is also connected to the shaft (4) and is situated, in use, in the exhaust duct of the engine. The shaft (4) is also connected to one shaft of a three branch differential comprising an epicyclic gear train. A second shaft of the differential is connected to the rotor (28) of an electric motor/generator unit, the electrical connections of the stator (30) of which are connected, in use, to a battery via a controller arranged to control the electrical power flow between the battery and the stator. The third shaft of the differential is connected to a mechanical input shaft, which is connected, in use, to be rotated by the engine.


(E)-2-Isopropylidene-3-(mesitylmethylene)succinic anhydride and N-phenylimide undergo reversible photochemical conrotatory ring closure reactions to form 1,8a-dihydronaphthalene intermediates, which do not experience ring opening up to 160°. This is presumably because of steric interactions between the 1 - and 8a-methyl substituents which must occur in the allowed disrotatory mode. Neither a methyl shift nor elimination of ethane occurs at this temperature; these thermally stable photochromic systems thus do not exhibit irreversible side reactions.


Nowadays, machine learning methods are used in almost every field. The use of machine learning methods in the field of veterinary field is quite new and it is known that successful results have been obtained in veterinary studies. The decline in animal and animal production affects the country's economy in the worst way. It is very important to use artificial learning methods in the veterinary field in order to increase the demand for animal husbandry and to facilitate the work of the veterinarian. In this study, the values in the data set were normalized by minimum-maximum, decimal scaling, z-score and sigmoid normalization techniques in order to observe the effect of normalization techniques on artificial neural network performance. Then, for the diagnosis of disease in the lambs, the raw data set and the four obtained data sets were used to classify by artificial neural network method. As a result of the study, the most unsuccessful results were obtained without classifying the raw data set (f-measure = 0.31) and the most successful results were obtained with the sigmoid data set (f-measure = 0.36). In addition, genetic algorithm based feature selection method was applied to observe the effect of normalization in feature selection. The results also showed that the sigmoid normalization technique was more successful.


Battery storage has many benefits, such as providing instantaneous response to changes in demand, clean electricity to customers, and integration of intermittent power sources. However, at the present time battery storage has proven to be too costly for widespread implementation. While there has been research to examine the cost at which battery storage will become cost effective for particular applications, little work has been done to determine the most effective placement of battery storage for the greatest impact on the system as a whole. This research examines battery storage in a real-time pricing energy market, and compares the cost effectiveness of three different cases: (1) Battery storage owned and operated by an intermittent renewable energy generation facility, (2) Battery storage connected to the grid providing energy services, (3) Battery storage owned and operated by a manufacturing plant. Realtime pricing data from ISO New England was analyzed to determine the monetary benefits of each case on a per mega-amp-hour basis. By looking at the issue holistically, instead of analyzing specific scenarios as previous researchers have done, the benefits of each placement can be isolated from the overall benefits of connecting storage to the grid. Once the true value of each scenario can be accurately identified, the integration of utility scale battery storage is optimized for the maximum benefits to all.


The method of network communication of an intelligent mobile robot navigation system is introduced. Corresponding to the two kinds of platforms in the system, say, Linux system and image processing system based on windows, We use computer network technologies to commute information between these two platforms through computer network programming. To the end, we solved the crucial communication techniques , which allow robots to receive reliable images ; Furthermore, this method results in the reduction in computation of robots, thus improved the property of real-time operation.


illustrates, for exploring the differences between Canadian and other national patterns of development. When we chart the degree to which the facts of life in Canada birth, marriage, and death and the composition of the population its age structure, its diversity, its mobility have been different from or similar to those in other countries, then we shall be able to say something very precise, very solid, and very meaningful about he disfincfiveness of the Canadian past.


Since the beginning of this century, farmers' cooperatives have been developing rapidly in China. Based on the principles of classic cooperatives, this paper investigates the farmers' cooperatives in practice in China. It is found that the cooperatives in practice do not conform to the principles of classic cooperation, and have strong characteristics based on realistic conditions. In practice, from the perspective of industrial chain, China's farmer cooperatives can be divided into four categories: engaged in production, engaged in "production + sales", engaged in "production + processing + sales" and providing services, and there are significant differences in the operation mode and governance structure of all kinds of cooperatives. For the reasons behind it, the author investigates the concentration degree of different types of cooperatives in the operation of various agricultural products, and found that different category of products have different demands on the functions of cooperatives, which makes the operation mode and governance structure of cooperatives formed for different functional needs present diversified characteristics. In addition, the author also points out that although there are essential differences between the farmers' cooperatives in practice and those in the classical, they can still play their unique functions, that is to say, they can influence the identity and income of farmers by changing the utilization of production elements in the traditional agricultural management mode.


Reuse of already developed parts and concepts is a common approach in industry to reduce the time to market and reduce the development efforts. Industrial product lines are often grown over time and structured approaches to support decision-making and manage the complexity are lacking. When developing safety-critical products through product lines, evidence must be provided for all possible product configurations. The lack of a structured product line approach taking the functional safety dimension into consideration makes it challenging for practitioners to provide the required evidence. In this paper we (1) identify requirements that a variability management approach will need to fulfill, (2) discuss existing approaches and their limitations, (3) propose potential extension, (4) apply our approach in an industrial use case and (5) discuss its applicability and future work.


Abstract Potentiometric direct titrations were used to measure the carboxyl and phenolic contents of natural organic matter that was isolated using reverse osmosis, hydrophobic acids (HPOA) that were isolated by adsorption on XAD-8 resin, and transphilic acids (TPIA) that were isolated by adsorption on XAD-4 resin. All samples were isolated from the headwaters of the Suwannee River in southeastern Georgia, in May, 2012. One approximation method and two numerical models were used to quantify the concentrations and acidic strengths of carboxyl groups and phenolic groups for the samples. The approximation method was the pH 8 and 10 method. Numerical models were the Gaussian distribution model and the modified Henderson–Hasselbalch model. All measurements and models yielded a consistent trend in the carboxyl contents, with TPIA having the greatest concentration and HPOA having the least. The 2R101N sample had the lowest average log K for proton binding (4.02), indicating that this sample contains a significan...


Objective To evaluate clinical value and significance of the fetal cardiac ultrasound in the detection of congenital heart disease.Methods From January 2009 to January 2013 in our hospital,986 cases prenatal care for pregnant women with ultrasound screened a total of 10 cases of congenital heart disease.Results The ultrasound diagnosis of single ventricle patient 1 case,tetralogy of Fallot patients 2 cases,atrial septal defect 3 cases,pulmonary valve stenosis and right ventricular dysplasia 1 case,left ventricular dysplasia 1 case,ventricular septal defect 2 cases.Conclusion Fetal echocardiography can improve the detection rate of congenital heart disease,plays an irreplaceable role in reducing birth defects.


In this paper, two RX models of a Doubly-Fed Induction Generator (DFIG) are proposed for load flow analysis considering the wind speed Vw as the input data. The load flow problem of a power system containing DFIGs is discussed under two common control strategies: 1) to keep the power factor constant; 2) to keep the stator voltage constant. Based on the steady-state equivalent circuit of a DFIG, the RX1 model is presented, and the RX2 model is researched on the basis of the dynamic model of a DFIG. Compared with the conventional Newton-Raphson method, when using RX models in load flow analysis, the initial value problems can be solved more easily and suitably, and the computation accuracy is quite ensured. The proposed models are tested on the modified IEEE-30 test system, and the results show the availability of the two RX models.


Law enforcement, legal authorities, financial fraud, and financial investigators seek evidence of financial crimes, and graph technologies provide a unique opportunity to uncover financial criminals by reviewing all-inclusive entities involved, their relationships to identify suspicious connections with graph patterns. This article presents the investigation of circular money transfers using graph technology as an efficient, effective, and new-age technical alternative to existing techniques that use manual methods.


The paper presents the results of experimental and numerical studies of the reflection coefficient dependence on the plane wave incidence angle in the bistatic scheme with two movable antennas and in the monostatic scheme with dihedral corner reflector. Measurements were realized for a planar magnetodielectric sample at two experimental facilities. Numerical simulations were carried out by the method of moments in FEKO program in the setting of two measurement schemes in order to used technique error detection for samples. The results were compared with each other and with the analytical calculations obtained by Fresnel formulas. It is shown that measurements with dihedral reflector gave more noticeable deviations from the analytical calculations than data, obtained on the bistatic facility. The conclusions drawn in this paper on the base of simulation results of samples, are applicable to any experimental facilities for the study of plane materials and coatings.


Contractors' profit is shrinking due to the increasingly pierce competition in building market.Besides the tight managements and controls on construction,the measures to minimize the risks of loss should also be taken to focus on the claims of construction projects.From the point of contractors' view,this paper explored the methods and techniques of how to have compensation through understanding the claims' substances and realities,and illustrated the importance of claims through the analyses of successful cases.The points made in this paper were worth learning to reduce risks and gain interests.


The West-to-East gas pipeline project is well known for its large scale. Wide application of the latest technology for this project will usher the pipeline industry of China into a new era.


Abstract In this paper, two new topological rough operators are introduced for the topological spaces. Using them, two inequalities well known in topology can now be modified to become equalities. With this change, and in the topological applications in the field of rough sets no information will be lost in the new topological expressions. Many topological properties can be improved and in particular, the topological union, topological intersection and topological complement operations can be redefined based on the two equalities.


The research deals with biblical hermeneutics in the works of Old Ukrainian literature of the Kyivan period, namely the chronicles and hagiography by Nestor Pecherskyi and the sermons by Kyrylo (Cyril) Turivskyi. Despite the fact that some areas of Old Ukrainian literature have been studied from the point of view of biblical hermeneutics, e.g., in the works of O. Aleksandrov, P. Bilous, and V. Sulyma, thorough research into this field is still necessary. Particular attention must be given to the original and translated literature of the Kyivan period that has not mostly been the object of academic research from this perspective. The purpose of this study is to identify and describe the place and role of biblical hermeneutics in the poetics of Old Ukrainian literary texts of the 11th and 12th centuries. The subject of the research is the before-methodological process of the formation and development of biblical hermeneutics as the dominant element which has structured the poetics of literary works of different genres during the Kyivan period. In order to achieve the goal within the framework of the hermeneutic approach, we followed the principles of polysemy, parallelism, paraphrase, two-tier completeness of meanings within the spiritual and corporeal parable, four-sense (literal, allegorical, moral and anagogical) interpretation of the Scriptures and extrapolation of the New Testament from the Old Testament; contextual, symbolic, Christological, typological, metatextual and intertextual principles of biblical interpretation. The research shows that the use of various ways of interpreting biblical texts, plots and images has been not for Nestor, like for any other the Old Kyivan author, only a neutral literary


This case study explores how an intentional social agreement, which we call a Full Value Contract, can help relax skepticism while supporting trust in sustaining full and conscientious participation and community in a purposeful online dialogue. "Listening to the City" Online Dialogues involved eight hundred residents of New York City and its immediate area exchanging ten thousand messages in 2002.


Assembled monolithic structure is a common structure in the process of housing industrialization, among which the composite plate is an indispensable element. The thickness of the precast slab of composite plate is small so special measures have to be adopted to prevent the excessive deformation even destruction occurred during hoisting or transport. A novel removable stiffness increasing device for precast slab is presented in this paper. The device consists of steel truss, upper steel plate and steel base plate and can effectively improve the performance of the slab during hoisting and transport. The device has the advantages of simple construction and no special equipment is necessary. The device can be removed after being hoisted and saving cost. The performance of the slab with the device during hoisting and transport is analyzed and appropriate shape parameters are suggested.


Phenytoin, which is the drug of choice for treatment of grandmal, psychomotor seizures associated with cerebral palsy, has serious side effect like gingival enlargement. Drug induced gingival enlargement is not only esthetically disfiguring but often impairs speech, mastication, nutrition and plaque control measures. In addition, poor oral hygiene, lack of motor coordination and muscular limitations in mentally disabled individuals results in increased susceptibility to periodontal disease. The present case report unfolds a complex nature of the management of phenytoin induced gingival enlargement, secondarily complicated by inflammation, and in the cerebral palsy patient. A supportive team work of periodontist, neurophysician, and general anesthetist plays a significant role in maintaining the quality of life in mentally disabled patient.


Images are powerful communicators. They evoke feelings, raise awareness of important issues and sometimes spur people to act. A critical societal issue that may benefit from all these kinds of engagement is climate change. This paper presents a study of images accompanying news items on the current state of our climate as expressed in the IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report. The items were culled from five Norwegian and five UK news sources, and the images were analysed in terms of topic and news value. Unsurprisingly, climate impact topics were common in both countries, with bush and forest fires dominating. Thus, the traditional news values of Negativity and Impact were the most important ones drawn on. More surprisingly, the Norwegian material comprised a high number of images of politicians, representing the news value of Eliteness. This topic was absent in the UK material. Pictures that may point to climate solutions, e.g. new energy sources or lifestyle matters, were only sparsely represented. Thus, the images may ensure people's engagement with climate change through disaster scenarios, but few seem to have the potential to motivate action.


Energy hub manager seek ways to maximize hub profit, while consumers seek ways to minimize electricity costs. Demand side management aims to manage the required energy demand to match the available energy supply. An impact of demand side management programs on energy hub operation modes is analyzed. Authors propose a multicriteria optimization model of energy hub operation modes which takes into account possible changings in power demand.


In the modern era most of the folks are embrangled with the e-commerce platform for buying their essentials. Normally we buy our required components based on our annual income, the items which we buy will be in that price range only, right. so, as we see when we open the e-commerce website like Amazon, Flipkart, etc. the products will be recommended to us based on our interests and our previous orders price range. Our dataset is been used by very little number of papers so we will give a good insight to the data we have used and results which we have produced. So, when the required product with a suitable budget catches our attention, we may buy it, so this is how e-commerce companies are using customer segmentation to sell their products to their customers, so in this paper, we are going to discuss customer segmentation and its various types with its applications and its usage in real world. We will be using many useful techniques like Cohort Analysis, RFM Analysis and Pareto Principle to know about the customers well and proceed with great recommendations and higher chances for the person to buy the product. We will recommend the best model for the purpose of Customer Segmentation since we have received good results in this research paper. We have done this project using clustering algorithms and our best model is Spectral Clustering.


Flow cytometry is a multiparametric data-gathering tool with an enormous, well-established array of applications for intact cells, organelles, functionalized beads, lysed cell contents or supernatants. Multiparametric analysis using state-of-the-art cytometers has the potential to yield a distribution of cellular phenotypes with high dimensionality (up to 20 parameters per cell simultaneously) specific to an individual disease state or system-wide perturbation. Purified populations of atypical and/or cells representative of the disease state can be collected as the first step towards biomolecular characterization. Flow cytometers may be outfitted with multiwell-plate accessories to provide single-cell capture of specified cells with correlation to each cell's individual phenotype (indexed sorting), or rapid sampling from microtiter plates (plug-flow). An exciting new cytometric innovation may allow determining the full signature of biomarkers from individual cells. The massively multiparametric mass cytometer analyzer makes use of the high sensitivity and resolution of mass spectroscopy to record the elemental composition as well as metal-tagged biomarker distribution of individual cells at a rate of up to 1000 cells per second.


Used by permission of the Publishers from 'Against maladaptationism: or what's wrong with evolutionary psychology?', in Knowledge as Social Order edited by Massimo Mazzotti (Farnham: Ashgate, 2008), pp. 165–180. Copyright © 2008


An open-label multicenter trial was undertaken to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a low-dose 21-day combination oral contraceptive (OC) containing 100 mcg levonorgestrel and 20 mcg ethinyl estradiol. A total of 1708 healthy women aged 17-49 years with regular menstrual cycle (27011 cycles) were enrolled in the study. The OC was administered once a day for 21 days followed by 7 days of placebo for a complete cycle. Efficacy was assessed on the basis of the number of pregnancies that occurred while the safety was based on the results of routine physical examinations laboratory determinations and vital sign measurement. During 26554 cycles evaluated for efficacy 18 pregnancies occurred (Pearl index of 0.88); 6 of these events were attributable to subject noncompliance. After 30 cycles of exposure the cumulative rate of withdrawal as a result of accidental pregnancy was 1.9%. Breakthrough bleeding (with or without spotting) occurred in 12.9% of the cycles and spotting alone occurred in 10.1% of the cycles. The 2 most common adverse events cited as reasons for discontinuation were headache (2% of subjects) and metrorrhagia (2%). One serious event led to withdrawal of a subject. Overall the findings of the study demonstrated that a monophasic oral contraceptive regimen of 100 mcg levonorgestrel and 20 mcg ethinyl estradiol offers effective contraception acceptable cycle control and a good tolerability profile.


The solubility and hydration characteristics of κ-carrageenan−casein systems from bovine and caprine milk with incorporated salt (NaCl) were determined by means of sedimentation and 17O nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments. Relative salt interaction parameters for both caseins alone and caseins in mixtures with κ-carrageenan were assessed by nonlinear regression analysis from the characteristics of solubilization of the systems. The κ-carrageenan−casein interactions appear to depend largely on the ratios of κ- to αs1-casein and possibly αs2-casein. Second virial coefficients (B0 values) and hydration products derived from 17O NMR data suggest that while soluble at high salt, the caprine casein mixtures exhibit strong interactions, whereas the bovine counterparts do not. At lower salt concentrations the solubility data and the 17O NMR data are in agreement. Thus, a structural dependence upon protein components in salt-containing κ-carrageenan−casein solutions from bovine and caprine milk has been d...


Static-spray deposition of a polyol-based sol, containing nanoparticles of NiZn ferrite, on a moderately heated glass support, has been used to generate crystalline thin films. The films exhibit superparamagnetic behavior with a blocking temperature, which decreases as the zinc content increases, due to their nanocrystalline character. At low temperature, the films are ferrimagnetic; the saturation magnetization and the coercivity depend markedly on both the zinc content and the microstructure.


For the hybrid and electric vehicles, a battery management system is required to supervise and optimize the electrical energy management. SOC and SOH are key parameters to supervise the good use and to contribute to enhance the lifetime of the battery. This paper presents the research for an intelligent state of charge estimation. The state of charge is a very important factor to characterize the state of the storage elements. This work consists in implementing a real time observer in order to supervise key parameters of the battery. An extended Kalman filter based on a lumped battery model is used to achieve this goal. A lumped model has been defined to consider the electrochemical phenomena, and has been linked with a thermal model to take into account the influence of the temperature. A strategy to set up the Kalman filter has been proposed to get a fast and accurate convergence of the state of charge observation despite bad initializations. Extensions Kalman have been implemented to take into account the influence of the aging on the battery's dynamic model. For the hybrid and electric vehicles, a battery management system is required to supervise and optimize the electrical energy management. All the simplified in order to be implementable on an embedded digital signal models have been processor. The real time state of charge observer has been validated on a lithium ion cell for different operating conditions.


SOLID PARTICLES SUCH AS PVC GRAIN OF GLASS BEADS FULL OR HOLLOW FIBER GLASS, PARTICLE IRON OXIDE ... ARE COATED LAYER FINE, REGULAR AND CONTINUOUS POLYAMIDE BY IMMERSION OF THESE PARTICLES IN REACTION MEDIUM LIKELY GENERATE BY ANIONIC POLYMERIZATION OF POLYAMIDE SOLUTION, AS, FOR EXAMPLE, A MEDIUM INCLUDING lACTAM SOLUTION IN A CUP OF HYDROCARBONS pARAFFINIC, added hYDRIDE SODIUM AND ISOCYANATE stearyl. THE GLASS bEADS COATED CAN SERVE REINFORCING COMPOSITE PARTICLE IRON OXIDE COATED DO MAGNETS.


The effect of subzero treatment temperature on the fatigue property of the ultra-high strength steel B318 was studied.The results show that the subzero treatment temperature will significantly influence the fatigue property of the steel under the same condition.To acquire stable fatigue property the fluctuation of the subzero treatment temperature is to be controlled,and meanwhile as low as possible subzero treatment temperature shall be applied.An improvement on the fatigue property of B318 steel,which arises from reduction in the subzero treatment temperature,is possibly related to precipitation of carbides during the subzero treating and precipitation of superfine carbides during the tempering as well as refining of the structures.


A side slope ecological protection structure comprises geotextile or a plastic film body, wherein the breadth of the geotextile or the plastic film body ranges from 30 cm to 70 cm; channels perpendicular to the slope surface are excavated on the surface of a slope along the horizontal line, and the depths of the channels range from 10 cm to 30 cm; the width side of the stripped geotextile, which has the equivalent depth with the channels, is buried into the channels and then backfilled with soil and pressed solidly, the other end (width: 10 cm - 60 cm) of the geotextile covers the surface of the slope; when the channels of the slope are excavated, the soil excavated out is stacked on the slope surface below the channels to form a convex surface, the soil for backfilling the channels is taken from the slope surface above the channel so as to form a concave surface; one side of the geotextile is buried into the channels and forms a whole stable structure with the slope surface and also form a flushing-preventing wall; the other side of the geotextile covers the convex surface to form a flushing-preventing layer; and the geotextile covering layer does not affect the vegetation greening of the slope surface. The side slope ecological protection structure has the characteristics of soil reinforcement, sand consolidation, rain wash prevention, soil water evaporation reduction, low cost, easiness in construction, suitability for vegetation greening and the like, is used for the slope ecology greening protection for preventing rain wash, and meanwhile can be used in sand stabilization greening in desertification areas for preventing sandy soil displacement caused by sandstorm erosion.


We characterize the optimal tax policy and quality of day care services in an OLG model in which child care arrangements chosen by parents of different skill types affect the probability that children become high-skilled adults in a type-specific way. With respect to previous contributions, optimal tax formulas incorporate type-specific Pigouvian terms which correct for the intergenerational externality in human capital accumulation. The optimal quality of day care services is determined by equating the total private marginal benefits of a quality increase to its marginal cost, adjusted for the presence of three additional terms capturing respectively the budgetary impact of a change in demand for day care services, the intergenerational externality in human capital accumulation, and the self-selection constraint.


The paper mainly aimed at the problems of coal-fired power plant ash storage water-adding wet unloading system water-adding mixer such as shaft broken,bearing seat tipped,and shaft end leakage of ash that often happened during granulated powder preparation and storage process,A new type of water-adding mixer that have edge shape blades,movable block structure,bidirectional seal and other characteristics was studied and designed.smoothly running time and efficiency of mixer were improved.


Abstract The thermal decompositions of 1,1,1-trifluoroethane (CH3CF3) and pentafluoroethane (CHF2CF3) were studied by using a turbulent flow reactor at atmospheric pressure over the temperature ranges of 1213–1333 K and 1273–1373 K. The rate coefficients for these thermal decompositions were determined from the first-order decays of the reactants to be k(CH3CF3) = 1012.9±1.2 exp[−(276 ± 29) kJ ⋅ mol−1/RT] and k(CHF2CF3) = 1013.9±1.4 exp [−(324 ± 36) kJ ⋅ mol−1/RT]s−1. To examine the reaction paths, we identified the decomposition products using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and performed ab initio MO calculations. These results showed that the sequential HF elimination reactions, CH3CF3 → CH2CF2 + HFand CH2CF2 → CHCF + HF, were favorable for the CH3CF3 pyrolysis. On the other hand, four initial steps: CHF2CF3 → CF3CF + HF, CHF2CF3 → CF2CF2 + HF, CHF2CF3 → CHF3 + CF2 and CHF2CF3 → CHF2 + CF3, were possible for the CHF2CF3 pyrolysis. Such a difference in the reaction paths between the CH3CF3, and CHF2CF3 pyrolyses can be explained by fluorine hyperconjugation and by repulsion between the fluorine atoms on the 1- and 2-carbons of each hydrofluoroethane.


THE research to be reported here was part of a larger program designed to discover some of the variables related to organizational effectiveness ( I , 2, 3, 4, 8, 12, 13).1 In a recent study at the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation certain questionnaire dimensions administered to supervisory personnel in 29 separate departments were validated against several criteria of effectiveness to determine if individuals in the "more effective'' subunits respond to the items differently from those in the "less effective" units. The questionnaire items were grouped into "dimensions" designed to measure specific variables. An attempt was made to make the several dimensions as independent and homogeneous as possible. However, it was found on trying out the items that the dimensions, as designed, fell short of complete independence and homogeneity. The present paper is concerned with the procedures and results of a program undertaken to improve the questionnaire dimensions and to gain information concerning their interrelationships. The report will be divided into two sections. The first part will


The Amazon Rainforest accounts for c. 15% of global terrestrial photosynthesis (Malhi et al., 2008). Yet, estimates of primary productivity in these forests carry the greatest uncertainties due to the seasonality of productivity as a function of dry season length, and interannual climate variability – including responses to El Ni~ no Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Empirical observations and model predictions diverge concerning the seasonality of photosynthesis (Restrepo-Coupe et al., 2017). Vegetation models show declines in gross primary productivity (GPP) during the dry season, while field and satellite observations show increases (Albert et al., 2018). It has been hypothesized that these differencesmay be due to environmental cues such as change in day length or solar zenith angle (i.e. 'phenological clock'); however, there are indications that seasonal changes in vegetation structure and function within the canopy, as well as leaf demography, exert strong controls on carbon and water fluxes (Albert et al., 2018).Within the Amazon, leaf area (measured as leaf area index or LAI) may remain fairly constant across the year (Wu et al., 2016) yet show seasonal differences in its vertical distribution within the canopy (Tang & Dubayah, 2017). In this issue of New Phytologist, Smith et al. (pp. 1284–1297) link these seasonal changes in the vertical distribution of LAI to the seasonality of Amazonian forest productivity. This is done using terrestrial LiDAR (light detection and ranging) data collected in the Tapaj os National Forest (2°510S, 54°580W) from three different time periods spanning from 2010 to 2017, including three non-El Ni~ no years (2010, 2012, and 2016–2017) and one El Ni~ no drought year (2015–2016). Importantly, this study shows differences in vegetation structure, both within and across seasons, that have been obscured in previous studies, thus highlighting the importance of fine-scale canopy measurements through time to address structure–function relationships. In Smith et al., vegetation structure is quantified using a groundbased LiDAR system that samples a vertical plane of the canopy along a transect. LiDAR pulse returns are converted to estimates of leaf area density (LAD) and LAI (Stark et al., 2012) allowing for characterization of the vertical and horizontal distribution of vegetation. This method creates more integrated descriptors of the canopy that have been linked to productivity (Hardiman et al., 2011; Stark et al., 2012), resource use efficiencies (Hardiman et al., 2011), and light acquisition (Stark et al., 2015; Atkins et al., 2018b). Smith et al. linked canopy structure to productivity by comparing annual ranges of total LAI, as well as LAI in upper and lower canopy strata (e.g. where LAI occurs vertically), among seasons and years, and found that LAI increased during the dry season but decreased following the onset of the wet season. The upper canopy gained leaf area during the dry season,while the lower canopy lost leaf area.These relationships reversed during the wet season – an inverse correlation between canopy strata that has not been shown previously. The ENSO drought year further enhanced these seasonal differences.


Abstract The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)* conducted field surveys for the National Occupational Health Survey of Mining (NOHSM) from May 1984 through August 1989. The main objective of NOHSM was to identify the health-related agents found in the U.S. mining industry, per the U.S. Federal Mine Safety and Health Amendments Act of 1977. NOHSM included a total of 491 mines (60 coal mines and 431 metal and nonmetal mines) which employed 59,734 miners, representing 66 mineral commodities. The mines were selected from a total of 2131 mines that employed 297,322 miners. Although NIOSH surveyed only a representative sample of mines in each mineral commodity, the data were projected over all of the mines in each of those mineral commodities. Each mine's survey included three phases: questionnaire, chemical inventory, and worksite visit. The data obtained during the questionnaire described medical services, industrial hygiene practices, and general facility information. The inventor...


We propose a new method of controlling IoT devices based on data transmission using available cloud storage services. Besides avoiding technical difficulties like NAT (Network Address Translation) traversal, this method has significant advantages including minimum economic cost, security services, general applicability, and convenient user experience. We demonstrate this method in a prototype experiment in which some LED devices located behind an intranet can be remotely controlled over the Internet. This method has potentials to benefit many users and be extended for broader scenarios of applications.


A method of composing the discrete sine transform from the discrete cosine transform is demonstrated. As a result of this method, the fast sine transform is accomplished by the existing implementation of the fast cosine transform.


Background: To gain insight into the mechanisms responsible for tissue neutrophil immigration in sinusitis, primary nasal fibroblasts are analyzed for synthesizing and delivering neutrophil chemokines.


The Mediterranean thermophilous woodlands were shaped by human activities for millenia, mainly for forage and fruits harvest. The recurring exchanges that followed between forests and cultivated areas have constituted a pivotal aspect in the process of Mediterranean fruit tree domestication. Since its domestication in the Middle-East around 6,000-4,000 years BP, the carob tree, Ceratonia siliqua L. (Leguminosae), has probably experienced extensive genetic and physiological modifications conducing to potential changes of a major compartment of its functioning: the microbiome. The carob tree is highly dependent of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis, but some evidences tends to demonstrate bacterial endophytes as a second major symbiotic partner. In the framework of the international project DYNAMIC (Deciphering sYmbiotic Networks in cArob-based MedIterranean agro-eCosystems), high-throughput sequencing methods were applied to estimate several proxies of the carob tree-microbiome diversity and to correlate it to carob tree ecology and phylogeography at the Mediterranean scale. The results provide new insights into the characterization of a Mediterranean core and accessory carob tree-microbiome, highlighting geographical patterns, as well as the contribution of host genetic diversity, habitat and edaphic parameters. New avenues for reflexion regarding the relative role of history and habitat (cultivated vs wild) as drivers of tree-microbiome are also proposed. The conclusions open up promising perspectives for the development of more efficient strategies in conservation and agroecology based on tree-microbiome management.


The application of 3G will provide an opportunity for the development of M-Commerce. In this paper, we analyzed the development tendency of M-Commerce and the advantages of 3G, and finding that the launching of 3G services will greatly contribute to the development of M-Commerce in China. We also found that M-Commerce would become the development emphases of 3G, basing on the survey of the mobile communication market in China. With the transformation of telecom operators, they will extend to higher value layer and become the leaders in M-Commerce market. The competition of the value-added services market will be more intense, so we also study the challenge that the M-Commerce operators might face in the context of 3G, and giving the suggestion accordingly. Keywords-3G; M-Commerce; development; challenge and suggestion


This dissertation was written as part of Master of Science (MSc) in Transnational and European Commercial Law, Mediation, Arbitration and Energy Law at the International Hellenic University. This dissertation notes the vulnerability of intermediated holding systems and bitcoin transactions to money laundering activities. It explains why the inherent features of the intermediated holding system are not in principle compatible with compliance procedures that would make investors' identities easily accessible at every tier of the holding chain for authorities engaged in fighting money laundering. It supports the proposition for a central register, within the existing framework of intermediated holding systems, where investors' identities will be recorded. Finally, accepts as necessary the Commissions' proposals for amendments to the 4th Money Laundering Directive, assessing that a totally unregulated trade in bitcoin would offer a vast field of action to criminals engaged in money laundering. Foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Thomas Keijser for the academic guidance he provided me with for the purpose of writing this dissertation. His support has been invaluable in the true sense of the word. Moreover, his deep knowledge in the scientific field of intermediated securities combined with his patience, motivation and kindness, helped me conclude my work in the most optimal way. I could not have imagined having a better advisor and mentor for my thesis. Ioannis Paraskevopoulos


Cuttings propagation technology of Eucalyptus grandis was studied with three different media combination(river sand and yellow subsoil 1∶1 mixed media,perlite and peat soil 1∶1 mixed media,peat soil and yellow subsoil 1∶1 mixed media).The results showed that different media combination have a great influence on cutting rooting of E.grandis.Effects of peat soil and yellow subsoil 1∶1 mixed media on hard branch cutting and twig cutting were all the best.Rooting percentage of hard branch cutting reached 45%,on the other two kinds of media combination,hard branch cutting can not take root;Rooting percentage of twig cutting in three different media combination were respectively 43.25%,9%,7.9%.