The aim of this thesis is to describe the structure of the Awtuw language, spoken by about 400 people in the southern foothills of the Torricelli Mountains of northwestern Papua New Guinea. A brief preface presents my theoretical assumptions and methodological orientation. Language is viewed as a cultural phenomenon which, while by no means discrete from other facets of culture, has a distinct central focus that may be described independently without severe distortion. Grammatical classes and categories are isolated on the basis of language-internal morphosyntactic criteria and correlated with semantic functions. The introductory chapter places Awtuw in its geographical, cultural, and linguistic context, identifies the three dialects of Awtuw, and discusses the ubiquitous phenomenon of multilingualism in the Awtuw-speaking and surrounding area. Chapter 2 presents a brief description of Awtuw*s phonemes and formalizes the major morphophonological processes. Awtuw has eleven phonemic consonants and seven vowels isolated on the basis of minimal pairs. Morphophonemic rules simplify geminates and certain other consonant clusters, elide vowels, assimilate nasals to following stops, and insert epenthetic vowels. There are also a number of vowel harmony rules that assimilate affix vowels to stem vowels. Chapters 3 through 6 present an analysis of various morphosyntactic phenomena. Chapter 3 devises a number of formal identifying criteria which are used as binary features to analyze Awtuw* s parts-of-speech classes. Chapter 4 describes the structure of the verb complex and the categories represented by verbal affixes, and presents a xiv feature-based analysis of the Tense, Mood, and Aspect system. Chapter 5 begins with a discussion of grammatical relations, classifies verb roots on the basis of the case frames that they occur in, and correlates these classes with inherent aspect and other semantic categories. Chapter 6 describes the case-marking suffixes and their functions. Chapters 7 through 10 focus on aspects of Awtuw syntactic structure. Chapter 7 describes the structure of the Noun Phrase. Chapter 8 presents a classification of verbless predication types. Chapter 9 discusses a variety of operations on the clause, including question-formation, negation, reflexivization, and focusing of constituents. And Chapter 10 analyzes interpredicate and interclausal relations. It includes discussion of various types of verb serialization, complementation, relative clauses, adverbial clauses, conditionals, and coordinate constructions. Chapter 11 begins with an analysis of Awtuw kinship terminology and goes on to discuss color terminology, numeration and measurement, body part terminology, and the terms for major biological classes. Finally, Chapter 12 presents a brief description of a variety of paralinguistic phenomena. Abbreviations A Adjective NDB Negative Debitive AB Absent NF Nonfactive AGN Again NG Negative AP Adjective Phrase NOM Nominal CDL Conditional NP Noun Phrase CMP Comparative NPR Nonpresent DB Debitive 0 Object DES Desiderative OBL Obliviative DET Determiner P Past DH Downhill PCL Particle DS Downstream PF Perfect DU Dual PL Plural f Female POS Possessive NP FA Factive PRH Prohibitive FU Future PRO Pronoun HR Hortative PS Possessive I Instrumental/Commitative PT Potential I Intensifier Q Quantifier im(p ) Imperative RC Reciprocal INTER Interrogative S Clause constituent IP Imperfective s Singular L Locative/Directional SG Singular M T Motion TP Tok Pisin m Non-Female UH Uphill N Noun US Upstream V Vocative Other abbreviations are either listed at the beginning of relevant chapter or explained in the text. the Notational conventions // enclose phonemes [ j enclose phonetic transcriptions and feature specifications () enclose optional elements {] enclose optional specifications and expansions <> enclose keyed feature specifications (see pp. 25-26) enclose glosses — > 'becomes' or 'is rewritten as' / 'in the environment of' (also used to separate allomorphs and options in examples) > 'is higher on a hierarchy than' inflectional or derivational morpheme boundary + boundary between compounded elements * unacceptable ? of marginal or dubious acceptibility precedes a stressed syllable or indicates an elided vowel The canonical forms of verb roots are written in UPPER CASE characters. Note that I use the following orthographic conventions:


Sediment transport via water and ice in the Beaufort Sea off northern Alaska is related to the movement of the surficial waters. As development proceeds along the north slope of Alaska, a knowledge of the potential drift trajectories of water, ice, sediment and pollutants will be needed. In an attempt to better define the probable paths and rates of transport, 4200 surface drift cards were dropped during the US Coast Guard WEB-SEC cruise of August and September 1972. The results of this release are the subject of this report. Because the data presented here will be used primarily by those interested in solving problems of transport, the emphasis has been placed on data presentation rather than a detailed analysis of the circulation.


Title of Dissertation: THE CAUTIOUS CRUSADER: HOW THE ATLANTA DAILY WORLD COVERED THE STRUGGLE FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN RIGHTS FROM 1945 TO 1985 Name: Maria E. Odum-Hinmon Doctor of Philosophy, 2005 Dissertation Directed By: Prof. Maurine Beasley, Ph. D. Philip Merrill College of Journalism This dissertation is a study of the Atlanta Daily World, a conservative black newspaper founded in 1928, that covered the civil rights struggle in ways that reflected its orientation to both democratic principles and practical business concerns. The World became the most successful black daily newspaper in the nation after becoming a daily in 1932 and maintaining that status for nearly four decades. This dissertation details how this newspaper chronicled the simultaneous push for civil rights, better conditions in the black community, and recognition of black achievement during the volatile period of social change following World War II. Using descriptive, thematic analysis and in-depth interviews, this dissertation explores the question: How did the Atlanta Daily World crusade for the rights of African Americans against a backdrop of changing times, particularly during the crucial fortyyear period between 1945 and 1985? The study contends that the newspaper carried out its crusade by highlighting information and events important to the black community from the perspective of the newspaper's strong-willed publisher, C. A. Scott, and it succeeded by relying on Scott family members and employees who worked long hours for low wages. The study shows that the World fought against lynching and pushed for voting rights in the 1940s and 1950s. The newspaper eschewed sit-in demonstrations to force eateries to desegregate in the 1960s because they seemed dangerous and counterproductive when the college students wound up in jail rather than in school. The World endorsed Republican Presidents and was not swayed to the other side when the Rev. Jesse Jackson ran for President in 1984. The newspaper, however, drew a line against the conservative agenda when the World wholeheartedly endorsed the merits of affirmative action. Now a weekly under more liberal leadership, the World continues to struggle to find its new role when blacks are more assimilated than ever into the fabric of American society. This dissertation, the first in-depth scholarly study of the newspaper, shows how it has managed to maintain itself as a voice of middle-class African American belief in the democratic process. THE CAUTIOUS CRUSADER: HOW THE ATLANTA DAILY WORLD COVERED THE STRUGGLE FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN RIGHTS FROM 1945 TO 1985 By Maria E. Odum-Hinmon Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2005 Advisory Committee: Professor Maurine Beasley, Chair Professor Reese Cleghorn Professor Michael Gurevitch Professor Lee Thornton Professor Ronald Walters © Copyright by Maria E. Odum-Hinmon 2005


The objective of this research is to find out whether there is significant LQFUHDVH RI VWXGHQWV¶ VSHDNLQJ DELOLW\ DIWHU EHLQJ WDXJKW WKURXJK 5ROH 3OD\ 7KH population of this research is the second year of SMK PGRI 1 Kota Agung Tanggamus that consists of 6 classes and one class is taken as the sample. The sample is selected by using the random sampling technique by using lottery. This is a quantitative research and one group pretest-posttest design was employed. This research was conducted in 5 meetings for 3 weeks. The result of preteVW VKRZV WKDW WKH PHDQ VFRUH RI VWXGHQWV¶ SURQXQFLDWLRQ LV 7KH PHDQ VFRUH RI VWXGHQWV¶ YRFDEXODry is 9.33, fluency is 9.33, comprehension is 9.33, grammar is 8.26, The total score in pretest is 1410 and the mean score is 47.00. The result of posttesW VKRZV WKDW WKH PHDQ VFRUH RI VWXGHQWV¶ SURQXQFLDWLRQ LV , vocabulary is 13.73, fluency is 12.66, comprehension is 13.20, and grammar is 13.06. The total score in posttest is 1972 and the mean score is 65.73. It was therefore concluded that Role Play could significantly increase students speaking ability.


This paper introduces a granular, interval-based evolving modeling (IBeM) approach to develop system models from a stream of data. IBeM is an evolving rule-based modeling scheme that gradually adapts its structure (information granules and rule base) and rules antecedent and consequent parameters from data (inductive learning). Its main purpose is continuous learning, self-organization, and adaptation to unknown environments. The IBeM approach develops global model of a system using a fast, one-pass learning algorithm, and modest memory requirements. To illustrate the effectiveness of the approach, the paper considers actual time series forecasting applications concerning electricity load and stream flow forecasting.


Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Public
Health, in the field of Social and Behaviour Change Communications, in the University
of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2012


This article examines the contribution of Kenyan films to everyday life and public policy debates. Using Hawa Essuman's Soul Boy as a case study, it examines how the film critically engages with the gerontocratic texture of the Kenyan political landscape. Reading the film through an allegorical lens, it shows how the film strategically contributes to initiatives that advocate for a more inclusive political processes and also how the film advances the cause of imagining processes of change in leadership by creatively drawing on the rich repetoire of African cultural forms. The article argues for a re-composition of roles and responsibilities in leadership that includes the youth.


The paper discusses the DC voltage endurance and current leakage test of large inner water cooling generators;describes the test in detail in terms of method,focal points,factors that influence the testing accuracy,and analysis of the testing results;and makes a summary of the common causes for abnormal current leakage of generators,which can be used as a reference for analysis.


In mobile database environment maintaining consistency of shard data is a challenging problem. This is because mobile devices may be prone to disconnections and mobility. As a result the transactions are aborted, delayed or frequently restarted. This not only reduces the success rate of transaction but also reduces the overall system throughput. In the proposed strategy attempt is made to increase the success rate of transactions by evaluating expected time for execution of a transaction. The expected time for execution is evaluated using K-Means and KNN (K-Nearest Neighborhood) algorithms. The simulated results show that the proposed strategy works better if sufficient data logs of previous successful transactions are available.


In the General Royalties System one of the biggest problems has to do with the decisionmaking process when presenting proposals and distributing resources. One of the critical cases is located in the Science, Technology and Innovation Fund where low transparency and high discretion are evident at the decisive moment of the projects presented (postulated) in the department of Magdalena. This framework examines, through a mixed methodological design, the incidence of discretion in decisionmaking in light of the principle of good governance that inspires the sgr.


The control of microgrids is becoming complex day by day. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a cheap and readily implementable controller hardware in loop framework to validate the control techniques. This paper proposes a simple and cost effective controller hardware in loop framework for validation of microgrid controllers in real time. The proposed controller hardware in loop framework uses a Raspberry Pi controller which implements the control and a computer which simulates the hardware parts of the microgrid. This overrides the need of commonly used real time digital simulators which are expensive and complex to use. The proposed controller hardware in loop framework is developed and tested.


Detailed x‐ray diffraction investigations, based on precise measurements of the position, asymmetry, broadening, and shape of x‐ray diffraction profiles 111, 200, 220, 311, 222, and 400 recorded in a counter diffractometer, have been performed on vacuum‐evaporated fcc lead films in the range of thickness ∼300–6500 A. The films are deposited on glass substrates at a residual air pressure ∼5×10−5 Torr for both normal and oblique vapor directions. The complete analyses have revealed clearly the microstructural features in these vapor‐deposited films. Near‐isotropy in the domain size and rms strain values with a relatively less size effect has been observed. The magnitudes of the respective compound fault parameters, close to the error limits, indicate the total absence of intrinsic (α′), extrinsic (α″), and even growth twin (β) stacking faults in the films. The dislocation density (ρ) is typical for thin films and is ∼1011 cm/cm3. The residual internal stresses (σ), compressive in nature, are small, and the ...


This paper intends to bridge the austrian theory of entrepreneurship and the recent developments of the theory of the firm, namely the Knowledge Based Approach. The KBA and the theory of entrepreneurship share a common focus on knowledge and coordination. It is argued herein that by examining the cognitive foundations of entrepreneurship it is possible to connect the KBA and the theory of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is by essence a matter of opportunities. An entrepreneurial opportunity is the result of the connection of two radically different forms of knowledge: knowledge of feasibility and knowledge of relevance. These two categories of knowledge define the domain of alertness, that is, the set of opportunities that the entrepreneur is able to perceive. Knowledge is thus a key element of opportunity identification and development. In the modern firm, this knowledge is dispersed among several individuals. To achieve long term growth, firms must maintain their ability to find new profit opportunities, and must thus use efficiently the entrepreneurial knowledge they have at their disposal. In order to do so, they may use two different strategies: entrepreneurial synthesis and entrepreneurial combination. Each strategy leads to different distributions of knowledge within the firm.


Government in Nigeria oftentimes embark on capital projects without giving due consideration to the need of the people to which the project serves. Most of these projects do not have economic and social values hence after completion they are either not fully utilized or are jettison along the line. The paper looks into some projects of the local governments in order to find out their levels of viability in terms of need, usage and acceptability to its immediate community. In doing this, four key capital projects were examined in six local governments within a period of five years (2006-2010). Data for this study were mainly secondary. Both correlation and regression matrix were used to analyze the data. The study reveals that Water provision is mostly needed by the people and hence should be given adequate priority by the government.


A new isolate of Bacillus licheniformis SC produced extracellular xylanase when grown on 3% wheat bran, without xylanase multiplicity. The enzyme was partially purified by ammonium sulphate and gel filtration using Sephadex G-100 column. The purified xylanase showed optimum pH at 8.0 and half maximum activity at pH 4.5. The pH stability profile showed that it was more stable in the pH range of 6 to 8. Its activity increased with rise in temperature and maximum upto 60 0 C. The molecular mass for xylanase was 24.6 kDa respectively. The SDS-PAGE of the purified xylanase migrated as a single band. The Km was found to be 4.8 g/ml and the Vmax was 0.58 µmol/minute/ml for xylanase. In addition, the present xylanase was capable of producing high-quality xylo-oligosaccharides, indicating its application potential for biobleaching processes of pulp.


The present study evaluated the antibacterial effects of the methanolic, ethanolic and aqueous extracts of Senna alata leaves. The extracts were tested using agar well diffusion method against selected clinical isolates: Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Antibiogram profile of the isolates deduced by disc diffusion method confirmed that the methanolic extract inhibited the growth of all tested organisms except for Klebsiella pneumoniae, which also showed no sensitivity to the ethanolic extract. There was no inhibition observed for the aqueous extract against all the tested organisms, indicating that the methanolic extract of the plant was more potent than the aqueous extract. Inhibitory activities were observed for gentamicin, ofloxacin and erythromycin against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. No inhibitory activity was observed in all the antibiotics against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In Klebsiella pneumoniae, inhibition was only observed in ofloxacin. The activity of both the methanolic and ethanolic extract of Senna alata was optimal under different concentrations, but gradually diminished as the concentration was adjusted. The activity of the plant extracts against the selected bacteria is an indication of the presence of broad spectrum bioactive compounds which could be explored in the therapy of bacterial infections.


The part of the Guidelines of the European Society of Cardiology on the management of stable coronary artery disease concerning specific cardiac investigations has been presented. Definitions and pathophysiology, natural history and prognosis, stepwise approach to diagnosis, estimation of pre-test probability of disease, performance of invasive and non-invasive methods have been considered. Microvascular and vasospastic angina have been considered separately.


Abstract Aiming to improve the predictive ability of Walker model for fatigue life prediction and taking the turbine disc alloy GH4133 as the application example, this paper investigates a new approach for probabilistic fatigue life prediction when considering parameter uncertainty inherent in the life prediction model. Firstly, experimental data are used to update the model parameters using Bayes' theorem, so as to obtain the posterior probability distribution functions of two parameters of the Walker model, as well to achieve the probabilistic life prediction model for turbine disc. During the updating process, Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) technique is used to generate samples of the given distribution and estimating the parameters distinctly. After that, the turbine disc life is predicted using the probabilistic Walker model based on Monte Carlo simulation technique. The experimental results indicate that: (1) after using the small sample test data obtained from turbine disc, parameter uncertainty of the Walker model can be quantified and the corresponding probabilistic model for fatigue life prediction can be established using Bayes' theorem; (2) there exists obvious dispersion of life data for turbine disc when predicting fatigue life in practical engineering application.


In the face of limited water resources, better utilization and operation of irrigation networks is essential. Use of control systems is considered as one of the most assured ways to achieve the aim. In the course of the present study, two centralized controllers are applied to the west canal of Aghili irrigation district in I. R. Iran. The proposed control algorithms consist of a distant Downstream PI Feedback control (DPIF), and a distant Downstream PI Feedback along with Feedforward control (DPIFF). In the controllers, each water-level regulator is adjusted as based on water levels in all the pools of the canal. The test case canal and flow scenarios are simulated using SOBEK. The controllers are evaluated using the simulation results. The results indicated that both of the proposed controllers possess the considerable needed potential to closely match the discharge (at the cross regulators) with those ordered by water users while properly maintaining the water level throughout the length of the canals of the irrigation system. It is apparent that the DPIFF controller is more effective than DPIF controller in providing a desirable performance. Use of these algorithms makes demand oriented water distribution as well as a better performance of the system possible. The DPIFF controller as the main control system accompanied by a local controller as a backup system can be recommended to present an efficient robust control system for the canal.


Searching for ginseng is an avocation of peasants in northeast China that has had an important influence on local popular culture. It can be found in folktales, popular songs, proverbs, popular performing arts, embroideries, and papercuts. Hou Yumei, a Manchu woman folk artist from Tonghua countryside in Jilin Province, produces papercut story-books with well-known folktales from the Changbai Shan area. Ginseng is an important motif in these tales. The A. presents the special art and style of Hou Yumei and introduces the possible traditional contexts from which she draws.


ABSTRACT Blockchain technology has been identified as a possible solution to address critical challenges faced by the food sector. Building on the potential of Blockchain within Food Supply Chains (FSC), this study aims to develop an evidence-based implementation model for Blockchain in the food industry. Innovation Adoption and other prominent theories are integrated to first develop a conceptual framework, which is later validated following an analysis of the qualitative data. Fifteen semi-structured expert interviews are used to develop an evidence-driven, applied model for implementing Blockchain; providing detailed insights into typical stages, associated activities, and contextual determinants needed for successful integration. An empirically validated implementation model advances the extant academic literature and further provides a detailed roadmap for food practitioners, while initiating Blockchain projects with their firms and/or supply chains.


Abstract : Conductance was measured of lithium hexafluoroarsenate dissolved in binary mixtures of 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane with the following cosolvents: methyl formate, tetrahydrofuran, ethyl acetate, gamma butyrolactone, propylene carbonate, acetonitrile and dimethyl sulfite. The conductivity measurement were conducted at -20, 0, and 25 deg C.


1. Introduction to this Special Issue: North Korea and Northeast Asian Regional Security 2. Have Nuclear Weapons Made the DPRK a Rogue State? Studying the Korean Peninsula Crisis from the Waltzian Theory 3. North Korea's Nuclear Policy: Domestic Determinants, Strategy and Future 4. Peace Movements in South Korea and their Impacts on the Politics of the Korean Peninsula 5. The North Korea Crisis in Sino-US Relations 6. Japan Eyes the North Korean Nuclear Crisis (2006-09) 7. The Evolution of Russia's Foreign Policy, Ideologies and Strategies in Northeast Asia: A Study of Russo-Korean Relations


A lymphoma developed in a large neurofibroma in a young woman who had no other stigmata of neurofibromatosis. The neurofibroma was congenital and extensively involved the soft tissue and bone of the face and neck. Despite multiple attempts to excise the neurofibroma, it persistently recurred. At the age of 30 the patient underwent another resection of the lesion, and a follicular, mixed, small and large cell lymphoma was present within the neurofibroma. Over 3 years the lymphoma transformed into a diffuse large cell type despite the fact that it remained localized to the neurofibroma. After the lymphoma had transformed, the patient received multiagent chemotherapy. She responded well, and a repeat biopsy showed no residual lymphoma. She is alive and well 25 months after completion of chemotherapy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a lymphoma arising in a soft tissue neoplasm.


In a recent paper Tzedakis et al (2017) described a simple rule that predicts, using only caloric summer half-year insolation as input, which insolation cycles lead to the onset of an interglacial. The rule is based on an energy threshold, one of whose characteristics is that it reduces with time since the last interglacial onset, reflecting increased fragility of glacial climate as ice sheets get larger. The rule correctly predicts every complete deglaciation of the past million years, a period in which interglacial onset skips both precession and obliquity cycle maxima. This then raises the question to what extent the approximate 100 ka period observed in the last million years is due simply to internal dynamics rather than to the period of eccentricity present in the insolation record. Here we will test this by creating synthetic insolation curves from which eccentricity (or other orbital components) have been removed.  We will then use the proposed rule to test to what extent eccentricity influences the spacing of interglacials. We will also assess the impact of other orbital components and the impact earlier in the Quaternary when the energy threshold was lower.


Introduction to AppleTalk networking software finding information with AppleSearch planning for backup management exchanging documents on the small LAN with power talk serving the WW with WebStar selecting printers.


Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) nanofibrous mats containing silver nanoparticles were prepared by electrospinning. The diameter of the nanofibers ranged between 100 and 300 nm, as revealed by scanning electron microscopy. The silver nanoparticles were dispersed, but some aggregation was observed with transmission electron microscopy. The content of silver nanoparticles incorporated into the PVDF nanofibrous mats was determined by inductively coupled plasma and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The antibacterial activities of the samples were evaluated with the colony-counting method against Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (Gram-negative) bacteria. The results indicate that the PVDF nanofibrous mats containing silver nanoparticles showed good antibacterial activity compared to the PVDF nanofiber control. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010


After Permanent Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion Mild Sensory Stimulation Protects the Aged Rodent From Cortical Ischemic Stroke Copyright © 2012 American Heart Association. All rights reserved. Online ISSN: 2047-9980 Avenue, Dallas, TX 72514 Journal of the American Heart Association is published by the American Heart Association. 7272 Greenville doi: 10.1161/JAHA.112.001255 2012, 1: J Am Heart Assoc http://jaha.ahajournals.org/content/1/4/e001255 the World Wide Web at: The online version of this article, along with updated information and services, is located on


Production of oil and gas from organic shale is a function of porosity, hydrocarbon saturation, pore pressure, matrix permeability, hydraulic fracture surface area, and fracture conductivity. Hydraulic fracture surface area, porosity, saturations and pore pressure dominate initial production rates, while matrix permeability becomes increasingly important in sustaining production later in time. Permeability measurements to oil from organic shale core samples are not commercially available today. However, permeability to oil is believed to be a function of effective porosity, pore throat size, wettability, and water saturation, similar to conventional reservoirs. This work investigates pore size, fluid saturation, wettability, and expelled hydrocarbon volumes using log and core-based nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data from oil-bearing shale in the lower Eagle Ford. Tight Rock Analysis (TRA) core porosities, scanning electron microscope (SEM) images, and mercury injection capillary pressure (MICP) measurements are compared with NMR interpretation for calibration and validation. INTRODUCTION The use of NMR logging for formation evaluation in unconventional reservoirs has demonstrate considerable promise in recent years [1-6], including the interpretation of 1D (1-dimensional) NMR and 2D (2-dimensional) NMR data. As with all new log interpretation techniques, the parameters used to analyze the logs have to be calibrated and validated with core data for more accurate reservoir characterization. Ideally, core analysis on these unconventional reservoir rocks [7-10] should be performed whenever logs are first introduced in exploration wells. For example, the traditional T2cutoff for movable fluid in oil-bearing shale formations is significantly different from conventional sandstone and carbonate reservoirs [5,6]. Using a properly calibrated T2cutoff in NMR log interpretation yields more accurate reserve estimates and more accurate identification of producible target zones. Understanding which portion of a shale reservoir contains producible fluids impacts target zone selection and ultimate recovery. The rest of this report is organized as follows: (1) experimental details, (2) calibration of log-NMR data for movable fluid and effective fluid porosity, which is achieved by integrating log-NMR data with core-NMR, TRA, and MICP porosity, (3) calibration of 2D core-NMR data for interpreting fluid types and fluid porosities, which is achieved by integrating TRA data with core-NMR data, (4) temperature dependence of the separate fluid phases from 2D core-NMR data, and, (5) calibration of the pore-body size from log-


This review of all available data found a significantly increased risk of bladder cancer among adults with type 2 diabetes treated with pioglitazone. Pioglitazone also significantly increases the risk of heart failure, and there is minimal, if any, patient-oriented evidence of benefit from treatment.


It was discovered about a decade ago that autistic people cannot properly understand mental states. We extend the psychological observations and the "theory of mind" model by a more precise description of how reasoning about mental states and actions are corrupted under autism. Logical artificial intelligence and, in particular, reasoning about beliefs, desires and intentions (BDI), serves as a basis to construct a set of scenarios that were consistently misunderstood by the autistic children in our experimental study. We built a set of exercises, teaching autistic patients to reason properly about. mental states in accordance with the traditions of the axiomatic method, since the natural methods of teaching (by example) usually do not help. A suggested autistic training strategy is discussed from the viewpoint of an autonomous mental development approach.


Through the study on the gradation of permeable concrete based on method of I Change,the paper gives a relatively reasonable scope of gradation;then through the study on the performance of the permeable concrete,the relationships between the strength and cement dose,the effective porosity and cement dose were found and the regulation of the strength with the time was got,which are helpful to the design of the permeable concrete.


For the exploration of the active principles,the chemical com-ponents of Viscum coloratum(Komar.)Nakai were studied.According to chemi-cal analysis and spectroscopic data,the chemical structures of the compoundsisolated from the acetone eluate of the ethanol extract were identified as β-acet-ylamyrin(Ⅰ),β-amyrin(Ⅱ),lupeol(Ⅲ),oleanolic acid(Ⅳ),β-sitosterol(Ⅴ),betulinic acid(Ⅵ)and daucosterol(Ⅶ).Ⅵ and Ⅶ were isolated for thefirst time from this plant.


We demonstrate >50% conversion of light to V-groove channel plasmon-polaritons (CPPs) via compact waveguide-termination mirrors. Devices are fabricated using UV-lithography and crystallographic silicon etching. The V-shape is tailored by thermal oxidation to support confined CPPs.


The unifying revenue and expenditure of national treasury is an important subject of the institutional improvement of the state finance.However,a lot of problems on technology exist in actual operation.For example,who verifies the usage of funds? How the small quantity purchase transaction through account while not through cash? If the two key problems can't be resolved,the unifying revenue and expenditure of national treasury would be difficult.This thesis proposes that the national treasury concentrates on unifying the concrete procedure of revenue and expenditure and account form purchased on a small quantity,thus offer the valuable suggestion for revenue and expenditure of national treasury.


Since the introduction of nanotechnology in biosensing application, efforts are continuously made to design and develop efficient immobilizing nanostructures to achieve desired performance. Nano-platforms reduce the form factors and promote miniaturized wearable sensing devices at point-of-care for health monitoring. Cerium oxide (CeO2) seems a potential nanostructure (NS) among various metal oxides. Recently, CeO2-NSs due to anti-oxidant ability, high surface adsorption capability, and biocompatibility with biomolecules have been explored for biosensors development to detect desired biomarkers. CeO2-NSs are capable of amplifying signal, high biomolecule loading with maximum biological activity, and faster electron transport to achieve sensitive and selective detection of biomarker at lowest concentration. This review highlights the brief and advance introduction of CeO2-NSs with various techniques to fabricate CeO2 nanomorphology of improved optical, electrical and molecular properties. The salient features of CeO2-NSs needed to develop biosensor such as enzymatic, DNA and immune sensor etc, are also discussed. An attempt is also made to explain the challenges related to exploring CeO2NSs based biosensor for future commercial sensing technology development.


Due to local cultural assimilation as well as differences in political, economic and social institutions, sub-cultural variations exist among various Chinese societies in East Asia. In this paper, using World Values Survey data, we conduct an empirical study of the effects of income and cultural values on happiness for the Chinese societies in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. Since these effects could be heterogeneous across different parts of the happiness distribution, we estimate the distributional effects of income and cultural values on happiness of Chinese through an ordinal parametric quantile regression approach. Our empirical results show that some of the cultural values exhibit significant effects on happiness. However, except for freedom, the effects vary across societies and quantile levels of happiness. The effect of freedom is positive and significant regardless of the societies and happiness levels. Moreover, the magnitude of this positive effect gets larger for those at higher quantiles of the happiness distribution. By contrast, while income also has positive and significant effects on various quantiles of the happiness distribution, the magnitudes of these effects decay as the quantile level increases. This indicates that the trade-off between income and freedom is more effective for people in low happiness quantiles than for those in high happiness quantiles. However, upon achieving a high level of happiness, this trade-off becomes less effective.


Thomas and Sharon Kennedy-Nolle, as well as a forthcoming collection examining the writing of Albion W. Tourgée (edited by Sandra Gustafson and Robert Levine), show that though Reconstruction-era authors turned to imaginative works as their weapons, they were no less invested in discerning how to get the reading public to accept as true information about conditions in the South. In a moving epilogue, Blair extends his exploration into the latter decades of the nineteenth century with an exploration of Ida B. Wells's anti-lynching activism. Like the Freedmen's Bureau reporting, the work of Wells and other African American activists drew on data collection techniques to center the perspectives of Black citizens and influence policy; however, as Blair points out, in contrast to the efforts of the 1860s, "the anti-lynching campaign lacked the backing of the federal government" (135). Further, the supposedly empirically motivated scholarship on Reconstruction that was emerging in the same late nineteenth-century period repeated the erasure of African American perspectives and dismissed the data collected by the Freedmen's Bureau just as partisans of the early Reconstruction years did. In beautifully written closing paragraphs, Blair shows how present-day organizations like the Equal Justice Initiative redress these abiding distortions via the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, a lynching monument. "It is significant to have a record of wrongdoing," Blair concludes, because such a record leaves "the possibility of an accounting" (139). As the 2022 Zinn Education Project National Report on the Teaching of Reconstruction discloses, attending to the records of Reconstruction and accounting for their impact is necessary—and very much unfinished—work. The Record of Murders and Outrages contributes to that effort powerfully and should find a ready place on course syllabi as well as on the bookshelves of scholars and any reader interested in Reconstruction. Gregory Laski US Air Force Academy


A cross of 04D893 and 79266 in cultivated peanut was made and then selfed to construct a F 6∶ 7 RIL population which has 142 individuals.Genetic analysis was made by method of major gene plus polygene mixed inheritance model based on the RIL population.The single pod weight was controlled by two major genes in two environments(E1 and E2),the main gene heritability was 45.97%;The weight of per-kernel was controlled by three major genes,their heritability was about 67.54%;The thickness of pod shell was controlled by three major genes,their heritability was about 63.24%;Length of pod shell was controlled by three major genes,their heritability was about 81.14%;Width of pod shell was controlled by two major genes,their heritability was about 59.83%;Total pod weight per-plant was controlled by two major genes,their heritability was lower,about 21.76%.The results provided a valuable reference in selective breeding practices.


Ceramic waste deposit poses a number of environmental challenges, ranging from air, water
and soil contaminations. Thus, the present investigation is centred on evaluating the technical
viability and environmental benefits of using ceramic floor and wall tile wastes in sustainable

concrete mixes. Both geotechnical and microstructural analysis were performed on three phas-
es of the ceramics waste preparation: as powder, fine and coarse, and compared with the natu-
ral aggregates. Regarding the physical properties, ceramic tile aggregates performed ade-
quately well as the natural aggregates, except for the high water absorption observed in ceram-
ics. Chemical composition tests conducted on the ceramic tile indicated that it possesses

64.557% silica, which is a pronounced feature of pozzolans. Consequently, ceramic floor and
wall tile wastes can be processed for reuse in concrete.


Internet of Things (IoT) enables the connection of physical objects to the internet for exchanging information. Due to the massive number of IoT devices, cellular traffic is increasing exponentially in wireless networks. IoT devices require low latency, high reliability and massive connectivity. Fifth Generation (5G) networks are expected to provide promising solutions to meet these demands and improve the performance of IoT systems. 5G offers low latency, high reliability, and efficient data transmissions for large number of connected IoT devices. IoT systems employ gateways for efficient connectivity of various devices. Gateways have capabilities of integrating various protocols, handling data storage temporarily, analyzing the data, and transmitting that data between edge devices and cloud. IoT devices transmit data in frequent intervals, causing the gateway to be active all the time, leading to the increase in power consumption of the gateways. In this article, we focus on applying Discontinuous Reception (DRX) mechanism to IoT gateways. The proposed DRX at IoT gateways reduces the power consumption and improves the energy efficiency of IoT gateways. Our proposed work improves the energy efficiency of gateways by almost 30% compared to Relay Energy Efficiency (REE) based scheme.


The Mossbauer spectra ofhexacyanoferrates(II) of alkaline earth metals (Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba) and of La, Ti, Zr, Th, V02+ and UO~+ exhibit single line (0= -0.08-0.20 mms-I) at room temperature. Uranyl hexacyanoferrate(II), however, exhibits a large line width (r=0.53 mms-I) probably due to unresolved quadrupole splitting suggesting some interaction of uoi+ with [Fe(CN)6]4-. In general, 0 values show decreasing trend with increasing charge on the outer cations. Thermogravimetric studies upto 600'C show constant weight in the range 52.0-80% except for Mg hexacyanoferrate(II) which gave 30.3% residue. An attempt has been made to identify the intermediate and end products by Mossbauer spectroscopy. It is suggested that in most cases, a mixture offerrites, oxides and carbide (Fe3C) along with iron metal may be formed as end products.


A group of 11 observers judged total color differences between a number of pairs of Munsell colors. The analysis of the judgments made for each observer and the group was carried out by three statistical methods, the Scheffe method, the Morrissey–Gulliksen matrix method and the modified Thurstone–Mosteller method. The three methods give essentially the same results, but the Scheffe method is preferred because it allows a more detailed treatment of the observational data. Some order and orientation effects arising from the manner of presentation of the color pairs were found to be significant. The relationship between the judgments and their statistical estimates for different rating scales is investigated and a nonlinear relation is found to hold for the case where the rating scale is too coarse for the given set of color samples.


With the rapid advancing of the new English curriculum reform, English teaching has also been enriched constantly and many teaching approaches have sprung up. Situational teaching is one of them, as one of the most popular teaching approaches, playing a crucial role in English classroom teaching. This paper is mainly devoted to exploring the origins and development of situational teaching approach, functions as well as ways to apply it to senior middle school English classes. Moreover, it presents a teaching case of the author in the end. Finally, this paper tries to seek for feasible and practical ways to improve the teaching efficiency.


Recent advances in remote sensing open up unprecedented opportunities to obtain a rich set of visual features of objects on the earth's surface. In this paper, we focus on a single-image super-resolution (SISR) problem in remote sensing, where the objective is to generate a reconstructed satellite image of high quality (i.e., a high spatial resolution) from a satellite image of relatively low quality. This problem is motivated by the lack of high quality satellite images in many remote sensing applications (e.g., due to the cost of high resolution sensors, communication bandwidth constraints, and historic hardware limitations). Two important challenges exist in solving our problem: i) it is not a trivial task to reconstruct a satellite image of high quality that meets the human perceptual requirement from a single low quality image; ii) it is challenging to rigorously quantify the uncertainty of the results of an SISR scheme in the absence of ground truth data. To address the above challenges, we develop PQA-CNN, a perceptual quality-assured conventional neural network framework, to reconstruct a high quality satellite image from a low quality one by designing novel uncertainty-driven neural network architectures and integrating an uncertainty quantification model with the framework. We evaluate PQA-CNN on a real-world remote sensing application on land usage classifications. The results show that PQA-CNN significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art super-resolution baselines in terms of accurately reconstructing high-resolution satellite images under various evaluation scenarios.


For several years, MDE (Model Driven Engineering) has been increasing in Human Computer Interaction domain. It is particularly suitable for designing supervision software for sociotechnical and reconfigurable systems. In this article, we describe Anaxagore, an IDM based tool, which allows complete generation of interactive supervision software from business oriented synoptic descriptions.


Two hundred and seventy monosex males Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) with an average body weight of 16.65±0.2 g/fish were used to investigate the effect of dietary replacement of inorganic iron by different levels of Fe-NPs on growth performance, body composition and health status of A. hydrophila challenged Nile tilapia fish. Fish maintained on 30% protein level, Six different experimental diets supplemented with 0.0 (T1), 85.0 mg inorganic Fe/kg (T2) and 85.0, 63.75, 42.5 and 21.25mg Fe-NPs/kg (T3-T5) were fed to triplicates groups of fish. It was found that the final body weight, weight gain, SGR, FCR and PER were significantly improved in the fish fed on the iron-supplemented diets compared to those fed on the iron-deficient diet (T1). Blood pictures and serum biochemical were significantly increased before and after A. hydrophila infection in the iron-supplemented groups compared to the iron-deficient diet group. The dietary administration of iron NPs improved the antioxidant enzymatic activities (CAT and TAC) irrespective of the different iron sources in the basal diet. Moreover, it was observed that the diets containing 63.75 and 42.5 mg/kg of Fe-NPs exhibited the best survival rate compared to the other groups.


In this paper I will present some perspectives on compositional engagement which have arisen from my PhD study into composition processes with computers. I believe that while the specific tasks and outcomes of making music with computers might be different from another medium, such as paper or piano, the composer's engagement is fundamentally similar.
The main point I wish to make is that compositional engagement is multifaceted. There are a range of ways in which composers interact with musical materials and mediums. I refer to these as modes of compositional engagement. A composer works in different modes depending upon the stage the composition is at, the type of material they are working with, the compositional methods they are using, and the medium in which they are working. A composer might work predominantly in one particular mode of compositional engagement, change between modes quickly, or display features of different modes concurrently


Rainfall Runoff computation of any basin plays an important role in water resources planning and management. Here we have developed conceptual models the SCS-CN model to study the hydrological behavior of the river. The models were evaluated on the basis of coefficient of determination (R), coefficient of correlation (r), Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency and Root Mean Square Error. The estimated or simulated values were compared with the observed data which showed good consistency. The SCS-CN model showed Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency is 72%, coefficient of determination R values 0.616, coefficient of correlation is 0.78 and Root Mean Square Error is 83.09 which were satisfactorily close to the observed values. The study of the model indicates that the SCS-CN model is suitable for the hydrological study of the Shipra river basin of Madhya Pradesh in India.


Summary: In experiments on anesthetized dogs, the effect of intracoronary administration of different doses of platelet‐activating factor (PAF) has been investigated. One of the branches of the left coronary artery was catheterized via the main carotid artery. The coronary artery was autoperfused with blood from the subclavian artery. Intracoronary administration of small doses of PAF (100 and 200 ng/kg) caused a dose‐dependent decrease in coronary resistance (CR) and an increase in coronary blood flow (CF). When 200 ng/kg of PAF was used, these changes were 30 and 34% vs. control, respectively. Dose increase to 300 ng/kg led to a biphasic reaction. Intracoronary administration of larger PAF doses produced opposite effects, i.e., increase in CR and decrease in CF. Chemical de‐endothelialization by saponin (5 mg/5 ml, 1.5‐2 min) transformed coronary dilation to small doses of PAF to constriction. The CR rose from 2.8 ± 0.3 to 5.6 ± 0.9 mm Hg/ml/min (p < 0.01) and CF dropped twofold. The PAF receptor antagonists BN 52021 (6 mg/kg) and WEB 2086 (3 mg/kg) completely abolished PAF‐induced coronary reactions. Hence, PAF‐induced vasodilation of the canine coronary circulation is endothelium dependent.


For synchronous rectifier application, a smart trenched-gate base power MOSFET has been developed. This paper describes the technology involved in developing this structure and its features. Also, experimental verification of this new MOSFET is done using it on the 2'ry side of an actual DC-DC converter application. The results are analyzed and compared with the state-of-the art Schottky barrier diode. The new trenched-gate MOSFET shows excellent performance in such application and proves to be a sure choice for elevating the overall efficiency of such power conversion systems.


The work 1 , 2 in which one of us (W. C. F.) has participated indicates that a certain degree of repair of peridental fibrous tissue in man may follow careful treatment of the pyorrheal pocket. Many points regarding the sequence of events in regeneration of peridental membrane, however, were left without explanation. Thus, it was decided to examine the possibilities of repair of this peridental structure in the experimental animal. If a dental bur be passed through the gum and alveolar process into the incisor tooth there is produced a local injury which includes destruction of the external soft tissue, alveolus, peridental membrane, cementum and dentine in order of sequence. If a series of animals be subjected to this operation, they may be sacrificed at varying periods afterwards, in order that an appropriate spacing may be obtained for subsequent examination regarding the various steps of destruction and repair which follow in each of the structures included. For this purpose we selected the rabbit and the guinea pig for a particular reason. The rodents are provided with continuously growing teeth. As a result the various structures will change in relationship for as the tooth continues to grow, an uninjured tooth surface will come opposite to the site of injury to the alveolar bone. For histological examination this presents advantages, since peridental repair is more likely to take place from an intact dental surface than from one which is fractured. Two series of rabbits and two series of guinea pigs have been submitted to operation as described in the preceding paragraph. Animals thus treated have been sacrificed at semi-weekly intervals over a period of 6 weeks. The tooth with its adjacent structures was sawed out immediately after death, fixed, and then prepared in serial longitudinal sections in celloidin by methods which are described by one of us (A. W.). 3


Abstract. The article considers the main requirements for pumping stations, in particular, for methods of regula¬ting the water supply at the first lift pump unit. A description of the pumping unit and equipment is provided. The artic¬le pro-vides a comparison of the types of the main drive units of pumping stations. It also provides a rationale for the choice of electric drive system between classical asynchronous and synchronous electric drives, as well as a system with a field regulated reluctance machine (FRRM) with a comparison of energy indicators. A description and substantia-tion of the control system work are also given. The articles provide the technical characteristics of the motor parameters and the daily flow rate of the station fluid. The optimal method for regulating the power supply system was chosen based on research. A mathematical model of the device which implements the chosen control method is presented. The results of mathematical modeling are presented in the graphs. A graph of the transient process is given in the case of changing speeds depending on the required fluid supply. Conclusions about the efficiency of the system are drawn and further action plans are outlined.


Measurements made on stream flows in a chemical process network are expected to satisfy mass and energy balance equations in the steady state. Because of the presence of random and possibly gross errors, these balance equations are not generally satisfied. The problems of how to reconcile the measurements so that they satisfy the constraints and how to use the reconciled values to detect gross errors are considered in this article. Reconciliation of measurements is usually based on weighted least squares estimation under constraints, and detection of gross errors is based on the residuals obtained in the reconciliation step. The constraints resulting from the network structure introduce certain identifiability problems in gross error detection. A thorough review of such methodologies proposed in the chemical engineering literature is given, and those methodologies are illustrated by examples. A number of research problems of potential interest to statisticians are outlined.


DOI: 10.1002/admi.201600913 providing a second system for non-mechanical liquid metal manipulation. Zhang et al. fed aluminum chips to a galinstan droplet as fuel for self-propulsion,[19] and have since developed non-contacting magnetic controls for the droplet.[20] Finally, a large category of recent research has used electricity to create relative motion and shape change in liquid metals,[21–23] enabling non-contacting pumps for microfluidic flow[24] and cooling,[25] self-destructive circuitry (path-destructive liquid metal droplet motion),[26] and most recently as a source for rigid-body locomotion.[27] It is well known that gallium oxidizes rapidly in normal atmospheric conditions, or in any environment with oxygen levels above 1 ppm,[11,28,29] forming a gallium oxide that has been studied in detail.[30–32] This oxide is solid at room temperature and forms a nanoscale stabilizing shell around liquid gallium indium alloys, enabling the liquid metal to be patterned onto, and subsequently adhere to, many different material surfaces (via a plethora of techniques).[33] If the oxide is removed, the liquid metal loses its adhesion to the substrate and will reflow under the influence of gravity (or other forces), enabling a fixed liquid metal pattern to change. In other words, oxide removal enables real-time, non-mechanical manipulation of liquid metals. This has typically been done either in nitrogen boxes (via passive oxide prevention) or in chemical etchant baths (via active oxide removal).[18,19,21,24–26] Unfortunately, these methods require enclosed (air-tight or water-proof) chambers that limit the practical applications for manipulation of liquid metal circuits on the fly, as the circuits must remain inside the chamber. The two main etchants used for aqueous oxide removal are hydrochloric acid (HCl, a low-pH acid)[15,18,21,30,31,34] and sodium hydroxide (NaOH, a high-pH base).[19,21,22,24–26] Both of these etchants mix readily with water and can be contained safely at high concentrations. A non-aqueous alternative for oxide removal comes through exposing the liquid metals to concentrated HCl vapor,[35–39] but practical applications of this are generally limited to environments that can withstand the presence of a highly corrosive gas. In this work, we demonstrate control over the surface oxide of liquid metal droplets, which in turn controls the wetting and adhesion of those drops on a substrate, using purely environmental stimuli. We compare the use of highly acidic HCl and highly alkaline NaOH (in solution) in removing the oxide to release pinned droplets. We show that although both solvent solutions result in high contact angles between the droplet and the substrate, NaOH achieves this result at a rate that is orders of magnitude faster than HCl. We further explore the use of neutral distilled water to regrow the oxide and manipulate the contact area of the liquid metal droplet on the surface, causing the droplet to readhere to the substrate. Finally, we apply this environmentally controlled depinning and repinning More than six decades ago, liquid mercury was used to demonstrate the potential of room-temperature liquid metals as soft circuit elements.[1] This sparked an exploration into using liquid metals to conduct both heat and electricity in systems that are either physically compliant or reconfigurable. General use of mercury is impeded by its toxicity, so in the past decade gallium-based room-temperature liquid metals have begun to replace mercury for use in conductive circuitry applications. The value of flexible and adaptable liquid metal conductors is probably best exemplified in recent soft robotics design, development, and control applications.[2–5] In order to harness the full potential of liquid metal circuitry, more investigation is necessary into the fundamental principles governing liquid metals' behavior, as well as possible applications for these liquid metals. Gallium-based alloys can be found in a liquid form at both room and elevated temperatures. At high temperatures (>600 °C), researchers have controlled the motion of liquid gallium arsenide via chemical decomposition of the alloy, controlling the direction of motion via surface crystallinity of the substrate.[6–9] Other high-temperature gallium alloys have been controlled and directed by surface roughness.[10] This previous work demonstrates the feasibility of metallic droplet manipulation, but the high temperatures involved make it impractical for common, everyday use. Gallium-indium-based room-temperature liquid metal alloys (usually eGaIn, a eutectic gallium-indium alloy, or galinstan, a gallium-indium-tin alloy) have become even more commonplace as researchers develop reconfigurable and soft electronic devices. These gallium alloys have appeared in a number of soft electronics[11] including self-healing electronics,[12] tunable electronics,[13] and stretchable sensors.[14] In these examples, the liquid metal is manipulated through encapsulation inside of a flexible polymer, enabling mechanical shape-giving and shapechanging of soft electronics. There is also a growing interest in the ability to manipulate the geometry and electric path of the liquid metal via nonmechanical techniques. By powder coating small droplets, researchers created microscopic marbles,[15,16] which Tang et al. moved by shining a light on the powder-coated surface.[17] Highfrequency magnetic fields can drive galinstan droplet motion,[18]


The study of detrital food webs of streams has revealed a variety of dynamics, often implying the importance of invertebrate fauna in the breakdown of leaves and sometimes showing effects of predators and trophic cascades. Such studies generally involve the experimental manipulation of the component leaves and fauna. Leaf breakdown (or 'processing') is often studied by isolating leaves in litter bags, which in turn can have different mesh sizes used to exclude or permit the action of fauna. Such manipulation always carries the risk of introducing experimental artefacts, and care and appropriate controls must be applied. More recently and less commonly, electrical exclusion has been used for such studies, which potentially reduces the artefacts produced by bags, but care must be taken not to introduce other artefacts. Here we compared bag-exclusion and electrical-exclusion in a study of the effects of shredding fauna and predators on leaf processing in a coastal, tropical stream. The methods differentially excluded fauna of different sizes: high-intensity electrical shocks and fine-mesh (0.2 mm) bags excluded medium and large invertebrates; low-intensity shocks and medium-sized mesh (2 mm) bags excluded principally 2 species of shrimps (Macrobrachium olfersii and Potimirim brasiliana); no electric shocks and large mesh-size mesh (14 mm) bags permitted access to all fauna. Leaf packs of 2 species (Erythroxylum pulchrum and Miconia prasina) were either tethered free of bags in the electrical treatments or tied inside bags. The rate of leaf processing was higher (1.9–2.5×) for tethered leaves than for leaves inside bags indicating bags inhibited processing. The type of exclusion markedly affected differences in leaf processing between treatments. Leaf processing was 1.6 to 2.3× faster in the presence of medium-sized fauna in the treatment with the low-intensity electricity than when they were excluded by high-intensity electricity but was 1.9 to 2.0× faster in coarse-mesh bags, in which Potimirim shrimps aggregated at densities ~100× those observed outside bags, compared with treatments where the mesh size excluded shrimps. In the electrical exclusions, large fauna (possibly Macrobrachium shrimps) apparently inhibited medium-sized fauna (Ephemeroptera:Leptophlebiidae) in Erythroxylum but not in Miconia, producing a trophic cascade and reduced leaf processing. We conclude that the bag method produced artificially low rates of leaf processing and altered the dynamics of the fauna associated with leaf processing by attracting fauna, principally large shrimp, into the bags and masking the action of medium-sized fauna.


Summary

Eye lens dry-weights have been determined for 543 African elephants from three populations in East Africa. When plotted against estimated ages based on tooth replacement and wear criteria they indicate growth curves with rapid initial growth in lens weight, succeeded by a phase of rectilinear growth which apparently persists throughout life.

Parameters for the regressions of lens dry weight on age have been calculated by sex and locality. Confidence limits are fitted and no significant difference in the growth rates can be demonstrated, except for a sex difference in the values for the α intercept.

Variability at age is slightly greater in males than females, but is little greater than i3 indicated by studies on other species using known-age animals. This is taken to confirm the accuracy of the age criteria adopted and leads to conclusions on their precision.

It is suggested that this method might provide an objective check on the accuracy and precision of age estimates in other species.


Abstract Many Indigenous groups in North America have long-held practices of using migration and movement in response to environmental and social changes. Diasporic communities, composed of migrants maintaining significant connections to their former homelands, were likely once common in refuge areas of North America, but not always recognized by archaeologists. Many Puebloan peoples in the Northern Rio Grande region of the US Southwest used movement as a way to escape Spanish colonial control after AD 1600, yet retained connections to their homelands. This Puebloan diaspora had far-reaching consequences for Native peoples across the Southwest and neighboring regions like the Great Plains. Here, we briefly summarize how diasporas are defined globally and the ways in which these definitions could shift to help us model diasporas in North America. Using the Pueblo diaspora and a multi-generational Pueblo–Ndee (Apache) community in the Central Great Plains as example, we explore the intricacies of identifying diasporas for North America within the contexts of Indigenous resistance and adaptation.


This chapter deals with the structural analysis of bone elements, performed both numerically and experimentally. Among numerical techniques, the finite element method is discussed at length, focusing on its applications to bone biomechanics. The main steps involved in the method are analyzed from the practical perspective, and guidelines about dealing with commonly recurring problems are provided. As for experimental methods, considerable space is devoted to full-field techniques, with special attention to the lesser-known method of thermoelastic stress analysis. The main aim of this chapter is to illustrate how numerical and experimental methodologies can complement each other, explaining why it is beneficial to pursue both approaches.


This research was carried out to keep a sharp look-out on changes of estimated unit power and material in landscape architectural construction in Korea from 1962 to 2007 and to suggest basic information for its desirable direction in the near future. The research results are as follows. At first, work classification of estimated unit power and material landscape architectural construction was included under the earth work and in 1974 it had the name which was called landscape architectural process with earth works, and in 1984 the estimated unit power and material of landscape architectural construction was separated from the earth work but it was still under name of estimated unit manpower and material of the engineering construction. In 1972 the estimated unit power and material began with a 'planting' and a 'pruning' and still consists of 7 work classification total: 'sodding and herbaceous sowing', 'digging out', 'planting', 'digging round the root', 'keeping and management', 'rubble masonry' and 'planting for protection of rocks split section'. The processes consist of 29 sub-processes in total. The lawn construction was mainly established in the 1960s, the planting construction in the 1970s, the keeping and management in the 1980s, split section protection in the 1990s along with new technology with keeping management in the 2000s. On the basis of these research results, the process to be added in the near future could be related to new material and new technology and the process might be much more subdivided.


Quantification of sub cellular structures is necessary in understanding how cells function. This paper presents a segmentation algorithm for transmission electron microscopy images of insulin granule membranes from beta cells of rat islet of Langerhans. Granules are described as having a dense core and a surrounding halo. We use a mixed vector field convolution snake to segment the granule membranes. We also present a novel contribution to the convergence filter family, which uses an adjustable region of support. The filter is used to verify our segmentation. We calculate pixel error by comparing the membrane areas from our method with a manually defined ground truth. 1300 granules are used in our test and an average area difference of 7.54% is observed.


This chapter was written for as an invited plenary presentation at the ninth international Public Health Forum, on Poverty, Inequality and Health, London 1999, and aimed to encourage health policy specialists to examine the wider interactions between health care systems and socio-economic inequality in developing country contexts.


Abstract We discuss our experience in the Gadara project, whose objective is to control the execution of software to avoid potential failures using discrete-event control techniques. We summarize our accomplishments so far and discuss future challenges. After initial work on safety of workflow scripts via supervisory control techniques, we have focused our efforts on deadlock avoidance in multithreaded C programs that use locking primitives to control access to shared data. We describe how we automatically construct automata models of workflows and Petri net models of concurrent programs. In the case of multithreaded C programs, the resulting models characterize a new class of resource-allocation Petri nets called Gadara nets. These nets enjoy structural properties that facilitate the synthesis of liveness-enforcing control policies that are maximally-permissive. We describe our strategy for run-time implementation of these control policies, especially by a technique known as code instrumentation. It is hoped that the lessons learned so far in the Gadara project will be useful in other application areas and will suggest avenues for future theoretical investigations.


Industrial production processes often emit air pollutants that have adverse health effects and affect product quality. Essentially, several mechanisms, such as mixed and stratified ventilation systems, have been established in companies to remove generated thermal and mass loads from manufacturing areas. The widely used mixed ventilation generates a homogenous temperature and pollutant level in the entire production hall. However, fresh air supply is only needed in the area that is used by employees and needed for processes. As most factories do not adjust the ventilation system to current production conditions, the production hall is over-supplied with clean and conditioned air during idle times. This study describes experimental measurements and simulation analysis to compare mixed and stratified ventilation systems. The measurements include carbon dioxide and temperature profiles with various intake airflows, intake air temperature, thermal load, and machine layouts. Results show advantages in airflow, air quality, cooling capacity, and energy demand when using automatically demand-driven stratified ventilation. The experimental results validate the thermal simulation results. Controlling the layer height, ambient temperature of the room, and concentration of contaminants are vital parameters.


In this paper, we consider particular tiling problems suitable for able high-school students. Three alternative student-generated proofs of the solution to the initial problem are given in detail, and various points in connection with these proofs are briefly discussed.


Bidirectional isolated DC-DC converters (BIDC) are considered among the key technologies in renewable energy (RE) and electric vehicles (EV) systems. The main component of the converter is the high-frequency transformer (HFT) that increases the power density of the power conversion system. This paper presents a review of HFT design for BIDC in terms of winding, core material, and core shape. Moreover, the paper also analyzes the effects of transformer parasitic parameters, phase-shift angle, and magnetic materials.


The identification of plant residues observed on prehistoric stone artefacts has often been used to inform on tool function without adequate consideration of potential contamination due to post-depositional processes. The paper redresses this balance by proposing a methodology which combines use-wear and residue analyses with systematic testing of depositional context to distinguish residues formed during tool use from accidental contamination. A case study involving obsidian artefacts from an open site in Papua New Guinea is used to illustrate the new approach. Starch grains, a class of residue which has had little attention outside Australia, were chosen as the focus of study because of their abundance at this site. The frequency of starch grains extracted from residues on stone artefacts was compared with those in sediments adhering to and adjacent to the artefact. A use-wear study conducted as a blind test provided an independent measure of whether the artefacts had been used. The frequency of starch grains was shown to be significantly correlated with used artefacts and not correlated with unused artefacts or the sediments. The case study demonstrates the importance of testing for contamination and also illustrates the benefit of studying starch grains as a class of plant residue.


The authors found the commensurability characteristics when they studied the temporal spatial features of strong earthquake activities in Qinghai province and its neighboring areas,and they analysed the characteristics of strong earthquakes ( M s≥6 5) and got the commensurability value which is 2.53 years,and predicted the earthquake trend .


The study aims to improve some mechanical properties like compressive strength, tensile strength, modulus of elasticity and flexural strength of polymer modified concrete (PMC). This improving for PMC done by using waste iron filling as replacement from fine aggregate. waste iron filings and chips used in this research as percentages from sand ranged from 0 % to 40 % , the compressive strength of ordinary polymer concrete increase from 32.2 MPa to 41.81 MPa by 40% replacement of sand with waste iron filings and chips, tensile strength increased also from 2.83 MPa to 4.23 MPa by 40% replacement also. Flexural strength increased from 3.7 MPa for reference mix to about 7.1 MPa for mixes with 40% replacement, modulus of elasticity increased from 21087 MPa to 25233 MPa by using maximum percentage of waste iron filings. There is a slight increment in mechanical properties of polymer modified concrete after 30% ratio of waste iron filings and chips. Also research includes mixes modified with larger dosage of super plasticizer and less water/cement ratio to improve mechanical properties of PMC.


For his latest book Professor Taylor has brought together " occasional articles" and reviews that first appeared in a number of outstanding English journals, on " the theme which has run through European history since the French revolution-the search for stability in an unstable world." Like his earlier works on German and Austrian history, the value of From Napoleon to Stalin varies unpredictably from section to section. In the incisive and interesting writing, one gets throughout the working out of a thoroughly learned and first-rate critical mind; and much of the time his judgments are shrewd. This is particularly true of the essays on Napoleon's " Memoirs ", the meaning of the Fashoda crisis, the Entente Cordiale, Lord Russell and Lord Salisbury, as well as of his comments on some recent autobiographical apologias. But a few of the pieces-where Taylor becomes involved with some of his preconceptions on German history -are disappointing. The most inadequate-indeed seriously misleading-pages of the book are those dealing with Bismarck and William II. There is once more the fiction about Bismarck " partitioning " Germany with the Hapsburgs (which leads one to wonder whether Professor Taylor himself, after all, favored a " pan-German " settlement). Nor do I see how one can reconcile the statement (p. 71) that in 1898 " Germany already overshadowed Europe. This was not his [Bismarck's] doing. Increase of population and an unrivalled heavy industry made German greatness inevitable ", with the assertion twelve pages later that "'What is wrong with Germany is that there is too much of it . ... This great Germany is a very recent appearance, created overnight by Bismarck." It happens that the former statement is much closer to the truth. Moreover, Taylor thinks that while Bismarck " could not prevent the Germans from running mad, he lured them into a strait jacket which did not work loose until twenty years after his death . ... The world owes what has been good in the Germany of the last fifty years to Bismarck's policy" (p. 74). And of William II he writes that he " was not a ruler; he was a medium. He reflected the political mind of Germany and expressed it with genius." To this I would say that unless we are to have a wholly misleading reinterpretation of Bismarck and William II (as we have been getting of Metternich by Srbik, Viereck, Engel-Janosi,


A compound of formula (I): (CF DRAWING IN BOPI) wherein: R1 represents a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl, R2 is substituted or unsubstituted alkyl, a represents, with the nitrogen or carbon atoms to which it is attached a single structure or nitrogenous polycyclic B represents any one of groups a to i as defined in the description. Drugs.


Based on the Qinghal Salar,Turkish,Tibetan adult crowd hair as the main research material,measured the hair in the seven elements of the content.Fisher Discriminant analysis by the Native minorities in Qinghai had forecast classification,and to determine the outcome of 82.9% correct,interactive verification determine the outcome of 78.6% correct.The results for the Qinghai local history,anthropology,species identification research provides a scientific basis.


The Sichuan field migrates since the ancient times freguently.Sichuan has been a big migration province from ancient time.Its folk godliness possesses of both the sustained civic tradition of Shu area and the traces of migrant culture brought by several big-scope migrations in history.So the folk icon worship in Shu area undergoes huge historical variances and has multi-category folk sacrifice objects.These folk icon worships,as an important part of Shu area's folk habitude,are deserved to research in the context of constructing the harmonious socialism society.


Wireless sensors are being increasingly used to monitor/collect information in healthcare medical systems. For resource-efficient data acquisition, one major trend today is to utilize compressive sensing, for it unifies traditional data sampling and compression. Despite the increasing popularity, how to effectively process the ever-growing healthcare data and simultaneously protect data privacy, while maintaining low overhead at sensors, remains challenging. To address the problem, we propose a privacy-aware cloud-assisted healthcare monitoring system via compressive sensing, which integrates different domain techniques with following benefits. By design, acquired sensitive data samples never leave sensors in unprotected form. Protected samples are later sent to cloud, for storage, processing, and disseminating reconstructed data to receivers. The system is privacy-assured where cloud sees neither the original samples nor underlying data. It handles well sparse and general data, and data tampered with noise. Theoretical and empirical evaluations demonstrate the system achieves privacy-assurance, efficiency, effectiveness, and resource-savings simultaneously.


The zygomatic bone is a critical component of the midfacial complex. Its prominence within the face makes it susceptible to trauma and its intricate anatomy make posttraumatic repair of zygomaticomaxillary complex (ZMC) fractures challenging. The zygoma has a "tetrapod" structure with four key articulation points: the zygomaticomaxillary articulation and inferior orbital rim, zygomaticosphenoid articulation in the lateral orbital wall, zygomaticofrontal articulation and the lateral orbital rim, and the zygomatic arch. The zygoma is also a key contributor to several facial buttresses and a main determinant of malar projection and transverse facial width. Several approaches to the ZMC may be required to ensure appropriate reduction of each articulation site during operative repair. Concomitant injuries to other facial structures can be seen with ZMC fractures, given the zygomatic bones close association with the orbit, nasal bones, and the maxilla. Adequate ZMC fracture repair requires appropriate exposure of all involved fractures, robust mobilization of bone fragments, and application or rigid fixation while ensuring simultaneous reduction at all involved ZMC articulation points. Midface soft tissue resuspension should be performed following ZMC reduction and fixation to prevent unwanted soft tissue descent and lower lid malposition.


Simple Summary Until now, the milk composition of impala and tsessebe has been unknown. Our study showed that the composition of impala milk was 5.56 ± 1.96% fat, 6.60 ± 0.51% protein, and 4.36 ± 0.94% lactose, and that of tsessebe milk was 8.44 ± 3.19%, 5.15 ± 0.49%, and 6.10 ± 3.85%, respectively. The fatty acid composition and protein properties also differed. The data of these two species were subjected to an interspecies comparison with 13 other antelope species by statistical methods. This showed that the milk of tsessebe is similar to that of its relatives of the Alcelaphinae sub-family. Although the impala is a close relative of the Alcelaphinae, its milk composition finds comparison with a different sub-class, the Hippotraginae. The information contributes to the phylogenetic properties of milk and milk evolution. Abstract The major nutrient and fatty acid composition of the milk of impala and tsessebe is reported and compared with other Bovidae and species. The proximate composition of impala milk was 5.56 ± 1.96% fat, 6.60 ± 0.51% protein, and 4.36 ± 0.94% lactose, and that of tsessebe milk was 8.44 ± 3.19%, 5.15 ± 0.49%, and 6.10 ± 3.85%, respectively. The high protein content of impala milk accounted for 42% of gross energy, which is typical for African Bovids that use a "hider" postnatal care system, compared to the 25% of the tsessebe, a "follower". Electrophoresis showed that the molecular size and surface charge of the tsessebe caseins resembled that of other Alcelaphinae members, while that of the impala resembled that of Hippotraginae. The milk composition of these two species was compared by statistical methods with 13 other species representing eight suborders, families, or subfamilies of African Artiodactyla. This showed that the tsessebe milk resembled that of four other species of the Alcelaphinae sub-family and that the milk of this sub-family differs from other Artiodactyla by its specific margins of nutrient contents and milk fat with a high content of medium-length fatty acids (C8–C12) above 17% of the total fatty acids.


The present work deals with the development of a low cost smart sensing system based on eddy current technique for real-time defect detection and identification in high speed drawn wires. It is capable of working at harsh industrial environment while providing immediate feedback on product quality during production - even at high speeds. The sensing system works on the principle of eddy current (EC) wherein the variation of impedance of the sensing coil causes a sharp change as defect occurs in the part to be inspected. It comprises mainly EC sensor/probe, central processing electronic unit and interfacing & display unit. The electronics is embedded in an enclosure which can be placed away from the drawing line and the sensor which is placed in the line of wire drawing is connected through a coaxial cable. Software runs in the PC that can be placed at the operator's end and the real-time data access through internet is included in the system. Incorporation of remote sensing and control facility through customized software that includes smart surveillance and real time data access through internet of things (IOT) etc. makes the system more versatile for in-situ applications. Performance evaluation of the system has been carried out and validated through several field trials at site. It is capable of detecting natural defects like seams, cracks, pits, crow's feet, fin, slivers, weld-line defects etc at a speed of 12 m/s with a depth resolution ~ 100 µm. One unit of the system has already been installed at one of the wire mills in India (machine no. #212 for 1.6 mm MTB wire of Tarapur wire mill, Tata Steel Ltd.) and it is now in operation towards the satisfaction of the stake holder.


We study the rheology of dry and wet granular materials in the steady quasistatic regime using the discrete element method in a split-bottom ring shear cell with focus on the macroscopic friction. The aim of our study is to understand the local rheology of bulk flow at various positions in the shear band, where the system is in critical state. We develop a general(ized) rheology, in which the macroscopic friction is factorized into a product of four functions, on top of the classical μ ( I ) rheology, each of which depends on exactly one dimensionless control parameter, quantifying the relative importance of different micro-mechanical machanisms. These four control parameters relate the time scales of shear rate t γ ˙ , particle stiffness tk, gravity tg and cohesion tc, respectively, with the governing time scale of confining pressure tp. While t γ ˙ is large and thus of little importance for most of the slow flow data studied, it increases the friction in critical state, where the shear rate is high and decreases friction by relaxation (creep) where the shear rate is low. tg and tk are comparable to tp in the bulk, but become more or less dominant relative to tp at the extremes of low pressure at the free surface and high pressure deep inside the bulk, respectively. The effect of wet cohesion on the flow rheology is quantified by tc decreasing with increasing cohesion. Furthermore, the proposed rheological model predicts well the shear thinning behavior both in the bulk and near the free surface; shear thinning rate becomes less near the free surface with increasing cohesion.


('Critical Reflections') anticipates and addresses the usual objections to narrative psychiatry because it is sometimes considered as 'Old Hat' (p. 161), being 'too broad' (p. 163), 'not practical' (p. 166), or in some cases opponents consider biopsychiatry and neuroscience as reductive (p. 168). A cutting edge analysis, Narrative Psychiatry should not be seen as being totally opposed to traditional psychiatry approaches. It is not a biting critique made by a mere outsider: on the contrary, it proposes a better understanding of what patients have to say, hide and express. Even for professionals or scholars who have no interest in narrative psychiatry, this book will be interesting and rewarding since it gathers many timely thoughts, ideas and debates about science, knowledge, and epistemology; for instance, should we say that 'science discovers the world', or that 'science constructs the world'? (p. 149). Clearly an original and important contribution, Professor Bradley Lewis's book is engaging and inspiring, clearly written and without any obscure jargon. It is obvious that the author had been carefully preparing this project for years. Although it is not in any sense a casual reading, undergraduates and non-academics could follow this demonstration. In sum, Narrative Psychiatry will surely inspire psychiatrists (and not only those who oppose to biopsychiatry), but also doctors, clinicians, psychologists, even philosophers, and people working in the health sector. Furthermore, Bradley Lewis has produced here a unique and impressive demonstration of a possible interdisciplinary bridge between sciences and humanities. Of course, because there are not many titles located at this intersection of disciplines, university libraries should own this original and rare book.


The fiber/resin/aluminum alloy laminated composites were fabricated by using laminated solidifying technics. With the help of SEM, the influence of surface-treatment techniques of aluminum alloy on the interfacial bond of the laminated composites was investigated. The results of property tests show that the fiber/resin/aluminum alloy laminated composite exhibits high strength and good formability. Furthermore, the results of damping experiments reveal that the composite has a much higher damping coefficient than the matrix aluminum alloy, which is favorable for anti-vibration.


We introduce an algorithm to piecewise dualise linear quivers into their mirror dual. The algorithm uses two basic duality moves and the properties of the S -wall which can all be derived by iterative applications of Seiberg-like dualities.


Map is considered as the second language of geography science, and it is very important in geography teaching. Research-map caters to the needs of specific research, while teaching-map served knowledge propoganda. The way how to convert research map to teaching map is a critical problem, which needs theories as well as techniques. This paper brings forward the principal theory from research map to teaching map; the techinque that change research map to teaching map in the environment of MapInfo GIS; and the key points in cartography synthesis from disaster research maps to disaster teaching maps with three kinds of disaster maps as examples.


Steganography is a method which can put data into a media without a tangible impact on the cover media. In addition, the hidden data can be extracted with minimal differences. In this paper, two-dimensional discrete wavelet transform is used for steganography in 24-bit color images. This steganography is of blind type that has no need for original images to extract the secret image. In this algorithm, by the help of a structural similarity (SSIM) and a two-dimensional correlation coefficient, it is tried to select part of sub-band cover image instead of embedding location. These sub-bands are obtained by 3-levels of applying the DWT. Also to increase the steganography resistance against cropping or insert visible watermark, two channels of color image is used simultaneously. In order to raise the security, an encryption algorithm based on Arnold transform was also added to the steganography operation.


An allocation is said to be "weakly envy-free" if no individual envies others with the same or smaller endowments. We show that competitive equilibrium allocations are weakly envy-free, i.e., this weak notion of fairness is achieved in markets. Since government policies are expected to improve fairness in market economies, we require they satisfy at least this weak equity criterion in any economy. We show that many well-known equity criteria for taxation (e.g., anonymity, incentive-preservation, horizontal equity, ability-to-pay principle to finance pure public goods, and benefit principle for impure public goods) are implied by this weak criterion.


We use an equilibrium search framework to model a formal- informal sector labour market where the informal sector arises endogenously. In our model large firms will be in the formal sector and pay a wage premium, while small firms are characterised by low wages and tend to be in the informal sector. Using data from the South African labour force survey we illustrate that the data is consistent with these predictions.


This article reveals the possibilities of combining the urban environment and natural component, with the aim of improving the quality of the city, where innovative technological methods act as the connecting element. Modern approaches to control urban processes through media technologies have been studied. Considered a number of projects adopted principles of the sustainable urban environment and based on the analysis of the prototype of approved algorithms for the creation and / or regeneration of the city's territory, as well as the optimal size of the informative space of the city. The potential of using high technologies for the implementation of a smart city and computerization of the urban environment was studied to simplify control for the purpose of safety and reduce the harmful effects of standard urban processes. On the basis of the conducted research, the concept of the so-called micro-policy was developed and a catalog-regulation on the characterization of the morphotype was compiled.


Wireless Sensor Networks, are made of low-cost, low-power, small in size, and multifunctional sensor nodes. The efficient energy utilization is one of the important performance factors for wireless sensor networks survivability be-cause nodes operate with limited battery power. In this paper we propose and analyze a new approach of zone based clustering head selection algorithm for wireless sensor network of homogeneous nodes. Nodes in the network are uniformly distributed. In this clustering algorithm, network performance is improved by selecting cluster heads on the basis of the residual energy of existing cluster heads, and nearest hop distance of the node. In this paper we evaluate various performance metrics like energy consumption, network life time, number of channel heads metrics in each round and compare these with respect to random algorithm i.e. LEACH. We conclude that proposed protocol effectively extends the network lifetime without degrading the other critical overheads and perform-ance metrics.


Objective To summarize the surgical experience of single-hold three-channel transumbilical laparoscopic surger for treatment of primary varicocele.Methods The clinical data of 60 patients with single-hole three-channel transumbilical laparoscopic surger for treatment of high ligation of internal spermatic vein were analyzed retrospectively and clinical curative effed observation Thouryh Department of Urology,Sichuan Academy of Medical Sicences Sichuan Provincal People's Hosptal from January.2008 to May.2011.Results In all the surgery of 60 cases,success rate is 100%,there were no long-term complications except one patient,only exist five recent complications,postoperative recovery was good for the follow-up of 6-12 months.Conclusion Single-hole three-channel transumbilical laparoscopic surgery for the treatment of high ligation of internal spermatic vein is an ideal surgical method,high success rate,without any obvious complications,which is worthy of clinical application.


Abstract We design fixed-order strong H-infinity controllers for general time-delay systems. The designer chooses the controller order and may introduce constant time-delays in the controller. We represent the closed-loop system of the plant and the controller as delay differential algebraic equations (DDAEs). This representation deals with any interconnection of systems with time-delays without any elimination techniques. We present a numerical algorithm to compute the strong H-infinity norm for DDAEs which is robust to arbitrarily small delay perturbations, unlike the standard H-infinity norm. We optimize the strong H-infinity norm of the closed-loop system based on non-smooth, non-convex optimization methods using this algorithm and the computation of the gradient of the strong H-infinity norm with respect to the controller parameters. We tune the controller parameters and design H-infinity controllers with a prescribed order or structure.


SYNOPSIS
Diabetes mellitus is reaching epidemic proportions. In 2014, the total prevalence of diabetes was estimated to be 442 million people worldwide. Due to the aging population and continued increase in obesity rates, the prevalence is expected to rise to 592 million by 2035. Diabetes can lead to several complications, including cardiovascular disease, stroke, peripheral arterial disease, nephropathy, neuropathy, retinopathy, lower extremity amputation and musculoskeletal impairments. Up to 80% of patients referred for outpatient physical therapy have diabetes or are at risk for diabetes. Physical therapists are key members of the healthcare team: prescribing physical activity for the treatment of diabetes and other chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and osteoarthritis. Physical therapists can screen for risk factors for diabetes and diabetes-related complications that modify traditional musculoskeletal exercise prescription. Physical therapists must advocate for regular physical activity as a key component for the treatment of chronic diseases in all patient interactions. This report 1) describes the diabetes epidemic and the health impact of diabetes and diabetes-related complications, 2) highlights the physical therapist's role as front-line provider, and 3) provides recommendations for physical therapists in screening for diabetes risk factors and diabetes-related complications and considerations for patient management. We focus on type 2 diabetes. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther, Epub 28 Nov 2019. doi:10.2519/jospt.2020.9154.


Primitive location of melanoma could be a relevant prognostic factor. As regards the scalp, some studies indicate a particularly aggressive biological behaviour for this anatomical localisation.In this multicentric study, data regarding head–neck melanoma (HNM) have been revised.The design of the study included two main phases. In this retrospective study, data regarding HNM have been collected and analysed.In summary, our data suggest that the posterior neck is the area most affected by thicker melanomas. Cheeks and neck melanoma are associated with reduced disease‐free years of life and overall survival compared with all other sites of HNM.This study provides useful information in defining the clinical features of HNM, thus improving diagnosis and treatment strategies.


Objective To explore the value of the double-phasic spiral CT scan in diagnosing gastrointestinal stromal tumors(GIST).Methods The CT characteristic findings of 26 GIST which were proven by pathology and immunohistochemistry were retrospectively analyzed.Results The CT imaging manifestations showed that there was submucous membrane neoplasm by double-phasic spiral CT scan;Tumor with riched blood supply subjected to cystic change,necrosis or communication with gastrointestinal tract and heterogeneous enhancement;CT can help to distinguish between benign and malignant GIST.In benign GIST,the diameter of the tumors was less than 5 cm,with clear margin and homogeneous density.In malignant GIST,the diameter of the tumors was over 5 cm;the tumor was lobular in shape;Lesions contained intratumoral small or large patchy necrosis;the ulcer was large and deep.Irregular vessels arranged in clumps or in line were observed in the tumor;there scattered small calcifications and invasion of adjacent tissues as well as metastasis were also observed.Conclusion The double-phasic spiral CT is valuable for locating and differentiating benign and malignant GIST.