Assessment and accountability systems leading to educational improvement are ongoing concerns to parents and educators. Federal, state and local educational authorities are considering how best to use them to enhance educational outcomes and to result in better academic achievement. In 1997, former President Bill Clinton challenged the nation's schools to participate in a rigorous national test of each student's reading skills at grade four and mathematics skills at grade eight. He stated: "What we need are tests that will measure the performance of each and every student, each and every district, so that parents and teachers will know how every child is doing compared to other students in other schools, in other states, in other countries -- not just compared to them, but more importantly, compared against what they need to know." However, the use of a national test challenges the American tradition that states and local districts control education; and concern that a national test may lead to central control has been expressed. States have, or are in the process of developing content standards. For example, to help teachers align classroom evaluation to state standards, Pennsylvania mailed 50,000 resource kits to schools across the state. Developed by more than 100 teachers, the kits contained a review of the standards, assessment tips and instruction strategies, resources for parents, sample lesson plans and professional development ideas. Chart 1 shows some of the findings from the 2001 report, "Measuring What Matters -- Using Assessment and Accountability to Improve Student Learning," prepared by the Research and Policy Committee for Economic Development. Chart 2 (Page 8) reveals the growing concern for standardized tests. Measurements vary from state to state and have encountered criticism such as: teachers try to inflate student scores by teaching to the test; tests rely heavily on multiple-choice questions; variability in student performance from state to state is not accounted for; and course standards are not sufficiently rigorous. At a recent meeting, a number of teachers were discussing testing and agreed on the following: * If we tie teacher evaluation and compensation as well as funding for the school to test results, teachers will teach to the test. * Testing, which teachers call "high stakes," is driving much of what is considered important. Therefore, testing is both the beginning and the end of instruction. * In teaching to the test and aligning the curriculum to the standards, the other important needs of the students may be forgotten. Data with which to compare performance across states and to see the overall picture of the American educational system across the nation and internationally is of value. We need answers to questions such as why the Czechoslovakian Republic, which spends a third as much per pupil as we do, recently ranked sixth in mathematics and second in science, while we ranked 28th and 17th, respectively. An international report released Dec. 4, 2001, by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Standards is expected to state the results of a study of 15-year-old students from 32 countries. …


EDITOR—The patient in the case presented by Moule et al in Minerva had several narrow transverse white bands on her nail plates after receiving five cycles of combined chemotherapy for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.1 We studied …


Landmines are major problems, waste life and money. Much recent research acknowledges that the contact sensors have promising potential. In this work, a new idea of contact sensor for landmine detection is introduced. The sensor main principle is based on the concept of 2-DOF vibration absorber system (two springs and two masses), to detect the existence of an object (ex: landmine) in sand which is modeled as a 3rd spring. The sand stiffness (the 3rd spring stiffness ko) can be acquired as function of the frequency vibration absorber mode ?Abs (the frequency at which the 2nd mass has the lowest amplitude (mathematically proven: zero)). When the sand stiffness changed due to the presence of the landmine, the vibration absorber frequency ?Abs changes, and consequently the landmine can be detected. The mathematical derivation of the (?Abs-ko) relation is verified by simulations with Matlab and with finite element COMSOL Multi-physics. The system is succeeded to measure the sand stiffness up to 100kN/m. A physical prototype for the sensor is developed with sensitivity 16.85 (N/m)/Hz.


Zhaling Lake and Eling Lake are the two major lakes in the Yellow River source area.Due to the existence of lakes like Zhaling and Eling,large quantity of sediment is trapped.Therefore the measured sediment amount,concentration and erosion index at Huangheyan hydrological station can hardly reflect the actual situation of sediment yield in the Yellow River source area.Based on the measured sediment discharge at Huangheyan station,the author preliminarily analyzed the source and distribution of incoming sediment.The sediment through Huangheyan station mainly comes from the area between Eling Lake outlet and Huangheyan station.The estimated sediment amount trapped in the two lakes annually is about 0.13 million tons.The erosion index decreases from the eastern part to western part.Erosion indexes in the upper inlet and down outlet of Eling Lake are 5~10t(km5a)~-1 and 20~40t(km5a)~-1 respectively.


only the economy's competitive position internationally, but also the nation's moral fiber. In the liberal camp, the present confusion, which has arisen out of attempts to reconcile Reagan's "New Federalism" with longstanding Democratic demands for a large share of public goods in the economy, has been camouflaged by the visions of Felix Rohatyn and Lester Thurow, who want to rebuild America's in-


It is noticed that novices in swimming do not reach or achieve the required level of perfection in the skill performance of swimming. This is despite the great effort exerted in practice and gradual progress in training on skills. This is in addition to the feeling of tiredness and distraction among novices a result of using traditional techniques. That is despite following techniques that facilitate training on technical aspects of front crawl and back crawl swimming.


The talk will report on the use of large-scale optical network test-beds in the UK and Europe as open innovation platforms aiming to bring together different network and non-network research communities in an experimentally-driven interdisciplinary research environment. The test-beds provide a realistic basis for scientifically rigorous assessments at technological, economic and societal levels. The approach helps to identify possible migration paths for technological developments, discover new and emerging behaviours and usage patterns and address the problem of bridging the gap between technologies and applications.


Confronted with an increasing diversity of social and global challenges, innovation competitions become an increasingly important tool to spur innovation amongst entrepreneurs.Based on a case study ...


ABSTRACT This study investigates the determinants of gold holdings by advanced and emerging market economies for a sample spanning a twenty-eight-year period from 1990 to 2017, including the recent global financial crisis. The dataset is interpreted using panel regression analysis with gold reserves as a dependent variable after fixing the coefficients of the cointegrating relation . Some of the factors affecting gold reserves are differentiated in selected emerging market and advanced economies. While most of the significant factors are common to both groups, energy imports seem to be the distinguishing indicator among the advanced economies. Advanced economies are ranked using the results of the panel corrected standard errors (PCSE) fixed-effects model, whereas emerging market economy results are given according to random effects. This is strongly supported by an economic rationale to hold sizable reserves of gold especially during periods of "heightened uncertainty."


PREMISE OF THE STUDY
Twenty microsatellite loci for mango (Mangifera indica), an important commercial fruit tree in East Asia, were developed to evaluate the genetic diversity and identification of cultivars.

METHODS AND RESULTS
The 20 new microsatellite markers were isolated from mango using a magnetic bead enrichment method, and polymorphisms were identified in 22 mango cultivars. The number of alleles ranged from one to nine, with expected heterozygosity ranging from 0 to 0.826. The polymorphism information content ranged from 0 to 0.756 with a mean of 0.525.

CONCLUSIONS
These new microsatellite loci should be useful and convenient for further studies of the genetic diversity and identification of cultivars in mango.


This paper summarizes the legal arguments held by the
European Court of Justice ruling the IMS-Health case, where
European Competition Law and European Intellectual Property
Law were placed vis-a-vis. The evolution of the Doctrine of
Essential Facilities in the European case law is addressed
in this comment emphasizing that new human creations such
as those protected by copyrights, justify a renewed approach
to the mentioned doctrine and that the rule of law held in the
past years cannot be straightforwardly applied to all modern
inventions and facilities. The sources for the research are
Magill and Bronner's test on refusal to deal under article 82 of the Treaty Establishing the European Union (Competition
Law Regulation). The paper concludes that IMS-Health case
opened the discussion for determining how the two legal
frameworks (Competition Law and Intellectual Property Law)
should be balanced.


Abstract. This paper reports on Intertidal – a collaborative project to demonstrate integrated workflows to 3D spatial data infrastructure (SDI), simulations and geovisual interfaces - as integrated approaches to support the 3D characterization of coastal morphology, intertidal dynamics, potential sea level rise, and mitigation responses to them. Specifically, this project emphasized the potential of emerging 3D data, new analytical visualization methods, and emerging 3D interface technologies as ingredients of emerging and future environmental data science and visualization practice of coastal/intertidal environments.


ABSTRAK: This study analyzes such interlanguage errors in five private English students with low school grades. That is why some of these students' interlingual errors are easy to spot. The use of English must take place during a private course in English. This can happen from teacher to student or from student to teacher, or it can occur when certain written activities are completed by students. This study found evidence that English was still used at the Interlanguage (IL) level because although they used English, some students still had interlingual errors, such as the use of To Be, prepositions and adjectives / nouns, etc. This study also finds a technique by which teachers solve the interlingual error problem by using Drill method, which allows them to repeat the use of To Be, adjectives, etc.
Keywords: Second Language Acquisition, Interlingual Errors, Drill Method


OBJECTIVE:To observe clinical efficacy and adverse drug reaction of Mycophenolaie mofetil(MMF)capsules in the treatment of primary immune thrombocytopenia.METHODS:20 patients with primary immune thrombocytopenia from Dec.2011 to Feb.2013 were treated with MMF capsules(500 mg,q12h)in department of hematology of a hospital.Therapeutic efficacy and adverse drug reaction were observed.RESULTS:In 14 patients among 20,blood platelet rose again and haemorrhage symptom was relieved after 2-8 weeks(14/20,70%),all the patients' blood platelet maintained at 41×109-81×109L-1,excepted for 1 paitent(recoverd to normal).The drug dosage of the 14 patients whose blood platelet rose again was decreased after 8 weeks of oral administration of MMF capsules,among which the blood platelet of 6 patients was decreased progressively and lower than 20× 109L-12-6 weeks after decreasing the dose of MMF casuples,and then other drug replaced the therapy.The blood platelet of other 8 patients maintained at 35×109-68×109L-1during decreasing the drug dosage.Among 20 patients,the blood platelet of 6 patients who received MMF capsules for 8 weeks didn't returned to normal but lower than 20×109L-1,and then other drug replaced the therapy(6/20,30%).Total effective rate was 70%.No serious adverse drug reaction was observed.CONCLUSIONS:It is safe and effective for MMF capsules in the treatment of primary immune thrombocytopenia.


Significant achievements in Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) technology have increased the probability of producing OTEC-derived power in this decade with subsequent large-scale commercialization to follow by the turn of the century. Under U.S. Department of Energy funding, Interstate Electronics has prepared an OTEC Programmatic Environmental Assessment (EA) that considers tne development, demonstration, and commercialization of OTEC power systems. The EA considers several tecnnological designs (open cycle and closed cycle), plant configurations (land-based, moored, and plantship), and power usages (baseload electricity and production of ammonia and aluminum). Potencial environmental impacts, health and safety issues, and a status update of international, federal, and state plans and policies, as they may influence OTEC deployments, are included.


A theory of resistance to flow in steep, rough streams is developed that takes into account the existence of a highly turbulent wake zone near the bed of a very rough boundary. Two zones are identified in the flow field. The first one, close to the top of the bed, contains overlapping wakes generated by protruding roughness elements. In the second zone, located above the first one, the velocity distribution is described in terms of a logarithmic profile. Flume data are used to check the validity of this formulation. The compound velocity profile allows for equations to obtain Darcy‐Weisbach and Chezy factors. The proposed approach is compared with the results of four previous theories using data obtained from several mountain rivers. Although flow in actual mountain rivers is more complicated than the idealized case treated in the study, the formulation provides equations that allow accurate prediction of flow resistance with a mean error of ±15%.


A hybrid organic-inorganic diode has been fabricated by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition of low process temperature (<140 °C) hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) onto a spin-coated layer of poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK). The hybrid device was found to be a photoconductive diode with a high photosensitivity of near 700, a high photogain of over 100, and a response time of 500 μs. The high photosensitivity of the a-Si:H intrinsic layer and the large barrier for carrier injection at the PVK/a-Si:H interface are responsible for the good performance.


Novel compact design of 1200 Sectoral microstrip antenna derived from circular microstrip antenna is discussed. In 1200 MHz frequency range, it yields more than 600 MHz (>45%) of bandwidth with peak gain of 8.5 dBi. This bandwidth is larger as compared to that of the circular patch and its slot cut variation. Further to enhance its bandwidth and gain, various gap-coupled variations of 1200 Sectoral microstrip antennas are proposed. Its gap-coupled variations along two co-ordinate axes yields bandwidth of more than 800 MHz (∼60%) with peak antenna gain of nearly 10 dBi.


The papers in this special issue of ZooKeys were presented at the 16th International Congress of Myriapodology (16ICM) held in Olomouc, the Czech Republic on July 20–25, 2014. International Congresses of Myriapodology are scientific meetings of scientists, students and enthusiastic amateurs with specific interest in millipedes, centipedes, symphylans and pauropods, as well as velvet worms. Those are organised under the auspices of the Centre International de Myriapodologie (http://www.myriapodology.org). To date, these congresses have a 46 year tradition and have taken place in 13 countries:


Cr anomaly is Cr-rich, this result implies a low abundance and a huge isotopic anomaly of the carrier, and/or its ex-tremely fine grain size. In the former case, the maximum abundance of the presolar Cr-rich grains is roughly estimated tobe ~1 ppm. In that case the minimum isotopic anomaly would be ~90‰.


In order to analyze the capability of the radial devices on Zhuan K7 bogie wheelsets to adapt to the product manufacturer error,the track twisting irregularity,and to analyzed the capability to control horizontal motion of wheelsets,theoretical research is made on the stiffnesses in each direction of the integral structure and main components-sub-frame and cross bar.The calculation result shows that the radial devices on wheelsets have fairly high capability to adapt to the product manufacture error,track twisting irregularity,and can provide enough shear stiffness for bogies;The sub-frame and the cross bar have fair good structure vibration features,and can ensure the radial devices in wheelsets to effectively control the horizontal motion of wheelsets.


Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is an incurable disease characterized by poor survival, dense desmoplastic stroma and activating mutations in KRAS (<90%). These tumors are highly complex ecosystems composed of molecularly distinct sub-populations that exhibit a spectrum of genetic features and associated phenotypes. Despite recent advances in the transcriptomic characterization of PDAC into at least two tumor subtypes, this alone has been insufficient to define more specific patterns of oncogenic dependency. In order to substantially improve clinical outcomes, there is a need to comprehensively define inter- and intra-tumor phenotypic diversity and understand the genetic dependencies that underlie these discrete molecular sub-populations. To this end, we integrated CRISPR-based co-dependency annotations with a disease-specific co-expression network developed from patient-derived models to establish CoDEX, a framework to quantitatively associate gene-cluster patterns with genetic vulnerabilities. Utilizing CoDEX, we defined multiple prominent anti-correlating gene-cluster signatures and pathway-specific dependencies, both across genetically distinct PDAC models and intratumorally at the single-cell level. Of these network-defined cluster trends, one differential signature recapitulated the characteristics of classical and basal-like PDAC molecular subtypes on a continuous scale. Anchoring CRISPR-defined genetic dependencies within the gene-cluster signature highlighted fundamental vulnerabilities associated with transcriptomic signatures of PDAC subtypes. Subtype-associated dependencies were subsequently validated across multiple PDAC models intratumorally. For this, we utilized direct-capture scRNAseq to analyze the effect of CRISPR mediated knockout of basal-like associated dependencies (SMAD4, ILK, and ZEB1) on differential signature representation. Silencing these network-prioritized targets resulted in a significant and directional clonal shift toward the more indolent classical-like signature, with the knockout phenotype only observed in tumor models with a predominant basal-like population. These results demonstrate the utility of CoDEX as a novel and quantitative approach for characterizing specific genetic dependencies within defined molecular contexts, with the potential to guide future clinical positioning for targeted therapeutics. Citation Format: Sanjana Srinivasan, Johnathon Rose, Wantong Yao, Sahil Seth, Michael Peoples, Annette Machado, Chieh-Yuan Li, I Lin Ho, Jaewon J. Lee, Paola A. Guerrera, Eiru Kim, Mustafa Syed, Joseph Daniele, Angela K. Deem, Michael Kim, Christopher A. Bristow, Eugene Koay, Giannicola Genovese, Andrea Viale, Timothy P. Heffernan, Anirban Maitra, Traver Hart, Alessandro Carugo, Giulio Draetta. Diversity across the pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma disease spectrum revealed by network-anchored functional genomics [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 2136.


In this study we examined differences between eventual graduates and eventual dropouts in a longitudinal study of college men. Predictor variables were obtained early in the first year of college and attrition status was assessed after 4 years. A linear combination of academic ability, family legacy status, specific stress perceptions, and self-perceived social alienation was found to predict attrition status.


This experiment was designed to detect the antiviral activities of crude fruit extracts of wild Ribes nigrum L. (Kurokarin extract) against influenza virus types A and B. Kurokarin extract was prepared as follows: fruits of Ribes nigrum L. were heated at 50 °C in a heating tank, and then ground under anaerobic conditions. The extracts were centrifuged, and the supernatant fluid was filtered and sterilized by infrared rays. The crude extract was diluted with Eagle's minimum essential medium (MEM) and the solution was adjusted to a pH 7.2 with 0.1 N or 1 N NaOH. Proven anti‐influenza virus effects of the extracts were shown. The concentration of extract required to inhibit the plaque formation of both IVA and IVB by 50% (IC50) was 3.2 μg/mL. Both IVA and IVB were directly inactivated up to 99% by 10 μg/mL of the extract at pH 2.8, and 95% to 98% by this dose at pH 7.2. The growth of IVA in cells treated with 10 and 100 μg/mL of the extract for 6 h after infection was completely suppressed. Virus titres in culture fluids of the cells treated with 100 μg/mL of Kurokarin extract for 1 h at 8 to 9 h after infection, were completely suppressed, indicating that the extract inhibited the virus release from the infected cells. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Pot experiments was used to study the effects of different relative water content of soils to the root morphology and partial physiological characteristic in seedling of Areca.The results indicated that drought treatment would lead to root biomass and ratio of root to shoot increase and to leaf biomass decrease with no significant difference with water content of all organs.Drought mainly affected the number,length and roughness of root,consequently affected the surface area and volume of root.The effects would be reflected in the declining of roots ranging from 0 to 5 cm and the total root amount of a single plant,and in the increase of roots longer than 10 cm.The control was the highest among root surface area and volume of the different root segments.As for the surface area of root larger than 6 cm2 and the volume of root more than 0.5 cm3,the root segments gradually declined with the increase of water content.The effect was greater in early stages than later stages in root activity under drought stress.Severer and longer drought would lead to greater root activity lose.It is revealed that Areca mainly adapts to drought environment by means of modulating the amount,length and roughness of root,but the drought obviously restrains the growth of Areca.


A simple electron impact ionization source interface was developed for a combined capillary column supercritical fluid chromatography and mass spectrometry systems (SFC-MS). The sensitivity of the system was illustrated by the analysis of a sample containing 100 pg quantities of 4-aminobiphenyl, benzidine, and 3,3'-dichlorobenzidine. An analysis was also performed of the labile pesticide aldicarb. The latter analysis was performed additionally to determine the thermal effects of the chromatography. The total system was shown to enhance the flexibility of SFC-MS compared to standard liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.


Among today's population of students, many are very familiar with peer-to-peer (P2P) programming applications. The concept of programs that communicate over a network with other programs written by other programmers using a shared protocol is easily understood and appreciated by students in introductory computer science (CS) courses, but developing this type of software is usually beyond the scope of the skill sets students are taught in those courses. However, we have developed a P2P library framework that is presented in this paper that allows students to develop the type of centralized and decentralized peer-to-peer applications in CS1 and CS2 courses that are important parts of the growing cyberculture of which most of today's students are members.


Disposing wastewater produced at later drilling stage is characterized by higher chemical oxygen demand (CODCr). So ClO2 chemical oxidation and catalytic oxidation is recommended for secondary disposal after pretreating drilling wastewater with the coagulation method. The experimental results show that more CODCr can be removed by catalytic oxidation rather than chemical oxidation. When pH of solution is 4, the oxidizer dosage is 400mg/L, the oxidation time reaches 45 min, up to 97.4% of the CODCr in drilling wastewater can be removed by coagulation-chlorine dioxide catalysis/oxidation process, the treated wastewater reaches the first level of the Integrated Wastewater Discharge Standard (GB 8978-1996). Chlorine dioxide catalysis/oxidization is proved to be worth of popular application.


Objective To investigate the levels of endothelial microparticles(EMPs) in the peripheral blood of patients with coronary heart disease(CHD) and its correlation with clinical parameters,and to explore the relationship between CD144+/Annexin V+EMPs and acute ischemic event in CHD patients.Methods Totally 81 CHD patients confirmed by coronary angiography were enrolled in this study.According to clinical symptoms,electrocardiogram(ECG) and high sensitivity troponin(hs-TnT),they were divided into group A(acute coronary syndrome,n=51) and group B(stable angina,n=30).CD144+/Annexin V+EMPs in the peripheral blood were measured by flow cytometry.The correlations between the level of CD144+/Annexin V+EMPs and various clinical parameters including age,heart rate,blood pressure,blood fat,blood glucose,inflammation markers,cardiac markers were evaluated.Results The level of CD144+/Annexin V+EMPs was significantly higher in group A than that in group B(P0.01).It was positively correlated with lipoprotein a(r=0.886,P=0.001),high sensitivity C-reactive protein(r=0.404,P=0.002),creatine kinase isoenzyme(r= 0.471,P0.001) and hsTnT(r=0.240,P=0.042),and not correlated with age,heart rate,systolic pressure,diastolic pressure,pulse pressure,fasting glucose,postprandial glucose,glycosylated hemoglobin,total cholesterol,triglycerides,high density lipoprotein cholesterol or low density lipoprotein cholesterol(all P0.05).Conclusion The level of CD144+/Annexin V+EMPs in peripheral blood is correlated with lipoprotein α,high sensitivity C-reactive protein,creatine kinase isoenzyme and high sensitivity troponin,and is helpful for the evaluation of high risks in CHD patients.


This paper describes the approach to the assessment of the naturalness of synthetic speech taken within the ProSynth collaborative speech synthesis project. The view expressed is that an important aspect of naturalness is ease of understanding, and the consequences are that this leads to a means for the evaluation of scientific hypotheses through perceptual tests. The premise within ProSynth is that listeners' processing of synthetic speech will be faster and more accurate when the signal includes phonetic fine detail that systematically varies with the linguistic structure. Four perceptual experiments are outlined which demonstrate both the application of the approach and the effectiveness of the basic principle. 1. Introduction: What is Naturalness? What would it mean to say that synthetic speech was 'natural' sounding? A naive answer would be that such a signal 'could have been produced' by a human being; a more stringent answer that the signal 'is indistinguishable' from human speech; an operational answer that the speech is 'typical' of human production of that sentence.


This paper reviews the mathematical basis for the selection of critical photographic variables. These general relationships are evaluated using information on atmospheric contrast transmittance and turbulence over a 20 mile path recently gathered by Aero-nutronic under contract to the USAF Avionics Laboratory. The interdependence of atmospheric and photographic variables is explored. The minimum energy per solid angle required to allow a given film resolution is defined.


In order to speed up the development of the publishing industry and respond to the challenges of international publishing rival, China's publishing industry must change from the traditional industrial operation to modern capital operation. During the study on the main capital operations of NUPMG, this paper summarizes some useful experiences for other publishing enterprises for reference, at the same time points out the current problems and advice on capital management of China's publishing industry.


Russia has been experiencing a demographic crisis since the 1990s. The most obvious manifestations include an excess of mortality over fertility rates, population decline and an ageing population. The last 20 years have seen considerable activity to come up with new demographic policy measures to mitigate these adverse trends, with single solutions developed for all regions in Russia. This paper presents the results of a study where cluster analysis was applied to enable the identification of groups of regions with significant differences in the dynamics of socio-demographic indicators. We used hierarchical cluster analysis to classify and group Russian regions on the basis of social and economic development indices for 2002 and 2008. The validity of the profiling was confirmed using parametric and non-parametric tests. The analysis identified three clusters of Russian regions. These clusters have significant differences in socio-demographic indicators and the associated dynamics. The results of our analysis identified 'growth points' for each cluster: the fertility correlates that should be factored into the development of effective demographic policy measures.


This article shows an insight about the quality of the teaching in the engineering programs, specifically in the master and PhD programs. It identifies the most important aspects to determine the quality of the professors in advanced academic contexts. In order to do so, research is done with students from master and PhD programs about the dimensions of teacher's performance. For the methodology, a discriminant analysis is used to determine the most considered aspects by students when choosing the most important one when judging the high quality of a professor


Information Systems at this time is needed by the company to survive in business competition with competitors. The information system must also be aligned with the vision and mission and business processes that exist in the company now days so company can generate profits (profitable) at the same time. PT. Hostingan Awan Indonesia is a web development product & service provider company with online transaction feature and purchase processes that integrated with mobile payments. To make business process run optimally, an information system is needed to archive every output document that produced by each division in the company. The process of collecting data in this paper through observation and direct interviews with several stakeholders in the company. This research used Ward & Peppard metho with internal value chain analysis, SWOT, PEST, Five Forces Porter and Mc Farlan Strategic Grid. This research also provides application portfolio recommendations with internal business environment analysis, external business environment analysis, internal SI environmental analysis and external SI environmental analysis.


and expressed the hope that some one would sometime render a selection of his sermons into English. In the introduction to this little volume Dr. Anderson speaks of having been similarly impressed with the remarkable adaptness to modern conditions which he had found in Asterius. In bringing the matter to his class one of his pupils became interested enough to make a study of Asterius, and the result is this little volume of translations by Prof. Goodspeed. Five sermons are selected from those given in Migne's Greek Patrology. The translation is very pleasing and satisfactory, carefully done and marked with a flowing clearness that leaves nothing to be desired. There is no mistaking the thought of the ancient author. As to the merits of the discourses themselves the opinions of Dr. Broadus and of Dr. hderson are fully sustained. They are remarkable discussions of some of the fundamental and lasting principles of Christian ethics and thus applicable to human nature and needs in all times. But there is lack of the evangelical note. The sermon on covetousness is rich in thought and suggestion for our times. The book is well worth careful reading. E. C. D.


Fault in power transmission line need to be immediately solved to avoid power outage. Artificial intelligence (AI) based automatic fault detection emerges as simple and accurate solution to anticipate this failure. The main problem in AI application is the requirement of large amount of training data. However, acquiring real faults data are costly and technically difficult. Furthermore, distinguishing the type of fault is a complicated due to high data processing requirements. In order to solve above problems, this paper presents a method to generate fault dataset for AI training. Proposed method models all types of fault. The proposed fault model is implemented in Simulink. In order to generated dataset, we input various condition of fault to the model. The generated dataset then evaluated using various kind of AI methods. The experimental result showed high accuracy AI can be trained using proposed generated dataset.


A key function of NSF's new Partnerships for Advanced Computational Infrastructure is the development and deployment of software. We will outline how ac tivities in applications science and computing technologies are coupled together. to their mutual benefit as part of the National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infras tructure.


The design earthquake action of various structural systems is affected by the structural influencing coefficient,and the coefficient depends on the structural ductility and overstrength.Based on Code for Seismic Design of Building(GB5001-2001),the paper designs three concentrically V-braced frames,and their structural coefficients are obtained by Push-over analysis.Meantime,the paper suggests the structural influencing coefficient of the concentrically V-braced frame under the seismic fortification intensity.


Revisit intention to MICE destinations and recommending them to other people can help tourists to come back and bring profit to the MICE destinations. This study aims to: 1) Analyze the effect of novelty seeking, destination image, and perceived value on satisfaction of tourists in MICE activities. 2) Analyze the effect of satisfaction on revisit intention. 3) Analyze the effect of novelty seeking, destination image, and perceived value through satisfaction on revisit intention to MICE destinations. A questionnaire is used as the data collecting method. Primary data sources were taken by giving questionnaire on 100 respondents who had participated in MICE activities in Medan City and were analyzed using the Path Analysis method using PLS-SEM. The results showed: 1) novelty seeking has a non-significant negative effect on satisfaction. Destination image and perceived value have a positive and significant effect on satisfaction. 2) Satisfaction has a positive and significant effect on the revisit intention. Novelty seeking through satisfaction has no effect on revisit intention. Destination image, perceived value through satisfaction have a positive and significant effect on the revisit intention to MICE destinations. Keywords—novelty seeking, destination image, perceived value, satisfaction, revisit intension


Does the need for working capital and liquidity ratios influence tax aggressiveness? This article investigates If the level of fiscal aggressiveness changes depending on the financial structure of a Company, based on the Fleuriet model for dynamic analysis of the working capital. Tax planning is a way of obtaining resources internally and, according to the hierarchy proposed by pecking order theory, internal resources are the first used by companies to finance their activities. A multiple linear regression model for panel data with fixed company and year effects has been adopted to test the relationship. As a variable of interest, dummy variables were used, one for each type of financial structure proposed by the Fleuriet model. In a sample consisting of 2,142 companies-year listed in B3 between 2010 to 2016, it was found that in both healthier and less healthy companies, there is no significant difference in the level of tax aggressiveness between companies classified according to the structures of the Fleuriet model. However, the additional analyses for the dynamic liquidity ratio and the general liquidity ratio showed that the higher the liquidity, lower is the tax aggressiveness. The findings point out that greater tax aggressiveness can be explained in part by liquidity difficulties.


In the world, seaweeds or marine macro algae area unit is renewable living resources that are used as a several components like food, feed, and fertilizers. They are typically live hooked up to rock or alternative laborious substrata in coastal areas. Turbinaria found in tropical marine waters, which grows on rocky substrates. Turbinaria belongs to the classAnthozoa, Order-Scleractinia, family-Dendrophylliidae, GenusTurbinaria. The aim of the present study is the phytochemical analyses were evaluated for the marine algae Turbinaria conoides and Turbinaria ornate from Mandapam coast, Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, India. To cope with the assessment of the chemical composition of assorted marine seaweeds were extracted from different solvents. The current study reveals that the seaweeds contain a high quantity of phytochemical constituents. Besides, the presence of alkaloids, terpenoids, steroids, tannins, saponins, flavonoids, phenols, coumarins, proteins, carbohydrates, quinones and glycosides from Turbinaria ornata and Turbinaria conoides. This report will lead to the isolation and characterization of these active secondary metabolites for bio-efficacy and bioactivity. Therefore, seaweed extracts possessed higher amount of phytochemicals and which proves that these selected seaweeds will have provide unique and novel metabolites of unprecedented structures, with antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, anti-plasmodial, nematicidal, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and anti-angiogenic activities, these bioactive compounds may provide high-quality drug candidates for pharmaceutical applications, as well as agricultural and industrial applications.


Together with capacities such as speed, power, strength and flexibility, the coordination of muscle actions by the central nervous system plays a vital role in successful athletic performance. The ability to accurately coordinate the timing and contraction strength of skeletal muscles is essential in the related capacities of balance and agility. While both are modified by the physical structure of an athlete and may be affected by technique, balance and agility rely heavily on the development of neuromuscular control. According to Tittle (1988), this is particularly important for technical acrobatics sports such as gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, diving and figure skating, as well as for such activities as swimming, wrestling, fencing, boxing and ball games. In addition to neuromuscular control, agility also depends on a player's cognitive ability to read the game situation in team sports, such as football, hockey, basketball and netball.


We study actions of countable discrete amenable groups on unital separable simple nuclear Z-absorbing C*-algebras. Under a certain assumption on tracial states, which is automatically satisfied in the case of a unique tracial state, the crossed product is shown to absorb the Jiang-Su algebra Z tensorially.


With more natural gas hydrate samples recovered and more research approaches applied to hydrate-associated gas studies, data concerning the geochemical characteristics of hydrate-associated gases have been increased significantly in the past decades. Although systematic reviews of hydrocarbons are available, fewer studies have focused on the systematic classification of gas hydrates, yet. In this study, the primary origins and secondary processes that affect the geochemical characteristics of the gases are discussed. The primary origins are affected mainly by the type and /or maturity of the organic matter, which determine the main signature of the gas is microbial gas or thermogenic gas in a broad scheme. Apart from primary origins, secondary processes after gas generation such as migration, mixing, biodegradation and oxidation occur during the migration and/or storage of gases can significantly alter their primary features. Traditional methods such as stable isotope and molecular ratios are basic proxies, which have been widely adopted to identify these primary origins and secondary processes. Isotopic compositions of C2+ gases have been employed to identify the precursor of the gases or source rocks in recent years. Data from novel techniques such as methane clumped isotope and noble gases bring additional insights into the gas origins and sources by providing information about the formation temperature of methane or proxies of mantle contribution. A combination of these multiple geochemical approaches can help to elucidate an accurate delineation of the generation and accumulation processes of gases in a gas hydrate reservoir.


Walker, J. L. G., MFA, Department of Communication Studies, College of Arts and Humanities, Minnesota State University, Mankato. June 2016, Every(day) Identities in Forensics: Performing Identities within the Constraints of Intercollegiate Forensics. Thesis Advisor: Dr. Daniel Cronn-Mills. Goffman's (1959) dramaturgical theory of identity provides a framework for making sense of complicated, mundane identity performances. Through in-depth interviews and focus groups conducted with the intercollegiate forensic co-culture members, the current research builds on Goffman's theory. Crystallization-based analysis showed identity performances are situated within one another like Russian matroyshka (nesting) dolls. Co-cultural expectations produce multi-level professionalism expectations, and overlapping co-cultures mean individuals manage conflicting conventions. Implications are offered for the forensics community, other co-cultures, and identity scholars.


Background: High maternal death is mainly caused by limited access to maternity services due to unaffordable cost of services. Therefore, a special insurance scheme named Jaminan Persalinan (Jampersal) was launched and it is expected to be able to solve this problem.The Muhammadiyah Maternal and Child Hospital in Malang is a private hospital that offers obstetric and neonatal emergency service for those with Jampersal. The Jampersal fee was already set similar to that of Jaminan Kesehatan (Jamkesmas)scheme, using INA-CBG. Therefore, it is important to elicit the possibility of Jampersal fees being accomodated by private hospital. Objective:This research aimed to compare between Jampersal and hospital fees and analyse efforts of a private hospital in accomodating the INA-CBG's pricing scheme. Methods:This study was carried out at Muhammadiyah Malang Maternal and Child Hospital. Unit cost calculation and hospital pricing were collected using the secondary data available from the department of finance in the hospital, while Focus Group Discussion (FGD) was held with the management level to understand willingness and opportunity of hospital managersto collaborate with the government in providing Jampersal services. Results: The results showed that INA-CBG's tariff was lower than both unit cost and hospital pricing for normal delivery and delivery with cesarean section.The unit costand tariff of normal delivery were Rp1.633.704,00 and Rp2.070.275,00, respectively. Both of them were higher than the INA-CBG's tariff (i.e., Rp1.487.770,00).The INA-CBG's tariff for cesarean section (i.e. Rp2.712.943,00) was lower than both the unit cost and hospital tariff of similar service (i.e. Rp4.782.072,00 and Rp 5.110.500,-, respectively). From the FGD, it was found that unlike for cesarean section, efforts to accommodate the Jampersal pricing for patients with normal delivery are possible. Conclusions: The findings indicate that Jampersal feesare lower than both the Muhammadiyah Malang Maternal and Child Hospital's pricing and unit cost.Development of clinical pathwaymay become a solution for the hospital to apply the INA-CBG's tariff. Keywords: fees, Jampersal, private hospital


Objective: To explore a simple and reliable construction of double eyelid of never-ending thread burial therapy Method:By improving the needing point and ligation way of "Gui Zhong" form of never-ending thread burial therapy,solving the shortcomings of thread appearing outside and losing easily Result:Following up 41 clients without occuring the thread appearing outside and losing,the result is very satisfactory Conclusion:It is a perpect operation to improve the construction of double eyelid of "Gui Zhong" form of never-ending thread burial therapy


Summary: The rates of return of listed companies are subject to numerous studies, particularly those listed on the stock exchange. Information about rates of return are useful primarily for investors choosing an investment, estimating its risk and profitability of the investment made. Among these studies, many of them are devoted to the examination of the statistical properties of the rates of return. The aim of the article is to examine the statistical properties of the monthly rates of return of companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in the period of 2005-2015. Such parameters as mean value, standard deviation, semi-standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis will be studied, and whether the rates of return have a normal distribution. These properties will be investigated for the whole market and broken down into bull and bear market conditions.


Ocean sludge seriously exerts significant environmental load to local sea areas and has a negative effect on the marine ecosystem. In this study, the use of fine-bubble technology for the purification of sludge is being investigated. The principle behind this technology is that the bacteria that can degrade sludge are activated by the aerobic conditions induced by the fine-bubbles. Fortunately, one of the authors successfully developed a fine-bubble decomposition system (circulation type) for ocean sludge. Hence, to verify and check the system's performance it was used and tested in the treatment of sludge that was obtained from Manila Bay and from Funabashi and Hidaka ports, in Japan. Interestingly, the results of the study showed that the system performed very well in treating the sludge. It is noteworthy to mention that through this study, potentially beneficial bacteria isolated from the sludge sample was successfully identified using 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis.


In the present work, spatiotemporal heat flux transients were estimated during quenching of an Inconel 600 alloy probe in water-based titanium dioxide (TiO2) and aluminum nitride (AlN) nanofluids that have nanoparticle concentrations varying from 0.001 to 0.5 vol. %. The results showed reduced peak heat flux and a longer vapor phase stage during quenching with nanofluids compared to quenching with water. The peak heat flux for quenching in nanofluids was lowered with increase in the nanoparticle concentration. Quenching with TiO2 nanofluids resulted in slower heat extraction compared to quenching in AlN nanofluids at higher concentrations. Quenching with nanofluids resulted in a more uniform quench compared to quenching with water because of the reduction in the rewetting period.


Stať představuje Mannheimovu sociologii generaci v kontextu jeho celkoveho dila.The text critically introduces the reader into Karl Mannheim's sociological theory of generations, and it does so in the context of Mannheim's other work.


Objective:To evaluate the value of modified cervical conization in diagnosis and treatment of cervical lesion. Methods:100 patients with cervical lesion treated with modified cervical conization. Operative hemorrhage, operative time and main side effect for conization such as postoperative hemorrhage, cervical adhesion and stricture were observed. Result:During operation the amount of bleeding was 22.5±5.2 milliliter ,average operative time was 24.2±4.9 minutes. No postoperative hemorrhage, cervical adhesion and stricture were detected. Conclusion:Modified cervical conization is a more valuable method in diagnosis and treatment of cervical lesion.


Coseismic fault displacement is quite large at shallow depths in some earthquakes, and it implies that fault gouges and sediments have extremely low dynamic friction during seismic slip. However, the dynamic weakening mechanisms of gouges under wet conditions are still not well constrained. Here we present direct evidence for the occurrence of flash heating and local fluid pressurization in water‐saturated gouges, by performing low‐ to high‐velocity (V = 10 μm/s to 1 m/s) friction experiments in a pressure vessel, under conditions specially designed to suppress weakening effects of bulk thermal and compaction‐induced pressurization. The tested gouges exhibit transition from velocity strengthening to drastic velocity weakening as slip rates increase. Strong dynamic weakening starts to occur at V ≥ 0.04 m/s at the initiation of sliding (<~0.1 m), which is much more efficient than previously reported in terms of the weakening velocity and distance. Furthermore, the onset of weakening is always accompanied by an instantaneous dilatancy (10–25 μm), which is much larger than that observed in dry tests and in contrast with gradual changes displayed in the wet tests without dynamic weakening. Numerical modeling integrated with microstructural observation reveals that bulk thermal pressurization cannot explain the experimental results, while flash weakening triggered by vaporization of water layers on/around asperity contacts and the resultant local fluid pressurization may be responsible for the observed rapid weakening concomitant with instantaneous dilatancy. Given high efficiency of such weakening process, fluid‐infiltrated faults could be weakened more rapidly than previously recognized during seismic slip.


Objective To compare the predictive ability of the different methods of nutritional assessment on the mortality of elderly hemodialysis patients. Methods A total of 130 hemodialysis patients, who were treated in our hospital from Jun. 2003 to Jun. 2011, were included in this study. Subjective Global Assessment(SGA), Malnutrition Inflammation Score(MIS) and Short-form Mini-nutritional Assessment(MNA-SF) were used to assess the nutrition in the elderly patients. They were divided into and good nutrition group according to the SGA or MNA-SF and followed up for 36 months. Death or end of the trail was the endpoint of study. K-M and Cox proportional hazard regressions were used to determine the predictive ability of the three methods of nutritional assessment on the mortality of the patients. Results K-M survival analysis showed that the mortality in the malnutrition group was higher than that in the good nutrition group. When grouping was done according to the MIS, there was no significant difference in mortality between malnutrition and good nutrition group. Cox regression analysis results showed that, after adjusting for age, cardiovascular disease, phosphorus, PTH and other factors, SGA was the independent predictor of death of patients(OR=8.622, P=0.042). Results of MNA-SF had no independent correlation with the death of patients. Conclusion The predictive ability of SGA on the mortality of the elderly MHD patients is precede of the MIS and the MNA-F. SGA as overall nutritional assessment method may be more appropriate for the nutritional assessment of elderly hemodialysis patients.


Based on the principle of in-plane rotary drawing bending process,the relationship between the bending moment and the number of layer of heat exchanger,so as the deformation of fin were investigated through experiment.Based on the software LS-DYNA,a finite element model of rotary drawing bending process of multi-layer heat exchanger was established.The reliability of the model was validated by comparing the simulation results with the experimental results.With the verified FE model,effects of the shape of the fin and the bending radius on the forming quality of heat exchanger were revealed.The results show that with the increase of layer number of heat exchanger,the needed bending moment increases linearly,the triangular fin is more suitable for the bending of aluminum micro-channel parallel flow heat exchanger,and furthermore,larger bending radius is more favorable for the rotary bending of heat exchanger.


Accurate estimation of surface energy fluxes is essential for various hydrological, meteorological, agricultural, and ecological applications. Over the years, a wide variety of instrument systems and estimation methodologies have been developed to measure and estimate surface fluxes. Comparisons of various scale field experimental data and different model estimates show a large degree of scatter with a wide range of root mean square error. We explore and evaluate analytically the error property of the traditionally used energy balance residual method for latent heat flux estimation in an attempt to identify the possible existence of an irreducible error bound for latent heat flux measurement and estimation over large areas. Our analysis shows that the error is typically on the order of 10%–20% or larger for surface sensible and latent heat fluxes. A simplified remote sensing latent heat flux estimation approach is proposed and its error properties are evaluated. Results suggest that a similar or better error bound can be achieved using primarily remotely sensed data over large areas for the estimation of latent heat flux using this alternative approach.


In many 3rd World countries, people face shortages of the most essential drugs for primary health care and an excess of drugs which are inappropriate to their basic needs. In Bangladesh, a grassroots primary health care project has established its own pharmaceuticals factory--Gonoshasthaya Pharmaceuticals Limited (GPL)--to challenge the situation. The author of this article, a journalist, visited GPL and found that the technology to produce drugs was accessible to a poor, rural workforce with little or no formal education. Because the factory grew out of the health care project, it has been integrated into the surrounding community, and supported by the local people. GPL has played a prominent role in transforming the drug production and supply system in Bangladesh, and its example could have future impact in other 3rd World countries. The management team at GPL recognized that at all costs, the drugs produced by GPL would have to be of the very highest quality. GPL focuses on basic health and development needs rather than simply on production of drugs. GPL gave the government confidence that, even if all the transnational companies withdrew from the country, local firms could meet high standards of quality and produce at least the essential drugs. GPL's survival is largely due to its relationship with the local community. GPL is clear proof that business can operate with a social conscience. It can interact with the community around it and play a major role in fulfilling the community's needs. GPL provides essential drugs as well as employment, education, and a sense of achievement.


Aspergillus ustus was cultured in the salts media contained dextran (2%). Then the cultured liquid media were filtrated and concentrated up to 10 folds by evaporation, and then purified by means of acetone precipitation, of a repeated chromatography on the columns of DEAE-Ccellulose, Biogel P-150, and Sephadex G-200. Total proteins in the initial culture filtrate were 38,500mg, but the final amounts of proteins were 172mg. The specific activity of the protein in the culture filtrate was products per minute per mg protein, but the final specific activity of the protein was products per minute per mg protein. The final yields remained about 30% of the initial.


Background: To get ideal sedative state in patients undergoing surgery in local anesthesia is challenging for Anaesthesiologists. Aim: To evaluate efficacy of intravenous Dexmedetomidine and intravenous Propofol infusion in patients undergoing surgery in regional anaesthesia. Material and Methods: Ninety patients were randomly divided into two groups of 45 each. Group D patients were given I.V. Dexmedetomidine on initial loading dose of 1 μg/kg for 10 minutes period followed by 0.2-0.7 μg/kg/hr. Patients in group P were given I.V. Propofol 75 μg/kg/min for 10 minutes followed by maintenance dose of 12.5-75 μg /kg/min. Sedation level of patients was recorded regularly using Ramsay Sedation Scale. Besides that pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate, saturation, rescue analgesia and any untoward effect was noted. Result: Dexmedetomidine and Propofol provided adequate sedation needed for MAC but Propofol required rescue analgesia in three patients. Onset and recovery from sedation was earlier with Propofol. Mean heart rate was lower in Dexmedetomidine group and blood pressure was lower in the Propofol group. However both the drugs did not affect respiration. Patients of Dexmedetomidine group developed dryness of mouth. Conclusion: Both Dexmedetomidine and Propofol were effective in providing monitored anaesthesia care but Dexmedetomidine was found to be a better drug as it provided hemodynamic stability, additional rescue analgesia and better sedation.


This paper discussed the target objective and foundation of mining right on-site,It also discussed the working methods and technical requirements of mining right on-site inspection,mining right surveying date organizing database construction,etc.By addressing some of the existing problems in practice,this paper proposes effective solutions and lays solid foundation for the mining right inspection and digital mine.


Buruan Sae is part of an integrated urban farming program implemented in the city of Bandung. The program relates to various urban farming products, which are mainly to meet their own food needs, and some are sold to the local markets. One of the targeted products is lime, but its cultivation is not yet well described. This study aimed to determine activities in cultivating lime in Buruan Sae. The study used a qualitative method, and the data were collected from 61 locations in Bandung city through observation, interviews, and literature review. In general, the results of this study showed that Buruan Sae includes the cultivation of vegetables, livestock or fish, fruit trees, family medicinal plants, processed urban farming products, seedling processes, and composting processes. An example for fruit trees is lime cultivation described in this paper, including land preparation, seed preparation, planting, maintenance, harvesting, and post-harvest. One site, namely Buruan Sae Jasmine, was found to be good learning for showing improvement in cultivation.


The response to exogenous testosterone enanthate (TE) (200mg IM once each month for three months) was evaluated in 10 males, age 16 ± 0.8 years (mean ± 1 S.D.) diagnosed as constitutional delay of puberty (CD). Prior to the onset of therapy, the following were measured: serum LH and GH every 30 min. for 24 hrs; FSH-LH conc. following a single 100 μg bolus of Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone (GnRH); the GH conc. following sequential arginine-insulin stimulation. Two months after the last injection of TE, the same series of tests were performed. Patients have been followed 1 – 2-1/2 yrs. All 7 patients who were Tanner Stage I had a significant increase (p < .01) in both the mean 24 hr concentration of LH and GH, a significantly increased LH conc. following GnRH, p < .01, and a significantly increased plasma testosterone conc. (p < .001), although the last dose of TE was 60 days earlier. All patients have continued their pubertal progression as evidenced by continued increase in plasma testosterone, progression in secondary sex characteristics and normal osseous maturation without compromise in predicted height. These results may be compatable with a testosterone induced maturation of hypothalamic pituitary function.


Modern cavity ringdown spectroscopy systems (CRDS) enable the continuous measurement of methane concentration. This allows for improved quantification of greenhouse gas emissions associated with various natural and human landscapes. We present a subset of over 4000 km of continuous methane surveying along the east coast of Australia, made using a Picarro G2301 CRDS, deployed in a utility vehicle with an air inlet above the roof at 2.2 mAGL. Measurements were made every 5 seconds to a precision of <0.5 ppb for CH4. These surveys were undertaken during dry daytime hours and all measurements were moisture corrected. We compare the concentration of methane in the near surface atmosphere adjacent to open-cut coal mines, unconventional gas developments (coal seam gas; CSG), and leaks detected in cities and country towns.


A novel technique for measuring several physical parameters suing a transparent, silicone- rubber optical fiber is described. A discussion of the physical and optical characteristics of the fiber is provided along with preliminary experimental results on various present and future sensor applications. These applications include fiber-optic sensors for detecting and measuring temperature, humidity/moisture, force, and static and dynamic pressure.


ABSTRACT Many people rely on academic performance as an important part of their self-concept, or have academic contingencies of self-worth. We compared academic contingencies of self-worth in three groups of participants, who varied in their feelings about two minority identities: sexual minority Asian/Pacific Islanders, straight Asian/Pacific Islanders, and sexual minority Whites. Comparing pairs of groups that shared one marginalized social identity, we confirmed our hypothesis that participants' feelings about their racial identity related to contingent self-worth differently based on their sexuality; in contrast, participants' feelings about their sexual identity related to contingent self-worth in the same way regardless of race. The group defined by the intersection of two minority social identities (Asian/Pacific Islander and sexual minority) is of particular interest.


PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a light-emitting device which has a high luminance and color rendering properties, and a little color shift of the emitted light, an image display and a lighting unit having the light-emitting device as a light source, and a phosphor mixture for obtaining the light-emitting device. SOLUTION: The phosphor mixture contains at least two types of phosphors and satisfies formula (A): 0.85≤BR(125)/BR(25)≤1.15 and formula (B): -0.03≤x 1 (25)-x 1 (125)≤0.03 [wherein BR (25) is a brightness of the fluorescence obtained by being excited by a blue light having a peak wavelength of 455 nm at 25°C; x 1 (25) is a chromaticity coordinate value x; BR (125) is a brightness of the fluorescence obtained by being excited by a blue light having a peak wavelength of 455 nm at 125°C; and x 1 (125) is a chromaticity coordinate value x]. The light-emitting device uses the phosphor mixture. The image display and the lighting unit have this light-emitting device. COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT


The steam-volatile constituents of Humulus japonicus Sieb. et Zucc. have been studied, and 50 compounds of the oil have been identified mainly by means of the temperature-programmed capillary GLC mass-spectra method. Beside the previously-reported principal components of hops (α-humulene, caryophyllene, α-copaene, α- and β-selinenes, γ-cadinene, caryophyllene-oxide, and humulene-epoxide-II), benzyl alcohol and phenethyl alcohol were found in high concentrations, whereas the myrcene was negligible. The proportion of the main compound, humulene, to the next highest one, caryophyllene, was approximately in the ratio of two to one, as in the essential oil of H. lupulus. As far as the chemical composition of the essential oils is concerned, H. japonicus seems to be related rather more closely to H. lupulus than to H. cordifolius.


The invention provides a dry etching device and a dry etching method. The dry etching device comprises a vacuum etching cavity, a coaxial circular waveguide, a bearing piece used for bearing a substrate to be etched, and a coaxial microwave source connected with the coaxial circular waveguide, wherein the coaxial circular waveguide is arranged inside the vacuum etching cavity and is used for transmitting electromagnetic waves generated by the coaxial microwave source so as to excite plasma, and thus the plasma etches the substrate to be etched below the coaxial circular waveguide. The dry etching method adopts the dry etching device provided by any embodiment of the invention for etching, and comprises the step of adjusting etching time of the substrate to be etched below the coaxial circular waveguide, so that the etching depth of the substrate to be etched reaches a set value.


Purpose This article deals with the subject of "Lean Normalization". A comprehensive methodology is proposed which combines the benefits of both ISO standards and Lean Management. The application of this methodology leads manufacturing or service companies to certification without creating more documentation. It guarantees agility and flexibility in the day-to-day management of the company, and induces lower costs and reduced times. This methodology provides a new way of tackling the implementation of ISO Standards in a company. Design/methodology/approach This methodology is based on the synergistic combination of both ISO Standards (Quality Management System) and the key concepts of Lean Management. After a short presentation of ISO Standards and Lean Management, the possibility of implementing a synergy between these two different approaches will be discussed. At this point ISO 9001 standards will be focused on. The proposed methodology will be introduced step-by-step. Each step of the model will be fo...


Antibacterial activities of ethanol and water extracts of walnut diaphragm were tested in this study.The results showed that the antibacterial activities of the extracts are different against different microbes.The antibacterial activity of the ethanol extract is stronger than that of the water extract,and the minimal inhibitory concentration(MIC) is also lower.The higher concentrations of the extracts have more significant antibacterial effects.This study is profitable for the further development and utilization of walnut diaphragm.


Background:  With evidence of increasing incidence, Liver abscesses remain an important cause of morbidity in children. Evaluation of the clinical profile and management outcomes of pediatric liver abscess would guide evidence-based management.
Objectives: To determine how physical characteristics of Paediatric liver abscesses guide intervention and eventual treatment outcome.
Methods: A retrospective, observational, cohort study was conducted on all LA patients managed from February 2011 to August 2016. Data regarding symptoms, possible predisposing factors, method of diagnosis, any interventions, and duration of stay were collected and analyzed. Sonographic characteristics of the lesion guided management in the study.
Results: Thirty two patients with a mean age of 5.52 years were managed during this period. The clinical features were fever (25, 78%), pain in right hypochondrium (19, 59%), abdominal distension (4, 12.5%), subacute intestinal obstruction (2, 6.25%), and peritonitis (2, 6.25%). Three patients experienced abscess rupture. In three patients, conservative treatment was successful. In five individuals with a size of less than 100ml, USG guided needle aspiration was effective. In 21 patients with bigger lesions, pigtail insertion was required. In three individuals, a laparotomy was performed. One patient died as a result of severe sepsis and coagulopathy. All of the other patients were released.
Conclusions: LA is an important cause for morbidity in children. It could lead to rupture and death if it isn't treated. High suspicion, early screening, and proper intervention in form-tailored management may yield positive outcomes.


Automation of analytical control of the composition and properties of drinking and treated wastewater can be considered in two directions: compliance with quality requirements and optimization of the treatment process. Measuring systems with which it is possible to organize automatic control of the composition of drinking and wastewater allow real-time regulation of the technological processes of water treatment and water purification, as well as providing the required hygienic and environmental control in accordance with the requirements of environmental and sanitary legislation. The article presents approaches to standardization of automatic control systems of pollutants in water, shows the possibilities and some limitations of automatic control systems from the standpoint of standardization, identifies indicators that can be interchangeable for automatic control systems of pollutants in water, and presents methodological approaches to determining the corresponding conversion factors.


Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is a novel disease that has become a global health problem with high mortality rates. Up to now, there is neither specific treatment nor a vaccine for the disease; hence, the primary goal is to keep patients alive. There is growing evidence that more men than women are dying from the COVID-19. Although the outbreak of COVID-19 has led to the legislation of exceptional public health measures in various countries, fatality difference among genders has not been changed in favor of women. It is important to understand the role of sex to figure out who is most vulnerable to COVID-19 and the risk factors of death. While the precise mechanism of globally observed lower female death rates is still unknown, there are many speculations such as the effect of X chromosome, immunologic distinction, lifestyle choices, and employment status. The aim of this review is to highlight the most relevant connections between COVID-19 and low mortality rate in women globally.


In market economic system,both economic law and administrative law can overcome the malfunctioning of market.The state view of economic law mainly concerns about the intervening means of state power in adjusting effectively the social economic life,regulating and controlling the state power.The social view of administrative law requires that while exercising administrative power,the administrative subjects should pay more attention to maintaining social public interests and provide more services for the society and the public.At the same time,the state view of economic law and the social view of administrative law are closely related.In their joint efforts to adjust market,it is a must to balance their relations so as to constantly improve the state view of economic law and social view of administrative law.


Traditionally, medium to strong wool (22-26 micron) has been produced in the Mediterranean climate of South Australia, where Merino sheep are typically plain bodied, with open faces, and of large frame. There has been an industry perception that only such sheep can profitably produce in the harsh South Australian climate. In the last 10 years the average micron of wool produced in South Australia has been 1 to 3 microns broader than the national average which ranged between 21 and 22 micron during that period (ABARE 2002).


"The earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need but not every man's greed" - Mahatma Gandhi. In real perspectives is an ancient era of Indian agricultural practices, which is relevant even in this modern era of chemical dominated agriculture. Currently, India ranks 10th among the top ten countries in terms of cultivable land under organic certification. India produced around 1.34 million Mt of certified organic products which includes all varieties of food products namely Sugarcane, Cotton, Basmati rice, Pulses, Tea, Spices, Coffee, Oil Seeds, Fruits and their value added products. The production is not limited to the edible sector but also produces organic cotton fiber, functional food products etc (APEDA, 2013). Promotion of organic farming does not mean total replacement of the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The Crop cultivated area under organic farming of Seoni District is 29200 ha. duration 2013-14.The association between various attributes of respondents like socio-personal, psychological and communicational attributes with the knowledge & adoption level were worked out which showed that there was no association between age, family type and innovativeness


Based of the method of linear programming of finite Markov decision process and neural network algorithm, a method for the solution of finite Markov decision problems has been introduced, the efficiency of the method being explained with examples.


FIELD: medicine. SUBSTANCE: invention refers to method of production of extract containing natural mix of conjugated horse estrogen. For this purpose water initial phase is selected from group including: aqueous solution of natural mix comprising conjugated pregnant horse urine estrogen already impoverished by phenolic components; aqueous concentrate of natural mix comprising conjugated pregnant horse urine estrogen already impoverished by phenolic components; liquid urine concentrate produced by condensation; and concentrated urine retentate. Any specified aqueous phase is exposed to liquid-liquid extraction. Thus used extracting agent represents suitable for given extraction process, organic solvent not mixing or practically not mixing with water. Invention enables to produce extract of higher content of specified estrogen as per dry substance mass. Thus produced mix is impoverished with unconjugated lipophylic compounds. EFFECT: development of effective method of production of horse estrogen extract impoverished with unconjugated lipophylic compounds. 11 cl, 3 ex, 1 tbl


The use of physical activity trackers and gamification can have wide-ranging benefits, however, their effect on wellbeing has not yet been sufficiently examined in literature. Our study examines whether gamified and non-gamified self-tracking experiences create positive psychological responses that yield enhanced wellbeing. We gathered data on self-reported happiness and life satisfaction before and after a four-week self-tracking experience of physical activity, with and without the use of gamification. We measured the users' emotional and cognitive responses and parsed out the effect of these psychological outcomes on the users' subjective wellbeing. We found that users' perceived usefulness of the experience was associated with an increase in the individuals' life satisfaction, while enjoyment and interest were linked to an increase in the individuals' happiness. Both gamified and non-gamified self-tracking experiences evoked similar positive emotional and cognitive responses, yielding similar gains in wellbeing. Future research could explore long-term health and wellbeing impacts.


Systematic velocities (heliocentric) are presented for 39 galaxies, of which only six have had velocities published previously. The majority of the spectrograms were obtained with the 1-m Yale telescope at CTIO; intercomparison of duplicate plates suggests that the accuracy of emission-line velocities for image-tube spectrograms of faint galaxies from this instrument is of the order of 33 km 1 Key words: galaxies (general)-radial velocities


Dairy Systems Monitoring (DSM) was developed out of response from dairy farmers for a benchmarking tool that made fair and equitable comparisons between farms. This benchmarking system is used by the clients to improve their productivity and profitability. The dairy farm simulation model UDDER is used to simulate the farm system. The input information is milk production from fencepost, and monthly data from the farm, including, areas, stock numbers, supplements, crops and nitrogen (N). The model is then calibrated to simulate the farms production, revised and validated monthly. There has been a successful uptake of this program. Currently 50 farms are involved. Dairy Systems Monitoring has generated change in the systems of participating farmers. Dairy Systems Monitoring has proven to be an effective tool to demonstrate the impact of a range of new technologies on farm systems. The tool is used on an ongoing basis to simulate and compare different operating strategies. It has the ability for clients to compare themselves to simular farms. A key benchmark that is analysed is the feed harvested. For every additional 1 tonne of dry matter (DM) harvested, the gross margin (GM) increases by $339/ha. The question this poses for participants is "how do we harvest more pasture"? Is it by growing more pasture, or improving management to harvest more of the existing pasture growth? Dairy Systems Monitoring is an effective extension tool to highlight the impact of new technologies or management practices on the client's farm program.


Objectives To assess outcomes following early weight bearing after distal femur fracture fixation with locked lateral plating. Design Retrospective cohort study Setting Two Level 1 Academic Trauma Centers. Patients/Participants Patients 18 years and older with distal femur fractures treated with locked lateral plating Intervention Early full weight bearing (defined as less than 30 days from date of surgery) versus restricted post-operative weight bearing Main Outcome Measurements Composite complication comprising malunion, nonunion, surgical site infection, re-admission, or death Results 270 distal femur fractures were reviewed, with 165 meeting inclusion criteria. 21 patients had been allowed early full weight bearing. Fractures were divided into two groups based on when full weight bearing was allowed post-operatively. The two groups had similar fractures as determined by the distribution of AO distal femur fracture and Su periprosthetic femur fracture classifications. The early weight bearing group was significantly older and more comorbid. Despite being older, more comorbid, and allowed early full weight bearing on their fracture fixation construct, there was no difference in the rate of composite complications between groups. Conclusion Our data contributes to the small, but growing body of literature that has found no increased rate of fracture related complications in surgically treated distal femur fractures allowed early post-operative weight bearing. Level of Evidence Therapeutic Level III Study.


Peripheral blood lymphocytes from six untreated patients with Hodgkin's disease were exposed to various doses of ionizing radiation in vitro and thereafter tested for reactivity to PHA and ConA using DNA synthesis as a marker of viability. While the responsiveness of Hodgkin's disease lymphocytes was abolished by moderate radiation doses, the proliferative activity of healthy controls' lymphocytes was reduced in a biphasic fashion suggesting the presence of one relatively radiation‐sensitive and one relatively resistant cell population.


Objective To understand situation of job burnout degree and work ability of insurance employees and explore correlation between job burnout and work ability.Methods The job burnout index scale(MBI)and work ability index scale(WAI)were applied to measure job burnout and work ability,and 201employees from China Life Insurance co.,LTD.and China Ping An life Insurance co.,LTD in Ningxia City were choose as the study subjects.Results The ability of the subjects was optimistic,51.2% of the employees had good ability to work.The Pearson correlation analysis showed that the work ability and its related factors were significant negative correlation to the job burnout and its related factors(r=0.068~ 0.521,P0.05),with the increase of degree of job burnout,the work ability decreases.Stepwise regression analysis showed that the income,length of service,the rationality of the factors of emotional exhaustion and diet were included into the regression equation of the work ability scores,suggesting that these factors had a greater influence on the ability to work for insurance employees.Job burnout score worked as a dependent variable.The present results suggest that income,length of service,limiting alcohol drinking and sleep are the job burnout influence factors smong insurance employees.Conclusions Job burnout degree is different among the insurance employees,and affects their ability to work.Increasing the staff's income,adjusting the degree of job burnout factors,ensuring the rational diet and enough sleep time can improve thework ability.


We report the development of a multispectral imaging (MSI) device for medical diagnostic applications. The MSI device uses an acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF) for wavelength selection and a two-dimensional charge-coupled device (CCD) for detection. Unlike a tunable grating or prism-based monochromator, the tunable filter has no moving parts, and can be rapidly tuned to any wavelength within its operating range. The large aperture of the AOTF and its high spatial resolution allows the optical image from an imaging fiber optic probe (IFP) to be recorded by the CCD. These characteristics, combined with their small size, make AOTFs important new alternatives to conventional monochromators, especially for spectral imaging in biomedical applications. Several applications of biomedical interest (fluorescence imaging, brain tissue imaging, etc.) are described to illustrate the usefulness of the MSI system.


We present the Feasible Label Routing (FLR) protocol for mobilead hoc networks, which uses path information to establish routes to destinations on demand. FLR enables loop-free incremental(hop-by-hop) routing of data packets using only the addresses of their destinations. Like the dynamic source routing (DSR) protocol, FLR avoids the need for any time-stamps or sequence numbers by the use of path vectors exchanged when routes are established or repaired. Instantaneous loop freedom is attained by using path information for a destination as labels with which routers are ordered lexicographically with respect to the destination, i.e., FLR ensures that the labels of routers for a given destination become "smaller" the closer they are to the destination. Simulation experiments in Qualnet show that the performance of FLR is far better than the performance of the ad-hoc on-demand distance vector (AODV) protocol, the dynamic source routing (DSR) protocol, and the optimized link state routing (OLSR) protocol, in terms of the packet delivery ratio and average delivery latencies achieved, as well as the overhead incurred in the network.


Background: Treatment of Human Immunodeficiency Virus infection with protease inhibitors and/or nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors often results in development of a lipodystrophic syndrome whose etiology, phenotype and metabolic derangements resemble that of general population patients with the metabolic syndrome. Significantly, in metabolic syndrome patients, an overactive endogenous cannabinoid system is observed and its antagonism improves physical and biochemical profiles. It can therefore be reasonably expected that the blockade of this system will prevent the derangements observed in patients with combined antiretroviral therapy induced lipodystrophy. Objective: To test the hypothesis that use of a cannabinoid type 1 receptor antagonist (rimonabant) with combined anti-retroviral therapy prevents the metabolic and phenotypic derangements associated with chronic combined anti-retroviral therapy in Sprague-Dawley rats. Design: Randomized Block Design Setting: Department of Medical Physiology, University of Nairobi Materials and Methods: Thirty (30) adult male Sprague-Dawley rats housed under standard conditions were randomized into three groups namely negative control (0.5% starch solution), positive control (lopinavir/ritonavir + zidovudine) and test (lopinavir/ritonavir + zidovudine) + rimonabant). The rats received drugs or vehicle by oral gavage daily for 4 weeks. Body mass index were calculated at weekly intervals, Insulin tolerance test (lTT) was carried out at 2 week intervals while visceral, and subcutaneous fat depot weight, serum lipids and serum fatty acid binding protein type 4 were assessed after four weeks of treatment. Results: The test group had better insulin tolerance than either positive controls or negative controls. Fasting blood sugar in the test group was 49.7% and 13.8% lower at 120 minutes (P =


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of the political environment in the implementation of community policing, using a model informed by the innovations perspective in addition to the criminal justice literature.Design/methodology/approach – Using archival data, this paper draws a national sample of 428 police jurisdictions. Multivariate models are estimated to determine the influence of reform governments as indicated by city managers, non‐partisan and at‐large elections, on community policing.Findings – This paper finds evidence to suggest that reform governments have a limited but significant influence on the adoption of community policing. Form of government and the type of municipal elections do directly influence community policing. Results demonstrate that the innovations literature does explain some variation in community policing adoption across municipalities.Research limitations/implications – The findings of the study should have implications for understanding the exte...


The memristor device technology has created waves in the research community and led to the consideration of using the device in multiple avenues. The most likely candidate for early adoption is the nonvolatile memory due to the small cell size (increased scaling potential), increased density as compared to flash, and ability to stack these devices in a crossbar structure. This paper analyzes the feasibility of a memristor memory and introduces an adaptive read, write, and erase method that may be used to realize a more resilient memory system in the face of low yield in the nanotechnology regime. The proposed method is evaluated in simulation program with integrated circuit emphasis (SPICE) and a hand analysis model is extracted to help explain the sources of power and energy consumption. Finally, the power metrics are compared to flash memory technology, and the memristor memory is shown to have an energy per bit consumption about one-tenth that of flash when programming, comparable to flash when erasing, and about one-fourth of flash when reading.


THE SWAN KING will be touring the U.S. in March. Tour Dates: Fri 3/23 Nashville TN @ Springwater (w/ Tijuana Goat Ride) Sat 3/24 Asheville NC @ ...


All managers are aware of the importance of keeping customers. As we know, keeping previous customers is four to six times less expensive than attracting new customer (Moon and Minor; 2007). Recently, companies increasingly have been concentrated on customer loyalty and keeping them. According to many researchers, one of most important factors to make customers loyal is their satisfaction. So that, many people believe satisfaction is equal to loyalty. Several years ago, this great mistake (i.e. equating customer satisfaction and loyalty) led to General Motors bankruptcy. The purpose of this paper is investigating various aspects of the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty; as well as determining and evaluating effective factors on this relationship; so that provide strategies which through them managers take advantages, efficiently, from customer satisfaction, to keep them and make them loyal.


What relation must hold between a fact p and the corresponding belief that p for the belief to amount to knowledge? Many authors have recently proposed that the relation can be captured by subjunctive conditionals. In this paper I critically evaluate the main proposals along those lines.


This paper collected 18 soil samples in the Chin-sha River basin, and analyzed residues of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in soil using gas chromatographic method, revealing the organochlorine pesticide residues, the distribution and sources in the river basin. The results show that, the relatively high sampling residues of organochlorine pesticide distribute in the industrial area. The composition and characteristics of organic chlorine pesticide show that the organochlorine pesticide residues in soil mainly come from the historical use. Compared with the domestic similar research, residual organochlorine pesticides in Chin-sha River basin were lower.


Objective To investigate the therapeutic effects of Tongxinluo capsule on the atherosclerotic plaque in the carotid artery.Methods Totally 200 patients with atherosclerotic plaque were randomly divided into two groups,the treatment group(100 cases) was treated with Tongxinluo capsule(4 tablets once,three times a day),and control group(100 cases) was treated with aspirin(75 mg once,once a day).All patients would be follow up for one year and carotid artery detection was carried with color Doppler at the beginning and ending respectively. Carotid artery inner diameter,resistent index,plaque stability and stenosis rate were detected,plaque score would be evaluated and stroke events were recorded.Results(1 ) There was no significant difference in the risk factors of the age and sex between the two groups(P0.05).(2) There were better therapeutic effects in Tongxinluo capsule treatment group than control group,included the carotid artery inner diameter,resistent index,plaque stability, stenosis rale and plaque score(P0.05).(3) The treatment group had less stoke events than that in the control group(P0.05).Conclusion It proved that the Tongxinluo capsule could intervene effectively the development of the carotid atherosclerotic plaque and reduce the incidence of cardiac and cerebral events.


Climate extremes : recent trends with implications for national security / Michael McElroy & D. James Baker. Harvard University, October 2012, 138 p. http://environment.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/climate_extremes_report_2012-12-04.pdf Preface : The extent and pace of climate changes will lead to potential impacts on food, water, energy and economic security. Observed change in the climate system is an issue of ongoing concern for the US. Recent unusual extreme weather phenomena worldwide...


This paper has described affirmation,measurement,record and content revealing four respects of the reducing value accountant of the assets.Have discussed affirmation standard,the kind of measuring attribute and standard choice of measurement of the assets reducing value especially;Have introduced the reducing value accounting record method of the assets and demand of disclosure


We construct projections from HΛk(Ω), the space of differential k forms on Ω which belong to L2(Ω) and whose exterior derivative also belongs to L2(Ω), to finite dimensional subspaces of HΛk(Ω) consisting of piecewise polynomial differential forms defined on a simplicial mesh of Ω. Thus, their definition requires less smoothness than assumed for the definition of the canonical interpolants based on the degrees of freedom. Moreover, these projections have the properties that they commute with the exterior derivative and are bounded in the HΛk(Ω) norm independent of the mesh size h. Unlike some other recent work in this direction, the projections are also locally defined in the sense that they are defined by local operators on overlapping macroelements, in the spirit of the Clement interpolant. A double complex structure is introduced as a key tool to carry out the construction.


A series of acoustic measurements were conducted at Moose Jaw Canadian Forces Base, Saskatchewan, Canada in June, 1998 for obtaining detailed noise data on a large array of ground‐ and crane‐based microphones for a CH‐146 helicopter. The project, conducted by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society was to define test procedures and analysis methods for the standardization of a NATO rotorcraft noise database. Four independent microphone arrays were deployed by the USAF, NASA, RAF, and DERA. Data from the USAF and NASA arrays were used to validate the Rotorcraft Noise Model (RNM). USAF data were processed via an updated acoustic repropagation technique (ART2) to define the rotorcraft broadband sound hemispheres. The source noise was then propagated to the measurement locations using RNM. Agreement with the original USAF measurements demonstrated consistency of the ART/RNM process. Agreement with the independent NASA measurements provided validation of the RNM as a prediction tool.


When designing and implementing real world ambient intelligent systems, we are in need of applicable information systems engineering methods. These should supplement the knowledge engineering tools we can find in the intelligent systems area. The work presented here focuses on explanation-aware ambient intelligent systems. The ability to explain it's reasoning and actions has been identified as one core capability of any intelligent entity [1]. The question of what is considered a good explanation is context dependent [2], leading to the necessity to design the explanatory capabilities of an ambient intelligent system together with the contextual modelling. We target the requirements elicitation, analysis, and specification processes by making use of a pattern-based approach in form of Jackson's problem frames [3]. His set of basic problem frames can be extended to be better able to model domain specific aspects. We have previously suggested additional problem frames for explanatory capabilities [4].


The paper considers the role market institution in the process of economic transformation. At present stage, the development of the efficient market system implies the creation
of the incentive structure that will stimulate businesses to invest in innovation and production activities rather than in 'rent-seeking' behavior. Such an incentive structure, in turn, is a product of viable institutions that complement the mechanism of market competition and that guarantee property rights, honour of contracts and payment of credits, lower barriers for market entry and exit, reduce transaction costs and facilitate
increase of the effectiveness of the market of production factors. Only under such conditions economic agents receive the possibility and stimuli for innovation, thus creating preconditions for steady economic growth.


A study of the nearshore zone and continental shelf of a high-energy coast was made in the Ventura-Port Hueneme area of California during the summer of 1974 to investigate depositional facies characteristics and compare them with similar facies from a low-energy coastal setting. Analysis of box cores, can cores, and vibracores permits recognition of three principal zones: (1) nearshore facies (backshore to 9 m water depth), made up primarily of parallel, ripple, and cross-bedded clean sand; bioturbation is only locally significant; (2) transition facies (9 to 18 m water depth), a zone of fine sand and silty sand, characterized by an increase in biogenic over physical sedimentary structures that are commonly preserved as laminated-to-burrowed beds; wave-ripple bedding and parallel lamination are important structures in this facies; (3) offshore facies (> 18 m water depth), sandy silt is the primary texture and bioturbation is the dominant sedimentary structure; remnant parallel lamination is the only physical sedimentary structure present. Comparison of the results of this study with a previous description of a low-energy beach-to-offshore sequence at Sapelo Island, Georgia, indicates that the two areas do not differ greatly in their facies or overall vertical sequence of sedimentary structures. The principal difference is in the thickness of the three facies: the California facies are significantly thicker than their Georgia counterparts. This difference is in direct response to the role of higher wave energy on the California coast.


The increasing price of oil in the world market and the depleted national oil reserves while on the other hand there is a high dependency on oil as national main source of energy, promote the development of new energy alternative in Indonesia. Apart from oil, Indonesia is also known to have contained enormous resources of conventional gas, coal, hydropower and geothermal. Furthermore due to its significant coal resources, coal bed methane becomes one of the new promising alternative energy in Indonesia.


The hydrothermal method is used to fabricate the TiO2/BiOBr composite. The
 X-ray diffraction, SEM, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and
 ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy are employed to
 characterize its crystal structure, physical morphology, chemical
 composition, and light absorption. Its photocatalytic performance and
 stability are analyzed by the photocatalytic degradation rate of rhodamine
 B solution under sunlight irradiation. The composite exhibits the optimal
 photocatalytic effect when the Ti:Bi molar ratio is 4:1.