In the big data era, the cloud computing services have been adopted to face the emergence of data that needs to be stored and processed properly. However, these services need to provide safety mechanisms to insure its secure adoption. Thus, several solutions have been proposed including the use of secure architectures by customers. In that context, an architecture based on multi-agent systems has been proposed which aims to secure both storage and exploration of data hosted in the Cloud. In this paper, we present a brief synthesis of data security methods. We then focus on the multi-agent system architecture. Finally, we propose our solution considering the design and implementation in Java of an alteration agent which will ensure the secure storage of data stored in the Cloud. We finally present the test results of this agent on real datasets.


This thesis describes research on near degenerate quasi phase-matched opticalparametric oscillators (OPO) where volume Bragg gratings (VBG) are used toproduce narrow oscillation bandwidth. These OP ...


This paper reports a new technique of micro-resolution Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). To investigate three-dimensional flow structure in microscopic scale, 3D scanning micro-PIV system was developed by combining a high-speed camera, an epi-fluorescent microscope, a CW (Continuous Wave) laser, and a piezo actuator. In order to validate the measurement accuracy of the system, a numerical simulation and an experiment were carried out. In numerical simulation, the optimum conditions of 3D scanning micro-PIV technique were investigated using synthetic images under epi-fluorescent microscope observation. In experiment, a micro-round tube flow was measured by utilizing the optimum conditions. Three-dimensional velocity fields of water inside the micro-round tube with 95 μm were visualized for a spatial resolution of 5.4×2.7×0.27 μm.


In this article, the author attempts to show how provisions in the U.S. Constitution enhance religious pluralism in the United States. Furthermore, religious pluralism arguably leads to religious vitality, which has a number of consequences for public life in the United States. Religion in the United States serves as a source of social capital, as a check against the conformist tendencies of U.S. public opinion; religious pluralism ameliorates the tendency to identify the nation with a particular set of religious traditions. The presence of religious ideas in public discourse also may render religious values less particularistic and more publicly accessible.


The transition of the global economy to digital currencies is inevitable. Today's monetary methods of regulation do not provide a stable and inclusive economy, and central banks will be forced to move on to the implementation of the state digital currency in real practice, which will ultimately allow introducing total control over the use of customer assets and strict business regulation,especially in the field of the shadow economy and tax crimes. The main factors for the transition to digital currencies aretechnological progress, an increase in online transactions, independence from national currencies, and low commissions. Thepurpose of the article is to assess the potential for economic growth of digital currencies and FinTech innovation technologies inthe context of growing government debts. The scientific novelty of the obtained results lies in the construction of a regression model of GDP growth dependence on inflation, government debt and the long-term interest rate. The regression analysis was conducted by building a linear multiple model for selected developed European countries based on statistical data from the European Central Bank, the European Commission, and other Internet resources. The equation of dependence of the GDP of European countries on the selected factors obtained as a result of regression modelling can be practically used to forecast future GDP indicators. The model showed that inflation growth has a negative impact on GDP growth and confirmed that further economic growth is possible with the introduction of digital currency, which will help to reduce the inflationary burden. The issuance of digital currency will be strictly controlled, which will contribute to the formation of an inclusive economy by attracting people who do not have bank accounts to business, and the shadow economy will be reduced. This will create opportunities for real economic growth. It is predicted that the introduction of digital currencies could lead to a faster, moreconvenient, cheaper and more private payment system, which is important for citizens and businesses.


ABSTRACT Dalmatian and yellow toadflax, Linaria dalmatica and L. vulgaris, are exotic weeds in North America, and their classical biological control has been improved by the establishment of seed-feeding (Rhinusa antirrhini) and stem-mining (Mecinus janthinus and Mecinus janthiniformis) weevils. Here, we evaluated the complex of hymenopteran parasitoids attacking these weevils in Colorado. Ten species were identified of the genera Neocatolaccus, Eurytoma, Pteromalus, Brasema, Telenomus and Bracon. Neocatolaccus tylodermae was the most abundant parasitoid of M. janthinus, M. janthiniformis and R. antirrhini. This is the first report of N. tylodermae attacking the weevil genera Mecinus and Rhinusa feeding on the genus Linaria.


Two unrecorded species of the snapper, Lutjanus malabaricus (296.0 mm standard length [SL]) and L. stellatus (350.0 mm SL) belonging to the family Lutjanidae, were first collected from the western coastal waters of Jeju Island, Korea. L. malabaricus is characterized by having a dark marking on the upper half of the caudal peduncle, a band of vomerine teeth that does not protrude posteriorly at the middle, and nine anal soft rays. Compared to its Korean relative, L. malabaricus is distinguishable by having rows of scales that run obliquely in the dorsal-posterior direction above the lateral line (vs. parallel to the lateral line in L. argentimaculatus). L. stellatus can be identified by the absence of wavy blue lines on the head (vs. many blue lines in L. rivulatus) and presence of a white spot above the lateral line (vs. a black blotch on the lateral line in L. rivulatus). We propose new Korean names, "Jin-hong-tung-dom" and "Huin-jeom-tung-dom," for L. malabaricus and L. stellatus, respectively.


Felix Oppenheim has argued in "Egalitarianism as a Descriptive Concept"' that a rule of redistribution is "egalitarian if it reduces and inegalitarian if it increases the percentage difference between the holdings of those to whom the rule is being applied."2 He thus recommends that we consider egalitarianism a purely descriptive concept. While we may agree that his explication is a significant improvement over various others he considers in his admirable survey, it is doubtful that the concept of egalitarianism can be divorced from the concept of relevance quite as easily as he suggests. Consider the following: Case 1: Group A consists of persons with incomes of $40,000 a year. Group B consists of persons with incomes of $2,000 a year. Rule of redistribution R1 will reduce the percentage difference between the incomes of persons in group A and persons in group B by thirty-five percentage points. Case 2: Group C consists of persons who have two photographs of Richard Nixon in their living rooms. Group D consists of persons who have one photograph of Richard Nixon in their living rooms. Rule of redistribution R2 will reduce the percentage difference between the holdings of such photographs by persons in group C and persons in group D by fifty percentage points. According to Oppenheim's criterion, we would have to judge rule of redistribution R2, more egalitarian than rule of redistribution R1. If Oppenheim would still maintain, after surmounting some initial distaste, that R2, after all, is the more egalitarian rule, we could ask him to substitute grains of sand on the floor for photographs of Richard Nixon, and so on. If, to meet these objections, Oppenheim would say that we can only compare two rules redistributing the same kind of thing (e.g., incomes), then the criterion would seem to suffer a distressing loss of utility. It would only allow us to state the obvious-that a more egalitarian rule redistributing incomes is more egalitarian than a less egalitarian rule redistributing incomes. And we would have no way of saying that a society making efforts to redistribute incomes is more egalitarian than a society bent on redistributing photographs of Nixon or grains of sand on the floor. Oppenheim himself concedes that relevance cannot be a clear-cut descriptive concept. But then, unfortunately for his argument, it would seem that, perhaps, neither can egalitarianism.


Opinions regarding restructuring of the U.S. electric utility industry are presented in the paper. A brief assessment is made of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission orders requiring open access transmission services and open access same-time information systems. Three subtopics are pursued in some detail: competition between renewables and conservation, the role of government, and the impact of government on the market for renewables. It is concluded that renewable programs can be incorporated into competitive markets through regulatory agencies.


Objectives:  The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between the FEV1 and maximal voluntary ventilation (MVV) in healthy adult Chinese subjects, and to determine the validity of existing prediction equations of MVV for use in the Chinese population.


December 31, 2015 is the beginning of the implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). The impact of the AEC is the creation of a free market for goods and services, and labor in the ASEAN region. This will lead to an international trading system that makes each country will do some transaction s . The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of the relationship between the inflation rates , interest rates and the Rupiah exchange rate s on the balance of payments . It is seen by net exports and foreign direct investment. This study only focused to some ASEAN countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore for the period after the global financial crisis that occurred in 2008 , which covered the period from January 2009 to December 2015. The method used in this study is a VAR/VECM. The results in this study showed that the difference of interest rates in the country with Indonesia give the effect to differences in net exports value and foreign direct investment. This prompted the government to deliver policies in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in order to grow to faced the free trade competition in AEC.


The Reasonable low price bid method is a common international approach in bidding for construction projects,it has been widely used in China.In the analysis on the suitable condition,the appraisal method and the the actual operation exists of reasonable low price bidding,proposes the corresponding countermeasure and the safeguard mechanism.


For the past quarter century the only constant in German election research has been the focus on change. Relying on a rich store of sur vey and aggregate data, analysts have documented a steady growth in voter volatility measured through a variety of indicators: the propor tion of the electorate changing parties, splitting their ballots, deciding late in the campaign or not voting at all. But while volatility has been amply confirmed, analysts have been far less certain about how much change must take place on the demand side (voter) before major structural change takes place on the supply side (party system). Some observers argue that such a change is long overdue. In a recent essay Tobias Diirr, citing the social and economic upheavals (Umbruche) of the past twenty-five years, considers it a "minor miracle" that the size and number of parties have remained relatively stable since "the old party system no longer fits our society."1 Warnfried Detding contends that the 2005 vote "could be the beginning of the end of the party system we have known for sixty years."2 Others see remarkable resiliency. Thomas Saalfeld, writing before the 2005 vote, argues that "the fundamentals of the Federal Republic's party system and 'grand coalition structures' have remained remarkably stable ... Two party, ideologically compact and centrist minimal-winning coalitions, based on politically moderate center-left and center-right parties, persist."3 In 2005 for only the second time in the Republic's history and for the first time as a matter of electoral necessity, not elite choice, no "mini mal-winning coalition" was formed. What is the bottom line on this volatility? Will it produce funda mental changes in the size and number of parties? Will the traditional


During the investigation of ethanolic and chloroform extracts from Cadia purpurea [I, 21 by TLC on silicagel and detection by jodoplatinate, an alkaloid was noticed, differing from the others by its greenish-blue color. Although the concentration seemed to be very small, it still appeared possible to isolate this alkaloid by means of column-chromatography (on alumina, Woelm neutr.; elution with ether : chloroform 95 :5) and to purify it by preparative TLC on silicagel (Merck Fertigplatten; cyclohexane : diethylamin 7 : 3 ) . The thus obtained alkaloid was identified as 13-ethoxylupanin by TLC and MS in comparison with a synthetic sample, made by condensing 13-hydroxylupanin with ethanol, via the tosyl-derivative. Rl values: 0.58 on Merck silicagelsheets; cyclohexane : diethylamin 7 : 3. 0.68 id; Benzene : ethylacetate : diethylamin 5 : 4 : 1 0.56 id.; Toluene : acetone : ethanol : ammonia 40 : 40 : 8 : 3. MS data: M' 292.2147 ( d e 291, 263, 247, 211, 180, 156, and further conform hydroxylupanin). The synthetic made 13-ethoxylupanin probably possesses the e-position, in contrary with the authentic sample. The reversed intensity of the masspeaks 263 and 247 in the masspectra of both alkaloids, may be due to this aor e-position. Difference in Rf values has not been observed. For the time being there is no sufficient material collected to determine other physical data. T o the best of my knowledge the isolation of 13-ethoxylupanin from a natural source seems not to have been reported earlier. At' the same time the above mentioned authentic mass-spectrum showed two peaks ( d e 306 and 207) with low intensity however, which may be due to a small quantity of the according propoxyderivative


The review considers pharmacodynamics and clinical applications of drugs with metabolic type of action which stimulate regeneration and provide protective action on articular cartilage in osteoarthritis. The review analyses the data of the experimental and clinical trials of the most common chondroprotective agents.


A new mooring system if proposed in this paper. The system consists of sliding double piles and a floating body. The floating body can follow a large tide irrespective of waves. A series of forced oscillation tests were carried out to clarify the relationship between the hydrodynamic properties and the dimensions and shape of the sliding double-piles. Practical formulas are proposed according to the experimental results. It was confirmed from the comparative studies with the experimental results that these formulas are useful for estimating hydrodynamic forces in various conditions of double- piles. Finally the hydrodynamic properties of double piles are discussed.


Purpose: exploring the influence of aerobics exercise on lean body mass and bone metabolism of post menopausal women.Method: 60 postmenopausal women were divided into three groups.Group one were women who had been taking exercises(EG) for 5 months,group two were women who had been taking soybean isoflavones(SG) for 5 months and group three were women who had been doing both(E+SG).Such indicators of these women were tested as lean body mass,muscle strength,BMD and BMC of lumbar(2-4) and ALP,ACP and E2 of blood.Results: lean body mass/weight index,muscle strength of group three were obviously higher than those of group two,BMC of these three groups had clear differences,activity of ACP of group three was lower than those of group one and two before the experiment,and the changes of activity of ACP had no clear differentiations before and after the experiment and among the three groups.Conclusion: combination effect of muscle strength exercise such as running and aerobics exercise and soybean isoflavones helped to improve osteoporosis of postmenopausal women greatly.


This article aims to analyze a series of Petik Laut traditions that are the background for the emergence of the Mursada song text. Culture that is continuously carried out will form a tradition. One of the traditions found in Indonesia is the tradition of Petik Laut carried out in Muncar. Another term for the sea quotation is charity marine coastal communities. In its implementation, the  Petik Laut  tradition has several series of events that must be carried out. The series of events became the background for the emergence of the  Mursada song text that was read when one day before the core event was held. This research is a qualitative descriptive study. The main data source is a series of  Petik Laut  traditions and tembang macapat texts. The provision of data is obtained by observation-participation techniques, interviews, and document analysis.  The data were analyzed using linguistic anthropological theory to find out how the context of the tradition of seas was based on the emergence of the text of the  Mursada song in the Muncar fishing community. The results showed that the context of the sea-picking tradition behind the emergence of the text of the  Mursada song was the opening, the  macapatan , the  ider bumi and the release of offerings, and the pilgrimage of the grave.


The motion control system of the robotic platform should design a route and build a map of the platform's real-time movement. The authors have developed a system for controlling the movement of a robotic platform in rows of garden plantings based on the technology of measuring distances by emitting light with an optical range rangefi nder LiDAR sensor. They have obtained a program code for planning the path of travel and setting the points of the travel trajectory in the Python programming language in the Ubuntu operating system (the Rviz visualization environment). To fi nd the optimal trajectory, they have applied an algorithm for traversing the graph and fi nding the optimal path. As a result, they have designed a robotic platform equipped with a LiDAR Velodyne Puck sensor (VLP-16) and a Benewake TFmini Plus rangefi nder measuring in real time the distance between the robotic platform and the apple tree model via a serial port (COM port). The accuracy of the robotic platform travel was evaluated under laboratory conditions. The experiment was conducted with the use of Super Lamp Holder SLH3 45W 220v 5500K RoHS fl uorescent discharge lamps, the illumination level varied from 10000 to 110000 lux and was controlled with the help of an Uprtek MF250N pulse spectrometer. The factorial experiment revealed the most effi cient travel mode of the robotic platform along the given trajectory: travel speed - 2.5 km/h; illuminance - 109600 lux; distance to the tree - 0.5 m. Positioning of the robotic platform relative to each tree in the rows of plantations and autonomous performance of basic technological operations with a deviation from the specifi ed trajectory of not more than 1.5 to 2 cm meet the agrotechnical requirements for monitoring of orchard plantations, application of plant protection agents, harvesting of fruit crops, and contour pruning of tree crowns.


Energy consumption for sanitary water heating represents an important component of the overall energy costs associated with student residences. This paper presents the results of an investigation to analyse the water heating energy consumption profiles of 21 student residences representing of the order of 4600 occupants over a period of three years. Half-hourly energy metering profiles for heat pump installations are analysed with the view to derive statistical indicators such as the average daily energy consumption per occupant, the average daily half-hourly consumption per occupant profile and the average consumption per occupant for the Time of Use (TOU) periods associated with the MegaFlex and HomeFlex tariff systems. The development of a custom software application for performing the required data processing operations is discussed. The results show an average daily energy consumption of 1.76 kWh per occupant, which translates into an average daily hot water usage of approximately 101 l per occupant. The peak periods of the average daily energy consumption profiles derived for the heat pump energy consumption profiles coincide with morning and evening peak periods of the Megaflex and Homeflex TOU tariffs.


The mechanism by which the reversible conversion of starch ito sucrose takes place in potato tubers exposed to cold is as yet essenitialDly unknown. Early studies on the stubject triedl to correlate this conversion with variations in the activity of related enzymes (10). Those responsible for the synthesis of stucrose and sucrose-6-phosphate (1) are undoubtedily highly relevant. In addition to its role in stucrose 'synthesis, the sucrose synthebase lead to the formation of UDP-gluic'ose and ADP-glucose (2), the glucosyl donors for starch synthesis catalyzed by ithe particullate (6) and the soluble (5) synithetase, respectively. As in sweet corn (4), the sugar nuoleotide-s would thu,s be the 'link between starch and sucrose synthetase in potato tubers. With the aim of obtaining some insighit into the regutlatory mechanism of these enzymes we have carried out experimenits witth aging potato tuiber slices, in view of t;he special properties of the itissue in these condi'tions (3). Potato tubers (Solanum tuiberosum var. Huincul) were uised. Tissue plulgs, 1.5 cm in diameter, were cut from the central parenchima wiith a cork borer. The plulgs were sllicecd with a microtome inito discs, 1 mm in thickness, whiich were aged according to Click and Hackett (3). The liquid 'of 'aging was eeilther water or 'the soilutition indicated in each case. In preliminary experiments, similar result's 'ha'd been obta,ined by addition of calcoiuim sulifate or antibiotics to 'the aging med-ium, or uisling aeration technliques (11 ). For 'the 'assay of stucrose and sucrose-6-P syntheitases, fresh (control) or aged slices were washed wi,th water, 'blotted vwiith filiter paper and grouind in a mortar with 0.01 M mercaptoethanol. The extract was strained 'through cheese-cloth and then centrifuged at 3000 X g in order to separate starch. The supernatant was dialyzed overnight again:st 0.05 m itriis-HCl buffer, pH 7.3, and used as a souirce of the enzyme. The assay was performed as follows: 0.5 jimole of UDP-glIucosse, 0.5 ,umole of fructose or fructo,se-6-P, 5 jvmnles of tris-HCI buffer, pH 7.3, and 5 to 10 ,l of enzyme (equivalent to 0.05-0.1 mg of protein), in a fina,l voolume of 25 ixl, were incubated at 370 for 30 minutes. The reaction was stopped by ad'ding NaOH to a fiinal concentration of 0.25 M and heabing for 15 m,inuites at 1000. This treaitmenit destroyed free fruotose or fructose-6-P, and sucrose or sucrose-6-P co'u;ld be estim,ated with Ithe thiobarhyitturic acid reagent (8)2. One tunit of ac,tivity is the amoulnt of enzyme producing ithe form,ation of 0.01 pmole of suicrose or sucrose-6-P uinder Ithe described assay condiitions, which were Isdlected according to the results of Slabnik, Frydman, and Cardini (unpublished). The reaction was linear both with respect to enzyme concentration andl tibme. Assay of possible interfering pho,sphatases and( inverta,se in these experimental condiitions was performed !in botih enzymatic extracts with negative resulits.


Various mechanisms have been proposed to underlie the cellular activity of genistein, based on biological experiments and epidemiological studies. The present study demonstrated that genistein inhibited the expression of cytoplasmic nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP)-dependent isocitrate dehydrogenase (cICDH), thus increasing levels of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) in human promyeloid leukemia HL-60 cells. In genistein-treated cells, the cellular redox potential (GSH/GSSG) was significantly decreased. This decrease in redox potential was caused by significant downregulation of the cICDH gene, generating the reducing equivalents (NADPH) for maintenance of cellular redox potential and cellular ROS level, which may regulate cell growth and cell death. Genistein-induced ROS partially induced rapid transition into the G2/M phase by upregulation of p21wap1/cip1 and apoptotic cell death. Treatment of cells with N-acetylcysteine, a well-known antioxidant (ROS scavenger), not only partially restored cell growth and inhibited cell cycle arrest in G2/M, but also prevented apoptotic cell death. By contrast, normal lymphocytes did not significantly progress into the G2/M phase and radiation-induced cell death was inhibited by genistein treatment. Therefore, genistein and γ-irradiation together synergistically cause cell death in leukemia cells, however, genistein has a radioprotective effect in normal human lymphocytes. In conclusion, it was suggested that genistein selectively functions, not as an antioxidant, but as a pro-oxidant in HL-60 cells. This property can increase ionizing radiation-induced cell cycle arrest and sensitivity to apoptotic cell death in human promyeloid leukemia HL-60 cells, but does not cause significant damage to normal cells.


We investigate the effect of a small gauge-invariant mass of the gluon, on the anomalous chromomagnetic moment (ACM) of quarks, by perturbative calculations at one loop level. The gluon is taken to acquire its mass through a topological mass generation mechanism, via an interaction with an antisymmetric tensor field Bµn. For a gluon mass between 0 and 10 MeV, we calculate the ACM at momentum transfer q 2 = −M 2 . These are compared with the ACM when the gluon mass arises from a Proca term. We find that the ACM of up, down, strange, and charm vary significantly with gluon mass, while the ACM of top and bottom quarks show negligible variation. The mechanism of gluon mass generation is most important for the strange quark, but not so much for the other quarks.


- Employees are one of the supporters in the progress, smoothness and success of a company. Quality employees are one of the company's assets that make the company grow rapidly. For this reason, employees with the best work ethic are entitled to promotions and incentives. In this study, a company has obstacles in selecting the best employees. So far, the determination of the best employees is still done manually, so that the determination of employees takes longer, is not transparent and ineffective. This can actually lead to new conflict problems among employees. Selection of the best employees aims to improve and evaluate employee performance. Therefore we need a Decision Support System to determine the best employees in a company so that it can be more transparent, more efficient, effective and acceptable to all parts of the company. The Weighted product method is a more efficient method and the time required for calculations is easier and shorter in a Decision Support System. The selection of the Weighted product Method is based on computational complexity which is not too difficult by obtaining a weight value for each attribute and a ranking process that will determine the best alternative. The results of this study are 0.14414 with criteria consisting of loyalty, productivity and quality of work, discipline, problem solving ability


Credit risk threatens financial institutions and may result in irrecoverable consequences. Tools for risk prediction can be used to reduce bank insolvency. This study compares Bayesian networks with artificial neural networks (ANNs) for predicting recovered value in a credit operation. The credit scoring problem is typically been approached as a supervised classification problem in machine learning. The present study explores this problem and finds that ANNs are a more efficient tool for predicting credit risk than the a¨ive bayesian (NB) approach. The most crucial point is related to lending decisions, and a significant credit operation is associated with a set of factors to the degree that probabilities are used to classify new applicants based on their characteristics. The optimum achievement was obtained when the linear regression was equivalent to 0.2, with a mean accuracy of 85%. For the na¨ive Bayes approach, the algorithm was applied to four datasets in a single process before the entire dataset was used to create a confusion matrix.


The present invention relates to the technical field of food processing, in particular to a method for making coarse and pastry. One kind of coarse pastry, which includes the following components in parts by weight: 80 parts to 120 parts by homemade pasta coarse powder, 4 parts to 12 parts of eggs, 7 parts to 15 parts of sugar, 3 parts to 9 parts trehalose, 10 parts to 18 parts malt syrup. The method for manufacturing coarse pastry as follows: (1) Preparation homemade pasta coarse powder; (2) and the surface; (3) roll and cut; dried (4); (5) frying; (6) boil sugar; (7) stuffed with sugar, shaping and dicing; obtain coarse pastry. This point crisp whole grains rich in nutrients, nutrition structure and diverse, can satisfy people's demand for a variety of whole grains, edible and good taste. The production of coarse grains pastry method enables nutrients to maintain good roughage pastry, whole grains and make the pastry is not easy to aging, long shelf life.


V O L . 3 0 , N O . 4 , FA L L 2 0 1 5 | © 2 0 1 5 T I K K U N M A G A Z I N E | D O I : 1 0 . 1 2 1 5 / 0 8 8 7 9 9 8 2 3 3 2 8 6 3 7 T I K K U N 9 E arly in the evening on February 10, the newsfeed alerts on everybody's phones suddenly began beeping and chiming with a breaking story: Jon Stewart was leaving The Daily Show. I happened to be within watching range of a TV at the time, so I turned it on and it seemed like every station was announcing the news. Jon Stewart, Jon Stewart, Jon Stewart. They were running clips from the early days of the show; pundits were pontificating. It was a whole thing. And then it came time for The Daily Show itself . . . the one where he was going to make this announcement. Or, rather, the one where he had already made this announcement to the live studio audience several hours earlier. That live studio audience had spread the news after the taping, the networks had picked it up, and by the time the show actually aired, the entire TVwatching public already knew. Now Jon Stewart, being the mediasavvy fellow that he is, had guessed in advance that this would happen. And so when The Daily Show began that day, he looked into the camera and said to the TV audience, "You probably know things these people [in the studio] don't know yet, which is a twist on things but — we'll get there." Maybe if I were a regular TV watcher I wouldn't have found this as completely mind blowing as I did. But Jon Stewart was speaking to an audience of the future — one that didn't exist yet — one that would know something and be affected by something that, at the moment he said those words in the present tense, affected no one. At that moment, there was no TV audience that already knew "some stuff that these folks here in the studio" didn't. But he knew that they would know and so he was addressing them in their future state. And he said, "We'll get to it. We'll get there." When you think about it, that's really how time and life work. We have the live studio audience right here, right now — you and me and the people we know and love and don't love. And then we have the much, much larger TV audience of the future: our grandchildren, our greatgreatgreatgrandchildren, our farms and cities in the year 2200, the entirety of the human and natural worlds of the future that will all be affected by what happens and how we live our lives here and now. Our lives will make sense to them only in the context of things they know but which we can't possibly fathom. Truly, we are speaking and acting in the present tense but being watched and heard by the audience of the future.


Abstract The proton magnetic resonance absorption in n-butyl stearate has been investigated for the range −196° to 24 °C. The second moment data are discussed and the amplitudes of molecular rotations at different temperatures are calculated.


Thesis (M.E.)--American University of Beirut. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2000;"Advisor: Dr. Ali El-Hajj, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering--Member of Committee: Dr. Hassan Diab, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engin


As the existence of monoglucoside of flavonoid pigment in the flower of Astragalus sinicus. L. was supposed after the study by the method of paper chromatography, I have studied its isolation and analysis. From the ethyl acetate extract, yellow needle crystals (m. p.178°C) were isolated. From the results of the qualitative and quantitative analyses, I have concluded that the structure of this pigment is kaempferol-3-glucoside and it is a new glucoside of kaempferol. So I have named this flavonoid pigment "astragalin".


In South Asia nuclear deterrence is failing or not? How far the nuclear deterrence is able to stop wars in South Asia? Scholars have different arguments upon the aforementioned queries, principally divided into two blocs' i.e. nuclear pessimist and nuclear optimist. Nuclear optimists stated that nuclear weapons can bring balance in South Asia whereas nuclear pessimists affirmed that nuclear weapons can only bring tension and arms race in South Asia. Different literatures desired to come in a solution through empirical test, in this paper we aspired to focus on both scholarly literature and empirical test and draw a conclusion. Through Scott Sagan's "models of building nuclear weapons" we tried to find out the reasons of India and Pakistan to build nuclear weapons. Despite other reasons security concern is the principal reason to build nuclear weapons by the states that bestows security-insecurity dilemma in South Asia instigating arms race. It is plausible to argue, though multiple conflicts and border skirmishes these two countries still have not used conventional military and nuclear weapons against each other, which supports the idea that state is not an irrational actor rather they can act rationally. Though the chances of accidental war and problems posed by the non-state actors, India and Pakistan aspire to avoid nuclear and conventional war and pursue the way of diplomatic solution. The article draws a conclusion that nuclear power is not capable to stop all the wars but it can provide a balance and discourage states to engage in a nuclear war or conventional war and opt for diplomatic solution. This article contributes to understand the reasons of India-Pakistan to achieve nuclear weapon, how far nuclear deterrence is successful in South Asia, through giving scholarly as well as empirical foundation.


Background: Plants have been relied upon by people for treatment, control and management of diabetes. The local residents around University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, use cooked Delonix regia (Hook.) Raf. Seeds as food supplement for the management of diabetes. Aim: Based on the available evidence on this plant species, this study was carried out to evaluate the ameliorative potentials of aqueous cooked and uncooked seed extracts of Delonix regia (Hook.) Raf. On the liver, kidney and spleen of high-fat diet streptozotocin-induced diabetes in female Wistar rats. Methods: Forty-eight rats were grouped into eight. Group 1 served as normal control and was fed with normal diet. The diabetic state was achieved by feeding the rats with high-fat diet which contained 20% sucrose, 20% lard and 60% grower mash for six weeks, followed by 40 mg/kg body weight of a single dose intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin. Seven days after induction of Original Research Article Onyegeme-Okerenta et al.; EJMP, 25(2): 1-14, 2018; Article no.EJMP.43640 2 diabetes, rats in group 2 did not receive any treatment and were designated as the negative control. Rats in groups 3 (Positive control) and 4 (Second positive control) received metformin 100mg/kg and metformin/vildagliptin 50/25 mg/kg body weight respectively as standard drugs while groups 5 to 8 designated (A1), (A2) (B1) and (B2) respectively, were induced and treated daily with 150 and 300 mg/kg body weight orally cooked seeds (A1), (A2) and uncooked seeds (B1), (B2) extracts for six weeks. Blood was obtained through cardiac puncture after the rats were anaesthetised and sacrificed. Histopathology of the liver, kidney and spleen were studied. Results: Both extracts significantly (p<0.05) decreased the bilirubin, potassium, bicarbonate concentrations, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and alanine transaminase (ALT) activities as well as granulocyte count in dose and time-dependent manner when compared to group 2 respectively. Photomicrographs of the spleen of diabetic untreated rats showed significant hemosiderin pigment deposition compared to the splenic architecture of the normal rats. Treatment with Delonix regia (Hook.) Raf extracts prevented hemosiderin pigment deposition in groups 5 to 8. Conclusion: This study, therefore, provides useful resources about the ameliorative potentials of seed extracts of Delonix regia (Hook.) Raf. on streptozotocin-induced diabetes in female Wistar rats.


We present the beta version of ASE (the Automatic Sound Engineer), a NELE (Near End Listening Enhancement) algorithm based on audio engineering knowledge. Generations of sound engineers have improved the intelligibility of speech against competing sounds and reverberation, while maintaining high sound quality and artistic integrity (e.g., audio track mixing in music and movies). We try to grasp the essential aspects of this expert knowledge and apply it to the more mundane context of speech playback in realistic noise. The algorithm described here was entered into the Hurricane Challenge 2.0, an evaluation of NELE algorithms. Results from those listening tests across three languages show the potential of our approach, which achieved improvements of over 7 dB EIC (Equivalent Intensity Change), corresponding to an absolute increase of 58% WAR (Word Accuracy Rate).


Tetraaryl[5]cumulenes react with low-valent nickel complexes at the second double bond to produce novel [4]radialene derivatives that are head-to-head dimers of [5]cumulenes. The head-to-head dimers are also synthesized by a stepwise route. On the other hand, the nickel-catalyzed dimerization of ‖5]cumulenes with bulky substituents produces other types of extended [4]radialenes and [5]radialenones depending on the bulkiness of the terminal alkyl substituents. Thus, tetrakis-t-butyl[5]cumulene and l,4-bis(2,2,6,6-tetramethylcyclohexylidene)[3]cumulene react at the central double bond to give the corresponding [4]radialene and [5]radialenone, whereas 1,4-bis(2,2,5,5-tetramethylcyclopentylidene)[3]cumulene and its benzo-annelated derivative react at the second double bond in a head-to-tail manner to afford the corresponding extended [4]radialenes. Tetrakis-t-butyl[5]radialenone was converted into [5]radialene by using a methylation-dehydration procedure. The extended [4]- and [5]radialenes and [5]radialenones have been fully characterized by spectroscopic analyses, X-ray crystallography, and/or independent chemical synthesis. The properties of these novel exocyclic π-electron systems have been investigated in detail. The aryl-substituted [4]radialenes exhibit facile bond rotation with low energy barriers. The [5]radialene and [5]radialenone form the corresponding cations easily by the addition of an acidic proton. The selectivity of the nickel-catalyzed dimerization of [5]cumulenes is discussed on the basis of theoretical calculations.


Forests to the northern European peoples were dangerous and generous, domestic and wild, beautiful and terrible. And the forests were the terrain out of which fairy stories (or, as they are perhaps better called in German, the Märchen), one of our earliest and most vital cultural forms, evolved. The mysterious secrets and silences, gifts and perils of the forest are both the background to and the source of these tales. Modern scholarship has taken a number of approaches to this material, which presents a delightfully insubstantial and tricky body of work. Two approaches that I will mention here have been a Jungian psychoanalytic approach (arguing that the tales resonate for children, and adults too, because they deal in archetypes, in universal experiences, usually sexual ones), and a global ethnographic approach, which finds tropes from the tales in every culture everywhere; both these and other ways of looking at the stories are illuminating, but tend to lose the specificity of place. What is interesting to me is not the ways in which the tales of the Arabian Nights or of the Indian subcontinent or of the indigenous Americans of the Great Plains are the same as the stories collected and redacted by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm and published initially in 1812, but the ways they are different. The fairy stories from, for instance, the Arabian Nights do demonstrably have many of the same themes and narrative sequences as those in the Grimm brothers' collections, but they are not the same stories. One of the great services that the great Grimm expert Jack Zipes has done is to show how "site specific" fairy stories are. To put it at its most basic, in the Arabian Nights the heroes do not go out and get lost in the forest, or escape into the forest; this is because, very simply, there aren't any forests. But it goes deeper than this—they do not get lost at all; the heroes either set off freely seeking adventure—often by boat, like Sinbad the Sailor—or they are exiled, escape murder (rather than poverty), or are abducted. Children do not get lost in deserts; if they wander off, which they are unlikely to do because of the almost certain fatal consequences of being lost alone in deserts, they can be seen for as far as they can roam. Children get lost in cities and in forests. As we know, forests are places where a person can get lost and can also hide—losing and hiding, of things and people, are central


In this work, a numerical simulation to estimate fuel consumption reduction of an urban concept car has been carried out. The urban concept car, named as Horas Mesin USU, has been designed for energy efficient competition. A set of governing equations upon the computational domain is developed and solved using CFD FLUENT commercial code. The turbulent flow is closed using k-epsilon turbulence model. In the results, pathline, velocity vector and pressure distribution are plotted. By using the pressure distributions, drag and lift coefficients are calculated. In order to make a comparison, the aerodynamic characteristics of the present design is compared with commercial city car Ford-Fiesta. In addition, several modifications are proposed to the original design. The CFD results are employed to estimate fuel consumption of all models. In the results an equation to estimate fuel consumption has been proposed. It was shown that by employing the modifications, 28.8% averaged fuel consumption reduction can be resulted.


When we originally presented our observations on the effects of metacortandkalone and metacortandracin before the Interim Session of the American Rheumatism Association on November 4, 1954, we did not know the chemical structure of these steroids. We did know that the compounds were synthetic, crystalline steroids with characteristic infrared absorption spectra. Animal experiments had revealed that these steroids were nontoxic and that they induced eosinophilic depletion, liver glycogen deposition, and thymic involution.* We then decided to subject the new steroids to clinical trial in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in order to assess their anti-inflammatory and antirheumatic properties. We are now able to present the structural formulae of metacortandralone and metacortandracint (FIGURE 1). Metacortandralone is delta 1 ,4-pregnadiene-11 beta, 17 alpha, 21-triol-3, 20-dione. It is an analog of hydrocortisone, and differs from it by having an unsaturated bond at carbon 1. Metacortandracin resembles metacortandralone except that it has a ketone instead of an hydroxyl group a t carbon 11. It is an analog of cortisone and differs from it by having an unsaturated bond at carbon 1. In a previous report? the results of our studies on'the first seven patients with rheumatoid arthritis were published. To date, we have observed a total of 15 patients. The distribution of patients as to sex, age, duration, and stage of arthritis is given in TABLE 1. In every case, the arthritis was active and progressive, and had failed to respond to the therapeutic measures listed in TABLE 2. The new steroids were administered orally every six or eight hours in initial doses of 30 mgm. daily for most patients. Every patient but two exhibited marked subjective and objective, articular and generalized improvement. Decidedly favorable response began within the first 24 hours of medication. Subjective improvement reached a peak by the third day, and objective improvement by the end of the third week. As antirheumatic agents, both metacortandralone and metacortandracin were found to be three to four times more potent than hydrocortisone or cortisone. Preliminary observations over a period of five months indicate that this enhanced potency is not accompanied by a corresponding increase in the frequency or severity of undesirable side effects, These steroids are not, however, free of side effects, as will be described later. The duration of administration of the new steroids in this series varied from four weeks to five months. The two patients who showed only minor improvement had advanced arthritis Institutes of Health, United States Public Health Service, Bethesda, &id.


The growth mechanism of columns produced by excimer laser irradiation of a silicon target is investigated. The micrometric columns are formed by a cumulative process with well-defined steps. The first steps lead to silicon hillocks, which evolve to columns through a little-understood mechanism. To investigate it, we irradiated a Si(100) single crystal in air with the necessary pulses of an excimer laser beam to obtain two samples, one with a partially and one with a fully developed column structure. Then we alternated scanning electron microscopy observations with irradiation pulses on the same target area. The progressive evolution of the laser-generated structures is presented. Columns grow at notably high rates, from around 0.5 μm/pulse during the early stages to 0.2 μm/pulse on average for 10–20 μm tall columns. The experimental results lead us to suggest a hydrodynamic growth mechanism.


Radioactive isotope analyses are widely used in many aspects of geological studies - dominantly as a means of ascribing exact ages to strata and to provide an assessment of sedimentation rates. However, because of the complexity of sediment transport, deposition, and accumulation, as well as of the effects of compaction, consolidation, and diagenesis, and because of the intrinsic variation of isotopic concentrations at deposition, it is often quite difficult to provide a quantitative 'age profile,' relating sediment depth to age using procedures developed to date. This paper develops a quantitative procedure that permits the singular separation of effects due to source variations in time from those due to variations in sedimentation rate in observed profiles of any radioactive isotope concentration with subsurface depth. The procedure guarantees to keep depth to time conversion positive, guarantees to provide a positive source variation with time, guarantees a least squares fit to measured isotope data with depth, and operates with any radioactive isotope.


This paper applied information technology and takes the exploratory action or state transfer formed experiences of control system as the basis, in the unsupervised condition obtaining planning and controlling rules from experiences as the control knowledge. In learning process, experiences will deduce to rules, then generate high-level concepts or rules, constitute multi-resolution knowledge architecture. In the experiment, mobile robot effective learning and planning system state and action control in quasi-optimal manner based with random experiences.


Relevance. Today there is an additional progressive option to apply into the non-inflammatory CPPS, which is presented by regenerative medicine and specifically platelet-rich plasma(PRP) treatment.
Aim – to evaluate efficacy of PRP treatment in combination with pharmacotherapy and ESWT for non-inflammatory CPPS.
Materials and methods. Prospective study was conducted in a group of 40 outpatients with diagnosis of non-inflammatory chronic pelvic pain syndrome in Men's Health Clinic (Kyiv, Ukraine). Mean age was equal to 46.4±10.2. The set of specific examinations included: trans-rectal prostate scanning, prostate secret sample analysis, visual analogue pain scale (VAS), International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) and International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5).
Results. Study results showed that there are significant differences in mean VAS scores in time point at 28-th day of treatment where patients of MG demonstrated lower pain level (p<0.05) than patients of CG, meanwhile both groups had significant (p<0.05) decrease of pain levels in comparison with initial data. In 3 months after treatment, we could see elevation of pain in CG to the level that have no significant differences with initial data, while patients of MG still have significantly lower pain level, but difference between groups come insignificant.
IPSS levels at 28-th day of treatment showed significant (p<0.05) efficacy (bringing symptoms from moderate to mild level) in both groups with lack of difference between them. Such situation was observer also in 3 months after treatment with slight increase of symptom intensity in both MG and CG. In 6 months after treatment, we have registered elevation of IPSS mean score in CG up to the level of insignificant difference with initial data.
IIEF-5 data showed significant (p<0.05) improvement of symptoms at 28-th day of treatment in both CG and MG without significant difference between groups. In 3 months after treatment, we observed that in CG the level of symptoms raised to the level that have insignificant difference with initial data, but in MG the improvement was still significant. The same situation was observed in 6 months after treatment.
Conclusions. The efficacy of PRP treatment in combination with pharmacotherapy and ESWT for non-inflammatory CPPS was evaluated. Significant clinical effects were found both for PRP combination with ESWT and NSAID and just ESWT and NSAID directly after course of treatment, meanwhile in 3 and 6 months after treatment the results start to show difference in favor of PRP inclusion.


The Naval Surface Warfare Center wishes to create a task assignment schedule with a minimal training cost for workers to raise their skills to the required levels. As the number of workers, skills, and tasks increase, the problem quickly becomes too large to solve through brute force. Already several greedy heuristics have been produced, though their performance degrades for larger data sets. As Genetic Algorithms (GA) are effective for large combinatorial problems, their application to the task assignment problem may prove successful. The innovation in applying a GA to this problem is the utilization of existing greedy heuristics in the crossover operator. As the population begins to converge in the GA, the greedy algorithm benefits by having fewer tasks to assign. Likewise, the GA benefits from the addition of the greedy heuristic by increasing the likelihood of good valid solutions within the population. To explore the effectiveness of the proposed method, several different crossover operators are defined. The first method is purely random to act as a control, as the only improvements will be due to the genetic algorithm. The second method provides a basic heuristic to improve upon the random crossover operator, while still primarily stochastic and therefore relying on the GA for convergent behavior. The final two techniques


The authors compare the two merger control systems currently employed worldwide: a mandatory system based on merger size threshold and a voluntary system with ex-post monitoring and fines. The voluntary system possesses two informational advantages: (i) the enforcement agency employs more information -verifiable and non verifiable parameters- to decide the set of mergers to investigate, and (ii) the first move of merging firms reveals useful information to the agency about the competitive risk of a merger. If fines for undue omission to notify are upward limited, then a mixed mechanism is optimal, where small transactions are under a voluntary regime while the big mergers are obliged to report. Remedies for fixing anticompetitive mergers act as an instrument that induces firms to notify the operation, improving further the advantage of the voluntary mechanism.


Did the disjuncture created by the war, by its human and political costs, lead to new imaginings of the modern among those sectors of Iraqi society who were engaged in defining it, or did it leave a nostalgia for an imagined past more traditional or marked by a different kind of modernity? Was there a consciousness among those who wrote about the war of belonging to a generation whose sensibility was molded by the war experience? This chapter explores these questions by utilizing the memoirs and poetry written by those who had lived through the Great War. It discuss the debates on the war as the midwife of a new kind of European modernity in which the Romanticism of the late nineteenth century was supplanted by a modern sensibility in literature and the arts. Keywords: European modernity; Great War; Iraqi society; political poetry; Romanticism


The structure of the capsular polysaccharides from Klebsiella serotype K60 and K26 have been determined using the techniques of methylation.periodate oxidation,partial 1 13 hydrolysis, and B-elimination. Hand ^C-n.m.r. spectroscopy was used to establish the nature of the anomeric l i n kages i n both polysaccharides and also in the oligosaccharides obtained by the different degradative techniques used. Specific hydrolases obtained from bacteriophages were uti l i z e d to degrade two Klebsiella polysaccharides.Larger quantities of oligosaccharide repeating units can be generated i n this manner.Two bacteriophages, 060 and 046,the f i r s t one with B-glucosidase activity and the other with 8 -galactosidase activity,were used to degrade the corresponding polysaccharides according to a new,simplified procedure. The purified gum exudate from Chorisia speciosa(palo borracho) was studied.The results from methylation analysis, B -elimination and partial hydrolysis made possible a tentative assignment for an " average structure " of the gum polysaccharide.


Typical examples of the transfer of one-dimensional signal-processing methods to two-dimensional problems are presented. Particular attention is given to model-based image processing, dynamic programming, iterative methods, and fast algorithms and transforms.<<ETX>>


Abstract SYNOPSIS From a study of all available hailstorm records from one hundred and fifty cooperative Weather Bureau stations and the regular Weather Bureau stations in Nebraska it was found that the average number of hailstorms during the season April to September. The greatest number of hailstorms occur about a month later than the time of greatest rate of temperature increase in spring. The greatest number of thunderstorms is in June and the fewest in April. Although hail does not occur without a thunderstorm, but 7.2 per cent of all thunderstorms is accompanied by hail. The percentage is largest in April and least in August. Reports of hailstorms as large as hens' eggs, or even larger, are frequent, and although storms of such intensity are local, they cause considerable damage.


In order to reach the required standard, an effort has been made to cover all facets of the flower business in this paper, including the current environment and potential future developments. The sale and price of various flowers, including gladioli, cut roses, tuberose, gruss an teplitz, and marigolds, are presented in this study as well as the current state of the Saggian flower market. This article makes it easier for people to decide whether to launch a flower business in Pakistan. In Pakistan, the flower industry has grown significantly since previous years, however this growth is insufficient to meet customer demand. Compared to the winter season, production drops throughout the summer. This article provides a summary of the annual sales and projected rates of various flowers in the Saggian Flower Market.


Service quality researchers to date have paid scant attention to the issue of the dimensions of service quality. Much of the earlier work accepted the content measured by the SERVQUAL instrument. Following the argument that SERVQUAL only reflects the service delivery process, the study empirically examines the European perspective (i.e. Gronroos' model) suggesting that service quality consists of three dimensions, technical, functional and image, and that image functions as a filter in service quality perception. The results from a cell phone service sample revealed that Gronroos' model is a more appropriate representation of service quality than the American perspective with its limited concentration on the dimension of functional quality.


This experiment was conducted at the Gezira research station to examine the effect of composite strains of rhizobia (TAL102, TAL379and TAL 377) carried on peat used for soybean (Glaycine max) inoculation. Nitrogen and phosphorus were used at different levels to determine the effect on the soybean number of nodules, shoot dry weight soybean yield, nitrogen percentages, and crude protein. The most probable number (MPN) was used to determine the number of the rhizobium per gram on the peat. Treatments were factorially combined and laid out in a complete block design. Seed inoculation increased nodule dry matter and nitrogen fixation. Added 50Kg N/ha to inoculated soybean decreased nodule dry mass and doubling the dose further decreased the nodule dry mass. Adding 50KgP2O5/ha to inoculated soybean significantly increased soybean shoot dry mass over mere inoculation. Inoculation alone significantly increased soybean seed yield over that the control and gave the same seed yield over that of inoculated with 100KgN/ha. Inoculation with 50KgN/ha significantly increased seed yield over that of the inoculated soybean. Effect of different treatments on crude protein percentage (CP %) followed the same trend as for seed N%.


Objective To study the surgical managements for obstructive coleratal carcinoma(OCRC).(Methods) Clinical data of 126 patients with OCRC who underwent surgical treatment between January 1995 and December 2004 were reviewed.Results Thirty-five patients received one-stage right hemicolectomy,ten patients received one-stage resection of transverse colon.forty-eight patients received one-stage left(hemicolectomy),eighteen patients received one-stage resection of left colon or proximal rectum with colostomy followed by two-staged anastomosis.For 15 patients with unresectable lesions,colostomy of transverse colon or sigmoid colon was performed.Seventeen patients(13.5%) experienced postoperative complications.The (operative) mortality was 4.8%(6/126).The 1-year,3-year and 5-year overall survival rate was(95.1)%,52.7% and 38.1%,respectively.Conclusions Proper perioperative period managements and(selection) of surgical techniques are important for better results and lower complications in the treatment OCRC.


When future international agreement for global environmental control is anticipated, decisions for controlling current carbon gas emissions by improving the country's abatement capabilities are strongly affected by the likelihood of and the likely outcome of such agreements. We construct a two-period two-country model where the quality of the atmospheric environment is a global public capital, and countries invest in abatement investments in the first period and engage in production activities in the second period. Applying the incomplete contract approach to this model where (re)negotiation with or without side payment may take place in the second period, we examine the following questions. What are the characteristics of the country that make its bargaining position more advantageous, what are the cause of distortions in ex ante capital investments as well as in ex post incentives for environmental improvement, and what are the characteristics of countries which are prone to these distortions? Our newly proposed method for compartive statics in Nash bargaining models play a crucial role for the analysis.


It has previously been shown that the use of two-phase screw expanders in power generation cycles can achieve an increase in the utilisation of available energy from a low temperature heat source when compared with more conventional single-phase turbines. However, screw expander efficiencies are more sensitive to expansion volume ratio than turbines, and this increases as the expander inlet vapour dryness fraction decreases. For singlestage screw machines with low inlet dryness, this can lead to under expansion of the working fluid and low isentropic efficiency for the expansion process. The performance of the cycle can potentially be improved by using a two-stage expander, consisting of a low pressure machine and a smaller high pressure machine connected in series. By expanding the working fluid over two stages, the built-in volume ratios of the two machines can be selected to provide a better match with the overall expansion process, thereby increasing efficiency for particular inlet and discharge conditions. The mass flow rate though both stages must however be matched, and the compromise between increasing efficiency and maximising power output must also be considered. This research uses a rigorous thermodynamic screw machine model to compare the performance of single and two-stage expanders over a range of operating conditions. The model allows optimisation of the required intermediate pressure in the two- stage expander, along with the rotational speed and built-in volume ratio of both screw machine stages. The results allow the two-stage machine to be fully specified in order to achieve maximum efficiency for a required power output.


This qualitative study explores the beneficial functions of distance running for women. In-depth interviews were conducted with five women runners who reported that they had used distance running as a mechanism to help them cope during a time of emotional stress. A case method analysis of the narratives yielded both common themes and unique processes and resulted in a model that integrates running for the promotion of well-being and empowerment with therapeutic components. Implications for social work practice emphasize the importance of supporting exercise as a means of preventing and treating stress-induced disorders.


The performance of the reversed-/spl Delta//spl beta/ LiNbO/sub 3/ optical directional coupler (DC) switch with electrodes of opposite polarity is known to be more tolerant to variations in coupling length than that of the single-section DC. However, sectioned electrodes are incompatible to a single microwave source and, therefore, preclude the use of the device in high-speed applications. In this letter, we discuss the operation and results of a modified DC that uses a domain reversal and uniform electrodes that can be readily matched to a microwave source. A crosstalk of -34 dB was measured in an experimental device, fabricated in Z-cut LiNbO/sub 3/. Factors which improve device performance are also discussed.


For any business activity, it is essential to identify the required performance measures which have strategic implications. The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) is a very useful performance measurement system. But there is no distinction made with regard to the importance provided to the perspectives under BSC. Furthermore, for some metrics, the actual performance may be greater than the targeted performance and for some, it is less. This makes it unclear for decision makers whether the firm had achieved the strategic intent in totality or not. In this article, the weightages for the perspectives and subcriteria are arrived at through the fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and an analytical expression developed by the author. This model further helps in arriving at a unified score to portray the overall performance of the organisation. The developed model is validated through a real-life example.


Objective: To investigate and compare the dose distribution of pancreatic carcinoma treated with body γ knife(OUR-QGD whole body γ knife) and two treatment techniques of linac.Methods: Twenty patients with pancreatic carcinoma were selected.Three treatment plans were designed for each patient,including γ knife,target in target(TIT),and IMRT.The prescribed dose was 50 Gy,95% of the PTV received this dose.The PTV homogeneity and conformity indices(HI and CI) of three kinds of plans were compared.The dose characteristics of target volumes and OARs were also compared.Results: The CI of PTV of IMRT plan was the highest,the CI of TIT plan was the next,and the CI of γ knife plan was the lowest.The HI of γ knife plan was both lower than TIT and IMRT plans.The target volume doses of the γ knife plan were higher than those of TIT and IMRT plans,with relatively lower OAR doses.Conclusion: As for treatment of pancreatic carcinoma,body γ knife can increase the target volume dose significantly,and decrease the OAR dose.TIT and IMRT are also effective methods to treat pancreatic carcinoma.


The effect of various tempers (peak ageing T6, RRA T77, two-step ageing T76, and a novel three-step ageing T76 + T6) on electrochemical corrosion of 7150 Al alloy under three corrosive solutions has been investigated. Electrochemical results and corrosion morphologies show that the resistance to pitting corrosion, inter-granular corrosion (IGC) and exfoliation corrosion of alloys is in the following decreasing order: T76 + T6 > T76 > T77 > T6. As indicated by TEM, the corrosion behavior of each temper might depend on the size and spacing of grain boundary particles of alloys. Excellent consistence between electrochemical parameter and stress cracking corrosion resistance was observed. In addition, the pit transition potential and potential differences as criteria to assess Al alloy corrosion behavior were also discussed.


For the regression equation C = A,B + e where A is a p x q stochastic matrix whose elements are independently distributed and contemporaneously correlated with the elements of 8, the lth moment of the least squares estimator of (3 exists if and only if l < p - q + 1. In particular, this implies that the lth moment of the k-class estimator of the coefficients of the G1 -1 non-normalizing endogenous variables of an equation with K1 included and K2 excluded exogenous variables in a simultaneous system with N observations exists if and only if 1 < M where


This paper documents behavior patterns and social networks related to childbirth in contemporary Korean society. Twenty-seven young mothers who had given birth to their first child since the year 2000 were interviewed to acquire the data concerning practices that include prayer rites for having a son, prenatal care and food avoidance, use of a sacred string, and other rituals involving incantation. Characteristics of social relationships with the person who had assisted the delivery and the recovery were also elicited, and are here analyzed in terms of kinship networks. Results are as follows. First, prayer rites for having a son were performed by more than one third of the mothers. Second, most of the mothers showed a strong belief in the efficacy of dreams related to pregnancy, but they took a more scientific approach to food avoidance. Third, the use of a sacred string and the Samsin incantation ritual were performed by a few mothers. It is to be noted that these mothers obtained information about the traditional rituals through the Internet. Fourth, most of the mothers recognized the importance of Taegyo, which is prenatal care. They actively adopted the modernized contents of taegyo, emphasizing the emotional interaction with a baby and the stimulation of its brain. Fifth, most of our mothers practiced the well-known custom of three-week postnatal maternal confinement, which is feasible in recent years by virtue of economic development. Sixth, more than one third of the mothers, most of whom were highly educated, used commercial after-birth confinement facilities which reflects a trend toward commercialization of childbirth in contemporary Korea. Childbirth has become a practice in which social class differences are highly accentuated. Finally, the people who assisted the mother after delivery was most often her own mother. It was quite exceptional that a mother-in-law was involved in her daughter-in-law`s childbirth. Heated discussion on childbirth has been going on in the feminist academic world, primarily criticizing its excessive medicalization. However, it was found that our young mothers were totally dependent upon modern medical facilities. The area in which they showed initiative was in the use of traditional knowledge. Thus, childbirth can be analyzed from the perspective of culture change because the various cultural factors-the extension of the female education, the development of medical science, religious change, increasing economic affluence, and commercialization-do not have equal impacts on the formation of a culture of childbirth in contemporary Korea.


Abstract : The purpose of this paper is to present new calculations incorporating revised cost estimates of the nuclear powerplant alternatives and reflecting the increased importance of one of the proposed dams, the Hualapai (formerly Bridge Canyon) Project. The new calculations also introduce several refinements on earlier methods.


Effect of CO2 exposure on adrenocortical function has been studied by measuring 17-hydroxycorticosteroids in adrenal venous blood of anesthetized dogs. In dogs exposed to 2.5%, 5% and 10% CO2 succe...


Hinoki timber was dried under radio-frequency at 6.7 kPa using two drying schedules, schedule A and schedule B. Moisture content (MC) was measured at 58 points in various locations of the timber using a new in-process monitoring concept. This concept uses the relationship between temperature, pressure, and equilibrium moisture content (EMC). Factors affecting the accuracy of MC measurement were also investigated in this study. The results showed that small wood pieces reached equilibrium at constant conditions within 1.5 h of the fiber saturation point (FSP) and that using the mean value of temperature and pressure within 30 min during radio-frequency/vacuum (RF/V) drying for MC measurement was an efficient method. The accuracy of moisture content measurement was the same for both drying schedules A and B. It can be concluded that air in wood was removed completely with drying schedule B and that below the FSP, pressure in the wood was maintained only by water vapor pressure during drying. It was possible to obtain accurate MC measurement. Above or near the FSP, MC cannot be measured using this method, whereas below the FSP, whatever the MC is, it can be measured practically anywhere in the timber.


The S2Biom project - Delivery of sustainable supply of non-food biomass to support a "resource-efficient" Bioeconomy in Europe - supports the sustainable delivery of nonfood biomass feedstock at local, regional and pan European level through developing strategies, and roadmaps that will be informed by a "computerized and easy to use" toolset (and respective databases) with updated harmonized datasets at local, regional, national and pan European level for EU28, Western Balkans, Moldova, Turkey and Ukraine. A case based approach was followed, where optimal logistical concepts (conceptual designs) were matched with the specific regional situation. This was done in three logistical case studies that were performed: 1. Small-scale power production with straw and Miscanthus in the Burgundy region (France); 2. Large-scale power production with straw and with residual woody biomass in the Aragon region (Spain); 3. Advanced wood logistics in the Province of Central Finland.


Cyclopropylalanine, an antifungal amino acid, has been isolated from the mushroom Amanita virgineoides Bas. Its structure has been elucidated as (2S)-2-amino-3-cyclopropylpropionic acid, on the basis of the spectroscopic analysis and its synthesis from L-allylglycine.


Tomography atomic and nuclear physics radiation protection X-ray radiography nuclear medicine gamma imaging magnetic resonance - MRI ultrasound imaging imaging in clinical practice waves, images and Fourier analysis Fourier image reconstruction mathematics of nuclear magnetic resonance.


Abstract : This report describes the VLSI design and implementation of a Viterbi algorithm processor for simultaneous data demodulation and phase tracking of Minimum Shift Keying signal. During the 1981-82 academic year, graduate students in the VLSI course at UCLA designed the implementation of this system as a one-year class project, and with support from ARPA (Advanced Research Project Agency of the Department of Defense), fabricated this processor on a single chip, using 4-micron NMOS technology. UCLA Demodulation Engine can be used as an inexpensive digital radio receiver in a variety of applications. (Author)


Influence of electrode materials on the forming voltages (Vf) is investigated as a basis for process development of a transparent HfOx-ReRAM cell fabrication. Metal with higher oxidation activity induced lower Vf. This indicates that much amount of oxygen vacancies (Vo) are supplied into HfOx instead of oxidation of the electrode and then conductive filament (CF) consisting of Vo can be easily formed even under the low voltage bias. Transparent conductive materials of ITO and AZO were found to induce higher Vf showing low oxidation activity, this is probably because they are oxides even with many oxygen deficiencies. Oxygen incorporation into Ar-sputtering gas showed change of Vf. This means the oxidation activity is modified by the deposition condition. Thus, the process can be expected to be developed and optimized for a transparent HfOx-ReRAM cell fabrication.


Large-scale high-quality corpora are critical 001 for advancing research in coreference resolu- 002 tion. Coreference annotation is typically time- 003 consuming and expensive, since researchers 004 generally hire expert annotators and train them 005 with an extensive set of guidelines. Crowd- 006 sourcing is a promising alternative, but coref- 007 erence includes complex semantic phenomena 008 difficult to explain to untrained crowdworkers, 009 and the clustering structure is difficult to ma- 010 nipulate in a user interface. To address these 011 challenges, we develop and release ezCoref , 012 an easy-to-use coreference annotation tool and 013 annotation methodology that facilitates crowd- 014 sourced data collection across multiple do- 015 mains, currently in English. Instead of teaching 016 crowdworkers how to handle non-trivial cases 017 (e.g., near-identity coreferences), ezCoref 018 provides only a minimal set of guidelines suf- 019 ficient for understanding the basics of the task. 020 To validate this decision, we deploy ezCoref 021 on Mechanical Turk to re-annotate 240 pas- 022 sages from seven existing English coreference 023 datasets across seven domains, achieving an 024 average rate of 2530 tokens per hour, for one 025 annotator. This paper is the first to compare 026 the quality of crowdsourced coreference anno- 027 tations against those of experts, and to identify 028 where their behavior differs to facilitate future 029 annotation efforts. We show that it is possi- 030 ble to collect coreference annotations of a rea- 031 sonable quality in a fraction of time it would 032 traditionally require.


In plastic injection industry, manual adjustment operatio n mode is applied for operational workers to prevent mold fro m sticking together by observing hand-touching approaches, which is characteristic of extremely low efficiency and high labor cost. In this paper we developed an automatic mold monitoring system which reduces the mold repairing cost and increases the mold life time. In plastic injection industries, due to the grate shock of in jection molding equipment the Charged Coupled Device (CCD) , used for acquiring the images, may shift from its original focused po siti n. This in turn creates a bad pattern matching results a nd leads to a poor monitoring result. Therefore we developed an improved comp ensation algorithm based on similarity measurement techni ques (SMT) to correct the tilted image automatically. The system has be en applied in industry for 4 years since 2006. Based on the app lic tion data from the enterprise it is found that our developed autom a ic mold monitoring system is very promising and it can grea tly improve production efficiency by decreasing the production cost.


Conditioning polymers are important components of mousses and other styling products for hair setting and conditioning. Conventional mousses formulated to achieve particular conditioning and setting effects usually consist of combinations of conditioning and setting polymers. Polyquaternium-46, a new type of multifunctional polymer for hair styling, combines these properties in one raw material. It also features very low tack and high curl retention on a level higher than that attained by conventional polymer combinations


Objective To investigate the level of Th1 and Th2 in serum of bromocriptine induced aborting rats and explore the mechanism of abortion.Methods Twenty Wistar rats of pregnancy were randomly divided into two groups:normal pregnancy group,injection of bromocriptine group.On the 12th day after pregnancy,after the blood collection from abdominal aorta,the levels of IL-1 and IL-10 in serum were evaluated by ELISA.Statistical analysis was evaluated by onefactor analysis of variance and t-test.Results The levels of serum showed basically the same tendency.After injection of bromocriptine,IL-1 level increased (P0.05) and IL-10 level decreased as compared with the normal pregnancy group. (P0.05).Conclusion After injection of bromocriptine,the level of IL-1 and IL-10 in serum changed, probably having relationships with the mechanism of abortion.


Environmental context. The marine environment covers 71% of the Earth's surface, and accounts for most of the planet's cloud cover. Water droplets in these clouds all form on pre-existing marine aerosol particles. The number, size and composition of these particles determine the cloud droplet size and consequently, the cloud's light scattering and precipitation behaviour. Marine aerosols, therefore, have a major influence on the planet's radiation balance and climate. The origin of marine aerosols is still not completely resolved. The newly developed VH-TDMA technique has been applied to marine aerosols that come from the Southern Ocean. The technique enabled new insights into the composition and structure of these aerosols. It has been found that organic matter constitutes 20–40% of these particles, which suppresses their hygroscopic growth.


The response of susceptible (S) and resistant (R) green foxtail biotypes to increasing dosages of trifluralin, applied PPI in rapeseed and preemergence incorporated (PEI) in wheat, was investigated in field experiments in 1989 and 1990. Differences in response between the biotypes to PPI- and PEI-trifluralin were 7- and 12-fold, respectively, based on density and shoot biomass determinations 4 wk after emergence. Nine- and 14-times higher dosages of PPI- and PEI-trifluralin, respectively, were required to reduce R-seed production by 50% than to reduce S-seed production by the same amount. At the recommended trifluralin dosage in rapeseed (1.4 kg ha−1), the density of S-plants 4 wk after emergence was reduced by 84% compared with untreated plots, whereas the density of R-plants was reduced by only 4%. The effective kill (seed yield reduction) was 99% and 42%, respectively. At the recommended dosage in wheat (0.9 kg ha−1), the density of S-plants 4 wk after emergence was reduced by over 99% compared with less than 36% for R-plants. The effective kill was 97% and 14%, respectively. Based on determination of effective kill, the selection pressure of trifluralin on green foxtail is greater when the chemical is applied PPI in rapeseed than when applied PEI in wheat, even though initial density reductions are less in the former than the latter.


An experiment was conducted in field condition to study the effect of nitrogen-phosphorus fertilization on growth, yield and nutrient content of cabbage. The experiment was laid out in randomize block design with three replications. The yield and yield components were maximized by N 3 P 2 fertilizer treatment. Nutrient content of cabbage varied with fertilizer treatment. The maximum amount of reducing sugar, ascorbic acid, phosphorus were found at the highest rate of N - P fertilization whereas accumulation of titrable acidity, iron, calcium were maximum at the rate of N 2 P 2 treatment. However pH, ash content were more or less same throughout the experiment.

 Bangladesh J. Sci. Ind. Res . 41 (1-2), 41-46, 2006


FIELD: industrial organic synthesis. SUBSTANCE: water-insoluble polyvinylacetals and -ketals are continuously prepared by reaction of polyvinyl alcohol with aldehyde or ketone in presence of catalyst containing acid functions chemically attached to flat- surface support insoluble in reaction milieu. This support is polymer film, cation-exchange membrane, or surface of inorganic material selected from zeolites, bentonites, or glass. EFFECT: enabled continuity of process and avoided formation of acidic waste. 7 cl, 2 dwg, 3 ex


EVIDENCE-BASED nursing has highlighted the role of libraries in clinical effectiveness. This role, providing evidence and facilitating searching and critical appraisal skills, has been acknowledged by the NHS Executive and the RCN. There is however, a gap between advocating tire use of libraries and what is available to nurses in practice, especially those working in the community, GP practices and the private sector.


Data mining on web log files is called Web Usage Mining (WUM). User clustering based on access patterns is an important part of WUM. Most papers just consider web pages hits, but ignore the succession of pages during user clustering. Therefore, a new user similarity measurement method is put forward in this paper, which takes not only web page hits but also the succession of pages into account. And at the same time, a new clustering algorithm named DBSCAN&Chameleon based on DBSCAN and Chameleon is introduced in this paper. Finally, experiments show that the clustering quality of this algorithm is much higher than DBSCAN and Chameleon.


This study aims to compare photovoltaic (PV) power stations between Germany and the United States of America (USA) and examine which country more efficiently provides PV energy in their usages. This study utilizes Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) as a methodology. The comparison evaluates power stations from the perspective of both solar and land usages. The data set used in this study consists of one hundred sixty PV power stations, which consists of eighty in Germany and eighty in the USA. Germany is the world's top installer and consumer of PV power and the USA is one of the top five nations. Germany leads the way in installed PV capacity even though it has less solar resources and land area. Due to limited solar resources, low insolation and sunshine, and land area in Germany, the United States have a clear advantage over Germany. However, the empirical result of this study exhibits that PV power stations in Germany operate more efficiently than those of the USA even though the latter has many solar and land advantages. The result indicates that the USA needs to improve PV when it comes to utilizing solar and land resources.


In this work, the characteristics of expanded graphite (EG) are investigated for the possibility of useful applica- tion as oil-adsorbent of EG. The graphite intercalated compounds (GICs) are prepared by the wet process that leads to an inter- calation of intercalant into natural graphites. The graphite intercalate is subjected to the heat treatment in furnace between 600 o C and 900 o C under oxidizing atmosphere for about 1 min. The expansion volume, volatile content, and interlayer dis- tance of EG on different heating temperatures are measured by mass cylinder and X-ray diffraction (XRD). N-dodecane is used for oil adsorption, and morphology of EG before and after oil adsorption is observed by SEM. As a result, the expansion vol- ume and volatile content of EG are increased with increasing the treatment temperature. The oil adsorption capacity is found to be 16-35 g of n-dodecane per the 1 g EG studied. It is then concluded that the wet process of EG is a useful technique for a new adsorbent of oil.


This paper investigates tax-induced intertemporal income shifting by firms with net operating loss (NOL) carrybacks. For several years following the tax rate reductions of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA 86) these firms had incentives to shift recognition of revenues and expenses across years to increase their NOL carrybacks. By examining how NOL firms shift income and cross-sectional variation in the extent to which they do so, this research extends prior examinations of intertemporal income shifting by profitable firms (see Scholes, Wilson, and Wolfson [1992] and Guenther [1994]).1


On the basis of a previously described structural model for the Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia, the conductivity for this material can be calculated. A fixed number of clusters is generated in a structure of 70×28 polyhedra to simulate different Y contents in the structure. The results are compared with the experimental results obtained by others and discussed.


This chapter follows the long arc of the 'missionary novel', from the exhortation and promotion emanating from a missionary culture embraced by a Protestant Christendom to a dissenting literary culture under siege from imperial servants, secularists, and postcolonial independence movements. It notes that the African missionary novel in particular provides fertile material for the investigation of Dissenting Protestantism as it engaged with the twentieth century. Many 'humanitarian' novels disseminated knowledge about mission fields and 'new' peoples, and so were part of (and criticized for) the globalizing imagination of early twentieth-century Europe and the spread of the professions. Case studies include Elsie Milligan, Arthur E. Southon, Ambrose Haynes, Marion Percy Williams, Arthur Chirgwin, Harry H. Johnston, and Joyce Cary, among others. The chapter extends the debate on mission and empire by directing attention to issues of postcolonial reception, disclosing the ways in which the so-called 'dissidence of Dissent' was both challenged and appropriated by anti-colonial authors in the mid to late twentieth century.


In times of the global crisis, where most governments are eager to cut their deficits, but at the same time do not want to raise taxes too much, politicians and economists alike should take a closer look at George Akerlof and Rachel Kranton's recently published book Identity Economics: How Our Identities Shape Our Work, Wages, and Well-being. One of the main conclusions that can be drawn from their work in terms of political economy is that many desired changes in people's behaviour can be induced not by changing prices and people's income, as standard economics would suggest, but by modifying existing norms and ideals that particular groups of people follow as well as existing stereotypes associated for example with gender and race. Doing so with information campaigns and education programmes would cost money too, but it may actually be cheaper, more efficient in the long run and also more welfare improving than any monetary gains and losses imposed on people. For example, according to Akerlof and Kranton's identity economics approach, removing the gender tag from jobs (such as for example 'female' nurses and 'male' doctors) would increase women's participation in the labour force and decrease occupational segregation (p. 90). Why is this so? Because this would change people's identity and leave them, in this particular case, with more choices concerning professional careers and occupations. This is certainly an important welfare improving aspect. Identity as understood by Akerlof and Kranton is formed by the 'social categories' to which people belong (p. 13). Each of these social categories has particular norms and ideals, which people not only follow, but also believe in and actually cherish. This is different from standard economics, where norms are interpreted as constraints that people follow because otherwise they would be punished and this would impose a cost. Here however, people want to follow norms. Norms are an important source of motivation. Given different social categories, there are different norms and ideals; this explains why people with otherwise similar backgrounds (such as e.g. schooling, education, professional experience, etc.) but who belong to different categories (e.g. men, women) may still end up in different social positions and hence with different economic outcomes (e.g. doctor, nurse). This explanation is, according to Akerlof and Kranton, their big contribution to economics and it follows a list of other, previous amendments proposed over the last decades that bring economics closer to reality. They especially distinguish themselves from Gary Becker's approach that extended traditional utility functions to include a diversity of social aspects and not only typical consumption goods. Like Becker, Akerlof and Kranton's identity economics focuses on the individual in the social setting, but in their approach tastes and motivations can change according to context and are not universally stable and given as Becker had assumed them to be.


ABSTRACT The adverse effects caused by inadequate magnesium (Mg) supplies (deficiency or toxicity) cause disorders in root and leaf structures, compromising the uptake and transport of nutrients and gas exchange. However, 24-epibrassinolide (EBR) is a biodegradable and ecologically viable steroid that exhibits benefits on cell division and vascular differentiation. This study aimed to evaluate whether exogenous EBR application can attenuate the deleterious effects linked to inadequate Mg supplies on the anatomical structures of roots and leaves in soybean plants. The experiment followed a completely randomized factorial design with two concentrations of 24-Epibrassinolide (0 and 100 nM EBR, described as - EBR and + EBR, respectively) and three Mg supplies (0.0225, 2.25 and 225 mM Mg, described as low, control and high supplies of Mg). In general, low and high Mg supplies promoted negative changes in the anatomical variables evaluated. In root tissue, pretreatment with 100 nM EBR stimulated the root structures, confirming the systemic action of EBR and benefits related to the differentiation of these structures. Treatment with low Mg + EBR promoted increases in epidermis thickness from the abaxial leaf side (ETAb) and spongy parenchyma thickness (SPT) in 20% and 13%, respectively. High Mg and EBR were increased in ETAb (31%) and SPT (15%) compared with equal treatment without steroids, improving protection and CO2 fixation. Our results indicate that the foliar application of EBR mitigated the deleterious effects linked to inadequate Mg supply in the anatomical structures of the root and leaf, confirming the systemic action of this steroid.


A fully integrated super-regenerative receiver in 0.13mum CMOS with on-chip quench generation is described. Auto-calibration improves the selectivity of a Q-enhanced filter and the sensitivity of super-regeneration. The prototype consumes 2.8mW, or 5.6nJ per received bit, at 500kb/s, and has a turn-on time of 83.6mus, a channel spacing of 10MHz, and a sensitivity of -90dBm


The current study aims at figuring out set of causality relationships with firm's international performance in GCC context. The experiences of 217 senior executives serving in Gulf region have been deployed for that purpose. Throughout SPSS version 21 and via multi-variant e.g. multiple regression and ANOVA, and bi-variant e.g. correlation, the current study's eight objectives and hypotheses were tested. The research results indicated that there are significant causality relationships between firm's international performance (FIP) and bi-marketing daily interaction, international marketing and general marketing coordination (IM-GM), international marketing influence, international learning orientation, international innovativeness orientation, and international entrepreneurial orientation, However, no significant causality relationship between study's demographics (i.e. business type, type of ownership, international experience, and number of employees) and FIP was revealed.


Using a series of alkylphenols and naphthols as the proton donors, the hydrogen bond shifts and the association constants of hydrogen-bonded complexes involving methyl benzenes, naphthalene, and phenanthrene as the proton acceptors have been determined from the infrared spectra in carbon tetrachloride. The frequency shifts (Δv) of the hydroxyl stretching vibration and the free energy changes (−ΔF) for complex formation increase with decreasing pKa of the proton donors. Linear correlation between −ΔF and Δv are obtained for each proton donor interacting with methyl benzenes. The entropy anomaly discovered previously was confirmed. Chargetransfer arguments of Basila and co-workers are reconsidered for the hydrogen-bonded systems involving a π base as the proton acceptor.


A combined calibration method is presented,to improve the measuring precision of linear time grating displacement sensor.On the basis of setting up total error model of periodic errors,Abbe errors and thermal expansion errors,Fourier harmonic analysis and the principle of material liner expansion are used to correct errors.The precision reaches to ±0.5μm/m after calibrating.Experiments prove that this method solves the difficult issues of error separation in the linear measurement,and continuously automatic sampling with computer,so that the calibration efficiency is greatly enhanced,and it is possible to use this method widely in the production practice.


This study examines the effects of issue-specific knowledge on the extent to which personal unemployment experiences influence presidential approval. The well informed are found to be more likely to connect personal experiences directly to political preferences, yet less likely to generalize from their own personal experiences in assessing the state of the nation as a whole. Since perceptions of the state of national conditions have a well-documented influence on presidential approval, simultaneously considering direct and indirect paths helps to resolve contradictory implications in past findings on the role of information in conditioning the politicization of personal economic experience. The weak overall impact of self-interest on political preferences is widely known and well documented (for a review, see Sears and Funk 1990). Subsequent research in this vein has shifted toward locating conditions under which personal experiences are most likely to be politicized (see, e.g., Feldman 1985). The concepts used to locate groups most likely to rely on personal experiences-have run the gamut from distinctions made on the basis of socioeconomic position (Weatherford 1983), habitual versus occasional voting (Cohen and Uhlaner 1991), levels of issue-specific knowledge (Conover, Feldman, and Knight 1986), and levels of news media use (Mutz 1992; Weatherford 1983). Scholars generally concur about the distinction relevant to these comparisons: those with high levels of political knowledge, heavy use of mass media, high levels of political interest, and regular involvement in the political process are expected to differ in their decision-making DIANA C. MUTZ is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of WisconsinMadison. The author would like to thank the Letters and Sciences Survey Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for making these data available and Dick Brody for his comments on an earlier draft of this study. Public Opinion Quarterly Volume 57:483-502 ? 1993 by the American Association for Public Opinion Research All rights reserved. 0033-362X/93/5704-0006$02.50 This content downloaded from 184.108.40.206 on Thu, 20 Oct 2016 04:02:11 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms