We present a new algorithm that solves the minimum Steiner tree problem on an undirected graph with n nodes, k terminals, and m edges with bounded integer weights in time Õ((2− ε)n + nm). Our algorithm beats the aesthetically appealing and seemingly inherent 2 bound of the current best algorithm for Steiner tree problem from Björklund, Husfeldt, Kaski, and Koivisto. Our algorithm is based on fast subset convolution and a variant of the classical tree-separator theorem.


We investigate the origin of high-energy emission in blazars within the context of the leptohadronic one-zone model. We find that γ -ray emission can be attributed to synchrotron radiation either from protons or from secondary leptons produced via photohadronic processes. These possibilities imply differences not only in the spectral energy distribution (SED) but also in the variability signatures, especially in the X- and γ -ray regime. Thus, the temporal behaviour of each leptohadronic scenario can be used to probe the particle population responsible for the high-energy emission as it can give extra information not available by spectral fits. In this work, we apply these ideas to the non-thermal emission of Mrk 421, which is one of the best monitored TeV blazars. We focus on the observations of 2001 March, since during that period Mrk 421 showed multiple flares that have been observed in detail both in X-rays and γ -rays. First, we obtain pre-flaring fits to the SED using the different types of leptohadronic scenarios. Then, we introduce random-walk-type, small-amplitude variations on the injection compactness or on the maximum energy of radiating particles and follow the subsequent response of the radiated photon spectrum. For each leptohadronic scenario, we calculate the X-ray and γ -ray fluxes and investigate their possible correlation. Whenever the 'input' variations lead, apart from flux variability, also to spectral variability, we present the resulting relations between the spectral index and the flux, both in X-rays and γ -rays. We find that proton synchrotron models are favoured energetically but require fine tuning between electron and proton parameters to reproduce the observed quadratic behaviour between X-rays and TeV γ -rays. On the other hand, models based on pion decay can reproduce this behaviour in a much more natural way.


Robert Darnton: The forbidden books of pre-revolutionary France Francois Furet: The French revolution or pure democracy Norman Hampson: The heavenly city of the French revolutionaries Colin Jones: Bourgeois revolution revivified: 1789 and social change Louis Bergeron: The revolution: catastrophe or new dawn for the French economy? Michel Vovelle: The adventures of reason, or from reason to the supreme being Alan Forrest: Regionalism and counter-revolution in France T.C.W. Blanning: The French revolution and Europe


The intellectual turmoil and knowledge vacuum facing mankind specifically the Muslim Ummah (Community) has come with a multitude of problems which requires new solutions. However, the angle of vision wherein these predicaments presented themselves before the Muslims is far different from anything they are accustomed to. Muslims of this present generation is going through "a crisis of knowledge and thought". This paper does not lay claim on providing an exhaustive solution or answers to the entire problem facing the Muslims Ummah, but rather, tries to present a chronicle of events and explanations to the following fundamental questions: why does crisis of knowledge exist among Muslims? In what ways has the crisis brings malaise to the Ummah? And how could the crisis be overcome?


The life history and ecology of Neochoroterpes mexicanus was studied from data collected September, 1971, to August, 1972, and January to December, 1973, in the Brazos River, Texas. Nymphal development, instar analysis, voltinism, standing crops, and production estimates were determined from the quantitative samples taken in 1971 and 1972. Aspects of the life history and food habits of 230 specimens were arrived at from qualitative samples and light box captures in 1973. Laboratory investigation in 1973 helped in establishing instar analysis, egg incubation and description, and first instar descriptions. Neochoroterpes mexicanus appeared to have three generations per year with brood overlap in the summer and fall. It displayed 16 and 19 instars for overwintering and combined summer generations respectively.


In the short medium term natural gas has emerged as one
of the most promising energy sources for internal combustion
engines because its usage leads to cleaner combustion,
lower CO2 emissions, and energy source diversification.
However, considering that automotive DI gas engines are
rather new, only limited experience exists on the optimum
configuration of the injection system and the related strategy.
To facilitate the development of these applications computer
models are being developed. In a previous paper, a
phenomenological-3D combined approach to simulate gas
injection has been presented. This model has been implemented
in a modified version of the KIVA 3V code and the
simulation of a gas engine is here presented.
After having validated both the injection model and the
whole 3D code, an analysis of different injection strategies
have been carried out in order to demonstrate that these
tools are suitable for optimization of direct injection gas
engines. To this aim a research engine has been simulated
in under stratified charge conditions.


Chair of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee, poses at the outset the still-unanswered question whether the universality of support for a Convention concluded after very difficult negotiations reflects a real balance of interests or merely "a legal void created by agreement to a text of no significance." The committee's Vice-Chair, Ahmed Djoghlaf, while emphasizing the important role played by developing states, remarks also on their inability to reach coordinated positions. Divisions of policy between oil producers like Saudi Arabia and the members of the Association of Small Island States were clearly apparent in the negotiations.


The invention relates to a pull rope training aid which can be hung on a wall or a door. The training aid uses four pull ropes capable of producing different forces as movement resistance during training, the quantity of the pull ropes can be selected according to needs during training, a single hand or both hands can be trained and the height of pull rope handles of the training aid is adjustable. The training aid not only can be used for training upper limb strength, waist and abdominal strength and lower limb strength of human bodies, but also can be used for training technical actions and strength for smashing and serving balls in volleyball, badminton and tennis.


Restoring and maintaining soil biodiversity is important for the sustainability of our food systems, particularly as the health of agricultural soils continues to degrade at alarming rates. Earthworms are key components of soil biodiversity and provide many benefits to agricultural soil functioning, but effective and standardised approaches to monitor their populations are lacking. In this study, the feasibility of using soil environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding for surveying earthworm populations in agroecosystems was explored. Soil samples were collected from arable fields with temporary grass-clover ley strips sown into them, to investigate the effects of different land use treatments on earthworm communities. Extracellular earthworm eDNA was extracted, amplified and sequenced using next-generation sequencing, and earthworm populations were also sampled using a traditional hand-sorting approach. This allowed the performance of the eDNA method to be assessed and quantitative comparisons to be made between the different methods. The eDNA method detected significantly higher local species richness than the traditional hand-sorting approach, with the site occupancy proportions indicating that eDNA was markedly better at detecting anecic (deep burrowing) earthworms. The high sensitivity of eDNA sampling enabled the detection of differences in the earthworm communities resulting from different land-use treatments in the same field, with significantly higher earthworm diversity detected in the 33-month old ley strips than in the adjacent arable soils. Both relative abundances and site occupancy proportions were used as potential proxies for abundance, and the performance of each of these measures and the implications for further work are discussed. eDNA sampling has potential as a powerful tool for monitoring agricultural earthworm diversity and soil health, and could be utilised on farms to promote better management and soil care.


Aiming to increase the concentration of gold ore from LS epithermal gold deposit Paningkaban, Banyumas, Central Java related to its characteristic, shaking table has been applied in the development of non-amalgamation technique for artisanal miners. Many parameters affect the results of processing the gold concentration using a shaking table. The parameters studied in this research are gold grain size fraction, water flow rate, and shaking table speed. With an objective to determine the optimum condition, this study was designed using statistical approach Response Surface Method (RSM) at which all of the variables were varied altogether. The research method is to process the gold using shaking table with three levels approach, so that in total there were 27 concentrates to analyze using Fire Assay (FA) and further assessed using RSM to distinguish the interaction among parameters and the optimum condition. For the gold ore deposit from Artisanal Small scale Gold Mining (ASGM) in Paningkaban, Banyumas, Central Java with the formation of low sulfidation epithermal, the results showed that the highest gold was 3688 ppm with operating conditions ie gold grain size fraction of -100 + 200 mesh (-149 + 74 micron), water flow rate of 18 l / min and shaking speed of 100 rpm. From the RSM assessment it was obtained that optimum operating conditions is on gold grain size of -100+ 200 mesh (87,2576 micron), water flow rate of 9 l / min and shaking speed of 100 rpm. Thus, shaking table could be an alternative non-amalgamation technique to process LS epithermal gold ore in Paningkaban creating a sustainable ASGM.


The progressive language of growth and development that informs our shared ideal of the educated subject also informs the curricular structure of schooling, in which new learning builds upon established knowledge and students' development depends upon their desire to take on those identities associated with various achievements of knowledge. Each re-creation of the student's identity requires a new production of the student's former identity as an uneducated self — a negative statement of the self-overcome, fashioned in the language of the curriculum. But what of those objects of attachment or aspects of the child's identity that can neither be integrated in the student's educated identity nor accounted for as a recognizable lost object of childhood? In this essay James Stillwaggon argues that considering the student subject in terms of its melancholic attachments offers some alternatives to thinking of student identity primarily in terms of its progressive learning function. Julia Kristeva's treatment of melancholia as "asymbolia," or against the representational function of language, is especially significant to this discussion, as it highlights the melancholic's resistance to the most basic educational purpose, namely the further engagement of the subject in language.


The invention provides an infrared temperature measuring and cooling object for food for infants, aiming to solve the problems that when people nowadays feed infants or children meals, the temperature is not easy to control, cooling by blowing with mouths is slow and tiring, and hidden hygienic troubles also exist. The infrared temperature measuring and cooling object for food for infants relates to the infrared non-contact temperature measuring technique and the singlechip electronic technique. The infrared temperature measuring and cooling object for food for infants mainly comprises the following parts: a button switch, an IC controller, an infrared temperature measurement module, a temperature display module, a small cooling fan, a music play module, LED colored lamps, a clock module and a power module, wherein after the infrared temperature measurement module detects the food temperature, the IC controller reads the food temperature, drives the display module to display the measured temperature and also judges whether the temperature is higher than the set temperature to decide whether to let the small fan, the music play module and the LED colored lamps work. The infrared temperature measuring and cooling object for food for infants has the characteristics of capabilities of acquiring the current temperature of food in real time and automatically controlling the small fan to cool food, simplicity, convenience, safety, hygiene and easiness in use.


Anyone who has ever seen blue sky, white clouds, or a rainbow, or who has ever held a glass of milk in one's hand, is familiar with light-scattering phenomena. In all these cases, the characteristic color, or even a palette of colors (for the rainbow), is caused by the same physical phenomenon: the scattering of electromagnetic radiation, with wavelengths of about 400–700 nanometers, from molecular-density fluctuations in the atmosphere, from water droplets in clouds, or from casein and fat particles in milk. In a broad sense, the scattering processes constitute the physical basis even for those phenomena that at first glance seem unrelated to scattering, which is usually associated with random deviations from the initial wave propagation. Nevertheless, such known optical phenomena as the reflection and refraction of a light beam on a dielectric interface and the appearance of two new beams with changed propagation directions and velocities can be treated as a result of interference of the incident wave and the multiply scattered waves from all excited molecules.


Background Circulating tumour DNA from colorectal cancer (CRC) is a biomarker for early detection of the disease and therefore potentially useful for screening. One such biomarker is the methylated SEPT9 (mSEPT9) gene, which occurs during CRC tumourigenesis. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to establish the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of mSEPT9 tests for the early diagnosis of CRC. Methods A systematic search of the relevant literature was conducted using Medline and Embase databases. Data were extracted from the eligible studies and analysed to estimate pooled sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic test accuracy. Results Based on 19 studies, the pooled estimates (and 95% CIs) for mSEPT9 to detect CRC were: sensitivity 69% (62–75); specificity 92% (89–95); positive likelihood ratio 9.1 (6.1–13.8); negative likelihood ratio 0.34 (0.27–0.42); diagnostic OR 27 (15–48) and area under the curve 0.89 (0.86–0.91). The test has a positive predictive value of 2.6% and negative predictive value of 99.9% in an average risk population (0.3% CRC prevalence), and 9.5% (positive predictive value) and 99.6% (negative predictive value) in a high-risk population (1.2% CRC prevalence). Conclusion The mSEPT9 test has high specificity and moderate sensitivity for CRC and is therefore a potential alternative screening method for those declining faecal immunochemical test for occult blood (FIT) or other screening modalities. However, it is limited by its poor diagnostic performance for precancerous lesions (advanced adenomas and polyps) and its relatively high costs, and little is known about its acceptability to those declining to use the FIT.


The residual symmetry of a (3+1)-dimensional Korteweg-de Vries (KdV)-like equation is constructed using the truncated Painlevé expansion. Such residual symmetry can be localized and the (3+1)-dimensional KdV-like equation is extended into an enlarged system by introducing some new variables. By using Lie's first theorem, the finite transformation is obtained for this localized residual symmetry. Further, the linear superposition of multiple residual symmetries is localized and the n-th Bäcklund transformation in the form of the determinants is constructed for this equation. For illustration more detail, the first three multiple wave solutions-the collisions of resonant solitons are depicted. Finally, with the aid of the link between the consistent tanh expansion (CTE) method and the truncated Painlevé expansion, the explicit soliton-cnoidal wave interaction solution containing three kinds of Jacobian elliptic functions for this equation is derived.


Field experiment was conducted on clay textured soil (Vertisols) during kharif 0214-15 and 0215-16 at Main Cotton Research Station, Navsari Agricultural University, Surat tytuts ot tht "Feasibility of High Density Planting System (HDPS) and its fertilizer requirement in Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.)" using cv. G.Cot.16. The design of the experiment was factorial randomized block with eight treatment combinations comprising of two plant densities D1 (45 x 10 cm spacing) and D2 (60 x 10 cm spacing) and four fertilizer levels, F1 (120-00-00 kg NPK + 15 kg ZnSO4/ha), F2 (120-30-00-15 kg NPK + 15 kg ZnSO4/ha), F3 (120-00-60 kg NPK + 15 kg ZnSO4/ha) and F4 (120-30-60 kg NPK + 15 kg ZnSO4/ha) in addition an absolute control treatment (120 x 45 cm spacing with 160-00-00 kg NPK/ha) with three replications. Results indicated that HDPS t tntmtatrt t D1 recordedtsignificantly higher plant height, per cent ground cover at 80 days after sowing, higher number of bolls per m 2 area as well as seed cotton and stalk yield per hectare over treatment D2. Different fertilizer levels could not significantly influence to important growth characters, yield attributes, seed cotton yield and stalk yield per hectare in pooled analysis. Interaction effect of plant density and fertilizer levels (D x F) was found to be non-significant with respect to all growth characters, yield attributes, seed cotton and stalk yield in pooled analysis. In comparison of HDPS with control, plant height, per cent ground cover at 80 and 110 days after sowing, number of bolls per m 2 and seed cotton well as stalk yield per hectare were significantly higher in HDPS than in control. Sympodial branches per plant, sympodial length (cm) at 50 per cent height, number of bolls per plant, boll weight (g),t seed cotton yield per plant and harvest index recorded in HDPS were significantly lower


Summary Dogs were fed varying levels of trans-AMCHA (trans-4-aminomethyl-cyclohexane-1-carboxylic acid), a known inhibitor of the fibrinolytic enzyme system. Evidence that dialysis against citrate-veronal buffer in the cold for 24 hrs effectively removes AMCHA from plasma is presented. Determinations of antiactivator, antifibrinolysin, and proactivator were carried out on both dialyzed and undialyzed samples. At 55 mg/kg, a moderate immediate decrease in urokinase excretion occurred which was maintained throughout the time of drug administration. At higher levels, increases in antiactivator and decreases in proactivator and euglobulin lytic activity occurred, the extent of which could be roughly correlated with the amount of drug administered. No changes in either fibrinogen or antifibrinolysin were seen. An assay for the antiurokinase activity in canine plasma is described. The results are discussed in terms of the possible function of the fibrinolytic system as revealed by administration of inhibitors.


Soft volleyball game is a new sport game,which has enjoyed a rapid deuelopmert in china in recent years There have been,however,some obstacles,too.Based on the detailed study of these obstacles,the paper put forward some suggestions for the development and spreading of soft volleyball game in china.


Discounted cash flow analysis is a standard financial tool that considers the time value of money and calculates the present value of a future sum of money. A model was developed using the same concept to estimate discounted deer quality value of a white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) herd based on the value and survival rate(s) by sex, age. These values are discounted, using market interest rate as the discount rate and as the measure of the time value. The model was used to determine the optimum age for harvest of antlered bucks in commercial hunting operations. Based on discount rate, value by age and quality, and survival rates, optimum harvest age varied from 1.5 years to 5.5 years. Survival rate (s) was fundamental in determination of optimal harvest ages. The model was also used to examine the feasibility of management practices aimed at increasing or improving herd condition. Assuming a discount rate of 10% and increasing values for bucks ranging from 1.5 to 5.5 years of age, the optimum harvest ages produced ranged from 5.5 years when s ≥ 80% and 1.5 years when s < 60%.


Mathematics is still viewed as a culture-free subject. This forms a negative perception for students on mathematics. Most students assume that mathematics and culture are not related. This may occur because mathematics taught in school is not contextual and far from the reality of everyday life. Historically, mathematics has become a part of daily life. As a maritime nation, Indonesia has a diverse culture. But many teachers are not yet aware of the integration of the culture into mathematics learning. Barongko cake is one of the Buginese cultural heritages. Buginese people have unconsciously been practicing mathematics in making these cakes. Therefore, this research aims to explore activities in making Barongko cakes in the Buginese community that involves mathematical concepts. This research is a qualitative descriptive with an ethnographic approach. The data collection methods are carried out through observation, documentation, interview with an expert in making Barongko cake. This research found that Barongko making process involves mathematics in the concept of division, congruence and similarity, as well as a triangular prism, and half sphere. This cake has the potential to be used as a source of contextual mathematics learning in schools.


Enrichment in 1946 of Crecy Lake (20 ha; mean depth, 2.4 m), New Brunswick, with commercial fertilizers to provide 210 ppb of nitrogen (N), 390 ppb of phosphorus (P), and 270 ppb of potassium (K) had increased the growth rates of native and planted brook trout. In further studies, control of predation by fish-eating birds and mammals and reduction in number of eels, along with another application of fertilizers in 1951, improved the percentages of planted brook trout taken by anglers. Maximum percentages before and after predators were controlled were 17 and 88 for planted yearlings and 4 and 42 for planted underyearlings. Yields of planted trout to anglers and catches per unit effort improved commensurately. Autumn-stocked yearlings were largely (96%) angled in April before appreciable growth was made in the lake. Increases in yields of trout flesh produced in the lake resulted largely from the growth and higher survival of planted underyearlings. Harvested weights were greater than weights of plantings ...


Accurate health monitoring and early fault warning are of critical importance to ensure the safe and reliable operation of wind turbines (WTs) and reduce operation and maintenance costs. For this reason, data-driven monitoring approaches have attracted considerable attention and have been widely studied. However, existing methods cannot well consider the interactions of different subsystems and components, thus often leading to missed detections and false alarms. To this end, we proposed a temperature-based graph neural network model named TempGNN to provide system-level monitoring for WTs with the available supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) data. TempGNN aims to automatically learn and capture the relationships between sensors from a graph structure data perspective. First, to eliminate the effects of time-varying operation conditions on temperature variables, a decoupled model is designed to obtain operation-independent temperature values. Then, an attention-based adaptive graph structure learning layer is designed to learn the weight matrix, and a spectral–temporal graph network block is introduced to capture spatial and temporal dependencies in graph data. Finally, anomaly detection can be performed through the calculation of health indicators defined with the residuals between the predicted outputs and the actual values. The effectiveness and robustness of the model were verified by two cases on a real SCADA dataset. The results show that our proposed TempGNN model can largely reduce false alarms and provide a reliable monitoring performance.


A laser-based hybrid technique is shown to be effective for cutting concrete and drilling rock. Experimental conditions used included a laser power of 1-10 kW, 10 mm laser beam diameter and 1.25-50 mm/s scanning speed. The results of surface scanning tests and 100 mm deep cut tests indicated that the shortest operation time was about 3.5 hr/m2 for plain concrete and 4.5 hr/m2 for heavy concrete. The specific energy for the rocks (the amount of energy required to remove a unit volume of rock), which were granite and sandstone, was as same as that for heavy concrete. Thermal decomposition was observed for limestone. The specific energy of limestone was more than 1.5 times higher than that for granite and sandstone.


Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common form of senile dementia, is associated with the progressive accumulation of plaques and tangles within the neuronal cell. The plaques are composed of amyloid (Aβ) peptide fragments with a high propensity for aggregation. Metal ion binding to Aβ peptide has been known to alter the aggregation of the peptide and to be involved in the pathogenecity of Alzheimer's. Earlier investigations suggest that the N terminal hydrophilic region of the peptide exhibit preferential ligand binding capabilities and, thus initiate the onset of aggregation events. The complexation events with metals like zinc, copper, aluminium, and small molecules like betaine and curcumin, reported in this paper provide a molecular level appreciation of the binding characteristics of the Aβ (1-12) peptide fragments and the variations thereof. Our data show notable conformational changes induced due the binding of these ligands, suggesting plausible clues to explore these molecules as potential inhibitors and neuro-protective agents for AD.


Self-suggestion as a common form of mental activities can play an important role in teaching. The introduction of self-suggestion into teaching is conducive to cultivating students ' ability of independent thinking, self-education and innovation capacity.


Forensic accounting is the specialty practice area of accounting that describes engagements that result from actual or anticipated dispute or litigation. It provides an accounting analysis that is sustainable to the court which will form the basis for discussion, debate and ultimately dispute resolution. While certainly ideal for court testimony, in broad terms, 'forensic', is about fact finding and interpretation. The increase in number of fraud and fraudulent activities in Nigeria and around the world has emphasized the need for forensic accounting. Engagements of forensic accountants on criminal matters typically arise as the aftermath of fraud. Fraud examination in forensic accounting is different from that of 'traditional accounting' because the forensic accountant has the intuitive ability to analyze fraud. The aim or this paper is to identify the role of forensic accounting in fraud investigations and litigation support and proffer suggestions that will, hopefully, bring to public awareness the importance of this area of accounting.


The modern industrial firm increasingly relies on software to support its competitive position. However, the uncertain and dynamic nature of today's global marketplace dictates that this software be continually evolved and adapted, to meet new business challenges. This ability – to rapidly update, improve, remove, replace, and reimagine the software applications that underpin a firm's competitive position – is at the heart of what has been called IT agility. Unfortunately, we have little understanding of the antecedents of IT agility, specifically with respect to the choices that a firm makes when designing its portfolio of software applications.
In this paper, we explore the relationship between software portfolio architecture and IT agility. In particular, we use modular systems theory to examine how different types of coupling impact the ability to maintain, retire and commission new software applications. We test our hypotheses with a unique longitudinal dataset from a large financial services firm. Our sample comprises information on over 2,000 software applications observed over a 4-year period.
We find that applications with higher levels of coupling cost more to maintain, are less likely to be retired, and are less likely to be commissioned. However, we show specific types of coupling present greater challenges than others, in terms of their impact. In particular, applications that are cyclically coupled (i.e., mutually interdependent) are the most difficult to manage, in terms of maintaining and updating the software portfolio. Our results suggest that IT managers have a critical design role to play, in firms that seek enhanced digital agility.


Sclerotinia Blight, caused by ascomycete fungal pathogen S. minor (Jagger), is a serious soil-borne disease of peanut crops within the South Burnett area in Queensland, Australia. The pathogen can infect root, stem and foliage tissues, forming characteristic fluffy white mycelial growth on stems leading to tissue wilting and necrosis. The disease can cause significant yield reductions and, in some cases, complete crop losses in peanut production. Outbreaks occur in cooler weather (under 18 °C) with high humidity levels (above 95%) as the higher humidity levels promote germination of sclerotia (Smith 2003, Maas, Dashiell et al. 2006). Therefore, knowledge of inoculum levels prior to sowing could enhance cropping systems through enhanced capacity to predict outbreaks. The South Australia Research and Development Institute (SARDI) offers a new soil test for Sclerotinia sp., called PreDictaB, available for farmers to asses inoculum levels pre-planting as a crop risk assessment tool. This project validated the accuracy of the PreDictaB test for Sclerotinia inoculum levels in the South Burnett soils, while gathering paddock and weather data to identify key characteristics linked to high risk of Sclerotinia Blight incidence to be transposed in a pre-season risk matrix model. Results demonstrated a close positive relationship between the level of Sclerotinia in the soil pre-planting and the paddock disease severity observed at harvest. The significance of the results for future research into potential management strategies is discussed. This new test has the potential to reduce the impact and presence of Sclerotinia in the field within the South Burnett region.


In this paper we are providing an overview about the existing literature on practicum within education for university teaching. We drew the attention on the different relations between school and university, theory and practice as well as acquisition of professional competences through practicum experience. We have described a collaborative research-action approach being implemented in the practicum I of early childhood education degree at university of Cordoba, Faculty of Education. This innovative experience lies on the collaborative relation among: (1) Teachers' Centre; (2) Infants' Schools and (3) University. The early childhood education network Teachers' Centre - Infants' Schools -University (hereafter, RIECU) starts growing stronger from 2004/05 based on work Projects Approach (hereafter PA). During the academic year 2011/12 357 people -16 teachers, 16 students, 2 advisors, 6 university professors and 317 kids 3 to 6 years old -joined RIECU. Students' practicum essays as well as interviews and focus groups have been utilized as information gathering tools. The most relevant findings have been the following: (1) the evidence that the development of networks between schools and university is possible and achievable; (2) RIECU fosters the acquisition of professional competences for all the groups envolved; (3) the engagement for collaborative research-action improves the process of reasoning on how to act.


The effects of nano-CeO_2 particles on the macroscopic quality,microstructure,phase structure,and properties of Co-based cladding layer were investigated.The coatings were prepared by a 5 kW CO_2 laser,the microstructure and phase structure of the cladding layers were analyzed by means of OlympusPme 3 type microscope,Philip Xl 30 type scanning electron microscope and XD-3A type X-ray diffractometer(XRD).The wear resistance was measured with MM-200 type sliding wear tester,and the wear mechanism was analyzed by JSM-35C type scanning electron microscope(SEM) respectively.The results indicated that the addition of nano-CeO_2 can improve the macroscopic quality of the cladding layers and smooth coatings without defects(such as crack,gas hole,etc.)are obtained;the nano-CeO_2 addition can not only refine microstructure,but also restrain the dendritic growth and promote the formation of equiaxed grains;the addition of nano-CeO_2 can result in the formation of new phase CeCo_2,and transform some γ-Co phase into e-Co phase as well.The cladding with 1.5% CeO_2 addition made at 2.0 kW laser power has the best relative wear resistance.The mechanism was found to transform from abrasive/adhesive wear to fretting wear.However,the wear resistance decreased with excess CeO_2 addition.


Transient erythroblastopenia of childhood (TEC) is a benign condition, occasionally preceded by an upper respiratory tract infection, affecting infants and children between 1 month and 6 years of age. At presentation, it is characterized by anemia, which may be quite severe, reticulocytopenia, and absent or markedly decreased erythroid precursors in the bone marrow. Spontaneous resolution occurs in two to eight weeks without therapy. With the exception of pallor, there are no abnormal physical findings.1-3 It has recently been demonstrated that serum and IgG specimens obtained at the time of diagnosis in four patients with TEC uniformly suppressed erythroid colony development from CFU-E whereas one patient had a serum inhibitor of erythropoiesis; thus, a transient immune suppression phenomenon is implicated as a possible factor in the development of anemia.4


Human CD161 is protein that is expressed by most Natural Killer (NK) cells, of T cells (including both CD4 + and CD8 + subsets), Natural Killer T (NKT) cells and immature thymocytes. CD161 is expressed on many of the T cell receptor (TCR) expressing cell types that "bridge" both the innate and the adaptive immune systems, including mucosal associated invariant T (MAIT) cells. Changes in expression levels of CD161 in peripheral blood or tissue have been seen in multiple disease states such as: HIV, tuberculosis, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. However, the functional role of CD161 on T cells was unclear. Therefore, this thesis explores the impact of CD161 ligation on CD8 + T cells. CD161 surface expression was seen to be significantly downregulated upon ligation with its receptor (LLT1) or cross-linked by anti-CD161 antibodies. Despite this, no clear functional impact of CD161 ligation was seen on resting CD8 + Va7.2 + cells. In contrast, ligation of CD161 on TCR stimulated CD8+ Va7.2+ cells resulted in increased IFNy and TNFa expression, cell activation and cytotoxicity. The increased cytotoxicity was potentially due to both an increase in the ability of the cells to degranulate and the expression of Granzyme B. Furthermore, ligation of CD161 induced an increase in activated Caspase 3 expression, indicating increased apoptosis. CD161 ligation over a prolonged period resulted in a decrease in proliferation. In total these results suggest that CD161 acts as a co-stimulatory molecule for T cells in the context of TCR activation.


Objective To study the clinical effect and its effect on osteoporosis of the open reduction and internal fixation with two fixed methods manual reduction and plaster external fixation in the treatment of senile osteoporotic distal radius fractures.Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted to the clinical data of 100 patients with senile osteoporotic distal radius fractures who were admitted to our hospital.They were randomly divided into two groups,each with 50 cases.The two groups were administered manual reduction and plaster external fixation and open reduction and internal fixation,respectively.The clinical curative effect,QLQC Mcbridge score,30 quality of life score,bone density and incidence of complications of the two groups were compared.Results According to the score standard of improved Mcbridge wrist,the function recovery of open reduction and internal fixation group was better than that of the plaster external fixation group with smaller influence on bone mineral density.According to the evaluation standard of QLQC-30,postoperative quality of life of open reduction and internal fixation group was significantly better than that of the manual reduction plaster external fixation group.The difference was statistically significant(P0.05).Excellence rate of the open reduction and internal fixation group was higher than that of the manual reduction plaster external fixation group(P0.05).The bone mineral density of the manual reduction plaster external fixation group was markedly lower than that of open reduction and internal fixation group.Conclusion The clinical effect of open reduction and internal fixation in treatment of senile osteoporosis of distal radius fracture reduction is better than that of the manual reduction plaster external fixation with better quality of life after surgery.Thus it is worthy of wide clinical application.


Purpose Multipotent stromal cell (MSC)-based regenerative strategy has shown promise for the repair of cartilage, an avascular tissue in which cells experience hypoxia. Hypoxia is known to promote the early chondrogenic differentiation of MSC. The aim of our study was therefore to determine whether low oxygen tension could be used to enhance the regenerative potential of MSC for cartilage repair. Methods MSC from rabbit or human adipose stromal cells (ASC) were preconditioned in vitro in control or chondrogenic (ITS and TGF-β) medium and in 21 or 5% O2. Chondrogenic commitment was monitored by measuring COL2A1 and ACAN expression (real-time PCR). Preconditioned rabbit and human ASC were then incorporated into an Si-HPMC hydrogel and injected (i) into rabbit articular cartilage defects for 18 weeks or (ii) subcutaneously into nude mice for five weeks. The newly formed tissue was qualitatively and quantitatively evaluated by cartilage-specific immunohistological staining and scoring. The phenotype of ASC cultured in a monolayer or within Si-HPMC in control or chondrogenic medium and in 21 or 5% O2 was finally evaluated using real-time PCR. Results/Conclusions 5% O2 increased the in vitro expression of chondrogenic markers in ASC cultured in induction medium. Cells implanted within Si-HPMC hydrogel and preconditioned in chondrogenic medium formed a cartilaginous tissue, regardless of the level of oxygen. In addition, the 3D in vitro culture of ASC within Si-HPMC hydrogel was found to reinforce the pro-chondrogenic effects of the induction medium and 5% O2. These data together indicate that although 5% O2 enhances the in vitro chondrogenic differentiation of ASC, it does not enhance their in vivo chondrogenesis. These results also highlight the in vivo chondrogenic potential of ASC and their potential value in cartilage repair.


This study was conducted to determine the effects of different sperm disposal methods on in vitro fertilization of Nanyang cattle. Experiment I : The effects of three kinds of sperm washing methods on oocytes fertilization were studied. The results showed that the cleavage rate (CR) of swimming-up method (58. 3%) and percoll method (60. 6%) were significantly higher than direct washing method (47. 2%) (P0. 05); the blastocyst rate (BR) of swimming-up method (25. 9%) was significantly higher than direct washing method (13. 3%) (P0. 05) ; the CR or BR between swimming-up method and percoll method had no significant difference. Experiment II : The effects of three fertilization media on the fertilization of Nanyang cattle oocytes in vitro were studied. The results showed that the CR of BO group (60. 1%) and mTyrode's solution group (59. 3%) were all significantly higher than TCM199 group(48. 5%) (P0. 05); but the BR of three groups (17. 7%, 19. 6%, 14. 1%) had no significant difference.


The present investigation is aimed at bio-graded fractionation of Tinospora cordifolia stem extract for screening antidiabetic
activity in diabetic Wistar rats. T. cordifolia stem was subjected for alcoholic fractions by standard protocol. The Wistar rats
were fasted overnight and diabetes was induced by a single intra-peritoenal (i.p.) injection of a freshly prepared solution of
Streptozotocin (STZ)-55 mg/kg body weight in 0.1 M citrate buffer (pH 4.5). Rats whose serum glucose level measured in the
range of ≥ 287 mg/dl were designated as diabetic and selected for experiment. Acidic fraction (F3) and neutral fraction (F5)
are orally fed to diabetes induced rats with two different doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg body weight during the tenure of the
experiment. Blood glucose, body weights were measured every week whereas glycosylated hemoglobin, triglyceride,
cholesterol, blood urea, liver glycogen and insulin were measured at the termination of the experiment. Though both
fractions showed significant hypoglycemic effect. F5 performed better and demonstrated antidiabetic properties by
enhancing insulin secretion. F3 and F5 contained glycosides, flavones, and phenolic compounds of plant extract which are the
common compounds present in the both fractions. Hence it may be concluded that active compounds for antidiabetic activity
may be present in these compounds.


A late Kasimovian (Pennsylvanian) coral reef is reported in the Yanbanzhai (YBZ) area, southern Guizhou Province, South China. The YBZ coral reef, with a thickness of approximately 5.5 m and a lateral exposure of nearly 50 m, is primarily composed of the colonial rugose coral Fomichevella. The fusulinids collected from the reef indicates a late Kasimovian age. Five microfacies types have been identified, including coated bioclastic grainstone, coral (Fomichevella) framestone, bioclastic wackestone, bioclastic grainstone, and peloidal grainstone. The vertical evolution of the microfacies in the YBZ coral reef indicates major sedimentary environmental changes associated with relative sea‐level changes. The growth of the reef‐builder Fomichevella was controlled by the transgression and regression. Deep water promoted the upward expansion of Fomichevella, while shallow water inhibited its growth. Published records of atmospheric pCO2 estimation and sea‐surface temperatures, combined with geochemical proxies, confirm a warm climatic period during the late Kasimovian. This is an interglacial period conducive to the growth of the coral reef. Sea‐level and climate changes associated with the Late Palaeozoic ice age (LPIA) are interpreted as significant controls of the development of the YBZ coral reef. This research of the YBZ coral reef in South China provides practical palaeobiological evidence for global sea‐level rising during the late Kasimovian period caused by the high‐latitude Gondwana delaciation.


In consideration of requirements for phosphorus content in steel, low slag operation achieved by optimization of steelmaking process is helpful to reduce the cost in iron and steel production. In this research, the converting process of a 60t converter from a steelmaking plant was studied, by which the calculation and analysis on slag quantity was carried out. Consequently, the policy of decreasing the amount of caustic calcined dolomite while increasing the amount of lime during the early stage of blowing was formulated. It is indicated in the results that the content of magnesium oxide was significantly decreased when the basicity of slag increased by 42.28% in the early stage. Besides, the dephosphorization rate was increased by 1.16 times while the slag quantity was decreased by 12.74%.


In many ship scheduling problems, time windows are imposed at the loading and/ or discharging of the cargoes to be lifted. Up until now, all proposed solution methods to ship scheduling problems have treated the time window constraints as hard constraints. By transforming the time window constraints into soft constraints, some of the loading/discharging operations may be performed outside the time windows, penalized by an inconvenience cost for not meeting the time window. The motivation behind introducing soft time windows is that, by allowing controlled time window violations for some customers, it may be possible to obtain better routes and significant reductions in the transportation costs. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the trade-off between transportation costs and the time window violations. Computational results based on data from a real ship scheduling problem are presented and used as a basis for the evaluation.


ON NOVEMBER 3, 1908 William Ford Coaker (1871-1938) formed the Fishermen's Protective Union (FPU) at Herring Neck, Notre Dame Bay, to lobby the Newfoundland Government for legislative changes favourable to the country's fishing population. The union grew fast; from the initial founding local of 19 members at Herring Neck, by 1914 it had 206 councils with a membership of 21,060 mainly on Newfoundland's northeast coast and in Conception Bay. 1 In 1911 it established a commercial side (the Fishermen's Union Trading Company) to provide cheaper fishery supplies and provisions to members. In the October 30, 1913 general election, the FPU's political wing, the Union Party, successfully elected eight members to the House of Assembly in an electoral alliance with Robert Bond's Liberal Party which elected seven members. The alliance failed however to defeat the People's Party of Prime Minister Edward Morris 2 which won re-election with 21 seats.


Regional disparity is the unbalance problem in development between the east a nd the west part of China since China's reform and opening.Positive analysis sh ows that the solidity;and expansion of regional disparity has definitely becom e true.This article,beginning from the analysis of the systematic background where regional disparity is formed,manages to look for the effective way to sol ve regional disparity according to the objective requirement of the modern mark et economy system.


The invention provides a method for manufacturing a trench semiconductor device structure. The method comprises steps of: 1) providing a silicon substrate equipped with a trench structure, wherein the trench structure comprises a trench, a gate oxide layer and a poly silicon layer; 2) removing a part of the gate oxide layer at the top in order to form a groove with a first depth, wherein the sidewall of the groove exposes the silicon substrate and the poly silicon layer; 3) performing annealing process in order to form a first thermal oxidation layer with a first thickness on the surface of the silicon substrate and the poly silicon layer, and oxidizing the silicon substrate and the poly silicon layer exposed in the groove to form a second thermal oxidation layer fully filing the groove and higher than the groove; 4) wet etching the first thermal oxidation layer and the second thermal oxidation layer until the first thermal oxidation layer is thinned to a second thickness; and 5) depositing an ILD insulated dielectric layer. The method may effectively prevent hole generation when the ILD insulated dielectric layer is deposited, prevents leakage current caused by the hole, and improve performance and stability of a device.


The widespread use of power converters and nonlinear loads connected to the grid have caused the emergence of problems regarding the power quality. Among different kind of non-linear distortion, there is the issue of the DC current component. In fact, a DC current component flowing in the grid transformers has various detrimental effects, i.e. increased harmonic distortion, increased power losses, and possible damage due to consequent overheating. This paper proposes a non-linear sensor and a compensator system that act as an active filter to remove the DC current component flowing in the power lines. In the first part, the strategy is outlined and then the stability issue is addressed by means of a simplified model. Simulation results confirmed that the simplified model closely approximates the real system. An approximated analysis of stability is also presented. Finally we present some experimental results that shows the effectiveness of the proposed solution.


Objective:To explore the effect of nerve growth factor(NGF) on the proliferation of stromal cells in eutopic endometrium cultured in vitro and the expression of estrogen receptor α in patients with adenomyosis.Methods:Human endometrial cells were cultured in vitro,then they were intervened by NGF of different doses(0 ng/ml,10 ng/ml,50 ng/ml and 100 ng/ml),MTT method was used to detect the proliferation of stromal cells in endometrium,Western-blotting method was used to detect the effect of NGF(50 ng/ml) on the expression of estrogen receptor α in stromal cells.Results:NGF of 50 ng/ml could promote the proliferation of stromal cells in endometrium,the cell survival rate was 82.61%,which was significantly higher than those treated with NGF of other doses(P0.05);NGF of 50 ng/ml had impact on the expressions of estrogen receptor in different cells in case group and control group;in case group,there was significant difference in population mean between glandular epithelial cells and stromal cells(P0.05).Conclusion:NGF of 50 ng/ml can promote the proliferation of stromal cells in eutopic endometrium and the expression of estrogen receptor α in glandular epithelial cells and stromal cells of patients with adenomyosis.


From 1996 to 2002, fifty three patients with major beta-thalassemia received allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell trans¬plantation (PBSCT). Median age was 6 years .Twenty two were class I, 17 class II and 14 class III. All of the donors were HLA-identical. Conditioning regimen for class I and II patients consisted of Cyclophosphamide (CY) 50 mg/kg/day for 4 days + Busulfan (Bu) 3.5 mg/kg for 4 days, while class III patients received 4 mg/kg/day Busulfan for 4 days and 40mg/kg/day Cyclophosphomide for 4 days. G-CSF (Neopogen) 5µ/kg IV was given to donors. Graft Versus Host Disease (GVHD) prophylaxis regimen consisted of Cyclosporin-A (CsA) 3 mg/kg/day plus Methotrexate (MTX) 10 mg/m2 on day+1 and 6 mg/m2 on days +3 and +6. The median time for neutrophil and platelet engraftment was day +16 and day +23 post transplantation, respectively. Chronic GVHD (cGVHD) was observed in 30 patients (56%). Ten patients (18.8%) died. Forty patients are well and transfusion independent. Median time of follow-up was 23 months. Recurrences have been seen at 3 pts, one patient 21 months, the other one 6 months and the last one 8 months after transplantation, who received Donor Lymphocyte infusion (DLI). Event free survival was 72% and overall survival was 80%. In conclusion, we suggest that PBSCT can be considered a safe and effective treatment for children with Beta-thalassemia major and cGVHD is tolerable and manageable in these patients.


The voltammetric behaviour of the thiophanate-methyl in its fungicide formulation (Topsin M) and agricultural produces has been studied in the presence of surfactant, Triton-X-100 in acetonirile medium at dropping mercury electrode (DME) by differential pulse polarography (DPP). The proposed DPP method based on the investigation that the electrochemical response of thiophanatemethyl facilitated in presence of Triton X -100 (0.1%V/V) at the DME electrode surface in term of enhanced peak current as well as sharpening of diffused controlled peak at 140 mV (vs SCE ). The method has successfully been applied to both commercial fungicide formulation and agricultural produces. Recoveries of the active ingredient from formulation analysis and fortified agricultural produces samples (wheat, rice and apple fruit) were good, ranging from 88.8-101 % with maximum RSD value of 0.98 %.


In this paper I am going to analyze the impact of Chinese culture on the Japanese modern writer Mori Ogai (actual name Mori Rintaro,1862-1922). Ogai, along with Natsume Soseki (1867-1916), is regarded as one of the preeminent writers of the Meiji period. The article starts by reconsidering the impact of Ogai's early training in the Chinese Classics on the literature of his mature years. When reading Chinese literature, Ogai based his interest on a wide variety of literary works, sometimes even wider than that of the scholars of the preceeding Tokugawa period. One of the reasons why Meiji writers were able to pick up selected readings among such numerous variety is that since the introduction of Western thought in Japan, intellectuals had formally changed the way they judged the value of literary works, and this would, in turn, work towards influencing favourably the process of rediscovery of forgotten Chinese and Japanese works. Ogai thoroughly worked towards broadening his knowledge of Chinese and Japanese literature, along with the study of Western fonts. I am going to present a series of texts by Ōgai that demonstrate his interest in Chinese studies. I am going to use these examples to discuss how Ogai's outlook on Chinese literature changed over time, to the point that he developed a more mature approach to the study of Chinese culture, and Chinese language itself. He was not entirely alone in this, as his views on Chinese literature were partly shared by some scholars belonging to the same literary circle, and costantly participating in the very same forums, such as Mori Kainan (1863-1911) and Koda Rohan (1867-1947), another well-known novelist of the period and acclaimed scholar of Chinese. The material I am going to comment on, such as the forums called Hyoshinryo Iroku ('Scattered Recordings on Notable Works'), transcribed and printed on literary magazines, clearly show that Meiji intellectuals used to hold literary debates on subjects drawn from alternatively Western, Japanese and Chinese sources; this tendency to rely on sources from both Western and Asian tradition is evident in several other critical essays of Ogai, which I shall summarize throughout this article. Lastly, I will bring two concrete examples revealing how his knowledge of the Chinese language and culture enabled the author to derive literary themes and techniques from Chinese fiction. These are the short stories Yasui Fujin ('The Wife of Yasui'), and Gyogenki ('Yu Xuanji') .


Background and purpose. Three-dimensional movement in the upper limb presents a challenge for functional management of regional spasticity. Potential toxicity of botulinum toxin limits the number of muscles which may be injected in any one session. Serial injection may offer a solution, but carries theoretical risk of development of resistance due to antibody formation. This article reviews a small case series, gathered in a post-acute neuro-rehabilitation setting, to evaluate the use of serial botulinum toxin injection in terms of goal achievement and clinical evidence for toxicity or resistance. Methods. Nine patients with regional spasticity following acute stroke or brain injury had serial injection of botulinum toxin to muscle groups around the shoulder, elbow and/or wrist. Injection was followed by splinting/physiotherapy as appropriate. Goal attainment scaling was used to assess outcome. Results. Functional goals achieved were reduction of pain (n = 6/7) associated reaction (n = 4/5) or care needs (n = 5/6), improved gait (n = 2/3) or independence in self-care (n = 2/5). Two 'golden responder' cases are presented in detail to demonstrate resolution of symptoms with up to four serial injections of botulinum toxin over a period of up to 6 months. No clinical evidence of toxicity or resistance was seen in any case. Conclusion. These preliminary findings suggest that serial botulinum toxin injection followed by appropriate physiotherapy/splinting may provide effective treatment for regional spasticity. Resistance has not presented a problem in this post-acute situation, where treatment has not been required beyond a few months. Ongoing evaluation is underway.


We present a modular dendrimer-based platform for simultaneous dual fluorescence imaging of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and pH gradients produced in living cells. Acetyl-capped G5 PAMAM dendrimers functionalized with boronate-caged Peroxyfluor-1 (PF1) fluorophores for H2O2 detection and semi-naphthorhodafluor (SNARF2) dyes for pH sensing provide a single probe system that is capable of sensing multiple analytes at a time by multicolor fluorescence imaging. Spectroscopic measurements of the doubly-labeled dendrimer conjugates establish their ability to simultaneously monitor changes in both H2O2 and pH using different excitation/emission profiles. Moreover, this dual-probe platform allows for selective discrimination between H2O2 and pH changes in live RAW 264.7 macrophage cells when stimulated by an immune insult. Further imaging experiments show that pharmacological inhibition of NADPH oxidase (Nox) proteins triggers a decrease in both oxidative burst and in pH regulation within phagocytic compartments and leads to disruptions of endocytic activity, suggesting that Nox-derived H2O2 signaling is critical to the maintenance of multiple components of the immune response. This work establishes a general molecular platform for simultaneous, real-time imaging of multiple analytes associated with redox biology in living systems and should be applicable to a wide range of chemosensor constructs.


Plant volatile material and sex pheromone were made up to 25 kinds attractants,used to test behavior,electrophysiology and field trapping of Asias halodendri(Pallas).The results showed that,the attractant W was the best,with a relative trappability of 21.8%,EAG values was 4.116.The attractant T took the second place,with a relative trappability of 17.2%,while EAG values was 3.714.The relative trappability of U and V were also higher,reaching 9.2% and 8.0%,respectively.The lures made by medicine bottles of penicillin injection,plant volatile material and sex pheromone had good slow-release effect and application promotion value.


Objectives:  This study explored the relationship between three types of living arrangements, namely living alone, living with family, and living in a hostel, and the psychological well‐being of older people in Hong Kong. The impact of various sociodemographic factors on the choice of living arrangements of older people was also studied.


Yuan Hao-wen,namely,yi shan,was a famous writer in Jin ci,his collection of ci was called 'Yi Shan Yue Fu",there are many editions in it,such as edition1,edition2,edition3and so on.After Ming Dynasty,it has many block publishing,and its editions were very complicated.so to sift the edition of Yi shan collection of ci,textual research is necessary.


Background Pediatric nasal fractures, unlike adult nasal fractures, are treated surgically as early as 7 days after the initial trauma. However, in some cases, a week or more elapses before surgery, and few studies have investigated the consequences of delayed surgery for pediatric nasal fractures. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the postoperative outcomes of pediatric nasal fractures according to the time interval between the initial trauma and surgery. Methods The records of pediatric patients under 12 years old who underwent closed reduction of nasal bone fracture from March 2012 to February 2020 were reviewed. The interval between trauma and surgery was divided into within 7 days (early reduction) and more than 7 days (delayed reduction). Postoperative results were classified into five grades (excellent, good, moderate, poor, and very poor) based on the degree of reduction shown on computed tomography. Results Ninety-eight patients were analyzed, of whom 51 underwent early reduction and 47 underwent delayed reduction. Forty-two (82.4%) of the 51 patients in the early reduction group showed excellent results, and nine (17.6%) showed good results. Thirty-nine (83.0%) of the 47 patients in the delayed reduction group showed excellent results and eight (17.0%) showed good results. No statistically significant difference in outcomes was found between the two groups (chi-square test p=0.937). However, patients without septal injury were significantly more likely to have excellent postoperative outcomes (chi-square test p<0.01). Conclusion No statistically significant difference was found in the outcomes of pediatric nasal fractures between the early and delayed reduction groups. Successful surgical results were found even in patients who received delayed reduction (more than 7 days after trauma).


This paper presents prototype demonstration of the fabricated active interposer module. The fabricated active interposer is composed of 32 ch transmitter and 32 ch receiver, built on a compact interposer substrate, each of them alternately arranged eight by eight channels with an optical I/O port having a pigtail ribbon fiber. The transmitter unit is comprised of a pair of 4 ch VCSEL array flip chip bonded onto a waveguide coupler of the I/O port and a pair of 4 ch driver IC mounted on the interposer substrate. The receiver unit is similarly constructed. This device has potential application to future high performance chip level optical interconnects over 10 Gbps/ch.


The present study aims to recommend the normal upper limit,the acceptable upper limit,the subclinical lead absorption and intoxication diagnostic criteria in an effort to re-evaluate the current national diagnostic criteria for the occupational chronic lead poisoning.The study was conducted on 330 lead exposed workers and 100 non-exposed controls based on the determination of blood and urinary lead,porphyrin metabolism indices,as well as other indices under a nationwide quality control program.The data were subsequently treated by the curve fitting,multi-step transformation to Gauss distribution,and discriminant analysis with the aid of a SAS software package.The relationships between the air lead and blood lead level with certain biological parameters indicative of excessive lead exposure and poisoning were well established.The sensitivity,specificity,accuracy,false positive and false negative results of these critical values were also fully evaluated.This study would be useful for the amendment of the new edition of the national diagnostic criteria for the occupational chronic lead poisoning in China and would provide new approaches for similar investigations.


In this paper, a modified voltage reference circuitry using LTPS TFT is proposed. The new modified voltage reference circuitry is unaffected by fluctuations of the power supply voltage and the ambient temperature due to the utilization of enhancement-depletion (E-D) reference circuit and the operation in the weak inversion region for generation of a stable reference voltage. To verify the performance of the new modified circuitry, the circuit simulation is carried out by using SPICE. As a result of the simulation, the supply voltage dependability (SVD) and the temperature coefficient (TC) achieves to values of 0.08967 [%/V] and 0.00203[%/℃], respectively, when the ambient temperature (Ta) is +25℃ and the supply voltage (VDD) is +8V. In brief, these characterisitcs of the new modified circuitry are improved comparing with that of the conventional circuit.


Innovating and reforming experimental teaching not only can improve the practical ability and creative spirit of students,but also can realize the training target for high-level technical talents in practice.The reform of experimental teaching was studied from basic experimental teaching,specialized experimental teaching and experiment examination etc,and a series of reform measures were proposed to perfect the experimental teaching for applied chemistry specialty.


In this paper, globular star clusters which contain a sub-system of stellar-mass black holes (BH) are investigated. This is done by considering two-component models, as these are the simplest approximation of more realistic multi-mass systems, where one component represents the BH population and the other represents all the other stars. These systems are found to undergo a long phase of evolution where the centre of the system is dominated by a dense BH sub-system. After mass segregation has driven most of the BH into a compact sub-system, the evolution of the BH sub-system is found to be influenced by the cluster in which it is contained. The BH sub-system evolves in such a way as to satisfy the energy demands of the whole cluster, just as the core of a one component system must satisfy the energy demands of the whole cluster. The BH sub-system is found to exist for a significant amount of time. It takes approximately 10t_{rh,i}, where t_{rh,i} is the initial half-mass relaxation time, from the formation of the compact BH sub-system up until the time when 90% of the sub-system total mass is lost (which is of order 10^{3} times the half-mass relaxation time of the BH sub-system at its time of formation). Based on theoretical arguments the rate of mass loss from the BH sub-system (\dot{M}_2) is predicted to be -(beta*zeta*M)/(alpha*t_{rh}), where M is the total mass, t_{rh} is the half-mass relaxation time, and alpha, beta, zeta are three dimensionless parameters (see Section 2 for details). An interesting consequence of this is that the rate of mass loss from the BH sub-system is approximately independent of the stellar mass ratio (m_2/m_1) and the total mass ratio (M_2/M_1) (in the range m_2/m_1 >~ 10 and M_2/M_1 ~ 10^{-2}, where m_1, m_2 are the masses of individual low-mass and high-mass particles respectively, and M_1, M_2 are the corresponding total masses).


In contrast to its notorious legal differentiation of communities into civilized, barbarous and savage, there is no systematic treatment of individuals in James Lorimer's The Institutes of the Law of Nations (1883). This article pieces together Lorimer's account of the legal status of individuals in international law and suggests why this account should be of contemporary interest. It identifies three figures of the individual in the Institutes and uses them – Lorimer's 'private citizens of the world' in particular – to dislodge the textbook stories of the individual as an emerging subject of international law. Employed as a lens, private citizens of the world can focus us on the extent to which a variety of otherwise unrelated theories, critiques, proposals and developments restore or refract such attributes, and on the exclusion of certain features and impacts of the individual from today's public international law. Why read James Lorimer's 1883 The Institutes of the Law of Nations on subjects of international law – indeed, why read Lorimer at all?1 As Martti Koskenniemi writes in this symposium, the 19th-century Scottish international lawyer was 'a conservative ... also an elitist and a racist [some of whose] most powerful emotions were reserved for attacking what he called the idea of absolute equality, whether that idea was applied to states or to human beings'.2 Six decades earlier, in a 1953 address to the Grotius Society on * Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. Email: firstname.lastname@example.com. I thank Loïc Azoulai, Roxana Banu, Annabel Brett, Hisashi Harata, Joanna Langille, Audrey Macklin and Ralf Michaels for conversations and comments. I am also grateful to participants in workshops at Cornell Law School, the University of Edinburgh, the London School of Economics, the University of Michigan, Tel Aviv University, the University of Toronto and the University of Utah. Research for this article was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. 1 J. Lorimer, The Institutes of the Law of Nations: A Treatise of the Jural Relations of Separate Political Communities (1883). 2 Koskenniemi, 'Race, Hierarchy and International Law: Lorimer's Legal Science' in this volume, 415, at 416. On Lorimer generally, see Campbell, 'James Lorimer: A Natural Lawyer of the Nineteenth Century', 39 Transactions of the Grotius Society (1953) 211; Flint, 'Professor Lorimer', 2 Juridical Review (1890) 113; Jenks, 'The Significance To-day of Lorimer's "Ultimate Problem of International Jurisprudence"', 26 Transactions of the Grotius Society (1940) 356; Pearce Higgins, 'James Lorimer (1818–1890)', 45 Juridical Review (1933) 239; Pearce Higgins, 'La Contribution de Quatre Grands Juristes Britanniques au Droit International (Lorimer, D ow naded rom http/academ ic.p.com /ejil/article-at/27/2/447/1748397 by gest on 02 Jauary 2019 448 EJIL 27 (2016), 447–475 the topic of Lorimer's contribution to international law, University of Edinburgh professor A.H. Campbell quoted with astonishment from Lorimer's discussion of the relative value of states: '"Taäke my word for it, Sammy, the poor in a loomp is bad," is an assertion, harsh though it seems, which the internationalist ... must accept.'3 On top of these repellent views, one might add that Lorimer was an idiosyncratic thinker, an intellectual also-ran, his work to be tracked down if the topic is the Scottish tradition in international law,4 the early years of the Institut de droit international (of which he was a founding member)5 or the history of blueprints for international organizations,6 but not for its own merits or influence.7 'What seems missing' in Lorimer's thought, to quote another commentator, circa 1978, 'is the sense of proportion which lies behind the sense of absurdity'.8 1 States and Individuals as Subjects of International Law Rather than relegating him to a shameful minor footnote, however, over the past decade and a half Lorimer's vices have made him close to required reading among critics of international law. Already canonical histories of the discipline by Antony Anghie, Martti Koskenniemi and Gerry Simpson have made notorious Lorimer's differentiated treatment of subjecthood, specifically the legal distinction he drew between the civilized, the barbarous and the savage spheres of humanity.9 'Savage' referred to the colonized 'periphery,' particularly Africa, whose peoples were not recognized as having any collective legal personality, while 'barbarous' included 'semi-peripheral' states such as China, Turkey and Egypt, which Lorimer recognized Westlake, Hall et Holland)', 40 Recueil des cours (1932-II) 1, at 6–22; Johnston, 'The Scottish Tradition in International Law', 16 Canadian Yearbook of International Law (1978) 3, at 29–38; Noyes, 'Christianity and Late Nineteenth-Century British Theories of International Law', in M.W. Janis (ed.), The Influence of Religion on the Development of International Law (1991) 85, at 85–96, 101–102; Sylvest, 'International Law in Nineteenth-Century Britain', 75 British Year Book of International Law (2004) 9, at 51–53. 3 Campbell, supra note 2, at 226 (quoting Lorimer, supra note 1, vol. 1, at 185, quoting, in turn, Tennyson's 'Northern Farmer'). 4 See Johnston, supra note 2, at 29–38. 5 See M. Koskenniemi, The Gentle Civilizer of Nations: The Rise and Fall of International Law 1870–1960 (2002), ch. 1–2; M. Koskenniemi, 'Nationalism, Universalism, Empire: International Law in 1871 and 1919' (paper presented at Columbia University, 29–30 April 2005), available at www.helsinki.fi/eci/ Publications/Koskenniemi/Columbia%200405.pdf (last visited 20 March 2016), at 2–23. 6 See Jenks, supra note 2; Potter, 'Origin of the Term International Organization', 39 American Journal of International Law (AJIL) (1945) 803, at 805–806. 7 See Koskenniemi, Gentle Civilizer, supra note 5, at 92: 'Lorimer's idiosyncratic naturalism received no following.' On Lorimer's unfashionableness in England, Europe and even his native Scotland, see Johnston, note 2, at 32–34, 39. 8 Johnston, supra note 2, at 30–31. 9 A. Anghie, Imperialism, Sovereignty and the Making of International Law (2005), ch. 2; Anghie, 'Finding the Peripheries: Sovereignty and Colonialism in Nineteenth-Century International Law', 40 Harvard International Law Journal (HILJ) (1999) 1; Koskenniemi, Gentle Civilizer, supra note 5, at 75, 129, 131; G. Simpson, Great Powers and Outlaw States: Unequal Sovereigns in the International Legal Order (2004), at 116–126, 235–242. D ow naded rom http/academ ic.p.com /ejil/article-at/27/2/447/1748397 by gest on 02 Jauary 2019 Lorimer's Private Citizens of the World 449 as states but not as full members of the 'civilized' European family of nations.10 Although not unique to him, Lorimer took this differentiation furthest,11 which has made him an ideal point of reference for critics. More distinctive to Lorimer is his calibration of recognition among civilized states according to various determinants of power, including the state's size, its material wealth and the perceived moral and intellectual qualities of its citizens.12 'Even within the sphere of plenary ... recognition', he wrote, states 'differ in powers, and consequently in rights; and the recognition which they are entitled to claim from each other is proportioned to their powers and rights.'13 In the 2000s, critics of international law marshalled Lorimer's vision of differentiated statehood to demonstrate problematic continuities with modern international law, despite its principle of sovereign equality, while others used it to caution against the vogue of the 2000s for regulating liberal states differently from illiberal states or otherwise departing from equality among states.14 And delegitimization is not the only current case that could be made from reading Lorimer on statehood.15 Proponents of some doctrine, arrangement or proposal might instead bolster its legitimacy by acknowledging a parallel with Lorimer's civilized/barbarian/savage distinction, for instance, and distinguishing their position.16 Or, Lorimer could be cited to prevent 10 Lorimer, supra note 1, vol. 1, at 101–103. 11 See Simpson, supra note 9, at 238. 12 Lorimer, supra note 1, vol. 1, at 182–188. See also Koskenniemi, 'Race, Hierarchy and International Law', in this volume, at 417–423. Arnulf Becker Lorca contrasts Lorimer's support for both the standard of civilization and inequality among civilized states with Western jurists' later recourse to legal principles of inequality, after the loosening of the standard had conferred recognition on more states. A. Becker Lorca, Mestizo International Law: A Global Intellectual History 1842–1933 (2014), at 183, n. 116. 13 Lorimer, supra note 1, vol. 1, at 103. 14 See, e.g., Anghie, 'Peripheries,' supra note 9, at 69; B. Bowden, The Empire of Civilization: The Evolution of an Imperial Idea (2009), at 186–188; J. Desautels-Stein, 'The Canon Reloaded: Equality and Exclusion in the History of International Legal Thought' (16 January 2015), at 38–53 (on file with author); Grovogui, 'Come to Africa: A Hermeneutics of Race in International Theory', 26 Alternatives (2001) 425, at 431; Kingsbury, 'Sovereignty and Inequality', 9 European Journal of International Law (EJIL) (1998) 599, at 621–622; Müller, 'Friedrich F. Martens on "The Office of Consul and Consular Jurisdiction in the East"', 25 EJIL (2014) 871, at 880, 887–890; Simpson, supra note 9; Tourme-Jouannet, 'The International Law of Recognition', 24 EJIL (2013) 667, at 668. See more generally Fidler, 'A Kinder, Gentler System of Capitulations? International Law, Structural Adjustment Policies, and the Standard of Liberal, Globalized Civilization', 35 Texas International Law Journal (2000) 387; Landauer, 'Regionalism, Geography, and the International Legal Imagination', 11 Chicago Journal of International Law (2011) 557, at 587–593; Schneiderman, 'The Global Regime of Investor Rights: Retur


The purpose of this short article is to present a critique of Mowshowitz's vision of virtual organization (Mowshowitz, 1994). Some of the key assumptions, arguments, and conclusions of Mowshowitz's paper are discussed, and some alternative views on future organizations are briefly outlined.


In Hzey v. Carpenter, the Washington Supreme Court became the only court of last resort to prohibit introduction of the Code of Professional Responsibility and the Rules of Professional Conduct as evidence of an attorney's common law duty of care in an action for legal malpractice. This Note examines the Hizey decision and argues that the court should not create a preferential standard for attorneys. Instead, the court should admit professional ethical standards as evidence in legal malpractice actions on the same basis that the court admits statutes, ordinances, and administrative rules in other actions


In this paper we present and illustrate basic Bayesian techniques for the uncertainty analysis of complex physical systems modelled by computer simulators. We focus on emulation and history matching and also discuss the treatment of observational errors and structural discrepancies in time series. We exemplify such methods using a four-box model for the termohaline circulation. We show how these methods may be applied to systems containing tipping points and how to treat possible discontinuities using multiple emulators. c © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.


Electronic device in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention, a processor for controlling the communication circuit and the communication circuit for performing the external device and the communication, and the communication circuit, the loop form, which is rotated by the number of times specified in the chosen direction the first coil and the second extending from the first coil, the first coil with a given distance or more away from the number of times specified in the chosen direction coil and a second coil of the loop forms a rotating antenna and is electrically connected to the coil antenna, the coil It may include an antenna control circuit for transmitting and receiving antenna and the signal. Further, it is possible other embodiments.


Accumulation and dissipation of energy is one of the important problems about the mechanisms of rock-burst.Form the ground stress and the tensile fracture of microscopic crystals this paper makes an analysis and comes to a conclusion,that the energy accumulation in the process of rock-burst,the ground stress process is long and potentially period.But,from the view of the tensile fracture of microscopic crystals in rocks,it is put forward that the accumulation process of energy in the process of rock-burst is very transient.The energy in the process of rock-burst turns into surface energy,kinetic energy and heat energy and so on.How to control the proportion of kinetic energy is important to prevent rock-burst or reduce its intensity.


Introduced the characteristics and work flow of TV-telephone demand system, program storage and transmission and so on. Based on work experience ,a detailed description on safety management of system, daily maintenance and operation was given.


Abstract The circular economy deviates from the classical, economic, traditional, linear model, based on large amounts of materials and energy, easily accessibles Circular economy concept has become increasingly popular, gaining popularity among both researchers and practitioners. The transition to a circular economy is an opportunity to change the current economy and make it more sustainable, helping to achieve environmental and climate goals and principles and protecting existing resources. The aim of the paper is to highlight the importance of the concept of sustainability and circularity in the food market as well as to highlight the connection with other topics. To achieve this goal, a review of the literature was performed by querying Web of Science databases, while performing a bibliometric analysis. The results show a major interest for the sustainability and circularity concepts in the food market, due to the exponential growth of items in recent times. By searching the Web of Science database, 1793 scientific documents were found by the keyword "food sustainability", 6354 documents containing the keyword "circularity" and over 33.3 thousand documents on the topic of "sustainability". These keywords were found at least in the title, abstract, or keywords of the document.


A powerful new technique for the generation of stable ultra-short laser pulses is reported. The basic idea of the method is to couple back a tiny fraction of the laser output into the main laser cavity. This coherent seeding signal suppresses the deleterious influence of the spontaneous emission on the pulse formation to a large extent that results in a considerable improvement of the laser output stability. Experimental results for two different laser systems are presented together with numerical simulations that serve to illustrate the principle of the technique.


The purpose of this paper is to analyze efficiency, measuring productivity growth of the academic departments and benchmarking for them. Efficiency measures are calculated by a non-parametric approach known as data envelopment analysis (DEA). Productivity is measured by the Malmquist index. The paper shows how DEA-based Malmquist productivity index can be employed to evaluate the technology and productivity changes resulted in the university. Total productivity growth, in two periods of time 2005-2006 and 2009-2010 academic years, has been calculated and indicated decline productivity, but there is a variation among individual units; also the frontier productivity and technical efficiency change (TEC) indices which are parts of the decomposed total productivity have been shown. To ensure long-term effectiveness in productivity, window analysis is adopted to seek the most recommended set of performance by measuring the performance changes over time. The study uses window analysis for benchmarking. Benchmarking is a process of defining valid measures of performance comparison among peer decision making units (DMUs), using them to determine the relative positions of the peer DMUs and, ultimately, establishing a standard of excellence. DEA can be regarded as a benchmarking tool, because the frontier identified can be regarded as an empirical standard of excellence. With window analysis, the performance of a DMU in one period is compared not only with the performance of other DMUs but also with its own performance in other periods. The proposed mechanism can provide guidance to the departments for aggregate planning so as to improve their efficiency. The results did not indicate improving performance.

 Key words: Performance assessment, efficiency, data envelopment analysis, malmquist productivity index, technical efficiency change, frontier shift benchmarking.


This dissertation studied the care needs and treatment of people with advanced osteoarthritis. It turned out that people with osteoarthritis in several joints run a higher risk of developing serious complaints in pain, physical and psychological functioning. A feasibility study into the effectiveness of a treatment showed important differences in care needs between patients. In follow-up research this should be taken into account. It was also shown that approximately 25% of the people waiting for a new joint as a consequence of osteoarthritis deteriorate in pain and functioning. This can have negative consequences for the outcomes of the operation. For these people, the usefulness of an intensive therapeutic training prior to the surgery was investigated. Literature studies show that this type of training is not useful for young, fit persons. However, fragile, elderly persons possibly benefit from such training. Particularly this last group did not participate in the feasibility study, because they could not come to the hospital. In follow-up research, therefore, the practitioner will have to visit he patients.


the essence of current academic research, employing a clear and lively style that is appropriate for his target audience. The author, however, does much more than educate the general reader. His series of microstudies, I am certain, will soon become part of the lectures of many professors of American economic and political history. Although he conducted his research largely in the archives of the city of Philadelphia, he also incorporates secondary sources in order to expand his geographic reach to cover both the North and the South. Equally important, in Chapters Four, Five, and Six, he provides a mass of microeconomic detail on the evolution of both the securities market and the national market, details that will flesh out the lectures of even the most widely published historians working in early-nineteenth-century American history. Moreover, he makes a telling case for moving the time of the national market's emergence back to an earlier date than has generally been accepted. Although the substantive portion of the volume is brief (215 pages), it nevertheless represents a significant contribution. Wright has thoroughly documented his conclusions in a clear, accessible style. His bibliography alone is worth the price of the book. The Wealth of Nations Rediscovered should be required reading for every student of American financial history.


Poly lactic acid (PLA) bio-polymer (60%) was blended with acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) (40%) and filled with wood flour (0, 10, 20%) using a twin screw compounding extruder and a suitable compatibilizer i.e., glycerol, is also incorporated into that mixture at a percentage of 4% respectively. Test specimens were prepared by using an injection molding machine for mechanical, electrical and thermal properties as per ASTM standards and the properties were evaluated. The impact strength of PLA/ABS blend was increased when 10% wood flour was reinforced and then decreased when wood flour (20%) was added. The thermal property of heat deflection temperature was increased due to ABS materials. The electrical properties were decreasing due to ABS and wood flour when added to PLA. Since wood flour has polar nature and hygroscopic material. ABS also has unsaturated double bonds in the butadiene units, so the dielectric strength and arc resistance were decreased. The main objective of this paper is reducing the cost of the PLA by adding ABS and wood flour. The bio-polymer can be used in many commodity applications and reduce the waste of petro-chemical based plastics and non-bio-degradable plastics. Cite this ArticleAnandharaj R, Soundararajan S. Studies on Mechanical, Electrical and Thermal Properties of Compatibilized PLA/ABS Blends Reinforced with Wood Flour. Journal of Polymer & Composites. 2015; 3(3): 20–26p.


AbstractDrought forecasting can aid in developing mitigation strategies and minimizing economic losses. Drought may be forecast using a drought index, which is an indicator of drought. The agricultural reference index for drought (ARID) was used as a tool to investigate the possibility of using climate indices (CIs) as predictors to improve the current level of forecasting, which is El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) based. The performances of models that are based on linear regression (LR), artificial neural networks (ANN), adaptive neuron-fuzzy inference systems (ANFIS), and autoregressive moving averages (ARMA) models were compared with that of the ENSO approach. Monthly values of ARID spanning 56 yr were computed for five locations in the southeastern United States, and monthly values of the CIs having significant connections with weather in this region were obtained. For the ENSO approach, the ARID values were separated into three ENSO phases and averaged by phase. For the ARMA models, monthly time ...


The heated panel in supersonic flow contains rich nonlinear dynamical phenomena which involve static behavior such as thermal buckling and thermal flutter.This study is conducted to explore the complexity of nonlinear thermal flutter responses of simply supported two dimensional panel in supersonic flow.The von Karman large deflection plate theory and the first-order piston theory are employed to establish the aeroelastic model of panel in even temperature field.Galerkin method is adopted to formulate its governing equations.At first,the critical condition for panel buckling is determined,and the static deflection of the post-buckled panel is numerically calculated.Then,the local stability of the post-buckled panel is analyzed using Lyapunov indirect method.The limit cycle oscillations of the heated panel are numerically simulated in time domain.The results show that the critical flutter pressure decreases with the increasing of temperature and the amplitude of periodic flutter increases with the increasing of temperature at high aerodynamic pressure.It is found that a critical temperature for the transition of periodic flutter into chaotic oscillation exists and secondary instability flutter will occur at relatively low aerodynamic pressure with large temperature elevation when there are several post-buckled equilibriums for the heated panel.


The scalar form of the approximate factorization method was used to develop a new code for the solution of three dimensional internal laminar and turbulent compressible flows. The Navier-Stokes equations in their Reynolds-averaged form were iterated in time until a steady solution was reached. Evidence was given to the implicit and explicit artificial damping schemes that proved to be particularly efficient in speeding up convergence and enhancing the algorithm robustness. A conservative treatment of these terms at the domain boundaries was proposed in order to avoid undesired mass and/or momentum artificial fluxes. Turbulence effects were accounted for by the zero-equation Baldwin-Lomax turbulence model and the q-omega two-equation model. The flow in a developing S-duct was then solved in the laminar regime in a Reynolds number (Re) of 790 and in the turbulent regime at Re equals 40,000 by using the Baldwin-Lomax model. The Stanitz elbow was then solved by using an invicid version of the same code at M sub inlet equals 0.4. Grid dependence and convergence rate were investigated, showing that for this solver the implicit damping scheme may play a critical role for convergence characteristics. The same flow at Re equals 2.5 times 10(exp 6) was solved with the Baldwin-Lomax and the q-omega models. Both approaches show satisfactory agreement with experiments, although the q-omega model was slightly more accurate.


The clinical finding of adrenal metastasis suggests a systemic neoplastic pathology, probably less aggressive if the adrenal gland is the only metastasised organ. Even though surgery is not a codified choice, it would seem to guarantee an increase in survival over other options and in rare cases is even curative. Between 1983 and 2002 the authors observed and operated 48 cases of adrenal metastasis (38 from renal, 6 lung, 2 bladder and 1 colic cancer and 1 NH lymphoma), isolated in 33 patients and associated with other repetitive lesions in the remaining 15. Survival rates, although unsatisfactory overall, were more favourable in the cases of metastasis from renal cancer, isolated in the adrenal gland and with metachronous presentation.


There are many situations in service provisioning scenarios that lead to conflicts and impasses. Very often consumers and providers do not share the same perspective about quality of service. These divergences become more pronounced when the involved parties use different vocabularies to show their interests. It has become commonplace since service providers use different ontologies to describe the offered services. In this paper we discuss the inclusion of a middle layer in the Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), composed by mediators, in order to make closer the involved sides towards a service negotiation. Considering that mediation is a complex task which crosscuts all the service-related tasks (e.g. discovery and composition), it is proposed a formal approach to describe behavioral aspects of the mediator unambiguously.


Rejuvenation traits in papaya (Carica papaya L.) 'Taino No.2' were studied in relation to the number of leaf lobes, and leaf and internodal lengths, depending on the nodal orders. Papaya consistently differentiated new nodes at definite intervals, the number of differentiated nodes corresponds with the age (days of culture). Likewise, the number of leaf lobes increased with node height. The relationships between leaf and internodal lengths with nodal orders were straight lines with considerable variation, whereas that between the number of leaf lobes and nodal orders were close and curvilinear. However, with rooted cuttings, the number of leaf lobes varied, depending on the nodal order of the mother plants from which the cuttings were taken, indicating that the age of the mother plants was reflected by the young derivatives. The number of leaf lobes in cultured plantlets closely approximated that of seedlings regardless of the nodal order from which original cuttings were obtained. Hence, it seems that cultured plantlets revert to the juvenile seedling stage. The number of leaf lobes that reflects the age of young papaya plants, is useful for estimating their juvenile status during their growth and development.


For orbifolds with tetrahedral point group and embedding of the point-group in the SU(3) of E6×SU(3)⊂E8 and the discrete translations in E8, we study the different breakings of E6 to realistic low-energy gauge groups.


Digital electrical substations are fundamental in providing a reliable basis for Smart Grids. However, the deployment of the IEC-61850 standard for communication between Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs) brings new security challenges. Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs) play a vital role to ensure the proper function of digital substations services. However, the current literature lacks efficient IDS solutions for certain classes of attacks, such as the Masquerade attack. In this work, we propose the extraction and correlation of relevant multi-layer information to enable the deployment of machine learning-based IDSs in digital substations. Our results demonstrate that the proposed solution can detect attacks that are considered challenging in the literature, attaining an F1-score of up to 95.63% in the evaluated scenarios.


The Open University's repository of research publications and other research outputs A qualitative study exploring the acceptability of the McNulty-Zelen design for randomised controlled trials evaluating educational interventions Journal Article CIRT study group (2015). A qualitative study exploring the acceptability of the McNulty-Zelen design for randomised controlled trials evaluating educational interventions. BMC Family Practice, 16(1) For guidance on citations see FAQs. c [not recorded] Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. For more information on Open Research Online's data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policies page. Abstract Background: Traditional randomised controlled trials evaluating the effect of educational interventions in general practice may produce biased results as participants know they are being evaluated. We aimed to explore the acceptability of a McNulty-Zelen Cluster Randomised Control Trial (CRT) design which conceals from educational participants that they are in a RCT. Consent is obtained from a trusted third party considered appropriate to give consent on participants' behalf, intervention practice staff then choose whether to attend the offered education as would occur with normal continuing professional development.


A brief description is given of the microwave heating principles and the development of microwave chemistry along with an overview of microwave-based desulfuration and denitration.By the use of a microwave device and active carbon,a study of the simulation of flue gas with a simultaneous desulfuration and denitration has been conducted.With the help of this technology,96% of the carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide can be directly decomposed into environment-friendly nitrogen as well as valuable and recoverable elementary sulfur.Analyzed is the microwave-induced catalytic reduction-based desulfuration and denitration mechanism, pointing out that the microwave reduces the activation energy of the above-cited removal reactions.This indicates that the microwave not only promotes the process of reactions with its thermal effect but also gives full play to its catalytic action.


Objectives: Gastro-esophageal reflux-induced chronic cough is not easy to diagnose and treat. In this study, three patients diagnosed with this disease were treated with Ojeok-san plus Saengmaek-san. Methods: Three patients with chronic cough, suspected to be gastro-esophageal and reflux-based, were diagnosed according to symptoms and abdominal examinations. They were treated with the herbal medicine, Ojeok-san plus Saengmaek-san. To evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment, a visual analogue scale (VAS) for measuring the severity of a cough and the Korean version of the Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ-K) were used to determine the patients' quality of life. Results: After administration of Ojeok-san plus Saengmaek-san, the severity of the patients' coughing decreased based on VAS scores and quality of life improved based on LCQ-K scores for all patients. Conclusions: Ojeok-san plus Saengmaek-san is a potent therapeutic agent for gastro-esophageal reflux-induced chronic cough.


It is fair to say that back in the 1970s when people in Europe started to build tree ring chronologies in a serious manner, they tended to think in local terms. A north German oak chronology would be different from a south German chronology, an Irish oak chronology would be different from one for England, and so on. This assumption about regional differences was largely based on everyone's experience with local weather – if the weather is different the tree ring patterns will be different, we assumed. But now we know that the situation isn't like that at all. There are many years when the vast majority of oak trees exhibit similar responses all the way from Ireland to Poland.