Isotactic polypropylene (iPP) has the excellent characteristics of light weight, high recycling efficiency, and chemical resistance, and it is used for molded products and films, as well as for fibers. iPP fiber is mainly used for industrial materials [1], for which high tensile strength is desired from the viewpoint of environmental loading and energy consumption [2]. Commonly used iPP is synthesized using Ziegler-Natta catalysts containing multiple active sites, which causes a wide molecular weight distribution [3, 4]. In comparison, metallocene catalysts with a single active site can synthesize iPP with a narrower molecular weight distribution [3, 5]. In addition, high stereoregularity iPP was recently synthesized using a metallocene catalyst [6‒11]. Using the high stereoregularity and narrower molecular weight distribution iPP, fibers with higher tensile strength than Ziegler-Natta iPP fibers can be fabricated [11]. It is also known that the high molecular weight polymer can be used to fabricate high strength fibers [2, 12]. However, unfortunately, the long relaxation time of the high molecular weight polymer requires a high melt-spinning temperature, which tends to promote a molecular weight decrease [12], and it often reduces the effect of the high molecular weight. Fortunately, the above narrow molecular weight distribution iPP reportedly suppresses the molecular weight decrease during melt-spinning [13]. A further increase of the tensile strength can then be expected by using this type of iPP with higher molecular weight. In this study, fibers fabricated using the above type of metallocene iPP with 4 g/10 min melt index were analyzed, including their tensile properties, creep behavior at high temperature, and fiber structure. The molecular weight decrease during melt-spinning at 270-290 ̊C was also investigated. To estimate the attainable maximum tensile strength, the extruded polymer was taken up at the lowest possible speed, and the as-spun fiber was drawn up to the maximum draw ratio at the highest possible temperature. The nanometer to micrometer scale fiber structures were analyzed by wide, small, and ultra-small angle X-ray measurements. The obtained results were compared with those of Ziegler-Natta iPP with equivalent molecular weight and 【Transaction】


Utilization of phasor measurement units (PMUs) in the monitoring, protection and control of power systems has become increasingly important in recent years. The aim of the optimal PMU placement (OPP) problem is to provide the minimal PMU installations to ensure full observability of the power system. Several methods, based on mathematical and heuristic algorithms, have been suggested for the OPP problem. This paper presents a thorough description of the state of the art of the optimization methods applied to the OPP problem, analyzing and classifying current and future research trends in this field.


In order to promote development of independent travel market in China,the authors deliver the questionares for the investigation of the independent tourist behavior.The investigation indicates that traffic facilities and quality of traffic service are the main factors that influences the travelling.Therefore,it is necessary to improve the service functions of railway system,better the service funofions of long-distance buses,realize the combination work of railway and highway transportation,set up a good system for traffic information,perfect the pre-warning mechanism of traffic police and try to establish a good non-person guide system.


Due to technological developments, 3D city models have become valuable in various domains such as emergency services, facilities management, tourism and entertainment along with several applications such as the estimation of solar irradiation, routing, lighting simulations, etc. However, many cities in the world, especially in developing countries, still suffer from lack of 3D city models. It seems that the main reason for this deficiency is that 3D city models are expensive. Furthermore, acquiring semantic and thematic data as an indispensable part of 3D city models is an exhausting and time-consuming task. Nowadays, a geospatial data collecting technique, which is an inexpensive and promptness solution, has been developed. This technique is based on crowdsourcing concept and is recognized as Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI). In this paper, we have used VGI as a free and promptness technique for data gathering to solve the abovementioned problems in the Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University as the study area. We gathered the minimum required data for creating a 3D city model based on the CityGML standard as the most well-known and acceptable standard by VGI. Also, 3DcityDB that supports CityGML was used for data storage task. In order to collect the required data, an Android mobile application was developed based on Open Data Kit (ODK). In this study, the volunteers were asked to provide their estimations of the heights of buildings as well as some other spatial and attribute data. Consequently, a 3D city model was produced based on the CityGML standard that achieved LOD 1 and 2. For validation, the heights of buildings obtained from VGI were compared to the accurately measured heights. The calculated RMSE for this comparison was 1.33 meter, proving the abilities of VGI in collecting reliable datasets.


Abstract The study of seismic earth pressure is essential for the design of a retaining wall in the earthquake-prone regions. Pseudo-static and pseudo-dynamic approaches are widely used for cohesionless soil backfill without considering the effect of soil amplification. Soil amplification is a very important factor for the calculation of seismic active earth pressure and should not be ignored in the design in the earthquake-prone regions. In this paper, a generalized formulation has been presented to compute the seismic active earth pressure distribution on the inclined retaining wall back-face. The retaining wall supports the inclined cohesionless soil backfill. A parametric study has been conducted to study the effect of various parameters like soil friction angle, the inclination of wall back-face, the inclination of soil backfill, wall friction angle, soil amplification, horizontal and vertical seismic coefficients. The results of the present study have been compared with the available results of an earlier study. The study highlighted the effect of model parameters on seismic earth pressure.


of sales office to total employment for petroleum companies may indicate that central administrative offices attached to petroleum bulk stations were performing largely a sales function. The ratio of central administrative office employment to total employment for petroleum companies, as tabulated in the 1954 Census, was unusually high. A large proportion of central office employment for companies emanated from offices attached to bulk stations.


Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) is a promising remediation technology for contaminated soils. This work investigates the use of SFE to remove petroleum hydrocarbons (PHCs) from flare pit soils. Extractions were performed on two flare pit soils at pressures ranging from 11.0 to 24.1 MPa and at temperatures ranging from 40 to 80 °C in an attempt to identify the best extraction conditions and to understand the effects of pressure, temperature, supercritical fluid flow rate, soil type, and extraction time on the extraction efficiency. For the conditions studied, the efficiency of the SFE process appeared to be solvent-density dependent. Conditions of 24.1 MPa and 40 °C (highest supercritical fluid density) yielded the highest extraction efficiency for both soils (89% for the sand and 80% for the loam). An increase in temperature at a fixed pressure led to a decrease in the extraction efficiency while an increase in pressure at a fixed temperature led to an increase in the extraction efficiency. The treat...


Anomalous amounts of silver and/or gold have been identified in 153 mining districts or prospect areas of New Mexico. Production from most of these occurrences has been small; figures or estimates are given when known. Thirty-five districts have produced in excess of 10,000 troy ounces of gold or 200,000 ounces of silver. Silver and gold in New Mexico occur in 14 distinct types of deposits ranging in age from Precambrian (Proterozoic) to Recent. Mid-Tertiary to Recent deposits include the placer, volcanic-epithermal, supergene copper-uranium (silver), and Great Plains Margin types. Late Cretaceous to mid-Tertiary deposits include the sedimentary-hydrothermal barite-fluorite-galena, carbonate-hosted silver (leadmanganese ), lead-zinc and copper skarn, Laramide vein, and prophyry-copper types. Late Paleozoic to early Mesozoic deposits include the sedimentary-copper type and possibly some of the Permian Mississippi Valley type. Precambrian deposits include the vein and replacement and Precambrian massive-sulfide types. Deposits that have produced significant silver and/or gold as the primary product are the placer, volcanic-epithermal, Great Plains Margin, carbonate-hosted silver, and Laramide vein types. Deposits that have produced significant precious metals as a byproduct of basemetal mining include the carbonate-hosted lead-zinc, copper skarn, and porphyry-copper types.


✓ Intracranial epidural pressure (EDP) was recorded in 29 patients admitted with ruptured saccular aneurysms, but unfit for immediate surgery. In 10 patients a total of 13 recurrent hemorrhages were recorded; the average time before rerupture was 7.7 days after the last hemorrhage. Ten of the rebleedings started from intracranial pressure levels at or below 400 mm H2O whereas three started from higher prerupture levels. The observations indicate an increasing risk of rebleeding as the epidural pressure decreases toward normal pressure. Most repeat hemorrhages are arrested at EDP levels about that of the diastolic blood pressure. The resulting reduced pressure gradient across the aneurysm wall is important in the arrest of hemorrhage and the maintenance of hemostasis. Measurement of internal carotid artery blood flow during the acute stage of recurrent hemorrhage shows marked changes in blood flow pattern. Arrest of blood flow occurred only at the end of diastole; forward flow occurred only during systole....


Successful categorization of epileptic electroencephalogram (EEG) signals is a crucial part in making a correct diagnosis of epilepsy. The findings of an electroencephalogram (EEG) test are also used in this categorization to assess whether or not the EEG signal represents an epileptic signal (healthy). There have been many suggested automated algorithms to help neurologists with the classification of these signals. Although these methods have often resulted in high average accuracy during classification, there is still room for advancement in terms of performance. We thus present a multi-segment EEG-based convolutional neural network for epilepsy-related EEG data classification. To train and test the neural network convolutional thoroughly, the spectrogram picture is fed into it. Each EEG signal segment on each test channel is first classified using the convolutional neural network model based on the training results, and then the results are combined in an ensemble for a final classification.


ZnO nanowires doped with Mn, Fe, Sn, and Li during the thermal growth following direct chemical synthesis were investigated using electric and magnetic measurements. Currentvoltage characteristics of individual nanowires configured as a two-terminal device with Al electrodes show apparent rectify behavior indicating the Schottky-like barrier formation and resistivity being less 3 Ω·cm. Reproducible resistance modulation by a dc voltage at room temperature is observed. Magnetic susceptibility of the doped nanowires as a function of temperature demonstrates Curie–Weiss behavior. Magnetization versus field curves show hysteresis with the coercive field of about 200 Oe. The spatially-resolved magnetic force measurements of individual nanowires revealed the magnetic domain structure. The domains align perpendicular to c-axis and can be polarized in the external magnetic field.


This paper describes the CitiExpert system, an artificial intelligence system developed for a commercial bank to increase the productivity and effectiveness of funds transfer telex request operations. These telexes were previously processed manually. Data entry operators would read and analyze the telex and then type information at a standard ASCII terminal interface. CitiExpert applies a combination of natural language processing techniques and rule-based expert system techniques to automatically analyze the telex and to generate a formatted equivalent. CitiExpert also provides a sophisticated intelligent user interface which aids users by applying the system's domain knowledge to the interactive session. The paper discusses the previously existing technical and organizational environment at the client bank, and the factors and technical solutions which made CitiExpert a success. CitiExpert has been in production use since June of 1985.


This paper is concerned with the collective behavior of a group of n > 1 mobile autonomous agents, labelled 1 through n, which can all move in the plane. Each agent is able to continuously track the positions of all other agents currently within its "sensing region" where by an agent's sensing region is meant a closed disk of positive radius r centered at the agent's current position. The multi-agent rendezvous problem is to devise "local" control strategies, one for each agent, which without any active communication between agents, cause all members of the group to eventually rendezvous at single unspecified location. This paper describes a family of asynchronously functioning strategies for solving the problem. Correctness is established appealing to the concept of "analytic synchronization".


Negative regulation of B cell receptor signaling may contribute to B cell selection and cell fate determination in germinal centers. A crowded party means lots of sensory inputs and the need to "tune out" distracting signals to have productive interactions. On page 1178 in this issue, Khalil et al. (1) suggest that in a crowded environment, B cells too must tune out distracting inputs so that they can be responsive to key interactions.


Sensorless technology and torque ripple suppression are always the hot and difficult points in the research of brushless DC motor control strategy. This paper deeply analyzes the structure and working principle of brushless DC motor, and theoretically analyzes PID control algorithm, predictive control algorithm and sliding film control algorithm. It verifies the control strategy of brushless DC motor through practical cases, and looks forward to the application prospect and development trend of brushless DC motor in the industrial process.


It is observed that classical controller design techniques, i.e., particularly fixed type of PI/PD/PID analytical control approach, fails for the parametric uncertainty issues. However, the graphical approach for PID tuning and advanced control techniques such as H infinity, Quantitative feedback technique (QFT) have already been developed for handling parametric uncertainty, but these approaches are complex. Because of this, instead of using advanced controller techniques and graphical PID tuning approach, a variant of PID, i.e., a fixed type proportional derivative (PD) controller design is proposed for a single input single output plant (SISO) interval system with no zeros using Krishnamurthy's approach based on Routh criterion, Kharitonov's theorem and model order reduction approach based on Routh criterion. The beauty of the proposed approach is that the direct formulae is proposed for the tuning of the PD controller for an interval system. The proposed controller design gives the necessary and sufficient condition of stability and also the desired performance. The proposed approach is validated through simulation, and further experimental validation is carried out on the Servo system.


The automatic control system of auto washer based on fuzzy control with single-chip computer AT89C51 can be implemented by intelligence control,so the quality of washing is improved and the source is saved. The hardware configuration and software flow chart of the system are preferred. The software of fuzzy control has a decisive part in whole control process.


The paper describes a numerical technique for calculating transient radiation fields (both near and far zone) of simple conical antennas such as bi-conical, disc-conical, TEM-horn, bow-tie antennas, etc. The method is based on applying mode matching technique to the junction of two conical waveguides one of which is the free space. The problem is considered in Time Domain, the antenna is excited with a TEM-wave, and waveforms of the radiated spherical harmonics are determined using FDTD time marching for the uncoupled mode channels with matching condition at the junction.


O Subjects' task : ordering 5 sound clips according to their reverberation time! O Two successive conditions (intra-subject) : ! o Control (sound clips without any picture) ! o Experimental! • Coherent condition (sound clips with coherent room pictures)! • Incoherent condition (sound clips with incoherent room pictures)! • Control condition (sound clips without any picture)! O Two populations : expert (students in architecture) and novice (students in other sections) ! O Two dependent variables:! • Performance analysed by the Spearman correlation coefficient between the theoretical order and the observed order! • Response times to perform their choices! Method!


Background: Kearns Sayre Syndrome (KSS) is a rare mitochondrial disorder with systemic involvement characterised by skeletal, smooth and cardiac muscle dysfunction; pigmentary retinal changes; neurological and endocrine dysfunction. KSS arise from a large-scale deletion of mitochondrial DNA which typically occurs as a sporadic event. Recurrent cardiac syncope is one way of the initial presentation of this syndrome due to involvement of cardiac conduction system. Case presentation: A 51-year-old male, previously well apart from having stable angina for which he was on aspirin and statin, presented to medical casualty with recurrent syncopal episodes with loss of consciousness lasting 3 minutes to 5 minutes and spontaneous recovery after each event. On ocular examination he was found to be have poor vision (best corrected visual acuity in both eyes was 6/60), bilateral posterior subcapsular cataract and both eyes fundus revealed features of retinitis pigmentosa with cystoid macular oedema. A 12 lead electrocardiography (ECG) on admission showed evidence of atrial flutter with variable heart block leading to significant pauses and the patient underwent permanent pacemaker insertion as he was severely symptomatic. Patient was referred to visual rehabilitation. Conclusion: Mitochondrial myopathy is an important differential diagnosis which needs to be considered in a patient presenting with recurrent cardiac syncope in the context of multisystem involvement.


The phase and chemical composition,reaction properties and foaming ability of Yunnan Haikou phosphate tailings were studied with the results indicating that the main phase of the gangue is CaMg(CO3)2,Ca5(PO4)3F,SiO2,the content of MgO is 11.59% and P2O5 9.87%.The phosphate tailings had high reaction activity and low resistance to retardency with highly foaming ability.So,it needs to add the defoaming agent.


Socialization is an important character of modern science technology since 20th century.Firstly,modern science technology shows socialization essence even more,including the socialization of scientists,science organizational system,science technological affects,science technological direction,science technological contents,and so on.Secondly,modern scientific technology shows socialization function even more.The socialization degree of scientific technological function is higher than before information era.


Intermittent noninvasive oscillometric blood pressure (NIBP) measurement and continuous measurement of heart rate are the most common hemodynamic monitors used in clinical practice. In the context of monitoring during cesarean delivery, NIBP is sometimes measured at 1-minute intervals until delivery. A new device, a continuous noninvasive arterial pressure (CNAP) device, can also provide BP readings at 1-minute intervals. It consists of an inflatable cuff on 1 finger and uses infrared plethysmography to continuously measure the systolic, mean, and diastolic pressures and display a waveform. A traditional upper arm blood pressure (BP) cuff is used for calibration. This study was undertaken to compare the efficacy and reliability of the NIBP and CNAP methods for measuring frequent BPs (every minute) after initiating spinal anesthesia for cesarean delivery. The accuracy of CNAP and NIBP measurements before spinal anesthesia was also evaluated. Nonlaboring women at >34 weeks' gestation undergoing elective cesarean delivery with spinal anesthesia were enrolled in the study. Three simultaneous readings of NIBP and CNAP systolic, diastolic, and mean pressures were obtained before spinal anesthesia. Spinal anesthesia with bupivacaine 11mg and fentanyl 15mg was then administered. During each 1-minute interval between the injection of spinal anesthetic and delivery of the fetus, it was noted whether or not each device provided a new systolic, diastolic, and mean BP reading. The study was stopped at delivery. Reliability of each device was defined as (minutes with a successful BP reading)/(time between spinal anesthesia and delivery) and was reported as a percentage. The accuracy of CNAP compared with NIBP before spinal anesthesia was determined using Bland-Altman plots and by calculating the mean bias (NIBP CNAP) and limits of agreement (±2SD mean bias). The study included 59 women, with a mean age of 29 years. Mean times from spinal anesthesia to delivery and from incision to delivery were 22.5 and 12.3 minutes, respectively. The number of times the NIBP device failed for 1, 2, 3, or Z4 consecutive minutes were 200, 12, 5, and 0. For CNAP, the respective failures were 87, 24, 15, and 8. The total number of failed readings was 239 and 230 for the NIBP and CNAP methods, respectively. In 2 women, CNAP failed for 8 consecutive minutes. During the first 3 minutes after spinal anesthesia, the mean reliability of NIBP and CNAP was 64% and 67%, respectively. For obese women the reliabilities were 80% and 84%, respectively. Hypotension occurred in 21 patients; NIBP and CNAP reliability in hypotensive patients was 84% and 80%, respectively. The mean bias and limits of agreement for systolic, diastolic, and mean BPs, respectively, were +1.3 (±26.0), 2.9 (±21.8), and +2.6 (±20.4). Accuracy of the CNAP readings was determined by the percentage of CNAP readings within 5 and 10mm Hg of NIBP readings. For systolic readings, 37% and 61% were within 5 and 10mm Hg; for diastolic pressures, these percentages were 51% and 74%, respectively, and for mean pressures 53% and 78%, respectively. All patients completed the study without complaints or complications from the monitoring. The NIBP and CNAP monitors have similar reliability during cesarean delivery under spinal anesthesia. However, there were episodes when the CNAP had a longer duration of measurement failure compared with the NIBP. In addition, the accuracy of CNAP compared with NIBP in this study did not meet the guidelines of the European Society of Hypertension for acceptance of a new BP monitor. Therefore, additional studies are required to confirm the accuracy and reliability of this device to measure rapidly changing BPs during cesarean delivery.


In the present investigation, expressions of mRNAs encoding IGF-I and IGF-II were detected in intact follicles of different sizes, granulosa cells, corpus luteum (CL) and corpus albicans (CA) from buffalo ovary, using semi-quantitative RT-PCR technique. The effect of FSH and LH on expression of mRNAs encoding IGFs and sequencing of partial IGF- I and IGF-II cDNAs were studied. The results for expression of mRNAs encoding IGF-I and IGF-II in small ( 10 mm) intact follicles and granulosa cells revealed significant increase in mRNAs expression with increase in follicle size. During luteal phase, the presence of expression of mRNAs encoding IGFs in corpus luteum (CL) and corpus albicans (CA) indicated their role in growth, differentiation and regression of luteal tissues. The treatment of granulosa cells culture with varying doses of FSH, did not show any stimulatory effect on expression of mRNAs encoding IGF-I and IGF-II. However, LH induced significantly IGF-I mRNA expression. The partial cDNA products of IGF-I and IGF-II, were sequenced. The blasting of IGF-I sequence (196 nucleotides) with that of other species exhibited the homology in the range of 93–99% whereas it was in the range of 88–100% for IGF-II sequence (154 nucleotides). The results showed that IGF-I and IGF-II play important role during follicular and luteal phases of buffalo ovary.


The dry rice seeds were radiated with same dosage of ~(60)Co-γ rays. In its M_2 generation, observation was made for the rate and extent of early ripening mutants. The results of three consecutive years showed that: 1. The average early ripening mutant rate was 1.40%. The rate in early type of varieties (0.73%) was lower than that of late type varieties (1.93%). There was a positive correlation (r = 0.40) between rate of mutants and the growing period length of the varieties used. 2. The growing period length of these early ripening mutants was moved up 9.5 days in average, 4.5 and 10.3 days for those early and late type of varieties, respectively. Some late varieties moved up about 30 days.


In a scraper device for a in a construction machine to a machine frame (4) between side walls (8) having a milling roller bearing (5) milling drum (6) with a in the direction of travel behind the milling drum (6) height-adjustably arranged two-piece scraper blade (10), the lower can slide part (12) of the milling drum (6) milled bottom surface (9), wherein the lower part (12) of the scraper blade (10) in the operating position is adjustable in height, it is provided that the upper part (14) of the scraper blade (10) at the upper end (16) is attached to a to the milling roller (5) parallel to the pivot axis (18) is pivotally mounted, that the scraper blade (10) is in the operative position with lateral retaining means (20) on the side walls (8) in engagement holding the scraper blade (10) extending in a direction substantially orthogonal to the bottom surface (9) position that a swiveling device (30), the scraper blade (10) about the Schwenka CHSE can pivot (18) when the scraper blade (10) is disengaged from the lateral retaining means (20), and that the pivoting device (30) at the upper end (16) of the upper part (14) of the scraper blade (10) between a stationary part (32) of the construction machine (1) and the upper part (14) of the scraper blade (10) articulated actuator (34).


Augmented reality is gaining more popularity and have been considered as a vital technology. A combination of AR and VR is known as Mixed Reality (MR).This concept is more complicated than augmented reality and virtual reality since it integrates the several types of technologies which includes advanced optics, sensors, and computing power. This allows users to visualize the real world and virtual world at same time, a high range of communication between users and computational device to manipulation of the surrounding information. We studied the technologies collaborated into a single device, which will allow user the capability to arrange augmented concepts in real time space which gives the best creating scenario of overlying virtual images.


some extent, would be more accurately deducible from such details. Whatever the reason, China observers can do no more in the circumstances than continue to sharpen their tools of scientific guessing. The People's Daily devoted its customary New Year day editorial message to the &dquo;magnificent&dquo; Third Plan and brimming with confidence claimed that &dquo;since liberation, there have never been such favourable condi-


This study used different supporting media (poly-styrene sheet, sand, and gravel) during outdoor hydroponic farming of onion within a natural environment setup. Domestic onion variety Taherpuri was taken as a model onion plant. As for performance parameters, plant height, number and length of leaf, length of root, bulb weight, number of bulblet, and chlorophyll contents were recorded. The number of produced leaves was almost same, although the length of leaf and root was found to have variations in these three supporting media. The yield (weight of bulb and number of bulblet) performance was slightly higher in polystyrene sheets (7.74 g and 3 bulblets per plant) than in the others. Chlorophyll-a, Chlorophyll-b, and total chlorophylls were comparatively higher in polystyrene sheets, 0.530, 0.764, and 1.294 mg/g respectively. Other growth parameters also showed better results in the case of polystyrene sheets. Finally, the results suggested that the polystyrene sheet as a hydroponic floating bed is suitable for outdoor hydroponics for onion cultivation.


The development objective of Competitiveness and Enterprise Development Project for Uganda is to improve the competitiveness of enterprises in Uganda by providing support for: (i) the implementation of business environment reforms, including the land administration reform and (ii) the development of priority productive and service sectors. This restructuring requires the following changes: (i) change in project closing date by twelve months from March 31, 2019 until March 31, 2020; (ii) disbursement estimates need to be revised reflecting the actual disbursements in the past years and an updated forecast for the future years based on the projected implementation schedule of the ongoing activities; and (iii) the results framework needs to be updated to align with the extended project implementation period.


The invention relates to an automatic analyzing apparatus for determining a concentration dependent of one or more ingredients of a measurement liquid measured variable, comprising: - a measuring cell comprising a cuvette, and a measuring transducer, wherein the sensor has at least one radiation source which is adapted to emit measuring radiation, and at least one detector, which is configured to generate measurement signals which are dependent on a light incident on the detector intensity of the radiation emitted by the radiation source measurement radiation, and wherein the radiation source and the detector are aligned with each other and to the cuvette in that the measurement radiation passes through the sample cell before it impinges on the detector; - a control and evaluation device, which which is configured for processing the received measurement signals is connected to the sensor for receiving measuring signals of the sensor and; - a serving for receiving the test liquid sample receiving vessel which is connected via a fluid line system with the cuvette; and - a controllable by the control and evaluation device conveying and metering device; wherein the control and evaluation device is configured to control the conveying and metering device for the transport of liquid to be measured from the sample receiving vessel in the cuvette and monitored in the cuvette by means of the sensor measuring the transport of the liquid.


South African truck drivers face some of the most challenging working conditions, perpetually exposed to both health and safety risks on the road, with the high incidence of hijacking in the country being an everyday reality.


This short article examines the Supreme Court of Canada's decision to issue a mandatory mandamus in the 2011 Insite decision as opposed to a declaration used in the 2010 Khadr decision. It suggests the two decisions can be reconciled by attention to the particular factual record of the Insite decision and that this may limit the value of the Insite case as a precedent to support the use of mandatory remedies.


idespread tree death in forests of Europe and North America has provoked a deep concern among scientists and the public as to the cause of these diebacks. The deaths may be induced by human activity, for example, air pollution or acidic precipitation. But even naturally occurring tree diseases and pests, which can destroy the forests of major parks and wilderness areas, prompt concern that there may be management actions that might have better protected these ecosystems. Part of the difficulty in solving these and similar problems is that in systems such as forests the causes of damage are often a mixture of allogenic factors (e.g., pollutant stress and climatic fluctuations) and autogenic causes (e.g., forest age-structure and longevities of the trees). This article focuses on the general behavior of forests in the relatively long term (100to 1000-year time scales), using a set of detailed ecological models. The principal goal is to elucidate patterns in forest dynamics that are a consequence of coupling the species-specific patterns of birth and death.


Objective: The purpose of initiating contrast enhanced digital mammography in our center was to evaluate the complimentary benefit of this technology with screening digital mammography and real time ultrasound in equivocal cases and high risk patients with dense breast. The intended goal was to reduce the incidence of further diagnostic and invasive procedures. Methods: Patients thought to be candidates who had good renal function confirmed by serum Blood Urea Nitrogen (BUN) and Creatinine were offered the procedure, and 225 patients had the procedure during the period of March 2013 through November 2014. The contrast enhanced digital mammograms (SenoBright) are performed on the Senograph Essential Unit. A total of 8 images are obtained: 4 conventional digital mammograms and 4 contrast enhanced digital mammograms. The patients with a positive SenoBright study had a tissue diagnosis of the lesion obtained by either a stereotactic needle biopsy, ultrasound guided core biopsy, or ultrasound directed open excisional biopsy. Results: The 225 patients who had the procedure included high risk patients with dense breast (41), patients with abnormal mammograms (92), and patients with equivocal clinical, mammographic and real time ultrasound findings (92). 31 studies were interpreted as positive and 194 as negative. 33 biopsies were performed, with 31 patients having a positive study and 2 patients with a negative study. 22 cancers were detected. Conclusion: We found that the addition of dynamic contrast enhanced digital subtraction mammography (SenoBright) was helpful in distinguishing malignant from non-malignant lesions. It was also effective in demonstrating multifocal lesions and identifying non-palpable occult carcinomas in the dense breast. It proved to be a valuable complimentary adjunctive diagnostic modality for a comprehensive clinical breast center.


The final thesis analysis of the student's thesis aims to obtain: 1) research design input, 2) in-depth information about the student thesis research profile, 3) various areas of expertise that are the focus of student research, 4) input on the research procedures undertaken by students, and 5) know the results and research products of students. This study uses 6 stages, namely: 1) Unitizing (uniting); 2) Sampling; 3) Recording / coding; 4) Reducing; 5) Inferring (taking conclusions), 6) Naratting (narration). The results of this study are: 1) 65% thesis abstract number of artistry there are 4, the formulation of the problem is less in accordance with the title (36%), the order of the conclusion of the thesis conclusion is less in accordance with the hypothesis and research questions (48%), while the composition of the thesis is coherent from the title, problem formulation, hypothesis / research questions, and conclusions there are only 36% of the total thesis there; 2) The existence of words that are less operational in the formulation of the problem (16%), the use of words that are less appropriate in the title (5%), the existence of the title of the thesis that is less appropriate to the field of expertise (5%).


arteries that arise fromtheproximal posterior cerebral artery. A patient with this syndrome isdescribed inwhomabilateral paramedian midbrain infarct wasshownby computed tomography andconfirmed pathologically. Toourknowledge, this isonlythesecond reported caseofmesencephalic infarct shownbycomputed tomography andthefirst inwhich the CTfindings havebeencorroborated bypathological examination. Thesyndrome ofthemesencephalic artery' isthe clinical constellation ofakinetic mutismandthird nervepalsy whichresults fromocclusion ofoneor moreoftheposterior thalamoperforating arteries of Percheron:23 these aretheanterior andposterior thalamo-subthalamic paramedian andsuperior and inferior mesencephalic paramedian arteries. Allof these penetrating branches arise fromtheproximal three orfourmillimeters ofeachposterior cerebral artery whichhasbeenvariously namedthebasilar communicating arteryand themesencephalic artery.' Theresulting infarct involves themidbrain, subthalamus and/or thethalamus andtypically hasa butterfly shape because apenetrating branch from onemesencephalic artery maysupply bothparamedianareas. Thesyndrome ofthemesencephalic artery isnot well-known toneurologists, inpartbecause ofthe rarity oftheinfarct, butalso because ofthedifficulties ofdiagnosis. According toFisher,3 infarcts inthe distribution ofthemesencephalic artery arenotusually disclosed onCTscan. We nowdescribe apatient withthesyndrome ofthemesencephalic artery in whomabilateral paramedian midbrain infarct was documentedby computedtomography and confirmed pathologically. Toourknowledge, this is Address forreprint requests: M SethHochman, MD,3661South MiamiAvenue, Miami, Florida 33133, USA.


Objective To observe the curative effect on anal fissure with lateral side-cut of inner sphincter.Methods 90 cases of such patient were selected with different methods of lateral side-cut and expend-cut every in 45 cases.The treatment was same before and after operation.The curative effect was observed.Results The short term effect was 100% after 4 weeks follow-up.The pain in side-cut group was slight as rapid healing and less complication.Conclusion This method might have less duration,less injury,less pain and easy performed.It should be widely used.


With cloud computing's paradigm shift for IT industries, the concept of thin clients has become popular again. There are usually numerous nodes with various functions in a cloud computing system. It is important to deploy different cloud operating systems (cloud OSs) onto different nodes. The conventional method of using unicast deployment to distribute a massive cloud OS onto thousands of nodes is time consuming and bandwidth-intensive. In this work, we propose a multicast deployment approach to significantly improve deployment efficiency. Furthermore, our multicast deployment approach can leverage existing configurations of the unicast counterpart. Therefore, customized deployment for different groups of nodes can be achieved. To evaluate the feasibility of the proposed approach in practical applications, our deployment approach is implemented using CentOS and Ubuntu on many nodes. Empirical studies show that the required time for the entire distribution process is significantly reduced, from starting delivery until the OS is ready. Moreover, network bandwidth consumption is also significantly reduced compared with the conventional unicast deployment. Consequently, system administrators must spend less effort on monitoring and maintenance.


Since the 1990s, the 4P's ( product, price, place, promotion) theory of marketing was successively challenged by theory of 4C ( consumer, cost, convenience, communication ) and 4R ( realevancy, reaction, relation, reward).The marketing practices of some well-known enterprises also have proved that utilizing the new marketing theory brings them rich and generous rewards. New century calls for new marketing. New marketing needs not only marketing theory, but also new marketing talents.


Humanoid robots offer many physical design choices such as voice frequency and head dimensions. We used hierarchical statistical mediation analysis to trace differences in people's mental model of robots from these choices. In an experiment, a humanoid robot gave participants online advice about their health. We used mediation analysis to identify the causal path from the robot's voice and head dimensions to the participants' mental model, and to their willingness to follow the robot's advice. The male robot voice predicted impressions of a knowledgeable robot, whose advice participants said they would follow. Increasing the voice's fundamental frequency reduced this effect. The robot's short chin length (but not its forehead dimensions) predicted impressions of a sociable robot, which also predicted intentions to take the robot's advice. We discuss the use of this approach for designing robots for different roles, when people's mental model of the robot matters.


The invention relates to a flange means (2) for an air supply device (1) of an internal combustion engine, particularly a motor vehicle, having a housing (4) of plastic, which has at least one inlet channel (6) for each cylinder of the internal combustion engine, having a fuel rail (5) of metal, which has a port for each cylinder (7) for connecting a fuel injector, wherein the housing (4) has a flange (8) of the outlet openings of the inlet channels (6) surrounds and with the housing (4) at the internal combustion engine can be secured. A simplified mountability is obtained when a plurality of bridge portions (9) on the housing (4) formed integrally engage over which the fuel rail (5) facing away from one of the flange (8) side, and if each bridge portion (9) distal (to the intake channels 6) has a supporting sleeve (10), through which the respective bridge portion (9) of the internal combustion engine can be secured.


This paper describes the process of preparing a computer study of Brazilian Portuguese literary texts to be used both in teaching and in the preparation of a reference text. Procedural difficulties encountered in the project point out the potential and limitations of computerized research in literary studies. Seven possible areas for computer applications are outlined with reference to soecialized texts for further study. These include the preparation of word lists, bibliographical lists, and concordances; linguistic and content analyses; attribution studies; and critical editions. (PL) "PORTUGUESE AND THE COMPUTER:


This article describes the functional and technical side of Railways Ltd. mobile terminals project. The advantage of mobile terminals lies in the greater efficiency of railway tickets vending, the control and real-time supervision of complete process of vending tickets in the country. Mobile terminals allow railway conductors to automatically vend and verify tickets. Also, information about each sold ticket is transmitted wirelessly via GSM/GRPS in real time or near real time. The information about sold tickets is received by the central server and stored in the main database. The data are available for analysis and report making.


This clinical report reviews the nutritional options during pregnancy, lactation, and the first year of life that may affect the development of atopic disease (atopic dermatitis, asthma, food allergy) in early life. It replaces an earlier policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics that addressed the use of hypoallergenic infant formulas and included provisional recommendations for dietary management for the prevention of atopic disease. The documented benefits of nutritional intervention that may prevent or delay the onset of atopic disease are largely limited to infants at high risk of developing allergy (ie, infants with at least 1 first-degree relative [parent or sibling] with allergic disease). Current evidence does not support a major role for maternal dietary restrictions during pregnancy or lactation. There is evidence that breastfeeding for at least 4 months, compared with feeding formula made with intact cow milk protein, prevents or delays the occurrence of atopic dermatitis, cow milk allergy, and wheezing in early childhood. In studies of infants at high risk of atopy and who are not exclusively breastfed for 4 to 6 months, there is modest evidence that the onset of atopic disease may be delayed or prevented by the use of hydrolyzed formulas compared with formula made with intact cow milk protein, particularly for atopic dermatitis. Comparative studies of the various hydrolyzed formulas also indicate that not all formulas have the same protective benefit. There is also little evidence that delaying the timing of the introduction of complementary foods beyond 4 to 6 months of age prevents the occurrence of atopic disease. At present, there are insufficient data to document a protective effect of any dietary intervention beyond 4 to 6 months of age for the development of atopic disease. INTRODUCTION Over the past several decades, the incidence of atopic diseases such as asthma, atopic dermatitis, and food allergies has increased dramatically. Among children up to 4 years of age, the incidence of asthma has increased 160%, and the incidence of atopic dermatitis has increased twofold to threefold.1 The incidence of peanut allergy has also doubled in the past decade.2 Thus, atopic diseases increasingly are a problem for clinicians who provide health care to children. It has been recognized that early childhood events, including diet, are likely to be important in the development of both childhood and adult diseases. This clinical report will review the nutritional options during pregnancy, lactation, and the first year of life that may or may not affect the development of atopic disease. Although www.pediatrics.org/cgi/doi/10.1542/ peds.2007-3022 doi:10.1542/peds.2007-3022 All clinical reports from the American Academy of Pediatrics automatically expire 5 years after publication unless reaffirmed, revised, or retired at or before that time. The guidance in this report does not indicate an exclusive course of treatment or serve as a standard of medical care. Variations, taking into account individual circumstances, may be appropriate.


In this paper, we report the results of an initial study to characterize the resonance behavior of ultra-thin, large area, circular polycrystalline diamond diaphragms as a potential structural material for resonant sensors. The resonant response of the diaphragms fabricated on Si substrates was measured for excitation frequencies from the low kHz to 1 MHz. Due to the large aspect ratio, a high Young's modulus and high quality factors, resonances enter the nonlinear Duffing regime at very low drive voltages. This nonlinear behavior is known for its use in parametric excitation, allowing for interesting applications in many areas, including quantum optics and plasma physics. Higher resonance mode center frequencies were found to deviate from expected frequencies when compared to membrane theory due to the large aspect ratio and high Young's modulus-to-stress ratio.


The process of medical diagnosis is an important stage in the study of human health. One of the directions of such diagnostics is the analysis of images of blood smears. In doing so, it is important to use different methods and analysis tools for image processing. It is also important to consider the specificity of blood smear imaging. The paper discusses various methods for analyzing blood smear images. The features of the application of the image processing technique for the analysis of a blood smear are highlighted. The results of processing blood smear images are presented.


The increasing use of sonography for evaluating acute abdomen has brought greater recognition of appendicular abnormalities. We present an incidental finding of an appendiceal diverticulum during a sonographic examination of a 4‐year‐old child with acute appendicitis. Abdominal sonography showed an enlarged, swollen appendix with a diam‐eter of 1.1 cm and a small, fingerlike lateral projection approximately 2.0 cm from its tip. The specimen, re‐sected during an appendectomy, was 5.5 cm long and 1.0 cm in diameter and had a 0.3‐cm outpouching. Microscopic examination revealed a pseudodiverticulum composed of mucosa and muscularis mucosa. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Clin Ultrasound 30:45–47, 2002.


A new affine invariant feature extraction method based on the affine geometry property is presented in the paper.New conceptions named Extended Centroid(EC) and Affine Region Cutting(ARC) are firstly introduced.A series of ECs are then extracted by iterative ARC,and invariant features are constructed from the ratio of the area of the triangle which are formed with ECs.Compared with other affine invariant techniques,the ECARC based method shows good performance in computational complexity and stability to the illumination and 3D rotation in certain range.


Exergaming and wearable devices have been implemented successfully in PE classes. It can potentially increase motivation for physical activity and participation in PE classes. Exergames showed to have a positive influence by increasing the physical activity among inactive children during PE classes. The popularity of wearable devices among students undoubtedly increase its usages in PE classes. However, what remains unknown is whether the implementation of these devices at the same time (exergames and wearable devices) can help in promoting and embedding "quality" in PE classes.


Russia has historically strived to bridge principles of multilateral decision making with those of multipolar balance of power. Not infrequently, Russia's efforts to maximize power have been a response to failed attempts of entering Western-centered international arrangements, such as NATO and the European Union. Inde- pendently of those efforts, Russia also has sought to preserve the capabilities of a regional great power essen - tial for securing its border and meeting other security challenges. In the world that is no longer ordered by the West, Russia will continue to emphasize the institutional primacy of the United Nations, while seeking to strengthen relations with both Western-centered and non-Western international organizations. Russia's Perspective on Global Governance: Multipolar Multilateralism Russia has historically emerged as a regional great power with strong transcontinental ties and sustained influ - ence in global affairs. Russian leaders have always been preoccupied with defending the country's long borders and cultural allies—Orthodox Christians in the 19 th century, communists in the 20 th century and ethnic Russians after the Soviet Union's disintegration. Meet- ing these challenges required that Russia develop power capabilities and be recognized as an influential player in both regional and global settings. Russia has therefore viewed a regional power status as a prerequisite for a sus- tained multilateral engagement and a concert of great


Background Geographic access to obstetric care facilities has a significant influence on women's uptake of institutional delivery care. However, this effect was not consistent across studies. Some studies reported that geographic access to obstetric care facilities had no influence on the use of facility delivery. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis synthesized and pooled the influence of geographic access on institutional delivery service uptake in low and middle-income countries. Methods Multiple combinations of search terms were used to search articles from six databases and a hand search of reference lists performed. We included observational studies conducted in low and middle-income countries which reported the influence of geographic access on delivery care use. The pooled effects of geographic access on institutional delivery care use were calculated using a random-effects model with a 95% confidence interval. Findings In this study a total of 31 studies were included. Among these studies, 15 met criteria for inclusion in the meta-analyses, while the remaining 16 were summarized using qualitative synthesis. Studies included in the analysis where women had to walk 60 minutes or less to access a health facility delivery were significantly heterogeneous. Having access to obstetric care facilities within five kilometres was significantly associated with institutional deliveries (pooled OR = 2.27; 95% CI = 1.82, 2.82). Similarly, a travelling time of 60 minutes or less was significantly associated with higher odds of health facility delivery (pooled OR = 3.30; 95% CI = 1.97, 5.53). Every one-hour and one-kilometre increase in travel time and distance, respectively, was negatively associated with institutional delivery care use. Interpretation Geographic access measured in either physical distance and/or travel time was significantly associated with women's use of facility delivery. The greater the distance and/or travel time to obstetric care facilities, the greater the barrier and the lesser the service uptake.


pg 7774 lines 3-4 – claim that ". . . do not show evident signs of . . ." needs a citation (or revision to soften / generalize the statement). While I agree there is generally little, if any, obvious advance warning of landslides in sensitive clay, there have been cases with documented movement for some years prior to eventual global failure (e.g. Demers, D., S. Leroueil, J. D'astous, 1999, "Investigation of a landslide in MaskinongeÌĄ, Quebec," Canadian Geotechnical Journal, Vol. 36, pp. 1001-1014)


Novel thermo-responsive supramolecular hydrogels consisting of cucurbit[6]uril(CB[6]) and butan-1-aminium 4-methylbenzenesulfonate (BAMB) were prepared, which were based on hydrophobic interaction, π–π stacking interaction and van der Walls interaction. Furthermore, hydrogels were not only sensitive to the thermal stimulation, but also showed an interesting property of the inducing action of CB[6] threaded in [2]pseudorotaxane. In this paper, the external morphology and sol–gel transition process of hydrogels were observed by polarized microscopy observation (PMO) and digital camera. DSC results show that the gel–sol transition temperature rose with increasing the concentration of either BMAB or CB[6]. The characteristics of the xerogels were determined by 1H NMR, FT-IR, SEM and TGA. It was found that the CB[6] was threaded in the butyl amine units of BAMB, and the inducing action of CB[6] threaded in [2]pseudorotaxane was essential for the hydrogel formation. Only when the concentrations of both BAMB and CB[6] reached certain values, hydrogels with three-dimensional network structure could be formed. And the viscosity changes for increasing the temperature of the hydrogel systems with different concentration of either CB[6] or BMAB were determined by the rheometer. A possible model was proposed to explain the driving forcing of the gelation.


: Cheddar cheeses were made using a nisin-tolerant starter culture with either Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus UL12 (autolytic strain), Lactobacillus casei subsp. casei L2A (proteolytic strain), Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis biovar. diacetylactis UL719 (nisin producer), or of Lb. bulgaricus UL12 and Lc. diacetylactis UL719. Lb. bulgaricus UL12 produced more trichloroacetic acid-soluble nitrogen than did Lb. casei L2A, which produced more phosphotungstic acid-soluble nitrogen than did Lc. diacetylactis UL719. High-performance liquid chromatography analyses showed that either lactobacilli or Lc. diacetylactis UL719 increased the hydrophilic and hydrophobic peptide contents. Cheeses containing both Lb. bulgaricus UL12 and Lc. diacetylactis UL719 had the most intense old Cheddar cheese flavor after 6 mo of ripening.


Background: Small non-coding RNAs (microRNAs, miR) control mRNA signaling at the level of post-transcriptional regulation. Several miR are regulated in arterial hypertension and myocardial hypertrophy, as demonstrated in animal models and recently also in patient studies. Renal denervation (RDN) reduces blood pressure, left ventricular mass and improves diastolic dysfunction in patients with resistant hypertension. The effect of RDN on circulating miR expression is unknown.

Methods and results: RDN reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure from 168.4±4.5 to 144.0±5.5 mmHg and 88.0±3.1 to 76.8±2.4 mmHg (p<0.001), respectively. Total RNA was isolated from peripheral blood plasma of 20 patients before and 6 months after RDN. RNA was subjected to miR profiling using Agilent 8x60k Homo sapiens microRNA v16 microarrays. Following quantile normalization of the data and determination of differential expression (corrected for multiple testing) we found 34 differentially expressed miRs at a false discovery rate < 5%. 26 miRs were found to be expressed at a higher level following RD, while 3 miRs were expressed at a lower level. Pathway analysis (KEGG, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) on the target genes of the downregulated miR suggested MAP kinase and insulin signaling pathways to be affected.

Next, we analyzed a quantitative correlation between unique miR and several clinical parameters using regression analysis. MicroRNA expression was related to the ratio (post/pre RD) of left ventricular mass indexed to body surface area (LV mass index, LVMI) and function, as measured by echocardiography. We found the ratio 43 miRs to be positively and the ratio of 17 miRs to be inversely correlated to the ratio of LVMI change. The change of 18 miRs was negatively correlated to change in longitudinal strain determined by speckle tracking echocardiography. The change in 8 miRs was positively correlated to the change in left atrial volume index. Real-time RT-PCR was used to verify selected targets both in the original 20 patients undergoing array analysis and in an independent validation group consisting of further 20 patients.

Conclusion: Renal denervation in patients with resistant hypertension substantially influences plasma microRNA expression profile. Changes in specific miR s showed a quantitative correlation with changes in blood pressure and left-ventricular mass. These data identify potential marker miRs and provide insights into miR signaling in hypertension.


1. The optimum concentration of the substrate; namely, 2ml. of 0.1M succinate were included in 10ml. of the reaction mixture. 2. The optimum concentration of KCN for the inhibition of cytochrome system were found 2~5mM; namely 0.3ml. of 0.1M KCN per 10ml. of the reaction mixture. 3. The optimum pH was found 6.7±0.1 for various tissues of several kinds of fish. A 0.1 M phosphate buffer mixture of KH2 PO4 and Na2 HPO4 (7:3) were employed. The concentra tion of phosphate buffer of the reaction system was appropriate at 0.1 to 0.2 Mol. When 5ml. of the above buffer solution were included in 10ml. reaction mixture, the resultant pH was usually found 6.6~6.8. 4. The activity of the enayme increased with rise of reaction temperature up to 50~55°C. Since Q10 above 40°C was higher than at lower temperature, the determination of the activity could be moreaccurately determined in a lower tempemture range. Taking into account the effect due to the temperature difference between the laboratory and the reaction mixture, it was finally decided to carry out the determination at 20°C. 5. The enzymatic activity of homogenized tissue suspension was observed to decrease with time of standing. However, the decrease within a 10 minutes interval was very slight.


Onions (Allium cepa L.) were greenhouse grown with various sulfur fertilities and assayed for changes in thiosulfinates and related compounds. The concentrations of methyl, n-propyl, and 1-propenyl thiosulfinates, the zwiebelanes, and the onion lachrymatory factor (LF) increased with a linear trend as sulfur fertility increased with the exception of methanesulfinothioic acid S-n-propyl ester (MeS(O)SPr-n) and methanesulfinothioic acid S-methyl ester (MeS(O)SMe). The (thiosulfinate plus zwiebelanes):LF ratio increased with increased sulfur fertility, suggesting that the former were being formed at a greater rate at higher sulfur fertility


To develop an efficient microspore culture system for broccoli, the effect of the developmental stage of the cultured microspore population was clarified, and embryogenic microspores were selected by percoll density gradients. The mean number of microspore nuclei was more effective than bud size for the determination of the developmental stage and microspore population that would be embryogenic. A microspore population having an average of 1.54-1.84 nuclei produced a high yield of embryos. Microspores selected by percoll (28/36%) produced about 3-fold the number of embryos of those that were not selected.


This study presents the fundamental guidelines for developing an evaluation index system for political thought education in light of the shortcomings of the current system, including its limited evaluation objectives, singular evaluation methods, lack of pertinence of evaluation indexes, and subjectivity of evaluation standards. In parallel, big data-related technologies are being used to determine the indicators and index weight coefficients of the evaluation system of political thought teaching in institutions of higher learning. This is done on the basis of earlier research on big data and teaching evaluation. The decision tree method is used in this study to create a prediction model for teaching evaluation, which is then pruned based on "relative support" to categorize the sample data. The decision tree method is aimed at a large number of teachers' information databases. The model is validated at the end. According to the experimental findings, this educational evaluation system is stable to a degree of 94.6 percent, and its evaluation accuracy can reach a level of 95.33 percent. The validity and reliability of the educational evaluation system developed in this study are confirmed by this result. Big data can therefore be used to evaluate political thought instruction in higher education institutions, which offers some fresh perspectives for related research.


An Economic Analysis of Food Policy in the Ivory Coast by Yao Prao Felix, Master of Science Utah State University, 1984 Major Professor: Dr. Herbert Fullerton Department: Agricultural Economics viii Ivory Coast covers an area of 124,000 square miles with reasonable rainfall for food crops production. But besides what has been called the economic "miracle," the country relies on increasing food imports (rice, wheat, meat, and milk products). At the same time, the country's earnings from the major export commodities are shrinking. So the primary objective was to identify the main causes and circumstances that have resulted in reductions in food production. The major hypothesis was that the present situation is simply the result of policies that have favored cash crops relative to good products. A formal treatment and an analysis of the institutional and structural setting were made. The results of the formal treatment showed relatively high trend growth rate in cash crops compared to good products. Some food crops experienced high trend growth rate but exhibited a very erratic pattern in their production. And this seems to sup port the hypothesis made. A Ministry of Rura l Development has been created in November, 1983, and increasing food production is one of its main objectives. However, profound and appropriate studies prior to any move towards total reliance on domestic food production are crucial for the country's resources allocation. ix


Abstract The reactions of benzoylisothiocyanates with salicylamide in pyridine-xylene solution occurs chemoselectively at the hydroxyl group of the salicylamide to afford the corresponding O-benzoyl derivatives. The latter products, on prolonged heating in pyridine-xylene solution, undergo cyclodehydration to give 2-aryl-4H-benzo[e][1,3]oxazin-4-ones in good yields. These compounds could also be synthesized by a direct one-pot reaction of benzoylisothiocyanates with salicylamide by slow addition of benzoylisothiocyanates into a solution of salicylamide in xylene-pyridine solution under reflux. The products have been characterized on the basis of satisfactory analytical and spectral data. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT


The current outstanding problem of police sports is the lack of teaching content in police actual combat,the learning content is not closely linked with public security practice,only to teaching and education,the lack of "training for war" in the ultimate sense.This paper,using the method of literature review,inductive reasoning and the questionnaire,studies the public security institutions under the new situation.The result shows that the police physical education students should learn to use,train for war in the ultimate sense.From a simple and practical principles and teaching content in police practice principles,it should serve the public security police reform proceed to optimize the body of teaching content.


A tentative schedule of experiments for the ignition campaign on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) has been developed. These experiments will be used to validate beam pointing and balance, to tune time history and symmetry of drive of NIF hohlraums, and to implode subignition and igniting targets. The initial target diagnostics are designed to validate beam pointing and to demonstrate the properties of the hohlraums.


A honeycomb sandwich panel with high strength and light weight is a special composite material which is widely used in satellite and other spacecrafts.There are no honeycomb material paremeters in FEM software,such as,MSC/NASTRAN and ANSYS,and the simplified equivalent structure parameters of a honeycomb sandwich panel are used,they result in the differences between the test data and the FEM data.The RSM-based model updating method avoids calling FEM program in every iteration,it improves the calculation efficiency.Here,the equivalent parameters of a honeycomb sandwich panel were calculated based on the honeycomb sandwich theory,the FEM of a multi-layer carbon fiber sandwich panel was established using SHELL91 in ANSYS.And the test data under all factors and effects were obtained based on uniform design method,the quadratic polynominal response surface model was established and the PSO with mutation factor was used to update the equivalent paremeters of the honeycomb sandwich panel,the updated paremeters were substituted into the FEM model,the FEM model calculation quality was effectively improved.


In this paper, the equivalent cable bundle method (ECBM) is used with some modifications to predict crosstalk within a bundle of twisted-wire pairs (TWPs) terminating with differential loads at their far end and colocalized as quads in the frequency domain. When using this method, one can easily calculate crosstalk in many pairs with good reduction of complexity and computation time. In this paper, power loss of crosstalk is calculated for both complete and reduced models using the multiconductor transmission lines method. It is shown that the results are in agreement by applying this modified ECBM, and the number of wires as well as the computation time is successfully reduced. The in-quad is the four conductors located in the same quad and the outside-quad is all other conductors in the bundle. The in-quad and outside-quad architecture results are also discussed, and it is observed that the in-quad crosstalk has an enormous amount of crosstalk compared with the outside-quad crosstalk. A new three-step ECBM for predicting the crosstalk within a TWP network is proposed, the pairs are colocalized as quads, and the use of this method allows an easy modeling of crosstalk within a TWP cable bundle.


We study the composite electron production at the FCC-based three electron–proton colliders with the center-of-mass energies of 3.46, 10 and 31.6 TeV. For the signal process of [Formula: see text], the production cross-sections and decay widths of the excited electrons have been calculated. The differences of some kinematical quantities of the final state particles between the signal and background have been analyzed. For this purpose, transverse momentum and pseudorapidity distributions of electron and photon have been obtained and the kinematical cuts for discovery of the excited electrons have been assigned. We have finally determined the mass limits of excited electrons for observation and discovery by applying these cuts. It is shown that the mass limit for discovery obtained from the collider with [Formula: see text] TeV (called PWFA-LC[Formula: see text]⊗[Formula: see text]FCC) is 22.3 TeV for the integrated luminosity [Formula: see text].


This work investigates the effects of gas preheating and N2 dilution on soot formation in a series of laminar methane (CH4), ethane (C2H6), and propane (C3H8) co-flow diffusion flames. A modified S...


Sir,Approximately 500,000 cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) procedures using extracorporeal circulation are per-formed annually in the United States of America.. For decades, attention has focused on cerebral complications as a source of morbidity and disability post procedures. These deficits include impaired consciousness, seizures, cognitive impairment (memory, attention deficits, lan-guage difficulty) and stroke, all potentially limiting the ability to function independently. The reported inci-dence of neurological complications varies widely from 7 to 61% for transient deficits and 1.6 to 23% for perma-nent deficits.


The structures of scalarolide (12β-hydroxyscalar-17-en-24,25-olide) [alternative name (5α, 12β)-17a, 17-lactone- 12-hydroxy- 17-(hydroxymethyl)-4,4,8-trimethyl-D-homoandrost- 17-ene- 17a-carboxylic acid], C 25 H 38 O 3 , from a Cacospongia sponge and scalarin (12a-acetoxy-25a-hydroxyscalar-16-en-25, 24-olide) methanol solvate {alternative name [5α, 12α, 17aβ(R)]-γ-lactone-12-(acetyloxy)-17a-(dihydroxymethyl)-4,4,8-trimethyl-D-homoandrost-16-ene-17-carboxylic acid methanol solvate}, C 27 H 40 O 5 .CH 4 O, from an Ircinia sponge have been verified.


A giant asymmetry in the magnetoresistance was revealed in high-mobility, two-dimensional electron gas on a cylindrical surface. The longitudinal resistance along the magnetic-field gradient impressed by the surface curvature was found to vanish if measured along one of the edges of the curved Hall bar. If the external magnetic field is reversed, then the longitudinal resistance vanishes at the opposite edge of the Hall bar. This asymmetry is analyzed quantitatively in terms of the Landauer-Buettiker formalism.


For use as a base in Class I restorations, in conjunction with a universal composite in Class II and Class V restorations, and for deep lesions, Venus Bulk Fill enables clinicians to complete fills up to depths of 4 mm. Highly conducive to light transmission, the material demonstrates unmatched translucency. Reducing the risk of shrinkage stress, Venus Bulk Fill also allows for highly predictable esthetic and functional results. Further promoting fast and efficient application, the bulk fill material adapts quickly to the preparation with little if any manipulation required. Additionally, Venus Bulk Fill is radiopaque.


It often occurs for 300 kA large-scale prebaked aluminum electrolytic pot during its production that the sidewall freeze of the lateral part becomes hollow and the window of heat dissipation red.Coupled with practical production,this paper analyses the causes of lateral part breakage,then brings forward the feasible way and relevant controls,which prolong the service life of the pot effectively.


The recent discovery of superconducting oxides with high transition temperatures is a historic event already recognized by a Nobel Prize in physics. The complex behavior of those materials has attracted the attention of thousands of scientific researchers. The appearance of superconducting behavior above the boiling point of nitrogen has drawn in engineers and technologists, who are ready to exploit the phenomenon in applications ranging from microelectronics to lossless transmission lines and levitating transportation systems. This article will briefly describe those exciting developments and then discuss the research on high-temperature superconducting thin films and their possible applications in microelectronics at APL. The films are formed by the novel technique of laser ablation processing and are characterized by a number of methods, including the new technique of magnetically modulated microwave absorption. Both techniques, originally conceived and developed at APL, are described in some detail.


the university of alabama at birmingham, the American Physiological Society, and physiologists all over the world were stunned by the untimely passing of Dale J. Benos on October 7th, 2010 ([Fig. 1][1]). In his memorial service, held November 12th, 2010 at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, a


The variety of Sundanese manuscripts are still scattered in individual communities, as well as those already stored in various libraries and museums in West Java. The Sundanese script is still stored in the Ciletuh Geopark, Sukabumi District. This research is interesting because of the discovery of several manuscripts around the southern Sukabumi area, especially at Surade, Cinemas, and Jampang Kulon areas. Descriptive method of comparative analysis that was used trying to describe the data in detail and thoroughly, analyze it carefully, and compare those target accurately between several texts studied. While the method of the study in the form of text critique method, referred to the method of a single script, through the standard edition. The method of content review used the method of cultural studies, which reveals the existence and function of the script pragmatically in the community, especially in the Ciletuh Geopark. The results of the research can be considered as "the documents and local wisdom of Sundanese culture", which deserves to be addressed wisely in the hope that the content contained in it is able to reveal the history of the life of Ciletuh Geopark, either through written tradition, folklore, and culture.


Objective To evaluate the effect of Danhong Injection on inflammatory factors including high-sensitivity C-reactive protein(hs-CRP),Tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α)and Interleukin-6(IL-6)in elderly patients with stable angina pectoris(SAP)and unstable angina pectoris(UAP).Methods One hundred and thirty-two cases older than 60 years old were divided into SAP group(SAP,58 patients)and UAP group(UAP,74 patients).The two group patients were given same treatment with aspirin,clopidogrel,statins,nitrates,angiotensin Ⅱ receptor antagonist and β-blocker.On this basis the two group were given Danhong Injection at the dose of 40 ml per day by dissolving in 250 ml of 5% glucose for venous dripping for 14 days.The serum of hs-CRP,TNF-α and IL-6 were analyzed in two groups before and after the treatment.Results Before treatment,the serum level of hs-CRP was(2.74±0.07) mg/L,TNF-α(12.52±0.91) ng/L and IL-6(8.15±0.97) ng/L in UAP group was higher than that of hs-CRP with(2.02±0.14) mg/L,TNF-α(10.36±0.65) ng/L and IL-6(7.53±0.36) ng/L in the SAP group with a significant difference(P0.05).After treatment for 14 days,the serum level of hs-CRP was(2.12±0.15) mg/L,TNF-α 10.98±0.39 ng/L and IL-6(7.64±0.29) ng/L,all the figure apparently decreased significantly in UAP group(P0.05).However,the serum level of hs-CRP(1.99±0.09) mg/L,TNF-α(10.17±0.83) ng/L and IL-6(7.33±0.79) ng/L did not decrease significantly in SAP group(P0.05).Conclusions Danhong Injection can be used as adjuvant therapy in elderly patients with coronary heart disease by inhibiting the inflammatory response,especially for UAP.


Rotating drums are used to grinding, drying, mixing, screening, granulating and other processes in environmental engineering. Depending on the nature of the process they can be equipped with additional devices to support the processes. In this work, the effect of drum surface roughness on the behaviour of the feed during drumming. For this purpose, three types of bottom coverings with grain size of 40, 80 and 120 were used. In the experiment the methodology of sequential image analysis using PIV software was applied. The results of theoretical calculations and experimental works have shown significant discrepancies (of approx. 46%) of speed characteristics for the minimum speed of the drum and smaller (amounting to approx. 5%) for the critical speed. In case of change in the particle size of the drum coverings, there were no significant differences in the behaviour of the feed.


Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is characterized by severe and prolonged fatigue, affecting both physical and mental functioning, exacerbated by relatively minor exertion (Fukuda et al. 1994). A variety of other symptoms such as impaired concentration and memory, disturbed sleep, depressed mood and anxiety are also often present. Alongside this emerging consensus describing the clinical features of chronic fatigue, controversy has raged as to its aetiology, particularly the relative importance of viruses and other infectious agents, the contribution of neuromuscular abnormalities and whether the association with psychiatric disorders is primary or secondary.


HIV and AIDS has remained the most serious infectious disease posing a challenge to public health globally. Despite numerous campaigns for HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) in Nigeria, only a few numbers of young people utilize this service. This study assessed the level of knowledge, attitude and practice of undergraduate students towards HIV Counselling and Testing in Ogun State. The research design used was a descriptive survey method which utilized a self-designed questionnaire to elicit information from 138 respondents selected through simple random sampling technique. Study findings showed that majority (72.5%) of the students have heard about HIV Counselling and Testing, however only 56.5% respondents have utilized HIV Counselling and Testing services. Also there was a positive attitude towards HIV Counselling and Testing (86.2%). Nevertheless, a statistically significant difference was observed between knowledge of HCT and Practice of HCT (P < 0.05). Based on findings above, it could be deduced that knowledge of HIV Counselling services is a positive factor to utilisation of the services. Hence it is recommended that the content of HCT be included in general education course of all first year undergraduate students in Nigeria in order to sensitive them on the use of HCT service. This could serve as a motivating factor which would propel these students to check and also become aware of their HIV status at any given point in time.


One important facet of econometric research is the analysis of relationships among observed economic variables using the techniques of model estimation, regression, multivariate analysis, spectral analysis, etc. Two &dquo; bottlenecks &dquo; in the current research environment are : 1) the time involved in gathering and verifying data, and 2) the time consumed in the manipulation of the data (even with &dquo; canned &dquo; computer programs). In this article a system for storage, maintenance, retrieval, and mani-


The most important part of tunnel lighting is the entrance section, which is the starting point of the whole tunnel, and the entrance illumination should not only adapt to the surrounding environment brightness but reasonable reduce to the interior section of the tunnel. When the outside environment brightness L20 changes, the brightness of tunnel entrance Lth should adjusted to match the vision needs. As the object logarithmic brightness and image gray scale logarithm is in a linear relationship, the environment luminance information can be extracted from a digital image by using HD digital monitoring probe. Based on the video image analysis system, the tunnel lighting can be adjusted automatically by processing the information of environment brightness, traffic flow and speed.


Concentrations of NORM nuclides (226Ra, 232Th and 40 K), essential and toxic elements were measured in (10 agricultural soil and 10 irrigation water) samples. The samples were collected randomly from 6 locations, within the plantation area from Makkah region Saudi Arabia. For activity measurements, gamma-ray spectrometry (HPGe) detector was used. In chemical analysis, Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission (ICP-OES) and Mas Emission (ICP-MS) Spectrometry were used to measure the concentrations of soil and water respectively. Soil activity concentrations are (18.11, 16.12, 1603.73) Bq/Kg, in water are (1.57, 0.58, 118.44) Bq/l.Radium equivalent activity (Raeq), hazard indices (Hex and Hin) mean values in soil and water are less than the limits (370Bq/ Kg and<1). Mean values of total absorbed dose rate (DR) are greater than 57 (nGy/h) in soil, and less than 71.1 (nGy/h) in water. Annual effective doses (Deff) mean values are greater than 0.07 mSv/y in soil and less than permitted limit 0.41 mSv/y. ICP-OES and ICP-MS were used to measure the concentrations of elements in soil and in water respectively. Esential elements concentrations (Al, Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Mn and Na) in soil are (7.738, 4.061, 5.691, 1.288, 2.778, 0.059, 1.683) higher than the guideline value. Toxic elements (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, Se and Zn) are within global values except Cr and Ni, they are excesses the permissible limits. Essential elements (Ca, Mg, Na, K, Fe) concentrations of water (155.83, 51.34, 343.6, 10.18, N D) are higher than the guideline values. Trace element (Cu, Cr, Hg, Mn, Ni,Se, Zn) concentrations are (1.66, 2.64, 0.03, 0.19, 4.95, 9.18, 58.67) are within permissible limits and guideline, except elements (Al, As, Cd, and Pb) are classified as a toxic. Effect of irrigation water containing heavy metals may be a reason for increasing the concentrations of heavy metals in agricultural soil.


Many studies report a decline of student attentiveness during lectures. Reasons for such declines of attentiveness are increasing fatigue and decreasing concentration having strong influence on the effectiveness of lectures and students' retention. In such situations, it is recommended to change the teaching method or to interrupt the lecture by short breaks. For the lecturer, however, it is difficult to predict and recognize a decline of attention while teaching. Measurements of attentiveness are either based on physiological measures or observational measures. Both are neither reliable nor practical for lecture hall settings. To address this problem, we propose a system called Classquake that uses students' smartphones as decentralized sensors to measure their activity and attentiveness during lectures.


Undergraduate students are increasingly engaged in developing products, technologies, and services that are commercially viable through their involvement in courses and experiential programs focused on entrepreneurship and product design. Little is known about the degree to which these activities are creating protectable intellectual property (IP) or the degree to which student involvement in these activities is aligned with university policies and practices. This work in progress describes the rationale behind a survey that will be administered to university technology transfer offices to understand trends in the level of undergraduate involvement in IP protection, common institutional policies and practices, suggestions on how policies can be improved, and to what extent this differs based on institutional characteristics. Ultimately, the purpose is to understand the degree to which IP policy, and an institution's implementation and communication of it, hinders or fosters entrepreneurial activity among undergraduate students.


Evaluation of proximate compositions, functional properties and oil characterization of 'kpaakpa' (Hildegardia barteri) seed was studied. Defatted and undefatted 'kpaakpa' (Hildegardia barteri) seed flours were produced. The proximate and functional properties were determined on both the defatted and undefatted flours. The crude 'kpaakpa' seed oil was extracted (using hexane solvent) and characterized. The result of proximate analysis showed the moisture content, ash, fat, crude fibre, protein and carbohydrate contents to be 11.18, 5.6, 37.92, 6.45 31.53 and 7.37% respectively for undefatted flour and 18.6, 6.8, 4.37, 1.99, 26.52 and 41.72% respectively of the defatted flour sample. The results of functional properties did not show a consistent behavior for all the parameters analyzed for both defatted and undefatted 'kpaakpa' seed. However, it showed that defatting operation increased most of the functional properties except for bulk density and wettability which increased in undefatted 'kpaakpa' seed flour. The results obtained for the oil characterization of the extracted crude 'kpaakpa' seed oil showed 0.86 g/g for specific gravity, 0.87g/ml for density, 8.84 mgKOH/g for peroxide value, 55.36% for unsaponifiable matter, 56.48% for iodine value, 0.30% for free fatty acid (FFA) and 0.59% for acid value. The results obtained in this study indicate that both the defatted and undefatted 'kpaakpa' seed flour can be utilized in food system because they are good sources of protein, can be used to substitute or supplement flours with low protein in food production and can as well be useful sources of low-fat fabricated foods as well as animal feeds. The oil however can be utilized commercially for production of vegetable oil.


According to the centrifugal pump seal leakage problem,failure reasons were analyzed,and after initial seal was modified into mechanical seal,good sealing effect was obtained,which can reduce maintenance cost and increase economic benefit.


Political transformation since the late 1970s significantly modified economic and public life as the state relaxed control over the private sector in industry and commerce. The resulting development of private business also allowed for the revival of teahouses, which emerged across the landscape like mushrooms after rain, greatly changing the breadth and depth of public life.Teahouses served all kinds of customers across the social spectrum. Post-Mao reforms weakened state control, enriched opportunities for social life, developed cultural diversity, and expanded the public sphere. Teahouses provided gathering places for the sharing of hobbies and general socializing, providing a welcoming environment regardless of social status, class, gender, and age. As both a business and a culture, the teahouse reached an unprecedented level of success and influence.


This paper provides a procedure for calculating the implied common equity proceeds of mandatory issues and concludes that Citigroup's November 2007 issue has likely yielded higher proceeds per share than the proceeds that would have resulted from a common stock issue.


Life expectancy in Sweden is increasing as well as in other Nordic countries except Denmark. The age group over 65 years has the largest increase. At the same as the population of elderly is growing, the number of hospital beds is decreasing. This means that a large number of elderly people are cared for in municipal driven elderly homes. A reform called Ädelreformen was introduced in 1992 which meant that the responsibilities for the care of the sick elderly were moved from the county councils to the municipalities. In Sweden the geriatric care is financed and served by the public sector. Various regulatory documents govern the care on the international as well as on the national level. The World Health Organization (WHO) says that all countries should work toward the goal of the elderly to experience an active old age and to involve them in the community regardless of disabilities involved. Health care law is the governing document for all activities that perform health care in Sweden. The requirement is that all people should receive a good health and care on equal terms. Nurse's work is guided by the nurse's code of ethics and social Board's competence description for registered nurse. Management involves different leadership styles that can be expressed both positive and negative. Transactional leadership is characterized by control of employees with rewards. Transformational leadership is successful where employees are governed by inspiration, support and motivation. The opposite is the let go the leadership where the leader is passive and gives employees the mandate to control themselves. The authoritarian leadership, employees are tightly controlled to predetermined rules. For the person-centered leadership is the goal of creating autonomous employees by involving and delegating responsibility. Nurse's experiences of working in retirement are various. Research describes nurses feeling a sense of importance and needed. One drawback that emerges is the need to keep the budget while maintaining the quality of the care. Other obstacles in performing their leadership is increased administrative duties, lack of training in leadership and unclear boundaries between professions' responsibility. The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of nurses' experiences of leadership in nursing in residential care. The study was conducted using a qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews with nurses at the nursing home. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed as a manifest content analysis. Where meaningful units were identified, condensed and coded. The codes were aggregated and formed various categories. Four main themes were formed; nurse's need for support in leadership, obstacles in nursing leadership, nurse's experiences of its responsibility and its role as a leader & nurses attitudes to their leadership. Categories were formed under each theme; the most prominent was that nurses experienced a lack of organization with unclear job descriptions. Knowledge gap between the nurses and the staff was a key barrier to communication. Also language problems were an obstacle. Lack of time and stress led to the nurses did not participate in the care and assessments were left to the nursing staff. The nurses felt that they had lot of responsibilities and leadership occupied much of one's time. The majority of the nurses tried to be there for the staff, to support them and to listen and to give advice.


Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) is an effective technique to exploit the huge bandwidth of optical fibres. Key components in such WDM-systems are demultiplexers which spatially separate the different wavelength channels. Phased-array demultiplexers combine ease of fabrication and low insertion losses. Silica-based phased-array demultiplexers are realised with low losses from 2-3 dB [1,2]. InP-based demultiplexers show slightly higher on-chip losses of 4-6 dB [3,4]. In addition they have considerably higher fibre coupling losses (several dB's), but the advantage of InP-based demultiplexers is that they can be integrated with active components. Earlier we reported a low-loss demultiplexer with reduced fibre coupling loss by applying deeply etched InGaAsP waveguides with a relatively large core and a low index contrast, which had an almost circular mode profile [5]. The component had 4-5 dB on-chip loss and fibre coupling loss of about 1 dB to a tapered fibre. In this article we report a method to further reduce the on-chip losses.


P2P technology, especially P2P file-sharing technology, has been applied to many areas in recent years. Resource locating becomes especially important as the shared files increase dramatically. This paper mainly discusses the P2P overlay network based on Cayley graph. Firstly, the fundamental mathematic knowledge on Cayley was introduced, and then many network models were researched on the basis of Cayley graph and group theory. At last, EBu and CHypercube networks, which are based on Cayley graph, were researched and analyzed, and some shortcomings were pointed out.


So far in numerical-controlled machine tools the principal methods of interpolation arethe straight line method and the circular are method. But with the development of scienceand technology, the requirement for processing complicate-shaped parts arises in some indus-trial departments and production areas. Most of the parts, for example, are of higher orderor cubic curves as in the wings of an airplane, the hull of a ship and, the nonsphericalcurves.So far as we know the higher order curves are treated by dividing them into anumber of small segments and every one of which can be approximated by a straight line ora circular are. However there are some shortcomings in this treatment as stated below: theerror produced in the interpolation may be great, the prceision in processing low. and theprograming complicated; in addition, more programing fields may be required to deal withand the tape may be very long, so it is difficult to carry out.It has been proposed in thispaper that the profile in higher order curve can be interpolated more accurately so long assome simple data are given. The distinguishing characteristics of this method are simple inoperation and easy in speed control. The maximum interpolation error is estimated as lessthan 0.707 pulse equivalent.


Organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) is important in the organisational behavioural research. OCB contributes significantly to the success of an organisation through proactive behaviour in extra-role activity and active involvement in organisation operation to ensure efficiency and productivity in service delivery. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between work-family conflict as the antecedent of OCB and the role of self-efficacy as the mediating variable. Data were collected from 510 public administrators at Public Service Department, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health in Putrajaya, Malaysia. Data analyses were conducted using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to test the research model hypotheses related to the relationship between work-family conflict, self-efficacy and OCB. The findings confirmed that there is a significant negative relationship between work-family conflict and self-efficacy and there is no relationship between work-family conflict and OCB. Self-efficacy is proven to be a fully mediation variable in the relationship between work-family conflict and OCB. The results suggest that organisations should be aware of individual characteristics and work-family domain to foster participation and engagement in OCB. The findings of this study contribute to the literature especially on OCB and open new avenues for future research by providing new perspective on factors that influence individual behaviour and also the role of personal efficacy on those relationship. Keywords: Mediation analysis, Organisational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB), self-efficacy, SmartPLS, work-family conflict. Cite as: Abdullah, M. R., Marican, S., & Mohd Kamil, N. L. (2019). The mediating role of self-efficacy on the relationship between work-family conflict and organisational citizenship behaviour. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 4(1), 246-272. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol4iss1pp246-272


Provided are a semiconductor wafer and its manufacturing method, wherein the current driving capability of a MOS transistor can be sufficiently improved. An SOI layer wafer in which an SOI layer (32) is formed, has a recess formed in a crystal direction notch (32a) and in a crystal direction formed notch (32b). The SOI layer wafer and a supporting substrate wafer (1) are joined together by bonding in that the notch (32a) and an opening formed in a crystallographic direction notch (1a) of the carrier substrate wafer (1) coincide with each other. When the two wafers are joined by bonding, by the notch (32a) and the notch (1a) can be used to position the two wafers, the other notch (32) of the SOI layer wafer with a guide element of the semiconductor wafer manufacturing apparatus come into engagement in order to avoid a positioning error due to a relative rotation between the wafers. Thus it can be manufactured with a sufficiently improved current driving capability on the semiconductor wafer, a MOS transistor, wherein the two wafers are positioned in crystallographic directions which are shifted from each other.


The article presents the results of longitudinal analysis of dynamics of regulatory, personal, motivational characteristics and academic success in students with decline of psychological well-being during the transition from grade 5 to 6. A group of 6th graders whose psychological well-being significantly decreased in comparison with the 5th grade (N = 26) was identified. We compared of indicators of conscious self-regulation (V. I. Morosanova), personal properties (Big 5), attitude to learning (A. M. Prihozhan) and academic motivation (T. O. Gordeeva) with a time difference of one year. The results show the maintenance of the level of academic performance against the sharp decline in almost all regulatory, personal, motivational and emotional indicators. We identified two indicators which serve as a resource for maintaining the academic success of the respondents: Neuroticism and regulatory process of Modelling. In contrast to traditional concept of its negative impact it was shown that Neuroticism was almost the only factor supporting academic performance at that age. A particularly significant result is the discovery of a «sensitive» age for the development of the regulatory process of Modelling, which is responsible for the ability to set and perform complex tasks, not to be afraid of new non-standard situations, and find solutions in «hopeless» stressful situations.