The exchange of heat is one of the most important processes in the mechanical industry and heat exchanger is the major equipment used to transfer heat from one medium to another. This project work on the Computer Aided Design (CAD) of shell and tube, double pipe and spiral coil heat exchanger aims to provide an easy way to design it. A case study question was taken and all the necessary calculations in the thermal design are carried out using standard method of heat exchanger design. The thermal design is then used as a guide to the computer aided design using computer codes. The computer software program used is the Visual Basic called Visual Basic 6.0 (VB 6) because of its numerous advantages over the other software programmes. The result gotten from the computer aided design was compared to the result from the thermal design. The computer aided design software was equally used to test other problems on shell and tube, double pipe and spiral coil heat exchanger. Because the computer aided design was found to be more accurate, quicker and more efficient, it was recommended for use in companies and industries.


The Book of Bartholomew (= Liber Bartholomaei) is one of the best-known apocryphal writings preserved in Coptic. The present article proposes that the text in question belongs to a peculiar genre of Coptic literature : the memoirs of the apostles. This category consists of reports attributed to the apostles concerning various topics, all related to Coptic piety and liturgical life. The literary parallels between the Book of Bartholomew and the Coptic apostolic memoirs are amply documented in this article.


Stress and fatigue are important factors in the decision making process. As such they should be areas of great interest and concern to the Navy, particularly in their relationship to the decision making capabilities of unrestricted line officers. Recent writings and experimentation in stress and fatigue are analyzed to point up the importance of these phenomena as they affect the unrestricted line officer, to examine the methods which the Navy might utilize in measuring and prediction, and to show applications which might be attempted in the areas of alleviation and control. The destroyer commanding officer is the criterion against which the stress and fatigue are measured. The conclusions are that fatigue and the affects of stress are, indeed, quite serious in their ramifications, that the Navy should be more cognizant of them, that positive programs can be established to reduce these effects at nominal cost, and that such programs might have valuable pay-offs in ships and lives.


Abstract Attempts were made to determine if the use of rho, interval ranks, poly-nominal, or multiple correlation were more effective than the product-moment correlation technique in selected situations. Data used were 27 physical performance measures obtained from 76 male university subjects. Results indicated that the use of rho and interval ranks was less effective than the product-moment technique. Curvilinear correlation techniques, rather than the product-moment r, should be used in some instances. Multiple correlation does not seem to be a great improvement over the product-moment correlation technique.


In order to improve the immune response to salmonellosis in vaccinated calves, we tried applying the 0.01 % solution of miramistin combined with an inactive emulsified vaccine. Timogen was used as the control medicine because it is well known for its immunomodulatory properties regulating the cellular and the humoral immunity. The research was carried out at a large farm in Lipetskaya oblast that has a high salmonellosis incidence rate among calves. This research uses the epizootological, the clinical, the immunological, the hematological, and the molecular genetic methods. We ascertained that the application of the 0.01% solution of miramistin and timogen to calves for the purposes of salmonellosis etioprophylaxis combined with an inactive emulsified vaccine promoted high cellular immunity. These medicines increased the levels of lymphocytes and their T-cells by 7.0% and 12.5%; their B-populations by 2.8% and 5.1%, the neutrophil phagocytic activity by 5.9% and 13.0%, the phagocytic number by 7.2% and 15.0%, the phagocytic index by 7.0% and 18.0% respectively. The improvement of humoral immunity factors comprised 3.0% and 7.2% for blood serum bactericidal activity; 3.0% н 4.3% for blood serum lysozyme activity; and 1.7% and 2.0% for blood serum complement activity. The O-agglutinins and H-agglutinins to salmonella antigen increased by 1.5 and 2 times respectively, and the disease rate decreased by 40.0% and 80.0%, while promoting the survival rate by 80.0% and 87.0% respectively, which shows that the 0.01% solution of miramistin has better immunomodulatory properties.


The study of self-lubricant coatings is a rapidly developing research field that is expected to address major issues arising from operation under high loads and thermal stresses of machine parts. It is of utmost importance that various critical tribological pairs such as crankshaft bearings, piston rings, etc. maintain their integrity, thus contributing to the engines efficient and reliable operation for long periods of time. Therefore, a choice of high-strength metals is required, with special treatments and/or coatings in combination with sufficient lubrication. In the present study, liquid lubricants encapsulated in poly(urea-formaldehyde) were incorporated in ceramic-metal matrices for the production of composite coatings by Atmospheric Plasma Spraying. Aspects concerning the survival of the capsules during their flight through the high temperature plasma flame, the maintenance of their integrity at impact with the substrate with high kinetic energy, their homogeneous dispersion within the coating mass, thermal spray deposition parameters adjustment and optimization are thoroughly discussed. Coating properties such as roughness, friction, adhesion strength, and wear behaviour were also investigated. Microstructural characteristics and friction-wear behaviour were found to be critical to the durability of coating.


Sepsis constitutes a serious threat to human health and represents a major burden to the health care system.Recent years have witnessed a deeper insight into the mechanism of the onset of sepsis,together with some new therapeutic strategies,including early aggressive volume therapy,activated protein C,potentiated insulin therapy,adrenal function replacement therapy,and some new therapeutic targets,which have offered some hope for the management of sepsis.


Objective: Assess effects of botulinum toxin for chronic pelvic pain in endometriosis. Background: Pelvic pain often persists despite optimal surgical/hormonal management in women with endometriosis, often associated with pelvic floor spasm. We report the outcome of onabotulinumtoxinA (onaBoNTA) injection into pelvic floor muscles in women with endometriosis-associated chronic pelvic pain (endo-CPP). Design/Methods: Women in an ongoing placebo-controlled trial of onaBoNTA for endo-CPP were offered an open toxin injection at any time between one-month to one-year following the masked, randomized study injection. We assessed change in spasm, pain, and disability in those choosing open injection. With conscious sedation and topical anesthetic, 100units onaBoNTA (25units/cc) was injected transvaginally into areas of pelvic floor muscle spasm under EMG guidance. Spasm was assessed by pelvic exam. Pain, disability, and pain medication use were assessed by patient diaries, visual analog scale (VAS), and validated questionnaires before and after injection. Results: Ten of 13 women in the randomized trial requested open toxin injection and were followed for >3 months post-injection. At baseline, 8/10 had spasm in at least 4/6 assessed pelvic muscles and intense pain (median VAS 6.5 of 10; range: 2–8). On exam at least 1-month post-injection, spasm was absent/less widespread (≤3 muscles) in all (p=0.0001). 8/10 rated their pain as absent/mild (median VAS 1.5; range: 0–5; p=0.0001); 5/10 reduced their pain medication usage. Disability assessed by Oswestry Disability Questionnaire decreased in 3 of 5 women with at least moderate disability pre-injection. At study evaluation 6–11-months post-injection, 3 of 10 reported return of pain and requested additional injection. Adverse events were mild and transient. Conclusions: Pelvic floor spasm appears to be a major contributor to pain in some women with endo-CPP. In this open study, injection of onaBoNTA reduced pain, spasm, and disability for up to 11 months. Utility of botulinum toxin for endo-CPP merits evaluation in controlled clinical trials. Study Supported by: The NIH Intramural Research Program. Disclosure: Dr. Karp has received research support from Allergan, Merz. Dr. Tandon has nothing to disclose. Dr. Sinaii has nothing to disclose. Dr. Shah has nothing to disclose. Dr. Stratton has nothing to disclose.


The invention provides a refrigerant super-addition control method for a composite air conditioner, comprising the following steps: starting a system and entering a refrigerant super-addition mode; detecting operating parameters and judging whether the refrigerant is not enough; when the refrigerant is not enough, appending the refrigerant till the first refrigerant is proper, and then continuously appending the refrigerant for a pre-set time; and closing the system and finishing the refrigerant super-addition mode. In the invention, according to the method, a plurality of parameters are detected and judged, the results are exact, and the refrigerant can be continuously appended to be in an optimal state; furthermore, the method adds the steps of judging and processing the excess of refrigerant, so the system is guaranteed to safely and efficiently run.


In recent years the intestinal microflora has been widely investigated in man, in illness as well as in health, with the aim of finding an aetiological explanation for some protracted infective diarrhoeas with negative stool cultures. Three types of technique are commonly used: direct needling at operation (Creagan and Hayward, 1953), peroral intubation, or aspiration of intestinal fluids using tubes, either


The issues about residential problem have been paid attention to improve the living quality of residents in those residential projects. The type of residential has been developed with the long-standing period based on the contexts of each city. Bangkok Metropolitan Region (BMR), which has been an explosive increase the growth of global urbanization and population, has been expanded urbanized areas with massive infrastructure development especially in peripheral area. This situation has motivated private developers to take possession of largest lands occupancy and residential development in suburban area. The style of low-density residential development is shaped by demand of properties protection from huge income gaps among citizen in suburban area. The developers provide common fortification and access control inside the project that duplicate the American housing model, called Gated Housing Project (GHP) in this study. The continuing demand of GHP exists in peripheral areas, which has a weak urban planning and misused land use development. These areas have been mainly shaping by the infrastructure for automobiles because of insufficient public transportation development. This phenomenon behaves as urban sprawl development. The incompatible residential models and uncontrolled GHPs growth in sprawl phenomena lead to spatial isolation, environment and social impacts on locals and new residents. These result in reduction of communities' well-being and unification in provincial scale. As mentioned above, we can realize that GHP development has been regarded as one of the serious issue to study sprawl area in BMR. This research aims to evaluate effects related to GHP on surrounding communities towards investigation of causes, leading to guideline to improve future GHP development. The prospected goal of research is to create unification among residents in mixed types of residential areas through reducing social impact of GHP development in suburban residential area. Therefore, it is necessary to create specific evaluation method for BMR context in order to examine the effects of GHP as explicit as possible. The primary effects of GHP development are range from urban development to social relationship of inhabitants. Thus, the effect evaluation in this research included; urban scale to classify problematic area; district scale to understand current situation of study area; and community scale to investigate social relationship's effect of inside and outside residents of GHP. All results should be considered simultaneously to appreciate all feedbacks that can reflect the guideline to improve GHP. To achieve goal of study, major four parts conduct the research as follow; investigation of sprawl phenomena in BMR, evaluation of effects of GHP, results analysis and discussion, and conclusion and recommendation for future GHP. At the first part, the principle effects of GHP development in sprawl phenomena of BMR are revealed that the main problems are urban development and social relationship of inhabitants. This sprawl area is measured by factors that are combined literature review and condition of sprawl in BMR. The index of sprawl measurement is used as a key of evaluation method to classify sprawl area into four stages of sprawl development. The findings of this part are problematic areas and characteristic of GHP allocation in each category. Therefore, the case studies are selected regarding the most severe areas, and are evaluated the effects concerning the reveled principle problems. These contents are described from Chapter I to III. After comprehension of GHP situation in urban scale was exposed in the Part I, the second part of dissertation described about effect evaluation of GHP development in case study areas. The representative sprawl areas are chosen in Pathumthani and Nonthaburi province where high accumulation of GHP has. Both areas are expected that have high impact on social relationship because of disorder and congestion of GHP in residential area. Chapter IV will clarify specific indices of neighborhood relationship evaluation of GHPs and method to consider current situation in sprawl case study. The tools and methods of questionnaires survey and physical observation will be designed. Chapter V and VI are conducted with the same structure as follow; background of area, characteristics of current land composition, neighborhood relationship assessment, and data analysis. According to physical observation on existing situation, there are diverse communities including; former village (FV), gated housing project with detached houses (GHP-D), gated housing project with townhouse (GHP-T), housing project with no-gate (HP), and individual house (IH) in both cases. In addition, we found the differences of GHPs' location in residential land composition are congestion of GHPs in Pathumthani and dispersion of GHPs in Nonthaburi. This condition leads to problems on quality of living on surrounding communities such as traffic congestion in dense GHP development area and encroachment on agricultural lands in disordered GHP development area. This situation emphasizes possible effects on social relationship of inhabitants. The social relationship for inside and outside residents is assessed directly through 400 questionnaires in each study area. Moreover, the supply-side of GHP development (developers and local governmental officers) is also important to be inquired via structural interviews. The results from questionnaires distribution are calculated via SPSS program to clarify respondents' perception and opinion. We found that characteristics of respondents in both cases are different. Moreover, FVs in Nonthaburi, have lowest outside relationship (OR) but highest inside relationship (IR), while GHP-Ts have highest OR but lowest IR. On the other hand, FVs in Pathumthani have highest IR and OR, and GHP-Ts have lowest OR. Part III includes comparison analysis and tendency analysis of results from questionnaires in Chapter VII in order to investigate; the relevant factors related neighborhood relationship, and explanation of causes of that relationship. The discussions will be supported by the supportive results from interviews and field survey. When compared inside and outside neighborhood relationship between congested GHP area and disordered GHP area, the common results are similarity of IR and OR of GHP-D and HP in both cases. Meanwhile OR of FV and GHP-T is totally opposite results, namely, FV in congested GHP area has strongest OR but becomes weakest in disordered GHP area. Contradiction, OR of GHP-T is highest in disordered GHP area and lowest in congested GHP area. As the supportive results from physical observation, IR of FVs cannot be reduced by encroachment of GHPs in both areas, except strength of OR depends on GHPs allocation. The disorganized GHP allocation caused the isolation of FVs, which led to the dissatisfaction of FVs on polluted agricultural lands and obstructive accessibility. Although walls of surrounding GHPs enclose FVs in congested residential area, but accesses of FVs directly connect to the main road. The relevant factors that influenced on neighborhood relationship are analyzed through ANOVA and T-Test analysis. The analysis can affirm that physical environment of community and characteristic of residents significantly influence on social relationship. The common influenced factors are length of occupancy and gates or fences of GHP. The different influenced factors are size of household, income, and age of residents. These significant related factors can create points of recommendation that will be suggested in the next chapter. Conclusion and recommendation is exposed in Part IV within Chapter VIII. In summary, gated housing project development is a key driver of sprawl phenomena in Bangkok metropolitan region. The principle effects from GHP development in residential scale are; community isolation, land use confusion and encroachment, and traffic congestion. As the pre-evaluation of effects in urban scale, there are four types of sprawl area. The most critical area consists of accumulative GHP diffusion with inefficient infrastructure and weak land use planning. In district scale of case study areas, the isolation of community is obviously found in Nonthaburi area, while there is less social segregation in Pathumthani. In community scale, the adapted GHP can create better social relationship than typical GHP. However, it is still not enough to make unification in community. The community without restrict access also has stronger inside relationship. Therefore, the current physical condition of GHP should be more reconsidered because they cannot enhance the social relationship inside GHP. For the influenced factors that are found in previous chapter, can generate basis recommendations for future GHP development. In real situation, we cannot immediately stop GHPs' growth and cannot eliminate entire walls of GHPs. This research expects to suggest; (1) local government policy should pay more attention on GHP's location to determine the appropriate zone that makes fewer effects from GHPs mentioned above, (2) it is better to provide amenity or management system for longer period of occupancy because the long period of living can create strong social relationship among the residents, (3) gates and fences can be reduced extravagance design of gates and fences to humble the surrounding community's perception, and (4) revision the current community management system in GHP. As the recommendation, this is expected to be an initiative point to improve gated housing projects and towards create the unification in residential area in the future.


Rural communities suffer from supply- and demand-side disadvantages when dealing with Internet access. Telecommunications companies are less likely to provide such communities with needed infrastructure because of their lower population densities; these communities also tend to have lower levels of factors known to influence the access decision, such as education and income.This study looks at the broadband Internet setting in Oklahoma over a 3-year period, examining the diffusion of infrastructure and access rates. A nonlinear decomposition technique allows for measurement of how characteristics such as the availability of infrastructure contribute to observed metropolitan—micropolitan or metropolitan—noncore digital divides.The results suggest that although differences in infrastructure are consistently only minor contributors to the divide, their importance has increased as knowledge about the Internet has diffused.


An organized and objective method for testing any centroid-based storm cell tracking algorithm is investigated. Several algorithms are currently used for these purposes, however, efficacy studies for these tracking algorithms have been of marginal use. Limitations such as the number of case studies, arbitrary metrics, and subjective analyzes restrict the scope and applicability of the methods used to determine efficacy. An objective, generalized method for testing and scoring any tracking algorithm is necessary for quantitative comparisons. It would also have an added benefit of allowing experiments to be constructed to study the behavioral characteristics of the algorithms in different environmental scenarios. A system for testing and scoring any centroid-based storm cell tracking algorithm is described. The system simulates the track of the centroid of many storm cells in configurable scenarios. Tracking algorithms are then applied to the simulated data and the system uses this truth data to score the results. Several track scenarios, both idealized and realistic, are examined. The utility of this testing system for the purpose of determining an optimal tracking algorithm is discussed.


HUMAN beings can become infected by a number of canine intestinal helminths, some of which are considered to be potential public health problems worldwide. However, intestinal worms of dogs currently receive less attention than their protozoan counterparts. This may be partly due to the decline in endemicity reported in developed countries, where dogs are likely to receive more attention and anthelmintic treatment from their owners. To illustrate the importance of veterinary care, a longitudinal study in Japan revealed that progress in prophylactic drug administration against dirofilariosis had reduced the prevalence of several intestinal nematodes in dogs (Asano and others 2004). The low levels of prevalence among canine hosts translate into a reduction in potential zoonotic risk for human beings in a given area. However, endemicity has been found to vary markedly from one region to another, and is also influenced by aspects of the survey protocols, such as subject choice and the diagnostic techniques that are employed (Robertson and others 2000). This short communication describes part of an ongoing study on the zoonotic helminths of Japan. It details a coprological survey of dogs in Aomori, the northernmost prefecture on the mainland, where no such information is currently available. The analyses focused on hunting dogs, as the way in which they are managed and their field activities makes them more susceptible to acquiring a variety of zoonotic helminths, either directly or indirectly from wildlife. Faecal samples were collected from 134 hunting dogs and 86 companion dogs between December 2003 and March 2005. Two different diagnostic techniques were employed: a centrifugal flotation technique (Ito 1980) with a sucrose solution with a specific gravity of 1·27, and a formalin-ethyl acetate sedimentation technique (Young and others 1979). With the exception of Trichuris species and Taeniidae, all eggs were identified to genus, or genus and species, on the basis of morphological characteristics. The eggs of T vulpis are morphologically similar to those of other Trichuris species (Bundy and Cooper 1989), and parasitic eggs may be excreted after being acquired from other animals through coprophagy (Traub and others 2002). A total of 100 randomly selected trichurid eggs from positive faecal specimens were therefore re-examined according to the dimensions described by Yoshikawa and others (1989). Given the difficulty of distinguishing between taeniid tapeworm eggs on the basis of shape and size (Thompson 1995), Taenia and Echinococcus species were differentiated using nested PCR (Dinkel and others 1998). Pearson's chi-squared test was used to assess differences in the egg prevalence of each helminth between both groups. McNemar's chi-squared Hunting dogs Companion dogs Helminth species Number (%) positive 95% CI Number (%) positive 95% CI


The modification of water/solid interfaces by adsorbed neutral or charged macromolecules is proved to provide an excellent environment for controlled protein loading and release. Advanced experimental methodologies that probe the structural details of planar interfaces at nanometer length scales are presented. The broad fields of polymers at interfaces and protein–polymer interactions in solutions are introduced as a lay ground for the central subject of proteins at polymer-modified interfaces. Important contributions to the literature are used as paradigms to highlight the main findings and open subjects in the field, and at the same time, the complementary use of experimental methods is illustrated. The different kinds of interactions of proteins with macromolecular layers of various conformations are broadly categorized, although the boundaries between cases are by no means strict.


Calculations using the SOCON model indicated the following: the temperature was increased throughout the concrete and the reaction product layer. Temperature could be raised to above sodium bp. Rate of release and accumulation of water and CO/sub 2/ gas were increased. The sodium mass transport to the reaction surface was also increased. As a consequence, more hydrogen and chemical heat were produced. The probability of concrete mechanical failure was higher. Sodium boiling inside the reaction product layer would not significantly alter the course of the reaction, unless it could reduce the rate of sodium transport. Although the chemical heat dominated during the early period, the decay heat could become the main source later. The reactions were driven by three main heat sources: the chemical heat, core debris heat and conduction heat from the hot sodium pool. The latter could become a heat sink. Even with the presence of core debris, the chemical reaction penetration was self-limiting and eventually, the reaction penetration rate decreased to a small value.


A common approach for studying the acoustic behaviour of a space is to measure the impulse re- sponses across different receiver positions, and report the average values of the acoustic parameters obtained. Since the variations of the reverberation time values across the different measured posi- tions are minimal, this approach is considered suitable for describing the acoustics of the space and for acoustic design purposes. For auralization purposes, however, the average values cannot repre- sent the listeners auditory experience at a specific position in the space as significant differences are observed for EDT and Clarity parameters across the measured positions. For this study, impulse response measurements based on the Exponential-Swept Sine Method have been made in the his- toric site of St Margaret's Church, York, UK. The church has been acoustically modified to create a multi-functional space acoustically suitable for a variety of events, from conferences to classical and early music recitals. For an appropriate coverage of the space, 26 receiver positions were used and variations in the orientation of the sound source were additionally applied for the in-situ acoustic measurements. The auralization results have been analysed in objective terms by studying the values of the acoustic parameters T30, EDT and C80. This paper highlights the importance of studying the frequency-dependent acoustic behaviour at each individual position in order to obtain reliable auralization results, rather than using spatial averaging. A novel way to represent the data across different measured positions, using acoustic floor maps, is also introduced. This provides information on the variations across both frequency bands and position.


ii Dedication iv Acknowledgements v Vita vii List of Tables ...xi List of Figures xiii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 2: COPULAS 7 2.1 Definition of Copulas 7 2.2 Parametric Families of Copulas 9 2.3 Dependence 11 2.4 Tail Dependence 15 2.5 Empirical Estimation and Selection of Copulas 19 2.5.1 Estimation of Copulas 19 2.5.2 Selection of Copulas 21 CHAPTER 3: TAIL DEPENDENCE AMONG WEATHER INDICES: THE CASE


Goldlane. Compact, columnar tree with firm and crisp yellow fruit. Origin: Inst. of Experimental Botany, Czech Republic by J. Tupy, O. Louda, and J. Zima. UEB 3138/1 x Bohemia; selected 2003. USPP 21,413; 26 Oct. 2010. Fruit: best quality after 3 mo common storage; 6.0 cm height x 7.6 cm diam.; globose to obloid; weak ribbing; crown at calyx end; skin yellow with no overcolor; no bloom or greasiness; flesh very firm, crisp, fine texture with rich flavor and medium aroma; stores for 6 mo in ambient refrigerated storage. Tree: columnar habit; spur bearing; Rvi6 (Vf) resistance to apple scab.


The preparation of this chapter was promoted and supported by the Center for Interdisciplinary Research of the University of Bielefeld. Bruno Galantucci's project was supported by an NIH grant (DC-03782) to Haskins laboratories. This research of Luc Steels and coworkers was supported by the Sony computer Science Laboratory under a EU FET grant ECAgents (IST-1940).


Several companies in the U.S. have recently adopted productivity improvement programs, which have long been implemented in Japan. The author analyzes the factors that have led to the success of Japanese programs, and describes how U.S. companies can establish and manage productivity systems.


[Objective] The research aimed to study the appropriate nitrogen amunt of direct-seeding rapeseed in Jianghuai Region,Anhui.[Method]The field trials were conducted to study the effects of nitrogen fertilizer supply on yield,N use efficiency and economic benefits of direct-seeding rapeseed.[Result] N fertilizer could increase the yield of direct-seeding rapeseed significantly.Rapeseed yield was improved with the increase of the amount of N fertilizer.The treatment N360 achieved the highest yield in the three test plots.With the increase of nitrogen application rate,partial factor productivity was decreased.But there was no obvious rule about the N agronomic use efficiency.The results also showed that nitrogen fertilizer significantly increased the economic benefits of direct-seeding rapeseed.The treatment N360 achieved the maximum income and net profit of 7 494.95 and 6 234.95 yuan/hm2,respectively,while the treatment N270 achieved the best VCR of 3.12.[Conclusion]The appropriate nitrogen amount was 270-360 kg/hm2 in Jianghuai Region,Anhui under the condition of this experiment.


In this paper, we attempt to fine-tune the CLIP (Contrastive Language-Image Pre-Training) model on the Lifelog Question Answering dataset (LLQA) to investigate retrieval performance of the fine-tuned model over the zero-shot baseline model. We train the model adopting a weight space ensembling approach using a modified loss function to take into account the differences in our dataset (LLQA) when compared with the dataset the CLIP model was originally pretrained on. We further evaluate our fine-tuned model using visual as well as multimodal queries on multiple retrieval tasks, demonstrating improved performance over the zero-shot baseline model.


The quality of the data record of the integral clinical histories, of the private university of Huancayo Franklin Roosevelt, made by the students of the VII and VIII academic semester, of the years 2015 to 2017, of the rehabilitation stomatological clinic of adult I and II, it is 70.7% "deficient", and 29.3% "to improve", evaluated with the Technical Standard for auditing the quality of health care of Minsa Peru - 2016.


The number and size of follicles selected for ovulation differ between species. The aim of this study was to characterise antral follicular growth and determine the size when selection of the ovulatory follicle occurs in the monovular brushtail possum. For this study, antral follicles ≥ 1 mm were dissected from the ovaries of 31 adult female possums at different reproductive states and follicular fluid and granulosa cells were harvested from each individual follicle. Selection of the ovulatory follicle in the brushtail possum occurred when follicles reached between 2.5 and 2.8 mm in diameter. Based on the analysis of steroids in follicular fluid, before selection, most follicles produced varying amounts of oestradiol (E2), but very few if any produced progesterone (P4). After selection, the selected follicle continued to produce increasing amounts of E2 and P4, whereas most other follicles were steroidogenically inactive. Near the time of ovulation, presumably after the LH surge, P4 became the predominant steroid produced by the selected follicle and most other follicles once again produced varying amounts of E2. The number of granulosa cells per follicle was highly variable, but tended to increase with increasing diameter. Cell viability was very high, averaging about 95%. Interestingly, the morphology of granulosa cells changed markedly after selection becoming larger and granular in appearance. The weights of the vaginal cul-de-sac and uteri correlated well with the presence of a selected follicle. In ovaries from pregnant animals (n = 3), follicles grew up to 3.5 mm, and although they reached the size of a selected follicle during the follicular phase, E2 production by the other follicles was not suppressed and the weights of the cul-de-sac were less than those from non-pregnant animals with similar sized follicles. During anoestrus (n = 4), follicles did not grow beyond 2 mm and produced very little steroids.


Purpose
This study aims to explore and synthesize the role of knowledge management (KM) in tourism organizations (including micro, small, medium and large enterprises and destination management organizations).

Design/methodology/approach
This study adopts systematic review methods to synthesize the role of KM in tourism from 90 journal articles.

Findings
This study identifies the prominent theories adopted to explore the relation and impact of KM in the tourism sector, the geographic distribution of the literature and thorough qualitative synthesis. This study identifies the critical research themes investigated and the outcome of KM applications. Finally, through reviews, this study identifies critical gaps in the literature and offer promising avenues to advance the KM in tourism research.

Originality/value
This is one of the few papers that comprehensively review the role of KM in the tourism industry and offer implications.


Exploring the functionality of composite flours from Rice, Amaranth and Raw banana for various food products can be advantageous in food industry as it has more benefits. Therefore the purpose of the plan of the current study is to examine the functional characteristics of these composite flours at various proportions. Composite flours were blended in six treatments in the ratio of 100:0:0 (T0), 0:100:0 (T00), 49:49:2 (T1), 48:48:4 (T2), 47:47:6 (T3) and 46:46:8 (T4) respectively. The different functional properties of the blend such as water absorption capacity, oil absorption capacity, swelling capacity and foaming capacity were determined. It was revealed that the capacity for water and oil absorption was decreased for T00 and decreased with the addingpercentage of raw banana powder in the flour blend from T1 to T4. Also the foaming measurement and swelling measurement of the flour blend ranged between 8% to 14% and 8ml to 17ml respectively. These flours can be used for making the pasta and similar products, because of its high nutritional quality which is beneficial for human health.


The objective of the present study was to prepare the propafenone Hydrochloride(P) loaded into natural and modified gums microspheres by emulsification solvent evaporation technique utilizing wetting agent. Effect of different process variables on drug loading studies during the preparation of microspheres was optimized. Sieve analysis data indicated that the prepared microspheres were in the range of 106 to 500 µm. The angle of repose, % Carr's index and tapped density were well within the limit, indicating reasonable good flow potential for the prepared microspheres.SEM photomicrographs and sphericity factor confirms the prepared formulations are spherical in nature. DSC studies and FTIR spectra showed that the encapsulated drug was stable in the prepared formulations. XRD studies revealed the crystalline nature of the drug. Drug discharge from prepared formulations were studied and compared with commercially available controlled release formulation Rhothmonorm ® ER - 225 mg. It was observed that, there was no significant release of drug at gastric pH. Drug release kinetics from the formulations followed different transport mechanisms. From the results, P loaded Modified Locust bean gum (PXML1) A single dose randomized two period cross over study was conducted to compare the pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of P (225mg) from test formulation (product B – PXML1 - P loaded MLBG) with standard formulation (Product A Rhothmonorm ® ER - 225 mg capsule). The observed mean values Tmax, Cmax, AUC0 -∞, Ka. T half and Kel for products A & B does not show any significant statistical difference. From the dissolution point and invivo bio availability for products A & B could be considered bio equivalent. The drug release performance was greatly effected by the materials used in the microsphere preparation which allows maximum absorption in the intestine.


As one of the important response gene to complement,response gene to complement-32 (RGC-32) simultaneously involves in many other biological functions.Recent studies have shown that RGC-32 was one of the critical regulatory factors at the G2/M check point in the cell cycles and involved in the cell cycle regulation.The expression products of RGC-32 gene play the key roles in cell proliferation,differentiation,inflammation,tumor metastasis and other processes.However,it has not been clarified in its biological mechanisms of regulation in cell cycle.This article takes a brief review about RGC-32 on its gene structure,biological functions,regulation of cell cycle,and the relationship of cell cycle regulation which involves in RGC-32.

Key words:
RGC-32; Cell cycle regulation;  G2/M check point;  Cell proliferation and differentiation


Without changes in current policies, U.S. teacher shortages are projected to grow in the coming years. Teacher turnover is an important source of these shortages. About 8% of teachers leave the profession each year, two-thirds of them for reasons other than retirement. Another 8% shift to different schools each year. In addition to aggravating teacher shortages, high turnover rates lower student achievement and are costly for schools. This brief examines turnover trends and causes. It concludes that policies to stem teacher turnover should target compensation, teacher preparation and support, and teaching conditions. For the full report on which this brief is based, go to https:// learningpolicyinstitute.org/ product/teacher-turnover. External Reviewers The full report on which this brief is based benefited from the insights and expertise of two external reviewers: Li Feng, Brandon Dee Roberts Excellence Assistant Professor at Texas State University; and Jesse Rothstein, Professor of Public Policy and Economics, and Director of the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at University of California, Berkeley. Core operating support for the Learning Policy Institute is provided by the Sandler Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, and the Ford Foundation. Desiree Carver-Thomas and Linda Darling-Hammond As students return to school this fall, many will be taught by teachers untrained for the classes they are teaching. Last year, more than 100,000 classrooms were filled with underprepared teachers, and that number is expected to rise.1 Other students will face course cancellations, and some will attend larger classes because qualified teachers could not be found. Teacher shortages, which have been growing since 2015, compromise student learning in these and other ways. Many policymakers have focused on recruiting new teachers to address the national shortage, but curbing teacher turnover is equally important. Unlike Finland and Singapore, where 3–4% of teachers leave the profession each year, usually for retirement, in the United States annual teacher attrition is about 8% and accounts for roughly 90% of the demand for new teachers. Teacher attrition in the United States has increased steeply since the 1990s, when it was only 5%, and two-thirds of those who leave the profession each year do so for reasons other than retirement. Another 8% of teachers shift to different schools each year, bringing the total turnover rate—the combination of those who move schools or leave the profession—closer to 16% of the total teacher workforce. In addition to aggravating teacher shortages, high turnover rates create extra costs for schools, with estimates reaching $20,000 or more for every teacher who leaves an urban district. Although some teacher turnover is expected and can be beneficial, high turnover rates reduce student achievement—not only for students whose classrooms are directly affected, but also for other students in the school.2 Although some teacher turnover is expected and can be beneficial, high turnover rates reduce achievement for students whose classrooms are directly affected and for other students in the school. LEARNING POLICY INSTITUTE | RESEARCH BRIEF 1 This brief summarizes a report using data from the most recent nationally representative survey of U.S. teachers— the 2012 Schools and Staffing Survey and the 2013 Teacher Follow-up Survey—to investigate how turnover trends vary across regions, schools, teachers, and subject areas, and what factors predict teachers' decisions to leave their school or the profession.3 Variations in Turnover Rates The survey data reveal that teacher turnover rates vary markedly across the country. Annual turnover rates are highest in the South (16%) and lowest in the Northeast (10%), where states tend to offer higher pay, support smaller class sizes, and make greater investments in education. For most regions, turnover is higher in cities than in any other district type. In the West, however, turnover is highest in towns and rural areas. Turnover also varies widely across states (see Figure 1), with rates above 20% annually in Arizona, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Texas, and rates below 10% in Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, and a set of New England states (New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont) combined for this analysis because of their individual size. These differentials tend to be associated with salaries and working conditions.4


Objective
To evaluate the application effect of concept map guided nursing in the high quality nursing of diabetic patients.

Methods
A total of 119 hospitalized diabetic patients from March 2016 to December 2016 were selected using convenient sampling and randomly divided into the control group (n=59) and observation group (n=58) . Conventional nursing ward round were conducted in the control group, and the concept map nursing round were used in the observation group. Patients' satisfaction was evaluated using satisfaction questionnaire. The Chinese critical thinking disposition inventory (CTDI-CV) was used to evaluate the ability of nurses' critical thinking.

Results
Scores of all dimensions of nursing satisfaction and the total score in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P<0.05) . After the implementation of concept map nursing round, scores of critical thinking in nurses truth seeking, analysis ability, open-mind, systematic ability, self-confidence of critical thinking and curiosity and the total score were improved when compared to those of nurses before the implementation; the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05) .

Conclusions
Clinical application of concept map, which provides human-based high quality nursing service for patients, can optimize the nursing quality and improve the critical thinking ability and quality of nurses.

Key words:
Diabetes; Concept map; High quality nursing


Employers require software engineers to work in teams when developing software systems. It is therefore important for graduates to have experienced teamwork before they enter the job market. We describe an experiential learning exercise that we designed to teach the software engineering process in conjunction with teamwork skills. The underlying teaching strategy applied in the exercise maximises risks in order to provide maximal experiential learning opportunities. The students are expected to work in fairly large, yet short-lived, instructor-assigned teams to complete software engineering tasks. After undergoing the exercise our students form self-selected teams for their capstone projects. In this article, we determine and report on the influence the teaching exercise had on the formation of teams for the capstone project. By analysing data provided by the students through regular peer reviews we gain insight into the team dynamics as well as to what extent the members contributed to the team effort. We develop and present a graphical model of a capstone project team which highlights participation of individuals during the teaching exercise. The participatory history of the members is visualised using segmented concentric rings. We consider how this visualisation can aid the identification of capstone project teams that are at risk. In our experience the composition of the team and the behaviour of other members in the team may have a marked impact on the behaviour of each individual in the team. We established a team classification in order to model information about teams. We use a statistical clustering method to classify teams. For this we use team profiles that are based on the participatory levels of its members. The team types that emerge from the clustering are used to derive migration models. When we consider migration, we build spring models to visualise the teams through which individuals migrate. We colour code the teams to characterise them according to the team types that were identified during the cluster classification of the teams. Owing to the complexity of the resulting model, only migrations for capstone team members who have worked together during the exercise or for solitary capstone team members are modelled. These models support the identification of areas of interest that warrant further investigation. To conclude, we present our observations from the analysis of team compositions, team types, and team migrations and provide directions for future work and collaborations.


This paper presents a polynomial-time algorithm for designing digital filters with coefficients expressible as sums of signed power-of-two (SPT) terms. Our proposal is based on an observation that under certain circumstances, the realization cost of a filter with SPT coefficients depends only on the total number of SPT terms, regardless of how the terms distribute among the coefficients. Therefore, the number of SPT terms for each coefficient is not necessarily limited to a fixed number. Instead, they should be allowed to vary subject to a given number of total SPT terms for the filter. This provides the possibility of finding a better set of coefficients. Our algorithm starts with initializing all the quantized coefficient values to zero. It chooses one SPT term at a time and allocates it to the currently most deserving coefficient to minimize the L/sup /spl infin// distance between the SPT coefficients and their corresponding infinite wordlength values. This process of allocating the SPT terms is repeated until the total number of SPT terms for the filter is equal to a prescribed number. For each filter gain, the time complexity is a second-order polynomial in the number of coefficients to be optimized and is a first-order polynomial in the filter wordlength.


Based on theories of Humanism and Constructivism,the article proposes People Oriented Constructivism Teaching Model.The contrastive teaching experiments on classes guided by People Oriented Constructivism Teaching Model and classes guided by traditional teaching model,demonstrate that there are no remarkable differences in listening,reading,and writing between two kinds of classes.Nevertheless,there are remarkable differences in students' oral English ability between two kinds of classes(p=0.000).The experiments illustrate that the two teaching models can both enhance students' listening,reading,and writing abilities,but People Oriented Constructivism Teaching Model can significantly improve students' oral English.The results of questionnaire demonstrates that more students(78%) prefer People Oriented Constructivism Teaching Model.


The nucleus accumbens is a key node in the network linking reward to action. Studying a rare series of patients with bilaterally implanted electrodes in the nucleus accumbens, Nachev et al. show that external electrical stimulation of the accumbens dynamically shifts behaviour towards more risky decision making.


According to recent statistical research the index of literacy in the population of Belarus is very high in comparison with other European countries. Higher education is a key element in the development of the economy and sustainability of the cultural and intellectual potential of the nation. Belarus is a young independent country that is passing through years of integration and international cooperation. This paper describes the development of higher education in Belarus starting from the collapse of the Soviet Union. Using a comparative approach the author focuses on legislation regulating the higher educational system and its development. A few aspects of international cooperation are explored along with the reasons behind exclusion of the country from the Bologna process and its consequences on society.


PD-1–centered therapies rely on CD28 activation to promote anti-tumor immunity. PD-1–centered therapies rely on CD28 activation to promote anti-tumor immunity.


Consumer long tradition in marketing (see Beatty and Smith, 1987; Bruner, 1986; Kiel and Layton, 1981; Moorthy, Ratchford and Talukdar, 1997; Punj and Staelin, 1983; Srinivasan and Ratchford, 1991). The interest in this topic is not surprising given that an understanding of consumer search is critical to strategic decisionmaking in business. Traditionally, empirical studies have focused on the search for information regarding products with unambiguous, well-understood and consistent search cues such as computers (Bloch, Sherrel and Ridgway, 1986), cars (Kiel and Layton, 1981; Moorthy, Ratchford and Talukdar, 1997; Punj and Staelin, 1983; Srinivasan and Ratchford, 1991), electronic devices (Beatty and Smith, 1987) and clothing (Bloch, Sherrel and Ridgway, 1986, Bruner, 1986). These product categories are usually chosen because they facilitate comparison of results with previous research results (Moorthy, Ratchford and Talukdar, 1997) or because it is assumed that a need recognition for any of these products will be followed by extensive and varied search.


Signal peptides (SPs) are essential tools in sorting or translocating the synthesized proteins. However, except few examples, their studies in isolation are quite limited. Here we asked a question of the aggregation propensity of signal peptide (residues 1-18) of Human Serum Albumin (HSA). Molecular dynamic simulations were used to acquire observations into the mechanism through which signal peptides of HSA self-aggregated in physiological conditions. Further, we confirmed our results by combining dye-based assays, atomic force microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy techniques. It was noted that the signal peptide of HSA (region 1-18) forms typical amyloid-like fibrils. Graphical


Value senses are considered in the context of dynamics of Ukraine's political system in information epoch. Stability of a political system depends on its ability to respond effectively to challenges, to adapt to internal and external changes. The importance of objective socio-economic indicators, choice of priorities of state policy and availability of common, recognized by majority of citizens, socio-cultural and spiritual values and meanings for normal functioning of the country are emphasized. Attention is focused on one of the key factors of stabilization – maintaining and enhancing of national understanding concerning major national development tasks, goals and axiological meanings. A necessary condition for stable development is formation of an information space that corresponds to main values of national socio-cultural field. This space, in turn, has its positive and negative sides, and therefore carries some risks. The necessity for creation an effective model of value senses of public understanding of a complex approach, which provides ensuring of freedom as a security by the state. It is emphasized that it is important to harmonize challenges related to both tradition and innovations in order to achieve a stable state of society.The specific contradictions between these components under the present Ukrainian conditions are revealed. The content of axiological guidelines, which are priority for forming stability of both society and political regime, was analyzed. Two models of political stability (total and dynamic) of society and their characteristics are considered. The current state of destabilization of Ukrainian society is indicated: significance of the contingency factor has increased critically and the important regulatory and controlling functions have been lost by the power. The need for authorities and society to work together to restore the original model of understanding that existed at the beginning of Ukraine's independence was noted.Significant part of responsibility for this state of affairs, especially for widen the division in Ukrainian society, lays in domestic political elite, which, instead of mobilizing values in socio-political space and uniting the efforts of citizens around constructive development goals, seeks to rely on external support.


The interaction of interplanetary shock waves with cometary atmospheres is described briefly in terms of 'shock-bow shock' and 'shock-tangential discontinuity' interactions. The tangential discontinuity is used to describe the boundary between the cometary and solar wind gases. Instability of the tangential discontinuity and its temporary breakup following impact by an interplanetary shock wave would, it is suggested, be followed by mixing between the solar wind and cometary plasma. It is also suggested that this physical process, part of which has already been studied extensively, is a principal factor responsible for cometary brightness variations following solar flare and/or stream-stream activity.


Position is a vital element for ITS applications. Its accuracy helps to deliver services quickly to drivers to increase their satisfaction. GPS is a well-known position system but it suffers from multipath effect and non-line of sight in tunnel environments. Relative Position or sometimes called cooperative localization is an alternative position estimation. It utilizes different forms of v2x communication to exchange position, distance, direction, and velocity parameters. It will benefit in collecting a large amount of data to increase the accuracy of position estimation. However, the dependency of radio range communication methods has drawbacks such as poor-received signal, multipath, lose packets, delay, and overhead communication that will have inverse impact on position accuracy. In addition, safety applications require fewer seconds to make quick response. This chapter provides the latest related papers, the state art of radio range, the well-known localization algorithms, and current challenges and future direction.


This letter proposes a calibration method to properly measure the incident power in a directional coupler (DC) when the measurement configuration has low directivity. The proposed method is based on measurements of short-circuits placed at different distances to calibrate the DC response. Results show that the method is clearly robust and provides accurate measurements even for directivities as low as 10 dB.


As to the highway development and landscape in Yunnan,we should persist in the principle of person and then to pursue the natural,we would keep aim to natural environmental protection,and give consideration to safety,economy and benefit which would build"Landscape highway in continuous development ".


TBT measures are widely used in the international trade in recent decades, and have much more influences on China than ever before. This paper summarizes WTO / TBT jurisprudence, especially the 3 cases settled by WTO / DSB in 2012. Focusing on Annex1.1, Article 2.1, 2.2, and 12.3 of TBT Agreement, it gives a map of the methods of interpretation of the terms like "Technical Regulation", "Treatment No Less Favorable"and "Unnecessary Obstacle to Trade" employed by the Panel and Appellate Body, analyzes the trend in the application of TBT Agreement, and makes some suggestions for China to deal with the cases to be involved in the future.


The deep foundation pit of Shangheyuan Phase Ⅱ has large excavation face and depth and two isolated soil column area with the maximum height difference about 6.3m will be formed after excavation.The effectiveness of dewatering measures and support scheme concerns the safety and stability of the foundation pit directly and means a lot to the following engineering activities.Combined with the geological conditions,the analysis and calculation of the dewatering scheme for the foundation pit are introduced;selected typical profile section,the specific support schemes with different excavation depth and at different places are discussed.It is demonstrated that the requirement of deformation control for foundation pit is satisfied.


The letter Z is not part of the Vietnamese alphabet, any more than F, J and W. But it is far from uncommon in language use. It appears in the names of companies that target a popular audience, e.g. Zing for a local competitor to Yahoo. Why is Z, the least used letter of the English alphabet, so trendy in present-day Vietnamese? The evidence reported here suggests that the letter Z constitutes foreign-looking clothing for a typical Vietnamese sound. In Hanoi Vietnamese, historical /ð/, /ʒ/ and /r/ (orthographic D, GI and R) merged to /z/, making the voiced alveolar fricative a highly frequent sound – and a potential identity marker for Hanoian speakers, with Z as a unified written rendering. The results of an automated search through a large corpus of contemporary texts support the conclusions drawn from the qualitative analysis of examples.


times the complexity overwhelms even her efforts to create a straightforward narrative. Her discussion of temple myths and legends brings to bear on the topic some of the methodology and style of scholars of religion and religious anthropology, particularly Victor Turner. The theoretical introduction, on the other hand, relies in large part on the work of anthropologist-historians of the subaltern and post-colonial schools. Although these discussions are quite up-to-date and always interesting, the changes of approach and even language are sometimes disconcerting. In any case, the book brings a new and greatly improved standard to the studies of temple towns and temple administration.


Some problems occur in air-conditioner operation and maintenance due to capacitance,this paper analyzes the causes of them,and puts forward the measures to remove the troubles.These trouble-removing methods play important referenced and exemplary roles in the maintenance of air-conditioners.


On the basis of test data of coal-fired boiler combustion adjustment in a power plant,a hybrid model of the boiler combustion system was established by using the BP neural network,targeting at predicting the boiler efficiency and NOx emission.Moreover,by the genetic algorithms,the weights and thresholds of the BP neural network model were optimized to obtain the improved GA-BP neural network model.Finally,comparison of the prediction error between above two models was conducted.The results showed that,compared with the BP neural network model,by the GA-BP neutral network model,the average prediction error declines from 6% to 3.4% for boiler efficiency and from 0.1% to 0.04% for NOx emission concentration.The generalization ability of the GA-BP neural network model was greatly enhanced,and this model was suitable to build the boiler combustion optimization system.


A pulse waveform profiling algorithm is introduced for processing real-time photoplethysmography (PPG) data in mobile applications. The real PPG waveform is discriminated from artifacts based on rules of probability distribution and physiological significance. The swift background is removed through a two-step method to minimize its effect on the final waveform analysis: interpolating the midpoint of the amplitude of the PPG AC part and then interpolating the minimum of each pulse period. The pulse waveform features are extracted from the stratified PPG wave data. The implementation of the proposed algorithm in a real-time mobile application demonstrated its high efficiency and robustness with a sensitivity of around 96% and a positive specificity of 100%. The potential applications of these extracted features are discussed in terms of long-term trends in physiology such as circadian and arrhythmia real-time monitoring.


Inia Te Wiata carving a pouihi for the foyer of New Zealand house in Haymarket, London, photographed in the 1960s by Geoff Adams. The carving took place in the basement of the building.
Quantity: 1 b&w original negative(s) (copy of original print returned to owner).
Physical Description: Cellulose triacetate negative 100 x 125 mm


Preface Clock Synchronisation and Navigation in the Vicinity of the Earth Noncommutative Spacetime and Quantum Mechanics Symmetries and Supersymmetries of the Dirac Operators in Curved Spacetimes Quasi-linear Properties of the Einstein "Gauss-Bonnet" Field Equations Perturbed Einstein Field Equations in Vacuum and Matter Perturbations Using Maple Spin Foams, Causal Links and Geometry-Induced Interactions Sub-Doppler Laser Spectroscopy in Thin Gas Cells Structure and Dynamics of Simulated Liquid A12O3 Under High Pressures Index.


s Due: September 15, 2014 Abstracts Reviewed by AASHTO TWGS: September – October Authors Notified: November 2014 Full Manuscripts Due: February 1, 2015


This article presents a single-conversion self-injection-locked (SIL) (SCSIL) hybrid mode radar with a novel frequency estimation algorithm, which improves the range resolution in a frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) mode and simultaneously detects the vital signs of multiple subjects in the CW mode. The system architecture includes an SIL oscillator (SILO), a frequency converter, two antennas, and a noncoherent frequency demodulator. Due to the frequency–phase relationship in the spectrum of the beat signal in the FMCW mode, the distance to the closely spaced subjects can be determined. Moreover, the algorithm will identify the most dominant component and remove it from the input signal, and the steps are repeated until the residual-to-input energy ratio is less than the threshold value. This iterative method can thus distinguish multiple signals whose frequencies are close to each other and can support a superresolution analysis in both FMCW and CW modes. In an experiment, the radar with a 150-MHz bandwidth and a sensing period of 20 s can simultaneously provide accurate range and vital sign information of two adjacent subjects with radial and azimuth spacings of 60 cm and 5°, respectively.


Preface I. Introduction Chapter 1: China, Energy, and the World Chapter 2: The Geopolitics of China's Global Resources Quest II. Country Case Studies Chapter 3: Angola Chapter 4: Brazil Chapter 5: Cambodia III. Conclusion Chapter 6: Assessing Opportunities, Mitigating Risks Chapter 7: From Strategies to Actions Bibliography Acknowledgements Index


A total of 19 isozyme loci were identified in selfed progeny of an open-pollinated variety, Chingen-sai (Brassica campestris L. var. chinensis ) and ·in F2 population of a hybrid between a selfed line of Chinese cabbage (B. campestl'is L. var. pekinen, sis ) and Mizu-na (B. campestlts I.. var. japonica ). Isozymes for acid phosphatase (ACP), esterase (EST), phosphoglucomutase (.PGM), glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (.COT) and leucine aminopeptidase (LAP) vvere resolved by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE), v, 'hile phosphoglucoisomerase (PGI) and peroxidase (POX) were by starch gel electrophoresis (SGE). In addi-tion, some selfed progenies from open-pollinated varieties were analyzed to confirm segregations at each isozyme Iocus. With the selfed progeny three sets of linked loci were found: ACP-2, PGM-2 and ACP-3; LAP-2 and GOT-1; GOT-4 and GOT-5. Among a total 12 Ioci analyzed in the F2 population, three sets of linked isozyme loci were found: ACP-8 and PCM-2; LAP-2, G.OT-1, EST-2 and POX-3; ACP-6 and EST-1. The linkages found among isozyme loci seemed to be useful to identif.v isozyme loci when their expression is variable. The information will be also useful in utilizing genome and maps of B. campestris L.


We study quantum conditional entropy production, which quantifies the irreversibility of system-environment evolution from the perspective of a third system, called the reference. The reference is initially correlated with the system. We show that the quantum unconditional entropy production with respect to the system is less than the conditional entropy production with respect to the reference, where the latter includes a reference-induced dissipative information. The dissipative information pinpoints the distributive correlation established between the environment and the reference, even though they do not interact directly. When reaching the thermal equilibrium, the system-environment evolution has a zero unconditional entropy production. However, one can still have a nonzero conditional entropy production with respect to the reference, which characterizes the informational nonequilibrium of the system-environment evolution in the view point of the reference. The additional contribution to the conditional entropy production, the dissipative information, characterizes a minimal thermodynamic cost that the system pays for maintaining the correlation with the reference. Positive dissipative information also characterizes potential work waste. We prove that both types of entropy production and the dissipative information follow quantum fluctuation theorems when a two-point measurement is applied. We verify the quantum fluctuation theorem for the dissipative information experimentally on IBM quantum computers. We also present examples based on the qubit collisional model and demonstrate universal nonzero dissipative information in the qubit Maxwell's demon protocol.


Abstract : The overall goal of this project was to develop a platform methodology to clone, evolve, purify and stabilize high activity oxidase enzymes that are suitable for point-of-care diagnostic and human biosensor applications. The general approach was to add fusion proteins to increase enzyme stability without compromising enzyme activity. Oxidase enzymes that recognize lactate and histamine were improved, and an effort was made to develop a cortisol oxidase from cholesterol oxidase. These studies set the stage for a platform methodology to create biorecognition elements that are suitable for a wide range of point-of-care diagnostic devices.


The Communication Sciences and Disorders Clinical Trials Research Group (CSDRG) was organized in 1995 and funded in 1997 by the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) as a cooperative clinical trials group. It designs and conducts multiinstitutional randomized clinical trials focusing on treatments delivered by speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and audiologists for disorders of speech, language, hearing, balance, and voice/swallowing. Data are presented on a comparison of the number of site participants from the group's onset in 1995 through 31 December 1997. Successes and problems experienced by CSDRG are defined with regard to organizing the group and designing and conducting clinical trials in a managed care environment with nonprimary care professionals. Different barriers to participation are identified at various levels of care/types of institutions and with various types of patient populations, for example, children receiving their health care through the schools versus elderly, demented individuals in nursing care facilities.


Objective To discuss the repeatability and the consistency of blood routine test so as to provide correct report to doctors. Methods Routine tests with venous and peripheral (ending) finger's bloods were synchronously conducted on 60 healthy adults. The samples were laid up for various intervals and tested repeatedly (eight times).Results Significant differences in blood routine test exited between venous blood and ending finger's blood. The white blood cell count was higher in ending finger's blood than in venous blood, while red blood cell and platelet counts were higher in venous blood than in ending finger's blood. The routine tests of venous blood were more repeatable and consistent than that of ending finger's blood within six hours. Conclusion It is suggested that venous blood be utilized for clinical blood routine test and the lay-up duration be paid attention to, so that the veracity can be ensured.


Pododermatitis is common in dogs and has numerous and diverse causes. The clinical presentation, approach to diagnosis and management of the more common and important causes of canine pododermatiti...


Embedded vision is the ability of an embedded system to take logical or intelligent decisions based on the images captured and processed by the system. Point-of-care diagnostics provide clinical diagnostic facilities to the patient at the site, thereby reducing time taken for diagnosis and enhancing the quality of treatment. The proposed system enables medical professional to interpret these point-of-care clinical diagnostics and connect the different remote diagnostic sites, so that they can be accessed, monitored, controlled and maintained by a trained medical professional.


The invention provides a removing method for a direct path, a system, a home base station and a local gateway thereof, wherein the method comprises the steps: the home base station judges whether the local area has the direct path established to the local gateway; if not, the removing process is ended; if so, the home base station sends preset data packets to the local gateway by the direct path, wherein the preset data packets are used for informing the local gateway of removing the direct path; the home base station deletes the context of a local user terminal; and the local gateway receives the preset data packets by the direct path, and then user surface parameters of the direct path are deleted. The removing method provided by the invention can be applied in separated scenes of the home base station and the local gateway, and is simple to implement.


Focused on a variation of the Euclidean traveling salesman problem (TSP), namely the prize-collecting traveling salesman problem with time windows (PCTSPTW), this paper presents a novel ant colony optimization solving method. The time window constraints are considered in the computation for the probability of selection of the next city. The parameters of the algorithm are analyzed by experiments. Numerical results also show that the proposed method is effective for the PCTSPTW problem.


Abstract London-born mixed media sculptor Yasemen Hussein started to make hair out of wire after stumbling across a heap of electrical copper cable in a scrapyard in the mid-1990s. Since then her hair and other sculptures have been featured in offices, shops, galleries, and museums in Britain and abroad. In 2009, on the recommendation of Philip Treacy, Yasemen was commissioned to make metal "wigs" for mannequins in the Museum of London's Pleasure Garden display. Yasemen and the museum's senior curator of fashion, Beatrice Behlen, bonded over the many challenges thrown up by this not entirely straight-forward project. In this conversation, Yasemen and Beatrice discuss the sculptor's attitude to her own hair, chart the development of her work, explore what drew Yasemen to recreating something soft and pliable out of heavy metal, the reasons behind the particular hairstyles she chooses to sculpt, as well as her working method.


We present Acadoop, a lightweight MapReduce framework, which offers the main features of the Hadoop framework, and follows its architecture. The purpose of this lightening is mainly educational : it aims at enabling students to understand more easily the design of such frameworks, and to experiment with the behaviour of the applications that run on these frameworks. A further benefit of this lightening is that Acadoop provides a simple tool for prototyping and assessing scheduling policies for the MapReduce framework. We give a few simple examples of comparisons between scheduling policies, in order to illustrate Acadoop's possibilities with regard to both education and prototyping. In conclusion, we present the context in which Acadoop was developped, and present some lines for further improvement.


The utilization of nuclear emulsions in the study of elementary particles is illustrated with some examples. The instrumentation used for the initial scanning and final measurement of the tracks in the emulsion stacks is described. The disintegrations found from irradiation of the emulsions with I/ sup 131/ labe /sup -/ at 5.5 Bev are discussed. The decay of K/sup +/ in nuclear emulsions is then illustrated. The differential cross section for K/sup +/ scattering in nuclear emulsions is given. An apparatus for the measurement of small-angle scattering in emulsions is then described. (J.S.R.)


The Authors have attempted to present the essential aspects of fatigue fracture interpretation and to show how this can sometimes be of value to the designer, whose difficulties are also outlined. The design problem is involved, and can only be described adequately by recourse to far more detailed and a study of published literature. If failure is associated with a notch effect and no metallurgical factor is found to be involved, then the stresses are simply above the fatigue strength of the component. A simple example of fatigue calculation is included. Order from: BSRA as No. 46,632.


The purpose of the following article is to compare and contrast the literary modes of representation of the First World War shell shock in the poetry of soldier-poets and in the prose of women writers. The war trauma called "shell shock" had a profound impact on British literature and the common memory of the Great World. At the time, the poets who were soldiers expressed their traumatic experiences in their works. Meanwhile, women authors who observed veterans suffering from trauma explored the causes and effects of shell shock in their prose. Słowa kluczowe: trauma, shell shock, wojna, żołnierz


Solidary Selective Collection (SSC) is a legal obligation regulated by Federal Decree N o . 5.940, dated October 25, 2006, which establishes the separation of recyclable waste discarded by the organs and entities of the federal direct and indirect public administration, in the generating source, and Its destination to the associations and cooperatives of the collectors of recyclable materials. In this context, a commission appointed by the general direction of the Federal Institute of Paraíba, Campus Cabedelo (IFPB-CB), prepared the Solid Waste Management Plan, based on studies, diagnostics, infrastructure improvements and discussions with the internal community and the Association of Recyclers of Cabedelo. Environmental education lectures were held with students, servers and outsourced workers, as well as the implementation of the selective solidarity collection in the Campus. All the steps, from the elaboration of the plan until the effective selective collection, took place in a period of seven months, between February and August of 2016.


Describe, in your own words, the principle involved. Provide two examples (of your own or that you read up on them) that make use this principle. One example must be applicable to computer interface design and antoher one that applies to design in general (service design, printed design, graphic design, space design, etc.). Note that I expect you to read more than just the design principle you will be reporting on. The "See also" section has other references that I expect you will at least scan for examples.


Objective To find out effective treatments for complications after ocular surface reconstruction. Methods Lamellar keratoplasty, limbal stem cell and human amniotic membrane transplantation were performed on 32 patients(32 eyes) suffering from severe chemical burns, who were divided into the therapeutic group (16 eyes)and control group(16 eyes)randomly. While they were given the same routine treatment with cortisone, the therapeutic group and the control group received additional ophthalmic solution with FK 506(0.5g·L -1 ) and 10g·L -1 CsA in the same time respectively. The rejection indexs of transplanted tissue were observed. Results In follow up period the therapeutic group was significantly better than control group in graft rejection and prognosis. Conclusion The local applying of FK 506 can improve the rate of success in ocular surface reconstruction greatly.


Present address:Max-Planck- Institut fur Plasmaphysik, Garching, GermanyIntroduction.The advanced tokomak scenarios might allow more effective reactor operation than the ITERELMy H mode reference scenario. In addition to common requirements with the referenceITER scenario, advanced scenarios require operation with simultaneously: high confinement,high-normalised beta and high bootstrap current operation, i.e. high poloidal beta. So far , someof these conditions have been achieved in plasmas with Internal Transport Barriers (ITB) whereturbulence is at least partly stabilised either at the location of the ITB or within the ITB. This paperwill describe some development of high confinement, high beta plasmas with ITBs on JET.Optimised Shear Scenario with Steady ITBs.In JET ITBs are produced in the so-called optimised shear scenarios [1] with pre-heating andthe main heating during the current ramp-up phase of the plasma. The timing of the mainheating phase is adjusted to have a rational q surface, generally q=2, in the plasma [2]. In orderto delay the triggering of an H-mode (the applied power being generally higher than the L to H-mode power threshold) the strike points of the last closed magnetic surface (LCMS) are locatedin the corner of the Gas Box divertor , in order to maximise the pumping. Steady ITBs are onlyproduced when excessive peaking of the pressure profile is avoided [3],[4] which might otherwiselead to disruptive external kink modes or to creation of snakes [5]. This is achieved by controllingthe plasma edge with impurity injection (argon orkrypton) and by adjusting the power waveforms toslowly build-up the plasma pressure. The q=2surface slowly increases and large ITBs areproduced, allowing good confinement to beachieved. These ITBs being rather wide are verysensitive to the radial ener gy losses occurring duringlar ge ELMs [6],[7]. An example of a high beta steady pulse is shownin Figure1. The product H


The growing role of social competencies, also referred to as soft skills, for a future working career is discussed, given a significant altering of the concepts of job families and functions, profession, workplace, working hours in the changing economy. The major attention is paid to such soft skills as collaboration, communication, critical thinking and problem-solving and the ways they can be developed at ESP classes in technical HEIs. Some exercises based on student-centred approach aimed to form these important skills are mentioned. To assess the effectiveness of the teaching methods applied through the module devoted to communication in academic and professional environments, a survey was undertaken among students of the first year. Its results show that innovative methods including role plays, team work and brain-storming are generally perceived by students as less appealing and efficient than more traditional ones such as reading or translation. It is concluded that more efforts are needed to introduce student-centred practices for developing soft skills.


The problems of quality assessment of street and road networks functioning have been studied. An integral quality assessment criterion of street and road networks functioning has been worked out.


In the present work, the colloidal nucleus of zeolite L was proved directly to beexisted in the liquid phase during the induction period by electron diffraction tech-nique. By a new method, that is to replace aluminium with gallium during theprocess of crystallization of zeolite K-L, the gallium used in the further growth ofcrystal was proved to be supplied directly from the compositions existing in the liquidphase. These experimental evidences seem to support the liquid phase mechanism forthe formation of zeolite K-L.


Investigation of ventilation measurement method was of ventilation measurement method was of ventilation measurement method was ventilation measurement method was measurement method was carried out in a full-scale test house. The aim of this study was to examine the ventilation rate via human expiration. The adopted method is able to measure multizone airflow rates. Airflow rate between rooms was monitored and the outdoor airflow rate was measured and the outdoor airflow rate was measured the outdoor airflow rate was measured outdoor airflow rate was measured by using the constant concentration tracer gases. The . The rate of outdoor airflow entering the house and the airflow rate between the rooms were estimated by the ventilation measurement method via human expiration based on system identification theory. The estimated results were compared with the measurement results in order to validate its accuracy.


PURPOSE: An individual cooling and heating system using cogeneration or district heating heat source is provided to significantly reduce the electric charges of each household using an individual absorptive hot/cold blast fan using the hot water collected from the cogeneration. CONSTITUTION: An individual cooling and heating system using cogeneration or district heating heat source comprises a heat exchanger(1), a hot water circulating pump(2), a radiant heating coil, a plurality of absorptive hot/cold blast fans, a control valve, a waste heat collecting pipe, a waste heat circulating pump(6), a cooling tower(8), and a controller(14). The hot water circulating pump compulsorily circulates low-temperature or middle-temperature water to a hot water distributor, the radiant heating coil and the absorptive hot/cold blast fan which are installed in each household. The radiant heating coil performs the radiant heating operation for each household in an apartment house or a complex residence using the compulsorily circulated hot water by the hot water circulating pump. The absorptive hot/cold blast fan is individually installed in each household and generates the hot water and the cold water using the hot water supplied by the above manner. The waste heat collecting pipe collects the waste heat for cooling discharged from the absorptive hot/cold blast fan through the water and supplies the collected waste heat to a waste heat recycling device. The waste heat circulating pump operates the cooling water of the absorptive hot/cold blast fan and compulsorily circulates the cooling water through the cooling water waste heat collecting pipe.


For each m,n >= 0, let Gm,n denote the free group of rank r in the variety UmUn. The main results in this paper are: (i) a necessary and sufficient condition for a system of r elements {v1,…, vr} to form a basis of Gm,ni (ii) necessary and sufficient conditions for a system of l elements {v1,…, vl}, l <= r, to be included in a basis of Gm,0. In particular, (i), (ii) yield corresponding results for the free metabelian group of rank r.


We study control systems invariant under a Lie group with application to the problem of nonlinear trajectory planning. A theory of symmetry reduction of exterior differential systems is employed to demonstrate how symmetry reduction and reconstruction is effective in the explicit, exact construction of planned system trajectories. We show that, while a given control system with symmetry may not be static feedback linearizable or even flat, it may nevertheless possess a flat or even linearizable symmetry reduction and from this, trajectory planning in the original system may often be carried out or greatly simplified. We employ the contact geometry of Brunovsky normal forms to develop tools for detecting and analysing these phenomena. The effectiveness of this approach is illustrated by its application to a problem in the guidance of marine vessels. A method is given for the exact and explicit planning of surface trajectories of models for the control of under-actuated ships. It is shown that a 3-degrees-of-freedom control system for an under-actuated ship has a symmetry reduction which permits us to give an elegant explicit, exact solution to this problem.


Human language is rule-governed. But not all languages have the same exact rules. Sometimes the particular grammar in one language has to be governed but others do not have to.   Each of them has own characteristic even tough the phrase order among them is similar.   In general, the English and Indonesian phrase order is SVO or SPO (subject, Predicate, Object). But in noun clause English and Indonesian phrase order have different grammar.   Making equal sentences in Indonesian and English doesn't always produce the same construction. It is related to the significance of each part to support the construction of clauses. And it can be used to describe the characteristic of each construction.  In noun clause the presence of particle in Indonesian phrase order makes the pattern of the phrase order change into P-S. And English phrase order is  so tight  that  the presence of particles in its grammar is unnecessary. Key Words :  Phrase Order, Noun Clause, Particle


The article dwells on the origin and development of linguistic imagology, a new field of research which studies the linguistic aspect of foreign image representation in fiction literature, mass media and other types of discourse, as well as the linguistic means of reflecting the relations between the auto-image (image of "the self") and the hetero-image (image of "the other"). The specific approach offered in the paper is based on the analysis of nine multicultural novels about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict written in English. It consists in singling out two degrees of estrangement between the auto- and the hetero-image, with alienation and the image of an alius making an accent on differences and misunderstanding, and alterity together with the image of an alter, on similarities and propinquity. Lexico-semantic and stylistic analysis of the novels, carried out in the article, reveals linguistic tools which are employed to represent the hetero-image as either an alius or an alter.


Abstract Ground-dwelling ants are active foragers that may extend their foraging area into the vegetation, although the factors affecting their diversity in the suspended litter of understorey plants remain overlooked. To evaluate the influence of the distance between strata, litter biomass and plant size on the ant fauna, the litter ant assemblage of the suspended stratum was compared with the ground immediately below the understorey treelet Erythrochiton brasiliensis (Rutaceae) in an Atlantic Forest, south-eastern Brazil. We collected 1364 ants from 26 ant species. The suspended litter ant assemblage represented a subset of the ground-dwelling ants present in soil litter. The beta diversity results primarily from the high ant species turnover among individual suspended-litter samples, and among ground-litter samples, while species turnover among suspended-ground pairs is lower. Additionally, plant height was not important in determining the species turnover between strata. However, plant height positively correlated with ant species richness, probably because of the increased number of microhabitats. These results suggest that suspended litter in the forest understorey can provide the conditions for ground-dwelling ants to forage and nest, functioning as a vertical extension of resources and microhabitat conditions present in the ground litter.


Effect of substitution for Zn by its neighboring elements of Cu, Ag, Au and Ga in the periodic table on the thermoelectric property has been investigated for the Zn13Sb10 compound prepared by a quenching method. A small amount of Ga is successfully substituted for the Zn site with the solubility limit of 10%, and enhances metallic conduction. The improvement of the power factor has been achieved by 25% at 340 K for the 10% Ga-substituted system. n-type conduction is not obtained by the Ga substitution. On the other hand, the substitution of the other elements of Cu, Ag and Au has led to the formation of totally different phases from the 13:10 phase.


In recent years world leaders, news media and experts have warned of the global security threat from chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) material and weapons. Last December, a bipartisan U.S. commission cautioned that "unless the world community acts decisively and with great urgency, it is more likely than not that a weapon of mass destruction will be used in a terrorist attack somewhere in the world by the end of 2013." In parallel with the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, it is interesting to highlight the Cold War origins of many modern-day CBRN challenges. At the same time, this article explores how newer developments have been infusing additional complexity into the global CBRN threat landscape.


The current study analyses entropy generation induced by coupled for ced convection and thermal radiation heat transfer, in circular tubes and for non- grey media. A laminar flow of over heated water vapour in the entrance region of the duct was investigated. A specially developed numerical model, based on the finite - volume technique, is used for the solutions of the governing differential equations. The radiative transfer coefficients are deduced by use of the "Ray Tracing" method through S4 directions, in combination with the "statistical narrow band correlated -k" (SNBCK) model . The local entropy generation distributions as well as the overall entropy generation in the whole flow fields are analyzed. The developing of velocity and temperature fields is also presented in this study.


Drawing on the Young Men's Cohort of the National Longitudinal Surveys, we examine the long-run effects of teenage labor market experience on subsequent adult wages. Our study expands on earlier work by considering the effects of both unemployment and job mobility during the period of transition from school to work. We conclude that the net effect of job-switching during the teen years is a positive one for both blacks and whites. Furthermore, we find that the "scarring" effects of teen unemployment are overstated and that short periods of unemployment are associated with higher average wages some 8-10 years later. Finally, the net effect of teenage labor market experience on subsequent wages is positive for both races, though more so for blacks. The black teen labor market experience actually serves to narrow the subsequent black/white wage differential.


In this work, it was evaluated the efficiency of two stage up flow anaerobic sludge blanquet (UASB) reactors, in bench scale, treating a liquid effluent from the coffee pulping, submitted to hydraulic detention time (HDT) of 4.0; 5.2 and 6.2 days, resulting in organic loading rate (OLR) of 5.8; 3.6 and 3.0 g COD (L d)-1 in the first reactor (R1) and HDT of 2.0; 2.6 and 3.1 days with OLR of 5.8; 0.5 and 0.4 g DQO total (L d)-1 in the second reactor (R2). The medium values of total COD affluent varied from 15,440 to 23,040 mg O2 L-1. The medium values of removal efficiencies of total COD and TSS varied from 66 to 98% and 93 to 97%, respectively, in the system of treatment with the UASB reactors in two stages. The content of methane in the biogas varied from 69 to 89% in the R1 and from 52 to 73% in the R2. The maximum volumetric methane production of 0.708 L CH4 (L reactor d)-1 was obtained with OLR of 3.6 g total COD (L reactor d)-1 and HDT of 6.2 days in the R1. Average pH values ranged from 4.7 to 7.7 and 4.9 to 8.0 in the effluents of R1 and R2, respectively. Total volatile acids concentrations was kept below 100 mg L-1 with HDT of 5.2 and 6.2 days in the R1 and HDT of 2.6 and 3.1 days in the R2. The medium values of total phenols of affluent ranged from 80 to 97 mg L-1 and the average removal efficiencies ranged from 72 to 90% in the UASB reactors in two stages.


Three energy balance experiments were performed, each with 6 lactating cows. In the first experiment in two trials the net energy contents of dried sugar-beet pulp and barley when used in a mixed ration were compared. This was repeated in the second experiment using maize instead of barley. In both cases about half of the dry matter of the ration consisted of hay, the other half was a concentrate mixture containing some 40°/o barley, maize or sugar-beet pulp. There was no significant proof or in dication that the digested energy of barley or maize was utilized better or worse for maintenance and production than the digested energy of pulp. The results suggest that in the starch equivalent system the same value number should be used for pulp, bar ley and maize. In the third experiment 8% sucrose in the concentrates of a mixed ration was exchanged for 8% starch. Here also the digested energy of the two rations was utilized equally efficiently.


TanDEM-X (TerraSAR-X add-on for Digital Elevation Measurements) is an advanced space interferometer, composed of two TerraSAR-X satellites ying in close formation. The primary goal of TanDEM-X mission is the generation of a global Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of an unprecedented accuracy, coverage and quality. One of the main issues facing Interferometric SAR (InSAR) products is the interferometric phase noise coming from diffrent sources. The typical post-acquisition work-around for the noise problem is altering of interferograms. A plethora of alters have been suggested for the noise reduction and phase recovery. These alters are based on different principles and attained different degrees of success. One of the recently suggested alters seems to have a good potential in tackling the phase noise problem, the Non-Local InSAR (NL-InSAR) alter. This smart alter surpasses the performance of conventional alters by intelligently selecting the pixels to be averaged in order to reduce the noise and preserve structures. In this thesis, an implementation of the NL-InSAR alter is realized,
with special attention paid to the heavy computational cost synonymous with nonlocal means concept. Various algorithmic and programming techniques are pursued to
reduce the computational burden and bring the alter to an operational state suitable for large InSAR data-sets. To bring the NL-InSAR alter to a new level of performance,
a simple improvement to the alter algorithm has been suggested. The performance of the modifed NL-InSAR alter is compared against the original NL-InSAR alter and
to other conventional alters, realistic simulations have been done and the results are presented. The last part of the thesis is about evaluation of the NL-InSAR alter as
a suggested alternative to the current Boxcar alter used in the standard TanDEM-X DEM generation. A systematic evaluation of NL-InSAR DEMs was done using few
TanDEM-X data sets, and compared against the standard TanDEM-X DEMs.


European coordination system has faced two important challenges since 2016, which are clo-sely linked. On the one hand, the proposal to reform the coordination rules of the European Commission (December 2016); on the other hand, brexit (June 2016). Both events are very uncertain about what their outcome will be. The proposal to reform the coordination rules is very controversial. Some of the detected problems have been solved (or, at least, improved) by the provisional agreement of the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission (19 March 2019). For its part, brexit has removed the foundations of European construction and it has affected the field of coordination as well. Moreover, free movement and social rights have been one of the excuses why the United Kingdom has decided to leave the European Union. That is why (among other reasons) reaching a withdrawal agreement is very difficult for both parties. This is reflected in the current scenario: withdrawal agreement approved by the European Parliament but without the British Parliament's approval (after three unsuccessful votes). Faced with this scenario of constant extensions of the deadline established in art. 50.3 TEU, both the European Union and the Member States have decided to adopt some contingency measures in order to protect their interests against an eventual (and increasingly likely) «hard brexit». The purpose of this study is to make an overview of the content of this dual challenge from the point of view of European coordination rules.