We present an animation system for the creation of non-photorealistic 3D animations. Our system daLi! is able to render images using a common 3D model as input. This model may be enriched with additional information concerning for instance hierarchy, structure and presentation style. The rendering is done analytically, which means the output is resolution independent. It results in a series of images that depict the animation using line-drawings. The implementation of daLi! was completely done in Smalltalk.


Various models exist for representing the opinion formation process in social networks. The DeGroot consensus model, which is one of the earliest works in opinion dynamics, updates the opinions of the members of a group by taking into account their interrelationships and how much they value each other's opinions. In this model, the interactions and the weights given to opinions remain fixed during the entire duration of the process, which leads to a predictable behavior. As such, there are certain scenarios that can be better represented using other models. For asynchronous pairwise interactions, a gossip algorithm can be used as an alternative method for describing its opinion dynamics. This approach randomly selects the interacting pairs at every step of the algorithm. Thus, the opinion formation in this model is driven by a stochastic process. We propose to extend the pairwise gossip algorithm to accommodate asynchronous group interactions. We then analyze its behavior and compare it with the other models discussed in this paper.


In this paper, based on the reaction of benzoic acid with the hydroxyl radical formed by the well-known Fenton reaction to yield strongly fluorescent hydroxylated products, we developed a flu-orometric method for the determination of hydrogen peroxide. It was applied to the measurement of hy-drogen peroxide in fresh rainwater and satisfactory results were obtained.


The reliability of multi-processor systems-on-chip (MPSoCs) is affected by several inter-dependent system-level and physical effects. Accurate and fast reliability modeling is a primary challenge in the design and optimization of reliable MPSoCs. This paper presents a reliability modeling framework that integrates device-, component-, and system-level models. This framework contains modules for electromigration, time-dependent dielectric breakdown, stress migration, and variable-amplitude thermal cycling. A new statistical reliability distribution is proposed for accurate characterization of components containing too few devices for an extreme value distribution to be appropriate. A hierarchical system-level survival lattice based Monte Carlo technique is used to estimate the temporal fault distributions of MPSoCs that use arbitrary static and dynamic reliability-enhancing redundancy schemes. Physical process variation, which may have a significant impact on MPSoC reliability, is considered in the model. The proposed modeling technique has 5% average error in mean time to failure and reduces simulation time by nearly 3 orders of magnitude relative to a non-hierarchical Monte Carlo technique.


The present thesis is aimed at decoding the theme of sustainable employment in the government policies on indigenous tourism in Australia. In recent years, tourism is increasingly seen as an instrument for sustaining indigenous communities, many of whom resort to tourism for a better future. Accordingly, growing intervention from Australian Federal and State/Territory governments has sought to create tourism policies to facilitate economic growth and sustainable development in the indigenous community. Issues on sustainable development have become a key driver of the social and political agendas in many countries lately. Since the adoption of Brundtland Commission Report of 1987, the term sustainable development has become a central theme in much of the tourism literature. Consequently, there has been growth in sustainability policy statements, strategies, guidelines and initiatives from national, regional and local governments, tourism organizations and local communities. However, governments, at all levels, have received criticism for sustainable tourism development been described as little more than statements of platitudes and rhetoric, backed by glossy images. In order to examine the credibility of such criticism, a qualitative analysis of Australian governments' policy pertaining to indigenous tourism is undertaken to examine how the government policy facilitates the sustainable employment of indigenous people in the tourism sector or not. This qualitative study is aimed at providing an in-depth analysis of the indigenous tourism policy developed under the Federal and State/ Territory governments through the strength of qualitative approach to empirical material collection and interpretation/(re)construction. Administrative documentary method is the tool that the author adopts to gather empirical material. Content analysis and constant comparative analysis are adopted for empirical material interpretation/ (re)construction. Nine policies are carefully selected for the qualitative analysis. The documents, current in 2010, include public policies published by Australian Federal or State/ Territory governments. In particular, each of the policies has to specifically address the Indigenous people. Furthermore, each has to contain indigenous-tourism-specii¬c content and/or contain content pertaining to indigenous tourism in at least one section of the document.
 The findings of the content analysis are as follows. While the policies quite liberally espoused the virtues of sustainability, namely in headline sections such as the mission, objectives and rationale for developing the respective policy, analysis of the documents shows that significant emphasis is given to a limited range of factors associated with indigenous sustainable employment. Besides, after examining all the coded themes from the policies, the author finds that considerable importance is attached to the economic environment of indigenous tourism, including increasing indigenous employment, business development, financial sustainability, and funding. While policy objectives have been developed regarding sustainability, they tend to be limited and mainly focus on the economic aspect and, to a much lesser extent, socio-cultural, political and ecological development which are the other three pillars of sustainability. If indigenous tourism is to be developed on the basis of sustainable development principles, economic, socio-cultural, political and ecological environments should be paid balanced attention to enhance the process.
There is no doubt that economic issues have to be stressed in order to facilitate the development of indigenous tourism because of the persistent poor socio-economic conditions in the Indigenous community, the dramatic rise of the working-age young Indigenous people, and the pressure they have brought to Australian welfare system. But the findings suggest that indigenous tourism is viewed by governments primarily as a tool to achieve goals of economic development. Successive governments' adherence to the ideology of economic rationalism in these policies appears to prioritise economic development of the Australian tourism industry, at the possible expense of the social and ecological interests of indigenous people. Besides, the most obvious barrier identified to achieve balanced focus on the four pillars of sustainability is economic priority over other concerns. This is inextricably linked with political governance's short-term focus and electoral politics. A focus on short-term objectives creates a negative feedback loop with economic priority--the shorter the political term, the more attention is focused on employment and development for growth and other immediate results, which leads to economics being given priority over ecological and social concerns.


Random Binary Sequences (BSs) play an important role in cryptographic algorithms. In order to secure Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs), electrocardiogram (ECG) signal-based BS generation algorithms were studied in previous papers. These algorithms process Inter-pulse Intervals (IPIs) from the ECG signal, which normally needs about 20 to 30 seconds to generate a 128-bit BS. In order to improve the time efficiency of BS generation, we propose an improved algorithm which utilizes multiple types ECG features, including RR, RQ, RS, RP and RT intervals. This algorithm is faster than the IPI-based algorithms since it uses five types of ECG feature values in the BS generation.


Objective To analyze CT findings of extra-gastrointestinal stromal tumors(EGIST),and to evaluate the CT diagnostic value of EGIST.Materials and MethodsBoth plain and enhanced CT findings of 25 cases with EGIST proved by pathology were retrospectively analyzed,CT angiography was performed in 8 cases.ResultsAmong 25 cases,17 cases were high risk,5 mid risk,3 lower risk,and metastases were found in 5 cases.The lesions located at omentum in 6,mesentery in 10,posterior peritonium in 5,pelvic cavity in 2,multiple locations in 2 cases which originated from posterior peritonium and mesentery.The mean diameter of tumors was 13.2 cm.The tumor was lobulated in shape(n=8),irregular in shape(n=4),round or oval in shape(n=13),1 case was accompanied with calcification,low density necrosis within the lesions(n=23).There were two types of contrast enhancement patterns.Type Ⅰ was almost slightly homogeneous enhancement in the arterial phase,the tumors had slightly enhancement in venous phase than that in arterial phase.Type Ⅱ was moderate inhomogeneous enhancement in the arterial phase,the tumor enhancement was also seen during venous phase.There was no enhancement of cystic degeneration and necrosis in tumors.Among 15 cases,there were a few small vessels in intraabdominal masses.The dilated tumoral feeding artery and draining venous could be found on CTA.ConclusionEGIST have some characteristic CT features which are of great value in diagnosing and following up.


Nondestructive testing of rock bolt is essential for evaluating the grouted quality in rockmass. The stress wave propagation in the fully grouted rock bolts and defectively anchored bolt was investigated, where the mortar between the rock and bolt is subjected to different curing ages and stress wave induced by a dynamic excitation hammer impacting the bolt. First of all, it is found that both velocity and amplitude decrease with the increment of curing age of the anchor agent, based on the experiment of stress wave propagation in the fully grouted rock bolts. Velocity and amplitude attenuation decrease drastically within the first 14 curing ages and maintain steadily thereafter. The energy proportion manifests no change in the same waveform with the increment of curing ages, but the proportion taken by high-frequency harmonic wave increases. The crossing point of energy proportion curves moves towards low-frequency area, whereas the decrease of total energy tends to be stable. Secondly, the experiment of stress wave propagation in anchored bolt with different size of defects is also investigated. The variation of velocity and amplitude of stress wave in the defectively anchored bolt is similar to that of stress wave propagation in the fully grouted rock bolts. The crossing point of energy proportion curves moves towards low-frequency area, which is similar to the fully grouted rock bolts. But the velocity and amplitude attenuations in defectively anchored bolt are less than those in fully grouted rock bolts. The larger the defect size is, the smaller the amplitude attenuation is. Finally, the experiment of stress wave propagation in anchored bolt with different location of defects is also conducted. The magnitude of amplitude attenuation increases with the increase of distance. But the crossing point of energy proportion curves remains unchanged. The anchoring quality of bolts can be evaluated by the anchoring effect of anchoring agent, which can be estimated by the attenuation amplitude of stress wave velocity and amplitude, based on the experiment of stress wave propagation in defectively anchored bolt.


Hydrogels of sequential Ti-containing interpenetrating polymer networks based on hydrophilic cross-linked polyurethanes with different molecular weight of polyethylene glycols and Ti-containing copolymer were synthesized based on 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate and titanium isopropoxide. The composition of sequential interpenetrating polymer networks was determined by the degree of equilibrium swelling of the polyurethane networks in 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate and Ti-containing comonomer. It was established that the content of the second component of the interpenetrating polymer networks increases with increasing the average molecular weight value of the polyurethane network. It was shown that the obtained highly sensitive hydrogels of Ti-containing interpenetrating polymer networks react to the changes in the temperature and pH. These factors significantly change the equilibrium water content in the hydrogels. Differential scanning calorimetry allowed determining the phase transitions that are characteristic of bound and free water, which is a part of the hydrogel of polyurethanes, interpenetrating polymer networks and Ti-containing interpenetrating polymer networks. The results showed that the content of bound water and the degree of its binding to the components of the interpenetrating polymer networks depend on the chemical structure of the network, the nature of a second polymer component (which is a part of the interpenetrating polymer networks), the polarity and hydrophilicity of macromolecules, and the size of hydrogel cells. Regardless of the nature of the second polymer component, there is a general trend for all interpenetrating polymer networks: the total water content increases with increasing the average molecular weight of the polyurethane matrix networks.


This paper presents a novel algorithm for face recognition based on a single image and a new LBP (Local Binary Pattern) descriptor. The algorithm can be divided into three steps: firstly, calculating both the horizontal and vertical edge maps from the gray image; then extracting LBP histograms from those two edge images; finally, adopting elastic matching for classification. In addition, in order to reduce the LBP histogram's dimension which is too high, we propose a new LBP operator. It can reduce the dimension greatly and preserve the main information. The experimental results on standard face databases show that this algorithm performs better than traditional methods. It can obtain a higher recognition rate and is robust to posture, lighting and expressions.


This manuscript approaches the Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy control technique, the Lyapunov-Floquet transformation, and their applications for controlling linear time-varying systems. Each of the techniques is applied in the control of a linear time-varying periodic system in order to compare their effectiveness. A hybrid control method involving the Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy control and the Lyapunov-Floquet transformation is proposed. In this method, the stability of the closed-loop system is mathematically guaranteed. In addition, this new procedure can reduce the conservatism of time-varying periodic systems with uncertainties in the input matrix. Finally, an application of the hybrid method is presented in a time-varying periodic system considering a constraint on input and uncertainties on the input matrix.


Most recent gains in CdTe photovoltaic (PV) device efficiency have been in short-circuit current density (Jsc) and fill factor (FF), rather than open-circuit voltage (Voc). Because Jsc is nearing its theoretical limit, further improvements in device efficiency will require increasing Voc beyond 860 mV and increasing FF. Voc and FF may be improved by increasing both the carrier concentration and minority-carrier lifetime of the CdTe. However, Voc may be limited for other reasons, including Fermi-level pinning and surface recombination. In this study, we used doped CdTe single crystals to test whether higher carrier concentration and lifetime can overcome traditional Voc barriers. In our work to date, we have fabricated heterojunction CdTe PV cells with Voc up to 929 mV, FF of ~60%, and efficiencies of 10%.


Enterprises in China form a huge social organization on which socio-economic development is based.In their managerial activities of benefit maximization,enterprises necessarily establish some direct relations on varying degrees with their employees,consumers,donors and creditors,government and the public,and inevitably involve management of social accountabilities.Based on analysis of the necessity,significance of social accountabilities enterprise should undertake,and main problems in fulfilling these social accountabilities,this paper proposes corresponding countermeasures to strengthen management of enterprise social accountabilities.


Thermo Gravimetric Analysis (TGA), Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA) and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) measurements are performed on 20 Li2O-(80-x) B2O3-xBaO and 20 Li2O-(80-x) B2O3-xMnO glasses (where x = 0,10 to 20 in steps of 2 mol% ) have been investigated to find out the role played by and  on the structure of these glasses. The glass samples have been prepared using a conventional melt – quenching method. The glassy state of the sample is characterized using TGA and DTA measurements. The thermal stability of the glasses are increases with the doping of and  in lithium borate glass. The FTIR data indicate the presence in the glasses of the BO3, BO4, Ba-O and Mn-O units and its dependence on the BaO and MnO content


Light is one of the elements of architecture. Hence, right illumination of external walls and monuments is a means of enhancing plastic beauty, as well as the historical, artistic and other merits of the building.
Consequently, floodlighting should be designed to emphasize the above mentioned features of architectural works and planned with special reference to specific requirements.
The author takes advantage of his experience in this type of work, and indicates the criterion that should be adopted to design and carry out floodlighting projects. There are basic principles to be observed, such as balance of luminosity, light and shade contrasts, etc.
Finally, floodlighting of buildings ought be understood as an investment, and not as an expense.


The basic formula of the thermal dilution method for the measurement of cardiac output is proven for pulsatile flow, assuming constant stroke rate, equal stroke volumes, and ideal ventricular mixing. Firstly, for an ideal thermistor of negligible response time which presents the temperature of the blood in the pulmonary artery as a step function; then it is shown that the area under the curve of temperature versus time is independent of the response time of the thermistor; hence, the formula holds for all thermistors.


Thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (TAO) is an autoimmune inflammatory disease. Pseudoptosis (or ptosis), which involves a reduction in the opening of the upper eyelid with a normal levator muscle, is rarely reported in TAO patients.[1,2,3] In this article, we reported three cases of unilateral pseudoptosis due to inflammation of the levator in the contralateral eye. The effect of the unilateral use of triamcinolone acetonide (TA) on contralateral lid position and contour was also investigated.


A New Kind of War INFORMATION WAR War in the Information Age From Industrial War to Information War American Exceptionalism FRONT LINE JOURNALISM Who they are and why they do it On Assignment Working Relations Fixers and Translators Danger and Safety Training and Protection Coping with Fear and Danger Information War and Journalistic Practices in the 21st century


Context. The problem of predicting the efficiency of real queuing systems in the event of a possible arrival of requirements groups and leaving of "impatient" requirements from the queue. The aim of the study was to model the operation of such systems to create opportunities to control their operation in real time. Objective. The aim of the research is to obtain an analytical description of the state's final probabilities in a Markov queuing system with an input flow of requirements groups, with individual service of requirements, with a limited number of waiting places and with individual leaving of "impatient" requirements from the queue that is necessary to predict the values of the queuing system performance indicators.Method. The probabilities of queuing systems states with an input flow of requirements groups with a random composition and with leaving of "impatient" requirements from the queue are described by the Kolmogorov differential equations. In a stationary state, these equations are transformed into a linearly dependent homogeneous system of algebraic equations. The structure of the equations depends on the numerical values of the input flow requirements group's parameters and the controlled service system. Therefore, an attempt to predict the efficiency of a system is faced with the need to write down and numerically solve a countable set of algebraic equations systems that is quite difficult. The key idea of the proposed method for finding an analytical description of the final probabilities for the specified queuing system was the desire to localize the influence of requirements groups in the input flow on the operation of the queuing system in multiplicative non-ordinary functions. Such functions allow obtaining the required analytical description and assessing the degree of the final probabilities transformation, in comparison with known systems, as well as assessing the predicted values of the noted queuing system efficiency indicators when choosing the parameters for controlling its operation. Results. For the first time analytical expressions are obtained for the final probabilities of the queuing system states with an input flow of random composition requirements groups, with a limited number of waiting places, with individual service and leaving "impatient" requirements from the queue, which makes it possible to evaluate all known indicators of the system's performance. Conclusions. The resulting description turned out to be a general case for well-known types of Markov queuing systems with non-ordinary and with the simplest input flow of requirements. The results of the numerical experiment testify in favor of the correctness of the obtained analytical expressions for the final probabilities and in favor of the possibility of their practical application in real queuing systems when solving problems of forecasting efficiency, as well as analyzing and synthesizing the parameters of real queuing systems.


A compound of formula (I) ** ** Formula or an enantiomer, a diastereomer, a tautomer, a salt or solvate thereof, wherein: A is - (CH2) m-R2, -CH (R26) - R2, - (CH2) n-1-O-R2, - (CH2) n-1-NR25-R2, -CH (R26) -CO 2 R 2 or - (CH2) n-1-NR25-CO2-R2; R1 is C1-10 alkyl substituted with 1-2 -OH, C1-10 haloalkyl, C2-12 alkenyl or C3-10 cycloalkyl, wherein the cycloalkyl may be substituted with 0-2 R13, or Formula ** ** either which may be substituted with 0-2 R13; R2 is phenyl, cyclopentyl, cyclohexyl, pyridinyl, pyrazinyl, pyridazinyl, pyrimidinyl, piperidinyl, pyridinone, pyrrolidinyl, tetrahydropyranyl or thiazolyl, any of which is substituted with 0-2 R2a; R2a, at each occurrence, is independently H, -OH, F, Cl, Br, I, C1-10 alkyl, C1-10 alkoxy, C1-10 haloalkyl, C3-10 cycloalkyl, C2-12 alkenyl, C2-12 alkynyl , C6-10 aryl, a heteroaryl 4- to 12-membered heterocyclyl with 4 to 12 members, a C1-10 alkyl-heteroaryl 4 to 12 members, -CN, -NO2, - (CH2) m-SO2R14, -NR14SO2R14,> = O, -CONR14R14, - (CH2) m-SO2NR14R14, - (CH2) m-NR14SO2R14, - (CH2) n-NR14SO2NR14R14, -NR14SO2NR14R14, -CO2NR14R14, -NR14CO2NR14R14, -NR14COR14, -SO2NR14COR14, - SO2NR14CONR14R14, -NR14CO2R14, -CO2R14, -NR14R14, -NR14CONR14R14, -C (> = NOR14) NR14R14, -CONR14OR14 or -NCOR14, wherein alkyl, cycloalkyl, alkenyl, alkoxy, aryl, heteroaryl and heterocyclyl may be substituted with 0 -2 R14a, and the heteroaryl and heterocyclyl consisting of carbon atoms and 1, 2, 3 or 4 heteroatoms independently selected from the group consisting of N, S or O; R3 is phenyl, pyridinyl, pyrimidinyl or dihydropyran or tetrahydropyran, any of which may be substituted with 0-1 R3a; R3a is halo, CN, NH2, -O-C1-3alkyl or morpholinyl; ** ** Formula R13, in each instance, is independently H, -OH, F, Cl, Br, I, CN, C1-10alkyl , C1-10 alkoxy, C1-10 haloalkyl, C3-10 cycloalkyl, C2-12 alkenyl, C2-12 alkynyl, C6-10 aryl, a heteroaryl 4- to 12-membered heterocyclyl 4 to 12 members, a C1 -10-heteroaryl 4 to 12 members, -CN, -NO2, - (CH2) m-SO2R14, -NR14SO2R14,> = O, -CONR14R14, - (CH2) m-SO2NR14R14, - (CH2) m-NR14SO2R14, - (CH2) n-NR14SO2NR14R14, -NR14SO2NR14R14, -CO2NR14R14, -NR14CO2NR14R14, -NR14COR14, -SO2NR14COR14, -SO2NR14CONR14R14, -NR14CO2R14, -CO2R14, -NR14R14, -NR14CONR14R14, -C (> = NOR14) NR14R14, -CONR14OR14, -NCOR14 or OR14, wherein alkyl, cycloalkyl, alkenyl, alkoxy, aryl, heteroaryl and heterocyclyl may be substituted with 0-2 R14a, and the heteroaryl and heterocyclyl consisting of carbon atoms and 1, 2, 3 or 4 heteroatoms selected independently selected from the group consisting of N, S or O; R14, at each occurrence, is independently selected from hydrogen, C1-10, C3-10, C6-10 aryl, a heteroaryl 4 to 12 membered ring or a 4- to 12 members, wherein the alkyl, cycloalkyl alkyl, aryl, heteroaryl and heterocyclyl may be substituted with 0-3 R14a and the heteroaryl and heterocyclyl consisting of carbon atoms and 1, 2, 3 or 4 heteroatoms independently selected from the group consisting of N, S or O, or alternatively, two R14 are taken together with the atoms to which they are attached to form a cyclic ring, wherein the cyclic ring may be substituted with 0-1 R14a, and optionally containing 1, 2, 3 or 4 heteroatoms independently selected from the group consisting of in N, S or O; R14a, in each case, a heterocyclyl 4 is independently selected from F, Cl, Br, I, C1-10 alkyl, C1-10 haloalkyl, C6-10 aryl, C3-10 heteroaryl 4 to 12 members to 12 members, F, Cl, Br, I, -CN, -NO2, -CO2R26, -CO2NR24R24, -OCF3, -OR25,> = O, -CONR24R24, -COR 24, -SO2R24, -NR24R24, -NR24CO2R24, - SO2NR24R24 or C6-10 aryl-C1-10 alkyl, wherein the heteroaryl and heterocyclyl consisting of carbon atoms and 1, 2, 3 or 4 heteroatoms independently selected from the group consisting of N, S or O; R24, at each occurrence, is independently selected from hydrogen, C1-10 alkyl, C3-6 cycloalkyl or phenyl; R25, at each occurrence, is independently selected from hydrogen, C1-10 alkyl, C3-6 cycloalkyl or phenyl; R26, at each occurrence, is independently selected from hydrogen, C1-10 alkyl, C3-6 cycloalkyl or phenyl; m is 0 to 4; n is 0 to 4; and n-1 is from 2 to 4.


In this paper, we proposed a novel zeolite thin film-coated spherical end face fiber sensor for detecting formaldehyde. The proposed sensor comprise of the fiber's spherical end-face covered with a layer of zeolite thin film. The zeolite film and spherical end face constituted an arc-shaped inline Fabry-Perot cavity, which improved the interference performance. The concentration of formaldehyde was measured by monitoring the wavelength shift and intensity change of F-P interference which induced by the formaldehyde adsorption of the zeolite film. Experimental results showed that the sensitivity was about 5 pm/ppm when the concentration ranged from 0 ppm to 6000 ppm. The sensitivity for the intensity at 1541.9 nm was 0.002 dB/ppm in the concentration range from 0 ppm to 4000 ppm. The sensitivities for the intensity at 1577.1 nm were −0.001 dB/ppm in the concentration range from 0 ppm to 3000 ppm and −0.003 dB/ppm in the concentration range from 3000 ppm to 6000 ppm. The OSA with a 0.02nm measurement precision was used in our experiments, so the precision could reach about 4 ppm in the concentration range from 0 to 6000 ppm.


AbstractThe following sections are included:IntroductionDefinitions of PovertyAbsolute and relative povertyModerate or extreme povertyRationale for Treating Poverty as a Priority SubjectScope and Scale of PovertyGlobal overviewRegional perspectivesPossible Causes of Inequality and PovertyEnvironmental factorsEconomic factorsHealthcareGovernanceDemographics and social factorsEffects of PovertyImplications for ChangePoverty Reduction/AlleviationEmploymentEconomic growthMarket reforms (free market)Fair tradeDirect aidDevelopment aidOther approachesImproving the environment and access of the poorConclusionReferences


The acrosome of Macaca fascicularis sperm cannot be distinguished by conventional light microscopy, so determining whether sperm are acrosome‐intact or‐reacted is difficult. We describe methods for labeling the acrosomal region of sperm with two different probes: fluoresceinated Pisum sativum agglutinin and anti‐sperm antiserum. Acrosome‐intact sperm are much more heavily labeled in the acrosomal region than are acrosome‐reacted sperm, providing a simple means of differentiating the two types of sperm. The two probes detect similar numbers of acrosome‐reacted sperm following treatment with the divalent cation ionophore, A23187.


This study explored the Behaviorists' assumption that the difficulty of learning a second language is basically the result of the interference between the mother tongue and the second language. The focus is basically to establish the phonological differences and the influence of Aŋlɔ Eυe on spoken English among Eυe graduate teachers from the Aŋlɔland. The problem identified is that the spoken English of most educated Eυes, particularly the Aŋlɔ, is laboured in phonology and there is peculiar pronunciation in the speech of most Eυe speakers` English. The study aimed at identifying the dominant sounds in the English language, both vowels and consonants that pose learning problem to the Eυe learner of English. In order to achieve this, a sample size of one hundred (100) participants was selected to respond to the instruments in this study. Purposive sampling design which is a non-probability sampling procedure was later employed to arrive at the final sample size of eighty (80). The linguistic community of the Aŋlɔ Eυe was explored to sample native Aŋlɔ graduates in the secondary schools and the training colleges. Samples of the English vocabulary items that contain the problem sounds identified were gathered and used to test pronunciation skills of the participants. The instruments included an audio tape for recording the oral pronunciation test, questionnaires for the graduate teachers and an interview. Simple percentage and frequencies were also used to tabulate the data. The study revealed that mother tongue interference on the learning and teaching of second language is one of the many causes of pronunciation differences in spoken English of most educated Aŋlɔ Eυes.


Stress is a defense mechanism of an organism and is directly related to homeostasis, which is the equilibrium state of the multitude of organism systems, both among each other and with the environment. Given that stress is a major cause of cellular instability, it is directly related to its loss homeostasis. The present study assessed the changes caused by stress on the genetic material of Rattus norvegicus using micronuclei analysis. A total of 10 males were studied by being submitted to continuous stress from photoperiod, temperature and noise for 26 days. Peripheral blood samples were obtained immediately before submitting the animals to stress, as well as on the fifteenth and twenty-sixth days afterwards. Blood smears were stained with Giemsa and the slides were analyzed using light microscopy. Approximately 3,000 polychromatic erythrocytes from each animal were observed and classified as either normal or micronucleated. The analysis indicated a frequency of 0.0012014 for the control sample, whereas samples on days 15 and 26 had frequencies of 0.0035458 and 0.0496850, respectively. A statistical analysis revealed statistically significant differences among the studied cell samples (ANOVA p < 0.00001, significance of 5%). Therefore, the presence of micronuclei in the studied samples is consistent with a cause/effect relationship. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Low-temperature adapted Andean potato clones and low-temperature sensitive European clones cultivated at 20/10°C were compared during stress occuring as the result of low-temperature treatments.

The stress response of leaf tissue was assessed by measuring the decrease in chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv/Fm) in detached leaves during a period of six days. After temperature stress combined with light Fv/Fm decreased only slightly in the Andean clones, but was markedly lower than the initial values in the European clones, However, after a 2°C treatment in darkness no difference between clones of different origins was detected.

In general, chlorophyll and carotenoid contents of the Andean clones were higher than those of the European clones. They were markedly lower in all clones in treatments where low temperature was combined with light, than at 20/10°C and at 2°C in the dark. The contents of carotenoids and total chlorophylls decreased more in the European than in the Andean clones when leaves were transferred to a higher light intensity and then the lowest temperature used was combined with light. Thus carotenoids and chlorophylls in the Europeans clones were more sensitive to photo-oxidation at low temperatures than in the Andean clones.

The changes in chlorophyll fluorescence in illuminated, detached leaves induced by a decrease in temperature were found to correlate with the low temperature performance of the genotypes. The correlation between low temperature performance and photosynthetic activity was highly significant and could be used by plant breeders to identify plants that perform well at low temperatures.


The present invention relates to an external gear pump, having at least two gears in intermeshed mating region and having a bypass piston, said piston bypass can allow the external gear to be driven in a manner that the pump pressure is reduced, so that the excess pressure side via the bypass conveyance amount from the driven external gear pump reaches the suction side. Feature of the present invention, the bypass when the bypass piston is closed with respect to the mating gear in the intermeshing area with a small gap setting.


The word "stoma" is derived from the Greek, meaning mouth or opening. Generally it refers to the opening constructed when the bowel has to be brought to the skin surface to convey gastrointestinal contents or urine to the exterior. The more common reasons for creating a stoma and some of the reasons for choosing between small or large bowel are listed in the box. In the United Kingdom there are about 100 000 patients with a colostomy, 10 000 with an ileostomy, and a further 2000-3000 with a urostomy. This article reviews some of the more common physical problems encountered with stomas and related appliances and suggests ways in which these can be minimised.


Decomposition behavior of CaSO_4 in various atmospheres has been studied with Metteler Toledo TGA instrument tests in non-isothermal tests and the emitted gas component analyzed with an infra-red spectrograph .Among the various reduction atmospheres tried in the Lab,the thermal stability of CaSO_4 is highest in a O_2/CO_2 atmosphere,followed in sequence by O_2/N_2,CO_2 and N_2 atmospheres. It was morever discovered that the presence of oxygen increased the thermal stability of CaSO_4 and inhibits its decomposition. In a CO atmosphere decomposition becomes a coexistant competing reaction, simultareously producing Cao and CaS. With a 0.5% concentration of CO,the mail final decomposition product is CaO and the mass fraction content ofCaS is a mere 28.85%.In a 4% CO atmosphere the initial decomposition product is mainlly CaO,and at a later stage mainly CaS.The mass fraction content of CaS in the final decomposition product comes to 57.04%.


Evaluation of abattoir effluent waste and management operations on receiving stream of Maiduguri main abattoir (Kasuwan Shanu) Borno State was done in 2013.In the present study, water samples were taken from water sources in the abattoir and were assessed for biological and chemical analysis, Using the standard methods of examination of water and waste water (APHA,1992). The biological and chemical parameters ranged between 2 18mg/l DO and 10 45mg/l BOD5 98 -789mg/l CL, 29.8 855mg/l SO4, 3.50 19mg/l PO4 for different sampling point in the study area and were above the WHO Standards for effluent discharge from industries. The rise and fall pattern of DO and BOD confirms the process of self-purification of the receiving stream with distance. The result implies that no sufficient measures or facilities to treat abattoir wastewater for environmental safety in Maiduguri abattoir. Thus, the need to treat this wastewater before discharging it to the environment is needed.


High spin excited states in neutron-rich nuclei [sup 112,114,116]Pd have been investigated by measuring prompt [gamma] rays emitted from a [sup 252]Cf spontaneous fission source. Two different measurements were performed. First, [gamma]-[gamma] coincidence data, necessary to determine the decay schemes, were obtained by using an array of 20 Compton-suppressed Ge detectors. Second, [ital Z] identification and the enhancement of a desired neutron channel were carried out using a [ital x]-[ital n]-[gamma] multiplicity spectrometer. Ground state bands have been extended to [ital J][sup [pi]]=10[sup +] for [sup 112]Pd, and [ital J][sup [pi]]=12[sup +] for [sup 114]Pd and [sup 116]Pd. Band crossings were observed in all three isotopes. It was found from cranked shell model calculations that these backbends are due to the alignment of two [ital g][sub 9/2] protons. The measured energy levels were also compared with predictions of the interacting boson model.


A newly discovered inscription proves that Jean-Honore Fragonard visited Flanders and Holland in the summer of 1773. The considerable number of drawings that Fragonard had made after Flemish and Dutch masters could not be explained by his documented trips to Italy, and nothing was known about a possible trip to Flanders and Holland. However, a previously overlooked inscription on the back of Fragonard's drawing of the Crucifixion after Van Dyck (Great Britain, private collection) reads: "malines//Eglise des recolets//juillet 1773//Vandyck" (Malines// Recolets church//July 1773//Vandyck). A comparative study of the handwriting shows it to be that of Jacques-Onesyme Bergeret, a patron whom Fragonard accompanied on a trip to Italy in October 1773. The writer goes on to reconstruct the pair's itinerary from Brussels to Dusseldorf.


Changes in forest species composition could influence ecosystem carbon uptake rates. To understand how species differed in their contributions to canopy photosynthesis, we investigated how the dominant coniferous (eastern hemlock, Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carr.) and broad-leaved (northern red oak, Quercus rubra L.; red maple, Acer rubrum L.) species in a central Massachusetts forest differed in canopy carbon uptake rates. We considered what factors influenced in situ leaf-level photosynthesis and then used a bottom-up summation approach to estimate species-specific total canopy carbon uptake rates. Variation in canopy light strongly influenced leaf-level photosynthetic rates: sunlit leaves had significantly higher rates than shaded leaves, and photosynthesis increased with canopy height. Species also differed in leaf-level photosynthetic rates, with the broad-leaved species having up to twofold higher rates than hemlock. Within hemlock, needles older than 2 years had lower photosynthesis than younger needles...


AIM
To explore the purification methods of wild-type and recombinant suilysin and to evaluate their biological activities.

METHODS
Wild-type suilysin was purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation, anion-exchange chromatography and hydrophobic chromatography in turn, while recombinant suilysin was first refolded and purified by immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography, and further purified by Thiopropyl Sepharose 6B. The biological activities were evaluated by hemolysis test, cytotoxicity assay.

RESULTS
Both prepared wild-type and recombinant suilysin, with purify over 90%, have hemolysis activity and could injure target cells at high concentration while cholesterol could completely inhibit their activities.

CONCLUSION
Recombinant suilysin has similar biological activities with wild-type suilysin, and this work contributed to further study the functions of suilysin on pathogenesis of steptococcus suis.


The development of studies correlating personality traits with suffering in illness can be very useful to understand the chronically ill response in a transitional health/ disease process. Do the "subjective experiences of suffering in disease" correlate with personality traits of the hospitalized chronically ill? Do sociodemographic, familiar and clinical variables correlate with personality traits of the hospitalized chronically ill? The purpose of the study is to understand which "personality" traits are present in the hospitalized chronically ill, and the correlation with the "subjective experiences of suffering", sociodemographic, familiar and clinical variables. This is a nonexperimental, cross-sectional descriptive-correlational and quantitative study, used in a non-probabilistic convenience sample of 307 hospitalized chronically ill. Data were collected through a questionnaire between January and June 2013. It was requested the permission of the Hospital de São Teotónio ́s ethics committee, as well as the informed consent of each participant. Data processing was performed statistically. The participants in our study had higher values of "neuroticism" than those of the authors of the NEO-FFI-20 inventory. The variable "conscientiousness" explains 12.5% of the variance of "suffering". "Openness to experience", is associated inversely with the experience of "suffering", which is when it increases hope and "openness to experience", decreases the "suffering" of the chronically ill. The evidence invites us to reflect on the influence of intrinsic factors in suffering. Patients deal with life/ disease in many diferent ways, wich affects the response to the transitional health/ disease process. © 2016 Published by Future Academy www.FutureAcademy.org.uk


Graphs are common charts used to represent the topological relationship between nodes. It is a powerful tool for data analysis and information retrieval tasks involve asking questions about graphs. In formative study, we found that questions for graphs are not only about the relationship of nodes but also about the properties of graph elements. We propose a pipeline to answer natural language questions about graph visualizations and generate visual answers. We first extract the data from graphs and convert them into GML format. We design data structures to encode graph information and convert them into an knowledge base. We then extract topic entities from questions. We feed questions, entities and knowledge bases into our question-answer model to obtain the SPARQL queries for textual answers. Finally, we design a module to present the answers visually. A user study demonstrates that these visual and textual answers are useful, credible and and transparent.


Resumen en: Jerome Bruner argued that classrooms should be organized into sub-communities of mutual learners, and Gordon Wells encouraged teachers to structure class...


A gene–drug interaction has been indicated between β1‐adrenoceptor‐selective beta‐blockers and the Arg389Gly polymorphism (rs1801253) in the adrenergic beta‐1 receptor gene (ADRB1). In the present study, we investigated the effect of the ADRB1 Arg389Gly polymorphism on plasma renin activity (PRA) and heart rate (HR), as well as genotype‐dependent responses to metoprolol and exercise. Twenty‐nine healthy male subjects participated in two treatment periods (placebo and 200 mg/day metoprolol). A 15 min submaximal exercise test was performed after each treatment period and PRA and HR were measured before and after exercise. Before exercise, median PRA was lower in Gly/Gly subjects than in Arg/Arg subjects after both placebo (P = 0.030) and metoprolol (P = 0.020) treatment. After placebo, the exercise‐induced increase in PRA was greater in Gly/Gly than Arg/Gly and Arg/Arg subjects (P = 0.033). The linear association between log(PRA) and log(metoprolol concentration) varied significantly between genotypes (P = 0.024). In Gly/Gly subjects, PRA decreased significantly with metoprolol concentration before (P = 0.025) and after exercise (P < 0.001), whereas in Arg/Gly and Arg/Arg subjects metoprolol concentration had no effect on PRA. The effect of metoprolol concentration on PRA in Gly/Gly subjects was enhanced by exercise (P = 0.044). No significant differences in HR were seen between genotype groups. Resting PRA was lower in Gly/Gly than Arg/Arg subjects and the effect of exercise and metoprolol concentration on PRA was stronger in Gly/Gly subjects than with the other two genotypes. Thus, Gly/Gly heart failure patients may require lower doses of metoprolol than other patients to block neurohumoral hyperactivity.


Whereas the literature still debates how several human/natural factors contributed to the recent streamflow decline in the Iberian Peninsula, a significant abrupt decrease of Winter Precipitation (WP) has been 15 noticed in this area since 1980s related to large-scale atmospheric drivers. This contribution assesses its potential propagation into long-term streamflow series. For this purpose, the novel dataset of Near Natural Water Inflows to Reservoirs of Spain (NENWIRES) was created. The results highlight that those higher decreases of Winter Water Inflows (WWI) are always found related to WP reductions. Whereas WP declining was strongly provoked by the enhancement of NAOi, the WWI reductions could not be 20 essentially linked to its behaviour in several NENWIRES catchments. Instead, the intensification of permanent drought and forest extension promoted WWI reductions over the target area. In fact, these mechanisms allowed to understand why WWI reductions were higher than WP weakening. Summarizing, most humid catchments registered a WWI decline mainly promoted by the NAOi enhancement, while the extension of forest and evapotranspiration rises seem to explain the WWI losses in the semiarid 25 environments. This contribution sheds light on the recent debate about magnitude/drivers of streamflow decline over southern European regions. Furthermore, it might help water planning with the goal of mitigating the climate change impacts affecting the water cycle.


Formed in 1953, the Alliance between Korea and the U.S. has continued until today through the post-cold war periods. It has continued going through changes in conflicts and has contributed to maintain peace in the Korean peninsula and in Northeast Asia. However, since September 11, 2011, the United States has adopted a military transformation strategy to address a new security environment. Its security directions have become a new variable to the alliance. The Korean government showed a different opinion on the U.S." security policies considering threats to North Korea, implications on domestic politics, identity and security culture. This is why the author finds it incumbent to study and investigate factors that have continued in the midst of changes in the alliance between the two countries during the cold war and the post-cold war periods and what have made different and similar factors persist by periods. The results of this study suggest that as for differentiation among continued factors, the North Korean nuclear issue was a factor that made the continuity of the alliance during the cold war. Factors similar both in the cold war and the post-cold war are domestic political influences, reliability preservation, hegemonic leadership, and institutionalization. Such continued factors have made the alliance continue relatively without troubles during the cold war, whereas during the post-cold war, there have been a series of conflicts in accordance with the changes in paradigms, which made the alliance policies selectively accept policies under the securities environments of the two countries. It is expected that the alliance between Korea and the U.S. will continue considering environments surrounding securities and the two countries will selectively accept, adjust, and develop the alliance.


Prostate cancer (PC) is the most common malignancy in men. A screening system identifies a tumor process at clinical stages. Current technologies allow one to create nomograms — neural network systems that determine 5-year survival, extracapsular extension, and seminal vesicle lesions and actively monitor patients undergoing radical prostatectomy. Based on neural network simulation, the Department of Urology, Russian Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education, has developed an accounting prognostic system to monitor the postoperative course of PC, which is being actively introduced into the work of the urological units of the Botkin City Clinical Hospital.


The development of laminating processes and the features of advanced hot-melt bonding technique are introduced in this paper.The characteristics of different laminating machines are also discussed.The new technique features effective hot-melt,limited energy consumption and environment protection,but heavy equipment investment.


Spectralon has been proposed as a material for diffuse calibration panels for several satellite-based earth-observing instruments. This paper is an interim report on the ongoing flight qualification testing of this material, including tests of the stability of the material under exposure to atomic oxygen, proton fluences, and UV/VUV radiation which match those of the polar orbit environment. No measurable degradation of optical properties were observed following atomic oxygen exposure or proton bombardment. Under initial UV/VUV exposure tests, some degradation of the optical properties of the material were observed; this optical degradation has been linked to degradation of organic contaminants. Correlative tests (Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry) indicate that such contamination can be prevented by the adoption of a more rigid production protocol. It is believed that elimination of these contaminants will result in a significant improvement in the optical stability of Spectralon under UV/VUV exposure. The validation of this new production protocol will occur during a second phase of UV/VUV testing.


Surgical flow disruptions can significantly increase the probability of surgical errors. However, little is known about the frequency and nature of surgical flow disruptions, making the development of evidence-based interventions extremely difficult. The goal of this project was to prospectively study surgical errors and their relationship to surgical flow disruptions within the context of cardiac surgery. A trained observer recorded surgical errors and flow disruptions during 31 cardiac operations over a three-week period. Flow disruptions were then reviewed and analyzed by an interdisciplinary team of surgical and human factors experts. Results revealed that flow disruptions consisted of teamwork/communication failures, equipment and technology problems, extraneous interruptions, training-related distractions, and resource accessibility issues. Errors increased significantly with increases in flow disruptions. Teamwork/communication failures were the strongest predictor of surgical errors. These findings provide preliminary data for developing evidenced-based error management and patient safety programs within cardiac surgery.


Any process automation is meaningful when minimizing or excluding human involvement compared to the manual process. Operational accuracy plays a key role in accounting, so improving the accuracy of the results of the automation process will increase the willingness of accountants to use these solutions in their daily lives. This paper examines methods for the automation of the assignment of account codes to posting entries using natural language processingbased classification methods. We find that using textual comment features in the machine learning process allows to achieve debit account classification precision that is by up to 2.56 percentage points higher compared to previous work, reaching an overall classification precision of 94.78%.


In machine scheduling environments with deterioration phenomenon, the jobs processed later in the sequence require more time. By position deterioration, we mean that the processing time of a job is defined by an increasing function of its scheduled position in the sequence. In this paper, we study a single machine scheduling problem with position deterioration and common due-window assignment problem. Jobs completed within the due-window incur no penalties, Jobs completed before or after the due-window incur either earliness or tardiness penalties. An O(nlogn) algorithm was developed to find the optimal size and location of the due-window, so as to minimize a cost function based on earliness, tardiness, window size, and window location. We also give a numerical example.


Pharmacokinetic properties of IV busulfan are more predictable than those of oral. While this results in lower toxicity, it is unclear if clinical results are superior. 55 consecutive patients with hematologic malignancies (35 AML/MDS, 10 lymphoma/CLL, 7 CML/MPD, 3 ALL) allografted after oral busulfan (14 mg/kg) with cyclophosphamide (120 mg/kg) (BuCy; n=24; cyclosporine-MTX) or IV busulfan (520 mg/m2) with fludarabine (160 mg/m2) (BuFlu; n=31; tacrolimus-MTX) were studied. The donors were HLA-identical sibs (n=41), 10/10 allele-matched unrelated (n=10), or 9/10 allele-matched individuals (n=4; 2 unrelated). Busulfan levels were not monitored. G/GM-CSF were not given routinely. Supportive care was uniform. 11 patients died of transplant-related causes, 21 relapsed (12 dead), and 32 were alive at the last follow-up (23 in continuous CR). The actuarial 2-y overall (OS) and event-free (EFS) survival was 50% (95% CI: 34–67%) and 34% (95% CI: 19–49%). The following pre-HSCT prognostic factors affected OS adversely in univariate analysis: refractory disease, ECOG performance status (PS) 2/3, elevated LDH, albumin <3, CD34+ cell dose ≤6 × 106/kg, HLA mismatch, and platelets <100 × 109/L. The table shows comparison of the BuCy and BuFlu by patient and donor age, type of donors, and the factors found to influence survival. The two groups were comparable.

In a Cox model that included the conditioning regimen and the above variables, low platelets (RR 0.285; P=0.013) and poor PS (RR 0.244; P=0.023) affected OS adversely. EFS was adversely affected by poor PS (RR=0.304; P=0.032), with borderline effect of low platelets (RR=0.451; P=0.062) and refractory disease (RR=0.502; P=0.095). The figure below shows OS by the presence or absence of the 2 adverse variables.

The figure below shows OS by the conditioning regimen. These curves have been generated from the Cox model and have been adjusted for the other variables in the model. While the difference is not statistically significant, BuFlu appears superior. However, similarly generated EFS curves for BuCy and BuFlu are superimposable.

We conclude that with limited patient numbers and follow-up, BuCy and BuFlu appear identical in efficacy although the appearance of the OS curves suggest that differences may emerge with loner follow-up and bigger patient numbers.

![Figure][1]

Figure

![Figure][1]

Figure

| Characteristic | BuCy | BuFlu | P |
|:--------------------------- | ----------- | ----------- | ----- |
| Patient age | 44 (27–62) | 40 (20–61) | 0.23 |
| Donor age | 46 (25–65) | 39 (25–66) | 0.25 |
| MSD | 22/24 (92%) | 19/31 (61%) | 0.013 |
| Refractory disease | 12/24 (50%) | 16/31 (52%) | 0.91 |
| ECOG PS 2/3 | 6/24 (25%) | 4/31 (13%) | 0.30 |
| Elevated LDH | 6/24 (25%) | 4/31 (13%) | 0.30 |
| Albumin < 3 | 7/24 (29%) | 8/31 (26%) | 0.78 |
| CD34+ cell dose ≤6 × 106/kg | 21/24 (88%) | 21/31 (68%) | 0..12 |
| HLA mismatch | 1/24 (4%) | 3/31 (10%) | 0.62 |
| Platelets <100 × 109/L | 9/24 (38%) | 14/31 (45%) | 0.57 |

 [1]: pending:yes


In distributed systems, data corruption on a single node can propagate to other nodes in the system and cause severe outages. The probability of data corruption is already non-negligible today in large computer populations (e.g., in large datacenters). The resilience of processors is expected to decline in the near future, making it necessary to devise cost-effective software approaches to deal with data corruption.

In this paper, we present SEI, an algorithm that tolerates Arbitrary State Corruption (ASC) faults and prevents data corruption from propagating across a distributed system. SEI scales in three dimensions: memory, number of processing threads, and development effort. To evaluate development effort, fault coverage, and performance with our library, we hardened two real-world applications: a DNS resolver and memcached. Hardening these applications required minimal changes to the existing code base, and the performance overhead is negligible in the case of applications that are not CPU-intensive, such as memcached. The memory overhead is negligible independent of the application when using ECC memory. Finally, SEI covers faults effectively: it detected all hardware-injected errors and reduced undetected errors from 44% down to only 0.15% of the software-injected computation errors in our experiments.


The growth of the Barbados Family Planning Association (BFPA) founded in 1955 and the nature of its operations are reviewed statistics of BFPA acceptors users and costs are presented and available information non-BFPA contraceptive usage in Barbados is summarized. Since 1970 services have been available at 14 clinics in addition to the headquarters clinic. Field work operations have had priority from the outset. Field workers motivate women and inform them about contraceptives; they also sell vaginal contraceptives such as the jelly foam cream and foaming tablets. The proportion of the average number of clients as a percentage of women of childbearing age grew from about 2% in 1957-1960 to 11.5% in 1965 and 19.4% in 1970 making BFPA one of the most successful programs in the world. There have also been dramatic increases in the proportion of users with parity less than or equal to 2. The author contends that the level and trend of socioeconomic development were also favorable to a fertility decline during the same period.


The Orthodox kinetic energy has, in fact, two hidden-variable components: one linked to the current (or Bohmian) velocity, and another linked to the osmotic velocity (or quantum potential), and which are respectively identified with phase and amplitude of the wavefunction. Inspired by Bohmian and Stochastic quantum mechanics, we address what happens to each of these two velocity components when the Orthodox kinetic energy thermalizes in closed systems, and how the pertinent weak values yield experimental information about them. We show that, after thermalization, the expectation values of both the (squared) current and osmotic velocities approach the same stationary value, that is, each of the Bohmian kinetic and quantum potential energies approaches half of the Orthodox kinetic energy. Such a `kinetic energy equipartition' is a novel signature of quantum thermalization that can empirically be tested in the laboratory, following a well-defined operational protocol as given by the expectation values of (squared) real and imaginary parts of the local-in-position weak value of the momentum, which are respectively related to the current and osmotic velocities. Thus, the kinetic energy equipartion presented here is independent on any ontological status given to these hidden variables, and it could be used as a novel element to characterize quantum thermalization in the laboratory, beyond the traditional use of expectation values linked to Hermitian operators. Numerical results for the nonequilibrium dynamics of a few-particle harmonic trap under random disorder are presented as illustration. And the advantages in using the center-of-mass frame of reference for dealing with systems with many indistinguishable particles are also discussed.


This paper studies the robust adaptive fuzzy control design problem for a class of uncertain multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) nonlinear systems in the presence of actuator amplitude and rate saturation. In the control scheme, fuzzy logic systems are used to approximate unknown nonlinear systems. To compensate the effect of input saturations, an auxiliary system is constructed and the actuator saturations then can be augmented into the controller. The modified tracking error is introduced and used in fuzzy parameter update laws. Furthermore, in order to deal with fuzzy approximation errors for unknown nonlinear systems and external disturbances, a robust compensation control is designed. It is proved that the closed-loop system obtains tracking performance through Lyapunov analysis. Steady and transient modified tracking errors are analyzed and the bound of modified tracking errors can be adjusted by tuning certain design parameters. The proposed control scheme is applicable to uncertain nonlinear systems not only with actuator amplitude saturation, but also with actuator amplitude and rate saturation. Detailed simulation results of a rigid body satellite attitude control system in the presence of parametric uncertainties, external disturbances, and control input constraints have been presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.


ABSTRACT: Gastroschisis is not a very uncommon surgical emergency. Problems associated with Gastroschisis are prematurity, low birth weight, underdeveloped peritoneal cavity, and delayed resumption of gastrointestinal flow, associated with gastrointestinal anomalies. Its ideal management varies from case to case and surgeon to surgeon. The timing of intervention is an important factor. Although immediate surgical intervention has largely been recommended, there are reports from Bianchi and Dickson where delayed reduction was done without anesthesia after more stable cardiovascular, respiratory and renal parameters were established. We had a preterm, low birth weight male neonate who presented with gastroschisis on the first day of life. After initial stabilization, we reduced the contents, under caudal anesthesia, by extending the defect by one centimeter on the right side, and did a one stitch skin closure. This minimal intervention resulted in decreased morbidity, early return of bowel function, no parenteral nutrition, good cosmetic result, no general anesthesia, no ventilatory support and reduced hospital stay and expenses.


This detailed literary and rhetorical analysis of the Homeric Hymn to Apollo treats the poem as a unified work of art in which sophisticated poetic craftsmanship is put to the service of serious ethical thought. By means of parallels from Homer, Hesiod, and other Homeric hymns, as well as from later epideictic poetry and prose, the author seeks to show that the poet of the Hymn follows a coherent ''program'' whose intention is to praise Apollo from his birth on humble Delos to his establishment in a position of glory at Delphi. At the same time, the ''Delian'' and ''Pythian'' portions of the hymn are linked by a complex network of ideas bearing on the ethos of Apollo and the nature of his Delphic oracle. The study takes into account previous scholarship on the Hymn and provides appendices on ''The Question of Unity'' and ''The Cosmological Hierarchy and Apollo's Timai''.


The article analizes, criticaly, the Consejo de Universidades propositions about the new teacher degree, particulary about the children Education. The article shows some of the most evident lacks which are related with new researches about early leaming and its influence on the children Education.


This dissertation describes the research studies I have most occupied during my Ph. D course. Due to the limited number of studies addressing which clinical and cognitive features are most useful in diagnosing early dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) (Jicha et al. 2010; Boeve et al. 2012) I initially focused on the visuo-constructional impairments in prodromal DLB (study 1); afterwards on visual-spatial and visual-perceptual deficits (study 2) in a different sample of prodromal DLB. Later I investigated which cognitive impairments could be predictive of DLB in regards to the memory domain (Study 3 and 4). Here below the abstract for each study.

Study 1. Assessment of visual-constructional deficits in MCI-DLB.
Introduction: Visual-constructional deficits are a prominent feature of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) that may contribute to the differential diagnosis with Alzheimer's Disease (AD). The analysis of the pentagon copy included in the MMSE could be a promising tool for the diagnosis of DLB since its early stages (Ala et al. 2001).
Aim: To assess the pentagon copy performance in prodromal stage of DLB with the Qualitative Scoring MMSE Pentagon Test (QSPT) (Caffarra et al., 2013).
Methods: 30 patients with non amnestic-Mild Cognitive Impairment diagnosed as prodromal DLB (MCI-DLB) and 23 patients with amnestic-MCI diagnosed as prodromal AD (MCI-AD) were enrolled. All patients obtained a MMSE score ≥ 26/30. The diagnosis of DLB and AD was confirmed at 3-year follow-up visit according to established criteria. Each MMSE test was examined with the QSPT which is based on the assessment of different parameters of the pentagon drawing. A broad standard neuropsychological assessment was also performed.
Results: The percentage of subjects who were unable to determine the correct number of angles in the pentagon copy test was 45.1% of MCI-DLB and 8.3% of MCI-AD patients (sensitivity 41.1%; specificity 91%). Attentive/executive functions and visual-spatial abilities were worse in the MCI-DLB group, while episodic memory impairment was greater in MCI-AD. Subtle extrapyramidal signs (63%) and RBD symptoms (56%) were the most frequent clinical features supporting the diagnosis of MCI-DLB.
Conclusions: We suggest that a poor performance in determining the number of angles when performing the pentagon copying test, together with the presence of subtle extrapyramidal signs and symptoms of RBD may serve as a predictive tool for early DLB.
Output of the study: This study has been published in parkinsonism and Related Disorders, 21(3), 303–305. (2015). High specificity of MMSE pentagon scoring for diagnosis of prodromal dementia with Lewy bodies. Cagnin, A., Busse, C., Jelcic, N., Gnoato, F., Mitolo, M., & Caffarra, P.
Study 2. Assessment of visual attention, visual-spatial and visual-constructional deficits in MCI-DLB.
Background: Patients with prodromal dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) may display a different cognitive pattern from Alzheimer's disease (AD) with more severe impairment of attentive and visuo-spatial abilities (Mc Keith, 2005).
Objective: to investigate which cognitive functions could be predictive of the diagnosis of DLB and AD in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).
Methods: Fifty-three patients with MCI were followed over 3-years until a diagnosis of DLB (MCI-DLB: n=25) and AD (MCI-AD: n=28) were made according to standard criteria. At the first assessment patients underwent a thorough cognitive assessment, including MMSE-QSPT (Caffarra, 2013;), attention, memory, executive functions, constructive apraxia, visuo-perceptual abilities (VOSP battery).
Results: The best clinical predictor of DLB was the presence of soft extrapyramidal signs (mean UPDRS score: 4.04 ± 5.9) detected in 72% of patients, followed by REM sleep behavior disorder (60%) and fluctuations (60%). Wrong performances in the pentagon's number of angles were obtained in 44% of DLB and 3.7% of AD patients and correlated with speed of visual attention. Executive functions, visual attention and visuospatial abilities were worse in DLB, while verbal episodic memory impairment was greater in AD. Deficits in the visual-perceptual domain were present in both MCI-DLB and AD.
Conclusions: Poor performance in the pentagon's number of angles is specific of DLB and correlates with speed of visual attention. The dorsal visual stream seems specifically more impaired in MCI-DLB with respect to the ventral visual stream, the latter being involved in both DLB and AD. These cognitive features, associated with subtle extrapyramidal signs, should alert clinicians to a diagnostic hypothesis of DLB.
Output of the study: This study has been published in Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders Extra 2015. Clinical and Cognitive Phenotype of Mild Cognitive Impairment Evolving to Dementia with Lewy Bodies. Cagnin, A., Busse, C., Gardini, S., Jelcic, N., Guzzo, C., Gnoato, F., et al. 5 (3), 442–9.

Study 3. Analysis of memory domain: specific verbal memory indices of the Rey's Auditory Verbal Learning Test.
Introduction: Several neuropsychological tests exploring episodic memory can't always give a careful contribution to the differential diagnosis of degenerative diseases. The serial position effects, rather than the traditional scores, along with some important learning characteristic measures, could contribute to address towards a specific type of dementia.
Objective: To comprehend if any of the specific measures of verbal memory obtained with the RAVLT, as the verbal learning (VL), verbal forgetting (VF) and the serial position effects, could be of value in distinguishing DLB from AD.
Method: thirty-two AD and twenty-nine DLB patients were enrolled in the study and followed longitudinally for 3 years until the diagnosis was made according standard criteria. Twenty-eight normal elderly subjects served as controls. All subjects underwent baseline neuropsychological assessment including RAVLT. Specific verbal memory measures were evaluated: verbal learning (VL) [immediate recall test: trial 5 minus trial 1], verbal forgetting (VF) [trial 6 of delayed recall minus trial 5 of immediate recall], percentage of verbal forgetting (VF%) [% verbal forgetting/trial 5] and the serial position effects of immediate recall (trial 1).
Results: The performances of DLB and AD were comparable in the immediate and delayed recall of the RAVLT (IC=95%). However, VL was higher in DLB than AD (DLB=0.25±0.1, AD=0.19±0.1; p<0.05) while VF% was greater in AD (AD=65.85%±41.3, DLB=42.97±33.0%; p=0.001). Logistic regression analysis showed that VF% may be considered a predictive marker of disease group allocation (T=-0.02, Wald (1)=4.85, p=0.03). With a VF% cut-off ≥75%, AD and DLB patients were differently distributed (Choerish=5.1), being 58% of AD versus 21% of DLB above this cut-off. Considering the serial position effects, recency effect was significant higher in AD than DLB (AD=2.09±1.1, DLB=1.34±1.2; p<0.05). Number of recalled words in the recency domain correlated positively with scores of the digit span backward test (r=0.54, p=0.005) and digit span forward (r=0.25, p=0.02) only in DLB (digit span backward: AD: r=0.88, p=0.88; NC: r=-0.02, p=0.94; digit span forward: AD: r=0.12, p=0.52; NC: r=0.24; p=0.22).
Discussion: DLB patients showed different memory performances from AD at the RAVLT. In details, DLB had better performances of verbal learning and worse verbal forgetting and recency effect. These specific measures of verbal memory could be used as diagnostic marker in the differential diagnosis between DLB and AD.
Output of the study: This study is in submission.

Study 4. Analysis of memory domain in mild cognitive impairment: investigating the efficacy of the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test (FCSRT).
Objective: The main goal was to comprehend the efficacy of the Free and Cued Selective and Reminding Test (FCSRT) in differentiating patients with mild cognitive impairment converting to dementia with Lewy bodies (MCI-DLB) from patients with MCI due to Alzheimer's disease (MCI-AD).
Materials and methods: Thirty-five participants with MMSE≥26 were included in the study. Fifth-teen were diagnosed as probable DLB (MCI-DLB: n=15) and twenty as probable AD (MCI-AD: n=20) according to current criteria (Ferman et al. 2013; Albert et al. 2011). Patients underwent a comprehensive cognitive evaluation including the FCSRT for the episodic memory assessment.
Results: At the FCSRT, MCI-DLB were significantly more spared than MCI-AD regarding the total memory recall (ITR) and the index of sensitivity of cueing (ISC) (ITR: DLB=35.13±1.26, AD=29.95±1.08, p=0.01; ISC: DLB=0.94±0.04, AD=0.76±0.04, p=0.00). Moreover, MCI-DLB performed worse than MCI-AD in digit cancellation task (DLB=45.49±1.43; AD=49.83±1.22; p=0.03), number of angles of Mini Mental (MMSE) pentagons copy (DLB=3.11±0.17; AD=3.72±0.15; p=0.01) and Rey figure copy (DLB=23.77±1.47; AD= 27.90±1.26; p= 0.05).
Discussion: At early stage DLB showed to benefit more than AD from the controlled learning through category cues, exhibiting a greater ISC. MCI-DLB showed poorer performances in attentive and visuo-constructional tasks respect to AD.
Conclusions: The FCSRT has shown its utility in the distinction between DLB and AD at early stage increasing the diagnostic accuracy. Moreover, since the main characteristic of the FCSRT is to assess verbal episodic memory isolating the storage capacities of the patients, we exclude a storage memory impairment in MCI-DLB patients.
Output of the study: This study is in preparation.


Since the concept of workflow originates from the fields of production organization and office automation in 1970s, workflow technology research and related product development have entered a more prosperous stage during the 80s. Presently, workflow management technology has been successfully applied to libraries, hospitals, insurance companies and, of the most important, to the industrial fields. This paper aims at how the workflow-based technology can be applied to the area of intelligent education. We focus the attention on some important aspects of constructing business training platform with the workflow management system technology based-on, such as the construction framework, platform functions and implementation. Mean-while, workflow reference model design is presented and the workflow-based scheduling is carried out that will be employed in the developing process. Moreover, we point out the follow-up development potentials for constructing other wisdom training platform based on the workflow management systems.


In coastal environments, stones are susceptible to honeycombing or multiple pitting (alveolar weathering) caused by the probable action of salt weathering. Weathering of local sandstone in Sydney (Australia) was studied in a cemetery situated on a cliffed shoreline about 15 to 20 m. Above sea level, in order to establish whether weathering patterns differed with increasing distance from the sea. Extent of weathering was recorded for 56 tombstones, with inscription dates ranging from 1878 to 1949.results of these studies showed differing weathering patterns in relation to distance from the ocean. Shallow hollowing was predominant in those near the sea. Flaking was mainly found on older tombstones located further from the ocean. The main salt contributing to honeycomb-like weathering appeared to be nacl. Bibliography (19 entries), tables.


That a fourth edition of this book has been published indicates that it appeals to a wide audience. Indeed, there are not many texts that are aimed at statistical applications in toxicology, though this is by no means the only one. The stated goal of this edition is to be "a source and textbook for both practicing and student toxicologists with the central objective of equipping them for regular statistical analysis of experimental data. Starting with the assumption of only basic mathematical skills and knowledge, it provides a complete and systematic yet practical introduction to the statistical methodologies that are available for, and utilized in, the discipline." It should be understood up front that the reviewer is a statistician, not a toxicologist, who has been working in mammalian and environmental toxicology for over 18 years. I am not the intended audience for this book, but I am in a position to evaluate the book both for statistical correctness and for the applicability of the methods presented to the design and analysis of toxicology experiments. The text is quite ambitious, as the introduction states that the material in chapters 14–18 "reviews all the major possible data analysis applications in toxicology (LD50/LC50 calculations, clinical chemistry, reproduction studies, behavior studies, risk assessment, SARs, etc)." To begin to assess how well the author has achieved the stated goals, a list of chapter headings is given below. After that, detailed comments will be given on each chapter, followed by a summary of this review.


Abstract Background Depression and obesity are complex global health problems. Recent studies suggest that a genetic predisposition to obesity might be accentuated in people with depression, but these analyses are prone to bias. Here, we tested the hypothesis that depression accentuates genetic susceptibility to obesity and applied negative control experiments to test whether any observed interactions were real or driven by confounding and statistical biases. Methods We used data from up to 378 000 Europeans in UK Biobank, a 73 variant body mass index (BMI) genetic risk score, two depression measures [depression symptoms (DS), major depression (MD)] and an antidepressant usage variable available. We tested whether (i) depression and (ii) antidepressant treatment accentuated genetic susceptibility to obesity. Finally, we performed negative control experiments by sampling individuals at random so that they had BMI distributions identical to depression cases and controls. Results Depression was associated with an accentuation of an individual's genetic risk of obesity with evidence of interactions for both DS and MD (Pinteraction = 7 × 10–4 and 7 × 10–5 respectively). Antidepressant usage within DS cases accentuated genetic obesity risk (Pinteraction = 9 × 10–4), but not for MD (Pinteraction = 0.13). Negative control experiments suggested that the observed interactions for MD (empirical-P = 0.067) may be driven by statistical biases or confounding factors but were not possible with the larger DS groups. Antidepressant usage interaction also appears to be driven by statistical artefacts (empirical-P = 0.510 using MD and 0.162 using DS). Conclusion We have highlighted the importance of running negative experiments to confirm putative interactions in gene–environment studies. We provide some tentative evidence that depression accentuates an individual's genetic susceptibility to higher BMI but demonstrated that the BMI distributions within cases and controls might drive these interactions.


Design/methodology/approach: Critical literature review; the research procedure that is based on the review of the literature is focused on formulating the answers to the following questions: – What factors determine the effective implementation of artificial intelligence as a technology supporting decision-making processes in the sphere of marketing in enterprises? – What are the identified models of application of artificial intelligence and human talent in making decisions in enterprises? Findings: The use of the opportunities offered by artificial intelligence in supporting marketing decisions brings many benefits, but it also requires overcoming mental and cultural barriers. It should be emphasized that relying on artificial intelligence in decision-making processes does not mean eliminating people, especially the talented ones, because it is the employee who can revise the decision-making criteria or state that the algorithm on the basis of which decisions are made in the company is outdated. Research limitations/implications: Empirical verification of the proposed model would allow for identifying the role performed by talented employees and algorithms in decision-making processes in the era of development of innovative IT solutions along with determination of the hierarchy of factors stimulating these processes. Originality/value: Proposing a model of determinants and types of solutions that allow for effectively combining human resources described as talent and artificial intelligence in making decisions in the field of marketing in enterprises is the result of the considerations provided in the paper.


Abstract The development of deep geological repositories for nuclear waste requires a sound system understanding, to which performance analyses by means of numerical flow and transport simulations form an important contribution. In this context, we present modelling studies of the thermo-hydraulic two-phase transport of water and hydrogen in the planned French repository in this paper, part 1. Part 2 of this paper uses the same modelling concept extended to include radionuclide transport. The numerical TOUGH2-MP-model encompasses the host rock from cap to bed rock, including the repository in full 3D. We compare two repository layouts and assess their robustness through sensitivity simulations with varied key parameters and hydrogen generation regimes, and a coupling of hydrogen generation to water availability. The results show that a continuous gas phase functions as balancing system between connected waste areas. Its extension and continuity depend on the permeability and diffusion parameters, and the amount and temporal regime of hydrogen production. Naturally, the available storage volumes have an impact as well. The layout with larger storage volume behaves more benevolenty towards parameter variations. Overall, both layouts perform satisfactorily. Our methodology enables detailed studies of the global system behaviour and helps to compare different repository layouts.


Background: Homotypic cell cannibalism is a hallmark of malignant lesions. It serves as an emerging indicator of both the anaplastic grade and invasiveness. Aim and Objectives: The present study was conducted to correlate tumour cytological grade with the incidences of cell cannibalism. Material and Methods: Three stained smears per case were submitted for cytological grading. The smears were then submitted for visually counting the number of examples of cell cannibalism and the cannibalism index was calculated. Results: Seventy cytological diagnosed cases of breast malignancies were assessed for the presence of cell cannibalism. The results were correlated with the cytological grade of carcinoma. The study revealed that cell cannibalism was encountered in 68.57% cases of breast carcinoma. 44.4% of grade I, 71.4% of grade II and 100% of grade III tumours grade. It was observed that grade I tumours had mean cannibalism per smear of 1.62/1000 tumour cells smear, grade II mean cannibalism per smear of 2.50/ 1000 tumour cells and grade III mean cannibalism per smear 4.90/1000 tumour cells. Tumour diathesis and metastasis were also found more in cannibalism positive cases. Conclusion: The phenomenon of cell cannibalism was encountered more in high grade tumours. Thus it can be designated as an emerging marker of anaplasia and aggressive tumour behaviour.


--- The present random group experimental study was designed to find out the effect of yogic practices on Body Mass Index and Anxiety among middle aged hypertensive women. To achieve the purpose of the study, 30 middle aged hypertensive women from Chennai city aged between 40 years and 50 years were selected randomly using random group sampling method and were divided into two groups, i.e Experimental group I and control group II of 15 subjects each. It was hypothesized that there would be significant differences due to yogic practices among middle aged hypertensive women on selected dependent variables such as Body Mass Index and Anxiety than the control group. Preliminary test was conducted on selected dependent variable before the start of the training program. Experimental group I underwent yogic practices for 8 weeks, five days a week for a maximum of one hour The control group in active Post test was conducted after the for the two groups on the same dependent variables such as Body Mass Index and The data collected from the groups was statistically analyzed by using Analysis of Co-variance (ANCOVA) to determine the significant differences. Test of significance was fixed at 0.05 level of confidence. The results of the study showed that the experimental group showed significant differences on selected variables such as Body Mass Index and Anxiety than the control group due to yogic practices. Hence the hypothesis was accepted at 0.05 level of confidence. It is hence concluded that the yogic practices are beneficial to middle aged hypertensive women to maintain Body Mass Index and reduce In recent decades, several medical and scientific studies on yoga proved it to be very useful in the treatment of some diseases. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of yoga on stress, anxiety, and depression in women living in Ilam, Iran.METHODS: This study is a quasi-experimental study with pre-post test. To collect data, the questionnaire of DASS-21 (Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21) was used. For eligible samples, hatha yoga exercises and training sessions were held for 4 weeks (3 time/weeks; 60-70 min each) by a specialist. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20. RESULTS: 52 women with a mean age of 33.5 ± 6.5 were included for analysis. Depression, anxiety, and stress decreased significantly in women after 12 sessions of regular hatha yoga practice (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Yoga has an effective role in reducing stress, anxiety, and depression. Thus, it can be used as complementary


Over the past decade the growth of trading activity in financial markets, numerous instances of financial instability, and a number of widely publicised losses on banks' trading books have resulted in a re-analysis of the risks faced, and how they are measured. The most widely advocated approach to have emerged to measure market risk is that of Value-at-Risk (VaR). This methodology was designed in J.P. Morgan to give their chief executive a single figure that would provide a daily summary of the evolving risk of the Banks investment portfolio. VaR methods estimate the distribution of losses/gains on a portfolio of assets/liabilities over a given horizon. From the estimated distribution one can then find, for the loss on the portfolio, a bound that will only be exceeded rarely. This bound is the VaR. The term "rarely" is often taken to refer to an event that occurs one or five times per hundred periods. In actual applications users are free to define "rarely" to suit their own needs. VaR can be calculated in various ways and its value depends on the assumptions made and models used. This paper looks at six different measures of the VaR of an Irish investor holding an equally weighted portfolio of foreign exchange positions in the currencies of Ireland's major trading partners. The basic data used are daily exchange rates covering the period 1990 to 1998. Daily VaRs for four different holding periods are calculated, using six alternative approaches to estimating the distribution of the underlying risk. The measured VaRs are compared graphically and statistically with actual losses/gains over the period. Recently developed techniques are used to measure the performance and accuracy of the estimates of the VaR estimates. For the portfolios considered here the method based on Exponentially Weighted Moving Averages is superior to the others. This may of course be due to the statistical properties of the FOREX returns being considered. The article provides a framework for the comparison of different measures of VaR. These can be adapted for the evaluation of alternative VaR models for risk control within an organisation. This framework can also serve as an input to the validation of in-house models proposed for the calculation of capital adequacy under the Capital Adequacy Directive.


Recently consumer products focused on electrical devices are miniaturized and its packaging size becomes smaller and smaller such as cellular phones, digital cameras and etc. It means that an innovation to miniaturize the printed circuit board (PCB) is required. Along with this requirement of the minute PCB, a technique of the fine pattern design and tiny component mounting on the board must be newly developed. Regarding a growing trend of the minute and multi-layers design of the PCB, a line width of the circuit pattern is reduced up to 25 [μm] and then the defect inspection is proposed as the most important technology. Therefore we study a new system development for the defects which are difficult to inspect on the fine patterns. To find the defects at a continuity test is done by the non-contact method and the inspection for finding the position of the defect is request. In this report, as the way of the continuity test by using the probe, we have an experiment of the contacting method. Moreover, we can compare it with the non-contact method on the board.


An oxygen-blown, coal powder-feed, entrained-flow demonstration gasifier was constructed and operated by the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in Taiwan. Specific tests have been conducted to investigate the gasifier's performance and gain operation experience under part-load conditions either caused by reduced load demands or maintenance needs. Water spray near the exit of the gasifier was employed to test its feasibility in tuning H2 content or controlling gas exit temperature. To help understand the gasifying characteristics of various part-load conditions, computational simulation was conducted using the commercial CFD solver FLUENT. The 3-D Navier-Stokes equations and seven species transport equations were solved with eddydissipation combustion model. The simulation results provide the velocity, temperature, and species distributions inside the gasifier. The results indicate that water spray injection cools down the gas and increases H2 mole fraction at the cost of the reduction of CO and increased production of CO2. It is recommended that a better way to produce H2 is to inject steam near the feedstock injection ports where plenty carbon is available and temperature is high and favorable to produce H2 more efficiently via the gasification reaction without producing CO2. The simulated results were compared with the experimental data including situations when two of the three fuel injectors were under maintenance. Employing fuel injection through a single injector unexpectedly performs better than applying three injectors. The results indicate the injection velocity speed and momentum strength of each injector, rather than the total injection momentum, are more influential in affecting the gasification efficiency. The results of this study can be used to improve prediction of future part load performance.


narrowing streets and alleys in South Jakarta. It finally arrives—after several stops to ask directions and a couple of wrong turns—in front a six-foot high, unmarked, solid metal green gate. From the outside, it looks just like any other residential compound in the lower middle class neighborhood where houses, laundries, beauty salons, small restaurants, and kiosks selling sundries and cell phones take up every square inch of space along the street. Beyond the anonymous gate lies a small garden where, among the grass and a few flowers, there is a large brown stone painted in bright yellow with the words "STIGMA Garden." Inside the compound is a small one-story yellow house; a bulletin board nailed onto one of the compound walls displays posters on the rights of people who inject drugs (PWID)—basic human rights and the right to HIV prevention services. Shoes, sandals, and flip-flops are lined up neatly at the front door, and from within, rock music beckons visitors.


Smart substation with the characteristics of networking, digitalization and standardization is more easily attacked by external and internal than conventional substation, so we must strengthen the information security of smart substation. In this paper, the main security threats of smart substation system are analyzed, and the corresponding security technical solutions are presented. Simulation results show that these security technologies can effectively resist these security threats.


The article is aimed at defining the basic elements of sustainable development of local self-government in view of foreign experience. Ways of introducing reforms to effectively mobilize and utilize the local government resources have been determined. Consideration was given to the theoretical aspects of decentralization, which served as the basis for the adoption of a democratic model of government in Ukraine. The introduction of decentralization of power was analyzed in the context of the real status of the reform, problems encountered in its implementation, and measures for their effective implementation at both the local and the State levels. The steps taken by the EU Member States towards decentralization and the possibility of applying foreign experience by Ukraine were compared. It is concluded that the introduction of decentralized processes would contribute to the strengthening of democracy in the State and enhancing its stability.


Introduction I. Hulls 1. Hull Speed 2. Surface Resistance 3. Shape Resistance 4. Parasitic Resistance II. Keels 5. Bernoulli's Principal and Lift 6. Vortex Formation 7. Righting Moment 8. Total Resistance III. Sails 9. Basic Sail Theory 10. Induced Drag 11. Turbulence 12. Sail Interaction 13. Sail Shapes for Different Points of Sail 14. Sail Trim IV. The Physics of Weather for Sailors 15. Local Weather 16. Global Weather Patterns 17. Tides Further Reading Sailing Terms Index


New Jersey's Intensive Supervision Program (ISP) has an active caseload of approximately 400 nonviolent offenders. ISP requires employment and provides a high frequency of field contacts with participants, including random tests to detect drug use. Because ISP requires that participants first serve a few months in prison, perform community service, and obey curfews, it provides a level of punishment intermediate between probation and ordinary terms of imprisonment. Evaluation research showed that, in comparison to ordinary imprisonment and parole, ISP achieved slight reductions in recidivism, modest saving of prison space, and was substantially more cost-effective.


The 25th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum held in Vietnam is a road map for the future direction of Asia-Pacific economies overall, but in particular, the internal dynamics of an economic future and road map for both the two leading global economies: the United States, with an estimated $17 trillion gross domestic product (GDP), and China, with a GDP of $11 trillion. Economic nationalism and protectionism were clearly emphasized by the two leading economies as well as Japan. The words of Chinese leader Xi Jinping clearly pointed to a new economic framework for the Chinese economy: Economic development and transformation with a clearly Chinese character were words that echoed throughout the conference. Relying on the history of modern China and his predecessors, starting with Mao, Xi Jinping staked out a framework of economic positioning that indicates that internal Chinese economic reforms will propel China to become a global power and a source of economic innovation. The Chinese president softly indicated that China is an arrival power in the global economy. Not to be outdone, U.S. President Donald J. Trump was equally assertive and clear in his desire to allow America to continue to be first in a global economy and in his emphasis for bilateral trade and economic links. Fortress America, the "America First" trade policy, dictating its own preferences for its external economic trade and investment linkages, would allow the United States to keep its status as the foremost world economic power. Moreover, President Trump used the term Indio-Pacific to irritate China and to indirectly challenge the growing power of the Chinese economy. What's in a name does not completely define the United States' position; however, the U.S. president uses metaphors to convey his own interests and to test future formulated policy options. The U.S. president still believes in global trade and investment linkages across the Pacific as well as elsewhere; however, he believes that the new global road map should be written as it always has been for the last few decades, from the American "can-do" perspective. Mr. Trump has been true to his words, taking the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and has indicated that the United States will continue to deepen its trade and business linkages across Asia but restructure them in a bilateral framework. The TPP, orchestrated by the former U.S. administration, included 12 members. President Trump walking away from that partnership left the 11 remaining members to work out a new framework for what they labeled the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau requested the name change. In addition, there was a desire to emphasize changes for the protection of intellectual property as well as protections for biologics and pharmaceuticals; moreover, an investment dispute settlement system was altered. The earlier emphasis on reducing tariffs built into the TPP was upheld as was as a framework for the new global digital economy. Less emphasis was given to state-owned enterprises. The leading economies of the TPP, particularly, Japan, South Korea, and Canada played a dominant role, and within that JOURNAL OF ASIA-PACIFIC BUSINESS 2018, VOL. 19, NO. 1, 1–3 https://doi.org/10.1080/10599231.2018.1419041


Thus far, most researches on the cooperative transmission focused on the reliability point of view, showing that we can significantly improve the reliability of data transmissions by the cooperative transmission. On contrary, in this paper, we study the performance of the cooperative transmission from different perspectives such as system throughput and fairness. We consider a three-node system that consists of two source nodes, which can choose to either cooperate with each other or not to transmit their data, and one destination node. Based on this system, we study the conditions under which the cooperative transmission is beneficial to improve system throughput and satisfy the fairness requirement between source nodes.