The conceptual design and engineering of an integrated catalytic reactor requires a thorough understanding of the prevailing mechanisms and phenomena to ensure a safe operation while achieving desirable efficiency and product yields. The necessity and importance of these requirements are demonstrated in this investigation in the case of novel membrane-assisted reactors tailored for CO2 hydrogenation. Firstly, a carbon molecular sieve membrane was developed for simultaneous separation of CO2 from a hot post-combustion CO2-rich stream, followed by directing it along a packed-bed of hybrid CuO-ZnO/ZSM5 catalysts to react with hydrogen and produce DiMethyl Ether (DME). The generated water is removed from the catalytic bed by permeation through the membrane which enables reaction equilibrium shift towards more CO2-conversion. Extra process intensification was achieved using a membrane-assisted reactive distillation reactor, where similarly several such parallel membranes were erected inside a catalytic bed to form a reactive-distillation column. This provides the opportunity for a synchronized separation of CO2 and water by a membrane, mixing the educts (i.e., hydrogen and CO2) and controlling the reaction along the catalytic bed while distilling the products (i.e., methanol, water and DME) through the catalyst loaded column. The hybrid catalyst and carbon molecular sieve membrane were developed using the synthesis methods and proved experimentally to be among the most efficient compared to the state-of-the-art. In this context, selective permeation of the membrane and selective catalytic conversion of hybrid catalysts under the targeted operating temperature range of 200–260 °C and 10–20 bar pressure were studied. For the membrane, the obtained high flux of selective CO2-permeation was beyond the Robeson upper bound. Moreover, in the hybrid catalytic structure, a combined methanol and DME yield of 15% was secured. Detailed results of catalyst and membrane synthesis and characterization along with catalyst test and membrane permeation tests are reported in this paper. The performance of various configurations of integrated catalytic and separation systems was studied through an experimentally supported simulation along with the systematic analysis of the conceptual design and operation of such reactive distillation. Focusing on the subnano-/micro-meter scale, the performance of sequential reactions while considering the interaction of the involved catalytic materials on the overall performance of the hybrid catalyst structure was studied. On the same scale, the mechanism of separation through membrane pores was analyzed. Moreover, looking at the micro-/milli-meter scale in the vicinity of the catalyst and membrane, the impacts of equilibrium shift and the in-situ separation of CO2 and steam were analyzed, respectively. Finally, at the macro-scale separation of components, the impacts of established temperature, pressure and concentration profiles along the reactive distillation column were analyzed. The desired characteristics of the integrated membrane reactor at different scales could be identified in this manner.


treatment of severe generalized atopic dermatitis with extracorporeal photochemotherapy. J Dermatol 2004; 31: 961–970. 7 Sand M, Bechara FG, Sand D et al. Extracorporeal photopheresis as a treatment for patients with severe, refractory atopic dermatitis. Dermatology 2007; 215: 134–138. 8 Hjuler KP, Vestergaard C, Deleuran M. A retrospective study of six cases of severe recalcitrant atopic dermatitis treated with long-term extracorporeal photopheresis. Acta Derm Venereol 2010; 90: 635–636. 9 Di Renzo M, Sbano P, De Aloe G et al. Extracorporeal photopheresis affects co-stimulatory molecule expression and interleukin-10 production by dendritic cells in graft-versus-host disease patients. Clin Exp Immunol 2008; 151: 407–413. ex 13. 10 Krzanowski WJ. Principles of Multivariate Analysis. In: , Krzanowski WJ ed. Principles of Multivariate Analysis: A User's Perspective, 1st edn. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1988: 195–207.


The first systematic investigation of core electron thermal transport and the role of local ion temperature gradient/trapped electron mode/electron temperature gradient (ITG/TEM/ETG)-scale core turbulence is performed in high temperature, low collisionality DIII-D H-mode plasmas. Taking advantage of the unique set of DIII-D turbulence and profile diagnostics, experimentally determined L-mode and H-mode turbulence wavenumber spectra are directly contrasted for the first time with nonlinear gyrokinetic simulation results. Core ITG/TEM-scale turbulence is substantially reduced/suppressed by E×B shear promptly after the LH transition, resulting in reduced electron thermal transport across the entire minor radius. For small kθρs, both experiment and nonlinear gyrokinetic (GYRO) simulations show density fluctuation levels increasing with kθρs in H-mode (r/a=0.6), in contrast to ITG/TEM-dominated L-mode plasmas. GYRO simulations also indicate that a significant portion of the remaining H-mode electron heat flux results directly from residual short-scale TEM/ETG turbulence. These studies are performed at ITER-relevant collisonality ( € νe * ~ 0.05, r/a≤0.6) and address transport in electron heat-dominated regimes, thought to be important in ITER due to α-particle heating.


Most of previous analyses of cracks have been concerned with straight ones;however, under complicated boundary conditions, cracks do not propagatestraight but show various propagation patterns.


Academic writing - process and product, Ronald V.White academic writing - can we please all the people all the time?, Cyril Weir the product before - task-related influences on the writer, Liz Hamp-Lyons a consideration of the meaning of "discuss" in examination questions, Tony Dudley-Evans teaching examination answer writing - process, product or placebo?, Tony Lynch teaching examination techniques at Buckingham, Pat Howe the introductory paragraph in economics essays and examinations, R.R.Jordan writing for continuous assessment or examinations - a comparison of style, Teresa O'Brien EAP - ESP - self-sustaining growth, K.James project writing - the marriage of process and product, Meriel Bloor and Maggie Jo St.John individualizing academic writing tuition, George Blue activating the learner's contribution in the development of academic writing skills, Arthur Brookes and Peter Grundy don't correct - reformulate, Joan Allwright developing student writing - a subject tutor and writing tutors compare points of view, Dianne Wall et al top-down, bottom-up or parallel approaches to syllabus design, Florence Davies the social construction of science and the teaching of English - an example of research, Greg Myers overwriting and other techniques for success with academic articles. Appendix: student essay - why is urban unemployment and underemployment so great in most less developed countries?


This article describes the researchers' efforts to apply the principles of Participatory Action Research (PAR), specifically participation, through the direct involvement of church members in the research. It includes involving them in the design of questionnaires, training and utilizing them as fieldworkers, and finally disseminating the results of the research via workshops aimed at strategizing for change. The research is based on two hypotheses, the first being that, churches and their members are intensely involved in serving both the needs of their own members, as well as the needs of the larger community; and secondly, that churches do not work alone, but are part of networks with other agencies to accomplish their goals. At the outset the article outlines the challenges and points of departure, followed by a chronological account of how this approach was applied in Paarl, a South African community. Finally, an overview of the results of the project is provided.


candidate, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Konyang University 2 Associate Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Konyang University. Abstract: Deep beam shall be designed either by taking into account nonlinear distribution of strain or by Appendix A of Strut-and-Tie Models (STM) according to ACI 318(M) from version of 2002. Although STM is accepted as tool in design Discontinuity region (D-region) which mostly exist in Deep beam, Corbels, Dapped ends etc., it has been modified by many researchers. In this study we design deep beam by STMs which use simple truss for load distribution and the model of complex truss for load distribution compare with the ACI traditional which is designed by flexure design method and shear provided by concrete(V c ) as provided in special provisions section of 11.8 in ACI 318-99 [1]. This study aims to find the different and efficiency of deep beam design based on variation


Abstract Nucleotide sequence of theluxEgene (GenBank Accession No. U66407) fromPhotobacterium leiognathiPL741 has been determined, and the amino acid sequence of acyl-protein synthetase encoded by theluxEgene is deduced. Nucleotide sequence reveals that theluxEgene encodes acyl-protein synthetase, which is a component of the fatty acid reductase complex that is responsible for converting fatty acid to aldehyde as substrate in the luciferase-catalyzed bioluminescence reaction. The acyl-protein synthetase encoded by theluxEgene has a calculated Mr43,128 and comprises 373 amino acid residues. Alignment and comparison of acyl-protein synthetases fromP. leiognathi, P. phosphoreum, Vibrio fischeri, V. harveyiandXenorhabdus luminescensshows that they are homologous; there is 75.5% homologous (44.2% identity and 31.3% similarity) among these species. Functional analysis illustrates that the specific segment sequence lying before or in theluxEgene might form potential loops Ωo Ωe1, Ωe2 as mRNA stability loop and/or for sub-regulation by alternative modulation in theluxoperon. The gene order of theluxEgene in theluxand thelumoperons is ←ter-lumQ-lumP-RRter:transcriptional terminator), whereas theR&Ris the regulatory region for thelumand theluxoperons, andteris the transcriptional terminator for thelumoperon.


Infrastructure Imagination: Hong Kong City Futures, 1972–1988
City Gallery, Central, Hong Kong, 24 March 2018 to 16 May 2018
Lead Curators: Cecilia Chu, Dorothy Tang
Curatorial Team: Maxime Decaudin, Sben Korsh, Calvin Liang, Christina Lo, Lillian Tam, Olive Wong
https://infrastructureimagination.splashthat.com


Purpose: As adaptive radiotherapy (ART) becomes more efficient for clinical use, verifying the accuracy of deformable image registration (DIR) is necessary. This study presents a method to evaluate a commercial DIR software package systematically for ART implementation. Methods: We developed multiple computational phantoms to evaluate Velocity Advanced Imaging (VelocityAI, B‐spline‐based algorithm) software. Phantoms were developed with a finite element method(FEM), from CTimages of four lung cancer patients by simulating different diaphragm deformations, and also from the CTimage of a prostate patient by modeling expansion of the bladder volume. CBCTnoise in the simulated prostate phantom was included using a 3D‐noise‐power spectrum. FEM‐based displacement vectors used in the phantom construction served as a gold standard to evaluate the performance of VelocityAI's algorithms at each voxel in the image volume. In addition to computational phantoms, a deformable, physical phantom was developed to validate VelocityAI using automatically tracked landmarks. Results: VelocityAI performed well in high and low‐contrast regions. Average displacement errors range from 0.8–2.6mm, depending on the patient anatomy, magnitude of displacement and target site. With the computational lung phantoms, average errors were between 0.9–2.6mm, and in the physical phantom they were between 0.8–1.9mm. In the prostate phantom, average errors were between 1.0–1.9mm in the prostate, 1.9–2.4mm in the rectum and 1.8–2.1mm across the entire patient volume. Regions where the displacement was large tended to have more registration errors, especially when they bordered rigid structures like bone. Conclusions: VelocityAI (B‐spline‐based) outperforms the Demons algorithm in regions of largely deformed, homogenous tissue. The default parameter setting of VelocityAI is nearly optimal and the CBCTnoise has no significant impact on its performance. VelocityAI can be used for DIR of lung and prostate CTimages when errors on the order of 2.6 mm are acceptable. The research was supported by NIH/NCI R01CA140341.


ZnO is a material which is of great interest for a variety of applications due to its unique properties and the availability of a variety of growth methods resulting in a number of different morphologies and a wide range of material properties of synthesized nanostructures. In this review, we will discuss recent advances in important and/or controversial issues concerning ZnO properties and its applications. We will also discuss areas where further improvements are needed, and in particular discuss the issues related to the environmental stability of ZnO and its implications on reproducibility of measurements and the toxicity of ZnO nanomaterials.


Supported by the coordinated development strategy, the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region has achieved rapid development but also faces severe energy consumption and environmental pollution problems. As the main responsibility of emission reduction, the coordinated and orderly implementation of carbon emission reduction in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei is of great significance to the realization of the carbon neutrality target. Based on this, this study comprehensively uses the expanded STIRPAT model, optimized extreme learning machine (ELM) network, entropy method, and zero-sum gains DEA (ZSG-DEA) model to explore the carbon emission drivers, long-term emission reduction pathway, and carbon quota allocation in the BTH region. The results of the driving factor analysis indicate that the proportion of non-fossil energy consumption is a significant driving factor for Beijing's carbon emissions, and the improvement of the electrification level can inhibit the carbon emissions. The total energy consumption has the greatest impact on the carbon emissions of Tianjin and Hebei. The simulation results reveal that under the constraint of the carbon neutrality target, Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei should formulate more stringent emission reduction measures to ensure that the overall carbon emission will reach its peak in 2030. The cumulative emission reduction rate should exceed 60% in 2060, and negative carbon technology should be used to offset carbon emissions of not less than 360 million tons (Mt) per year by 2060. Furthermore, the allocation results show that Beijing will receive a greater carbon quota than Hebei. The final allocation scheme will greatly promote and encourage carbon emission reduction in Hebei Province, which is conducive to achieving the goal of carbon neutrality.


The aim of the paper is to analyze the specificity of the process of the transformation and the development of the Belarusian banking sector on the turn of the XX and XXI century with elements of the comparison to other post-socialists countries. The transformation of the Belarus banking system began well over 20 years ago and to date has not yet lead to the rising, stable, enjoying in trust to social of the market of the bank-sector. At the beginning of reforms Belarus was in a similar situation, as the other Soviet republics and the post-socialist countries. A banking system directive with market rules did not exist. Central banks were subordinate to rule and together with the remaining banks realized assignments settled and attached on the central government. Together with the break-up of the relationship of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the rising of the sovereign state, Belarus began the build of a new banking system. Belarus - like other post-socialist countries had a choice between two ways of reforms. The first one was privatization (freeing the banking sector from political influence) secondly, limitation of privatization (postponing in time) and sustaining government ownership in the sector. The Belarusian banking system was built on the basis of the existing infrastructure with foundations and legal arrangements accepted in Russia.


Purpose: To report relatively long-term clinical results of lateral supramalleolar adipofascial flap for children who injured soft tissue on the dorsum of the foot and ankle, a condition that readily gives rise to contracture and deformity in that area. Materials and Methods: This report presents the authors' experience with eleven patients treated with this flap. The patients' ages ranged from three to nine years; three of the patients were male and eight were female. The major cause of the soft-tissue defects involved acute crushing injury from a traffic accident. The flap and the adjoining raw area were covered with a full-thickness skin graft after 5-7 days postoperatively, and the donor site at the lateral aspect of the leg was closed primarily without grafting. A skin graft was taken from the groin area, which was closed primarily. Results: All flaps survived, and there were no major complications. No patients showed contracture at the recipient site or deformity of the foot and ankle. Compared with the other flaps, this adipofascial flap was thinner, produced less bulkiness at the recipient site, and caused only minor aesthetic sequelae at the donor site. None of the patients in this study complained of contracture and limitation of motion of the metatarso-phalangeal joint, which might be disturbed by wearing shoes or walking. Conclusion: The relatively long-term clinical result of a lateral supramalleolar adipofascial flap for children who sustain soft tissue defects on the dorsum of the foot and ankle is satisfactory.


The article deals with the development of neural network means for analyzing a voice signal to recognize the speaker's emotions. We have established the possibility of improving these means through the use of a convolutional neural network of the SqueezeNet type, which determines the necessity to assess the effectiveness of such use. We have also determined that it is possible to assess the efficiency of using the neural network model experimentally by means of indicators of recognition accuracy and duration of training. A software implementation of SqueezeNet has been developed, with a training sample formed, using the publicly available TESS database, consisting of samples of voice signals with 7 emotions for 2 users. Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients are used as the parameters characterizing a voice signal. Using computer experiments, we have found that after 80 periods of training on a fairly limited training sample, SqueezeNet enables using validation examples to achieve speaker recognition accuracy of about 0.95, which is proportionate to the results of the best modern systems of the similar purpose and confirms the possibility of effective use of this type of network for analyzing a voice signal. We have shown the necessity for further research related to the adjustment of neural network solutions to the recognition of the speaker's emotions under a variety of noise interference. We have also determined the feasibility of developing a method for adjusting SqueezeNet architectural parameters to the conditions of the task to analyze a voice signal for simultaneous recognition of the speaker's personality and emotions.


OBJECTIVE
Neuroimaging studies have focused mainly on HIV infected adults or younger children, showing abnormal brain structures. In this study, we used voxel-based morphometry to investigate the brain integrity of HIV vertically infected adolescents.

METHODS
Twenty-five HIV vertically infected (HIV+) adolescents and 33 HIV-exposed but uninfected (HIV-) and demographically matched controls participated in this study. T1 high-resolution anatomical MRI images were obtained and segmented into gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) segments. Then, population templates were derived from the entire imaging dataset using the DARTEL technique. Between-group GM and WM maps were contrasted using independent two-sample t-tests, with age and sex as nuisance regressors. Significant effects were identified using voxel-wise p <0.001 and cluster-level p <0.05 with a family-wise error correction.

RESULTS
Whole brain volume between the groups did not demonstrate a significant difference. Relative to HIV- controls, the HIV+ adolescents demonstrated less GM in the bilateral cerebellum, right pallidum, right calcarine, left ACC and right superior occipital lobe. HIV+ adolescents also demonstrated less WM volume in the bilateral cerebellum, right brainstem, and left occipital lobe. Furthermore, the volume of the ACC was positively correlated with the MMSE and the CD4 cell counts in the HIV+ adolescents. The age of HAART onset were positively correlated with GM volume in the right temporal lobe, left occipital lobe and left precentral gyrus.

CONCLUSIONS
In HIV+ adolescents, a pattern of a reduction of WM density and altered GM and WM volume suggests that early HIV infection combined with neurotoxicity effect of early HAART, a lack of viral control may have a significant effect on the brain structural integrity. The process of corpus callosum formation in the corpus callosum and the frontal WM is more susceptible to HIV infection. Altered ACC integrity may represent a promising biomarker of cognitive dysfunction following HIV infection.


We calculate the spin-relaxation time of conduction electrons in n-doped bulk GaAs. We consider the Elliot-Yafet spin-relaxation mechanism, driven by Coulombic-impurity and electron-electron scattering. We find that thesetwo scattering mechanisms result in relaxation times of equal order of magnitude, but with dissimilar dependences on doping density and temperature. Our theoretical results are compared with experimentally measured spin-relaxation times in gallium arsenide.


Being a revolutionary par excellence Mao Zedong showed little interest in the conceptualisation of behavioural patterns, such as power, authority, legitimacy and force, coercion, command, influence, alienation and obligation. It is only from his speeches, essays and revolutionary praxis that his excogitation on the concepts can be discerned. Of course, it was within the framework of the needs and exigencies of the revolution that he dwelt upon these concepts. As he had unflinching faith in people's power, he challenged the illegitimate rulers of China, and it was by relying on people's power that he rose to the position of the highest authority in the People's Republic. Subsequently, he challenged the authority of the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and triggered off the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (GPCR) as he found that the Party was cut off from the masses and wanted to stage a bourgeois comeback.


We describe the region V(z0) of values of f(z0) for all normalized bounded univalent functions f in the unit disk D at a fixed point z0∈D . The proof is based on the radial Loewner differential equation. We also prove an analogous result for the upper half‐plane using the chordal Loewner equation.


The magnetic properties of Fe-0.45P made by the powder metallurgy process are sensitive to processing parameters. This study emphasises the effect of sintering parameters on the permeability, magnetic induction, and coercive force of Fe-0.45P materials. The following sintering variables were investigated: heating rate, dew point, sintering time, sintering atmosphere, and sintering temperature. It is shown that, within the range studied, permeability and coercive force were improved by using a high sintering temperature, long sintering time, high heating rate, and pure hydrogen atmosphere


This is a layout specification and template definition for the papers of the Wireless Personal Multimedia Communications 2001 Conference, which will be held in Aalborg, Denmark, September 9‐12, 2001. This template has been generated from WASPAA'99 templates and aims at producing conference proceedings in electronic form. The format is essentially the one used for the IEEE ICASSP conferences.


The present study explored the use of vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) of Korean elementary school students according to their individual learner...


The spin Peltier effect (SPE) in a junction comprising a gadolinium-iron-garnet (GdIG) slab and a Pt film has been investigated around the magnetization compensation temperature of GdIG by means of the lock-in thermography method. When a charge current is applied to the Pt layer, a spin current is generated across the Pt/GdIG interface via the spin Hall effect in Pt. This spin current induces a heat current and a measurable temperature change near the Pt/GdIG interface due to the SPE. The SPE signal in the Pt/GdIG junction shows a sign change around the magnetization compensation temperature, demonstrating the similar temperature dependence of the SPE and the spin Seebeck effect for the Pt/GdIG hybrid system.


An R‐prime plasmid (pJB3JI‐18) carrying a 10 kb region of Azorhizobium caulinodans ORS571 DNA which codes for uptake hydrogenase activity was isolated from a Km8 derivative of R68.45. R‐prime plasmids were obtained by transferring R68.45 to ORS571, retransferring it to E. coli, and selecting transconjugants for hydrogenase activity by means of a colour test based on methylene blue. The R‐prime plasmid DNA was hybridized with a DNA region which contained the hup genes of Bradyrhiobium japonicum, indicating homology between the heterologous hup genes. Transfer of the R‐prime plasmid to different Hup− mutants restored the Hup+ phenotype. When it was introduced to R. meliloti strains, it maintained its molecular weight and did not affect indigenous plasmids in two of three recipients. In the third recipient cointegrate formation and incompatibility with indigenous plasmids were found.


A method of quantitative determination of genetically modified line (GM line) of soybean Mon 89788 based on digital PCR has been developed. Comparative analysis of metrological characteristics of this technique with identical based on PCR-RT was carried out. Both the detection limit and the quantitative detection limit of the methodology were defined. Correlation coefficient (R2=0.9987) was close to the maximum value, indicating a good correlation of the analytical signal linear dependence of the GMO content in the panel samples. The digital PCR methodology allows to determine the GMO content in the range from 0.5% to 100%. Compared to real time PCR results, digital PCR results show GMO content closer to the reference value; however, this technique does not allow to determine GMO content below 0.5%.


The Integral Education Program of the State of Pernambuco is constantly presented by the
public power as a success, by combating evasion and by improving students' performance in
standardized tests. After 10 years of program, a critical and rigorous analysis of this program
is necessary as a counterpoint to official propaganda, answering the question: Does this model
of school serve the interests of the working class? Our analysis indicates that the program is
guided by a privatist logic, which seeks to promote a formation for capital, which makes it
difficult for students to understand radically the contradictions and inequalities in society.


Controlling in today's conditions is considered as management of economic activity of the enterprise with use of modern innovative tools. Since classical management cannot be effective in conditions of uncertainty and crisis situations, controlling management must be permanent and anti-crisis. The all-encompassing nature of controlling is reflected in its connection to the various managerial aspects of the company, which are shown in the philosophical triangle. The company's general management policy has a direct mission to ensure the production, survival and development of the company as a result of its adaptation to the current external unpredictable and unpredictable environment, so it is the starting point of the entire technological network of controlling interdependencies between its socio-economic development.


In the wake of the Donum veritatis instruction of 1990, the Ad tuendam fidem appears to be a step further in the shift of ecclesiastical government away from a disciplinary role towards a more doctrinal role. The decisions of the Holy Office in the 1930s and 40s were an aniticipation of this shift, as was the Humani generis when the magisterial authority sought to transcend both its traditional role of distinguishing orthodoxy from heresy as well as that of denouncing errors and so intervening on questions of acceptable behaviour and opinion. The Council's recognition of the independent status of teaching with respect to the sacrament and the church government was an important break with the past which made it imperative to rethink the role of the magisterial service outside of its normal government responsabilities.


Objectives: Low and middle-income countries (LMICs) face constraints of low access to colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnosis and limited colonoscopy capacity. We aim to conduct an economic evaluation of increasing access to diagnostic approaches and colonoscopy capacity building in Thailand. Methods: We conducted a population-based cost-effectiveness analysis through healthcare and societal perspectives using Colo-Sim, a system dynamics model of CRC care in Thailand. We analyzed improvement in access to the fecal immunochemical test (FIT) screening (strategy-I), symptom evaluation (strategy-II), and both (strategy-III). We analyzed these strategies in combination with the 8point risk score (RS) and under current versus increasing colonoscopy capacity to a sufficient level (SC). We estimated the quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained and costs from each strategy over 25 years. We also performed probabilistic sensitivity analyses to study their uncertainty. Results: Under the current willingness-to-pay (WTP) in Thailand (160,000 THB), strategy-III+RS+SC results in the highest QALY gained (2.6M) and an additional cost of 158B THB with 95% chance of being cost-effective compared to the status quo. Each strategy combined with RS or SC results in a more cost-effective approach than strategies without RS or SC. When WTP is lower than 75,000, the status quo has the highest probability of being the most cost-effective strategy. However, as WTP increases,


The number of couples, of childbearing age, seeking assisted reproduction technology (ART) treatment is increasing. This has led to a growing interest in the psychological impact of ART, both during and following treatment. A large number of factors contribute to psychological morbidity following failed ART treatment, which makes it difficult to quantify and study. It has been demonstrated that couples can experience psychological dysfunction several years after the cessation of unsuccessful treatment. It is, therefore, important that couples are counselled with regard to coping with treatment failure and long‐term childlessness in addition to aspects relating to fertility treatment.


Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a cosmopolitan, necrotrophic and soil borne plant pathogen, capable of infecting many economically important crops. Although it is a wellstudied pathogen elsewhere, there is no research conducted in Sri Lanka. The objectives of the current research were to study the phenotypic variations among isolates within the pathogen population in the upcountry commercial cabbage fields in Sri Lanka and to determine their sensitivity to a commonly applied fungicide, Mancozeb. Forty-six isolates obtained from infected cabbage heads were identified as S. sclerotiorum based on its unique morphological characteristics. Colony diameter was measured on potato dextrose agar (PDA) plates at 23 oC and mycelial colour was observed after two-week incubation. All the isolates were grown in pH indicator media to determine their acid producing abilities. Sensitivity of the isolates to Mancozeb was assayed in vitro. There was a significant difference in colony growth among the isolates and sensitivity to Mancozeb. Two isolates showed abnormal mycelial growth characteristics; a slower growth rate on PDA and reduced pathogenicity on cabbage leaves. Two levels of mycelial pigmentations were observed on PDA. All the isolates were acid producers, inferring that all of them were pathogenic. In summary, the upcountry S. sclerotiorum pathogen population was found to be diverse for selected phenotypic traits, especially for mycelial growth, and fungicide sensitivities inferring that the pathogen population is capable of adapting to changing environmental conditions. Therefore, disease management will be challenging if an epidemic occurs, and it is recommended that a proper management system should be identified before further expansion of upcountry cabbage cultivation.


Molecular dynamics simulations of a model main-chain liquid crystalline polymer (LCP) and of a low molecular weight analogue have been carried out using an efficient parallel algorithm. A main-chai...


Effect of phase structure on friction coefficient and powdering amount of galvannealed steel sheet(GA) coatings prepared at different galvannealing parameters was analyzed by XRD,SEM,tribometer and the double-Olsen powdering test.The results show that as the amount of ζ-phase increased on the coating surface and the amount of iron content in the coating decreased,the friction coefficient increased.In contrast,with the iron increased in the coating the amount of powdering increased.


section's final chapter as Jarausch seeks to historicize their considerable and mostly positive impact on the 'consolidation' of German civil society. As a result of these cultural developments, Jarausch argues 'the actual breakthrough of Germany's recivilization' occurred in the mid-1960s (99). Finally, Part Three addresses the upheavals of the 1980s and 1990s and the significant challenges these posed to Germany's 'recivilizing' project. The first and most profound was the GDR's collapse, a revolution that resulted in no small part from the re-emergence of a civil society in East Germany. According to Jarausch, the 'self-liberation' which took place in 1989 represents 'one of the few genuine successes of democracy' (213). The unification that followed has called into question long-held, though fragile, ideas about a 'normal' German identity and foreign policy; Germany's 'renationalization' need not jeopardize the country's return to civilization, the author concludes, especially if the nascent Berlin Republic continues to develop in a European and global context. The author's guarded optimism is confirmed by his account of Germans' post-war relationship with foreigners, one that has shown recent signs of significant, though delicate and still incomplete, progress. Although few today would deny that most Germans have fully rejected National Socialism and instead demonstrate an impressive support for human rights, pacifism and democracy, this book is sure to find detractors. Some will undoubtedly contest Jarausch's notion of civilization, while others will take issue with his claim that scholars have 'neglected' the story of rehabilitating Germans after Hitler (vi). This reviewer wishes, for example, that the author had maintained his interpretative and narrative emphasis on the combined impact of external and internal forces on German developments into the work's third section. Nevertheless, After Hitler is an impressive work of scholarship which adds substantially to our understanding of not only contemporary Germany but also its post-war histories. With a balanced tone and an authoritative voice that rejects positivistic conclusions, this highly effective exploration of significant post-war German cultural developments includes the better known political, social, and economic transformations but also marshals an impressive array of sources to examine comparatively the 'consolidation of civil society' in West and East Germany. Moreover, as Jarausch convincingly shows here, the history of postwar Germany is significant not least of all because it 'suggests the possibility of practical redemption from moral disaster' (17).


The paper presents some initial analyses after a survey conducted in a set of Serbian firms. Although initial, the results show some interesting tendencies within the Serbian firms and represent a broad picture on understanding the importance of intangibles in improving firms competitiveness. The three aspects of intangible capital are analysed: internal relationships and human capital, external relations and marketing and finally, innovation and R&D including the developments in IT sector. It appears that internal relations are relatively underdeveloped jeopardising an efficient fulfilment of the firms objectives. Thus, decision making processes in many cases are not properly designed and leave an excessive role to the owner as an exclusive decision maker. Also, the position of workers is poor particularly regarding their rights to be informed, make proposals or participate in decision making and even some traditional workers rights are frequently neglected (unions, collective bargaining etc.). On the other hand the higher level of workers satisfaction and loyalty to the firm emerge under better internal relations. Regarding external relationships and marketing practices the results show that this element of intangibles is steadily improving but still is at a lower level then necessary. An essential progress has been remarked within the exporting firms and/or other firms that develop international businesses. We understand this fact as a consequence of a special form of spillovers of international business practices. Regarding innovations many firms claim innovative practices but still at a rudimentary level. Better practices are found among the firms that are exporters and those in manufacturing industries and yet among the foreign firms. However, foreign firms in some cases neglect R&D if they act as a part of larger international companies. This finding points at a lower technological level of production that has been established in the country by means of FDI while major R&D activities are organised in home countries of foreign investors. The finding is in accordance with other research results that found a lower level of spillover effects of FDI in transition economies than it was expected at the beginning of transition process. In concluding remarks we propose some policy measures that could incite local firms investments in intangible capital. JEL Clasification: O32, O34, M21 10 th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF ASECU


Chronic non communicable diseases represent the leading cause of death and disability in people of productive age in the world. Developing countries face the growing burden of non communicable diseases NCDs which are expected to increase considerably in the next 20 years. Cardiovascular diseases have increased markedly because of the changes in life caused by industrialization that triggers problems such as hypertension, responsible for 44% of deaths in men and women under 70 years of age in Latin America and the Caribbean. Like the world situation, in Colombia cardiovascular diseases cular diseases, mainly ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease and hypertension. With its complications, occupy the first place followed by cancer that has registered an important increase tante. With this panorama at world and national level it is worrisome that in spite of implementing a series of actions of proven effectiveness the hypertension programs do not reach the expected achievements in terms of recovering health, several causes determine this situation among them an inadequate control of the blood pressure figures, the lack of opportunity in the allocation of appointments and authorization of medications, the therapeutic non-compliance caused by the ignorance of the complications of the disease, forgetting in the taking of medicines among others, resulting according to several researchers compliance of the treatment of arterial hypertension as a great challenge of the health organisms. According to the WHO analysis,1 only 50% of chronic patients comply with their treatments in developed countries, therefore, this situation is worse in developing countries, given the conditions of scarce resources and inequities which lead to the increase in risk of complications, sequelae or premature death. From a financial perspective, it represents an expenditure of resources in the production and delivery of medicines that the patient does not consume or use properly. These premises give grounds to assume hypertension as a chronic disease involving a serious public health problem, for searching and generates r r investigative and intervention strategies linking long term actions hypertensive patients. Methods and data collection


This paper concentrates on essential design standards. The mixture of safety provisions which were used in the Civil Engineering Code of Practice CP2 "earth retaining structures" are first presented and discussed. Methods to improve these are suggested. Sections are provided on: a) limit stage design; b) soil strength parameters, and both the mobilizable strength and the shear strength of an interface; and c) methods of earth pressure analysis. Geo-structural mechanisms are also discussed. These include: a) plastic soil deformations around a stiff cantilever; b) the structural serviceability for a stiff cantilever; and c) the wall flexibility effect. A flexible cantilever with a single level of support is also discussed briefly. For the covering abstract see IRRD 860485.


Türkiye has implemented different exchange rate regimes and foreign trade policies throughout its 100-year history. The foreign trade deficit has been a persistent issue since the establishment of the free-market economy and its opening to foreign capital and aid. Since 1980, export-oriented industrialization policies and the withdrawal of the fixed exchange rate regime have not effectively reduced the foreign trade deficit. This study used the VAR model to examine the relationship between the real effective exchange rate, exports, and imports from March 2001 to June 2023. To investigate the causality between variables, Granger causality test is performed; impulse response functions are used to establish the direction of the variables' reaction to shocks; and variance decomposition is used to evaluate the distribution of impact over periods. The study's findings contradict economic theory's predictions about exchange rate, export, and import linkages. The Granger causality test failed to identify a causal relationship between the real effective exchange rate and exports and imports, leading to the conclusion that the level of the exchange rate has no influence on exports and imports. The bidirectional causation between exports and imports, with import changes largely explained by exports, confirms Türkiye's export dependence on imports


We define a new modeling technique called "3D touch-and-drag," where users select vertices simply by approaching them. Operations are finished by removing the 3D cursor (e.g., a forefinger) from a line or plane in 3D space. These lines or planes constrain the modeling operations, as is the case when using 3D widgets.


Governance, in particular, decision-making plays a significant role in influencing the transition to households' food security. It helps in addressing causative factors responsible for undermining household sustainable food security. This study aimed at determining household and farm level governance factors affecting the transition to household food security. Respondents who participated in the study were 284. The study employed a cross-sectional survey design to obtain qualitative and quantitative data on household food security. Household interviews, focus group discussions, key informants' interviews, and observations were used to collect data. Qualitative data were analyzed by categorizing them into themes to find out respondents' experiences and opinions. Quantitative data were coded, entered, cleaned, and summarized using descriptive statistics, frequencies, and chi-square. The study used Multiple Regression Model to establish the extent to which selected variables were responsible for the transition to household food security. Results on maize production showed that the association of occupation of coefficient (0.006) and income (-0.54) had a significant and positive value P=0.000 (P˂0.05) and was related to food security, while the association between family size (0.006) and land size (0.055), marital status (0.092), and land acreage (-0.108) had no significant relationship. Regarding beans, results indicated that the relationship between occupation (coefficient -0.059 and income (0.059) had a significant value P= 0.000, while the association between family size (0.096) and land size (0.055, marital status (0.092) and land acreage (-0.108) had no significant association. In the case of bananas, the association of occupation (0.038) and income (0.142) had a significant value of P=0.000, while the relationship between family size (0.010) and land size (-0.026), marital status (0.014), and land acreage (0.184) had no significant relationship. The study recommends increased government support in establishing effective decisions on household food security and strengthening them through a participatory and bottom-up approach. The study also recommends that the government and related stakeholders invest in household capacity building for inclusive gender participation in decision-making pertaining to food security; establish resilient household food production and increase support for strengthening it further. There is also a need for supporting climate change mitigation, environmental conservation, and farm-level landscape restoration. Key words: household, governance, transition, food security, participatory, sustainable, policy, livelihood


Historically valuable buildings often contain a huge energy saving potential due to their current lacking thermal performance of the building envelope. Next to this, unfortunately insulation measures, which normally occur at the inside, induce a decrease in the temperature and drying potential of the structure which results in a risk for frost damage. To validate this risk Heat, Air and Moisture simulations are a valuable tool. Heritage facades often consist of masonries, which are known to have a complex hygrothermal behaviour. Therefore nowadays a homogenization of the masonry, for example to a homogenous brick wall, is often assumed to save computational time. Nevertheless these homogenizations, which include neglecting mortars, can have a drastic impact on the hygrothermal behaviour of masonries. Hence this study compares the impact of basic material parameters for the brick, pointing mortar and bed mortar of a masonry separately under a constant indoor and outdoor climate based on probabilistic simulations. The evaluation is done for three frost related criteria. Generally, the main impact parameters for the one and a half brick construction are found to be quite similar for interior insulated and not insulated cases but diverse between the chosen criteria.


Sparse mobile crowdsensing (MCS) is a promising paradigm for the large-scale urban sensing, which allows us to collect data from only a few areas (cell selection) and infer the data of other areas (data inference). It can significantly reduce the sensing cost while ensuring high data quality. Recently, large urban sensing systems often require multiple types of sensing data (e.g., publish two tasks on temperature and humidity respectively) to form a multi-dimensional urban sensing map. These multiple types of sensing data hold some inherent correlations, which can be leveraged to further reduce the sensing cost and improve the accuracy of the inferred results. In this paper, we study the multi-dimensional urban sensing in sparse MCS to jointly address the data inference and cell selection for multi-task scenarios. We exploit the intra- and inter-task correlations in data inference to deduce the data of the unsensed cells through the multi-task compressive sensing and then learn and select the most effective $\langle $ cell, task $\rangle $ pairs by using reinforcement learning. To effectively capture the intra- and inter-task correlations in cell selection, we design a network structure with multiple branches, where branches extract the intra-task correlations for each task, respectively, and then catenates the results from all branches to capture the inter-task correlations among the multiple tasks. In addition, we present a two-stage online framework for reinforcement learning in practical use, including training and running phases. The extensive experiments have been conducted on two real-world urban sensing datasets, each with two types of sensing data, which verify the effectiveness of our proposed algorithms on multi-dimensional urban sensing and achieve better performances than the state-of-the-art mechanisms.


In the frame of a program to monitor the spectral variation of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 5548, we found that the broad emission component of Hβ, which was clearly visible on the spectra taken in and earlier than Feb. 1992, nearly disappeared in May 1992. Only the narrow component and the very wide wings remained in the spectra taken on May 11 and 12. The continuum radiation from the nucleus also faded simultaneously. These spectral and photometric variations are similar to those observed in NGC 4151 in 1984


The invention discloses an electro-static discharge (ESD) protection device and a method for manufacturing same. The electro-static discharge protection device can include a second conductive type epitaxial layer on a substrate; a second conductive type well on a first region above the second conductive type epitaxial layer; a first conductive type deep well in the second conductive type epitaxial layer between the second conductive type epitaxial layer and the second conductive type well; a plurality of active regions defined by a plurality of isolation layers above the second conductive type epitaxial layer; and a transistor and an ion implantation region in the active regions. The device of the invention can reduce or inhibit performance decrease of the electro-static discharge device.


The urgency of this study aims to explain the actualization of Christian religious education which currently seems not to be going in rhythm with various expectations. This condition occurs because of the rapid demands of science and information networks development in the era of the industrial revolution 4.0 intertwined with waves of disruption. It is ironic because, in practice, some teachers still use conventional patterns. This of course is tedious and burdensome. The author uses a qualitative method with a literature approach and concludes that the praxis of Christian religious education is intertwined with a transformative call in the semantic meaning of Matthew 11:28-30. Therefore, the actualization of Christian religious education must be passionate, provide relief, be interactive, and dialogical, and lead to an invitation to learn continuously by educators to students gently and pleasantly as the Lord Jesus did.


Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a usual hematological tumor, which was featured by malignant proliferation of lymphoid progenitor cells. Many important factors participate into the regulation of ALL, including proteins. PAQR3 (also named RKTG) has been proved to take part in many human cancers by acting as a tumor suppressor. PAQR3 has bee n shown to repress human leukemia cells proliferation and induce cell apoptosis, but its role and relevant regulatory mechanism on cell proliferation and ferroptosis in ALL needs more exploration.


Classic psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin have been associated with reduced depressive symptoms when used as an adjunct to therapy, but concern remains over the potential for adverse events such as seizures when these drugs are used outside controlled clinical settings. A study used a survey of U.S. adults to examine the association between use of classic psychedelics and seizures. The survey included adults who reported at least one lifetime use of a psychedelic. These individuals were asked if they ever had experienced a seizure when using a psychedelic, and if they answered affirmatively they were asked if they had been using other medications at the time, including antidepressants, antipsychotics, and mood stabilizers. Participants also reported whether they or a close family member had a history of epilepsy. A total of 1.5% of 613 individuals who had used a psychedelic had experienced a seizure while using. Nearly half of those who had experienced a seizure had been using an antidepressant, mood stabilizer, or opioid replacement therapy at the time. The investigators found that seizures were common among individuals with a personal or family history of epilepsy. When participants with a personal history of epilepsy were excluded, seizures were still more common among individuals with a family history of epilepsy. "These findings could have real‐world implications both for informing exclusion criteria in classic psychedelic trials and for educating individuals who use classic psychedelics outside of research settings," the study's authors wrote. [Simonsson O, et al. Drug Alc Dep 2022; published online Aug 11; doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2022.109586]


This text consists of units with topical case studies and structured questions on all the key topics of the GCSE syllabuses and covers a range of both global and local regions. It can be worked through sequentially or individual units can be studied as required. Each unit uses questions to focus the text, all with accompanying mark allocations. Students can use the book to prepare for examinations, with both written and graphical responses given full consideration. The interaction of physical and human systems is investigated through the case studies, such as the Great Hanshin earthquake in Kobe, urban crime, and Britain's changing population and industrial bases. Photocopiable sheets are provided.


Industrial Revolution 4.0 is a term that is already familiar to people in Indonesia. The development of technology and information occurs so quickly that it has a huge impact on the industrial world as well as human behavior. This behavior affects how the tourism industry players provide services to consumers who come to visit the tourist village of Bongan Tabanan - Bali. Bongan Village as a tourist village also has culinary products that use the main ingredients of the Gonda plant. Gonda plant itself is known as one of the commodities that have economic value apart from rice plants. Ease in the cultivation process and lower operational value are an advantage for farmers compared to planting rice. Processed products from the gonda plant are offered directly when tourists come to visit the tourist village of Bongan. To achieve tourist satisfaction and increase purchases of Gonda processed products, culinary actors must be able to provide services or services that are managed professionally so as to provide satisfaction to customers or foreign tourists who visit. During the Covid-19 pandemic, technological advances began to be used as F&B services, one of which was using online media, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other websites. The purpose of Community Service Activities in Bongan Village is expected through F&B Service Training to improve the quality of service to consumers in the tourist village of Bongan, Tabanan.


A review of all species of the genus Pseudolathra Casey, 1905 known from Réunion is presented. Five species are recorded and one species, Pseudolathra janaki Kocian Hlaváč, sp. n., is described. New records for Pseudolathra gomyi (Lecoq, 1986) are given. Four species are illustrated and a key to all species is given.


This paper proposes the efficient buffering approach for implementing radiative transfer equations to bridge the performance gap between processing elements and HBM memory bandwidth. The radiation transfer equation originally focuses on the fundamental physics process in astrophysics. Besides, it has become the focus of a lot of attention in recent years because of the wealth of applications such as medical bioimaging. However, the acceleration requires a complicated memory access pattern with low latency, and the earlier studies unveil conventional memory access based on software control has no aptitude for this computation. Thus, this article introduced an HBM FPGA and proposed an application-specific buffering mechanism called PRISM (PRefetchable and Instantly accessible Scratchpad Memory) to efficiently bridge the computational unit and the HBM. The proposed approach was evaluated on a XILINX Alveo U280 FPGA, and the experimental results are also discussed.


The invention discloses a data processing method. The data processing method comprises the steps of obtaining user video information which is image information or the combination of the image information and voice information, judging whether the video information includes the behavior state information of a user or not, extracting the behavior state information if the video information includes the behavior state information, obtaining auxiliary information corresponding to the behavior state information, and sending the information. Based on the data processing method, in the process that video communication is carried out by the user, the user can achieve face-to-face communication, the auxiliary information corresponding to the behavior state information can also be obtained when the user carries out preset behavior state information, the auxiliary information and the video information are synthesized to be sent to other side of the video communication, the functions of the video communication process are enriched, the enjoyment of the video communication process is improved, and therefore user experience is improved. The invention further discloses a microprocessor using the data processing method, a communication terminal and a server.


This paper provides a precise measure of spatial inequity arising from living in a landscape, serviced by a grid system, as are many North American cities, which has been pushed over by an angle of phi degrees. Route factors, the ratio by which an actual route between two points exceeds the euclidean or direct distance between the same points, are obtained for biaxial grid systems of infinitely fine mesh assuming that trip origins and destinations are uniformly distributed over the plain. The method used to derive an expression for the route factor changes the coordinates by translation so that the point with the smallest g values is placed at the origin of a Cartesian coordinate system. Results show that inhabitants of A 70 deg grid in Abingden, Niagara, who chose to move in obtuse quadrant directions will travel, on average, almost 30 per cent further than users moving in acute quadrant directions. It is suggested that the imposed spatial structure of the town was due to the early land surveys taking their alignment from the coastline and rivers. (TRRL)


The key issue implementing electronic business is safety.The sensitivity,rivalrousness and opposability of safety technology in electronic business is very strong.With the continuous efforts of information issues technicians,we can solve the safety problem which restricts the deveolpments of electronic business development through inspecting and regulating the safe tactics.


unification, and the lost battle to transform NATO into a real 'Atlantic community' represented a decisive turning point between the age of politics and the following years. Similarly, Pombeni's underestimation of Dosetti's ideological involvement with Fascism must be revised in light of recent scholarship (Galavotti 2006). His conversion to radical anti-Fascism, therefore, remains underdeveloped. This conversion hinged – similarly to that of many other young Catholics – not only on the encounter with French Catholic thought (Maritain and Emmanuel Mounier), but also on the fatalities of the interwar and war periods, and therefore on the power of historical events as transformative experiences. Likewise, the shift of orientation that took place in post-World War II political Catholicism deserves further investigation. Catholic politicians and intellectuals – with the work of Dossetti at the Constituent Assembly playing a paramount role – recast their difficult relationship with 'modernity' and democracy and eventually came to endorse them both. This shift of orientation not only meant, as Pombeni hints, embracing liberal values once again, but it was couched in a different vocabulary. It also meant to re-substantiate the modern call to freedom from within a classical and Christian tradition, opening the way for a 'spiritual' post-liberal democracy. At stake here is not a mere jargon that did not alter a quintessential liberal substance re-emerging triumphantly after the 'parenthesis' of Fascism; it is, rather, an alternative vision and political model, one that developed as a reflection on the misadventures of Fascism and as a critique of classical liberalism. These perspectives are worth emphasizing also because of their comparative resonance, which points much beyond the specific thinker Dossetti and the Italian context in which his life-work evolved. Seen as such, Pombeni's precious book is not just a stepping-stone for future research on Dossetti and dossettismo; it also has the merit of opening up a debate that perhaps is just about to begin: the question of what a Christian democracy and a Catholic modernity may actually mean – then as now.


Pupil size changes as a function of the processing load or human activity level required to perform a cognitive task. It may also reflect the situation of retentive processes. This study aims to relate the pupil size to retention by examining the reproduction of 8-digit number patterns. The results show that in the case of a complete correct answer, pupil size gradually increases with the presentation of each digit, and decreases monotonically during reporting. However, if the subject cannot answer at all, it does not change and stays large. Blink time, which can be measured by a sharp drop in pupil size, is very short during presenting and reporting, but many subjects blink after reporting the final digit. However, if the subject forgot the digit presented, blink time is longer.


ABSTRACT A critical aspect of global e-business information technology (IT) governance is ensuring that it is integrated and that it generates economic viability of a company. Poorly thought through purposes will result in poor IT governance, the aim is to improve IT governance and business efficiency and effectiveness. A normative framework for global e-business IT governance is developed in this paper drawing on research evidence from information systems development and organization study. It proposes fundamental re-directions in global e-business IT governance thinking and it applies to companies that seek to integrate Internet, Intranet and Web technologies into their business activities in some form of an e-business model. Such integration is termed the fusion of IT and business to develop an e-business. The framework explains and elaborates ebusiness strategies for coping with emergent organizations and planned aspects of IT The basic premise of the proposed framework is that organization, especially virtual organization, is both planned and emergent, diverging from the dominant premise of central control in IT governance. INTRODUCTION In essence, information technology (IT) governance addresses how to design and implement effective organizations by creating flexible IT and information systems (IS) structures and processes. IT governance in a global e-business context has to cater for intensive competition, cultural diversity, and various fluctuating economic conditions. A static model of IT governance (see Eickelmann, 2000) and organization cannot adequately address these issues. There is evidence from researchers in IS development (for example Baskerville et al., 1992) and organization design (Mintzberg, 1979) that reveals the emergent nature of both. How global e-business IT governance can be conducted is addressed in this paper on the basis of this body of evidence. IT Governance is "the organizational capacity to control the formulation and implementation of IT strategy and guide to proper direction for the purpose of achieving competitive advantage for the corporation." (Van Grembergen and Saull, 2000). The prime aim of IT governance is to contribute to business activity in terms of lower costs, satisfied customers and better quality products or service provided by a company. Governance assumes accountability, making improving the channels of accountability an important feature of IT governance, especially accounting for return on investment. Many problems need to be addressed by the IT function: weak planning, rapid business and environmental change, and management involvement are some. The emergent process of IT governance reveals that managers need to understand that they are neither all-powerful nor powerless to effect change. Rather, they are in partial control of emerging processes that result in new organizational designs. They need to consider the importance of global business management, cultural diversity, ethics and advanced production and information technologies, as the boundaries between the Internet and customer strategy continue to merge. This paper presents some fundamental re-directions in e-business IT governance strategy thinking and proposes a framework for global e-business IT governance and organizational design as both a planned and an emergent process. There is a difference between IT governance and global e-business governance. The focus of IT governance is to seek efficient and effective ways of using IT in business. It seeks optimal solutions. Global e-business governance is concerned with facilitating and managing business processes and relations among suppliers, partners and customers over digital networks, as well as ensuring efficiency and effectiveness. This difference underpins the need for fundamental re-directions. The reason for describing the re-directions as fundamental is that unlike previous digital technology, Internet technologies are fluid and seek to cater for contextual, situated and semantic real-time information management. …


During development of new protocols and systems researchers in most cases use simulations for evaluation of their product, especially in the area of communication networks. The quality of the simulation environment, however, significantly influences the quality of a product's evaluation. Therefore, simulation environments as realistic as possible are necessary in order to get reliable results. In this paper we present ReaSE, a tool for creation of such realistic environments. It considers multiple aspects: topology generation -- on AS level as well as on router level --, traffic patterns, and attack traffic. Furthermore, ReaSE is based on current state of the art solutions.


This chapter deals with the estimation of unknown parameters of a univariate distribution. 2. Background Statistical inference is concerned with the making of inferences about a population using the observed part of the population called a sample. The population can usually be described using a probability model which will be written in terms of some unknown parameters. For example, the hours of relief given by a drug may be assumed to follow a Normal distribution with mean µ and variance σ 2 ; it is then required to make inferences about the parameters, µ and σ 2 , on the basis of an observed sample of relief times. There are two main aspects of statistical inference: the estimation of the parameters and the testing of hypotheses about the parameters. In the example above, the values of the parameter σ 2 may be estimated and the hypothesis that µ ≥ 3 tested. This chapter is mainly concerned with estimation but the test of a hypothesis about a parameter is often closely linked to its estimation. There are two types of estimation to be considered in this chapter: point estimation and interval estimation. Point estimation is when a single value is obtained as the best estimate of the parameter. However, as this estimate will be based on only one of a large number of possible samples it can be seen that if a different sample were taken a different estimate would be obtained. The distribution of the estimate across all the possible samples is known as the sampling distribution. The sampling distribution contains information on the performance of the estimator, and enables estimators to be compared. For example, a good estimator would have a sampling distribution with mean equal to the true value of the parameter; that is, it should be an unbiased estimator; also the variance of the sampling distribution should be as small as possible. When considering a parameter estimate it is important to consider its variability as measured by its variance, or more often the square root of the variance, the standard error. The sampling distribution can be used to find interval estimates or confidence intervals for the parameter. A confidence interval is an interval calculated from the sample so that its distribution, as given by the sampling distribution, is such that it contains the true value of the parameter with a certain probability. 2.1. Normal distribution For a …


Polyol Metal Complexes. 27. Bis-Diolato Antimonates(III) with Guanosine as the Diol

The complex anions of K3[SbIII(Guo1,2′,3′H−3)2] · 10 H2O (1) and [Co(NH3)6][SbIII(Guo1,2′,3′H−3)2] · 9 H2O (2) are four-coordinate homoleptic bis(diolato)antimonate(III) species. The guanosine trianions act as carbohydrate ligands through their cis-furanoidic ribosyl moiety, thus forming no nucleobase–metal bonds.


This paper describes an innovative method for the removal of heat from semiconductor power modules operating with high power losses. In linear applications, for example, losses are often so high that air cooling is inadequate and liquid cooling must be used. Traditionally, this is achieved by bolting a standard module onto a liquid-cooled heat exchanger. While more effective than air cooling, a thermal barrier still exists between the module base plate and separate heat sink and this contributes significantly to the total junction to ambient thermal resistance. To eliminate this barrier, APT Europe has engineered an integral liquid cooled (ILC) power module package, where the module base plate doubles as the liquid cooled heat exchanger's upper lid. In this way the cooling medium is in direct contact with the module base plate and there is no interface. To illustrate the dramatic improvement in performance made possible by this approach, the thermal performance of a dual 200 V, 7 mohm MOSFET module operating in linear mode is analysed. A detailed description of the ILC construction as well as the influence of flow rate on thermal resistance are presented.


In the name of equity, we . . . seek dramatic improvement in the quality of the education available to our children. Any steps to achieve desegregation must be reviewed in light of the black community's interest in improved pupil performance as the primary characteristic of educational equity. TVe define educational equity as the absence of discriminatory pupil placement and improved performance for all children who have been the objects of discrimination. We think it neither necessary, nor proper to endure the dislocations of desegregation without reasonable assurances that our children will instructionally profit. Coalition of black community groups in Boston'


Reverse Osmosis is a water purification technique performed to remove the dissolved solids from the tannery wastewater thereby reducing the water scarcity. This process produces two types of water namely pure water and RO reject water. The former can be applied for useful purposes in the same industry while the latter did not find any useful application as it contains a high amount of salt content like TDS. TSS, chlorides, sulphates etc. This reject water is conventionally evaporated by solar evaporation pond almost in all the industries of Tamil Nadu. This method has many demerits like large area requirement, water seepage, and dispersal, inefficient during the rainy season, odor, labor requirement, and maintenance. In order to overcome these issues, the solar tunnel dryer has been designed, constructed and observed for its performance.


THIS PAPER attempts to review three main issues. First, the concept of productivity, once the very general notion of the ratio of input to output is departed from, is elusive. A variety of meanings can be advanced but these are not always easily reconciled. Secondly, there are difficulties in the way of giving meaningful expression to the application of the concept. Some of these difficulties arise because of the tendency to lump productivity in the same category as profitability and efficiency. Thirdly, some propositions are advanced about the scope for policies to foster productivity rises in the private as well as the public spheres. Care is needed


Maritime archaeologists are frequently faced with puzzling situations. All too often the label 'unidentified' becomes attached to objects which, for want of personal know ledge or illustrated comparative examples, can not be given a name or function. The artefact sits in its box, occasionally being turned and twisted like a Rubik's Cube in the hope that some new clue might shed a ray of light on the solution to its identity. Mastering the Rubik's Cube may take a variable length of time, demanding patience, perseverance and a particular sequence of moves to achieve a result. If all parts of the Cube are present then, sooner or later, the right combination of colour attributes will appear on each face and bingo - the puzzle is solved.


A study was conducted on the Babylon snail (Babylonia areolata) to examine the effects of copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), and zinc (Zn) on different life stages of this gastropod. Metal toxicity significantly varied according to the life stage of the snail. The different LC50 values obtained were 0.51, 5.49, 0.31, and 0.2 ppm for Cu, Zn, Cd, and Ni for the larval stage and 4.98, 15.19, 0.91, and 1.21 ppm at the juvenile stage and 8.54, 17.52, 1.14, and 1.44 ppm in the adult stage. Studies were also conducted on the effects of dual metal concentrations and experiments were repeated with temperature as a variable. Results demonstrated that metal toxicity values were altered depending on the metals involved in the combination as well as temperature under which the experiment was conducted.


The work described in this paper arose from the need to control the orientation of a flexibly mounted platform. In the particular application described here it was not acceptable to use a gyroscope to measure the angular displacement of the platform and an alternative technique was required. The method which was developed is based upon a novel application of strain gauges. The method is described and some experimental results are presented and evaluated.


States, are similarly affected. Bedford Brown, of Alexandria, Virginia, (Charlotte Mecl. Journ., H". C., Jan. 1897) notes that these fevers, designated by him "autumnal fevers,'"' appear annually between the 10th and 15th of August in Yirginia, and continue until hard frost has set in, when they cease as suddenly as they began. Some of those attacked present symptoms analogous to enteric fever, but the majority suffer from symptoms similar to those of uncomplicated malaria. Brown does not believe that one in twenty is really genuine typhoid fever, but that the complicated cases, often termed typhoid or typho-malarial, are unusually severe instances of malarial poisoning. He proceeds to give an account of the different forms of malarial fever described, dividing them into the usual intermittent, remittent, and pernicious, but further subdividing the remittent forms into an acute, sudden, and violent type, and a slow, progressive, and insidious class. In the first of these remittent types the onset is sudden and unaccompanied by any premonitory symptoms, the temperature rises quickly it may be to as high as 105? P., and the subsequent changes of temperature are sudden, sharp, and extreme; in the prolonged fever the premonitory symptoms


included in the German curriculum is often negative: "Oh, I could never teach that!" Although they may agree that the topic is important and should be taught, a shake of the head or a crinkled-up nose is likely to be the initial tacit reply. These reactions are unfortunate and indicative of a tendency among many of our colleagues to avoid the unpleasant historical truth rather than to face up to it and teach it openly and thoroughly. For some, the sheer horrific nature of the event makes the


Hybrid coupled walls (HCWs) are comprised of two or more reinforced concrete wall piers connected with steel coupling beams distributed over the height of the structure. Extensive research over the past several decades suggests that such systems are particularly well suited for use in regions of moderate to high seismic risk. This paper reviews the state of the art in seismic modeling, analysis, and design of HCW systems. Design methodologies are presented in both prescriptive and performance-based design formats and a discussion of alterative types of hybrid wall systems is provided.


In this study; the mechanism is modeled and manufactured to allow different bodies to be trimmed in a fully automatic manner without operator intervention according to the models. With the completion of the study, it was possible to change without any loss of time and without operator intervention. Errors and time loss are eliminated. Modified stripper plate and punches according to the model programmed with the automated system, without operator intervention, the wrong model eliminates female male matches. The number and quality of the number of internal plastic body machined in the unit period has been increased. The disadvantageous situation that threatens the health and safety of the personnel required for the mold change process during the process has been minimized.


In this study, we investigated the relationship between stem loosening and the cement mantle in Charnley total hip arthroplasty with cement. We selected 37 joints in 34 cases that had previously undergone surgery more than five yeas ago. All of them suffered from OA. We devided the cement mantle into seven zones (Gruen's classification), investigated its thickness by X ray post-operatively, and evaluated the stem loosening and cement fracture by comparing them with X-rays taken the previous year. The cement mantle with the stem loosening was imbalanced at the proximal part of the stem, and the width of the cement mantle with the cement fracture was thin in at the distal part of the stem.We concluded that the balance of the cement mantle at the proximal part of the stem and thickness of the cement mantle at the distal part of the stem influence, stem loosening.


Selection of Human Single Domain Antibodies (sdAb) Against Thymidine Kinase 2 1 and Their Incorporation Into sdAb-Fc Antibody Constructs For Potential Use In 3 Cancer Therapy. 4 Edwin J. Velazquez, Jordan D. Cress, Tyler B. Humpherys, Toni O. Mortimer, David 5 M. Bellini, Jonathan R Skidmore, Kathryn R. Smith, Richard A. Robison, Scott K. 6 Weber and Kim L. O'Neill. 7 1 Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Brigham Young University, Provo, 8 UT, USA 9 Correspondence: Kim L. O'Neill email: firstname.lastname@example.com 10 LSB 4007, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Brigham Young 11 University, Provo, UT, USA, 84602 12 Phone: 1+ 801-422-2449 13


Surveillance and detection displays in underwater acoustic processing systems provide information about acoustic frequency signatures radiated by the surface and submerged targets. Data compression is one of the most important tasks in surveillance and detection displays as there is always limited amount of space for data presentation due to limited sizes of displays and number of pixels. Hence there is always a need for an efficient and accurate algorithm that can reduce the number of data points without disturbing or losing the information present in the data. The data compression algorithm needs to be fast enough to cope up with the real time processing requirements required by the detection displays. In this paper we have proposed an improved data compression algorithm that is compared with the well-known "cubic spline interpolation". The proposed algorithm has successfully reduced the data points and showed almost no loss in the frequency contents of data and its mapping on the surveillance and detection displays.


Introduction and Context International Sales of Goods Terms under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 Remedies in International Sales Vienna Convention on the International Sale of Goods Bills of Lading Carriage of Goods by Sea - the common law Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1971 Carriage of Goods by Air, Road and Rail Marine Insurance for Cargo Payment and Finance for International Trade Civil and Commercial Jurisdiction Choice of Law for Contractual and Non-Contractual Obligations Recognising and Enforcing Foreign Awards Alternative Dispute Resolution


In visual interaction between people, faces are the element that most attracts observers, so facial images are also an important element of communication between people. The aspect of observing and memorizing facial images has often been the subject of research. When observing facial images, there are two important parameters: the dimensions of the facial images and the observation time. Both of them have a great influence on recognition performance. In our research, we set three different dimensions of face images (small, medium, and large) and four observation times for the observation test (1, 2, 4, and 8 seconds). Since the results of face image recognition success in terms of these parameters have already been reported in other studies, we focused on the observation times for face images in the recognition process. We hypothesized that when participants looked the facial image quickly (short answer times), they were more likely to be convinced of the correctness of the answer and, consequently, fewer false recognitions would occur. In contrast, when participants looked at the face image for a longer time during the recognition process, they hesitated more, and the rate of incorrect recognition was higher because they were not completely sure of their answer. We found that in all 12 cases, the average duration of correct answers was shorter than that of incorrect answers. According to the time distribution of the duration of all answers, we set two limits (2 and 3 seconds) and analyzed the wrong answers according to these time limits. We found that with longer answer times, the proportion of incorrect recognition increased strongly. This is particularly noticeable in the tests where participants observed the facial images for a longer time (8 seconds) and could therefore memorize them better.


The surface of large deployable reflectors has to be carefully adjusted to achieve the required accuracy, which is an effective way to compensate for manufacturing and assembly errors or other impe...


We propose a wide field-of-view (FOV) light-diffusing-fiber (LDF) transmitter optical-camera-communication (OCC). Pixel-row-per-bit-neural-network (PRPB-NN) is employed for rolling-shutter-pattern decoding. PRPB-NN provides efficient decoding at 360° around LDF circumference and 160° Rx rotation-angle at 2100-bit/s. © 2022 The Author(s)


Elliot's pheasant(Syrmaticus ellioti), an endemic species to China, CITES Appendix I and the First Class nationally-protected bird, was recorded by the infrared camera video system in Kuankuoshui National Nature Reserve, Guizhou, southwestern China in May 2012. To our knowledge, this is the first record for the bird to be found in this forest area, and thus made the distribution of the Elliot's pheasant cover the whole eastern part of Guizhou Province.


Evaluating the banks performance, which are considered as one of active financial institutions in exchange, have always attracted the attention of capital market precipitants and also there have been lots of attempts to determine indices to predict their behavior. The objective of this study is to compare the performance of Mellat and Tejarat banks using CAMEL model. In respect of answering this study questions, 5 Hypotheses are considered and are evaluated in time intervals of 2009 to 2011 and 2008 to 2011 for Tejarat and Mellat banks, respectively. Considering the objective, this study is practical and its type is descriptive-correlation. In addition, combinational regression methods are used to evaluate hypotheses. The results indicate that there is no significant difference in capital adequacy, assets quality, management quality and efficiency, income quality and liquidity between Mellat and Tejarat banks. Thus, this study reached no evidence to support the hypotheses.


This book is targeted to read and inform about the Fogera cattle breed of Ethiopia that found in districts surrounding Lake Tana of Amhara region. The breed is well known for its milk production and gives up to eight litters of milk without any concentrate feed supplementation. The breed is also known by its over standing potential of the marsh area of Lake Tana and its long leg to plow the black and swampy land of the area. Fogera cattle breed is conserved at Andassa Livestock Research Center, the sole livestock research center in the country, and Metekel Fogera cattle conservation ranch for the past 50 years. On top of this the breed is also conserved by the community (In-situ) with "community based In-situ conservation approach" by the leading of the research center at Fogera and Gondar zuria districts. As shown in this book, the performance of the breed at the Ex-situ conservation site has shown improvements both in production and reproductive performance. The book also presents a detailed review and summary of the growth and reproductive performance of Ethiopian indigenous cattle breed.


Abstract Previous work has suggested that metal ion sensitive protecting groups may have utility in organic synthesis(1). We report hore the use of the α -picolinyl group as an amino protecting group for peptide synthesis.


Systems and methods provide an extensible, multi-stage, realtime application program processing load adaptive, many core data processing architecture shared dynamically among instances of parallelized and pipelined application Software programs, according to processing load variations of said programs and their tasks and instances, as well as con tractual policies. The invented techniques provide, at the same time, both application software development productiv ity, through presenting for Software a simple, virtual static view of the actually dynamically allocated and assigned pro cessing hardware resources, together with high program runt ime performance, through scalable pipelined and parallelized program execution with minimized overhead, as well as high resource efficiency, through adaptively optimized processing resource allocation.


Today's society is becoming increasingly pluralistic. The presence of groups from many different parts of the world means that many languages apart from Swedish are spoken in this country. Multiethnicity also leads to multicultural developments. As a consequence many people have to live in multilingual situations of various sorts. Language is a complex reality, and there are types of »language» which are not literally verbal. The relation ship between language and culture is intimate, and culture can therefore be seen as a question of language. Since liturgy is a linguistic phenomenon in many senses, this complicated multilingual development of society is of consequence for the life of the church. It can be of pastoral interest to reflect on how the Church of Sweden should meet this challenge. This essay is an attempt at such a discussion. Language has several functions. These can be applied to how language functions in the liturgy as well, even if there are specific aspects in their significance for this special situation. It is also necessary to understand these different functions before one can seriously approach the question of multilingualism. Five such functions are identified as of interest in understanding the liturgy. They are the cognitive, informative, expressive, performative and cohesive dimensions of language. Multilingualism is traditionally thought of in terms of the classic bilingual situation in a family with parents from different countries. However, even this type is not as clear cut as is sometimes believed, and today the phenomenon of bilingualism, not to speak of a broader multilingualism, has complex presuppositions and takes varying forms. These questions are discussed with reference to the Swedish context, and a new form of Swedish - »rinkebysvenska» - is mentioned, which is the result of the influence of multiethnic factors in areas of large cities with a predominantly mixed, immigrant population. These reflections on the functions of language and contemporary multilingual contexts are related to different aspects of the church's liturgical life: services at special times of the liturgical year and celebration of the sacraments in other languages; the significance of different varieties of »rinkebysvenska» for school services; the pastoral and evangelisation challenge of the multicultural presuppositions of services related to the role of the Church of Sweden as a national church (whilst no longer a state church); »multilingual» aspects of liturgical life as regards music and hymns, church architecture and ecumenical worship.


There has been an evolution in the appreciation of the functional roles that amino acids play in neonatal nutrition over the last 30 years. Up to the early 1960s primary interest was in the identification of those amino acids that had to be supplied in the diet in order to maintain growth and positive nitrogen balance (Table 1). Most of the experiments that were performed to identify these amino acids were conducted in animals or human adults; thus they often failed to take into account the special needs of the biochemically immature neonate, particularly the preterm neonate. Appreciation of the special biochemical needs of the developing neonate resulted in the designation of a second group of amino acids as semiessential, conditionally essential, or developmentally essential (Table 2). Studies that have defined the role that the latter compounds play in early development have reflected on properties such as infant growth (histidine, cysteine) (1,2), the developmental pattern of enzymes that catalyze synthesis (cysteine, tyrosine) (3,4), stable isotope metabolism (glycine) (5), presence in human milk coupled with animal and human studies (taurine) (6-8), and prevention of adverse metabolic effects (arginine) (9). The data to support the "essentiality" of these amino acids have often been conflicting, as for cysteine (3,10) and glycine (5,11), making a final determination difficult at best. The next stage in the understanding of the role that amino acids play in early nutrition evolved from the many functions that they were identified with, other than as precursors for protein synthesis. Some of this impetus came from a growing appreciation of the nutritional importance of the amino acid taurine, despite the fact that it could not be incorporated into protein as it is a sulfonic amino acid. Other functions of amino acids include supporting the synthesis of hormones, neurotransmitters, and bile acids. In addition, many amino acids may themselves function as neurotransmitters (Table 3). Thus, monitoring the amino acid responses of neonates to different nutritional regimens may be of more functional importance than just determining the sufficiency of the protein synthesis precursor pool. Intakes of individual enteral formulas and total parenteral nutrition solutions are reflected by specific amino acid patterns in


In present studies, the synthesis and characterization of a new asymmetrically substituted metallophthalocyanine has been reported. Statistical condensation of two different dinitrile derivatives has been applied to synthesize asymetrical metallophthalocyanine. In the first part of this study, 1,2-dichloro-4,5-dicyanobenzene and 1,2bis(hexylthio)-4,5-dicyanobenzene was obtained as two dinitrile derivative. In the second part of the study, this products were reacted in the presence of a metal salt. The newly synthesized phthalocyanines were seperated by column chromatography on silica gel and washed with common organic solvents. The structures of the synthesized compounds were characterized by the elemental analyzes, UV/Vis, FT-IR and H NMR spectroscopies.


BACKGROUND/AIMS
The aim of this study was to investigate the association of HBV core gene mutations with disease severity in HBV-infected patients.

METHODOLOGY
We included 249 genotype C HBV infected patients: 39 asymptomatic carriers (AC), 68 with chronic hepatitis (CH), 75 with liver cirrhosis (LC), and 67 with HCC. HBV DNA was extracted from patient sera and the HBV core gene was analyzed by PCR and sequencing.

RESULTS
The overall frequency of a codon substitution, which was caused by a missense mutation in the HBV core region, was 4.5±9.0/patient. The codon substitutions were predominantly clustered in the mid-core regions; 22.3% of codon substitutions were found in codons 13, 87, 97 and 130. The rate of substitution for codon 13 was higher in CH and LC than in AC. For codons 87 and 130, AC had a lower substitution rate compared to the other 3 groups. The substitution rate for codon 97 was higher in CH and HCC than in AC.

CONCLUSIONS
Core gene mutations were frequently detected during the course of chronic HBV infection, and some mutational hot spots were correlated with severe forms of disease. Thus, these mutations might play a pathophysiological role in the disease progression in HBV infected patients.


Methyl glycopyranosides of glucose, galactose, and mannose, their 2,3-di-O-benzyl-protected derivatives, as well as the unprotected sugars react with p-methoxybenzaldehyde dimethyl acetal (3) and with benzaldehyde dimethyl acetal (7) as reagents in the presence of thiourea 1 or squaramide 2 as the organocatalyst to afford regioselectively 4,6-O-arylidenated derivatives 5 and 8. With an excess amount of 3 or 7, diarylidenated derivatives are also obtained. In situ formation of acetals of type 3 and 7 from corresponding aldehydes 10 and 13 in the presence of an orthoester and organocatalyst 1 or 2 can be used to generate 5 and 8 directly from the aldehydes. Some substrates also lead to mixed orthoesters with this procedure. The reaction courses are discussed.


PURPOSE: A method of forming a cliche for a resist pattern-printing apparatus is provided to form the cliche in a mold forming method by forming a photoresist on a master substrate with desired width and depth of a groove. CONSTITUTION: A first photo resist pattern with first thickness(d1) and first width(w1) corresponding to the first thickness is formed on the master board. The second photoresist pattern with the second thickness(d2) and the second width(w2) is formed on the master board. The curing resin is spread on the master board. The back plate is attached above the curing resin. The curing resin is cured. The curing resin and the back plate are separated from the master board.


This chapter reflects on a peculiar phenomenon of contemporary religion in the Western world: the apparent revival of traditional Roman Catholic devotions. This phenomenon is emerging in a situation where the traditional Roman Catholic belief system is losing adherents. The same is true of church membership: the statistics still show a decline. So there is no reason to infer that the revival of popular devotions demonstrates a similar revival of traditional Roman Catholicism. On the contrary, there have to be other causes and motives for the revival of certain traditional devotions. The old forms seem to respond to new motives in present-day popular spirituality. Before broaching these questions, the chapter examines a few definitions of devotions and their relationship with spirituality. It concentrates on the revival of traditional Catholic devotions in the Netherlands in the last two or three decades, and comments on their relationship with present-day forms of spirituality. Keywords: Catholic devotions; Dutch Catholicism; Roman Catholicism; spirituality; Western world