The ultimate goal of radiation therapy is to efficiently deliver radiation in order to eradicate tumors, while adequately sparing nearby normal tissues. With the emergence of advanced technologies in radiation delivery, more and more conformal radiation delivery has been achieved in order to overcome challenges such as motion management between treatment fractions as well as during radiation delivery. Adaptive tomotherapy, which takes account of the inter-fractional organ motion, systematically manage treatment feedback and allows the user to respond to the temporal variations occurring between treatment fractions. Four-dimensional radiation therapy, which corrects the intra-fractional organ motion, is believed to achieve high conformality through additional consideration in time axis during delivery of intensity modulated radiotherapy. However, the clinical benefit versus to the cost of extra time and effort of complex treatment planning for these advanced technologies remains mostly unproven. The biologically effective uniform dose is able to comprehensively evaluate treatment plans both physically and biologically. For a comprehensive assessment of clinical outcomes in adaptive tomotherapy and four-dimensional treatment planning, the biologically effective uniform dose is applied together with the complication-free tumor control rate. The calculation of the biologically effective uniform dose is based on the linear-quadratic-Poisson model with the consideration of doseresponse characteristics of various organs. Adaptive tomotherapy was implemented using the HiArt TomoTherapy system in conjunction with the Planned Adaptive software. Four lung cancer patients who underwent helical tomotherapy were selected retrospectively. The delivered dose and dose distributions were evaluated using the Planned Adaptive software together with the biologically effective uniform dose. For radiobiological evaluation of the four-dimensional treatment planning, nine lung cancer patients were randomly selected. For each of the nine patients, ten multileaf collimator-based intensity modulated radiation therapy plans were developed for different respiratory phases. The four-dimensional treatment plans were, then, developed based on the deformable registration between each of different respiratory phases and the reference phase. Results of radiobiological assessment of the adaptive tomotherapy show a significant increase of 13.2% in the complication-free tumor control rate of treatment plans for lung cancer patients, indicating the clinical benefit of adaptive tomotherapy. When comparing four-dimensional treatment plans with intensity modulated radiation therapy plans of different respiratory phases, similar but not identical curves of dose volume histogram were found with slightly different mean doses in tumor (up to 1.5%) and normal tissue in all cases based on the examined lung cancer patients and the margin set around the planned target volume. When it comes to biological evaluations, there was no definitively planned target volume sizedependence observed in complication-free tumor control rate among these nine lung cancer patients with various sizes of planned target volumes. Moreover, it is not necessary that fourdimensional plans would have better target coverage or higher complication-free tumor control rate as compared to a fixed phase intensity modulated radiation therapy plan. However, on the contrary to significant deviations in complication-free tumor control rate (up to 14.7%) observed if delivering the intensity modulated radiation therapy plan made at end-inhalation incorrectly at end-exhalation phase, we estimated the overall tumor control probability without fatal complications for four-dimensional composite plans which have accounted for intra-fractional respiratory motion. In summary, the biologically effective uniform dose effectively estimates the biological efficacy regarding the management of internal organ motion both inter-fractionally for adaptive planning of tomotherapy and intra-fractionally for four-dimensional treatment planning. The scope of this thesis is mainly focused on the assessment of the unknown advancement in biological effectiveness regarding the adaptive tomotherapy and four-dimensional radiation therapy. The application of the biologically effective uniform dose evaluation, however, can be expanded continuously to other novel technologies of radiation therapy. ___________________________ Email: firstname.lastname@example.com


Good transit marketing means doing everything needed to get riders to use transit instead of their cars and efforts in St. Paul-Minneapolis and Pittsburgh are doing just that. /GMRL/


Taking AKL9401 TDP low bed semi-trailer as the research object, the road trafficability calculation model is established.And based on the analytical methods, the minimum turning diameter and channel width are analyzed. The results show that the vehicle road trafficability performance meets the requirement.


To evaluate the impact of contemporary management of hyperlipidaemia outside well planned and monitored investigations we studied the laboratory records of primary health care patients. The study comprises 14,988 primary health care patients who had been subject to at least one determination of serum-cholesterol during an 18-month period. About half of the group was subject to more than one examination during the period and presumably participated in an intervention programme. Concentration means (S-cholesterol, S-triglycerides and S-HDL-cholesterol) were calculated for all and for those returning for a repeated measurement. An overrepresentation of women over 50 and an underrepresentation of men of the same age and in the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) risk group was found among those being screened. Patients in the highest cholesterol risk group were the most successful in reducing S-cholesterol whereas an increase of S-cholesterol was found in the lowest risk group. Women under 50 in the highest cholesterol risk group were the most successful group in lowering their cholesterol concentrations. Men under 50 were more likely to return for follow-up than women of the same age; people aged 50–70 were the most likely to return, irrespective of gender and risk group. It was found that initial S-cholesterol was the only significant predictor of the S-cholesterol concentration at follow-up. Further attention should be directed to the intermediate cholesterol risk group in an effort to combat preventable IHD and to develop programmes that attract younger women and men to a higher degree than is currently the case.


Vast tidal flats in Jiangsu coastal areas boast bright prospects for development. Developing and exploiting tidal flats in a scientific and efficient manner will help promote the sustainable development of the environment. In conformity with the requirement of modern tidal flats landscape design, the paper discusses the significance of genius loci and explores the interactions among humans, nature and place to realize sound interaction between humans and nature on both physical and spiritual level and enable space user to develop a sense of belonging to the place that can truly become humane environment desired by humans and fully realize the essential value of genius loci.


1,2-Bis(cyclooctatetraenyldimethylsilyl)ethane (1) was prepared and converted to the corresponding bridged uranocene ([eta][sup 8]:[eta][sup 8]-1,2-bis([8]annulenyldimethylsilyl)ethane)uranium (IV) (2). The temperature-dependent NMR spectrum of 2 indicates a flexible molecule that twists between enantiomeric structures with a barrier of about 13 kcal mol[sup [minus]1]. 11 refs., 2 figs.


The proliferation of computers and World Wide Web made the humans to access various amounts of data sources effectively and conveniently. The data that is available in the web may be either in structured, semi-structured or in unstructured format, which is stored in the databases across the servers. Due to this overload of data i.e. either from internal or external sources, retrieving of the relevant information from the sources is a topic of research. Text mining tries to solve these issues with the combination of Machine Learning, Information Retrieval, Natural language Processing (NLP) and Knowledge Management. Knowledge Management can be effectively utilized by using semantic web logic or descriptive logic. In this paper an attempt is made to retrieve the data from various data sources using Knowledge Mining techniques associated with Resource Description Framework RDF KEYWORDS-Text Mining, Information Retrieval, Natural language Processing, Knowledge Management, Semantic Web, Web Ontology


The importance of interim relief is increased in last years as a result of civil proceedings excessive duration.
Consequently, in many national systems there's been an evolution in the direction of the autonomy of interim measures respect of final judgments. Also the EC Court of Justice has held the important role of the autonomy of interim relief for an effective judicial protection in the European Union.
Although these judgments, the award of interim measures in proceedings before Community Courts is often more difficult than before national Courts. For example, it's impossible to obtain interim measures ante causam because, under article 83 of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, an application to suspend the operation of any measure adopted by an institution shall be admissible only if the applicant is challenging the measure in proceedings before the Court. So in the community system interim measures are strictly ancillary to final judgment on the merit of claim.
For these reasons we can ask ourselves if the real function of autonomy of interim relief in the Community Courts Case-Law is safeguard supremacy of community law rather than interests of private plaintiffs.
Our doubt depends also on the EC Court of Justice Case-Law when, before national Courts, is relevant community law to decide an application for interim relief. There are, in fact, two different situations.
In a first case national Courts could be faced with the question as to whether they are entitled to suspend a national legislation contrary to EC law. Since Factortame Case EC Court of Justice held that national judges must, pending a preliminary ruling procedure, set aside the national rule that is the sole obstacle which precludes the award of interim relief.
In a second case national Courts could be faced with the question as to whether they are entitled to suspend a Community act pending a preliminary ruling on the validity of that act. Since Zuckerfabrik Case EC Court of Justice recognized the power of national judge to suspend in this situation a community act, but merely under conditions strictly defined in order to safeguard, as usual, supremacy and direct applicability of Community Law.


This article is mainly about the different explications of "pluralistic-integrative education" by different scholars, puts forwards some problems which exist in our national education and how to resolve the questions.


The aim of this dissertation was to investigate the impacts of toxic and temperature-related stress on groundwater fauna. A newly-developed bioassay showed that toluene concentrations as they occur at contaminated field sites are lethal for 50% of the amphipods tested. The upper temperature limit recommended for the operation of shallow geothermal installations in Germany (20 °C) was critical for the long-term survival of two crustacean species. Therefore, elevated water temperature, as well as toxic stress, may seriously endanger the existence of concerned crustacean populations.


The theory of maximal monotone operators is utili zed to prove the existence of weak periodic solutions for a coupled nonlinear parabolic-elli ptic system.Thediffusion term in the parabolic equation contains a Leray-Lions operator.This system may be regarded as a generalized version of the evolution thermistor model.


This study aims to identify the level of gender equality in fishing communities. The research was conducted on Pasaran Island, Karang City Village, Bandar Lampung City in November 2020. The number of respondents was 20 fishing households which were taken using the accidental sampling method with the consideration that it is difficult to meet fishermen, especially at certain times. The type of data consists of primary data and secondary data. Data analysis used a qualitative descriptive method using Harvard analysis techniques, where data was collected from small or micro scale fieldwork to see activity profiles, access


Database tuning is the incremental process of tuning database and database applications to run more rapidly. With the help of tuning, transactions are executed efficiently in minimum time. A large number of published research articles are presenting database tuning but there is a deficiency of systematic research. Our focus is to provide a critical review of the nature of the systematic mapping which means performing survey on existing research of database tuning in order to identify useful approaches and map research characteristics. For the last many years, some researchers work has been carried out with different classification tuning schemes. Our results show unique and distinct percentiles of research, performed in the study of publications such as book chapters, conferences, journals, thesis reports and research articles related to database tuning in the last one decade. According to results of our systematic mapping, we find that how a significant tuning related research in terms of validation and evaluation has required?


Hepatitis C is an inflammatory condition of the liver caused by the hepatitis C virus. Diagnosis of the disease itself is difficult because the incubation period is long, often the disease is initially without some characteristic symptoms, but also due to a lack of laboratory methods. Artificial intelligence is increasingly being used nowadays to make it easier and faster to assess the illness. As hepatitis C is a rising healthcare burden it is of utmost importance to construct effective and reliable screening methods. As AI has already proven useful for diagnosis of a variety of conditions based on clinical parameters, this study focuses on the application of artificial neural network (ANN) for hepatitis C diagnosis. In this study, a database of 1000 respondents divided into two groups was used to develop the ANN: healthy (n = 200) and sick (n = 800). Monitoring parameters were: albumin, alkaline phosphatase, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, bilirubin, acetylcholinesterase and anti-HCV antibodies. The overall accuracy of the developed ANN was 97,78%, which indicates that the potential of artificial intelligence in diagnosing hepatitis C is enormous, and in the future, attention should be paid to the development of new systems with as much data as possible.


This paper presents an efficient methodology for automated optimal tailoring actuation voltage waveform of MEMS switches aiming at eliminating the detrimental contact bouncing effect to speed up the switching process and improve the mechanical reliability. This is a simulation-based approach where genetic algorithm (GA) is used in combination with a dedicated mechanical model of MEMS switch to derive optimal actuation waveform. The proposed technique has been implemented in SystemC-A, which is extremely well suited for complex modeling, implementation of post-processing of simulation results and optimization algorithms. Effectiveness of proposed approach is corroborated by a practical case study of automated actuation waveform design for a prefabricated DC-contact MEMS switch. The experimental results show that the switching time of the switch by employing optimized actuation voltage waveform is dramatically reduced to 60μs from 95μs, while the bouncing effect is successfully eliminated.


This study examines print and online daily newspaper journalists' perceptions of the credibility of Internet news information, as well as the influence of several factors—most notably, professional role conceptions—on those perceptions. Credibility was measured as a multidimensional construct. The results of a survey of U.S. journalists (N = 655) show that Internet news information was viewed as moderately credible overall and that online newspaper journalists rated Internet news information as significantly more credible than did print newspaper journalists. Hierarchical regression analyses reveal that Internet reliance was a strong positive predictor of credibility. Two professional role conceptions also emerged as significant predictors. The populist mobilizer role conception was a significant positive predictor of online news credibility, while the adversarial role conception was a significant negative predictor. Demographic characteristics of print and online daily newspaper journalists did not influence their perceptions of online news credibility.


Clam species belonging to the family Veneridae (Mollusca: Bivalvia) represent very important marine products, especially in the European countries. The increasing economic interest in marine edible molluscs has strongly enhanced the need for a routine method of unambiguous recognition of species in fresh and preserved material, mainly intended to prevent mislabelling and commercial frauds. Here a procedure for identification of soft parts is proposed, by means of SDS-PAGE total protein patterning. In fresh material, this technique allowed recognition of four main regions of diagnostic bands, which have been named V1 (111–99 kDa), V2 (44 kDa), V3 (33–30 kDa) and V4 (19–13 kDa). The main diagnostic region appears to be the V3 band series. SDS-PAGE analysis allows the same technique to be used with denatured samples, such as cooked and preserved soft parts, giving reproducible results, very similar to those of fresh material.


The present invention relates to an olefin metathesis reaction catalyst and a manufacturing method thereof, for the surface modification of the mesoporous silica or a catalyst main component on the support of the mesoporous alumina, rhenium (Re) oxides or molybdenum (Mo) oxide is supported olefin metathesis reaction catalyst for relate to. May metathesis a carbon number of 8 or more long-chain unsaturated hydrocarbon with high efficiency at a low temperature of less than olefin metathesis reaction catalyst is 150 ℃ of the present invention, used for a long period repeatedly being played is oxidized catalyst poisoning substances at a temperature of below 400 ℃ this enables the separation / recovery is easy bars, and can be usefully utilized in olefin metathesis commercial process.


Diasporas and Homelands Nationalisms, like nations, are not constructed ex nihilo. The rise and mobilization of national collective identity—aiming at the politicization of that identity and, ultimately, the building or rebuilding of a "nation-state"—is based on a number of cultural and symbolic elements or ethnosymbols, among which the following are most frequently listed: religion, territory, and the collective memory of major events. No single theory of ethnicity, nationalism, and nation-building is suitable for all situations. We can, however, contribute to further study by exploring nation-building in comparable cases and assessing the weight of symbols and ascriptive variables in the shaping of ethnonational identity. It is the contention of this study that there are clear differences between diaspora and homeland communities with respect to the relative importance of these elements, and, more specifically, that religion is the most important one in the diaspora, and territory in the homeland. Three specific ethnies are examined: those of the Armenians, Jews, and Sikhs. These have been chosen because of their commonalities. In all of them, religion, kinship, language, territory, and historical memory play a role. Their collective identities are based to a significant extent on the consciousness of having originated in a specific land; they are marked by the existence of ramified diasporas; they have experienced oppression and statelessness; and they have been engaged in a quest extending over many generations to gain or regain political control over their homelands.


The 2006 Coordinated Prostitution Strategy set out the aim of the then New Labour government to eradicate sex work from the streets of England and Wales. Towards achieving this Utopia, localized consultation with the community was demanded to ascertain community need to facilitate the development of evidence-based policies that would reside within existing local community safety frameworks. This article draws on an empirical study that considered "community perspectives" of street sex work in the Capital of Wales, Cardiff, in 2010. Adopting a mixed methodology, the study engaged with community members most affected by street sex work to develop realistic evidence-based policy. Our findings deconstruct central perceptions regarding the "inevitability" of sex work and offer potential solutions from the community perspective. This raises questions about how community opinion is incorporated within local policy-making processes, where that opinion differs substantially from central policy. We argue that community consultation must be ethical in the sense that consultation findings must be capable of having some impact on policy decision making/development. In conclusion, we urge local partnerships and central governments to listen to the views from the "shop floor" and consider carefully the strategies suggested by communities—however bold they might be.


13 A pandemic such as COVID-19 can cause a sudden depletion in the worldwide supply of 14 respirators, forcing healthcare providers to reuse them. In this study, we systematically evaluated 15 dry heat treatment as a viable option for the safe decontamination of N95 respirators (1860, 3M) 16 before its reuse. We found that the dry heat generated by an electric cooker (100°C, 5% relative 17 humidity, 50 min) effectively inactivated Tulane virus (>5.2-log10 reduction), rotavirus (>6.6-log10 18


This paper addresses the problem of detecting a signal in partially homogeneous and homogeneous environments. In partially homogeneous environments, i.e., both the test data and training data share the same noise covariance matrix structure up to an unknown scaling factor, a persymmetric adaptive coherence estimator (Per-ACE) detector is proposed. By exploiting the persymmetric structure of the covariance matrix, the Per-ACE can reduce training data requirements. Furthermore, the expressions for the probabilities of false alarm and detection are derived along with the distribution of the loss factor β. In homogeneous environments, a persymmetric adaptive matched filter (Per-AMF) detector has been presented. However, its probability of detection has not been obtained yet. Thus, we derive the expression for the probability of detection. For both the Per-ACE and Per-AMF, numerical results of these proposed expressions are confirmed with those of Monte Carlo trials. In addition, simulation results show that the proposed Per-ACE outperforms the conventional ACE in training-limited scenarios.


Objective: Does dexamethasone given before thyroidectomy reduce postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) in a randomized controlled trial? Background: PONV is an unsettling problem that commonly occurs in patients after thyroidectomy. Various preventive measures have been studied; however, many of these studies have been criticized for their biases (eg, use of opioids, sex selection) or were even retracted. Methods: This single-institution, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, superiority study was performed between January 1, 2011, and May 30, 2013. Patients undergoing thyroidectomy for benign disease were allocated by a block randomized list to receive a preoperative single dose of dexamethasone (8 mg) or placebo. Patients and staff were blinded to the treatment assignment. The primary endpoint was the incidence of PONV assessed at 4, 8, 16, 24, 32, and 48 hours after surgery. To observe an incidence reduction of 50%, a total of 152 patients were required for the study. Results: The total incidence of PONV was reported in 65 of 152 patients (43%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 35–51). In the intention-to-treat analysis, PONV occurred in 22 of 76 patients (29%; 95% CI, 20–40) in the treatment arm and in 43 of 76 patients (57%; 95% CI, 45–67) in the control arm (P = 0.001; odds ratio = 0.31; 95% CI, 0.16–0.61; absolute risk reduction = 28%; 95% CI, 12–42). The number needed to treat was 4. No severe dexamethasone-related adverse events were observed during the study. Conclusions: A single dose of preoperative dexamethasone administration is an effective, safe, and economical measure to reduce PONV incidence after thyroidectomy.


BACKGROUND: Studies indicate that mental practice can be an adjuvant rehabilitation, improving motor functions.AIM: To synthesize the evidence on the intervention with the mental practice for the rehabilitation of the upper limb after stroke in the context of a dependent task. METHODS: The review was registered on the PROSPERO with protocol number: CRD42020166624. We searched the PubMed, Medline, Embase, Central, PEDro, and Web of Science from randomized clinical trials from 1975 to 2022. A literature review was conducted with 13 studies that synthesized findings on mental practice such as adjuvant rehabilitation in the recovery of the upper limb after stroke based on Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) Motor and action research arm test (ARAT) scores. RESULTS: The sample size was 232 were part of the intervention group and 180 of the control group. The findings no showed results in favor of mental practice after stroke accordingly to ARAT and FMA Motor scores (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Current evidence does not support the use of the mental practice to increase the recovery of the upper limb after stroke, although the evidence is conflicting for some aspects of the technique.


Takotsubo syndrome is known for its association with psychological stress factors. Rarely, it is associated with invasive procedures. We present a case of Takotsubo induced by bronchoscopy, a procedure with a low rate of complications. LEARNING POINTS Takotsubo or stress cardiomyopathy is associated with physical and psychological stress factors. Takotsubo syndrome (TS) associated with bronchoscopy is rare. TS should be included in the differential diagnosis of both female and male patients.


Human, animal and plant samples contain a considerable number of chemical substances critical for supporting their existence. This thesis presents improved techniques to find and analyse these components to help us understand more about their roles in the complex jigsaw of life.


An integrated inventory model for vendor and buyer is presented in this paper. Based on the integrated expected total relevant costs of both buyer and vendor, we obtain the optimal values of reorder point, order quantity, and number of shipments. Numerical example shows the model is effective, and it is also used to analyze the savings in joint total cost over individually derived policies.


Zhang and Hargens (1) reviewed the knowledge on visual impairment intracranial pressure (VIIP) syndrome in astronauts, a condition that arises as a consequence of long-lasting spaceflight. However, the etiology and pathophysiology of VIIP syndrome remain unclear and only hypothetical. The main reason is the absence of data regarding astronauts' intracranial (ICP) and intraocular pressure (IOP) during long-lasting spaceflights. It is believed that a crucial role in the pathogenesis of VIIP syndrome is played by chronic ICP/IOP mismatch, which is a consequence of chronically elevated ICP and which results in translaminar pressure gradient. A direct transmission of elevated ICP from the intracranial to the intraocular compartment through the perioptic subarachnoid space should lead to optic nerve sheath distension and disk edema. Therefore, elevated pressure gradient across the lamina cribrosa caused by chronic, gently elevated ICP should finally cause posterior-globe flattening, disk edema, choroid folds, and a hyperoptic shift (1).


Prior to the peculiar eruption of smallpox is the so-called initial exanthem. This eruption bears a close resemblance to the eruptions of scarlet fever and measles, and is of significance in the diagnosis of smallpox, especially in cases of so-called variola sine exanthemate, when it may be the only symptom to base an intelligent diagnosis on. Looking over the reports on the initial exanthem we find that they agree, in the main, but as it often does not appear, coming out more frequently in cases of varioloid, it may be passed over. Both Hebra and Simon classified the initial exanthem into the two kinds, hemorrhagic and nonhemorrhagic. The hemorrhagic kind appears as a spotted erythema, resembling the eruption of scarlet fever. It is due to capillary hemorrhage, and the spots do not lose color under pressure. The nonhemorrhagic kind produces small spots of color, and although they look like measles they are not elevated from the skin. They vary in size from mere spots to lentils, and turn pale under digital pressure. The hypogastrium, the inside of the thigh or Simon's thigh triangle, the side of the trunk to the axilla, the upper arm, the patella, etc., are regarded as the most likely parts to show the initial exanthem. The initial rash lasts from 1 to 3 days. The nonhemorrhagic kind usually remains from 12 to 24 hours, and the hemorrhagic kind 3 or 4 days, until the appearance of the typical eruption. The smallpox eruption proper fades in color, yet shows no scaling; on the parts where the initial eruption has appeared, smallpox eruption seldom comes forth.


The goal of this thesis was to develop a powertrain model of a vehicle and parametrize itusing non-invasive sensors. The non-invasive sensors available were chassis dynamometer,the pedal robot and ...


On November 17, 2011, Institutional Shareholder Services ("ISS") released "Guidelines U.S. Corporate Governance Policy-2012 Updates" ("ISS Guidelines") . This publication introduced a new ISS pay for performance measurement methodology that was implemented for Russell 3000 companies with annual meetings beginning on March 1, 2012. This article offers information on aligning long-term incentive awards with total shareholder return ("TSR") performance.


Reliability is the most important problem in the application of a micro-controller.Introduce the approach of enhancing reliability according to the experiments of many projects.The hardware design is discussed,including automatically reset circuits,convert the analogue circuits and switching signals circuits.The practical parameters are given in this paper.


The definition of reference of skills is that given in the Recommendation of the European Parliament and Council dated 23 April 2008 of the establishment of the European Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning (2008 / C 111/01). The adoption of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF), applied in levels defined on the basis of skills, knowledge and ability, will make it possible to compare titles and professional qualifications of the students of various countries. However, attempting to verify the status of this state of the art new learning paradigm it is clear that the teaching skills are spreading gradually in Italy. Teaching for skills is based on the idea that it is important (Da Re, 2009) that students learn not only the facts, ideas, concepts, but above all that they learn how to apply them in practice, and how to use them in nonconventional fields precisely transforming their skills knowledge. In the ancient profession of teaching it is good to find new means with MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) with flipped classes. This approach combined with multimedia learning resources in general can become functional to a constructive and social education. This favored interactive online personalized teaching experience is moving closer to the needs of digital natives. As H. Jenkins (2010), former director of the Comparative Media Studies Program at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) explains, the traditional analogical model of learning is ill-adapted to our completely hi-tech generation. This paper explores this leading theme through an empirical experimental-approach case study of the Centre of E- Learning of the University of Bari.


The study of equid terminology in Mesopotamian texts has largely been confined to focusing on specific terms in specific texts. No study of third millennium B.C. terminology has been undertaken with the idea of studying all of the available species and forms described by the ancient scribes; as a result, we have been presented with a biased record as to the species present in the alluvial plain and the uses to which they were put. Past studies where they have touched on the problem of the equidae of Mesopotamia have stressed only two points: (1) the earliest occurrence of E. caballus in Mesopotamia, and (2) the terms for E. hemionus and its domestication. We hope that at least some light on these and other questions can be shed by examining the relevant texts of the third millennium B.C. Certainly, little can be stated that is iron-clad, but if this material were to be used in conjunction with artistic and paleo-zoological evidence, a much sounder foundation could be laid. Our analysis of the latter material will be presented elsewhere; thus we ask the reader's indulgence in considering here only the cuneiform evidence.'


Today due to the land limitation, lots of dense urban areas are facing pressures and problems, such as traffic congestion and lack of public open space. Two main occupants of urban roads are pedestrians and vehicles. The early stages of urban development people tended to focus on solving the problem of vehicular traffic, so now a large number of existing roadways are occupied by vehicles, triggering disputes and problems about pedestrian safety and comfort. For pedestrian safety and Convenience, elevated Skywalk is required. For a proper simulation of urban traffic scenarios, besides cars other road users, namely pedestrians, have to be modelled. This research paper focuses on identifying means to reduce pedestrian delay. Micro-simulation modelling has shown that reducing pedestrian delay at signalised intersections is possible. At what extent it is possible to capture traffic effects imposed by simulated pedestrians by providing Skywalk and then perform without simulations that is real situation. This work presents a real scenario for pedestrian movement through Skywalk without indulging it in the main traffic by using VISSIM software, therefore no delay will occur to the Pedestrian and provide comfortabiltiy in Urban Areas.


From a subjective and objective point of view well being of humanity is the basic need of human society. In a fast changing world different social institutions and organizations have emerged in order to maintain the well-being or the harmonious existence of human beings and much contribution has been done in the maintenance and the promotion of well-being of humanity. However, the modern era with its rapid developmentisconfronted with manychallengessuch asenvironmentalpollution,serious health issues,population growth, scarcity of food & shelterand speciallythedirect man-made issues related to the peace and co-existence of humanity. As a result, physical, social, mental and spiritual well being has been greatlyaffected and damaged. Buddhist teachings emphasize that peace is dependent on the physical,social, mental and spiritual well-beingof individuals


Factors that influence variation of pore pressure in vacuum drainage preloading were determined and analyzed to develop a method to obtain the distribution of the seepage field of negative pore pressure along the depth of the soft soil foundation. Some vacuum drainage preloading projects were analyzed using this method and the regularity of distribution of the seepage field of negative pore pressure along the depth of soft soil foundation was determined.When prefabricated vertical drains(PVDs)were installed to a depth less than 20 m,the distribution along depth was almost consistent and the value was greater than 50% of applied vacuum pressure.When PVDs were installed to a depth more than 20 m,the distribution presented a certain extent dispersion.


Zeolite HAl–Y was modified by treatment with an aqueous solution of ammonium fluoride followed by calcination. Crystallinity was preserved in samples containing Al in large cavities. Fluorination brings about an increase in catalytic activity for cumene cracking, which is probably due to the interaction between the acidic structural hydroxy groups and AlF3 or other Al–F species created in the intracrystalline structure of the zeolite.


Hydra Decapita (2010) is an essay-film by the British artcollaborative The Otolith Group. In the tradition of the cinematic essay firstly experimented with by film-makers such as Dziga Vertov, Chris Marker and Harun Farocki, Hydra Decapita uses the artistic language of the moving image as a self-reflexive political commentary on the present. Specifically, the artwork is a reflection on the contemporary global economic crisis that erupted in 2008, which the Group considers in its biopolitical consequences. According to The Otolith Group, the current crisis is one of the systemic economic catastrophes pertaining to what they call "disaster capitalism" ("A Sunken Trembling").1 The quote - drawn from Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine book2 - refers to the capitalist recurring cycle of destruction of the existing economic order and to the ways in which companies profit from actual or virtual disasters. For the Group, the current economic crisis is a quintessential manifestation of the neoliberal link between economy and speculation, in which the ever present virtual threat of bankruptcy, work loss and debt default becomes a shortcut to introduce emergency measures such as cuts, taxations or changes to the labour regulations. These, in turn, are the biopolitical expressions of neo-liberalism: if biopolitics, in Foucault's definition, is the "power to foster life or disallow it to the point of death",3 then the uneven way in which these measures affect the population can be seen as biopolitical.However, adhering to the tradition of the essay-film, the political commentary on the current situation is not expressed in a straightforward manner. On the contrary, the temporality of the present is juxtaposed with other temporal lines, which recall the links between present, past and future. Indeed, to add to the film's original take on the global crisis, the artwork associates the present-day linkage between biopolitics and financial speculation with earlier moments in history. Specifically, Hydra Decapita reverts to the times of slavery during the Atlantic Trade as an important forerunner of contemporary times. By addressing the infamous story of the Zong slave ship, The Otolith Group returns to a time when the insurance system of the human cargo of slave ships - a very early example of economic speculation - often induced ruthless trade companies and ship captains to drown all the slaves on board in the likelihood of a shipwreck, so as to obtain a refund from the insurance companies. In these circumstances, a virtual risk could be used to the slave-trade companies' advantage, thus obeying an economy- and money-driven impulse to maximize the profits of a few at the expense of others. This link between past and present economy, speculation and biopolitics is expressed in Hydra Decapita through the reiterated use of an allegory - that of the shipwreck, with its aligned figurations of wreckages, maritime tempests and drowning. 2 3This article unfolds a critical exploration of the multiple manifestations in the essay-film of the recalls between the global economic wreckage and the shipwrecks in the days of slavery, in order to foster the discussion on the ways in which contemporary and urgent issues may be addressed, reflected upon and tackled by way of images.The Zong affair in Hydra Decapita: linking the present with the pastOne of the first international presentations of Hydra Decapita was held in March 2011 in Frankfurt (Germany), a city perceived as the symbol of European finance. The Otolith Group was asked to organize and conduct a three-day screening event, in which issues of international relevance would be addressed through the language of the moving-image. The communique for the event, entitled "A Sunken Trembling Recalled Dimly", opens as follows:To live and work ... in 2011 is to be exposed to an experience of social, cultural, political, financial, educational, economic, public and aesthetic crisis . …


With the development of shipping industry, the large vessel safety of sailing in channel becomes one of the most important issues of concern. This paper considers the influences of drift by wind and current, ship's drift distance combines normal distribution, analyzing the probability distribution of ship, and predicting the risk of ship navigation. It provides some reference for the ship's officer to judge the vessel movement and guarantee the safety of navigation.


Let ( X, Y ) be a random pair taking values in F × R, where F is a separable and semi-metric space. Motivated by a broad range of applications, we study the convergence of k-nearest neighbor kernel estimate rn ( x ) with the regression function r ( x ) = E[ Y | X = x ]. By using random projection, we analyze the functional k -nearest neighbor estimation and get the consistency of functional k-nearest neighbor estimations.


Forced vital capacity (FVC) is recommended as a respiratory function test in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). However, in ALS associated with orofacial palsy, FVC may be an unreliable test. Slow vital capacity (SVC) is an easier and more reliable test even in cases with bulbar symptoms. However, it remains unclear whether respiratory function tests using SVC and FVC are associated with prognosis after percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) placement. This study aimed to confirm whether both SVC and FVC are related to prognosis after PEG placement in patients with ALS.


Аbstract: The aim of the paper is to define the significance of natural and anthropogenic tourist values of Sokobanja and to point out its analysis of the material base of tourism in its overall position and especially in the spa tourism of Serbia. The richness of natural values and favorable geographical position conditioned the development of the spa spa in the initial period of development, while the anthropogenic resources were activated as a supplement to the total tourist offer. The main tourist resource, around which the brand and image of Sokobanja is being built, are thermo-mineral resources. An analysis of the number of tourists and tourist nights indicates the tendency of reducing the average number of overnight stays. Particularly prominent is the example of foreign tourists who stay on average only slightly more than 2 days, which indicates the transitability of this area and the fact that Sokobanja is not the final destination for these tourists.


. We consider the random operator: — d/m ω (dx)d + /dx + q ω {x\ where m ω (dx) and qjx) are a stationary ergodic random measure and a random function respectively. To this general case, we extend Kotani's theorem which asserts that the absolutely continuous spectrum is completely determined by the Ljapounov indices. Our framework includes the case of stochastic Jacobi matrices treated by Simon.


The use of PROLOG for digital circuit simulation in the education process is discussed. It is noted that the curriculum of the University of Maribor gives electrical engineering students some basic knowledge of computer techniques and FORTRAN or Pascal. On this basis, PROLOG can be presented to the students in order to acquaint them with some fundamentals of this fifth-generation language. The students who have acquired basic knowledge of PROLOG are able to define digital circuits specification programs as well as other simple PROLOG rules. The experience that students gain makes them capable of understanding similar models of conventional engineering as well as the basic working of expert systems.<<ETX>>


Examination of the phosphorescence emission form polypropylene shows the lifetime of the emission to be unaffected by a hydroxybenzophenone light stabilizer but significantly shorted by a diamagnetic Ni(II) chelate stabilizer.


This article explains about level of awareness about digital India programs among women members of panchayat raj institutions in Bagalkot district. Digital India initiative will ensure that all government services and information are available anywhere, anytime, on any device that are user friendly and secured. In this research paper structured questionnaire and Interview method is adopted. Stratified random sampling technique is used for collect primary data. Totally 867 primary data collected from the women PRIs (Panchayat Raj Institutions) members. The major finding of this study is a greater number of respondents is aware about digital India concept but they don't know different digital India programs.


Optical "T" and Multiple "T" access couplers designed for tapped trunk line multi-terminal communication systems which use bundles of multimode fibers as the transmission media have been investigated. The particular coupler designs tested used bent pyrex rods for bifurcation and scrambling. Coupler throughput losses (not counting packing fraction losses) are 1.5 - 2.5 dB. The bent rod optical "T" and multiple "T" access couplers must be used with high N.A., low packing fraction loss fibers.


1. The memory system, comprising: first and second memory devices; and! a memory controller configured to selectively activate one of the memory devices, the memory controller having a first line associated with first and second memory devices and a second line associated with the first and second memory devices; ! wherein the first memory device is configured to deliver messages to the memory controller on the first line and the second memory device is configured to deliver messages to the memory controller on the second line, and wherein the first memory device is configured so as not to load the first line and the second memory device configured so as to not load the second line when the memory controller writes into the activated memory device. ! 2. The memory system of claim 1, wherein the first memory device includes a driver configured to provide its messages to the memory controller on the first line and the second memory device includes a driver configured to provide its messages to the memory controller on the second line, and wherein each of the memory devices is further configured to translate its driver in the ternary state not to load the first and second lines when the memory controller writes into the activated word roystvo memory. ! 3. The memory device of claim 2, wherein the first memory device further comprises means for programming its driver to provide the messages of the first memory device to the memory controller and the second memory device comprises means for direct


Perforating is a major technology in the completion of horizontal well with high formation pressure.To find out the causes of horizontal well perforator sticking in Moxi gas field,drilling fluid,wellbore trajectory,wellhead junks,casing deformation, perforator deformation,gap between perforator and casing,perforating debris,perforating technology are analyzed in this paper.True casuesof perforator sticking are derived from the combination of case study and field application,at the same time a set of precautions are developed.During the subsequent horizontal well perforation,technology for field operation is changed,i.e.the perforator is changed into 7-inch casing after perforating.As a result,perforator sticking is never caused again.Application results show that the new technology is effective.


Terri M. Yu, 2, ∗ Kenneth R. Brown, 3 and Isaac L. Chuang 4 Center for Bits and Atoms MIT Media Laboratory, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139


This paper describes the 2.4GHz band SOI-CMOS high power bridge rectifier IC with the cross coupled CMOS pair (CCP). At first of all, topologies of the rectifier diodes are investigated for improvement of rectifier efficiency and handling power. It is clarified that the CCP has advantages on low threshold and breakdown voltages compared with the gated anode diode (GAD). The developed bridge rectifier IC achieves rectification efficiency of 51% at input power of 25 dBm. This is top efficiency in sub-W class CMOS rectifier ICs.


Partial table of contents: Why Migrate? ARCHITECTURAL DIFFERENCES How NetWare 3.1x and 4.x Manage Server Memory NDS Objects NDS Partitions and Replicas Security Features of NetWare 4 Workstation Architectures ADMINISTRATIVE DIFFERENCES Logging In (Where Am I?) Other New and Dear Departed Utilities Partition Management The Auditing Function of NetWare 4.1 THE CONVERSION METHODOLOGY Components of Your Migration Document Phases of the Migration Plan PLANNING YOUR ORGANIZATION'S DIRECTORY TREE Developing NDS Naming Standards Designing Your Directory Tree MIGRATING TO THE PROMISED LAN Workstation Modifications Installing NetWare 4.1 and Using MIGRATE Appendices Index.


Certain deterministic non-linear systems may show chaotic behavior. Time series derived from such systems seem stochastic. Sensitivity of the chaotic system to initial conditional impedes long-term predictions of time series. However, it is possible to make short-term predictions by exploiting the determinism. In this paper, a novel nonlinear prediction technique of using support vector machines (SVM) based on Statistical Learning Theory (SLT) has been proposed as well as adaptive optimization method of SVM parameters. The SVM achieves higher generalization performances than traditional regression techniques. Simulation results show the approach has better potential in the filed of chaotic time series nonlinear prediction. The effects of free parameters of SVM and embedding dimension on generalization error also have been analyzed and obtained conclusions seem consistent with the theory of VC dimension derived from SLT.


The authors have shown that the process of information and thinking can be modeled on the basis of chemical thermodynamics. The authors offer general equations to calculate the thinking of the work of judgment the L and of entropy solutions G in the presence of a magnetic field. As a result, studies have shown that the magnetic effects strongly influence the thermodynamics of the process of thinking.


This study was conducted, both theoretically and experimentally, to investigate nonlinear stress effects for in-plane diametric force-induced frequency shifts in circular SC-cut resonators. The frequency temperature characteristics under stressed SC-cuts are also discussed. The theory was expanded using the force-coefficients defined by the elastic stiffness constants. The quadric formula between the frequency, turn-over temperatures and the magnitudes of applied in-plane diametric forces is also discussed.


Abstract Koopman operator theory and the Hankel alternative view of the Koopman (HAVOK) model have been widely used to investigate the chaotic dynamics in complex systems. Although the statistics of intermittent dynamics have been evaluated in the HAVOK model, they are not adequate to characterize intermittent forcing. In this paper, we propose a novel method to characterize the intermittent phases, chaotic bursts, and local spectral-temporal properties of various intermittent dynamics modes using spectral decomposition and wavelet analysis. To validate our methods, we compared the sensitivity to noise level and sampling period of the HAVOK and our proposed method in the Lorenz system. Our results show that the prediction accuracy of lobe switching and the intermittent forcing identifiability were highly sensitive to the sampling rate. While it is possible to maintain the desired accuracy in high noise-level cases with an appropriately selected rank in the HAVOK model, our proposed method is demonstrated to be more robust. To show the applicability of our proposed method, obstructive sleep apnea—a complex pathological disorder—was selected as a case study. The results show a strong association between active forcing and the hypopnea-apnea events. Our proposed method has been demonstrated to be a promising data-driven method to provide key insights into the dynamics of complex systems.


Glacial retreat at high latitudes has increased significantly in recent decades associated with global warming. Along Chile's Patagonian fjords, this has promoted increases in freshwater discharge, vertical stratification, and the input of organic and inorganic particles to fjords. In addition, it has modified the water chemistry [i. e. nutrient stoichiometry] and its associated biota. This study evaluates the effect of deglaciation in high-latitude fjords (54°S) on copepod survival and how this might affect the export of particulate organic carbon to the benthos. We selected two contrasting fjord systems in terms of their geomorphology and the quality and quantity of freshwater contributions: (a) Pia Fjord, with marine-terminating glaciers, and (b) Yendegaia Fjord, with landterminating-glaciers. Both are located along the Beagle Channel (54°S), southern Chilean Patagonia. These two fjords differed significantly in phytoplankton and copepod biomass. Whereas Pia Fjord showed high chlorophyll-a concentration (7mg Chl-a m) and copepod abundance (970 ind. m), in Yendegaia Fjord, the biomass was very low for both autotrophs (< 0.3 Chl-a m) and copepods (470 ind. m). Conversely, a greater proportion of copepod carcasses was recorded in Pia (22%) versus Yendegaia (18%), with small copepods (600–1000 μm prosome length) being less affected than large ones (> 1000 μm). The presence of carcasses was better explained by the amount of suspended particulate inorganic matter in the water column than by salinity. The contribution of dead copepods to the vertical carbon flux was< 3.5% of the total carbon exported down to 50m depth, with contributions of 9.5 ± 9.9mgCm d in Yendegaia and 10.8 ± 10.8mgCm d in Pia. Our results suggest that heavy deglaciation processes in high-latitude fjords may reduce phytoplankton biomass, causing the copepod abundance to decrease and non-predatory mortality in filter-feeding copepods to decline.


The potential of tidal disruption of stars to probe otherwise quiescent supermassive black holes cannot be exploited, if their dynamics is not fully understood. So far, the observational appearance of these events has been derived from analytical extrapolations of the debris dynamical properties just after disruption. By means of hydrodynamical simulations, we investigate the subsequent fallback of the stream of debris towards the black hole for stars already bound to the black hole on eccentric orbits. We demonstrate that the debris circularize due to relativistic apsidal precession which causes the stream to self-cross. The circularization timescale varies between 1 and 10 times the period of the star, being shorter for more eccentric and/or deeper encounters. This self-crossing leads to the formation of shocks that increase the thermal energy of the debris. If this thermal energy is efficiently radiated away, the debris settle in a narrow ring at the circularization radius with shock-induced luminosities of $\sim 10-10^3 \, L_{\rm Edd}$. If instead cooling is impeded, the debris form an extended torus located between the circularization radius and the semi-major axis of the star with heating rates $\sim 1-10^2 \, L_{\rm Edd}$. Extrapolating our results to parabolic orbits, we infer that circularization would occur via the same mechanism in $\sim 1$ period of the most bound debris for deeply penetrating encounters to $\sim 10$ for grazing ones. We also anticipate the same effect of the cooling efficiency on the structure of the disc with associated luminosities of $\sim 1-10 \, L_{\rm Edd}$ and heating rates of $\sim 0.1-1 \, L_{\rm Edd}$. In the latter case of inefficient cooling, we deduce a viscous timescale generally shorter than the circularization timescale. This suggests an accretion rate through the disc tracing the fallback rate, if viscosity starts acting promptly.


Sensible and latent heat rejection from heat engines is of high necessity for system efficiency and continuous production. The cooling tower is one of the major heat-exchanging systems used for cooling industrial heat systems by intimately mixing hot water with cooling air. Optimal operating conditions and parameters of the system are highly essential for its effectiveness and efficiency. This study used the Poppe model to evaluate selected thermodynamic relations of a rectangular counter-flow industrial cooling tower of a steel rolling mill using the system's inlet and outlet data as initial conditions. The effect of increasing the water temperature on the air moisture content, Merkel number, and specific enthalpy was studied across the fills of the cooling tower. Air moisture content, Merkel number and specific enthalpy of the system increase with increasing water temperature. However, while other variables reach a stationary point at half the nodal segments, the specific enthalpy increases across the fills in the system. It was concluded that the use of nano particles with high heat removal rate could increase the efficiency of the system. Also, an increase in the quantity of the makeup water of a force draft system is recommended towards increasing the system efficiency.


The typhoon Masta maintained asymmetry structure and had stronger convective clouds in the northeast of typhoon Masta from 7th to 8th Aug. 2005. The heavy rainfall is centralized on the east of Shandong Peninsula.To find the relationship between the heavy rainfall and physics field,an analysis of typhoon Masta is performed. Based on the observational data as well as data from satellite,NCEP reanalysis,the heavy rainfall event and physics field are analyzed. Results show that the plentiful vapor brought by lower level-jet and strong water convergence provided favorable conditions for the development of the heavy rainfall. The storm rainfall mainly distributed in ascending motion area and the front area of high energy. It's concluded that the mainly reason of the asymmetry convection structure is that lower level-jet transported strong positive vorticity advection and warm advection to Shandong peninsula. The erectness of coupling pattern between upper-layer jet and low-level jet provided favorable environmental conditions.


Using a high‐intensity synchrotron X‐ray source, the structural changes occurring in the corneal stroma were monitored during each stage of several different processing runs for the transmission electron microscope (TEM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The parameters studied were interfibrillar spacing, intermolecular spacing, D‐periodicity and fibril diameter.


Objective:To determine whether higher levels of PaO2 are associated with in-hospital mortality and poor neurological status at hospital discharge in patients treated with mild therapeutic hypothermia after sudden cardiac arrest. Design:Retrospective analysis of a prospective cohort. Patients:A total of 170 consecutive patients treated with therapeutic hypothermia in the cardiovascular care unit of an academic tertiary care hospital. Interventions:None. Measurements and Main Results:Of 170 patients, 77 (45.2%) survived to hospital discharge. Survivors had a significantly lower maximum PaO2 (198 mm Hg; interquartile range, 152.5–282) measured in the first 24 hrs following cardiac arrest compared to nonsurvivors (254 mm Hg; interquartile range, 172–363; p = .022). A multivariable analysis including age, time to return of spontaneous circulation, the presence of shock, bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and initial rhythm revealed that higher levels of PaO2 were significantly associated with increased in-hospital mortality (odds ratio 1.439; 95% confidence interval 1.028–2.015; p = .034) and poor neurological status at hospital discharge (odds ratio 1.485; 95% confidence interval 1.032–2.136; p = .033). Conclusions:Higher levels of the maximum measured PaO2 are associated with increased in-hospital mortality and poor neurological status on hospital discharge in patients treated with mild therapeutic hypothermia after sudden cardiac arrest.


Resonant power conversion at MHz frequencies is useful for miniaturization of power electronics, but requires resonators or inductors with high efficiency. Because litz wire is not effective above several MHz, an alternative winding structure for inductors is required for operation at these frequencies. In this paper, we present resonators with a multi-layer foil winding which can be constructed using industry-standard polyimide laminates. The proximity effect losses are reduced due to current sharing between multiple conductor layers much thinner than a skin depth. The integrated capacitance of the resonator eliminates the need for a physical connection between the inductor and the capacitor required in a typical LC resonant tank. Low-loss NiZn ferrite cores were used to straighten field lines to reduce lateral current crowding. Prototypes of both parallel and series resonators achieved quality factors over 800 in the 7–9 MHz range, confirming the theoretical analysis of multi-layer foil windings.


The railway power conditioner-based energy storage system (RPC-based ESS) is a promising technology to improve the regenerative braking energy (RBE) utilization and power quality of ac direct-fed (25 kV) and AT-fed (2 × 25 kV) railway power systems. However, despite its benefits from the technical perspective, economic viability must be concerned in industrial applications. The capacity is one of the critical issues affecting ESS performance in technical and economic aspects. Therefore, this paper presents a comprehensive approach to designing the capacity for the RPC-based ESS by considering multiple objectives, including the RBE utilization rate, power quality standard, and net lifetime benefit. The proposed approach develops a technical-economic model for the RPC-based ESS based on variables such as the system capacity for RBE utilization and power quality improvement, lifetime cost, and electric charge-based benefits. Moreover, the master-slave control strategy is employed to control the RPC-based ESS to implement the capacity design objectives. Finally, the correctness and effectiveness of the proposed method are validated by sufficient tests based on field load data of a Chinese traction substation.


Slope maintenance system using GIS, and application to slope around the existing structure. Abstract: The geological and geotechnical information for maintenance of slopes around existing structures is usually managed by individual branch in charge of the structure. Unitary management of the information is important for rational maintenance. Then we developed a computational slope maintenance system to deal with both geological and geotechnical information based on geographical information system (GIS). Following tools were programmed to estimate geotechnical information on GIS: (1) database-system of geological and geotechnical information, (2) total behaviors estimation tool for slope displacement data and (3) slope stability evaluation tool. The function of each tool was verified by applying pre-existing study of slope stability. This verification shows an example for practical use of the system. This unitary system could be efficiently used for maintenance works.


The discrete time Lyapunov equation is used in many applications and there is interest in its inverse and direct solutions. New methods are proposed to obtain solutions for cases where the system matrix is in controllable canonical form. The approach is based on the relationship between the discrete Lyapunov equation and the entries of one of the stability tables presented by Jury. It is shown that the inverse solution, which is based on this stability table, can be obtained using LDLt decomposition. Also the direct solution of the discrete Lyapunov equation can be obtained directly from the entries of this stability table. The proposed algorithms are illustrated by numerical examples.


Abstract : Although the Department of State is the Lead Federal Agency for conducting noncombatant evacuation operations (NEO) they can, and often do, request assistance from the Department of Defense. Traditionally there has been little cooperation between the two departments except during large-scale evacuations. Newly released guidance encourages improved cooperation among all NEO participants. The timing could not be better. The United States Government and the Military are in the midst of transforming not only the size of their branches but the way they currently operate. Additionally, Globalization is forcing both departments to explore and develop new partnerships, whether they are with nongovernmental agencies (NGO) or multinational forces (MNF). This paper evaluates the new doctrine released in the Department of State emergency planning handbook (EPH) and the Department of Defense Joint Publication JP 3-68. It addresses the need to cooperate with the following: (1) other United States Government (USG) departments and agencies, (2) nongovernmental organizations (NGO), (3) host nations (HN), and (4) coalition partners (CP) and multinational forces (MNF) during NEOs. In reviewing NEOs conducted since 1988, it concludes that cooperation is adequate but that it needs to get stronger. It recommends that the Department of State and the Department of Defense continue to seek opportunities to train and work together to evaluate the new doctrine and explore developing civil-military partnerships.


An optical-digital method is proposed for restoring trichromatic images out-of-focus, detected with a monochromatic CCD. The optical system (OS) is a microscope working in bright field mode and the source of illumination is polychromatic. To carry out the restoration, an estimated of the intensity point spread function is obtained from the image of a non-resolved object (quasi-point source) by the OS in three wavelengths. From the image of the quasi-point source, its spectrum is calculated for obtaining the optical transfer function associated with each wavelength. The Wiener filter is built with the spectrum, and the restoration is made for each color. By an addition of the three restored images, an estimated of the trichromatic object is recovered. The obtained results and conclusions are presented.


: Different from the significance and methods of traditional logistics and transportation project design, in the supply chain management environment, logistics and transportation project design is the basic element to ensure the integration, parallelization and flexible operation of supply chain enterprises and enhance the ability to respond to the market quickly, and its role plays an important role. The key factors that restrict the success of a project are usually scope of work, cost, schedule and customer satisfaction. Several influencing factors will also influence each other, and finally jointly restrict the implementation results of the project. Analyzing these project constraints can guide the project manager's actions when the project encounters problems. Based on the current situation of logistics and transportation projects, this paper studies the design of logistics and transportation projects based on supply chain management, and discusses related issues.


My essay focuses on the Italian theatre of the twenty-first century, examining how digital technology revitalises Samuel Beckett's non-dramatic work. In particular, I want to explore the collision between live performance and digital devices in the staging of the author's prose and poetry. I will be discussing two case studies: Qual e la parola (2006), and deForma_09 (2009). The former is directed by Roberto Paci Dalo from the company Giardini Pensili and based on twenty-one of Beckett's poems; the latter is staged under the direction of Michele Sambin from Tam Teatromusica, and it features fragments from the prose fictions Company and Worstward Ho. Both Paci Dalo and Sambin develop an intermedial type of performance, considering Beckett's words as the core of audio and video processing, which also involves the actors' bodies. In these projects, new technologies affect both the soundscape and the visual sphere, composing in real-time on both layers. Qual e la parola employs sampling techniques and live-produced music to generate a harmonious sound flow, together with Beckett's lyrics. Projections of the performers' figures appear on two gauzes, one positioned on the proscenium area and one on the backdrop. deForma_09 displays a set of sound contents: electronics, spoken words, and noises originated by the actors' movements on the stage. While four microphones manipulate these elements, Sambin virtually paints on the performers' silhouettes using a graphics tablet.
Keywords: Samuel Beckett; Italian theatre; intermedial performance; digital performance; Giardini Pensili; Tam Teatromusica


The thermal cracking of a vacuum residue from a Brazilian refinery was studied in a continuous pilot plant. Reaction runs were carried out at 440–520 °C, 446–1825 kPa, and space times of 23–69 s. Reaction products were lumped into gas, naphtha, light gas oil (LGO), and heavy gas oil (HGO). The increase of the reaction pressure increased the residue conversion and the product yields. A power law kinetic modeling of the experimental data was performed, comprising first-order irreversible reactions. Two reaction schemes were evaluated: the first scheme consisted of four parallel reactions (one for each product lump), and the second scheme included the consecutive conversion of HGO in LGO. Kinetic parameters were estimated taking into account the experimental error. In the parallel-reaction scheme, almost all estimated parameters were statistically significant (except for the small gas formation at the highest pressure). The LGO and HGO formation reactions presented lower activation energies and higher rate c...


Efficiency and performance of all levels state administration bodies depend on their chiefs, because the very chief organizes the work of the structural subdivisions of the body and assures its activity in general, the chief is vested with the biggest range of official and power authority in the subordinate government body and has the great impact on all spheres of this body performance. Furthermore, the chief of civil service in the government body faces the double task: organization of efficient maintenance of statutory, specific and intrinsic to the very government body functions and missions and assurance of protection and observance of rights and legitimate interests of citizens and organizations. In this regard the paper considers the issue of forming the corps of governmental bodies chiefs, who have status of civil servants. The international experience of the personnel policy in the public service has been analyzed also. It is concluded that in the Ukrainian personnel policy of the civil service may be used the international experience of the acceptance and movement of civil servants. An important element of this process should be clear requirements for candidates for any public office, publicity and publicity of selection, creating a real competitive operating system and so on. However, when "borrowing" elements of international experience should be considered: the importance of testing different models as an experiment, develop mechanism to monitor the progress of implementation and results and so on.


This paper reports the levels of lead, cadmium and copper in common foods ingested by the population in Zlatna, Alba district, a non-ferrous metallurgical area of Transylvania. Metal levels were analysed in food samples obtained from individual members of households, by atomic absorption spectroscopy with flame atomisation. Dietary metal intake was assessed by evaluating the composition of the food intake using the mean values from each flood analysed. Evaluation was carried out in six zones with different soil pollution previously established. The mean lead levels exceeded the maximum admissible level of the Romanian health protection law in the following groups of foods: vegetables with 5 % carbohydrates, bacon and sausages, meat and milk and dairy products. Copper values were within the normal range. Cadmium levels exceeded maximum admissible levels in meat and milk and dairy products. The daily lead intake in children 6-9 years old was in the different zones, between 0.302 and 0.725 mg/day with mean value of 0.507 mg/day, exceeding by 100 % the provisional tolerable daily intake (PTDI) which is 0.250 mg/day. In adults the intake was between 0.571 and 1.267 mg/day with a mean value 0.793 mg/day exceeding PTDI by 60 %. Daily copper intake in both children and adults was consistent with recommended daily requirements. Daily cadmium intake in children was between 0.041 and 0.098 mg/day with a mean value of 0.057 mg/day, and in adults it was between 0.072 and 0.163 with a mean of 0.099, exceeding the PDTI (0.035 mg/day in children and 0.070 in adults). The daily lead and cadmium intake were higher in populations living in a non-ferrous metallurgical area, as mast common foods were home produced.


Acetoxy esters of purine W-oxides inactivate and induce mutations in Bacillus jwà ̈n/Ã1-transforming DNA. The es ters were the chemical models available for the sulfate es ters believed to be formed in vivo. When metabolic suscep tibilities were taken into consideration, there is a reasonable correlation between the mutagenicity of various acetoxy es ters and the oncogenicity of the parent W-oxide derivatives. The acetoxy esters of 3-hydroxyxanthine and 3-hydroxy-lmethylguanine (both strong oncogens in rats) were the most potent mutagens. The acetoxy ester of 7-hydroxyxanthine was also a strong mutagen. Acetoxy esters of the 7-methyland 8-aza-substituted 3-hydroxyxanthine derivatives, as well as 1-acetoxyadenine, 3-acetoxypurine, and 3-acetoxyhypoxanthine, were weak mutagens or not mutagenic. Most of the 3-acetoxyxanthine-induced mutations spontaneously reverted to wild type. The frequency of reversion was in creased to the greatest extent with ethylmethane sulfonate, but was also increased with the base analogs 2-aminopurine and 5-bromodeoxyuridine. Only a few of the mutations were reverted by frame-shift mutagens. It was concluded that mutation induction in transforming DNA by the acetoxy esters of purine W-oxides occurs by both transition and transversion base-pair substitution.


Indonesia has become one of the destination countries to market their products and services, and there are various products that are quite widely available in the Indonesian market. The country of origin (COO) model in this research is a new developed model that aims to analyze the moderating role of Ethnocentrism in the effect of the COO and brand preference (BP) on purchase intention toward the Indonesian and Chinese Batik. To address this research purpose, 414 respondents took part in the survey, and the data obtained were analyzed by Structural Equation Model (SEM) with Lisrel 8.80 application. The result of this study shows that Ethnocentrism plays a role as the moderating variable in the effect of COO on purchase intention. However, whenever the effect of the brand preference on purchase intention exists, there is no moderating role of Ethnocentrism. Consumer Ethnocentrism shows that the Chinese batik is purchased in the case if the Indonesian batik is unavailable. It implies that consumer preference to the Chinese Batik exists, because it has a superior quality, a unique or authentic design, and more experience, as the impact of Global Business aspect. The study concluded that the company management must apply global Brand Repositioning Strategy in terms of the superior quality and unique design in fulfilling the global consumers' needs.


When artificial immune system(AIS) is used in the daily anomalistic electromagnetism signal detection at the moderate signal density issue,there exists redundancy in the detectors of system,this paper presented an anomalistic electromagnetism signal detection model based on immune network.By introducing the notions of data compression and detector suppression,the model could decrease the number of detectors efficiently.The model has been tested by real wireless signal monitoring data,and its results are compared to the model based on negative selection theory,which indicates that the proposed model can reduce the number of detectors and decreases the detection time apparently.


A theoretical analysis of laminar natural convection heat transfer from a slender vertical cone to a power-law fluid has been done by the approximate integral method. Assuming unequal thermal and momentum boundary layer thicknesses, and using the appropriate boundary and compatibility conditions, a "similar" solution of the boundary layer equations has been obtained for high Prandtl numbers. Due to lack of experimental data for power-law fluids, a comparison of the predictions of the present analysis has been done with the experimental data available for Newtonian fluids and good agreement has been found.


The Covid-19 pandemic that has occurred almost all over the world, has resulted in many people avoiding, keeping a distance, and wearing masks. One of the activities is the process of education and learning. The Indonesian government has announced a policy that all educational and learning activities or processes must be carried out at home using the university's online system. This is an effort to minimize the spread of Covid-19. This study aims to clarify the relationship between online learning and academic stress for STKIP Muhammadiyah Barru students during the Covid-19 pandemic. The essence of this research is analytic observation with a cross-sectional approach. The survey was conducted in October 2020 with undergraduate respondents from the STKIP Muhammadiyah Barru campus, with a total of 250 respondents participating. Data collection using surveys distributed in the form of Google Forms for information about online learning and learning stress. In this study, the analysis used is logistic regression analysis. This study shows that online learning is associated with academic stress throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Online learning needs to be supported using facilities and infrastructure, motivation, and skills of lecturers to avoid student academic stress.


This is the story of the author's triumph over cancer through an unorthodox therapy. After being diagnosed with cancer Beata Bishop was confronted with two choices - to have surgery with an uncertain outcome or wait to die. She chose instead an alternative treatment developed by a German physician.


The sudden collapse of the Communist states in Eastern Europe during the autumn of 1989 is now history. The transformation of the world in 1989 has been reported and commented on through analyses of the political, economic, and social state of affairs that led to one of the most surprising events of the 20th century. However, in many ways this story has been only partially told. This is because of a lack of attention paid to the vital role that the Christian churches played in that transformation. This article seeks to remedy that omission through a brief history of the period. The author utilizes an array of secondary and primary sources in the writing of this history. He was also an observer of most of the revolutions of Eastern Europe and interviewed a number of participants in the dramatic events of 1989.


Background: Quantitative waveform measures (QWM) of the ventricular fibrillation (VF) electrocardiogram (ECG) are descriptors of electrical activity of the heart during VF. The correspondence betwe...


As network traffic becomes more and more heavy and intrusion method begins to be more various, current ID techniques are often unable to precisely or effectively describe intrusion, normalcy and anomaly. Aimed at this kind of shortcoming,this paper describes a data mining approach for building intrusion detection models. It also discusses some related techniques and the results of the experiment.


This paper is dealing with the irradiated foods world market quantitative and economic volume' estimating in 29 countries. The irradiation exposure technology development is presented in order to prospects in Russia. The main irradiated foods categories such as spices, herbs, dry vegetables, fruits, frozen and chilled meat, including frog legs, seafood, grains and others are identified. It is shown the quantitative dividing irradiated foods world market is between China (37,60%), USA (19,36%), Ukraine (14,74%), Vietnam (12,41%), Brazil (5,62%), South Africa (4,10%), Indonesia (1.30 percent), Japan (1,17%), Belgium (1,10%). The remaining 20 States took a share of 2.6%. The irradiated products world market' economic volume amounting to 17,136.56 million rubles, is divided between the USA (48,64%), China (16,26%), Brazil (14,53%), South Africa (of 10.18%), Vietnam (of 5.88%), Indonesia (1,04%). The remaining 24 countries took a share of 3.48% while share each of them amounting less than 1%. It is revealed that the most expensive irradiated foods' category is "spices and herbs", least – "vegetables", "cereals". The research results are shown the Russian potential irradiated foods volume consisting of meat products, the main vegetable crops, food ingredients, spices and food is about 10 million tons, more than 12 million tons, about 200 thousand tons per year respectively. The meat and poultry total production was 9,899.2 thousand tons in carcass weight, yield of grain and leguminous was 120,671.79 thousand tons; spices raw was 97.5 thousand tons, potatoes was 31,107.80 thousand tones, vegetables (excluding melons) was 16,283.34 thousand tons, forage crops (except grasses) was 27,674.15 thousand tons in 2016 in Russia. Therefore 100% of meat, 74% of vegetables and about 1% of spices and animal feeds may be subjected to radiation in Russia. Despite the advanced technology and status as a leader in the agricultural radiology and radioecology field commercial irradiation is not carried out in Russia due to the need for in-depth irradiated foods' influence study of biochemical, physical-chemical, molecular-genetic processes in the human body and the representatives of agrobiocenosis.


Higher television exposure has been repeatedly linked to poorer self-regulation among young children. Recent studies show use of mobile screen media devices is also negatively related to self-regulation in early childhood. Despite the proliferation of mobile devices in households with young children, it is unclear whether children's use of smartphones and tablets predicts their self-regulation independently of television use and parents' screen media use or when also considering evocative effects of children's dysregulation. This multi-method, cross-sectional study with a racially diverse sample ( N = 72) in the western U.S. examines parents' (86.3% mothers) leisure media use and preschool-aged children's ( M = 38.02 months, 55.6% girls, 47.2% racial-ethnic minority) mobile media use, television use, and dysregulation as predictors of their behavioral battery-assessed self-regulation. As hypothesized, path models show the amounts of children's mobile media use, television use, and dysregulation negatively predict their self-regulation, and mobile media use is a stronger predictor than television use. We conclude with future directions to yield stronger inferences of screen media effects on child development that can inform interventions and screen time guidelines.


A proportion of healthy neonates and adults fail to develop a protective antibody response to recombinant hepatitis B (HB) vaccine. Unresponsiveness to vaccination could be attributed to defect in a number of immunological regulatory mechanisms. In this study, IL-12 was quantitated in culture supernatant following in vitro stimulation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells isolated from a group of responder and nonresponder neonates. Our results indicate significantly decreased production of HBsAg-induced IL-12 in nonresponder subjects compared to responders (P<0.01). Since IL-12 is produced mainly by antigen presenting cells (APC) and is considered to be crucial for initiation and polarization of CD4+ T-cell function, therefore, our findings could be interpreted to imply APC dysfunction in non-responder vaccinees. Iran. Biomed. J. 8 (1): 41-45, 2004


A Pb-salt tunable diode laser (TDL) has found many applications in the field of atmospheric gas analysis. Its continuous tunablility and fine spectral purity in the mid infrared region are outstanding from other lasers. The only shortcoming is that it requires cryogenic operating temperatures, though, it is improved year by year towards the room temperature operation. A repeated pulse operation of Pb salt diode lasers is possible with a thermoelectric cooling device, which allows an instrument a portable geometry disusing a heavy, bulky and power consuming mechanical refrigerator. A derivative spectrometry was exploiting the quick tunability of Pb salt diode lasers, though they are continuous wave (cw) operated with refrigerator or liquid nitrogen so far. A new system for derivative spectrometry with a pulsed diode laser will extend its field of applications because of reduced weights and size of measuring instruments. A preliminary results is shown that demonstrates the feasibility of an attempt to implement the derivative spectrmetry with repeatedly pulse driven diode lasers. Atmospheric methane was measured with 8 ppm/m sensitivity. Further results of parametric optimization for the best signal to noise ratios under any given device characteristics as well as for available real devices is given.


ach year the ITS Society elects a portion of the Board of Governors (BOG), and a portion of the Executive Committee (made up of the society officers). The Board of Governors is the administrative body that guides the Society Policy and Financial decisions. The BOG is made up of 15 members elected by the Society at large, and 10 officers on the Executive committee, making a total of 25 members on the BOG. The election of BOG members from the Society at large is done in a vote that is balloted by IEEE (watch for your ballot if you have not already voted) and the executive committee is, in turn, elected by the entire standing BOG. The Executive Committee (EXCOM) election is held at the fall BOG meeting often in association with the annual IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference (ITSC). This year ITSC was held in Qingdao, China and the BOG election was held on October 8, 2014. The bylaws, that define the roles and obligations of both BOG and EXCOM, divide the election of the EXCOM members across two years. The bylaws state that "Election for President-Elect, Vice President for Financial Activities, Vice President for Technical Activities, and Vice President for Administrative Activities, shall take place in even-numbered years with terms to begin in January of the next year." This year Daniel Zeng was elected as the President Elect, Alberto Broggi was elected as Vice President Financial Activities, Yaobin Chen was elected as Vice President Technical Activities and Daniel Dailey elected as Vice President Administrative Activities. Each of these officers serves two years, and may hold the office for a maximum of two terms. The Constitution and Bylaws can be found on the society web site for those looking for more details of the structure, procedures, roles and obligations of the member of BOG and EXCOM.


Abstract There is still lack suitable agent that significantly changes the poor prognoses of T-cell non-Hodgkin9s lymphoma (NHL), so that part of the patients who are far beyond the standard of first-line could not received effective treatment, therefore, it is urgent that seeking for a salvage treatment for patients with refractory malignant lymphoma, our destination is combination strategy aimed to higher anti-tumor activity with lower toxicity. GEM is a deoxycytidine analog with anti-metabolite activity in tumors through destroying the replication of cells and inhibiting ribonucleotide reductase as a prodrug. Recently, many clinical trials show that gemcitabine alone or in combination with other chemotherapy drugs can improve overall response rate and survival outcomes in malignant lymphoma patients compared with other chemotherapy regimens, such as vinorelbine and liposomal doxorubicin, busulfan and melphalan, which are active agents in all types of malignant lymphoma. ATO as a traditional medicine has been evaluated its good efficacy in a variety of hematologic malignancies, including myeloproliferative diseases, multiple myeloma, lymphoma. Currently, many clinical trials represented that the addition of ATO to standard treatment regimens can improve survival outcomes and may allow a reduction in cytotoxic chemotherapy exposure in other malignancies. The basis of related research found that ATO play killing effect on the cancer cells through multiple apoptotic pathways and many mechanisms. ATO was shown to bear relevant cytotoxic activity on lymphoma cell lines. The safety profile of ATO for the effective treatment and its toxicity is easily under control, which make it a preferred solution for combined chemotherapy scheme. Thus, in this study we found that the combination of ATO and GEM can lead to synergistic the cytotoxic effect, exert an enhanced effect on inhibiting Akt signaling and Bcl-2, up-regulating cleaved caspase-3, and inhibit the cell proliferation and self-renewal ability, and induce G 0 /G 1 cell cycle arrest and apotosis in Jurkat cells, which provide preclinical evidence and a theoretical basis for combination therapy with ATO and GEM as a salvage therapy in treating relapsed or refractory aggressive non-Hodgkin9s lymphoma. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


A variable drive strength gate driver for gallium nitride (GaN) power FETs intended for a 6.6 kW EV charger is presented. The driver incorporates low-side and high-side channels in a single integrated circuit that is flip-chip capable. The gate driver has been designed in a 0.18 μm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) process featuring deep trench isolation, 1.8 V and 5 V CMOS devices, and DMOS devices rated up to 200 V. The on-chip protection circuitry includes an undervoltage lockout (UVLO) in both channels, desaturation detection, and a VDS sensing circuit for the low-side power FET. The novel VDS sensing implementation enables the gate driver to have a dynamically controlled source current, programmable between 0.15 A and 2.4 A, to mitigate excessive ringing. Both low and high-side channels have a sink current of 5 A. The gate driver IC also includes active Miller clamping, a low-side to high-side level shifter, and a power supply for each channel.


Background: The Israeli society seems to have become more violent in recent years. This study explores trends in violence related injuries and characterizes the population injured by violence, with the aim of confirming this claim. Methods: The study was based on data from the Israeli National Trauma Registry between 1997 and 2003. It consisted of 117,036 patient records of which 6,701 (5.7%) sustained violence related injury. Various parameters were described and compared between 'violence related injuries' and other injuries as well as within different sub groups of 'violence related injuries'. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to explore the relationship between violence related injury percents and age, gender and population group. Results: The proportion of violence related injuries (among all injuries recorded in the Trauma Registry) significantly increased during the period analyzed (from 5.1% in 1997 to 6.7% in 2003), however, the increase was significant among males only (P<0.0001). Violence related injuries occurring in the street, at night (23:00-06:59) and over the weekend significantly increased during the period analyzed (P<0.0001 for all). The risk of being hospitalized because of violence related injury (relative to being hospitalized due to non-violence related injuries) was 2.9 times (CI -2.68-3.14) higher among males as compared with females, 1.7 times (CI -1.62-1.83) higher among non-Jewish Israeli residents and 1.2 times (CI -1.05-1.39) higher among foreign workers than among Jewish Israeli residents. Conclusions: The extent of violent crime has significantly increased over the period studied and was most evident among males and among non-Jewish Israeli residents.


As the trend in automotive technology is fast moving towards hybridization and electrification to curb emissions as well as to improve the fuel efficiency, air-conditioning systems in passenger cars have not caught up with this trend and still remain as the major energy consumers amongst others. Adsorption based air-conditioning systems, e.g. with silica-gel water pair, which are already in use for residential and commercial applications, are now being considered as a technology leap once proven feasible for the passenger cars. In this paper we discuss a methodology, challenges and feasibility of implementing an adsorption based air-conditioning system in a passenger car utilizing the exhaust waste heat. We also propose an optimized control strategy with interfaces to the engine control unit of the vehicle for operating this system with reasonable efficiency supported by our simulation and validation results in a prototype vehicle, additionally comparing to existing implementations, simulation based as well as experimental. Finally we discuss the influence of start-stop and hybrid systems on the operation strategy of the adsorption air-conditioning system. Keywords—Adsorption air-conditioning, feasibility study, optimized control strategy, prototype vehicle.


Magnetic records in sedimentary sequences are often used as paleoclimate proxies. Climate‐specific alteration of magnetite during rock weathering in the catchment might contribute to proxy variations in sediment sinks. In an actualistic study, we investigated the effects of magnetite alteration using weathered pebble material on basaltic parent rock. We collected samples from the Deccan basalts (India) across a large difference of mean annual precipitation (MAP; ∼800–3,200 mm), and also from the Emeishan basalts (SW‐China) to compare alteration effects at similar MAP (∼1,100 mm) but ∼12°C–15°C lower mean annual temperature (MAT). We used rocks with lamellar magnetite‐ilmenite texture to ensure the best possible uniform parent rock magnetic mineralogy. We separated the weathered material into five groups by grain size, assuming that alteration increases in finer pebbles. Only magnetic susceptibility (χ) shows a systematic change, with an increase that is weakly stronger for higher MAP. Consistent with a simplified model, the χ‐increase may represent progressive maghemitization. For the Emeishan basalts, we found a significantly stronger degree of alteration, including loss of magnetite. We explain this effect, which is surprising regarding the clearly lower MAT, by frost‐induced micro‐cracks due to physical weathering that opens pathways for oxygen and humidity into particle interiors. Based on these findings, we conclude that climate‐related alteration effects of magnetite during rock weathering are in most cases outweighed by parent rock heterogeneity, and magnetic proxy records in derived sediment archives are unlikely to record climate‐related magnetite alteration acquired during rock weathering, at least for catchment with basalts.


Lending retail deposits to SMEs and household borrowers may be the traditional role of commercial banks: but banking in Britain has been transformed by increasing consolidation and by the lure of high returns available from wholesale Investment activities. With appropriate changes to the baseline model of commercial banking in Allen and Gale (2007), we show how market power enables banks to collect "seigniorage?; and how "tail risk? investment allows losses to be shifted onto the taxpayer. In principle, the high franchise values associated with market power assist regulatory capital requirements to check risk-taking. But when big banks act strategically, bailout expectations can undermine these disciplining devices: and the taxpayer ends up "on the hook?- as in the recent crisis. That structural change is needed to prevent a repeat seems clear from the Vickers report, which proposes to protect the taxpayer by a "ring fence?separating commercial and investment banking.


In this study, the influence of Trans- Polyoctylene Rubber (TOR) as a compatibilizer on the cure characteristics, tensile and physical properties of ENR-25/rSC vulcanizate were determined. Five different loading of TOR (2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 phr) were prepared and added into the vulcanizate. Results indicated that the scorch time (t 2 ) and cure time (t 90 ) bacame shorter as TOR increased, while minimum torque (M L ) and maximum torque (M H ) increased. The incorporation of TOR with the vulcanizates enhanced the tensile strength (T s ), modulus (M100) crosslinking density and hardness values. However, the elongation at break percentage of compatibilized vulcanizates became lower than uncompatibilized vulcanizates.


This report presents data and statistics on cancer death certification in Italy in 1983 thus updating previous work available from 1955. Data are presented by age sex and cancer site. The results show that cancer mortality remained stable for females and rose by two percent for males due primarily to an increase in lung cancer. (SUMMARY IN ITA) (EXCERPT)