Three dimensional computations have been carried out using Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) and Finite Volume Method (FVM) for the case of flow past a stationary sphere. The Reynolds number of the mean flow have been varied from 50 to 300 during which flow transitions from steady state to unsteady state. The LBM simulations were carried out using the open source solver Palabos developed in the University of Geneva while the FVM computations were performed using the commercial solver ANSYS Fluent 17.2. Qualitative results like streamlines and three dimensional vortex structures in the wake of the sphere, obtained from the two different techniques have been compared alongside results reported in literature. Quantitative results such as, variation of velocity in the sphere wake and length of wake bubble have also been compared. The present study also tabulates the computational time required to complete the flow simulation for the both the solvers while utilizing the same computational resource. The results from the present study highlights the advantages of LBM solver for simulation of unsteady three dimensional flow but also indicate that FVM technique has definitive benefits when it comes to steady flows.


Spontaneity within Business Mission represents a form of manifestation for entrepreneurial domanin. The strategies formulated by reference to the business organization's mission assertion illustrate a dynamic particular for the intentions of economic actors, but also for the required behavior. The expressed strategic assembly also represents the main determinant for action modalities within business organization. Therefore, capitalizing human and material potential at the level of a business organization involves a series of finalities of entrepreneurial nature.


In order to solve the problem that particle swarm optimization (PSO) tends to fall into the local optimal solution and the convergence speed is slow when solving multi-sensor resource scheduling model, a cuckoo particle swarm optimization (CPSO) algorithm is proposed on the basis of PSO. On the basis of target tracking model, the multi-sensor scheduling model is established. Then the LEVY flight was introduced from cuckoo algorithm into particle swarm algorithm, the algorithm can jump out of the local optimal solution as soon as possible and improve the convergence speed and accuracy of the algorithm. The simulation results show that the improved algorithm is effectively improved in terms of convergence speed and accuracy, and is applied to the solution of sensor scheduling model to further enhance the optimization ability and achieve good results.


BACKGROUND: The proliferation and apoptosis of hepatic stellate cells play an important role in the development of hepatocirrhosis. Octreotide that is a somatostatin derivative widely used in clinic has many biological effects, but the effect of octreotide on the proliferation and apoptosis of hepatic stellate cells is unclear. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of octreotide on the proliferation and apoptosis of rat hepatic stellate cells. METHODS: The passage cells of hepatic stellate cells lines HSC-T6 were collected. The effect of different concentrations (1×10 -2 , 1×10 -3 , 1×10 -4 , 1×10 -5 , 1×10 -6 , 0 mmol/L) of octreotide on the proliferation of hepatic stellate cells was detected with MTT assay after induced for 24, 48 and 72 hours. Apoptosis of hepatic stellate cells after induced by different concentration octreotide (1×10 -5 , 1×10 -2 mmol/L) for 24 hours was evaluated by TUNEL staining. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The higher concentration and longer induction time of octreotide, the inhibitional effect of octreotide on the proliferation of hepatic stellate cells was more obvious (in a doseand time-dependent manner). The apoptosis of hepatic stellate cells was obviously raised with the increased concentration of octreotide. The results showed that the octreotide inhibited the proliferation of hepatic stellate cells in a dose (0-1x10 mmol/L)and time (24, 48, 72 hours)-dependent manner and could induce the apoptosis of hepatic stellate cells. Zhou X, Xia GD, Fu XS. Octreotide effects on the proliferation and apoptosis of hepatic stellate cells. Zhongguo Zuzhi Gongcheng Yanjiu. 2012;16(31): 5799-5803. [http://www.crter.cn http://en.zglckf.com]


The aerobic epoxidation of alkenes with 2-methylpropanal can be carried
out under fluorous biphasic conditions, in the presence of the
perfluorocarbon soluble cobalt complex of tetraarylporphyrin 3 as
catalyst.


Remote sensing of the Earth's crust using low frequency radio waves has been understood and applied for several years. The paper describes an application in which the generation of these low frequency probing waves are more favorably under the control of the experimenter and provides much more flexibility in carrying out probing of the Earth's crust. High power ionospheric modification facilities or "ionospheric heaters" as they are sometimes called can be used to generate ELF and VLF by modulating the strong electrojet current system which occurs naturally at high latitudes in the ionosphere. A new facility is now under construction in Alaska that has rather unique capabilities to generate a wide range of low frequencies. The authors, using a lower power heating facility in Alaska, have succeeded in not only generating these low frequencies but forming arrays of low frequency ionospheric dipole elements in the upper atmosphere; when this energy is injected into the Earth-ionospheric wave guide it can he steered over the Earth's crust in directions preferred by the experimenter performing the probing. The paper discusses the instrument, the generation of low frequency waves and ionospheric VLF arrays that can be effectively used for underground propagation experiments confined to a region of several kilometers centered upon the fixed heater location. Such a technique can be useful for the study of geophysics and detection of buried metal objects.


In this essay I intend primarily to reconstruct the main shapes meta-ethical constitutivism takes in the contemporary debate and to introduce a given conception of practical normativity into the debate within legal theory — legal theory that so far has discussed the views defended by the champions of constitutivism only timidly and in an unsystematic way.


Based on an analysis to the railway passengertransport market, by means of fuzzy comprehensiveevaluation method, the paper establishes a comprehensiveassessment model to the rationality of profit according torailway passenger price. Taking the ticket price levelbetween Lanzhou and Xi'an section, the paper validatesthis model by accordant method. The model serves a goodreference for the reasonable pricing of railway passengertransport enterprises.


OBJECTIVE To propose a new method based on Chinese medicinal chromatographic fingerprint and the contents of key constituents and apply the new method for the quality control of Chinese medicinal plant. METHODS A new blending optimization model of TCM's plant was built by a nonlinear programming method, and the optimization objective was the combination of fingerprint similarity and the relative deviation of the contents of multiple key constituents, and the optimal blending ratios was obtained by sequential quadratic programming method. RESULTS Several different batches of Danshen extracts were selected as typical research subjects, and a blend satisfied the quality criterion was obtained with the proposed method. CONCLUSION The proposed method can assure the batch-to-batch consistency of plant extracts.


This work is concerned with the quantum structure of resonant tunneling diodes, which exhibits intrinsic instability that can be exploited for the development of high-speed, high-frequency devices. The article examines in detail the physics underlying the non-liner instability, in both a one-band model and a multiple-band model. The theoretical basis of the description of electronic processes in such structures are described in some detail in terms of nonequilibrium Green's functions. Also presented here is a semi-phenomenological model of the resonant tunneling diode based on nonlinear circuit theory. Recent works and progresses in this and related areas are summarized here as well.


A method of modeling a vehicle's lateral dynamics is investigated. Gaussian processes (GP) are used to estimate the side slip and yaw rate of the vehicle. A method of clustering the inputs to the GPs is also investigated and the effects of a key parameter, the clustering threshold, are examined. Sensitivity of this parameter is considered and a compromise is found between model accuracy and computation time. A discussion of how these methods can be extended to online adaptation of the estimators is included.Copyright © 2010 by ASME


Professor Linda Malone reflects on the emergence of an agricultural/environmental ethic in the Farm Bill of 1990 and the Jeffersonian ideal of an agrarian democracy. The Jeffersonian ideal represented a land where the US was a nation of farm owners, but, currently, farms often must be subsided by the US government. As agriculture grows distant from the land, merging into farm management programs, the Jefferson Ideal for agriculture diminishes.


For 152 days 40 male Carworth rats were given a diet of sucrose 62, egg white 20 and maize oil 10% with minerals, fibre and vitamins to which was added CuSO4.5H2O 9.95 or 1.246 mg/kg, sodium phosphates 19.6 g/kg or sodium phytate 20 g/kg, to give diets with Zn:Cu ratios of 4.5 and 14.5:1 both with phytate or with phosphates. At 122 and 152 days both groups given phytate had significantly less cholesterol in plasma than those given phosphates, but the Zn:Cu ratio in the diet seemed to have no effect. The Zn:Cu ratio in hair of rats was less in those given phytate than in those given phosphates. Phytate decreased Zn in hair by 33%. Rats given phytate had about 17% more Cu than those given phosphates. By day 117 rats on sodium phytate weighed 16% less than those on sodium phosphates; the Zn:Cu ratio in the diet had no effect on weight.


The technical problem that the invention aims to solve is to allow an MR image of high quality to be obtained in an MRT device. Inhomogeneity introduced by tissues of a patient to a magnetic basic field of the MR device is critical. In order to balance out a field inhomogeneity, a value for a coil current is determined by a controller as a function of an item of information relating to the field inhomogeneity and an item of information relating to a position of at least one balancing or shim coil arranged in the magnetic field. The value is to be supplied to the at least one shim coil in order to generate a magnetic balancing field to balance out the field inhomogeneity. A control signal for at least one shim current source and for at least one switching matrix coupling the at least one shim current source to the at least one shim coil is generated as a function of the at least one value. The invention also relates to an MRT device with a switching matrix.


Transaction management is an important topic in the database course. This remains true whether the subject has an application focus or a systems internals focus. All the standard textbooks use "toy" examples of transactions, expressed as sequences of simple operations such as reading or writing data items. In this paper we argue that the teacher should choose examples which are closer to the students' experiences in other topics of the course, that is, the transactions should be like programs with SQL statements. We discuss the requirements that must be considered in choosing useful examples, and we give a set of examples that we have constructed to meet many of these requirements.


A tension between two opposing forces, that is, the force of division and that of unity, is increasingly sharpened in the law of the sea today. An essential question that arises is how one can protect community interests in the divided ocean. The law of dédoublement fonctionnel advocated by Georges Scelle provides an insight into this question. According to Scelle's theory of the law of dédoublement fonctionnel, State organs perform a dual function: the national function of protecting State interests and the public service function of safeguarding community interests. The law of dédoublement fonctionnel seeks to reconcile these functions. Scelle's harmonistic vision of international law is well worth reconsidering in the law of the sea and beyond. This article examines the relevance of Scelle's theory in the context of the law of the sea and explores two models for the protection of community interests at sea.


Evapotranspirative willow systems (EWS) are zero-discharge wastewater treatment plants that produce woody biomass and have no discharge to surface or groundwater bodies. The influence of wastewater on the growth of three clones of Salix alba ('V 093', 'V 051' and 'V 160') and the distribution of macronutrients and metals in a pilot EWS receiving primary treated municipal wastewater was studied under a sub-Mediterranean climate. The influent wastewater, shoot number, stem height, and biomass production at coppicing were monitored in two consecutive two-year rotations. Soil properties and the concentrations of macronutrients and metals in soil and woody biomass were analyzed after the first rotation. S. alba clones in EWS produced significantly more woody biomass compared to controls. 'V 052' produced the highest biomass yield in both rotations (38–59 t DM ha−1) and had the highest nitrogen and phosphorus uptake (48% and 45%) from wastewater. Nitrogen and phosphorus uptake into the harvestable woody biomass was significantly higher in all clones studied compared to other plant-based wastewater treatment plants, indicating the nutrient recovery potential of EWS. The indigenous white willow clone 'V 160' had the lowest biomass yield but absorbed more nutrients from wastewater compared to 'V 093'. Wastewater composition and load were consistent with the nutrient requirements of the willows; however, an increase in salinity was observed after only two years of operation, which could affect EWS efficiency and nutrient recovery in the long term.


160 Background: Caregivers are instrumental to the health and well-being of gynecologic cancer patients and can be deeply affected by the demands of caregiving. Our aims were to increase awareness of the unmet needs of family caregivers of women with gynecologic cancers and provide recommendations for essential elements of support needed by caregivers to ensure that family caregivers are recognized and supported as key members of the patients' care teams. Methods: Over the course of a year, a 16-person steering committee and 40 stakeholders, including caregivers, patients, and clinicians, participated in a modified Delphi approach to assemble, review and prioritize a set of essential elements for caregiver support. The process culminated in a multi-disciplinary research roundtable. Stakeholders prioritized caregiver needs and discussed, brainstormed and prioritized essential support services necessary to meet those needs, using three rounds of consensus-building activities. Basic descriptive statistics were performed to feed means and rankings back to stakeholders prior to each round. Results: Stakeholders prioritized the top three needs of caregivers as: 1) to obtain information about their loved one's cancer (M = 4.18, SD = 4.33), 2) how to provide support and comfort to their loved one (M = 3.18, SD = 3.92) and 3) how to maintain their own emotional health and well-being (M = 2.94, SD = 3.90). Fifteen Essential Elements of Support to address the needs of caregivers of women with gynecologic cancers were identified. These ranged from supports that are immediately actionable (e.g., information for the caregiver on managing the patient's symptoms, skilled-care training, a point-person to help navigate the system) to more aspirational supports (e.g., integrative services focused on the health and well-being of the caregiver). Conclusions: Caregivers are an integral part of cancer care, though their needs are inconsistently addressed by the care team. In order to provide comprehensive quality care, clinicians and healthcare systems should strive to provide caregivers with the Essential Elements of Support identified in this study and continue to build a healthcare system incorporating caregivers' needs.


New cientific developments made possible to monitorize and control all kinds of objects and services, by connecting them all in between themselves, giving birth to a new paradigm: the Internet of Things. This way has become possible to improve cities effciency and accuracy on dealing with all kinds of problems. This thesis is based on the projection of a wireless telecommunications system based on LoRaWAN technology, capable of dealing with the sensor network of the project "SmartCity Abrantes". These sensors may or not have a fixed location. Firstly, a study of capacity and coverage has been developed considering only the sensor that don't change their position and the initial system configuration. For this analysis the real scenario was theoretical simulated. It was noticed that some of these sensors were not covered, which motivated the study of the influence of the introduction of a new gateway on the system. Finnally, it was made a study on network coverage for the mobile sensores, considering all the area of Abrantes region, so that it would be possible to understand were these sensors would be able to communicate. It was found that half of this territory was covered.


The paradox posed by refuse incineration is that on the one hand it is seen as the solution to an environmental problem and on the other hand as the source of one. It solves our solid waste disposal problem (at least in terms of volume reduction), but it creates an air pollution problem. Some of the air pollutants of concern are listed. Emission of these pollutants must be appropriately abated if we are to realize the benefits of refuse incineration. The paper lists several types of air pollution control systems and the pollutants they abate. European and Japanese experience, together with experience in similar applications in the U.S., have been relied upon as indicators that adequate abatement of air emissions is feasible. The authors summarize the results of several recent tests that indicate high levels of efficiency in removing particulates and acid gases. The complete test reports also show excellent removal of other pollutants including metals.


Abstract Data about 300 patients sterilized at laparoscopy are presented. The results of follow-up hysterosalpingograms on 66 of these patients are discussed. The practice of sterilization is becoming more liberal, and the laparoscopic technique is currently the best method of interval sterilization. A critical approach to this operation is necessary to maintain its reputation of having the clinical benefits associated with minor operations although it is not a minor operation.


Experimental levels of the configuration 3dn 4p in the second spectra of the iron group were compared with corresponding calculated values. Besides the electrostatic and spin-orbit interactions the α, β and T corrections were considered in the individual and general treatments. The insertion of the parameters β and T improved the results by about 21 percent. The rms error on fitting 703 levels by means of 21 free interaction parameters was 231 cm-1. Altogether 912 energy levels were predicted.


Karanganyar Regency, Central Java Province is located in the cross-provincial route, namely Central Java and East Java, because of this, human interaction and mobility occur intensively. These interactions and mobility have the potential to trigger the spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19). The purpose of this study was to determine the vulnerability of the people of Karanganyar Regency to Covid-19 and to determine the relationship between the parameters of community vulnerability and the number of Covid-19 cases in Karanganyar. The method used in this research is a quantitative descriptive method, the analysis technique used is descriptive statistical analysis techniques and Spearman rank correlation analysis. The analysis showed that 13 of the 17 sub-districts in the Karanganyar Regency were classified as very vulnerable to Covid-19. However, the relationship between the level of regional vulnerability and the number of Covid-19 cases was not significant as indicated by the significance value (1-tailed) 0.017 <0.05. This happened because the condition of population density, education level, and access to information about Covid-19 in Karanganyar Regency was relatively high.


The main goal for shale resource characterization is usually the identification of sweet spots which represent the most favourable drilling targets. Such sweet spots can be picked up as those pockets in the target formation that exhibit high total organic carbon (TOC) content as well as high brittleness. At any well location, when the resistivity and sonic transit-time curves are scaled and overlaid, they follow each other almost everywhere, except in the kerogen-rich zones, where they cross over. While such a cross over is only seen visually, it can be transformed into an attribute known as ΔlogR that incorporates both the resistivity and velocity information and is expected to be high for organic-rich zones. Such a transformation would allow us to identify organic-rich zones only at well locations. In this study, we introduce a methodology for computing ΔlogR as a volume from seismic data. For doing this, the ΔlogR curve computed at well locations is correlated with different attribute curves that can be derived from seismic data. An attribute curve which shows the maximum correlation is selected and crossplotted against ΔlogR to determine the relationship between the two. This relationship is then used for extracting the ΔlogR volume from 3D seismic data.


Flux calibration of spectra in reverberation mapping (RM) is most often performed by assuming the flux constancy of some specified narrow emission lines, which stem from an extended region that is sometimes partially spatially resolved, in contrast to the point-like broad-line region and the central continuum source. The inhomogeneous aperture geometries used among different observation sets in a joint monitoring campaign introduce systematic deviations to the fluxes of broad lines and central continuum, and intercalibration over these data sets is required. As an improvement to the previous empirical correction performed by comparing the (nearly) contemporaneous observation points, we describe a feasible Bayesian method that obviates the need for (nearly) contemporaneous observations, naturally incorporates physical models of flux variations, and fully takes into account the measurement errors. In particular, it fits all the data sets simultaneously regardless of samplings and makes use of all of the information in the data sets. A Markov Chain Monte Carlo implementation is employed to recover the parameters and uncertainties for intercalibration. Application to the RM data sets of NGC 5548 with joint monitoring shows the high fidelity of our method.


Prodigiosin was isolated from marine bacteria Hahella chejuensis which has been recently discov- ered from Marado, Cheju Island, Republic of Korea. Immunosuppressive properties have been reported for pro- digiosin members such as undecylprodigiosin, metacycloprodigiosin, prodigiosin, and its synthetic analogue PNU156804 (PNU). However, the effect of this agent on the function of macrophage and splenocyte has not been characterized in detail. In the present study, we examined the effects of prodigiosin for its ability to alter the function of murine macrophage and NK cell, and the proliferation of splenocytes. When thioglycollate-elicited macrophages pre-exposed to prodigiosin (1-50 ng/ml) were stimulated with LPS/IFN-γ, pretreatment with prodi- giosin resulted in the inhibition of tumoricidal activity of macrophage in a concentration-dependent manner. Tumoricidal activity of NK cell was also inhibited by prodigiosin. Moreover, we found that prodigiosin was able to cause a dose-dependent inhibition of murine lymphocyte responsiveness to Con A and LPS although T-mitoge- nic response was the more sensitive one. Taken together, the present results point out that prodigiosin has a suppressive effect on the mitogen-induced proliferation of murine lymphocytes and the function of macrophage and NK cell.


At present,in order to meet the requirements of IC testing.A high efficiency testing system,J750,are widely used to follow the development of testing industry.The author shows us how to debug the testing programs on Teradyne J750 with an example of 82C52.


The aim of this study was to determine the relationship of internal motivation and happiness with academic achievement among high school students. Using cluster random sampling 341 student were selected .Then internal motivation and happiness questionnaires administrated. To measure the academic achievement, their academic grade average was used. Collected data analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient, stepwise regression analyses and Z test. The results showed that there is positive and significant relationship between internal motivation and academic achievement (P<./.1). There is positive and significant relationship between happiness and academic achievement (P<./.1).The relationship of internal motivation and academic achievement as well as happiness and academic achievement among male and female students is no different. The results of regression analysis showed that only internal motivation is able to predict academic achievement.


Bioethics and environmental ethics share deep common roots. In
this paper we will attempt to demonstrate this statement, inspired
by both the work of the father of bioethics, Van Rensselaer Potter,
and the father of environmental ethics, Arne Naess. The two disci-
plines even share a common history, since they constitute the
most interesting philosophical answer to the problems originated
by the recent technological developments. The need for a science
of survival (Potter), which can finally guide the new human actions
and the knowledge that goes along with them, must be, from
Potter's (and also Naess') perspective, always accompanied by
the development of the virtues of wisdom and prudence.


The study is based on the environment involving a single supplier and a retailer.The re- tailer can obtain uncertain demand updating information before the demand realizes.The retailer can purchase firm orders and options orders from the supplier directly.The supplier has two produce op- portunities to meet the retailer' s orders.The optimal bidirectional option replenishment policies for the retailer and the optimal production policy for the supplier are driven in the decentralized system, which shows that the bidirectional options can improve supply chain responsiveness to change in the business environment,encourage risk sharing,and improve the members' profits.The paper also disscusses how bidirectional options and buyback contracts can be used to align the incentives of the partners,and increases the expected profits of the retailer.


OBJECTIVE To determine whether there was a correlation of serum niteic oxide(NO) lever and to assess whether N-acetylcystein (NAC) may affect expression of NO with fulminant hepatic failure(FHF) at earlier stage. METHOD Analysis of serum NO in total of 65 patients were performed by using double antibodies (ELISA).Patients with FHF were grouped into NAC (n =29) and combination therapy(n =36), and then sub-grouped into responsive, non-responsive, based on patients clinical status. Alteration of NO was determined with comparison of self control in these two groups between before NAC treatment and after treatment for 30 days, and control group(n = 30). RESULTS There was a significant increase of serum NO. A significant change of serum NO was found after NAC treatment. NO was correlated positively with SB, and negatively with PTA following the initiation of treatment for 30 days. CONCLUSION The change of serum NO was closely related with hepatic dysfunctions and can offer a reference to the prognosis of patients with FHF at earlier stage. Serum NO level may be declined by NAC. FHF patients may benefit from the use of NAC.


Sir: In the course of our screening program to discover antimalarial antibiotics from soil microorganisms which are active against drug-resistant parasites in vitro and in vivo, we previously reported that the polyether antibiotics X-206 and K-41 and other microbial metabolites exhibited potent antimalarial properties1-3). Thereafter, we found that a substance produced by an actinomycete strain OM-0060 had potent and selective antimalarial activities in vitro and in vivo. It was identified as borrelidin, a known nonglycosidic 18-membered macrolide antibiotic with a cyclopentanecarboxylic acid side chain (Fig. 1)4,5). We report here the antimalarial profile of borrelidin in comparison with those of clinically used antimalarial drugs. Borrelidin was isolated from the cultured broth of an actinomycete strain OM-0060. In vitro activities against Plasmodium falciparum strains K1 (drug-resistant) and FCR3 (drug-sensitive), and cytotoxicity against human diploid embryonic cell line MRC-5 were measured as described previously1). Rodent malaria-derived strains for in vivo 4-days suppressive testing, P. berghei N (drugsensitive) and P. yoelii ssp. NS (chloroquine-resistant) were used to assess in vivo antimalarial activities as described previously1,2). Test compounds were dissolved in 10% DMSO-Tween 80 aqueous solution and administered subcutaneously (s.c.) or orally (p.o.) to the mice two hours after infection with parasites (Day 0). Then the compounds were successively administered (s.c. or p.o.) to the infected mice once a day for 3 days (Days 1-3). On the day after the last treatment (Day 4), thin blood films were made from the tail blood of the mice, and the parasitaemia was determined as described previously2). Table 1 shows the in vitro antimalarial activities of borrelidin and the standard antimalarial drugs. Borrelidin showed more potent activity against the drug-resistant K1 strain of P. falciparum than the clinically used antimalarials, artemether, artesunate and chloroquine. Furthermore, borrelidin showed similar activity against the drug-sensitive FCR3 strain of P. falciparum to artemether and artesunate, and was more potent than chloroquine. The cytotoxicity of borrelidin against MRC-5 cells was relatively low (the IC50 value: 410nM). Borrelidin showed high selectivity indexes with the ratios of 216 and 228 for the MRC-5 cells/K1 strain and MRC-5 cells/FCR3 strain, respectively. Table 2 shows a preliminary comparison of the in vivo subcutaneous antimalarial activities of borrelidin and the standard antimalarial drugs. Borrelidin had antimalarial activity against both rodent malaria-derived P. berghei N and P. yoelii ssp. NS. Especially, borrelidin showed more potent subcutaneous antimalarial effects than artemether, artesunate and chloroquine against the chloroquine resistant strain (P. yoelii ssp. NS). The ED50 and ED90 values of borrelidin against P. yoelii ssp. NS were lower by factors 5.7-64 and 6.4->125, respectively, than those of the other three drugs. Borrelidin also showed more potent


The conclusions arising from the analysis of the sediments from Kirkhead Cave (Gale and Hunt 1985) give rise not only to doubt and concern, but to the urge to refute. A long and detailed paper has been prepared, and this short article briefly puts forward some of the more important issues. Kirkhead Cave is within 400 metres of the present author's home, and he has an intimate knowledge, not only of the cave, but of the history of archaeological excavations at that site. The cave was excavated in 1864 by J. Bolton of Ulverston, and in 1866 by J. P. Morris also of Ulverston. They excavated through, and ultimately removed some 5 to 7 metres of cave earth together with a wide range of artefacts (Bolton 1864; 1869; Morris 1865-66; 1866). Their publications are of little value today, and both may be considered to have been 'bone hunters' and collectors. Morris removed the stalagmite floor that he encountered, with the exception of one very small section which can still be seen adhered to the rock face in the northern part of the cave. He also removed a large proportion of the 'loamy' cave earth beneath the stalagmite floor an overlying the laminated lower sediments. So far as can be ascertained no other excavations were carried out at Kirkhead Cave until 1969. In that year, P. Ashmead, R. M. Ashmead and R. H. Wood undertook an investigation on behalf of the Lancaster Cave & Mine Research Society. Before the final report of their findings was published P. Ashmead had died and R. H. Wood had left the area to take up a further appointment. The Ashmead referred to in this paper is R. M. Ashmead unless otherwise stated. The second report on the excavations was published in 1974 (Ashmead and Wood, 1974). The opening paragraph of the report confirms that the stalagmite floor did not then exist, nor did much of the cave earth


Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) are freely programmable massively parallel general purpose processing units and thus offer the opportunity to off-load heavy computations from the CPU to the GPU. One application for GPU programming is image compression, where the massively parallel nature of GPUs promises high speed benefits. This article analyzes the predicaments of data-parallel image coding on the example of two high-throughput coding algorithms. The codecs discussed here were designed to answer a call from the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA), and require only minimal buffering at encoder and decoder side while avoiding any pixel-based feedback loops limiting the operating frequency of hardware implementations. Comparing CPU and GPU implementations of the codes show that GPU based codes are usually not considerably faster, or perform only with less than ideal rate-distortion performance. Analyzing the details of this result provides theoretical evidence that for any coding engine either parts of the entropy coding and bit-stream build-up must remain serial, or rate-distortion penalties must be paid when offloading all computations on the GPU.


The article illuminated the different expectations of the enterprise, consumer and society in industrial time and information time, dicussed the change of concept design mode resulted from satisfying the change of expection, and introduced the mode in detail.


Pompe disease is a fatal autosomal recessive glicogen storage disease presenting with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, widespread myopathy and hypotonia. In this presentation, we aimed to present our anesthetic approach to 12 teeth extraction planned non-cooperative, 34-month-old patient who were being followed-up in an external center with Infantile Pompe Disease.


The main objective to establish the brand - new Fashion education mode of brandization is to train the fashion technical talents who can fit for the manufacturing of modern fashion industry by facing the industry. The first role of it is to explore and establish the training objective for talents by encircling the industry requirement for talents' knowledge, capability and quality. With the completely new concept, combining the teaching experience of garment engineering faculty in our Institute, researching into the features of high vocational education and the talents need of fashion industry, the article annotates the training objective for the applied and technical talents of high vocational fashion education.


The invention discloses a dual-axle capacitor micro mechanical accelerometer, which comprises a basic plate, a weigh block, a flexible support, a driving electrode, a detecting electrode, a tooth axle and a backstop, while it uses the weight block to sense the accelerators at two orthogonal directions. Wherein, the weight block is at the center of said device, while the flexible support, backstop, driving electrode, and detecting electrode are outside the weight block; the flexible support can realize decouple in two orthogonal directions to improve the sensitivity and resolution in said two directions; the flexible support uses the four corners of square as anchor points, with better structure stability; and it uses comb capacitor to realize differential static driving and capacitor detection, to improve the sensitivity and resolution of accelerator. The invention can easily realize two-dimension accelerator detection with high accuracy.


This paper describes the strong Andrey-Tass earthquake (Mѡ=6.1), which occurred in 2008 on the northeastern flank of the seismotectonic zone of the Chersky Randge in the region of the interaction of the Eurasian and North American lithospheric plates. Geophysical fields were using to elucidate structural and tectonic features of the study area and their relationship with seismicity. Using data from digital maps of magnetic and gravity field anomalies, it was possible to clarify the kinematic parameters of the western end of the Ilin-Tas fault, where the epicenter of the Andrey-Tas earthquake occurred. This fault separates the Indigiro-Zyrian Trough from the Momskii Randge and Andrei Tas Locke elevations and is traced by gradient zones of transition from negative to positive ΔTa and Δg values. The main seismic shock is confining to thickening of Δg isoanomalies, which form a gravitational step, within which gravity values decrease from south to north. The entire epicentral field with aftershocks covers the western slope of the Andrei Tas Locke. The development of the seismic process during three stages was analyzed: 1963-2007 (before the event), 2008 (the event with aftershocks), 2009-2020 (after the event). We plotted the recurrence of the aftershocks of the Andrei Tas earthquake. Information obtained because of study of Andrei Tas earthquake aftershocks enables us to detail manifestations of local seismic activity.


"The Language of the Body" is the psychological masterpiece that showed how and why conventional analysis was failing. And it's the spark that ignited the movement toward body language as the key--and cure--for many psychological problems.


The 8-tetrahedra longest-edge (8T-LE) partition of any tetrahedron is defined in terms of three consecutive edge bisections, the first one performed by the longest-edge. The associated local refinement algorithm can be described in terms of the polyhedron skeleton concept using either a set of precomputed partition patterns or by a simple edgemidpoint tetrahedron bisection procedure. An effective 3D derefinement algorithm can be also simply stated. In this paper we discuss the 8-tetrahedra partition, the refinement algorithm and its properties, including a non-degeneracy fractal property. Empirical experiments show that the 3D partition has analogous behavior to the 2D case in the sense that after the first refinement level, a clear monotonic improvement behavior holds. For some tetrahedra a limited decreasing of the tetrahedron quality can be observed in the first partition due to the introduction of a new face which reflects a local feature size related with the tetrahedron thickness.


Intracellular glutathione (GSH) content was measured by flow cytometry using monochlorobimane (mBCI) and by the enzymatic assay in a set of 6 sublines of murine L1210 leukemia cells made resistant to DNA‐interacting agents having distinct mechanisms of action: L‐phenylalanine mustard (L‐PAM), 1,3‐bis(2‐chloroethyl)‐1‐nitrosourea (BCNU), cisplatin (DDP), N‐de‐formyl‐N‐(4‐N, N‐bis(2‐chloroethylamino) benzoyl) distamycin A (FCE 24517), doxorubicin (DX) and 3′ ‐deamino‐3′ (2‐methoxy‐4‐morpholinyl)‐doxorubicin (FCE 23762). A significant correlation was demonstrated between the mean intracellular mBCI fluorescence values measured by flow cytometry and levels of GSH measured by the classical enzymatic assay, despite the possible influence of glutathione‐S‐transferases and of other thiols on the mBCI fluorescence. Although less specific, the flow cytometric method is more informative than the enzymatic assay, allowing detection of fluorescence distributions, which we proved to be characteristic of each subline. In order to assess a procedure enabling a quantitative analysis to be made of intercellular GSH heterogeneity, we propose the use of appropriate thresholds and parameters of the mBCI flow cytometric distribution. By use of this analysis procedure, distinct types of alterations, with respect to the heterogeneity distribution of the parental L1210 cell line, have been evidenced in resistant cells. A uniform increase in mBCI fluorescence was observed among cells of the sublines resistant to L‐PAM and FCE‐24517. The mean mBCI fluorescence increase in sublines resistant to DX and DDp was due to a higher number of cells with fairly high mBCI fluorescence, but still within the range spanned by the parental cell line. A less heterogeneous mBCI fluorescence distribution was found in the L1210 subline resistant to FCE 23762, which was, however, similar to a cloned sensitive line. Though GSH was linked to the principal cause of drug resistance only in the L‐PAM‐resistant cell line, alterations in heterogeneity, as detected by mBCI fluorescence distributions, were found in 5 out of 6 resistant lines.


Verifying the content of digital images or identifying forged regions would be obviously useful when digital pictures are presented as evidence. We present a curvelet logo watermark based on the image fusion approach. The forgery is determined as the one which lacks the logo watermark. We have used structural distortion approach for integrity verification which we have tested on examples of real forgeries. We have also investigated the effect of attacks such as lossy compression, brightness, etc. Region of interest influences our approach to verify image integrity.


Pharmacological effects and application prospect of riboflavin were introduced. Based on the principle of coordination,complexation situation of riboflavin with various amino acids(for example tryptophan binary system) was studied. Through using UV spectra at room temperature,under the conditions of the same volume ratio and different concentration ratio,the relation of absorbance and concentration ratio was found by measuring the absorbance along with increasing of donor concentration. By comparing different spectra,the law about the complexation of riboflavin and amino acids was found.


In this paper, a coordinated torque recovery strategy is presented and a robust control technique applied to motor torque control. It is well known that the torque recovery process influences vehicle power performance and driving comfort. In the torque recovery process, it is difficult to recover to the target torque as engine torque response is limited by emissions or the control algorithm in an Engine Control Unit (ECU), which results in poor vehicle power performance. To solve this problem and taking the different torque characteristics between the engine and the motor into consideration in the dynamic coupling process, a new coordination torque recovery control strategy based on the motor torque compensation for improving the vehicle performance is proposed. The engine torque is dynamically compensated by motor torque to improve power performance. In order to achieve better performance, a new control law, which employs the integral of the tracking error and state feedback, is described for the torque control of motors. The controller was designed by a linear matrix inequality (LMI)‐based optimization to obtain an optimal gain. The simulation results illustrate the effectiveness and robustness of the controller. Finally, the torque recovery control strategy is compared to methods that do not use motor torque compensation. The comparative test results demonstrate that the proposed torque recovery control strategy improves the power of the vehicle effectively, reduces shift shock, and ensures comfort.


We consider a discrete polynuclear growth (PNG) process and prove a functional limit theorem for its convergence to the Airy process. This generalizes previous results by Prähofer and Spohn. The result enables us to express the F 1 GOE Tracy-Widom distribution in terms of the Airy process. We also show some results and give a conjecture about the transversal fluctuations in a point to line last passage percolation problem.


There are two distinct plant assemblages on the dunecrests of the Simpson Desert. The first is characterized by Zygochloa paradoxa and Chamaesyce wheeled. The second is marked by the presence of Calotis erinacea and Helichrysum ambiguum. There are no consistent differences in texture or fertility between the soils occupied by these four species on the sandridges though there are some differences in other habitats. Hence static soil differences cannot account for the distribution of the two assemblages. It is suggested that the Calotis patches represent populations spread from focal plants established after the 1960s drought, but this remains untested.


ABSTRACT In this paper, we consider a viscoelastic plate equation with a velocity-dependent material density and a logarithmic nonlinearity. Using the Faedo-Galaerkin approximations and the multiplier method, we establish the existence of the solutions of the problem and we prove an explicit and general decay rate result. These results extend and improve many results in the literature.


The purpose of this research was to analyse high school students' probabilistic reasoning when interpreting news from the media. To fulfil this goal, 76 high school students were given six questions related to a report on traffic accidents taken from the media news. The questions involved some conditional probabilities and the critical reading of the information presented. Although the computation of the complementary event probability was easy, there were more troubles in dealing with other conditional probability questions. Some students relied too much on the authority principle to interpret the data and did not reach a level of critical reading of the information. Finally, few students were able to identify the missing information needed to apply Bayes' theorem.


Objective To discuss the effects and technological details of vaccination of large dose of BCG live vaccine treating late stage of melanoma.Method 4 cases of melanoma with metastasis or recurrence after operations were vaccinated with large dose of BCG live vaccine.The long term efficacy was observed and summarized.Results Case 2 lost follow up after 18 years.Other three cases had survived 12 years,18 years and 31 years separeately.One case who accepted chemotherapy suffered from recurrence.Conclusions It is possible to cure late stage of melanoma by vaccinating large dose of BCG live vaccine,but large sample is needed to verify the definite effect.


Previous research on consumer attendance patterns has explored the impact of single factors on desired outcomes. This is problematic because people rarely have a single motive behind their decision making to attend a sporting event. This study aimed to determine which factors were the most important to college students when deciding to attend sporting events. Using a cross-sectional survey, the research found that desire for excitement, geography, and social media all had statistical significance in influencing decision making. Contradictory to existing research, on field promotions, level of fandom, and consumer emotion were not found to be tied to their decision to attend an event. Marketers of sport should therefore promote their events on social media and highlight game excitement in their marketing content. INFLUENCES ON ATTENDANCE 3 Factors Contributing to Consumers Decisions to Attend a Sporting Event Imagine it is a beautiful summer day in mid-July. The sun is out, there are blue skies as far as the eye can see, and you have nothing to do. The local baseball team in your city has a game tonight at 7:05 and they are expecting a large crowd. What would convince you to attend the game? There are a variety of factors that can have an influence on a consumer's decision to attend a sporting event. These factors are different for all individuals and can even vary based on the organization or the sport. However, one thing remains constant, consumers know what they want and expect from an organization. It is because consumers know what they want from an organization that these factors are so influential for consumers, because they set high standards and expect organizations to reach them. Organizations, especially in the sport industry have to take it upon themselves to get to know their target audience and consumers and understand what it is that drives them to their games. In the sport industry, it is particularly important for organizations to understand exactly what it is that drives people to their games. Without a consistent fan base, any sport organization would fail. This is exactly why buyer behavior is necessary for organizations to understand. If sport organizations can begin to recognize how consumers think and what factors actually have the most effect on consumer decisions, they will be better off in the long run. In order to get consumers to games, we must first understand what actually persuades that consumer to purchase a ticket to the game. Previous research has been conducted on the topic of consumer behavior and purchasing decisions when attending sporting events. Most research has only grazed the surface on consumer behavior, hitting on a certain factor but not expanding upon it (Boyd INFLUENCES ON ATTENDANCE 4 & Krehbiel, 2003). Research on a variety of factors that affect consumer decision making, and dive deeper into which factors stand out more than others, would be more beneficial. Recognizing the factors that actually persuade consumers to a purchasing decision could be very important to increasing attendance for many sports organizations Literature Review Promotional Factors Many factors can have an influence on a consumer's decision to attend a sporting event. Factors can include anything from marketing of the event and event satisfaction, to social media or word of mouth influence (Peden, Upright, Hey & Jordan, 2015). Due to the fact that there are so many different elements, it is important to be familiar with each one. There is a growing need to understand the factors that might increase game attendance (Boyd & Krehbiel, 2003). One of the most influential elements when it comes to fan attendance is promotions. A primary objective of sport marketers is to develop strategies to increase game attendance, which includes utilizing promotions (McDonald & Rascher, 2000). Promotions and special events are offered as a motivation for fans to attend a sporting event (Howell, Klenosky & McEvoy, 2015). Promotions can include anything from the actual promotions that take place on the field of play, to price discount promotions or value added promotions. The study conducted by Howell, Klenosky and McEvoy found that "an additional price promotion can be expected to yield at least 975 more fans preseason, while an additional merchandise promotion is predicted to generate 1,568 extra fans over a season" (2015, p. 3). The different types of promotions can clearly be significant to an INFLUENCES ON ATTENDANCE 5 organization and need to be looked at in order to address the idea of fan attendance and what it is that drives fans into a stadium. Price discount promotions can be defined as the act of offering a lower price temporarily, in order to enhance the effectiveness of product sales (Shapiro, Drayer & Dwyer, 2016). Price discount promotions include discounts on tickets, concessions or merchandise. Some examples of this during a game are two for one night, senior night or family night (McDonald & Rascher, 2000). This would mean that organizations would give discounted tickets for senior citizens, or discounted tickets if you buy a certain amount of tickets, say for a family. Price discount promotions seem to drive in more attendance because it is clear that fans love discounts, especially on tickets. Boyd and Krehbiel found the effects of price discounts to be significant (2003). The level of fan attendance increases dramatically when there are price discounts being offered. Shapiro, Drayer & Dwyer discovered that discounted games increased attendance and led to more sellouts of games (2016). As an organization in the sport industry, it is crucial to recognize that price discounts are important to use. However, it is also important to recognize that overusing this method could result in fans not recognizing or taking advantage of the promotion. "Price discounts that run on weekends seemed to draw a significantly larger amount of fans to games than price discounts offered during the week" (Boyd & Krehbiel, 2003, p. 180). Price discount promotions are sometimes more beneficial at certain times rather than others and that should be taken into consideration. Value added promotions involve the enhancement a company gives its products or services to be more appealing to customer. As far as value added items go, this can include fireworks shows, giveaways or family oriented events, which has been found to be a INFLUENCES ON ATTENDANCE 6 significant factor in increasing attendance. According to Howell, Klenosky & McEvoy, giveaways and fireworks were among the top most significant factors reported as reasons for fan attendance at a sporting event (2015). Giveaways are always seen as a significant reason for consumer attendance. For instance, the Rochester Red Wings always have bobble head give away nights, and every time they have one the lines waiting at the gate are crazy. The Red Wings are a good reference when looking at value added promotions because there is always some kind of give away before the game to the first people who enter through the gate (M. Cipro, personal communication, June, 2016). People will wait for any amount of time when they know they are getting value added for their time and effort. According to Boyd and Krehbiel, giveaways have been found to be the most efficient promotion (2003). This is interesting because there are so many different types of promotions that can have an influence on consumers. On field promotions tend to be an additional element to add to the overall entertainment of the game. For instance, between innings at a baseball game there is usually some kind of on field promotion occurring. Basketball games usually have some kind of on court promotions as well. An example of an on field promotion could be a mascot race around the field or a tug of war competition. On average, a promotion that will occur during a game increases attendance by 14% (Boyd & Krehbiel, 2003). However, for this to be the case, "on field promotions need to be creative in order to attract fans to pay attention to them (Eden, Upright & Hey, 2013, p. 18). The whole point of on field promotions is to give the fans something to look at while the game or event is on a break. If the promotion is not entertaining people are likely to be annoyed and even be dissatisfied with the whole event. INFLUENCES ON ATTENDANCE 7 Within the last couple years in the sport industry, there has been a growing trend toward corporate sponsors, which can include sponsored on field promotions. This means that corporations with sponsorship packages use their promotional nights to distribute a product, or giveaway to the fans in attendance (McDonald & Rascher, 2000). A specific example of a sponsored promotion could be the way in which the Genesee Brew House sponsors beer and other promotional nights for the Rochester Americans. Most recently, the Genesee Brew sponsored a happy hour before a Rochester Americans game featuring discounted beer and free music (C. LaFlair, personal communication, December, 2016). Sport sponsorship is a viable component in marketing strategies, and it should always be considered when thinking about promotions (Stutlar, 2004). Marketing of an event or promotion is key to getting consumers into the event. The marketing of the event consists of a diverse collection of tools and designs to stimulate quicker and greater purchase of a product by a consumer (McDonald & Rascher, 2000). A marketer's job is to create unique ways to grab consumer attention. Due to the fact that consumers see tons of advertisements each day, it is important to come up with an advertisement that will make your organization's advertisement stand out to them. We've gone from being exposed to about 500 ads a day back in the 70's to as many as 5,000 a day or more (Johnson, 2006). It is also very important to know your audience and who the message is being targeted at. According to Eden, Upright and Hey, knowing your audience


We study the sampling complexity of a probability distribution associated with an ensemble of identical noninteracting bosons undergoing a quantum random walk on a one-dimensional lattice. With uniform nearest-neighbor hopping we show that one can efficiently sample the distribution for times logarithmic in the size of the system, while for longer times there is no known efficient sampling algorithm. With time-dependent hopping and optimal control, we design the time evolution to approximate an arbitrary Haar-random unitary map analogous to that designed for photons in a linear optical network. This approach highlights a route to generating quantum complexity by optimal control only of a single-body unitary matrix. We study this in the context of two potential experimental realizations: a spinor optical lattice of ultracold atoms and a quantum gas microscope.


In many parts of the land in recent times voices have been raised in criticism of the county. Dreamers have even said, &dquo;Let's abolish the county.&dquo; In spite of the critics, the great majority of Americans do not appear to be greatly concerned about county government. They may occasionally become aware of the need to improve the manner in which a particular service is provided, but such awareness is seldom transformed into a desire to get at the root of the trouble. In 1958 the voters of Oregon evidenced a belief that the time had come to face up to the &dquo;new&dquo; problems of county government and do something about them. They ratified a county home rule amendment to the constitution by a vote of 311,516 to 157,023. In its 1959 session, the Oregon Legislative Assembly passed enabling legislation providing for appointment of a committee in each county to draw up a charter. An alternative arrangement was provided whereby a charter could be presented to the voters by means of an initiative petition. Since that time, eight of Oregon's thirty-six counties have established charter committees, seven of which have prepared charters and submitted them to popular vote. Of the seven, only two passed. Students and others interested in improved county government quite naturally wonder what factors produced success in two counties and defeat in five. Since no two charters were exactly alike, it is possible that provisions in these instruments contributed largely to their respective fates. Due to the nature of the problems involved in any effort to test such an hypothesis, it is not feasible at this point to do more than speculate concerning its significance. Although the difference between success and failure might be traced to the nature of the campaigns conducted for and against individual home rule charters,


In this article, the design and implementation of two 28-GHz millimeter-wave on-chip high selectivity bandpass filters with coupled dual-behavior resonators are proposed. The proposed bandpass filters consist of coupled dual-behavior resonators with open/shorted stubs. Two and three out-of-band transmission zeros can be realized for the two bandpass filters. Two on-chip millimeter-wave bandpass filters are designed and fabricated for verification. The measurement results show that the insertion losses are both less than 2.2 dB at the center frequency. The sizes of the designed filters are <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2.556\,\,\text {mm}\times 1.23$ </tex-math></inline-formula> mm and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$3.155\,\,\text {mm}\times 1.47$ </tex-math></inline-formula> mm, respectively, including the pad.


19 radio bursts (0.01 s time resolution) classified as 42 SER and 41 F types were selected from observations made by the Onďrejov 3 GHz radiometer during 1990–1998. On the 2–4 GHz dynamic radio spectrum in most cases these bursts were identified as decimetric DCIM and in the metric range were accompanied by type III radio bursts indicating the plasma emission origin of these bursts. This set of 3 GHz bursts was analyzed by both the Fourier and the wavelet transform methods searching for characteristic periodicities. Statistical parameters of selected bursts were very similar and almost no difference between 42 SER and 41 F was found. The analysis of the 42 SER and 41 F radio bursts on 3 GHz shows that the number of periods is increasing with decreasing periods, forming a power-law distribution. The dominant periods of the 3 GHz radiation are discussed in the framework of the recent RLC-circuit model with current-carrying magnetic loops. On the basis of this interpretation the electric current densities in the magnetic loops were estimated in the 0.01–0.1 A m −2 range.


Arranged marriages are the norm in traditional Indian families. With the Sindhi community such arranged marriages result at times with Sindhi brides being transplanted in new territories, having to learn new languages in order to communicate with interlocutors in the new setting. We investigate language choices of a Malaysian Sindhi woman who married an Indian Sindhi and settled down in New Delhi in an extended family system. What is the dominant language choice of a transplanted woman in her new family over a period of thirty years? Is it the heritage language, the local languages, or an international language? This research using both Fishman's domain concept for analysing language choice in a number of domains and retrospective data of discourse in a number of settings, will not only determine the dominant languages used but also interview the subject to determine reasons for the choice of the languages. In this way both an etic and emic perspective is provided in this study.


These Monte Carlo studies describe the impact of higher order effects in both QCD and EW $t\bar{t}W$ production. Both next-to-leading inclusive and multileg setups are studied for $t\bar{t}W$ QCD production.


Abstract The taxonomy of the Middle Jurassic ammonite genus Spiroceras Quenstedt, 1856, is critically assessed. It is found that the genus was originally proposed conditionally without any included species, and the type species is Spiroceras bifurcatum Hyatt, 1900, by subsequent monotypy. A neotype is now designated for that species, because Hyatt's figured holotype is lost.


Working life-integrated innovation projects have become a common part of education. An innovation project is a social phenomenon of learning that brings the competence of several individuals together in a social process through which a novel idea is turned into practical reality to convey value to its users. University–industry innovation collaboration research has mainly understood the role of the university as a partner responsible for research. However, these projects are often based on student teamwork, an open challenge from real working life and a predefined intention to produce a concrete, novel, and innovative product, service, or new operating model into use. The outcomes are meant to be taken into use to convey value for business and society. A paucity of empirical research exists on the development and assessment of these innovation education programs based on their effects on the surrounding society. The variables that are important in studying the effects of innovation education projects on surrounding society, participating companies, and organisations must be identified. In this study, a set of effect measurement scale variables were discovered through a document analysis and focus group interviews. The findings imply the importance of recognising the effects of the project both on the clients' and their organisations' goals (project output, benefits of participation, and what survives) and the wider impact of the projects on the surrounding society (impacts on the daily lives of citizens; well-being and health; economy, ecology, digitalisation; and social matters). Thus, a preliminary impact assessment model is suggested.
Keywords: Innovation project, university-industry collaboration, impact, higher education, innovation pedagogy, document analysis, focus group


FIELD: medicine, pharmaceutics. SUBSTANCE: invention refers to medicine and describes a combination of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiole (CBD) cannabinoids in ratio 1:5 for preparing a drug applicable in treating glioma, wherein the cannabinoid concentration falls within the range of 5 to 100 mg of the total cannabinoid concentration, wherein treating glioma involves reducing the cell survival rate, suppressing the cell growth and reducing the tumour volume. EFFECT: invention provides increasing the efficacy of cannabinoids in a combination of THC and CBD in treating glioma. 5 cl, 5 ex, 2 tbl, 6 dwg


To identify regional features of socio-economic conditions of childhood development, the author's method of typologizing Russian regions by the level of well-being of childhood development conditions based on the multi-sign classification method was used. This method is used for comparing objects by a set of indicators. To conduct the analysis, we calculated the ranks of indicators for five groups of indicators (institutional, demographic, infrastructure, financial and economic, and security). The analysis of the obtained results allowed us to distinguish five author's types of regions of the Russian Federation (RF) by the level of favorability of childhood formation.


The political advancement of women has implications beyond the formal significance of justice and equality. Research has shown that women are more likely than their male counterparts to steer political debates towards issues that affect women -such as gender related violence, educational enhancements, and women's economic independence. Additionally, democracy is enhanced when legislators represent a diversity of viewpoints and experiences. Finally, women's political visibility also has a symbolic effect, increasing women's status, and thus reducing gender inequalities more broadly throughout society. The faces of national politicians generally reflect the types of people that society feels are justified to make consequential decisions.


Vehicle to vehicle wireless communication is regarded as a key component for improving safety on the road. There has been increasing interest in addressing the scalability issue with a large literature that has been proposed to mitigate packet congestion problem. LIMERIC is a well-known congestion control protocol which was adopted by the current ETSI standardization bodies to be applied in the future deployment of VANETs. In this study, the objective is to evaluate the application reliability of using the density information in this problem. In this paper, we compare LIMERIC to LIMERIC-D to provide an answer to the question whether density estimation can improve the performance of the congestion control strategies regarding application reliability. The simulation results shows the effectiveness of the use of the density information to improve the performance of congestion control protocols in VANETs.


The title steroid, C31 H5004, is shown to pack in a highly anisotropic manner. Only a-face-to-/~-face contacts are found in the stacks formed along the b direction, there are only head-to-tail contacts in the c direction and the acetate groups lie in layers normal to c.


We demonstrate the existence of topologically stable unpaired exceptional points (EPs), and construct simple non-Hermitian (NH) tight-binding models exemplifying such remarkable nodal phases. While fermion doubling, i.e. the necessity of compensating the topological charge of a stable nodal point by an anti-dote, rules out a direct counterpart of our findings in the realm of Hermitian semimetals, here we derive how noncommuting braids of complex energy levels may stabilize unpaired EPs. Drawing on this insight, we reveal the occurrence of a single, unpaired EP, manifested as a non-Abelian monopole in the Brillouin zone of a minimal three-band model. This third-order degeneracy represents a sweet spot within a larger topological phase that cannot be fully gapped by any local perturbation. Instead, it may only split into simpler (second-order) degeneracies that can only gap out by pairwise annihilation after having moved around inequivalent large circles of the Brillouin zone. Our results imply the incompleteness of a topological classification based on winding numbers, due to non-Abelian representations of the braid group intertwining three or more complex energy levels, and provide insights into the topological robustness of non-Hermitian systems and their non-Abelian phase transitions.


The present invention relates to an organic light emitting device and a manufacturing method thereof. The organic light emitting device includes a lower configuration element, an upper configuration element, and a bonding layer which bonds the lower configuration element to the upper configuration element. The lower configuration element includes a thin transistor layer, a light emitting device layer, and a passivation layer which are laminated on one side of a lower substrate facing the bonding layer without a separate adhesive. The upper configuration element includes a touch sensor, a light shielding layer, and a color filter layer which are laminated on one side of the upper substrate facing the bonding layer without the separate adhesive. The organic light emitting device according to the present invention implements a flexible device by reducing a thickness and a curvature by decreasing the number of the bonding layers in comparison with the existing device.


The node localization is one of the key technologies in wireless sensor network.The centroid algorithm localization means that node self-localization relies on wireless sensor network connectivity,but error is large.In order to improve positioning precision,an optimization weighted centroid localization algorithm based on RSSI was presented in consideration of less affection by environment for centroid localization algorithm,and easy to use localization technology based on RSSI.Distance was got through RSSI,combined with optimization weighted centroid algorithm,node was located.Simulation results show that,the average error of positioning decreased,and localization precision was improved by this algorithm.


A straightforward functionalization strategy for the direct attachment of single-stranded oligonucleotides (ssDNA) to quantum dot (qdot) interfaces is described. The approach takes advantage of a histidine-mediated phase transfer protocol that results in qdots with high colloidal stability in aqueous buffers. The weakly bound histidine encapsulation facilitates monolayer exchanged with both thiolated ssDNA and polyhistidine-tagged proteins. The successful biomodification at the qdot interface was probed by FRET analysis. The modest FRET efficiencies measured suggest the DNA to be in an extended conformation that is the result of high surface coverage that the direct attachment provides.


When unexpected events occur within a city, scientific methods can be used to help decision-makers route emergency vehicles. Dispatching this decision method effectively improves emergency response abilities. The focus of this paper is the effectiveness, safety, and economy of emergency material transportation under time-varying conditions and structure features, which is the objective function. By weighting the dimensions, the multiple attribute decision making problem is then transformed into a single attribute decision problem. The maximum expected utility program of the vehicle routing model is chosen, and the design of the Dijkstra algorithm is used to further improve the solution. Finally, an example analysis is performed to prove the feasibility of the proposed method.


Uncertainty, fear to harm the patient, discomfort handling the discussion and lack of time are the most cited barriers to prognostic disclosure. Physicians can be reassured that patients desire the truth about prognosis and can manage the discussion without harm, including the uncertainty of the information, if approached in a sensitive manner. Conversational guides could provide support in preparing such difficult conversations. Communicating 'with realism and hope' is possible, and anxiety is normal for both patients and clinicians during prognostic disclosure. As a clinician pointed out: 'I had asked a mentor once if it ever got easier. - No. But you get better at it.'


Although Luria would not join the faculty at MIT until 1959, he maintained a relationship with the university's biology
 department beginning in the mid-1950s. In 1956, Luria was invited to help MIT further develop its life sciences programs--in
 part to determine what actions MIT would need to take to lure the scientist to the school. These were his recommendations.


measurements at different spatial scales was used to estimate three architectural properties: surface roughness (Lr), the scale of roughness elements (S,), and fine-scale surface texture, the latter characterized by the fractal dimension (D) of the canopy profile. Boundary layer properties were assessed by evaporation of ethanol from samples in a wind-tunnel at wind speeds from 0.6 to 4.2 m/s and applied to characterize mass transfer using principles of dynamic similarity (i.e., using dimensionless representations of conductance and flow). In addition, particle image velocimetry (PIV) was used to visualize and quantify flow over two species. All cushions exhibited the characteristics of turbulent as opposed to laminar boundary layers, and conductance increased with surface roughness. Bryophyte canopies with higher Lr had greater conductances at all wind speeds. Particle image velocimetry analysis verified that roughness elements interacted with flow and caused turbulent eddies to enter canopies, enhancing evaporation. All three morphological features were significantly associated with evaporation. When L, S,, and D were incorporated with a flow parameter into a conductance model using multiple linear regression, the model accounted for 91% of the variation in mass transfer.


JEL classification: G15 C33 Keywords: Stock market linkages Heterogeneity Gravity model Dynamic panel-data Information capacity a b s t r a c t This paper uses a dynamic panel-data gravity model to explain the correlations between 40 markets from 1996 to 2010 using four types of market linkages: information capacity, financial integration , economic integration, and similarity in industrial structure. The mechanism of interdependence of developed markets and that of developing markets are heterogeneous: (1) information capacity and industrial structure similarity have significant impact on the correlations of a developed market with other markets; (2) economic integration drives the correlations of a developing market with other markets; (3) financial integration is important for interdependence among developed markets and that among developing markets, but not for that between developed and developing markets. The EMU has a significant positive impact on stock market integration from 1996 to 2002. This impact increases after the inauguration of the EMU in 1999 but does not increase further after the monetary transition being accomplished in 2002.


The Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) is an agency responsible for transit operations and roadway development in Jacksonville (Duval County), Florida. With this responsibility, JTA is uniquely positioned to develop and to implement roadway improvements that directly facilitate transit system access and operations. Since 2012, the commitment to improving transit and safety in the city of Jacksonville has been significant. In December 2014, JTA completed a route optimization initiative that was designed to increase frequency and reliability within a newly defined system of 14 high-frequency mobility corridors. To improve greatly the safety and the experience of the first- and last-mile transit user, JTA created two supporting initiatives as part of the mobility corridors program: transit enhancements and complete streets. These initiatives were intended to deal directly with deficiencies in roadway and transit infrastructure, such as gaps in sidewalks and Americans with Disabilities Act–compliant ...


SiC material is the third generation semiconductor material,which is limited for export by other country for its being used in military field.In this paper,the basic characteristics of SiC materials are introduced firstly.The grow methods of SiC chips and the manufacture corporations are summarized.The emphasis is on the development of SiC chips in China.The application areas of SiC devices and the prospect of the market are given lastly.The industrial chain of the fabrication,application of the SiC material and devices should be constructed in China.


Fucoxanthin has been successfully extracted and purified from two species of Malaysian brown
seaweeds, namely S. binderi and S. duplicatum. The purity of the fucoxanthin is >99% as indicated by
HPLC analysis. Fucoxanthin content, total lipid and fatty acid composition of the seaweeds showed that
both samples contained a considerable amount of fucoxanthin and total lipid. The amount of
fucoxanthin and total lipid contents of S. duplicatum (1.01 ± 0.10 and 21.3 ± 0.10 mg/g dry-weight,
respectively) was significantly higher than those of S. binderi (0.73 ± 0.39 and16.6 ± 4.10, respectively).
Both types of seaweeds also contained a considerable amount of unsaturated fatty acids. However, in
terms of docosahexanoic acid, eicosapentanoic acid, arachidonic acid, linoleic acid and alpha-linolenic
acid contents, S. duplicatum was found to be higher (0.76, 2.55, 13.64, 5.81 and 5.35%, respectively)
than S. binderi (0.70, 1.82, 9.13, 6.37 and 4.39%, respectively). For saturated fatty acids, palmitic (C16:0)
was found to be the major fatty acid in both samples studied.


Based on a low-cost, micromachined IR source with subsequent gas specific filter, photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) was investigated in a non-resonant operating mode of a gas chamber. In addition, non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) transmission measurements based on a thermopile detector were used to expand the measurement range, but also for monitoring purposes. Compared to many existing systems using expensive laser sources for stimulation of acoustic pressure waves in a resonant mode of operation, the approach is based on low-cost components. The IR source was modulated in the frequency range between 1 and 10 Hz. To achieve enhanced resolution and a good signal to noise ratio the sensor raw data - both for IR transmission as well as PAS - were evaluated using discrete Fourier transformation (DFT). By combining PAS and NDIR a wide concentration range is achieved, e.g. 50 to 20,000 ppm for CO2 for a measurement chamber with a length of 9 cm. Whereas the NDIR transmission measurement is suitable for monitoring higher concentrations, the PAS measurement is more sensitive to lower gas concentrations. Furthermore, the modular system allows the realization of a self-monitoring scheme at least for medium concentrations by comparing the signals measured with both approaches.


Purpose – This paper aims to discuss and test the claim that utilization of the personalization techniques can be valuable to improve the efficiency of collaborative information retrieval (CIR) systems.Design/methodology/approach – A new personalized CIR system, called PERCIRS, is presented based on the user profile similarity calculation (UPSC) formulas. To this aim, the paper proposes several UPSC formulas as well as two techniques to evaluate them. As the proposed CIR system is personalized, it could not be evaluated by Cranfield, like evaluation techniques (e.g. TREC). Hence, this paper proposes a new user‐centric mechanism, which enables PERCIRS to be evaluated. This mechanism is generic and can be used to evaluate any other personalized IR system.Findings – The results show that among the proposed UPSC formulas in this paper, the (query‐document)‐graph based formula is the most effective. After integrating this formula into PERCIRS and comparing it with nine other IR systems, it is concluded that th...


Posted 4/24 – New Election Guidance from Vermont Secretary of State [1] – for keeping voters and election workers safe in upcoming local elections Required Employee Training now available from VOSHA and Dept. of Health [2] – All Vermont employees returning to work must complete COVID-19 training before 5/4/20 Webinar Recording: Local Financing Opportunities to Help Communities Recover [3] Agency of Transportation Phase 1 Restart Plan [4] – Effective 4/20/20 – Towns may wish to model their policies on this ACCD's 4/24/20 Guidance for Work Safe Additions to Stay Home Order [5] – Affects recreation maintenance, libraries, farmers markets; expands health & safety requirements; requires training in those requirements Vermont Dept. of Health PPE Guidance [6] – Version 1.1, released 4/21/20 – for several distinct professional settings including first responders CDC Resources for First Responders and Law Enforcement [7] Invest EAP Webinars for Municipal Leaders Faced with Organizational Turmoil [8] – Wed 4/29, 4:15 PM and Fri 5/1, 9:15 AM – PACIF member managers, administrators, and other leaders will learn about key EAP services available during this stressful time WEBINAR: Municipal Essential Functions and Services Explained [9] – watch recorded webinar Updates from Governor Scott [10] WEBINAR: Property Valuation Review and COVID-19 [11] Wed 5/6, 10 AM – For listers, assessors, and others involved in the assessment process


Field research was conducted which provided evidence of more direct forms of democracy being applied to Jamaica's traditional representative (indirect) form of Westminster democracy. The evidence indicates that forms of deliberative democracy (through parish and community development committees), techno-democracy, and referenda are being developed or at least more intensely discussed as mechanisms for involving citizens in decision-making more directly. Since the end of the cold war and the fall of communism, democracy has undergone changes in meaning and institutional application designed to meet new expectations and demands now being made by the citizens of democratic states. Along with this is a growing concern among political science scholars and institutional engineers over the present state of liberal representative democracy. Robert Putnam (Putnam 1993) notes that in the United States there has been a withdrawal among the citizenry from the institutions of representation, a decline of social capital and a retreat from civic engagement. People are no longer holding their political leaders accountable as they used to and the levels of political trust have declined markedly. This is an age which beckons new and reformed models of democracy which are more direct, inclusive and participatory. Dalton confirms this when he says: "the past quarter of century has seen two concurrent trends with major potential consequences for Western democracies; decreased interest and participation in the institutions of representative democracy and a groundswell of demand for institutional reforms to expand citizen involvement in political decision-making."1 This suggests that 1 Russell Dal ton, Citizen Politics: Public Opinion and Political Order, 2002, taken from


ABSTRACT: PhD students have to take responsibility managing their own learning and getting a PhD. They are also responsible for determining what is required as well as for carrying it out, and must always keep in touch in regular meetings with the supervisor. The student is the main person responsible for his/her PhD research. Doing a PhD clearly indicates that this is a student's own research and work. The objective of this research is to provide better guidelines for effective roles of a PhD science student, especially the foreign student. The actual research to be reported used the case study method. Three Malaysian PhD students from three major disciplines of study i.e. arts, science and social science, were interviewed in depth several times within a year. All three case studies would make the present article too long. Therefore, only one case study which focusing on science student will be presented in this article in order to achieve a better understanding of the story. As a result, the research had developed the best effective guidelines in order for students to success in their study. KEY WORDS: f oreign student, PhD research student, and roles of supervision in the university. About the Author: D r. Norhasni Zainal Abiddin is a lecturer at the Department of Professional Development and Continuing Education, Faculty of Educational Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). She could be reached at: email@example.com How to cite this article? Abiddin, Norhasni Zainal. (2008). "Exploring Challenges in PhD Studies: A Case of Science Student" in EDUCARE: International Journal for Educational Studies , Vol.1(1) August, pp.103-116. Bandung, Indonesia: Minda Masagi Press owned by ASPENSI in Bandung, West Java; and FKIP UMP in Purwokerto, Central Java, ISSN 1979-7877. Chronicle of the article: Accepted (June 9, 2008); Revised (July 10, 2008); and Published (August 17, 2008).


Pulmonary thromboembolisms (APEs) are one of the leading causes of death, and they are increasing worldwide. Contrast-enhanced chest computed tomography (CT) is the most robust imaging tool for diagnosing APEs, but a fluoroscopic video analysis workstation (Radwisp™) was newly developed to evaluate the pulmonary circulation without using contrast medium (Figure), and it can be useful as a diagnostic device in APEs. Nonetheless, it has not been validated whether Radwisp has the potential to accurately diagnose APEs.

 In this study, 10 consequence suspected APE patients (male:female ratio, 1:1, mean age 68.5±16 years) in our hospital were enrolled between January 2020 and April 2021. All patients were suspected of having APEs from their symptoms and physical examinations, and therefore, were scheduled for contrast-enhanced CT and cineradiographic imaging based on standard X-rays on the same day. The cineradiographic images were taken with a 20 second breath-hold followed by breathing. The cineradiographic X-ray images were moved to the fluoroscopic video analysis workstation (Radwisp™). Blinded to the patient information and contrast-enhanced CT images, four cardiologists evaluated the presence or absence of APEs, and if APEs were diagnosed, the extent of pulmonary artery filling defects due to thrombi, solely from the Radwisp-based images. We compared the findings from the Radwisp-based images to those from the contrast-enhanced CT imaging.

 Of a total of 10 patients, 7 were diagnosed with APEs from the contrast-enhanced CT imaging, while 3 were not. All images were created within 5 minutes and the image quality was high even during breathing. three doctors accurately diagnosed 7 patients with APEs and 3 without APEs. In all 7 patients, contrast-enhance CT imaging after treatment (rivaroxaban 30mg for average 12±4 days) identified full recovery of the pulmonary circulation over both lungs, which was correctly identified on the Radwisp image by 3 doctors.

 In this validation study, the diagnostic accuracy of the Radwisp™ for APEs was reliably high. In addition, this imaging could correctly identify filling defects in pulmonary arteries. This novel Radwisp-based imaging can be a simple and reliable diagnostic tool for identifying not only APE patients, but also the severity of the pulmonary circulation caused by thrombi, and its therapeutic effects, especially in patients with severe dyspnea and renal disfunction. Radwisp™ can enable further diagnosis of the site of embolism and determination of therapeutic effect. Further studies will be needed to obtain a consistent diagnostic accuracy of APEs in patients with other pulmonary diseases.

 Type of funding sources: Private company. Main funding source(s): Paramevia Pte. Ltd A Radwisp analysis show pulmonary defect


Objective: Family Violence (FV) is a prevalent and important health problem worldwide. Witnessing FV has been linked to negative mental, behavioral, and physical outcomes, similar to being a direct victim of FV. This study aims to investigate the influence of witnessing FV on sexual and reproductive health of adolescents and young adults (AYAs). Method: A systematic review was performed, including original studies between 2000 and 2015, both quantitative and qualitative, found in MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and Web of Science. Outcomes were chosen according to the WHO indicators for sexual and reproductive health. Forty-five studies were selected. Sample sizes ranged from 20 to 12,308 participants. Critical appraisal using CASP was performed on all articles. Results: Because of a broad range of outcomes and subjects, no meta-analysis could be performed. Results were grouped into 5 outcome categories. Witnessing FV seems to have an influence on sexual risk-taking and sexual violence perpetration, comparable to the influence of direct abuse. Results on sexual victimization and adolescent pregnancy remain inconclusive. Pubertal timing appears not to be influenced by witnessing FV. Conclusions: Nine of 11 studies appraised as strong and moderate found a positive correlation between witnessing FV and the sexual or reproductive health of AYAs. Because of low study quality, more meticulous and longitudinal research is needed to adequately determine temporal sequence and causality of witnessing FV and sexual and reproductive health.


Recently data centric routing or application dependent routing protocols are emerged in mobile ad hoc networks. In this paper, we propose a routing method for query processing in MANET(Mobile Ad hoc NETwork) environment, called road-based query routing, with consideration on real time traffic information of large number of vehicles. In particular, we focus on the method that process arrival time dependent shortest path query in MANET without a central server on the road networks. The main idea of our approach lies in a routing message that includes query predicates based on the road connectivity and on data gathering method in real time from vehicles on the road by ad-hoc network. We unify route discovery phase and data delivery(query processing) phase in our mechanism and reduce unnecessary flooding messages by pruning mobile nodes which are not on the same or neighboring road segments. In order to evaluate the performances of the proposed method, we established a model of road networks and mobile nodes which travel along the roads. The measurement factor is the number of nodes to whom route request is propagated according to each pruning strategy. Simulation result shows that road information is a dominant factor to reduce the number of messages.


Rice has displaced many traditional staples to become the second most important cereal after maize in Ghana. Domestic rice production has not kept pace with the increased demand, resulting in the importation of about 70% of rice consumed in Ghana, which costs about US$700 million annually. Rice demand is projected to grow at an annual growth rate of 11.8 percent. Despite the increased demand, average rice yield in Ghana is estimated to be 2.5 tonnes ha, while the attainable yield based on on-farm trials is 6–8 tonnes ha. Low inherent soil fertility, low rate of adoption of improved technologies, and policy distortions have been identified as the reasons for the low rice yield. The problem of low soil fertility is compounded by the inability of resource poor farmers to purchase finished fertilizer products for application and uniform fertilizer recommendations across agroecologies. The objectives of this study are to: (1) elucidate soil variability patterns of dominant lowland soils of the interior savanna of Ghana; (2) evaluate the effects of pyrolysis and calcination temperature on two locally available phosphorous (P) resources, (rice husk biochar (RHB) and Burkina phosphate rock (BPR) as a means of increasing P availability); (3) evaluate the two local P resources in a field trial to elucidate their effect on rice growth and yield and, (4) determine whether data captured using UAS technology can be correlated with key agronomic parameters in a lowland rice system. The results confirm the poor fertility status of these lowlands, in terms of very low levels of organic matter, ammonium, nitrate and phosphorous. At the Sampigbaa and Fuu sites, soil K, Ca, Mg, Na, clay and silt contents among other soil properties increased with increasing distance from the stream while P and sand showed a decreasing trend, probably reflecting deposition from overbank flooding. At the Doninga site, local relief, as captured by the digital terrain model (DTM) of the site, was more significant in explaining the pattern of variability, while the Tampola site showed variation characteristic of a


Abstract An efficient synthesis and the mutagenicity in Salmonella typhimurium and V79 cells of the diastereomeric syn− and anti−11,12-dihydrodiol 13,14-epoxides of dibenzo[a,l]pyrene are described.


A mild two-step method was used to cleave the lactam ring of the tricyclic intermediate 1. A key racemic amino alcohol precursor 5 for the construction of Et-743 skeleton was synthesized from 1 through four steps in total yield of 47%.


A float nozzle was designed and developed for use with large-scale industrial circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boilers. The gas distributor equipped with the float nozzle has a unique pressure drop characteristic. It has a higher resistance than other nozzles which results in the formation of an effective barrier against backflow at low boiler loads, which results from the pressure fluctuation caused by bubble burst and solids coming from the recycle system. In addition, it has a relatively low pressure drop at high or full boiler loads, which can greatly reduce the energy cost of the primary air fan.


Illegal mining activities in the kolaka regency of Southeast Sulawesi province is one of the mines whose location is in the conservation area of nature tourism park. Mining by means of dredging with an average depth of up to 15 meters and indiscriminate stockpiling after mining, using mercury chemicals (hg) so make the land damaged and unproductive, changes in the landscape and damage the physical properties of the soil that makes the soil pH becomes sour, so as to make soil quality low, dust texture increased and soil compaction that makes soil chemistry decreased, so can not support the growth of plants around the mine, the occurrence of heavy erosion and loss of top soil. the mining area reaches 50 hectares which damages the soil quality and removes vegetation around the area.


The discriminatory power of different segments of a human face is studied end a new scheme for face recognition is proposed. We first focus on the linear discriminant analysis (LDA) of human faces in spatial and wavelet domains, which enables us to objectively evaluate the significant of visual information in different parts of the face for identifying the person. The results of this study can be compared with subjective psychovisual findings. The LDA of faces also provides us with a small set of features that carry the most relevant information for face recognition. The features are obtained through the eigenvector analysis of scatter matrices with the objective of maximizing between class variations and minimizing within class variations. The result is an efficient projection based feature extraction and classification scheme for recognition of human faces. For a midsize database of faces excellent classification accuracy is achieved with only four features.


ABSTRACT We define an Islamic economy as one with borrowing restrictions, no leverage, and no risk-free asset. We derive a consumption-based asset pricing model for this economy under standard preferences. We demonstrate that news to consumption growth is the main driver of Islamic financial markets, but the degree of borrowing constraints also affects the pricing of Islamic assets. Using Saudi Arabian data, simulations show that our model does a good job in matching the observed equity premium as well as the volatility of the market return. Our model implies that the price-dividend ratio predicts dividend growth, and as a result that prices are driven mainly by cash-flow news rather than by discount rate news. Empirical tests show that our model is consistent with the data.


The advent of colonialism witnessed the usurpation of powers of traditional rulers by the invading forces of Western Europe in Nigeria and many African countries. During the pre-colonial era, traditional rulers occupied crucial positions of authority in Nigeria and many African Kingdoms. They were highly revered and believed to be representatives of the gods on earth. In Nigeria, Traditional rulers were the political and spiritual heads of the various kingdoms. The pre existing traditional political structure in some parts of Nigeria, no doubt, facilitated the implementation of indirect rule system by the British colonial masters. Since the attainment of Nigeria's independence in 1960, traditional rulers hardly feature in the political scene. Successive post independence regimes have made tremendous moves to reincorporate the roles of institution in the constitution without actualizing it. This paper shall critically x-ray the place of traditional institution under the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The paper shall equally delve into the contemporary trend in some other jurisdictions.