Recombinant human erythropoietin is arguably the most successful therapeutic application of recombinant DNA technology to date. Since the initial reports — which appeared 22 and 23 years ago1,2 — d...


Considering the difficulty of achieving the goal of this session due to the large number of participants involved in the discussion (workshop, tuesday 28, 18 : 30), an ad hoc committee of concerned users was appointed to review the definitions and parameters relevant for specifying streak camera system characteristics.


The U. S. Geological Survey, on behalf of the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission, performs a broad range of geologic and hydrologic studies related to underground nuclear explosions at the Nevada Test Site. One phase of the studies involved extensive geophysical logging and hydraulic testing in deep exploratory holes at Pahute Mesa, Nevada Test Site. Various geophysical logs and hydraulic testing techniques used in the study are described in this paper.

Interpretations of logs and logging techniques depend on factors such as rock characteristics in a particular area, drilling methods, and the objectives of the hydrologic investigations. From experience gained at Pahute Mesa, some qualitative data on rock lithologies and hydraulic conditions in the borehole may be determined by electric, caliper, temperature, and fluid resistivity logs. Quantitative data on the major water-yielding intervals in the borehole are obtained from radioactive tracer or spinner surveys. Interpretations of the geophysical logs have been verified by isolating specific zones in the drill holes with inflatable packers and spacers. These intervals were tested by injection or swabbing of fluid and measuring the resultant change in water level caused by fluid outflow from or inflow to the interval of rock isolated by the packers.


OBJECTIVE: To examine the utility of electroencephalography (EEG) in clinical decision making in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) in regards to the prescription of anti-seizure medications.
BACKGROUND: In the post-AIS population, the incidence of seizure ranges from 2-10[percnt]. Anti-seizure medications have negative effects on stroke recovery; therefore, prescription requires consideration of the risks and benefits. The impact of EEG use on anti-seizure medication prescription in post-AIS patients is unknown.
DESIGN/METHODS: Consecutive patients >18 years admitted with AIS from 9/2008-8/2013 with inpatient EEG at any time during admission were included. For analysis, patients were grouped as having positive EEG (+) for epileptiform activity or negative EEG (-). Patients' charts were retrospectively reviewed for anti-epileptic drug (AED) use before, during, and after AIS hospitalization.
RESULTS: Of the 276 patients meeting inclusion criteria, 19 (6.88[percnt]) had EEG+. Patients did not significantly differ with respect to any demographic or baseline characteristics with the exception of prior history of seizure. 109 patients (39.49[percnt]) were started on an AED before EEG. In the EEG- group, AED was started on 36.96[percnt] of patients before the study was read. In the EEG- group, AEDs were discontinued in only 11.58[percnt] of patients; another 4.67[percnt] of EEG- patients were started on AEDs after the EEG was read. More than 50[percnt] of EEG- patients started on an AED were discharged with a prescription for at least one AED.
CONCLUSIONS: In our sample population, the absence of epileptiform discharges on EEG did not routinely lead to a discontinuation of anti-seizure medications. More than one third of patients who had EEG without epileptiform discharges were started on an anti-seizure medication and more than half of these patients were continued on anti-seizure medication(s) through discharge, raising concern for unnecessary exposure to medications with negative implications for neurological recovery. Disclosure: Dr. Rao has nothing to disclose. Dr. Monlezun, Jr has nothing to disclose. Dr. Kimbrough has nothing to disclose. Dr. Samai has nothing to disclose. Dr. Burkett has nothing to disclose. Dr. El Khoury has nothing to disclose. Dr. Martin-Schild has received personal compensation for activities with Genentech.


On 18 February 1984, the Republic of Italy and the Vatican signed the Revised Agreement of the 1929 Lateran Covenant.1 This entered into effect in the Italian legislation on 25 March 1985 (Law No. 121) after ratification by the House of Representatives and Senate. The Agreement called for the creation of a Bilateral Commission in charge of developing a specific regulation on two difficult and contro versial matters: the regulation of ecclesiastical institutions and the re view of the financial commitments of the Italian government in favor of the Catholic clergy. Within the assigned time frame the Commission drafted a regula tion on these subjects which was approved by the Italian government and the Vatican in a special protocol signed on 15 November 1984. Fifteen years after the historic Revised Agreement, in spite of the long


Aiming at improving the detecting frequency and sensitivity,mountain-climb searching algorithm was used in projective capacitive touch-screen for the capacitance mea-suring of the sensor-electrodes.With the control of computer programs and some detecting circuits,the ordinary mountain-climb searching algorithm and the optimized one were rea-lized on a precise projective capacitive touch-screen.The analysis of the program running process indicates that,with the mountain-climb searching algorithm,the detecting frequency of a precise projective capacitive touch-screen can be improved for at less several times compared with the tradition detecting methods.Except this,the optimized mountain-climb searching algorithm can also improved the anti local disturb capability of the touch-screen.Test of sensitivity by line-drawing methods also indicates that the mountain-climb searching algorithm can effectively improve the detecting sensitivity of projective capacitive touch-screen.


A stratospheric satellite, which is a new type of low-cost and low-energy-consumption spacecraft, can be controlled by a stratosail to orbit around the Earth's stratosphere from east to west at the height of 35 km. This paper researches on the visual simulation system of the stratospheric satellite's trajectory control. First, based on the more complete investigation of the characteristics of stratospheric environment and stratospheric winds, the trajectory control method of the stratospheric satellite is proposed, and then the components of the stratospheric satellite and their functions are given: a super-pressure helium balloon is used to balance the gravity, a stratosail to control the trajectory, and a 15km-long tether to connect the balloon and the stratosail to make them located in different wind strata. Second, the dynamic models of the balloon and stratosail are derived more compactly due to the appropriate options and definitions of various coordinate systems. After that, various simulations are carried out in scenarios of different wind conditions. Third, according to the dynamic models, the trajectory control scheme is proposed. In the end, the Creator and Vega Prime software platforms are applied to develop a visual simulation system for the trajectory control of the stratospheric satellite using the results of numerical simulations as input. The results of the visual simulation system show that the stratosail can be used to control the trajectory of stratospheric satellites precisely. Moreover, in the presence of wind disturbances the stratospheric satellite can still be controlled by the stratosail to fly from east to west along the predefined trajectory, namely, the control of the south-north direction is stable. Furthermore, through the visual simulation system, the trajectory control can be demonstrated visually, which means the control performance can be evaluated more intuitively.


For spectrally negative Levy risk processes we consider a generalized version of the De Finetti's optimal dividend problem with fixed transaction costs, where the ruin time is replaced by a general drawdown time in the framework. We identify a condition under which a band–type impulse dividend strategy is optimal among all admissible impulse strategies. As a consequence, we are able to extend the previous results on ruin time based impulse dividend optimization problem to those on drawdown time based impulse dividend optimization problems. A new type of drawdown function is proposed at end, and various numerical examples are presented to illustrate the existence of those optimal impulse dividend strategies under different assumptions.


In the present paper feasibility and potential advantages of using diode laser for surgical treatment of cerebral ischemia and intracranial aneurysms will be evaluated. At this purpose non linear mathematical model was developed and experimentally validated to investigate the effects of the changes in tissue physical properties, in terms of operating time, tensile strength and tissue damage during medical laser application. The numerical simulations have been carried on by a finite-elements based software package (FEMLAB). In vitro results of human saphenous veins of inferior limbs (n=55) after 799 nm diode laser soldering, combined with an indocyanine green-enhanced, will be presented. The simulations results and their comparison with experimental measurements will be reported.


We investigate the responsibilities of the session manager in a multi-channel streaming video session over wireless networks. The session manager decides how many channels should be active in the next time interval on the basis of session measurement reports and other considerations. We suggest a simple algorithm for session management and evaluate its performance against unmanaged multi-channel sessions. Experimental results reveal that system performance significantly improved in the managed as compared to the unmanaged session.


Multinational Corporations have devoted much to the development of China's economy since China began making reform and open policy. However, It also makes the enterprises of China face great challenge. How multinational Corporations in China developing now is expressed in this article. The paper analyzes what multinational corporations have affected China's economy, and brought forward some measures the enterprises of China should adopt to cope with the challenge.


The experimental was aimed to improve genetic of Bandarah Local chicken strain to insert Growth hormone gene (cGH) from (Cobb 500) broiler strain by method sperm-mediated gene transfer technique (SMGT). This study investigated for two generations. Total RNA was extracted from chicken liver tissue and the cDNA was successfully prepared. PCR Products GH, mRNA normal Length 810bp for transgenic Bandarah chickens which treated by SMGT method, the same result was found in the first and second generation. The averages of fertility percentage were 88.97% and 92.14 % for SMGT and control, respectively. The overall mean of the second generation was nearly value 90.76% of the first one 90.38%.The responses of the transgenic techniques SMGT for fertility percentage were 5.64%. The responses of hatchability for SMGT were 18.35% and 21.82% for fertile and total eggs, respectively The SMGT of transferring was decreased the age at sexual maturity ASM at the second generation by 35.01 d. Egg number which produced during the first 90 days from SMGT method significantly increased compared by the control. There was highly significant difference between treated found, the SMGT method had the heaviest egg weight 49.20 g followed by control one 48.22 g. After two generations, the SMGT technique was improved egg number by 10.62 egg, decreased egg weight by 0.9g and improved egg mass during the first 90 days of laying by 512.62 g. SMGT is an efficient method that will hopefully facilitate the implementation of strategies for securing the benefits that can be expected to arise from the introduction of transgenic chicken. Chicken cGH gene was affected in egg productive traits and reproductive traits and moved from the first generation to the second generation with the same shape and increased the effect. Growth hormone gene transfer by SMGT will save time to improve egg productive traits and reproductive


The features of the Clinux as a built in platform and its difference from the normal Linux are discussed. A general development procedure of the μCLinux transplantation to various built in hardware platform is summarized.


In recent years, wind and other variable renewable energy sources have gained a rapidly increasing share of the global energy mix. In this context the greatest concern facing renewable energy sourc ...


spaces. We must therefore acknowledge that the site where geographical knowledge was acquired was more than the physical spot where it was observed but the controlled environment where it could be replicated for a discerning audience by rationalising it within a broader archive. Place" as abstract space is a concept which helps explain how contemporary society comprehended a particular location of knowledge that could not be pinpointed in one site. For the traveller, following an un-mapped route, their entire path was a location of potential observations but one that necessitated interaction between the observer and the unknown. It was a dialogue between "here" and "there", which was often coloured by pre-existing discursive traditions and geographical imaginings. It is useful then to recognise that instances where Britons made contact with the West African landscape and its people involved exchanges occurring within a culturally-constructed framework of interacting spaces. Particular significance is thus associated not only with the observation of new information, but where, when, and by whom it was recorded as David Lambert has found in the case of British investigations of the Niger in the early nineteenth century. These 106 Livingstone, The Geographical Tradition (1992); see also C.W.J. Withers & D. Livingstone, 'Introduction: On Geography and Enlightenment' in D.N. Livingstone & C.W.J. Withers (eds.), Geography and Enlightenment (London, 1999), 3-4. 107 D. Outram, 'New spaces in natural history' in N. Jardine, J.A. Secord & E.C. Spary (eds.), Cultures of Natural History (Cambridge, 1996), 249-264. 108 Mayhew, 'Geography as the Eye of Enlightenment Historiography' (2010), 611-627. 109 D. Lambert, ''Taken Captive by the Mystery of the Great River': Towards an Historical Geography of British Geography and Atlantic Slavery' in Journal of Historical Geography 35 (2009), 44-65. 46 pressures are understood to have significant consequences for the intellectual practices of observing, recording and publishing of new discoveries. The contemporary concern regarding the legitimacy of geographic observations made in the field has been linked by Withers to the literary practice of correspondence that was adapted to act as a reliable intermediary between the reader and the first-hand observations of travellers. Enlightenment traditions that encouraged the exchange of information were grounded in a network of scholars who wrote to each other. Distance between writers, combined with the unlikelihood of meeting, stimulated the emergence of detached literary traditions which travellers in the field often sought to imitate as they recorded their observations for the benefit of a domestic audience. The eighteenth century "quest for impartiality in relationship to others," Lorraine Daston has argued, contributed to the evolving "quest for objectivity" in the nineteenth. That issue of "objectivity" became the crux around which sciences such as geography converged as a means of attributing value to contributing information. Consequently, Mayhew has noted the compilation of English geographical texts in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries increasingly overlooked sources of information that were deemed less valuable in favour of those which conformed to these changing standards of the geographical discourse. Significantly, the expectations of geography's intended audience appear to have been borne in mind as descriptions of foreign lands were written with reference to sources which would be received as the most appropriate by readers; that is, geographers recognised the "spheres of interests" which dictated their market. There are various themes within the contemporary quest-for-knowledge relating to the discourse of external powers such as market interests (as Harley recognised) which cannot help but influence the appearance, content and distribution of cartography. "The contextual approach to 110 C.W.J. Withers, 'Travel, en route Writing, and the Problem of Correspondence' in M. Hvattum, B. Brenna, B. Elvebakk & J.K. Larsen, Routes, Roads and Landscapes (Surrey, 2011), 85-93. 111 D. Bleichmar, 'The Geography of Observation: Distance and Visibility in Eighteenth-Century Botanical Travel' in L. Daston & E. Lunbeck (eds.), Histories of Scientific Observation (Chicago, 2011), 373-395. 112 L. Daston, 'The Ideal and Reality of the Republic of Letters in the Enlightenment' in Science in Context 4:2 (1991), 383. 113 R. Mayhew, 'Mapping science's imagined community: geography as a Republic of Letters, 1600-1800' in The British Journal for the History of Science 38:01 (March, 2005), 73-92, 87. 47 the history of geography," Driver writes, "is thus more concerned with mapping the lateral associations and social relations of geographical knowledge..." Mayhew has sought to address the evolving textual traditions of geographical science by examining the several written conventions to have emerged by the turn of the nineteenth century, and the distribution of published work. He observes that historical geography was bound to both the academic and market pressures of its day, taking on new characteristics in response to influences from its audience and the traditions of formal education. As contact with West Africa increased and accounts of the land and its inhabitants were circulated in Britain, Withers has demonstrated that the production and distribution of African geographies were changed depending on which national and international readers they were marketed to. He concludes with reference to the publication of Mungo Park's first journal in 1799, that: ...a picture emerges of altogether "messier" Enlightenments, of locally situated practices and values, of social worlds overlapping and of connections across geographical and cultural space apparent in the shared purchase of a book that engaged different reading publics. If forms of knowledge were embedded in certain localities, however, how did it find similar understanding in other locations? The answer lies in the expanding culture of scientific literacy, and as Steven Shapin has noted, the key is found in how sciences (such as geography) were institutionalised and standardised. Whilst geographical descriptions were increasingly written to account for the tastes of its audience, there remains a question of how information collected from unscientific or problematic sources was presented or overwritten. There is then a developing study of the contributions made to European travel and exploration by Africans. Of particular interest is the incorporation of African 114 F. Driver, 'Geography's Empire: histories of geographical knowledge' in Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 10 (1992), 35. 115 R. Mayhew, 'The character of English Geography c.1660-1800: a textual approach' in Journal of Historical Geography 24:4 (1998), 385-412. 116 C.W.J. Withers, 'Geography, Enlightenment and the Book: Authorship and Audience in Mungo Park's African Texts' in M. Ogborn & C.W.J. Withers (eds.), Geographies of the Book (Surrey, 2010), 191-220. 117 S. Shapin, 'Placing the View from Nowhere: Historical and Sociological Problems in the Location of Science' in Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 23:01 (1998), 5-12. 48 testimonials, what has been called the "hidden histories" of exploration, which promoted a hybrid of cartographic knowledge fixed in place by European mapping practices. R. Bridges has estimated that two thirds of cartographic detail on nineteenth-century maps of Africa was derived from native sources, though little has been done to substantiate such a statement. Driver has consequently invited a new generation of historians to consider more carefully the contribution of Africans to the process of map-making. His own analyses of exploration and the presentation of discovery has demonstrated the manner in which literary conventions developed to overwrite indigenous participation in favour of a view which promoted the role of the European traveller. Efforts to uncover a more precise image of discovery now highlight those textual conventions which developed to obscure African knowledge, and addresses the logistical roles performed by indigenous peoples in the course of exploration. There is, however, much scope for a broader analysis concerning the development of Britain's knowledge of West African geography which also considers the participation of African sources. Considering the changing nature of geographical enquiries wherein increased accuracy was desired, Barbara Belyea has proposed that the eighteenth century witnessed a collision between two intellectual archives, that of the theoretical geographer with that of the empirical scientist. In the first instance, unknown continental interiors could be filled by logical assumptions from peripheral data, whereas in the second, preference was given to information that was observed and properly recorded. Yet, where Belyea suggested that there was a distinct shift from one to the next, Edney disagrees, citing the continued overlap of cartographic practices which relied on logical deductions to make sense of a broad and disorganised array of geographical sources. It 118 F. Driver & L. Jones, Hidden Histories of Exploration: researching the RGS-IBG collections (London, 2009). 119 R. Bridges, 'Nineteenth Century Exploration and Mapping: the Role of the Royal Geographic Society' in P.M. Larby (ed.), Maps and Mapping of Africa (London, 1987), 12. 120 F. Driver, 'The World and Africa: Rediscovering African Geographies' – Royal Geographical Society (2011), 1-6. 121 F. Driver, 'Intermediaries and the archive of exploration' in S. Konishi, M. Nugent & T. Shellam (eds.), Indigenous Intermediaries: New Perspectives on Exploration Archives (Acton, 2015), 12-14. 122 For example, see D. Kennedy, The Last Blank Spaces: Exploring Africa and Australia (London, 2013) 123 B. Belyea, 'Images of Power: Derrida/Foucault/Harley' in Cartographia 2


Method of determining the position and orientation of the teeth inpeulranteu comprises scanning to scan the surface of the body is connected to the implant, and determines a plurality of data points corresponding to the position of a point located on the surface of a body scan (scan body). The method further comprising determining a step, the position and orientation of the implant based on the reconstructed cross information for reconstructing step, reconfiguring the crossing information portion to reconstruct parts of at least three different planes on the basis of the data points, intersection information includes the reconstruction of the intersection and cross straight.


Using a two-wave panel, this paper locates the proximate causes of the defeat of George Bush in 1992 not among the variables traditionally applied by election forecasters-economic performance measures, presidential popularity, or retrospective partisanship-but in the tactics and choices of the electoral season itself. The Bush campaign failed to secure a firm base of support, failed to generate momentum even among those predisposed to support the incumbent, and failed to recognize, then capture, the issue space most important to the electorate. As a result, Bush failed to secure a second term.


Why students respond differently when they are denied admission to a preferred academic major may be explained using a psychological theory of alienation. Using this theoretical perspective, three trajectories producing feelings of alienation are presented. The most intense of these trajectories, the process of disillusionment, is examined using a typology of behavioral responses based on the nature of the thwarted expectations, and the perceived availability of salient alternatives. Both the form and effect of behavioral student responses are included in the typology. The paper concludes with advising guidelines for helping students effectively cope with disconfirmed expectations. ********** One of the defining points punctuating a student's pursuit of an undergraduate degree is formal affiliation with a major. For some students, this process is fairly straightforward, and extends to graduation without change or complication. For others, however, the path to a major and to graduation is less well-defined, and often fraught with change and disappointment. Of interest here are those instances when a student is denied access to a desired or preferred major because of selective admissions. When expectations regarding admission to a major are disconfirmed, feelings of frustration and disappointment often ensue. Both the intensity of these feelings and the form of their behavioral manifestations vary. For example, when denied access to a desired major for which significant preparation was made, some students feel unfairly treated and angrily contest or appeal the decision. Other students are equally upset, but rather than become angry and rebel against the decision, they become withdrawn and isolated; some opt to transfer to another college/university, or even abandon the pursuit of a higher education degree altogether. Responses to disconfirmed expectations may also vary over time for a particular student. For example, a student may initially harbor feelings of anger and resentment toward the program that denied admission. These feelings eventually "cool" as other options are explored, and as the student becomes more engaged in self-reflection and problem-solving. A PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY OF ALIENATION Why do students respond differently when denied access to a desired or preferred major? One explanation is found in a psychological theory of alienation proposed by Stokols (1975). Explored here is the value of this theory for the developmental advising of students. After examining the process of disillusionment associated with denied admission, the concept of alienation from a psychological perspective is introduced by describing two of its salient properties: negative sentiment and perceived constraint. Three trajectories leading to a student's feelings of alienation are subsequently presented: disillusionment, disenchantment, and confirmed estrangement. The most intense of these trajectories --disillusionment--is further examined using a typology constructed around two contextual factors involved in most changes of an academic major: the perceived source or nature of the thwarting of expectations, and the perceived availability of salient alternative courses of action. Beginnings of Student Disillusionment When confronted with being denied access to a desired academic major, a student will likely have, as a key point of reference, a "comparison level" (Thibaut & Kelley, 1986). That is, the student will compare the actual outcome (being denied admission to a major) with the expected outcome (being admitted to a major) in the context of effort expended, both by self and by other students. Feelings of disillusionment surface when the expected outcome falls short of what a student anticipates in the context of effort they have expended (and sometimes in comparison with the efforts they perceive peers to have expended). That the phenomenon of disillusionment is experienced by students who are denied admission to a preferred major is illustrated in the following examples. …


Using an apparatus described in a preceeding paper the reaction rate of the fluorination of UO/sub 2/ by HF was measured under the condition of a gradually increasing temperature. UF/sub 4/ made in this way did not show caking although final reaction temperatures ranged as high as 700 deg C. The rate of reaction was found to be greater than the rate measured under isothermal conditions at the highest temperature attained during the continuous increase as long as this final temperature was above 550 deg C. (auth)


A process for removing microalgin from drinking water includes adding ferrate to the drinking water with 6-10 of pH value, stirring for 10 min, reaction and settling. Its advantages are high removal rate (more than 90%), no secondary pollution and high speed.


Traditional and unoriginal teaching content is a common weakness in current university education. It will affect the improvement of learning ability for students seriously, or cannot cultivate young talents to adapt to the development of science and technology in the decades. It is a way worthwhile to integrate scientific research into teaching to carry out teaching reform. In the course of high voltage technology teaching, the research of GIS substation is integrated in order to improve the learning interest. The research of GIS substation is taken as an example to present the process of introducing the content of scientific research in teaching, spreading the idea of scientific research, stimulating students to carry out independent learning, perfecting and updating the structure of knowledge system on the basis of knowledge accumulation, leading students to apply what they have learned, and achieving the role of improving the teaching effect. The teaching practice has proved that the combination of scientific research and teaching is a feasible teaching mode with far-reaching educational significance.


Using grid flocculation technology inspected the effect of treatment of sewage by the addition of coagulant PAC. After the device is stable, under the 40 mg/L of dosage and 17.1 min of flocculation time conditions, the removal of turbidity, COD, NH3-N and TP is 72%, 48%, 13.8% and 77%.


Appendix D analyzes the bivariate relationships between a number of demographic and household factors and the likelihood of an adolescent being without health coverage. These include: parent's insurance status, poverty and family income, adolescents' living arrangements, race and ethnicity, parent's marital status, parent's education region and residence, and parent's work status and other employment characteristics.


The research on the use/cover of land is very significant in the coastal zone of the Jiaozhou Bay where the city expands rapidly and the use of land changes acutely.In view of the regional characteristics and the unique coastal features,nine typical types of landscapes,which include rocky coast,gravelly coast,sandy coast,muddy coast,fruit orchards,tea gardens,woodlands,salt fields and breeding ponds,are selected from the coasal zone surrounding the Jiaozhou Bay.Based on the data from field survey and the experiences from image interpretation,SPOT-5 image marks used for interpreting the types of land use/cover have been established,which include the marks in color,shape and texture,and then the extraction of information about land use/cover have been carried out.According to the in-situ validation,the accuracy of the information extraction can be up to 90%.


Slow slip events (SSEs) in subduction zones can trigger earthquake swarms, especially at shallow depth. The monitoring of seismicity rates has therefore the potential to help detect and characterize SSEs, and transient changes in coupling. However, the relationship between seismicity rate and slow slip rate during a SSE is unknown and made complicated by aftershock triggering within the swarm. Here we propose to complement geodetic methods with an objective measure of the seismicity rate that is directly associated with changes in slip rate. We show that this measure, applied to known occurrences of SSEs in the Boso area, Japan, yields an estimate, albeit indirect, of their seismic moment, hence their slip rate. We finally prove that the background rate in Boso has been accelerating since 1990; this explains previous observations of the shortening of the recurrence time between SSEs in Boso, that clearly predate the 2011 Mw9.0 Tohoku‐Oki earthquake.


With current estimates of data to be managed and made available increasing at 60% per annum, disk space utilization is becoming a critical performance issue for high end users, including but not limited to IT solutions, Storage Area Networks and Virtual Machine environment. We propose Dynamic Allocation of Disk Area (DADA), a disk management framework that performs on-demand disk area allocation on the basis of user access patterns. Results show that our service can reduce disk space utilization upto 20 times when compared to traditional static allocation policies. Also it is shown that using certain pre allocation schemes, minimize the overhead incurred due to on demand allocation. Our experiments indicate that there is a tradeoff between disk utilization and the runtime performance of the programs. We test our scheme on two microbenchmarks with varied properties and show that our framework performs considerably better for non I/O intensive applications. Also we perform experiments on HP disk traces to study the efficacy of our pre allocation mechanisms.


The present invention provides a preparation method of rivastigmine and its intermediates. The present invention provides a preparation method of the formula (1) compound by reacting the formula (2) compound with CH 3 X or CH 3 CH 2 X in the presence of base, wherein X is a suitable leaving-group; R is methyl or ethyl; when R is methyl, the formula (2) compound is reacted with CH 3 CH 2 X; when R is ethyl, the formula (2) compound is reacted with CH 3 X. The preparation method according to the invention does not utilize ethylmethylcarbamoylchloride.


In this paper, the genus Soikiella Nowicki is briefly reviewed and a key to the species is given. One new record species Soikiella mongibelli Nowicki from China is described and illustrated. The specimen examined is deposited in Life Science and Technology College, Xinjiang University, Ummqi, China.


Intelligent fault diagnosis is a promising tool to deal with industrial big data due to its ability in rapidly and efficiently processing collected signals and providing accurate diagnosis results. In traditional static intelligent diagnosis methods, however, the correlation between sequential data is neglected, and the features of raw data cannot be effectively extracted. Therefore, this paper proposes a three-stage fault diagnosis method based on a gate recurrent unit (GRU) network. The raw data is divided into several sequence units by first using a moving horizon as the input of GRU. In this way, we can intercept the sequence to get information as needed. Then, the GRU deep network is established through batch normalization (BN) algorithm to extract the dynamic feature from the sequence units effectively. Finally, the softmax regression is employed to classify faults based on dynamic features. Thus, the diagnosis result is obtained with a probabilistic explanation. Two chemical processes validate the proposed method: Tennessee Eastman (TE) benchmark process as well as para-xylene (PX) oxidation process. In the case of TE, the diagnosis results demonstrate the proposed method is superior to conventional methods. Furthermore, in the case of PX oxidation, the result shows that the proposed method also has an exceptional effect with a little historical data.


This paper sheds light on the link between achievement goals, motivation, and parental expectations in a sample of 600 students attending higher education institutions in Kosovo. Aside from exploring the stipulated link between the constructs, the research aims to discover whether cultural differences mediate expected results. The results proved that the masteryof goals positively correlates to intrinsic motivation in addition to which curiosity as a subscale of intrinsic motivation positively predicted preferences for the mastery of goals. As expected, performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals, correlated to extrinsic motivation with extrinsic motivation, successfully predict preferences for both types of performancegoals. The data proved that among students in Kosovo, all types of goals correlated to intrinsic motivation. Achievement goals were differentiated in extrinsic motivation with mastery goals correlating rather weakly to only one subscale of extrinsic motivation.


The main purpose of this paper is to determine how identity has been approached in Colombian scholarship within the field of English Language Teaching and Learning (ELT&L), during the last two decades, as published in the most important journals of Colombia that deal with matters of language education, bilingual education, language teaching and learning. It also seeks to determine how the theory on identity has evolved. The journals CALJ, GiST, HOW, ÍKALA, and PROFILE (listed in alphabetical order) were selected because they fulfilled four requirements pre-established for this critical literature review, namely a) to issue articles in the field of foreign language education, b) to publish in English, c) to report works about the Colombian context with Colombian participants (or theoretical papers in the field), and d) to be available online at the time of the search. With these prerequisites in mind, a careful search was carried out in each journal website, looking for articles that dealt with the identity.


The current scientific literature in geography reflects a growing concern with phenomena involving transport, a fact demonstrated by the use of concepts and expressions derived from the movement of goods and people comprising geo- graphic space. This is the case of concepts such as flow, mobility, accessibility, spatial interactions and networks. However, reinforcing the use of the notion of spatial interactions, without updating it on the basis of a critical view, reduces it to the concepts of flow and displacement. In doing so, the extent of the concept of spatial interactions and its adherence to the ideas of space as a social dimension is also reduced. Such space cannot exist without the connections between material forma- tions, i.e., between the socially produced geographic objects that are involved in these processes. In the light of categories of dialectical materialism, the notion of spatial interactions can be reconstructed and connected to the dialectical conception of geographical space. It also provides an understanding not only of the transformation of phenomena, but also of the internal essence of the objects that make up geographic space.


The current project emerged from a partnership between the Master in Design and Arquivo Municipal da Póvoa de Varzim, where cinema posters between 1946–1951 were analized.Depending on our state of mind or certain moment, it's perceived that it's constantly resorted to revivalism. And why? Is this the strength of innovation or just a longing desire? Starting from this idea, the objective of this study is the revivalism of the posters found, the return of these to the memory of viewers, as well as the impact on those who don't know them.For such project, several researches around the cinema of this era were taken, such as a documentary analysis to dissect all that these posters had of relevant, from the theme, colours or fonts used.Subsequently, an experimental / empirical investigation was undertaken, based on methodologies focused on design.Accordingly in this phase of the project, some results were reached, as the combination of various typefaces in a fluid and cohesive way, with an easy reading, comprehension and attraction of each composition developed.Thus, attractive information for each film proposal, it was possible to achieve unity in compositions, simultaneously legible and captivating for the public.


Shoot organogenesis was previously observed in vitro on a callus structure originating from an assemblage oftwo grape cultivars ( Vitis vinifera L. ): Chardonnay 7535 and Pinot noir 7613. Adventitious buds were assumed tobe candidates of chimeras. RAPD analysiswas used to distinguish between the two grapevine cultivars at a molecular Ievel and to verify the hypothetical chimerical character ofadventitious shoots.


In this paper we evaluate the energy and security consideration for a security-aware routing protocol proposed for uni-directional, hierarchical optical sensor network. We bootstrap the unconstrained resources of the base station to design GORA, a greedy optimized routing algorithm, in which the base station is responsible for network route optimization and updates. This paper extends our recent work on OPSENET, a novel and efficient protocol that facilitates secure routing in directional optical sensor networks. We evaluate security and energy metrics for our scheme proposed scheme. Analysis and simulation results are used to show the performance of our algorithm, compared with other hierarchical bi-directional clustering routing schemes


A 72-year-old female underwent gastric bypass with concomitant cholecystectomy by laparoscopy in 2004 for morbid obesity. Fifteen years later, the patient developed progressive dysphagia for solid food and lost 20 kg in the past 8 months with general asthenia and protein–calorie malnutrition. After multiple examinations (computed tomography scan, esophagogastroduodenoscopy, and positron emission tomography–computed tomography), the patient was found to have stage IV gastric adenocarcinoma (isolated cells, HER-2 negative, and microsatellite stable) of the pyloric and prepyloric region of the gastric remnant with peritoneal carcinosis. The tumor was extrinsically compressing the jejunum (alimentary limb) right after the gastrojejunal anastomosis causing an obstruction. After multidisciplinary tumor board discussion, the expected survival was estimated to be around 6 months and palliative chemotherapy with fluorouracil, leucovorin, oxaliplatin, and docetaxel was initiated. As the patient was still symptomatic and a new dilatation of the bile ducts was noted (alkaline phosphatase: 170 U/L, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase: 160 U/L, and transaminases and bilirubin: normal), it was decided to realize an EUS-directed gastrogastric anastomosis using a metallic Hot AXIOSTM stent [20 mm × 10 mm, Boston Scientific, Figure 1a and b]. This strategy was adopted to be able to reach the remnant gastric


The invention relates to a pair of pincers type nail clippers, and belongs to the field of articles of everyday use. Disc-shaped round heads are respectively arranged at the two front ends of a pair of small ordinary nippers; a round hole is formed in the center of each round head; round holes are respectively formed in the centers of an upper sheet and a lower sheet of the rectangular steel disc nail clippers, wherein one side face of the pair of nail clippers is U-shaped, and an ordinary circular arc-shaped drooping edge of the nail clippers is arranged at the front end of the pair of nail clippers; two rivets are used for riveting blades of the nail clippers on the inner faces of the round heads respectively, but in a rotatable manner. The pair of nail clippers disclosed by the invention is used in the rotatable manner, and is high in shearing force and easy for trimming the nails through holding and clamping; one nail can be trimmed once due to a large shearing arc.


With the rapid growth of information technology, selecting Information System (IS) projects that further organizational objectives has become a complex task. Some of the factors that must be included in the decision process include, among others, the risk of the portfolio of projects chosen, the tangible and intangible benefits derived from projects, resources necessary to develop the projects and corporate goals. Scoring and ranking techniques currently used to IS project selection do not address all these multiple factors adequately. The existing methods neither facilitate the inclusion of corporate priorities nor do they guarantee that the set of projects chosen will be implementable with the organization's resources. This research examines in depth the complexities of the problem of IS project selection and presents a decision aid based on the multiple objective technique of goal programming. The feasibility of this approach is tested using project selection data from a large organization.
To fully utilize this decision aid, it must be incorporated as part of a Decision Support System for IS planning. Traditional Decision Support Systems have imbedded decision models that are built by staff intermediaries and require their expertise to use them. Consequently, it has been found that staff intermediaries rather than managers use these decision models. To remedy this problem, researchers are exploring techniques of Artificial Intelligence to design systems that can help a manager formulate the decision model from fundamentals. This research examines the feasibility of developing an intelligent system that can assist a manager to formulate an IS project selection decision model. The approach to intelligent model formulation adopted in this research is to combine structural knowledge about modeling with domain dependent knowledge. Hence, the knowledge base of the system contains information on IS project selection and principles of goal programming. A prototype model formulation system is developed and tested using Prolog. The system can guide a management science naive decision maker in formulating a decision model for IS project selection.


The paper describes a study of the interaction that occurs between moment-resisting reinforced concrete or steel frames and precast concrete cladding panels when such buildings, designed according to current practice, are subjected to horizontal loading. The significant structural parameters are identified and their relative importance in influencing the racking stiffness of the structure is investigated. A simple model for representing the panels in the total structure model is proposed. The structure model may then be analyzed by computer using a general purpose structural analysis program to provide the horizontal deflections, and the forces in the frame, panels and their connections.


When vehicles work in high dynamic motion, SINS will carry more errors into the GNSS receiver carrier switching for system based on the deep combination of GNSS/SINS. It causes the receiver to lose the loop lock and work in an abnormal state. This paper analyzes the error source of the receiver and deduces the error transmission model of SINS speed auxiliary carrier ring under high dynamic conditions. Then, a method of SINS speed and acceleration aided compensation for carrier loop error is proposed to improve the maximum acceleration range that the carrier loop can bear. The simulation experiment analysis proves that this method is effective, and the maximum acceleration of the carrier can be increased by 4.5g-9g in satellite tracking in different line-of-sight directions.


On the background of Manufacturing Execution Systems engineering, based on Bayesian information fusion evaluation methods research system reliability growth. Exploreing MES function of test data is not easy to obtain, it used bayesian fusion method which is based on the type of conjugate prior distribution, assessment the MES reliability of each function module. Utilize Fuzzy priori information, research the MES function module failure rate of the Bayes estimate, to reveals the complex system under the condition of the cause of the problem is not easy to determine, which can be carried out system reliability growth test.


In Business to Business context, role of strategic renewal that can enhance firm competitive advantage is hardly being missed. Especially in facing newborn competitor or technology disruption. This research tries to analyze both Strategic Intent and Non Market Capability as antecendent of strategic renewal. Seeing that in business to business there is a room for non market factor to enhance firm competitive advantage. Previous research already given view that non market capability could enhance this advantage. To make more balanced view of both this non market capability and strategic intent this research will be done in 200 culinary business that involved in this business. And to dig more knowledge whether both non market capabilities and strategic intent had positive contributions to firm competitive advantage in order to face the increasing competitions.


In this paper we report universal labyrinthine patterns observed in nanocolloids originated from electric-field-induced phase separation. For nanocolloids consisting of magnetic particles (magnetic fluids), the labyrinthine pattern as the result of the co-existence of two phases is found to be stable against perturbation by an additional magnetic field. The relaxation back to the globally disordered pattern after the magnetic field is removed clearly shows evolution of "undulation" thus demonstrates that superimposing magnetic and electric fields can easily manipulate the patterns resulted from the phase separation, indicating that a magnetic fluid has an advantage in exploring the dynamics of defects that has applications in many fields.


With scientific and technological advances, growing research has focused on engineering enzymes that acquire enhanced efficiency and activity. Thereinto, computer-based enzyme modification makes up for the time-consuming and labor-intensive experimental methods and plays a significant role. In this study, for the first time, we collected and manually curated a data set for hydrolases mutation, including structural information of enzyme-substrate complexes, mutated sites and Kcat/Km obtained from vitro assay. We further constructed a classification model using the random forest algorithm to predict the effects of residue mutations on catalytic efficiency (increase or decrease) of hydrolases. This method has achieved impressive performance on a blind test set with the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.86 and the Matthews Correlation Coefficient of 0.659. Our results demonstrate that computational mutagenesis has an instructive effect on enzyme modification, which may expedite the design of engineering hydrolases.


Thaharah is one of the syariah in Islam which teaches its adherents about cleanliness as a form of obedience to the provisions that Allah has commanded. PHBS is a movement, attitude, knowledge, and pro-active action whose aim to maintain and prevent from disease. This study aims to determine the relationship between understanding thaharah material and hygiene and healthy living habits (PHBS). The research method used in this research is correlational quantitative method. The sample in this study were students of class VIII MTs Darul Muttaqien Bogor Regency. The data collection techniques used in this study were questionnaires and tests. The instruments used in this study were 15 test items and 13 questionnaires. The results of the study through correlational tests showed that there was a significant relationship between understanding thaharah material and clean and healthy living habits (PHBS). The correlational test shows a significance value of sig. (2-tailed) 0.0000 <0.05 with a Pearson correlation value of 0.878 so that it is interpreted that the relationship between the two is strong


We discuss a general likelihood formula for the estimation of parameters in diffusion processes. The construction of the likelihood is based on the structure exposed by Liptser and Shiryayev. We apply the formula to some linear and non linear models. We consider the possibility of multivariate extensions of the theorem.


After Liberation, China became a country which was relatively difficult to visit for most Westerners and this was accentuated during the period of the Cultural Revolution. In circumstances like this, and where there is a desire on both sides to initiate relations between countries, bilateral scientific exchange programmes may be an appropriate means of achieving this end. Basic and technological science is concerned with studying and applying the laws of nature and these are invariant across geographical, political and language boundaries. When social and political differences exist between two countries as between Australia and China, yet where both countries have a history of scientific achievement, a scientific exchange programme is an appropriate way of promoting bilateral relations. It was in this spirit that the first, and successful, visit of scientists of the Academia Sinica to Australia and of the Australian Academy of Science to China took place in 1964. Apart from individual visits, notably those of the radio astronomer, Professor W.N. Christiansen, the subsequent political developments in China inhibited further exchanges, and it was not until 1974 that further exchange visits took place. As a result a proposal for a formal exchange programme between the two Academies was made. The Federal government agreed in 1976 to fund an exchange programme and the terms of an "informal" agreement were determined in early 1977 during a further exchange of visits. Specialist visits in both directions began later that year, and this report is concerned with describing the achievements of the first two years of the agreement. The success of the programme has been due, in China, to the unremitting efforts of the Chinese scientists and authorities; in Australia, scientists and technologists from government and non-governmental institutions have been generous in their time and efforts in making a success of the programme.


Security in everyday life is the most serious concern for those whose household economies can only meet their basic needs. For such families, however, economic development may be a double-edged sword: while many people may theoretically enjoy consumer life, which is concomitant with having easy-to-access goods at marketplaces, they may, at the same time, become frustrated by the fact that they lack the funds to fully capitalize on product availability. This happens in contemporary agrarian communities in southern Laos. Following the endorsement of the market economy in the late 1980s, rural development became one of the most important state agendas. Shortly after the adoption of this policy, agrarian communities were introduced to another program in the early 2000s, namely, the heritage conservation program. Since then, these different programs have influenced agrarian communities to promote economic development and advocate for the conservation of traditional customs and landscapes. Each movement has its basis in a different ideology̶developmentalism and preservationism, respectively. The two thoughts are oppositional in terms of the ways that the ideas and methods associated with each one influence living beings. However, both are similar in the sense that they have risen together in rural Lao society as important state themes for the modernization period. A number of agrarian Lao families who are living under these complex, inter-related ideological programs have different views on development and conservation and often find themselves wandering in-between (Nishimura 2004, 2006). In recent years, as far as I observed during my fieldwork, many families, young families in particular, wish to have more financial and intellectual resources available in order to "upgrade" their standard of living. They believe that such resources typically come from foreign countries, and they view traditional ways of life as outdated customs. Paradoxically, those same families also find the market economy's A Study of the Lao Agrarian Economy: A Society Living in-between Economic Development and Heritage Conservation


To assess the risk of level V nodal involvement for early T‐stage and node positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (ORO‐SCC).


We demonstrate high-speed LiFi data communication of over 20 Gbit/s using visible light from a laser-based white light emitting surface mount device (SMD) product platform that offers 10-100X the brightness of conventional LED sources. Equipped with high power blue laser diodes that offer over 3.5 GHz of 3 dB bandwidth, the laser-based white light SMD modules exhibited a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) above 15 dB up to 1 GHz. The high SNR was combined with high order quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) to maximize the bandwidth efficiency. In this work, we present a laser based white light SMD module configured with a single 3W blue laser diode mounted on heat-sink, optically coupled to a collimating optic, achieving a LiFi data rate of up to 10 Gbit/s. Moreover, we demonstrate wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), from a white light SMD module configured with two blue laser diodes separated in peak wavelength to serve as separate communication channels. Using WDM, the dual laser SMD module enabled LiFi data rates of over 20 Gbit/s by simultaneously transmitting data over both channels.


Locational data for 96 allochthonous blockfields distributed throughout the Appalachian Mountains of eastern USA were obtained using TerraServer, an online resource for viewing air‐photo and satellite imagery. The elevation of Appalachian blockfields south of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) border parallels regional gradients of contemporary mean July, summer and annual temperature. Mean July temperature reductions inferred from palaeoecological studies indicate that the median elevation of blockfields throughout the Appalachians lay at or above timberline during the LGM. Palaeotemperatures calculated using known Appalachian lapse rates and published LGM temperature departures indicate that most blockfields in the study area were formed under climatic conditions conducive to permafrost. Allochthonous blockfields in the Appalachians appear to be constituent elements of periglacial 'form communities'.


Producing processable graphene flakes in large quantities remains an ongoing challenge for large-scale applications. To that end, top-down approaches such as the exfoliation of powdered graphite in the liquid phase is a very promising route due to its simplicity, utilization of low-cost and readily available graphite, upscaling potential, integration with other processes such as blending or casting and no need of transferring processes from the growth substrate. In essence, liquid phase exfoliation (LPE) involves exfoliation of graphite by simple sonication to produce graphene sheets dispersed in a solvent [1]. As graphene sheets tend to restack due to strong Van der Waals forces, the sheets need to be stabilized by different means such as covalent functionalization or the use of various stabilizers such as surfactants [2], polymers [3] and aromatic molecules [4]. The most common route for LPE involving graphite functionalization is graphite oxidation followed by exfoliation in water to yield graphene oxide, which is subsequently reduced to obtain reduced graphene oxide whose properties differ from pristine graphene. On the other hand, direct exfoliation of unfunctionalized graphite by sonication and good dispersion of produced graphene sheets require the use of stabilizers that interact noncovalently with graphene and prevent their stacking.


* Abbreviation:
 HBB — : Helping Babies Breathe

In this issue of Pediatrics, the article "Implementation of the Helping Babies Breathe Training Program: A Systematic Review" by Morris et al1 provides a detailed review of the body of literature that has come together since the launch of Helping Babies Breathe (HBB) one decade ago. This report explores the efficacy of the HBB training program, associated newborn outcomes, implementation strategies, and quality improvement efforts to ensure that HBB achieves its intended goal. This review compiles experience from around the globe, with articles representing a diverse range of clinical environments and cultures. In the thoughtful compilation of the available literature, it is striking that publications on HBB's impact on skill acquisition, knowledge, and practices far outnumber those on clinical outcomes. This fact highlights the need for further study of HBB's impact, both in terms of neonatal morbidity and mortality, in the decade to come.

Although this systematic review of the literature provides insight into our experience …

Address correspondence to Sara K. Berkelhamer, UBMD, Department of Pediatrics, 1001 Main St, Buffalo, NY 14203. E-mail: saraberk{at}buffalo.edu


The Public Research Funding (PREF) study is to collect information on and analyse national public research funding, providing an overview of its evolution and current state in European and selected non-European countries, particularly as concerns funding themes, fields and the types of allocation (competitive project based versus institutional funding). More specifically, the study aims: — For the countries considered, to collect quantitative and qualitative data (financial data and descriptors) on the evolution of public RD — To break down and provide a detailed analysis public RD — To describe the funding allocation mechanisms, including flows to and from funding agencies and the criteria used as the basis for allocation decisions. — Using the above-described data, to analyse specific issues in public research policy, particularly concerning the characteristics of national funding profiles and the funding devoted to specific research objectives. The study contributes to the Research and Innovation Observatory (RIO), and provides support for development and implementation of evidence-based policies in allocation of public research funding.


The invention discloses a preparation method of rare earth-doped silicon carbide composite polishing powder. The method is characterized by comprising the steps of feeding 45-70% of cerous nitrate according to the mass percent concentration, and dissolving into water, then respectively feeding 8-20% of aluminium oxide, 5-15% of silicon carbide and 0.5-1% of dispersing agent, and stirring to obtain slurry; then feeding 14-25% of oxalic acid into the slurry, stirring and dissolving, wherein the sum of the content of all the components except water of the slurry is 100%; stirring under the normal pressure, heating up to 80-90 DEG C, and carrying out a reaction for 2-6h at the temperature of 800-1000 DEG C; cooling and crushing by airflow to obtain the rare earth-doped silicon carbide composite polishing powder. The preparation technology is simple, easy in control of conditions, low in production cost and easy in industrial production. When being used for stone polishing process, the polishing powder is good in powder polishing effect, high in glossiness, less scratch, high in flatness and less in power dosage.


The interaction of N2 and O2 glow discharges with polyethylene surfaces has been studied using mass spectrometry to characterize species permeating through toward the reverse side of the polymer substrate. Compared to previously reported diagnostic approaches, this method is capable of sampling reaction products within much closer proximity of the plasma−polymer interface, thereby circumventing the complication of primary product species undergoing secondary processes within the bulk of the electrical discharge prior to detection. The nature of the feed gas is found to strongly influence the chemical reaction pathways occurring at the plasma−polymer interface. Furthermore this approach opens up scope for isotopic studies.


Background and objective: Hospital wastewater is a special significance in terms of health when compared with other types of wastewater due to the presence of hazardous agents. If this wastewater is introduced into wastewater collection system by treating it incompletely, it causes of several problems like imbalance of biological systems for urban wastewater treatment plant. Oil and grease are among the main compounds of wastewater and can cause overflowing of wastewater from sewers. The aim of this study is to investigate the efficiency of moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) system in removing oil and grease from hospital wastewater. Materials and Methods: This study was carried out at pilot scale with a continuous hydraulic flow of hospital wastewater and the effect of filling percentage of K1 media, hydraulic retention time, MLSS concentration and COD was investigated with the results analyzed by SPSS 19. Findings: Based on the results, the greatest efficiency of oil and grease removal as well as COD via K1 media, with a retention time of 24 h and filling percentage of 70%, was 98.9 and 95.6%, respectively. Interpretation and Conclusion: The MBBR system with K1 media can decrease the concentration of oil and grease in wastewater down to standard levels.


The present invention even when used for a thin circuit board is possible to suppress warpage of the semiconductor package by heat or impact, problems to provide a solder resist material and the wiring board using them, and a semiconductor package that can respond to size reduction and higher integration of the electronic device It shall be. A solder resist composition of the invention has opened the fiber base material-containing layer between the resin layer and the resin layer can be suppressed by effectively warpage of the semiconductor package. The fiber base material-containing layer is preferred, which is unevenly distributed in the direction of the thickness of the solder resist material.


The study found that SiO2 is better than TiO2 on the improvement of anti-bendingradius to the ITO films, but is worse than TiO2 on the improvement of anti-bending times to the ITO films.


From  the  technical  and  agro-technical  point  of  view,  the  reclaimed  land  of poor  condition  covers  222.4  thousand  ha.  More  than  15.0  thousand  ha  of  drained agricultural land turned into a swamp, more than 67.3 thousand ha overgrew with bushes  and  forest.  The  average  depreciation  of  buildings  reached  59.1  percent. When drainage structures are  worn  down,  there is a  need to  overhaul  or,  in  many cases, to reconstruct them. The  economic  situation  in  the  country  and  farming  agricultural  conditions change,  therefore  it  is  appropriate  to  assess  drainage  systems  from  the  economic viability  and  payback  time  of  the  projects  viewpoints,  using  a  variety  of  partial drainage  and  surface  water  drainage  ways,  depending  on  land  use.  Drainage  sys-tems  should  be  reconstructed  in  areas,  which  are  used  in  agricultural  production, therefore  agricultural  output  prices,  state  and  EU  subsidies  as  well  as  profits  per unit  of  area  are  key  indicators  that  determine  economic  viability  of  the  drainage system reconstruction project. Drainage  system  reconstruction  clients  are  municipalities,  land  reclamation business associations and, in rare cases, farmers or other individuals, their goal - to get the maximum profit at the lowest possible cost. Considering the expected activ-ity,  simple  solutions  are  often  enough,  therefore,  the  reconstruction  of  drainage systems  should  be  designed  allowing  a  wider  choice  of  cost-effective  technical solutions. Research objective - to investigate technical options for the reconstruction of drainage  systems  allowing  achievement  of  the  expected  economic  benefits  of  the project.


Degrowth: the term challenges, raises questions, is found in improbable places and catches many people unaware. Here we trace a small descriptive panorama of it, prior to entering into the detail of these issues, which are on the conference agenda.


Primary low-grade lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) of the stomach is a distinctive type of B-cell lymphoma.1 Cases of gastric MALT lymphoma with both lowand high-grade components are divided into either low-grade lymphoma with a focal high-grade component or highgrade tumor with a low-grade component, based on whichever component is dominant. In a study of 233 cases of primary gastric lymphoma, 70 (30%) were classified as low-grade B-cell lymphoma of MALT and 27 (12%) as low-grade B-cell lymphoma of MALT with a focal high-grade component.2 Because the probability of survival is significantly lower in cases of low-grade B-cell MALT lymphoma with a focal high-grade component than in those without the latter component, the two types must be distinguished.2 Biopsy specimens obtained with conventional techniques do not always establish the histologic diagnosis of low-grade B-cell lymphoma of MALT with a focal high-grade component.3 However, evaluating the layers of the gastric wall with EUS may overcome the problem of sampling error associated with histologic specimens. Endoscopic mucosal resection can be used to obtain sufficiently large specimens that allow for examination of the broad extent of the lesion with fewer artifacts.4 We describe a patient with low-grade gastric MALT lymphoma with a high-grade component diagnosed by EUS and endoscopic mucosal resection.


Introduction: Endogenous endopthalmitis is a diagnostically challenging ophthalmic and medical emergency. It has the ability to manifest at any age and is associated with a number of predisposing factors. The rapid progression of disease poses catastrophic risk for adverse outcomes both localised and systemic. To our knowledge, we describe the first reported iatrogenic case of endogenous Escherichia coli–induced endopthalmitis progressing to pan-endopthalmitis as a consequence of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography. Diagnosis, Interventions and Outcomes: The patient presented with reduced visual acuity and painless red eye; however, apart from biochemistry results suggesting biliary sepsis, no other clinical features of acute disease were noted. Despite rigorous systemic and intravitreal treatment, the rapid progression of disease led to irreversible damage to the eye. Conclusion: Clinicians must maintain a very high index of suspicion when encountering patients after interventional procedures, as misdiagnosis by trained ophthalmologists for endogenous endopthalmitis remains a common occurrence. Prompt identification and diagnosis ensured our patient avoided evisceration and early ophthalmic biopsies guaranteed the correct systemic intervention was started to address the severe subsequent septicaemia.


This study aims to determine the effect of corporate governance mechanism which proxied by institutional ownership, board of commissioners education background and audit committee meeting frequency as well as the effect of the profitability and financial leverage on the practice of smoothing profits (income smoothing). The study sample by 11 companies. This study used a methods quantitative approach and multiple regression data analysis using SPSS version 21. The results showed that in partial institutional ownership effect on positively to the practice of smoothing profits (income smoothing) while audit committee meeting frequency and profitability effect negative to the practice of smoothing profits (income smoothing) and board of commissioners education background and financial leverage has no effect to the practice of smoothing profits (income smoothing) on companies in the Jakarta Islamic Index. Simultaneously the institutional ownership, board of commissioners education background, audit committee meeting frequency , profitability, and financial leverage effect on the practice of smoothing profits (income smoothing) on companies in the Jakarta Islamic Index.


Microbial phytase (Natuphos 5000G) was supplemented into barley, canola meal, wheat and wheat middlings at 500 FTU kg(-1) diet to test the effectiveness of the phytase on digestibility of crude protein (CP), gross energy (GE) and minerals for rainbow trout. A total of 180 rainbow trout (initial mean body weight 223.8 +/- 17.9 g) were stocked into ten 40-L fibreglass digestibility tanks with 18 fish per tank. Duplicate tanks were assigned to a reference diet and a single tank was assigned randomly to each of the eight diets made from these four ingredients supplemented with and without phytase. The collection of faeces lasted for 2 weeks. Faeces collected in each week represented a replicate and they were analysed separately. The mean apparent digestibility coefficients (average of four ingredients) in phytase supplemented and nonsupplemented ingredients were: CP, 97.3% and 96.5%; GE, 62.8% and 53.1%; calcium (Ca), 38.3% and -5.3%; magnesium (Mg), 72.4% and 50.3%; manganese (Mn), 31.0% and -4.2%; total-phosphorus (total-P), 71.1% and 47.6%; phytate-phosphorus (phytate-P), 87.5% and 22.3%; copper (Cu), 38.3% and 26.4%; potassium (K), 97.1% and 97.0%; sulphur (S), 90.2% and 88.6%; zinc (Zn), 12.3% and -16.6%. A two-tailed t-test indicated that phytase supplementation significantly (P < 0.05) improved the digestibility of Ca, Mg, Mn, total-P, phytate-P, and GE. The efficacy of phytase on nutrient digestibility also depended on the type of ingredient as measured in rainbow trout.


The proposed scheme uses an agent-based model to address the aspect of connectivity detection and routing in mobile ad-hoc wireless network environment. Three kinds of agents are used in the model: manager agent (MA), monitoring agent (MOA), and discovery-routing agents (DRA). MOAs of a node in a network are employed to monitor resources (such as transmit power, battery life, bandwidth, reliability, one-hop delay), whereas DRAs discover the links between the mobile nodes, perform routing information fusion and build pre-computed paths so that mobile users can communicate with each other based on the requirements (power/bandwidth/reliability/bandwidth-delay aware) of the network users. MA manages the activities of the discovery and routing agency. The model ensures network connectivity even under the conditions of uncontrolled mobility of nodes. Model has been simulated to test its operation effectiveness. It is observed that agent based approach supports component based software engineering features and facilitates flexible and adaptable discovery and routing information fusion services


The aim of this paper is to discuss one of the most interesting and unsolved problems of the real series theory: rearrangements that preserve sums of series. Certain hypothesis about combinatorial description of the corresponding permutations is presented and basic algebraic properties of the family $\mathfrak{S}_0 $, introduced by it, are investigated.


A particular out-of-specification mechanical dimension on Type-N(f) [Type-N(female)] microwave connectors sometimes disqualifies otherwise perfectly acceptable microwave devices from being used in calibration systems. The Miniature Machining Group at Sandia National Laboratories applied a technique called Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) to quickly and economically machine these devices without disassembly. In so doing, they facilitated the use of existing components without the need to purchase new devices. The technique also improves an uncertainty of calibration known as Mismatch Uncertainty by optimizing the reflection coefficient of the calibration test port. This effects a reduction in overall calibration uncertainties.


In the research, light-sensitive structures based on a heterostructure of ZnO- nanorods/PbS colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) were fabricated. The paper describes technological features of obtaining coatings by the low-temperature hydrothermal method and fabrication of a ZnO-nanorods/PbS CQDs heterostructure. It is shown that this structure is capable of converting light into electrical energy. These structures are promising for use as gas sensors functioning at temperatures close to room temperature.


information adoption, information quality, social commerce, social support, trust Social commerce (s-commerce or SC) is rapidly growing and it is an increasingly favourite shopping way that customers adopt. Based on the view of trust as a social reality and Petty and Cacioppo's (1986) ELM theory, the paper proposes a theoretical model integrating information quality and social support to explain information adoption through perceived consumer trust. A survey with PLS-SEM analysis of 333 consumers shows that 7 out of 11 hypotheses are empirically supported and the model explains up to 47.4% of consumer information adoption. Moreover, as expected, the information quality of s-commerce sites is always to be present to build consumer trust in s-commerce sites and in members of scommerce sites.


— This paper introduces a novel approach to a broadband array design for a low frequency radio telescope. It presents a low profile ultra-wideband tightly coupled phased array antenna with integrated feedlines. The approach consists of applying broadband techniques to an array of capacitively coupled planar element pairs with an octagonal fractal geometry, backed by a ground plane. Designed as a low cost, low loss, dual-polarized wideband array, this antenna is optimised for operation between 50 and 250 MHz. Simulations have shown that the antenna has a wide-scanning ability with a low cross-polarisation level, over the operational broad frequency range.


Inhibitory effects of some drugs were investigated on human erythrocyte 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase obtained with a 6552-fold purification in a yield of 78% using 2′, 5′-ADP Separose 4B affinity gel. Which on SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed a single band. Larnoxicam, metronidazole, imipenem, ornidazole, vancomycin, clindamycin, and amoxicillin exhibited inhibitory effects on the enzyme in vitro with IC50 values of 0.17, 0.23, 0.43, 21.79, 46.39, 117.43 and 287.35 mM, and the Ki constants 0.40 ± 0.04, 0.57 ± 0.06, 0.77 ± 0.11, 42.40 ± 2.89, 65.60 ± 4.03, 130.22 ± 9.21, and 287.58 ± 10.56 mM, respectively. While vancomycin, clindamycin and amoxicillin showed competitive inhibition the other drugs displayed noncompetitive inhibition.


Psychiatry is necessarily involved in a wide variety of discourses. These include biological, psychological and social perspectives, and many different "languages" within these primary perspectives. This can make life difficult! It has been suggested that the different discourses in psychiatry are even more separating than the languages of different countries [ I ] . A recent College position paper states that we must be scientists as well as clinicians and largely in the interests of a social discourse must use a bureaucratic language that includes such terms as accountability and quality assurance; Toulmin writes that behind all these difficulties "lie intellectual confusions bred of sloppy language and misconceived jargon" [2]. The shades of meaning in the use of the same wordsherms in different languages in popular and professional jargon, with different, sometimes totally different, meanings, is particularly confusing. Over time new words are introduced without new meaning and old words are given new meanings. The criteria for the diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) illustrate many of these problems. Currently "stress", "trauma" and "flashbacks" must be among the most sloppily used terms in contemporary discourse. The mostly plain language of DSM-IV (and its predecessor DSM-III-R) with its American flavour belies the complexity of the concepts involved. The general description of PTSD in DSM-IV is considerably changed from that in DSM-III-R [3], but the end result and the changes to the formal criteria


Abstract A series of boron difluoride–3-acyl-4-hydroxycoumarin complexes were synthesized in good yields in three steps starting from 4-hydroxycoumarins. The boron complexes showed strong luminescence in the green–yellow region and are compatible with surface imaging applications.


Objective: Several interventional therapeutic options for blood pressure (BP) lowering in patients with treatment-resistant hypertension (TRH) were introduced, such as renal denervation (RDN) and creation of an arteriovenous (AV) anastomosis using the ROX coupler. It was shown that BP response after RDN is greater in patients with combined hypertension (CH) compared to patients with isolated systolic hypertension (ISH). We analyzed now the effect of ROX coupler implantation in the subgroups with CH and ISH. Design and method: The randomized, controlled, ROX CONTROL HTN study included patients with true TRH (office systolic BP >=140mmHg, and average daytime ambulatory BP >=135/85mmHg, despite treatment with at least 3 antihypertensive drugs including a diuretic). In our post-hoc analysis we have stratified the patients of the ROX coupler group (n = 42) according CH (n = 31) versus ISH (n = 11). Results: Baseline systolic office (177 ± 18 versus 169 ± 17 mmHg, p = 0.163) and ambulatory BP (159 ± 16 versus 154 ± 11 mmHg, p = 0.463) did not differ between CH and ISH. Creation of an AV anastomosis resulted in a significant reduction in systolic office (CH: −28 ± 22 versus ISH: −22 ± 31 mmHg, p = 0.572) as well as ambulatory BP (CH: −14 ± 20 versus ISH: −13 ± 15 mmHg, p = 0.672), but without significant differences between the two subgroups. The non-responder rate (systolic office BP reduction < 10 mmHg) after 6 months was not different between the subgroups (CH: 18 % versus ISH: 23 %, p = 0.844). Conclusions: Thus, our data suggest that creation of an AV anastomosis using the ROX coupler reduces systolic office and ambulatory BP, without any significant difference between CH and ISH. In contrast to RDN, creation of an AV anastomosis reduced BP to similar extent in both subtypes of TRH.


Hyd roelectric development in the Mackenzie Basin started in 1967 with BC Hydro's 3,400 MW Peace River system. Subsequent stations on the Teltson and Snare Rivers around Yellowknife extract an additional 30 MW from the basin. Investigations suggest an additi onal 11,000 GW is available, mostly through smaller run of the river installations. Combined with the expected growth of the Northwest Territories and the electrical shortfall in the rest of Canada, dam development on the Mackenzie Basin is likely inevitable. Ecologically, the Mackenzie River is the lifeline of the basin, especially in the arctic tundra. The river and associated ecosystems are the source of the traditional livelihood of the First Nation populations, many now in the process of securing ownership rights of water resources in their ancestral territory through settlement agreements with the Crown. Climate change simulations suggest a warming of the basin by up to 5 degrees Celsius by 2050, with expected impacts on the entire hydrologic system as permafrost melts. With this backdrop, the main features of the environmental approval process for dams in the basin are reviewed. In the context of climate change, social and economic impacts may be more significant than the hydrologic impacts, but nonetheless, water law will be important in securing minimal flow standards for the basin and the sustainable future of the proposed dams.


About 67,000 hectares of sheltered waters of Western Australia's northern regions, are allocated to 16 licensees for the purposes of farming pearl oysters (Pinctada maxima) producing the world's highest quality round pearls (White South Sea Pearls). Pearl culture started in Western Australia in the mid 1950s and came under State control shortly after the passage of the Pearling Act 1990 and Pearling Regulations 1991. Growth in the industry has been managed under a government policy of controlled expansion through a series of arrangements including: • quota that limited the number of wild pearl oysters taken for pearl culture, • quota that limits the number of hatchery oysters able to be seeded for pearl culture and; • limits on acquiring and using areas of water that are leased (from Government) for the purposes of farming oysters for round pearl culture. Over recent years there has been increasing demand for marine sites for the purposes of pearling (also referred to as pearl farm leases) as production levels rise to full capacity under the quota management regime. At the same time industry has been seeking an improvement in the proprietary rights associated with those pearl farm leases. It is noted that occupancy and utilisation rights for pearl farm leases are tradeable once they are allocated by Government, restricted to within the pearling industry and bound by a series of performance and licensing conditions. This paper looks at the range of issues (including the potential for greater competition for marine space and the interests of other community stakeholders) that should be considered in addressing the issue of rights associated with pearl farm leases, being mindful of Government's objective to promote the sustainable and highest value use of marine resources. It is noted that it is within this context that the Western Australian Government is reviewing the community return from the marine resources used for the production of pearls. The idea of a fully tradeable market for marine areas (with tradability across sectors) is considered as a possible solution to ensuring a sustainable optimum return for the use of common property resources are maintained into the future. This paper outlines: • pearl culture development in Western Australia; • the range of existing and emerging issues around the use of water for the purposes of pearl farming; and


Sima Qian's psychological barrier was discussed with some historical facts sellected by Sima Qian himself.The author reviewed practically and realistically, wrong facts passed on by the Literature and History, depreciated Li Guang's suicide which showed he was afraid of his criminals, criticized Li Ling's surrender. Sima Qian spoke highly of Wu Emperor of Han dynasty, Wei Qing and Huo Qubing Who did great contribution to the country.


Presented here are two simple formulae, for the calculation of square and cube roots that are frequently encountered in Chemistry courses, at school and college levels (whether undergraduate or graduate). However, tests are difficult to be designed which do not provide for a calculator and which require the calculation of these quantities. The formulae are simple interval-weighted denominator method based to get an accurate value of these quantities. This will enable students to quickly and accurately compute square roots and cube roots.


Mineralocorticoid receptors (MR) modulate vascular endothelial function (VEF) in chronic heart failure and in healthy young adults, but their influence in healthy older adults is unknown. To test the hypothesis that MR modulate VEF in healthy aging, we administered acute MR blockade (MRB: 100 mg Eplerenone for 2 days) in a randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled cross‐over study in 22 adults (8 men, 61±1 y; mean±SE, 53–79 y) free from clinical disease. We measured VEF (brachial flow‐mediated dilation [FMD]; ultrasonography), plasma oxidized LDL and vascular endothelial cell protein expression (VECPE) of eNOS, phosphorylated Ser1177 eNOS (PeNOS), NADPH oxidase (p47‐ phox), nitrotyrosine (NT), and TNF‐α (biopsy coupled with quantitative immunofluorescence) after MRB and placebo. In the overall group, FMD decreased (6.9±0.5 vs. 5.6±0.6%, P=0.02; Eplerenone vs. placebo) with MRB. However, MRB had no effect on oxidized LDL and VECPE of eNOS, PeNOS, p47‐phox, NT and TNF‐α (P≥0.4). Greater decreases in FMD were associated with lower baseline white blood cell and neutrophil (r=0.49, P=0.02 and r=0.57, P=0.006, respectively) and greater lymphocyte (r=−0.53, P=0.01) levels. In conclusion, MR modulate VEF in healthy older adults in an immune cell‐specific manner. MR activation appears to be physiologically important for maintaining vascular function.


A series of 198 consecutive patients with acute myocardial infarction were prospectively studied before hospital discharge and during 24.0 t 8.6 months of follow-up. A predischarge i irombus was found In 38 (31%) of 124 patients with anterior Infarction but in none of 74 patients with inferior infarction (p < 0 .001) . Early thrombolytic therapy in 34 patients did not decrease the rate of thrombus occurrence. Acute anterior infarction, ejection fraction c35% and apical dyskinesia or aneurysm (but not akinesia) were significantly related to the appearance of thrombus during hospitalization by stepwise logistic regression anal . ysis . Echocardiographic follow-up of 159 patients for at least 6 months (mean 26.6 ± 8.4) revealed that thrombus disappeared in 14 (48%) of 29 . Disappearance of thrombus was related to predischarge apical akinesia (but not dyskinesla) and to warfarin therapy during the follow-up period . A new thrombus first appeared after hospital discharge in 13 of 130 patients, and In 7 of the 13 it resolved during further follow-up . Thus, 30% (13 of 42) of thrombi in these patients appeared after discharge from the hospital .


The application of silane coupling action produces significant improvements in physical properties in various thermpolastic resin systems. Both glass-reinforced thermoplastics and the more conventional filled thermoplastic resin systems were studied. An order of specificity between resin and coupling agent exists for thermoplastic resins similar to that of thermosets. The interaction with thermosets is considered copolymerization, wereas that with thermoplastics is not yet clearly defined. The silanes are incorporated by pre-treatment (best for glass reinforcement) or by addition during normal compounding. Fillers are added for a specific result, often with sacrifice of physical strength. Data presented show that silane addition upgrades filled thermoplastics to the level of clear resins and sometimes above. The effect of silanes on electrical properties of filled thermoplastics are also reported.


To the Editor:— I have noted the article inThe Journal, Jan. 28, 1961, entitled "Biologic False-Positive Reactions for Syphilis Among Narcotic Addicts," in which the following sentence appears: The high proportion of non-reactive TPI tests among narcotic addicts with no history of syphilis and reactive STS provides direct evidence that certain drugs may induce BFP reactions. Unless other possible causes were thoroughly investigated, I wonder whether the conclusion that drugs have been demonstrated to cause biologic false-positive (BFP) reactions is justified. I should think the wording might be changed somewhat as follows: The high proportion of non-reactive TPI tests among narcotic addicts with no history of syphilis and reactive serologic test for syphilis ( STS ) is perhaps explained by the fact that addicts are subject to a number of conditions which are known to cause BFP reactions: viral hepatitis, malaria, and others. It may also be hypothesized that the chronic


This paper aimed to question Ai(1999)'s Bi-parameter Hypothesis.By analogy to two-variable linear equation in math,Ai put forward his hypothesis on wh-words,which was more comprehensive by avoiding the defect of being incompact in the traditional study.However,with regard to the character of the variableδand the relation of restriction between the two variablesαandβ,Ai failed to justify himself.By improving Ai's hypothesis this paper brought in three-variable linear equation and put forth the hypothesis of hierarchy of parameters.


Bi3.25La0.75Ti3O12 (BLT) thin films were grown by pulsed laser deposition at substrate temperatures ranging from 400 to 800°C. The phase, orientation, and surface morphology of the deposited films were investigated in order to understand the deposition behavior of the BLT films. As the substrate temperature was increased to 800°C, the films showed a tendency to grow with c-axis preferred orientation and a rough surface. At lower substrate temperatures, however, polycrystalline BLT films were formed. In addition, at the lowest substrate temperature of 400°C, the film consisted mostly of a nonferroelectric fluorite-like phase. This was attributed to the difficulty in forming a perfectly layered structure. The fluorite-like phase was transformed to a ferroelectric polycrystalline BLT phase through annealing in flowing oxygen at 600°C.


Purpose of review The wearable cardioverter-defibrillator has been available for over a decade. In recent years, the device has been prescribed increasingly for a wide range of indications. The purpose of this review is to describe the technical and clinical aspects of the wearable cardioverter-defibrillator. The available literature on safety, efficacy and cost-effectiveness is reviewed, and indications for use will be discussed. Recent findings The wearable cardioverter-defibrillator has been used successfully in more than 100 000 patients for a variety of indications. These include high-risk patients after myocardial infarction or revascularization or with heart failure and newly diagnosed cardiomyopathy. It has also been used to bridge the time period of postponed implantable cardioverter-defibrillator implantation or reimplantation, or until heart transplantation. It has been shown that the device safely and effectively terminates ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation with high first shock success. Patient compliance has been high. Although no randomized trial has been published yet, several guidelines recommend wearable cardioverter-defibrillator use in different patient populations and clinical scenarios. Summary The wearable cardioverter-defibrillator effectively bridges a limited time period in patients with a real or perceived high risk for sudden cardiac arrest and may become a helpful tool for risk stratification to better select patients for primary prevention implantable cardioverter-defibrillator placement.


Current Topics in Radiation Research. Vol. IV. Edited by Michael Ebert and Alma Howard. Cloth, $19.00. Pp. 430, with figures. Amsterdam, The Netherlands, North-Holland Pub. Co.; New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1968. Once again, Ebert and Howard—with an able assist from their publisher—have turned out a timely, broad-ranging volume of current topics in radiation research. As the field of radiation research itself is constituted, so too is Volume IV, with its topics ranging from fundamental chemical reactions in vitro to tumor and normal tissue responses in vivo and in man. The book starts with two chapters dealing with radiochemical questions. A. 0. Allen writes on hydrocarbons and W. M. Garrison on organo-nitro-gen compounds. Included, in both instances, are matters of purely theoretical interest as well as ideas and findings which hopefully will in time support a bridge between elementary absorption processes and biological effects. K. F. Swingle and L. J. Cole, writing together, and D. Petrovic contribute ...


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to reveal barriers and their coherences between discrimination and self-perceived employability which students and employees on the autism spectrum often face and need to overcome. These include discrimination based on disability, when applying for a job or retaining employment. This research located barriers in three different categories: formality – problems that focus on organizational structures in the application process; social – communication and interaction problems; and job demand barriers – obstacles that epitomize work-related strains.

Design/methodology/approach
Barriers and discrimination can prevent individuals from accessing the labor market which can lead to severe consequences for an individual on the autism spectrum, such as poverty, social deprivation or lack of health promotion and equal treatment. Self-perceived employability can be regarded as an additional strength, as it describes the perception of an individual's own skills and versatility to acquire and keep a job. In total, 53 German-speaking individuals on the autism spectrum participated in an online survey.

Findings
Results showed statistically significant coherences between both, formality and social barriers with discrimination. Formality barriers also indicated statistically significant coherences with self-perceived employability. A mediation model with discrimination as mediator between each category of barriers and self-perceived employability was examined. The non-significant results suggest that discrimination does not work as a superior construct but as a sole influence next to barriers and self-perceived employability.

Originality/value
Individuals on the autism spectrum epitomize a less common research approach. Moreover, diversity policies and practices in the workplace often do not focus on including individuals on the autism spectrum even though the employment rates for this specific group of potential highly qualified employees were reported to be consistently lower when compared to any other group of disabled people. Findings suggest possible starting points for future research, which are discussed alongside practical strategies to overcome barriers and change discriminatory attitudes toward skilled individuals on the autism spectrum.


Opuntia ficus-indica (OFI) tree and orchards efficiency has been poorly studied, in terms of relation between orchard lay out, light interception, and cropping efficiency. Apparently, there is no other way to increase orchard production than increasing the number either of trees ha-1 or fertile shoots tree-1, considering that a fruit count higher than 6-7 cladode-1 reduces fruit harvest size. The first option requires a reduction of unit tree size and canopy volume. The second option implies the use of large trees that often reduce their efficiency 12-15 years after planting. In 15-year-old OFI trees spaced 6 5 m apart trained to a globe and 2.5-3.0 m high, stem area index (SAI) calculated on the ground surface area covered by the tree was 2.9 and 6.5, respectively, for most active 1- and 2-year-old cladodes and whole canopy surface area. SAI orchard (cladode surface area/ground surface area allotted to the tree) values were slightly lower: 1.8 and 3.9. The proportion of annual dry matter allocated to the...