When a water utility must apply for a rate increase, the request almost automatically triggers opposition, resentment, and outcries from ratepayers. At the same time, public utility commissioners also demand proof from the utility that there is ample need and justification for the request. Such proof must support the utility's claim that its busi ess is conducted with maximum efficiency and productivity. Management audits, which have become an accepted part of business life over the past 10 years, have been used for this process by both commissions and utilities. This article explains what a management audit is and what benefits it can provide.


A* algorithm has been proved that it will provide optimal solutions in a static environment. We also want to introduce the A* algorithm to a dynamic environment where exists some moving objects which are unknown to the path planner, the agent. Since A* algorithm requires a perfect knowledge to the environment, we cannot directly implement A* in this situation. But we will enlarge the agent's knowledge to the map while moving towards the goals state by detecting the moving object, so that we can use A* to plan a new optimal path from the current state to the goal state if it is necessary. The definition of "optimal" means the path should be the shortest without colliding to the object. Our algorithm will accomplish two subgoals: collision prediction and path re-planning. The collision prediction determines whether a re-planning is necessary.


In developing countries like South Africa there is a significant shortage of electrical power in rural communities, and since ELF electromagnetic fields propagate during transmission, electrification could become a health burden amongst the immunocompromised. The health risks associated with exposure to ELF magnetic fields have been investigated in many European countries and little is known in African countries, particularly South Africa. This study aimed to investigate the exposure levels of ELF magnetic fields from medium overhead power lines in one of the rural townships in Mpumalanga province, Ngodini. In attempt to quantify exposure levels, purposive random sampling was used to select 30 residential house that received electrical connection in 2015. TriField model XE100 was used to obtain emission data at 0, 1, 1.5 and 1.8 m above the ground level during summer and winter seasons. The chosen heights were assumed to represent where sensitive organs in humans could be found; such include feet, pelvic region, pleural region and the head. Measurements were collected in front of residential gates where there is induced movement of residents. ANOVA was used to analyze descriptive data and t-test was used find statistical significant difference between the variables. A statistical significant difference was found when measurements from all heights were compared to one another (p<0.001), including measurements taken in summer and winter seasons (p<0.0001). The exposure levels were below the recommended exposure limits by ICNIRP with some levels reaching a peak of 2.87 μT during winter and 2.34 μT in summer seasons. This study necessitates further research in South Africa to investigate exposure-health relationship, since the peak exposure levels could lead to potential health risks as indicated in several studies.


This is a monograph covering flame retardant additives and reactives for plastics, textiles, paper and wood, compiled from the literature, including patents. Chemical compositions are generally well-identified, often with structural formulae, and in many cases formulations are briefly recited. However, only cursory performance information is given and it is generally not possible to assess the real merits of the flame retardants described.


Small ubiquitin-related modifiers (SUMOs) are key players in post-translational protein modifications and regulate various cellular processes such as cell division or apoptosis. SUMOylation is regulated by a family of SUMO specific proteases (SENPs) known to activate SUMO precursors and regulate deSUMOylation processes of various target proteins. Our previous studies showed that enhanced SUMO expression in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) altered their apoptotic behaviour. Based on these findings and the fact that SENP7 is localised on a susceptibility locus …


Recent years, certification mastery trend of college student boom. With serious employment situation, college students are fully equipped with sense of crisis and dive into the trend of mastering certificate. However there still exists deviation in the actual operation. The paper analyzes the "should-being" and "reality" of certificate mastery and proposes relevant suggestions.


This article presents quick analytical prediction methods of switching loss, turn-<sc>on/off</sc> overvoltage, d<italic>i</italic>/d<italic>t,</italic> and d<italic>v</italic>/d<italic>t</italic> for SiC metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor based on device datasheet. First, the switching process is analyzed and the simplification principles are discussed based on charge conservation and flux conservation. Second, the analytical equations of switching loss, turn-<sc>on/off</sc> overvoltage, d<italic>i</italic>/d<italic>t</italic>, and d<italic>v</italic>/d<italic>t</italic> are derived. Third, experimental results under different operating conditions are presented to validate the proposed methods. It is found that the average prediction error is 10.11%. Finally, relationships between switching performance and different parameters, such as parasitic capacitance, parasitic inductance, dc-voltage, and load current, are analyzed and summarized based on the proposed prediction methods.


Maureen Warner explores the world of water, how our everyday lives are governed by it and how you can bring its wonders into your setting.


The work deals with "Paying with data" from a VAT perspective. Starting from the (tax) legal classification of artificial intelligence, the effects of the use of artificial intelligence in business models on the existing taxation system are presented and the current political reform proposals are examined. Based on this, an own solution approach for a "fair" taxation of the digital economy within the framework of VAT law is developed. In this context, a separate valuation option is derived, taking into account tax law and economic valuation methods, and reform proposals are put forward for both national and EU VAT law.


A comprehensive analysis on the photon self-energy, the fermion self-energy, and the fermion vertex function is presented at one loop in the context of quantum electrodynamics (QED) with 1 extra dimension. In 5-dimensional theories, characterized by an infinite number of Kaluza-Klein fields, one-loop amplitudes involve discrete as well as continuous sums, $\sum^\infty_{n=1}\int d^4k$, that could diverge. Using dimensional regularization, we express such sums as products of gamma and Epstein functions, both defined on the complex plane, with divergences arising from poles of these functions in the limit as $ D \to 4$. Using the analytical properties of the Epstein function, we show that the ultraviolet divergences generated by the Kaluza-Klein sums can be consistently renormalized, which means that the corresponding renormalized quantities reduce to the usual ones of QED at the limit of a very large compactification scale $R^{-1}$. The main features of QED at the one-loop level were studied. We use the mass-dependent $\mu$-scheme to calculate, in QED with an arbitrary number $n$ of extra dimensions, a beta function fulfilling all desirable physical requirements. We argue that in this type of theories, with a large mass spectrum covering a wide energy range, beta functions should not be calculated by using mass-independent renormalization schemes. We show that the beta function is finite for any energy $\mu$. In particular, it reduces to the usual QED result $e^3/12\pi^2$ for $m\ll \mu \ll R^{-1}$ and vanishes for $m\gg \mu$, with $m$ the usual fermion mass. Throughout the work, the decoupling nature of all our results obtained from the analytical properties of the Epstein function is stressed.


Objective To investigate the effect of low- dose ketamine on patient- controlled intravenous analgesia with dezocine after transabdominal hysterectomy.Methods Eighty patients(ASA I- Ⅱ),aged 35- 55 years and scheduled for elective transabdominal hysterectomy,were randomly assigned to four groups of 20 cases each.All patients received patient- controlled intravenous analgesia(PCIA) for 24 h after operation.The PCIA solution(100 mL NS) contained dezocine 1.2 mg/kg in Group D1.The PCIA solution(100 mL NS) contained combination of ketamine(3 mg/kg)with dezocine at 1.0,0.8 and 0.6 mg/kg in Groups D2,D3,D4,respectively.The intravenous PCA device was set to deliver 1 mL bolus dose with lockout intervals of 10 minutes and background infusion at 2 mL/h after a loading dose of 5mg of dezocine.VAS score,Ramsay sedation score,Bromage score,ratio of total number of attempts(P_1') to times of effective delivery(P_2') were recorded at 1 h,2 h,4 h,8 h,16 h and 24 h after operation.Side effects,time of first flatus,overall satisfaction of PCA were also recorded.Results The VAS score in Group D2 was lower than that in Groups D1,D3 and D4 at 8,16,24 h after initiation of PCIA(P 0.05).P_1' and the ratio of P_1'/P_2' in Group D2 were lower than Groups D1,D3 and D4 at 4- 24 h(P 0.05);The incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting in Group D2 was significantly higher than that in Groups D1,D3 and D4(P 0.05).VAS score and P_1'/P_2' were similar among Groups D1,D3 and D4(P 0.05).Comparing the total amount of dezocine administered via PCIA device during the 24 h after operation,Group D1 Group D2 Group D3 Group D4(P 0.05).Time of first flatus in Group D4 was significantly shorter than that in Groups D1,D2 and D3(P 0.05).The overall satisfaction of PCIA was significantly higher in Groups D1,D3 and D4 than that in Group D2(P 0.05).Conclusion The postoperative analgesia effect of combination of low-dose ketamine with dezocine is satisfactory,which significantly reduces the total dosage of dezocine.Ketamine at 3 mg/kg with dezocine at 0.6 mg/kg in 100 mL NS on PCIA is the preferred solution after transabdominal hysterectomy.


The paper introduces a new algorithm for rate allocation in a multi-service Internet. The algorithm meets delay requirements of different services and provides fairness and congestion control. A performance comparison with other leading protocols is also carried out.


In order to be able to accomplish the task as an childhood educator, teachers must trained in early childhood education program (PAUD). Therefore, a well-and-systematic program must be established. In line with the government policy regarding early childhood education, there have been some policies announced by government starting from the act until technical procedures


We find that the angular distribution of electrons injected through a quantized one-dimensional constriction exhibits fine structure at 300 mK which is smeared out at 1.5 K. The relative sizes of the peaks in the fine structure can be changed by modifying the potential in the injector constriction. Using a simple model, we show that the results are consistent with modulation of the intersubband transition probabilities, which are highly sensitive to the asymmetry of the constriction


A comparison was made between the lipid and fatty acid composition of the salt-sensitive bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L. cv. Saxa), the less salt-sensitive barley (Hordeum vulgaris L. cv. Wisa) and the salt-tolerant sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L. cv. Kawemono). Sugar beet roots showed a higher content of sterol components and sulfolipid as compared with bean and barley roots. The lipids of sugar beet roots contained more linoleic acid and less linolenic acid than those of bean and barley roots. For barley and sugar beet roots a higher amount of extra-long chain fatty acids was observed than for bean roots. It was concluded that differences in membrane structure are correlated with differences in membrane permeability to sodium and chloride and in salt-resistance of the studied species.


The paper believes that the ancestor of the Chinese culture is neighter Confucius nor the Huang Di,but the great thinker,Zhou Gong,in the early years of the Zhou dynasty.The so-called statement of "descendants of Yan and Huang" and "Confucius's Acts" are not correct.Zhou Gong completed the magnificent transform of transiting from natural religion to religious ethics through reconstructing courtesy and music culture and creating political philosophy,as well as converting Yin people's worship of God to the worship of sky.Since then,influenced by Zhou Gong's thinking,the Chinese formed her unique view of politic,history,religion and values.


While research work on fast integral equation solver has resulted in several algorithms of similar linear equation solving performance, it has been well observed that the convergence of capacitance versus discretization is rather slow due to the most commonly used first-order collocation or Galerkin methods. This paper reports a new high-order scheme, Quadrature-evaluated Method of Moments Solver (QMMS), that uses high-order weighting and Gaussian quadrature to optimally handle the singularities at the edges and corners. For practical interconnect extraction problems, singularities at edges are analytically known and the corresponding Gaussian nodes allocation affords a near optimal discretization scheme. The new formulation avoids the special position-dependent quadrature rules, and surprisingly, provides a well-behaved matrix that converges rapidly without any pre-conditioning. Combining the high-order scheme with a kernel-independent fast solver yields an efficient algorithm for 3-D capacitance extraction.


Let G be a torsion group and let R be a G-adapted ring. In this note we study the question of when the group ring RG has only trivial torsion units. It turns out that the above question is closely related to the question of when the quaternion group ring RQ8 has only trivial torsion units. We first give a ring-theoretic condition on R which determines exactly when the quaternion group ring has only trivial torsion units. Then several equivalent conditions for RG to have only trivial torsion units are provided. We also investigate the hypercenter of the unit group of a G-adapted group ring RG, and show that when R satisfies the torsion trivial involution condition, this hypercenter is not equal to the center if and only if G is a Q*-group.


The study seeks to advance the socio-scientific issues knowledge base by addressing the complexity of these issues using methodological and analytical tools that reveal information about individual, collaborative and situational outcomes. In this case study of a grade 7 classroom investigating the topic of genetic engineering, a memes analysis indicated that several memetic mechanisms potentially affected how and why ideas were taken up in the learning system. Mechanisms included processes such as 'do as the smart students do', friendship selection, and meme-coupling influences. Implications for education in terms of student decision-making about socio-scientific issues are discussed.


n aukri.com is an entrepreneurial firm that pioneered online recruitment and job search in India. The company began as a bootstrapped start-up when the Internet was in its infancy. It obtained some venture capital funding in the year 2000 and has been earning profits since 2002-03. Revenues had doubled every year since 2000-01 and were set to reach Rs. 400 million in 2004-05. naukri.com had emerged as the leader in the online recruitment space in India and in November 2004, Sanjeev Bikhchandani, the firm's founder, was pondering over the firms's challenges of growth. Viewed from the perspective of the entrepreneurial life cycle (Price, 2004),1 naukri.com has successfully navigated the first four stages of opportunity recognition, opportunity focusing, commitment of resources, and market entry. In November 2004, it was located in stage 5 — full launch and growth. In order to progress, the firm has to grow and move through two further stages — maturity and expansion (stage 6) and liquidity event (stage 7). The fifth stage in which naukri.com is currently located is a critical stage because the firm has to choose its strategy for growth. Many entrepreneurial firms either choose to remain small or are unable to grow because of external or internal constraints. naukri.com has the potential to grow. The online recruitment market size is expected to increase substantially in the future. Thus, competition notwithstanding, there is head room for growth. naukri.com had received venture capital funding. Hence, harvesting may be a requirement at a future naukri.com


Written as a collaboration by two experts in the online world, this book is a result of extensive research and interviews with key players in the early stage of the online information and retrieval systems. The authors' personal experiences, expertise, knowledge, and research interests add value to the book. Charles Bourne, a pioneer in information retrieval services, was formerly director of the Institute of Library Research at the University of California and vice president of DIALOG Information Services. Trudi Bellardo Hahn is the manager of library user education services and adjunct professor at the College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland. Bourne has published extensively on online resources and information retrieval service, while Hahn has published on the history of online information systems and other online systems topics.

The authors have addressed the following important questions that guided their research: What role did hardware, software, telecommunications, and database developments play in driving the progress of online systems (p. 405)? What were the characteristics of the early online services (p. 406)? What role did formal evaluation play in the progress of online systems and services (p. 407)? What role did government and private funding play (p. 408)? What were the characteristics, behavior, and attitudes of the online pioneers (p. 408)?

The book is a detailed chronology of the early years of online information systems and services. It begins with a general literature review and explains the research methodology of the book. The methodology includes interviewing key participants in the early development of online systems, documenting the key events, dating the milestones, organizing events chronologically, and outlining the four themes.

The next chapter describes early research and development activities and details important research projects, institutions, and individuals in the field. The text also documents all relevant milestones, such as the first demonstration of remote online bibliographic and full-text searching of Stanford Research Institute's SRI Online Systems in 1963. Most of the systems in this period provided access to bibliographic databases.

The authors then review the further experimental prototypes in universities from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s. The chapter leads a tour of universities in the United States, Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom, and Japan where systems were developed that made worthy contributions to the online access and retrieval systems. Most systems were oriented toward using a computer to accomplish the functions of a library, technical information center, filing cabinet, or reference book. The chapter details the major players and projects of the academic world during this period.

One chapter further described the experimental systems developed in nonacademic laboratories during the mid-1960s to the early 1970s. This chapter illustrates how various nonacademic laboratories continued the research and development that they had begun in the early 1960s, with more commercial and governmental labs joining in with their own projects. Although the lives of some of the systems were short, the research and development efforts during this period produced faster, more efficient, and more effective systems.

The book devotes one chapter each to focus on the earliest versions of four major commercial online services, which appeared in the mid-1960s: the prototype versions of DIALOG, ORBIT, LEXIS, and SUNY/BCN (later BRS). These chapters provide elaborate narrative about the major institutions, individuals and their roles in developing the systems, and reasons the systems later came to serve such large and diverse clienteles. These chapters also describe the research and development of the important subject databases in space science, legal services, and biomedical communications. Important players in online information systems—such as Lockheed Missiles and Space Company, the National Library of Medicine (NLM), System Development Cooperation (SDC), Data Central, and the State University of New York (SUNY)—and their roles and major contributions are emphasized in these chapters.

The next two chapters discuss how the industry tailored the online systems to customers and how the public embraced the systems. The final chapter is a summary. A list of acronyms and abbreviations to help decipher some of the data is at the beginning of the book, while notes of the chapters, a summary of online milestones, a bibliography, and an index are provided at the end of the book.

Much literature has been published on the history of online systems. Some journal articles are very important in the history of online systems. However, many of them address the history of very specific databases. Some books about existing online services are devoted to specific subject areas; some emphasize technological and economical aspects; and some pay more attention to the background of online services. One book, Information Retrieval: On-Line by Lancaster and Fayen (1973) [1], "functioned for years as a textbook, handbook, and encyclopedia on all aspects of online retrieval systems" (p. 2). No book has covered the systems, service, funding, and pioneers in the historic era of early online history as broadly and in as much depth as History of Online Information Services, 1963–1976. The numerous citations of various sources and quotations of the key participants are invaluable to the history of online information. The book is very important to libraries, the information searching and retrieval industry, and individuals who use online databases and catalogs.


Voltage and torque ripples can reduce control precision and increase vibration and noise in electric vehicles, servo systems, or wind generators. To address this problem, we proposed a novel winding method in which three phase coils are wound around each tooth, with each coil having a different number of turns around a given tooth. The proposed winding scheme may also be applied to toroidal winding. By numerical magnetic analysis, we examined the characteristics of machines using these proposed windings. The results demonstrated a reduction in back-EMF ripple to below 1% of the fundamental components. Torque ripple was reduced by approximately 7% for a four-pole machine and by 2.5% for an eight-pole machine, compared with both the concentrated and toroidal winding schemes. The proposed winding scheme was shown to significantly reduce voltage and torque ripples.


Self-employment may be seen either as a survival strategy for those who cannot find any other means of earning an income or as evidence of entrepreneurial spirit and a desire to be one"s own boss. In Korean circumstances, it is generally accepted idea that the former case is more prevalent. Using the self-employment as the last income tool means that self-employed people could fall easily into poverty in old age, which requires state level affirmative actions for earning support. It can be said broadly that there are two ways to support retired self-employed people"s income. One is retirement pension, the other is pension credit. Retirement pension for self-employed people is characterised by two tier contributions level - Class 2 contributions/Class 4 contributions. Class 2 contributions are payable on a flat-rate basis which is now £2.65 a week. This very low contribution rate contributes to get self-employed people involved into state pension system without excessive burdens. Pension credit is a tax-free payment for people who gain low income. Pension credit is composed of guarantee credit and savings credit, and the latter is made for encouraging the people to save money as a means of earning"s theirown living. These UK earning support methods suggest a new approach to connecting work to welfare, inducing self-employed people to join the state social security.


Social Capital is an important resource to impact people's behavior capability and living standard.However,the urban female off-farm workers handle relatively less social capital such as private relationship,organization and system,so that they live in a marginal position within the city.The factors to restrict social capital flowing to female off-farm workers include that the human resources is in a lower level,the private relationship net has no difference,the participation to the social organizations is pretty less and the security system is insufficient.Therefore,it is important for government,society and individual to increase the social capital female off-farm workers and improve the surviving situation.


This article describes the Amplitude Variation with Offset (AVO) and Lambda-Mu-Rho (LMR) analysis that followed the Pre-stack Depth Migration (PSDM) of a 2,000 km2 3D covering the shallower, prospective part of the relinquished deep water Stonehouse license offshore Nova Scotia (Figure1). AVO analysis and LMR attribute inversion are routinely used to reduce reservoir risk in offshore exploration drilling. However, AVO can only detect relative anomalies due to high porosity hydrocarbon filled reservoirs, whereas log-calibrated LMR inversion can provide a quantitative extraction of rock properties to discriminate lithology, porosity and fluids given reasonable data quality and amplitude preserved processing. The motivation for AVO/LMR analysis on the Stonehouse 3D stems from the failure of the majority of Scotian slope wells drilled to intersect economic reservoir sands. In order to be able to discriminate high porosity sands from sub-economic low porosity sands, various AVO/LMR responses to fluid and porosity variations were predicted through Biot-Gassmann Fluid Replacement Modelling (FRM) as well as porosity substitution and thickening of thin, low porosity target gas sands from the nearby Tantallon (M-41) well. As the M-41 well has no shear dipole data so log data from the Annapolis (G-24) gas discovery well provided background P-wave to shear-wave mudrock velocity relationships. In addition, the G-24 logs afforded a critical verification that the higher porosity substitution (from 9% to 18%) of the gas charged sand zone in M-41 matched the stratigraphically equivalent 18% porosity gas sands encountered in G-24 from both a petrophysical and AVO/LMR perspective. Synthetic AVO models of gathers and wedge thicknesses ranging from zero to 50m were created for the 9% porosity insitu gas saturated sands and the 18% porosity substituted case, using various gas/brine saturations. These wedge models and the FRM predicted that high porosity substituted gas sands produce very bright AVO class 3 or 4 responses at thicknesses > 10m. By contrast, low porosity gas or brine sands had near zero contrast to background shales with dim AVO class 2 gather and stack responses, while the 18% porosity brine sands showed only marginal AVO class 1 contrast. Beyond standard LMR (lmr) cross-plotting that successfully isolated gas sand clusters in the M-41 log data, an improved separation of high porosity sands was further achieved using a lr-mr? difference vs. acoustic P-impedance (Ip) template. When applied to the calibrated AVO/LMR attributes inverted from the 3D, the lr-mr? difference vs. Ip cross-plot analysis permitted a more discriminating and believable isolation of prospective gas sands than standard LMR. Following the modified Rutherford and Williams scheme of AVO classes 1 to 5 (Young et al 2003) and at the risk of overclassification, a new AVO class 6 fluid-only GWC is defined in terms of P-wave (Rp) vs. shear-wave (Rs) reflectivity as opposed to Intercept (I) and Gradient (G). The theoretical gradient modelling of this class 6 is used to validate a structural flat-spot identified on the migrated stack by mapping its structural conformance to a salt dome flank. This DHI fluid contact control point was critical in the cross-plot data template masking and polygon projection onto the 3D volume. Along with further attribute analysis, the DHI template confirmed that troughpeak reflectors up-dip from the flatspot occupied the same cross-plot region as the 18% porosity gas sand model and were generally sparsely (hence discriminately) populated throughout the 3D. Sand body depth volumes projected from cross-plot polygons using LMR and AVO intercept-gradient reconnaissance analysis were combined with independent, seismic-stratigraphic 22 CSEG RECORDER October 2008 Continued on Page 23 AR TI CL E Figure 1. Location map of 3D covering the relinquished deep water Stonehouse license offshore Nova Scotia.


F Levi-Schaffer's research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (Grants no. 699/10 and 472/15), the Aimwell Charitable Trust (UK), and the Emalie Gutterman Memorial Endowed Fund of the HUJI. Work in Leicester was supported in part by the National Institute for Health Research Leicester Respiratory Biomedical Research Unit. The Wessex severe asthma cohort study was funded by the MRC UK (Grant code GO8000649) and facilitated by the NIHR Southampton Respiratory Biomedical Research Unit. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR, or the Department of Health.


This letter presents a novel miniaturized dual-band bandpass filter (BPF) using a dual-mode dielectric waveguide resonator (DWR). The DWR is a cylinder dielectric block with the surface being silver-coated. The two modes are TM010 and TM011 modes, which are used to construct the two passbands. The frequency of them can be adjusted by changing the radius and the height of the cylinder DWR and the frequency space can be controlled independently. The BPF is composed of three cylindrical cavities, which are arranged in an equilateral triangle. The three cavities construct a cascaded trisection (CT) unit, which creates a transmission zero (TZ) at the upper side of the two passbands. Finally, a dual-band BPF using DWR is simulated, manufactured, and measured to exhibit the feasibility of the proposed design. Their results are in good agreement, showing good performance, such as miniaturization, good return loss (RL), and upper stopband selectivity.


AbstrcatBy means of analysis of advantage and disadvantage between pumping with electricity and with diesel engine,the paper has proposed a new irrigation model through pumping with electricity to promote the reconstruction project in paddy field and get a better economic benefit.


By avoiding the limitation of loading device of the present blister packing,the newly-designed loading device is to greatly elevate the domestic blister packing speed.The flexible and adjustable storage silo suits different sizes of blisters.Cam-controlled swinging unit makes the storage silo trace the canton's vacancy.Driven by servo motor,the compound cam connecting units drive upper and lower hook plate,making loading simple and stable,accurate and adjustable.It suits for modern mass production.


Abstract. This study aims to investigate the extent to which pricing strategy creates an effective competitive advantage for companies implementing an activity-based costing (ABC) system in their production activities. The research data were obtained through a questionnaire-based survey of several manufacturing companies in Indonesia that implement ABC systems. This research used the Structural Equation Model with Partial Least Square statistical method. The results of this research indicate that those companies who apply an ABC system are capable of making their pricing strategy more effective and increasing their competitive advantage. The empirical results show that price competition is unavoidable among manufacturing industries. However, implementing an ABC system can increase manufacturing companies' competitive advantage. Thus, the implementation of an ABC System employs pricing strategy as a determinant factor of competitive advantage. This research supports the results of previous studies that also concluded that there is a strong relationship between ABC systems and competitive advantage. In addition, this research found that pricing strategy can improve competitive advantage with implementation of an ABC System. Keywords: Activity-based costing system; competitive advantage; pricing strategy


This paper presents data on the effect of unilateral and bilateral electrical stimulation of the ovaries in 36 women of reproductive age with polycystic ovary syndrome and infertility on follicular reserve, estimated by the concentration of anti-Mullerian hormone in the blood serum. The results of surgical treatment showed that in the postoperative period in women, both with unilateral and bilateral ovarian cauterization, it does not lead to a critical decrease in the follicular reserve compared with indicators of healthy women.


The study on utilization of CPP and DSF in sweet fried cookies (shankarpali) was undertaken to upgrade the nutritional quality and assess the acceptability. The SFC (shankarpali) were prepared from composite flours by incorporating 10, 20 and 30 parts of DSF and 5, 10 and 15 parts of CPP into fine wheat flour. The SFC (shankarpali) were analyzed for chemical composition and sensory properties with increase in concentration of CPP, there was increase in protein, ash and crude fibre content. The crude fibre content of SFC (shankarpali) supplemented with 15% CPP was the highest (2.9). The SFC (shankarpali) supplemented with CPP upto 10% level were of acceptable sensory quality. Keywords— Carrot pomace powder (CPP), sweet fried cookies, defatted soy flour, tray drying, sensory analysis


The considerations of Eddington in 1926 on "Diffuse Matter in Interstellar Space" led to the surprising result that in order to explain the relative intensities of the calcium and sodium interstellar lines it would be necessary to assume that sodium in atomic form was more than seven hundred times as abundant as atomic calcium in interstellar space. Since sodium is several times more abundant than calcium in the Earth's crust and since it might be relatively still more abundant in interstellar space, this result of Eddington's invited closer ex-amination. Among the simplifying assumptions made by Eddington in his calculations, the one which could be expected to influence this result most strongly was the assumption that the radiation in interstellar space could be treated as having spectral distribution corresponding to a black body at about 15,000°. correspond


Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) belongs to the group of peripheral immune-mediated neuropathies and is often preceded by an inflammatory episode. GBS is rarely associated with hepatitis A viral (HAV) infection, the latter as a rule antecedent of the neurological disorders. This association is quite rare in childhood, and only isolated cases have been described. We report an unusual case of pediatric GBS which development coincided with the development of HAV IgM (+) acute hepatitis A. From the 2nd to the 14th day after admission to hospital for mild jaundice of the skin and sclera in 12-year-old boy, the following neurological disorders have developed: absent Achilles and knee jerk reflexes, diminished brachioradialis reflex, moderately decreased muscle power in the upper extremities, and more pronounced power loss in the lower extremities. Facial palsy developed bilaterally, more expressed to the right. There was albuminocytologic dissociation of the cerebrospinal fluid and stimulation electromyography (EMG) showed findings compatible with the GBS subdivision - Acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (AIDP). Our case report has shown that hepatitis A virus can trigger GBS in the very beginning of HAV infection in children, and this may be due to some common pathogenic mechanisms shared by both diseases.


It provides a method of making flip-chip package of the ultra-thin. The present invention forms a lower barrier metal film on the metal pads of the semiconductor chip. The first to form a photoresist pattern having a plurality of holes is formed on the second lower barrier metal film. The second lower barrier by embedding a plurality of holes by an electroplating method pillar portion and an upper portion of said pillars are formed on the metal film to form a solder bump having a three-dimensional structure-part mushrooms. To remove the photoresist pattern. To complete the Flip-Chip package in turn over a semiconductor chip on the printed circuit board and a solder layer bonding including a solder bump of the three-dimensional structure. The present invention employs a solder bump having a three-dimensional structure can reduce the height of the solder bumps can implement a flip chip package is very thin and structural reliability improved. Flip-chip package, solder bumps


A split spectrum processing(SSP) algorithm was proposed to estimate the time of flight(ToF) of the damage-scattered fundamental symmetrical(S0) mode by comparing the instantaneous amplitude variation degree(IPVD) of a captured wave signal and that of a benchmark signal in a damage case,so as to realize the ultrasonic guided wave-based damage identification.Wave signals captured from an intact aluminum plate were firstly acquired in ideal environment(without noise) as a benchmark one.Then,a notch was artificially introduced into an aluminum plate and the wave signals captured from the notched aluminum plate(damage case) were acquired in different environments(without and with noise).Test results demonstrated that even though the captured wave signal from the damage case has a lower signal-to-noise ratio(SNR),the IAVD of the captured wave signal extracted with SSP algorithm is almost not influenced by noise.As result,the proposed SSP algorithm was capable of estimating the ToF of the damage-scattered S0 mode with higher precision,regardless of very strong noise disturbance,so as to identify successfully the notch in an aluminum plate further combining with the triangulation algorithm.


Teacher educators in South Africa face challenges of preparing new teachers for an inclusive education system that has been accepted as policy but is not yet fully realised in school contexts. Pre-service teachers entering teacher preparation programmes are themselves a product of a schooling system in which many inequalities and marginalising practices are still prevalent. In this article, we present an analysis of the extent to which pre-service teachers' personal experiences within the schooling system influenced their perceptions about the benefits and drawbacks of 2 common organisational arrangements made for learners who experience barriers to learning. An analysis of empirical data from a questionnaire and individual interviews suggests that participants who had personally observed or experienced particular arrangements were more likely to hold fixed views about their potential benefits or drawbacks. We consider the implications of this finding for teacher education programmes that seek to produce teachers who can teach inclusively in the South African schooling system.


This semi-elasticity can be interpreted as: if the kth explanatory variable inceases by one percent, the probability that y = 1 increases by k percentage points. This semi-elasticity depends on the value of the dependent variable xk. One often calculates the semi-elasticity at the sample mean, i.e., xk = x̄k. If the model specification additionally includes a quadratic term of the explanatory variable k, e.g., xk+1 = x 2 k, the semi-elasticity of this explanatory variable is:


It has been recently shown that the contribution between the horizons determines the Hawking temperature for a multi-horizon spacetime. In this paper, we apply the Hamiltonian–Jacobi method to compute the Hawking temperature for some multi-horizon spacetimes like Schwarzschild–de Sitter (SdS) spacetime, Reissner–Nordstrom–de Sitter (RNdS) spacetime and rotating BTZ (RBTZ) black hole spacetime and also arrive at the same conclusion. There are two contributions to the tunneling process of radiation. The combination of these two contributions gives the radiation with the Hawking temperature with an effective surface gravity.


Image Mosaicing has wide applications in the field of 3D image reconstruction, medical imaging, military automatic target recognition, video conferencing, and data from satellites. An Image Mosaicing is a method of assembling multiple overlapping images of the same scene into a larger image. The input images are stitched together using image mosaicing algorithms i.e. Harris and SIFT (Scale Invariant Feature Transform). In this paper, a comparative study is done among the common stitching algorithms: Harris corner detection algorithm, SIFT algorithm. The principles of these algorithms are described in terms of computing time and stitching precision. Harris algorithm detects more features and is only rotationally invariant. SIFT is both rotationally and scale invariant, although it is slow. Harris corner detection algorithm (5) was proposed by Harris C and Stephens MJ in the year 1988. Harris algorithm is a point feature extracting algorithm based on Moravec algorithm. It is an algorithm based on still image used for combined corner and edge detector. Reasonable amount of corner features are extracted which gives a better quantitative measurement by using a stable operator. A local detecting window in image is designed. The average variation in intensity is determined by shifting the window by a small amount in different direction. The centre point of the window is extracted as corner point. The point can be recognized easily by looking at the intensity values within a small window. Shifting the window in any direction gives a large change in appearance. Harris corner detector is used for detecting corners. On shifting the window if it's a flat region than it will show no change of intensity in all direction. If an edge region is found than it will show no change of intensity along the edge direction. But if a corner is found than there will be a significant change of intensity in all directions. Harris corner detector gives a mathematical approach for determining the region is flat, edge or corner. Harris corner technique detects more features and it is rotational invariant and scale variant. Harris gave a formula that can be calculated out the change of the pixel values in any direction, rather than fixed in the 8 directions.


Electromagnetic railgun systems based on capacitive pulsed-power supply (CPPS) have obtained widespread applications because of its obvious advantages over the inductive ones on mature technology, operational reliability, and feasible financial condition. However, the existing CPPS-based electromagnetic railgun system works with low efficiency. In this paper, systematical studies on the CPPS in the synchronously triggered electromagnetic railgun system with constant volume and in the time-delay-triggered electromagnetic railgun system with automatic segmentation are proposed, respectively. In the synchronously triggered electromagnetic railgun system, all pulse-forming units (PFUs) are supposed to be triggered synchronously and the load is simplified as a resistor first. Then, the system performance criteria, i.e., the launch velocity of the armature vend and the system efficiency η, are expressed as the function of four independent system variables: 1) the capacitance of each PFU C; 2) the precharged voltage UC of capacitors; 3) the rail length l; and 4) the armature mass m. The relationship between η (or vend) and any two independent variables can be found under the environment of MATLAB R2012a by fixing the other two parameters. The results are then verified under the environment of Simplorer 8. These figures can be used to instruct the design of the pulsed-power supply for a designated load or the railgun for a designated source. In the time-delay-triggered electromagnetic railgun system, the principle of automatic segmentation is proposed. According to the segmentation principle, the simulation results under the environment of Simplorer 8 are given for comparison. The paper can provide a theoretical foundation for the future designs to get higher system efficiency.


The following highlights key findings from this reporting period: while {open_quotes}standard cure{close_quotes} A9918P ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) encapsulant, laminated between low iron glass, shows significant yellowing after 17 weeks in a xenon-arc Weather-Ometer, {open_quotes}neat{close_quotes} EVA with no additives shows little or no yellowing after the same exposure; when similar laminates were prepared and exposed in the Weather-Ometer, using A9918P with the Lupersol 101 crosslinker removed from the encapsulant, color development after 10 weeks was reduced by approximately 2/3. This result strongly implicates Lupersol 101 in the discoloration of EVA encapsulant; similar Weather-Ometer aging studies of other laminates, prepared using EVA with various combinations of the A9918P additives, suggests that EVA discoloration arises primarily from Naugard P and an interaction of Lupersol 101 with Cyasorb UV-531. Transformation products of these additives appear to be giving rise to yellowing, rather than the Elvax 3185 resin itself; when Lupersol TBEC was substituted for Lupersol 101 in the encapsulant (i.e. {open_quotes}fast cure{close_quotes} 15295P formulation rather than the {open_quotes}standard cure{close_quotes} A9918P), the rate of yellowing was reduced by a factor of approximately 2.5; use of a cerium-oxide containing low-iron glass superstrate reduced the rate of yellowing of A9918P EVA by approximately 75%. When laminates weremore » prepared and exposed using 15295P EVA and cerium-oxide containing glass superstrate, there was no visible yellowing. Analytical results show no measurable loss of acetic acid from very browned, field-aged EVA and no evidence of conjugated unsaturation; analysis also reveals the loss of Cyasorb UV-531 in both field-aged and laboratory U.V. aged samples, but only in the presence of Lupersol 101. This result supports the finding of an interaction of Lupersol 101 with UV-531 as contributing to color formation in the presence of U.V.« less


We analyze the spin Hall effect in CuIr alloys in theory by the combined approach of the density functional theory (DFT) and Hartree-Fock (HF) approximation. The spin Hall angle (SHA) is obtained to be negative without the local correlation effects. After including the local correlation effects of the 5d orbitals of Ir impurities, the SHA becomes positive with realistic correlation parameters and consistent with experiment [Niimi et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 126601 (2011)]. Moreover, our analysis shows that the DFT + HF approach is a convenient and general method to study the influence of local correlation effects on the spin Hall effect.


This paper describes the methodology and results from a survey conducted following a closed-course study that examined LED characteristics used with pedestrian crossing signs. In addition to drawing drivers' attention to a device and the area around the device, unique flash patterns may be able to help provide a message to drivers regarding conditions at the downstream site. The objective of the survey was to gain insights into driver's opinions on the urgency of the message provided by rapid-flashing beacons when used with a pedestrian crossing sign. The survey found that multiple flashes within a short time period were better at communicating the need to stop for a pedestrian at a crosswalk as compared to few or no flashes such as the wig-wag or no LED illuminated conditions. When observing close-up views of a sign assembly consisting of a pedestrian crossing sign and LEDs either embedded or below the sign, the patterns that used multiple pulses communicated greater urgency in needing to yield to a pedestrian. The participants indicated that LEDs below communicated more urgency than the LEDs within. When asked to count the number of pulses in a light bar with the 2-5 pattern, the majority of the participants (77 percent) correctly counted 2 pulses. Almost none of the participants correctly counted 5 pulses. Only 4 participants provided the correct answer of 5. The majority of the participants (55 percent) saw 3 pulses when 5 pulses were present.


Aggressive technology scaling and design practices have increased the impact of noise in high-performance digital systems. Nanometer CMOS process technologies in the sub-45-nm regime have become statistical in nature. In this dissertation, we study the problem of designing deterministic systems even though the constituent blocks exhibit statistical behavior. We study the energy-efficiency versus reliability trade-offs in the context of digital signal processing and communications systems.
Recently, communications-inspired techniques of error detection and error correction using algorithmic noise-tolerance (ANT) have shown enormous promise in jointly optimizing energy-efficiency and robustness of nanometer systems-on-a-chip (SOCs). We introduce a novel ANT technique referred to as Input Subsampled Replica (ISR) ANT which can be applied to motion estimation block in a video encoder. The motion estimation block is the most power hungry block in a video encoder. The proposed architecture employs the principle of error-resiliency to combat logic level timing errors that may arise in average-case designs in presence of process variations and/or due to overscaling of the supply voltage (VOS) and thereby achieves power reduction. Error-resiliency is incorporated via ISR-ANT where an input subsampled replica of the main sum-of-absolute-difference (MSAD) block is employed for detecting and correcting errors in the MSAD block.
Next, we extend the communications-inspired approach by proposing the use of networked computational units that compute and communicate with each other in order to provide robustness and energy-efficiency. Referred to as stochastic sensor network-on-a-chip (SSNOC), this novel design paradigm seeks to embrace randomness and non-determinism in circuit fabrics as opposed to treating the latter as sources of errors that need to be corrected. In the SSNOC paradigm, computation is viewed as distributed estimation problem and robust estimation theory is employed to achieve robustness and energy-efficiency in presence of nanoscale non-idealities such as process, temperature and voltage variations as well as soft-errors due to particle hits. The utility of the proposed framework is demonstrated by employing it to design an energy-efficient and robust PN-code acquisition system for the wireless CDMA2000 standard. Emulation using Altera field programmable gate array (FPGA) board verifies the robustness of SSNOC-based PN-code acquisition for 430 different error statistics with probability of sensor error lying between 4% and 60%.
Thus, our proposed techniques address the challenging problem of energy reduction and reliable operation in a unified manner. They enable us to design deterministic systems even though the process technology has statistical variations. These techniques provide a new computational model that is better suited to the realities of the nanoscale era. Such computational models may be key to extending Moore's law into the deep nanoscale silicon and post-silicon era.


MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as a major regulatory network with profound effects on many physiological processes. They are particularly important for determining cell fate decisions. Several processes mediate CD8 T cell differentiation. While many studies have revealed the importance of transcriptional and epigenetic regulation, it is likely that miRNAs also contribute to this programming. miRNAs are critical in determining B and CD4 T cell lineage, yet little is known about their effect on CD8 T cell differentiation. Studies with in vitro skewed central memory CD8 T cells show a down regulation of miR-155 relative to skewed effector memory cells. Using murine gammaherpesvirus 68 as a model, we examined the influence of miR-155 on CD8 differentiation in vivo. Our results showed lowered CD8 responses in the absence of miR-155 accompanied by a phenotypic skewing towards a memory precursor phenotype at the acute phase, which resulted in more central memory cells. The resulting memory cells in the absence of miR-155 were as functionally competent as their wild type counterparts, as revealed by their ability to recall to the same antigen. Our data indicate the importance of mIR-155 in effector differentiation, which may be a critical piece of the puzzle in CD8 differentiation giving useful information for vaccine research.


Authors propose the approach for precision improvement and self-adjustment of the braking control device using multi-core microcontroller for automatic identification of the braking system parameters and braking way estimation for the anti-collision system for autonomous train. The precision of the developed system is tested and the correlation to the theoretical data is evaluated.


Abstract Taking its cue from the oblique of Elaine L. Graham's 'post/human', this essay examines the difficult relationship between humanism and its 'post'. If, as Graham points out, the present moment is one in which anthropocentrism is both in crisis and deferred to as 'common sense', what is to be done? Perhaps the answer lies in strategies for 'obliquing' humanist discourse, working through its contradictions in order to establish the 'post/human' as a figure that forever disrupts humanism.


Since Hull (1815) published his article on modelling, analogue modelling has expanded to simulate both a wider range of tectonic regimes and target more challenging set-ups, and has become an integrated part of the fields of tectonics and structural geology. Establishment of new laboratories testifies for the increased attention the technique receives. The ties between modellers and field geoscientists have become stronger with the focus being on understanding the parameters that govern the evolution of a tectonic regime and the processes that dominate it. Since the first sand castle was built with damp sand on a beach, sand has proven to be an appropriate material analogue. Even though granular materials is the most widely used analogue material, new materials are also (re)introduced as rock analogues. Emphasis has been on more precise measurements of the mechanical properties of the materials and on minimizing the preparation effects, which have a great impact on scaling, interpretations and benchmarking. The analytical technique used to quantify model results has also seen a great deal of improvement. In addition to X-ray tomography used to visualise internal structures of models, new techniques (e.g. PIV, high-resolution laser scanning, and interferometry) have enabled monitoring kinematics with a higher precision. Benchmarking exercises have given modelling an additional checking tool by outlining, in addition to the rheology of the modelling materials, the impact of different preparation approaches, the effect of boundary conditions, and the human factor on model results. However, despite the different approaches and deformation rigs, results of models of different tectonic laboratories have shown a great deal of similarities. Even with the introduction of more sophisticated numerical codes and usage of more powerful computers which enable the simulation of more challenging material properties and combinations of those, and 3D model set-up, analogue modelling can still play a significant role both as a physical checking tool and a complementary technique. Additional fine-tuning takes enables the technique to take on more challenging tasks. However, the foundation of the technique is in its link to natural prototypes and that model results can only give some hints about a geologic process or structure. Sixty years ago, Ernest Cloos stated that "....Many interpretations would never have been published if the author had only once tried his suggested mechanism of folding or faulting in an experiment". He has also said that "... experimenting is a good deal of fun". Both statements do still hold!


1. HUSTON R. SAPERSTEIN G. LEIPOLD HW. Congenital defects in foals. J Equine Med Surg 1977; 1: 146-161. 2. THEILE H. Polydactylism in a foal. Monatshefte Veterinaermed 1958; 13: 342-343. 3. BLENAU B. KLOS z. A case of polydactylism in a foal. Med Weter 1969; 25: 545-547. 4. EVANS LH. JENNY J. RAKER CW. Surgical correction of polydactylism in a horse. J Am Vet Med Assoc 1965; 146: 1405-1408. 5. LEIPOLD H. MACDONALD KR. Adactylia and polydactylia in a Welsh foal. Vet Med Small Anim Clin 1971; 66: 928-930. 6. McGAVIN MC, LEIPOLD HW. Attempted surgical correction of equine polydactylism. J Am Vet Med Assoc 1975; 166: 63-64. 7. JOHNSON JH. The foot. ln: Mansman RA and McAlister ES, eds. Equine medicine and surgery. Santa Barbara, California: American Veterinary Publications, 1982: 1033-1054. 8. TAYLOR TS. MORRIS EL. Agenesis of the distal phalanx in a mule. Vet Radiol 1983; 24: 63-65. 9. BERTONE AL. AANES WA. Congenital phalangeal hypoplasia in Equidae. J Am Vet Med Assoc 1984; 185: 554-556. 10. MISHRA Pc. Extrinsic and intrinsic veins of the equine hoof wall. M.Sc. thesis, University of Saskatchewan, 1982. 11 BLOOD DC. RADOSTITS OM, HENDERSON JA. Veterinary medicine. 6th ed. London: Bailliere Tindall, 1983. 12. UHTHOFF HK. SARKER K. MAYNARD JA. Calcifying tendonitis. A new concept in its pathogenesis. Clin Orthop 1976; 118: 164-168. 13. KUBICEK A. Inflammation of the corium of the bovine hoof associated with exostoses on the third phalanx. Vet Med (Prague) 1970; 15: 97-101.


The Floyd--Warshall algorithm is a well-known algorithm for the all-pairs shortest path problem that is simply implemented by triply nested loops. In this study, we show that the incorrect implementations of the Floyd--Warshall algorithm that misorder the triply nested loops give correct solutions if these are repeated three times.


This paper presents a new approach for the active RC synthesis of second-degree voltage transfer function showing resonance. Details of sensitivity analysis have been shown. A method of reducing Q-factor sensitivity due to the variation of the active element has been reported. Q-factor sensitivity compensation due to the temperature variation has also been shown. Finally a resonator with Q-factor = 100 has been designed. The resonator is tunable at all frequencies without affecting the pole Q-factor. It gives a wide range of Q-factor, from low values to several hundred.


A number of studies have shown a high incidence of lung cancer in patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD),especially idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.The most pathological type of ILD combined with lung cancer is squamous cell carcinoma,and it usually occurs in the lower lobes and peripheral parts.The increase of some tumor markers of ILD is associated with the degree of disease activity,severity,fibrosis,prognosis and so on,and it has a certain diagnostic value.The increase of ILD tumor markers may be the risk factors of ILD combined with lung cancer.This paper makes a review on the epidemiological study of ILD combined with lung cancer and the research progress of ILD tumor markers.

Key words:
Interstitial lung disease;  Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis;  Lung neoplasm; Tumor marker


Many-body physics poses one of the greatest challenges to science in the 21st century. Still more daunting is the problem of accurately calculating the properties of quantum many-body systems in the strongly correlated regime. Cold atomic gases provide an excellent test ground, for both experimentalists and theorists, to study the exotic and sometimes counterintuitive behavior of quantum many-body problems. Of particular interest is the appearance of collective excitations in these systems, such as the famous Goldstone mode and the elusive Higgs mode. It is particularly important to assess the robustness of theoretical and computational techniques to study such excitations. We build on the unprecedented opportunity provided by the fact that, in some cases, exact numerical predictions can be obtained through quantum Monte Carlo. We use these predictions to assess the accuracy of the Random Phase Approximation, which is widely considered to be a method of choice for the study of the collective excitations in a cold atomic Fermi gas modeled with a Fermi–Hubbard Hamiltonian. We found good agreement between the two methodologies for the dynamic properties, particularly for the position of the Goldstone mode. We also explored the possibility of using a renormalized, effective potential in place of the physical potential. We determined that using a renormalized potential is likely too simplistic a method for improving the accuracy of generalized Random Phase Approximation and that a more sophisticated approach is needed.


Developing small town actively is an important part of Chinese urbanization,after many years' development,China has many successes,but at the same time,there are a few problems.Based on the experiments of the development of small town,according to the scientific development concept,the author puts forward some issues on the reflection in this paper.


The efficiency of capital market has been broadly discussed after Fama (1970) brought out the efficient market hypothesis. Therefore, if captical market has efficiency, the trend of stock cannot be predicted and no investment strategy can let investors to earn abnormal return. Regarding to the research finding of momentum and contrarian in US stock market, contrarian can receive distinct return within short term (within one month) or long term (3 to 5 years), but momentum does within mid term (3 to 12 months). The prospects of this research are developing countries such as Brazil, China, and India. The research treats the profitability of momentum and contrarian in these countries, and the return depends on the control of risk, size and book-to-market ratio. The empirical studies finds Brazil for a country that is suitable for using contrarian, contrarian is used in various kinds of capital projects , can all obtain apparent remuneration , the small size company contrarian investment performance of Brazil is obviously superior to the extensive company. China has some capital projects and has apparent remuneration in momentum not changing the risk and risk after changing , in controlling book-to-market ratio, momentum performance and size are obviously appearing to the relation India, for a country suitable for momentum, most capital projects all have apparent remuneration , under controlling size , the company the bigger in size , the more apparent momentum remuneration is, under controlling book-to-market ratio, the best group of the remuneration leaves book-to-market ratio minimum group, but there is phenomenon increased progressively with book-to-market ratio in other investment combination remuneration.


Recently, to improve the performance of the strongest channel gain user in non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) with a non-uniform source and symmetric superposition coding (SSC), a novel bit-to-symbol (BTS) mapping have been proposed. However, only the performance of the user with the stronger channel gain was analyzed. Thus, we compare the bit-error rate (BER) of the new BTS scheme with that of uniform sources, especially for the user with weakest channel gain. First, we show that the performance of the novel BTS scheme for the user with weakest channel gain also improves, compared to that of the uniform sources. Furthermore, the signal-to-noise (SNR) gain of the new BTS scheme over the uniform sources is calculated. As a consequence, the novel BTS scheme would improve the performance of the user with weakest channel gain as well as that with the stronger channel gain for SSC NOMA with a non-uniform source.


Reflectivity spectra of single crystals of Y 2 O 2 S have been measured at 8 and 300 K in the energy range up to 30 eV using synchrotron radiation as a light source. The dielectric constants, absorption coefficient, and effective number of electrons per molecule are derived through a Kramers-Kronig analysis. The x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy has also been performed, in order to get information on the valence band and the outermost core band. With use of the discrete variational Xa (DV-Xa) method, the electronic structure of a model cluster consisting of an yttrium ion surrounded by three sulfur ions and four oxygen ions has been calculated. The calculation indicates that the exciton absorption peak observed at 6.33 eV is associated with the transition from the S 3p state to the Y 4d state. The band gap energy is estimated to be 6.77 eV. The electronic structure of Y 2 O 2 S is discussed on the basis of the present experimental and theoretical results, and is compared with that of Y 2 O 3 .


In this paper the author grapples creatively with the question of how to go on being. The author's exploration of the use of dance, both as a person and as a clinician, in order to maintain an ongoing exploration of this question is poetically explored. In this evocative piece the author also uses images to invite the reader into a visceral, intellectual and emotional "dance" within the reader's own body/mind. The author's invitation to themselves and to us all is to surrender to "the divine mystery." Within this the author emphasises the notion of morphogenesis, as a guide to this potent call.


The paper shows how a racional ethics began as an autonomous discourse in the portughese university, together with the moral theology, from XVI until XVIII century. After the Pombal reformation, rational etics follows two ways: the first separates etics from theology; the second, maintains ethical discouse openess to theology and religious faith. That is the case of Amorim Viana and Newton de Macedo philosophical work.


High pressure x-ray diffraction studies on inverse-perovskite BaLiF3 show that this compound is structurally stable up to ∼50 GPa. The bulk modulus of BaLiF3 is determined to be 75.9 GPa which is in close agreement with that determined from a semi-empirical formulation. Our ab initio calculations show that among the three alkaline earth fluoro perovskites (ALiF3, A = Ba, Ca, and Sr) which crystallize in the inverse-perovskite structure, BaLiF3 is the least brittle at ambient conditions and also that the degree of brittleness decreases at high pressures. The behavior of the elastic constants at high pressure accompanied by a reduction in the bandgap indicates a decrease in the directional nature of the bonding.


One of the cultures of the Islamic community in Indonesia is to make pilgrimages to places that are considered sacred or also known as traditions. This study aims to analyze the values of Islamic education in the traditions of the community at Inyiak Kiramaik grave. This study uses a qualitative method with a phenomenological approach. Sources of data were taken through in-depth interviews with ten informants consisting of two religious' leaders, and eight people from the community who always make pilgrimages. The research data was taken by means of individual interviews to strengthen the interview data, the authors also made observations and analyzed using the Milles and Hubberman technique. The results showed three values of Islamic education towards the Inyiak Kiramaik tomb, namely i) increasing faith; ii) preserving the tradition of visiting the tombs; iii) strengthening friendly relations between pilgrims. The results of this study can be used as initial data for future researchers to examine this issue in different contexts and issues.


This article aims to develop a standard reference to the critical success factors of knowledge management initiatives in the public and private institutions in Saudi Arabia, leading to maximize the use of knowledge management applications, and contribute to the reduction of the failure of these initiatives by providing the necessary scientific background for decision makers to develop appropriate plans to hold investments for this area. To achieve this overall objective, the researcher contribute with this work to achieve the following goals: (1) Identify the critical success factors in knowledge management applications through a literature review published in this area. (2) Identify the most important critical success factors in knowledge management applications in Government and private institutions in Saudi Arabia, from the point of view of experts (academics, and professionals). (3) Build a methodological framework (manual, list) where the most important critical success factors in knowledge management applications based on their impact on the success of knowledge management initiatives in the public and private institutions in Saudi Arabia from the perspective of experts. The results of this research work shows that the key element of leadership support initiatives "knowledge management" as the most important element of 98.3%, followed by the key management and motivation of workers "by 96.4%, while the main element" performance measurement "at the bottom of the list for its importance among other items by 91.7 percent, the other main elements ranging from rate of 93.3%-95%. Also, the results of the work showed that there is a difference in order of importance for the key elements between the experts involved in the study, researchers ' previous studies ", which confirms the importance of this study and the importance of taking into account the environmental and cultural differences between communities in the application of new methods and approaches. [Mohammad J. Arif and Mohammed Hassan Bin Shalhoub. Critical Success Factors with its Effective Role in Knowledge Management Initiatives in Public and Private Organizations in Saudi Arabia: Experts Perspectives. Life Sci J 2014; 11(6):636-645] (ISSN:1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com. 98


In this paper, we propose a clustering-based online news topic detection and tracking (TDT) approach based on hierarchical Bayesian nonparametric framework that allows topics to be shared across different news stories in a corpus. Our approach is formulated using the hierarchical Pitman-Yor process mixture model with the inverted Beta-Liouville (IBL) distribution as its component density, which has shown superior performance in modeling text data than the widely used Gaussian distribution. Moreover, we theoretically develop a convergence-guaranteed online learning algorithm that can effectively learn the proposed TDT model from a stream of news stories based on varational Bayes. The merits of our TDT approach are illustrated by comparing it with other well-defined clustering-based TDT approaches on different news data sets.


The Department of Home Affairs is looking to artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify problems in visa applications ...


drawings made of these are reproduced here. On the following day a very careful examination was made of the external parts for any trace of parasites, but none was found. A catheter specimen was taken and the living parasites were again easily demonstrated in the urine. A diagnosis of cystitis due to these parasites was made. The girl was treated by thorough irrigation with boracic solution and one ounce of 5 per cent aqueous solution of mercurochrome was left in the bladder.


1n the Netherlands, the diagnosis of dissociative identif)' disorder (DID) is widel)' accepted, alJhQugll 5keptics auo have made lheirvpillion5 known. Dutch clinicians lreating Oil) /JOlienls generall),/olkllJ.l lM common illree-phllS#! modelfor trealment ofJ>o5t-trau matic 5lrns. Giwn the fOCI that lhl!)' muaU)' deal witll complicated Cast5 alld enllll!5hed patients (if. Horeuil! & Loewemtein, 1994), most often lreatmml is rtjtricted lo PhllS#! 1: 5tabiliUltion and 5)'mptom reduclion. Treatment ofMgherfunctionillg patients, on lhe other hand, u5uall)' aims al proa.Ming oflrau matic "lEmoritj and compkle /Jersonality integration as well. In thi5 arlick, two Duuh castj are dtjcribed in detail, wilh a special emphasis on IIle clinical deliberation5 which, in the firsl CllS#!, kd to lhe decision lo/mxeed 10 trauma lreatmmt, alld which led in the second CllS#! to tilE decision lo refrain from it. The current standard of care with regard to the rreatment oftrallma-induced disorders, including POS[-tl<lumatic stress disorder and man)' dissociative disorders, cnt.ails, among other things, !.he application ofa phase..oriented rreat· men I model (e.g., Brown, 1995; Brown, Scheflin, & Hammond, 1998; Courtois, 1996; l'lerman, 1992; Kluft, 1993a; HoreviLZ & Loewenstein, 1994). Phase-oriented trauma rrcatment has its origins inlhe pioneering work of Pierre Janet (1898, 1919/25), who described three phases in lhe overalllreaunem: I) stabilization and symptom reduction; 2) rreatment ofl.raumatic memories; and 3) personalil)' reintegrdtion and rchabilitation (van del' Hart, Brown, & van del' Kolk, 1989). In the Ne!.herlands, clinicians usually follow Janct's terminolog)'. whiJe mentioning the following rreatmem goals for each separale phase: 1) overcoming the phobia of dissociativc identitics; 2) overcoming thc phobia of traumatic memories; and 3) o\'ercoming the phobia of normal life and attachmclll. (Nijenhllis, 1994; Nijenhuis & "an del' Hart, in press; "an del' Han & Boon. 1998), In actual clinical practice the model is not applied in a strict linear model, but rather t.akes tbe form of a spil<ll in which attcntion to t.asks belonging to the variOliS phases alternates (Courtois, 1996). In the treaunentof complex dissociative disorders (i.e., dissociative identity disorder [0101 and dissociati\'e disorder not othelWise specified [DONOS] it is often unclear if tbe patient will be capable of illlegl<lting the U<lumatic past). Kluft (l993a, 1994) emphasized that DID clients constitute a very heterogeneous group with widely different treatmem prognoses. 1-I0re"iLZ and Loewenstein (1994) divided them illlo three subgroups that reflect import.ant differences in rreannentcomplexityand prognosis: I) high-functioning DiD clients; 2) complicated caseswilh comorbid conditions, e.g., borderline personality disorder (BPO); and 3) enmeshed patients, who are the most recalcitrant to treannentand who lend to remain enmeshed in abusive relationships, ha\'e a Mdissociative" lifesl)'le, and acti\'c1)' participate in self-destructi\'e and/or alllisocial behaviors and habits. For the latter, treatment geared al stabilization and S)'tIlptom reduction \\ill be, as a rulc. the only feasible option. In this paper twO case examples are presented from thc authors' clinical practice in the Netherlands, wi!.h the emphasis on rclevalll. diagnostic and treaunent issues, including phase-oriellled rreatmem and clinical considerations with regard to the U"ansition from Phase I, st.abilization and s)'mptom rcduction, to Phase 2, rrcatmenl of traumatic memories. In the 1980s, pioneering clinicians in the dissociati\'e disorder field in the Netherlands were more optimislic thal unification of lhe personaJil)' \\~dS a feasible goal for most 01 D patients. However, most of these clinicians worked in pS)'chiau'ic settings where complicated cases and enmeshed patients, in Hore"itz and Loewenstein's (1994) terminolog)', were admitted. In due time, the)' experienced disappoinunentswith regard to the feasibilit)'ofattaining this goal. The se\'eral hundreds of dissociative patients we have diagnosed, consulted upon, or treated during the pasl ten years


A low-power, low-noise pixel readout application-specific-integrated-circuit (ASIC) prototype with embedded in-pixel photo-diode was developed for a novel pixelated-scintillator-based X-ray detector, capable of spectral energy discrimination and suitable for low dose whole body CT imaging. The ASIC includes 8-by-16 channels to read out negative charges detected by the built-in photodiodes, at a pitch size of 250 µm to achieve good spatial and energy resolution energy of detected photons. Each channel of the ASIC provides low-noise charge amplification, high-order shaping with baseline stabilization, discrimination, extraction of amplitude including neighbor channels, multiplexing, and dissipates ~0.6 mW. The measured equivalent noise charge (ENC) is about 20 rms electrons at 500 ns peaking time. The ASIC with built-in photodiodes has demonstrated high sensitivity to light.


This article states about the necessity on the education of scientific methods to students through the different sides of theoretical and experimental class teaching on physics,and the basic ways on how to develop the education of scientific methods.


An ATPase (F,.F,) sensitive to oligomycin was extracted from mitochondria and shown to be composed of a catalytic portion (F,) and a membrane portion (F,).l According to the chemiosmotic theory, there must be an anisotropic proton-translocating ATPase (H+-ATPase) that couples the flow of protons from one side of a membrane to the other through a H+ channel (F,) and an energy transformer ( F , ) . 2 In fact, the preparation of F,.F, was shown to translocate protons and synthesize ATP J in reconstituted liposomes. H+-ATPase is a universal component of almost all cells5,6 and has been found in mitochondria.' chloroplasts,R, and prokaryotic plasma membranes.,, However, studies on the molecular mechanism of energy transduction have been hampered by the impurity, instability, and complexity of preparations of H+-ATPase from mesophilic organisms. More than 13 subunits have been described in typical preparations of H+-ATPase from heart mitochondria.ll Moreover, subunits isolated from H+-ATPase are so unstable that their physicochemical properties have not been fully determined. However, H+-ATPase isolated from thermophilic bacteria contained only eight subunits,12 and this fact was recently confirmed in F,'s from Escherichia coli and Rhodospirillum rubrum.'* These simple preparations were shown to use energy of ATP for proton translocation 12-14 and even to synthesize ATP with a proton gradient.15 These facts clearly indicated that coupling factors + are the subunits of H+-ATPase. To date, complete reconstitution of F,'s obtained from mitochondria or chloroplasts from their five subunits (a, ,9, -y, 6, and E ) has not been achieved.",' The roles of the subunits of H+-ATPase have been studied with antisubunit antibodies,4* 9 chemical modifiers,4* 7-10 and bacterial mutants,,O but some of the results obtained by these indirect methods have been different from those obtained by reconstitution of thermophilic F, (TF,) from its subunits.l2V l6 It is the purpose of this report to describe the functions and structure of purified subunits of thermophilic H+-ATPase (TF, . F, ) ,I7 which is composed of TF, (five subunits) and TF, (three subunits). The stability, simplicity, and reconstitutability of these subunits enabled us to carry out physicochemical analyses of the subunits.5* I s The similarity of the subunit structure of TF, lR to those of other types of F,, and the homology of the amino acid sequence of one of the subunits of TF, to the respective subunit of other FO's,19 suggest that these results on TF,.F, are universally applicable to all types of F,.F,.


Search result : No clinical evidence concerning adverse effects of aluminium, barium or strontium released from GICs were found. A review of the relevant laboratory literature, including a conservative calculation of any potential adverse clinical effect due to aluminium content, concludes that the amount of aluminum that could be leached into the body from glass-ionomer dental fillings is well below the permitted daily dose and almost certainly too small to have a measurable effect. This, in turn, suggests that there are unlikely to be any adverse health effects arising from the presence of these fillings.
Clinical outcomes : None
State of evidence and recommendations : The quality of the existing evidence requires further assessment.
['Preliminary Systematic Literature Searches' are based on SYSTEM's periodic systematic searches of the dental literature and provide first overviews over existing clinical evidence but are limited in the number of databases searched, as well as the assessment of precision and internal validity of results and thus do not replace the need for a full systematic review report to the topic]


THE EFFECTS OF METHODS OF JOINT FORMATION, TYPE OF STONE /AGGREGATE/, TYPE OF ASPHALT, AND TEST TEMPERATURES ON ASPHALT-STONE /AGGREGATE/ ADHESION WERE MEASURED BY A PEEL TEST APPLIED TO ADHESIVE JOINT SPECIMENS IN THE FORM OF STONE-ASPHALT-ALUMINUM FOIL SANDWICHES. THE RESEARCHERS CONCLUDED' /1/ EXPOSURE TESTS CONCERNED WITH THE EFFECTS OF WATER ON ASPHALT-STONE ADHESIVE JOINTS REVEAL NO HARMFUL EFFECTS ON JOINT STRENGTH, /2/ AT 140 DEGREES F, PEEL TESTS OF JOINTS FORMED IN AIR SHOW HIGHER PEELING RATES THAN AT 77 DEGREES F AND THE JOINTS FAIL COHESIVELY WITH A MORE SYMMETRICAL RESIDUAL DISTRIBUTION OF ADHESIVE, /3/ AT 77 DEGREES F, PEEL TESTS OF JOINTS FORMED UNDER WATER WITH NO CLAMPED PERIOD REVEAL A LACK OF ADHESION REGARDLESS OF THE TYPE OF STONE OR ASPHALT USED. JOINTS FORMED UNDER THE SAME CONDITION BUT TESTED AT 140 DEGREES F SHOW SOME ADHESION BUT NOT TO THE EXTENT OBSERVED FOR SIMILAR JOINTS FORMED IN AIR, AND /4/ JOINTS FORMED AND CLAMPED UNDER WATER FOR SIXTEEN HOURS INDICATE THAT THE CONTACT INTERVAL IS NOT SUFFICIENT FOR GOOD ADHESION, WHEN TESTED AT 77 DEGREES F AND 140 DEGREES F. /BPR/


ENGERMAN, STANLEY L., PHILIP T. HOFFMAN, JEAN-LAURENT ROSENTHAL, and KENNETH L. SOKOLOFF, eds. Finance, Intermediaries, and Economic Development. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Pp. ix, 350. $70.00 (US). TEICHOVA, ALICE and HERBERT MATIS, eds. Nation, State, and the Economy in History. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Pp. xvi, 450. $75.00 (US). WEINER, AMIR, ed. Landscaping the Human Garden: Twentieth-Century Population Management in a Comparative Framework. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2003. Pp. xi, 344. $29.95 (US), paper. HAYWARD, JACK and ANAND MENON, eds. Governing Europe. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Pp. xxvi, 488. $150.00 (CDN). GO, JULIAN and ANNE L. FOSTER, eds. The American Colonial State in The Philippines: Global Perspectives. Durham, NC and London: Duke University Press, 2003. Pp. viii, 316. $21.95 (US), paper. CAWTHRA, GAVIN and ROBIN LUCKHAM, eds. Governing Insecurity: Democratic Control of Military and Security Establishments in Transitional Democracies. London and New York: Zed Books, 2003; dist. New York: Palgrave. Pp. xii, 340. $27.50 (US), paper. BURTON, ANTOINETTE, ed. After the Imperial Turn: Thinking with and through the Nation. Durham, NC and London: Duke University Press, 2003. Pp. 369. $23.95 (US), paper. STOKER, DONALD J., Jr. and JONATHAN A. GRANT, eds. Girding for Battle: The Arms Trade in a Global Perspective, 1815–1940. Westport: Praeger, 2003. Pp. xvii, 236. $64.95 (US). BESSEL, RICHARD and DIRK SCHUMANN, eds. Life after Death: Approaches to a Cultural and Social History of Europe during the 1940s and 1950s. Washington, DC: German Historical Institute; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Pp. xi, 363. $60.00 (US), cloth; $22.00 (US), paper. BIERMAN, IRENE A., ed. Napoleon in Egypt. Reading: Ithaca Press, 2003; dist. Pordand: ISBS. Pp. v, 187. $49.50 (US). FOOT, ROSEMARY, S. NEIL MACFARLANE, and MICHAEL MASTANDUNO, eds. US Hegemony and International Organizations: The United States and Multilateral Institutions. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Pp. xiv, 296. $150.00 (CDN).


An alkaline phosphatase stabilization method derived from human liver in a lyophilized preparation, which comprises lyophilizing the alkaline phosphatase derived from human liver in the presence of a saccharide selected from the group consisting of galactose, lactose and fructose, in combination with albumin or dextran .


Dementia is one of major problem worldwide, and leading to great social and economic expense for medical and family care. Many of medical treatments have been introduced and performed to deal with this devastating disease but none could be publicized as clear evidence related with cure of dementia. Recently, it was reported that physical exercise could be useful approach to delay or prevent dementia. According to the recent Cochrane review of 16 previous literatures, exercise programs showed positive effect on the ability of performing daily activities and cognition in people with dementia. To help understanding of exercise therapy for dementia, in this review, the effect of exercise on recognition ability according to aging was investigated through the previous published papers and the proper exercise program was introduced for patients with dementia. (Brain & NeuroRehabilitation 2015; 8: 24-28)


Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) has improved the outcome of numerous malignant and non-malignant diseases. However, infectious diseases (IDs) still contributes the burden of morbidity and mortality significantly after both autologous and allogeneic HSCTs. IDs are usually classified by the time periods after HSCT; pre-engraftment period, immediate and late post-engraftment period. Kinds of IDs and their frequencies and distribution are dependent not only on the stem cell sources, conditioning regimens, presence of graft-versus-host diseases, but also on the region, prophylactic antibiotics, and so on. In this article, the common IDs after HSCT according to the time periods are reviewed. Additionally, it is tried to focus the recent Korean perspectives, for examples, tuberculosis, herpes zoster, respiratory virus infection-especially hope to be of help for the non-transplant specialists and/or primary physicians. (Korean J Med 2013;84:158-167)


Objective To evaluate the effect of metoprolol therapy on myocardial inflammatory cytokines expression and heart function in coronary microembolization rats. Methods 42μm microspheres were injected into the left ventricle to make rat model of coronary microembolization. The effects of metoprolol on myocardial inflammation and heart function were studied in the model rats. Myocardial inflammation was studied by counting the number of infiltrated inflammatory cells in myocardium and analyzing the myocardial inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and the anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-10 (IL-10). Heart function was examined by echocardiography. Results The levels of TNF-α,IL-1β, IL-10 in coronary microembolization(CME) group were markedly increased compared with sham operation group at 3 h, 6 h, 12 h and 24 h time points (P0.05). Therapy with metoprolol markedly decreased the levels of TNF-α, IL-1β and increased the levels of IL-10 in cardiac myocytes. Echocardiography showed that left ventricular ejection traction was significantly higher in metoprolol group than in CME group at 12,24 h and 4 w time points (P0.05). Conclusions Metoprolol can markedly improve the cardiac function by regulating myocardial inflammatory cytokines expression after CME.


This study compared the antimicrobial effect and surface morphology of glass ionomer cement (GIC) and glass ionomer cement containing 1% W/W Chlorhexidine (GIC+CHX) in vivo. Using split mouth design 32 pairs of mandibular molar teeth with dentin caries were sampled microbiologically using ART method. On the first day, an initial sample was taken from the demineralized dentin followed by a second sample, which was taken from the hard dentin after removal of all soft carious dentin. The cavities were restored with GIC or GIC+CHX. The dentin was re-sampled after 7 days and the cavity subsequently re-restored with respective materials. All samples were processed for microbiological determination of total viable count (TVC), mutans streptococci (MS) and lactobacilli (LB) count. Rubber base impressions were made and the casts poured on after 6 month and 1-year. These casts were analysed for surface morphology under stereomicroscope. The recorded values were statistically analysed using Wilcoxon's signed rank test, Mann-Whitney test and Chi-square test. The results demonstrated considerable antibacterial effect by the GIC and GIC+CHX. The antibacterial activity of GIC+CHX was found to be better than the GIC. There was no clinical difference found for change in surface morphology over the period of 12 months.


Navigation is one of the most challenging competences required of a mobile robot. Success in navigation requires success in perception, localization, cognition, and motion control. Path planning for mobile robot is not only guarantees a collision free path with minimum travelling distance but also requires smoothness and clearances. In this project, mathematical modeling for the robot was done; path planning was done using an algorithm, than using this mathematical model it was simulated in the MOBOTSIM software in the dynamic environment. Experimental results and real environment working model show that the proposed algorithm has effective and efficient in achieving the goal position in dynamic environment.


Sociolinguistic perspectives on register (pp. 106-135). New York: Oxford University Press. Ochs, E., Taylor, C., Rudolph, D., & Smith, R. (1992). Storytelling as a theory-building activity. Discourse Processes, 15, 37-72. Petty, R. E., & Cacioppo, J. T. (1986). Communication and persuasion: Classic and contemporary approaches. Dubuque, IA: Brown. Radway, J. (1984). Reading the romance: Women, patriarchy, and popular literature. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Radway, J. (1997). A feeling for books: The Book-of-the-Month Club, literary taste, and middle-class desire. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.


This paper demonstrates new methodology to improve security and avoid data overlapping between patients records which are defined as Electronic Patient Records (EPR), a combination of digital watermarking techniques and cryptography are used to ensure the non-separation of EPR and medical images during communications within open networks. The EPR data is encrypted, by a symmetric key algorithm based on an Elliptic Curve Cryptosystem (ECC), and inserted in liberated zone of the Least Significant Bit plan (LSB) of the medical image by compressing the original one using the Huffman coding. The proposed method improves security issues and reduces the computation cost related to data encryption and decryption. DOI: 10.4018/jmcmc.2012040106 International Journal of Mobile Computing and Multimedia Communications, 4(2), 76-87, April-June 2012 77 Copyright © 2010, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. 2 with automatic process. Sometimes, to ensure the Region-of-Interest data integrity, the intervention of medical specialist is unavoidable to delimitate that region. In this paper, we propose a new method that combines watermarking with encryption techniques and using a symmetric key encryption algorithm, which is semantically secure, to enhance considerably the security performance. In order to save the original LSB bit-plan data, we propose to compress it using Huffman coding (Hu & Chang, 2000) and exploit the liberated area to watermark the encrypted EPR data. In further use of the watermarked image, the medical staff can easy rescue the exactly original image and the EPR data. Thus, we achieve medical requirements in terms of integrity and confidentiality. This paper organized as follow: Section 2, requirements needed to store EPR data. In Section 3, an elliptic curve crypto-system algorithm proposed. Section 4, withdraws the Huffman coding. Section 5, describes the algorithm steps, and finally: the conclusion. 2. REQUIREMENTS STORAGE NEEDS OF THE EPR IN MEDICAL IMAGES Most watermarking techniques counting on modify and hence distort the host image in order to embed the given data. In many applications, loss of image fidelity is not prohibitive as long as the original and modified images are perceptually equivalent. In medical applications, where the need for authentication is often paramount, there are typically stringent constraints on data fidelity that prohibit any distortion during the watermarking process. In certain cases, artifacts in a patient's diagnostic image may cause errors in diagnosis and treatment with possible life threatening consequences (Zain et al., 2009). A well-known medical image standard DICOM (Digital Image Communication in Medicine) can be used to insert EPR data in to an image, but this method has a risk of data loss in case of anonymization process. Even Munch et al. (2004) proposed a web based method to integrate the data and images but the best way of integration of EPR and medical images is the hiding EPR in images using watermarking techniques. The frequently used approach in spatial domain is Least Significant Bit (LSB) insertion. Since the least significant bit-plane does not contain visually significant information, it can be easily replaced by a large amount of watermark bits. But this technique doesn't satisfy medical requirements in terms of data integrity. In order to use it, we propose to compress the original LSB bit-plan using lossless technique that offers high level compression. Run Length Encoding (RLE) is a well known lossless compression algorithm; it only offers decent compression ratios with files that contain lots of repetitive data. Several other compression techniques exist in the literature; we opt for Huffman coding algorithm (Hu & Chang, 2000) which offers a reasonable compression rate and it is adapted to binary data exiting in the LSB bit-plan. To ensure high security, data encryption is unavoidable. But nowadays, online diagnosis is widely used, which means we should find an efficient and speedy encryption algorithm. 3. ELLIPTIC CURVE CRYPTOSYSTEM Miller (1985) and Koblitz (1987) independently proposed using elliptic curves cryptosystems. Strong cryptosystems like RSA (Rivest, Shamir and Adleman who first publicly described an algorithm for public-key cryptography) are often too computationally expensive for small devices. In Jurisic and Menezes (1997), it was proven that to achieve reasonable security, a 1024-bit modulus would have to be used in a RSA cryptosystem, while160-bit modulus should be sufficient for ECC. In the late 1990s, elliptic curve systems started receiving commercial acceptance. Thanks to its small key size and high security, ECC is one of the best public 10 more pages are available in the full version of this document, which may be purchased using the "Add to Cart" button on the product's webpage: www.igi-global.com/article/securing-epr-data-usingcryptography/66368?camid=4v1 This title is available in InfoSci-Journals, InfoSci-Journal Disciplines Communications and Social Science, InfoSciSelect, InfoSci-Select, InfoSci-Communications, Online Engagement, and Media eJournal Collection, InfoSciNetworking, Mobile Applications, and Web Technologies eJournal Collection. Recommend this product to your


This research assessed the impact of an open dumpsite, on the quality of groundwater within the vicinity of Aduuramigba Estate. Twenty water samples were collected and analyzed for physic-chemical parameters, major ions and trace metal using AAS, Iron Chromatographic and titrimetric methods. The result showed that almost all the physico chemical parameters such as pH (7.5-10.8), temperature (27.4 o C-31.5 o C,) EC (70µS/cm-364 µS/cm), TDS (49-248mg/l) fall within limits as recommended by WHO and NSDWQ. Chemical parameters has the following results: Cl - (122-720mg/l), SO 4 2- (0-7.41mg/l), NO 3 - (0.64-1.64mg/l), HCO 3 - (12.20-91.5mg/l), Ca 2+ (3.95-65.12mg/l), mg 2+ (0.73-17.28mg/l), Fe 2+ (0-1.36mg/l), Na + (3.45-27.37mg/l), k + (1.04-24.41mg/l) Mn 2+ (0-0.57mg/l). All major ions revealed concentration within the acceptable limit of both standards except Chloride and Sodium in some of the wells, this is due to the addition of a disinfectant named Sodium Dichloroisocyanurate (C 3 N 3 O 3 CL 2 Na) commonly called water guard and weathering of feldspars which characterized the basement rocks underlying the area. Most of the trace metals tested for were below detectable limit of the AAS except Zinc, Iron and Manganese. Iron and Zinc concentrations fall well within the acceptable limit of both WHO and NSDWQ standards while Manganese concentration were above the limit in most of the surface and shallow groundwater at the down slope of the Dumpsite. This could be attributed to the impact of the leachates from the waste and because of the persistent nature of manganese within the medium, it may not be easily attenuated. Keywords: Leachates, dumpsite, groundwater, conductivity, basement rocks.


Objective:To investigate the clinical application of modified partial parotidectomy in treatment of aged patients with benign tumor located in lower parotid gland.Methods: Eight-six cases with benign tumors located in lower parotid gland who performed operation in our department from 2005.08 to 2010.10 were retrospectively studied Forty-nine cases were treated with excision of superficial lobe(group Ⅰ),and 37 cases were treated with modified partial parotidectomy(groupⅡ).All patients were followed up for 1-5 years to investigate the facial outline and the rates of complication and recurrence.Results:Facial malformation in groupⅠwas obviously,and slight in Group Ⅱ.The rates of transient facial paralysis and Frey's syndrome in group Ⅱ were significantly lower than in group Ⅰ(20.4%vs 5.4%;40.8% vs 8.1%,p0.05).Two cases of salivary fistula were found in groupⅠ,but not found in groupⅡ.There was no tumor recurrence in both groups during follow-up time.Conclusions: Modified partial parotidectomy is an ideal operative method for aged patients with benign tumor located in lower parotid gland with the advantage of less trauma and complications and better cosmetic outcome.