2 There must be no barriers for freedom of inquiry. There is no place for dogma in science. The scientist is free, and must be free to ask any question, to doubt any assertion, to seek for any evidence, to correct any errors. This is the story of how biology of the 20th century neglected and otherwise mishandled the study of what is arguably the most important problem in all of science: the nature of the evolutionary process. This problem has suffered the indignity of being dismissed as unimportant to a basic understanding of biology by molecular biology; it went effectively unrecognized by a microbiology still in the throes of trying to find itself; and it became the private domain of a quasi-scientific movement, who secreted it away in a morass of petty scholasticism, effectively disguising the fact that their primary concern with it was ideological, not scientific. Despite this discouraging beginning, our story will end well: the study of the microbial world at the beginning of the 21st century is liberating biology from the Procrustean bed of dogma on which it has been cast for so long, and a new understanding of evolution as a process is already beginning to form, in a manner that will eventually supersede the scientifically stultifying language-culture of the 20th century. The volume of this very journal that you are now reading— Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews (MMBR)—is one of the reasons for our optimism about the future of the science of evolution: for it is microbiology and molecular biology, so long unfairly divided from their proper evolutionary context, that are sowing the seeds of biology's next and greatest flowering. And what is to us especially exciting and meaningful is that the emerging understanding of evolution is being, to a large extent, catalyzed by microbiology's return to its roots in microbial ecology, as long ago articulated by Beijerinck (6c). In short, we stand at a juncture in science that is relatively rare: two fields of study, at an impasse and exhausted after what we regard (without disrespect to their practitioners) as a long search for purpose, find their resolution, meaning, and rejuve-nation in one another. Such an unusual convergence has happened before in science , and it is worth reflecting on the circumstances of this lest the reader, having being lulled into a sense of complacency by the marvelous achievements of 20th-century biology, is …


On the basis of the analysis of ASP scale sample,through simulation experiment in lab the formed silicon scale was analyzed by scanning electron microscope.This paper discussed the formation state of silicon scale in alkaline conditions and studied the preliminary pattern of forming silicon scale.


FIELD: mining. SUBSTANCE: invention can be used in the mining industry for the purification and recycling of metal-bearing weakly acidic pit water in a bog-mountainous terrain. For carrying out the process, after neutralization with an alkaline reagent haul water fed to the natural geochemical barrier in the form of peat deposits fen. Contained in water salts of metals accumulate natural sorbent and precipitated in natural geochemical barrier as an insoluble organo-mineral complex. Resulting permanent or temporary watercourse fed purified according to the terrain in the direction of the stream or river. Fen peat deposits as a natural sorbent used in view of the sorption capacity of peat fen calculated by cation exchange capacity of peat with respect to the cation exchange capacity of the metal ions contained in the quarry waters. EFFECT: method provides an efficient and low-cost technologies pit water cleaning helps prevent the intense migration of the metal salts in natural systems. 2 cl, 2 tbl, 2 ex


Soil profiles of arsenic(As),lead(Pb) and zinc(Zn) contents were investigated in mine tailings in the upstream,midstream,and downstream areas of the Diaojiang River valley.It was shown that the soils in the upstream,midstream,and downstream areas in the Diaojiang River valley were polluted by As,Pb and Zn to different degrees.The heavy metal concentrations in the surface soils in the upper reaches,16 km from the mining site,were high up to 2.4×10~4,5.6×10~3 and 1.2×10~4 mgkg for As,Pb and Zn,respectively,which were close to the heavy metal concentrations in the mine tailings.The average concentrations of As,Pb and Zn in the two samples which were collected in the lower reaches,154 and 192 km from the mining site,were 47.05,(1.81,) and 5.48 times higher than the third grade soil environmental quality standard for soils(GB15618-1995).The concentrations of As and Pb in the surface soils decreased following power functions with the increase of distance of the sample points from the mining site.Zn concentration decreased slower than Pb and Zn in a linear type,which might indicate that Zn had higher mobility than Pb and As when transported by river flow.Heavy metal concentrations decreased as depth of soil layer increased in soil profile.The mobility of the three heavy metals in the soil profile might follow the sequence ZnPbAs.In general,heavy metal pollution in the Diaojiang River valley soils had a very close relation to the speciation and transfer characteristics of heavy metals in the mine tailings,so it should be the key to control mine tailing discharge and to clean mine tailings from the river and the soils for the environmental remediation of the Diaojiang River.


An efficient enantioselective synthesis of protected nonactic acid analogues, starting from an easily accessible β-keto ester, is described. The key steps of the strategy are asymmetric hydrogenation, chelation-controlled allylation, cis-selective etherification, ' and stereoselective reduction or alkylation of α-halo esters.


Objective:To explore the practical course of elderly nursing in the undergraduate professional direction.Methods:Measure Under the model of cooperation between university and enterprise,both sides worked out the content,structure,and curriculum standard together.As common teachers,both sides carried out the practical course under given conditions.Results:Outcome The practical course of elderly nursing had been implemented successfully based on the good preparations.Conclusion:From the practical course,the practical abilities of nursing students were exercised,and their humanistic aptitude on respecting and loving the old could be improved.So the practical course is the important part of the whole curriculum system.However,it also exists some improvements.


Author(s): Cohen, Marcelle Maese | Advisor(s): Gonzalez, Marcial | Abstract: My dissertation locates Paulo Freire's theory of conscientizacāo within a genealogy of critical theory of the Americas. In contrast to the skepticism of poststructuralist theory, Freire offers an anti-skeptical view of language and provides a method for reading the decolonial hermeneutics contained in the works of the authors I study, each of which, in different ways, teaches us to read as listeners. In particular, I focus on the political significance of reading for what I term the decolonial literary imagination (Chapter 1), and the relation between the novel form and confession (Chapters 2 and 3). With this project, I hope to contribute to the emerging fields of Transnational American Studies and (Human Rights) Law and Literature by formulating a hermeneutical model that considers the ways in which queer of color and feminist conceptions of intersectionality have yet to be incorporated into the study of the novel form.By coupling Maria Lugones' theory of pilgrimage (or world-traveling) with Kimberle Crenshaw's Critical Race Studies, I foreground intersectionality as a shared method for both legal and literary analysis. For Crenshaw and Lugones, the "civil identities" created or legitimated by either the nation-state or a traditional civil rights discourse are limiting insofar as they cannot account for the subject's multiple experiences of oppression. My formal reading of John Rechy's City of Night (1963) and Alicia Gaspar de Alba's Desert Blood: The Juarez Murders (2005) helps me to show that the novel can embody a similar critique. In this way, I build on what Marcial Gonzalez names the "politics of form" insofar as my dissertation argues that it is the form of the novel, rather than exclusively the characters or the identity of the author, that teaches us a decolonizing history and ethics.In my first chapter, "The Decolonial Literary Imagination: Conscientizacāo and a Marxist `politics of form,'" I lay out the theoretical framework for my dissertation by providing a comparative study of Emma Perez's decolonial feminist praxis of "sitio y lengua" and Paulo Freire's dialogic conscientizacāo. This attention to literary and social form, moreover, expands Perez's decolonial imaginary for literary purposes and coincides with what I term the (w)holistic imperative of decolonial feminist thought. In the two long chapters that follow, I seek to establish the relation between American coloniality and the novel form. In Chapter 2, "`American' Child of Migrants: Confession and the Sexual Outlaw's Pilgrimage in John Rechy's City of Night," I argue that the decolonial literary imagination operates within Rechy's critical restructuring of the relationship between (non)waged-labor, liturgical temporality, and the logic of entrapment at work in legal, migrant, and sexual confession. In contrast to the polemics of a queer (literary) theory that fails to consider intersecting forms of oppression, I claim that the pilgrimage structure of Rechy's novel extends the problematic of narrating migration beyond the particular Mexican American history of the narrator's family to become the story of America itself. In chapter three, "Undoing the Value of Rape: A Hermeneutics for Redirecting the Necrophilic Gaze from Maquiladora Murders to Life in Juarez," my reading of representations of feminicide understands rape within a theory of sovereign power that remaps Juarez as a legible terrain of material and symbolic struggle. My comparative reading of Gaspar de Alba's Desert Blood and Gregory Nava's film, Bordertown (2007) historicizes the changing nature of transnational feminist organizing in general, and, more specifically, recasts this dynamic history by considering the emergence of the human rights protagonist within postcolonial studies and the Chicana/o detective novel. Furthermore, my reading of the extra-legal project of queer familia in Desert Blood envisions a decolonial feminist pedagogy for undoing the coloniality of gender operating in contemporary forms of Eurocentric conceptions of the human.


The geostrategic value of the Pacific region has started to gain momentum for the first time since the end of World War II. The region is consisting of Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia, and Australasia. The center of global geostrategic fulcrum has moved to the Asia-Pacific with China's growing strategic and economic interest in the region. Pacific Island nations that consider themselves on the front lines of climate change had hoped the U.S. and other regional powers like Australia would stay committed to the global deal to cut emissions and help populations confront the rising seas around them. But they didn't and as a result the island nations turned towards China, as Beijing has vowed to stay in the Paris Climate Agreement. The paper has dealt with the change in power play in the region on the perspective of climate change and has focused on the future of the regional equation with China.


The invention discloses a method and device for searching for a chat object through communication software to solve the problem that in the prior art, the requirement of a user for searching for the chat object can not be well met, and relates to a searching technology in the communication field. The method includes the steps of obtaining requirement tendency information, and searching for the chat object which meets the preset matched degree together with the requirement tendency information, wherein the requirement tendency information includes orientation information of the chat object in which the user is interested. According to the method and device for searching for the chat object through communication software, the chat object in which the user is interested can be searched for automatically or according to an instruction of the user, and therefore the user conveniently conducts addition of the chat object in which the user is interested, user experience is improved, and addition of the chat object is more user-friendly and more intelligent.


Examinations that permit students to choose a subset of the items are popular despite the potential that students may take examinations of varying difficulty as a result of their choices. We provide a set of conditions for the validity of inference for Item Response Theory (IRT) models applied to data collected from choice-based examinations. Valid likelihood and Bayesian inference using standard estimation methods require (except in extraordinary circumstances) that there is no dependence, after conditioning on the observed item responses, between the examinees choices and their (potential but unobserved) responses to omitted items, as well as their latent abilities. These independence assumptions are typical of those required in much more general settings. Common low-dimensional IRT models estimated by standard methods, though potentially useful tools for educational data, do not resolve the difficult problems posed by choice-based data.


Modular multilevel converters (M2LCs) are typically controlled by a hierarchical control scheme, which essentially requires at least two control loops: one to control the load current and another to control circulating currents. This paper presents an M2LC with a single controller, which is based on model predictive direct current control (MPDCC) with long prediction horizons. The proposed MPDCC scheme maintains the load current within tight bounds around sinusoidal references and minimizes capacitor voltage variations and circulating currents. An internal prediction model of the M2LC is used to minimize the number of switching transitions for a given current ripple at steady state while providing a fast current response during transient conditions. A state-space model, which is generalized for an N number of modules per each arm of the M2LC, is also presented to investigate the dynamic behavior of arm currents and capacitor voltages. Simulated performance of the converter, under various operating conditions, is presented in comparison to measured performance of a single-phase, three-level 860-VA M2LC prototype to demonstrate the proposed MPDCC philosophy.


Purpose
The authors decided to study the impact of stress on performance in hospitals because long hours are common and high levels of performance are required at all times. Medical errors may cost lives and swift responses to patient needs are demanded. With so much pressure, it's not surprising that stress in hospitals is a common complaint from staff

Design/methodology/approach
To test their four hypotheses, the authors contacted all five public hospitals and the 41 private hospitals in Amman. Two public and four private agreed to participate. The end result was that 500 questionnaires were usable in the study. The respondents all completed the questionnaire, which contained 30 items – 13 to measure job stress, 11 to measure POS, and six to measure organizational commitment.

Findings
The study of 500 hospital workers in six hospitals in Amman, Jordan, revealed a significant negative effect of job stress on both perceived organizational support (POS) and organizational commitment. The results also highlighted the significant full negative mediating effect of POS on the relationship between job stress and organizational commitment.

Originality/value
Based on the results of the research, they advise hospital management to focus on their human capital and ensure their leadership styles inspired high levels of organizational commitment. The results indicate that one way to inspire devotion and increase commitment is to manage stress levels. The research also reveals the positive impact of minimizing stress on POS.


Sera collected from 49 CF and 19 S were screened after one year and two years of follow-up for antibody against Legionella pneumophila polyvalent antigen pools by an immunofluorescence assay. 6 CF (12%) had high antibody titers (1:256-1:2048) to multiple strains of L. pneumophila. Five of these patients were retested after 1 year and 4 had persistently high titers. These high and persistent titers had never been observed by LCDC among sera received from other laboratories across Canada. Five CF (10%) had low positive antibody titers (1:64-1:128). The difference in seropositivity frequency in CF (11/49) vs S(0/19) was statistically significant (p<.01). Seropositive CF were significantly older and had significantly poorer FVC, FEV, and MMEF compared with seronegative CF(p<.01). No seroconversions were noted when interim sera from the two year period were tested in parallel. Absorption with a pool of 3 P. aeruginosa strains reduced titers 2-8 fold. A pool of 3 P. cepacia strains or single Pseudomonas species (obtained from the tested patient) reduced titers 0-4 fold. In conclusion, 22% CF demonstrated L. pneumophila seropositivity indicating past infection. Antibodies persisted over the period of study. Although patients were frequently colonised with P. cepacia the mixture of P. aeruginosa was the most efficient in reducing titers. The high non-specific L. pneumophila antibody titers may in part be explained by cross-reacting antibody to P. aeruginosa.


week after cessation of therapy," Therefore, post-treatment follow-up using PCR needs to be delayed to ensure that all non-viable chlamydia antigen has been eliminated. During 1996, we identified 54 notifications for which an earlier (not duplicate) notification of chlamydia in that individual existed on our database (established September 1994). Among these were six men and two women for whom a second notification was received when a follow-up PCR test was undertaken within three weeks of the original test (mean, 13.3 days; standard deviation, 3.8 days; range, 8-21 days). Interpretation of such test results is problematic. The advent of single-dose azithromycin therapy may inadvertently compound the problem of inappropriate early testing because of what may seem to be a respectable delay after completion of treatment. South Australian guidelines for the management of sexually transmitted diseases suggest review and that a follow-up swab be taken two weeks after completion of antibiotic therapy." American guidelines caution that "nonculture tests conducted at less than three weeks following completion of therapy for patients successfully treated may sometimes be false-positive because of the continued excretion of dead organisms"." While further formal study of the persistence of chlamydia antigen as determined by PCR would be useful, any post-treatment test-of-cure which uses PCR testing should be delayed for more than 21 days. The impact of a positive test may result in unwarranted concern, inappropriate treatment and unnecessary expense for patients and their partners.


. Based on the special geodetic network set up by Niemczyk and Emschermann in 1938 in order to determine horizontal move ments of the earth's crust in the fissure area of the neo-volcanic zone of NE-Iceland, a number of repeated measurements were carried out from 1965 to 1977. In this article, modern geodetic measuring techniques and the (constantly improving) positional accuracy achieved are described; this is followed by an evaluation showing significant crustal movements in the riftzone. In the period of 1965 to 1971, movements in the total area of approxi mately 110 km from east to west were restricted to compressions, whereas afterwards, and in particular since 1975, expansions of up to 2 m/km have occurred in the central rift area. At present, this expansion is largely compensated by compression in the peripheral areas of up to 0.05 m/km, so that between 1971 and 1977 a total east-west expansion of the neovolcanic zone of only about 0.4 m has resulted over a distance of about 90 km.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of using online modules to teach The Word Identification Strategy (Lenz, Schumaker, Deshler, & Beals, 2007) to elementary and middle school students with learning disabilities in reading. The five participants in this multiple probe across participants study were enrolled in an online charter school and received their instruction via the school's Internet-based platform. Baseline, intervention, and maintenance data revealed that all five participants improved in the area of oral reading. Additional standardized and curriculum-based pre- and posttest measures revealed improvements related to oral reading, comprehension, and use of the strategy. Implications for teaching The Word Identification Strategy within an online context are discussed and recommendations for future research in this area are provided.


A simple low temperature surface passivation method based on high pressure O2 thermal oxidation was proposed for black silicon solar cells. With this method, the nanowire textured surface of the black silicon solar cells can be effectively passivated at an extremely low temperature of ∼450 ◦ C, and a better performance was achieved compared with that treated with the conventional high temperature surface passivation. The corresponding mechanism was discussed based on current-voltage characteristics and external quantum efficiency measurements. Results demonstrate that the adverse effects associated with high temperature surface passivation can be effectively suppressed by this low temperature surface passivation process.


Due to the complexity of future space missions and the large amount of data involved, greater autonomy in data processing is demanded for mission operations, training, and vehicle health management. In this paper, we develop a fuzzy logic intelligent diagnostic system to perform data reduction, data analysis, and fault diagnosis for spacecraft vehicle health management applications. The diagnostic system contains a data filter and an inference engine. The data filter is designed to intelligently select only the necessary data for analysis, while the inference engine is designed for failure detection, warning, and decision on corrective actions using fuzzy logic synthesis. Due to its adaptive nature and on-line learning ability, the diagnostic system is capable of dealing with environmental noise, uncertainties, conflict information, and sensor faults.


In recent years, equity pledge financing has developed rapidly in the NEEQ. In 2017, the number of equity pledges in NEEQ reached a new high. After a company joins the NEEQ, its information disclosure has been strengthened, management has become more standardized, the liquidity of enterprises' shares has been enhanced, and equity pricing has been fairly evaluated. Therefore, equity pledge financing has important practical significance for these companies in the development. This paper takes Xinwei Science and Technology as an example to analyze and study its equity pledge financing mode. Firstly, the article gives a general introduction to the NEEQ, mainly focusing on the development and financing situation of the NEEQ. Then it analyses the basic situation and financing situation of Xinwei Science and Technology. From the aspects of financing mode, rationality, feasibility, effect and risk of equity pledge financing, it finds that equity pledge financing is comparable to other financing parties. The advantages of this model can provide some references for the future improvement and development of equity pledge financing function in NEEQ.


Both EGiB and KW can be called, according to Bagnicki and Mika [1], information systems. Both examined institutions have long lasting tradition. Their current condition, with regard to the content and quality of databases, is the result of successive technical and legal transformations, caused by the course of history and technical progress [13–15] among others, write about it. The essence of information systems, according to Gaździcki [2: 8–20], is the acquisition, storage, processing and transmission of data representing information. These systems can be divided into two subgroups: 1) geographic information systems, 2) other information systems.


The paper aiming at the mud break out in tunnel karst in Tianchi,combining with the geological situation of projects,analyzes reasons for the disaster of the mud break out,adopts the advanced geological prediction measures to ensure relevant scheme according to the inspection analysis of mud break out disaster and the karst development geological situation,and introduces some relative emergency and permanent regulation measures,so as to accumulate experience for tunnel construction.


AN ATTENTIVE AND ENGAGED CCAS The City of Angers, through the communal welfare action centre (CCAS), has created a large network of volunteers who involve in solidarity and in the life of districts every day. It has been noticed that the passing from employment to retirement is a source of questioning and doubting about your place and function in society. A lot of newly retirees want to involve in a project which will enable them to keep in touch with the working population. That is to answer to this demand that the CCAS of Angers put into practice a plan called "an active


The formation and self−organization of porous silicon (por-Si) surface mosaic structure at long anodic etching of p -type conductivity Si (100) ( p -Si) in electrolytes with an internal power source has been considered. We show that the formation of 3D islets of mosaic structure nanocrystallites of por-Si occurs with the participation of the adsorbed deposited silicon atoms formed as a result of disproportioning reactions at etching of silicon single crystals, as is the case for epitaxial growth of nanocrystallites with molecular beam deposition of silicon atoms on А 3 В 5 and Si semiconductor surface and their further spontaneous self−organization. We note the significant role of oxidation of the silicon surface in the formation and self−organization of a mosaic structure of por-Si during long-term anodic etching of p -Si (100) in HF : H2O2 electrolyte quantum−size and effects occurring in local areas of atomic rough surfaces real crystal silicon.


The mean temperature in Europe is estimated to increase by 2-6°C by 2100, which will probably result in shorter and milder winters and warmer and longer summers. Several researchers believe that this will have a very great effect on tourist movements in Europe, turning them round from South to North. In other words, a climate change is expected to be favourable for summer and winter tourism in northern Europe and unfavourable for winter tourism in the Alps and summer tourism around the Mediterranean. However, it is not yet known what economic, social and environmental consequences this change in tourism will have in Europe. The aim of this article is to make the reader understand the complexity of the goods and services systems provided by tour operators, because these are the main providers for the activities included in the tourism sector. The article is structure in many parts: theoretical approaches, research methodology and the results of its application, conclusions. The main research method was the case study on a large Romanian tour operator.


According to our experience, it is difficult to prepare the complete specimen of the cochlear tissues, especially of the organ of Corti. The blue color due to the formation of indophenal blue is very unstable and disappears rapidly when the colored specimen is immersed in an acid solution, such as fixative or decalcifying solution. Therefore, these conditions make it difficult to observe the precise


Objective:To explore the relevant factors of influence on depressive severity in inpatients with major depression. Methods:55 patients who met major depression in CCMD -3. All patients were interviewed in semi -structured manner with common data and case history questionnaire, HAMD、HAMA、LES、SSRS and TABP. Results: There was 92.7% of middle or severe depression and 83.6% of middle or severe anxiety in inpatients with major depression. There were significantly positive correlation between HAMD or HAMA total scores and Type A behavior total score or objective support score, and significantly negative correlation between HAMD total scores and subjective support score of SSRS. Conclusions: The relevant factors of influence on depressive severity in inpatients with major depression are scores of SSRS and TABP.


The author focuses on one of the problems of design of an autonomous reactive system, namely, specification of its behavior with respect to often unpredictable changes occurring in the real world. Several behavior-oriented languages are briefly presented, and some formal relationships between two of them, process transition networks and statecharts, are given. The goal is to address the need for augmenting the behavior-based design paradigm with theoretical tools adequate for expressing complex behaviors of autonomous reactive systems pursuing high-level goals and applicable to both analysis and synthesis tasks for such systems. They also provide some basis and suggestions for further research on unifying classical and artificial-intelligence-based approach to this problem.<<ETX>>


The rapid progress of synchrophasor technology promotes broad applications of Wide-Area Measurement System (WAMS), and unveils a new era of power system monitoring, analysis and control. This paper investigates the feasibility of one of the most promising applications of synchrophasor, i.e., the Wide-Area Transient Stability Control. After a brief review of the state-of-arts of related technologies, the authors first propose the concept of 揝ynchrophasor Response Based Wide-Area TSC?or SRBWA-TSC. Next the operation principle and system structure of SRBWA-TSC are described in detail. Then some key issues in its implementation are emphatically analyzed, including power angle measurement, transient stability identification and control, response time, communication infrastructure and system reliability. Thereby the feasibility and superiority of applying synchrophasor to power system transient stability control are well demonstrated.


Based on controlled clinical trials that demonstrate a marked decrease in the needs for intubation, as well as improved morbidity and mortality, noninvasive ventilation (NIV) is now considered as a first-line ventilatory treatment in selected patients with severe exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and hypercapnic respiratory failure [1–4]. The benefits of NIV appear to be the consequence of avoiding tracheal intubation and the associated morbidity and mortality. Morbidity includes an increased risk for ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) [5], ventilator-induced lung injury [6], increased needs of sedation that contribute to prolonged ventilation and complications of the upper airway related to prolonged translaryngeal intubation. Other patients, who show benefits from the use of NIV, are those affected by acute cardiogenic pulmonary oedema (CPO). Both NIV and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) are equally effective in decreasing the needs for intubation and improving mortality in these patients [7, 8]. Finally, immunosuppressed patients have poor outcome when they develop pulmonary infiltrates and acute hypoxaemic respiratory failure (AHRF); in these patients, NIV seems to decrease the needs for intubation and the related morbidity and mortality [9, 10]. However, the role of NIV in other type of patient is still under debate. It is possible that other populations at risk of complications related to invasive mechanical ventilation may benefit from the use of NIV. However, the efficacy of NIV in patients with different types of AHRF is less evident from controlled clinical trials. The first problem in addressing patients with AHRF is the heterogeneity of this condition. Studies assessing the outcome of patients with AHRF, treated with NIV in the intensive care unit (ICU) identified up to nine different groups of patients, with substantial differences in outcomes among them (fig. 1) [11]. Moreover, the majority of clinical trials that have assessed the efficacy of NIV in patients with AHRF, studied mixed populations of patients, which resulted in controversial results when all trials were analysed together. Therefore, the present chapter will analyse the role of NIV in the management of patients with AHRF from clinical trials with mixed and specific populations of patients.


Micro data suggest that households in emerging economies exhibit substantially higher marginal propensity to consume (MPC) than those in developed economies. This paper evaluates the role of high-MPC households on the stylized patterns of emerging market business cycles. To this end, this paper makes the first attempt to study the emerging market business cycles through the lens of a heterogeneous-agent small open economy (HASOE) model. Specifically, I discipline the model using MPC estimates from the micro data and take the model to macro data through Bayesian estimation. When households are counterfactually replaced with those exhibiting U.S. MPCs, consumption volatility drops by 30 percent, and emerging economies' stylized pattern that consumption is more volatile than output disappears. High-MPC households contribute to the consumption volatility through two main channels: strong consumption response to individual resource fluctuations and significant disruption in consumption smoothing when illiquid assets become more illiquid. The driving mechanisms of conventional theories such as consumption response to trend shocks or intertemporal substitution caused by interest rate variations do not drive the business cycles in my model because high-MPC households cannot accommodate them. ∗I am highly indebted to Martin Uribe, Stephanie Schmitt-Grohe, and Andres Drenik for their constant guidance, support, and suggestions. I am also grateful to Hassan Afrouzi and Emilien Gouin-Bonenfant for their helpful comments and discussions. All errors are my own. †Department of Economics, Columbia University. E-mail: email@example.com


One of the most fundamental problems in vision is segmentation; the way in which parts of an image are perceived as a meaningful whole.

Recent work has shown how to calculate images of physical parameters from raw intensity data. Such images are known as intrinsic images, and examples are images of velocity (optical flow), surface orientation, occluding contour, and disparity. While intrinsic images are not segmented, they are distinctly easier to segment than the original intensity image. Segments can be detected by a general Hough transform technique. Networks of feature parameters are appended to the intrinsic image organization. Then the intrinsic image points are mapped into these networks. This mapping will be many-to-one onto parameter values that represent segments.

This basic method is extended into a general representation and control technique with the addition of three main ideas: abstraction levels; sequential search; and tight counting These ideas are a nucleus of a connectionist theory of low 'eve and m'ermediate-level vision. This theory explains segmentation in terms of massively parallel cooperative computation among intrinsic images and a set of parameter spaces at different levels of abstraction.


Review by Evert Jan van Leeuwen (Leiden University) of Paul Kleber Monod, Solomon's Secret Arts: The Occult in the Age of Enlightenment . New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2013. Pp. 430. $45. ISBN 9780300123586 and John V. Fleming, The Dark Side of the Enlightenment: Wizards, Alchemists, and Spiritual Seekers in the Age of Enlightenment . New York and London: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. $27.95. Pp. 414. ISBN 9780393079463.


Many roads that have been reconstructed with cold recycling technology have shown signs of pavement distress after long-term usage. Some roads in this condition can be reconstructed with secondary recycling technology. The unconfined compressive strength and the modulus of elasticity of the cement's secondary recycling materials were obtained by laboratory testing. The results indicate that the strength is lower than ordinary base materials stabilized by cement, and that the temperature exerts a tremendous influence on compressive strength. The stress characteristics of two typical secondary recycling asphalt pavements are analyzed using Bisar3. The results show that the tensile stress at the bottom layers is quite different when the secondary recycling materials are used in the base or subbase. When secondary recycling materials are used in the subbase, the modulus should not be very high. When secondary recycling materials are used in the base, it must be verified that the subbase is in good condition and has enough bearing capacity.


Have you experienced a brain injury? You will, undoubtedly, have many questions and concerns. For example, what can you expect from this condition? How will others view you? Will you ever get your life back? Or maybe you are a carer, either professional or non-professional, of someone with a brain injury. Perhaps your concern is how you should treat individuals with a brain injury, what you can do to help them cope, and, above all, what hope can you offer them or their families? Philip Fairclough, a man who suffered a work-related head injury with subsequent brain damage, offers his advice and support with the aim of helping you, whether you are the patient, carer or loved one, deal with the trauma of a brain injury.


Two representation methods for the Dynamic Ocean Topography (DOT) are compared. One uses surface spherical harmonics, the other Proudman functions, which form an ocean domain-specific orthonormal basis. The DOT implied by the temporally averaged output of the POCM―4B ocean circulation model, provided the data for the implementation and testing of the two methods. Using these data a spherical harmonic representation was developed, to degree 30, and a Proudman function decomposition employing 961 basis vectors, so that both representations involve an equal number of parameters. The input DOT field had an rms value of ±66.6 cm. The recovered rms DOT was ±66.1 cm for the spherical harmonic case, ±66.3 cm for the Proudman function case, while the rms difference between the two cases was ±4.2 cm. Although in an overall sense the two representations (with equal number of parameters) yield similar results, in the proximity of the ocean domain boundary the Proudman functions approximate the input DOT field better than the surface spherical harmonics.


OBJECTIVE
The authors used a functional neuroimaging study with a working memory probe to investigate the pathophysiology of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Their goal was to compare regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) changes related to working memory in adults with and without ADHD.

METHOD
Using [(15)O]H(2)O positron emission tomography (PET) studies, the authors compared the sites of neural activation related to working memory in six adult men diagnosed with ADHD and six healthy men without ADHD who were matched in age and general intelligence.

RESULTS
Task-related changes in rCBF in the men without ADHD were more prominent in the frontal and temporal regions, but rCBF changes in men with ADHD were more widespread and primarily located in the occipital regions.

CONCLUSIONS
These data suggest the use of compensatory mental and neural strategies by subjects with ADHD in response to a disrupted ability to inhibit attention to nonrelevant stimuli and the use of internalized speech to guide behavior.


The present invention uses a plurality of image frames of symbols, decodes the symbols containing the corresponding data systems, and methods. At least some of these frames, various imaging parameters (e.g., orientation, lens zoom, aperture, etc.) have, by a combination of the frame with the exemplary multi-imaging applications (430), the most easy-to-read portion of each frame it can be combined into one. Furthermore, unlike prior art systems which may choose a single "best" image, an exemplary system according to the method, the combined image, a complete readable images of symbols was the source (310 it can be). System, and an embodiment of the method includes imaging assembly for obtaining a plurality of image frames of symbols, part of the image frame has a different individual of the imaging parameters from the other image frame. A processor coupled to the imaging assembly processes multiple capture image frames of said symbols, decodes the predetermined code data from at least some of the plurality of image frames, at least one of said plurality of image frames coupling said predetermined code data obtained from a portion, to define the decodable version of the data set represented by the symbol. .FIELD 4


In order to efficiently apply alfalfa in the cultivation of Populus tomentosa pulpwood plantations under the wide-and-narrow planting pattern,a field experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of pattern M1,M2 and M3 on growth and soil productivity of P.tomentosa pulpwood plantations for 4 years.M1 represented the pattern of intercropping alfalfa,M2 represented the pattern of intercropping cotton and wheat,M3 represented the traditional pattern of pulpwood plantation.Results showed that M1,on average,increased the total increment of DBH,height,individual volume and stand volume by 6.04%,2.53%,13.33% and 12.07% respectively over M2,while that of M1 was 28.18%,26.47%,70.00% and 10.27% higher than M3.The contents of soil organic,total N and available N of M1,M2 and M3 were increased to some extent in the 0-60 cm soil layer.For understanding the difference of soil fertility among M1,M2 and M3,we analyzed the contents of soil organic,total N,available N and available K,and found that M3 was the least than M1 and M2 in above nutrient.Considering the economic benefit of M1,M2 and M3,we found that the total net income of M1 was the highest,which reached 78 043.56 yuan/hm2 and was 3.97% and 38.73% higher than M2 and M3 respectively.In conclusion,our findings suggested that M1 should be vigorously promoted in regions similar to our experimental plantation.


A test rig for measuring the quasi-static performance of tandem suspensions in the laboratory is described. Measurements on a standard tandem leaf-spring suspension show it to have high effective stiffness in bounce and poor static load equalization. A method for eliminating the spring-end friction is investigated, and found to improve the performance significantly. A two-dimensional articulated vehicle simulation is validated with measurements from a test vehicle. The simulation is then used to study the effect on dynamic tyre forces of three modifications to the trailer suspension: softer springs; elimination of spring-end friction; and hydraulic dampers. The r.m.s. dynamic loads generated by the trailer axles are predicted to decrease by approximately 31 per cent and the theoretical road damage is predicted to decrease by about 13 per cent. The trailer suspension of the test vehicle is adapted to incorporate the three modifications and the measured reductions in dynamic tyre forces are found to be about half those predicted by the simulation.


The invention discloses an arborvitae wax-sealing double-tongue grafting seedling raising process. In the process, a container seedling in reserved bed seedlings or transplant seedlings of arborvitae is adopted as a stock, a 2 to 3 year-old twig with robust growth, plump buds and no plant diseases or insect pests is adopted as a scion, a problem that the scion is easy to lose water is solved by the wax-sealing technology, and a problem of enlarging grafting combination area is solved by the double tongue grafting technology. By adopting the method, the arborvitae grafting seedling raising can be directly carried out in field, corresponding seedling raising procedures are simplified, the cost is low, the seedling raising is quick and the survival rate is high. The method can solve the problem of quick propagation of good provenance, family, clone and good single seedling of the arborvitae.


Cultural content industry's development has become one of the most significant developmental strategies in many countries. Experts believe that only those country and area which combine cultural development into comprehensive competitive power can obtain the decisive development in the 21st century. In Asia, Chinese Confucianist culture as represen-tative's civilization has become the primary coverage in cultural content industry. Such as, 2008 Beijing Olympic Games was the biggest content industry. In 2008 " China、South Korea and Japan culture industry high-end forum", scholar and entrepreneur were agreed with that the developmental strategies of culture content cooperation in Asian should be emphasized to promotes the regional culture content industry comprehensive cooperation.


Purpose- This paper aims at exploring the theoretical foundations of relationship marketing concept and examining the effect of utilizing and adopting this concept on organizational performance indicators from the perspective of several high educational institutions experts and academic staff. Design/methodology/approach- Despite the recent popularity of research into relationship marketing, there is still some confusion surrounding the concept of and how it differs both from non relationship marketing and from other ways of managing marketing relationships. Acquiring new customers and retaining existing customers is another key goal for relationship marketing. Findings - This paper finds that there is a positive relationship between relationship marketing concept and organizational performance indicators, relying on successful relationship is the two-way flow of value. Originality/value - For academicians and marketing professionals, the study provides a practical insight into the changes in marketing paradigms, an alternate paradigm of marketing need to be developed that is more process rather than outcome oriented and emphasize value creation rather than value distribution.


The rapid, stoichiometric oxidation of gold nanoparticles by tetraalkylammonium and tetraalkylphosphonium Au(III) complexes in toluene is reported here. Nanoparticle oxidation proceeds via a comproportionation mechanism and generates stable Au(I) complexes of the ammonium and phosphonium cations used. These reactions are studied for several organo-soluble nanoparticle systems, employing different cations and halides in the Au(III) oxidant complex, and a mechanism for the comproportionation reaction is proposed. It is demonstrated that Au nanorods stabilized in toluene can be progressively "sculpted" by Au(III) complexes. Measurement artifacts caused by the reduction of Au(I) and Au(III) species during conventional TEM imaging are also demonstrated and discussed. The results presented here provide insight into a host of issues in the chemistry of Au nanoparticles: nanoparticle oxidation, reduction of Au(III) species to Au(0) nanoparticles, galvanic replacement reactions using Au(III), and sample changes in...


The master equation of a one-dimensional lattice-gas model with order preservation where the occupation probabilities of sites corresponding to Bose statistics as a consequence of the prescribed dynamics is studied with the potential symmetry method. The in(cid:12)nite-parameter potential symmetry and a new exact solution are obtained. The result illustrates that there remains the possibility of the above nonlinear equation to a linear partial di(cid:11)erential equation by a non-invertible mapping.


A deformation invariant representation of surfaces, the GPS embedding, is introduced using the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the Laplace-Beltrami differential operator. Notably, since the definition of the GPS embedding completely avoids the use of geodesic distances, and is based on objects of global character, the obtained representation is robust to local topology changes. The GPS embedding captures enough information to handle various shape processing tasks as shape classification, segmentation, and correspondence. To demonstrate the practical relevance of the GPS embedding, we introduce a deformation invariant shape descriptor called G2-distributions, and demonstrate their discriminative power, invariance under natural deformations, and robustness.


This study documents the experiences of parents raising African American children who have been identified as gifted. There is a small but growing body of research exploring the experiences and issues of gifted African American children. Parents play the most significant role in a child's development; however, parents of gifted African American children are not currently represented in the literature. This study utilized semi‐structured interviews with the parent or parents from 12 families to explore their experiences of rearing their gifted African American children. Particular attention was addressed to issues surrounding their children's academic and social experiences, including interactions with school, family, and community. Implications are elucidated for individuals working with this population, and suggestions for future research are provided.


Graduate School of Engineering Mastership (GEM), POSTECHAbstract : Industrial safety is one of the crucial agenda for Governmen t as well as Manufacturing Industry. To cope with the needs, a great deal of policies and technical imp lementation have been proposed and implemented. With a great increasing attention on the Industry 4.0 and Smart Factory, industrial safety has received as a crucial agenda by the manufacturing industry in p articular. Up until now, almost all of them have been made from the environmental aspects, rather than operator or workers. In this paper, we present our research results how to increase the workers'safety via smart f actory technology, such as IoT and CPS. Our approach has been to see the problem from SE perspectives, to d raw the real issues from the various stakeholders, and define how to solve the problem based on the emerging technologies. The developed systems can give conceptual framework for the 'smart'industria l safety system by providing solution architecture for how to monitor the location of workers, and mo ving equipments, and generate solutions how to avoid safety problems between them if detected.Key Words : Safety system, System engineering, System Architecture, Moni toring system, Shopfloor, Sensor network* 교신저자 : Hyoung Min Kim, firstname.lastname@example.com* This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which pe rmits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


The disturbed electrical activity of the heart which leads to Atrial Fibrillation (AF) poses a threat to the health and a lot of people in the country are suffering because of this. Its timely detection and treatment can increase the longevity of patients with AF. The proposed, Smartphone based inventive method of detection of AF utilizes Photoplythosmography (PPG) signal obtained from the fingertip using the camera in a smartphone. It differentiates Normal sinus rhythm (NSR) from AF, Premature Ventricular contraction (PVC) and Premature Atrial Contractions (PAC), with the combination of statistical methods like Root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD), in combination with Shannon Entropy (ShE) and Turning point ratio (TPR) method. The reformulated TPR is used along with pulse rise and fall times to increase the accuracy of detection. The acquired results show that this method can detect NSR with sensitivity of 0.9155, and gives overall accuracy of classification of 92%


In this paper, we have proposed to use Polya and Pareto distribution to describe peaked arrival processes in telecommunication networks. We have started the work with traffic measurements and analyses. After seeing that the mean, variance, and probability density function of inter–arrival time and packet length change significantly we decided to apply Polya distribution in the system. With this arrival processes, it is possible to analyse the real loss systems in telecommunication and information networks where the access to the multiple communication channels and servers is dynamic. We study a version of the 'classical' Erlang's loss model M/G/n/0 called Polya/G/n/0. This is a full accessible loss system with Polya input flow (negative binomial distributed number of arrivals in a fixed time interval), general distributed service time and 'n' servers. This model is evaluated by simulation with Pareto distributed inter–arrival time. An algorithm for calculation the state probabilities and blocking is presented. It is shown that the variance of the input stream changes significantly the characteristics of the loss systems.


This article examines the legal environment within which this dilemma has to be resolved. It then assesses the appropriateness of a university claiming or asserting ownership of copyright in teaching materials. Finally, the author offers a model that might provide a solution to the dilemma, that is consistent with the legal environment, consistent with the interests of academic staff, and which provides a framework that facilitates universities achieving their objective of on line delivery of courses.


Solvent extraction is a very effective method for the separation of metal ions. Research and development of an extraction reagent with high selectivity has been carried out. We have been synthesized the multidentate ligands such as ethylenediamine derivatives having four pendant arms and evaluated the selectivity for transition metal ions. In this research, the order of selectivity for alkaline earth metal ions using N, N'-Bis (2-hydroxy-5-nitrophenylmethyl) -N, N'-bis (2-pyridylmethyl) -1, 2-ethanediamine (H2Nbbpen) as an extraction reagent was evaluated and compared to those of thenoyltrifluoroaceton (TTA) and N, N'-Bis- (2-hydroxy-3, 5-dichlorophenylmethyl) -N, N'-bis (2-pyridylmethyl) -1, 2- ethanediamine (H2dClbbpen) . The difference in the Sr-Ba extraction constants in the H2Nbbpen system was larger than those in TTA and H2dClbbpen systems.


Aim : To study the role of Serum total IgE, serum allergen-specific IgE and Absolute eosinophil count in demonstrating sensitization to various allergens in common atopic disorders. Materials and Methods: A total of sixty one cases with history of atopy in the form of allergic rhinitis, asthma, and urticaria/ dermatitis were subjected to allergy profile test during a period of one year from January 2013- January 2014. The allergy profile test included serum total IgE, serum allergen specific IgE and absolute eosinophil count. Original Research Article


With the popularity of the Internet, lots of information is provided online, and the type of e-learning is becoming more multivariate. In order to enhance the use intention and learning performance, interface design not only has to the content, but also considers the user's behavior. Users' prior knowledge or past experience will also affect their feeling and effectiveness as they are using. We integrated the concept of Kolb's experience learning circle into this e-learning platform, supplemented by modern interface design, and take usability and user experience as an evaluation consideration to plan and design this e-learning platform. Therefore, this study aims to explore the usability and user experience of users on this platform. In order to reduce the threshold of interdisciplinary learning and to improve learners' use intention and learning performance. The results of this study can be reference for planning and design of STEAM learning website, or interdisciplinary learning materials.


The purpose of this research is to define the influence of PT. Modern
Internasional., Tbk marketing communication to Photo Imaging Division loyalty as customer.
This study is a quantitative survey. The independent variables are performance, ability, policy, marketing mix, and service mix, and dependent variables is customer loyalty. The statistical analysis uses multiple linier regression, and assist by excel and SPPS.
The result of this tesis is showing that performance, ability, policy, marketing mix, and service mix as a variable of marketing communication has a significant influences to customer loyalty as dependent variables. While the most dominant variable is policy.
The result of study gave implication that PT. Modern Internasional., Tbk should give more attention in company policy to increasing customer loyalty.


The invention discloses a fast clamping mechanism of a machine tool, and belongs to the field of machine tool clamps. The fast clamping mechanism comprises a sliding rail, an adjusting screw rod, a movable block and a clamping block, wherein the upper end of the sliding rail is clamped on the concave edge of the lower end of the movable block, the lower end of the clamping block is pressed on a concave edge of the upper end of the movable block, and the adjusting screw rod is meshed with the movable block. The fast clamping mechanism solves the problems that an existing machine tool clamping mechanism is long in clamping face moving time, large in labor intensity and low in work efficiency, and has the advantages of being simple in structure, reasonable in design and easy to manufacture.


3 multiple-choice tests were developed from judgmental, frequency, and discrimination procedures of selecting item distractors. Scores on each of these tests were correlated with scores on a completion test of parallel numeric and algebraic content. Matched triads, with 558 students in each group, were used. No significant differences in validity were found among the tests.


The utility model relates to a telescopic fume-exhausting oil-filtering tube, which belongs to a kitchen cooker. The utility model is mainly composed of an oil collection box (1), a fume-exhausting barrel (2), a fume collection cover (3), etc. The utility model is characterized in that an oil collection umbrella cap (5), a filtering net (6) and a magnet (7) are arranged in the oil collection box (1); the lower part of the oil collection box (1) is connected with a multiple section fume-exhausting barrel (2); the lower part of the final section fume exhausting barrel (2) is connected with the fume collection cover (3).


The light scattering principle for particle detection is customary for the measurement of aerosols. Light scattering techniques can be applied to mixtures of particles (nephelometers) and to single particles as well. Measuring particle mixtures simplify detection because of the higher intensity level, however, information concerning the individual particle is lost. To provide well defined conditions over the whole rendezvous period, i.e., constant illumination beam and unchangeable scattering angle, the use of an artificial light source (instead of the sun) and a scattering volume located within the S/C is desirable. Considering this and the relatively low particle densities to be expected, the measurement of particle mixtures must be excluded.


The Book The Thessalonians Debate (Eerdmans, 2000) defined the Thessalonian problem, but without a real resolution except for showing that the central issue is 1 Thessalonians 2, which seems to contradict all the conventional rules of epistolary analysis. We see here that the solution is to be found in correcting a deficiency in the conventional methods of epistolary analysis. In 1 Thessalonians 2 the thanksgiving is interrupted by a reminder of Paul's previous actions. This is followed by two more cycles of thanksgiving and reminders of Paul's past actions. These cycles are seen as essentially defensive, and this interpretation is further supported by repeated appeals to God and also to the addressees themselves as witnesses to Paul's integrity. The conclusion is that all of the peculiarities of 1 and 2 Thessalonians can be explained by the hypothesis that both epistles are authentic, but 2 Thessalonians is the earlier epistle. This hypothesis has previously been defended by numerous writers and a commentator. A recent analysis of the Thessalonian epistles by Bart Ehrman (2013) proposes an alternative explanation, but it is not tenable.


The terahertz region (1-10 THz) of the electromagnetic spectrum offers ample opportunities in spectroscopy, free space communications, remote sensing and medical imaging. Yet, the use of THz waves in all these fields has been limited by the absence of appropriate sources. Existing solid-state emitters, in fact, lack the general requisites of compactness, integrability and portability necessary for implementation in actual devices, and suffer from low output powers, limited tunability, and/or the necessity of liquid helium cryogenics. Research on THz semiconductor lasers has received new life in the last few years thanks to the development of quantum cascade (QC) lasers of ever increasing wavelength. Yet, fundamental problems related to the transition energy being below the optical phonon resonance and to efficient confinement of the emitted radiation have seriously hampered the realization of THz QC devices. With the help of detailed theoretical modelling and the adoption of a special partially metallic waveguide, we have now demonstrated a monolithic THz heterostructure laser based on interminiband transitions in the conduction band of a GaAs/AlGaAs QC heterostructure. Single mode emission has been achieved at 4.4 THz (/spl lambda/ /spl sim/ 67 /spl mu/m) with high output powers of more than 2 mW. Although operation is presently limited to 60 K, the low threshold current density of less than 300 A/cm/sup 2/ testifies the great development potential for higher temperatures.


Objective To study the clinical antibiotic use by analyzing the pathogens spectrum and drug resistance of hospital acquired pneumonia isolated from senile patients.Methods Clinical data of 123 senile patients with nosocomial pneumonia from March 2004 to September 2007 were reviewed.The pathogen types and antibiotic sensitivity of pathogens isolated from cultured sputum collected from the patients were analyzed.Results One hundred and forty-one strains including 83 strains of Gram-negative bacteria(59.0%),33 strains of Gram-positive bacteria(23.4%),25 strains of fungi(17.6%) were collected.Pseudomonas aeruginosa(19.2%),Encherichia coli(11.4%) and Klebsiella pneumonia(7.8%) were the main microorganisms and 62.5% of Encherichia coli and 45.5% of Klebsiella pneumonia were suspected to produce extended-spectrum β-lactamase.The effective agents against Gram-negative bacteria were Imipenem/Cilastatin,Amikacin and Cefepime,while the drug resistance rate of Gram-negative bacteria to Ampicillin,Ciprofloxacin and Co-trimoxazole were above 50%.The drug resistance rate of Gram-positive bacteria to Cefazolin,Cefotaxime,Ciprofloxacin,Imipenem and Cilastatin were almost above 67% while most Gram-positive bacteria were sensitive to Vancomycin.Conclusion The drug resistance of bacteria in senile patients with nosocomial pneumonia is increasing.Gram-negative bacteria are the main pathogens and susceptible to Imipenem/Cilastatin,Amikacin and Cefepime while Vancomycin is the first choice to treat the infection of Gram-postitive bacteria in these patients.


Abstract The Doebner reaction is the chemical reaction of an aniline with an aldehyde and pyruvic acid to form quinoline-4-carboxylic acids. Although Doebner reaction is a simple procedure for synthesis of 4-carboxyquinolines, which the product precipitates from the reaction mixtures with high purity, its yield is not high due to the formation of different reaction by-products. In the present study we found a new by-product (2-methylquinoline-4-carboxilic acid derivative), in Doebner reaction. We synthesized new 2-methylquinoline-4-carboxilic acid derivatives simply by stirring pyruvic acid and aromatic amine in ethanol with high purity. Generally, we found that aniline derivatives possessing electron donating groups are needed for the synthesis of 2-methylquinoline-4-carboxilic acid derivatives in ethanol. 1H-NMR data of products revealed that this reaction is regioseletive and ring closure occurs on the position with less steric hindrance. The order of mixing of the reactants plays a key role in determining the type of products in the Doebner reaction. Graphical Abstract


partment of Physics and Astronomy. Over the course of my first work term in the Computer Engineering program, following my 3A academic term, I was involved in a year long project to evaluate a new implementation of grid computing based on Web services middleware. My specific research tasks included grid system design, deployment, administration, computer networking, programming, and testing, to determine if Web services middleware is capable of supporting the global expansion of the grid. Throughout the duration of the summer term, I had the opportunity to gain knowledge and experience in grid computing development. I believe this will prove valuable in my future academic and professional ventures. I would like to extend my thanks to Dr. Contents List of Figures ii Executive Summary iii Glossary of Terms and Symbols iv 1 Introduction 1 1.


A low-temperature cell was designed and constructed of stainless steel to be used in the Cary model 14 spectrophotometer. The cell has been operated using solid or liquid samples at 77°K and up to 523°K at 20 atm pressure. Absorption spectra can be recorded in the near infrared, visible, and ultra-violet.


A significant obstacle to the use of local area networks in Nuclear Medicine has been the high cost of computer systems capable of digitizing the analog outputs of conventional gamma cameras. A PC-based Nuclear Image Acquisition Station has been designed using readily available components that permits acquisition, display and transfer of nuclear images. Processing functions, including camera uniformity corrections, image rotation and edge enhancement and other operators Elre available locally. With appropriate file format manipulation, images may alternatively be transferred to a conventional Nuclear Medicine computer for processing and archival storage. Hardware and software costs required to implement these functions on an existing micro are less than $4000.


The Clinicopathological Conference presented by James and colleagues1 in this issue of Circulation is of special interest because the fate of my own patient, like this one, followed a brief clinical course and death. In this case, however, a specific explanation is proposed and the suggested process (apoptosis) is abundantly illustrated. The possibility that this may explain other examples of Uhl's anomaly and the related condition of arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia is logical but must await verification in future cases.

Nearly half a century has gone by since I carried out the autopsy of an 8-month-old infant in 1949.2 This was a time of extraordinary development of surgery for congenital heart disease at the Johns Hopkins Medical Center under the leadership of Dr Helen Taussig and Dr Alfred Blalock. As a result of this work and that of other university medical centers, many infants, children, and adults were able to live with alleviation of symptoms—but not with a cure. And that is an irony or paradox of our society as this extraordinary century of medical progress comes to an end.

Dr Lewis Thomas3 has pointed out that there are some 25 major afflictions of humans in our society, leading him to state that there is an unfinished agenda for modern biomedical science. The record in this century "has established two general principles about human disease. First, it is necessary …


The Sujia iron polymetallic deposit is located in the Zhangguangcai Range metallogenic belt of Heilongjiang Province,controlled by the Yizuomao alkali feldspar granite and granite porphyry.The orebodies were hosted in the contact zone of granite-porphyry and marble,and in the interlayer fracture zone,being mainly as skarn Fe-Zn orebodies in type.The metallic minerals of orebodies are composed mainly of magnetite and sphalerite.The alteration of wall rocks mainly were skarnized,petrified,hornfels,carbonation and chloritization in type,in which the skarnized was closely related to mineralization,being as the main prospecting criteria.The characteristics of geochemistry indicate that the metallogenic material mainly came from the evolution of crust-source magma and upper carbonate rocks.The hydrothermal mineralized bodies and orebodies occurred in the skarn rock which formed by the hydrothermal metasomatism with carbonate layer.Combined with the regional geological background,we determined that the Sujia iron polymetallic deposit was skarn deposit in type.


The purpose of this study was to explore how symptoms affect quality of life (QOL) for people living with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and kidney transplants, and to determine the relationship among various coping styles, symptoms, and QOL. An online survey was conducted; 42 people with CKD or a kidney transplant completed all parts of the survey. We found strong significant relationships between symptoms and QOL ratings. Problem-focused coping strategies were the most frequently employed, but there were few significant relationships between symptoms and coping, or between problem focused coping strategies and QOL. Future research should explore whether interventions to address emotion-focused coping strategies impact QOL as well as symptom burden.


Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess whether the complete removal of a breast mass using ultrasound (US) guided mammotome biopsy was successful using a marginal biopsy after insuring the total visual excision of the breast mass on US images. The relationship of complete breast mass removal, and the hematoma, mass size and shape were also evaluated. Materials and Methods: A US guided mammotome biopsy was performed in a total of 136 cases in 133 patients, with marginal biopsies also added when the complete removal of breast mass had been identified by sonography. The results of the marginal biopsies were serially dividing into three groups, as follows: group I were the cases in the initial 6 months, group II after the initial 6 months and group III having undergone two marginal biopsies. The marginal biopsies were performed in four directions around the probe, with 'marginal positivity' defined as the same histopathological findings to that of the main mass in at least one direction. A statistical analysis was also used to evaluate between the marginal positivity and the hematoma, mass size and shape. Results: The marginal positivities of groups I, II and III were 48.8, 29.4 and 45.5%, respectively. The marginal positivity of those with a lobular shaped mass was significantly higher (p=0.0121) than those with round or oval shaped masses (61.5 vs. 33.7 vs. 50%), but showed no statistical relationship with hematoma size of the lesions Conclusion: Although the lesions were removed by US using a US-guided mammotome biopsy, many residual lesions were still histologically present in the marginal samplings, especially in the lobular shaped masse.


Cone crusher top rack body is a kind of large steel casting that has high quality requirements.In order to improve the yield and rate of qualified products of the rack body for cone crusher,through the analysis on the structure of the casting and usage of module calculation method,casting process was optimized by improving gating system and increasing surface chill.After optimization,the technological yield increased and high-quality casting could be stably produced,which provided valuable experience for the future production of such castings.


The size at first maturity, reproductive cycle, sex ratio and recruitment of the sea-bob shrimp Xiphopenaeus kroyeri were studied from monthly samples in two coastal areas of the Espirito Santo state between 2003 and 2004 in order to support sustainable management of this species. The samples were obtained with bottom trawls in small artisanal fishing boats from 4 to 8 m deep. A total of 6,006 specimens were captured being 2,766 females, 3,182 males and 58 of undetermined sex. Females were significantly bigger than males. The average length of first maturation of females was 9.026 cm. Adult females predominated over males between December and February, coinciding with the spawning peak, while males predominated in the subsequent quarter. This alternation of proportions was associated with bathymetric migrations of reproductive females. The annual gonadal maturation cycle, seasonal abundance and sizes and recruits suggest the existence of continuous spawning and recruitment in December-February and in July and August. The difficulties of establishing a closed season in proper condition indicated that the management of the resource should receive more attention because of the issues involved, whether social, biological or environmental.


Powder injection molding (PIM) is an ideal technique for the production of precision geometry parts from metal and ceramic powders. In PIM method, a moving core system is needed to obtain screw geometry inside the part. However, making this system is both difficult and time-consuming. In this study, the internal screw geometry in the part has been tried to be obtained with the insert. For this, the part was produced by injecting 316L stainless steel feedstock into the mold, then a hole was drilled with a suitable drill and the M4 screw was pulled. Screw geometry inserts to be placed in the part are coated with hexagonal boron nitride and chrome resistant to high temperature. Thus, it is aimed to prevent the diffusion of the screw geometry in the feedstock area with the insert. The samples prepared were sintered at two different sintering temperatures (1260 °C - 1340 °C) and time (30-90 minutes). In the study, the effect of intermediate layers applied on the insert on screw geometry was investigated. As a result of the experiments, it was determined that hexagonal boron nitride and chromium interlayers on the screwed insert did not prevent diffusion.


Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT), slow light and manipulation of the susceptibility in momentum space have recently been employed to eliminate diffraction during propagation of images in atomic gases [1]. By selecting a two-photon detuning in a Lambda energy-level configuration to be equal to the homogenous EIT linewidth, the induced diffraction compensates the paraxial one and even atomic diffusion [1]. Manipulation and elimination of diffraction is desirable for many applications, such as imaging, microscopy, wave-guiding, microlithography and optical data processing. Here we employ an alternative control of diffraction based on the generation of slow-light dissipative solitons for a three-level medium in a cavity pumped by two quasi-resonant fields. Complex self-organised structures and spatial localization of light due to the interaction of diffraction and nonlinearity in optical cavities have important applications in optics and photonics, ranging from digital optical memories to delay lines [2]. Note that conservative Raman solitons with slow-light have been observed in free propagation in a planar CS2 waveguide by using the localization of a pump field [3].


The Influence of X ray diffraction effect to the resolution of micro nano scale X ray lithography and the relationship of prebake temperature and contrast of resist is discussed Analysis indicated that enhancing resist contrast can effectively improve the process latitude and minimize the diffraction influence Experiments showed that positive resist PMMA has best contrast of 4 46 at prebake temperature of 170℃ and negative resist PN114 has best contrast of 8 40 prebaked at 170℃ Results of X ray lithography using both above resists at optimized prebake temperature are given


ABSTRACTIn the United States, suicide rates have risen 30% from 1999 to 2016. To decrease suicide rates, mental health professionals must use best practices to assess, manage, and intervene with cl...


SiC MOSFETs are known to provide a better performance compared to Si IGBTs. However, they can also introduce undesirable behaviors like switching oscillations due to the existence of parasitic elements. In this paper, we introduce the turn-on and turn-off switching equivalent circuit models and validate these models with commercially available SiC MOSFETs. Based on the models, theoretical analysis is carried out and the guidance of damping circuit design is provided. Circuit simulations and experimental measurements are performed to validate the modeling method as a general treatment for ultrafast switching applications. In addition, a method of extracting parasitic inductances of packaged SiC MOSFETs using a network analyzer is introduced. The measured parasitic inductance values prove to be more realistic than the values estimated by the device manufacturer when being used in the equivalent circuit models. Furthermore, a detailed justification and experimental validation on the assumption of gate loop resistive contribution are provided.


ABSTRACT Monitoring the regeneration process of a forest is an important part of forestry management. Compared to traditional methods of counting tree species, UAVs have been a revolutionary means of saving time and costs due to the temporal and spatial flexibility of data collection. In turn, the integration of multispectral cameras allows the traditional vegetation indices that have been used with satellite imagery to be obtained. However, data from multispectral cameras must be combined with data from other types of sensors, such as RGB. It is therefore necessary to co-register all the information in order to obtain combined vegetation indices and carry out segmentation processes that allow the identification of the different tree species. In this study, the coordinate transformation methods available in QGIS software through the georeferencer plugin are evaluated. It also studies the influence of the number and distribution of control points on the accuracy of the transformation. It is concluded that of the transformation methods studied, TPS transformation has the highest accuracy with an MAE of 0.9 pixels and a deviation of 0.6 pixels, providing a minimum of 10 control points and a stratified or edge distribution.


Coupled radiation conduction heat transfer in non-gray participant media is present in many practical applications, such as thermal insulation at high and ambient temperatures. In glass window thermal insulation applications in hot climates, infrared absorbing gases appear as an alternative to improve their thermal performance. The thermal modeling of glass windows filled with absorbing gases is somewhat difficult due the spectral variations of the absorption coefficients of the gases. In this work, the CW model is used to treat the spectral properties of mixtures of absorbing gases and the radiative transport equation is solved using CW model and the discrete ordinates method. Due to the range of temperature variation, the mixture of gases is considered as homogeneous. The absorption coefficients were obtained from the database HITRAN. The energy equation in its two-dimensional form is solved by the finite volume technique. Three types of gas mixtures highly absorbing, medium and transparent are investigated, to determinate their effectiveness in reducing heat gain by internal ambient. Reflective glasses are also treated. The numerical method to solve radiative heat transport equation in gray and non-gray participant media was validated previously. The temperatures distributions in the gas and the glass domain are computed and the thermal performance of the gas mixtures is evaluated and discussed.


[Extract] Between the two world wars, proponents of Aboriginal reserves were sharply divided on the question of what reservation was supposed to achieve. On one side were those who argued that reserves should preserve a remnant of the Aboriginal race and culture in its pristine state by completely cutting off their inhabitants from all outside contacts. On the other side were those who maintained that, while reserves should shelter
Aborigines from the corrupting edge of European civilisation, their paramount purpose was to instruct their inmates in Western ways of life and thought. It may be easy to interpret both options as symptomatic of a white Australian disdain for Aborigines: the former seeking to marginalise them by shutting them away in closed communities; the latter seeking merely to destroy Aboriginal culture. Yet a closer examination of the reserves debate in its contemporary intellectual context may reveal more complex motivations than the self-interest of the socially-dominant. This paper examines the reserves debate as a manifestation of that strand of intrusive humanitarianism which, though waxing and waning at various times, has nm throughout white Australian relations with the indigenous inhabitants. For convenience it focuses on the writings of three protagonists to the debate: Frederic Wood Jones, Professor of Anatomy at the University of Melbourne; Jones' young protege, the anthropologist Donald Thomson, who, with Jones, lobbied for the creation of closed reserves; and A.P. Elkin, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Sydney, who supported the alternative reserve strategy.


The safety and tolerance of energy-dense enteral pediatric formulae were evaluated and compared with a standard formula. Children aged 1-6 years requiring tube feedings to provide ≥ 75% of their daily estimated energy needs for 21 days were evaluated in this phase III, randomized, open-label, multicenter study. Subjects received a control formula, Pediasure® (C; 1.0 kcal/mL) or an experimental formula similar in nutrient composition but higher in caloric density (1.5 kcal/mL) with or without fiber (EF and E, respectively). Subjects (n=94) returned for 3 weekly visits. Gastrointestinal parameters improved (p<0.05) in all groups. Energy intake was comparable among groups, but was achieved with lower (p<0.0001) volumes in E and EF relative to C. Weight gain was greater (p<0.01) in E versus C. Adverse event reporting was similar among groups. Energy dense formulae are an option for children with fluid restrictions or increased energy or fiber needs without compromising safety or tolerance.


This study aims to prove the effect of work discipline and organizational communication on employee performance. This research was conducted at PT. Blue Bird Palembang Branch. The data used in this study are primary and secondary data obtained from questionnaires distributed to respondents. The data that was successfully collected were 61 respondents from 61 questionnaires that were distributed. The media used to analyze is by using SPSS for windows version 23. The test is carried out in several stages, namely validity and reliability tests, classical assumption tests and hypothesis testing. The results of this study indicate that the coefficient of determination (R2) is 0.951 or 95.1 % and the remaining 4.9% is influenced by other variables not analyzed in this study. So it can be concluded that work discipline and organizational communication have an effect on employee performance. The object that is taken in this research is PT. Blue Bird Palembang Branch. The data analyzed were work discipline and organizational communication on employee performance. The purpose of this research is to determine the performance of the employees of PT. Blue Bird Palembang Branch and how much influence the work discipline and organizational communication have on employee performance at PT. Blue Bird. The method of analysis used in this research is quantitative descriptive method and qualitative descriptive method.


The aims of this study were to define the initial characteristics, natural history, and prognostic factors of patients with ophthalmologic and intraocular malignant lymphoma. All patients treated at the Institut Curie for lymphoma with ophthalmologic (orbit and/or adnexa) or intraocular involvement were retrospectively reviewed. A pathological review of all cases was performed according to the WHO classification. One hundred and forty‐five patients were selected for the study. Pathological review showed 36% MALT type lymphoma, 22% lymphoplasmocytic lymphoma, and 15% diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma. Ophthalmologic and ocular sites were intra‐orbital in 61 cases (42%) and conjunctival in 51 cases (35%), with bilateral involvement in 10% of cases. Stage IV was found in 32% of cases, with bone marrow involvement in 12%. With a median follow‐up of 90 months, the 5‐year DFS and OS were 64 and 79% for low‐grade NHL, and 43 and 50% for high‐grade NHL. On multivariate analysis, age greater than 59 years, elevated LDH level, stage IV, high‐grade histological subgroup, and presence of B‐symptoms had a negative impact on OS for the overall population. In conclusion, with a median follow‐up of 7.5 years, our large cohort of patients represents one of the largest published series on primary ophthalmologic and intraocular malignant lymphoma. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


In the Software-Defined Networking (SDN) paradigm, routers are generic and programmable forwarding units that transmit packets according to a given policy defined by a software controller. Recent research has shown the potential of such a communication concept for NoC management, resulting in hardware complexity reduction, management flexibility, real-time guarantees, and self-adaptation. However, a centralized SDN controller is a bottleneck for large-scale systems. Assuming an NoC with multiple physical subnets, this work proposes a distributed SDN architecture (D-SDN), with each controller managing one cluster of routers. Controllers work in parallel for local (intra-cluster) paths. For global (inter-cluster) paths, the controllers execute a synchronization protocol inspired by VLSI routing, with global and detailed routing phases. This work also proposes a short path establishment heuristic for global paths that explores the controllers" parallelism. D-SDN outperforms a centralized approach (C-SDN) for larger networks without loss of success rate. Evaluations up to 2,304 cores and 6 subnets shows that: (i) D-SDN outperforms C-SDN in path establishment latency up to 69.7% for 1 subnet above 32 cores, and 51% for 6 subnets above 1,024 cores; (ii) D-SDN achieves a smaller latency then C-SDN (on average 54%) for scenarios with more than 70% of local paths; (iii) the path success rate, for all scenarios, is similar in both approaches, with an average difference of 1.7%; (iv) the data storage for the C-SDN controller increases with the system size, while it remains constant for D-SDN.


This paper aims at looking at the effects of light on cognitive responses through elaborating the current knowledge on the ipRGC photoreceptor cells and how they influence the circadian rhythm as well as cognitive processes of the body throughout the day. Experimental studies in the literature are discussed and the lighting design approach corresponding to the non-visual effects of light on human cognition, the human centric lighting approach is explained.


SOME people like early music played on period instruments because it is, if not quite 'authentic', at least historically informed. But I am surely not alone in enjoying it simply because the instruments are rather more difficult to control. The sense of resistance, of hard work, the palpability of the puffing and scraping, the not entirely clean attacks all these things have been progressively eliminated both by the 'improvement' of instruments, particularly during the nineteenth century, and through the seamless perfection, the concealment of the labour of performance, that has been cultivated since the invention of the gramophone. As Adorno notes, our era is one in which the ideal of performance is that it should sound 'like its own phonograph recording'. The traces of the effort of sound production have come to be regarded as a kind of contamination of musical experience. A good example of what I mean is provided by the 'natural' horn. The joy of this instrument is that it is almost impossible to play 'properly': before the invention of handstopping, some notes were just out of tune, and there was nothing you could do about it; after the technique was developed, one could play more notes, more or less in tune, but at the expense of a different quality of sound for each note. Add to that the fact that you are playing so high in the harmonic series that the menacing presence of adjacent pitches is audible even when you do hit the right one. I am by no means the the first to suggest that modern instruments, by smoothing over all the irregularities, have lost something; one comes to understand why Brahms referred to the valve horn as the 'brass viola'. In his essay 'The Grain of the Voice', Roland Barthes, drawing on Kristeva's notion of the 'genotext', defines the 'geno-song' as the materiality and the 'voluptuousness' of sound, as everything that escapes our normal discourse about music, as 'the body in the voice as it sings, the hand as it writes, the limb as it performs'. The geno-song which we can readily extend


Seventeen lanostane‐type triterpenoid derivatives (2 – 18), including 11N‐glycosides (8 – 18), were synthesized from the natural triterpenoid, lanosterol (1), and were evaluated for their cytotoxicity against the human cancer cell lines, HL‐60, A549, and MKN45, as well as the normal human lung cells, WI‐38. Among them, N‐β‐d‐2‐acetamido‐2‐deoxyglucoside (10) showed cytotoxicity against HL‐60, A549, MKN45, and WI‐38 cells (IC50 0.0078 – 2.8 μm). However, N‐β‐d‐galactoside (12) showed cytotoxicity against HL‐60 and MKN45 cells (IC50 0.0021 – 4.0 μm), but not the normal WI‐38 cells. Furthermore, Western blot analysis suggested that 12 induces apoptosis by activation of caspases‐3, 8, and 9. These results will be useful for the synthesis of other tetracyclic triterpenoids or steroid N‐glycosides to increase their cytotoxicity and apoptosis‐inducing activities.


This paper demonstrates the development of an Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM) network and its application for predicting Chaotic Time Series (CTS). LSTM is a Deep Learning (DL) architecture and a type of Recurent Neural Network (RNN). Its ability to memorise past inputs make it extremely suitable for studying data sequences, such as CTS. To test the performance of a developed LSTM, several simulation studies were realized in a Matlab environment. The developed DL architecture was used to predict well-known standard CTSs, namely Mackey-Glass (MG), Rössler, and Lorenz. The obtained results were compared with Adaptive N euro Fuzzy Inference system (ANFIS) and Distributed Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Architecture (DANF A), previously developed by the authors. The comparison is made on the basis of Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE). It was found that the proposed LSTM structure is able to generalize the generated series and it has higher accuracy than the other two models.


Copper Oxide (CuO) microfibers with different morphologies were prepared by the electrospinning and calcination process. The formation process of CuO microfibers was analyzed by thermogravimetry and their microstructures were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed the spinnability and electrical conductivity of the polymer solution are affected by the concentration of acetic acid solution. The morphologies of CuO are closely related to the calcination temperature. The thin-walled tubulous microfibers can be obtained by calcination of the electrospun precursor with 8 wt.% acetic acid at 500 ○C for 2 h.


Key messages: In recent years, India has made significant improvements to its sanitation infrastructure. However, as Indranil De explains here, a substantial proportion of households in some regions still do not have access to a toilet or sanitation infrastructure of acceptable quality. A systematic approach is required to address the issue of sanitation infrastructure. Unfortunately, the existing approach of government for sanitation is highly segregated and uncoordinated.


This paper gives an advanced control system in tilting-ladle-type automatic pouring system. In a pouring process, it has been required that molten metal is filled precisely and quickly into the mould for improving the productivity and saving energy. Therefore, the sequence control with prediction of filling weight is proposed in this paper. In the proposed control system, the sequence parameter is varied depending on the prediction of filling weight. The proposed control system has the advantage which it can be performed by common control equipment such as a programmable logical controller. The effectiveness of the proposed filling weight control system is demonstrated through the experiments using water to generalize the design procedure of filling weight control.


Adropin is a secretory protein encoded by the energy balance gene and is closely associated with regulation of energy metabolism and insulin resistance. The clinical findings demonstrated its decreased expression in various inflammatory diseases, its negative correlation with the expression levels of inflammatory cytokines, and its potential anti-inflammatory effects. We speculate that adropin plays a pivotal regulatory role in immune cells and inflammatory factors. In this study, we reviewed the advances in researches concentrated on immunological effects of adropin.


In continuation of the previous paper, Part 1, which describes the method of theoretical calculations, based on so-called New Strip Method (N.S.M.) used for the computer program, this paper explains the details of the program and presents some examples of the computed results. With an aim to confirm the computer program for the practical use, the results computed by the program are compared with the results obtained by the model experiments and also with the results computed by so-called Ordinary Strip Method (O.S.M.) on a single-screw container carrier. The computed results have shown to be in a good agreement with both the results obtained by the model experiments and the results computed by O.S.M. Furthermore, the computed examples are shown on a high-speed triple-screw container carrier and a 270,000 DWT tanker and the program has confirmed to be useful for practical design. In this paper, the examples are limited to ship motions, corresponding absolute accelerations, relative motions between waves and hull and statistical predictions for short and long terms on these items. Regarding the other items, such as fluctuating pressures on hull surface, shearing forces, bending moments, torsional moments, etc., the computed examples will be presented in the Part 3.


OBJECTIVE To establish a method for determination of homoarbutin in six species of Pyrola by HPLC.METHODS Samples were extractd by methanol . The HPLC method was chromatographed on synchrom Si column(5 μm,150 mm×4.6 mm) and the mobile phase was hexane-ethyl acetate-methanol(30∶10∶9).The homoarbutin was detected at 280 nm.RESULTS The linearity was good within the range of 0.524~2.640 μg ( r = 0.9999 ). The average recovery was 96.68%( n =6).CONCLUSION It can be used for quality control in Herba Pyrolae


In the last decade, improvements in automated speech processing, powered by signal processing and machine learning, has led to new approaches for medical assessment. Additionally, previous research in clinical speech has identified interpretable measures that are sensitive to changes in the cognitive, linguistic, affective, and motoric domains. In order to include speech-based automatic approaches in clinical applications, factors such as robustness, specificity, and interpretability of speech features are crucial. We focused on the analysis of a multi-modal array of interpretable features obtained from the spoken responses of participants with Neurodegenerative Diseases (ND) and control participants (CN) to neuropsychological tests. ND participants have Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), or Parkinson's disease mimics (PDM). We first collected spoken responses to three tests, a modified version of the Stroop test (MST), a verb naming task (VNT), and a noun naming task (NNT). Then, we arranged two complementary sets of cognitive and acoustic features and analyzed their statistical significance between the groups studied. Our results suggested that AD participants had significantly greater reaction times and significantly lower response accuracy with respect to the other groups across tests. In addition, PDM participants, compared to CN and PD participants, took a significantly longer time to complete the MST and NNT, while all the groups of participants with NDs showed significantly lower confidence during the MST. Since the analyzed features provided good differentiation results, they can be used in diagnostic tools for the assessment of NDs.