Abstract We introduce here a framework for the evaluation of material flow system models diagnosis of model performance problems, selection of model improvement actions and the implementation of these actions. Many of the actions in this model evaluation and redesign process cannot be modelled through specific procedures. Whenever this is the case we encourage the involvement of the designer by providing decision support, e.g. in determining whether the model performance is actually met and in selecting model improvement actions. In situations in which design tasks can be automated, the framework allows the integration of design tools that can take over these tasks. We present strategies for addressing tasks within the evaluation and redesign process as well as their implementation. The concepts presented are implemented in a design workstation for material flow systems.


In this research work, we propose all‐optical transistor based on metallic nanoparticle cross‐chains geometry. The geometry of the proposed device consists of two silver nanoparticle chains arranged along the x‐ and z‐axis. The x‐chain contains a Kerr nonlinearity, the source beam is set at the left side of the later, while the control beam is located at the top side of the z‐chain. The control beam can turn ON and OFF the light transmission of an incoming light. We report a theoretical model of a very small all‐optical transistor proof‐of‐conceptmade of optical 'light switching light'concept. We show that the transmission efficiency strongly depends on the control beam and polarization of the incoming light. We investigate the influence of a perfect reflector and reflecting substrate on the transmission of the optical signal when the control beam is turned ON and OFF. These new findings make our unique design a potential candidate for future highly‐integrated optical information processing chips.


Grain size of sediments has an important relationship with the infiltration rate of water and rate of surface run off. Hence, it is essential to analyze the connection between different textures and geochemical parameters. In the present study, numbers of shallow cores of soil samples were taken along the river Mini flowing in the northern part of Vadodara district of Gujarat, India. Ground water samples were also acquired from the same region. Parameters like iron and nitrite were analysed both in different layers of the shallow cores and groundwater. It was inferred from the analysis that location of industries and the path of river Mini had important contribution in the pattern of the concentration of parameters both horizontally and vertically.


The dramatic increase in initiatives for patient safety as a national health care policy in the United States and several other industrialized nations has stimulated dialogue about systems redesign, culture change, and advancement of medical education and training. Patient safety and quality improvement have been identified as a critical clinical and research endeavor supported by the federal government accrediting bodies, regulatory agencies, and patient advocacy groups. Annals has been a pioneer in publishing many seminal articles devoted to patient safety (1). A new series, Patient Safety and the Reliability of Health Care Systems, is inaugurated in this issue of Annals with Runciman and colleagues' article (2), which is devoted to the need to change the roles of error and blame in health care. This series we hope will help to keep a constant drumbeat dedicated to the need to learn about new and robust ways to change the culture of health care to a culture of safety. The Institute of Medicine report on patient safety and medical errors and its Australian and British counterpart reports offer a broad picture of the invisible mountain of preventable injuries to patients (3-5). These reports delineate and call for rapid, specific solutions. They have also fueled the polemics of classic tensions between accountability and improvement, individual needs and societal benefit, and production goals and safety. The reports mark the end of the beginning of the patient safety movement. They set the stage for the huge effort to follow, which will realign performance incentives, change traditional professional norms and organizational cultures, and adapt tools and procedures from other industries. Given the alignment of many national policy recommendations and the lack of a previous explicit focus on patient safety, the series is timely. The patient safety movement emerged in what will be historically recognized as a period of great change in health care. Strong forces working broadly in society have converged to shape this movement. These forces include a decline in paternalism and rise in self-determination, a hypercompetitive economic mindset that has threatened traditional ethical values, other sources of intense cost pressure, an information revolution, and rapid change that challenges old orders. Remarkable successes in process control in other risky industries became widely known just as the public, media, and accreditors discovered that morbidity and mortality in health care delivery were preventable and therefore unacceptable (6, 7). Health services are now facing serious problems unique to complex technology-driven work systems compounded by a severe medical liability crisis. Not since the Flexner report has there been such an opportunity for widespread, accelerated improvement in health care (8). Growth in the field of quality improvement in the 1970s and 1980s helped lay the groundwork for new ideas about safety, high reliability, and successful economic models built on those theories (8). The quality movement borrowed liberally from industry norms as a new class of cross-trained health care professionals arose. The safety movement demands much greater integration of disciplines. These include, but are not limited to, clinical sciences; organizational, cognitive, and social psychology; bioengineering; human factors studies; systems and information management sciences; ethics; and the law. The growing emphasis on systems has led to a recognition of the value of adopting ecologic metaphors to create a framework based on safety and reliability that will result in high-level, sustained gains in performance. These gains would be defined by a consensus of stakeholders, including caregivers, patients, payors, accreditors, and regulators. If the next phase of the evolution of the patient safety movement is to succeed, it must first be grounded in widespread and in-depth education of all health care professionals, especially physicians. A large body of disparate knowledge must be integrated, translated, and embedded in practice before changes in individual and organizational behavior can be sustained. Education must include systems evaluation, mishap analysis, human factors, teamwork, safety and improvement culture, and professionalism (9). The educational tools will include multimedia, small-group facilitated discussion, problem-based learning, and simulation-based exercises with videotape feedback. The audience should consist of licensure candidates from all health care disciplines, residents in training, candidates for specialty degrees, and practitioners undergoing recertification and continuing education. Only through innovative methods that encompass active learning, role modeling, and feedback can structural changes in technology and information support be fully realized. These methods reflect the new competency guidelines of the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (10), and the professionalism project of the American Board of Internal Medicine education competency requirements (11). The new series will cover topics such as the origins of the patient safety movement, understanding error and blame in health care, malpractice reform, creating effective incident reporting systems, team training and simulation, understanding wrong-sided procedures, and designing a patient safety curriculum for health care professionals. We are sure you will enjoy it.


There are many industrial applications where round bar or square bars are required to be operated on different machines to make machine components such as Shafts, Bolts, Screws etc. This needs more and m ore number of pieces to be cut for mass production of t hose components. To achieve this goal the Multi-way power hacksaw machine is developed. This paper proposes the model of multi-way hacksaw machine which is able to cut four pieces simultaneously without any jerk and minimum vibrations. The model implies conversion of rotary motion into the reciprocating motion for pro per working of hacksaw. This model overcomes the limitations of conventional hacksaw machines which can cut single piece at a time. It is able to cut m etal bars of different materials at same time and will be helpfu l in many industries due its compatibility, reliabi lity and efficiency.


Plumeria rubra 'Acutifolia' is native distributed in tropical area in America and widely grown in tropical and subtropical area now. Beside ornamental, the flower is edible and can be used for medicine and also has various connotations. According to research,this plant has been introduced to China since 300 years ago. This article will give you a systematic and comprehensive introduction base on the distribution, relevant culture and cultivation history.


Purpose – This is the second of two companion papers presenting the results of research into a contra‐rotating propeller designed to drive a super manoeuvrable micro air vehicle (MAV) and is devoted to the experimental results. The first paper presented the design process and numerical analyses.Design/methodology/approach – Most of experiments were conducted in the wind tunnel. Both contra‐rotating and conventional propellers were tested. The test procedures and equipment are described first. The attention is focused on the design of an aerodynamic balance used in the experiment. Then, the measurement error is discussed, followed by presentation of the wind tunnel results. Finally, an initial flight test of the MAV equipped with contra‐rotating propeller is briefly described.Findings – Wind tunnel experiment results fall between theoretical results presented in the first part of the paper. The application of contra‐rotating propeller allowed to develop the propulsion system with zero torque. Moreover, the...


Hepatocyte transplantation is an attractive alternative in the treatment of congenital errors of metabolism. Liver cells grafting offers the ability of immunomodulate and cryopreserve the hepatocytcs. The aim of this work was to evaluate the efficacy of singeneic liver cell transplantation in a rat mutant unable to synthetize ascorbic acid (AsA) in hte liver (CDS od/od). A total of 4 non-deficient rats (ODS +/+) were used as donors. Hepatocyte isolation was carried out according collagenase perfusion. The proportion of cells excluding trypan blue (0.2%) was counted; viability ranging from 90% to 93%. Hepatocyte transplantation was performed by injection into the splenic pulp of recipient animals of 0.5 - 1.0 ml of cell suspension containing 90 million viable hepatocytes. The recipient animals (ODS od/od rats) were divided into two groups. Group I (n=8) which was transplanted into the spleen; Group II (n =4) which was not transplanted; a control group of ODS */+ rats (Group III; n=5) was assessed. The deficient animals were fed a standard rat diet and water containing 3g/1 of AsA (Fuso, Osaka, Japan) during 4 weeks before transplantation and grafted 1 week later. The survival in the transplanted group (Group 1) was 63% at 5 postoperative week and 50% in the non-transplanted group (Group II). Hematoxylin-eosin staining revealed the existence of hepatocytes in spleens of transplanted animals. In spite of the improvement in the survival, all animals developed signs of AsA deficiency.This study confirms previous works for considering that an enzyme deficiency could be corrected by cellular transplant. Further studies are necessary to prove the usefulness of liver cell transplantation and the timing of grafting.


Dear Editor, Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma are the most common skin tumors developing on irradiated skin, but the pathomechanism of these carcinomas is not fully understood. Based on the clinical fact that palmar pits of nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome (NBCCS) develop BCC after radiation therapy, and the experimental fact that cultured fibroblasts and peripheral leukocytes or lymphocytes, from patients with NBCCS are relatively sensitive to ionizing radiation or ultraviolet light, the predisposing gene mutation theory of BCC was proposed. Namely, that the altered Ptc gene (human homolog of Drosophila patched gene) is a substantial predisposing risk factor for BCC oncogenesis in patients with NBCCS. A 60-year-old man had noticed black nodules behind his left ear lobe a few years before the initial consultation (28 July 2006). During this period before examination, the nodules increased in number, and the largest one became ulcerative. The patient had a history of X-ray radiation therapy (dose and source unknown) for lymphadenitis coli tuberculosa approximately 50 years earlier, when he was 11 years old. On physical examination, several black nodules and an ulcerating irregularly-shaped black plaque were arranged in a linear pattern from behind the left earlobe to the left side of the neck, where radiation therapy had previously been performed. The largest ulcerating lesion measured 15 mm × 10 mm while the others measured a few millimeters and all of the lesions showed glazing and were slightly elevated. Intense observation demonstrated several other tiny black lesions (Fig. 1). Based on the histological findings of biopsied specimens taken from the ulcerating lesion and a small nodule, the lesions were considered BCC, and surgical resection and reconstruction were performed. The removed ulcerating lesion showed a mixture of solid to adenoid type BCC nests with abundant inflammatory cell infiltration, but there was no invasive extension (Fig. 2). All the other black lesions examined were also histologically BCC. The patient is now under careful observation for local recurrence of BCC. Including the tiny lesions, all BCC observed in this case were distributed in a very narrow band along the lines of Blaschko of the lateral aspect of the scalp. The direction of lines is similar to that of Langer's lines in this area, however, the latter represents arrangement of the dermal collagen bundles.


Increasing rates of urbanization in Russia and around the world require new approaches to ensure trouble-free operation of municipal tunnels, which are the basis of life support of the city. The modern era is characterized by complication of tunneling and tunnel operation conditions, which often leads to defects in reinforced concrete lining of tunnels, reducing their service life and requiring enormous costs for repair. Furthermore, the implemented repair often fails to guarantee long-term trouble-free operation of the tunnels later on. The paper identifies the main causes of failure of underground utilities. It is shown that when defects appear in lining of underground structures, the greatest hazard is rusting of concrete reinforcement, which, when exposed to moisture in the tunnel air, increases in size several times, which leads to the rupture of concrete and to failure of the whole structure.


The projections of primary afferents from rostral cervical segments to the brainstem and the spinal cord of the rat were investigated by using anterograde and transganglionic transport techniques. Projections from whole spinal ganglia were compared with those from single nerves carrying only exteroceptive or proprioceptive fibers. Injections of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) or wheat germ agglutinin‐horseradish peroxidase conjugate (WGA‐HRP) were performed into dorsal root ganglia C2, C3, and C4. Free HRP was applied to the cut dorsal rami C2 and C3, greater occipital nerve, sternomastoid nerve, and to the C1/2 anastomosis, which contains afferents from suboccipital muscles and the atlanto‐occipital joint. WGA‐HRP injections into ganglia C7 and L5 were performed for comparative purposes.


Kriging is an interpolation technique that
is used to estimate a variable at an unmeasured location from observed values
at nearer locations. In this study, it is used to analyze the spatial distributions
of the health risk of indoor air pollution. The study case is an
air-conditioned office building that has 16 floors, located in Taipei, Taiwan.
The Kriging method is used in drawing health risk maps on the basis of limited
sample points and facilitates investigating the possible source of pollution.


Infants with a clinical diagnosis of small ventricular septal defect made between 1967 and 1969 have been reviewed; recent physical examination data was obtained for 52 of the 55 children. Spontaneous closure of the ventricular defect occurred in 30 patients (58%). The incidence of closure was considered separately for muscular (65%) and membranous defects (25%), as well as for those defects where the anatomic position could not be determined clinically (58%). Age at closure, duration and intensity of the murmur, and the number of months of follow-up in nonclosures were all analyzed. As a practical index, the probabilities of closure by 5 years of age were calculated for patients theoretically presenting at birth, 1 year, and 2 years of age. These were, respectively, 58%, 48%, and 35%.


We obtain an estimate of free entropy of generators in a type ${II}_1$-factor $\mc{M}$ which has a subfactor $\mc{N}$ of finite index with a subalgebra $\mc{P}=\mc{P}_1\vee\mc{P}_2\subset\mc{N}$ where $\mc{P}_1=\mc{R}_1'\cap\mc{P}$, $\mc{P}_2=\mc{R}_2'\cap\mc{P}$ are diffuse, $\mc{R}_1,\mc{R}_2\subset\mc{P}$ are mutually commuting hyperfinite subfactors, and an abelian subalgebra $\mc{A}\subset\mc{N}$ such that the correspondence $_\mc{P}L^2(\mc{N},\tau)_\mc{A}$ is $\mc{M}$-weakly contained in a subcorrespondence $_\mc{P}H_\mc{A}$ of $_\mc{P}L^2(\mc{M},\tau)_\mc{A}$, generated by $v$ vectors. The (modified) free entropy dimension of any generating set of $\mc{M}$ is $\leq 2r+2v+4$, where $r$ is the integer part of the index. As a consequence, the interpolated free group subfactors of finite index do not have regular non-prime subfactors or regular diffuse hyperfinite subalgebras.


Aim. The aim of the study is to prove the effectiveness of conducting Internet researchwhen analysing controversial and embarrassing topics, such as e.g. providing sex servicesfor money during studies.Methodology. The research group consisted of 1877 people taking up studies atPolish universities. Empirical data was collected using a questionnaire form via the Internet.Respondents were asked about their own experience in prostitution and their attitudetowards providing sexual services for money. Students expressed their opinions ona four-level scale and in open questions, where they had the opportunity to write a longeranswer.Results. Studies conducted via the Internet have shown that the phenomenon of studentprostitution is popular in Polish academic circles. It turned out that the most frequentreasons for practising prostitution were: the unfavourable material situation in the familyhome, unfavourable material situation during studies, lack of responsibility for oneself andlow level of religiousness. What is more, in the open questions the students indicated: laziness,above-average sexual drive and consumerism supported by the culture of promiscuity.The online survey gave the respondents an increased sense of anonymity, which madethem willing to share their experiences and private stories.


The present article deals with situations in which the use of the provisions of the Labor Code is required for the suspension of a service report on the initiative of a civil servant for legitimate personal interest, provided that the regime of legal relations between civil servants and the state or the local public administration is regulated by Law no. 188/1999 on the Statute of civil servants. We appreciate the decisive importance both for public institutions, civil servants and courts of law, to advance a proposal to regulate the suspension of the employment relationship at the initiative of the civil servant, as from 2010, the provisions of Article 95(2) of the Law no. 188/1999 on the Civil Servants' Statute, are subject to different interpretations: either as an abrogated article or as an existing article outlined as content on the provision identified in the initial form of the normative act.


The present invention relates to a microtype rotary engine. It includes a cylinder and a rotor placed in cylinder, said rotor is an integrated body formed from upper plate whose centre has hole and lower plate whose contral hole interior is equipped with internal gear which are bonded together, the central projection of its rear end cover has an external gear, the internal gear of lower plate of the rotor and the external gear of the rear end cover are matched and made into epicyclic gear, on its eccentric square shaft the front disk, eccentric disk and rear disk are fixed, and the axis of front disk, rear disk and square shaft is coincided with central line of frond end and rear end covers, and the central line of eccentric disk is coincided with central line of rotor, and the front and rear disks and front and rear end covers are formed into rotating pair connection.


Academic publishing is undergoing profound changes that shape the conditions of knowledge production and the way research is communicated, prompting a lively debate on how the various activities of those involved can be adequately acknowledged in publications. This contribution aims to empirically examine the relationship between authorship regulations in journal policies, the disciplinary variance in authorship practice and larger concepts of academic authorship. Analyzing (1) editorial policies and (2) data from an interdisciplinary survey of scientists, we examine to what extent disciplinary variances are reflected in the policies as well as in researchers' individual understandings. Here we find that the regulation of authorship qua policies is primarily effected at the level of the publishers. Although considerable disciplinary variations of journal policies are sometimes suggested in the literature, we find only minor differences in authorship criteria. The survey data however show that researchers' understandings of authorship exhibit significant, discipline-specific differences, as well as differences related to the characteristics of the research practice. It hence becomes clear that discipline-specific conditions of knowledge production with the resulting differences in authorship practices are hardly reflected in authorship policies. We conclude that the regulatory ambitions of authorship policies mostly focus on the prevention and elimination of deficits in the quality and integrity of scientific publications. Thus, it seems questionable whether authorship policies in their current form are suitable instruments for mediating between diverse authorship practices and normative ideals of legitimate authorship.


To compensate the slow nutrient release characteristic of soil organic matter, a high application rate of organic matter to establish the organic matter concentration of the soil is a common practice in organic farming. In this study, high rates of hog dung compost were applied to measure their effects on the growth, nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) uptake, and N composition of different parts of cabbages in field. Treatments consist of a conventional chemical fertilizer control plot and three rates (30, 60, and 120 Mg/ha) of hog dung compost-treated plots. The cabbage was harvested 94 days after transplanting. The dry weight and the concentrations of the total N, P, K, nitrate N (NO3(superscript -)-N), ammonium N (NH4(superscript +)-N) and insoluble N in various parts of the plants were determined. The results showed that there were no significant differences in growth and uptake of N and K for the various treatments. However, the P uptake of the cabbage received compost treatment was significantly higher than that received chemical fertilizer treatment. The NO3(superscript -)-N concentration in the whole plant of the chemical fertilizer-treated plants was the lowest among all treatments. However, there were no significant differences in the NO3(superscript -)-N concentrations of the head among the compost-treated plots. The total N and K concentrations of various parts of the plants were not significantly different among the treatments. However, the P concentrations in the chemical fertilizer-treated plants were lower and that in compost-treated plants increased as the compost rate increased. More than half of the total N in the head was in the form of soluble organic N. In conclusion, the yield at application rate of 30 Mg/ha of compost was equivalent to that of the conventional chemical fertilizer treatment and higher application rate of compost was not necessary for the first time of organic cultivation of cabbage. However, there is no disadvantageous effect on the growth of cabbage even at a single level of 120 Mg/ha of compost.


Background: UDP-glucose dehydrogenase (UGDH) polymorphisms were identified in a screen of candidate genes for heart valve defects. Results: Two individual mutants fail to rescue cardiac valve defects in UGDH-deleted zebrafish and have reduced stability in vitro. Conclusion: UGDH loss of function mutations result in a subset of human congenital cardiac valve defects caused by reduced enzyme activity during morphogenesis. Significance: Screening these alleles could predict valve defects. Cardiac valve defects are a common congenital heart malformation and a significant clinical problem. Defining molecular factors in cardiac valve development has facilitated identification of underlying causes of valve malformation. Gene disruption in zebrafish revealed a critical role for UDP-glucose dehydrogenase (UGDH) in valve development, so this gene was screened for polymorphisms in a patient population suffering from cardiac valve defects. Two genetic substitutions were identified and predicted to encode missense mutations of arginine 141 to cysteine and glutamate 416 to aspartate, respectively. Using a zebrafish model of defective heart valve formation caused by morpholino oligonucleotide knockdown of UGDH, transcripts encoding the UGDH R141C or E416D mutant enzymes were unable to restore cardiac valve formation and could only partially rescue cardiac edema. Characterization of the mutant recombinant enzymes purified from Escherichia coli revealed modest alterations in the enzymatic activity of the mutants and a significant reduction in the half-life of enzyme activity at 37 °C. This reduction in activity could be propagated to the wild-type enzyme in a 1:1 mixed reaction. Furthermore, the quaternary structure of both mutants, normally hexameric, was destabilized to favor the dimeric species, and the intrinsic thermal stability of the R141C mutant was highly compromised. The results are consistent with the reduced function of both missense mutations significantly reducing the ability of UGDH to provide precursors for cardiac cushion formation, which is essential to subsequent valve formation. The identification of these polymorphisms in patient populations will help identify families genetically at risk for valve defects.


The Indian economy has experienced a notable turnaround in recent years. Growth has rebounded, inflation has moderated, and the budget and trade deficits have narrowed. The Indian Government has also initiated policies and reforms aimed at encouraging investment, strengthening productivity and ensuring fiscal sustainability. Stronger growth in domestic demand has led to a recovery in India's imports, including from Australia. The recent volatility in foreign exchange markets and the recovery in oil prices pose upside risks to inflation and the current account deficit. However, India's strong long-term potential for growth, driven by demographics, urbanisation and productivity-enhancing reforms, suggests there is scope for trade between Australia and India to expand further in coming years. R E S E R V E B A N K O F AU S T R A L I A B U L L E T I N – J U N E 2 0 1 8


Review of Alexander Starre, Metamedia: American Book Fictions and Literary Print Culture after Digitization . Iowa: University of Iowa Press, 2015, 316 pp. ISBN 978-1-60938-359-6 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14195/2182-8830_4-2_17


This paper introduces the status of technologies of marine waste incineration, domestic sewage treatment and bilge water treatment in the field of marine anti-pollution. It analyses the existing problem in marine anti-pollution equipment technology and further discusses on the development trend of marine anti-pollution technology.


Shape optimal design of an elastic double-curved arch dam is treated using a continuum shape design sensitivity analysis method. Derivatives of the stress at the surface of the dam with respect to shape design parameters are computed using the material derivative. The upstream and downstream surfaces of the arch dam are parameterized by Bezier surfaces. The total volume of the arch dam is minimized, subjecting to the constraints on thickness of the dam and maximum tensile and compressive stresses.


The document analyzes the discourse of the knowledge society and the historical development of social sciences, from Giro decolonial, to understand how the Knowledge Society not only considers the social sciences lost their social function, but also considers a threat that must be eliminated. It is consequence that the only areas of modern knowledge trained to expose social institutions legitimizing inequalities and dominations project of modernity have been social disciplines. Some of these proposals has built criticisms denounce different forms of constricting the person and encapsulate it within the standards of modernity. In addition, some of its currents of thought have proposed alternative society to the present-neoliberal capitalism, which becomes a risk for the authorities to legitimize and naturalize contemporary forms of social organization. Although, the social sciences are part of the constitutive core of the project of modernity, they have been able to propose critical perspectives of contemporary political, social and cultural project. Even the social sciences have coming to propose alternative forms of capitalist structure. However, the social disciplines are part of Eurocentric and colonial project of modernity. Those disciplines have been fundamental to its consolidation and expansion. Nevertheless, some authorities and economic institutions have advocated to eliminate the social sciences as areas of formal knowledge. These views are part of the current dominant discourse, called the Knowledge Society, a concept that expresses the post-industrial changes, while expressing the political project of modernity.


Nanocrystalline barium hexaaluminate has been successfully synthesized through the use of a reverse microemulsion as a medium for controlled hydrolysis and polycondensation of barium and aluminum alkoxides. The nanoparticles derived were characterized with electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and nitrogen adsorption analysis. This novel material possessed a well-defined particle morphology and an ultrahigh surface area, and exhibited excellent catalytic performance in methane combustion. Its structural evolution was found to be strongly dependent on synthesis parameters, such as water/alkoxide ratio and aging period. Powder recovery and drying techniques also had an important impact on particle agglomeration and structural development. Through the unique synthesis approach described, barium hexaaluminate with superb thermal stability was achieved, with surface areas in excess of 100 m{sup 2}/g retained even after calcination at 1,300 C.


Abstract Beach seine nets are commonly used in reef lagoons in Kenya, with potentially destructive impacts on reefs and other habitats. The species composition and size frequency of catches made by nets with codend mesh sizes of 25 mm, 38 mm and 44 mm were evaluated for samples collected during three sampling trips in the Lamu area between 2014 and 2016. A total of 98 fish species belonging to 41 families were recorded. Most species with highest diversity ( D = 10.67) were caught by the 25 mm codend mesh, followed by the 38 mm ( D = 6.69) and 44 mm meshes ( D = 3.04), respectively. Size frequencies of dominant species Leptoscarus vaigiensis , Siganus sutor and Lethrinus lentjan depended on the codend mesh size sampled, with the 25 mm mesh retaining more immature individuals than the other two meshes. It is concluded that codend mesh size influences catch properties of beach seine nets used in Lamu, and that introducing a minimum mesh size would reduce the proportions of juvenile fishes landed.


The obese Zucker rat is characterized by an increase in energetic efficiency (Bray & York, 1979) and deposits excess fat even when pair-fed to lean littermates (Bray et al. 1973). Brown adipose tissue (BAT) function is depressed in ad lib.-fed obese rats (Holt & York, 1982). The regulation of BAT thermogenesis has been investigated by studying the effect of cold exposure and sucrose feeding on mitochondrial GDP binding. Five-week-old lean (fa/?) and rats or to 4O d. Food rats was BAT mitochondrial 3H-GDP binding was lower in rats (mean values It_ lean rats at 24'. However, after cold exposure 3H-GDP binding was increased to similar levels in lean and obese rats (539.2k97.2 and 561.8k30.9 pmoVmg respectively). The response to cold was, however, impaired in Io-week-old obese rats. the rat In small rodents, such as the laboratory rat, thermogenic responses to cold, hyperphagia and exogenous noradrenaline are due largely to activation of brown adipose tissue (BAT). The young domesticated pig also raises metabolic rate in response to these stimuli, but was thought to possess no BAT until Dauncey et al. (1981) identified small quantities of the tissue by light and electron microscopy. In the present study, we have attempted to assess which tissues are responsible for noradrenaline-induced thermogenesis in anaesthetized, young, Large White pigs from measurements of metabolic rate, by indirect calorimetry, and regional blood flow, using radiolabelled microspheres. The capacity of weanling rabbits to develop an immune response to dietary protein is reduced if that protein has been included in the maternal diet, a reduction which may be achieved by either uterine or mammary exposure of progeny to dams given the test protein (Gibney & Gallagher, 1982). Recently, Strobe1 et al. (1981) have shown that, far from inhibiting subsequent systemic immune response to an intramuscular injection with antigen, pre-exposure of I d old mice to ovalbumin actually enhanced the immune response to ovalbumin injection. On that basis we decided to investigate whether maternal exposure of breeding mice to a protein would inhibit the capacity of their offspring to develop antibodies to that protein in a weanling diet. Twenty-five rabbits were forty-two were ovalbumin-based (OVA). Half the rabbits were born of stock to DSM and half the mice were born of stock exposed to OVA. The rabbits were bled and groups of mice killed at regular intervals. Their serum was analysed for anti-OVA Ig G in the case of mice and anti-DSM Ig G in case of rabbits, both using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. These antibody levels are given in the Table. In previous studies (Cummings it was shown that an increase in dietary protein from 62 to 132 g/d resulted in an increase of faecal protein of I 170, a 257, increase in faecal tryptophan and a 46% increase in urinary volatile phenol (UVP). There are many possible explanations of these results and so, in order to obtain more information, the effect of the two diets on the composition of ileostomy fluid was determined. An unrefined carbohydrate diet has been recommended for the treatment of Crohn's disease (CD) following dietary surveys which showed that CD patients tend to eat a diet rich in sucrose compared with that eaten by the general population. Studies of ileostomists indicated that compared with control subjects, they tend to eat a diet containing low amounts of dietary fibre. We have analysed the ileostomy effluent in five patients with CD and five with ulcerative colitis (UC) after 2 weeks on a diet rich in sucrose and low in dietary fibre (diet A) compared with the same period on a diet rich in unrefined carbohydrate and containing no sucrose (diet B). Healthy volunteer patients were given appropriate dietary advice and their compliance assessed by a trained dietician. On the last day of each period the patients were given a suitable breakfast containing (g) sucrose 1 3 . 5 , starch 45, fibre 2 . 5 , protein 1 3 . 0 and fat 15'5 (diet A) or sucrose 3 . 5 , starch 47, fibre 9.5, protein 14 and fat 16.5 (diet B). Samples of ileostomy fluid were taken at hourly intervals for the next 9 h for bacteriology using a catheter inserted approximately IOO mm into the stoma; the total effluent was pooled at hourly intervals for biochemical analysis throughout and, on all tests, UC and CD patients behaved similarly. Although it assumed that intestinal transit time is shorter in people living in the Tropics, compared with the West, data on transit times for tropical subjects, from India, are at best anecdotal. This study was designed to measure intestinal transit times in South Indian subjects on a metabolic diet using standardized methods which are not subject to day-to-day variations in bowel habits. shown that zinc absorption is impaired in untreated coeliac disease, using the oral Zn tolerance test: this technique measures the absorptive capacity of the proximal small intestine for Zn in free solution. Using we have the absorption of exogenous Zn and the turnover of Zn in untreated and treated patients with coeliac disease. These results are consistent with the known effect of parathyroid hormone on adenylate cyclase activity and supports the suggestion that the parathyroid hormone is involved in causing nephrocalcinosis. Studies on riboflavin-deficient rats suggested a reduction in erythropoiesis and an increase in mean red blood cell (RBC) age (Hassan & Thurnham, 1977). Studies on marginally riboflavin-deficient human subjects, however, indicated an increase in erythropoiesis (Powers & Thurnham, 1980). In an attempt to resolve these differences, radioactive iron (59Fe) was used to measure RBC life span in riboflavin-deficient rats. Guar gum, a viscous unabsorbable polysaccharide, is hypocholesterolaemic in normal and hyperlipidaemic subjects but its usefulness has been restricted by its physical properties, which limit the daily dose. statistically significant. HDL cholesterol levels were unchanged. These preliminary results suggest that the guar bread may be an effective hypocholesterolaemic agent in some individuals. However, the dose which can be taken in this form may be at the lower end of the dose-response curve; the development of other guar-containing foods is therefore indicated.


The sexuality of young people who were born between the 1960s and 1970s is dissimilar from the experience of their parents because of the basic cultural social biological and technical advances that Chilean society has experienced. Especially the decade of the 1960s saw a critical expression of protest against the sexually repressive ideologies in society. The movements of hippies feminists and students questioned the established order glorified liberty and celebrated the body and the right to sexual relationships. Female sexuality was also discovered. The discovery and mass spread of contraceptives also contributed to this movement. There has been an increasingly earlier sexual maturation of adolescents whose causes are not quite clear; perhaps more industrialization and urbanization account for it. Some data support the earlier maturation of adolescents: in northern America in the 1950s only 17% of women aged 20 were sexually active; by the 1970s this proportion increased to 33% and by the end of the 1970s 69% were sexually active. The trend with experiencing first intercourse was similar especially in European countries. In the 1970s it was estimated that in England 69% of male and 45% of female students at universities were sexually active. In various countries of Latin America 21.2% of women aged 15-19 years were sexually active vs. 63% of men. A 1985 study in Chile showed that 67% of male vs. 29.2% of female university students were sexually active. In the metropolitan area of Santiago 47.6% of boys aged 15-19 were sexually active compared to 18.9% of same-age girls. The boys sexual activity reached 69.3% mainly because of machismo which has encouraged it for boys while making it difficult for girls.


The micro-architecture and VLSI implementation of a dynamically allocated multiqueue (DAMQ) buffer are presented. Design tradeoffs for the DAMQ buffer's datapath are discussed and a floorplan and the timing of the major functional units are presented. It is shown that in VLSI switches, with buffers than can store multiple packets, additional chip area is better used for the control of DAMQ buffers than for increased buffer space in simpler FIFO buffers.<<ETX>>


Objective:To investigate the epidemic situation and the pathogens distribution of reproductive tract infections(RTI).Methods:Experimental examinations of the pathogens related to RTI were performed in 841 infertile women.Results:In 841 infertile women,the infectious rate of RTI is 59.2%,including 40.1% suffered from single pathogen,and 19.1% suffered from two and more than two pathogens.The detection rate of Ureaplasma Urealyticum(UU),eumycete,Chlamydia trachomatis(CT),Mycoplasma hominis(MH),Trichomonas vaginalis,gonococcus,syphilis,HIV was 40.8%,24.9%,15.1%,7.3%,0.4%,0.2%,0.2%,0%,respectively.Conclusion:It is useful for prevention and treatment of RTI and aristogenesis to extend the screening of the pathogens related to RTI in infertile woman.


Based on the principle of stochastic environmental excitation,the large scale on-site modal testing is applied on a certain portion of Shanghai Metro Line 1.In this paper,according to the time-progress response data,the natural frequencies of the soft-soil tunnel system are obtained by means of the theoretical and experimental analysis.It can provide the relevant calculaton parameters for further dynamic analysis.


Abstract We give sufficient conditions for a system of Volterra difference equations to have a unique periodic solution. Then a criterion for uniform asymptotic stability is established.


I show that the richness and liveliness of KM is truncated as it enters the global scientific field. This lab study examines: (1) KM's double approach to local KM and global scientific fields; (2) the lab's political function in relation to biomedicine and science; and (3) the identity crisis and reconstruction of KM caused by its scientific translation.


Wheat straw(WS), sorghum straw(SS), Cane bagasse fiber(CBF)and teak saw dust(TS)composites were prepared separately with novolac resin in 50:50(w/w)ratio. These fillers were treated with and without maleic anhydride(MA), phthalic anhydride(PA)and succinic anhydride(SA). Anhydrides treatment improves tensile strength, young's modulus, flexural strength, and flexural modulus of the composites over the untreated filler composites. The order of increment in tensile strength and Young's modulus is recorded as SA > PA > MA for CBF, while for WS and SS order is MA > SA > PA. In case of TS the order of increment in tensile strength and Young's modulus is SA > MA > PA. Flexural strengths of CB and SS are recorded as SA > MA > PA.MA > SA > PA is the order of flexural strength and flexural modulus of TS and WS. Amongst three anhydrides, PA treatment shows least effect while MA and SA treatments are more effective. The difference in their effectiveness is due to their reactivity as well as the desorption of anhydrides by the fillers.


The grey theory is an effective way to solve the uncertainty and inadequacy question of the data in the modern engineering domain.In this paper,the common process and approach of using the grey theory to solve the supportability evaluation problem were given,and a little amelioration was done on the basis of the traditional one.The method selected out a set of the most excellent value from the needed schemes as the idea referenced scheme,which fit the reality better.Through analyzing of the example,this method calculates easily and manipulates well,so it has real application value.


Recently, we have seen a rapidly growing adoption of Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) technologies. Fully achieving the promise of these technologies in practice is, however, extremely difficult. Users have to invest tremendous efforts in building DRL agents, incorporating the agents into various external training environments, and tuning agent implementation/hyper-parameters so that they can reproduce state-of-the-art (SOTA) performance. In this paper, we propose RLzoo, a new DRL library that aims to make it easy to develop and reproduce DRL algorithms. RLzoo has both high-level APIs and low-level APIs, useful for constructing and customising DRL agents, respectively. It has an adaptive agent construction algorithm that can automatically integrate custom RLzoo agents into various external training environments. To help reproduce the results of SOTA algorithms, RLzoo provides rich reference DRL algorithm implementations and effective hyper-parameter settings. Extensive evaluation results show that RLzoo not only outperforms existing DRL libraries in its simplicity of API design; but also provides the largest number of reference DRL algorithm implementations.


Conventional superscalar processors usually contain large CAM-based LSQ (load/store queue) with poor scalability and high energy consumption. Recently proposals only focus on improving the LSQ scalability to increase the in-flight instruction capacity, but with poor performance improvement and energy efficiency. This paper presents a novel speculative store-load forwarding mechanism, named SOLE (speculative one-cycle load execution)1. Firstly, SOLE uses address identifiers to determine the memory disambiguation, rather than the exact memory addresses as the traditional LSQ does. Since the address identifier is just simple hash from the address base and offset, the speculative store-load forwarding could be advanced earlier to reduce the load execution latency and avoid unnecessary energy consumption by filtering unnecessary accesses to the data cache. Secondly, SOLE enlarges the forwarding communication range by using SSN (store sequential number) to determine the age order between stores, which further improves the performance. Finally, the implementation of SOLE all uses set-associative structures that avoid the non-scalable problem of CAM-based LSQ. Experiments show that performance of SOLE outperforms the traditional LSQ by 13.57% in terms of performance, with only 75.2% execution energy consumption of the loads and stores.


The forming process has been resumed according to historical materials and researched results. That was a process which was from nongovernmental to governmental reclamation, from Han people's tenancy to Meng and Han people's joint reclamation, and from the edge to the interior of Ordos. The changing mechanism of the farming-grazing transitional land use pattern in Ordos was discussed based on the factors of natural conditions, population pressure, economic benefit and amalgamation of nationalities, etc. The period of warm-humid climate in the Qing Dynasty provided ideal conditions for reclamation;the frangibility of the ecosystem in this area interfered with the excess reclamation. The farmland exploitation expanded toward borderland because of the unprecedented increase in Chinese population, and the wandering and dropping of the per unit area yield of cultivated land. The gradient force of population in Ordos and peripheries, the land degradation of the Loess Plateau to the repulsion for population promoted the reclamation in Ordos. Both nongovernment and government actions promoted the land reclamation in running after interest;at the same time, the scrambling for interest between the central and the local, Meng and Han, despots and paupers prevented the course of reclamation. The change in Meng and Han population structure and the common interest relation built in the process of reclamation impelled the national amalgamation. The agreement and repulsion in the national amalgamation process not only strengthened the status of agriculture, but consolidated the stockbreeding as well. The farming-grazing transitional land use pattern in Ordos was just formed and developed in the balancing process of these driving factors and obstacles.


The objective of this study is to assess the impacts of climate change on the surface water resources of the Sassandra catchment area. This study conducted at the scale of the Sassandra sub-catchment areas took into account six (6) sub-catchment areas: Bafing in Badala, Boa in Vialadougou, Davo in Dakpadou, Lobo in Nibehibe, Nzo in Kahin and Sassandra in Semien. The methodological approach is based on the evaluation of the drying up coefficients, the duration of drying up and the volumes of water mobilized by the aquifers. All these parameters were estimated using Maillets law. The analysis of the different dynamics was carried out using the cumulative sums test. The results showed that the breaks in rainfall and the drying up coefficient were between 1982 and 2000, 1985 and 2003 respectively. After these breaks, the drying up coefficients increased (Bafing in Badala, Boa in Vialadougou and Davo in Dakpadou) from 17 to 25.9% and decreased (Lobo in Nibehibe and Nzo in Kahin) from 1.4 to 6.3%. A shortening of 3 to 5 days was observed on the Bafing in Badala, the Boa in Vialadougou and the Davo in Dakpadou. The volumes of water mobilized by the aquifers decreased on the Bafing in Badala, the Davo in Dakpadou and the Sassandra in Semien.While they increased on the Boa in Vialadougou, the Lobo in Nibehibe and the Nzo in Kahin.


We prove a nested embedding theorem for Hardy-Lorentz spaces and use it to find coefficient multiplier spaces of certain non-locally convex Hardy-Lorentz spaces into various target spaces such as Lebesgue sequence spaces, other Hardy spaces, and analytic mixed norm spaces.


Citation for published version (APA): de Geus, T. W. J., Peerlings, R. H. J., & Geers, M. G. D. (2016). Systematic analysis of fracture in two-phase materials at all stages. In J. M. Floryan (Ed.), Contributions to the Foundations of Multidisciplinary Research in Mechanics: papers presented during the 24th International Congress of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (ICTAM 2016) held in Montreal, Canada, August 22-26, 2016 (Vol. 3, pp. 1814-1815). IUTAM.


The motion of an ensemble of ions during their gated injection into the three-dimensional radio-frequency quadrupole ion trap was simulated considering helium buffer gas collisions, injection at certain RF phase angles and using DC impulsive fields to optimize the trapping efficiency. Simulations using a simple model of ion–neutral collisions show that buffer gas alone, even at 1–10 mTorr pressure, is not able to remove sufficient kinetic energy from the injected ions through ion–neutral collisions to prevent their loss and does not solve the problem of low efficiency of ion retention in the trap, even under qz-optimization. Accumulation of ions over long periods is not very effective, in such cases trapping efficiencies are less than 5%. It is shown that under RF phase angles between 110° and 220° the injected ions can be trapped, although only temporarily, with very high efficiencies. The simulations lead to the conclusion that all of the desired injected ions covering a wide mass/charge range can be trapped for indefinite times when short injection pulses are used together with dipolar DC pulses applied during injection. The additional damping achieved through these dipolar DC impulsive fields and the resulting cooling of the ion cloud is shown to give efficient trapping.


The article is devoted to the study of rural tourism as a prospective direction of activity of entrepreneurship in rural districts of Ukraine, since it positively influences restoration, preservation and development of local traditions, trades, monuments of historical and cultural heritage and also expands channels of realisation of products of private farms of rural population. It analyses the essence of the rural tourism and its place in the complex socio-economic rural development. It identifies main problems of development of this sphere of activity. It focuses main attention on the fact that practical realisation of the state policy in the sphere of support of rural tourism bears today, as well as during numerous years in the past, mainly a declaratory character, and the state target financing of development of rural tourism is practically absent both at the state and regional levels. The article uses the analysis to present prospects of further development of rural tourism taking into account experience of EU country-members, in which adoption of state and local programmes, directed at development of entrepreneurship in the sphere of rural tourism, their proper performance and sufficient financing, realisation of measures of these programmes through funds of support of entrepreneurship is one of prospective directions of development of rural territories.


Skull-photo superimposition continues to be a popular method for suggesting individual identification of unidentified human remains. In spite of the popularity in many countries, this method is not in regular practice in Malaysia. Computer aided Video Superimposition Device has been fabricated for the first time in Universiti Sains Malaysia paving the way for skull based identification in Malaysia. In Malaysia, about 25% of the skulls preserved in Hospital Pulau Pinang and among the human remains buried or cremated in two hospitals in Kuala Lumpur are found to pertain to cases of equivocal death and/or possible homicide. As of now, DNA based identification has been resorted to in about 10% of the bodies buried or cremated in the hospitals in Kuala Lumpur and the rest continue to remain unidentified. At present these cases remain as cold cases. The record of missing individuals in PDRM, Malaysia indicates about one thousand of the missing individuals to continue to be untraced every year. It is proposed that a) a skull photo superimposition facility be established in Forensic Science Laboratory, Kuala Lumpur for regular use to identify the dead bodies where the cause of death is equivocal since such identifications are known to bring to light motives in homicides and b) a Central Identification Laboratory similar to VICTIM project of FBI be established in Forensic Science Laboratory, Kuala Lumpur for suggesting possible identification of all unidentified remains utilizing the face photographs of missing individuals placing Malaysia on par with the countries pioneering in human identification elsewhere.


Abstract Literature discussing the factors in government and parliament that cause of gridlock is limited in examining cases that occur in contexts where the democratic principle of 'inclusion' expands. This paper analyzes the legislative gridlock revealed in the process of the South Korean government's efforts to pass the Bill of Financial Consumer Protection, beginning in July 2012, from the perspective of overlapping political conflicts among multi-scalar actors. Research shows that the government's desire to reform financial supervisory governance created two cleavages among the multi-scalar actors because of their long-held political interest in the Bill. The conflict intensified as the cleavages overlapped and were presented as one big issue in the history of Korea's financial supervision, which directly facilitated the gridlock. This paper identifies academic implications to advance the study of gridlock and its policy implications, including the need to develop an inter-scalar mediator, which has negative effects on the quality of democracy.


This thesis drala with inks expanding its volume after printing. The introduction is devoted to the basic description of technologies, with which we obtain so-called 3D print. In subsequent chapters this work drala with individual technologies and thein principles. Further chapters are devoted to the printed material and its adjustments, the composition of inks and additives added to them. The conclusion of this work is devoted to the advantages and disadvantages of the technologies.


Recent advances in well-logging techniques have enabled geologists to increase their knowledge of petrophysical properties. Optimum use of porosity logs permits predictions of porosity parameters other than merely the porosity percent. Shallow-water carbonate rocks contain a wide variety of porosity types, and present a special problem to the geologist involved in subsurface work. The oolitic grainstone upper member of the Smackover Formation (Upper Jurassic) within the Gulf Coast region, contains numerous porosity types. Three major types (interparticle, intercrystalline, and oomoldic) were identified from petrographic analysis. With the use of computer generated crossplots of neutron-log values versus density-log values, it is possible to determine the amount of porosity types within a carbonate rock. The cementation exponent (m) from Archie's equation, as determined from Pickett Plots, is a reliable indicator of the tortuosity and permeability of carbonate units, whereas multivariate cluster analysis groups porosities solely by percent porosity and not by porosity type.


This paper describes the design philosophy underlying a debugging assistant which will help novice programmers debug arbitrary programs of their own design. The assistant synthesizes plans which are suitable for carrying out a particular set of intentions. The intentions may either be specified in advance (by us), or obtained from the student at debugging-time. The plans are represented in an abstract plan-language, and are compared against a similar representation of the student's own code in an attempt to find anomalies. The system focusses mainly on teleological bugs (unachieved intentions), but can also help to pinpoint the source of more complex conceptual bugs, even though it cannot recommended specific patches.


This work investigates the finite-length block error probability for the pulse position modulation (PPM) Poisson channel. Amongst, expressions for the Gallager random coding bound (RCB) and the Gaussian approximation of the converse theorem are derived. Likewise, we introduce an erasure channel (EC) approximation that allows the application of known EC bounds to the PPM Poisson channel by matching the channel capacities. We show that the derived benchmarks are not only simple to compute, but also accurate. Additionally, the design of protograph-based non-binary low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes for the (PPM) Poisson channel is addressed. The order q of the finite field is directly matched to the PPM order, so that no iterative message exchange between the decoder and the demodulator is required. The suggested design turns out to be robust w.r.t. different channel parameters, yielding performances within 0.5 dB from the theoretical benchmarks.


Purpose - The purpose of this study is to investigate consumers' buying intentions (BIs) towards sustainable properties with green living concept (GLC). It also aims to examine the dynamic relationships between environmental advertisements (EAd), green brand positioning (GBP), attitude towards environmental responsibility (ER) and consumers' sustainable properties BI in the Malaysian context. Design/methodology/approach - Data were collected via online questionnaire survey, which yielded 143 completed usable responses. Structural equation modelling–partial least squares (Smart PLS, version 3) was used to analyse the data. Findings - The findings of this study revealed that EAd and GBP significantly affect consumers' attitude towards ER, which in turn affects consumers' BI of the sustainable properties with GLC. Practical implications - This study suggests that without inculcating a positive attitude towards the environment among consumers, it becomes a daunting task to drive consumers to purchase sustainable properties in Malaysia. Thus, the marketers should focus on green promotional activities to attract more customers to buy sustainable properties with GLCs. Moreover, it is suggested to target the right market segment to secure more sales. Social implications - The findings of this study will enable the government and the social marketers to understand the drivers of buying sustainable properties with GLC, which in turn will contribute to the higher environmental welfare. Originality/value - This study is among the pioneers to examine consumers' sustainable property purchase intention. It provides significant insights for the social marketers and policymakers to understand how to motivate consumers to purchase sustainable properties with GLCs. Moreover, this study has investigated few comparatively new links such as the direct effect of EAd and GBP on attitude towards environmental responsibility and the mediating effect of attitude towards environmental responsibility between environmental stimuli and consumer's sustainable properties BI.


MANY books have been written on the subject of apologetics, but seldom is one found so well adapted for lay reading, so clearly and attractively developed, and so straightforward and convincing in its argument. Dr. Bett attempts to give a reasoned argument for the reality of miracles and the supernatural in the religious life. In every phase of his discussion he demonstrates the inadequacy of some preconceived ideas on the subject in hand which have led to intellectual difficulties. When unwarranted assumptions are laid aside, he proceeds to a positive argument, leading his reader to the very threshold of the door of faith. The argument begins with clear distinctions between the possible and the credible, and then between the natural and the supernatural. He argues convincingly that an orderless, purposeless, irrational world is inconceivable. Causation is absolutely necessary, and what men call "chance" is simply their ignorance of the cause of an event. "Therefore to say that all things come about by chance is simply to hypostatize our own ignorance." To explain the regularity of events by attributing it to "laws of nature" is shown to be anthropomorphic, as is likewise the explanation of the universe as a "machine." These explanations are outmoded by the transcendental reaction which has come in our time. There is no reason why we may not believe, and there is every reason to believe that behind all existence there is one who is active in all events, behind every cause, a Personal Intelligence. In this conception what we call miracles present no difficulties. If God "upholds all things by the word of His power" he can bring about what He wills without anything of interference or intervention with what we call "natural laws." Difficulty is brought about by a sort of implied Deism which shuts God out of the universe He has created. Dr. Bett takes due account of the self-limitation of God in sin and evil, but his argument for a world providentially controlled in which prayer and its answers have a real and vital part is most convincing. This book should be a tonic for faith.


An investigation was done using workpieces with an inclined front face drilled by a gun drill and long drill (with a diameter of l0 mm). The inclination angles are 0°, 15°, 30°and 45°. Another investigation was made for workpieces with a prebored hole, next to which was drilled a parallel hole by a gun drill. The wall thickness between the two holes and the diameters of the prebored hole and of the parallel hole were varied. As a result, the following are clarified. The direction of the cutting force during the cutting of an inclined front face influences the hole deviation. Regarding the gun drill, the hole deviates toward the positive direction of the X-axis, i. e., in the same direction as the front work face. Regarding the long drill, the hole deviates toward the negative direction. Parallel hole deviation increases with prebored hole diameter. Hole deviation sharply increases when the wall thickness between two holes reaches a certain value.


Abstract Primers for amplification and sequencing of partial glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (gpd) gene were designed for lichenized fungi. The 5' gpd primer is most probably fungal specific, since a BLAST search in GenBank found identical sequences only from ascomycetous taxa, whereas the 3' gpd primer was more universal. Utility of the gpd primers and previously designed beta-tubulin primers was tested in nine lichen taxa. Both the gpd and beta-tubulin primer pairs amplified in most of the taxa examined: the gpd primers generated a c. 1100 nucleotide fragment, whereas the PCR product obtained from the beta-tubulin primers was c. 900 nucleotides long. The gpd amplification products of Cladonia arbuscula and C. rangiferina were sequenced and both were found to contain three introns, the length of which varied between 49 to 83 nucleotides. To examine the applicability of gpd sequences in resolving relationships within Ascomycota, trees were calculated from 22 fungal gpd sequences obtained from GenBank together with the two Cladonia sequences using parsimony jackknifing. The gpd tree was compared with the SSU rDNA tree of the respective species (or genera). A similar analysis of the beta-tubulin gene was not performed, because only a few beta-tublin sequences from the same taxa were available in GenBank. The gpd tree was well resolved but in conflict with the SSU rDNA tree. In contrast to the SSU rDNA tree, the gpd tree did not support the monophyly of the Ascomycota. Analysis of the combined data set produced a tree very similar to that of the SSU rDNA data. However, the relationship of Lecanorales to the other orders remained unresolved. Even though gpd and beta-tubulin are highly conserved proteins, the third codon positions and introns are variable and both genes have the potential for inferring phylogenetic relationships at the lower taxonomic levels in the lichenized fungi. The two genes may be useful even below species level, depending on the species investigated.


Summary The vegetative and sporogonic stages of Unikaryon allocreadii sp. nov. and Nosema gigantica sp. nov., from the parenchyma of adult flukes, Allocreadium fasciatusi in the gut of the freshwater fish Aplocheilus melastigma from India, are described and figured. U. allocreadii, which is uninucleate throughout development and is disporoblastic, differs from U. legeri in that it occurs in adult flukes from a freshwater host. N. gigantica has diplokaryon nuclei, at least in the sporogonic stages, and is much larger than all other microsporidia in platyhelminths. Hatching of the spores and patholgenicity are described and the mode of transmission to the flukes is discussed. Infected flukes, which are sluggish and opaque, are often displaced from the normal site of infection.


We include in this chapter studies by double label immunocytochemistry that demonstrate the coexistence of immunoreactive SOM and NPY in hippocampal neurons, and their extent and regional differences, in the normal aged human brain and in the brains of patients with senile dementia of the Alzheimer type and a patient with Parkinson's disease with progressive dementia symptoms


This study develops a framework of governance mechanisms and human resource capabilities for the effective flow of information within the organization. This research is an exploratory research based on secondary data using a literature study methodology. The results of the synthesis show that the governance mechanism determines the success of information flow. The results also indicate the need for human resource capabilities to support governance and information sharing mechanisms. There are two types of governance mechanisms: formal and informal governance. Formal governance includes contracts, business processes, performance appraisal and information systems, and cross-functional teams. Meanwhile, informal governance includes trust, commitment, power and social interaction. Human resources with systems thinking, mastery of technology, and interpersonal skills are very valuable for sharing information. This study helps to understand the factors that affect the effectiveness of information flow.


Blasting and controlling technique of high and steep rock slope, differing from common blasting,have their special complexity. While,in the course of blasting design and implementation,the rock geology characteristic and environment should be sufficiently realized, and the scheme of blasting and valid protection measures should be established. According to the structural characteristic of rock slope and environment of Shi Ban-fang,this paper introduces the principle of controlled blasting and the scheme of pre-splitting blasting and loose blasting. Some technique measures of how to control blasting flying rock and rolling stone are introduced. The methods above are used in realistic engineering and ideal result is obtained.


Despite a growing body of literature on coopetition, the concept is in a state of flux. Research is particularly needed on small firms, start-ups and firms outside of high technology industries as ...


W hich weighs more: a ton of iron or a ton of aluminum? This question might sound like the popular "gotcha" involving bricks and feathers, but for Vishwa Vijay Singh, a recent PhD graduate from Leibniz University Hannover, Germany, it's more than just a riddle. Using high-precision measurements of the Earth–Moon distance, Singh and his colleagues have tested the idea that the strength of gravity felt by an object depends on the object's composition as well as its mass [1]. Their null result constrains the size of such an effect 100 times more tightly than previous studies.


The Ce$^{3+}$ pseudospin-$\frac{1}{2}$ degrees of freedom in the pyrochlore magnet Ce$_2$Zr$_2$O$_7$ are known to possess dipole-octupole (DO) character, making it a candidate for novel quantum spin liquid (QSL) ground states at low temperatures. We report new polarized neutron diffraction at low temperatures, as well as heat capacity ($C_p$) measurements on single crystal Ce$_2$Zr$_2$O$_7$. The former bears both similarities and differences from that measured in the canonical dipolar spin ice compound Ho$_2$Ti$_2$O$_7$, while the latter rises sharply at low temperatures, initially plateauing near 0.08 K, before falling off towards a high temperature zero beyond 3 K. Above $\sim$0.5 K, the $C_p$ data set can be fit to the results of a quantum numerical linked cluster (NLC) calculation, carried out to 4$^{\mathrm{th}}$ order, that allows estimates for the terms in the near-neighbour XYZ Hamiltonian expected for such DO pyrochlore systems. Fits of the same theory to the temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility and unpolarized neutron scattering complement this analysis. A comparison between the resulting best fit NLC calculation and the polarized neutron diffraction shows both agreement and discrepancies, mostly in the form of zone-boundary diffuse scattering in the non-spin flip channel, which are attributed to interactions beyond near-neighbours. The lack of an observed thermodynamic anomaly and the constraints on the near-neighbour XYZ Hamiltonian suggest that Ce$_2$Zr$_2$O$_7$ realizes a U(1)$_\pi$ QSL state at low temperatures, and one that likely resides near the boundary between dipolar and octupolar character.


With the increasingly complex and diverse wireless traffic requirement, high-density multi-layer heterogeneous wireless networks (HetNet), making modeling and performance analysis complexity, is the main structure for wireless networks. This paper propose a queue technology based continuous time Markov chain (CTMC) model for the relationship between users and multi-layer heterogeneous wireless networks. The complexity of communication rates expression in this CTMC model makes network performance analyze difficult. Therefore, based on this original CTMC model, the paper proposes two simplified CTMC models defined in the countable domain, which have mutual dominance relationship with the original model, making network performance analysis simple and feasible. The paper verifies the mutual dominance relationship between models through mathematical proof and numerical analysis.


We derive and estimate the optimal disbursement from an infinitely-lived charitable trust with an Epstein-Zin-Weil utility function, given general Markovian returns to wealth. We analyze two special cases: where spending is a power function of last period's wealth and the endowment uses 'payout smoothing'. Via nonlinear least squares, we estimate the optimal spending rate and the elasticity of intertemporal substitution for a trust with a typical diversified portfolio and for a portfolio of hedge funds. Finally, we use maximum entropy methods to characterize the returns distribution of a trust whose spending plan conforms with the optimality condition.


Objective:To observe the influences of Naosuling Medicinal Granules (NSLMG,脑苏灵冲剂) upon intracranial pressure (ICP) of cerebral edematous rabbits (CER).Methods:The model of CER prepared by injecting olive oil into rightcommon carotid artery was established.The model animals were randomly divided into NSLMG group,normal saline (NS) group and mannitol group.From the very beginning of using drug the continuous observations for three hours,the detailed records of changes in ICP and the comparisons were carried out while the influences of NSLMG upon ICP were observed.Results:①The measurement results of ICP were (2 95±0 58)kPa(1 kPa=10 20 cmH 2O) in NS group,(1 98±0 42)kPa in mannitol group,and (1 74±0 54)kPa in NSLMG group respectively.In three groups before and after using drugs the levels of ICP compared to itself were obviously decreased and the differences were significant (all P 0 05).The levels of ICP in mannitol and NSLMG group compared with NS group were markedly decreased and the differences were significant (all P 0 01) meanwhile in NSLMG group compared with mannitol group were markedly decreased too and the difference was significant ( P 0 05).②The beginning time and continuous time for NSLMG to decrease ICP were (16 17±7 84)min and (62 33±24 76)min respectively but in mannitol group they were (2 08±0 96)min and (18 89±9 25)min respectively so that the continuous time in NSLMG group was much more longer than that in mannitol group.③The moisture contents of cerebral tissue were 81 89%±1 26 % in NS group,80 29%±0 98% in mannitol group,and 79 12%±1 34% in NSLMG group respectively.The moisture contents in NSLMG group were lower than those in mannitol group and the difference was significant ( P 0 05).Conclusions:NSLMG possesses the actions on decreasing ICP of CER and eliminating cerebral edema and the actions continue longer than those of mannitol.


Article history: Received March 30, 2012 Received in Revised form May 21, 2012 Accepted 25 May 2012 Available online 25 May 2012 Active methylene compounds are regioselectively dialkylated by variety of alkyl halides using cesium carbonate in quantitative yield. The reaction yielded exclusively dialkylated products with no intermediate monoalkyaltion or mixture of products. © 2012 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved.


ABSTRACT A growing number of governments will consider and even choose to migrate to an alternative operating system that uses Free/Open Source Software (FOSS). This research examines why governments choose to migrate and what factors affect implementation. Drawing on a comparative case study of four cities, I find that governments decide to migrate for a range of factors, but are driven more by democratic values such as independence and self-determination than by a desire to cut costs or save money. I also find that implementation is affected by a variety factors but in particular by information technology's place within a city's organizational structure.


Accurate prediction of defibrillation success could help to optimize the treatment of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). On top of the classical predictors derived from the ventricular fibrillation (VF) waveform, the outcome of the preceding shock can also be used to enhance prediction. This work introduces a recurrent neural network (RNN) to predict the outcome of subsequent shocks, using the full history of previous outcomes and VF measures. Data from 957 OHCA patients were analyzed, comprising 3159 shocks of which 2202 were subsequent shocks. Shocks were labeled as successful/unsuccessful based on their ability to restore an organized rhythm. Each patient data were modeled as a time sequence, one shock per timestep, and fed to a RNN. Individual shocks were characterized using a single classical predictor (computed on a 2s pre-shock VF window) and the outcome of the previous shock. Seven predictors were independently analyzed. Model performance was assessed through 10-fold cross-validation (CV) over 50 different CV data partitions. Balanced accuracy (BAC) was chosen as target performance metric. Mean Slope was the best predictor, with median (interquartile range, IQR) BAC of 84.2 (84.0 – 84.4)%, 3.6 points above that of simple thresholding with no previous shock information. RNNs could improve subsequent shock-outcome prediction using previous shock history.


1516 Background: In a phase I study the MTD of CPT-11 associated with BCNU was established at 225 mg/m2 for patients (pts) on p450 enzyme inducing anticonvulsants (EIAC). The aim of the present phase II study was to evaluate PFS at 6 months (PFS-6), time to progression (TTP), response rate (RR) and toxicity of associated BCNU and CPT-11.

METHODS
From August 2001 to October 2003, 42 pts (29 M, 13 F; mean age 53 yrs, range 27-71 yrs) and on EIAC with recurrent/progressive GBM after surgery, radiotherapy and first line chemotherapy with temozolomide, were given chemotherapy with BCNU 100 mg/m2 every 6 weeks on day 1 plus CPT-11 weekly for 4 weeks (starting dose 175 mg/m2), followed by 2-weeks' rest. Second cycle CPT-11 was escalated to 200 mg/m2 if no G2 toxicity was registered.

RESULTS
PFS-6 was 30.3% (95% CI: 18.5% - 49.7%) and TTP 17.27 weeks (95% CI: 11.9-23.9). Age <45 years (p=0.024) and response to chemotherapy (p<0.001) were independent prognostic factors. Nine pts (21.4%, 95% CI: 9% - 34%) had a partial response (PR), and 21 (50%, 95% CI: 35% - 65%), stable disease. A total of 130 cycles was delivered (mean 3.1 per pt, range 1-8). The CPT-11 dose was escalated to 200 mg/m2 in 26 cycles (20%), and reduced to 75% in 22 cycles (17%) because G2 diarrhea (59%) and neutropenia ≥G2 (41%) occurred; 2.4% of the pts had G3 neutropenia. Nausea and vomiting were G3 in 4 pts (9.5%), and diarrhea G1-2 in 29 pts (69%) and G3 in 3 pts (7.1%). Therapy was discontinued in 2 pts (4.8%) that had G3 pulmonary toxicity while they were on PR. Overall MST was 11.7 months (95% CI: 7.4-NA).

CONCLUSIONS
This new regimen is highly active as second line chemotherapy in pts with recurrent GBM with an acceptable toxicity. Further studies are therefore warranted to test it as first line chemotherapy. No significant financial relationships to disclose.


The first edition of this book (1998) classified and characterized the regionalscale ecosystem units (ecoregions) of the Earth as shown on a map that I developed with the encouragement of several international organizations. In addition to the descriptive account, my primary goal was to suggest explanations of the mechanisms that act to produce the world pattern of ecoregion distribution and to consider some of the implications for land use. I included ocean types since understanding land regions depends on understanding ocean systems. The Chief of the US Forest Service, Mike Dombeck, distributed this book to Forest Service field offices, Washington Office staff directors, heads of other agencies, Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior, leaders of professional societies and conservation organizations, Vice President Gore, and select members of Congress. He wrote in his transmittal letter, "The Forest Service is beginning to look beyond national forest boundaries and, based on Bailey's work, expand its horizons to view forests from a larger ecoregionbased perspective." The increasing importance of ecoregions is confirmed by the fact that much planning, research, and management efforts by the Forest Service, The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, and other organizations are taking place now within the framework of ecoregions. For example, in 1993, as part of the National Framework of Ecological Units, the US Forest Service adopted ecoregions for use in ecosystem management. Over the last 14 years since the book was first published, a number of studies have greatly contributed to a better understanding of the Earth's ecoregions. This second edition is a completely updated and expanded version. The main purpose of the revision is to incorporate the latest factual information and the newest geographic ideas. However, it was felt that the book would benefit from new sections that address how ecoregions are changing under the relentless influence of humans (such as modification of fire regimes and the introduction of invasive species) and climate change, use of ecoregional patterns to transfer research results and select sites for detecting climate change effects on ecosystem distribution, use of ecoregional patterns to design monitoring networks and sustainable landscapes, and how the system used in this book compares with other approaches. This book is intended for several audiences. In addition to environmental planners and decision-makers, it should be particularly useful to those


fits the descriptor "rotary–field" well, has been used in a number of antennas with single–axis phase scanning, where high phase accuracy and/or the ability to handle moderate amounts of r–f power is important. A summary of performance statistics on a group of medium power (40 KW. peak, 600W. average) S–Band rotary–field phase shifters is available from the literature [6]; these units operated with typical rms phase errors on the order of 0.75° and average insertion loss around 0.35 dB. As with most human endeavor, arriving at a hardware realization of the rotary–field phase shifter was achieved only after dealing with a host of design parameters, each of which had to be optimized to some degree, in many cases compromising other parameters. In the original production design for the AWACS antenna, much of the optimization was done empirically, because of the novelty of the approach, the effective lack of computational models, and the program schedule demand for a timely solution. The success of that effort is measured by the fact that the design still remains at the state–of–the–art with respect to performance, and that virtually all of the hardware items delivered have remained in service without failure, in some cases for a period now exceeding twenty years. While r–f characteristics have not been substantially improved, understanding of the design considerations has increased very greatly, and some simple computational models have been developed for predicting the performance of trial designs. The material presented below discusses a few selected topics affecting performance, and also reviews the extensions in device application at lower frequencies and higher power levels that have recently been achieved through the use of filter–like geometries of alternating ferrite and ceramic dielectric disks in place of the simple ferrite rod half–wave plate.


Objective: To explore the clinical value of real-time harmonic gray-scale contrast enhanced sonography in the differentiation of benign from malignant focal liver lesions FLLs by the characterization of each vascular phase. Methods: Thirty-seven patients with FLLs underwent contrast enhanced ultrasound CEUS examination. The contrast enhanced characterization of FLLs were compared. Results: The arrival time, peak time, wash-out time and enhancement time of the malignant lesions were significantly earlier than those of the benign lesions P0.05. The enhancement pattern of benign and malignant FLLs in the arterial, portal and late phases was different. Conclusion: CEUS could reflect the changes of hepatic haemodynamics and improve the diagnostic performance in FLLs for discrimination between benignity and malignancy.


The "V/STOL Aerodynamics and Stability and Control Manual" has been developed to provide prediction methods applicable to a wide range of V/STQL configurations in hover and transition flight inand out-ofground effects. Empirical methods were developed to predict the aerodynamic/propulsion induced characteristics. For the jet-lift concept, propulsion induced effects combine with unpowered aerodynamics in a buildup of total forces and moments. Total aerodynamics can then be used to predict aircraft stability and control and flying qualities characteristics. Methods for predicting the induced aerodynamics in the hover and transition flight regimes of the jet-lift concepts are discussed in detail. Results of longitudinal aerodynamic predictions compared with test data are then presented indicating the manual capability and generality of application.


Results are presented for the temperature and frequency dependence of the attenuation of two piezoelectrically active ultrasonic waves in ZnO: (1) compressional waves propagated along the c axis, and (2) shear waves propagated normal to the c axis and polarized along the c axis. Measurements of the phonon phonon attenuation were made over the frequency range 60 MHz to 3.97 GHz and the temperature range 4.2° to 300°K. The frequency dependence at 40°K is of the 1.0 and 0.7 power for the shear and compressional modes, respectively; at 300°K. the frequency dependence is ∼1.6 for both modes. The temperature dependence ranges from at least T4 at low temperatures to essentially T0; at 300°K for the shear mode; the temperature dependence for compressional waves at frequencies below 2.0 GHz does not appear to reach a T4 dependence for temperatures down to ∼20°K.


A method of collecting a diluted exhaust gas mixture of an internal combustion engine, the method comprising: - receiving an exhaust gas mixture; - receiving a dilution gas; - mixing the dilution gas with the exhaust gas mixture to form the diluted exhaust gas mixture, and - collecting the diluted exhaust gas mixture in a sample bag with the sample bag is made of a modified polymer, which comprises essentially of tetrafluoroethylene and between about 0.05% and about 2.0% perfluoropropylvinylether.


Background: Ear lobe deformity may be congenital ormore often acquired due to trauma, burns or surgery. Losingthem represents an obvious aesthetic abnormality. Its surgicalrepair places a challenge due to the difficulty of obtaining anatural appearing and durable outcome. Several methodsdeveloped to reconstruct this deformity have presented variousadvantages and disadvantages. We present the results of arelatively simple technique to reconstruct ear lobe in a singlestage.Patients and Methods: In this study, we used proximallybased infra auricular flap to reconstruct 5 ear lobes in theperiod from February 2015 to July 2016 in Plastic SurgeryDepartment, Minia University Hospital and private sector.Surgical procedure was performed under local anaesthesia inall cases. Except one case, we followed cases for 6 monthspost-operatively.Results: Mean operative time was 40 minutes. Mean agewas 32 years. All flaps survived. One patient required secondarysutures for partial ear wound dehiscence due to earlyremoval of stitches.Conclusion: The author outlines a simple method forreconstructing the entire lobe in one stage, without grafts,whilst offering a pleasant appearance with minimal donor sitemorbidity. The technique is suggested to reconstruct all casesof ear lobe defects.


Comparative cross-national analysis reveals that, irrespective of socio-cultural context, competitive production in the global economy has been predicated on homogeneity. As has been the case in the United States, labor market expansion and diversification is now occurring where alternatives to Anglo-American Taylorism have been considered competitive as well as socially progressive despite exclusionary employment systems. Specifically, in Japan, Germany, and Sweden, new entrants (notably women and immigrants) are increasing substantially in the work force; we may expect to find new entrants in workplaces in Japan and east Germany, and possibly in Sweden, in light of socially constructed labor shortages related to declines in traditional (native, middle-aged male) labor. Diverse workplaces challenge production systems based on homogeneity because the friction of difference counters foundational principles and negatively impacts productivity. Competitiveness in these contexts may require new rounds of corporate strategies that tap diversity while accommodating the needs of different workers. As in the United States, the public and private sectors of these countries to date have responded to increasing diversity by reinforcing existing systems via a deepening of labor market segmentation. Changing production to effectively manage diversity remains unsystematized and requires mechanisms to institutionalize change and sustain diversity; these formidable tasks must be understood as having economic, social, and political dimensions.


The paper describes hazards of underground water upon buildings,puts forward several waterproofing system measures by combining with underground engineering waterproofing design principles and preventing demands,illustrates waterproofing system features,performance and application scope,and describes various waterproofing combinatorial optimization views,so as to design optimal and effective waterproofing system for underground engineering.


The article by Pivatto F Jr et al. allows us to discuss the important issue of prognostic scores in patients who have cardiac surgery for infective endocarditis (IE). Euroscore I, published in 1999, evaluated 19,030 patients submitted to cardiac surgery in 8 countries in Europe, studying 97 risk factors for death, and among those, the ones that significantly affected surgical prognosis were selected. Euroscore II, published in 2012, had the goal of updating the first model by evaluating 22,381 patients from 43 countries in the world, including sites outside Europe, so as to create a more reliable score, incorporating new variables and adjusting others. In the Society of Thoracic Surgeons–Infective Endocarditis (STS-IE) score, numbers vary from 0-110 points and, according to this model, a patient with 35 points would have an operative risk of at least 10% mortality. Although only patients with IE were studied, this was a voluntary registry of American hospitals only. Important features of IE, such as microbiology, the discrimination between native and prosthetic valves and the presence of intracardiac complications (abscess, fistula) were not analyzed. Several groups are in search of an adequate score to predict mortality in patients operated for IE. The widely used Euroscore I and II, and the STS-IE have been studied comparatively to the new proposed scores, some of which have included parts of Euroscore to them. We believe a multinational study in Brazil would be of paramount importance, with a greater number of patients, to propose and validate a score, since patients with IE in our country dramatically differ from those in North American or European countries.


We follow the lines of Bruno de Finetti's "fundamental theorem of prevision" to characterize a very large family of distributions that agree with exchangeable forecasts conditioned only on the sum of successes in a sequence of events. This agreement is despite the fact that the sum is not a sufficient statistic for the entire family of distributions. After some introductory exposition on exchangeability and sufficiency, we first derive the most general relation that coherency requires of the simultaneous assertion of a probability mass function for the sum of N + 1 ordered events, and a conditional probability function for the final event given each possible value of the sum of the first N events. We then apply this relation to characterize the family of all distributions on N + 1 events that agree with the exchangeable sequential forecasting equations. Surprisingly, this agreeing family is much larger than the family of exchangeable distributions, but is included within the family of all pairwise exchangeable (and thus equiprobable) distributions. We display some small numerical examples that exhibit these properties, and we discuss the implication of this discovery for applications.


The steady expansion in human resource use and its ecological consequences can be partially attributed to activities that take place within the built environment. Americans spend more than 90% of their lives in buildings [1]. Residential and commercial buildings account for two-thirds of the electricity used in the U.S., 36% of U.S. greenhouse gasses, 9% of world greenhouse emissions, and 12% of U.S. fresh water consumption [2]. Production of electrical energy contributes to a broad range of environmental and health problems including climate change, acid deposition, lung ailments and mercury poisoning [3]. Freshwater consumption (one source of energy use) leads to groundwater and surface water depletion, pollution and habitat destruction [3]. Bringing about a more sustainable relationship between humans and the rest of the natural world is, in part, predicated on improving the environmental performance of buildings. On college campuses, the vast majority of energy consumption takes place within buildings, and the environmental consequences of this consumption are considerable. For example, in 2004, the per-student consumption of resources in buildings at Oberlin College included 18,000 gallons of water, 3 tons of coal, 23,000 cubic feet of natural gas and 8,000 kWh of electricity (data from Oberlin Office of Facilities Operations). A comprehensive study of greenhouse gas emissions conducted by Rocky Mountain Institute, a prominent environmental consulting firm, found that 92% of the 46,500 tons of CO


Experimental investigations have been carried our on the performance of phosphazene-type additives. X-100, XML-86 and X-1P, in Z-DOL, a commonly used perfluoropolyether type hard disk lubricant. Contact-start-stop tests, stiction tests and constant speed drag tests were performed to evaluate the stiction and friction behavior of various lubricant/additive combinations and to compare the results with the performance of Z-DOL. The results show that X-100 and X-1P additives reduced stiction compared to disks lubricated with pure Z-DOL, while XML-86 increased stiction.


In this paper, we design a taxi billing system based on FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). The system was programmed by VHDL (Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language), achieving setting module, billing module, display module and connect function. Compare with others, this system is good at small volume, high integration level, high reliability and convenience in maintenance and updating.


was completed after Atkinson's death, the considerable editorial work required being carried out by Abraham Keller. This fact is not unimportant because this work does not stand on its own and if one did not know this one might be tempted to think that the title, Prelude to tlre Ellliglztelll1lc/lt, promised more than is actually achieved. What is studied in all these works is the period of transition by means of which one gets over the awkward difference between the seventeenth century in France and the Enlightenment. It is not uncommon for scholars, such as Paul Hazard, to end the transition at 17115. Atkinson will have none of this. For him, quite rightly, changes in modes of consciousness do not wait on the death of kings. It is not quite clear, however, why he prefers the date 1740. Of course, transitions have to 'end' and the Enlightenment has to 'begin' somewhere, but this is not a point of great importance because, obviously, 'end* and 'begin* here can only be approximations. The method followed here is to draw on little-known authors and to link quotations from their works by a commentary. These quotations, it is emphasized, arc to be regarded as more important than the commentary. The passages quoted are translated in the body of the text, while the originals in French are at the bottom of the page-a generous allocation of space by the publisher! l '


Dr Maria Anna Karwowska and Ezbieta mrozinska are with teh Torun business school, university of Nicolaus copernicus, Torun, Poland, This paper presents an overview of small business activity in poland following the moves towards a market econmoy which started in 1989/90. The title of the paper suggest it is about the special regulations helping small and mediume-sized enterprises in poland but as yet there are in fact no such regulations. SMEs operate according to different criteria than state enterprises but this lasw refers to the private sector as a whole. Small business development in Poland is connected with teh transformation to a market economy, as part of the privatisation process, and is naturally the part which is much easier to achieve than the privatiation of large, state-owned enterprises. SMEs are in fact receiving all the support that is being given to the private sectors. small-scale privatisation refers to small firms, mainly in the retail trade but also to some extent in the industrial sectors. in these cases, privatisation is accomplished mainly by transfering ownership to the firm's workers.


The PHENIX experiment measured two-particle Bose–Einstein quantum-statistical correlations of charged kaons in Au+Au collisions at sNN = 200 GeV. The correlation functions are parametrized assuming that the source emitting the particles has a Lévy shape, characterized by the Lévy exponent α and the Lévy scale R. By introducing the intercept parameter λ, we account for the core–halo fraction. The parameters are investigated as a function of transverse mass. The comparison of the parameters measured for kaon–kaon with those measured from pion–pion correlation may clarify the connection of Lévy parameters to physical processes.