In recent years frequent periods of water scarcity have enhanced the need to use water more carefully, even in European areas traditionally rich of water such as the Po Valley in northern Italy. In dry periods the problem of water shortage can be enhanced by conflictual use of water such as irrigation, industrial and power production (hydroelectric and thermoelectric). Further, over the last decade the social perspective on this issue is increasing due to possible impacts of climate change and global warming scenarios which come out from the last IPCC Report. The increased frequency of drought periods has stimulated the improvement of irrigation and water management. In this study we show the development and implementation of the real-time drought forecasting system Pre.G.I., an Italian acronym that stands for "Hydro-Meteorological forecast for irrigation management". The system is based on ensemble prediction at long range (30 days) with hydrological simulation of water balance to forecast the soil water content in field parcels over the Consorzio Muzza basin. The studied area covers 74,000 ha in the middle of the Po Valley, near the city of Lodi. The hydrological ensemble forecasts are based on 20 meteorological members of the non-hydrostatic WRF-ARW model with 30 days as lead-time, provided by Epson Meteo Centre, while the hydrological model used to generate soil moisture simulations is the rainfall-runoff distributed FEST-WB model, developed at Politecnico di Milano. The hydrological model was validated against measurements of latent heat flux and soil moisture acquired by an eddy-covariance station. Reliability of the forecasting system and its benefits was assessed on some cases-study occurred in the growing season of 2012. * Corresponding author. E-mail address:email@example.com Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license. 777 A. Ceppi et al. / Procedia Environmental Sciences 19 ( 2013 ) 776 – 784 © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of the conference.


Language samples of college and middle‐aged respondents were syntactically analyzed in order to determine if the use of college students is appropriate for generalizations to other elements of the population. Multiple Discriminant Analysis was employed to determine correct classification of written language samples based on syntactic categories. Twenty‐two college‐aged subjects and 22 middle‐aged subjects responded to a TAT‐type photograph. The correct classification of college and middle‐aged subjects was 93.18%. A second MDA calculated on a three‐way distinction (college/nursing home employees/educators) yielded 90.91% discriminability. Utilizing a four‐way distinction (freshmen/sophomores/nursing home employees/ educators], the correct classification was 81.82%. Finally, an MDA calculated for male/female resulted in 68.18% discriminability. These results cast doubt on the validity of a "science of sophomores."


Short-term risk management is highly dependent on long-term contractual decisions previously established; risk aversion factor of the agent and short-term price forecast accuracy. Trying to give answers to that problem, this paper provides a different approach for short-term risk management on electricity markets. Based on long-term contractual decisions and making use of a price range forecast method developed by the authors, the short-term risk management tool presented here has as main concern to find the optimal spot market strategies that a producer should have for a specific day in function of his risk aversion factor, with the objective to maximize the profits and simultaneously to practice the hedge against price market volatility. Due to the complexity of the optimization problem, the authors make use of particle swarm optimization (PSO) to find the optimal solution. Results from realistic data, namely from OMEL electricity market, are presented and discussed in detail.


ABSTRACT The present study examined the event-related potentials (ERPs) and reading-language skills of elementary school children with and without reading difficulties. Typically developing children showed an N400 effect characterized by significantly larger N400 amplitudes elicited by nonwords than real words. Their meaning processing shown by the N400 systematically differed by lexicality. On the other hand, the N400 effect was absent in children with reading difficultiesExploratory analyses were conducted with the N1 and Late Positive Component. Additionally, the relationships between ERPs and reading-language skills were examined; sight word efficiency and phonemic decoding efficiency accounted for significant variance in the N400 effect


During the last quarter of a century, PEGylation has been used to enhance the clinical effectiveness of various therapeutic proteins. However, the conjugation process significantly increases the co...


Examination of a series of knee arthrographies and CAT scans reveals the importance of certain signs of "lesions" that are revealed by simple standard radiography.


The western region of the island of Java consists of three provinces, namely: West Java, Banten, and Jakarta, is a region that contributes significantly to the GDP of Indonesia. In 2010 the contribu-tion of the three provinces was 33.94% of the total GDP, and the remaining 66.06% came from the other 30 provinces. In spite of its high contribution, in terms of the value added by the western region of Java, there are inequalities between the regions. In the year 2010, Jakarta's per capita income was ten times, or more, than that of Lebak. The existence of this problem in the income disparity between the regions in western Java raises questions relating to the spatial economic dependence of the west-ern region of Java. The unit analysis of the research is all the districts/cities in West Java, Banten, and Jakarta. The measurement used for the spatial economic dependence is Moran's Index. Spatial varia-bles were comprised in the spatial weight matrix (matrix-W), which was formed using three approach-es: based on the distance, the neighbourhood, and the road transportation network. The economic variables in this study are the level of income per capita and economic growth. The results showed spatial economic dependence, based on distance and neighbourhood, tended to be low. Whereas, the spatial economic dependence based on road connectivity, especially freeways, showed a moderate correlation. Keywords: road infrastructure, spatial economic dependence, Moran's Index, western region of Java.


The article is about the study of the various ethnic groups resident in India that will provide insight on human evolutions and the evolution and spread of diseases.


A closed-loop handling qualities methodology is applied to an analysis of the flared landing task with pitch-rate flight control systems. A model of pilot behavior throughout approach and flare is developed that postulates the manner in which the pilot may move from pitch attitude to flight-path angle control. Twenty-five configurations flight tested on the NC-131H total in-flight simulator aircraft are analyzed using a structural pilot model and a handling qualities methodology previously reported in the literature. Closed-loop simulation of the simplified landing task is undertaken using the structural model. The pilot ratings from flight test extended the data base supporting the utility of a model-based handling qualities metric. A handling qualities sensitivity function is introduced that may have potential as a design tool. HE economic beriefits associated with operating transport aircraft with reduced or "relaxed" longitudinal static stabil- ity (improved fuel economy/increased range) are ushering in an era in which designs exhibiting relatively small or even negative static margins are becoming commonplace. The ne- cessity of providing artificial stability augmentation for such aircraft is obvious, and pitch rate command/attitude hold systems appear to be likely choices for fulfilling this role.1'2 The flight test and analytical research summarized in Ref. 2 clearly demonstrate the problems associated with pitch-rate command stability augmentation systems in the landing flare. One of the recommendations of Ref. 2 was the development of "improved conceptual models of the role of the pilot in the landing task, together with design criteria specifically directed at flying qualities for landing." The work reported summa- rizes a research effort directed toward the development of such models and criteria. The research to be described herein involves a pilot/vehicle analysis and simplified computer simulation of the landing flare maneuver using the configurations flight tested on the NC-131H total in-night simulator (TIPS) and reported in Ref. 3. This data also formed the basis of the study of Ref. 2. The pilot model to be used is the structural model of the human pilot4 as extended to "pursuit" behavior5 and employing a model-based handling qualities theory.6 The next section de- scribes the analytical approach to modeling the flare maneu- ver, including the handling qualities analysis. Following that, the modeling results are discussed, including the introduction of a new handling qualities criterion of general applicability to piloted aircraft. Finally, conclusions are drawn.


There is no consensus on the best optogenetic tool for neuronal inhibition. Lamprey parapinopsin ('Lamplight') is a Gi/o-coupled bistable animal opsin that can be activated and deactivated by short and long wavelength light, respectively. Since native mechanisms of neuronal inhibition frequently employ Gi/o signalling, we asked here whether Lamplight could be used for optogenetic silencing. We show that short (405nm) and long (525nm) wavelength pulses repeatedly switch Lamplight between stable signalling active and inactive states, and that combining these wavelengths can be used to achieve intermediate levels of activity. We demonstrate that these properties can be applied to produce switchable and scalable neuronal hyperpolarisation, and suppression of spontaneous spike firing in the mouse hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus. We show that expressing Lamplight in (predominantly) ON bipolar cells can photosensitise retinas following advanced photoreceptor degeneration, and that 405 and 525nm stimuli can produce responses of opposite sign in output neurons of the retina. Lamplight-driven responses to both activating (405nm) and deactivating (525nm) light can occur within 500ms and be elicited by intensities at least 10x below threshold for available inhibitory optogenetic tools. We conclude that Lamplight can co-opt endogenous signalling mechanisms to allow optogenetic inhibition that is scalable, sustained and rapidly reversible.


for all ξ in R" and χ in Ω. There exists a unique generalized solution ift\x, t) of this problem, also depending on j . The aim of the present note is to construct an averaged equation describing the asymptotic behaviour of ift\x, i) as s -• oo (its first term), in the case where the coefficients a$(x) are rapidly oscillating functions of x. It is known (see [1], for instance) that the averaged equation has exactly the same form as the equation (I) whenever the matrix {ajĵ {x)}^-, satisfies the ellipticity and boundedness condition (3) uniformly in ί (that is, af-'\x) > α > 0 and β(χ) < β < oo), and that the problem consists in determining the.coefficients aik(x), which are the effective rheological characteristics of the strongly inhomogeneous medium. However, if the uniform ellipticity or uniform boundedness condition is not satisfied, for example, if there exist subsets Q of Ω such that sup a ( s ) (x) ^ 0 o r inf P ( s ) (x) —» oo


The study was conducted to analyze the impact of different seasons and sources of rainwater (rooftop runoff and runoff plots) used in recharging borewells on chemical properties of groundwater. There were nine borewells considered for the study, among them five borewells are recharged through rooftop runoff water, two borewells are recharged through water from runoff plots and the two borewells have no treatments. After each runoff event, water samples from each borewell were collected for five days and analyzed for various chemical parameters. The electrical conductivity, pH and concentration of bicarbonate ions were analyzed. The result revealed that the recharge that took place during the Kharif season had an impact through reduced salt concentration and it also had an influence during the Rabi season. The electrical conductivity and concentration of bicarbonates in water samples from borewells was low in Kharif than rabi. The values of these chemical properties indicated that recharging of borewells is having the beneficial effect on the groundwater properties.


This paper considers effects of waves reflected from breakwaters on small vessels near or entering harbors. The implications for the safety of small vessels navigating in regions of crossing wave trains are discussed. Studies to examine the nature of the sea state in areas where such conditions are created by reflective breakwaters or other coastal structures are summarized. Recommendations are provided for considering the implications for vessel safety when small craft must transverse such areas.


Realising de Sitter vacua in string theory is challenging. For this reason it has been conjectured that de Sitter vacua inhabit the Swampland of inconsistent low-energy effective theories coupled to gravity. Since de Sitter is an attractor for $Λ$CDM, the conjecture calls $Λ$CDM into question. Reality appears sympathetic to this idea as local measurements of the Hubble constant $H_0$ are also at odds with $Λ$CDM analysis of Planck data. This tension suggests that the de Sitter state is unstable, thereby implying a turning point in the Hubble parameter. We present a model relieving this tension, which predicts a turning at small positive redshift $z_*$ that is dictated by present-day matter density $ω_m$. This feature is easily identified by homogeneous surveys covering redshifts $z \leq 0.1$. We comment on the implications for the Swampland program.


ABSTRACT We revisit the single-machine scheduling for minimising the total weighted late work with assignable due dates (ADD-scheduling) and generalised due dates (GDD-scheduling). In particular, we consider the following three problems: (i) the GDD-scheduling problem for minimising the total weighted late work, (ii) the ADD-scheduling problem for minimising the total weighted late work, and (iii) the ADD-scheduling problem for minimising the total late work. In the literature, the above three problems are proved to be NP-hard, but their exact complexity (unary NP-hardness or pseudo-polynomial-time solvability) are unknown. In this paper, we address these open problems by showing that the first two problems are unary NP-hard and the third problem admits pseudo-polynomial-time algorithms. For the third problem, we also present a 2-approximation solution and a fully polynomial-time approximation scheme. Computational experiments show that our algorithms and solutions are efficient. When the jobs have identical processing times, we further present more efficient polynomial-time algorithms.


In this paper, a novel Trust Region based Sequential Linear Programming (TRSLP) method is proposed for unscheduled intentional islanding in microgrid. In unscheduled islanding, the solution must be obtained with minimum time and minimum load curtailment by maintaining all the system parameter constraints intact. First, the unscheduled intentional islanding is formulated as a nonlinear constrained optimization problem. Then, the TRSLP based optimization method is employed to obtain the final switching sequence of the network so that intentional islanding can be done in optimal manner. The objective function of the optimization problem is to minimize the amount of load curtailment. To validate the proposed technique, a 7-bus microgrid test system is simulated in Real-Time Digital Simulator (RTDS) and corresponding system parameters are further used in the TRSLP optimization technique to get the optimal islanding area.


Image stitching algorithms construct a single composite high resolution image with a larger field of view using multiple low resolution images. Data wall systems combine the power of multiple graphics cards to provide large number of pixels. In this research work, we propose and implement scalable high resolution panorama composition on the data wall system using distributed rendering. We make use of a cross platform OpenGL library for real-time panorama composition. Our algorithm works for image sources with fixed relative positions. Initially, we employ an OpenCV image processing library for panorama calibration. Subsequently, these calibration results are utilized to generate a seamless panoramic image. We construct a high resolution 3×3 data wall system using commodity projectors. We achieve a seamless display with the help of geometric alignment of projector regions and edge blending in overlapping regions. Conventional display devices with their limited image resolution lose details provided by high resolution panorama because of data compression. We integrate panorama composition and the data wall system using distributed rendering. We distribute panorama composition to rendering workstations, which compute their respective screen space bounding regions and operate within it. It provides high resolution panorama with greater details on the data wall system.


Freeway ramp metering has been used in a number of U.S. cities since the 1960s in order to improve traffic flow on urban freeways, increase freeway speeds, reduce overall travel times, and improve travel time consistency. Their purpose is to regulate the rate at which vehicles are allowed to enter the freeway at the entrance ramps. Despite their benefits, ramp metering strategies have been controversial and have not been used in many states including the state of Alabama. In this study, the IDAS sketch-planning software is used to develop estimates of benefits and costs from the implementation of ramp metering along selected interstate freeways in the Birmingham area. Both fixed and traffic actuated ramp metering strategies are being evaluated. An advantage of using IDAS is that it implements the modal split and traffic assignment steps associated with a traditional planning model. As a result it is capable of capturing the changes in modal, route, and temporal decisions of travelers resulting from ramp metering implementation. Moreover, this study assesses the potential impact of ramp metering on traffic operations using microsimulation modeling. More specifically, the CORSIM simulation model is employed to simulate traffic conditions along major interstate corridors in Birmingham, Alabama with and without ramp metering. Various types of ramp metering strategies are assessed including fixed, demand/capacity, speed control, multiple-threshold occupancy control and ALINEA control metering. Simulation outputs and animations are reviewed to determine the impact of the strategy on network operations. Potential spillback effects on neighboring arterials are also considered and recommendations are offered on effective ways to alleviate this problem. The results from the case study are used to determine if ramp metering is a vital option for the interstate corridors in the Birmingham region and if so, identify the type of ramp metering option that best suits the local needs, along with associated benefits and cost from potential deployment.


The reintroduction of pyloroplasty and the combination of this procedure with vagus nerve section have provided a relatively simple but physiologic approach to the surgical treatment of duodenal ulcer. Although widely accepted on a physiologic basis, the exact role of this procedure in the surgical treatment of duodenal ulcer remains unclear to many clinicians. The present study is a critical appraisal of the results and complications of this operation performed on 500 patients, 317 of whom were followed up two to eight years. The ulcer diathesis was controlled in 84% of the patients; 13% of the patients required medication for occasional but regularly occurring symptoms and 3% had results classified as poor. The surgical mortality for the entire group was 4.2%. The surgical mortality in 50 patients operated on as emergencies during the period of uncontrolled and massive hemorrhage was 24%. In contrast, there was no operative mortality in 36


The microwave synthesis of molybdenum carbide, Mo(2)C, from carbon and either molybdenum metal or the trioxide has been achieved on unprecedented timescales; Ex- and in-situ characterisation reveals key information as to how the reaction proceeds.


Genetic fusion is introduced as a model for evolution. In fusion two genomes are combined to generate a longer genome. Representing each species by a binary genetic sequence, we introduce a fitness function on the bit sequence. As the evolutionary dynamics, we incorporate mutation, genetic fusion, and reproduction in proportion to fitness. It is found that genetic fusion leads to the appearance of module-type sequences and duplicated genes. The time necessary to find a sequence with larger fitness is largely reduced by the inclusion of genetic fusion, which suggests the application of our algorithm to optimization problems.


Nowadays, selective solid waste management in the European Union belongs to important responsibilities of municipalities. In Solid Waste Management (SWM) the main operational task is to set a schedule for solid waste collection and to find optimal routes for garbage trucks, so that the total costs of the solid waste collection service can be minimized, subject to a series of constraints which not only guarantee the fulfillment of the SWM's obligations but also ensure the desirable quality level of that service. The optimization in garbage truck routing belongs to so called rich Vehicle Routing Problems as it aims to cover the following constraints: pickup nodes (clients) must be visited during their predefined time windows; the number and capacity of depots and specialized sorting units cannot be exceeded; each garbage truck can be assigned to at most one depot; each route should be dedicated to collecting one type of segregated solid waste, and the route must be served by a garbage truck which can collect that type of solid waste; the availability of garbage trucks and their drivers must be respected; each garbage truck must be drained at a specialized sorting unit before going back to the depot. This paper contributes a newly developed Mixed-Integer Programming (MIP) model for the Municipal Solid Waste Selective Collection Routing Problem (MSWSCRP) with time windows, limited heterogeneous fleet, and different types of segregated solid waste to be collected separately. Results obtained for solving small-sized instance of the MSWSCRP are reported.


Introduction Diabetes-related ketoacidosis (DKA) is a life-threatening complication of diabetes which requires rapid assessment and treatment.1 Although mortality has decreased over the years, DKA still causes considerable morbidity and mortality amongst adults, adolescents and children.2 Existing quality improvement projects (QIP) have demonstrated that use of evidence-based protocols and order sets is able to improve outcomes associated with DKA management.3,4 However, we did not find any studies demonstrating sustainable improvements over a long period. People presenting with DKA represent a considerable financial and resource burden.5 Reducing the duration of DKA would therefore substantially reduce the disease and resource burden associated with diabetes.


Images require substantial digitization of data. With increase in number of data, most of the image data in hospitals are stored in digital form using picture archiving and communication systems. The need for data storage disks and bandwidth requirements is increasing day by day. Wavelet compression techniques have become a necessary tool for same. The successful use of the wavelet transform in the field of image compression has been extensively studied in Joint Photographic Experts Group (jpeg) format of medical image(teeth).The main objective is to investigate the still image compression and de-noising of a gray scale image using wavelet theory at different decomposition and threshold levels. The wavelet analysis is the most recent analyzing tool. The medical image compression (dental x-ray image) using biorthogonal wavelet family is implemented in software using MATLAB7.5 version Wavelet Toolbox technique. KeywordsDigital X-ray image (Dental), Image compression, Wavelet Transform, PSNR Values, Compression Ratio.


Objective Discuss the feasibility and progress of the Infracapsule Infusion in Ischemic Therapy of Expanded Flap.Methods Simultaneously place 12 soft tissue expanders and 12 infusing-tubes on 3 pigs.Infuse once per week since 2 weeks past operation.Pig A VEGF 20ng/ml 5ml,Pig B VEGF 10ng/ml 5ml,Pig C 0.9%NaCl 5ml.Do ink infusion?HE stain and number capillary vessels,3 days past finishing expansion.Results The density of fibroblasts and capillary vessels in the expanded flap of Pig A can be seen improved.No more changes can be see in Pig B and C.Conclusion Inject VEGF into expanded flaps' capsules through infusing-tubes can accelerate the velocity of expansion and improve the quality of flaps.This method can be handled simply,and the effect is visible.


A general perturbational solution of the Mathieu equation is obtained in the form of an asymptotic series. The principal part of the solution is obtained by a modified variation of parameters technique which admits only slow (long-period) variations in the amplitude and phase. All rapid (short-period) perturbations are obtained as additive corrections to the principal part. The explicit solution is either almost-periodic or a diverging or decaying oscillation. The resonance phenomena associated with critical values of the equation parameters are manifest in the variational equations and the familiar periodic solutions (Mathieu functions) emerge merely as singular solutions of these variational equations. Also both divergent and decaying oscillations emerge near the critical parameter values, thus revealing the well-known stability properties of the Mathieu equation. The techniques employed were originally developed for a solution of the artificial satellite problem [1] and so reflect, somewhat, the notion...


Gardening is an active hobby, but all can enjoy the pleasures of a garden. With forward planning, gardens can be designed to provide all-year-round enjoyment. This article looks beyond the provision of a basic garden in care homes and encourages an approach that will provide a safe outdoor environment that stimulates all senses.


Due to age and gender, female adolescents are especially vulnerable to violence, particularly to maltreatment (the violence in the interpersonal relationships). The aim of this study was to describe/characterize the occurrence of maltreatment among female students (n=1,174), aged 11 to 18 years, through the Brazilian Child Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ-Br). Considering all the adolescents, 87% of private schools and 93% of public school indicated some abuse, especially Emotional Abuse and Emotional Neglect, existing for the majority cooccurrences/polyvictimization. The total score on the instrument was significantly higher in public schools, as was the proportion of abuses and/or neglect at moderate/severe levels. The results indicate a large percentage of maltreated adolescents and a greater vulnerability of those in public schools, considering the school type as an indicator of socioeconomic class. These can help discussions on public policies prevention and coping with violence.


Transient temperature control system of the free piston cooler of the present invention eliminates conflicts during the time of transient cooling in the free piston cooler during startup. Transient temperature control system comprises a free piston cooler with the cold head and the high temperature end, cold head temperature sensor, related interface, and a temperature controller. Cold head temperature sensor senses the temperature of the cold head, making the temperature signal. Relationship interface communicates with the temperature signal, and to continue the predetermined relationship between the cold head temperature and a maximum piston stroke during the temperature range during the transient cooling. Relationship interface, making the maximum allowable piston travel signals transient range of the predetermined relationship between the temperature signal. Temperature controller communicates with the relevant interface, and limiting the piston travel in the temperature range during the transient cooling to prevent collisions.


Impacts of various concentrations of Gibberelic acid (GA) (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 ppm), Salicylic acid (SA) (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 ppm) and Ascorbic acid (ASc) (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 ppm) for 12 and 15h at 10 and 12h at 15 C on Mountain Rye (Secale montanum) germination characteristic were evaluated under cold stress by using a completely randomized design with four replications in the seed laboratory of Natural Resources Faculty, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran. Results showed that priming treatments significantly (p 0.01) affected, germination percentage (GP), normal seedling percentage (NSP), germination Index (GI), seedling dry weight (SDW),seedling vigor index (SVI) and seedling length (SL) under cold stress. In general, treatment with concentrations 25 ppm GA for 12 and 15 h at 10 and for 12 h at 15 Ccould consider as optimal treatment for priming of secale montanom of seeds in cold stress conditions.


Aiming at the problem of shear-induced casing damage caused by standard layer shale soaking water, the theory of rock mechanics is used to establish the fluid-solid coupling calculation model of the formation-cement ring-casing of the standard interval shale interbed, obtaining the strain and deformation changes of casing shear damage, and puts forward the casing logarithmic strain exacerbated area should prompt adoption of reasonable measures to slow down the casing damage. Three-level orthogonal numerical simulation experiments were carried out for the five factors affecting casing damage, the simulation results show the critical strain data of the casing damage and the true strain data of the casing under the influence of five factors. According to the statistical principle, the predictive mathematical model of the critical strain and true strain prediction of the casing is obtained by the multiple regression method, realize the prediction of the strain state of the casing under actual working conditions is realized, and then realize casing damage early warning.


Raoul Naroll (1962, 1970) has advanced various control variables to help determine the accuracy of ethnographic reports for cross-cultural analysis. Some of these are: 1) length of stay in the field, 2) familiarity with the native language, and 3) completeness and length of ethnographic report. Here I examine ideological bias as another control factor, one associated with the effects of social, political, economic or moral ideology on data quality. From a worldwide sample of twenty societies I show that ideological bias appears to be a significant data quality control factor, and I present five indexes of ideological bias.


In order to achieve a complete insight in the car-following models, several typical car-following models such as Optimal velocity model, Generalized force model, Optimal velocity model with reaction-time delay and Full speed difference model are evaluated by using real data in this paper. The measured data is first used to fit parameters included in these models, and then the models with fitted parameters are evaluated by using not only the uncongested traffic data but also congested traffic data. It can be seen that Full speed difference model can depict the real velocity change accurately.


Site selection is a critical decision making element for a wide range of economic activities, from land use planning to residential location selection by individuals. Typically, site selection involves two phases. First, a small number of alternatives among all possible sites are identified for further evaluation. Then these selected alternatives are examined in depth to find the optimal site. Because of the effort required for a thorough evaluation of each site, the number of sites included in the second stage is, by necessity, small. Therefore, the first phase of the site selection process is very important because if, for example, the "best" available site is not included in the set of alternatives selected for thorough study, then this site can never be selected as the optimal site. In large scale planning the first phase involves reconnaissance and prefeasibility studies. At the individual level, it may involve consultation with a specialist. This paper presents a methodology for systematizing and expediting the first of the above two phases in the site selection process. The proposed methodology is implemented in the expert system SISES (Site Selection Expert System) that can be used as a decision making tool in selecting a site for a specific use. SISES is designed to capture the expertise of expert decision makers without making any prior assumptions about their preferences, background, or identity. For example, the decision maker can be a land use planner, a developer, or a prospective land user. Although the system was developed to reproduce a specific domain of expertise, it can be easily adapted to other applications with a similar conceptual framework independently of domain. The system has the


Series of the Four-categories was published by Commercial Publishing House During the period of the Republic of China which included a large-series of photocopy books.there were 504 traditional books(3100copies)being published in the first,second and third parts.But the publishing plan of the fourth and fifth parts were terminated for the outbreak of war.So investigation on the kind and the content of the books which were planned to be published in the fourth and fifth parts shall be done to get more details for history.


In the last three years, the most commonly occurring topic in people's day-to-day dialogue has inevitably been the corona-virus disease 2019 (COVID-19). At the same time, it is embodied in various aspects of our lives. For example, keeping social distance, wearing masks, getting vaccinated, staying at home order, working at home have had an impact on people's lives. With the tendency of COVID-19 mutations, more people are being diagnosed or even dying. In addition to this, there is a significant risk of sequelae in those who are recovered. However, there are still no other options such as medical treatment to stop the occurrence of COVID-19 completely. Therefore, this research examines the changes affecting the causes of COVID-19 deaths for these conditions. While many researchers have explored relevant topics during the period affected by the epidemic, this research provides a fairly comprehensive overview of age (11 age groups), sex (male and female), vaccination status, and alterations in the overall number of diagnoses and fatality cases since COVID-19's inception up until the present. It is possible to obtain from the detailed investigation whether there is a significant relationship between COVID-19 and age, sex, and vaccination status. This research includes Box plots and Anova test for different age groups and sexes, and line graphs of the number of vaccinations, the amount of COVID-19 mortality in the United States, and the amount of COVID-19 confirmed cases and mortality worldwide to compare, interpret, and analyze the data to obtain conclusions.


We present a simple architectural mechanism called dynamic information flow tracking that can significantly improve the security of computing systems with negligible performance overhead. Dynamic information flow tracking protects programs against malicious software attacks by identifying spurious information flows from untrusted I/O and restricting the usage of the spurious information.Every security attack to take control of a program needs to transfer the program's control to malevolent code. In our approach, the operating system identifies a set of input channels as spurious, and the processor tracks all information flows from those inputs. A broad range of attacks are effectively defeated by checking the use of the spurious values as instructions and pointers.Our protection is transparent to users or application programmers; the executables can be used without any modification. Also, our scheme only incurs, on average, a memory overhead of 1.4% and a performance overhead of 1.1%.


DOI: 10.4328/ACAM.20444 Received: 2020-12-21 Accepted: 2021-01-23 Published Online: 2021-02-08 Printed: 2021-07-01 Ann Clin Anal Med 2021;12(7):765-769 Corresponding Author: Serdar Şenol, Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, SBÜ Samsun Training and Research Hospital, Yenimahalle 3209.Sokak No:5 Atakum Samsun, Turkey. E-mail: email@example.com P: +90 5541164537 Corresponding Author ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1193-1567 Abstract Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the short-term outcomes of gastrectomy operations performed using laparoscopic and open surgical methods in patients with gastric cancer in light of the current literature. Material and Methods: This retrospective analysis included data of 65 patients with gastric cancer who underwent elective curative laparoscopic or open gastrectomy and D2 lymph node dissection between January 2017 and 2020 in the gastroenterological surgery and surgical oncology departments of the Samsun Training and Research Hospital. Results: The open gastrectomy group included 31 patients with a median age of 63 (42–91) years. The laparoscopic gastrectomy group included 34 patients with a median age of 57 (24–81) years. There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups in terms of BMI, ASA score, tumor size, degree of invasion, or number of lymph nodes removed. Resection margin involvement was observed in 1 patient in the laparoscopic surgery group. Compared with the open gastrectomy group, the laparoscopic gastrectomy group demonstrated a significantly lower amount of intraoperative blood loss (75±15 mL vs 350±30 mL). The mean operative time was significantly longer(229±43 min vs 175±50 min). There was no statistically significant difference in the length of hospital stay (8 days vs 7 days) and mortality rates (5,8% vs 9,6%). Postoperative overall morbidity was lower (11% vs 16%, p>0,05). The surgical complication rate was lower in the laparoscopic group (2,9% vs 9,6%, p<0,05). Discussion: Laparoscopic gastrectomy and D2 lymph node dissection may be a potential therapeutic option in patients with early and locally advanced tumors.


Objective
To explore the effect of teach-back on the health education of osteoporosis knowledge in diabetic patients.

Methods
A total of 152 cases of diabetic patients hospitalized in endocrinology department, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi′an Jiaotong University were recruited. The study subjects were divided into control group and experimental group according to the admission date, 76 cases in each group respectively. Intervention was conducted using a unified set of publicity materials and slides of osteoporosis knowledge. The routine health education was applied in the control group, and the experimental group was carried out the teach-back health education. The effect of health education was evaluated by the Osteoporosis Knowledge Test (OKT) before intervention, 1 day after intervention, and 3 months after intervention.

Results
Before intervention, the OKT score of two groups were not statistically different (t=0.071, P=0.943). The OKT score of the control group was (19.21±3.91) points for 1 day after intervention and (16.95±4.14) points for 3 months after intervention. The OKT score of the experimental group was (21.61±2.59) points for 1 day after intervention and (20.54±3.09) points for 3 months after intervention. After intervention, the OKT score of the experimental group was higher than that of the control group, and the results were statistically different (t=4.455, 6.057, P<0.01). Repeated measures analysis of variance revealed that there were significant differences in OKT score between the two groups (P<0.01).

Conclusion
Teach-back health education is more beneficial for diabetic patients to understand and remember the knowledge of osteoporosis and is worth further research and application.

Key words:
Diabetes mellitus; Health education; Osteoporosis; Teach-back


Waqf is one of the Islamic economics instruments that is very important in the economisc empowerment of Muslims. So far waqf is only synonymous with Islamic charity in the form of fixed assets, such as land and buildings, but now the development of waqf is increasingly widespread with the existence of cash waqf. Cash waqf makes it easy to mobilize funds from the community through cash waqf certificates that can be made in various fractions according to the segment of the community, so that everyone can be a wakif. However, management of waqf has not been optimally empowered, so measurement of efficiency performance is expected to help in optimizing the potential of cash waqf management.This study aims to analyze the level of efficiency of cash waqf management institutions from several BMTs listed as Nadzir by BWI during the period 2012-2017. Two Stage DEA is used to measure the efficiency level of cash waqf management institutions and the factors that influence the level of efficiency. The collected funds, total labor and labor costs (X3) are input variables. The distribution of managed funds and profits are output variables.


This issue marks the 20th year of the Design Journal. As you can imagine, it is quite a milestone, and one that is worth celebrating! It has been quite a journey. Founded by Professor Rachel Cooper OBE and Professor Jack Ingram, the journal was originally published by Gower. Initially, each volume consisted of three issues per year and from the start it covered a wide variety of research issues. The editorial introduction to the initial trial issue published in 1997 stated:


The present invention relates to a driving apparatus and method of using the imaging apparatus signals and navigation signals. The present invention provides an apparatus and method for driving the front image based navigation systems and species. Driving method includes receiving, by the controller and the road ahead is calculated by an image sensor and a gyro measuring device for imaging condition. The controller determines the road condition from the GPS receiving from a position corresponding to the navigation map and determines calculated by the gyro sensor and the imaging apparatus is identical to the road condition read from the navigation map road conditions. The method also includes calculated by the gyro sensor and the road conditions and the imaging means is read out from the navigation map road conditions substantially the same, by a controller with the status and the road ahead based on the GPS navigation map corresponding to the first operating a vehicle under the driving mode.


Since the invention of the automobile in 1885, it has appeared the necessity to find
an area in several places in order to leave temporarily the car. Over the years, the
demand for parking has increased significantly in the cities where it has arisen the
proffer to satisfy with parking in tight spaces a growing fleet space arises.
The parking building has mechanisms and moving parts necessary to make parking
maneuvers. All mechanical design and required movements are thought for the user,
it should easily operate the system without a complex guide.


Van der Waals interactions are interactions between dipoles. Similarly, quadrupole-quadrupole interactions are interactions between quadrupoles. In this article, we focus on the interactions between two dipoles or two quadrupoles. Classically, we treat one Rydberg atom as a dipole; an outer excited electron and an ion core are the two poles of a dipole. Quantum mechanically, we consider Rydberg transition dipoles. Therefore, dipole-dipole interactions are the interactions between two Rydberg atoms. Rydberg atoms have quadrupole components; consequently, the interactions between two Rydberg atoms have quadrupole-quadrupole interaction components. In this article, we examine the dipole-dipole and quadrupole-quadrupole contribution to the interactions between ultracold Rydberg atoms. It is shown that the evidence of quadrupole-blockade has been observed, which is essential for fabricating more compact quantum computers, quantum electronics, as well as quantum sensing.


In recent years, convolutional neural networks (CNN)‐based automatic segmentation of medical images has become one of the hot topics in clinical disease diagnosis. It is still a challenging task to improve the segmentation accuracy of the network model with the large variation of pathological regions in different patients and the fuzzy boundary of pathological regions. A Dual‐path Multi‐scale Attention Guided network (DMAGNet) for medical image segmentation is proposed in this paper. First, the Dual‐path Multi‐scale Attention Fusion Module (DMAF) is proposed as a novel skip connection strategy, which is applied to encode semantic dependencies between high‐level and low‐level channels. Second, the Multi‐scale Normalized Channel Attention Module (MNCA) based on the atrous convolution, normalization channel attention mechanism, and the Depthwise Separable Convolutions (DSConv) is developed to strengthen dependencies between channels. Finally, the encoder–decoder backbone employs the DSConv, as well as the pretrained Resnet34 block is combined in the encoder part to further improve the backbone network performance. Comprehensive experiments on brain, lung, and liver segmentation tasks show that the proposed DMAGNet outperforms the original U‐Net method and other advanced methods.


The classical high ligation and ankle-to-groin intraluminal saphenous vein stripping requires hospitalization, general anaesthesia, long convalescence, loss of income, unacceptable scarring and possible permanent nerve injury. This report describes the technique of invaginated axial stripping in conjunction with tributary stab avulsion (hook) phlebectomy. Using femoral block anaesthesia with supplemented local infiltration, the varicose tributaries are avulsed, through multiple stab incisions only 1.5-3 mm long, with specially designed hooks. This is performed in an ambulatory (office) setting, making varicose vein surgery a minimally-invasive procedure. Two hundred and fifteen patients with 261 involved limbs were operated on during a two-year period. Postoperative pain and complications were minimal. All patients immediately resumed normal daily activities. Cosmesis was excellent. There have been no recurrences in up to 3 years follow up. This procedure adheres to strict haemodynamic principles. Elimination of hospitalization, reduced postoperative morbidity, immediate ambulation, minimal nerve damage, excellent cosmesis and finally, obvious cost efficiency should make this form of varicose vein surgery appealing to surgeons and patients alike by making the future surgical care for varicose veins available today.


PurposeThe article aims to concern identification and development of pathways for a green recovery process post pandemic taking into account the role of digital technologies for unleashing the policies planned within the European Green Deal (EGD).Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on a systematic literature review (SLR). The electronic databases Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) were surveyed. The authors followed the SLR guidelines laid down by Tranfield et al. (2003) and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) framework and 65 articles were found eligible after thorough reading and inclusion in the analysis.FindingsThe article presents an innovative framework containing the digital technologies and their roles in enabling the achievement of the EGD policies and the barriers to their adoption.Originality/valueThe proposed framework would guide organizations and policymakers' decisions to pursue a pathway in which a green recovery is possible, mainly after the consequences of the current pandemic, considering the pitfalls of the journey. The article is original as it provides an up-to-date guidance toward an emerging theme, which is a green recovery economy including a net-zero carbon worldwide target.


This paper proposes a method for power system dynamic simulations using Pade approximants to solve power system differential equations (DEs). A two-stage scheme is proposed to ensure the performance of the method in online applications. The method first derives a semi-analytical solution (SAS) offline in the form of an explicit Pade function of symbolic variables, such as simulation time, initial states and all other parameters of system operating conditions. Then, the dynamic simulation is implemented in the online stage by only substituting actual values for symbolic expressions at time intervals. Although the accuracy of an SAS can only be guaranteed for a limited time interval due to its gradually increased error, the entire simulation period can be made of consecutive time intervals whose lengths are adaptively adjusted according to a pre-specified error tolerance. The use of Pade approximants can effectively prolong each time interval window to accelerate the simulation speed. This paper validates the advantage of this method for contingency simulations on the IEEE 3-generator 9-bus system and IEEE 10-generator 39-bus system with detailed 6-order generator models.


In this paper, the results of an investigation into the relationship between the illiquidity and realized volatility of the time series of stocks listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) and Vienna Stock Exchange (VSE) are presented. The first measure of illiquidity is the well-known Amihud ratio (Amihud, 2002) called AMI, and the second is a transformation of the Liquidity Index (Danyliv et al., 2014) called ILLIX. In the study, the results of the detection of the structural breaks (and their removal), the calculation of long memory, and finally the dependence structure of the illiquidity and realized volatility by the copulas are also demonstrated. Both types of series exhibit structural breaks and long-memory properties. Despite the similarities in the illiquidity measures, their associations with the realized volatility is different. The dependence structures described by the copulas for the AMI-realized volatility pairs show a dependence in the upper tails; i.e., the high values of illiquidity are related to the high volatility. However, in the case of the ILLIX-realized volatility pairs, the dependence was detected in the lower tail; i.e., the low ILLIX is accompanied by the low realized volatility.


Alternative formulation is presented for robust optimization problems and an efficient computational scheme for reliability estimation is proposed. Both design variables and design parameters considered as random variables about their nominal values. To ensure the robustness of objective performance a new cost function bounding the performance and a new constraint limiting the performance variation are introduced. The constraint variations are regulated by considering the probability of feasibility. Each probability constraint is transformed into a sub-optimization problem and then is resolved with the modified advanced first order second moment(AFOSM) method for computational efficiency. The proposed robust optimization method has advantages that the mean value and the variation of the performance function are controlled simultaneously and the second order sensitivity information is not required even in case of gradient based optimization. The suggested method is examined by solving three examples and the results are compared with those for deterministic case and those available in literature.