Content Addressable Memory (CAM) is beneficial to applications that require high-speed pattern searching as it provides fast associative lookup operations. As the amount of data to search continues to grow, reducing power consumption while minimizing the costs for speed and area is the main thread of research in designing large capacity CAMs. In this work, we are presenting an active memory architecture incorporating a searchable resistive memory. The proposed architecture incorporates processing logic in close proximity to the RRAM and the RRAM-based TCAM, where the unit TCAM cell is comprised of five transistors and two memristors. Analyzed and simulated performance (e.g., latency, energy consumption, and storage density) of the RRAM-based TCAM at various technology nodes are presented and compared to those of prior CAM/TCAM designs.


Education plays a fundamental role in the formation of modern society. The importance of education for humans is expressed thus by renowned Brazilian educator Paulo Freire1: "The fountainhead of man's hope is the same as that of his educability: the incompleteness of his being of which he has become aware. It would be a sorry contradiction if, incomplete and aware of this incompleteness, man were not engaged in a permanent process of hopeful search. This process is education." (Freire, p 114)1 The long and arduous process of individual and collective education takes place primarily in classrooms. It is here that contact is established between teachers and students and between individual students and their peers. It is here that knowledge is transmitted in its most ancient form, i.e., through oral communication. The quality of this communication, and ultimately, of classroom education itself, is closely linked to the acoustic quality of the classroom. This acoustic quality can be characterized based on the reverberation time, speech transmission index, sound insulation, and the noise levels inside and outside the classroom2-5. High noise levels in the classroom impair oral communication, causing students to become tired sooner more often, and this premature fatigue tends to have a negative effect on their cognitive skills6. The reason for the existence of acoustic problems in classrooms, according to Seep7, is not a lack of knowledge about how to solve the problem, but primarily a lack of sensitivity of the professionals involved, both in the field of teaching and that of classroom design, to solve the problem. The problem of acoustic quality in a classroom begins in its design phase and extends all the way to the final quality of the education provided in public and private schools, primary and secondary schools, and in universities. Many of the aspects that appeared with the evolution of the modern era served to deteriorate the acoustic environment of the classroom. A reflection of our times is the fact that practically every student owns a mobile phone, a digital player, and other electronic devices that tend to render the school environment noisy, hindering its core purpose. Hagen6 believe that the school environment should promote an atmosphere that encourages everyone's interest in listening and being involved in communication. An acoustically


DDifferent literary and cinema productions can help us interpret phenomena in the history of humankind, such as segregation and drug addiction. In this article, reference is made to Kafkan characters and to a film by David Cronenberg which reinterprets the novel The Naked Lunch and the life of its author, the American writer William Burroughs. Articulated with the developments of Lacanian psychoanalysis, these works shed light on the internal mainsprings which support such phenomena and make it possible to elucidate their specificities in the present context.


This paper addresses a problem of robust, accurate and fast object detection in complex environments, such as cluttered backgrounds and low-quality images. A new method called Statistical Template Matching is proposed to detect objects, represented by a set of template regions. A similarity measure between the image and a template is derived from the Fisher criterion. We show how to apply our method to face and facial feature detection tasks, and demonstrate its performance in some difficult cases, such as moderate variation of scale factor of the object, local image warping and distortions caused by image compression.


What are the individual employee-level determinants of turnover intention? What is the relationship between veteran status and these determinants of turnover intention? We answer these questions, b...


We prove the following converse passivity theorem. Consider a system given by a causal nonlinear input-output map, mapping $0$ onto $0$. Then finite $L_2$-gain of the feedback interconnection of this given system with an arbitrary passive system implies that the system is itself passive. The proof is based on the S-procedure lossless theorem due to Megretski & Treil, and is given in three slightly different versions. We discuss the importance of this result for the control of systems interacting with an unknown environment. Similarly, we provide in two versions a proof of the necessity of the small-gain condition for closed-loop stability of causal nonlinear input-output maps, extending the well-known necessity result in linear robust control.


This paper develops analytical models for analyzing hierarchical organizations, through the creation and use of little models of organizational interaction to balance the communication time within and between organizational hierarchies. Then it examines these theoretical models on the basis of a data set of 678 school systems in Texas. Analysis of the dataset suggests that, in general, simple models of hierarchy can help understand or compress empirical results. In particular, the communication time ratio (between and within hierarchies) and communication topology ratio are important factors in determining span of control. Furthermore, the school dataset shows that employees, on average, spend more time communicating with superiors compared to the time they spend communicating to other team members in the same hierarchy, while the communication topology is almost the same. The paper concludes by proposing a hypothetical managerial framework for characterizing different types of organizations (or industries) based on these ratios. This framework may help management better understand the appropriate communication time and topology depending on the type of organization.


THE Chanson de Roland seems to present a Manichean world, one in which Christians enjoy God's favor and Saracens do not. True, certain Saracens, such as Abisme ("vasselage ad e mult grant estultie" v. 1639) and Baligant ("deus! quel baron, s'oust chrestientet" v. 3164), have their virtues and certain of the Franks, notably Ganelon, their failings. (1) Nonetheless, in this poem, God prevents the sun from setting in answer to Charlemagne's prayers (vv. 2447-75) and through the angel Gabriel bolsters the French king when he falters in his combat with the Emir (vv. 3611-12). No such aid comes to the opposing side, as Roland says: "paien unt tort e chrestiens unt dreit" (v. 1015). (2) Yet one cannot help noticing that the feats of arms by the opposing sides in this martial narrative are remarkably similar. Aside from the prodigious blows struck by Roland himself, the faithful and the faithless appear to produce equally spectacular mutilations. Close examination of the bloodshed, however, reveals a code that follows the Christian-Saracen dichotomy. Knights of both faiths are penetrated by lances, their hearts crushed, but only Saracen bodies, and that of the Christian traitor, Ganelon, undergo the severing of extremities. Whereas one is tempted to seek the motivation for these amputations in medieval theology, such as a belief in the materiality of the soul, no religious explanation by itself suffices. For a better understanding of this preference for Saracen dismemberment, one must look instead to Germanic traditions of criminal punishment. As Dominique Boutet says of chanson de geste brutality in general: "derriere l'ideologie religieuse il y a un vieux fond barbare que l'on ne peut pas, que l'on ne veut pas renier" (Le Cycle de Guillaume d'Orange 11). Boutet's proposition certainly applies to the Chanson de Roland, in that gore plays a major role in the text. Here bloodshed, for the original audience and today's reader, provides more than essential entertainment. Almost without exaggeration, one can say that carnage is the narrative. Despite the seemingly black and white moral world the song presents, where the right battle the wrong, both sides of the fight suffer wounding and death in nearly equal measure. There is no doubt as to who will triumph in the end, but until then the Saracens give almost as good as they get. No doubt, the need for drama trumps religious absolutism, for an enemy easily defeated offers no glory. (3) The battle begins with French feats of prowess, but soon the Saracen blows begin to tell, such as when Climborin confronts Engelier de Gascogne: "empeint le ben, tut le fer li mist ultre,/pleine sa hanste el camp mort le tresturnet" (vv. 1497-98). As an engagement between minor characters, the killing is typically terse. For major protagonists, the wounding becomes more graphic; for example, when Marganice meets Olivier and he "fiert Oliver derere enmi le dos;/le blanc osberc li ad desclos el cors,/parmi le piz sun espiet li mist fort" (vv. 1945-47). Turpin's demise is all the more vivid: Li quens Rollant veit l'arcevesque a tere; Defors sun cors veit gesir la buele, Desuz le frunt li buillit la cervele; Desur sun piz, entre les dous furceles, Cruisiedes ad ses blanches mains, les beles. (vv. 2246-50) Even Charlemagne himself suffers mutilation before dispatching Baligant: Li amiralz ... fiert Carlemagne sur l'elme d'acer brun, Desur la teste li ad frait e fendut; Met li l'espee sur les chevels menuz, Prent de la carn grant pleine palme e plus; Iloec endreit remeint li os tut nut. (vv. 3602-07) When the French land telling blows the results are equally florid, such as when Olivier encounters the pagan Malon and strikes him with his broken lance: "l'escut li freint, k'est ad or e a flur,/fors de la teste li met les oilz ansdous,/e la cervele li chet as piez desuz" (vv. 1354-56). Only Roland's feats of prowess produce slightly more spectacular detail than those of other knights: Rollant. …


THE USE OF ANTI T-CELL RECEPTOR ANTIBODIES IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF T-CELL LYMPHOMA. AS Krajewski, AE Dewar. Department ofPathology, Edinburgh University Medical School. The histological and immunophenotypic distinction of T-cell lymphoma from reactive lymphoid infiltrates and the identification and separation of T-cell lymphoma from Hodgkin's Disease or B cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is a frequently encountered diagnostic problem. These problems arise because immunohistological techniques for the demonstration of clonality in T-cell tumours are at present inadequate. One approach to determining clonality is to use genotyping to identify clonal T-cell (TCR) gene rearrangement. At present however genotyping is expensive, technically complex and not generally available to most diagnostic laboratories. A possible alternative approach to determining clonality in T-cell tumours, by using anti-c1onotypic antibodies that react with TCR beta chain variable region gene products: Using two anti-T-cell receptor antibodies we have found a monoclonal pattern of staining in 3 of 28 cases (ie> 90% cells staining) of T-cell lymphoma and in one case a bi-c1onal population of neoplastic cells. In contrast in normal tissues and other cases ofT-ceil lymphoma on by 2-5% of positive cells could be demonstrated. We have additionally examined the reactivity of peripheral blood lymphocytes of 3 patients who showed c1onotype expression in biopsies. In 3 cases there was an increased percentage of c1onotype positive cells in blood. All of these patients had normal white cell and lymphocyte counts with no morphologically abnormal cells visible in blood films. These findings confirm the usefulness of these antibodies for the diagnosis of T-cell lymphoma. Immunocytological staining of specimens with such antibodies has obvious advantages over genotyping for the demostration of clonality in T-cell lymphoma in that it is technically simple, inexpensive, rapid, and easily applicable in routine pathology and haematology laboratories, even on small biopsies and cytological samples. Our observation that peripheral blood T-cells in these patients show abnormal c1onotype expression has important implications for the diagnosis of patients with suspected T-cell lymphoma and also for monitoring the effects of therapy and the detection of early relapse.


A method is proposed to detect incidents that occur in two interdependent time series in real-time, estimating the incident time point from the profiles of the linear trend test statistics, computed on consecutive overlapping data window. The method is based on Slope Statistics Profile (SSP) utilizing adaptive data windowing, estimating real-time classifications of the linear trend profiles, according to two different linear trend scenarios, suitably adapted to the conditions of the problem. The method is applied on real datasets from a chemical process system that is situated at the premises of CERTH / CPERI, suggesting the occurrence of incidents, during experiments.


However, one can discuss the 'new science' of the paper. What is discussed in the paper, that OLS is a flawed method for comparing variables with errors, should be known to many researchers. However, reviewing the literature, one can see that it is not as widely known as it should be. Indeed, the OLS is often still abused in literature. Therefore, if this paper manages to increase the knowledge in using better regression


Introduction "On ne nous a pas attendu et chacun sait que la poesie s'accommode fort bien des opinions vagues ou contradictoires que l'on nourrit a son sujet." (1) Writing on the cusp of the time-frame under consideration here, Jean Paulhan was entertainingly caustic on the potential pitfalls of any attempted synoptic discourse on poetry. Yet the enduring ability of the "poetic" to function as a legitimising term is, arguably, a key to the ineradicable and essential plurality of the hypothetical object it denotes. The tendency of poetic works to accommodate and absorb differing theoretical and critical projections can appear problematic, but it highlights two important features of practice as it is encountered in those works: firstly, the way in which poetic practice seems to nurture and invite reflective responses from those engaged by and in it; secondly, the ability of practice to remain in excess of the particular readings it inspires, while deriving legitimacy and even sustenance from them. These features allow the poetic field to be seen as constituted to some extent dialogically, both between writers and their readers, and between poetic practitioners. Whether through creative interaction (thematic, theoretical, affinity-based) or at various levels of conflict and disagreement (arguably along the same criteria), recurrent instances of interconnected utterance are observable. The articles that follow have as a common feature an interest in such structuring interconnections. The functioning of the poetic field as a sui generis dialogical space is of particular interest for any attempt to think about the parameters of literary practice as a whole and of cultural practice more widely. Partly this is because poetic practice, due all at once to its economic marginality, to its necessary engagement with the figure of the limit, and to its experimental nature, has been among the most consistent modes of exploration of these parameters. Perhaps the single most important respect in which this has been the case is the fundamental problem of symbolically-mediated community. Implicit/explicit in the poetry of the last century and more, it is now a question that has--through the explosion of new media, but also the increasing diversity of subject positions/cultures/languages seeking aesthetic expression-legitimisation--become a "mainstream" preoccupation. Poetic practice, while often continuing to follow the logic of an avant-garde activity, cannot be dismissed as unrelated to pressing social-theoretical concerns. Community, in the present context, is clearly both a pre-condition of the "individual"--and the problematic horizon of the poetic question as an inherently social one. The figure of community is approached in the following articles through the works of significant creative actors, themselves constituted as poetic practitioners in their engagement with that horizon. It is approached, furthermore, as an evolving, fluid reality--in the representation of which we appeal here to two particular, dynamic figures. The first is that of confluence, whereby individual practices may provisionally be understood together, as exemplary of a common theoretical or practical principle, even as they continue to move forward in their different ways. The second is that of migration, which signifies both the ability of the poetic to move beyond (now) canonical ideas of its material and signifying properties, into new technologically-based and/or interstitial forms of practice, and the mobility of the "poetic" designation as a legitimising one towards practices and works which challenge the very understanding(s) of the poetic operative at the time of their emergence. In their discussion of individual actors and the various problems and configurations which constitute poetic practice in French today, the eight articles which make up this issue contain aspects which belong to both of these figures of confluence and migration. …


The present study was taken up with an objective to find whether harmonic amplitude measures can be used to note gender differences. A total of sixty subjects were divided into two groups. Group I consisted of 30 male subjects and group II consisted of 30 female subjects. They were instructed to produce three trials of sustained vowels (/a/, /i/ and /u/). The harmonic amplitude difference measures (H1-H2; H1-A1; H1-A2 and H1-A3) were extracted from Praat software. Results revealed significant difference between male and female subjects for all the harmonic amplitude difference measures. On measuring the difference between male and female subjects, the values ranged from 3.09 to 24.04. The results are discussed with respect to the underlying physiological differences and glottal chink during phonation across gender. Keywords: Spectrum, FFT, Speech synthesis, Gender, Praat


The article deals with a convergence of the spectrum of the Laplace–Beltrami operator Δε on a Riemannian manifold depending on a small parameter ϵ > 0. This manifold consists of a domain Ω ⊂ ℝ n with a large number of small 'holes' whose boundaries are glued to the boundaries of the n-dimensional spheres with small truncated segment. The number of the 'holes' increases, as ϵ → 0, while their radii tend to zero. We prove that the spectrum converges to the spectrum of the homogenized operator having (in contrast to Δε) a non-empty essential spectrum.


In this paper, using the fuzzy theory and gray theory, a concept of the degree of fuzzy infection and a new reliability analysis method based on the relation of fuzzy infection were proposed, and the mathematical mode of series connection and parallel connection system was first set up and their rationalities were proven. An illustrational example was given to demonstrate the effectiveness of this theory.


The Regulation of Petroleum Reserves Estimation(DZ/T 0217-2005)published by the Ministry of Land and Resources,PRC,gives the estimation value of the industrial flow rate of exploration wells with different depths in the east regions of China.The values were referenced to a regulation of the 80s of last century without considering the contents of non-hydrocarbon gases and condensate oil,the differences among various regions and geological conditions.Moreover,the gas price has increased largely since then.Many factors influencing industrial flow rate of gas reservoir,such as production capability construction and development cost,fluid properties,reservoir conditions,depth,gas price and tax,are analyzed.Based on the principle of the balance of invests and delivers,two formulations,that is,a simplified formulation and a detailed analytic method are proposed.As an example,the industrial flow rates of a dry reservoir is studied and estimated,and the sensitivity to various parameters is analyzed.The new methods can be used to overcome the simplification of the old estimation regulation.It is shown that the industrial gas flow rate varies with the improvement of technology and knowledge of geologic parameters as well as tax and price policy,implying that it is necessary to adjust the estimation of the industrial gas flow rates regularly.


/ This article examines children's television in the context of the debate on media globalization by positioning Viacom-owned Nickelodeon, currently beamed into more than 400 million households, as a quintessential type of transnational television that is critical to understanding the contemporary landscape of media industries and cultures worldwide. The author argues that the majority of globally branded children's television networks, in comparison to other types of transnational television often associated with multidirectional media flow, tend to be merely clones of the original US versions. However, this argument is intended to move beyond traditional references to either cultural or American imperialism. By counterposing two locales, the article uses Nickelodeon's operations in New Zealand and Australia as a case study to critically examine the corporate practice of localization employed by a US transnational children's multimedia brand in different media markets.


Method of the present application includes the step of providing a shaped elastomeric mat having a receiving groove for a battery includes an input projection, surface receiving the output device comprises an output device contacts, and a power supply contact. This is the circuit carrier output contacts and the step of forming insert output conductive path elastomeric mat for combining the output device contacts electrically, and the circuit carrier power contact with mat elastomer a power supply conductive path electrically coupling the power supply contacts insert further comprises the step of molding. The method for connecting the elastomeric mat and a circuit carrier, connected to the stage, receiving the display device and the output device side to sort the input projection and the circuit carrier input contact portion, electrically connecting the display device and the output device contacts, and a housing and a step of positioning the mat in the elastomer.


The primary goal of data center cooling is to ensure that the temperature of the airflow supplied to the inlets of IT equipment does not exceed a threshold specified by industry guidelines or IT vendors. We stress that the critical temperature is the inlet of the IT equipment (inside the rack) and not inlet (i.e., front door) of the rack itself. However, because it is the airflow patterns inside and outside the rack that dictate the temperature of the air that ultimately reaches IT inlets, IT inlet temperature alone is an insufficient metric for optimizing cooling and identifying the root cause of issues like hot spots. We propose that data center designers and operators performing CFD simulation focus on the key airflow patterns inside and outside the rack – which can be quantified by existing capture index metrics. We discuss the key airflow patterns and metrics and provide an example of how they can be used in practice. Finally, as rack inlet and IT inlet temperatures are sometimes (incorrectly) used interchangeably by the data center community, we quantify the difference between the two through the CFD analysis of a real data center; differences are found to be significant even under conditions which tend to minimize internal-rack recirculation.


SOME YEARS ago I was impressed by the frequency with which chronic bronchitic patients were found to have a fungus infection present in their sputum. To make sure that the fungus was not a contaminant from the mouth or teeth, swabs from the bronchi of all such patients wi.>rc taken at bronchoscopic examination. All of these swabs were found to be positive for the identical fungus. The inhalants which the patients used habitually were then investigated : the solutions were spread on to plates and cultured. All were found to be contaminated with the fungus in the sputum. The illustrations show the result of culturing the swabs from three standard inhalants which were being used by the patients in the usual way. Figs. 1 and 2 show a profuse growth of mixed fungi from two standard proprietary brands ; Fig. 3 shows the result using an inhalant to which had been added a special fungicidal solution. Patients, therefore, should be instructed in the proper care of the solution used and of the necessity for adequate sterilization of the inhalers.


In this paper, the author focuses on requirements and development in three areas of standardization in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS): 1) data communication links between vehicle systems and the infrastructure; 2) digital map databases for on-board navigation and driver information systems; and, 3) driver machine interface.


showed ITP. He started oral steroid therapy for ITP but there was no response. Thereafter, developed / a he perianal abscess. Secondly, oral danazol was initiated and three days later, thrombocytes rose to 2.6×10 4 / m L. Low-dose danazol was very effective and did not cause any harmful aftereffects. There have not been any recurrences while the patient continued on tapered doses of danazol for 15 months or after discontinuation of danazol for 33 months. Therefore, we concluded low dose danazol was an optional rescue procedure for treating ITP developing in a patient on maintenance hemodialysis.


In order to achieve the computer control of digital flexible assembly tooling for airplane, the pro-gramming language system for digital flexible tooling based on OPC communication technology has been built.This language system can realize the digital flexible computer control of tooling system by three status including monitoring status of assembly system, edit status of assembly process, and execution status of assembly process.Finally, by use of this language system, the software platform installed in a pre-positioning assembly tooling of panel components of certain airplane has been built. Thus in this way, the status monitoring, the motion control and the edit control of process for this tooling have been realized.


as the whole mental development of a human being consists mainly of memory, memory begins to develop from the earliest days of the child's life. The child's first signs of memory become apparent when he or she recognizes the people and objects in the vicinity. This is evident from the actions we take when a child sees something familiar to him. For example, when a child sees someone close to him, he or she may feel stranger or consider the stranger an alien. In young children, the ability to identify themselves allows them to remember what they perceive. As a child grows into adulthood, he develops complex memory patterns, or memory. Children will be able to remember things and events that they have learned since then.


The cornetto is a woodwind instrument which was in common use in Western European concert music from the 16th through the early decades of the 18th century. The most common variety of this instrument is characterized by its curved shape. A number of surviving instruments are made of massive ivory and the means by which these were manufactured has been a question. The author presents a plausible theory describing the technology of ivory cornetto manufacture. -- AATA


The carbonate and siliciclastic outcrops of the Guadalupe Mountains in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico have provided a rich set of basic and advanced conceptual models for geologists across the entire spectrum of experience for carbonate-ramp and steep-rimmed–platform settings as well as the adjacent deep-water siliciclastics not dealt with here. Fundamental questions regarding the scale and continuity of reservoir pay facies, the depositional patterns and profiles of shelf-to-slope clinoforms, the width of facies tracts on ramps and rimmed platforms, the distribution and internal composition of reef complexes, the link between reef development and slope depositional patterns, styles of early and late diagenesis including dolomitization and karstification, and structural patterns can all be addressed in the Guadalupe Mountains exposures.


In Finland, all newborns are currently offered BCG vaccination, and the national coverage is over 98%. The annual incidence of tuberculosis is low, at 6.6/100,000 in 2004 and has been steadily declining in recent years. Finland differs from the other Nordic countries in that the majority of cases are detected in people aged 65 and over in the indigenous population, and only a smaller proportion (12%) detected in immigrants. The high incidence of TB and MDR TB in neighbouring countries has raised concern, but no increase in TB detected in Finnish-born citizens has been seen. A decision has been made to change from mass BCG vaccination to targeting risk groups.


This invention relates to marine propulsion systems having a propeller in which each blade 2 carries at its end a shaped stop plate 3. A tunnel fixed power 4 is associated with the propeller. Part 5 of tunnel 4 adjacent the trailing edge is an extension of an ideal surface generated by the rotation of the stop plates 3 about the axis of the helix. Opposite the stop plates 3, 4 of the tunnel has an inner radius substantially equal to that of the surface described by the detent plates Application to propulsion systems to the propeller, to improve performance, eliminating cavitation.


A simple phase-based technique is presented for the analysis and design of binary layered optical media operating at effective refractive indices below the lowest index of the layers — relevant for devices such as hollow-core Bragg fiber and on-chip waveguides, radial Bragg resonators, VCSEL cavities, multilayer mirrors or antireflection coatings. For a given binary stack of layers, the phase accumulation in each layer type, rather than the frequency and effective index of the incident wave, are considered as the fundamental system parameters. Applications to Bloch wave analysis are given.


The concept of sustainable development is the result of an integrated approach to policy and decision makers, the environment and long-term economic growth are seen as complementary and mutually dependent (Romanian National Strategy for Sustainable Development). Sustainable development pursues and tries to develop a stable theoretical decision making framework for any situation involving a human/environment report, either social economic or general environment and supports this concept through programs, strategies and projects.


The field of leisure studies has gained from interdisciplinary approaches to the subject. This trend is now being threatened by the introduction of a narrowly defined economic approach. With this view becoming increasingly pervasive, the authors attempt to highlight some of the limitations of such an approach. By concentrating on professional football in England, the authors hope to demonstrate the difficulties raised by such work in a way which makes the arguments applicable to a wide range of specific interests. Assessing the claims of the research in the area of professional football, it is demonstrated that quantifiable solutions to the economic problems of the game often suffer from loose correlations with the evidence because the problems need to be conceived more broadly than the economic formulae allow.


With emphasis on cultural teaching and increasing frequency of intercultural communication,the new curriculum standard requires that modern language teaching not only learn language and words but also provide useful tools for fluently practical communication.The cultural teaching is hidden and sustained in English classroom.Hence,we can cultivate students into practical,extroversive and compound talents,capable of intercultural communication,through taking cultural teaching by combining language knowledge with cultural knowledge,displaying social style with the special characteristics of English countries and opening out relevant thought and view of value,increasing students' social cultural awareness,and developing their cultural communicative competence.


This paper discusses some of the performance tradeoffs ariSing in the operation of FMS, and surveys some of the stochastic models developed by us for analyzing these tradeoffs. Issues addressed include: selecting part routes, setting economic tool speeds, making tool choices, fixing the number of pallets, expanding capacity, and planning multiperiod production. Nonlinear optimization algorithms developed for dealing with these issues are also presented.


With the development of technology, biosensors are increasingly used in the biomedical field. Due to the high sensitivity of optical signals, good stability, high signal‐to‐noise ratio, and different spectral characteristics of different analytes, optical biosensors can achieve direct and real‐time detection of analytes with high specificity compared with traditional analytical techniques. In view of the rapid development of optical biosensors for in vivo applications and their promising future, we have attempted to summarize the working principles and recent advances in application in humans, with the aim of helping readers to gain an in‐depth and detailed understanding of optical biosensors developed in recent years for applications in the biological living body. In this review, we focus on some of the current widely used and promising optical biosensors, including colorimetric biosensors, fluorescence biosensors, and surface‐enhanced‐Raman‐scattering‐based biosensors. The working principles for each type of optical biosensor are concisely described and the application of the biosensor in the living body is summarized by category. We conclude by looking at the prospects of in vivo applications of optical biosensors.


Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) technique was employed to determine the heavy metal (lead) in soil samples. The Q-switch Nd:YAG laser pulse operating at 90 mJ and fundamental wavelength of 1064 nm was utilized as energy source. Soil from nearby southern highway of Malaysia was collected at several distances. The soils were prepared in the form pelletized prior to use as target sample. The laser was focused on pelletized soil to induce optical breakdown associated with plasma formation. The spectroscopy properties of the sample were studied via Maya spectrometer system. The LIBS signal was optimized based on the laser energy, integration time, distance and angle of optical fiber from the fluorescence emission of plasma. Two atomic lines of Pb (at 363.95 and 373.99 nm) are selected to estimate the lead concentration as well as limit of detection (LOD). Pb concentrations are found to be 358 ppm and 336 ppm at a distance of 100 m, and reduces to 75 ppm and 88 ppm at a distance of 500 m for respective lines. These lead concentrations are still in allowable limits according to a standard set by USEPA and European (32–400 ppm). Furthermore the LOD of this technique at Pb line 363.95 nm is about 44 ppm.


Aiming at the low permeability,low output oil well,the flexible continuous sucker rod bailing pumping unit is designed.Its work principle and main structure are introduced.Based on its work principle,the input power,output power and system efficiency calculation formula are deduced.The calculation example of energy consumption and system efficiency is given about conventional and bailing pumping unit oil well.The calculation result showed that system efficiency of bailing pumping unit well is higher and the electricity consumption is lower than that of conventional pumping unit well.


Abstract We formulate a Calabi–Yau-type conjecture in generalized Kähler geometry, focusing on the case of nondegenerate Poisson structure. After defining natural Hamiltonian deformation spaces for generalized Kähler structures generalizing the notion of Kähler class, we conjecture unique solvability of Gualtieri's Calabi–Yau equation within this class. We establish the uniqueness, and moreover show that all such solutions are actually hyper-Kähler metrics. We furthermore establish a GIT framework for this problem, interpreting solutions of this equation as zeroes of a moment map associated to a Hamiltonian action and finding a Kempf–Ness functional. Lastly we indicate the naturality of generalized Kähler–Ricci flow in this setting, showing that it evolves within the given Hamiltonian deformation class, and that the Kempf–Ness functional is monotone, so that the only possible fixed points for the flow are hyper-Kähler metrics. On a hyper-Kähler background, we establish global existence and weak convergence of the flow.


failure and is found to be associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Increased protein catabolism is considered to be an important cause of this problem. Based on abundant animal studies, uremia is believed to be inherently catabolic. Dialysis, especially hemodialysis, is thought to engender protein catabolism. Having studied this problem in chronic renal failure (CRF) population and having reviewed the literature, I came to the conclusion that when acidosis is corrected, uremia, per se, is not protein catabolic. Acidosis, however, does stimulate protein turnover and amino acid oxidation. Both hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis are catabolic due primarily to protein and amino acid loss (1). Opinion regarding exaggerated protein breakdown engendered by the hemodialysis procedure is divided. In pre-dialysis patients, many nitrogen balance studies over the past three decades showed either neutral or positive balances despite low protein intake. Some patients received protein intake as low as 20 grams per day; essential amino acids were supplemented in some, but not all subjects. Amino acid release across a limb, estimated from the product of blood flow and arteriovenous amino acid concentration differences, also failed to document increased amino acid release in pre-dialysis patients as compared to normal subjects. Furthermore, in vivo whole-body amino acid flux measurements almost invariably showed reduced amino acid flux rates in the postabsorptive state, comparing renal failure patients and normal subjects. These data do not support increased protein degradation. Garibotto et al, l ike other investigators, showed that the release of total amino acids from the forearm was not different between the controls and the CRF patients. But forearm muscle kinetics using labeled phenylalanine showed that both proteolysis and protein synthesis are higher in the CRF patients. As a consequence of these counterbalanced changes, net balance was not increased (2). This study again did not support increased protein catabolism. Most relevantly, the MDRD Study did not document any significant evidence of malnutr it ion in patients receiving 0.3 and 0.6 g of protein/kg/day over a two-year period of observation. In peritoneal dialysis, there does not seem to be any concern about this treatment engendering proteolysis. The major problem is protein and amino acid loss. A number of measurements suggest that a protein intake of 1.1 g/kg/day generally produced a neutral or positive balance in peritoneal dialysis patients. In vivo whole-body leucine kinetic measurement of patients before and after initiation of maintenance peritoneal dialysis showed no difference in the flux rates or net protein balance in those two periods. Fur thermore, the data are not different from those obtained from normal subjects. This information suggests the absence of enhanced protein catabolism in peritoneal dialysis population. In hemodialysis patients, metabolic studies showed that nitrogen balance was invariably negative on hemodialysis days, while it is either neutral or positive on non-dialysis days. This was taken as strong evidence that enhanced proteolysis occurred during the hemodialysis procedure. It should be emphasized that even though dialysate, urine and feces were collected for nitrogen measurement, the change in urea nitrogen pool was based on pre and post dialysis BUN. As we began to understand urea kinetics better, it became clear that the utilization of unequilibrated post dialysis BUN led to overestimation of urea generation on hemodialysis days. Consequently, nitrogen balance appeared more negative. Evidence supporting hemodialysis-induced proteolysis was subsequently reported by Gutierrez et al. In that study, forearm amino acid release in the postabsorptive state was measured in normal subjects before and during sham hemodialysis. The arterial and venous amino acid concentrations were not different before and during dialysis, but, for unexplained reasons, the arm blood flow rate was increased during dialysis, giving a much greater magnitude of amino acid release (the product of blood flow and arteio-venous concentration differences) from the forearm during hemodialysis. Using an in vivo whole-body leucine flux technique, Lim et al found that hemodialysis is indeed a catabolic procedure as net protein balance was reduced by 70% compared to the predialysis value (3). This catabolism is due to amino acid loss and a reduction in protein synthesis during the treatment period. Ikizler et al, using similar Editorial The International Journal of Artificial Organs / Vol. 27 / no. 1, 2004/ pp. 6-8


We present time series evidence on output convergence for 14 countries relative to the US for the 1900-2000 period. We develop tests that allow for an unknown number of breaks in the series and also asymmetric convergence speed. We show that this asymmetry arises theoretically when the economy is not in the neighbourhood of the steady state. Breaks are modelled through a Fourier function fitted to the deterministic part of a time series and asymmetries are modelled as a smooth transition function that matches the theory predictions. The tests are shown to have good finite sample properties. The results support the existence of convergence towards a mean that displays a break around WWII. These breaks, in the majority of cases, appear to be permanent. Asymmetric mean reversion also appears to be an important feature driving convergence for most countries in the sample. These results emphasize the importance that disruptive historical events have on the dynamics of relative outputs.


Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common malignancy that metastasises to the thyroid. This study aims to better understand the clinical characteristics of patients with thyroid metastasis from RCC.


Copper (II) phthalocyanine and 2, 9, 16, 23 tetrakis nitro copper (II) phthalocyanine has been synthesized respectively from phthalonitrile and 4-nitro phthalonitrile under solvent-free condition using two different catalysts over nanodimensional zeolites. 4-Nitro phthalonitrile synthesized from phthaimide in three steps. The newly prepared compounds have been characterized by IR, UV-Vis, 1 H NMR and MS spectra.


Derek Scott Henderson, a Durban boy, educated at St. John's, Rhodes, Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard, was one of a very few people worldwide who trod the road in the 1950s that led to the unbelievable explosion of computers in our lives today, and to computer science as the academic subject as we know it.


In order to prevent karst disaster,the paper researched the influence of dissolving degrees of limestone and dolomite caused by temperature in hydrochloride solution.A water chemistry simulation software-phreeqc developed by American Geological Investigation Institute was used,the relation model between temperature and dissolving degrees of calcite and dolomite was simulated under different CO2 pressure and different concentration NaCl and MgCl2solution,which was tested by experiment.The results indicated that dissolving degrees of calcite and dolomite in NaCl solution is larger than that in pure water;The dissolving degrees of calcite in MgCl2solution is larger than that in NaCl solution under same condition;without CO2 pressure,in the same concentration salt solution,the dissolving degrees of limestone and dolomite increased rapidly with temperature;While pco2 =10-4.5 MPa the reverse happened,but it is larger than that without CO2 pressure.In karst collapse area,the erosion of rock improved with temperature increasement,which caused increasement of the danger degree of collapse in groundwater system which have no obvious relationship with atmospheric;while the erosion of rock increased with reducing temperature(larger than 0℃),so as to enhunce the danger degree of collapse in groundwater system.


The optoelectronic properties of the new semiconducting alloy a-CSiGe:H have been studied with particular regard to the dependence upon deposition and annealing temperature. Infrared and electrical results are interpreted in terms of hydrogen bonding.


Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a hereditary neuromuscular disease leading to progressive muscle wasting. Since there is a need for MRI variables that serve as early sensitive indicators of response to treatment, several quantitative MRI methods have been suggested for disease monitoring.


To reduce the beam loss in the high current linac, beam transverse emittance is a key value which has to be characterized. At Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) in Beijing, the C-ADS project has started beam commissioning. A newly developed double-slit emittance meter (DEM) for pulsed proton beam from the RFQ has been installed in the beam line. In this paper principal of operation, instrumentation and programming of the DEM are discussed. The emittance measurement has been carried out with the DEM at 3.2 MeV beam energy and 10 mA beam current. Typical rms emittance for x and y direction are measured to be 0.1303 and 0.1347 π·mm·mrad, which are well below the design standard of the RFQ.


Abstract In this paper, We give a generalization the resut of Roger B. Nelsen, by giving a closed form expression for x = [ a0,a1,⋯,ak,b1,⋯bm¯ ], $\left[ {{a}_{0}},{{a}_{1}},\cdots ,{{a}_{k}},\overline{{{b}_{1}},\cdots {{b}_{m}}} \right],$


[Objective] To study physiological and biochemical changes of the wheat seeds under storage conditions. [Method] Using the method of high temperature and high humidity artificial accelerated aging,Yannong 19,Lunxuan 22,Luomai 10,Shandong precocious line,Huacheng 2152,Huacheng 3366,Sumai 188,Wanmai 47,Shandong late maturing line,Annong 0305 were processed under the conditions of100% RH( relative humidity),40℃,8 different time gradient( 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7 d). The change of its germination rate,LOX activity,MDA content and conductivity. [Result]Experimental results show that the seed germination rate gradually decreased with aging treatment time,seed leaching liquid conductivity is increasing with the extension of processing time,fatty oxidase( LOX) activity increased with the extension of aging time,the late declined slightly,the product of lipid peroxide malondialdehyde( MDA) content increased; Among 10 varieties,Annong 0305 has the strongest aging resistance,and the aging resistance of Huacheng 2152 is relatively weak. [Conclusion] The study can provide reference basis for study on wheat seeds storage tolerance ability.


We give a modern geometric viewpoint on anomalies in quantum field theory and illustrate it in a 1-dimensional theory: supersymmetric quantum mechanics. This is background for the resolution of worldsheet anomalies in orientifold superstring theory.


Of 420 operated patients with acute cholecystitis, 132 (31.4%) had obstructive jaundice. Only 2 patients were operated on urgently due to peritonitis; in the remaining 130, the use of forced diuresis and rational anti-inflammatory therapy with antibiotics removed the acute effects. This made it possible to fully examine patients and operate them in favorable conditions for a relatively cold period. The jaundice disappeared completely within 7 to 16 days from the start of treatment. Most of the patients were operated on during this period. Postoperative mortality in the cold period was 3.1%.


There is a growing tendency for the EU Member States to introduce conditions relating to the right to social benefits that are mostly disadvantageous to third-country nationals. These conditions are at risk of conflicting with provisions on the right to equal treatment with the nationals of the host country, as set down in a number of EU migration directives. This is all the more the case now that the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has recently given a broad interpretation of these provisions. Consequently, the Member States are to take these provisions as well as the CJEU's case law into account when seeking to limit access to social benefits for third-country nationals. This article examines the content and meaning of these provisions and the relevant case law of the CJEU. It concludes that it is apparent from this case law that the main objective of the right to equal treatment in these directives is to promote the integration of said third-country nationals into the host country and, therefore, the Member States may not make this right dependent on a prior sufficient level of integration in that host country.


The carburization of steel parts changes the chemical composition in the surface. According to the change of chemical composition a change in density occurs. If the change in density is distributed in an asymmetrical way, distortion can not be avoided.


tans (B. L. Robins.) K. et R. (Compositae, tribe Eupatorieae), in addition to compounds reported previously (1), we now have isolated novanin (2), the thymol derivatives 1 (3) and 2 as well as the epoxide 3. The structure of 2 could be easily deduced from the 'H-NMR spectrum (s. Experimental) which, of course, was close to that of 1. The structure of 3 also clearly followed from the spectral data, especially as the corresponding acetate 4 was isolated previously from a Grosvenonia species (4). As expected, the 'HNMR signals (s. Experimental) of 2-H and 3-H are shifted. Spin decoupling allowed the assignment of all signals. The biological tests of 3 and investigations of species related to this group are in progress.


Parkinson's disease (PD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) are the two most common neurodegenerative disorders. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common demyelinating disorder. Although there are strong inflammatory components to multiple sclerosis, it is clear that the disease also has a strong neurodegenerative component. Combined these three disease processes affect more than 6 million Americans in countless more people around the world. The cost related to care and treatment for these patients are staggering both in terms of human suffering and the financial burdens on the patient and families as well as national health care systems. In the US alone, some estimates suggest that over $100 billion is spent yearly in terms of direct and indirect health-care costs. The total amount spent on neurodegenerative processes, particularly for AD and PD, is expected to rise given the aging demographic in the US and other countries. AD and PD have been studied extensively using a variety of imaging techniques. Conventional MR imaging has play a primary role in excluding other neurologic abnormalities. Multiple sclerosis has been extensively studied using conventional MR imaging techniques. Unlike AD and PD, conventional MR imaging plays an important role in the diagnosis of MS. Newer imaging techniques such as diffusion tensor imaging and functional MRI offer the potential for improved diagnosis, better understanding of the underlying mechanisms, improved disease monitoring and guidance of therapy PD, AD, and MS The majority of MR imaging research directed towards Alzheimer's disease has focused on morphologic measurements. There's a large body of information documenting morphologic changes related to Alzheimer's disease, particularly, findings of hippocampal and cortical atrophy. A multitude of quantitative methodologies have been proposed for assessment of atrophy. Overall findings suggest that morphologic measurements are useful for the diagnosis of AD, sensitive to early changes in mild cognitive impairment and useful for monitoring disease progression. (1-8) More recently, cognitive impairments associated with Alzheimer's disease have been studied using functional MRI. There are significant underlying issues related to task performance, evaluation of functional activation in the face of atrophy and age-related changes in blood flow and vascular coupling to be considered in studying Alzheimer's patients. Despite these considerations, an increasing body of literature has accumulated over the last several years demonstrating fMRI activation changes in Alzheimer's disease utilizing a variety of tasks including memory, verbal and semantic tasks. Findings suggest decreased activation in the hippocampal regions of patients with mild cognitive …


Background and purpose:Pulmonary carcinoma is one of the most common cancers world wide.Mediastinal lymph node dissection,including the number and area,is indispensable to the treatment of lung cancer.It is important to achieve better treatment outcome,obtain pathologic staging and guide post-operative treatment for non-small cell lung cancer patients.This study was to explore the significance of Doppler ultrasonography combined with pre-operative CT to guide lymph node dissection in non-small cell lung cancer patients.Methods:66 histologically confirmed non-small cell lung cancer patients,admitted in the Department of Thoracic Surgery,Shanghai Chest Hospital,from October 2005 to July 2006 were included in this study.The mean age of the patients was 62 years.All patients had preoperative computed tomographic scan,intra-operative Doppler ultrasonography evaluation followed by systemic mediastinal lymph node dissection.Dopple ultrasonography evaluation included station 1,2,3,4,7,9 for right lung cancer,and 5,6,7,9 for left lung cancer.36 masses were located in the left lung,with 24 patients in upper lobe,3 in middle lobe and 9 in lower lobe.30 masses were located in the right lung,with 16 patients in upper lobe and 14 in lower lobe,respectively.16 patients were clinically T2N0M0,and 50 were cT2N1-2M0 as shown by preoperative CT;36 patients were T2N0M0,and 30 were T2N2M0 according to pathologic TNM staging.A total of 390 lymph nodes were removed in this study,and 140 lymph nodes contained metastatic disease.Results:The lymph nodes larger than 1 cm as shown by CT were defined as malignant.The ultrasound feature of malignant lymph nodes included circular lesion,regular margin with low echotexture.Positive predictive rate of pre-operative CT and intra-operative Doppler ultrasonography was 84.3% and 67%,respectively.The patients with adenocarcinoma were more likely to have metastasis in multiple-station lymph nodes than those with squamous cell carcinoma.Conclusions:The combination of Doppler ultrasonography and pre-operative CT to guide lymph node dissection in lung cancer patients is acceptable and promising.


Wheat is the second ranked crop in Croatia, but its production is characterized by yield variations per year, mostly due to unfavorable weather conditions. Aim of this study was to evaluate the precipitation amounts and mean air temperatures in the different parts of Croatia during 2011/2012 growing season regarding theirs suitability for winter wheat growing. Seedling emergence was slow and non-uniform as a result of insufficiently water supply before sowing and further low precipitation in November. Drought period in March caused absence of tillering and slow vegetative growth. However, the rest of growing period was adequate regarding water and temperature regime, and estimated wheat yield in Croatia for 2012 is 5.3 t ha-1 what makes it's the second most in the last 15-year period.


The invention relates to an electrostatic defending device of a touch panel, which comprises a touch panel, a flexible circuit board and a plurality of pairs of point discharge structures. The touch panel is internally provided with a plurality of signal wires and at least one earth wire which is arranged at the periphery of the signal wires, and the flexible circuit board is internally provided with a plurality of signal wires and earth wires arranged at the outer sides of the signal wires, the signal wires and the earth wires of the flexible circuit board are correspondingly connected with the signal wires and the earth wires of the touch panel, the point discharge structures are respectively formed at the two adjacent signal wires, and a clearance exists between each pair of point discharge structures. Therefore, the invention can effectively protect the touch panel in such a way that the point discharge structures can guide static of the touch panel to the earth wires to be discharged.


This paper introduces the electrical equipment online monitoring system,data warehouse and data mining technique,analyzes on the application of the data mining technique in the electrical equipment online monitoring system of the Sanli Substation,and probes into two most important modules--the data processing module and the predicting module,which is a helpful trial for putting an end to the situation of " data more,knowledge less" in the online monitoring system at present and obtains the better results.


A population model describing quetiapine pharmacokinetics (PK) in Western and Chinese patients following oral administration of immediate‐release (IR) and extended‐release (XR) formulations was developed using plasma concentrations in 127 patients from 5 studies with quetiapine IR and/or XR in Western patients and 1 study with quetiapine XR in Chinese patients. A 1‐compartmental model with first‐order absorption and first‐order elimination adequately described the quetiapine PK. The typical apparent volume of distribution and elimination rate constant of quetiapine were 574 L and 0.12 h−1, respectively. The estimated population absorption rate constants were 1.46 and 0.10 h−1 for quetiapine IR and XR, respectively. Covariate analysis revealed that race was not a significant covariate influencing the PK of quetiapine. Simulation conducted with the final quetiapine population PK model predicted that the administration of a 200‐mg twice‐daily dose of quetiapine IR in Chinese patients would achieve a steady‐state AUC (AUCss) ± standard deviation of 3087 ± 1480 ng · h/mL, which is in close agreement with the reported value (3538 ± 1728 ng · h/mL). The model also predicted that once‐daily administration of 300 mg quetiapine IR or XR would achieve similar exposure in terms of AUCss in Chinese patients.


Trust mechanism is essential for collaborative innovation of supply chain enterprise operation, which can reduce operating costs and promote synergy. But in fact, the cooperation relationship between supply chain enterprises is not ideal, which is directly related to mutual distrust among enterprises. In order to improve the level of supply chain management and strengthen the effective establishment of trust relationship such as measurement, recognition and identification, it is particularly important to promote collaborative innovation.


Past investigations of the relationship between paranormal beliefs and habitual thinking styles typically have two potentially serious shortcomings: they survey paranormal beliefs formed at some time in the past rather than at the time of their generation, and they treat paranormal belief and paranormal disbelief as polar anchors on a single dimension. An online survey of 129 Australian adults avoided these shortcomings by addressing participants' interpretation of a summary of research on dermo-optical perception and relating thinking styles to these beliefs and disbeliefs as evoked in real time. The combined data confirmed the conventionally observed relationships between belief and thinking style, but separate analyses for paranormal belief and paranormal disbelief suggested the relationships arose fundamentally from processes involved in the formation of disbelief.


Study was carried out to evaluate the major cation Chemistry, the factors controlling water composition, and suitability of water for irrigation. The problems of water quality have become more important than the quantity, as the environmental problems are getting more serious in several parts of the world. A number of factors like geology, soil, effluents, sewage disposal and other environmental conditions in which the water happens to stay or move and interact with, influences greatly on the groundwater quality of an area. The spatial maps show that the concentration of the chemical constituent in ground water varies spatially and temporarily. Sodium is the most dominant cation with Cl and HCO3 are the dominant anions.SAR values indicated thatboth pre and post monsoons watersamples are excellent (S1) for irrigation,while electrical conductivity values classified these ground water, respectively under high saline water consist (C3) category.Water quality data are utilized in the present study for the analysis of groundwater chemistry of year 2014, Pre-monsoon(July) and 2014, post-monsoon(December) seasons. Water quality data used in the analysis include Electrical Conductivity (EC), Total Alkalinity (TA), Total Hardness (TH), Calcium, Magnesium, Sodium, Potassium, Sodium Adsorption Ratio (SAR) Sodium and Residual Sodium Carbonate (RSC).


Educators view preschool children's peer-related social competence as a fundamental developmental process. Nevertheless, effective assessment of social competence by teachers for planning peer-related social competence interventions appears to be noticeably lacking in many preschools. One reason for the infrequent use of effective assessment strategies may be that many early childhood educators are not as knowledgeable about methods for measuring peer-related social competence as they are with procedures for assessing other developmental areas (e.g., cognitive abilities, language skills). Given the limited use of social competence assessments by teachers, we briefly review three assessment strategies for preschool children and make recommendations concerning practical assessment of preschoolers' peer-related social competence.


For the purpose of speeding the step of designing and building the updated large tonnages bulk carriers;increasing shipping companies' capacities of traffic;improving the constitution of vessel ages,therefore strengthening the market competitive abilities,a shipping company in Zhejiang performed a project of designing a 30000 tonnages shallow draught power-saving bulk carrier.The brief introduction for the above practice is given in this article.The author analyzes and displays some crucial aspects as elements effecting the strength of ship construction;movement feature and economy capability as well as the selection of main engine and electrical equipment.This article may be served as a reference to keep abreast of the development and application for the modern vessels.


In Order to face the challenge of the knowledge economy, the educational reform must be carried out. Renew the education ideas, speed up the change of education model and make them meet the need of knowledge economy development. 


In a multicenter trial evaluating the outcomes following vitrectomy for diabetic macular edema, investigators with the Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network found that visual acuity improvement was associated with the removal of epiretinal membrane during surgery and worse baseline VA.


Salinity tolerance and growth of Japanese flounder Paralichthys olivaceus at different developmental stages were evaluated, including newly hatched larvae (nhl), yolk sac larvae (ysl), oil droplet larvae (odl), post oil droplet larvae (podl), premetamorphic larvae (preml) and prometamorphic larvae (proml), at 11 salinities from 5 to 55 g L−1 for 96 h. The ontogenesis during the early life of P. olivaceus was investigated under hatchery salinity 35 g L−1. The results showed that suitable salinities for nhl, ysl, odl, podl, preml and proml larvae were 10 to 25 g L−1, 10 to 30 g L−1, 20 to 30 g L−1, 30 g L−1, 10 to 30 g L−1, 15 g L−1, respectively, demonstrating an ontogenetic variation of salinity tolerance. The salinity tolerance of nhl, ysl, preml was higher than that of odl, podl and proml. The ysl and preml larvae displayed wide salinity tolerances. The present findings demonstrate that the suitable salinity for larviculture of P. olivaceus is 20–25 g L−1 before the depletion of oil droplet; after that, higher salinity (30 g L−1) should be ensured for the post-oil droplet larvae; the premetamorphic larvae can be cultured at a wide salinity range (10–30 g L−1), and the metamorphosed larvae should be reared at salinity about 15 g L−1.


This study aims to show that the competence of Arabic language teachers in choosing the right learning model can determine the success of the planned Arabic learning objectives. In this case, Arabic teachers need to continue to develop their competencies, which include language competence, cultural competence and communicative competence. The subjects of this study were Arabic teachers and grade 5 and 6 students of Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Al-Zaytun Gantar Indramayu. This study uses a qualitative descriptive approach and method. Data was collected by observation, interviews and documentation. The results of the study indicate that the competence of Arabic language teachers in Madrasah Ibtidaiyah still needs to be developed with various education and training programs for Arabic teachers to be able to improve the quality of Arabic learning based on adequate Arabic teacher competencies.


The importance of strategic management and strategy development for determining the benchmarks of functioning and development of the economic security system is substantiated. This article describes the role of strategic management in ensuring the economic security of the business entity. The peculiarities of the organization of security-oriented company strategic management in the conditions of the expansion of the digital economy, Industry 4.0, as well as the peculiarities of functioning in the VUCA World have been determined. The paper proposes the use and formalization of the main characteristics of the strategy of security-oriented digital development and the strategy of personnel potential development with a focus on economic security. The proposals are based on the strategy of security-oriented digital development to lay the need for business transition to the digital plane, and digitalization of business processes with awareness and anticipation of all the risks that will accompany such transformations. To protect companies from reputational risks and with the awareness that the organization of effective risk management is impossible without the participation of persons, specialists, experts, etc., a paper proposed a strategy for human resources with a focus on economic security. The algorithm of its implementation involves the determination of the skills and competencies that staff will need in a few years in the context of continuing instability and uncertainty in the company environment and taking measures for their formation and development.


A novel technique was developed to evaluate the Chemical Diffusion Coefficient of sulfur using the fact that the diffusivity of sulfur in the slag is at least two orders of magnitude less than that in the metal. The methodology uses specially designed experimental setup supported by a model to evaluate the diffusion coefficient. A ternary slag of composition 51.5 % CaO-9.6 % SiO2-38.9 % Al2O3 slag was chosen for the experiment. Experiments were conducted using a custom-made Armco Iron crucible. The crucible was specially designed to enable metal sampling without disturbing the slag-metal interface. CaS was used as the sulfur source. It was also ensured that the PS2 and PO2 pressures calculated from the equilibrium Gibbs energy of the reaction between CaO in the slag and solid CaS, was well within the limits to prevent any dissolution into the crucible material. Experiments were conducted at 1680 K, 1700 K, and 1723 K. The diffusion coefficient was back calculated such that a good fit is obtained between the experimental and model results. The diffusion coefficient was in the range of 3.98 4.14 x 10 cm/s for the temperature range 1680 – 1723 K, which is in good agreement with the results available in the literature.


AbstractThe 21st Century has seen the emergence of the information age and the resulting economy driven by knowledge as a source of competitive advantage.Critically the most significant change occurring in the information age is the dramatically changing nature of competition with the blurring of traditional industry boundaries and the emergence of whole new sectors. The drivers of this fundamental shift in economic activity are leading to a new wave of innovation in management accounting and a new level of demand for the skills and capabilities of today's professional management accountant.Management accountants will increasingly find themselves as core members of the strategic team using their skills and capabilities in information management and analytics to develop and maintain the distinctive capabilities of their organisations. Survival will be to those with the best analytical capabilities.KeywordsInformation Age Innovation In Management Accounting Strategic Teams Analytical CapabilitiesIntroductionThe 2011 Survey of Management Accounting Roles and Trends conducted for the Institute found that management accounting skills were going to continue to be highly demanded.i The reasons for this increasing demand for professionals with the skills and capabilities of a management accountant lie in the dramatic transformation occurring in the global economy. This is of course not the first time management accounting has transformed itself to meet the demands of a newly reshaped economy. Indeed since the industrial revolution management accounting has in response to the changing nature of the global economy reinvented itself many times over.The 21st Century has seen the emergence of the information age and the resulting economy driven by knowledge as a source of competitive advantage. The drivers of this fundamental shift in economic activity are leading to a new wave of innovation in management accounting and a new level of demand for the skills and capabilities of today's professional management accountant.An Historical PerspectiveManagement accounting emerged from the industrial revolution and the rapid development of modern manufacturing in the 19th Century. During this period the separation of home office from production facilities and the grouping together of multiple processes on an integrated factory floor drove the development of systems designed to measure the efficiency of internal processes.As more complex manufacturing occurred with a wide variety of finished products each of which consumed different resources at different rates a new approach was needed. This void was filled by the scientific management movement. The scientific management movement focused on developing detailed standards for processes around time and material use. This of course led to the development of standard costing and of overhead allocation to products on the basis of labour consumed. Management accounting once again adapting to changed circumstances.Later in the 20th Century a new prototype for the business organisation emerged, the diversified corporation. Much of the accounting innovation that emerged in the early part of the 20th Century as a result of this new organisational form is associated with DuPont and General Motors Corporations. In this period the use of ROI as a key component of organisational performance and decision making was developed, budgeting and forecasting processes were developed and overall management accounting played a key role in the development of coordination and control mechanisms that allowed the large multinational to emerge as the dominant corporate form.The second half of the 20th Century saw little management accounting innovation as the focus shifted to the production of financial statements and the development of cost information that would satisfy generally accepted accounting principles. The last decade of the 20th Century saw the emergence of a real debate about the lost relevance of management accounting and the need for re- invention. …


INTRODUCTION Additive manufacturing (AM) is limited by fewer design constraints than conventional manufacturing [1]. Therefore, AM provides higher design flexibility and allows fabrication of highly complex geometries, for example, lattice structures. Compared to solid structures, lattice structures allow designs that incorporate highlytailored mechanical properties so that the requirements of applications are met with efficient use of resources [2].


This research investigates the relationship between cultural intelligence and its dimensions with job performance in a sample of 217 operational staff in Ports and maritime headquarters in Khuzestan Province. Consequently after collecting the data using the questionnaire and analyzing them using Pearson' s coefficient technique it was diagnosed that exists a positive relation between cultural intelligence, cognitive and motivation aspect and job performance. but a significant relation between meta-cognitive and behavioral aspects of cultural intelligence and job performance was not observed. The results obtained from the Friedman test indicated that the motivational cultural intelligence and the cognitive cultural intelligence of staff have respectively highest and lowest scores.


Based on the complex vector, we conducted the analysis and synthesis of planar four-bar linkage. The linear equations in the matrix form and the Matlab programming are presented.


Objective To summarize the experience of treatment of hilar cholangiocarcinoma.Methods The clinical data and long-term outcome of 96 cases of hilar cholangiocarcinoma were analyzed retrospectively.Results Out of 96 cases,65 patients underwent surgical procedures(28 cases of radical resection,6 cases of palliative resection,31 cases of surgical drainage);31 cases underwent inteventional drainage therapy,of them 18 cases had combined radiotherapy,and 15 cases and combined interventional chemotherapy.(1)The average survival time of the radical resection group,the palliative resection group and the surgical drainage group was 25 months,15.5 months,and 11.5 months,respectively.There was a significant difference between the three groups(P0.01).(2)For the surgical drainage group,the average survival time was 11.5 months,which was not significantly greater than that of the interventional therapy group(11 months)(P0.05).(3)For the group of radical resection plus radiotherapy or chemotherapy,the average survival time was 27 months and 1-,3-,5-year survival rate was 75%,45%,and 15%,respectively,which was significantly greater than the group of radical resection without adding radio-therapy or chemotherapy(24 months,and 50%,12.5%,0,respectively)(P0.05).Conclusions The best prognosis can be achieved by radical excision for patient with hepatic hilar cholangiocarcinoma.There is similar effect between the surgical drainage and interventional therapy,but the method of interventional therapy is safer with less injury and is convenient with few complications.Postoperative chemotherapy and radiotherapy may help to extend patient's survival time.


This thesis consists of an introductory section and five original research papers. The work deals with two different applications of the SWAN (Solar Wind ANisotropies) Lyman α imager instrument in connection with cometary studies: detecting comets and estimating their water production rates. This is possible because the extended hydrogen coma of an active comet resonantly scatters solar ultraviolet light. The SWAN instrument onboard the SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) spacecraft is capable of imaging the entire sky on a daily basis. A neural network was developed to search the SWAN database for comets (paper 2). This resulted in the late discovery of one moderately bright comet which had not been detected during its apparition (paper 1). Furthermore, an in-depth survey of the database revealed that it contained prediscovery observations of about half of the new bright comets (paper 3). This has demonstrated the feasibility of SWAN-type monitoring of new comets, which – together with asteroids – pose the most tangible long term threat to the existence of mankind. Water is the dominant volatile component of comets. Accurate measurements of the water production rate of a comet give an estimate of the size, dynamics and sometimes even of the rotational state of the cometary nucleus. Robust estimates are especially important for comets which are targets of near-term space missions, like comets Encke and Wild 2 (paper 4). Furthermore, a complete disintegration of a comet made it possible to observe its internal structure (paper 5). The introductory part provides the proper context for the research papers, describing cometary water production observations in general and reviewing the physical phenomena affecting the hydrogen coma, and suggests new research initiatives. Publishing unit Geophysical Research Classification (UDK)


In a computing system, the sending computer system and the recipient's computer system to exchange messages formatted resource-exchanged in an efficient manner. For example, the conversion from the register of the sending computer system will only select a single or a small number at a time of a plurality of units of message units, it converts. The converted message unit is streamed to the recipient computer system in accordance with the relevant standards, such as transformation for an XML message normalization standard. Conversion of the reader from the recipient computer system converts the message, using a sufficiently large buffer for the received message unit, and passing through the unit is converted to a file. Therefore, the writer is converted to pass the message to operate as a stream recorder, converted reader operates as the stream reader in the recipient's computer system. Computing systems, resources, transmission, receiver, message, unit conversion


Objective: To estimate the association of different patterns of infarction and intracranial arterial stenosis (ICAS) with the prognosis of acute minor ischemic stroke and TIA. Methods: We derived data from the Clopidogrel in High-risk Patients with Acute Nondisabling Cerebrovascular Events (CHANCE) trial. A total of 1,089 patients from 45 of 114 participating sites of the trial undergoing baseline MRI/angiography were included in this subgroup analysis. Patterns of infarction and ICAS were recorded for each individual. The primary efficacy outcome was an ischemic stroke at the 90-day follow-up. We assessed the associations between imaging patterns and prognosis of patients using multivariable Cox regression models. Results: Among the 1,089 patients included in this subgroup analysis, 93 (8.5%) patients had a recurrent ischemic stroke at 90 days. Compared with those without infarction or ICAS, patients with single infarction with ICAS (11.9% vs 1.3%, hazard ratio [HR] 6.25, 95% confidence intervals [CIs] 1.40–27.86, p = 0.02) and single infarction without ICAS (6.8% vs 1.3%, HR 4.65, 95% CI 1.05–20.64, p = 0.04) were all associated with an increased risk of ischemic stroke at 90 days. Patients with both multiple infarctions and ICAS were associated with approximately 13-fold risk of ischemic stroke at 90 days (18.0% vs 1.3%, HR 13.14, 95% CI 2.96–58.36, p < 0.001). Conclusions: The presence of multiple infarctions and ICAS were both associated with an increased risk of 90-day ischemic stroke in patients with minor stroke or TIA, while the presence of both imaging features had a combined effect. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00979589.


This paper examines the security of energy supply in Malaysia.  Analytical framework was used to quantify and assess the progress of energy security of Malaysia in four different categories namely Availability, Applicability, Affordability and Acceptability of energy resources.  Key metrics include the documentation of energy reserves, energy access, and CO2 emissions from year 2005 to 2015.  Relevant energy security indicators for Malaysia were identified using high quality historical data from World Bank and Energy Commission.The evaluation findings show that Malaysia has experienced a significant improvement in Applicability dimension, while Availability and Acceptability aspects of energy security only registered slight improvements.  On the other hand, Affordability dimension has suffered a slight decline.  This study suggests that diversifying energy sources, efficient utilization of energy and reducing carbon content of energy could be enhanced to improve energy security level in Malaysia.Energy security indicator; Energy policy; Malaysia, Security of supply


The aim of this study is to propose a methodology for practical theology, a hermeneutic-praxis paradigm, based both on the revised correlational method of David Tracy and Don S. Browning, and the critical praxis correlation of Rebecca S. Chopp. Practical theology, since its appearance, has raised questions of methodology for interdisciplinarity, the systematic relating of theology and its non-theological partners. Historically the modem concern to relate theology to its non-theological partners began with Schleierrnacher who attempted to use the concept of "positive science." Schleierrnacher defined the task of practical theology as guiding ministers and church leaders in carrying out their work. Since Schleierrnacher, however, his definition of practical theology has been limited, first, to the technical dimension which left practical theology outside the realm of theological inquiry and, second, to the functions of the clergy instead of those of church leadership as a whole. Thus, it has become a discipline which has only aimed at preparing ministers to handle the technical aspects of their work. Since then, it can be said that two main concerns has emerged in terms of the methodology of practical theology: practical theology as hermeneutic and a renewed emphasis on praxis. In considering these two, first, this paper introduces diverse approaches to practical theology, especially based on classifications by Edward Farley, Johannes van der Yen, and James Loder. Second, this paper proposes "hermeneutic-praxis paradigm," which moves beyond the clerical paradigm which focuses only on the praxis of clergy, and the ecclesial paradigm which confines the praxis to Christian vocation in the church, that is, praxis of congregations. Instead, this paper suggests a paradigm which bridges theory and practice, which connects church with society, which correlates theology with its non-theological partners. Lastly, this paper deals with the tasks of Christian education in relation to the forementioned discussions of practical theology. Christian education as practical theology is required to participate in Christian praxis and have a critical conversations with other disciplines by means of hermeneutic-praxis paradigm.


This article provides a review of research involving least absolute value (LAV) regression. The review is concentrated primarily on research published since the survey article by Dielman (Dielman, T. E. (1984). Least absolute value estimation in regression models: An annotated bibliography. Communications in Statistics – Theory and Methods, 4, 513–541.) and includes articles on LAV estimation as applied to linear and non-linear regression models and in systems of equations. Some topics included are computation of LAV estimates, properties of LAV estimators and inferences in LAV regression. In addition, recent work in some areas related to LAV regression will be discussed.


Introduction.- Switching Function bases Multirate Output Feedback Sliding Mode Control.- Multirate Output Feedback based Discrete-time Sliding Mode in LTI systems with Uncertainty.- Multirate Output Feedback based Discrete-time Quasi-Sliding Mode Control of Time-Delay Systems.- Multirate Output Feedback Sliding Mode for Special Classes of Systems.- Discrete-time Terminal Sliding Mode: Concept.- Applications of Multirate Output Feedback Discrete-time Sliding Mode Control.


This article introduce the hydrogeomorphological GIS based method of floodplain delineation based on elevation data and flood heights increasing downstream. The results were compared with floodplains derived from soil maps and with boundary mapped using GPS points. The advantage of this method is the low demands on the input data and the ability to define the floodplain of a large catchment area. Resulting floodplain maps present possible flooded area and can be used in preliminary flood risk assessment and landscape planning. Key-words: Floodplain, mapping, GIS, hydrogeomorphological method.


6011 Background: Phase II trials determine disease-specific activity of new agents. Standard phase II designs enroll initial cohorts, and the trial is terminated if all subjects are non-responders (NR). Due to ethical and scientific concerns, it is difficult to know if available NR information should be part of subject IC. Thus, we sought pts' understanding of the design and goals of phase II trials, experiences with IC, and interest in NR information.

METHODS
We conducted semi-structured interviews of cancer pts who recently enrolled in phase II trials at our institution.

RESULTS
Fifty-two of 54 consecutive pts agreed to be interviewed: 73% male, median age 58 (35-83), 77% white, 56% with some college. Patients reported physician phase II goals as: therapeutic benefit short of cure (60%), scientific (25%), cure/remission (20%). Patients own goals were prolongation of life (38%), therapeutic benefit short of cure (37%), cure/remission (23%). With regard to IC, 85% said they were told that advancement of scientific knowledge was an aspect of the trial, 79% said they were told they could stop treatment at any time, and 96% said they were informed of possible side effects; 73% said they were well informed of other options. However, only 50% of these pts reported they were offered non-experimental therapy, 32% no chemotherapy, and 12% palliative therapy. When asked about their understanding of the principal purpose of a phase II trial, 48% responded that it was therapeutic benefit short of cure, 40% advancement of scientific knowledge, 24% disease cure. Patients were also asked to define a threshold number (T) of NR they would be willing to accept before refusing enrollment. A majority (72%) was able to define a T: median 6.5 (1-99); and of these, 72% responded with a T that was <14 (cohort size required to detect a 20% RR). Seventy-four percent said they would want NR information before consenting to treatment; and 83% of these thought this information should be in the written consent form.

CONCLUSIONS
Our data suggest that pts may not be adequately informed of alternatives to phase II trials and that disclosure of prior NR information is important to pts and may impact enrollment decisions. No significant financial relationships to disclose.


There is no clarity on when and why consumers prefer specific sales promotions for the green versus non-green products. This research conducts a comparative analysis through three experiments to provide a theoretical explanation. It enhances the understanding of the impact of bonus pack versus price discount promotions for different characteristics, varying purchase volume, and the effect of information on buyers' choices. The results show that buyers do not prefer price discounts when purchasing low-involvement green products, and they do not prefer bonus packs when purchasing low-involvement non-green products. Remarkably, for high-involvement products, the buyers prefer bonus packs when purchasing green products; however, they show no specific inclination while purchasing non-green products. These effects are further influenced by emphasizing deal-savings and varying purchase volume. In addition, this research explains the reason for consumers' deal preferences through identifying the mediating role of the anticipated regret and conditional indirect effect of perceived expertise. The findings have significant practical implications.


1.1. Derived determiners This paper will discuss some of the syntactic properties of determiners and the problems associated with them, and will suggest a syntactic analysis that focuses mainly on the similarities between determiners and nouns. Even though the focus of this paper will be primarily on numerals, most of what will be said can be extended to other determiners as well. Let us begin by noting that many determiners in Hebrew, and numerals in particular, have two forms which seem to be derived from each other by the same rule that derives heads of construct-state (CS) nominals (úåëéîñ) from the basic form of the noun; I will refer to these two forms as the "basic" and "derived" forms. This is illustrated for determiners (numerals in this case) and for nouns in the following table:


We present experimental results on the translational and rotational energy transfers due to the collisions of large (N2)n clusters with a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite sample at 750 ms−1 incident velocity, for two surface temperatures Ts (440 and 580 K), for average cluster sizes n from 200 to 1000 monomers, and for incidence angles θi from 30° to 70°. Angular distributions of flux and angularly resolved time-of-flight profiles of scattered particles are measured with a quadrupole mass spectrometer while rotational state distributions are determined by resonantly enhanced multiphoton ionization. For all incidences but the largest (70°) the translational distributions of scattered molecules recorded at detection angles θd from 20° to 70° are compatible with a simple thermokinetic model assuming that monomer evaporation occurs at a well-defined temperature Tloc from the cluster gliding on the solid surface. Fits of the translational data yield Tloc values between 250 and 500 K, increasing with Ts and d...


Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This disease has spread globally, causing more than 161.5 million cases and 3.3 million deaths. Keeping on the identification, surveillance and the study of the temporal dynamics of mutations with significant representation is central to understand the adaptation of SARS-CoV-2. Furthermore, how lockdown policies influence the dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 mutations is poorly understood. Here, using 1 058 020 SARS-CoV-2 genomes and COVID-19 cases from 714 country-month combinations representing 98 countries, we performed a normalization by COVID-19 cases calculation of relative frequency of SARS-CoV-2 mutations. We found 115 mutations estimated to be present in more than 3 % of global COVID-19 cases and determined three types of mutation dynamics: High-Frequency, Medium-Frequency, and Low-Frequency. Classification of mutations based on temporal dynamics helps to study viral adaptation and can be used to evaluate the effects of human behaviors in the pandemic. For instance, we report a negative and positive correlation of the frequency change of High-Frequency mutations with the level of international movement controls and the number of flight departures, respectively.


Abu al-Kalam Azad studied some historical facts that he dealt with in his book (Interpretation of al-Qur'an) and (Umm al-Kitab) but he did not ignore Darwin's theory of ascension that everything grows slowly from the bottom up, except for the religious belief. Its matter is completely different because it descended from the top to the bottom and retreated from the best to the worst. Azad mentioned that God Almighty created all people as one nation, then people differed into various sects, meaning that the oldest human belief is the doctrine of monotheism. Azad tried to prove that most religions called people to monotheism, and the dispute among them resulted from internal contradictions. He believed that the dispute among the religions centers on depicting divine attributes, and there is no difference among them in the same deity. He did not try to call the people to the unity of religions - as it seems - but he wanted to call them to the unity of faith, which is the monotheism. The best form of monotheism for him is Islam, as stated in the Qur'an: (No doubt that the religion of God is Islam), (and any religion will not be accepted (Āl-ʻImrān: 19-85). Therefore, Azad called all people to Islam in an indirect way, he emphasized that what was the perception of worshiping God in the sixth century AD in the world was in need for the Qur'an to be revealed to correct the crookedness and corruption in the man's religious thought.


The goal of this research is to investigate how, and which measures can be implemented on a hybrid blockchain to prevent money laundering.

In this research, literature and the visions of experts are combined. I wrote down the prevention measures for the classical money laundering system to see whether those methods may contribute to solutions for money laundering with cryptocurrencies. The prevention measures for money laundering result from the anti-money laundering regulations. Therefore, the regulations are outlined in this research as well. After the regulations for cryptocurrencies, I summarized the anti-money laundering measures from the crypto industry.
Thereafter, experts from DNB and VBNL shared their vision on regulations and the practical implications of it.

I concluded that Smilo can prevent money launderers from their blockchain by following the next recommendations:

1. Partner with exchanges that implemented KYC measures.
2. Create an AML policy and publish it internally and externally.
3. Conduct SIRA.
4. Implement KYC measures.
5. Create a transaction monitoring algorithm for Smilo's blockchain.
6. Report every suspicious transaction/account to the FIU.
7. Stay in contact with crypto companies.
8. Join the InnovationHub.
9. Keep up to date with the FATF guidelines.
10. Investigate whether Smilo falls under VASP.


A mouth suction sampler, commonly and more conveniently and expressively known as a 'pooter', is an extremely efficient instrument for collecting small insects quickly and without damage. However, in dusty situations it is difficult to pick up the insects without also getting a mouthful of dust if the usual gauze or muslin is used as the filter.


The research reported in this paper is aimed at locating, identifying, and quantifying internal (anatomical or physiological) structures, by 3-D image segmentation. Computerized tomography (CT) images of an object are first processed on a slice-by-slice basis, generating a stack of image slices that have been smoothed and pre-segmented. The image smoothing operation is executed by a spatially adaptive filter, and the 2-D pre-segmentation is achieved by a thresholding process whereby each individual pixel in the input image space is consistently assigned a label, according to its CT number, i.e., the gray-level value. Given a sequence of pre-segmented images as 3-D input scene (a stack of image slices), the spatial connectivity that exists among neighboring image pixels is utilized in a volume growing process which generates a number of well-defined volumetric regions or image solides, each representing an individual anatomical or physiological structure in the input scene. The 3-D segmentation is implemented using a volume growing process so that the aspect of pixel spatial connectivity is incorporated into the image segmentation procedure. To initialize the volume growing process for each volumetric region in the input 3-D scene, a seed location for a region is defined and loaded into a queue data structure called seed queue. The volume growing process consists of a set of procedures that perform different operations on the volumetric data of a CT image sequence. Examples of experiment of the described system with CT image data of several hardwood logs are given to demonstrate usefulness and flexibility of this approach. This allows solutions to industrial web inspection, as well as to several problems in medical image analysis where low-level image segmentation plays an important role toward successful image interpretation tasks.


Abstract High-time-resolution X-ray observations of compact objects provide direct access to strong-field gravity, black-hole masses and spins, and the equation of state of ultra-dense matter. LOFT, the Large Observatory for Xray Timing, is specifically designed to study the very rapid X-ray flux and spectral variability that directly probe the motion of matter down to distances very close to black holes and neutron stars. A 10-m2-class instrument in combination with good spectral resolution (<260 eV @ 6 keV) is required to exploit the relevant diagnostics, and has the potential of revolutionising the study of collapsed objects in our Galaxy and of the brightest supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei. LOFT will carry two main instruments: a Large Area Detector (LAD), to be built at MSSL/UCL in collaboration with the Leicester Space Research Centre, and a Wide Field Monitor (WFM). The ground-breaking characteristic of the LAD (it will work in the energy range 2–30 keV) is a mass per unit surface in the range ~10 kg/m2, giving an effective area of ~10 m2 (@10 keV) at a reasonable weight—an improvement by ~20 over all predecessors. This will allow timing measurements of unprecedented sensitivity, providing the capability to measure the mass and radius of neutron stars with ~5% accuracy, or to reveal blobs orbiting close to the marginally stable orbit in active galactic nuclei. We summarise the characteristics of the LOFT instruments and give an overview of its expected capabilities.