Introduction: Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a heterogeneous group of clonal hematological disorders characterized by ineffective hematopoiesis and variable degrees of peripheral cytopenias. Neither curative nor standard therapy has been available yet for the majority of patients with MDS. Patients with available matched donor may undergo an allogeneic bone marrow transplant with a potential cure rate 30-50%. Danazol is a synthetic anabolic steroid with properties similar to corticosteroids, such as inhibition of interleukin-1 and TNF-α production. Also, has demonstrated activity in immune cytopenias and aplastic anemia but its efficacy in MDS has shown contradictory results. Recently there has been increasing interest in telomere dysfunction in hematological diseases. Short telomeres are the major prognostic risk factor for clonal evolution to myelodysplasia and acute leukemia. Danazol not only prevents telomere loss, but a mean increase occurs with improvement observed early during the course of hormone therapy. In our center with poor access to new strategies and therapies the use of danazol remains as an attractive option for patients with MDS because of its low cost. In this study we aim to document the clinical evolution of patients diagnosed with MDS treated with danazol as first-line therapy in our institution. Methods: We include patients diagnosed with MDS according to WHO criteria treated with danazol between 2005 and 2015. Response was defined as one or more of the following criteria: a rise in the platelet count >25 x 109/I, an increase in hemoglobin >2 g/dl or disappearance of a previous requirement for red blood cell transfusion, or an increase in neutrophil count >0.5 x 109/L. All patients received packed red blood cell and platelet transfusions according to physician criteria. Patients were given intravenous or oral antibiotics as needed as prophylaxis. Criteria for stop danazol included: no response to treatment, toxicity or patient9s refusal to continue treatment. Blood counts were preformed at least 1-month intervals for the first 4 months. We compared those who responded versus no responders using the Student9s t test or Mann-Whitney U test as corresponded. Results: Forty-two patients with MDS were treated with danazol. Median follow-up was 12 months (range 3-75). Median dose used was 400 mg (range 100-600) orally in two divided doses. Mean duration of treatment for all patients was 6 months (range 3-72 months). The distribution by WHO subtypes included 26 refractory cytopenia with multilineage dysplasia (RCMD) (62%), 6 patients with refractory cytopenia with unilineage dysplasia (RCUD), 6 refractory anemia with excess blasts (RAEB), 2 refractory anemia with ring sideroblasts (RARS) and 1 MDS associated with isolated del(5q). Twenty-four (60%) patients presented clinical response. Response for patients with anemia was 23.8% (10/24), increase in absolute neutrophil count occurred in 36.8% (7/19), and 60% (24/40) presented an increase in platelet count. Time to initial response was 2 months (range, 1-8) while time to better response of 3 month (range, 1-8). Response was not associated to any MDS classification or administrated dose. Toxicity was mild and danazol was not discontinued in any patient. Side effects included three patients with gastrointestinal symptoms, and 4 patients reported weight gain. Median overall survival was 24 months (CI95% 5.1-42). Fifteen patients died (35.7%). Five patients progressed to AML. Conclusion: Different agents have been used in MDS. However, for the majority of patients with MDS no curative treatment exists. In conclusion our data suggest that Danazol may be effective in MDS with minimal toxicity, especially in patients with thrombocytopenia. Response was independent of severity, WHO classification and administrated dose. Disclosures Gomez-Almaguer:Janssen: Consultancy, Membership on an entity9s Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Bristol: Consultancy, Membership on an entity9s Board of Directors or advisory committees; Celgene: Consultancy, Membership on an entity9s Board of Directors or advisory committees; Amgen: Consultancy, Membership on an entity9s Board of Directors or advisory committees.


Grain growth and the anatase-to-rutile phase transition in nanostructured titania have been investigated by electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and differential thermal analysis. For pure TiO2, thermal treatment resulted in complete phase transition and considerable grain coarsening, because of the grain boundary nucleation mechanism for the rutile phase. The effect of doping of the TiO2 nanophase has also been addressed. Phase transition turned out to be strongly affected by the presence of Ta and Nb because nucleation of rutile was favored at the surface of anatase grains. Doping allowed the maintenance of the ultrafine anatase phase even at high annealing temperature. Thermal analysis highlighted that oxygen mobility in the titania lattice is affected by doping and related to the inhibition of grain coalescence and phase transition.


The results of measurements on a few solar air and water heaters of the same design, but made from different plastic materials, are reported for different climatic conditions. The experiments on the systems were made over a long time period, first in Germany in 1982 and then in India in 1984. An economic evaluation shows that the use of such collectors can bring down the cost of solar energy in the desired economic scale. Despite the drawback of UV degradation of plastic material resulting in shorter lifetime, the low initial investment cost keeps the cost of useful energy also low.


Research has presented that organizational behavior derives from some factors that may have got the potential for positive and negative effects on people's performance in organizations. The objective of the development of this study was to perform a systematic mapping of the evolution of the literature regarding the meritocratic organizational behavior construct, aiming to organize, evaluate and integrate scientific evidence with the selected articles. In this study of mapping the specialized literature, the Web of Science Scopus databases were used, through the application of informetric techniques using the bibliometrix package of the R language. The mapping of the evolution of behavior at work and merit in the organizational context made it necessary to contextualize the empirical research that supports the proposal of this study. The descriptive results illustrate the evolution of publications involving the terms "organizational behavior and merit or meritocracy" over the period studied, which was confirmed by the verification of the average annual growth rate of publications of 10.84%. An important demonstration refers to the clear identification of the capacity to produce publications by country. The mapping of time tracks related to publications on organizational behavior and merit presented that the United States of America is the major protagonist of this current of research at a global level. It was observed that a combination of aspects that involve not only the management of organizational behavior and its relationship with meritocracy between genders and diversity at work, as well as the merit in careers and promotions, and, mainly, the meritocratic system for performance as the focus of public management.


The second‐order correction to the Hadamard formulas for the Green's function, harmonic measures, and period matrix of a two‐dimensional domain is obtained in the context of the domain‐variational theory.


Investigating the soil samples of the Hungarian Natural History Museum collected in the North-Eastern Carpathians, a total of six species belonging to two families were found. One of them, Neobisium brevidigitatum (Beier, 1928) is new for the fauna of Ukraine; a brief description of the new specimen is given. The pseudoscorpion species reported earlier from the region are briefly summarized. According to these new and the preceding literature data the pseudoscorpion fauna of Ukraine now counts twenty-six species.


VALEOLOGICAL MINDSET 1 The article is devoted to the study of valeological mindset as an integral entity that characterizes the idea about health and illness, a person's attitude to the problems of health and illness, as well as behavioral patterns aimed at maintaining health and overcoming illness, is associated with the psychosomatic competence that is understood as a system of abilities of the cognitive component of the bodily self, which ensures the acceptance of one's body and stipulates self-regulation, based on the experience of the internal dialogue with bodily self. The purpose of the study: to define correlations between valeological mindsets and the psychosomatic competence of students. As a result of the correlation analysis, it has been shown that manipulative and deficient valeological mindsets have a negative relation with the psychosomatic competence while the resource and supportive valeological mindsets have a positive influence. The dominance of the resource valeological mindset in the typological profile of the student's personality determines the highest level of ability to verbalize the bodily self, while the combination of high indices of manipulative and deficient valeological mindsets within a single profile has a negative effect on the psychosomatic competence, on such qualities as dialogism, subjectivity and integrity in particular.


Introduction:
 Basic life support (BLS) training poses challenges for healthcare organizations. It requires numerous resources, complicates scheduling and is expensive. Orderlies typically provide chest compressions during in-hospital cardiac arrests, and are therefore recertified in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) every 2 years. However, such time lapse between CPR certifications induces skills decay.

 Hypothesis:
 Based on the American Heart Association statement on resuscitation education science published in 2018, we aimed to train all orderlies (n= 900) in less than 1 year, in order to reach proficiency in chest compressions, at a fraction of the cost.

 Method:
 A shortened (20 minutes), and adapted version of CPR training was created. This training specifically addressed high quality chest compressions, the cornerstone skill relevant to the scope of practice of orderlies in CPR. It was delivered in situ during working hours, as a mass training program that spanned over a period of 1 week. The training was provided through Mastery Learning and Deliberate Practice with direct feedback and live coaching. The cost analysis aimed to compare the costs of the new approach as compared to BLS training.

 Results:
 With this innovative approach, 30 trainers were able to train 600 employees in only 5 days. Preliminary results suggest most were able to perform high quality compressions after training. The total cost of the activity was 2 347.21 $CAD which represents 3% (2 347 of 76 200) of what it would take to train 600 people in BLS (76 200$CAD), and 13% (2 347 of 18 000) of the budget planned per year for orderlies' BLS training at our institution (~18 000$CAD). The individual cost of our initiative was 4.13$CAD per employee. This method allowed to train employees around the clock, to cover all working shifts, thereafter preventing the removal of employees from the rolling schedule. Also, this solution allows us to repeat the experience another time this year, to train all orderlies.

 Conclusions:
 Although further research is needed to assess if skills are sustained over time and comparable based on performance outcomes, our inquiry is an innovative, sustainable and cost-effective way to train specific CPR skills to large groups.


The Fanaroff-Riley type I radio galaxies (Fanaroff & Riley, 1974) presented in this paper belong to the complete sample of low-intermediate luminosity radio galaxies published in Giovannini, Feretti & Comoretto (1990). This sample includes radio galaxies with different morphologies on the arcsecond scale, such as compact sources, core-halos, FRIs and FRIIs.


Low-temperature specific heats for ten amorphous and four crystalline Co-Y alloys have been measured in the temperature range 1.5-6 K. Both the linearly temperature-dependent specific heat coefficient gamma and the Debye temperature theta D in amorphous and crystalline phases exhibit a sharp increase at the composition where the ferromagnetism collapses. The enhancement in gamma is ascribed to the presence of the linearly temperature-dependent magnetic specific heat, which is often observed in the range where the ferromagnetism becomes unstable. The band-structure profile over a wide composition range is discussed in the light of recent band-structure calculations. The density of states at the Fermi level does not differ appreciably between the amorphous and crystalline phases and decreases gradually with increasing Y content. The internal magnetic field Hint was deduced from the 59Co nuclear specific heat coefficient. The authors found that Hint follows well a linear relationship with the magnetic moment per transition-metal atom.


NIMF4‐31.7 is a monoclonal IgM antibody with affinity for terminal galactose residues of membrane glycoproteins, Sepharose and agarose. It is cytotoxic for a subpopulation of murine thymocytes and peripheral lymphocytes, corresponding to the peanut agglutinin‐positive population, but reacts with a majority of cells after neuraminidase treatment. It has revealed a genetic linkage between the Thy‐1 locus and quantitative expression of carbohydrate determinants on the thymocyte membrane.


The Cretaceous-Eocene basic to intermediate marine volcanic rocks of the Mucuchi Formation constitute the Western Cordillera in northern Ecuador. Their chemical features mostly correspond to those of tholeiitic basalts with some calc-alkaline affinities and suggest an oceanic island arc setting. The Macuchi rocks are affected by low-grade, non-deformative metamorphism, characterized by zeolite, prehnite-pumpellyite and lower greenschist facies assemblages. Depth-zonation is suggested by the downward mineral sequence: (i) laumontite+ (pistacitic epidote, pumpellyite + prehnite); (ii) pumpellyite+ prehnite + pistacitic epidote; (iii) actinolite+biotite+ pistacitic epidote + chlorite. This broad zonation and the chemistry of individual minerals point to an interaction between the volcanic rocks and sea-water under a moderate to high thermal gradient (= 75° C/km?). Alteration appears to have been dependent primarily on fluid control (volume, pressure, composition), temperature and reaction kinetics which together partly overshadow the role of load-pressure. Compositional variations of a mineral species at the scale of a contiguous flow or even at the scale of a thin section show that intensity of alteration was spatially uneven depending on rock permeability and consequently, metastable equilibrium commonly exists. However, a progressive approximation to equilibrium as a result of P–T control is shown by the mineralogy. A high fo2 of the fluid phase is evident from the mineral chemistry. The metamorphism of the Macuchi volcanics is similar to the hydrothermal-burial type produced during the development of a volcanic arc where lavas and volcanoclastics accumulated in a shallow marine environment. However, some of its characteristics point to a transition toward systems defined by a higher T/P ratio such as those found in ocean-floor metamorphism.

A model is proposed in which the Macuchi volcanics are assigned to an oceanic island arc generated contemporaneously with a marginal basin which has opened as the outcome of progressive north-south attenuation of the continental crust due to mantle diapirism.


Abstract Bystanders who were not stakeholders had often been mobilized into popular protests in China. Why did these bystanders step in to some protests and choose not to participate in other protests? What were the motivations and mobilizing mechanisms that brought the bystanders into the protests? Based on the case study of the Shishou Unrest in which about 70,000 bystanders were effectively mobilized to step into protests, this article reveals a two-stage mobilization strategy that the stakeholders started by turning a small number of bystanders into activists and then to mobilize more, other bystanders into protests. During the first mobilization stage, the stakeholders provided material incentives to the bystanders. During the second stage, activists appealed to the bystanders' perception of extraordinary injustice related to the triggering event and the local society as a whole. The two-stage mobilization strategy successfully led a large number of bystanders step into the Shishou Unrest.


Accurate estimation of turbulent stresses in pulsatile flows is very important in the design of mechanical heart valves to reduce thromboembolism and hemolysis. The flow within the lumen of a fully transparent bileaflet mechanical heart valve model, in the "mitral" position of an in-vitro pulsatile flow loop, is characterized using digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV). A phase-averaging technique is used to obtain the mean velocities and turbulent stresses. The results are compared with those obtained using laser Doppler anemometry which shows good agreement between the two measurement techniques, thereby validating the integrity of the DPIV measurements in the conditionally sampled time dependent flow. Convergence and accuracy issues involving turbulent stress measurements with DPIV in pulsatile flows are addressed in this paper.


The problem of controlling an underactuated system, the so-called seesaw-inverted pendulum, consisting in two cars, one of them with an inverted pendulum and placed on a balancing seesaws, is addressed. The simulation and experimental results for tracking a reference signal are presented.


A decanter and sanitary pump assembly for dispensing metered quantities of liquid. The pump assembly is mounted inside the decanter, and the entire apparatus is quickly and easily disassembled for cleaning, thus making it particularly useful for dispensing food products. The outlet of the pump assembly projects downwardly from an overhanging section of the decanter to allow convenient placing of a liquid receiving container beneath the outlet.


Changes of oceanic salinity are highly related to the variations of evaporation and precipitation. To understand the influence of rainfall on the sea surface salinity (SSS) in the waters adjacent to Taiwan, satellite remote sensing data from the year of 2012 to 2014 are employed in this study. The daily rain rate data obtained from Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I), Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission's Microwave Imager (TRMM/TMI), Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR), and WindSat Polarimetric Radiometer. The SSS data was derived from the measurements of radiometer instruments onboard the Aquarius satellite. The results show the average values of SSS in east of Taiwan, east of Luzon and South China Sea are 33.83 psu, 34.05 psu, and 32.84 psu, respectively, in the condition of daily rain rate higher than 1 mm/hr. In contrast to the rainfall condition, the average values of SSS are 34.07 psu, 34.26 psu, and 33.09 psu in the three areas, respectively at no rain condition (rain rate less than 1 mm/hr). During the cases of heavy rainfall caused by spiral rain bands of typhoon, the SSS is diluted with an average value of -0.78 psu when the average rain rate is higher than 4 mm/hr. However, the SSS was increased after temporarily decreased during the typhoon cases. A possible reason to explain this phenomenon is that the heavy rainfall caused by the spiral rain bands of typhoon may dilute the sea surface water, but the strong winds can uplift the higher salinity of subsurface water to the sea surface.


TSHIKI J: A) INTRODUCTION [1] In this case the plaintiff herein is suing the defendants for medical negligence which is alleged to have resulted in plaintiff suffering from emotional shock and trauma coupled with psychological dysfunction in the form of post traumatic stress and depression. As a consequence of suffering from emotional psychological dysfunction aforesaid plaintiff alleges that she has suffered both special and general damages all amounting to a sum of R333 080,00 for which the defendants are held liable by the plaintiff jointly and severally together with costs of suit.


The determination of the visual field for several persons in a scene is an important problem with many applications in human behavior understanding for security and customized marketing. One such application, addressed in this paper, is to catch the visual field of persons in a scene. We obtained the head pose in the image sequence manually in order to determine exactly the visual field of persons in the monitored scene. We use knowledge about the human vision, trigonometrical relations to calculate the length and the height of the visual field and quaternion approach for doing several changes of reference marks. We demonstrate this technique using a data set of videos taken by surveillance cameras on shops.


Number of the capillary-loops of the nailfold microcirculation was decreased immediately, the velocity of blood flow in capillary-loops was decreased gradually, during the open heart operation with extracorporeal circulation. Resuciation of number of the capillary-loops of the patients was earlier than the resumeing of velocity of blood flow after operation.The vasomotion of the capillary-loops existed continuously durins the process of the anesthesia and the operation. It was pointed out, the observe of the nailfold microcirculation is the most direct monitor index understanding the state of circulatory ending of the patients during the open heart operation with extracorporeal circulation.


The FIFRELIN Monte Carlo code has been upgraded recently by adding new capabilities, additional models and updated databases. Several examples are presented in this work as well as three different applications related to the prompt component in fission, gamma cascades from thermal neutron capture and the delayed component in fission associated to the time evolution of decay heat.


We argue that there is a fundamental problem regarding the analysis that serves as the foundation for the papers 'Information theory explanation of the fluctuation theorem, maximum entropy production and self-organized criticality in non-equilibrium stationary states' (Dewar 2003 J. Phys. A: Math. Gen.36 631–41) and 'Maximum entropy production and the fluctuation theorem' (Dewar 2005 J. Phys. A: Math. Gen.38 L371–81). In particular, we demonstrate that this analysis is based on an assumption that is physically unrealistic and that, hence, the results obtained in those papers cannot be regarded as physically meaningful.


A combinatorial n-sphere is a simplicial n-complex whose body (i.e., the union of its members) is homeomorphic to the topological n-sphere Sn. A combinatorial n-manifold is a simplicial n-complex M such that M is connected, and for every vertex x in M the complex linker, M), the link of x in M, is a combinatorial (n — 1)-sphere. For more details the reader should consult Alexander [1] and Grünbaum [16]. All the spheres and manifolds to which we refer are combinatorial.


Background: Young patients are 6 times more likely than adults to have a primary anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) graft failure. Biological factors (ie, tunnel osteolysis) may account for up to a third of these failures. Previous evaluations of patient ACL explants indicated significant bone loss within the entheseal regions. However, it remains unknown if the degree of bone loss within the ACL insertion regions, wherein ACL grafts are fixated, exceeds that of the femoral and tibial condylar bone. Hypothesis: Bone loss in the mineralized matrices of the femoral and tibial ACL entheses is distinct from that clinically reported across the whole knee after injury. Study Design: Controlled laboratory study. Methods: We developed a clinically relevant in vivo mouse ACL injury model to cross-sectionally track the morphological and physiological postinjury changes within the ACL, femoral and tibial entheses, synovial joint space, and load-bearing epiphyseal cortical and trabecular bone components of the knee joint. Right ACLs of 10-week-old C57BL/6J female mice (N = 75) were injured in vivo with the contralateral ACLs serving as controls. Mice were euthanized at 1, 3, 7, 14, or 28 days after injury (n = 12/cohort). Downstream analyses included volumetric cortical and trabecular bone analyses and histopathologic assessments of the knee joint after injury. Gait analyses across all time points were also performed (n = 15 mice). Results: The majority of the ACL injuries in mice were partial tears. The femoral and tibial cortical bone volumes were 39% and 32% lower, respectively, at 28 days after injury than those of the uninjured contralateral knees (P < .01). Trabecular bone measures demonstrated little difference between injured and control knees after injury. Across all bone measures, bone loss was similar between the injured knee condyles and ACL entheses. There was also significant inflammatory activity within the knee after injury. By 7 days after injury, synovitis and fibrosis were sigificantly elevated in the injured knee compared with the controls (P < .01), which corresponded with significantly higher osteoclast activity in bone at this time point compared with the controls. This inflammatory response signficantly persisted throughout the duration of the study (P < .01). The hindlimb gait after injury deviated from normal, but mice habitually loaded their injured knee throughout the study. Conclusion: Bone loss was acute and persisted for 4 weeks after injury in mice. However, the authors' hypothesis was not confirmed, as bone quality was not significantly lower in the entheses compared with the condylar bone regions after injury. With relatively normal hindlimb loading but a significant physiological response after injury, bone loss in this model may be driven by inflammation. Clinical Relevance: There is persistent bone resorption and fibrotic tissue development after injury that is not resolved. Inflammatory and catabolic activity may have a significant role in the postinjury decline of bone quality in the knee.


Iron molybdenum modi ed MCM-41 mesoporous materials were obtained by the application of direct hydrothermal method. An incorporation of iron and molybdenum ions in the synthesis stage led to structural changes of the MCM-41 support. With an increasing metals content, cylindrical pores of silica are destroyed. X-ray di raction investigations indicated that both iron and molybdenum ions were rst embedded in the silica walls and then formed highly dispersed species in the pores. The porous structure of the studied samples was examined by means of N2 adsorption/desorption and PALS methods. The longest-lived o-Ps lifetime component remains constant but its intensity monotonically decreases, except for the sample with the highest metals content. These results indicate that an e ect of o-Ps formation inhibition occurs.


The interactions between solid surfaces and cells are crucial to many biological phenomena for all biomaterials. A material is said to be biocompatible, only when no or minimal adverse reactions ensue at the blood/tissue material interface, and high resistance to biodegeneration. Nanoscale modification of the implant surface can alter the chemistry and/or topography. Different methods have been described to modify or to embellish titanium substrates with nanoscale features. Such changes alter the implant surface interaction with ions, biomolecules and cells. These interactions can favorably influence molecular and cellular activities and alter the process of osseointegration. Here we present a review of these surface interactions and its applicability in practice.


Perfluoropolyether (PFPE) lubricants were chemically modified to maximize their thermal stability for application in heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR). Benzophenone (BP) was introduced to react with the hydroxyl end group in PFPE to act as a free radical stabilizer. Modification of the PFPE by benzophenone was confirmed by evaluation of the chemical shift and the area change of the hydroxyl peak in the 1 H NMR spectra. The thermal stability of modified PFPE lubricants was studied using thermo-gravimetry. The improvement in the thermal stability was found to be a function of the amount of substituted hydroxyl groups in PFPE.Copyright © 2011 by ASME


Technologies have always led to turning points in society. In the past, technological developments have opened the door to new phases of growth and change, while influencing social values and principles. Algorithmic technologies fit within this framework. These technologies have contributed to introducing new ways to process vast amounts of data. In the digital economy, data and information are fundamental assets which can be considered raw materials the processing of which can generate value. Even simple pieces of data, when processed with a specific purpose and mixed with other information, can provide models and predictive answers. These opportunities have led to the rise of new applications and business models in a new phase of (digital) capitalism, as more recently defined as information capitalism. Although these technologies have positive effects on the entire society since they increase the capacity of individuals to exercise rights and freedoms, they have also led to new constitutional challenges. The opportunities afforded by algorithmic technologies clash with their troubling opacity and lack of accountability, in what


The internet service provider ISP Puntonet provides data services and internet services to the Urban Express business nationwide, in order to improve services and ensure optimal service, was migrated from a Metro Ethernet network to a multiprocol MPLS label switching network, this was achieved through a series processes mentioned below. An analysis of the network operation was in Metro Ethernet, for which addressing, routing, topology, bandwidth, services and equipment that were operating in each of the links at the national level was investigated, them analyzed all information and optimal network design with the new MPLS technology was proposed. The design of the new network was implemented in each of the links within an established schedule, which began with matrix, where a router was installed in parallel to not affect the operation of the network at the time is operation, this router is in the new network MPLS and has set VRF lite, BGP, route-map, prefix-list level redundancy and the last mile, providing data services and Internet simultaneously, then each branch is migrated. Each of these links, which are in the new MPLS network will be entered observium monitoring software thus allowing to have a consumption monitoring bandwidth and link availability. Once all the links are in the new technology, we proceeded to verify the convergence of the entire network and proper functioning of the same.


. Let G be a sporadic Mathieu group and k an algebraically closed field of prime characteristic p , dividing the order of G . In this paper we describe some of the Lie algebra structure of the first Hochschild cohomology groups of the p -blocks of kG . In particular, letting B denote a p -block of kG , we calculate the dimension of HH 1 ( B ) and in the majority of cases we determine whether HH 1 ( B ) is a solvable Lie algebra.


This paper describes a hybrid radio frequency (RF) and piezoelectric thin film polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) vibration energy harvester for wearable devices. By exploiting the impedance characteristics of parasitic capacitances and discrete inductors, the proposed harvester not only scavenges 15 Hz vibration energy but also works as a 915 MHz flexible silver-ink RF dipole antenna. In addition, an interface circuit including a 6-stage Dickson RF-to-DC converter and a diode bridge rectifier to convert the RF and vibration outputs of the hybrid harvester into DC signals to power resistive loads is evaluated. A maximum DC output power of 20.9 μ", when using the RF to DC converter and −8 dBm input RF power, is achieved at 36 % of the open-circuit output voltage while the DC power harvested from 3 g vibration excitation reaches a maximum of 2.8 μW at 51% of open-circuit voltage. Experimental results show that the tested hybrid harvesting system simultaneously generates 7.3 μW DC power, when the distance from the harvester to a 3 W EIRP 915 MHz transmitter is 5.5 m, and 1.8 μW DC power from a 1.8 g vibration acceleration peak.


The present work describes the synthesis of azo carbonate monomers by a clean carbonylation synthetic route using di-methylcarbonate. The kinetics study showed a conversion of ∼98% to bis-carbonates after only six minutes of reaction using triazabicyclo[4.4.0]dec-5-ene (TBD) as the catalyst. The preparation of azo-carbonates by means of coupling aryldiazonium salts with bis-carbonate was performed. The reactivity of azo-carbonate monomers was tested in the polycondensation reaction with an aminoalcohol using TBD as a catalyst for the formation of non-isocyanate poly(azo-carbonate-urethane)s PCU 1 and PCU 2. The copolymers' structures were confirmed by FT-IR, NMR and MALDI experiments, which allow us to determine the different terminal groups of the polymer chains formed. The molecular weights and the molecular weight distribution of PCU 1 and PCU 2 were determined by size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) experiments and thermal stabilities were also studied by TG analysis. The biocompatible properties of monomers 4 and 6 and polymers PCU 1 and PCU 2 were investigated by liver, kidney and colon histological analyses.


Doxorubicin (DOXO) is an anticancer that is often used clinically which induces cardiotoxicity in the patient. Therefore, finding a new compound that acts as co-chemotherapy is a current challenge. Eurycomanone (EURY) isolated from Eurycoma longifolia Jack have been shown to have anticancer activity in several studies. This study aimed to observe the effect of EURY, DOXO, and its combination on the cell cycle of T47D and MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines. Anticancer activities of EURY and DOXO were examined by MTT colorimetry assay. The effect of combination was analyzed by the Combination Index (CI) method using Compusyn software. The apoptotic activity was analyzed using flow cytometry. To determine CI, a fixed concentration ratio between EURY and DOXO was used from the IC50 value at concentrations (1/2; 1/4; 1/8; 1/16 of IC50). We found that EURY had IC50 values at 0.377μg/mL on T47D and 4.7μg/mL on MCF-7 cells, while DOXO had IC50 values 1.845μg/mL on T47D and 5.074μg/mL on MCF-7cells. The optimal combination of EURY and DOXO on T47D was at 1/16 IC50 EURY – 1/6 IC50 DOXO with CI of 0.3442, whereas on MCF-7 was at 1/16 IC50 of EURY – 1⁄2 IC50 DOXO with CI 0.0221. Apoptosis was significantly higher in MCF-7 cells treated with EURY alone than DOXO alone with p<0.001. On T47D cells, DOXO alone resulted in more cell death than EURY alone, although not statistically significant. Cell death was higher in both cancer lines when EURY and DOXO were combined compared to DOXO alone with p<0.05 in both comparisons.


Firefly Algorithm (FA) is a novel swarm intelligence optimization algorithm. Due to the FA have low precision defects, easily falling into local optimum value when solving the global optimal value, an improved Firefly Algorithm based on Newton's law of universal gravitation was proposed in the paper. The proposed algorithm cites the law of gravity, which builds a new evolutionary computation model by using gravity as attractiveness between fireflies. When the population falls into the local optimal region, the proposed algorithm can improve firefly's diversity through Gaussian mutation. Besides, the algorithm is convergent with probability 1. With the experimental results on 4 standard test functions, the results show that the proposed method is superior to FA in computational precision and convergence rate. 


Introduction: Childhood autism is a disorder characterized for not have biological markers, therefore it diagnosis is clinical and very hard to do because the variability of the symptomatology. There are few instruments of psychological evaluation that contribute to the diagnosis process of the autism. An instrument used for the quantification of the autism severity is the Childhood Autism Rating Scale, CARS. The motivation of this study was to socialize our work experience in the application of this scale. Objective: To identify the Childhood Autism Rating Scales subscales, in which are expressed the severity of the behavior alterations in children diagnosed with autism disorder, and to evaluate the correspondence between the scale results and the symptomatology. Methods: It was used the quantitative methodology, with a descriptive, retrospective and transversal type of study, with children diagnosed in the Mental Health Service of the "Juan Manual Marquez" Pediatric Hospital, since 1991 to 2006, to whom were applied the childhood Autism Rating Scale for the quantification of autism, due suspects of the presence of this disorder. Results: Verbal communication and imitation are the subscale where are expressed the higher severity behaviors. In the subscales of social relationships, emotional response, objects use and hearing response, the trend goes to a moderate level. In the visual response and taste-smell-touch subscales the tendency is mild, what also happens in a more evident way in the intellectual functionality subscale. In the other subscales was not possible to specify the trends. Conclusions: The subscales with the most severity alterations are verbal communication and imitation, followed by use of objects, social relationships and non-verbal communication. There was correspondence between the symptomatology and the results in the childhood Autism Rating Scale, in all evaluated cases.


The first part of this paper extends the pioneering work of Kenneth Snelson on tensegrity towers. The generalized method is capable of producing towers and arches with any number of bars at each level. Examples of towers with four, seven and ten bars at each level are presented. An arch is constructed based on the same concept. Also a cable-stayed bridge with two tensegrity arches is proposed. The second part of the paper presents a method for generating tensegrity roofs for stadiums. A hexagonal tensegrity cell is proposed as the basic building block for creating roofs of arbitrary geometries. Various computer generated models and physical models are presented to demonstrate the generality and applicability of the proposed methods.


The SPACE and DUNE proposals for the ESA Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 have been pre-selected for a Dark Energy Mission. An assessment study was performed in the past few months resulting in a merged mission called EUCLID. The study led to a possible concept for the mission and the payload, paving the way for the industrial studies. I will describe a fully integrated optical design proposed for EUCLID as well as the different steps and difficulties to meet the optical specifications. ESA used the optical design of the telescope, the spectroscopic channel (ex-SPACE), and the space envelope of the visible imaging and NIR photometric channels (ex-DUNE) to derive a tentative mechanical design and related accommodation constraints for EUCLID. Starting with the preliminary design of the DUNE mission for the telescope and instrument, a series of modifications were made to make space for the spectroscopic channel and minimize the weight. The design of DUNE used a 3 mirror telescope of 1.2-m and a dichroic to obtain imaging in both visible and infrared. The design of SPACE, mostly a Durham design, was made of 4 channels each re-imaging a sub-field from the Cassegrain focus of a 2 mirror telescope onto a Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) containing ~2.2 millions micromirrors. A prism spectrograph followed each array. This design was modified to reduce the number of optics and spectrographs, and add an imaging capability. The total field of EUCLID is almost 1 square degree nearly equally split between the spectroscopic and imaging channels.


th and 5 th group treated orally with Se (0.25, 0.5 and 1 mg/kg bw, respectively) once a day. The other 3 groups (combination groups, 6, 7 and 8, respectively) treated with the same concentrations of Se plus i.p dose of ADR once a week. The results of the present study revealed that animals treated with Se plus ADR (groups 6, 7 and 8) presented a statistically significant reduction in all types of chromosomal aberrations compared to ADR only treated group. As well a reduction in enzyme (AST, ALT, ACP, ALP and LDH) activities and total protein and uric acid levels as indicators of hepatic and kidney functions was obtained. This study concludes that Se has protective effects against ADR- induced chromosome damage and biochemical alterations due to its ability to scavenge free radicals and antioxidant properties. That antioxidant supplementation could be used in combination with ADR to protect against oxidative stress without attenuating the clinical efficacy of ADR, avoiding the need to take other medications, and improving the patients quality of life.


The ion-beam sputtering deposition is a good technique for making low scattering coatings. In this work, the Ta2O5 thin films as the oxygen flux (15-35sccm) were prepared on the K9 glass using the single ion-beam sputtering. As the oxygen flux increased, the thickness of films with the same deposited time decreased from 936.67nm to 837.87nm. The refractive index was 2.075 in 1000nm at 30 sccm. The stress increased along with the increasing of oxygen flux. In the work, the compressive stress increased from 319.55 Mpa to 410.92 Mpa.


This research is based on the background that there are still students who do not understand the use of social media well so that it has an impact on student learning behavior at school. This affects student learning outcomes in schools that are less than satisfactory because social media is not used for learning but is more used as a place of entertainment. Based on this, this study will reveal how the influence of the use of social media on learning behavior. Social media is a communication area that is used more today, whether in terms of work, relationships and other matters. The existence of social media makes it easier for someone to communicate, faster and more affordable, all human activities become easier. Social media also has a weakness, namely users who do not have limits or control themselves will be complacent, and negligent in other matters. Based on the results of this study, it can be understood that excessive use of social media will greatly affect student learning behavior at school.


The fracture of filled composites based on polyolefin matrices during their tensile drawing was studied. The disruption or separation of large-sized rubber particles leads to the development of defects. The nucleated defects initially grow as elliptical pores but later they are transformed into diamond pores. Such pores are microcracks that grow perpendicular to the direction of drawing. Diamond pores are formed when opening (elongation) of elliptically shaped pores reaches the level that is equal to the critical crack opening in an unfilled notched polymer. The critical dimensions of particles corresponding to the development of diamond pores are limited by the toughness of the matrix polymer.


The effective neutron capture cross section,; the 2200 meters/sec neutron capture cross section, σ0, and the resonance capture integral, RI, of Pr-143 have been measured by an activation method. The values are: , σ0 = 89 ± 10, and RI = 190 ± 25 barns respectively. The neutron fluxes have been measured with cobalt monitors. All these values have been calculated according to the Westcott convention, which has been outlined insofar as it can be applied to activation work.


According to the development of the mercury pollution control technologies for coal-fired flue gases,the updated methods including the adsorption technology and the oxidation technology were overviewed.The studies of mercury removal by activated carbon or chemically treated carbons,and the studies of photocatalytic oxidation of element mercury were highlighted in the paper.Based on the same reaction mechanism for these two techniques,which exist simultaneously adsorption and oxidation reactions,it was proposed that adsorption-photocatalytic oxidation might be a new research direction for the mercury removal from coal-fired flue gases.


The benefits of an integrated approach in the future of leprosy control in India are discussed, by involving professionals from different systems of medicine and coordinated by dermatologists working in the field of community dermatology. The low level of education amongst traditional healers has led to misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment, thus emphasizing the importance of health education for patients, families and local practitioners to enable prompt and appropriate treatment. The Indian systems of medicine though supportive do not have the required rehabilitation services. Traditional health practitioners demonstrated an improved knowledge of leprosy on completion of training, and were able to detect and refer suspect cases with only early signs of disease.


In this article, the preconditioning methods are used for fuzzy linear systems and especially some new preconditioners are introduced. Moreover, the preconditioned iterative methods are studied from the point of view of rate of convergence and the convergence properties of the proposed methods have been analyzed and compared with the classical methods. Finally, the methods are tested by numerical example that shows a good improvement on the convergence speed.


The invention provides a superconductive contact structure comprising a bulk oxide superconductor and a strip or rivet of a superconducting tape, the latter fied and bonded on the former by mechanical and thermal treatments, provides extremely low specific contact resistance of the order of nano ohm cm2 and excellent adhesive strength. The invented contact enables bulk oxide superconducting devices to minimise the end heating compared to conventional contacts. The invention also provides a method for forming the invented contact.


Abstract In this work, we present definition of the representation of double Lie algebroids and find a one-to-one correspondence to introduce representation up to homotopy of double Lie algebroids and gauge equivalence of them. Also dual, tensor product and direct sum representations up to homotopy are made as a double Lie algebroid modules. We conclude this paper by generalization of some Lie algebroid oo-representation properties to oo-representation of double Lie algebroids and introduce transgression classes for double Lie algebroids.


We calculate the energy level statistics in a two-dimensional disc with diffusive boundary scattering by the means of the recently proposed ballistic nonlinear sigma-model.


In the Gillick case the lower court decision was challenged by the mother of a child below the age of 16, whose doctor had given advice on the use of contraceptives against the mother's wish. The decision was overruled by the court of appeal and became a threshold for consent and confidentiality for adolescents, who by definition had reached the age of 16. The paper discusses how the Gillick decision has affected the right to make decisions especially as it relates to adolescents. In a counterfactual it examined the decisions of the courts pre- Gillick and post- Gillick to determine whether autonomy exists and the progress made since Gillick . The paper examines the ex-post cases of Re-R, Re-M and Re-W, which diverged from Gillick direction. For instance, in the case of Re-R, the court ruled that no minor with fluctuating competence could be considered competent, whereas using the Gillick criteria competence could be established. It concludes that, although Gillick opened doors on competence, it only moved us steps closer but did not solve the problem of adolescent autonomy; since in application, the court has often assumed its parens patriae jurisdiction, as in the case of Re-E. The court needs to give more autonomy to adolescents, as it is unfounded to consider that they are more conscious of the present and not the future. They can make their own decisions and therefore mistakes. Sometimes the lack of understanding on the part of the adolescents is premised on insufficient information from the physician or health care professional and this should be addressed.


Xylopia aethiopica (Annonaceae) is a spice and medicinal plant that grows wild in many West African countries (from Liberia to Nigeria) and is locally known as Guinea pepper, grains of Selim, hwentia and uda. The dried fruits are used as a flavoring for soups and traditionally in decoctions as an analgesic and anti-inflammatory, as well as a treatment for infections. The medicinal properties of the fruits are associated with the presence of phenolics and essential oil constituents. We studied the total phenols, total flavonoids, and antioxidant activity in different X. aethiopica extracts using spectrophotometry. We found variation in total phenolic and flavonoids and antioxidant capacity between different samples and different extraction solvents. Antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis were evaluated using a spectrophotometric assay and Kirby-Bauer test. Additionally, a pseudoviral cell-based assay was used to test the antiviral activity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronaviruses (SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2). High total phenolic and flavonoid content was correlated with high antioxidant capacity. Results of antibacterial tests indicated that one Xylopia extract potentially has strong antibacterial activity against gram-positive bacteria B. subtilis. The pseudoviral assay showed moderate antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2.


The previous chapters in the thesis explored and described the existing practices of course delivery of distance ELT programmes in India. They showed that the study began with an exploratory approach and moved towards a description of the phenomena relating to effective course delivery of the selected programmes. After setting the context of the study in Chapter 1, the literature review in Chapter 2 pointed to the existing lack of research studies on the effective course delivery of distance ELT programmes from a pedagogical perspective. Chapter 3 familiarized the readers with the profile, structure and curricula of the selected programmes. The next chapter discussed the methodology followed in the study and the research procedure followed. Chapter 5 presented the data (both subjective and objective) gathered through field work which tried to throw light on the practices of course delivery as they are evidenced through perceptions of groups of stakeholders and objective analysis of course delivery mechanisms. Chapter 6 dealt with the interpretation of the insights obtained from the data through a pedagogical framework, and explored how far the course delivery practices of the programmes have contributed towards facilitating professional development of the learners.


Objectives  This study examines awareness of the potential risks associated with over‐the‐counter (OTC) use of paracetamol and non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) among Australian consumers to better understand patterns of usage of these products.


This essay is a reply to the 'Critical Reflections' of B.S. Childs (JSOT 46 [1990], pp. 3-9) on J. Barr, 'The Literal, the Allegorical, and Modem Biblical Scholarship' (JSOT 44 [1989], pp. 3-17). It argues that Childs's account of modem critical scholarship as dominated by the heritage of the Enlightenment is itself historicistic in method and is thus in serious contradiction with his own serious opposition to historicism when it is applied to the Bible.


Music can be a particularly effective cue for bringing one back to the sights and sounds of events from across the lifespan. These music-evoked autobiographical memories (MEAMs) have typically been studied within laboratory experiments and clinical settings, often using experimenter-selected music to cue autobiographical memories. The present work took a more naturalistic approach, by studying the situational aspects, contents, and features of MEAMs within the course of participants' everyday lives. Participants (N = 31) recorded details of their MEAMs and music listening habits in a diary for 7 days. MEAMs were experienced, on average, once per day and were cued by a wide variety of music, often during routine tasks such as traveling and housework. Everyday MEAMs were typically rated as highly vivid and involuntary and were often accompanied by positive or mixed emotions (e.g., happiness, nostalgia) and social themes. Some evidence of individual differences was found, with older participants rating their MEAMs as more vivid and accompanied by more positive emotions. The features reported within everyday MEAMs replicated several previous findings on MEAMs and autobiographical memory more generally, indicating that this naturalistic method was able to capture genuine MEAM experiences. Implications for future research on naturally occurring MEAMs are discussed.


Abstract A new coordination polymer, [Co(SDA)(TBZH)(H2O)]n (1, SDA = trans-4,4'-stilbenedicarboxylic acid tetra-anion, TBZH = thiabendazole) has been synthesized under hydrothermal condition. The structure has been determined by X-ray diffraction, thermal gravimetric analysis (TG), infrared spectrum (IR) and Magnetic properties. The structure of 1 contains one Co(II), the metal center Co(II) is five-coordinated and through the SDA, it bridged an infinite one-dimension chain. In TG curve, there are three weight loss steps and the residual may be CoO. The static and dynamic magnetic properties of the high-spin Co(II) polymer 1 were measured, there is no SCM properties exhibited by the polymer.


We develop performance bounds for half duplex relay systems operating in decode-forward mode over additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channels. We consider the distributed turbo coding scheme [1] where the relay decodes the information obtained from the source, interleaves, re-encodes and forwards it to the destination. Unlike most other half duplex schemes proposed in the literature where the source remains silent during the relay transmission, the source and the relay in our scheme are allowed to transmit simultaneously in the same frequency band, in order to improve the overall spectral efficiency of the system. We employ the union bound on the average error probability for the general case of imperfect source to relay link assuming uniform interleaving at the source and the relay. We compare the bound with the simulation results obtained by the iterative decoding algorithm of [1] and show that for relatively large signal to noise ratios and large interleaver sizes the performance of the iterative algorithm is close to that predicted by the bound. The bounds are not restricted to turbo codes alone, i.e, they can be applied to other linear block codes including LDPC codes as well.


Large-capacity energy storage systems can meet the demands of micro-grid and the smart grid. But the traditional control method is difficult to realize plug and play and seamless switching between different operation modes, it has limited the roles of large-capacity energy storage system. Virtual synchronous generator (VSG) has became a hot topic in recent years because of its synchronous generator external characteristics, such as inertia, frequency voltage regulation and automatic phase lock. A novel control strategy based on VSG is proposed for large-capacity energy storage systems. Firstly, the topological structure characteristics of large-capacity energy storage systems and the basic principle of the novel control strategy based on VSG are introduced, then setting method of the control strategy parameters is given. Finally, the proposed control strategy is verified by simulation and experiment. The results of simulation and experiment show that large-capacity energy storage systems based on this novel control strategy can automatically adjust the active power output according to the grid frequency changes and realize seamless switching between connected-grid and off-grid mode.


Introduction: Space exploration is the ongoing discovery and exploration of celestial bodies, planets and moons. The physical exploration of space is carried out by both human spaceflight and unmanned robotic probes (rovers). A rover is a planetary exploration vehicle designed to move acroos the celestial bodies or on surface of the planets. These rovers can be semi-autonomous or fully autonomous bodies. The main function of these rovers is to collect rock samplings, dust and images of the surface. The advantages of planetary rovers compared to stationary landers are they can make obeservations at a microscopic level and can conduct physical experimentations and they can examine more territory. However, the conventional rovers are subjected to limited powering aspects, obstacle avoidance, difficults to maneuver in highly rough terrains and unable to withstand in harsh environments. Naturally the diverse range of environmental conditions that could be encountered during exploration may not be suitable for existing rover systems. The plants and animal species evolved in nature, gives inspiration for designing and buildingof novel and high performance biomiemtic planetary rovers for land and liquid atmospheres on planets. Recently, scientific discoveries creates interest in exploring other planets' moons such as Saturn's Titan and Jupiter's Europa.


Introduction The Dovekie (Alle alle), or Little Auk, is a high-arctic species that breeds in large numbers on Greenland, Svalbard (Spitzbergen), Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya, with small numbers nesting on Iceland and Baffin Island.20 Some nesting colonies, particularly in northwestern Greenland, are comprised of millions of individuals.20 Small numbers of Dovekies also occur in the Bering Sea and adjacent waters and breeding is suspected at several sites.5 Although nothing is known of the seasonal movements of Dovekies in the Bering Sea, in the Atlantic Ocean, Dovekies winter offshore in low-arctic waters from Newfoundland to northern Norway and occur regularly off Nova Scotia and in the Gulf of Maine, northern Scotland and the North Sea.20, 31 From time to time, driven by food shortages caused in some years by severe storms, thousands of Dovekies move south of the normal winter range, in the western Atlantic Ocean, as far as Cuba and Madeira.13 During some of these movements many individuals are blown on to shore, resulting in "wrecks" of dead and weakened birds inland and along the Atlantic coast of North America.7 ,0> 18 27


In this paper, we propose a new construction method of binary low correlation zone (LCZ) sequence set. New construction method applies Gray mapping to conventional quaternary LCZ sequence set that has specific property. The period of new binary sequence set is twice as that of used sequence set in construction, and maximum magnitude of correlation value within the LCZ and cardinality of new set is also twice as those of used quaternary sequence set. But the LCZ size is the same with that of used sequence set. If the used Quaternary sequence set is optimal, the constructed binary sequence set is optimal with high probability.


Point to the problem that the automatic background updating can not be well realized when using traditional back-ground subtraction method,a new fast adaptive background subtraction method is presented in this paper,which takes advantage of Minimum Mean Square Erro(rMMSE) theory to make estimation,then using corresponding algorithm to realize background up-dating under the cases that background is taking slowly changes or sudden changes.Testing results demonstrate that when the method is applied,the self-adaptive updating of background can be realized with a high accuracy,meanwhile it is simple to im-plement and suitable for real-time detection.


Comparison of preoperative pachymetry with intraoperative pachymetry; evaluation of the features of intraoperative pachymetry during surgery, practical application. Material and methods. The analysis of the results of 58 operations for myopia by the FemtoLASIK method was carried out. Femtosecond laser is a Ziemer femtosecond laser. Refractive ablation – with a SCHWIND Amaris 750 S excimer laser with integrated OCP. Pachymetry was performed in the center of the cornea at the diagnostic stage and during the operation: before the formation of the flap, after the formation and removal of the flap, and after the completion of ablation. Results. It was statistically reliably revealed that intraoperative pachymetry during FemtoLASIK differs from the planned one. The regularity is associated with the process of hydration of the corneal stroma during vacuum fixation of a femtosecond laser and with the process of dehydration during laser ablation. Conclusion. The obtained results allow us to speak about step-by-step control of the corneal thickness during FemtoLASIK and comparison of the planned parameters with those measured during the operation, as a way to timely detect deviations from the operation plan and, as a result, reduce the risk of pathological corneal thinning. In cases where the values of the corneal thickness in the central zone before the operation and the flap thickness correspond to the preoperative plan, the discrepancy between the planned RST indicator and its actual measured value during the operation is not critical. Key words: FemtoLASIK, intraoperative pachymetry, residual thickness of the stromal bed, hydration, corneal dehydration.


Rhodamine C is the best reagent for the extractionluminescent determinatl on of In as bromide complex. For the determination of In by the fluorescence of benzene extracts the optimum conditions are: 3 to 6 N H/sub 2/SO/ sub 4/ and 2 N KBr; the use of HCl solutions is unsuitable. The addition of acetone and other solvents into the aqueous solution before the extraction of rhodamine C bromindate increases the solubility of the In complex and does not appreciably affect the solubility of rhodamine bromide. Under the optimum conditions found, the sensitivity of the determination is 5 times higher. (auth)


At the present time, with evolving technologies there is a constant need to update the software applications to make them capable of producing efficient and optimal business solutions. However, the reflection of updates to applications is a tedious task. Propagating the updates online can reduce the expense and increase the convenience of the clients. This paper explores the existing approaches for updating the applications and identifies the pitfalls associated with them. The paper proposes an innovative technique for updating the clients in an easy, speedy and reliable manner.


Reducing industrial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions has become imperative for mitigating the adverse effects of climate change. Accurate measurement and monitoring of industrial smoke plumes, which are a significant source of GHG emissions, are crucial for effective emission control strategies. This paper addresses the prospect of utilizing satellite images to measure industrial smoke plumes and explores the effectiveness of various computer vision (CV) technologies in this context. The study focuses on examining both modern deep learning and traditional machine learning models for detecting and segmenting industrial smoke plumes in satellite images. While deep learning models have shown remarkable performance in various CV tasks, their ability to accurately segment smoke plumes in satellite images remains limited, with an average intersection over union (IOU) of no more than 60%. However, certain deep learning models, such as U-Net and AttU-Net, exhibit promising capabilities in identifying challenging types of noise, including clouds, white building surfaces, and snow, which traditional machine learning models struggle with. Employing deep learning models for industrial smoke plume detection proves advantageous, as all models achieve an approximate detection accuracy and F1-Score of 90%. The findings from this research serve as a valuable foundation for further advancements in developing advanced deep learning models specifically tailored to handle the identified types of noise.


Patients with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) have arrhythmia-related symptoms or are identified during screening of an affected family. Heart failure symptoms occur late in the disease's natural history. As strenuous exercise has been associated with disease acceleration and worsening of ventricular arrhythmias, lifestyle modification with restricted athletic activities is recommended upon disease diagnosis or even identification of mutation carrier status. An episode of an haemodynamically unstable, sustained ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation as well as severe systolic ventricular dysfunction constitute definitive indications for implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) implantation, which should also be considered following tolerated sustained or non-sustained ventricular tachycardia episodes, syncope, or in the presence of moderate ventricular dysfunction. Antiarrhythmic medications are used as an adjunct to device therapy. Catheter ablation is recommended for incessant ventricular tachycardia or frequent appropriate ICD interventions despite maximal pharmacological therapy. Amiodarone alone or in combination with beta blockers is most effective for symptomatic ventricular arrhythmias. Beta blockers are considered for use in all patients with a definite diagnosis but evidence for their prognostic benefit is sparse. Heart failure symptoms are managed using standard protocols and heart transplantation is considered for severe ventricular dysfunction or much less commonly uncontrollable ventricular arrhythmias.


The invention particularly relates to resin-bonded graphite material suitable for use as electrical contacts. The invention also relates in particular to a method for manufacturing a resin-bonded graphite material for use as an electrical contact material. The invention also relates to use of a resin-bonded graphite material. An object of the present invention is to develop the corresponding resin-bonded graphite material in such a way that the interference when using the excluded or substantially excluded as an electrical contact. According to the invention, the resin-bonded graphite material has a carbon black content R Carbon black containing electronic graphite, carbon black, graphite-free electronics


The Proposed Technique is to demonstrate a frame a framework to peruse and Screen Contamination Parameters and to illuminate Contamination Control Specialist, when any of these components goes higher than Industry Measures. In this Project Strategy, a Component using Lab VIEW is presented, which is able consequently screen when there's an unsettling influencing the framework.The framework is actualized utilizing Lab VIEW computer program. The framework explores level of gasses discharged amid industry handle, temperature of the machineries, location of light utilizing LDR, discovery of blazes. Each prepare will have a partitioned information obtaining and controlling instrument. Lab VIEW gives operation interface and control of information and GSM is appropriate for intelligently environment for flag exchange. The most thought behind the extend is to form a genuine time completely robotized control framework utilizing Lab VIEW.


The conventional wireless sensor network (WSN) architecture, as described in the majority of the literature, assumes the existence of a large number of miniature battery-powered sensor devices scattered over an area of interest and organized in an ad-hoc communication manner. The primary goal of the wireless sensors is to gather relevant data from the environment and, subsequently, to route the gathered data to a central processing node, commonly referred to as sink. The sink is generally assumed to have far superior capabilities than the 'ordinary' sensors, i.e. ABSTRACT


This study discusses potentials and limitations to reforming traditional sericulture in Central Asia, which is said to have its four-millennium history but has been in a constant decline since the demise of Soviet Union in 1991. Uzbekistan alone produced 23,500 t of cocoon (US$79,252,000) in 2008, contributing to about five percent of the world production. It was the third largest cocoon producer after China and India, while being the world champion in terms of per capita production. In this period, 44% of Uzbek labor force was still in the agricultural sector, which contributed only to 22% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), and yet 26% of the nation was below poverty line, of which the majority presumably resided in the rural villages. Considering these conditions, the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT) launched a grass-root technical cooperation project in Fergana Basin in 2009, financed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), in order to revitalize local silk production as a model case in Uzbekistan. It was assumed that sericulture was managed by family farms, mainly by women and elders at home, and good income was earned by them in short period of time, so that it would contribute to more balanced distribution of agricultural income among the different farmer classes and genders. After a year of project implementation, interviews were made with the beneficiaries on their perspectives of sericulture promotion, and key factors that would facilitate sustainable cocoon production in Uzbekistan were identified, i.e., flexible planning of production and prompt payment to farmers. While Chinese brokers were actively purchasing cocoons for export, there were promising signs of local institutions in improving silkworm lines and filature facilities. There international technical cooperation was needed with sensible modifications so that it may be accepted well by Uzbek


Progress towards a THz-driven transverse deflecting longitudinal profile diagnostic is presented. The deflector is driven with sub-picosecond quasi-single cycle THz fields generated by non-linear optical rectification. To utilize the large deflection field strength of the source for longitudinal diagnostics it is necessary to maintain the single-cycle field profile of the THz pulse throughout the interaction with the relativistic beam. Our scheme allows for the octave spanning bandwidth of the single-cycle pulses to propagate without dispersion at subluminal velocities matched to co-propagating relativistic electrons, by passing the pulse distortion and group-carrier walk-off limitations of dielectric loaded waveguide structure. The phase velocity is readily tuneable, both above and below the speed of light in a vacuum, and singlecycle propagation of deflecting fields at velocities down to 0.77c have been demonstrated.


The shipping is affected by multi-force on its sailing. At the present time, there are no structure-safe-inspecting system on shipping.The sailor can't know an applied force and key parts strain or deform on shipping's body in time. The vibrating wile strain gas characteristic and applications are studied so that it can be applied on shipping. Therefore it is possible to give shipping a realtime monitoring and control in long time.


Conservation of natural resources and preservation of environment is the necessary for sustainable development. Here full replacement of fine aggregate by manufactured sand in view of conserving ecological balance. Alccofine 1203 is a specially processed product based on the process of controlled granulation. The presence of alccofine in the conventional concrete in optimum dosage can expected to improve the strength of concrete and provide resistance against chloride attack, sea water attack and accelerated corrosion attack. It is used as cement replacement mainly for two reasons, to stabilize the scarcity of cement and improve the properties of concrete in their life cycle. The main objective of this work focuses on the strength of concrete by the partial replacement of cement with alccofine and full replacement of sand by manufactured sand. The project focuses on the experimental investigation on concrete by replacing cement with alccofine on varying percentage such as 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% for 7, 14


The propaganda work of the Israel lobby in the US has made unthinkable any political identification by Americans with Hizbullah. It has thereby erased the Arab Muslim narrative from all US public discourse and debate. And yet it turns out, in one of the most surprising ironies of our age, that the anticolonial resistance movement in Lebanon has a close affinity to America's own pantheon of culture heroes and archetypes. Azmi Bishara has put it lucidly:


This paper analyses how the scoring systems actually and potentially used in a variety of sports and games affect the suspense they can generate. The experimental method relies on several Monte Carlo simulations applied on a comparative basis to basketball, table tennis and tennis. Results show that simple systems such as basketball scoring tend to generate limited uncertainty whereas stratified systems such as tennis scoring favour a higher level of unpredictability, hence suspense.


Disclosed is a method of manufacturing a display panel light shielding part is formed so as to correspond to each pixel, to provide a manufacturing method of a display panel with excellent micro-lenses of the lens characteristics. A method for manufacturing a display panel, a manufacturing method of a display panel comprising: a microlens formed on the surface of the TFT substrate 2, and a light shielding portion 11 formed so as to correspond to the inside of the opening 5B Te, disposing a photosensitive resin 8 on the surface on the side where the backlight of the TFT substrate 2 is disposed is irradiated with light through the opening 5B, cured portion 15a by curing the portion of the photosensitive resin 8 forming a containing an exposure step. Exposure process, by performing exposure while changing the incident angle of light, comprising the step of changing the change rate of the incident angle of light in one direction. .FIELD 7


The article reviews the Talmudic institution of guardianship for orphans, as it appears in sources from Palestine and Babylon, mostly from the second to the fifth centuries CE. It is likely that the foundations of this institution are found in foreign law, but after it was absorbed in Jewish law, it began to build an independent life, and was not necessarily affected by its legal system of origin. The design of the institution was mainly conducted by the Jewish sages of the second-century (Tannaim). The Mishnah and Tosefta are already showing a fairly well-developed system of guardianship laws. This system was not changed substantially afterward, and the later Talmudic sages (Amoraim) continued to develop the institution upon the foundation created by their predecessors. The Talmudic sources present a fairly well-developed institution, from its creation through the duties of the guardian during his tenure to the end of the guardianship term.


PORTABLE FIRE GUN quencher (L) INJECTION HEAD SHOWING A fire extinguisher (1) provided with INJECTORS fire extinguisher being attachable INJECTORS SUCH A FIRE EXTINGUISHING a supply. On the front side (S) FRONT AND FREE OF INJECTION HEAD fire extinguisher are arranged at a distance from each other, several injectors fire extinguisher (9), each of which produces a mist of extinguishing fluid WHEN they are loaded with extinguishing fluid, AND INJECTORS fire extinguisher (4, 9, 13) can be loaded with extinguishing fluid LOOSE AND / OR GROUPS, ACCORDING as desired, through a combination of valves (V).


Over the past decade, Qatar has been making considerable progress towards developing a sustainable research culture for the nation. The main driver behind Qatar's progress in research and innovation is Qatar Foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development (QF), a private, non-profit organization that aims to utilise research as a catalyst for expanding, diversifying and improving the country's economy, health and environment. While this has resulted in a significant growth in the number of research publications produced by Qatari researchers in recent years, a nationally co-ordinated approach is needed to address some of the emerging but increasingly important aspects of research data curation, such as management and publication of research data as important outputs, and their long-term digital preservation. Qatar National Library (QNL), launched in November 2012 under the umbrella of QF, aims to establish itself as a centre of excellence in Qatar for research data management, curation and publishing to address the research data-related needs of Qatari researchers and academics. This practice paper describes QNL's approach towards establishing a national research data curation service for Qatar, highlighting the associated opportunities and key challenges. Received 23 February 2017 Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Arif Shaon, Qatar National Library, Doha, PO Box. 5825, Qatar. Email: email@example.com An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 12 International Digital Curation Conference. The International Journal of Digital Curation is an international journal committed to scholarly excellence and dedicated to the advancement of digital curation across a wide range of sectors. The IJDC is published by the University of Edinburgh on behalf of the Digital Curation Centre. ISSN: 1746-8256. URL: http://www.ijdc.net/ Copyright rests with the authors. This work is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence. For details please see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ International Journal of Digital Curation 2017, Vol. 12, Iss. 2, 146–156 146 http://dx.doi.org/10.2218/ijdc.v12i2.515 DOI: 10.2218/ijdc.v12i2.515 Arif Shaon Qatar National Library Armin Straube Qatar National Library Krishna Roy Chowdhury Qatar National Library doi:10.2218/ijdc.v12i2.515 Straube, Shaon and Chowdhury | 147


The Institute has given a generally warm welcome to the proposed National Curriculum Science for Ages 5 to 16, but has also expressed a number of reservations, some of them serious.


Internet of Things (IoT) is an emerging field of research, in which heterogeneous objects effectively communicate with each other over the Internet and each object has a unique address. The fact that objects can access each other makes security a major issue. One of the serious security threats is Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack. DoS attacks overwhelm their victims with fake requests to consume their resources so that they become incapable of serving their legitimate clients. One category of proposed DoS defense techniques uses the Group Testing theory for detecting the identities of DoS attackers among the client group quickly and with low state overhead. In this paper, a group-testing-based DoS defense algorithm, namely Live Baiting, is tested in action. A concrete implementation is used to verify the algorithm's feasibility, effectiveness and weaknesses. The algorithm is modified by introducing dynamic threshold and tolerance degree to enhance its accuracy. Under a high volume of HTTP traffic, the modified algorithm exhibited a detection accuracy (in terms of F-measure) that is improved by up to 300% as compared to the original algorithm.


As autonomous vehicles continue to grow in popularity, it is imperative for engineers to gain greater understanding of vehicle modeling and controls under different situations. Most research has been conducted on on-road ground vehicles, yet off-road ground vehicles which also serve vital roles in society have not enjoyed the same attention. The dynamics for off-road vehicles are far more complex due to different terrain conditions and 3D motion. Thus, modeling for control applications is difficult. A potential solution may be the incorporation of empirical data for modeling purposes, which is inspired by recent machine learning advances, but requires less computation. This thesis presents results for empirical modeling of an off-road ground vehicle, Polaris XP 900. As a first step, data was collected for 2D planar motion by obtaining several velocity step responses. Multivariable polynomial surface fits were performed for the step responses. Sliding mode control layered on top of pure pursuit guidance is then used to drive the vehicle for waypoint following, using the empirical model. Simulation and experimental results show that the vehicle can perform waypoint following for a circular and sinusoidal with minimal error. Furthermore, more experimental data was collected to show the effects of adaptive velocity and adaptive lookahead for path tracking. A comparison of the controller's performance was also explored between on-road and off-road terrain. ∗The Abstract and Sections 1-7 have been reprinted with permission from Hassen, S., Chour, K., Weaver, A., and Gopalswamy, S., "Nonlinear Control of a Ground Vehicle using Data-Driven Dynamic Models," SAE Technical Paper 2020-01-0171, 2020, doi:10.4271/2020-01-0171, c © Copyright 2020 by SAE International


Diagnostic imaging has evolved from the single technique of radiography discussed in the first edition of Caffey's Pediatric X-Ray Diagnosis in 1945 to a specialty with many modalities and techniques. Many of these modalities use ionizing radiation, and some, such as computed tomography (CT) and nuclear imaging, entail relatively high doses of radiation. Therefore the imaging community (and our medical colleagues) must jointly adhere to two of the principles of radiation protection for our patients: justification (i.e., the examination is warranted) and optimization (i.e., the appropriate technique is used). For example, in computed or direct digital radiographic examinations, image processing can accommodate overexposures. The image can be adjusted to appear as if it were obtained using standard techniques, whereas with screen film technology, the film image would be recognized as overexposed (dark) (Fig. 1.1). Without accountability for displaying dose metrics (such as the exposure index available with digital radiography), it is difficult or impossible to account for patient exposures in clinical practice. Additionally, uninformed and potentially irresponsible justification of medical imaging occurs when persons are unfamiliar with the methods of estimating an effective radiation dose during CT examinations in children. Increasing accountability is expected from the medical community with regard to the use of imaging modalities that expose children (as well as adults) to ionizing radiation. As such, a basic understanding of radiation biology, including bioeffects, radiation doses of various types of imaging examinations, and risks of radiation, is essential for the pediatric imager. A glossary of terms and dose descriptors is found in the addendum at the end of this chapter.


In one of the most important judgments on civil procedure in recent years, the Court of Appeal in Mercurine Pte Ltd v Canberra Development Pte Ltd substantially revised the approach of the court towards applications to set aside regular and irregular judgments in default of appearance. This article examines these developments and considers their likely impact on civil litigation.


The pretTeatment of [Pt(NH3) 4f+, ion exchanged into zeolite HZSM-5, was studied using temperature programmed techniques and diffuse reflectance UVNIS spectroscopy. The pretreatment is an important part of the preparation of bifunctional Pt/HZSM-5 catalysts, which are active in the hydroisomerization of alkanes. PretTeatment in a helium atmosphere leads to autoreduction and the conversion of part of the ammonia ligands into hydrogen and nitrogen. PretTeatment in an oxygen containmg atmosphere leads to the oxidation of the ammonia ligands into nitrogen, nitrous oxide, and water. Temperature programmed pretTeatment with oxygen gives rise to three reaction-rate maximums if the sample is not dried, and the condusion is that [Pt(NHJ3(H20)] 2 + is formed as an intermediate in the first step. The complex is activated for this first step by an acid site of the zeolite. If temperature programmed pretTeatment with oxygen is carried out on a previously dried sample, oxidation of the ligands is a two-step process: three of the ammonia ligands are oxidized in one rapid step and the last ligand is oxidized at a higher temperature. Carefut pretteatment in an oxygen containing atmosphere of [Pt(NH3) 4]HZSM-5 leads to the formation of the pale green PtHZSM-5 in which platinum is present as Pt2+ coordinated to the zeolite framework. Small platinum particles are formed by subsequent reduction of these platinum ions in flowing hydrogen. ' Partlypublished as: A.C.M. van den Broek, J. van Grondelle, and R.A. van Santen, J. Catal. 167,417 (1997).


Recently, studies have been reported to synergistically improve the electrical conductivity of polymer composites by simultaneously incorporating hybrid fillers, but systematic studies on filler loading and ratio are still scarce. In this study, a one-step process was proposed to induce the incorporation of uniformly dispersed fillers with a high content, and synergistic improvement in the electrical conductivity of polymer composites was studied by applying two types of carbon fillers: nano-sized multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) and micro-sized pitch-based carbon fiber (PCF). Based on the proposed process, it was possible to fabricate a polymer composite in which the filler was uniformly dispersed within 40 wt%. The electrical conductivity of the composite containing up to 10 wt% MWCNT which was the percolation plateau content and 30 wt% PCF was 3940 S m−1, showing the maximum performance. This result was improved by 595% and 586%, respectively, compared to the electrical conductivity of the composite containing only 40 wt% MWCNT or PCF. These findings can contribute to expanding the application of conductive composites in the fields of antistatic or electromagnetic interference shielding by providing insight into the optimal design of hybrid filler systems to improve the electrical conductivity of composites.


Regulation of synthesis, degradation and distribution of lipids is crucial for the homeostasis of organisms and cells. Sterol regulatory element-binding protein (SREBP) transcription factors are known to be master regulators of lipid metabolism. They are activated in situations of low lipid levels and downstream of certain signalling pathways. In turn, they activate the transcription of numerous genes involved in cholesterol, fatty acid and phospholipid metabolism. In the first part of my thesis, we provided evidence that the primary transcript of SREBP2 also contains a highly conserved intronic miRNA (miR-33a) that cooperates with SREBP2 to maintain normal cellular lipid levels. Specifically, we demonstrated that miR-33a reduces cellular cholesterol export by targeting the cholesterol-exporting transporter ABCA1. Thus in mammals, the genetic locus encoding SREBP2 and miR- 33a contains, on the one hand, a protein that increases cholesterol synthesis and, on the other hand, a miRNA that prevents export of newly synthesized cholesterol. Moreover, we demonstrated that miR-33a is also involved in fatty acid metabolism. Specifically, we showed that miR-33a inhibits translation of several transcripts encoding proteins involved in fatty acid β-oxidation including CPT1A, HADHB, and CROT, thereby reducing fatty acid degradation in mammals. In the second part of my thesis, we analysed the effect of miR-33 overexpression in the fat body of Drosophila melanogaster in different developmental stages. During larval stages, we observed that miR-33 overexpression partially prevented the decrease in cellular triacylglycerol (TAG) levels usually observed upon starvation. In parallel, transcript levels of cpt1, the rate-limiting step of β-oxidation, were decreased suggesting that decreased fatty acid degradation might have caused the observed phenotype. This indicates that the regulation of fatty acid β-oxidation by miR-33 is conserved between Drosophila and human and might be of functional importance. Surprisingly, overexpression of miR-33 in the fat body of adult flies led to the opposite phenotype with a marked decrease of TAG levels. We identified several transcripts coding for proteins involved in TAG synthesis as targets of miR-33, and demonstrate that they are downregulated in miR-33 overexpressing transgenic flies. Thus, miR-33 targets transcripts involved in either fatty acid synthesis or degradation depending on the context. Lipid synthesis and degradation are mutually exclusive processes within a cell. Our observations therefore indicate that miR-33 might play a role in preventing extreme fluctuations in cellular TAG levels in flies. Altogether, our results contribute to understand the collaboration between miR-33 family members and SREBPs in lipid metabolism and this has implications for the promising clinical use of miR-33 inhibitors.


In the production of tissues intended for transplantation, the first steps are selection and screening of donors for markers of virus infections by serology (Anti-HIV, Anti-HCV, Anti-HBc, HBsAg, TPHA). We investigated the effect of gamma irradiation on the sterilisation of human bone diaphysis transplants to evaluate its impact to the virus safety of transplants. Relevant as well as model viruses were included in the study to determine the dose necessary to achieve a reduction factor for the infectivity titres of at least 4 log10 at a temperature of -30 ± 5°C. The following relevant viruses were used: human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (HIV-2), hepatitis A virus (HAV), and poliovirus (PV-1), and the following model viruses: pseudorabies virus (PRV) for human herpesviruses, bovine virus diarrhoe virus (BVDV) for HCV, and bovine parvovirus (BPV) for parvovirus B19. The log10 reduction was measured by cytopathogenic effects (CPE) after virus titration and given as TCID50/mL.

A first approach in the irradiation experiments was to determine the D10 values (kGy) for the different viruses (virus inactivation kinetics: BPV 7.3; PV-1 7.1; HIV-2 7.1; HAV 5.3; PRV 5.3; BVDV < 3.0 kGy). Based on these results, virus inactivation was studied in experimentally contaminated human bone transplants (femoral diaphyses). For BPV, the most resistant one of the viruses studied, a dose of approximately 34 kGy was necessary to achieve a reduction of infectivity titres of 4 log10 TCID50/mL. We therefore recommend generally a dose of 34.0 kGy for the sterilisation of frozen bone transplants.

For some tissues (e.g. large bone transplants, tendons, cartilage, menisci) a problem exists: the necessity to (i) achieve sterility of the transplants and to provide virus safety, and to (ii) preserve the biomechanical properties of the transplant. Different irradiation doses in combination with single donor HIV/HCV/HBV-NAT tests (detection limits: 20-600 genome equivalents/mL) should be discussed to achieve a compromise (proposal: 25 kGy) and the remaining rest risk.


Objective
To understand patients' cognition on nurses' profession, in order to relieve the strained relationship between nurses and patients at the moment.

Methods
A total of 379 patients were investigated by self-made questionnaire.

Results
The total number of valid return was 370, and the valid usable return rate was 97.63%.The results showed that: 271 (73.24%) patients thought that women are more suitable for nurses in terms of the gender of the nurses.270 patients (72.97%) thought that nurses should always keep smiling in terms of the nurses' attitude.298 (80.54%) patients thought that nurses should possess a bachelor's degree in terms of nurses' education. 165 patients (44.59%) thought that services provided by nurses with high seniority were much better than that of nurses with low seniority in terms of working experiences.295 patients (79.73%) thought that technology is the most important for nurses' work in terms of the nurses' technology, 212 patients(57.30%) could accept but dislike nurses' flaws in the work.In terms of trust to the nurses, only 175 patients (47.30%)would ask the nurses for help when needed.In terms of the understanding of the relationship between nurses and patients, 180 (48.65%) thought that nurses help patients.

Conclusion
Patients' acceptance to male nurses and the trust to the nurses are not ideal. Patients have much requirements for nurses' service attitude, education, working experience and operating skills, and they have biase with the relationship between patients and nurses.The patients' cognition on nurses are one-sided.

Key words:
Patients; Nurses; Profession cognition; Relationship between nurses and patients


A technique that uses clipping has been recently proposed to reduce the peak-toaverage-power ratio (PAPR) in orthogonal frequency divisional multiplexing (OFDM) signals. The technique uses a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) based filter to reduce out-ofband (OOB) power after the interpolated baseband OFDM signal is clipped. In this paper, the technique is applied to HIPERLAN2 to reduce the PAPR of the transmitted signals. Like many other OFDM systems, HIPERLAN2 has a number of unused subcarriers. The DFT based filter is used to null the unused subcarriers at the band edge. The effect of in-band distortion on the system's bit error rate (BER) is studied. Results show that effect of clipping noise on the system's BER is minimal in the fading environment.


ABSTRACT Sixteen species of Triceratops have been proposed since the genus was erected by O. C. Marsh in 1889. Five of these species are here considered technically invalid and a sixth is reassigned to Diceratops. Based on both cladistic analysis and morphometric shape analysis, all available skulls of the ten remaining "species" of Triceratops are placed in one of two species: T. horridus and T. prorsus, invalidating eight of the original ten species. These two species overlap in geographic and stratigraphic ranges. Because specimens of T. horridus greatly outnumber those of T. prorsus, these morphotypes may represent distinct taxa rather than a single sexually dimorphic species.


learning can be used effectively to reinforce basic subskills, in order to attain "automaticity", which Bloom defines as follows: "The mastery of any skill whether a routine daily task or a highly refined talent depends on the ability to perform it unconsciously with speed and accuracy while consciously carrying on other brain functions" (1986, p. 70). These higher-level brain functions include "retention, understanding, and active use of knowledge and skills" (Perkins, 1991, p. 18). In the long term, behavioural learning fails to attain the brain functions mentioned above by Perkins. It furthermore does not effectively facilitate transfer of learning to broader environments, outside of the traditional classroom: "The knowledge so acquired is either not accessible or else not relevant for active use in the real world" (BarrasBaker: 24). Constructivist Learning. The constructivist learning process addresses the weaknesses of behavioural learning. In a constructivist learning environment, learners actively construct knowledge from personal experiences and interpretations of the world (Merrill, 1991). Learning becomes an active process when learners develop their own mental models. This process involves "the organising of memory into structures" (Merrill (1990b), quoted in Merrill, 1991, p. 45). Merrill states that organisation in learning facilitates later retrieval of information. Organisation entails the structuring of knowledge. Retrieval can also be aided by learners' use of elaboration, which refers to "the explicit specification of relations among knowledge units" (Merrill, 1991, p.45). Rich Environments for Active Learning (REALS) are a specific form of constructivist learning, and are based on principles such as collaboration, generativity, reflectivity, active engagement and anchored instruction (Dunlap, 1996). The Master's assignment entailed the construction of concept maps on the topic "The evaluation of educational software and its effect on learning". As stated previously, the creators of "The KwaZulu Concept Burger" (the Burger) delivered their product in electronic media. It was prepared in HyperText Markup Language (HTML) and presented through a World Wide Web (WWW) browser. The other maps produced by cooperative groups took the form of physical representations (models or posters). Since its construction, the Burger has continued to evolve. The initial product was adapted and used by its creators in their working environment. Other concept maps remained static and unused. This paper investigates (i) the role the chosen d livery medium (HTML) played in the learning process. It further aims to (ii) examine learning methods which played a role in the learning process. In order to draw any conclusions concerning the influence of delivery media and methods of learning on the learning processes, (iii) the development of the other concept maps are analysed and compared to that of the Burger.