Based on the differential geometry theory,this paper proposes a novel nonlinear dynamic current sharing control strategy on paralleled DC/DC converter.A standard nonlinear model of two-phase interleaved DC/DC converter with double input and double output is set up by applying switching impulse method.The related nonlinear coordinate transform matrix and the equations of nonlinear feedback principles are obtained,which lead to a new state variable feedback linearization model.Based on the linearization model,the paper then uses linear optimal control strategy to design the feedback principles of corresponding linearization model.Thus it achieves a novel nonlinear dynamic current sharing control on differential geometry theory.Research shows that the proposed nonlinear current sharing control with better steady and dynamic performances can acheive better dynamic current sharing,compared with the conventional Proportional Integral Differential(PID)current sharing control.


Even though organic solar cell is a significant alternative in the field of low cost power production, but the main disadvantage of this device is the low power conversion efficiency. The development of carbon nanotubes has played an important role in enhancing the efficiency of organic photovoltaic solar cell. A key step in achieving high efficiency with the utilization of carbon nanotubes is to enhance the charge separation and transport within the device. For these purpose, an organic photovoltaic (OPV) cell has been designed with a single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) as transparent anode instead of In2O3:Sn (ITO), a small concentrations of (3 wt%) SWCNTs blending with the P3HT:PCBM active layer, and a metallic-carbon nanotubes (m-CNT) as cathode instead of Al (metal) electrode. Our theoretical calculation shows that the short circuit current (Isc), open circuit voltage (Voc) and fill factor (FF) are increased due to the doped SWCNTs which is responsible for increasing the efficiency of the device. For this theoretical model, the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) is found up to 22% compared with the device without depositing CNTs.


Summary. Food fibres are included in the list of useful substances necessary for the normal functioning of human organism. It is part of products, that the enzymes of stomach and bowels are unable to overcook. There are they in fruit, vegetables, skin of bobs, and as early as shell of seed and cereals. In Russian Federation the valuable source of pectin is a sugar-beet bagasse, because other types of pectin-containing raw material can not compete with it on a low cost and present resources. A sugar-beet pectin possesses a high protective action, i.e. by ability to destroy poisonous substances and radionuclides from an organism. In spite of deficit of pectin in Russia, considerable home production them is presently absent. The methods of production of pectin offered before were bulky, with the low level of apparatus-technological registration and considerable expenses of reagents does not provide the favourable terms of labour with considerable ecological problems. The aim of work is perfection of the modes of receipt of pectin from a sugar-beet bagasse with using as an extractant of the electrochemically activated water. Application of such method allows to soften the process of hydrolysis-extracting, that assists not only the increase of exit and quality of pectin but also gives an opportunity of the further processing of raw material on food fibres. As a result of undertaken studies the modes of realization of process of hydrolysis-extracting of pectin are worked out from a digister. A pectin from a sugar-beet bagasse differs in high maintenance of free carboxyl groups, the use is possible as the complexing agent in a medical and preventive feed. Thus, possibility and expediency of receipt of pectin and food fibres are shown from the offered digister with using as an extractant of the electrochemically activated water. Such technology answers the requirements of ecological safety of production, carries innovative character, assists the decision of problem of the complex use of digister and market entry functional ingredients and bioactive additions of home inexpensive preparations of the complex setting.


A prototype control rod containing absorber plates made from an electro- deposited dispersion of boron carbide in nickel was tested in the VBWR. It was exposed to the reactor environment of 545 deg F boiling water and thermal neutron fluxes (perturbed) which ranged from 0.6 to 1.1 x 10/sup 13/ nv for 2236 hours over a period of six months. The maximum B/sup 10/ burnup achieved during the test period was 1.8 percent. After irradiation, the rod was examined. The results of the examination are summarized below: (1) The B/sub 4/C-- Ni plate assembly did not undergo significant dimensioual changes during irradiation. (2) Numerous blisters developed on both the outer and inner surfaces of three of the four plates. Blistering was more severe on the outer surface than on the inner, and was most severe in a large region located in the lower half of plate 4. Metallographic examination revealed that the blisters were located only in the 2- mil protective nickel overlay covering the B/sub 4/C-- Ni dispersion. It was concluded that they formed from the buildup of gas pressure at the Ni: Ni-- B/sub 4/C interfaces, rather than from corrosion attack. Helium from the B/sup 10/(n alpha )Li/supmore » 7/ reaction probably contributed to this pressure. However it is conjectured that the major gas was very likely hydrogen, possibly generated aad dissolved in the nickel during electroplating and then released to defects at the Ni: Ni--B/sub 4/C interface during reactor exposure. The variation in the degree of blistering among the four plates of the prototype indicated that the blistering was related to variations in the fabrication process. Failure of the nickel overlay was not observed in any of the blisters examined metallographically, and the underlying B/sub 4/C-- Ni appeared to be in good condition. (3) Evidence of corrosion attack of the B/sub 4/C was observed in the form of white deposits on both the inner and outer surfaces of the plates. On the outer plates these deposits were concentrated primarily near regions where the B/sub 4/C--Ni layer was unprotected by the nickel coat, namely, screw hole locations. Metallographic examination revealed definite evidence of corrosion attack in the unprotected screw hole surfaces. (4) The deposition of white corrosion products was more extensive on the inner plate surfaces than on the outer surfaces. Corrosion attack of the nickel coat on an inner surface was observed in a region of close contact between the absorber plate and stainless steel support frame. Metallographic examination revealed that this attack was localized and extended through a maximum of 50% of the nickel coat thickness. Corrosion test coupons fabricated from plate material similar to that used in the control rod were also irradiated in the VBWR. Because of their location in a higher neutron flux region and longer exposure period (5000 hours) they reached a B/sup 10/ burnup of 12.2%. Post-irradiation examination of these specimens revealed no evidence of blistering in the nickel coat. The edges of the B/sub 4/ C-- Ni layers unprotected by the nickel coat suffered severe corrosion attack, and thickness increases up to 6% were detected. The corrosion attack and swelling were much more severe than that observed in an earlier group of specimens irradiated to 3% burnup. Direct visual examination revealed no attack of the nickel coat; however, metallographic examination revealed attack which penetrated up to two-thirds of the nickel's thickness. (auth)« less


Ethnicity, Perceptions of Stress, and Depressive Symptoms Among Female Undergraduate Students by Claudia Priscilla Cobos MS, Mount St. Mary's University, 2000 BA, Mount St. Mary's University, 1997 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Psychology


Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) is one of the most important insect pests of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.). Because of the high value of potato crops, most growers approach management in a similar manner. Chemical control of arthropod pests in potato is the standard pest management practice, and will likely continue to be in the foreseeable future. This heavy reliance on chemical control has led to high levels of insecticide resistance. Strategies that rotate chemistries are critical in order to maintain insecticide efficacy, highlighting the immediate need to evaluate novel chemistries to continue to manage this pest successfully. Working with different populations of L. decemlineata, field and lab experiments were conducted to evaluate the baseline toxicity, ovicidal activity, and field efficacy of the novel insecticide tolfenpyrad to L. decemlineata. Lab assays revealed that tolfenpyrad was toxic to both larvae and adults, and that L. decemlineata treated egg masses had a 0% hatch rate. Potato field plots treated with tolfenpyrad had significantly fewer larvae, less defoliation, and higher tuber yields. These data will provide accurate field rates for proper labeling, a baseline reference for tracking changes in L. decemlineata susceptibility, as well as provide a novel chemistry to aid in resistance management programs.


A multi-application systems integration platform has been achieved via associated certification of Education Electronic Identity. Therefore, the network resources are saved and the efficiency of access is improved through Single Sign-On and real-name to access multi-application systems. The Education Department of Hunan Province Xiang Teaching Cloud tests demonstrates that this method doesn't change the independent operating mode of original user system, realizing the resource integration among various independent applications and keeping the ability to respond quickly under high concurrency at the same time.


The invention discloses a micro-spherical catalyst immersion device, which comprises an immersion solution storage tank, an immersion solution conveyer device, a passageway type immersion device, a catalyst carrier conveyer device and a liquid-solid separation device; two ends of the immersion solution conveyer device are respectively connected with the immersion solution storage tank and the passageway type immersion device, an immersion solution of the immersion solution storage tank is conveyed to the passageway type immersion device, an outlet of the catalyst carrier conveyer device is connected with the inlet end of the passageway type immersion device, the catalyst carrier is conveyed to the passageway immersion device; and the liquid-solid separation device is arranged on the outlet end of the passageway type immersion device and used for separating a liquid-solid mixture flowing from the passageway type immersion device. Compared with the traditional catalyst immersion device, the micro-spherical catalyst immersion device can be used for stably immersing a micro-spherical catalyst, thus product quality of the micro-spherical catalyst is improved.


Background: Reported error rates for initial clinical diagnosis in parkinsonian disorders can reach up to 35%. Reducing this initial error rate is an important research goal. The objective of this work is to evaluate the ability of an automated MR-based classification technique in the differential diagnosis of Parkinson's disease (PD), multiple systems atrophy (MSA) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). Methods: A total of 172 subjects were included in this study: 152 healthy subjects, 10 probable PD patients and 10 age-matched patients with diagnostic of either probable MSA or PSP. T1-weighted (T1w) MR images were acquired and subsequently corrected, scaled, resampled and aligned within a common referential space. Tissue transformation and deformation features were then automatically extracted. Classification of patients was performed using forward, stepwise linear discriminant analysis within a multidimensional transformation/deformation feature space built from healthy subjects data. Leave-one-out classification was used to avoid over-determination. Findings: There were no age difference between groups. Highest accuracy (agreement with long-term clinical follow-up) of 85% was achieved using a single MR-based deformation feature. Interpretation: These preliminary results demonstrate that a classification approach based on quantitative parameters of 3D brainstem morphology extracted automatically from T1w MRI has the potential to perform differential diagnosis of PD versus MSA/PSP with high accuracy.


OBJECTIVES
To describe the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in French patients newly benefiting from the French "long-term illness" social security scheme (LTI) for ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and evaluate the effect of different treatments on the risk of MACE occurrence.

METHODS
This national cohort study was based on the French national medico-administrative database SNDS containing data on hospitalization, LTI, and outpatient care consumption. All French patients newly receiving LTI benefits for AS from 2010 and 2013 were included. The end of the follow-up date was December 31, 2018. The occurrence of MACE (stroke and myocardial infarction) and comorbidities were identified from algorithms previously described in the literature. Competitive risk analysis with propensity score using inverse weighting was performed to calculate cumulative incidence functions and determine subhazard ratios (SHRs) for the different treatments of interest.

RESULTS
Between 2010 and 2013, 22929 patients were included (mean age 43.0 (SD 13.9) years, 44.9% male). The 8-year cumulative incidences of MACE, stroke, and MI were 1.81% [1.61-2.05], 0.97% [0.83-1.14], and 0.85% [0.71-1.04], respectively. NSAIDs (SHR: 0.39 [0.32-0.50], p < 0.001) and anti-TNF (SHR 0.61 [0.46-0.80], p < 0.001), but not anti-IL17 (2.10 [0.79-5.57]) were associated with a lower risk of MACE occurrence.

CONCLUSION
MACE incidence rates at eight years are low in patients newly benefiting from LTI for AS. Our results support the hypothesis of a protective role of NSAIDs and anti-TNF in cardiovascular risk in these patients.


To increase the storage capacity limit of magnetic recording channels, recent studies proposed multilayer magnetic recording (MLMR): the vertical stacking of magnetic media layers. MLMR readback waveforms consist of the superposition of signals from each layer recovered by a read head placed above the upper layer. This article considers the problem of equalization and detection for MLMR comprising two layers. To this end, we use MLMR waveforms generated using a grain switching probability (GSP) model that is trained on realistic micromagnetic simulations. We propose three systems for equalization and detection. The first is a convolutional neural network (CNN) equalizer followed by an MLMR Viterbi algorithm (VA) for detection. We show that this system outperforms the traditional 2-D linear minimum mean squared error (2-D-LMMSE) equalizer. The second system uses CNNs for equalization and separation of signals from each layer, which is followed by a regular VA. The third system contains CNNs trained to directly provide soft bit estimates. By interfacing the CNN detector with a channel decoder, we show that an areal density gain of 16.2% can be achieved by a two-layer MLMR system over a one-layer system.


Abstract : Fatigue initiation studies were performed on a potential hydrofoil material, HY130 steel, using a Tatnal-Krause type fatigue testing machine. The welded HY130 steel shows fatigue endurance properties of 480 MPa (70 Ksi) when in the ground and polished condition, the condition which would be present in the highly stressed areas of a foil. In the as-welded condition, the material shows an endurance limit of 240 MPa (35 Ksi) at a stress ratio of R = + 1/2. Local high residual tensile stresses, due to welding, have little, if any, effect on the fatigue initiation properties of the welded HY130 steel specimens. (Author)


A new 1200 V IGBT with a V/sub CE/(sat) of 1.9 V at 125/spl deg/C and 140 A/cm/sup 2/ has been developed using a trench gate PT (punch-through) structure and local life time control. Compared to state-of-the-art third generation planar devices, this device represents a 30% improvement of on-state losses at almost twice the current density. This paper describes the structure and characteristics of this new IGBT.


Industrial livestock production with its communication strategy aimed at concealing a filthy death and the bad taste of the meat produced has become an important motif in contemporary literature. How to create a narrative about the quiet life of animals that blend in a large herd? A life that is ruthlessly framed by a beginning (insemination) and an end (slaughter) lacks deviation and adventure—it lacks the possibility of becoming the material for a novel. The aim of this article is to examine the poetic devices and ethical aspirations of an emerging genre called the 'agroalimentary novel,' which depicts animals for profit and recreates their unique existence worthy of a story. Agroalimentary novels have become increasingly common in Europe and the Americas in the last decade. They raise the issue of taste very plainly: in Latin (gustus) and Old French (in the 12th c., gost and in the 13th c., goust), 'taste' is understood literally and figuratively, and is linked to the sense and appreciation of taste. The meaning of taste is associated with aesthetics, and not only with the senses, but also with art, not only with the body, but also with social issues; it refers to both practical activities and norms. How do the themes of livestock production and slaughterhouses relate to the issue of taste? Writers and readers find the aesthetics of the traditional novel problematic. When depicting it, some become inarticulate, while others are confronted with the inability to talk about it. In both cases, they confront the impossible symbolic act of appropriation. Loathing and disgust that is physically expressed and less humanly focused, even more distinctly than in the work of Jean Paul Sartre or in the various accounts of war, have entered literature.


This paper deals with the author's indoor positioning method named as CEPHEID (Ceiling Embedded PHoto-Echo ID), which is proposed recently. It uses flickering of lighting fixtures as an environmental fingerprint. It is characterized by employing deep neural network including 1D CNN as discriminator. However, there has been a question that whether such a costly computation as DNN is indeed necessary or not. In this paper, the author firstly introduces original CEPHEID and shows its high performances through two experiments. Then, a discussion of using SVM as its classifier aiming to reduce computation cost is described. To evaluate SVM classifiers, the author performs the third experiment by using the same data. As a result, SVM classifiers shows poor performance than DNN one. Consequently, DNN can be regarded as a not-too-much or an acceptable technique for CEPHEID.


Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia. The acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors are the most viable therapeutic target for its symptomatic treatment. The present study was aimed at exploring anti‐AChE metabolite producing marine Actinobacteria.


...................................................................................................................................................... 5 RESUME ......................................................................................................................................................... 6 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................................. 8 BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................................................ 9 1. APIS MELLIFERA .......................................................................................................................................... 9 a. Honeybee colony .................................................................................................................................... 9 b. Foraging activities ................................................................................................................................ 10 c. Decline of pollinators and its consequences ........................................................................................ 11 2. URBAN BEEKEEPING ................................................................................................................................. 11 a. Urban beekeeping in the world ............................................................................................................ 11 b. Japan and beekeeping history .............................................................................................................. 12 3. DNA METABARCODING ................................................................................................................................. 15 4. RESEARCH QUESTIONS ............................................................................................................................. 16 MATERIAL & METHODS ................................................................................................................................ 17 1. CHIBA UNIVERSITY PROJECT AND DATA COLLECTED ................................................................................ 17 a. Spatial context ..................................................................................................................................... 17 b. DNA metabarcoding ............................................................................................................................ 19 2. STUDY ....................................................................................................................................................... 19 a. Vegetation community analysis ........................................................................................................... 19 b. Field analysis ........................................................................................................................................ 21 c. Comparison transect & metabarcoding methods ................................................................................ 25 RESULTS ....................................................................................................................................................... 26 1. VEGETATION COMMUNITY'S ANALYSIS ................................................................................................... 26 a. By pollen collection site in 2018 ........................................................................................................... 26 b. Comparison of years 2017 and 2018 in Yaesu and Kiba ...................................................................... 30 c. By time in 2017 and 2018 .................................................................................................................... 32 2. TRANSECTS ............................................................................................................................................... 36 a. Urban green design .............................................................................................................................. 37 b. Nishichiba ............................................................................................................................................. 38 c. Kiba ...................................................................................................................................................... 39 d. Kashiwanoha ........................................................................................................................................ 41 e. Yaesu .................................................................................................................................................... 42 3. COMPARAISON TRANSECTS & METABARCODING METHODS ...................................................................... 43 DISCUSSION .................................................................................................................................................. 44 1. PREFERRED VEGETATION COMMUNITY'S ANALYSIS ................................................................................ 44 2. TRANSECTS ............................................................................................................................................... 45 a. By flower family ................................................................................................................................... 45 b. By pollen collection site ........................................................................................................................ 47 c. conclusion on the field surveys ............................................................................................................. 48 3. BARCODIND & TRANSECTS TECHNIQUES ................................................................................................... 48 4. COMPARISON WITH LITERATURE ............................................................................................................... 49 5. LIMITS ....................................................................................................................................................... 49 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................................ 51 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................................. 52 APPENDIX ..................................................................................................................................................... 58


A further investigation on the fractal multiband Sierpinski antenna is introduced. It is shown that a variation on the antenna's flare angle is translated into a shift of the operating bands, as well as into a change in the impedance level and radiation patterns. The contribution of those variations to the truncation effect is outlined.


In 1946, the Universite Laval in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, started using Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) in French by creating an authority list, Repertoire de Vedettes-matiere (RVM) , whose first published edition appeared in 1962. In the 1970s, the most important libraries in Canada with an interest in French-language cataloging—the Universite de Montreal, the Bibliotheque Nationale du Canada, and the Bibliotheque Nationale du Quebec—forged partnerships with the Universite Laval to support RVM . In 1974, the Bibliotheque Publique d'Information, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France became the first library in Europe to adopt RVM . During the 1980s, the Bibliotheque Nationale de France (BNF) created an authority list, RAMEAU , based upon RVM , which is used by numerous French libraries of all types. The major libraries in Luxembourg adopted RVM in 1985. Individual libraries in Belgium also use RVM , often in combination with LCSH. The spread of RVM in the francophone world reflects the increasing importance of the pragmatic North American tradition of shared cataloging and library cooperation. RVM and its European versions are based upon literary warrant and make changes to LCSH to reflect the specific cultural and linguistic needs of their user communities. While the users of RVM seek to harmonize the various versions, differences in terminology and probably syntax are inevitable.


To this day, the diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD) still depends on the presentation of clinical symptoms. Therefore, there is a great need for biomarkers that can improve the diagnosis and prediction of treatment response, which in turn can reduce patients' suffering and treatment cost [1]. S100 calcium-binding protein b (S100b) normally exists in the astrocytes and glial cells of the central nervous system. S100b can penetrate the brain–blood barrier, which makes it possible to detect the central concentration by measuring its plasma level [2]. Recently, fluctuations in serum levels of S100b in depressed patients were reported and aroused interest in the glial pathology of MDD, although the specific mechanism or relevant factors, such as antidepressant usage or age, remain undetermined [3,4]. Animal research conducted by Baudry indicated that with long-term selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) treatment, S100b protein was released in the raphe nucleus brain region in mice and then the 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin, 5-HT) concentration in the synaptic cleft of the locus coeruleus was determined [5]. But evidence from human studies to support such a conclusion is absent. Our published research has shown that the 5-HT levels in platelets decrease in chronic unpredictable mild stimulation (CUMS) rats and patients treated using the SSRI citalopram [6]. In this study, we will further illustrate S100b and its relation with 5-HT in the blood of patients with MDD, to provide basis for further research establishing a biological marker for depression. A case–control design was used for this study. Participants included forty-five patients with treatment-na€ıve MDD who had not taken antidepressants (drug-na€ıve group, DN group), thirtytwo MDD patients treated with citalopram for at least 6 weeks (citalopram-treated group, CPT group), and thirty-two healthy controls. Further details of this study including participant screening, informed consent process, and overall study process are reported in our previously published article [6]. The mean ages of the DN, CPT, and control groups were 39.6( 13.2), 44.4( 14.4), and 44.3( 9.4) years, respectively. Female participants made up 57.8%, 71.9%, and 71.9% of the DN, CPT, and control groups, respectively. There was no significant difference between the three groups in gender or age. All participants were evaluated by a psychiatrist using the Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD, 17 items) and Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA). The mean HAMD17 scores of the DN, CPT and control groups were 22.0( 3.90), 8.2( 4.67), and 1.4( 1.32), while the mean HAMA scores were 13.9( 5.81), 6.3( 4.90), and (1.5 1.01), respectively. The statistically significant difference in mean HAMD-17 and HAMA scores among the three groups (p < 0.01) was reported in our previous article [6]. The s100b (Human) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit (Abnova Corporation, Jhongli City, Figure 1 s100b plasma protein levels increased in MDD patients with or without antidepressant treatment. *p < 0.05, compared with healthy controls, MDD participants in the drug naı̈ve group (DN group) or in the citalopram treatment group (CPT group) had elevated s100b plasma protein levels. ns: p > 0.05, no significant difference between the DN group and CPT group.


In the piedmont zone of the Saishiteng Mountain on the northern margin of Qaidam Basin,the thrust-nappe structure is developed,the surface condition is poor and hence the seismic prospecting is difficult.As CEMP method is hardly affected by the shielding effect of overthrust nappe structure and the effect of surface condition,the authors conducted researches on CEMP exploration in this area.In this paper,several methods such as Robust,remote reference technique and static correction were adopted in data preprocessing to suppress noise and improve data quality.Through the comprehensive utilization of Bostick,CMI and 2D continuous medium inversion,the effective anomaly was detected obviously,the structural characteristics of overthrust nappe was unveiled clearly,and the spatial spread of lower wall strata around the thrust-nappe fault and the contact relation between the mountain and the basin were determined in this area.


The increasing use of low-energy gamma emitters in radioisotope scanning, particularly those gamma emitters emitting photons below 200 keY, has created an interest in collimators designed for such energies. At least until quite recently, available commercial collimators were designed for higher energies and did not allow optimum use of the lower-energy emitting nuclides. Special collimators have been reported by Harper, et a! ( 1 ), Beck (2), and by Harris, et al (3), but, to date, these designs have not been generally available. To carry out some scanning studies at the Brookhaven Medical Research Center involving the use of 9omTc, it was felt that a thin-septum collimator was needed that would more fully take advantage of the properties of the radioiso tope. As a number of different applications were to be involved, a collimator system was needed that was sufficiently versatile to encompass a number of different scanning requirements.


College savings are a promising strategy to pay for higher education, given the high college costs and inadequate financial aid available to students today. Asset theory suggests college savings have financial as well as psychological and social effects on children's educational outcomes. This dissertation study focuses on the role of parent-child discussions about college as a potential mediator in the relationship between savings and college attendance. Also, the direct association between these discussions about attending college and children's college expectations was examined. The Wisconsin Model of status attainment provides the organizing framework for this study as it encompasses the most important factors at key moments in an individual's trajectory to educational attainment.
The Education Longitudinal Study (2002) was utilized with the sample restricted to families with incomes at or below 185 percent of federal poverty guidelines. The total number of sample students is 3,997. Depending on the pattern of missing data, the deductive and multiple imputation approaches were applied. Since the outcome variable is polytomous, multinomial logistic regression analysis was used. To test mediation effects, both the Baron and Kenny approach and multiple mediation bootstrapping were employed.
 Results of this study suggest college savings are significantly and positively associated with parental college expectations, parent-child discussions about college, and two-year college attendance. Both parental expectations and college discussions mediate the relationship between savings and college attendance. These findings suggest college savings programs could be a promising strategy to help students access a post-secondary education. Social workers in school settings need to encourage families to develop college savings accounts by providing relevant information and connecting these families to financial service institutions.
 Another key finding is that discussions about attending college are associated with children's own expectations and ultimate college attendance. Not all parents are comfortable talking with their children about going to college, especially without direct college experiences themselves. Developing programs to facilitate parent-child discussions about attending college is suggested so that social workers can help families to engage in productive discussions by providing communication guidelines and teaching parents' ways to encourage their children without pressuring them.


SUBTITLE: AFTER NEARLY A DECADE OF STRONG GROWTH, THE ICAO TRAINAIR PROGRAMME WELCOMES STILL MORE PARTICIPATION FROM ICAO CONTRACTING STATES, WHICH CAN ONLY BENEFIT FROM THE CONSISTENT QUALITY AND HIGHER LEVEL OF TRAINING HARMONIZATION MADE POSSIBLE THROUGH INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION. SIDEBAR: ON-LINE TRAINAING DIRECTORY LISTS DETAILS FOR OVER 2,700 COURSES / MATTHIAS WARMBOLD.


1. In Ireland, the regional administrators--including the chiefs of nursing and psychiatry--have as their responsibility all of the related outpatient clinics, day hospitals, day care centers and community residences, including all levels of acuity. Discharge planning becomes easier than in the United States. 2. In Ireland, Assessment Units are unlocked, nurses are in uniform, there is no equivalent of a Master's prepared clinical specialist or an advanced level Nurse Practitioner, and residences are integrated into neighborhoods. 3. The majority of chief psychiatric nurses and officers and nurse tutors in Ireland are men. Teaching is not a top priority of staff nurses, and nurse tutors are not involved regularly with students on the wards.


We strongly disagree with the assertion of Gomez-Ulla et al. (1) that European protocols did not define any standards by which diabetic retinopathy screening programs should be assessed. Recently, Bachmann and Nelson (2) pooled the data from many available screening studies, dated up to 1996, and determined that retinal photography was the screening test of choice. In fact, the U.K. National Screening Committee was considering this topic as a possible national priority. In addition, a cross-sectional epidemiologic study on 258 randomly selected diabetic patients in Spain was published by Hernaez-Ortega et al. (3) in 1998. The authors compared the …


An investigation is reported of the effect of three-body interactions between dissimilar molecules on the phase behavior of binary mixtures. The Gibbs ensemble algorithm is implemented to determine phase coexistence of binary mixtures interacting via a two-body Lennard−Jones + three-body Axilrod−Teller potential. The contributions of both two-body and three-body interactions are calculated exactly. Calculations are reported with three-body interactions of varying strength. It is demonstrated that three-body interactions can result in a transition from vapor−liquid equilibria to type IIIb behavior (gas−gas immiscibility of the second kind). This is the first time that three-body interactions have been linked rigorously to type III behavior.


Publisher Summary The chemistry of metal–alkynyl compounds is developing at a rapid pace. The bonds of alkynyl ligands, like those of organic alkynes have been shown to participate in a rich set of chemical transformations. Electronic-absorption band maxima and extinction coefficients have been reported for a large number of metal–alkynyl complexes. Casual comparisons of electronic-absorption band energies or intensities among a series of compounds in the absence of such experiments are not without the risk of misinterpretation because a variety of important effects not associated with the presence or absence of M-CCR π-bonding may be operative such as mixings between electronic states of identical symmetry but different orbital character. The best and simplest means of placing the M–C bond distances of metal–alkyl complexes in a context that allows insight into whether or not they manifest M-CCR π-interactions is to compare them to M–C bond distances of complexes where such effects are expected to be insignificant, as for metal–alkynyl compounds.


The utility model discloses a high-precision distance-measurement ultrasonic liquid level gauge based on the time delay method. The high-precision distance-measurement ultrasonic liquid level gauge comprises a single chip microcomputer controller, a keyboard module, a storage module, an alarming module, a display module, two ultrasonic wave transceiver modules and a serial port communication module. The keyboard module, the storage module, the alarming module, the display module, the ultrasonic wave transceiver modules and the serial port communication module are respectively connected with the single chip microcomputer controller, the serial port communication module is further connected with a PC, the two ultrasonic wave transceiver modules are arranged above the liquid level, and the distances between the two ultrasonic wave transceiver modules and the liquid level are different. According to the high-precision distance-measurement ultrasonic liquid level gauge based on the time delay method, measured results of two ultrasonic probes arranged at different heights are used for correcting sound velocity and eliminating time-delay errors of hardware inside a single chip microcomputer, the errors caused when the liquid level is not stable enough due to the external environment causes are reduced through the arithmetic average filtering method, and therefore the ultrasonic liquid level is accurately measured.


This paper presents a closed economy macroeconomic model in which the nominal income of some assets is taxed, whereas that of others is not. The short-run and long-run implications of a change in expected inflation are examined. An increase in the expected rate of inflation shifts the composition of aggregate demand, since asset holders shift their portfolios from the taxed asset (corporate capital) to the untaxed asset (consumer durables). In the long run, this shift implies a stock adjustment decline in capital with a consequent decrease in the rate of growth of productivity over the transition period.


Simulation of 3D drying of anisotropic solids requires knowledge of the diffusivities of moisture in all three directions. These are seldom available in the range of temperatures and moisture contents of interest. This article presents methodology for identification of axial and radial diffusivities in wood in superheated steam drying and the results for wood of Pinus silvestris at a steam temperature 160°C and atmospheric pressure. Axial diffusivity (along fibers) was 5.76 times higher than radial diffusivity.


The novel aspartic proteases, yeast aspartic protease 3 and the mammalian POMC-converting enzyme (PCE), can process prohormones at specific basic residue cleavage sites. We show that an antibody against yeast aspartic protease 3 (YAP3p) cross-reacted with purified bovine PCE on Western blot, indicating structural homology between these two enzymes, but not with other aspartic proteases, such as renin or cathepsin D. A PCE-sized anti-YAP3p-immunoreactive band was detected on Western blots of bovine intermediate lobe where PCE activity has been found. YAP3p antiserum also cross-reacted with a protein of approximately 90 kDa from mouse hypothalamus and anterior pituitary, and bovine anterior pituitary secretory granules. Distribution studies showed the presence of anti-YAP3p-immunopositive cells in bovine pituitary and peptide-rich brain regions, including the mouse arcuate nucleus and hippocampus and the rat supraoptic nucleus, paraventricular nucleus, cortex, striatum, and reticular nucleus. In the bovine intermediate pituitary, a subpopulation of cells was intensely stained with the YAP3p antiserum, and in combination with in situ hybridization, these cells were shown to contain POMC messenger RNA (mRNA). Only a subpopulation of cells was immunopositive for anti-YAP3p in bovine anterior pituitary, and most of these cells were identified by double immunostaining with ACTH antiserum as corticotrophs. In situ hybridization in combination with immunocytochemistry provided evidence for the localization of arginine vasopressin mRNA in YAP3p-immunopositive neurons in the rat supraoptic nucleus, whereas cholecystokinin mRNA was detected in YAP3p-immunopositive cells in the rat cortex and hippocampus. These results support the hypothesis that YAP3p-like aspartic proteases, including PCE, play a role in prohormone processing in endocrine/neuroendocrine cells in vivo.


The infrared free‐electron laser (CLIO) was applied to the study of vibrational relaxation rates in condensed phases by one‐color pump‐probe experiment. In this paper we present the results of preliminary measurements involving small molecules (CO, CO2) in low‐temperature argon matrices and intermediate‐size molecules (acetonitrile, benzonitrile) in room‐temperature CCl4 solutions.


This paper describes a cooperative research and development effort between a forged railroad wheel producer and a locomotive manufacturer to improve locomotive wheel/rail adhesion by using stainless steel tires and wheels. The importance of adhesion and wheel life for locomotive service performance is discussed. A review of the initial project assumptions and background research information is provided to establish the basis for using stainless steel as a material. Forging trials, tire and wheel production issues, and heat treating details are discussed. Mechanical properties and other testing results for stainless steel tires and wheels are reviewed with special emphasis placed upon wheel saw cut testing. Results from adhesion trials are also discussed.


Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are of tremendous importance for our society, but their limited lifetime still poses a great challenge. For a better understanding of battery cycling and degradation, o...


The Yangtze River Economic Belt is an important national development zone in the new era.First,the authors review researches on the theory and trajectory of the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt over the past thirty years and argue that the projected east-west gradient transfer has not materialized.Second,the authors sum up three spatial logics relevant to the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt,namely coastal to basin economy,from Flying Geese to parallel regionalization and from the "core-periphery" division to the Weber structure.Built on such theories,the authors point out that regional agglomerative economy is evident,independent innovation has become an important driving force for industrial development,regional urban agglomeration has appeared,and the potential node cities have played important roles in the urban system.In the end,it is suggested that the new spatial structure of the Yangtze River Economic Belt can be described as "one belt,two corridors,three districts and four groups",and building the transportation corridor and other regional infrastructure can drive the spatial economy of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.


FIELD: medicine. SUBSTANCE: invention relates to field of medicine, in particular to computer diagnostic systems (CDS) and can be used in CDS for automatic determining of heart dimensions and position by patient's photoroentgenologic images (PRI) in reconstruction of three-dimensional heart structure. To realise the method the following actions are carried out. PRI are registered in frontal and left lateral projections. Heart contour is marked out on PRI by analysis of the image, calculation of probability values for points of image showing that given point of the image belongs to definite image sections, relates to heart, and obtaining of contour model of heart. Then created is array of contours of heart computer model projections, obtained by successive turning of model with set angle step by three axes of coordinates and superposition and matching of heart model projections with image on PRI is carried out. At the same time successive comparison of heart contours on patient's PRI and contours of different projections of heart model from created array is performed. As a result, models corresponding to frontal and left lateral photoroentgenological images and having the smallest areas of mis-match after imposing of contour images on each other, correspond to heart contours on patient's PRI most accurately, three-dimensional heart model being similar to patient's heart. EFFECT: invention allows to automatise determination of patient's heart dimensions and position on photoroentgenological image. 3 cl, 12 dwg


In the Anti-Atlas mountains, a variety of mat-related structures is extensively preserved in silicilastic deposits of the Tizi n-Taghatine Group, mainly in peritidal facies associations. This Neoproterozoic Group (~0.8 Ga) is a volcano-sedimentary cover, about 2 km thick, deposited on the northern continental margin of the West African craton (WAC). The group crops out discontinuously in all the Proterozoic inliers along the southern side of the central Anti-Atlas Pan-African suture and has been studied in three separate areas, viz. from west to east: (i) the southern edge of the Siroua massif, (ii) the northern edge of the Zenaga inlier, and (iii) the southern side of the Bouazzer Elgraara inlier (Fig. 7(f)-1). The lithostratigraphic organization of the Tizi n-Taghatine Group reflects a stratigraphic record of large cyclic changes in the depositional system due to relative sea-level variations, the palaeogeographic setting and the tectono-sedimentary evolution of the northern Neoproterozoic WAC passive margin (Bouougri and Saquaque, 2004) (Fig. 7(f)-2). The lower sedimentary package records the first basin-fill stage and reflects the establishment, on a relatively stable margin, of a shallow-water and gently dipping mixed siliciclastic–carbonate ramp facing northwards and attached to a braided alluvial plain in the south. The middle volcanic Tachdamt Formation consists of tholeiitic, alkaline and transitional flood basalts interpreted to represent a widespread extensional event at 788 ±10Ma (Rb/Sr; Clauer, 1976). Cessation of major volcanism was followed by deposition of the upper sedimentary package (Bleïda Formation), which records the late basin-fill stage and reflects a shelf-basin environment filled with thinly bedded and fine-grained turbidite deposits. The Lower sedimentary ensemble (Fig. 7(f)-2) of the Tizi n-Tghatine Group consists of interfingering siliciclastic and carbonate facies associations, ranging from fluvial to siliciclastic and carbonate shallow platform domains. Within this package, occurrences of mat-related structures are found in siliciclastic facies of the Taghdout, Wanimzi, Tamgarda, Imi n-Tizi and Ifarkhs-n-Tirsal Formations.


A study of the statistics of field-line dispersal recently showed that beyond its expected ballistic and diffusive regimes, the mean separation logarithm of simulated turbulent field lines displays supradiffusive behavior. The reason for this unexpected supradiffusion is investigated. The approach taken in this new study is to try to better characterize the statistics of the field-line separations in terms of random walk.


An editorial is presented which addresses the 70th anniversary of the Nuremberg Doctors' Trial, and it mentions several other articles which appear in the same issue of the journal and discuss topics such as the Nuremberg Code and Nuremberg principles human rights laws and prosecutions of Nazi physicians for human experimentation-related murder and torture. Voluntary informed consent is assessed, along with euthanasia and eugenics during the World War II era.


Title: Cytokine profiling reveals increased serum inflammatory cytokines in idiopathic choroidal neovascularization Version: 1 Date: 04 Mar 2019 Reviewer: Anthony Mukwaya Reviewer's report: Comments to authors Abstract lines 24-26, I guess what the authors are referring to as the background is instead the objective of their study. If so, please revise accordingly. Lines 30-32. I wonder if basic fibroblast growth factor, granulocyte-macrophage colonystimulating factor and vascular endothelial growth factor, all fall under the classification of cytokines.


Background: Worm infection was an environment-based disease caused by nematode class worms' intestine and transmitted through the soil. This condition could effect to their ability in school-age children to pay attentiont during the lessons.Purpose: To determine the determinants of roundworms in elementary school students in Silahisabungan Subdistrict (Dairi) , North Sumatera, Indonesia.Methods: The case-control design with a total sample of 150 students taken from 5 elementary schools starting in grade 5 and 6. This research instrument used a questionnaire.Results: That there was no effect between hand washing habits at OR 1.90 (95% Cl: 0.697 - 5.180), there was no effect on nail hygiene by OR 1.19 (95% Cl: 0.505-2828), there was no the influence of footwear use amounting to OR 1.68 (95% Cl: 0.672-2225), there was an influence of the source of clean water of OR = 17.17 (95% Cl: 1,800-1 163,78) and there is an effect of providing latrines at OR = 5.55 (95% Cl : 1,128-27,398).Suggestion: To students to be pay more attention in their personal hygiene, propose to teachers to be able to regularly check the student hygiene such as nail hygiene and make a source of information media in the school environment. Finally, this study asked the health centers to conduct child health screening and conduct counseling about personal hygiene.


Chemistry
When an atom or molecular fragment is covalently bonded, its release is controlled by the rate of degradation of the bond or by the rate of degradation of the matrix or shell material that keeps it trapped. When molecules are held by noncovalent interactions, the affinity of the molecule


It is a fact that economic development does not proceed evenly among the regions of Western economies. Yet uneven regional development within developed capitalist economies has aroused little interest among orthodox economists of both the mainstream and the Marxist schools of thought. It has been economists in the political economy tradition who have provided most insights, and it is in line with this tradition that we will address here the specific question of the role of money in uneven regional development.


Severe droughts were evaluated using a tree-ring network of 12 chronologies (1700−2005) from the Qilian Mountains on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. A total of 98 drought years, including 78 moderate, 15 severe, and 5 extreme events, were identified for the past 306 yr. Following the starting year of a drought phase, drought commonly continued for 1 to 2 yr. The spatial patterns of moisture conditions in central and eastern China corresponding to 19 major drought years during the period 1700−2000 were grouped into 3 clusters, with one particular pattern showing droughts of nation-wide impact (i.e. 1721, 1928 and 1966). Drought events became more frequent during the 20th century. Moreover, the multi-year event during the late 1920s and early 1930s was the longest in the past 306 yr. As shown by the tree-ring data, this extreme drought event occurred first in the western Qilian Mountains, and then progressed gradually toward the central and eastern parts of the area, culminating in 1928. Comparison with historical documents demonstrates that the climatic information imbedded in the tree-ring network can provide quantitative measures of drought severity and fill the gaps where historical documents are lacking and/or incomplete.


Author Institution: Department of Chemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907; Spectral Energies, LLC, 5100 Springfield Street, Suite 301, Dayton, OH 45431; Air Force Research Laboratory, Propulsion Directorate, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433


The present study highlights augmentation of livelihood and natural resource management in the Central Himalayan region by promoting community-specific strategies, adoption of appropriate technologies, diversification of on-farm and off-farm activities, cash-crop production, and supporting ecological restoration and natural resource management. A cluster of eight villages having 470 households was targeted and actions related to community mobilization, micro-planning, technology demonstration and dissemination, the establishment of market linkages, capacity-building and formation of self-help groups were undertaken. Farmers adopted nine technology packages that diversified agriculture in waste/abandoned lands. Management of forests and use of Chir-pine needles for making by-products not only provided an additional source of livelihood but also helped in controlling forest fire. Facilitating linkages with line departments helped to acquire benefits of government schemes. It is recommended that region-specific approach, collective action, targeting weaker sections and women, efficient natural resource management, livelihood enhancement, and capacity-building and community empowerment will lead to a sustainable approach for community development in the Himalayan region.


We study the effect of fluctuations in opening angle of bent-core molecules on stability of the nematic phases. The molecules are built out of two Gay-Berne centers each corresponding to one of the molecular arms. Constant-pressure Monte Carlo (MC NPT) simulations are carried out for two versions of the model, with fixed- and fluctuating opening angle, where fluctuations are taken harmonic about the angle of 140°. The phases found on cooling are uniaxial nematic, biaxial nematic and crystalline. On heating the biaxial nematic is superseded by the metastable crystalline phase.


Online teaching has been in use for a while, but not many people cared to embrace it as a method of teaching until the COVID-19 pandemic literally forced them into giving it a consideration. The sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic led to the shutting down of schools across the country and several parts of the world. Consequently, many state governments and educational institutions turned to media broadcasts as well as online teaching to keep learners engaged. For the first time in decades, teleconferencing applications and Internet services such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Skype witnessed a surge in their use for teaching and learning as well as for conducting meetings in different spheres of life such as governance and business. Thus, many English language instructors began to teach online without any appreciable time to understand the specialized techniques for the design of online teaching for maximum benefit to learners. Many English language instructors arranged for synchronous online classes that lasted between one to three hours. From personal experiences, the researchers observed that many learners in such classes experienced boredom and disengaged from the live online classes. This prompted the researchers to rethink how online English language teaching can be designed for maximum engagement of learners. This paper proposes the incorporation of the flipped classroom approach into the design of online English language teaching and presents steps that English language instructors need to take to be able to incorporate the flipped classroom approach into online English Language teaching for maximum benefits and learners' engagement.


This paper studies from various perspectives the gap between the coordinating role on Africa policy attributed to TICAD by the Japanese government and its impact as an instrument of African development. This paper has no ambitions as to providing a comprehensive overview of Japan's relationship and/or co-operation with the African continent, nor to attempt to describe the diplomatic aspects of TICAD, but instead focuses on the actual impact of Japanese strategy for development assistance to Africa.


science) and to liberals for invoking history in any viable interpretation of Scripture, Spinoza is finally at odds with all in denying the Bible any authoritative status as a revealed text. Giving a new twist to the Protestant notion of the autonomy of Scripture (sola Scriptura), that the text must be understood in its own terms, Spinoza counters Meyer and his evaluation of the Bible against the external canon of philosophical reason, counters conservative theologians and their emphasis on subjective faith and the ahistoricity of the Bible, and finally counters liberal theologians in their misguided attempt to mine an historical text for timeless truths. Spinoza is presented by Preus as offering a "natural history of religion." A famous section of TTP vii says, "the method of interpreting Scripture is scarcely different from the method of interpreting nature, and is in fact in complete accord with it. For just as the method of interpreting nature consists essentially in composing a natural history from which we can infer definitions of the things of nature as deriving from assured data; so also for the interpretation of Scripture it is necessary to provide its authentic history, and by drawing logical consequences from that, as from assured data and principles, to infer the intention of the authors of Scripture." For Spinoza, the analogy between the natural scientist and the biblical interpreter is a close one, and Preus rightly makes much of it. Just as one comes to understand nature from nature herself (inductively and empirically), so must one come to understand and interpret Scripture from Scripture itself. Scripture stands on its own (sola Scriptura), as the conservatives strenuously suggested, but its meaning ("the intention of the authors of Scripture"), not to be confused with any sort of extra-historical, timeless truth, is to be inferred by close philological and historical analysis. This Baconian, empiricist methodology is stressed by Preus, who urges a reconceptualization of Spinoza as a "rationalist," wedded to an a priori methodology. This book, unfortunately blemished by numerous typos, is a fine example of sensitivity to historical context, crisp scholarly writing, and a clearly articulated thesis, which carries with it important revisionist implications. Preus is to be heartily commended for his effort. D A N I E L H . F R A N K University of Kentucky


We describe the design rationale and principles of a web authoring tool for beginner web developers called Snowball. We explain how this constructionist toolkit exposes content creators to computational features of web pages, enabling them to create meaningful artifacts while they move from content creation to basic coding. Finally, we discuss how we are instrumenting learning analytics in Snowball.


We explore the impact of mode coupling on the capacity of MDM networks under limited DSP computational complexities. Results show that a 34-fold increase in network throughput can be achieved by introducing strong mode coupling.


Unemployment rates in urban West Africa are increasing or hump-shaped in education. This is puzzling because educated workers could downgrade to low-skilled self-employed jobs to escape unemployment. We argue that the public sector plays a role in this pattern and study how recent public policies affect (educated) unemployment, worker allocation across sectors and incomes. To this end we develop a search and matching model with heterogeneous workers who participate in a labour market with three sectors (public, private-formal and self-employment). We estimate the model using data from the West African 1-2-3-Survey. Low job arrival rates, low search efficiency when self-employed, and differential job destruction explain a large part of educated unemployment, while public sector wage distortions are relatively small. Public sector vacancy creation crowds out the private-formal sector, pushes workers into unemployment and self-employment, and benefits those with high education at the expense of those with little or no education. Indirect labour market policies such as subsidies to private-formal vacancy posting and facilitating entry into self-employment effectively decrease unemployment, have a positive impact on incomes, and are more egalitarian. These later policies should be preferred over public vacancy creation.


[Objective] To observe the protective effect of phosphodiesterase (PDE) inhibitor on interlenkin-1β(IL-1β) induced destruction of isolated rat pancreatic islet cells and its mechanism. [Methods] Isolated pancreatic islet cells from Wistar rats were cultured in vitro. Nitrite production, cAMP levels, insulin secreation and cell activity (MTT assay) in rat pancreatic islet cells incubated with IL-1β (30 U/mL), the specific PDE Ⅲ inhibitor cilostamide( CIL) singly and in combination, were measured. [Results] IL-1βinduced significant increase in nitrite production, decreased cAMP levels, insulin secreation and MTT assay (P 0.001), which were blocked by CIL (P 0.01), and the inhibition of NO production gradually enhanced by the increase of the concentration of CIL. Linear regression and t-test indicate CIL suppresses NO production in a dose-dependent manner (r2=0.44, P 0.01). [Conclusion] The results suggest that CIL can protect IL-1β-induced damage to islets .


World production of major fruit crops rose from 54.6 million metric tons (MMT) for 1969-71 to 64.1 MMT for 1978-80. Grapes, bananas and plantains, citrus and apples comprised over 80% of all production. Percentages made up by other crops in 1969-71 were mangos (5.9%), pears (3.6%), peaches and nectarines (3%), plums (2.7%), pineapples (2.4%), apricots (0.73%), strawberries (0.58%), papayas (0.57%), and avocados (0.46%). By 1978-80 the pineapple's share was 2.9%, papaya's 0.73%, strawberry's 0.77% and avo cado's 0.53% whereas plum dropped to 2.1% and apricot to 0.57%. Despite greater estimated mango production, this fruifs share dropped to 5.4% for 1978-80. Like other Florida commodities fruit crops respond to economic stimuli. Dade County avocado plantings rose from 2185 ha in 1969 to 4330 in 1981, and now are 4332 vs. a total of 5173 ha for Florida. Limes rose from 1781 ha in 1969 to 2836 in 1984 and mangos occupy 769 ha (vs. 567 in 1969). Two world fruits less important in Dade County are banana and papaya (142 ha each). Some fruits locally important present a dy namic, rapidly changing picture. These include mamey sapote (120 ha), annonas (28 ha), lychee (24 ha), carambola (16 ha), acerola and longan (each 12 ha), and sapodilla (8 ha). Be cause of varying factors that influence different crops, the present picture is likely to change. Tropical fruit claims a distinctly minor share of Florida's horticulture when compared with the giant citrus and vege table production industries, yet it is a healthy, growing con tributor to the State's economy. Tropical fruit crops of one or another kind have been economically important in parts of Florida for nearly a century. The picture has been dynamic, changing in response to economic and environ mental pressures, and this situation continues. On the world scene, tropical fruits currently represent over half of esti mated fruit production, and their share of the market has grown in recent years (Table 1). This discussion relates Florida's tropical fruit production to the world picture, and assesses the potential of specific crops for further growth and development within the State. World Fruit Production A strong caveat applies to all world fruit production data now available. In 1979 FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization, United Nations) estimates were the only figures to be had for 22.6% of the countries for which pear production was reported. These same estimates made up the only reports from 68.4%—39 of 57—countries for which mango production information was supplied (Table 1). Many thousands of metric tons (MT) of mangos, papayas and bananas are produced on smallholdings, in dooryards and along roadsides in developing tropical countries. The degree of success FAO statisticians attain in reporting this production is conjectural. Thus, reported figures probably do show trends, but it would be unwise to put overmuch confidence in them. Fruits for which FAO keeps records generally increased from 1969 through 1980. C. N. Smith (11) reported a marked rise in world fruit exports for 1970 through 1974, and these probably absorbed much of the Table 1. World production (1,000 MT) of some important fruit crops from 1969 to 198O.z zSource: references 2 and 3.


The Kapuskasing Structural Zone (KSZ) in Ontario consists of four separate tectonic blocks with distinctive gravity and magnetic anomalies. From south to north, these include the Chapleau Block (CB), the Groundhog River Block (GRB), the Val Rita Block (VRB) found west of the GRB and the Fraserdale-Moosonee Block (FMB). Previous gravity studies, based on sparse data coverage, failed to satisfactorily explain the cause of the potential field anomalies within the VRB and the GRB in the central portion of the KSZ. Hence, a detailed gravity survey was conducted over the VRB and GRB in order to constrain interpretations of deep crustal structure based on seismic, geologic and physical properties data.


This study was conducted to estimate the feasibility using thermal image measurement that is applicable to internal leak diagnosis for the power plant valve. Abnormal heating of valve surface associated with high temperature steam f10w toward valve outlet side in the condition of low temperature is a primary indicator of leakage problems in high temperature and pressure valves. Thermal imaging enables to see the invisible thermal radiation that may portend impending damage before their condition becomes critical. When steam flow in valve outlet side in the condition of low temperature is converted into heat transmitted through the valve body due to the internal leakage in valve. The existence of abnormally increasable leakage rate in the valve will result in abnormally high levels of heat to be generated that can be quickly identified with a thermal image avoiding energy loss or damage of valve component. From the experimental results, it was suggested that the thermal image measurement could be an effective way to precisely diagnose and evaluate internal leak situation of valve.


Increasing competition in domestic and foreign markets in the globalizing world and increasing quality expectations of customers have led enterprises to develop and implement a range of different quality considerations in order to remain competitive or to increase competitive power. One of the most important of these approaches is called benchmarking in the international literature, which is called "the best of the best" in businesses. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Benchmarking approach of management and science concepts of sports enterprises operating in Elazig. The universe of the research is the sports enterprises in Turkey and the sample is the sports enterprises in Elazig province. The research was evaluated as collecting and analyzing benchmarking information. In the qualitative survey, sports and social facilities benchmarking services, financial data collection tool and sports facility participants questionnaire were applied. The questionnaire developed by Peter Taylor was translated into Turkish and validated and credible, and Cronbach alpha value α = 0, 816. A significant difference was observed when participants' participation in sports facilities in Elazig was examined in terms of place of birth according to the AnovaTukey test. As a result; Although there was a significant difference between the expectations of the participants coming to sports facilities operating in Elazig province (p 0,05). Compared to the sports facilities in Elazig, it can be considered that there are many deficiencies in all sports facilities and that no professional management is used.


abstract:Librarians and educators have a unique opportunity to develop and incorporate gray literature instruction into nursing curricula, with specific focus on its definition, value, discoverability, and evaluation. This article presents a structured and hands-on approach to the collection of gray literature and its use in evidence-based nursing. Citation analysis provides empirical evidence identifying the types of such literature most used in nursing scholarship. Based on these findings, a method of gray literature instruction for nursing learners is established and presented.


Abstract
The Flipped Classroom is a teaching method that makes use of technology to provide a self-directed learning environment for students. The purpose of this article is to learn about high school students' perspectives on Flipped Classroom, the use of video and social media, time spent studying, mastery of learning materials, and completion of online learning. This study is a descriptive study. Questionnaires were presented to 95 Indonesian students who were chosen at random. In general, when students use Flipped Classroom in Indonesian lessons, they spend less time doing assignments or homework, they enjoy learning more, and they benefit from learning videos in Flipped Classroom to help them grasp the material. This article demonstrates how Flipped Classroom improves student participation, communication, and understanding.

Keywords: Flipped Classroom, online learning, technology


A mathematical discussion of two different classes of nanofluids, such as Copper (Cu)-Kerosene and Aluminum oxide (Al2O3)-Kerosene, over a stretching/shrinking surface, has been discussed in this manuscript. Here Kerosene based nanofluids carry Copper and Aluminum oxide as nanoparticles. The ODEs are obtained from basic equations by introducing the similarity approach. The respective coupled nonlinear ODEs are solved with the help of a suitable numerical technique named as Runge-Kutta fourth-order method. It is found that Al2O3-Kerosene possesses a slightly greater velocity than Cu-Kerosene, but a reverse effect is found in the case of temperature and nanofluids. The presence of volume concentration is important due to the presence of nanoparticles as nanofluids property depends on the physical properties of nanoparticles.


The following notes contain a computer simulation concerning a basic nonWalrasian equilibrium system, following the Edmond Malinvaud "short side" approach, as far as the price adjustment is concerned, and the sequential Hicksian "weeks" structure with regard of the temporal characterization. Two strongly heterogeneous classes of agents will be taken into consideration: the "rich" and the "poor" and it will be shown how such sociological distinction critically influences the evolution of the framework under consideration. Finally, some methodological consideration will be added, regarding the comparison between the evolutionary and the gravitational paradigms and the evaluation of approaches belonging to rival schools of economic thought. J.E.L. Classification: C68, O12.


A high‐resolution observation of the active nucleus galaxy Centaurus A (NGC 5128) was made by the GSFC Low Energy Gamma‐ray Spectrometer (LEGS) during a balloon flight on 1981 November 19. The measured spectrum between 70 and 500 keV is well represented by a power law of the form 1.05×10−4 (E/100 keV)−1.59 ph cm−2 s−1 with no breaks or line features observed. The 98% confidence (2σ) annihilation line is 9.9×10−4 ph cm−2 s−1. Using this upper limit, the ratio of the narrow‐line annihilation radiation luminosity to the integral ≥51 keV lumonisity is estimated to be ≳0.09 (2σ upper limit). This is compared with the measured value a difference in the emission regions in the nuclei of the two galaxies.


Thermo-acoustic tomography is a hybrid medical imaging modality that aims to combine the good optical contrast observed in tissues with the good resolution properties of ultrasound. Thermo-acoustic imaging may be decomposed into two steps. The first step aims at reconstructing an amount of electromagnetic radiation absorbed by tissues from boundary measurements of ultrasound generated by the heating caused by these radiations. We assume that this first step has been performed. Quantitative thermo-acoustics then consists of reconstructing the conductivity coefficient in the equation modeling radiation from the now known absorbed radiation. This second step is the problem of interest in this paper. Mathematically, quantitative thermo-acoustics consists of reconstructing the conductivity in Maxwell's equations from available internal data that are linear in the conductivity and quadratic in the electric field. We consider several inverse problems of this type with applications in thermo-acoustics as well as in acousto-optics. In this framework, we obtain uniqueness and stability results under a smallness constraint on the conductivity. This smallness constraint is removed in the specific case of a scalar model for electromagnetic wave propagation for appropriate illuminations constructed by the method of complex geometric optics solutions.


rules in a single model, and then fine-tune each game with the same pre-trained model (EZ-L). Experiments show that EZ-L achieves superior performance compared to EZ scratch on most games


This article has undertaken factor analysis with 4310 policemen's test scores of the 16PF. The results showed there were five prominent factors in the policeman's personality structure, these five factors concerning neuroticism, extraversion, practical mindedness, openness and social intellect were able to interpret 54.197% of total variance. Among the five factors, the load coefficient of twelve traits were above 0.6 and they could interpret 79.1% variance of them. So this result can be taken as the criterions when police departments recruit new policemen. People who get higher scores on the B, C, E, F, H, Q2, Q3, and lower scores on the I, L, M, N, Q4 can be considered as appropriate candidate of the policeman.


The seed dormancy of Entada pursaetha DC., has been broken by mechanical and chemical stress methods. The rate of germination was significantly increased to 90% in hot water treatment within 15 days of sowing. In punctured seeds it decreased to 20% and sprouted after 45 days. Concentrated sulphuric acid and gibberellic acid treatment (10, 100, 1000 µM) did not induce germination.


A 36-year-old woman presented a left facial erythematous macular lesion with telangiectatic vessels (Fig, 1), This lesion had been present for at least 15 years, but was not present at birth or during childhood. There was no relevant personal or familial past medical history. During the last few years, the lesion had enlarged minimally, and more recently, it was occasionally itchy. The symptoms occurred in temporal association with premenstrual period, stressful situations, or hot weather. She was not taking any medications or drugs, and there was no history of flushing, gastrointestinal symptoms, syncopal attacks, palpitations, weight loss, or bone pain. Physical examination was unremarkable, and the skin lesion did not present Darier's sign. General hematologic and biochemical investigations were normal. Twenty-four hour urine histamine levels were 172 (normal, <191), and HIAA (hydroxy-imidazolacetic acid) levels were 3,7 (normal, <10), Histopathologically the lesion showed a discrete perivascular cellular infiltrate at the superficial dermis with an increase of the diameter of the small dermal vessels, A Giemsa stain disclosed the presence of abundant mast cells amid the cells ofthe infiltrate, (Fig, 2),


The area of Kaligawe Street is one of many which experience flood due to the high tide that cause the water unable to flow to downstream area and the storage channel became smaller. Kaligawe Street is part of Pantura Street that connects Semarang and Demak. The inundation along Kaligawe Street cause severe congestion as well as infrastructure damage. Long storage of Kaligawe is used as flood control that occurs in sub-system of East Semarang on sub-catchment Kaligawe of 378 Ha service area (Genuk Housing Enviromental Area) and it has pump capacity of 1.6 m3/s. Kaligawe long storage optimization analysis is by collecting rainfall data of Karangrejodan Station at Simongan. Hydrology analysis include the determination of rain mean by algebra method, frequency analysis then is examined using Chi-Square and Smirnov-Kolmogorof method while to determaine rain intensity is using method of Mononobe and ABM. Flood plan determination is using rational equation. Analysis of capacity and pump needs is using water balance method and analysis of pump selection is using Bernoulli equation. The Optimum value on Kaligawe long storage in 4.5 m deep with initial condition 0.75m and requires at least in 1.04 mwh, with 2 pumps and pumping duration of 6.54 hours. Based on pump selection analysis on real discharge, the pump type is MWI Axial flow 72" P0, with power of 400 HP, the value is of 3.93 m3/s on the head of 5.24 m.


English language plays roles as language of instruction and core subject at junior secondary school (JSS) level in Nigeria as it is indicated in the National policy on Education (NPE (2004). The English studies curriculum at JSS level of education is an integrative document where English language and Literature in English language were integrated to achieve the set objectives of language education. This paper, therefore, attempts to make a review on the challenges in the implementation of JSS English studies curriculum in Nigeria. A review of the previous studies related to this paper, revealed that the crises include lack of teaching materials and ICT instructional gadgets, lack of provision of incentives to language teachers, insufficient time to cover the curriculum, lack of mentoring, lack of steady supervision, monitoring and evaluation. The paper suggests that Literature in English and English language should be taught separately and school principals should encourage mentoring relationship among the language teachers. It was also suggested that parents should learn the key components of the curriculum and develop attitude of visiting the academic works of their wards at home, so as to take appropriate actions at school level in the event they noticed lack of content coverage of the curriculum.


Equations for calculating accurate 4-point and 5-point bridge diagrams in terms of h-bonds have been presented and solved for various phase points of the Lennard-Jones fluid. A method of finding a self-consistent solution for the bridge function and the radial distribution function is demonstrated. The significance of this result over bridge diagrams expressed as f-bonds, in terms of its applicability to charged and dipolar models is discussed. Two very simple phenomenological bridge diagram forms for the bridge function for this model are examined and found to give results almost as accurate and in some cases more accurate than previous forms in the literature. This work represents the first use of directly calculated 5-point bridge diagrams in terms of h-bonds, and the many extra orders of f-bond diagrams which they include, in an integral equation result.


A new untouchable measurement method, i.e. displacement sensing with laser interference is presented in this paper. This method is used for real-time and continuous measurement of displacement and vibration for engineering structures, and has the advantages of wide measurement adjusting range, high stability of interference fringes and low sensibility to environment. In this paper, the principle of the method is described, and the measuring results of typical structures are given. The prospects of the applications in measuring displacement and vibration for engineering structures are also discussed.


Objective: To comparatively evaluate the feasibility of HPLC and LC-MS/MS for measuring cordycepin in fermentation supernatant of Cordyceps militaris.Methods: The fermentation supernatants of 10 Cordyceps militaris strains were purified by macroporous resin column chromatography.The purified samples obtained were analyzed separately by HPLC with UV detection and LC-MS/MS.Results: The limit of detection(LOD) and limit of quantitation(LOQ) of HPLC were 13.6 μg/L and 53.6 μg/L,respectively,whereas those of LC-MS/MS were 2.1 μg/L and 7.8 μg/L,respectively.The retention time of cordycepin in HPLC and LC-MS/MS was 22.7 min and 7.8 min,respectively,and the average recovery was 94.68% and 93.91%,respectively.Conclusion: Both methods have high sensitivity,selectivity and simple operation,and can be used for qualitative and quantitative analysis.


'Line up at the door, children' said a teacher friend, authoritatively. The youngsters looked up at her in astonishment. 'Mummy!' they said. Then she realised she was at home, and it was her own offspring she was addressing.


An operator analogous to the almost tangent structure on a tangent bundle is defined on jet bundles of a fibred manifold. This operator is used to construct a Cartan form. The construction is unique for first-order Lagrangians and is also unique when restricted to higher-order mechanics.


Fractures of the distal radius are common injuries in children, and the incidence is increasing. Each injury presents with its own unique characteristics based on the patient's age, mechanism of injury, and overall health. The distal radius has the capability to remodel after injury, and therefore, most of these fractures heal without surgical intervention. Yet there is still much debate regarding the correct treatment modalities and acceptable deformities.


In order to study the influence of different tempering temperatures on low-temperature toughness of 9Ni steel,the microstructures and fracture surfaces morphologies of an experimental steel were investigated by means of OM,SEM and TEM.The results show that in the range of 550-600℃ tempering temperatures,the strength and toughness of 9Ni steel could achieve the best match,and so do the other performances.The reversed austenite,carbide and martensite transformed from the reversed austenite also have significant influence on low-temperature toughness of 9Ni steel.


A simplified method is presented for the problem of electromagnetic scattering of a time-harmonic plane wave from a non-planar sinusoidal periodic surface of lossy media. Assume that the heights of the rough surface are much smaller than the wavelength of the incidence and the space periodic of rough surface. The diffraction of the incidence can be described by using the elementary Huygens principle. The reflected and the transmitted field approximated by a linear combination of plane waves having different wave vectors. Based the method, we can deduce the simple formulation of the reflected field at far suitable for engineering application.


In four chicken experiments (1-4) the utilization of vitamin A from either the ace tate or the palmitate ester in aqueous solution was compared by using the liver storage test. In these experiments the vitamin A levels in the livers, three days after ad ministering a single oral massive dose of 11 000—12 000 I.U. vitamin A, tended to be higher in the chickens which had been dosed with the acetate ester. In two of the trials the difference in utilization proved to be significant statistically (P < 0.05). In Experiment 3 the chickens were kept on a vitamin A free ration for a period of 8 weeks after having received the oral massive dose. During this period higher vita min A levels were maintained in the livers of the chickens which had received the acetate ester. In Experiment 4 chickens having been dosed at 7 days of age were kept until 12 weeks of age on a ration fortified with 7.5 I.U. vitamin A (as acetate) per g. A higher vitamin A level in the livers was maintained during the 12 week period by the chickens which received the acetate ester dose, although the difference did not reach signi ficance. Undosed chickens, kept as a parallel group in this experiment, showed vita min A liver levels which were so much lower than those of the dosed groups as was accounted for by the amount of vitamin A stored from the massive dose. This difference was maintained during the complete trial period. In another two experiments dry, stabilized vitamin A preparations containing either the acetate or the palmitate ester were mixed through the feed. Vitamin A levels in the livers after 8 weeks in both experiments tended to be higher in the chickens having received the acetate ester, the combined results showing the difference to be significant (P < 0.05).


territory included the children of these foreign laborers in its program of universal education, it finds itself with an ever growing number of young people educated to the degree that they are not willing to accept the only type of employment that is available. As a solution to the problem, the author proposes a system of &dquo;New Era Schools&dquo; in which the present high school would be largely replaced by continuation schools, thus providing for a gradual tapering off of the educational process, combined with a gradual induction of youth into industry. Free higher education, including college preparatory work in the high school, would be limited to a relatively small group who were able to profit from such training, and for whom preferred positions might be found. Whether or not one agrees with the author's belief that a similar conflict be-


Toursim market played a leading role in tourist industry,and model of development of tourism market was important to some regions which attached importance to develop tourism industry.As far as the case of Dalian was concerned,the authors chose the model of development of tourism market by the method of AHP(Analytical Hierarchy Process) based on condition of tourism sector in Dalian,further defined the performance both government and NGO(Non-governmental organization)and put forward a new framework of toursim management which contributed to put the model of development of tourism market into practice.


MoO 3 is one of the challenging oxides in nuclear waste vitrification in the UK. It has a poor solubility in the conventionally used nuclear waste glasses and its excess presence may cause the formation of "yellow phase" which is highly detrimental to vitrification process. This work investigates the compositional dependence of MoO 3 solubility in borosilicate glasses with varying alkaline earth species as well as the effects of MoO 3 addition on glass structure and properties. Among all alkaline earths Ca is the best in terms of MoO 3 solubility, with 2.84 mol% in calcium borosilicate glass (CBS) without causing any visible phase separation. Magnesium borosilicate glass (MBS) has the lowest MoO 3 solubility (≤1 mol%). XRD results indicate that, while the visibly homogeneous glasses all remain amorphous nature, the visibly heterogeneous glasses contain tiny molybdate crystals. According to SEM results, the separated particles forming within glass matrices are mostly spherical, submicron in diameter and randomly dispersed; the size of these particles are dependent on the extent to which MoO 3 addition is excessive. Compositional analysis for separated phases in CBS glass with excess MoO 3 suggests that the phases are rich in Mo and Ca, while TEM results prove the crystallinity of separated particles whose electron diffraction patterns are in accordance with those of CaMoO 4 . Two Raman bands are observed due to addition of MoO 3 in glass; the bands are assigned tobending and stretching vibrations of MoO 4 2- and their intensities increase with MoO 3 addition. The positions of these bands shift with alkaline earth species in glass, indicating that the local environment of MoO 4 2- is closely associated with alkaline earth cations in glass network. MoO 3 addition to glass also results in decreased glass transition temperature T g , which suggests a depolymerized network due to MoO 4 2- incorporation. Glass density is increased with the increase amount of MoO 3 in glass as long as the glass remains homogeneous.


A hydrophilic periodic polymer possessing a [ABxAC]n (A = ester, B = ethylene oxide, C = N–O) repeating sequence was synthesized by aqueous radical addition-coupling polymerization using a water-soluble inclusion complex of nitrosobenzene and Me2-β-cyclodextrin together with poly(ethylene glycol)bis(α-bromoisobutyrate) in the presence of Cu/ligand.


Labour unions frequently try to adjust to external pressures by changing their inner structures. Analyses of union structural change will benefit from considering the concept of union jurisdiction. Three organizational stages of jurisdictions are identified, and change of jurisdictions along two variables, extension and centralization, is discussed. The conceptual framework is used to examine, for example, organizational mergers and dissolutions, industrial unionism and jurisdictional conflicts. The rise and fall of organizations, governmental and non-governmental, is a sensitive barometer of the social and political problems of our time. (Perrow, 1971: 99)


An account of two species of Zeuxine Lindl. (Orchidaceae) occurring in Tripura is presented in this paper. Zeuxine longilabris (Lindl.) Benth. ex Hook.f. turned out to be a new distributional record for the state of Tripura.


Summary

Current Government education policy presents some stark contrasts. While subsidies to secondary students are being increased significantly by an expansion of secondary allowances, individual subsidies at the tertiary level are to be reduced via a system of fees or taxes. This policy development is substantially predicated upon the Government's belief that higher education students tend to come from privileged backgrounds. This study explores that hypothesis by analysing the influence of family background on the transition of Year 12 school-leavers to further education or the labour-force.

Excellent data from the Australian Longitudinal Survey are used to focus on some previously under-researched aspects of this question. Six models axe reported, each offering different trade-offs between the competing needs for comprehensive coverage of explanatory variables and data coverage.

The strongest result obtained is the consistent significance of the mother's educational qualifications in the child's decision to proceed to further education. Equally interesting is the insignificance of the father's educational level. The paternal variables which influence tertiary outcomes are income and/or occupation. Attendance at a private non-Catholic school is also influential.

The paper reports provocative evidence on the outcomes of the children of non-English speaking migrants. While this group is often perceived as educationally disadvantaged by their parents' ethnic origins, the results of this study indicate that they are more likely to proceed to tertiary studies than are the children of English speakers.

Part-time employment of school children is an increasingly common phenomenon. The preliminary evidence here indicates that the children involved subsequently have lower representation in tertiary institutions but higher employment probabilities in the labour-force.

The results imply that mothers and fathers play different roles in influencing their children's outcomes. But there is often a high degree of correlation between maternal and paternal characteristics which makes it difficult to identify separately their respective influences.

In summary, the results suggest that family background matters. But the implications for public policy which aims at redressing imbalances in society are complex. On the one hand the children of the well educated and from private schools are more likely to attend tertiary institutions. On the other hand, the migrant "success" story suggests that motivated individuals have it within their grasp to determine their educational and work outcomes. Together, the results point to the importance of attitudes in determining participation in tertiary education and suggest that attention to this factor could enhance the effects of educational subsidies provided to low income families.


In this paper, a Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) operating in the Industrial Scientific and Medical (ISM) band of 2.45 GHz is proposed. The designed LNA is based on GaAs ATF21170 active device. To improve gain and matching parameters, a hybrid matching technique based on smith chart and optimization is used. The proposed biasing network as well as the stabilization circuit allow achieving a minimum noise figure with an unconditionally stability over the whole operating frequency ranging from 2.25 GHz to 2.55 GHz. Finally, some tradeoffs were done to obtain the minimum noise figure with the greatest available power gain. In terms of performances, the proposed structure shows an excellent noise figure of ~1Db.The simulated results show an excellent input/output return loss under -15 dB over the operation frequency band with an excellent small signal gain ranging between 17 dB and 15 dB. In terms of large signal performance, the proposed LNA achieves an output power of 17 dBm (52 mW) with a PAE of 22% and an output intercept IP3 around 27 dBm.


Isolated spoken Hindi digits recognition performance has been evaluated using HTK (Hidden Markov Model Toolkit). This paper introduces and motivates the use of hybrid features for isolated Hindi digits recognition system. The speech recog- nizers use a parametric form of a signal to get the most important distinct features of speech signal for recognition task. In this paper Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC), Perceptual linear prediction (PLP) coefficients along with two newly modified hybrid features are used for isolated Hindi digits recognition. Two modified hybrid features Bark frequency cepstral coefficients (BFCC) and Revised perceptual linear prediction (RPLP) coefficients were obtained from combination of MFCC and PLP. Ex- periments were performed for both clean as well as on noisy data. In this experiment six different noises: Car noise, F16 noise, Factory noise, Speech noise, LYNX noise and Operation room noise have been added to clean Hindi digits database at different SNR levels to get noisy database. The recognition performance with BFCC features was better than that with MFCC features. RPLP features have shown best recognition performance as compared to all other features for both noisy and clean databases.


In the hot dip galvanizing process two different fluxes are used to remove the zinc oxide layer, always present on the liquid zinc surface. When this oxide layer, which contains also aluminium oxide, is dragged into the zinc by the articles, interfering the reaction zinc‐iron. In former days a flux floating on a part of the liquid zinc surface was rather common, at present this wet flux is almost completely replaced by the dry galvanizing process. Since the chemical reactions taking place in the wet flux, partly take place in the flux for dry galvanizing too, first this wet flux will be discussed in brief.


This paper sets forth a simple recursive method for calculating the partition function and average energy of a system consisting of N electrons and L energy levels. A particularly simple and efficient apl computer program for performing the calculation is also presented. The use of a recursive method makes it unnecessary to enumerate the possible states of the system, and no combinatorics whatsoever are involved.