Adaptive filter theory is an important subject in the field of signal processing and has numerous applications in speech processing, telecommunications and mechanical engineering. Examples in speech processing include suppression of background noise, echo cancellation and dereverberation (acoustic path equalization). Examples in telecommunications include channel equalization and interference cancellation. Subband filter banks are introduced in the area of adaptive filtering in order to improve the performance of time domain adaptive filters. The main performance improvements are faster convergence speed and reduction of computational complexity due to shorter adaptive filters in the subbands. The thesis deals with design and analysis of subband adaptive systems using subband filter banks, with applications in speech enhancement. Multirate subband filter banks often introduce signal degradations. Some of these degradations are inherent from the multirate building blocks and some are due to improperly designed analysis and synthesis filters. Filter banks need to be designed in such a way, that the benefits are sustained while degradations due to the multirate processing are minimized. The presented design methods in this thesis aim to address two important filter bank properties, transmission delay and aliasing distortions caused by multi-rate building blocks. Aliasing distortions appear in the subband signals and in the reconstructed output signal, and have great impact on the performance of the speech enhancement algorithms as well as on the quality of the output enhanced speech. The main contributions in this thesis are design methods for uniform and nonuniform filter banks for adaptive filtering applications. The proposed methods are compared with conventional methods, and performance aspects of different filter bank designs are compared in different speech processing applications. These applications include acoustic echo cancellation, speech enhancement, and subband beamforming. Real speech signals are used in evaluations and results show that properly designed filter banks play an important role in the quality of the output enhanced speech. Another important contribution is the convergence analysis of certain types of delayless subband adaptive filters. The analysis leads to design requirements for improved convergence speed of such adaptive filters.


Derivation is a process resulting in meaning and/or category changes through the addition of derivational affixes. It is commonly applied for forming various new words which are likely to be straightforward. The process is taken as the object of investigation in the study since the writer was curious about the phenomena resulted from it. To get the answer of the phenomena, the writer decided to take three articles in Time magazine as the source of the data. In her study, the writer used three main theories to do the analysis. The theory of Bauer was used to analyze phonological changes. The theory of Quirk, et al. was applied to discuss types of derivations, and the theory of O?Grady et al. to explain structures of derived words. The writer did the research by reading the text, identifying derivations through the existing words, and numbering each line where the derived words occur. From the data collection, the writer described types of derivations, types of structures of derived words as well as their phonological changes. The findings show that there are three types of derivations, namely derivational prefixation, derivational suffixation, and multiple derivations. Relating to the types of derivations, there are also found 14 structures of derived words: 3 structures relating to derivational prefixation, 4 structures relating to derivational suffixation, and 7 structures concerning multiple derivations. Furthermore, the application of derivation brings several phonological changes, both in stress and sound. Generally derivational prefixation only brings the changes in stress positions while derivational suffixation tends to change stress and/or sound. Sometimes, however, derivational processes also do not make any phonological changes. In conclusion, it can be stated that derivation does change not only meaning and/or category but also phonological properties; indeed, the structures of derived words can be various in numbers depending on the categories of the bases and the types as well as the numbers of affixes attached to the bases.


When males and females have different fitness optima for the same trait but share loci, intralocus sexual conflict is likely to occur. Epigenetic mechanisms such as genomic imprinting (in which expression is altered according to parent-of-origin) and sex-specific maternal effects have been suggested as ways by which this conflict can be resolved. However these ideas have not yet been empirically tested. We designed an experimental evolution protocol in Drosophila melanogaster that enabled us to look for epigenetic effects on the X-chromosome–a hotspot for sexually antagonistic loci. We used special compound-X females to enforce father-to-son transmission of the X-chromosome for many generations, and compared fitness and gene expression levels between Control males, males with a Control X-chromosome that had undergone one generation of father-son transmission, and males with an X-chromosome that had undergone many generations of father-son transmission. Fitness differences were dramatic, with experimentally-evolved males approximately 20% greater than controls, and with males inheriting a non-evolved X from their father about 20% lower than controls. These data are consistent with both strong intralocus sexual conflict and misimprinting of the X-chromosome under paternal inheritance. However, expression differences suggested that reduced fitness under paternal X inheritance was largely due to deleterious maternal effects. Our data confirm the sexually-antagonistic nature of Drosophila's X-chromosome and suggest that the response to male-limited X-chromosome evolution entails compensatory evolution for maternal effects, and perhaps modification of other epigenetic effects via coevolution of the sex chromosomes.


El Esquilleu cave has one of the most complete Middle Paleolithic stratigraphies of northern Iberia with a complete chronological framework almost continuous from the beginning of MIS3. The complete analysis of the materials including the last section of the sequence corresponding to the last chronological interval of the occupation in the region shows clear evolutionary tendencies by important changes in the composition of the lithic assemblage. Its study confirms a continuous occupation without any gaps during the Mousterian until recent dates but without any Upper Paleolithic presence. This sequence, referenced to the Mousterian settlement of the Picos de Europa mountains, testifies to the existence of a Mousterian presence in northern Iberia with no clear relation to other Cantabrian areas. Consequently, its occupation without a break until the crucial phase of the end of the Middle Paleolithic suggests a non-transitional process in the history of local Neanderthal groups.


CO 2 slicing has been generally accepted as a useful algorithm for determining cloud top pressure (CTP) and effective cloud amount (ECA) for tropospheric clouds above 600 hPa. To date, the technique has assumed that the surface emissivity is that of a blackbody in the long-wavelength infrared radiances and that the cloud emissivities in spectrally close bands are approximately equal. The modified CO 2 slicing algorithm considers adjustments of both surface emissivity and cloud emissivity ratio. Surface emissivity is adjusted according to the surface types. The ratio of cloud emissivities in spectrally close bands is adjusted away from unity according to radiative transfer calculations. The new CO 2 slicing algorithm is examined with Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Airborne Simulator (MAS) CO 2 band radiance measurements over thin clouds and validated against Cloud Lidar System (CLS) measurements of the same clouds; it is also applied to Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Sounder data to study the overall impact on cloud property determinations. For high thin clouds an improved product emerges, while for thick and opaque clouds there is little change. For very thin clouds, the CTP increases by about 10-20 hPa and RMS (root mean square bias) difference is approximately 50 hPa; for thin clouds, the CTP increase is about 10 hPa bias and RMS difference is approximately 30 hPa. The new CO 2 slicing algorithm places the clouds lower in the troposphere.


A statistical designed experimental approach was followed to investigate the various diffusion flame conditions for the synthesis of carbon nanotube structures utilizing domestic Liquefied petroleum gas (IS – 4576) as the fuel carbon source. LPG flow rate, Oxygen flow rate, Height above burner (HAB) and Exposure time have been identified to generate different flame conditions based on varying One factor at a time (OFAT) approach. Two–level 'full factorial' design model in "Minitab12" software has been used for design of experiments. The 16 samples of soot with different flame conditions were collected on the surface of stainless steel plate. The output parameters i.e. weight of soot and substrate surface temperature were analysed by Analysis of variance (ANOVA) to ensure that the experimentation is following the physics of the diffusion flame. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) images showed the growth of well aligned single walled carbon nanotube structures with high aspect ratio as 220nm – 650nm diameter and 534nm – 1803nm length. In the present study the parametric range for producing the single walled carbon–nanotube structures through LPG diffusion flame have been found for optimization.


In A History of Conversion to Islam in the United States, Volume 2: The African American Islamic Renaissance, 1920-1975 Patrick D. Bowen offers an account of the diverse roots and manifestations of African American Islam as it appeared between 1920 and 1975.


Based upon observations with powerful telescopes, astronomers teach us that the Milky Way has more than 1012 stars and that 1012 similar-size galaxies account for the more than 1024 stars in the universe—roughly equivalent to the number of grains of sand on Earth. The number of microbes on Earth eclipses the number of stars in the universe by many orders of magnitude. And the collective biomass of single-cell organisms on Earth outweighs all of the plants and animals combined. Given the massive number of microbes with seemingly unlimited metabolic diversity, the accumulation of mutations during the past 3.5 billion years could have led to enormous numbers of distinct microbial populations that exhibit high levels of genetic diversity and phenotypic variation. Closely related taxa have nearly identical rRNA sequences, while microbes that diverged from each other hundreds of millions of years ago exhibit greater levels of nucleotide variation. It became possible to infer objective dichotomous evolutionary branching patterns that describe taxonomic relationships for cultured microbes. The expense of sequencing full-length rRNA genes has constrained most molecular inventories of microbial populations. The promise of discovering new phylotypes among the lower-abundance taxa fostered experimental designs where low-resolution procedures—e.g., restriction fragment length polymorphisms—identify putatively distinct clones for DNA sequencing. The combination of rapid gene isolation technology afforded by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and automated DNA sequencing capabilities soon opened another window on microbial diversity.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of Human resource information system (HRIS) on strategic decisions. Design/methodology/approach – The papers develops a research model based on current literature and then test this model in Mellat and Parsian banks selected from 19 banks with 18000 branches, public and private sectors in Iran. Statistics society consists of 172 persons include assistant of general managers in both personnel affairs and welfare and domestic payments department in Mellat bank, and also professionals, managers and deputy of personnel affair and department of organisation and methods in Parsian bank. The sample size provided based on "Cohan- Morgan- Korjsay" is 108 persons which has been determined with descriptive methods. For data analyzing we used Chi- square test, Binomial test, and Kendall's tau- b test. Findings – The results indicate that, on average, few differences exist between Mellat and Parsian banks. Moreover, we found that the HRIS is effective on strategic decisions in both banks. Research limitations/implications – This study could benefit from a large sample, from public and private banks and replication in more branches. Practical implications – The paper offers practical suggestions to the banking industry and management in general on how to manage the HRIS effects on strategic decisions. Originality/value – This paper has tried to provide an inclusive understanding about the HRIS effects on strategic decisions in the banking industry. Since there was a lack of such research in an Iranian context, this paper can provide theoretical basis for future researches as well as practical implications for managers and the human resource (HR) professionals.


Summary
From observations conducted in 1944 to 1946 in a group of native villages on the middle Chagres River in Panama it had been concluded that the DDT residual spraying of dwellings initially reduced the malaria transmission by Anopheles albimanus in houses in three ways. During the first four months of 1952, following the twentieth spraying of one of these villages and the thirteenth spraying of another, it was found that two of these effects are no longer apparent. The gross numbers of A. albimanus in dwellings are no longer drastically reduced as was formerly the case, and the selective killing of engorged albimanus is no longer evident. A large reduction in the percentage of albimanus which successfully engorge with blood in DDT treated houses is still present to about the same degree as at the time of the initial observations in 1944 to 1946. This last appears to be the principal way in which albimanus is affected by DDT to modify the malaria transmission potential at the present time.
A possible explanation is given of how this change in the way albimanus responds to DDT residues may have resulted from the selection of a population which has become resistant and/or hyperirritable to DDT. Laboratory experiments to measure the contribution of each of these factors quantitatively are in progress.
The modification in the response of A. albimanus to DDT residual house spraying has not as yet been reflected in any rise in malaria rates at these villages.


Background/Context Literatures on college-going cultures offer patterns and lists of practices that promote schoolwide attention to college-going for nondominant youth, often with organization-level analyses of policies and procedures. Other literature identifies promising practices and challenges to conventional instruction, often examining pedagogical discourse. Seldom are ideas from these two literatures brought together to examine promises and tensions of effectively preparing youth of color for higher education. Our study examined both school and classroom levels to develop such understanding. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study The purpose was to learn how high schools committed to reversing historic underrepresentation of low-SES students of color in higher education may leverage two dimensions of schooling to hit this goal: development of a school-wide college-going culture with norms and roles that articulate high expectations and provide extensive supports toward college admissions and academically engaging classroom experiences that include rigorous and meaningful disciplinary challenges, supported by language-rich communication, collaboration, culture, and context. To learn about one school's complex college-for-all efforts, we asked: How is a college-going culture enacted at the school, and by whom, to support Latina/o students in gaining access to college? What is the nature of academic engagement at the school that may help prepare Latina/o students for college? Setting Urban College Academy (UCA) is a public charter high school whose population was 98% Latina/o, 35% English learners, 81% receiving free/reduced price lunch. UCA's entering students were predominantly two or more years below grade level in reading and computing, according to standardized tests. The school explicitly recruits students who have previously failed a course, and the mission statement identifies "underachieving students" as UCA's target population. Students are mostly of Mexican origin, with roughly 80% first generation. Population/Participants/Subjects We collected data from school leaders, teachers, counselors, parents, and students. At classroom level, we selected six focal teachers (diverse in subject areas, ethnicity/race, and gender). We examined work and perspectives of focal students representative of academic performance and English language proficiency per focal class. Research Design We treat UCA as a "critical case," holding strategic importance to the problem on which the study focuses. Using qualitative methods, a survey, and structured observation scores, we worked to integrate, associate, and counter themes and findings between and across school organization and classroom levels. Data Collection and Analysis School-level analysis focused on normative social structures (goals, values, norms, and roles); resource allocations associated with advancing a mission to promote Latina/o students' academic success and college acceptance; and factors UCA identified as relevant. Drawing on over 40 hours of transcribed interviews with a wide range of participants, we developed themes and triangulated with other data. Classroom observation data were analyzed using CLASS and Standards Performance Continuum protocols, supported by other analyses. Teacher cases used teacher history and refections on practice; videos, annotated fieldnotes; materials of teaching; and student work samples and focus groups. We found comparisons, contrasts, and tensions across lessons and classes; one case emerges as "a pocket of promise." Conclusions/Recommendations The study reveals a need for ongoing attention to both a college-going culture and instructional interactions. It highlights distinctions between college talk (talk about college) and college-level academic discourse, or socialization versus academic functions of schooling for college access and success. The study uncovers promising instructional interactions, as well as tensions, in engaging low-SES Latina/o students in academically rigorous work. Results suggest schools supporting low-SES youth of color may need a schoolwide culture of engaged learning that is rigorous, meaningful, and infused throughout school.


The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) was enacted by Congress in 1968 to "promote employment of older persons based on their ability rather than age; to prohibit arbitrary age discrimination in employment; to help employers and workers find ways of meeting problems arising from the impact of age on employment." Originally, the ADEA protected workers aged 40-65. Later amendments first prohibited mandatory retirement before the age of 70, and then outlawed it altogether. In recent years, age discrimination has come to represent a significant proportion of the complaints filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. For example in 1990, just over 10,000 complaints of age discrimination were filed under the ADEA, compared with around 43,000 complaints filed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act for alleged discrimination based on race or sex. Arguments For and Against Age Discrimination Laws The fact that workers file age discrimination complaints under the ADEA does not, in and of itself, indicate that discrimination against older workers exists and should be addressed in the same manner as race and sex discrimination. There are two reasons to be cautious regarding this interpretation. First, there is an absence of prima facie evidence of discrimination against older workers. If anything, older workers tend to fare better than younger workers. One of the most robust empirical facts in labor economics is the "age-earnings profile," which captures the increases in earnings that workers experience over most of their career. In addition, older workers tend to have higher non-labor income and lower unemployment rates than younger workers. This contrasts with evidence regarding race and sex differences in labor markets; while economists and others continue to debate the source of these differences, there is no question that the earnings of women and minorities are lower. Second, an influential model of the age-earnings profile seriously calls into question the virtue of age discrimination legislation, especially the prohibition of mandatory retirement. In this model (developed by Edward P. Lazear) employers, in order to elicit effort from workers, initially pay workers less than the value of their productivity in exchange for promises of future wages that will exceed the value of their productivity. Mandatory retirement ages are then necessary to induce high-wage workers to leave the firm eventually. In Lazear's model, these contracts are efficient from society's perspective, and workers find them desirable even though they include mandatory retirement. However, once workers reach the mandatory retirement age, they would prefer to continue working at their current wage, and the ADEA gives them the right to do so. This led Lazear to conclude that the ADEA's ban on mandatory retirement would generate efficiency losses.(1) Thus, the wisdom of legislation that prohibits age discrimination rests on a few key questions. First, is there firmer evidence of discrimination against older workers, particularly in the period predating the ADEA and the growth in age discrimination complaints? Second, does Lazear's model provide the best explanation of the employment relationship, and of age-earnings profiles in particular? If it does, then legislation prohibiting age discrimination, including mandatory retirement, may do more harm than good. Alternatively, if other models better explain the age-earnings profile, such as the general human capital model in which the age-earnings profile reflects increases in productivity, then such legislation is less likely to have detrimental effects. Finally, even if Lazear's model does provide the best explanation of the age-earnings profile, might age discrimination legislation actually strengthen such contracts, rather than weakening them? Much of my research over the past four years has addressed these questions. Was There Age Discrimination? It is difficult to draw inferences regarding the existence of discrimination even for demographic groups that are relatively low paid, let alone for older workers who are not low paid on average. …


This thesis presents work in the area of computer-animatedtalking heads. A system for multimodal speech synthesis hasbeen developed, capable of generating audiovisual speechanimations from arbitrary text, using parametrically controlled3D models of the face and head. A speech-specific directparameterisation of the movement of the visible articulators(lips, tongue and jaw) is suggested, along with a flexiblescheme for parameterising facial surface deformations based onwell-defined articulatory targets. To improve the realism and validity of facial and intra-oralspeech movements, measurements from real speakers have beenincorporated from several types of static and dynamic datasources. These include ultrasound measurements of tonguesurface shape, dynamic optical motion tracking of face pointsin 3D, as well as electromagnetic articulography (EMA)providing dynamic tongue movement data in 2D. Ultrasound dataare used to estimate target configurations for a complex tonguemodel for a number of sustained articulations. Simultaneousoptical and electromagnetic measurements are performed and thedata are used to resynthesise facial and intra-oralarticulation in the model. A robust resynthesis procedure,capable of animating facial geometries that differ in shapefrom the measured subject, is described. To drive articulation from symbolic (phonetic) input, forexample in the context of a text-to-speech system, bothrule-based and data-driven articulatory control models havebeen developed. The rule-based model effectively handlesforward and backward coarticulation by targetunder-specification, while the data-driven model uses ANNs toestimate articulatory parameter trajectories, trained ontrajectories resynthesised from optical measurements. Thearticulatory control models are evaluated and compared againstother data-driven models trained on the same data. Experimentswith ANNs for driving the articulation of a talking headdirectly from acoustic speech input are also reported. A flexible strategy for generation of non-verbal facialgestures is presented. It is based on a gesture libraryorganised by communicative function, where each function hasmultiple alternative realisations. The gestures can be used tosignal e.g. turn-taking, back-channelling and prominence whenthe talking head is employed as output channel in a spokendialogue system. A device independent XML-based formalism fornon-verbal and verbal output in multimodal dialogue systems isproposed, and it is described how the output specification isinterpreted in the context of a talking head and converted intofacial animation using the gesture library. Through a series of audiovisual perceptual experiments withnoise-degraded audio, it is demonstrated that the animatedtalking head provides significantly increased intelligibilityover the audio-only case, in some cases not significantly belowthat provided by a natural face. Finally, several projects and applications are presented,where the described talking head technology has beensuccessfully employed. Four different multimodal spokendialogue systems are outlined, and the role of the talkingheads in each of the systems is discussed. A telecommunicationapplication where the talking head functions as an aid forhearing-impaired users is also described, as well as a speechtraining application where talking heads and languagetechnology are used with the purpose of improving speechproduction in profoundly deaf children.


Nowadays investigating the reservoir induced seismicity phenomenon (RIS) is one of the important subjects because of the extension of dammings in Iran and the potential hazards that they may cause. The phenomenon of dam-triggered earthquakes is known as reservoir-induced seismicity (IRS). It has been expressed through earthquakes with magnitudes ranging from 3 to 6.3 on the Richter scale. For the last 70 years, over 80 cases of RIS have been reported such as Lake Mead, USA, Kremasta, Greece, Oued Fodda in the world and Lar, Latian, Shirin dare, Masjed Soleiman, Karkheh and Karun dams in Iran. Salman-Farsi (Ghir) dam is a two arched gravity concrete dam that is located at 30 km from northeast of Ghir town in Fars province. Geographically, the dam is located at 28° 30ʹ N latitude and 53°15ʹ E longitude. It is situated in Zagros fold-thrust belt zone. This zone is active in the view of seismology and tectonic activates. The lithology of the site dam is mostly limestone with fracture zones in it. The impounding of Salman-Farsi dam started from April 2009 (1st day of Ordibehesht 1388) which has experienced 9 water years after filling up to now. The maximum and minimum entrance annual water amounts are 347 and 125 million m3 belongs to the 1396 and 1392, respectively. We used earthquakes data from Iranian seismological centre (ISC) and dam's data to study the impoundment effects in 9 years period before and after the filling from 2000 to 2018. The studied region is a circle with 30 km radius from the dam where it is in the centre. The area of this circle is 2826 km2 include 134 earthquakes from 2000 to 2018. There is one historical earthquake with magnitude 7.1 which belongs to 1440 in this region. Statistical results present an increase in seismicity rate change, number of earthquakes, and reduction in the depths and magnitudes of them. The Number of earthquakes after the filing period is 4.7 times more than before it. There are earthquakes with magnitudes ranging from 3 to more than 3 in all stages of loading and unloading. The average depth of earthquakes is 15 km before the reservoir impounding that is reduced to 10 km after it. The growth of seismicity rate changes 7 times more than that before. Comparison of seismic data and reservoir water level fluctuations indicates that between the water level and changes of seismic activity of the area, there is a correlation. Some of the earthquakes have occurred a few days after the reservoir impounding and others have occurred after a monthly period from its first filly time. Based on the evaluation of seismicity in the dam site, most earthquakes have occurred in the vicinity of the reservoir dam and seismic response has been rather fast. Furthermore, we suggest that the occurred earthquakes have an induced seismicity nature. In fact, the reservoir impounding has changed the seismic behaviour of the dam site so that the region experiences more earthquakes with smaller magnitudes. This dam does not have the immigrant behaviour in earthquake locations as some other dams in this region such as Masjed Soleiman, have shown.


Large pretrained language models (LMs) like BERT have improved performance in many disparate natural language processing (NLP) tasks. However, fine tuning such models requires a large number of training examples for each target task. Simultaneously, many realistic NLP problems are"few shot", without a sufficiently large training set. In this work, we propose a novel conditional neural process-based approach for few-shot text classification that learns to transfer from other diverse tasks with rich annotation. Our key idea is to represent each task using gradient information from a base model and to train an adaptation network that modulates a text classifier conditioned on the task representation. While previous task-aware few-shot learners represent tasks by input encoding, our novel task representation is more powerful, as the gradient captures input-output relationships of a task. Experimental results show that our approach outperforms traditional fine-tuning, sequential transfer learning, and state-of-the-art meta learning approaches on a collection of diverse few-shot tasks. We further conducted analysis and ablations to justify our design choices.


Abstract. This document describes the analysis, design, and prototype test results of the microwave section of a 10- to 19.5-GHz interferometer, aimed at obtaining polarization data of cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation from the sky. First, receiver analysis is thoroughly assessed to study the contribution of each subsystem when obtaining the Stokes parameters of an input signal. Then, the receiver design is detailed starting from the front-end module, which works at cryogenic temperature, composed of a set of passive components: feedhorn, orthomode transducer, and polarizer, together with active components, such as very low-noise amplifiers. The back-end module (BEM) is directly connected, working at room temperature for further amplification, phase switching, and correlation of the signals. Moreover, the whole frequency band is split into two sub-bands (10 to 14 GHz and 16 to 20 GHz) using a high selective diplexer in the BEM in order to reject radiofrequency interferences. Phase switches allow phase difference steps of 5.625 deg, which modulate the correlated outputs to reduce systematic effects in the postdetection signal processing. Finally, measurements of all the subsystems comprising the microwave section of the receiver as well as the characterization of the complete microwave receiver are presented. The obtained results demonstrate successful performance of the microwave receiver that, together with an electro-optical correlator and a near-infrared camera, comprises the interferometer. Moreover, synthesized images corresponding to combinations of the Stokes parameters can be obtained with the whole system.


We propose a new strategy to improve the self-assembly properties of DNA-functionalised colloids. The problem that we address is that DNA-functionalised colloids typically crystallize in a narrow temperature window, if at all. The underlying reason is the extreme sensitivity of DNA-mediated interactions to temperature or other physical control parameters. We propose to widen the window for colloidal crystallization by exploiting the competition between DNA linkages with different nucleotide sequences, which results in a temperature-dependent switching of the dominant bond type. Following such a strategy, we can decrease the temperature dependence of DNA-mediated self assembly to make systems that can crystallize in a wider temperature window than is possible with existing systems of DNA functionalised colloids. We report Monte Carlo simulations that show that the proposed strategy can indeed work in practice for real systems and specific, designable DNA sequences. Depending on the length ratio of the different DNA constructs, we find that the bond switching is either energetically driven (equal length or 'symmetric' DNA) or controlled by a combinatorial entropy gain ('asymmetric' DNA), which results from the large number of possible binding partners for each DNA strand. We provide specific suggestions for the DNA sequences with which these effects can be achieved experimentally.


This thesis considers applications of gradient-based optimization algorithms to the design and control of some mechanics systems. The material distribution approach to topology optimization is applied to design two different acoustic devices, a reactive muffler and an acoustic horn, and optimization is used to control a ball pitching robot.Reactive mufflers are widely used to attenuate the exhaust noise of internal combustion engines by reflecting the acoustic energy back to the source. A material distribution optimization method is developed to design the layout of sound-hard material inside the expansion chamber of a reactive muffler. The objective is to minimize the acoustic energy at the muffler outlet. The presence or absence of material is represented by design variables that are mapped to varying coefficients in the governing equation. An anisotropic design filter is used to control the minimum thickness of materials separately in different directions. Numerical results demonstrate that the approach can produce mufflers with high transmission loss for a broad range of frequencies.For acoustic devices, it is possible to improve their performance, without adding extended volumes of materials, by an appropriate placement of thin structures with suitable material properties. We apply layout optimization of thin sound-hard material in the interior of an acoustic horn to improve its far-field directivity properties. Absence or presence of thin sound-hard material is modeled by a surface transmission impedance, and the optimization determines the distribution of materials along a "ground structure" in the form of a grid inside the horn. Horns provided with the optimized scatterers show a much improved angular coverage, compared to the initial configuration.The surface impedance is handled by a new finite element method developed for Helmholtz equation in the situation where an interface is embedded in the computational domain. A Nitschetype method, different from the standard one, weakly enforces the impedance conditions for transmission through the interface. As opposed to a standard finite-element discretization of the problem, our method seamlessly handles both vanishing and non-vanishing interface conditions. We show the stability of the method for a quite general class of surface impedance functions, provided that possible surface waves are sufficiently resolved by the mesh.The thesis also presents a method for optimal control of a two-link ball pitching robot with the aim of throwing a ball as far as possible. The pitching robot is connected to a motor via a non-linear torsional spring at the shoulder joint. Constraints on the motor torque, power, and angular velocity of the motor shaft are included in the model. The control problem is solved by an interior point method to determine the optimal motor torque profile and release position. Numerical experiments show the effectiveness of the method and the effect of the constraints on the performance.


ntroduction

Obesity during pregnancy is one of the important risk factors for development of complications. This study is conducted to assess the association of body mass index with maternal complications in pregnancy.

Method

This was an observational study conducted retrospectively over a year comprised 300 pregnant subjects in second trimester. Incidence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH), Caesarean section and postoperative wound infection were compared in women with various Body Mass index (BMI). Analysis of the data was done using SPSS version 13 using chi square test and p ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results

Out of 300 participants, 62(20.7%) subjects developed GDM out of which 88.7% were overweight/obese. 61(20.3%) subjects developed PIH, out of which about 91.8% were overweight/obese. 162 (54%) subjects underwent C-section out of which 67(41.4%) were in overweight/obese category. 82 subjects developed post-operative wound infection in which 41 (50%)cases were in overweight/obese category

Conclusion

Normal body mass index at the time of incidence of pregnancy and proper antenatal care and careful monitoring of the maternal body weight can minimize the complications to a large extent. Obstetrician-gynaecologists could play a prime position to prevent it.


Ecological restoration is key to counteracting anthropogenic degradation of biodiversity and to reducing disaster risk. However, there is limited knowledge of barriers hindering the wider implementation of restoration practices, despite high‐level political priority to halt the loss of biodiversity. In Europe, progress on ecological restoration has been slow and insufficient to meet international agreements and comply with European Union Nature Directives. We assessed European restoration experts' perceptions on barriers to restoration in Europe, and their relative importance, through a multiple expert consultation using a Delphi process. We found that experts share a common multi‐dimensional concept of ecological restoration. Experts identified a large number of barriers (33) to the advancement of ecological restoration in Europe. Major barriers pertained to the socio‐economic, not the environmental, domain. The three most important being insufficient funding, conflicting interests among different stakeholders, and low political priority given to restoration. Our results emphasize the need to increase political commitment at all levels, comply with existing nature laws, and optimize the use of financial resources by increasing funds for ecological restoration and eradicate environmentally harmful subsidies. The experts also call for the integration of ecological restoration into land‐use planning and facilitating stakeholders' collaboration. Our study identifies key barriers, discusses ways to overcome the main barriers to ER in Europe, and contributes knowledge to support the implementation of the European Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, and the EU 2030 Restoration Plan in particular.


The purpose of this paper is to consider the living environment for health promotion focusing on chronic low back pain symptoms. The questionnaire survey was conducted including 4,040 adult women with a medical history of low back pain. The method of covariance structural modeling-based multi-group analysis was used. The findings are as followings; (1) Exploratory factor analysis revealed that living environment, housework and chronic low back pain consisted of 23 items and five factors: " chronic low back pain ", " stress and fatigue ", " total hours of housework ", " enjoying housework " and " satisfaction of living environment ". (2) "Stress and Fatigue" have affected "Chronic Low Back Pain " greatly. (3) "Enjoying Housework" and "Satisfaction of Living Environment" had a slightly negative direct effect on "Chronic Low Back Pain " although they had greater positive indirect impact on "Chronic Low Back Pain " through "Stress and Fatigue". �4�Path coefficients to "stress and fatigue" from " enjoying housework " was greater in the elderly group than younger groups. (5) Path coefficient to "chronic low back pain" from "total hours of housework" was a negative relationship in non-exercise group. Because for those who do not have regular exercise, housework time was working as an exercise, could have fewer chronic low back pain was suggested.


To reduce the greenhouse effects due to the massive emission of CO2, efficient reduction of carbon footprint and effective utilization of CO2 have been a crucial research field worldwide in the past few decades. Novel catalysts efficiently facilitating the conversion of CO2 into target chemicals are highly desirable. Herein, we developed a new cathode with in situ exsolved Co–Fe alloy nanoparticles embedded in an active (Pr0.4Sr0.6)3(Fe0.85Mo0.15)2O7 (PSFM) double-layered perovskite backbone (Co–Fe–PSFM), which acts as a more stable and efficient catalyst to promote CO2 electrolysis in a high temperature solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) compared to the Pr0.4Sr0.6Co0.2Fe0.7Mo0.1O3−δ (PSCFM) cubic perovskite. This newly developed material shows superb redox reversibility between reduction and re-oxidation cycles. Additionally, a remarkable current density of 1.01 A cm−2 of the SOEC with the Co–Fe–PSFM cathode in conjunction with an impressive polarization area-specific resistance (ASR) as low as 0.455 Ω cm2 of the cathode was achieved at 1.6 V and 850 °C. In particular, a high value of Faraday efficiency (∼93%) was achieved at 0.8 V (vs. OCV) and 850 °C. More importantly, the cell with the new cathode shows no observable degradation and carbon formation at 850 °C over a period of 100 h at a constant applied potential. The improved oxygen vacancies resulted from the exsolving process, and phase change (cubic perovskite to double-layered perovskite), together with the exsolved Co–Fe alloy nanoparticles, contributed to the improved catalytic activity, high Faraday efficiency, good stability, and excellent coking resistance for CO2 electrolysis. In light of the properties above, double-layered PSFM socketed with Co–Fe alloy nanoparticles is an attractive ceramic material for intermediate/high temperature applications, especially for CO2 electrolysis.


The Theory of Monopoly Capitalism: An Elaboration of Marxian Political Economy was initially written thirty years ago this coming year as my doctoral dissertation at York University in Toronto. It was expanded into a larger book form with three additional chapters (on the state, imperialism, and socialist construction) and published by Monthly Review Press two years later. The analysis of both the dissertation and the book focused primarily on the work of Paul Baran and Paul Sweezy, and particularly on the debate that had grown up around their book, Monopoly Capital: An Essay on the American Economic and Social Order (1966). In this respect The Theory of Monopoly Capitalism was specifically designed, as its subtitle indicated, as an "elaboration" of their underlying theoretical perspective and its wider implications.… Three decades later much has changed, in ways that make the reissuing of The Theory of Monopoly Capitalism in a new edition seem useful and timely. The scholarly research into Baran and Sweezy's Monopoly Capital has expanded enormously in the intervening years, most notably with the publication of the two missing chapters of Monopoly Capital— one on the theoretical implications of their analysis for economics, the other on culture and communications—and through research into their joint correspondence. The Great Financial Crisis and the resurfacing of economic stagnation have engendered new interest in this tradition of thought. Under this historical impetus the theory itself has advanced to address new developments, particularly with respect to the understanding of stagnation, financialization, and the globalization of monopoly capital. This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website , where most recent articles are published in full. Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.


Purpose: To evaluate the temporal accuracy of a self-consistent nonlinear inverse reconstruction method (NLINV) for real-time MRI using highly undersampled radial gradient-echo sequences and to present an open source framework for the motion assessment of real-time MRI methods. Methods: Serial image reconstructions by NLINV combine a joint estimation of individual frames and corresponding coil sensitivities with temporal regularization to a preceding frame. The temporal fidelity of the method was determined with a phantom consisting of water-filled tubes rotating at defined angular velocity. The conditions tested correspond to real- time cardiac MRI using SSFP contrast at 1.5 T (40 ms resolution) and T1 contrast at 3.0 T (33 ms and 18 ms resolution). In addition, the performance of a post-processing temporal median filter was evaluated. Results: NLINV reconstructions without temporal filtering yield accurate estimations as long as the speed of a small moving object corresponds to a spatial displacement during the acquisition of a single frame which is smaller than the object itself. Faster movements may lead to geometric distortions. For small objects moving at high velocity, a median filter may severely compromise the spatiotemporal accuracy. Conclusion: NLINV reconstructions offer excellent temporal fidelity as long as the image acquisition time is short enough to adequately sample ("freeze") the object movement. Temporal filtering should be applied with caution. The motion framework emerges as a valuable tool for the evaluation of real-time MRI methods.


This thesis describes the results of a study of inorganic and organometallic chemistry of palladium(II) with 2- and 2,6- disubstituted pyridine containing N-donor ligands. Ligands of this type have been used to assess the ability of palladium(II) to adopt coordination geometries higher than the characteristic square-planar geometry, to determine whether palladium(II) substrates will undergo metallation reactions with polydentate pyridine donor ligands, and to synthesise complexes in which palladium(II) is bound to carbon atoms of the ligands at sites other than those expected via cytlometallation reactions.
Inorganic complexes derived from the reaction of ligands, L, with palladium(II) acetate and chloride substrates have allowed the isolation of complexes of the form [L\(_n\)PdX\(_2\)] (where X= OAc, Cl; n = 1 (polydentate), n = 2 (unidentate)), [LPdX]X (L = planar tridentate; X=OAc, Cl), [L\(_2\)Pd]X\(_2\) (L = tris(pyridin-2-yl)methane; X = NO\(_3\)), and the related poly(pyrazol-1-y1) complexes [(pz\(_3\)CH)\(_2\)Pd]X\(_2\) (X = NO\(_3\), BF\(_4,\)), and [(pz\(_3\)BH)\(_2\)Pd]. X-Ray structural analyses show that, [(pz\(_3\)BH)\(_2\)Pd] and the cations L\(_2\)Pd]\(^{2+}\) L = tris(pyridin-2-yl)methane, tris(pyrazol-1-y1)methane) have square planar coordination with two uncoordinated donor groups. An X-ray structural determination of the complex [LPd(OAc)](OAc) . 3H\(_2\)O (where L = the 2,6-disubstituted pyridine ligand meso-(pyPhMeC) \(_2\)C\(_5\)H\(_3\)N) has been obtained confirming the planar tridentate-, nature Of the ligand and presence of a unidentate acetate-group.
In conjunction with the investigation of the coordination preferences of palladium(II), the coordination properties of the new ligand. (pyPhMeC) \(_2\)C\(_5\)H\(_3\)N, have also been assessed by the formation of methylmercury(II) nitrate complexes. Fractional crystallisation has allowed the separation of mesa and racemic forms of the complex, and further reaction with sodium cyanide has afforded the free ligand separated into its meso and racemic diastereoisomers. An X-ray structural study has shown that, the meso complex is four-coordinate and contains the ligand as a tripodal tridentate. Thus, the meso form of the ligand has been shown to exhibit two binding modes, planar-tridentate to palladium(II), and tripodal-tridentate to methylmercury(II).
Attempted cyclopalladation reactions of the ligands py\(_2\)CH\(_2\), py\(_n\)Ph\(_{3-n}\)CH (n = 1-3), and py\(_3\)PhC, with palladium(II) acetate in glacial acetic acid has resulted in the isolation of a dinuclear (C,N1-cyclopalladated product of pyPh\(_2\)CH; dinuclear chloro- and mononuclear acetylacetonato-complexes have also been prepared to assist with spectral characterisation. The remaining ligands studied form bidentate chelate complexes, [LPd(OAc) \(_2\)], with no evidence of metallation products.
Similar reactions using meta-disubstituted benzenes, for example, (pyMeHC) \(_2\)C\(_6\)H\(_4\), have resulted in metallation of the central benzene ring to give mononuclear (N,C,N) complexes, for example, [{(pyMeHC) \(_2\)C\(_6\)H\(_3\)}Pd(OAc)].
In contrast to palladation of pyPhCH\(_ 2\)and pyPh\(_2\)CH, which occurs at the ortho-position of a phenyl ring, lithiation, of these and related pyridines such as py\(_2\)CH\(_2\), occurs at the bridging (carbon atom to give the salts pyR\(_1\)R\(_2\)C\(^-\)Li\(^+\) (where R\(_1\) and R\(_2\) are hydrogen, phenyl, or pyridin-2-yl substituents). Organolithium derivatives of these ligands have: been used in attempts to synthesise organopaIladium(II) complexes in which palladium is bound to the bridging carbon atom, and to synthesise organomercury(II) reagents for possible use synthesis of organopalladium(II) complexes. Thus, investigation of the reaction of the anions-pyMe\(_2\)C\(^- \), py\(_n\)Ph\(_{2-n}\)RC\(^-\) (R = H, Me; n = 1,2), and py\(_n\)Ph\(_{3-n}\)C\(^-\) (n = 1-3), with mercuric iodide have been performed in an attempt to obtain diorganomercurial reagents, [R\(_2\)Hg]. The reactions have resulted in the isolation of oxidative coupling products (pyMe\(_2\)C) \(_2\), (py\(_n\)Ph\(_{2-n}\)RC) \(_2\) (n = 1,2; R = H,Me), and polymeric products for the triarylmethanes, respectively. Similar reactions with Ph\(_2\)CH\(^-\) and Ph\(_3\)CH\(^-\) have resulted in isolation of (Ph\(_2\)HC) \(_2\) and triphenylmethylperoxide, respectively. Isolation of oxidative coupling products and triphenylmethyl-peroxide has been explained in terms of decomposition of transient [R\(_2\)Hg] species. The coordination properties of two dimers, (pyPhHC) \(_2\) and (py\(_2\)HC) \(_2\), have been investigated by preparation of their palladium(II) acetate complexes. In the former case selective crystallisation of the mononuclear racemic complex was observed, while in the latter case a bridged dinuclear complex [(py\(_2\)HC) \(_2\) {Pd (OAc) \(_2\)}\(_2\)] was obtained.
The ligand anions py\(_n\)Ph\(_{2-n}\)HC\(^-\) (n = 1,2) have been reacted with trans-(4-methylpyridine) \(_2\)PdCl\(_2\), [(δ-pic) \(_2\)PdCl\(_2\)]. For n = 1 a number of products have been obtained and two organometallic dinuclear complexes have been isolated and structurally characterised. One complex has the formulation trans-(N,N') - [{μ-py-N) (PhHC-C) } ( δ -pic-N) PdCl] \(_2\). CH\(_2\)Cl\(_2\), with square-planar coordination geometry and two bridging [pyPhHC-C, N] groups. For n = 2, reaction under similar conditions resulted in the isolation of decomposition products including traces of the ligand oxidative coupling product (py\(_2\)HC) \(_2\).
As an alternative route to synthesis of organopalladium(II) complexes with palladium bonded to bridging carbon atoms, oxidative addition reactions of py\(_n\)Ph\(_{3-n}\)CCl (n = 1-3) with bis(dibenzylideneacetone)palladium (0), [(dba) \(_2\)Pd], have been studied resulting in isolation of palladium(II) complexes for n = 1 and 2, but not for n = 3. For n = 1 a chloro-bridged dinuclear allylic complex, similar to the oxidative addition product formed, between triphehylmethylchloride and [(dba) \(_2\)Pd], has been obtained. For n = 2 a dinuclear complex has been obtained and structurally characterised. The complex has a formulation trans-(N-N') - [{(μ-py-N) (Py-N') (PhC-C) } PdCl] \(_2\). [(CH\(_3\)) \(_2\)CO.CH\(_2\)Cl\(_2\)]\(_{0.5}\) with the ligand [py\(_2\)PhC-C,N,N']\(^--\) σ-bound to palladium via the bridging carbon atom. In each ligand one pyridine N-donor bridges two palladium atoms while the second forms a four-membered (C,N-chelate ring to the supporting palladium atom.
Methods for the synthesis of pyridine-based ligands, including the preparation of a number of new ligands, are presented.


The possibility that consumption of aged whole milk powders containing significant levels of cholesterol oxides may be detrimental to health has stimulated extensive research. In this study, the effects of feeding regimen and processing technology on the oxidative stability of lipids and cholesterol in whole milk powders were evaluated. Animal feeding regimen had a significant effect (p < 0.05) on the levels of total protein, true protein, casein protein and whey protein in standardised milk over the experimental period. Levels of peroxides, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and cholesterol oxidation products were used as indices of lipid oxidation occurring in whole milk powders. Lipid and cholesterol oxidation increased significantly (p < 0.01) after 12 months storage, the predominant oxysterols being 7-ketocholesterol, cholesterol-a-and (3-epoxides, 25-hydroxycholesterol and cholestanetriol. A positive correlation was found between the levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and cholesterol oxidation products. Significant decreases in lipid oxidation were observed as a result of high pre-heat treatment of milk prior to processing (p < 0.001), vacuum packing of powders in laminated foil bags prior to storage (p < 0.05), and storing powders at reduced temperatures (15° C) (p < 0.05). Levels of free sulphydryl groups, which possess antioxidant activity in whole milk powders, increased significantly (p < 0.05) as a result of a grass plus concentrate-fed diet and the application of high pre-heat treatment of milk. The toxicity of these oxysterols was evaluted using primary cultures of porcine ovarian granulosa cells. The activities of catalase and superoxide dismutase, two antioxidant defense enzymes, were increased significantly (p < 0.01) following 24 hour exposure to 2.5 (iM concentrations of both cholestanetriol and 25- hydroxycholesterol. Levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances remained unchanged under these conditions. Administration of a-tocopherol to the culture medium significantly (p < 0.01) improved cell viability and restored catalase and superoxide dismutase activities to control levels. These studies suggest that oxysterols, at levels found in whole milk powders were non cytotoxic.


In March 2012 Tralee Circuit Criminal Court, Ireland, indicated that it was seeking to benchmark an appropriate level of cultural heritage protection by fining a private citizen substantially for intentionally destroying a protected national monument. Against this backdrop, this article critically evaluates the contemporary evolution of Irish cultural heritage protections, focusing most particularly on two major case studies, the nationally high-profile motorway controversies that arose at Tara and Carrickmines. The analysis demonstrates that, while heritage legislation was strengthened in Ireland in the wake of a controversial development project at Wood Quay, Dublin, these protections have since been rolled back significantly. Pertinent aspects of Ireland's legal position in the E.U. and the impact on Northern Ireland of damage to Irish heritage are also considered. In addition to exposing a gradual weakening of Ireland's national heritage legislation, the findings throw into relief a disparity between the robust protective benchmark that has been crystallised with regard to a private citizen in 2012, and the ways in which public actors have utilised their space under national heritage law in a manner resulting in the irreparable destruction of precious elements of major national heritage landscapes.


The Delaware Supreme Court recently referred to "contractually adopted fiduciary duties." Although some commentators, including Larry Ribstein, view fiduciary duties as a type of contract term, the notion of contractually adopted fiduciary duties is incoherent. The need to opt in to fiduciary duties would arise in only two circumstances: (1) fiduciary relationships that do not invoke fiduciary duties without contractual authorization, and (2) nonfiduciary relationships in which the parties wish to invoke fiduciary duties that would otherwise be absent. The first category of relationships does not exist, as courts impose fiduciary duties when the structure of a relationship indicates that fiduciary duties are justified, and the second category of cases is rare — and should be nonexistent — as independent contracting parties generally have no reason to opt in to the fiduciary regime because fiduciary duties simply do not make sense outside of fiduciary relationships.Nevertheless, the issue arises occasionally in judicial opinions, and this Essay offers a simple proposal to clarify the line between fiduciary duties and contractual duties. When a duty arises from the language of a contract, that duty is a contractual duty, but if a duty arises as a matter of common law because the structure of the relationship comports with the description of fiduciary relationships, that duty is a fiduciary duty.


ABSTRACT Resilience to failures and deliberate attacks is becoming an essential requirement in most communication networks today. This also applies to P2P Overlays which on the one hand are created on top of communication infrastructures, and therefore are equally affected by failures of the underlying infrastructure, but which on the other hand introduce new possibilities like the creation of arbitrary links within the overlay. In this article, we present a survey of strategies to improve resilience in communication networks as well as in P2P overlay networks. Furthermore, our intention is to point out differences and similarities in the resilience-enhancing measures for both types of networks. By revising some basic concepts from graph theory, we show that many concepts for communication networks are based on well-known graph-theoretical problems. Especially, some methods for the construction of protection paths in advance of a failure are based on very hard problems, indeed many of them are in NP and can only be solved heuristically or on certain topologies. P2P overlay networks evidently benefit from resilience-enhancing strategies in the underlying communication infrastructure, but beyond that, their specific properties pose the need for more sophisticated mechanisms. The dynamic nature of peers requires to take some precautions, like estimating the reliability of peers, redundantly storing information, and provisioning a reliable routing.


This work aimed to prospect future space-borne LiDAR sensor capacities for global bathymetry over inland and coastal waters. The sensor performances were assessed using a methodology based on waveform simulation. A global representative simulated waveform database is first built from the Wa-LiD (Water LiDAR) waveform simulator and from distributions of water parameters assumed to be representative at the global scale. A bathymetry detection and estimation process is thus applied to each waveform to determine the bathymetric measurement probabilities in coastal waters, shallow lakes, deep lakes and rivers for a range of water depths. Finally, with a sensitivity analysis of waveforms, the accuracy and some limiting factors of the bathymetry are identified for the dominant water parameters. Two future space-borne LiDAR sensors were explored: an ultraviolet (UV) LiDAR and a green LiDAR. The results show that the bathymetric measurement probabilities at a 1 m depth is 63%, 54%, 24% and 19% with the green LiDAR for deep lakes, coastal waters, rivers and shallow lakes, respectively, and 10%, 22%, 1% and 0% with the UV LiDAR, respectively. The threshold values of dominant water parameters (sediment, yellow substance and phytoplankton concentrations) above which bathymetry detection fails were identiήed and mapped. The accuracy on the bathymetry estimates for both LiDAR sensors is 2.8 cm for one standard deviation with negligible bias (approximately 0.5 cm). However, these accuracy statistics only include the errors coming from the digitizing resolution and the inversion algorithm.


Execution of development in Indonesia need big enough fund so that defrayal of[is project of development earn fufilled. But governmental saving which still personate the source of development fund, still very limited to defray development so that although acceptance of home affairs mount because the increasing of exporting of is non migas, but from budget which have been planned in the reality still generate deficit at development budget. Though done development in this time need ever greater fund, so that to close over the budget deficit needed by loan fund or debt from outside country. However, overseas debt which initialy only as complement of defrayal of development, in the end become the source of pledge in development. Even the amount of overseas debt progressively ever greater year with debt heaping to exceed GDP. Intention of this research is to know 1) growth of overseas debt of Year Indonesia 2002-2006 2) overseas debt benefit to national development 3) problem of generated by overseas debt 4) policy what taken by government to overcome the problem of overseas debt, and 5) role of overseas debt to growth of Indonesia year economics 2002-2006. At this research use data of sekunder of Annual Report Indonesia Bank from various edition, Governmental Report or from Treasury Department and Monetary and Monetary Body Analysis and also from other literature books and journal. As for research method the used is descriptive method qualitative, provided with analysis of regresi to know role of overseas debt to growth of Indonesia economics. Result of research indicate that 1) overseas debt is still required and become priority in development budget although have is downhill, but its amount still very big reach $ 181530.6 million with number of DSR which tend to fluktuatif but indication ability of state in paying debt still pertained is low 2) than economic sector, overseas debt which accepted by used more private sector side for the industrial sector of processing 3) problem of generated by overseas debt for example depended national economics to source of fund of eksternal specially overseas debt, and many project of financed by overseas debt cannot yield the source of beneficial earnings for the return of debt 4) policy of government in overcoming problems of overseas debt is by exploiting the the debt at correct allocation wisely 5) result of examination with regresi indicate that overseas debt have an effect on by signifikan to growth of Indonesia economics pursuant to value of GNP, with negative influence. Its ever greater meaning of overseas debt which passed to Indonesia, hence that thing exactly will be able to degrade growth of Indonesia economics pursuant to value of GNP by having a meaning (of). Keyword : pertumbuhan ekonomi, hutang luar negeri, pembangunan. link terkait : http://skripsi.umm.ac.id/files/disk1/266/jiptummpp-gdl-s1-2008-aguswinart-13294-PENDAHUL-N.pdf


Higashino et al. found that in mammals (specifically mice), as in venomous snakes, there is a circulating inhibitor of secreted phospholipase A2 (PLA2). Secreted PLA2 can activate cellular signaling pathways through interaction with the PLA2 receptor (PLA2R) or by hydrolyzing membrane lipids to release various eicosanoid species. The inhibitor was a secreted form of the extracellular portion of PLA2 receptor (sPLA2R). Purified sPLA2R from mouse serum inhibited the enzymatic activity of mouse PLA2 and inhibited specific binding of PLA2 to the PLA2R expressed in transfected Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. The mechanism of release of the sPLA2R appeared to involve metalloproteases, because the addition of a metalloprotease inhibitor to the PLA2R-expressing CHO cells inhibited release of sPLA2R into the culture medium. Thus, the biological activity of secreted PLA2 may be regulated by the presence of this sPLA2R in vivo. K.-i. Higashino, Y. Yokota, T. Ono, S. Kamitani, H. Arita, K. Hanasaki, Identification of a soluble form of phospholipase A2 receptor as a circulating endogenous inhibitor for secretory phospholipase A2. J. Biol. Chem. 277, 13583-13588 (2002). [Abstract] [Full Text]


When Hurricane Sandy hit downtown Manhattan, three neighboring hospitals each made different decisions about when to evacuate. Across the metro region, more than five hospitals and over 20 nursing and assisted living facilities were evacuated, making this the central public health challenge of this calamitous event. It is a familiar story — a super storm comes ashore, infrastructure is overwhelmed, and healthcare facilities evacuate patients, with major delays in returning to normal functioning. Afterwards, policy makers evaluate lessons learned for the next disaster, but similar missteps are often repeated.Although not identical, it is instructive to compare Hurricane Katrina with the still unfolding events of Sandy. Unlike in Katrina, New York hospitals had more detailed emergency plans. What seemed to be missing, however, were clear and consistent criteria to guide evacuation decisions. Evacuation decisions are complex — a decision to evacuate prematurely places patients at risk, while waiting too long can have devastating consequences. Public officials, in collaboration with facilities, should decide whether to shelter in place or risk transfer of fragile patients. Governors should consider early emergency declarations, including request for a formal "public health emergency declaration", to reduce legal concerns and regulatory constraints. Federal, state, and municipal authorities can better prepare for the next disaster and have a duty to do so.


Excellent service is the foundation for services marketing, contend Leonard Berry and A. Parasuraman in this companion volume to "Delivering Quality Service." Building on eight years of research, the authors develop a model for understanding the relationship between quality and marketing in services and offer dozens of practical insights into ways to improve services marketing. They argue that superior service cannot be manufactured in a factory, packaged, and delivered intact to customers. Though an innovative service concept may give a company an initial edge, superior quality is vital to sustaining success. Berry and Parasuraman show that inspired leadership, a customer-minded corporate culture, an excellent service-system design, and effective use of technology and information are crucial to superior service quality and services marketing. When a company's service is excellent, customers are more likely to perceive value in transactions, spread favorable word-of-mouth impressions, and respond positively to employee-cross-selling efforts. The authors point out that a service company that does relatively little pre-sales marketing but is truly dedicated to delivering excellent quality service will have greater marketing effectiveness, higher customer retention, and more sales to existing customers than a company that emphasizes pre-sale marketing but falls short during actual service delivery. The focus of any company, they insist, must be customer satisfaction through integration of service quality throughout the entire system. Filled with examples, stories, and insights from senior executives, Berry and Parasuraman's new framework for effective marketing servicescontains the key to high-performance services marketing.


Background: Image quality in an Intravenous Urogram (IVU) can occasionally be compromised by variables like bowel preparation, renal function and radiographic factors, posing a challenge to all Uroradiologists. The Computerised Tomography Urogram (CTU) yields better diagnostic information than an IVU, due to its inherent superior anatomic delineation and contrast sensitivity, against a trade-off involving radiation dose and cost. Our study was conducted to assess the utility and timing of performing a single-phase CTU, as a problem-solving tool, to clear the diagnostic dilemma in a selected subset of patients, in whom an ongoing IVU could potentially be inconclusive. Material and Methods: Five hundred and twelve patients who underwent IVU studies for urologic referrals at a tertiary care hospital, during the period of January to December 2009, formed the subject of the study, of whom 33 patients with inconclusive IVU findings after the first three radiographs underwent a single-phase CTU, to reach definitive imaging diagnoses. Results: The percentage of inconclusive IVU studies amounted to only 33 / 512 (6.4%), in whom a CTU study revealed definitive diagnoses in 30 patients and no abnormality in three patients, thus conclusively clearing the ambiguities raised on the IVU in all the selected patients. Conclusions: The concept of a CTU limited to a single-phase study to supplement an inconclusive IVU optimizes the contrast and radiation dose to the affected patients. It is a cost-effective, timely, and definitive 'imaging intervention' and should be considered a viable hybrid technique to be utilized selectively and judiciously.


A set of positive integers is said to have the distinct divisor property if there is an injective map that sends every integer in the set to one of its proper divisors. In 1983, P. Erdős and C. Pomerance showed that for every $c>1$, a largest subset of $[N,cN]$ with the distinct divisor property has cardinality $\sim \delta(c)N$, for some constant $\delta(c)>0$. They conjectured that $\delta(c)\sim c/2$ as $c \to \infty$. We prove their conjecture. In fact we show that there exist positive absolute constants $D_1,D_2$ such that $D_1\le c^{\beta}(c/2-\delta(c))\le D_2$ where $\beta = \log 2/\log (3/2)$.


Synthetic glycopolymers with pendent sugar moieties are able to interact with lectins as multivalent ligands in a similar manner to natural glycoproteins. Nanoparticles (NPs), due to their small size and high surface/volume ratio, lead to very different properties compared with bulk-matter, and NPs have shown great potential in nanomedicine and other biological applications. NPs with glycopolymers on the surface are one of the desirable bio-active particles and an important material to investigate. This review focuses on the synthesis of various glycopolymer-based nanoparticles via different approaches such as self-assembly and the preparation of glycopolymer-conjugated inorganic NPs, and their different applications.


From a psychological point of view, this study looks at children's and adult's comprehension of idiomatic expressions, and most particularly at the underlying cognitive processes needed for comprehension. Idiomatic expressions are expressions where there is a considerable difference between what is said (literal interpretation) and what is meant (idiomatic interpretation). In other words, the meaning of an idiomatic expression depends largely on a convention that relates a given linguistic form to a given meaning. Conducted in this framework, the present study was aimed at determining the role of contextual characteristics and the linguistic convention in the comprehension of idiomatic expressions by 6- and 9-year-old children, and by adults. The subject's task was to complete stories. Twelve stories were presented in comic strip format by the experimenter, who told the story in the first three frames and then instructed the subject to choose one of the two possible endings. Two features of the stories were varied : The utterance production context (idiomatic vs. literal) and the idiom familiarity level (familiar vs. unfamiliar). Regardless of age, the context had a substantial impact on idiom comprehension: This reinforces the idea of the necessity of taking the context and the extra-linguistic conventions into account in order to explain language functioning, not only in children but also in adults. The role of the linguistic convention began at the age of 9 and was particularly strong in adults: They appear to reconstruct the communication situation solely on the basis of the linguistic convention. The role of familiarity also appeared in the 9-year-olds and continued on into adulthood. These results suggest that the period of adolescence is crucial for the development of certain pragmatic aspects of language.


This title covers everything you need to know about strength and fitness training in the gym and at home, from planning workouts to improving technique. It is an expert and easy-to-follow guide with step-by-step instruction shown in more than 700 fantastic photographs. It is the ultimate do-it-yourself guide to exercising for fitness, strength, weight loss and flexibility, with authoritative training tips and advice on health, safety, essential equipment, goals and motivation. It includes information on getting started, setting goals, cardiovascular training, resistance training, core strength, suppleness, avoiding injuries, and nutrition. This comprehensive practical book will show you how to fight the flab, strengthen and tone muscle, enjoy increased vitality and gain a more positive outlook on life, no matter what your age or current level of fitness. The guide explains how to assess how fit you are and how to get the most from your workouts. One of the main aims is how to improve the strength and efficiency of your cardiovascular system through all the most popular exercises. With personal training plans, you can tailor your exercise regime to your goals, whether you want to lose weight, run a marathon, be toned for your wedding day, de-stress or become fitter and healthier.


'I admire Suzanne Trocme's attitudes, words and ideas. I respect and admire that she can see so many things clearly that apparently contradict each other, but which are for me the keys of today's and tomorrow's sensitivity.' - Andree Putman Classic chic is timeless, the interior-design equivalent of the 'little black dress'. And just like the LBD, sophisticated accessories can add drama, whilst natural lines and classic beauty shine through when a space is unadorned. However it's presented, classic chic exudes a sense of quality and durability, unaffected by fashion and fads. Classic chic is a class act. So what distinguishes it, and how can it be created? Suzanne Trocme's fascinating exploration of these questions weaves together analyses of design principles and their practical applications, as well as profiling a selection of exemplary interiors - each a hymn to order, elegance, comfort restraint or drama - from some of the worlds best designers and architects. Classic Chic discusses the principles of such design in depth, examining architecture and space, shape, colour and texture, and investigating the specific elements of the style, including furniture fabric, details and ornaments. Drawing on inspiration both modern and historical, as well as her own creative understanding, the author distils the very essence of chic. Featuring more than 300 specially commissioned photographs, and a directory of resources and designers, Classic Chic is an essential read for hopeful homeowners, armchair enthusiasts and, of course, hands on designers.


The lowermost Mississippi River, defined herein as the river segment downstream of the Old River Control Structure and hydrodynamically influenced by the Gulf of Mexico, extends for approximately 500 km. This segment includes a bedrock (or more precisely, mixed bedrock‐alluvial) reach that is bounded by an upstream alluvial‐bedrock transition and a downstream bedrock‐alluvial transition. Here we present a one‐dimensional mathematical formulation for the long‐term evolution of lowland rivers that is able to reproduce the morphodynamics of both the alluvial‐bedrock and the bedrock‐alluvial transitions. Model results show that the magnitude of the alluvial equilibrium bed slope relative to the bedrock surface slope and the depth of bedrock surface relative to the water surface base level strongly influence the mobile bed equilibrium of low‐sloping river channels. Using data from the lowermost Mississippi River, the model is zeroed and validated at field scale by comparing the numerical results with field measurements. The model is then applied to predict the influence on the stability of channel bed elevation in response to delta restoration projects. In particular, the response of the river bed to the implementation of two examples of land‐building diversions to extract water and sediment from the main channel is studied. In this regard, our model results show that engineered land‐building diversions along the lowermost Mississippi River are capable of producing equilibrated bed profiles with only modest shoaling or erosion, and therefore, such diversions are a sustainable strategy for mitigating land loss within the Mississippi River Delta.


Based on data from the four minor irrigation censuses conducted by the Ministry of Water Resources between 1986-87 and 2006-07, this paper points out that India's groundwater sector has slowed down since 2000-01, most markedly in eastern India. It examines the reasons for this and also looks into how farmers have been responding to lowered groundwater tables. Besides identifying some factors that have not changed since the mid-1980s, it emphasises that there are wide regional variations in the country's groundwater economy and management strategies need to be crafted accordingly. Introduction


PROBLEM
Road traffic injuries are a leading cause of death and disability in Viet Nam. In 2008, official data reported 11 243 deaths and 7771 serious injuries on the roads, of which an estimated 60% of fatalities occur in motorcycle riders and passengers. In recognition of this problem, Viet Nam has had partial motorcycle helmet legislation since 1995. However, for a variety of reasons, implementation and enforcement have been limited.

APPROACH
On 15 December 2007, Viet Nam's first comprehensive mandatory helmet law came into effect, covering all riders and passengers on all roads nationwide. Penalties increased ten-fold and cohorts of police were mobilized for enforcement.

LOCAL SETTING
The Viet Nam national helmet legislation was developed and implemented by the National Traffic Safety Committee.

RELEVANT CHANGES
Despite past barriers to enforcement, increased policing in 2008 led to 680 000 infringements being issued for non-helmet wearing. While changes in helmet wearing were not nationally observed, significant increases were documented in selected provinces in the first six months of the law's introduction. In Da Nang, helmet wearing increased from 27 to 99%. In the first three months after the law took effect, surveillance data from 20 urban and rural hospitals, found the risk of road traffic head injuries and deaths decreased by 16% and 18% respectively.

LESSONS LEARNT
Political leadership, intensive advanced public education and stringent enforcement have contributed to the successful implementation of the new law. Through continual monitoring of the legislation, loopholes detrimental to the effectiveness of the law have been identified and addressed.


Why do people vary in how well they discriminate musical sounds? The present research explored personality traits as predictors of auditory discrimination ability, a cornerstone of many popular musical aptitude tests. According to investment-theory approaches, personality traits can shape the growth of cognitive abilities by affecting the kinds of activities and experiences people select. It thus seems likely that Openness to Experience – a broad trait associated with aesthetic and creative interests – would predict variation in auditory abilities because it is associated with greater engagement with music. A sample of 183 young adults completed an auditory discrimination task (the Musical Ear Test), the HEXACO personality inventory, and items measuring past music training. As expected, Openness to Experience significantly predicted auditory ability (β = .28 [.14, .42]). Mediation models indicated that this effect was fully mediated by music training: people high in Openness had significantly more formal training in music, and music training in turn significantly predicted auditory ability. The findings thus strongly support an investment-theory approach to understanding the role of personality in musical auditory abilities.


Superficially, Irish and European Community law proclaim the rights of sexual minorities - particularly in web sites and printed information designed for public consumption. The reality is different. This article identifies a gap between the public pronouncements on the rights of sexual minorities under Irish and EC law. It employs a hypothetical fact situation to suggest that existing legal protections are anemic, and argues that the potential failure of affected groups to identify these deficiencies (due to contradictory claims in public information campaigns) could endanger efforts to effect progressive change.


An Extraordinary GIRI Meeting took place on the 26 and 27 of November 2020. Due to the current situation, it was held on the ZOOM platform. It regarded the clinical and basic research on COVID-19 and the coronavirus exclusively. The meeting was organized in partnership with the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and the International Research Group on Very Low Dosis and High Dilution Effects (GIRI) as a pre-event to the V International Homeopathy Workshop of UFRJ, planned for 2-4 December 2021.
During a pandemic, when there is a general lack of workers, equipment, and medicines, any kind of treatment capable of maintaining or improving people's health should be considered by all medical facilities. Therefore, the GIRI meeting aimed to collect, discuss, and disseminate knowledge and medical experience gathered by homeopathy researchers and doctors around the world regarding the possibility of treating COVID-19 with homeopathy. The meeting lasted two days and was visited by a large number of participants from Brazil, India, Russia, Belgium, Hong Kong, Switzerland, and England, gathering so researchers, professionals, and many students from different fields of expertise, e.g. pharmacology, medicine, biology, physics, veterinary, chemistry.
In total, 11 abstracts were approved by a Scientific Committee and presented in a 30-60 min oral contribution. The meeting was interactive, offering space for questions, answers, and for many discussions concerning the potential of homeopathy in the context of COVID-19. The conference provided the possibility to better understand the different homeopathic approaches in the treatment of COVID-19, such as the use of nosodes (prepared from virus particles), that showed a promising immunomodulatory and prophylactic potential. Further, the preliminary analysis of the Clificol COVID-19 support project was presented, revealing a vast international panorama concerning the use of homeopathy in different countries. There were other contributions regarding the use of homeopathy in adults and children for the treatment of COVID-19.
To disseminate even further the findings presented at the Extraordinary GIRI Meeting 2020 related to the role of homeopathy in the COVID-19 pandemic, we are launching this special issue of the International Journal of High Dilution Research (IJHDR).


Purpose of study Idiopathic Pulmonary Hemosiderosis (IPH) is a rare disease within the paediatric population. The purpose of this case report is to discuss a unique case of pulmonary hemosiderosis, and provide physicians with the necessary knowledge to appropriately identify and manage this condition in a timely fashion. Prompt management will to reduce complications and to identify a possible relationship with cardiac arrest. Methods used The patient's medical charts and laboratory studies during the course of her hospital stay were reviewed for accuracy. Summary of results This is the case of a 5 month old male with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), who was born prematurely after 25 weeks of gestation, following which he had a 4 month NICU stay. He had been eating and growing well since discharge until he was seen at his pulmonologist's office where he went into cardiac arrest. After resuscitation and intubation, he was transferred to our hospital. Vancomycin and ceftriaxone were started for suspected sepsis. Blood was noted to be coming up through the ET tube and a chest x-ray showed bilateral infiltrates that were suspicious for atelectasis. He underwent bronchoscopy the following day. Cytology of the bronchealveolar lavage sample showed hemosiderin-laden macrophages. He was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary hemosiderosis and started on prednisolone.The patient improved within the week and was extubated. Currently he is doing well after discharge and continues to be on prednisolone. Conclusions A high suspicion should be kept for IPH especially with children under the age of ten and/or who have a history of BPD and prematurity. It is still unclear to what the pathogenesis of IPH is, but recent case reports are showing that there might be an association between BPD and IPH. Patients typically present with the classic triad of hemoptysis, anaemia and non-specific opacities on chest imaging. As mentioned, the pathogenesis is unclear but immunological abnormalities, abnormal iron metabolism, or even environmental factors (second hand smoke) have been reported to play a role. Oral glucocorticoids are the mainstay of treatment for these patients and have been observed to reduce morbidity and mortality.


This project had to different objectives. The first goal was to study the metabolite pool of the cell lines HaCaT and DU145 in the different cell phases in the cell cycle. To obtain this data, the cell lines had to be synchronized. Synchronization was to be achieved either by serum starvation or double thymidine block. The second objective was to study the metabolite pool of HaCaT, DU145 and HEK293 treated with cytostatica. The goal was to detect possible trends for the different cell lines, and this would be the starting point for further testing. The data analysis was performed by using GC-MS QqQ and LC-MS Q-TOF


Physical model tests were done on an armour of Tetrapods, placed in a single layer. The objective of the investigations was to study the stability of the secondary layer, and to see if the material of this secondary layer could be washed out through the single layer of Tetrapods. It was concluded that secondary armour is not washed out through an undamaged layer of Tetrapods, and that all damage to the secondary layer is related to damage in the primary layer. To prevent damage to the Tetrapod layer, a high placing density is needed. In case of low placing density, the area around the waterline will slide down, creating gaps in the main armour and exposing the secondary layer. Because of this process the placing density in lower sections of the breakwater increases, and consequently also the strength increases at those places.


Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP) is attracting attention from both research and industry, as illustrated by the ever-growing popularity of AspectJ, the de facto standard AOP extension of Java. From a compiler construction perspective AspectJ is interesting as it is a typical example of compositional language, ie a language composed of a number of separate languages with different syntactical styles: in addition to plain Java, AspectJ includes a language for defining pointcuts and one for defining advices. Language composition represents a non-trivial challenge for conventional parsing techniques. First, combining several languages with different lexical syntax leads to considerable complexity in the lexical states to processed. Second, as new language features for AOP are being explored, many research proposals are concerned with further extending the AspectJ language, resulting in a need for an extensible syntax definition.This paper shows how scannerless parsing elegantly addresses the issues encountered by conventional techniques when parsing AspectJ . We present the design of a modular, extensible, and formal definition of the lexical and context-free aspects of the AspectJ syntax in the Syntax Definition Formalism SDF, which is implemented by a scannerless, generalized-LR parser (SGLR). We introduce grammar mixins as a novel application of SDF's modularity features, which allows the declarative definition of different keyword policies and combination of extensions. We illustrate the modular extensibility of our definition with syntax extensions taken from current research on aspect languages. Finally, benchmarks show the reasonable performance of scannerless generalized-LR parsing for this grammar.


This paper questions the extent future generations of immigrants will engage in transnational religious institutions. Drawing on multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork involving observations, interviews, and content analysis, I examine the participation of the leaders of the next generation of Chinese-Canadian evangelicals in a 'negotiated transnational religious organization' named the Chinese Coordination Centre of World Evangelism (CCCOWE) Movement. CCCOWE's documents reveal it advances a notion of the 'Chinese elect' grounded on a pan-Chinese identity for global evangelism. I first demonstrate that this ethnically based mission is different from cross-cultural missions in mainstream evangelicalism. I then present how the subjects made sense of the CCCOWE experience at the global CCCOWE congress. I argue the rallying call grounded on Chinese ethnicity for global evangelism stands on tenuous grounds and propose linguistic, geographical, generational, and ideological fractures as salient factors that diminish future generations' participation in transnational religious organizations. I argue these developments will push 'negotiated transnational religious networks' into a state of 'renegotiation.'


Approximately 6000 people with diabetes undergo leg, foot, or toe amputations each year in England, many of which are avoidable. The risk of lower extremity amputation for people with diabetes is ≥20 times that of people without diabetes. Major amputation rates in people with diabetes vary ten-fold across primary care trusts (Diabetes UK, 2012). The preceding event to limb amputation is often ulceration. This article discusses the management of heel pressure ulcers in patients with diabetes and questions whether there is a need for clearer guidance in regard to who is responsible for the patient's care during a hospital stay. Additionally, the authors discuss whether care pathways need to be revised to ensure that patients are optimally managed, which could ultimately reduce the number of avoidable foot problems developing during acute hospital stays.


The sublithospheric mantle must be chemically heterogeneous as a consequence of billions of years
worth of continuous subduction. Evidence for heterogeneity is strong in ocean island settings, where
variability in isotopic, major and trace element composition is frequently attributed to variability in
the mantle source. In continental fl ood basalt (CFB) provinces, signals of mantle-derived hetero-
geneity are obscured by fractionated and contaminated nature of CFB magmas. However, outcrops of
primitive magmas that more closely represent primary mantle melts are found in some CFB provinces.
This study focuses on picrites and ferropicrites from the Parana-Etendeka CFB province, and also ex-
amines ferropicrites from the Karoo CFB province, which are found as dykes and thin fl ows. Ferropi-
crites are Fe-rich, Al-poor magmas equally primitive and Mg-rich as the peridotite-derived picrites,
but cannot have formed from peridotite melting.
The sample sets are investigated by supplementing published whole-rock and mineral analyses
with new mineral chemistry and melt inclusion data. Incompatible trace element compositions of their
olivine-hosted melt inclusions are very homogeneous, suggesting that their primary fractional mantle
melts underwent extensive mixing prior to the onset of crystallisation. Compared with primitive melt
inclusions from other settings, inclusions in these and other CFB provinces are well-mixed. The
crystallisation temperatures of olivine phenocrysts in these samples were determined by Al-in-olivine
thermometry, with maximum crystallisation temperatures of ∼ 1500 °C identifi ed in some Etendeka
picrites. These require a very high mantle potential temperature (TP ); the ferropicrites crystallised at
somewhat lower temperatures. XANES analyses confi rmed that the spinel Fe
3+
/FeT were within the
thermometer's calibrated range.
Ferropicrite has been suggested to originate from high pressure, low fraction melting of mantle
pyroxenite. The Etendeka ferropicrite geochemistry is examined with the aid of a new thermodynamic
model in order to interrogate its mantle source lithology and melting conditions. Modelling indicates
that both the major and trace element composition of ferropicrite is indeed more compatible with
garnet clinopyroxenite melting than peridotite melting, and that elevated TP plume conditions are
required in its formation. By comparison, picrite major element chemistry is consistent with a high
TP depleted peridotite melt. If a depleted peridotite and hybrid pyroxenite source mineralogy are
used for picrite and Etendeka ferropicrite, respectively, then they both represent ∼ 10–20% mantle
melting.


80 % Cr3C2 – 20 % (Ni-20Cr) powder composition was used to generate coating on T-91 boiler tube steel using high velocity oxy fuel (HVOF) process. This paper focuses on characterization of the coating and will also investigate the mechanism of erosion at different operating temperatures. Microstructure, porosity, surface roughness, coating thickness and microhardness properties of the coating were characterized using the optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive x-ray analysis and electron probe micro analysis techniques. The 80% Cr3C2 -20% (Ni-20Cr) coating possesses thickness 325 μm, surface roughness value 5.206 (Ra), average microhardness value 862 Hv and 1.8% porosity. The uncoated and coated samples were tested in air jet erosion test rig for enhancing the life of boiler tubes and improving the performance of the power plants.