Many factors influence physical attractiveness, including degree of symmetry and relative length of legs. We asked a sample of 112 young adults to rate the attractiveness of computer-generated female bodies that varied in terms of symmetry and leg-to-body ratio. These effects were confirmed. However, we also varied whether the person in the image was shown sitting or standing. Half of the participants were tested standing and the other half sitting. The difference in the posture of the participants increased the perceived attractiveness of the images sharing the same posture, despite the fact that participants were unaware that their posture was relevant for the experiment. We conclude that our findings extend the role of embodied simulation in social cognition to perception of attractiveness from static images.


We report results of inclusive measurements of anti-Lambda, produced in the forward direction at the SPS with sqrt(s) = 630 GeV, using the UA8 small angle Roman Pot spectrometers. These measurements cover the range in Feynman-x_f and transverse momentum, 0.6 < x_f < 1.0 and 0.4 < p_t < 0.7 GeV, respectively. Within a systematic uncertainty of +-20% on the absolute cross section measurements, the results are indistinguishable from those made by some of us in two earlier experiments at the CERN Intersecting Storage Rings, with energies, sqrt(s) = 53 and 62 GeV. In the x_f-range, 0.6-0.9, the absolute cross sections are lower by a factor of 2 to 3 than the predictions of the Lund model as embodied in the PYTHIA 5.6 and JETSET 7.3 Monte Carlo programs, indicating inadequacies in knowledge of the baryon fragmentation function. For the largest x_f-range, 0.9-1.0, the measurements agree with the Monte Carlo predictions. We have measured the average anti-Lambda polarization for our events and find (6 +- 12%), consistent with previous measurements at the ISR in the present region of x_f - p_t.


This paper presents a low voltage CMOS second generation current conveyor with rail-to-rail input and output dynamic ranges. The circuit includes also a class AB output stage with high driving capability. A prototype has been fabricated using the 0.6-µm AMS technology. The circuit supplied with ±0.75V exhibits rail-to-rail capability and an input resistance at the X terminal of about 150Ω. Thanks to the class AB behavior, the current drive capability is better than 0.8mA, which is about 40 times the quiescent current in the output branch.


The paper provides an engineering analysis approach for assessing reliability of NDE flaw detection using smaller number of demonstration data points. It explores interdependence of probability of detection (POD), probability of false positive (POF), contrast-to-noise ratio, and net decision threshold-to-noise ratio in a simulated data; and draws some generically applicable inferences to devise the approach. ASTM nondestructive evaluation standards provide requirements on signal-to-noise ratio and/or contrast-to-noise ratio in order to provide reliable flaw detection and limit false positive calls. POD analysis of inspection test data results in a flaw size, denoted by a_(90/95). The flaw size has 90% POD and minimum 95% confidence. POF is also estimated in the analysis. POD demonstration requires specimen with flaws of known size. In many situations, it is very expensive to produce the large number of flaws required for the POD analysis. In some situations, only real flaws can truly represent the flaws for demonstration. Real flaws of correct size and location within part may be difficult to produce, if not impossible. Here, an engineering analysis approach is devised to assess reliability of NDE technique when a limited number of flaws are available for demonstration. A technique is considered reliable, if it provides flaw detectability equal to or better than a_(90/95) and also provides a POF less than or equal to a chosen value. The paper uses simulated signal response versus flaw size data to devise the approach. Linear correlation is used between the signal response data and flaw size. POD software mh1823 uses generalized linear model (GLM) in POD analysis after transforming the flaw size and signal response, if needed, using logarithm. Therefore, this approach is in agreement with the linear signal correlation used in mh1823. Using the POD analysis of data, generic conditions on contrast-to-noise ratio and net decision threshold-to-noise ratio are derived for reliable flaw detection. In order to assess technique reliability using the engineering approach, signal response-to-flaw size correlation about the flaw size of concern is needed. In addition, measurement of noise is also needed. If the technique meets the above requirements, assumption of linear signal –to-flaw size correlation and conditions on noise, then the technique can be assessed using this analysis as it fits the underlying POD model used here. The approach is conservative and is designed to provide a larger flaw size compared to POD approach. Such NDE technique assessment approach, although, not as rigorous as POD, can be cost effective if the larger flaw size can be tolerated. Typically, this is a situation for all quality control NDE inspections. Here, an NDE technique needs to be reliable and the true a90 is not known, but the assessed flaw size is assumed to be larger than the true a90 due to conservative factors or margins. Applicability of the approach for assessing reliability of flaw detection in x-ray radiography and 2D imaging in general is also explored.


We discuss the concept of computing on the Web. We show that the heterogeneous and dynamic nature of the Web makes it impossible to define a fixed set of operating system functions, usable for all services. Rather, we propose that generalized software configuration techniques, based on a demand-driven technique called eduction, can be used to define versions of a Web Operating System (WOS) that can be built in an incremental manner. We illustrate this problem by examining the question of load balancing.


Protection system is one of the important parts of the power system. The protection
system can be accepted if and only if it is efficient, reliable and realizes some
requirements. For protection of transmission line three stepped distance protection
can provide remote backup protection to transmission line by zone 2 and zone 3, but
during the calculation of operation setting for different protection zones of the
distance relays, some problems have been raised (overlap and under reach). These
problems cause improper trips in the network. The aims at overcoming the problems
are by taking into consideration the specifications of the adjacent transmission lines,
the effect of arc resistance, earth resistance and the effect of remote infeed.
The line protection schemes are composed of distance relays and directional
overcurrent relays where the setting of the relays must be computed considering both
relays. Separate relay computation would lead to loss of selectivity. The standard
IEC 60255 combined with the considerations of zone 2 tripping time have been used
in order to overcome the coordination problems with the main protection (distance
protection) as a local protection and to provide remote backup protection to the other
overcurrent relays in the grid.
In this project, the protection of the transmission lines in typical IEEE, 9-
busbars grid has been investigated in detail. The proper settings for both main
protection (i.e. distance protection) and backup protection (i.e. overcurrent
protection) devices have been determined. MATLAB and ETAP have been used as
simulating tools to validate the protection settings techniques of the relays. Three
approaches of settings have been used for the mentioned relays. The results show the
proper settings of the both relays of the entire project.


Micropapillary carcinoma is an entity defined histologically in many organs. It is associated with lymph node metastasis and poor prognosis. The main mechanism for its histopathologic appearance is reverse polarization. Although the studies on this subject are limited, carcinomas with micropapillary morphology observed in different organs are examined by immunohistochemical and molecular methods. Differences are shown in these tumors compared with conventional carcinomas regarding the rate of somatic mutations, mRNA and miRNA expressions, and protein expression levels. TP53, PIK3CA, TERT, KRAS, EGFR, MYC, FGFR1, BRAF, AKT1, HER2/ERBB2, CCND1, and APC mutations, which genes frequently detected in solid tumors, have also been detected in invasive micropapillary carcinoma (IMPC) in various organs. 6q chromosome loss, DNAH9, FOXO3, SEC. 63, and FMN2 gene mutations associated with cell polarity or cell structure and skeleton have also been detected in IMPCs. Among the proteins that affect cell polarity, RAC1, placoglobin, as well as CLDNs, LIN7A, ZEB1, CLDN1, DLG1, CDH1 (E-cadherin), OCLN, AFDN/AF6, ZEB1, SNAI2, ITGA1 (integrin alpha 1), ITGB1 (integrin beta 1), RHOA, Jagged-1 (JAG1) mRNAs differentially express between IMPC and conventional carcinomas. Prediction of prognosis and targeted therapy may benefit from the understanding of molecular mechanisms of micropapillary morphology. This review describes the molecular pathologic mechanisms underlying the micropapillary changes of cancers in various organs in a cell polarity–related dimension.


Published literature from the past 30 years concerning the removal of dyes from textile effluent has been reviewed. The relationship between the bioelimination by activated sewage sludge and the molecular structure of anionic, water-soluble dyes has been examined. Bioelimination of many commercially available dyes as a mechanism for decolorising textile waste waters has been shown to be an inefficient process. However, the information collated will be used as the basis for development of novel reactive dyes for potential commercial application.


Review of: H.I. Flower,The Dancing Lares and the Serpent in the Garden. Religion at the Roman Street Corner. This excellent book shows how religion and politics interacted during the transition from Republic to Empire. Thelaresare considered to be 'gods of place'—this category will prove to be useful for future studies of Roman religions.


In this paper, some properties of matrices over commutative semirings are researched deeply. We extend the theorem about invertible matrix and show a necessary condition that a matrix is invertible.And we discuss in n-dimensional L-semilinear space Vn every vector of Vn can be uniquely represented by a linear combination of any basis of Vn. On the other hand, we show the connection between two bases of Vn with the transition matrix and prove an inequality in case that the rank of the matrix is redefined over commutative semirings. We give the proof that a set of linearly independent vectors is still linearly independent under semilinear transformation. We prove that some theorems of the determinant of a matrix still exist for the permanent, but some of the theorems do not. We show the necessary and sufficient condition that the permanent of an invertible matrix is zero.


To rapidly generate a reentry trajectory for hypersonic vehicle satisfying waypoint and no-fly zone constraints, a novel optimization method, which combines the improved particle swarm optimization(PSO) algorithm with the improved Gauss pseudospectral method(GPM), is proposed. The improved PSO algorithm is used to generate a good initial value in a short time,and the mission of the improved GPM is to find the final solution with a high precision. In the improved PSO algorithm, by controlling the entropy of the swarm in each dimension, the typical PSO algorithm's weakness of being easy to fall into a local optimum can be overcome. In the improved GPM, two kinds of breaks are introduced to divide the trajectory into multiple segments, and the distribution of the Legendre-Gauss(LG) nodes can be altered, so that all the constraints can be satisfied strictly. Thereby the advantages of both the intelligent optimization algorithm and the direct method are combined. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method is insensitive to initial values, and it has more rapid convergence and higher precision than traditional ones.


Objective: Psychiatric disorders like depression and anxiety are known to be more prevalent in patients with chronic hepatitis B than healthy individuals. This increased prevalence may be due to multiple factors such as psychological distress associated with having a chronic disease, necroinflammatory activity in liver, side effects of treatment with antiviral agents or interferons, and/or direct effect of hepatitis viruses on central nervous system. Purpose of this study was to evaluate several risk factors that may be associated with anxiety and depression in patients with chronic hepatitis B. Methods: This study included 195 chronic hepatitis B patients. A psychiatrist made clinical interviews with the patients and filled Sociodemographic Data Form, Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS), and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS). Needle biopsies were performed to 175 patients who met biopsy criteria of American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. Knodell Histological Activity Index was used to evaluate biopsy materials. HBV DNA and ALT levels were measured from patients' sera. Findings: In the study sample, 119 patients were males and 76 were females. Mean HARS score was 7.3±6.2 and mean HDRS score was 8.8±6.6. Both HARS and HDRS scores were higher in females than males. HARS score was higher in patients with a family history of chronic hepatitis and both HARS and HDRS scores were higher in patients with comorbid medical illness. Alanine aminotransferase, HBV DNA levels, and level of fibrosis in liver biopsy didn't affect HARS or HDRS scores. Also, there wasn't a difference in HARS or HDRS scores according to patients' usage of pegylated interferon, or oral antiviral therapy. Conclusion: Multiple factors affect the relation between chronic hepatitis and psychiatric disorders like anxiety and depression. Results of our study suggest that female sex, presence of a family history for chronic hepatitis B, comorbidity of other medical diseases, and ethnic origin affect more than the level of necro-inflammatory activity and cellular damage in the liver or antiviral treatments.


Experimental data on the dielectric response of silica and hematite sols from the literature are interpreted using an analytical theory developed previously (Chassagne, C., Bedeaux, D., and Koper, G. J. M., J. Phys. Chem B105, 11,743 (2001), and Physica A, to be published). The theory is found to correctly predict both the relaxation frequency and the dielectric permittivity enhancement at low frequencies with only one free parameter. This parameter can be the zeta potential or the Stern layer conductance, in the case that the zeta potential is fixed to agree with the electrophoretic mobility measurements.


Endometriosis is a chronic disease and a clinical problem in women of fertile age, with a high impact on quality of life, work productivity and health care management. Two imaging modalities are employed in the diagnosis and evaluation of extent of disease: ultrasound examination with endovaginal approach and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MRI, thanks to its high contrast and resolution characteristics, offers a high level of accuracy in the study of endometriosis and adenomyosis. We illustrate here 10 key MRI points for the detection and diagnosis of endometriosis.


This work reports a fundamental study on the electronic structure, optical properties, and defect chemistry of a series of Co-based spinel oxide (Co 3 O 4 , ZnCo 2 O 4 , and CoAl 2 O 4 ) epitaxial thin films using x-ray photoemission and absorption spectroscopies, optical spectroscopy, transport measurements, and density functional theory. We demonstrate that ZnCo 2 O 4 has a fundamental bandgap of 1.3 eV, much smaller than the generally accepted values, which range from 2.26 to 2.8 eV. The valence band edge mainly consists of occupied Co 3 d t 62g with some hybridization with O 2 p /Zn 3 d , and the conduction band edge of unoccupied e ∗ g state. However, optical transition between the two band edges is dipole forbidden. Strong absorption occurs at photon energies above 2.6 eV, explaining the reasonable transparency of ZnCo 2 O 4 . A detailed defect chemistry study indicates that Zn vacancies formed at high oxygen pressure are the origin of a high p -type conductivity of ZnCo 2 O 4 , and the hole conduction mechanism is described by small-polaron hoping model. The high p -type conductivity, reasonable transparency, and large work function make ZnCo 2 O 4 a desirable p -type transparent semiconductor for various optoelectronic applications. Using the same method, the bandgap of Co 3 O 4 is further proved to be ∼ 0.8 eV arising from the tetrahedrally coordinated Co 2 + cations. Our work advances the fundamental understanding of these materials and provides significant guidance for their use in catalysis, electronic, and solar applications.


In this thesis an electro-thermal battery pack model has been developed for a
48 V Mild Hybrid vehicle application to predict the pack temperature under different
loading cases which have been verified with experiments.
Both the joule and the entropic heat play significant roles in the total heat generation
process. Furthermore, the entropic heat can be both endothermic and exothermic
and these processes have also been verified. The contribution of entropic heat to
the thermal dynamic behavior was verified through simulations using GTSUITE
software and experiment. For the electrical battery pack model it was found that
the 2 RC circuit model captured the electrical dynamic behavior which was in good
agreement with the experiment data, whereas the 0 RC circuit model failed to do
so. The 2 RC circuit model produced an error of 1.5 %, whereas the 0 RC circuit
model gave an error of 3.2 %. Experiments were carried out both at the battery
pack for temperature measurements and at the cell level to determine the internal
battery cell parameters such as R0, R1, R2, C1, C2, specific heat and the entropic
heat. Moreover, the experiments were carried out over a wide range of state of
charge (SOC) levels and temperatures restricted between 5 C and 45 C.


quire no meed of praise at my hands. They were such as to render their old associates both proud and, it may be, a little envious. At Epernay, at Metz, and still later in Switzerland, amongst the famished and perishing troops of the brave but beaten Bourbaki, Dr. Frank, Dr. Webb, Mr. Blewitt, and Mr. Wyman rendered services which, if not so brilliant or so exciting as those rendered at Orleans, are certainly not less praiseworthy or valuable. The war is now over; peace has been signed; and I may say without affectation that, through many difficulties and dangers, the AngloAmerican Ambulance has successfully pursued its humane mission. I believe it has accomplished much genuine good; that it has brought aid and succour in an hcur of great distress, when such aid would otherwise have been wholly wanting; and I for one can look back, as I believe so also can every other member of the ambulance, with unalloyed pleasure, and, it may be, a little pardonable pride, to the career of the Anglo-American Ambulance.


Integration issues of component-based systems tend to be targeted at the later phases of the software development, mostly after components have been assembled to form an executable system. However, errors discovered at these phases are typically hard to localise and expensive to fix. To address this problem, the authors introduce assume-guarantee testing, a technique that establishes key properties of a component-based system before component assembly, when the cost of fixing errors is smaller. Assume-guarantee testing is based on the (automated) decomposition of system-level requirements into local component requirements at design time. The local requirements are in the form of assumptions and guarantees that each component makes on, or provides to the system, respectively. Checking requirements is performed during testing of individual components (i.e. unit testing) and it may uncover system-level violations prior to system testing. Furthermore, assume-guarantee testing may detect such violations with a higher probability than traditional testing. The authors also discuss an alternative technique, namely predictive testing, that uses the local component assumptions and guarantees to test assembled systems: given a non-violating system run, this technique can predict violations by alternative system runs without constructing those runs.


This study progressed an investigation on the cause of the efflorescence phenomenon of bricks in Suwon Hwaseong Fortress, which is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage by using diverse scientific analyses. The samples were taken in Hwaseong and analyzed using XRD and SEM-EDS for the material identification of efflorescence. We observed under a polarizing microscope and measured absorption factors for the basic investigation for traditional bricks. As a result of material identification, soluble salt(Na2SO4, KNO3) and insoluble salt(CaCO3) were detected. There was no big difference between original bricks and repaired bricks under the polarizing microscope. However, in terms of the water absorption rate, bricks which were used for repair nowadays showed low water absorption rate(1%). In conclusion, soluble salt and insoluble salt appeared due to an effect of an air pollution and joint mortar. Soluble salt was removed in the rainy season, but insoluble salt was not removed. As a result of the efficiency and safety tests for chemicals removing efflorescence, chemical E is likely to be the suitable chemicals for the efflorescence phenomenon of traditional bricks in Suwon Hwaseong Fortress. In the future, consideration whether the use of lime is available or not should be studied through comprehensive researches including repair work, construction work and the environment factor with lime. Also, physical, chemical identifications of repairing bricks will be required.


ABSTRACT For long-duration space missions, the life support and In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) systems necessary to lower the mass and volume of consumables carried from Earth will require more sophisticated chemical processing technologies involving gas-liquid two-phase flows. This paper discusses some preliminary two-phase flow work in packed columns and generation of bubbly suspensions, two types of flow systems that can exist in a number of chemical processing devices. The experimental hardware for a co-current flow packed column operated in two ground-based low gravity facilities (two-second drop tower and KC-135 low-gravity aircraft) is described. The preliminary results of this experimental work are discussed. The flow regimes observed and the conditions under which these flow regimes occur are compared with the available co-current packed column experimental work performed in normal gravity. For bubbly suspensions, the experimental hardware for generation of uniformly sized bubbles in Couette flow in microgravity conditions is described. Experimental work was performed on a number of bubbler designs, and the capillary bubble tube was found to produce the most consistent size bubbles. Low air flow rates and low Couette flow produce consistent 2-3 mm bubbles, the size of interest for the "Behavior of Rapidly Sheared Bubbly Suspension" flight experiment. Finally the mass transfer implications of these two-phase flows is qualitatively discussed.


It is well known that the human genome has multiscale structures; multiscale approaches at the cellular, molecular, and sequence levels have been used to detect genomic variations, which are associated with phenotypic differences or diseases including cancers. Reaping the fruit of human genome sequencing, high-resolution imaging probes have been designed in recent years. Combined with image processing techniques, they enable the detection of cryptic and complex genetic aberrations at higher resolutions, holding great promise for personalized medicine. However, fulfilling the promise calls for powerful analytic techniques to handle the vast amount of imaging data generated by these high resolution imaging probes. Signal processing techniques such as wavelets play an important role in addressing computational challenges in this emerging area.


Using the biology faculty of one high school (n = 9) and the mathematics faculty of another (n = 16), this study tested the hypothesis that constructivist teachers play an active role within teacher communication networks (the constructivist-teacher hypothesis). This hypothesis contrasts with the view that constructivist teachers operate alone and largely severed from communications among colleagues. Two types of representations of communication patterns among faculty members (i.e., sociographs) were created and analyzed for each faculty. One type of sociograph plotted communications concerning content/pedagogical issues while the other type plotted social/informal communications. Trained raters assessed constructivist-teaching practices using the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP). Positive relationships were found between constructivist-teaching practices and the frequency and significance of communications within both faculties—more so for content/pedagogical issues than for social/informal communications. Importantly, peers sought out constructivist teachers more often than they did traditional teachers, presumably seeking advice regarding teaching practice. Results support the constructivist-teacher hypothesis and indicate that constructivist teachers are not isolated from their peers. Instead, they appear to play an active role, particularly when colleagues are discussing issues related to content and pedagogy. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 490–505, 2007


With the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), fog computing has emerged to help traditional cloud computing in meeting scalability demands. Fog computing makes it possible to fulfill real-time requirements of applications by bringing more processing, storage, and control power geographically closer to edge devices. However, since fog computing is a relatively new field, there is no standard platform for research and development in a realistic environment, and this dramatically inhibits innovation and development of applications suitable for the fog. In response to these challenges, we propose the FDK: A Fog Development Kit for software-defined edge-fog systems. By providing high-level interfaces for allocating computing and networking resources, the FDK abstracts the complexities of fog computing from developers and enables rapid development of edge-fog systems. Also, the FDK supports the utilization of virtualized devices to create a highly realistic emulation environment, allowing fog application prototypes to be built with zero additional costs and enabling portability to a physical infrastructure. We evaluate the resource allocation performance of the FDK using a testbed, including eight edge devices, four fog nodes, and five OpenFlow switches. Our evaluations show that the delay of resource allocation and deallocation is less than 279ms and 256ms for 95% of edge-fog transactions, respectively. Besides, we demonstrate that resource allocations are appropriately enforced and guaranteed, even amidst extreme network congestion.


A ground-based experiment to detect gamma-ray bursts (g.r.b.) at gigaelectronvolt energies is being made at a depth of 800 g cm-2 in the atmosphere at Ootacamund, India. During the 1.2 years of operation of the experiment, the various satellite-borne experiments have reported observing tens of g.r.b. at megaelectronvolt energies. Of these, the source locations and times of occurrence for five g.r.b. were such that they were potentially observable in our experiment, had they contained y-rays at gigaelectronvolt energies. None was seen. The details of the experiment and the implications of the result are presented.


The patient is a 34-year-old female with systemic lupus erythematosus and secondary antiphospholipid antibody syndrome, who evolved with convulsive crises, partially controlled with an anticonvulsant, and auscultation of a cardiac murmur, whose investigation showed the presence of a mitral valve vegetation. Once the diagnosis of Libman-Sacks endocarditis was established, therapy with warfarin sodium was initiated, and, after 6 months of oral anticoagulation, the patient had total control of the convulsive crises and the valvular vegetation disappeared on echocardiography. This study discusses the occurrence of Libman-Sacks endocarditis in systemic lupus erythematosus, its association with antiphospholipid antibody syndrome, and the anticoagulant therapy. A literature review is also provided.


Ratio-dependent predator-prey models are increasingly favoured by ecologists as an alternative or more suitable ones for predator-prey interaction where predation involves searching process. Ratio-dependent models set up a challenging issue regarding their dynamics near the origin. This is due to the fact that such models are undefined at (0, 0). We study the analytical behavior at (0, 0) for a ratio-dependent predator-prey model by taking the logistic form of growth function for predator as well as prey population. This point is not a global attractor. On the otherhand the interior equilibrium point is locally as well as globally asymptotically stable in some region of parametric space. This result contradicts the result of Jost et. al. (1999) and supports the result of Getz (1984). Stochastic stability of the system around positive interior equilibrium is studied. To substantiate our analytical findings numerical simulations are carried out for hypothetical set of parameter values.


Interface modification is critical for improving the device performance of perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs) based on an all-inorganic halide perovskite, CsPbBr3. Here, we show that inserting a thin hydrophilic polymer interlayer at the perovskite/hole transport layer (HTL) interface leads to the energy level alignment at this interface and the improved film quality of the perovskite layer. As a result, the turn-on voltage of the PeLEDs is reduced and the current efficiency is notably improved. Furthermore, the device stability is greatly enhanced by the polymer interlayer. The underlying mechanisms for the improvements in the device performance by the polymer interlayer are explored using different techniques and by comparison of different polymers. This work sheds light on the function of the polymer interlayer in modifying the device efficiency and stability of the PeLEDs.


Examination of the thermal conductivity of fabrics in terms of the fiber conductance and fabric density shows that fabric insulation is determined by fiber arrangement as well as by fabric thicknes. Fiber arrangement is interpreted in terms of fibers lying parallel and perpendicular to the fabric surface, and it is shown that fabrics differ appreciably in this respect. For the smooth surfaced fabrics of cotton, nylon, and Orlon studied, the in crease in specific conductivity with applied pressure can be attributed mainly to an in crease in fabric density as there is very little change in fiber arrangement in such fabrics. For fuzzy surfaced fabrics of wool or blends containing wool, the change in density with applied pressure is counterbalanced by changes in the fiber arrangement. At low pres sures a substantial portion of the fibers lie perpendicular to the fabric surface but are bent over as the pressure is increased. At high pressures the fibers lie mamly parallel to the surface, but the fabric conduct...


Introduction and Summary. Let XI, X2,..., X. be a sample of a onedimensional random variable X which has the continuous cumulative probability function (cpf) F. It has been observed that the distribution-free statistics commonly appearing in the literature can be written in the form b[F(X1), F(X2), * **,F(Xn)] where b is a measurable symmetric function defined on the unit cube. Such statistics are said to have structure (d)* Birnbaum and Rubin [12] have proved that for the family Q*, of strictly monotone continuous cpf's, statistics of structure (d) possess a property stronger than that of being distribution-free. The purpose of this paper is to study the extension of the Birnbaum-Rubin (B-R) result to other classes of cpf's and to present a different approach to these results. It is found that a one-sided extension of the B-R result is valid for all properly closed, symmetrically complete classes of cpf's. Then, from the existing literature on completeness, one can conclude that the extension is valid for several other classes of statistical interest. The relation between statistics of structure (d) and strongly distribution-free statistics (Section 1) is of importance for two reasons. First of all, if one is designing distribution-free tests, the results here and in [12] guarantee that if one chooses a statistic of structure (d), one has a strongly distribution-free statistic for several large classes of cpf's. On the other hand if one has a strongly distribution-free statistic, the results guarantee that it is of structure (d). Hence, its cpf can be written as the volume of a polyhedral region in the n dimensional unit cube. Under such circumstances the work of Smirnov [20], Feller [13], Anderson and Darling [4], and Birnbaum [9] indicate that it should be possible to evaluate the cpf explicity; reduce it to a system of recursion formulae; tabulate it with the aid of high-speed computers or at least evaluate its limiting distribution. This article is divided into four sections. In Section 1 distribution-free statistics of various types are introduced. Section 2 contains some preliminary results concerning cpf's. The main theorem is proved in Section 3; and Section 4 contains a survey of the known pertinent completeness results as well as a corollary of the main theorem.


We study function spaces that are related to square-integrable, irreducible, unitary representations of several low-dimensional nilpotent Lie groups. These are new examples of coorbit theory and yield new families of function spaces on $\mathbb{R}^d $. The concrete realization of the representation suggests that these function spaces are useful for generalized time-frequency analysis or phase-space analysis.


In the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, ribosomal RNA genes are encoded in a highly repetitive tandem array referred to as the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) locus. The yeast rDNA is the site of a diverse set of DNA-dependent processes, including transcription of ribosomal RNAs by RNA Polymerases I and III, transcription of non-coding RNAs by RNA Polymerase II, DNA replication initiation, replication fork blocking, and recombination-mediated regulation of rDNA repeat copy number. All of this takes place in the context of chromatin, but relatively little is known about the roles played by ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling factors at the yeast rDNA. In this work, we report that the Isw2 and Ino80 chromatin remodeling factors are targeted to this highly repetitive locus. We characterize for the first time their function in modifying local chromatin structure, finding that loss of these factors affects the occupancy of nucleosomes in the 35S ribosomal RNA gene and the positioning of nucleosomes flanking the ribosomal origin of replication. In addition, we report that Isw2 and Ino80 promote efficient firing of the ribosomal origin of replication and facilitate the regulated increase of rDNA repeat copy number. This work significantly expands our understanding of the importance of ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling for rDNA biology. Author Summary To satisfy high cellular demand for ribosomes, genomes contain many copies of the genes encoding the RNA components of ribosomes. In the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, these ribosomal RNA genes are located in the "ribosomal DNA locus", a highly repetitive array that contains approximately 150 copies of the same unit, in contrast to the single copies that suffice for most genes. This repetitive quality creates unique regulatory needs. Chromatin structure, the packaging and organization of DNA, is a critical determinant of DNA-dependent processes throughout the genome. ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling factors are important regulators of chromatin structure, and yet relatively little is known about how members of this class of protein affect DNA organization or behavior at the rDNA. In this work, we show that the Isw2 and Ino80 chromatin remodeling factors regulate two features of chromatin structure at the rDNA, the occupancy and the positioning of nucleosomes. In addition, we find that these factors regulate two critical processes that function uniquely at this locus: DNA replication originating from within the rDNA array, and the regulated increase of rDNA repeat copy number.


The annual demand on rare earth materials still increases for many applications. The present study focusses on recycling technologies of rare earth compound out and for luminescence materials at different light spectra. The purity specification allows only impurities in ppm-range. A case study based on experimental and literature data is described. Different processing concepts are generated and optimized by process modeling. Finally, a cost calculation and sensitivity analysis point out the potential for a combined processing concept of chromatographic and reactive liquid-liquid extraction processes. Main cost drivers are indicated. Technological realization limits are included in this study.


Abstract Comprehensive information on the spectral reflectivity of several desert habitats and of dominant desert vegetation are presented. No previous high resolution spectral reflectance measurements were made in this semi-arid Sahara-Arabian phytogeographic zone. Due to the relative homogeneity of the region, in terms of terrain type and comprehensive sampling, the local scale surface albedo was estimated to be about 30–33 per cent. It was also possible to revisit the currently accepted hypothesis on the observed contrasts in surface reflectivity between protected and overgrazed areas. It seems that anthropogenic activities, which prevent the accumulation of crust or destroy an existing crust, rather than the overgrazing mechanism itself, are the main reasons for the sharp contrast between the protected and overgrazed surfaces.


E-Learning is a new learning approach that involves the use of electronic technologies to access education outside of a conventional classroom (Alonso Rincon,). The objective of E-Learning systems is to increase the students' learning skills by providing a customized experience to each system user (Rodrigues, 2013). However, to accomplish this, it is necessary to monitor the continuous changes in the environment, mainly the students' knowledge and skill acquisition. A multi-agent system architecture and a clustering algorithm are proposed for this purpose (as presented in (Rodrigues, 2014) This paper is an extension to the work of (Al-Tarabily, 2018) because it not only monitors changes in the student environment but also in the project environment, increasing the system's adaptability and accuracy.


Abstract Background Streptococcus agalactiae, also known as Group B Streptococcus (GBS), colonizes 10–40% of women during late pregnancy and is an important cause of chorioamnionitis, or infection of the fetal membranes, and neonatal sepsis. The CDC recommends third trimester rectovaginal GBS screening, and intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis for those testing positive. A rapid GBS diagnostic test could provide opportunities to identify GBS colonized women at the time of labor and focus the use of antibiotic therapy. Raman spectroscopy (RS) is an inelastic light scattering technique that provides biochemical spectra and has been used in vitro to characterize bacteria at the genus and species level. This study evaluated RS to identify and differentiate GBS, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus ex vivo infection of human fetal membrane tissues. Methods Bacterial colonies of GBS, S. aureus, and E. coli were cultured on Mueller–Hinton agar. In addition, de-identified human fetal membrane tissues (VUMC IRB Approval #131607) were isolated and infected with 106 bacterial cells per 12 mm tissue punch for 48–72 hours. Samples from both were characterized using a Raman microscope. Hierarchical cluster analysis was implemented to evaluate principal component scores of Raman spectra from bacterial colonies. For tissue spectra, a machine learning algorithm, sparse multinomial logistic regression (SMLR), was used to determine the ability to discriminate across tissues types and identify biochemical features important for classification. Following RS analysis, scanning electron microscopy was performed to verify the presence of bacterial cells at the site of Raman measurements. Results Unique spectral features were identified from colonies grown on agar and infected fetal membrane tissues. Analysis using SMLR accurately identified GBS-infected tissues with 92.2% sensitivity and specificity. Scanning electron microscopy evaluation confirmed the presence of bacterial cells that were structured in biofilms at the site of Raman measurements. Conclusion Together, these findings support further investigation into the use of RS as an emerging microbiologic diagnostic tool and intrapartum screening test for GBS carriage. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.


This research study was carried out to investigate the effect of Jatropha curcas plant on the growth and yield of Arable crops (maize and vegetable) at Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN) Arboretum, Jericho, Ibadan. This research study involves six (6) experimental plots of Jatropha curcas interplanted with vegetable and maize in both Mono and Agro-forestry plot respectively. Relative comparison in Jatropha curcas plant agronomic parameter such as plant height, stem girth and number of leaves, planted in Mono and Agro-forestry plots were determined and analysed using factorial experimental design in Randomised Completely Block Design  (RCBD). The result of analysis of variance conducted shows significant difference in the major treatments and weeks on the parameter assessed while non existence of significant difference was recorded in the combination factor of treatment and weeks.   The mean results of the parameters for plant height, stem girth, number of leaves were assessed 4.560g, 4.515g, 3.725g for maize and 127g, 96g, 72g for vegetable plant. Based on the agronomic result obtained in this study can therefore be concluded that Jatropha curcas plant could be successfully incorporated in both mono and agro-forestry practices to yield positive effect. Keywords: Jatropha curcas , vegetable, maize, height, stem girth, agronomic


The flow-sound interaction mechanism of a single finned cylinder in cross-flow is experimentally investigated and compared to that resulting from an equivalent bare cylinder. The flow field changes that result from the fins are captured by flow measurements and numerical simulations in order to be correlated to the observed acoustic resonance excitation. It is observed that the finned cylinders experience an earlier acoustic resonance and higher levels of acoustic pressure compared to their equivalent bare cylinders. This suggests that adding fins to the cylinder changes the flow field in a manner that makes it more susceptible to acoustic excitation. Flow measurements show that the vortex shedding process becomes stronger in the case of finned cylinders and the spanwise flow coherence is enhanced. The stronger vortex shedding process and coherent flow field promote the occurrence of the acoustic resonance and increase the observed noise levels. The acoustic resonance excitation is found to be significantly dependent on the fin spacing and thickness, which is explained by the impact of these fin parameters on the wake structures. Numerical simulations of the flow field downstream of the finned cylinders show that the fins lead to an organized flow structure, which is attained by concentrating the flow energy in the large-scale vortices and reducing the small-scale hair-pin vortices. This leads to the reduction of the vortex formation region in the near-wake of the cylinder, which subsequently increases the dynamic loading on the cylinder. The effect of the cylinder's aspect ratio on the acoustic resonance excitation is also investigated using the same analysis. It is shown that the finned cylinder provides a coherent flow field that is not affected by the aspect ratio, and hence, its acoustic resonance excitation levels increase with the increase of the cylinder's length. On the other hand, the bare cylinder exhibits a significant stretching in the vortex formation region with the increase in the aspect ratio. Therefore, the acoustic resonance excitation levels for the bare cylinder decrease with the increase of aspect ratio.


A novel, unique, and effective method for carbon nanotube (CNT) dispersion by the free arc stimulation is proposed. CNTs are introduced as an aerogel into the air space via the dispersion method and can be utilized as a solution by adding it to solvents. The volume of the original generated CNT aerogel with a high-volume expansion ratio displays a performance two orders of magnitudes better than that of raw CNTs, which is considered a powerful characterization of the dispersion effect. The CNT aerogel, which was observed by scanning electron microscopy also showed a satisfactory dispersion morphology. Its structure and properties were tested before and after dispersion by Raman spectroscopy and great consistency was observed, which proved that the CNTs were undamaged. This approach may greatly promote the large-scale application of CNTs.


This article examines critically the role of architecture in the construction of national identity, using the case of the Israeli Supreme Court building. Through critical discourse analysis of texts that accompanied the design and construction of this building, I propose to study the interrelations between the production of the architectural object and the practice of the construction of an Israeli national identity. The existing body of knowledge that supports this article claims that the creation of national identity is a socially constructed process, which involves a variety of practices including education, music, army service, as well as the design of the built environment. It is important to note that the realisation of such practices does not occur as a natural process, but rather as a result of power relations, embodied within the national sphere. Following this line of argument, the paper proposes a critical approach, which aims to move towards the politicisation of the term 'sense of place'. In this context, concentrating on the Israeli Supreme Court building is not an arbitrary decision, since this institution is at the focus of the Israeli civil arena, and its building became a 'land-mark' and symbol of architectural quality. Following the texts written by the architects and critics, I would argue that this building reflects – and thus strengthens – the hegemonic interpretations of Israeli social and cultural reality. This interpretation is characterised by using selective historical and biblical references, in order to create through architecture an 'iconographic bridge' into an imagined collective past. However, this bridge reproduces the antinomies that frame Israeli space and transform it into 'our place', that is West versus East and Local versus Diaspora.


We numerically study the work distributions in a chaotic system and examine the relationship between quantum work and classical work. Our numerical results suggest that there exists a correspondence principle between quantum and classical work distributions in a chaotic system. This correspondence was proved for one-dimensional integrable systems in a recent work [Jarzynski, Quan, and Rahav, Phys. Rev. X 5, 031038 (2015)1063-651X10.1103/PhysRevX.5.031038]. Our investigation further justifies the definition of quantum work via two-point energy measurements.


Irritation and staining by dithranol and some related compounds was studied with the chamber-testing technique in a series of 62 psoriasis patients. Suitable to routine testing of the individual tolerance to dithranol is the use of 0.05 and 0.5 per cent concentrations in petrolatum, exposure of the mid-back skin for 24 hours, and reading of the reactions (erythema, brown staining, edema) on the second day after the application. Contact themography was used when the brown stain hampered the extimation of erythema. Low concentrations of 10 acetyldithranol elicited weaker reactions than dithranol but at the 0.5 per cent level the acetylderivative tended to give stronger reactions than the parent compound. Ten per cent dithranol triacetate caused only occasionally slight erythematous reactions, whereas 10,10'-bis-(formylethyl) dithranol and dithranol anthraquinone elicited no reactions at all. The mechanisms of the staining and inflammatory reactions and possibilities of their reduction are discussed. The use of the chamber-testing technique is recommended to screening of new less irritating and staining hydroxyanthrones for clinical trial.


In January 1993 the CIBA Foundation sponsored a symposium in London to discuss the origins and development of high ability. An international renowned group of researchers was invited to present papers summarizing their research related to this topic. They were joined by selected other invitees who participated in the discussion. The participants were R. C. Atkinson (USA), C. P. Benbow (USA), T. ~I. Bouchard (USA), N. Colangelo (USA), M. Csikszentmihalyi (USA), D. K. Detterman (USA), Y. Dudai (Israel), K. A. Ericsson (USA), H. J. Eysenck (UK). 1'.-(~. Fang (China), W. Fowler (USA), J. Freeman (UK), 1 [ Gardner (USA), H. E. Gruber (USA), G. Hatano (Japan), J. Hautamaki (Finland), K. A. Heller (Germany), M. J. A. H<>we (UK). D. Lubinski (USA), F. J. Monks (The Netherlands), R. Plomin (IJSA). R. Sitruk-Ware (Switzerland), J. A. Sloboda (UK). J. C. Stanley (USA), and R. J. Sternberg (USA). A book of the proceedings of that symposium has now been published. In addition to a brief introduction and concluding remarks by the symposium chairman Richard Atkinson, the book includes 13 papers. each followed by a discussion. Representing diverse backgrounds and research interests, the speakers addressed questions related to defining high ability and describing how it is developed. Opening the symposium were two papers that attempted to define giftedness in a general sense. Sternberg presented a pentagonal implicit theory of giftedness. that is, five points people consider when evaluating giftedness. Detternan then addressed the question of the t-elationship between giftedness and intelligence. Several other papers summarized research that investigated high ability in specific fields of endeavor. Sloboda studied musical talent. Stantey. Benbow, and I.ubinski described students who are mathematically talented. Heller investigated aspects of scientific talent, and Colangelo, Assouline, Kerr, Huesman. and Johnson exarnined mechani-


TO THE EDITOR: Nifedipine is a calcium-channel blocking agent widely used in the treatment of angina pectoris. Adverse effects most often experienced include palpitations, flushing, headache, ankle edema, dizziness, hypotension, and nausea.' A few reports suggest that nifedipine may cause a drug eruption; erythromelalgia," and erythematous rash." Vasculitis with palpable purpuric skin lesions as an adverse reaction to nifedipine have been described in only three patients." We encountered a patient who developed nonthrombocytopenic purpura during nifedipine therapy. A 63-year-old woman with a history of ventricular premature heartbeats treated with quinidine for the last year without any adverse effects was admitted because of acute onset of chest pain. She also suffered from bronchial asthma that was being treated with cromolyn sodium. Treatment with nifedipine 10mg tid was started, and one day later she developed diffuse purpura and hematomas over her legs. The lesions were palpable and ranged in size from I to 4 em. Her platelet count was normal. Biopsy from one of the lesions revealed normal maturation of the epidermis with basket-weave keratosis. In the upper dermis there was scant perivascular lymphohlstiocytic inflammatory cell infiltrate and a few extravasated red blood cells were present, findings characteristic of capillaritis. The purpuric rash did not resolve for four weeks. Nifedipine was therefore stopped and a few days later the rash disappeared. Nonthrombocytopenic purpura due to leukocytoclastlc vasculitis or vasculitis of the small blood vessels is a well-known adverse effect of a variety ofdrugs, including those used for the treatment of various cardiovascular diseases. The four reports of vasculitis induced by nifedipine indicate that this drug should be added to the list of drugs that can cause nonthrombocytopenic purpura. RAN OREN. M.D. ARTHURPOLAK,M.D. Department ofInternal Medicine A MICHAELGOLDENHERSH, M.D. Department ofPathology AYELET HEYMAN,B.S. Pharrn. Department ofPharmacy YAACOV NAPARSTEK, M.D. Department ofMedicine A Hadassah University HospitalBinKarem Jerusalem 91/20,lsrael


Background: Several case series of patients with Tolosa-Hunt syndrome have been described in the literature; however, few studies have focused on the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) characteristics. This study aimed to analyse the CSF characteristics of patients with Tolosa-Hunt syndrome. Methods: Fifty-five patients who fulfilled the 3rd Edition of the International Classification of Headache Disorders diagnostic criteria for Tolosa-Hunt syndrome were included in this study. We retrospectively analysed data on CSF parameters, imaging findings, and clinical characteristics of these patients. Results: Oligoclonal bands (OBs) were detected in the CSF of 13 (13/44, 29.5%) patients. The sex ratio was balanced. The mean age at onset of Tolosa-Hunt syndrome was 46.9 ± 10.23 (range 22–72) years. Eight (8/13, 61.5%) patients had multiple cranial nerve palsies. Lesions limited to the cavernous sinus were found on magnetic resonance imaging in 7 (7/13, 53.8%) patients. OBs were significantly detected more frequently in patients whose samples were evaluated less than 30 days after the onset of this diseases (p = 0.026); however, there were no significant differences in the protein level (p = 0.360) and IgG synthesis rate (p = 0.614). Conclusions: The detection of OBs in the CSF of patients with Tolosa-Hunt syndrome was not rare. It would be interesting to follow-up patients with OBs to determine whether they eventually developed an otherwise more specific inflammatory diagnosis.


SUMMARY "Hormone manipulation" is being used increasingly in evo‐devo studies as the sole or primary technique to investigate the regulation of insect polymorphism by hormones, most notably juvenile hormone (JH). This manuscript critically evaluates the limitations and strengths of this indirect method for inferring aspects of endocrine regulation, and conclusions derived from recent endocrine studies of evolution and development in which data have been obtained primarily or exclusively by this method. The main conclusions of this critique are as follows: first, when used alone, or as the primary empirical technique, hormone manipulation is a superficial method that is fraught with problems with respect to identifying a hormone that regulates developmental–morphological variation, let alone identifying its mode of action. Second, conclusions reported in studies using this technique as the exclusive, or nearly exclusive experimental approach, most notably recent studies of JH regulation of horn polymorphism in dung beetles, and some studies of wing polymorphism should be considered, at best, weakly supported until substantiated by well‐validated, direct methods. Finally, there are many reliable and well‐validated techniques that can be used to directly and accurately quantify JH levels, and activities of JH regulators, in many insects, even in small, nonmodel species. Some of the most important of these assays will be briefly described and their strengths and weaknesses will be discussed.


The SyncML, the standard synchronization protocol, supports the synchronization of various application services between a client and a server such as an address book, a calendar. Even with this standard protocol, SyncML application developers usually spend a long time and efforts implementing service specific logics and databases. This paper designed and implemented the SDE(Service Development Environment) which is an integrated development environment for SyncML server developers to develop an application service rapidly and correctly. The SDE consists of two components i.e., the Sync Library and the SEG(Sync Engine Generator) tool. To prove the applicability of this study we implemented a SyncML server by using the SDE and also carried out the correctness tests and the performance test. We hope this system helps developers implement mobile application services more efficiently.


The authors investigated the effect of different levels of calcium and phosphorus in the mixed fodder on mineral composition of Japanese quail skeleton. Experimental studies were carried out in the conditions of the Problematic Research Laboratory of Mixed Fodder Additives, National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine (Kiev, Ukraine). We selected Japanese quail as the material for scientific and economic experience. The experiment was conducted by groups-analogues method. Fodder was in the dry loose form. The difference in feeding was due to different levels of calcium and phosphorus in the feed for experimental groups. In the beginning of the experiment the experimental quail were similar regards live weight while in the end we did not detect significant difference in their mass. Nevertheless, we observed little decrease in live weight with increasing of phosphorus up to 1.4 % and calcium up to 3.5 %. We fixed that water content in the quail skeletons from Group 4, 5 and 6th study groups (calcium 4.0 %, phosphorus 0.8, 1,1 and 1,4 % respectively) were smaller in comparison with quails from Control, Group 2 and 3 (calcium content 3.5 % with the same level of phosphorus). We also determined increasing of dry matter content in the skeleton by 2.5 – 2.8 % while increasing the content of calcium and phosphorus in mixed fodder of quails-hens (Group 4, 5 and 6). The phosphorus content in quail skeleton depended on the level of phosphorus in the mixed fodder and can be up to 0.39-0.66 % in the bones. The simultaneous increase in the level of phosphorus and calcium in mixed fodder of experimental groups was accompanied by increase in the concentration of calcium and magnesium in the quail skeleton by 0.85–0.87 and 0.01–0.07 per cent respectively.


Timing plans for coordinated signals are developed online using real-time traffic data collected by detectors or offline using traffic data previously collected but still representative of the period in which the timing plan is to be implemented. The timing plans developed using offline techniques are generally known as time-of-day (TOD) timing plans as they are generally implemented during a specific time of the day. One downside of the TOD timing technique is the handling of coordination parameters--defined by cycle length, phase split, and offset--when one plan is transitioning to the next plan. This paper presents a methodology to optimize traffic flow during the transition period. The methodology, based on dynamic quadratic optimization, achieves synchronization of coordination parameters through an optimum number of cycles and an optimum number of increments (or decrements) of the coordination parameters. The proposed transition period optimization method has the advantage that the user does not need to specify minimum and maximum cycle lengths in the optimization process, as is the case with current methods. Preliminary simulation results that compared the proposed methodology to transition methods embedded in CORSIM showed that it has the potential of reducing queue delay, particularly on minor street approaches. The delays on major street approaches were comparable and similar in both scenarios in which traffic volumes were increasing or decreasing between the succeeding plans. Additional simulation runs involving various scenarios of geometric, traffic, and signalization conditions as well as field evaluation are needed before the efficacy of this method over current methods used in practice can be ascertained.


PURPOSE
When performing segmentectomy, we aim to keep adequate distance from the tumor using three-dimensional( 3D) images of the pulmonary artery perfusion area and the indocyanine green( ICG) injection method. The effectiveness and improvement of this method were examined.

PATIENTS AND METHOD
We retrospectively investigated 50 consecutive patients who underwent segmentectomy with this method. In simulation, we measured the predicted margin distance( PMD) on a 3D image. Then, we measured the actual margin distance (AMD) on resected specimens fixed in formalin. We compared these two distances and evaluated factors influencing shorter AMD.

RESULTS
The median AMD was 1.7 cm, and there was no positive margin case. The median ratio of AMD/PMD was 0.73. In multivariate analysis, shorter PMD and no resection of subsegment bronchi next to the tumor were significant factors associated with shorter AMD( p<0.001, p=0.014).

CONCLUSIONS
Our method was effective for segmentectomy. For adequate AMD, a longer PMD in simulation and subsegmental bronchi resection next to the tumor should be considered.


This article describes an innovative project that combined service learning and community-based partnerships to teach macro practice skills to social work students and citizenship skills to primary school students. The partners, a small social work program, several primary schools, and an international ly recognized civic engagement program, coordinated the project from 2003 to 2007. A formative evaluation of the project indicated that both primary school and social work students benefited from the experience. In particular, the project helped social work students develop a wide range of macro practice skills which, according to research, many graduates fail to acquire. In fact, students used knowledge and skills from all ten competency areas listed in the Council on Social Work Education's (2008) Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards. The authors conclude that social work programs need to provide students with macro-focused, community-based, supplemental experiences, similar to this project, if programs hope to meet CSWE accreditation standards.


Abstract : This project focused on the development of multiscale models for molecular crystals, with special emphasis on the secondary explosive cyclotrimethylene trinitramine (RDX). Physical understanding related to the molecular scale mechanics of this material was also developed. This data is used as starting point for the definition of physically-based coarse grained models. In turn, these models are to assist the design of new energetic materials with enhanced energy release rates and reduced sensitivity to unintentional detonation. The following results have been obtained: a) we investigated conformational stability of the RDX molecule in the crystal as a function of temperature and determined the density of conformers in steady state at temperatures between room and melting, b) we identified the stable dislocations in RDX and, for the first time, established a ranking of slip systems in terms of the Peierls stress (critical stress for dislocation motion), c) we discovered a family of point defects which are rotated and distorted molecules embedded in an otherwise perfect crystal; the stability of such point defects was demonstrated with DFT simulations and a method was proposed to detect them experimentally using Raman spectroscopy, d) we are currently investigating the effect of temperature on the ranking of slip systems, which is a result needed in crystal plasticity models of hot spot formation, e) we developed a family of coarse grained models for the RDX crystal in which the molecules are gradually coarse grained to higher and higher degrees, ranging from full atomistic detail to rigid blobs, and we determined the level of error introduced by coarse graining in various macroscopic measures of crystal thermo-mechanics.


The Dutch 'gouden driehoek' (golden triangle) refers to successful partnership in agricultural development between government, sector and knowledge institutes. This has been key in securing food & nutrition in the Netherlands. Could this model be applied to African conditions and be the basis for similar success in relation to food & nutrition security? This report is part of the documentation of an exploration in relation to this question. It explores the global context of agriculture and food systems as well as current and anticipated challenges that these systems will be facing in the future


We performed single‐fiber electromyography (SFEMG) and correlated the results with muscle‐biopsy histochemistry in 56 patients with various neuromuscular diseases. Increased muscle‐fiber density, delineated by SFEMG, was most prominent in diseases of ordinary denervation, namely motor neuron disorders and peripheral neuropathies, and it correlated with histochemical fiber type grouping. Both phenomena reflect denervation followed by reinnervation. In patients with central core disease and rod disease, fiber density was not increased despite massive type I fiber predominance. The normal distribution of type I fiber subtypes in those patients indicated that their fiber predominance was not due to sprouting and reinnervation, but probably to paucity of the type II fibers. In type I fiber hypotrophy with central nuclei, fiber density was increased, perhaps attributable to the small diameter and consequent denser packing of the type I fibers. Fiber density was slightly increased in the majority of patients with acidmaltase deficiency, limb‐girdle dystrophy, and polymyositis, in nearly half with mitochondrial myopathy, and in 1 older Duchenne dystrophy patient. In these myopathic disorders, myogenous deinnervation (followed by reinnervation) is one possible explanation. Normal fiber density was present in all patients with muscle phosphorylase deficiency, myotonia congenita, and in the hypokalemic periodic paralysis patients under age 40. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.


Byssogenesis rate and attachment strength of the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis were investigated in the laboratory considering different body sizes and feeding conditions. Byssal thread secretion was significantly higher in juveniles as compared to larger mussels of approximately 87 mm shell length. Asymptotic number of threads attached was obtained from approximately 72 hours onwards within a range of 42 –46 and 27–31 for juveniles and larger experimental mussels, respectively (P , 0.05 ANOVA). Absorption efficiency values of control fed individuals dropped significantly from 0.78 in juveniles to 0.70 in larger mussels (P , 0.001 ANOVA) which pointed out energetic constraints of mussels with regard to their size and its probable effect on byssus secretion rates. Attachment force was 2.8 times higher in larger mussels than in juveniles (2.21 versus 0.78 N for both sizes, respectively; P , 0.001 ANOVA) which in turn followed the same order of magnitude than differences in the thread's thickness values of both experimental mussel sizes. Tenacity followed a reverse pattern with juveniles presenting two-fold higher values than larger mussels (P , 0.001 ANOVA) based on a lower increment of attachment force (x2.8) as compared to shell area (x6) for the comparison larger versus juvenile mussel size, which in turn might suggest that larger specimens secreted weaker threads. When animals were maintained unfed for a week, a significant drop in both byssus secretion and attachment force were observed in juveniles but was not the case for larger mussels most likely as a consequence of a relatively short period of maintenance under food availability stress for the latter individuals that showed significantly higher initial condition and/or energetic store values. Accordingly, the use of energetic reserves in juveniles kept unfed for a week together with a significant drop in byssus secretion and attachment force might suggest a link, i.e. transfer of energy between soft tissues and byssus under stress. Quantitative values of byssal threads, based on the significance of the byssus versus attachment force relationship, together with its morphometric value, i.e. thread's thickness, represented a primary mechanism to explain variability in attachment strength of M. galloprovincialis of the different body sizes studied here.


Mesothelioma is a tumor of the serous surfaces in the thorax and abdomen. This tumor has proved to be exceptionally resistant to treatment, although a variety of multi-modality therapies have been tried. We have used four human mesothelioma cell lines, originating from diffuse asbestos-related malignant (pleural) mesothelioma, to assess in vitro sensitivity to five chemotherapeutic drugs, to recombinant human interferon (IFN)-alpha and -gamma and to combined immuno-chemotherapy. The cytotoxic effects were assayed by vital dye exclusion. The drugs tested were etoposide, cisplatin, mitoxantrone, 4-epirubicin and vindesine. The combinations tested were etoposide+cisplatin, and etoposide+cisplatin+mitoxantrone. All the drugs and combinations were also tested with recombinant human (rHu) IFN-alpha 2C (rHuIFN-alpha), rHuIFN-gamma, and rHuIFN-alpha+rHuIFN-gamma. The cell lines were most sensitive to mitoxantrone, 4-epirubicin and vindesine (TC50 < or = 0.001 micrograms/ml), and least sensitive to etoposide and cisplatin (TC50 > or = 0.1 micrograms/ml) used singly. There was no improvement in sensitivity when the drugs were combined. To further investigate the lack of response to cisplatin treatment, we examined the binding of cisplatin to the mesothelioma cell DNA. The tumor cell DNA bound markedly less cisplatin than human fetal fibroblast DNA. Three cell lines were tested with rHuIFN-alpha and rHuIFN-gamma on their own or rHuIFN-alpha+rHuIFN-gamma. They were consistently sensitive to rHuIFN-alpha, but the sensitivity to rHuIFN-gamma varied with the cell lines. Finally, we tested two cell lines with the drugs singly and in combination, together with 0.01 micrograms/ml each of rHuIFN-alpha and rHuIFN-gamma.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Drama as an important mean of the media can impact the lives of people and consequently influence the whole society. This study conducted to understand the perception of students and the effects of Hum TV dramas on university students of Lahore. For this, mixed method research design was applied. Focus groups and selfconstructed questionnaire were used for data collection from conveniently selected male and female students of public and private universities. Qualitative results revealed that subject selection and features of dramas determined the students' attitude towards watching trends. Similarly, the perceived impact of dramas on culture, lifestyles, fashion sense and even on spouse selection criteria were reported by both male and female students. Quantitative results did not show any significant gender difference in the subject preference of dramas, features and impacts of dramas. Moreover, subject selection and features of dramas for watching differed with students' year of study.


We propose a new method of generating triggered entangled photon pairs with wavelength on demand. The method uses a microstructured semiconductor-piezoelectric device capable of dynamically reshaping the electronic properties of self-assembled quantum dots (QDs) via anisotropic strain engineering. Theoretical models based on k·p theory in combination with finite-element calculations show that the energy of the polarization-entangled photons emitted by QDs can be tuned in a range larger than 100 meV without affecting the degree of entanglement of the quantum source. These results pave the way towards the deterministic implementation of QD entanglement resources in all-electrically-controlled solid-state-based quantum relays.


Abstract Slip at the wall is often encountered during the flow of polymeric materials and during the mixing of multiphase systems, such as concentrated suspensions. This article is concerned with the development of a numerical method to simulate flows that show such slip. The flow of a generalized Newtonian fluid with Bingham-like viscosity curve is considered and a linear relation between the slip velocity and the shear stress at the wall is used. A novel method based on a penalty parameter is developed to implement the slip boundary conditions into the finite element method. The flow in the conveying elements of the extruder is used as an example of the application of this method. It is shown that the wall slip decreases the pressurization capability of the extruder and increases the leakage flow occurring over the flight tips, as well as its mixing efficiency by reducing the rate of recirculation and the stress levels. The technique developed in this article can be applied to many flows that show slip phenomena and may be used to gain better understanding of the dynamics of mixing of commercially important materials.


In this paper, an efficient super-resolution (SR) method based on deep convolutional neural network (CNN) is proposed, namely Gradual Upsampling Network (GUN). Recent CNN based SR methods often preliminarily magnify the low resolution (LR) input to high resolution (HR) and then reconstruct the HR input, or directly reconstruct the LR input and then recover the HR result at the last layer. The proposed GUN utilizes a gradual process instead of these two commonly used frameworks. The GUN consists of an input layer, multiple upsampling and convolutional layers, and an output layer. By means of the gradual process, the proposed network can simplify the direct SR problem to multistep easier upsampling tasks with very small magnification factor in each step. Furthermore, a gradual training strategy is presented for the GUN. In the proposed training process, an initial network can be easily trained with edge-like samples, and then the weights are gradually tuned with more complex samples. The GUN can recover fine and vivid results, and is easy to be trained. The experimental results on several image sets demonstrate the effectiveness of the


Flow shop scheduling problem (FSP) is a classical NP-hard problem., which has the wide application in many fields of manufacturing. This paper put forward a novel simulated annealing for solving FSP. The main characteristic of the algorithm is that the new solution in each iteration is generated by two random numbers, which improves the global convergence. By the algorithm solving the FSP, Numerical results show that this algorithm is more efficient and is able to converge to the global optimal solutions.


This paper describes a fundamental study conducted for establishing a technique of low-temperature autoclave curing, with the focus placed on the water cement ratio and silica fume content. The experimental results showed that silica fume-added specimens cured at 150 (cid:710) had similar compressive strength to those cured at 180 (cid:710) . The low-temperature autoclave curing was made possible by the addition of silica fume which increased the gel porosity and reduced the total porosity through accelerated pozzolanic reaction. In addition, the gel porosity did not show signifi-cant change against the autoclave curing temperature in the presence of silica fume. This was considered to be the key factor in the mechanism of low-temperature autoclave curing. It was also demonstrated in this study that the presence of tobermolite was not an essential requirement for the high strength development in which C-S-H played a predominant role.


One method of creating a brass coating is through electrodeposition, which is most often completed in cyanide galvanic baths. Due to their toxicity, many investigations focused on the development of more environmentally friendly alternatives. The purpose of the study was to explore a new generation of non-aqueous cyanide-free baths based on 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ionic liquids. The study involved the formation of copper, zinc, and brass coatings. The influence of the bath composition, cathodic current density, and temperature was determined. The obtained coatings were characterized in terms of their morphology, chemical composition, phase composition, roughness, and corrosion resistance. It was found that the structure of the obtained coatings is strongly dependent on the process parameters. The three main structure types observed were as follows: fine-grained, porous, and olive-like. To the best knowledge of the authors, it is the first time the olive-like structure was observed in the case of an electrodeposited coating. The Cu-Zn coatings consisted of 19–96 at. % copper and exhibited relatively good corrosion resistance. A significant improvement of corrosion properties was found in the case of copper and brass coatings with the olive-like structure.


Abstract The climatic and geographic features of central Vietnam frequently contribute to annual floods, and several disastrous floods have been recorded in the last few decades. The most recent and disastrous flood, in 1999, is still memorable within the affected area, due to the magnitude of catastrophe inflicted by floodwaters. However, the flooding effects in rural areas are not often reported in detail. This study aims to clarify flood-adaptation measures and the vulnerability of housing conditions in the flood-prone area, based on a field survey of a lagoon village. The surveyed houses can be classified into four different types that have similar spatial layouts. Most of the surveyed houses show characteristics of adapting well to annual floods; for example, floor levels are conventionally raised to adjust to the height of annual floodwaters in each location. Nonetheless, housing conditions are still vulnerable to future disastrous floods, as efficient flood-prevention features—such as the provision of two-story durable housing—often prove too expensive for most villagers. Thus, villagers need to develop other measures to prepare themselves better for disastrous flooding.


This paper analyses the state of trawl fisheries in the Southern Adriatic Sea (FAO Geographical Sub Area 18) from a biological, economic and social point of view. The analysis was performed using a set of forty-six indicators, twenty-one of which belong to the category of biological (population and community) indicators to be obtained from fishery-independent data and the remaining twenty-five are of socio-economic nature and of fishery-dependent origin. Biological indicators and relative estimators were classified for the single species (population level: Eledone cirrhosa, Eledone moschata, Illex coindetti, Merluccius merluccius, Mullus barbatus, Nephrops norvegicus, Parapenaeus longirostris, Raja clavata, and Zeus faber) as well as for the multispecies approach (community level). Economic indicators include six indicators on economic performance, eight on productivity, four on costs and prices, and one general indicator summarising economic sustainability. From the social point of view, five indicators plus one general indicator summarising social sustainability are defined. Particular attention was devoted to the selection and analysis of sustainability indicators. The standard distinction among biological, economic, and social sustainability has been held in this paper. Trends of these indicators were analysed using the so-called Traffic light system. Reference values were set according to their percentile value in the following series: > 66th percentile, 66th-33rd, and < 33rd percentile. Based on each specific indicator, the three standard colours, green, yellow, and red, were assigned to the three areas defined by the reference values at 33rd and 66th percentiles. The analysis was performed by using data available from the MEDITS surveys project and from IREPA monitoring system in the basin concerned. The period under consideration goes from 1996 to 2003. The inclusive discussion of the results from both fishery-independent and fishery-dependent data analysis underlines some common features. In fact, an apparent and progressive deterioration seems to affect the trawl fishery system in the GSA 18 during the investigated period, according mainly to the variation in catch composition (increasing of rstrategist species and decreasing of k-strategist ones) and to the trajectories of some socio-economic indicators.


The vehicle sideslip angle is one of the most important variables for evaluating vehicle dynamics. The potential value of such a variable for obtaining significant improvements over current stability control systems is widely recognized. However, its direct measurement requires the use of complex and expensive devices which cannot be used in production cars. Large research efforts has been devoted to the problem of estimating the sideslip angle from other variables currently measured by standard Electronic Stability Control (ESC) sensors. However, at the best of author's knowledge, until now no application to production cars is known. In this paper, a new sideslip angle estimation technology is presented. Based on the innovative DVS methodology recently developed by the authors, a software algorithm, indicated as DVS/SA (Direct Virtual Sensor of Sideslip Angle), is designed, which estimates the sideslip angle from measurements of the yaw rate, lateral and longitudinal acceleration, wheel speed, steering angle, available from ESC sensors of most present production cars. The key innovative idea of the technology is that the DVS/SA is directly designed from the experimental data collected from a testing car, subject to suitable manoeuvres in different road and load conditions. One of the distinctive features obtained by this new approach is that good estimation accuracy is achieved even for quite large operating condition variations, e.g. dry or wet road, different tire status, etc. The effectiveness of the DVS/SA technology is evidenced not only by the experimental results presented in the paper but also from the fact that it is has been recently made available on a top class car.


Dr. L. E. EDWARDS, University College Hospital, London, writes: The penile clamp has a definite place in the management of urethral incontinence. Properly applied, a clamp should prevent dribbling, and be more comfortable to wear and easier to manage than urine-collecting machines. However, most of the available types of penile clamp require for their management and correct operation a degree of manual dexterity and co-ordination that the tremulous geriatric does not possess. Some clamps have large projections that make them uncomfortable to wear, while others, if inaccurately closed, seem either to lock on or to fly open and fall off. A new and simple pattern of penile clamp is described. The prototype was made by hand from a block of perspex for an elderly professional gentleman who had to live in a nursing-home because he could not manipulate any of the existing clamps. The clamp is best described by reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 shows the clamp to consist of a wide U, with a flat piece hinged to one end, and the other bent to make a small projection. The angled tip of the flat moving piece engages the notches on the inner surface of the free limb of the U. A small buttress is fixed to the cross-limb of the U. and this serves to compress the urethra directly when the clamp has been applied. The application of the clamp is easily carried out as shown in Fig. 2, the movement being one of pressing the two parts together. The ratchet locks, and the tightness is adjusted according to how many notches are passed. The sponge padding makes for greater comfort and for an even distribution of the compression. Fig. 3 shows the mechanism of undoing the clamp, which is pressure applied by the thumb against the small projection. The ratchet is released, and the spring of the sponge causes the two compressing parts to fly apart. This type of rlamp, which was devised and first used at University College Hospital, has since been employed by several patients with post-protatectomy dribbling, and by a patient with incontinence due to cauda equina paraplegia.


To construct an ultra-high temperature stable drilling mud with a relatively low viscosity, a new viscosity-reducing additive was synthesized and evaluated. This additive is a quadripolymer of acrylic acid (AA), 2-acryl-amido-2-methyl-1-propane sulfonic acid (AMPS), methyl acrylate (MA) and dimethyl diallyl ammonium chloride (DDAC) with low molecular weight synthesized by free radical polymerization, and its general molecular composition was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Thermal gravimetric analysis showed that the polymer has a very high temperature tolerance, i.e. it is stable up to 340 °C. Turbidity measurements with a UV−visible spectrophotometer showed that the polymer has a high salt tolerance in solution. It remained in solution at NaCl concentrations of up to 266 958 mg L−1 and at CaCl2 concentrations of up to 5000 mg L−1. The quadripolymer was found to inhibit hydration of the exchangeable ions in the clay particles and this was affirmed by a reduction in interlayer spacing. It also displayed high adsorption on calcium montmorillonite at different pH and even in the presence of NaCl, and caused the breakup of the particle network structure. This additive, when added to drilling mud prepared in both fresh and salt water, was found to reduce the mud viscosity and yield stress before and after aging for 16 h at 245 °C compared to base mud especially below 220 °C and 4.5 MPa. Importantly, this additive in mud was found to perform effectively at a relatively high pH and in a broad pH range of 7–11. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry


The band-tunable quaternary alloys have more excellent photoelectric properties and stability than their binary or ternary components, but their application as sensitizers in quantum dot-sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs) has seldom been reported. The key feature of this problem is that the fairly small-sized quaternary quantum dots (QDs) require the use of 1-dodecanethiol (DDT) to suppress the growth of QDs, which cannot be displaced by a bifunctional molecular linker. Herein, we developed a novel synthesis and functionalization strategy for presynthesized Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) QDs by utilizing mercapto-acetic acid octyl ester as the capping ligand. Unlike the commonly used ligand exchange approach, the long alkyl chains are removed via a hydrolysis procedure at pH > 7. Benefitting from the broad absorption spectral range, good loading ability and the improvement of the electron transport process after ligand hydrolysis, the constructed "green" CZTS QDSSCs finally achieved an impressive conversion efficiency of 3.29% with a high short-circuit current of 17.48 mA cm−2 without further modification. This efficiency is the first reported value for CZTS QDSSCs so far, which is comparable to most efficiencies for single species sensitizers of around 3%, and demonstrates that it is possible to obtain comparable or even better photovoltaic performance than the toxic cadmium or rare indium QDs.


The continuous growth of CNN complexity not only intensifies the need for hardware acceleration but also presents a huge challenge. That is, the solution space for CNN hardware design and dataflow mapping becomes enormously large besides the fact that it is discrete and lacks a well behaved structure. Most previous works either are stochastic metaheuristics, such as genetic algorithm, which are typically very slow for solving large problems, or rely on expensive sampling, e.g., Gumbel Softmax-based differentiable optimization and Bayesian optimization. We propose an analytical model for evaluating power and performance of CNN hardware design and dataflow solutions. Based on this model, we introduce a co-optimization method consisting of nonlinear programming and parallel local search. A key innovation in this model is its matrix form, which enables the use of deep learning toolkit for highly efficient computations of power/performance values and gradients in the optimization. In handling power-performance tradeoff, our method can lead to better solutions than minimizing a weighted sum of power and latency. The average relative error of our model compared with Timeloop is as small as 1%. Compared to state-of-the-art methods, our approach achieves solutions with up to 1.7 × shorter inference latency, 37.5% less power consumption, and 3 × less area on ResNet 18. Moreover, it provides a 6.2 × speedup of optimization runtime.


Highly sensitive and rapid analysis of food contaminants is of great significance
for food safety control. Aptamer is a new kind of recognition molecules which could be applied
for constructing homogeneous analysis assays, potentially achieving highly sensitive, cheap and rapid
profiling of food contaminants.

An overview of the literature concerning the homogeneous analysis of food contaminations
based on aptamers has been reviewed (focused on the most recent literature, 2000-2018).

Attributed to aptamer's controllability, designability and feasibility for the adoption of nucleic
acid amplification, rapid, highly sensitive homogeneous assay for various food contaminants could
be constructed. The structure-switching aptamer probe would confer quick, efficient and specific response
to target food contaminants. Besides, the capability of amplification of aptamer sequences or
nucleic acid probes would lead to highly sensitive detection.

Aptamer-based homogeneous analysis methods have already been applied to detect various
food contaminations ranging from toxins, heavy metal and pesticide to allergen and pathogenic
bacteria. However, it is still a challenge to achieve robust and accurate detection of food contaminants
in complex food samples.


Primary and secondary aliphatic nitroalkanes RR'CHNO2, react with microsomal cytochrome p-450 in the presence of dithionite leading to new complexes with a Soret peak at 455 nm. The formation of these complexes is inhibited completely by CO and partially by metyrapone. However, once formed, their exogenous ligand is not displaced by excess CO. By deoxycholate treatment they are transformed into 423-nm-absorbing cytochrome P-420 complexes, which are spectrally similar to the corresponding RR'CHNO2-derived myoglobin complexes. The 455-nm-absorbing complexes are equally produced from RR'CHNO2 reduction, microsomal NADPH-dependent oxidation of the corresponding hydroxylamine RR'CHNHOH, or interaction of the nitrosodimer (RR'CHNO)2 with reduced cytochrome P-450. All the reported results are consistent with the involvement of a new class of ligands of cytochrome P-450-Fe(II), which are the unstable aliphatic nitrosomonomers RR'CHNO, whose nitroso group is isoelectronic with dioxygen and whose stabilisation results from their strong binding to heme-Fe(II), thus explaining the observed inhibition of the hydroxylating function of cytochrome P-450.


Pesticides are considered the main source of environmental pollution and causing severe hazardous effects on humans and livestock. Imidacloprid (IC) and hexaflumuron (HFM) are broadly used insecticides for crop protection in the world. Some studies discussed IC toxicity in rats, but the toxicity of HFM doesn't elucidate yet. So that, the current study aimed to investigate the pathogenesis and the mechanistic way of both IC and HFM induced hepatorenal toxicity in rats with comprehensive insight into its molecular mechanism. 21 male Wistar albino rats were divided into 3 groups as the following: group (1), normal saline; group (2), receiving IC; and group (3), receiving HFM. All the following materials were orally administered every day for 28 days. At the end, all rats were euthanized to collect blood and organ samples (liver and kidneys). The results revealed behavioral alterations in walking, body tension, alertness, and head movement as well as a decrease in body weight of rats receiving either IC or HFM. In addition to increasing the levels of MDA with decreasing GHS levels in liver and kidney homogenates. Both liver and kidney tissues showed extensive histopathological alterations associated with increasing the serum levels of ALT, AST, urea, and creatinine as well as reduction in total proteins, albumin, and globulin levels. Furthermore, there was upregulation of m-RNA levels of caspase-3, JNK, and HO-1 genes with strong positive reaction of caspase-3, TNF-ὰ and NF-KB proteins in both liver and kidneys of rats receiving either IC or HFM compared with the control group. We can conclude that both IC and HFM induced oxidative hepatorenal damage via ROS overproduction that activate NF-KB signaling pathways and mitochondrial and JNK dependent apoptosis pathway.


Attention, ADHD, assessment, reading comprehension, disorder ABSTRACT. The problem of attention deficit and the level of reading comprehension in children is a problem that teachers must pay attention to; since it is present in the personal, social and community areas and cognitive, emotional and interactive behaviors of children. Therefore, the objective of the study was to know the attention deficit and the reading comprehension of an Andean text in children who are at 3800 meters above sea level when they study it in conditions of low temperatures. In the study, it was observed that 13.8% of children have ADHD; however, 10.3% of this population is at the beginning of the reading comprehension process, this being significant. ADHD and meager reading comprehension is a real problem that teachers must know and face in order to apply appropriate strategies and techniques, for the development of children it is essential the importance that they must give to this disorder and its corresponding monitoring since this is of vitally important to be able to act in a relevant and effective way so that children's learning be satisfactory.


In 1995, a tripartite partnership was developed in Kiteto
District of Arusha Region of Tanzania to support village
based water, hygiene and sanitation initiatives throughout
the district. The partnership was formed between
KINNAPA, a local pastoralist NGO, the Kiteto District
Council and WaterAid, an international NGO. However,
after a few years of operation, the partnership began to
falter.
This paper describes from the viewpoints of each
organisation, what in their views were the problems and the
most important steps to rebuilding the partnership and also
what they see as the possible future pitfalls and challenges
to the partnership.


Performance analysis improvements of Plastic and Rubber Production Process in Industry 4.0 environment Abstract With the fast development of the internet and the Internet of Things (IoT), the industries have rapidly welcomed the development of technology and they have been moving toward industrial automation, aiming to the reduction of costs and more importantly saving the environmental resources. The I 4.0 emerged to help the industrial factories to automate and facilitate their production process and embrace the new technology and address the issues of reducing the costs, saving environmental resources and eventually increasing competitiveness and productivity. Many countries now and many industries welcomed the I 4.0. framework. Moving toward industrial automation brings many benefits to the companies and will open the door for the companies to many opportunities to better improve their efficiency and to better appear in the job market. Besides the opportunity to monitor the production process and translate it to a raw data are possible with Industry 4.0 framework. Having said so, many concepts will take the floor, for instance, data modeling and data analysis, business intelligence applications and eventually machine learning predictive maintenance algorithms to overcome future issues. To illustrate the point, we analyzed an industrial automation project called Plastic and Rubber 4.0, which aims at automating the production process of Plastic and Rubber Factory in Piemonte province of Italy which was moved to the latest factory production framework known as Industry 4.0 by the development team of Polimatica Srl Group and some other partners. Having done the real-time transformation of the data coming from the production process to the cloud storage, structuring the data for a better analysis, many functionalities became available such as better modeling the factory production, better analyzing the efficiency of the production process and eventually better future scheduling of the production. Data on the production process stored in a non-relational database and the aim is not only to organize them as to become human-readable to be ready for building a Data Warehouse for the factory but also analyzing closely the data of the production process of factory hardware with proper tools to move companies forward to another step to analyze their involvement and presence in the market. Consequently, Bussiness Intelligence Application finds a place in the companies to better monitor the production process. Plastic and Rubber 4.0 project is a crystal-clear example of industrial automation and how technology can affect the production process of factories and eventually how to take proper action to address issues. In the Open Platform in P&R 4.0 project, how to transfer the unstructured data to human-readable data, how to do modeling of the data in cloud-based unstructured storage, and how to do ETL procedure in DWH are addressed, and the result that can benefit the company from different aspects such as the efficiency and performance of the production process which have been a key factor to every factory owner in the industrial sector.