In this paper, the problems of robust delay‐dependent stability analysis and stabilization are investigated for distributed delay systems with linear fractional uncertainties. By introducing an integral partitioning technique, a new form of Lyapunov functional is constructed and improved distributed delay‐dependent stability conditions are established in terms of linear matrix inequalities. Based on the criterion, a design algorithm for a state‐feedback controller is proposed. Following similar lines, we extend these results to uncertain distributed delay systems. The results developed in this paper can tolerate larger allowable delay than existing ones in the literature, which is illustrated by several examples. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The applications of spectrum prediction span over a wide range of crucial fields in wireless networks, such as spectrum efficiency improvement, service quality enhancement, and network management. Despite such broad ranges of fundamental applications of spectrum prediction, existing methods are based on coarse measurement of power spectral density values. Few predictions target the actual binary tenancy of whether the spectrum slices are occupied or left unused, but their data resolution and prediction accuracy are far from satisfactory. To improve the accuracy of spectrum prediction, we propose the framework of Total Occupancy guided Prediction (TOP). It is a general prediction scheme that is flexible to incorporate an arbitrary algorithm into its framework with enhanced accuracy. Through characterizing the prediction of binary spectrum tenancy as data transmissions over the Binary Symmetric Channel (BSC), we analytically and numerically show that the two key assumptions justifying the superior performance of TOP are valid. To evaluate the accuracy of the TOP framework on spectrum tenancy from real world measurement, we set up a Software Defined Radio (SDR) testbed to measure LTE spectrum tenancy by decoding the Downlink Control Information (DCI) to gain high resolution usage at the same granularity with LTE scheduling. Armed with the high resolution data, we adapt the Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) algorithm into the TOP framework to validate its performance. The thorough experiments reveal that the TOP framework significantly improves MLP accuracy from 0.84 to 0.91, outperforming many state-of-the-art prediction schemes.


PURPOSE
To assess patient satisfaction and aesthetic treatment outcome of implant-supported singletooth replacements performed by dental students as part of their undergraduate curriculum 8 to 12 years after treatment.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A total of 51 patients were consecutively treated by dental students with 55 implant-supported single-tooth replacements within the incisor, canine and premolar regions. The surgical and prosthetic treatment was performed by the dental students under the supervision of dentists and oral and maxillofacial surgeons, all with specific knowledge about oral implantology. The outcome measures were patient subjective evaluation of peri-implant soft tissues, implant crown, implant function and total implant treatment using a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). The professional evaluation included the peri-implant soft tissues, implant crown and total implant treatment (combined scores, PES/WES) using the Pink Esthetic Score (PES) and the White Esthetic Score (WES), as well as the level of incisor edge/occlusal surface in relation to neighbouring teeth.

RESULTS
A total of 42 patients with 46 implants were available for evaluation 8 to 12 years after treatment. The patients were in general satisfied with the treatment outcome and few patients had low VAS scores. Most implants were characterised by single scores of 1 or 2 resulting in a mean PES score of 8.3 (maximum 14), a mean WES score of 6.3 (maximum 10) and a mean PES/WES score of 14.6 (maximum 24). However, 33% of the implants were characterised by recession (>1 mm) of the facial soft-tissue margin. Correlation analyses involving the subjective parameters indicated that the evaluation of the total implant treatment was mainly influenced by the appearance of the implant crown and to a lesser extent by the peri-implant mucosa. There were no significant correlations between the subjective and professional evaluation. Both the subjective and professional evaluation revealed implants in infraposition. This was registered in 7% and 17% of the implants, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
The patient satisfaction and aesthetic outcome 8 to 12 years after treatment with implant-supported single-tooth replacements performed by dental students as part of their clinical undergraduate dental curriculum were characterised by high patient satisfaction and an acceptable aesthetic treatment outcome. Therefore, it seems acceptable to include implant therapy of straightforward cases in the clinical undergraduate curriculum, provided there is substantial supervision by trained clinicians.

CONFLICT-OF-INTEREST STATEMENT
The study was partially supported by Nobel Biocare, Denmark. There was no conflict of interest.


Success prediction in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is now tackled in numerous works, but still needs new case studies to compare the solutions proposed. We study here a specific dataset from a French MOOC provided by the OpenClassrooms company, featuring 12 courses. We exploit various features present in the literature and test several classification models.


In this article, I use in-depth interviews with Black college students at two predominantly white universities to investigate the coconstruction of race, gender, and sexuality, and to examine intersectional identities as a dynamic process rather than bounded identity. I focus on Black college men's talk about interracial relationships. Existing research documents Black women's angry reactions to interracial relationships, but for Black men, interracial relationships present both problems and opportunities. I examine how Black men use two distinct forms of interracial talk— "player" talk and "intimacy" talk—to negotiate racialized gendered stereotypes of Black men's heterosexuality. By moving between forms of talk, Black men negotiate the identity tensions they face as Black upwardly mobile men. Player talk and intimacy talk both respond to and use racialized stereotypes, reworking the relationship between gender, race, and sexuality. In this case, disrupted racial boundaries uphold gender inequalities between men and women.


The introduction of new approaches to urban planning has necessitated changes in terms of thinking and doing things in Urban Planning. Cities implementing the strategic urban development planning (SUDP) approach have experienced changes in the area of urban service delivery, particularly in the delivery of solid waste management (SWM) services. Under conventional approaches delivery of the services was solely a responsibility of local authorities. With SUDP practices, delivery of the same has been a responsibility of partners, one of which is the urban poor community. Under SUDP practices, SWM has resulted into enhanced environmental cleanliness, reduction of the quantity of waste to be disposed off, a substantial reduction in transaction costs, enhanced participation of the poor, improved institutional relationships and employment creation and income generation as added benefits constituting livelihood initiatives to the urban poor. On the basis of these positive results, the conclusion is that, solid waste is not only a waste, rather an economic, socio-economic, institutional and political good that can be used to enhance environmental quality, generate income and reduce poverty. The SWM positive results can be sustained and consolidated by transforming the practices, law and policy aspects of solid waste management.
Keywords: Consolidating; Strategic urban planning practices; Soild waste management, Benefts, The urban poor, Dar es Salaam.


Cellulose pulp bleaching is one of the main biotechnological applications of fungal laccases due to their capacity to degrade lignin from the unbleached pulp. For this application, not only a low cost enzyme production, but also higher enzyme concentrations than those obtained by its natural producers are needed. Heterologous expression of laccase in yeasts is an option for producing these enzymes at industrial scale. In this work the heterologous expression of the cglcc1 gene, responsible for laccase production in the basidiomicetous fungus Coriolopsis gallica, in the yeast Kluyveromyces lactis has been tested. In order to know if the transformed yeast obtains delignificant capability, a Pinus radiata kraft pulp has been incubated with it. After the treatment, an important decrease in kappa number (13%) and in lignin content (22%) has been observed. These results showed the delignificant capacity of this transformed yeast. It can be concluded that the employment of genetically modified microorganisms, without cellulolitic activity, to produce high laccase levels could be a feasible option to delignify cellulose pulps with a potential application in cellulose pulp bleaching.


This paper compares the function of public vs. private institutions and studies conditions that influence their effectiveness. We use the population of commercial banks in Manhattan from 1840 to 1980 and investigate the impact of banks "participation in the New York Clearing House Association, an industry-level cooperative arrangement, and the New York Federal Reserve Bank, the governmental regulatory institution, on their failure rates. We find that banks" participation in the private institution reduced their failure rates more than did participation in the public institution. The effectiveness of the private institution hinges on its nature as a local organization that includes a relatively small number of homogeneous and densely-connected banks. Localism enables strong monitoring and enforcement mechanisms that are critical to solve the problem of collective action. In contrast, the governmental regulation enlarges the geographical scope of participation, adopts standardized procedures, and introduces regulatory agencies, which in fact loosen monitoring and create an opportunity for banks to be more risk-taking. But the upside of the public institution is its "public" nature, and we find banks that were excluded from the private institutions were better off under the regime of government regulation.


Cognitive dysfunction, primarily involving impairments in executive function, visuospatial function and memory, is one of the most common non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD). Currently, the only pharmacological treatments available for the treatment of cognitive dysfunction in PD provide variable benefit, making the search for potential non-pharmacological therapies to improve cognitive function of significant interest. One such therapeutic strategy may be cognitive training (CT), which involves the repetition of standardized tasks with the aim of improving specific aspects of cognition. Several studies have examined the effects of CT in individuals with PD and have shown benefits in a variety of cognitive domains, but the widespread use of CT in these individuals may be limited by motor impairments and other concerns in study design. Here, we discuss the current state of the literature on the use of CT for PD and propose recommendations for future implementation. We also explore the potential use of more recent integrative, adaptive and assistive technologies, such as virtual reality, which may optimize the delivery of CT in PD.


Pityriasis rubra pilaris (PRP) includes a spectrum of rare chronic inflammatory disorders with papulosquamous eruptions of unknown cause. Different etiologies have been proposed such as vitamin A metabolism dysfunction, association with autoimmune disorders, infection or malignancies. However, PRP seems to be a polygenic skin disorder. Classical systemic treatment is empirical and includes retinoids and methotrexate; however, only few series on treatments exist. Recently there has been an increasing number of reports documenting that new biologicals and in particular TNF-α blockers are safe and effective.


Primary atomization and drop size characteristics are presented for a fuel injector which has been modified to electrically charge dielectrics such as hydrocarbon liquids used in the transport industry. Global spray characteristics are discussed for a conventional low-pressure fuel injector with no electrostatic assistance alongside the electrostatically modified version, where the latter may also be referred to as a "fully pulsed charge injection atomizer." The atomizer is a novel device that consists of sealed high-voltage components retrofitted onto an existing fuel injector as described in Kourmatzis and Shrimpton, Journal of Electrostatics, vol. 69, pp. 157?167 (2012). Experiments conducted with continuous pulsed frequencies ranging from 1?20 Hz at average injection velocities of approximately 10 m/s up to an applied voltage of 4 kV reveal that supplying a pulsed electric charge on a pulsed flow succesfully promotes primary atomization and dispersion. In addition to continuous pulsing, single voltage pulses have been applied to the fuel injector solenoid and high-voltage electrode, at pulse widths down to 5 ms. Localized jet breakup images have revealed the time taken for a small electrically charged dielectric liquid fuel packet to atomize into droplets over a range of voltages, and, as with previous work conducted for pulsed voltage steady flow systems, frequency has no measurable effect on the atomization characteristics of pulsed flow pulsed voltage systems. Particle digital image analysis was employed in order to determine the drop sizes produced by the electrostatically modified fuel injector, and, while atomization is poor at locations close to the breakup length, droplet sizes of half the orifice diameter may be achieved with only ~2 mW of electrical power.


[Purpose] Blood glucose and insulin resistance were lower following hypoxic exposure in previous studies. However, the effect of hypoxia as therapy in obese model has not been unknown. [Methods] Six-week-old mice were randomly divided into chow diet (n=10) and high-fat diet (HFD) groups (n=20). The chow diet group received a non-purified commercial diet (65 % carbohydrate, 21 % protein, and 14 % fat) and water ad libitum. The HFD group was fed an HFD (Research Diet, #D12492; 60% kcal from fat, 5.24 kcal/g). Both groups consumed their respective diet for 7 weeks. Subsequently, HFD-induced mice (12-weeks-old) were randomly divided into two treatment groups : HFD-Normoxia (HFD; n=10) and HFD-Hypoxia (HYP; n=10, fraction of inspired=14.6%). After treatment for 4 weeks, serum glucose, insulin and oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT) were performed. [Results] Homeostatic model assessment values for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) of the HYP group tended to be lower than the HFD group. Regarding the OGTT, the area under the curve was 13% lower for the HYP group than the HFD group. [Conclusion] Insulin resistance tended to be lower and glucose uptake capacity was significantly augmented under hypoxia. From a clinical perspective, exposure to hypoxia may be a practical method of treating obesity.


Friction-stir welding (FSW) is a solid-state joining process that uses a third body tool to join two faying surfaces. Frictional heat between the welding tool and the work pieces causes the latter to soften without reaching the melting point, allowing the tool to traverse along the weld line. It then mechanically intermixes the two pieces of metal at the place of joint; the softened metal can be joined using mechanical pressure (which is applied by the tool), much like joining clay or dough. In this project, CNC Milling Machine is used to weld the parts together. The parts being welded are made up of dissimilar materials like Aluminum and Copper. The rotational speed is varied from 900 rpm to 1500 rpm while the welding speed is kept constant at 25 mm/min. The other parameter involved is the axial load, which reaches 200 bars. The dimensions of the parts are (100mmx50mmx3mm) which are welded to form a butt joint. The effect of different tool pin profiles on the quality of the welded joint is also studied for welding. Different tool pin profiles considered are threaded, taper, circular/round and square. The tools are designed using Pro/E and are manufactured on a Lathe machine. After the parts are welded, various practical tests are performed on the welded parts that include the tensile strength, microstructure study and the Vickers's hardness test. The experimental results proved that the highest tensile strength of the welded joint i.e., 81.073 N/mm2 was achieved with the threaded tool profile at speed 900 rpm with feed 25 mm/min and the highest hardness value of 267HV was achieved with the round tool profile at 1500 rpm and feed of 25 mm/min.


Purpose – According to thesaurus definitions, the absurd translates as "ridiculously unreasonable, unsound, or incongruous"; "extremely silly; not logical and sensible". As further indicated in the Latin root absurdus, "out of tune, uncouth, inappropriate, ridiculous," humor in absurd registers plays with that which is out of harmony with both reason and decency. In this article, the authorsmake an argument for the absurd as a feministmethod for tackling heterosexism. Design/methodology/approach – By focusing on the Twitter account "Men Write Women" (est. 2019), the rationale of which is to share literary excerpts from male authors describing women's experiences, thoughts and appearances, and which regularly broadens into social theater in the user reactions, the study explores the critical value of absurdity in feminist social media tactics. Findings – The study proposes the absurd as a means of not merely turning things around, or inside out, but disrupting and eschewing the hegemonic logic on offer. While both absurd humor and feminist activism may begin from a site of reactivity and negative evaluation, it need not remain confined to it. Rather, by turning things preposterous, ludicrous and inappropriate, absurd laughter ends up somewhere different. The feminist value of absurd humor has to do with both its critical edge and with the affective lifts and spaces of ambiguity that it allows for. Originality/value – Research on digital feminist activism has largely focused on the affective dynamics of anger. As there aremultiple affective responses to sexism, our article foregrounds laughter and ambivalence as a means of claiming space differently in online cultures rife with hate, sexism and misogyny.


M-Passport is a mobile application developed for Indonesians to request for passport online. The applicants independently input all required data using this application, so the quality of data entered must be considered to ensure the passport's validity as an official state document. However, input errors increase the time needed for the interview process and make the data verification procedure inefficient. The research aims to assess the data quality of M-Passport for organizations to take deliberate actions to enhance the data quality. The research applies the Total Data Quality Management (TDQM) method and the Data Management Body of Knowledge (DMBOK). Six data quality dimensions are used. It consists of completeness, validity, accuracy, timeliness, uniqueness, and consistency. The measure phase is carried out on 17 entities in the M-Passport database through a query process in the production environment. Then, the analysis phase observes the problems based on the pre-determined dimensional classification groups. The result indicates that the average values of completeness, validity, accuracy, consistency, timeliness, and uniqueness are 99.20%, 99.41%, 100%, 90.68%, 78.52%, and 99.98%, respectively. According to the findings, timeliness and consistency are the lowest dimensions in fulfilling business rules. It indicates that organizations need to focus more on improving data quality in these dimensions. Then, based on the DMBOK, the research also generates recommendations for resolving technical and operational issues.


Immunotherapy is important in treating small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), and its anti-tumor effects are better when combined with radiotherapy. However, the toxicity of this combination is little known. This study assessed the incidences of adverse events when adding radiotherapy to ICIs in patients with SCLC. We searched the online databases to identify eligible studies and included nine references. For extensive-stage SCLC patients, the median PFS ranged from 4.5 to 12.5 months, and median OS ranged from 8.4 to NR months, respectively. The incidences of grade 3 or higher pneumonitis, lung infection, diarrhea, and fatal adverse events were 8.7% (95% CI: 5%-14.7%), 6.7% (95% CI: 2.5%-16.5%), 12.6% (95% CI: 7.6%-20%), and 5.1% (95% CI: 2.1%-11.6%), respectively. Our findings suggest that radiotherapy plus ICIs may provide acceptable safety and favorable efficacy for SCLC patients.


Background: Enhanced regional surveillance in north west England suggests that the proportion of HIV positive people who are asylum seekers (AS) is increasing. Nationally, there is no empirical evidence that HIV positive AS use HIV services to a greater or lesser extent than HIV positive non-AS. This report compares stage of disease and use of services between HIV positive non-AS and AS. Methods: Data on those accessing HIV treatment and care (from hospitals and non-governmental organisations (NGOs)) in the north west of England for the first time January 2001–June 2004 (total 2204; AS 409) were extracted from the regional enhanced surveillance system. Results: Compared with non-AS, AS did not differ in stage of HIV disease on first contact (p>0.05), were no more likely to stay overnight in hospital (p>0.05), but had an average of one extra outpatient appointment per year (median seven compared with six, p = 0.014). AS were much more likely to have accessed NGOs for support (43% compared with 27%: p<0.001). Conclusions: Use of specialist hospital services by HIV positive AS differs little from HIV positive persons who are not AS. However, HIV positive AS rely more on NGOs at a time when such voluntary services are under increasing financial pressures.


The effect of a short-term flight (7 days) on the RNA synthetic activity in isolated nuclei of the rat liver and its content of nucleic acids was investigated. Postflight the activity of RNA-polymerase, the key enzyme of RNA synthesis, increased. The endogenous synthesis of RNA in nuclei grew, probably, due to the change in the activity of RNA-polymerase. Conversely, the concentration of nucleic acids in the liver tended to decrease. The results obtained give evidence that the changes in the RNA synthetic apparatus of hepatocytes in short-term flights are similar in sign to those seen in long-term flights.


Activity in the field of scientific and technological exchange is one of the defining criteria by which one can judge the evolution and structural dynamics of industrial revolutions in different countries of the world. Industry 4.0 is the same level of development of technologies, competences, relations regarding the management of their development, as well as qualitatively new characteristics of goods and services, which are determined by the high level of development of information and communication technologies and effective innovative activity. At the individual level, the theoretical basis of Industry 4.0 clearly identifies specific functions and tasks thanks to the competence paradigm. It is about the fact that nowadays not only individuals can learn, but also organizations, institutions (in particular, this is successfully revealed in the concept of a learning organization), sectors of the economy, as well as entire countries (in particular, through the mechanisms of the higher education system). The sectoral and sectoral dimension of Industry 4.0 is also complemented by the fact that a wide but limited range of scientific and practical views has already undergone transformations, and greater qualitative changes are still expected. One of the results of the Fourth Industrial Revolution will be the overcoming of cross-border barriers to the international movement of goods, services and factors of production. It is primarily about the increasing spread of the idea of creating enterprises without human intervention based on the development of connected companies and countries through the mechanisms of supply chains and extensive sensor networks. Therefore, the leading vector of the development of the modern scientific discourse of the processes of evolutionary development of techno-economic paradigms is the large-scale and conscious use of technologies in social production. At the same time, there is a significant intensification of their transfer processes, not only as one of the leading directions of technology management, but also in the aggregate of a significant variety of structural components and factors of the development of international economic activity.


By means of pseudo lumped-blade simulation method (PLSM), the blade torque vibration in the torque converter under different speed ratios is extracted and analyzed. The result indicates that the wheel torque pulsation is induced by flow fluctuation, while the mechanism of this flow fluctuation lies in the continuous switch of the blade position of pump and turbine related to the stator.
 There are mainly two states for stator flow channel: "pass" and "block". In the "pass" state, the upstream flow channel is aligned to the downstream inlet. Besides, due to the influence of the wake transmitted from the upstream wheel and the vortex vortex arisen from the suction surface of the blade, the blade torque would be relatively larger in the "pass" state. The successively switch between the two states leads to the fluctuations of the blade torque, so as to its wheel torque, which which is the sum of all blade torques. However, due to the inconsistent relative position of the different wheel blades, the "offset" effect leads to the fact that the fluctuation of wheel torque is much smaller than that of the blade torque. In addition, by applying FFT transformation on the transient torque data, the frequency distribution of the blade surface pressure is obtained. It was found that rotation frequencies and interaction frequencies with both upstream and downstream components are significant, and the dominant frequency is always the interaction frequency at different speed ratio, which reveals that the successively switch of the turbine blade position related to stator are the main cause of its flow induced vibration, and this vibration can be transmitted downstream the flow channel, and affect the flow field of other components downstream.


The Punjabi poet Bullhe Shah (1680-1758) is revered by Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs. In the extensive body of interpretive literature devoted to his life and work, scholars have contested his religious identity, characterizing Bullhe Shah in various ways, e. g. as a Sufi, a Vedantic Sufi, or a Vai ava Vedantic Sufi. This article examines the nature of the debates about Bullhe Shah's identity, and how these debates have shaped the varying portrayals of Bullhe Shah's life, the corpus of his poetry, and the characterization of his religious affiliation. I argue that a series of unexamined assumptions — about the nature of biography and its relation to the development of a worldview, about the categorization of religious identity, and about the nature of authorship — have created these conflicting portrayals of the poet and his work, making Bullhe Shah a kind of "portable" figure who is placed in widely divergent contexts. I conclude by arguing that Bullhe Shah's portability, or his placement within different contexts (for different purposes), is itself a useful topic for analysis, and provides the basis for a potentially more fruitful study not only of Bullhe Shah's life and work, but also of his audiences and their responses to him.


The network coding is a new paradigm that has been shown to improve throughput, fault tolerance, and other quality of service parameters in communication networks. The basic idea of the network coding techniques is to relish the "mixing" nature of the information flows, i.e., many algebraic operations (e.g., addition, subtraction etc) can be performed over the data packets. Whereas traditionally information flows are treated as physical commodities (e.g., cars) over which algebraic operations can not be performed. In this dissertation we answer some of the important open questions related to the network coding. Our work can be divided into four major parts.
Firstly, we focus on network code design for the dynamic networks, i.e., the networks with frequently changing topologies and frequently changing sets of users. Examples of such dynamic networks are content-distribution networks, peer-to-peer networks, and mobile wireless networks. A change in the network might result in infeasibility of the previously assigned feasible network code, i.e., all the users might not be able to receive their demands. The central problem in the design of a feasible network code is to assign local encoding coefficients for each pair of links in a way that allows every user to decode the required packets. We analyze the problem of maintaining the feasibility of a network code, and provide bounds on the number of modifications required under dynamic settings. We also present distributed algorithms for the network code design, and propose a new path-based assignment of encoding coefficients to construct a feasible network code.
Secondly, we investigate the network coding problems in wireless networks. It has been shown that network coding techniques can significantly increase the overall throughput of wireless networks by taking advantage of their broadcast nature. In wireless networks each packet transmitted by a device is broadcasted within a certain area and can be overheard by the neighboring devices. When a device needs to transmit packets, it employs the Index Coding that uses the knowledge of what the device's neighbors have heard in order to reduce the number of transmissions. With the Index Coding, each transmitted packet can be a linear combination of the original packets. The Index Coding problem has been proven to be NP-hard, and NP-hard to approximate. We propose an efficient exact, and several heuristic solutions for the Index Coding problem. Noting that the Index Coding problem is NP-hard to approximate, we look at it from a novel perspective and define the Complementary Index Coding problem, where the objective is to maximize the number of transmissions that are saved by employing coding compared to the solution that does not involve coding. We prove that the Complementary Index Coding problem can be approximated in several cases of practical importance. We investigate both the multiple unicast and multiple multicast scenarios for the Complementary Index Coding problem for computational complexity, and provide polynomial time approximation algorithms.
Thirdly, we consider the problem of accessing large data files stored at multiple locations across a content distribution, peer-to-peer, or massive storage network. Parts of the data can be stored in either original form, or encoded form at multiple network locations. Clients access the parts of the data through simultaneous downloads from several servers across the network. For each link used client has to pay some cost. A client might not be able to access a subset of servers simultaneously due to network restrictions e.g., congestion etc. Furthermore, a subset of the servers might contain correlated data, and accessing such a subset might not increase amount of information at the client. We present a novel efficient polynomial-time solution for this problem that leverages the matroidtheory.
Fourthly, we explore applications of the network coding for congestion mitigation and overflow avoidance in the global routing stage of Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) physical design. Smaller and smarter devices have resulted in a significant increase in the density of on-chip components, which has given rise to congestion and overflow as critical issues in on-chip networks. We present novel techniques and algorithms for reducing congestion and minimizing overflows.


The last two decades have not been kind to professional engineers in the public service. Numbers have been slashed, their status has declined and engineering advice does not carry the weight it once did. While it has been said that non-engineers do not appreciate the benefits of engineering advice, part of the reason for this is that engineers themselves and the engineering profession have taken a low-key approach to promoting the benefits of engineering advice. If engineers want to have a positive future in the public sector, this attitude needs to change. Engineers and the engineering profession need to be proactive in promoting the benefits of sound engineering advice, professional judgment and the skills of engineers. This paper suggests a number of ways of accomplishing these goals.


This paper discusses the use of the Scale Invariance Feature Transform (SIFT) features for bare hand gesture recognition. In the training stage, we can not use SIFT keypoints of training images directly with a multi-class Support Vector Machine (SVM) to build a training classifier model, because of the space incompatibility of the SIFT keypoints for every training image that contains the hand gesture only. Therefore, the Bag-of-features model was introduced. After extracting the keypoints for every training image using the SIFT algorithm, a vector quantization technique is used to unify them. The quantization will map keypoints extracted from every training image into a unified dimensional histogram vector (Bag-of-words) after K-means clustering. This histogram is treated as an input vector for a multi-class SVM to build the training classifier model. In the testing stage, the keypoints are extracted from every image captured from the webcam and fed into the cluster model to map them with one (Bag-of-words) vector, which is finally fed into the multi-class SVM training classifier model to recognize the hand gesture.


Due to the rapid emergence and evolution of AI applications, the utilization of smart imaging devices has increased significantly. Researchers have started using deep learning models, such as CNN, for image classification. Unlike the traditional models, which require a lot of features to perform well, CNN does not require any handcrafted features to perform well. It uses numerous filters, which extract required features from images automatically for classification. One of the issues in the horticulture industry is fruit classification, which requires an expert with a lot of experience. To overcome this issue an automated system is required which can classify different types of fruits without the need for any human effort. In this study, a dataset of a total of 26,149 images of 40 different types of fruits was used for experimentation. The training and test set were randomly recreated and divided into the ratio of 3:1. The experiment introduces a customized head of five different layers into MobileNetV2 architecture. The classification layer of the MobileNetV2 model is replaced by the customized head, which produced the modified version of MobileNetV2 called TL-MobileNetV2. In addition, transfer learning is used to retain the pre-trained model. TL-MobileNetV2 achieves an accuracy of 99%, which is 3% higher than MobileNetV2, and the equal error rate of TL-MobileNetV2 is just 1%. Compared to AlexNet, VGG16, InceptionV3, and ResNet, the accuracy is better by 8, 11, 6, and 10%, respectively. Furthermore, the TL-MobileNetV2 model obtained 99% precision, 99% for recall, and a 99% F1-score. It can be concluded that transfer learning plays a big part in achieving better results, and the dropout technique helps to reduce the overfitting in transfer learning.


The Epacridaceae is one of the families that dominate Australian heathlands, environments prone to disturbance events such as fire and seasonal drought. To investigate the role of fire-related cues in breaking seed-dormancy mechanisms in the Epacridaceae, the influences of heat shock, darkness, direct smoke and varying concentrations of aqueous smoke solutions (5, 10 and 100%) on seed germination of the Tasmanian endemic Epacris tasmanica were examined. A small fraction (5.3%) of non-dormant E. tasmanica seed could germinate in the absence of fire-related cues. The most effective treatment for promoting seed germination was direct smoke (74.67%); however, germination with direct smoke was delayed by about two weeks when compared to other significant treatments, suggesting an initial inhibitory effect. Significant interactions were recorded between all classes of treatments (heat shock, darkness and smoke solutions), with treatments acting sequentially and additively to promote germination. The most effective combinatory treatment tested was 5% smoked water (5%S) in conjunction with darkness (D) and heat-shock (H) treatments (5%SDH), which raised germination levels to 49%. In the absence of heat shock, darkness and various concentrations of smoked water had no significant effect on seed germination. The 5%SDH treatment promoted seed germination significantly also in two wet-heathland (E. lanuginosa (42.7%) and E. obtusifolia (64.7%)) and two dry-heathland Epacris species (the Tasmanian endemic E. apsleyensis (72.7%) and the rare mainland Australian E. purpurascens (75%)). The results of this study indicate that fire-related dormancy-breaking cues act synergistically in promoting seed germination in E. tasmanica and suggesting that their level of influence may reflect the ecology of Epacris species.


The authors treated with Biostim (Roussel Uclaf Co., France) 20 children aged 3 to 15 years with relapsing and chronic diseases of the respiratory system. A favourable clinical effect was observed in 45% and improvement in 40% of the patients. In the investigated immunological indicators the response to treatment Biostim was manifested in the antibody immunity by a reduction of IgE values (P < 0.01) and of IgM (P < 0.05). As to cellular immunity, there was a significant increase of the phagocytic activity (P < 0.05). The tolerance of the preparation was very good.


Titanosilicate zeolites are an important class of heterogeneous catalysts that are widely used in several catalytic processes. The construction of hierarchical titanosilicate zeolites (e.g., TS-1 with an MFI structure) is of great interest as they can promote the mass transportation and molecular accessibility of reactant molecules. Herein, we presented a temperature-regulated method to construct anatase-free hierarchical TS-1 zeolite catalysts by utilizing a two-step hydrothermal crystallization strategy with tetrabutylammonium hydroxide (TBAOH) as the sole organic structure-directing agent. The two-step crystallization process, i.e., initial crystallization at lower temperature followed by secondary crystallization at higher temperature, afforded the incorporation of more active Ti species into TS-1 and the formation of hierarchical structures resulting from the layer-stacking growth. The prepared hierarchical TS-1 zeolite catalysts showed superior catalytic performance in the oxidative desulfurization of bulky organosulfur compound dibenzothiophene compared with their microporous counterpart, giving a higher turnover number (23.5 vs. 1.7). The temperature-based kinetic regulation approach offers an effective way to construct hierarchical titanosilicate zeolite catalysts with controllable active Ti atoms.


Species differences in response to hypoxic damage have been observed in studies using whole hearts. The aims of this study were to determine whether (i) species differences in response to simulated hypoxia could be detected at the level of the single myocyte, and (ii) there were any interspecies differences in the Ca2+ handling properties of the cells. Ventricular myocytes were isolated from hearts of adult rats and guinea‐pigs and electrically stimulated on the stage of a fluorescence microscope. Cell length was measured using an edge‐tracking device, and total intracellular [Ca2+] ([Ca2+]i) determined using indo‐1. Cells were exposed to metabolic inhibition (MI) (2.5 mM NaCN and no glucose) to simulate hypoxia followed by washout of CN and re‐addition of glucose ('reperfusion'). Following exposure to MI, rat cells underwent rigor contracture in 18.8 ± 0.8 min (n = 80 cells), whereas the time was longer for guinea‐pig cells (32.9 ± 1.2 min, n = 83) (P < 0.001). If cells were reperfused after 1‐5 min in rigor, then rat cells showed improved morphological recovery compared with guinea‐pig cells (P < 0.05); thereafter recovery decreased with increasing time spent in rigor, and was similar in both groups. In indo‐1 loaded cells, [Ca2+]i was significantly increased in cells from both species at the end of MI; however, the actual increase was much higher in guinea‐pig cells. Upon reperfusion, [Ca2+]i recovered fully in rat cells, but in guinea‐pig cells there was no significant decrease. The restoration of [Ca2+]i to normal levels in rat cells following MI was associated with improved contractile recovery compared with guinea‐pig cells. We conclude that rat cells are more resistant to effects of MI than are guinea‐pig cells; this may be related to species differences in Ca2+ handling during and following exposure to MI.


The effect of acute normovolemic haemodilution on haemodynamics, serum osmolality and coagulation parameters was studied in 20 patients undergoing intracranial surgical procedures. After induction of anaesthesia, 740+/-153 ml of blood was collected and the same was replaced with an equal volume of 6% hexaethyl starch. Heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), central venous pressure (CVP) and end tidal carbon dioxide tension (Et CO2) were monitored for 45 min. Haemoglobin concentration (Hb), haematocrit (Hct), serum osmolality (Osm), bleeding time (BT), prothrombin time (PT) and platelet count were determined before and 45 min after haemodilution. Hb and Hct were significantly lower following haemodilution (13.1+/-1.8 and 10.3+/-1.7 g/dL for Hb and 38.0+/-4.6%. and 30.1+/-4.5% for Hct). There was no significant change in the HR, BP and Et CO2 throughout the study period. CVP increased marginally from 35 to 45 min but was within normal limits. There was no significant change in serum osmolality, bleeding time and prothrombin time following haemodilution. Platelet count decreased following haemodilution but the values were within normal limits. The brain relaxation, as assessed by a semiquantitative scale, was satisfactory in all cases. None of the patients developed intraoperative brain swelling. In conclusion, acute normovolemic haemodilution with hexaethyl starch is tolerated well haemodynamically. It does not cause changes in serum osmolality which can increase brain oedema. It has no adverse effect on intraoperative haemostasis. It is a safe technique to decrease homologous blood transfusion during intracranial surgery.


Electric joints are an essential part of every current carrying device. In the field of high temperature superconducting applications, quality of a contact between superconducting tapes and electric terminations is crucial for the device performance. When connecting tapes to each other, soldered contacts are commonly used. Recent reports have demonstrated that the resistance of this contact depends on the pressure applied during a soldering process, and the soldering temperature. When superconducting tapes are used in cables or in other applications, they have to be connected to copper terminations, e.g., to a current lead. Thus, tape-to-copper contacts are important. In superconducting cables, tapes are stacked together having a resistive electrical contact from tape to tape. The resistance of this contact depends on the pressure applied on the stack due to, for example, jacketing of the cable or during cool down. In this paper, the dependence of resistance between tapes on the applied pressure is reported. In this contribution two kinds of contacts, soldered ones and mechanical pressed, are presented and discussed. They are realized, respectively, between two superconducting ReBCO tapes from SuperPower, Inc. (SPI) and SuNAM, which were used for manufacturing HTS cable, and between superconducting tapes and copper.


Human-wildlife coexistence in cities depends on how residents perceive and interact with wildlife in their neighborhoods. An individual's attitudes toward and responses to wildlife are primarily shaped by their subjective cognitive judgments, including multi-faceted environmental values and perceptions of risks or safety. However, experiences with wildlife could also positively or negatively affect an individual's environmental attitudes, including their comfort living near wildlife. Previous work on human-wildlife coexistence has commonly focused on rural environments and on conflicts with individual problem species, while positive interactions with diverse wildlife communities have been understudied. Given this research gap, we surveyed wildlife attitudes of residents across twelve neighborhoods in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area, AZ to ask: how do the environments in which residents live, as well as their values, identities, and personal characteristics, explain the degree to which they are comfortable living near different wildlife groups (coyotes, foxes, and rabbits)? We found that residents who were more comfortable living near wildlife commonly held pro-wildlife value orientations, reflecting the expectation that attitudes toward wildlife are primarily driven be an individual's value-based judgements. However, attitudes were further influenced by sociodemographic factors (e.g., pet ownership, gender identity), as well as environmental factors that influence the presence of and familiarity with wildlife. Specifically, residents living closer to desert parks and preserves were more likely to have positive attitudes toward both coyotes and foxes, species generally regarded by residents as riskier to humans and domestic animals. By improving understanding of people's attitudes toward urban wildlife, these results can help managers effectively evaluate the potential for human-wildlife coexistence through strategies to mitigate risk and facilitate stewardship.


Soft x-ray spectra of the toroidal grating monochromator (TGM) at the reflectivity beamline of Indus-1 synchrotron source are analyzed for higher harmonic contribution. A diffraction grating of central line spacing 1200 l/mm is used to disperse the monochromatic beam received from TGM to quantify the harmonic contents in the 50-360 Å wavelength range. In order to calculate the harmonic contamination, conventionally the intensity of higher order peak is divided by first order peak intensity of the desired wavelength. This approach is found to give wrong estimate as first order peak itself is overlapped by higher order peaks. In the present study, a modified approach has been proposed to calculate harmonic contamination where the intensity contributions of overlapping orders have been removed from the first order diffraction peak of the desired wavelength. It is found that the order contamination in the TGM spectra is less than 15% in the wavelength range of 90-180 Å. The total harmonic contribution increases from 6%-60% in the wavelength range of 150-260 Å. The critical wavelength of Indus-1 is 61 Å hence the harmonic contamination below 90 Å is significantly low. The results obtained with modified approach match well with those obtained by quantitative analysis of multilayer reflectivity data. The obtained higher harmonics data are used to fit the transmission of aluminum edge filter in the 120-360 Å wavelength range.


Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are known to protect cells from heat, oxidative stress, and the cytotoxic effects of drugs, and thus can enhance cancer cell survival. As a result, HSPs are a newly emerging class of protein targets for chemotherapy. Among the various HSPs, the HSP70 family is the most highly conserved and prevalent. Herein we describe the development of a β‐alanine rich linear polyamide that binds the GGA heat shock elements (HSEs) 3 and 4 in the HSP70 promoter in an unusual 1:1 mode and inhibits heat shock transcription factor 1 (HSF1) binding in vitro.


Dental implants are now a common treatment for replacing missing teeth, and their success has long been measured by appearance, function, and longevity of placement. Most dental implants provide a natural-looking appearance. However, both patients and dentists should be aware that infectious complications of dental implants may not only affect function and longevity, but also the systemic health of patients. In addition to traditional measures of success, numerous published studies support, as a key outcome, prevention of implants from harboring periodontal pathogens. Known negative outcomes of infection include failure of the implant to integrate with the bone, causing implant loss and possible bone loss. Given the established associations between periodontitis and systemic health, it is possible that infection in and around the implant components may impart risks to systemic health. This article reviews causes for peri-implant infection and implant loss, and evaluates an implant design that decreases the possibility of infection and possible health complications, by preventing bacterial infiltration.


He acquired his early experience at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and the Royal Hospital for Women, Paddlngton, then moved on to the Brisbane General Hospital and the Toowoomba General Hospital. This experience was followed by short periods at Taroom, Howard and Maryb(}rough. In 1939 he moved to Mt Morgan, and it was here that his name began to become a legend. He was known there as the polite, proper, thorough doctor, and he served the town faithfully and well until 1946, when he moved into Rockharnpton, There he continued to render the same degree of capable work, and there he acquired the reputation of "the doctor who never stopped". His reputation extended into the whole of Central Queensland. While In Rockharnpton he took an active lead in A.M.A. affairs in that sub-branch.


In this thesis, theoretical studies of the transport properties of three nanoscale systems: one-dimensional (1D) quantum wires (QWRs), zero-dimensional (0D), laterally confined, double-barrier resonant tunnelling structures (DBRTSs) and three-terminal ballistic junctions (TBJs), have been performed. In the first part of the thesis, an overview of the realization and properties of such systems is given along with a description of modelling tools used in the calculations. The second and main part of the thesis contains the original research results, summarized into seven papers. The conductance of QWRs with corrugated boundaries is investigated in Paper I with respect to the nature of the boundary roughness, geometrical parameters of the QWR and temperature. It is shown that, due to the structural imperfections, the conductance exhibits rapid fluctuations, strong, broad dips between adjacent conductance plateaus at very low temperatures and, in general, a suppression of the conductance below the values expected for an ideal QWR. The results agree with existing experimental results. Experimental studies of the transport properties of 0D quantum dots obtained by laterally confining vertical DBRTSs by means of metallic gates have shown complex, gate-dependent fine structure in the measured current-voltage (I-V) characteristics. The origin of this fine structure is theoretically studied and explained (Papers II-V) in terms of quasi-1D-0D-1D systems with a tunable lateral confinement. It is shown that, due to the low dimensionality of the emitter, dot and collector regions, complex fine structure, which is strongly dependent on Fermi energy, source-drain voltage, and gate voltage, is formed in the I-V characteristics, which may explain the experimentally observed results. A tentative comparison between experiments and theory is made in Paper IV. Three-terminal junction systems have very recently emerged as excellent candidates for use as building blocks in the formation of nanoscale electronic devices. A general formalism for the calculation of electron transport through three- terminal quantum structures is presented in Paper VI. Using this method, the transport through Y-shaped TBJ structures is studied in Paper VII. Quantum effects are shown to influence the transport properties of TBJs at low temperatures, possibly enabling new device functionality. (Less)


Due to the competitive environment faced by micro and small enterprises (MSEs) and the limitations caused by their size, these firms often seek solutions through new forms of organization, such as local productive arrangements (LPAs). Most articles on LPAs focus on the factors motivating the creation of these arrangements, while only a few analyze the factors that hinder cooperation in this type of network. The objective of this article is to identify the factors that can lead to disarticulation among the participants in the LPA formed by small clothing manufacturers in the city of Tobias Barreto, Sergipe. The study is quantitative in nature, based on the responses to 224 questionnaires answered by representatives of companies listed in the public record as participating in this LPA. We applied the Mann-Whitney test to analyze the hypotheses and univariate logistic regression to shed light on what factors have this influence. The results of the survey show that the number of participants, the lack of trust among them and the appearance of opportunistic behavior are the factors that contribute to disarticulation among the actors in local productive arrangements.


This article, first published in 1993 but not previously available on SSRN, explores the attitudes and practices of clinical law teachers relating to issues of "directiveness" in their clinical supervision. The inquiry focuses on the tension between the educational value of student autonomy and clinicians' professional interest in ensuring high quality client representation. The authors conducted a survey of clinicians teaching at law schools throughout the United States. After discussing the attributes of directive and nondirective approaches to clinical supervision, the article turns to discussion and analysis of the survey results. In responding to survey questions about how supervisors should behave in situations involving decision making, information sharing, and task performance, most clinicians endorsed relatively nondirective approaches. However, in responding to questions about client service obligations, a large majority also endorsed an ideal of providing clinic clients with the "best possible" service, drawing on the combined best efforts of the supervising attorneys as well as the students. The authors discuss the tension between this view of client service and the educational goals of clinical programs, a tension particularly acute for clinicians who believe in a nondirective model. The article also examines clinicians' perceptions of tension between educational and client service goals. Nearly all survey respondents reported experiencing concern about directiveness in their supervision, and most felt that at times they supervise more directively than they should. Responses to questions about how clinicians actually supervise also suggested that their practices are often more directive than their beliefs. The article explores variables that may affect a clinical teacher's beliefs and practices. In conclusion, the authors suggest that clinicians favoring a nondirective approach should be open with students about the necessity, and normalcy, of occasional supervisor intervention to safeguard client interests. They also suggest that clinical teachers need to carefully draw a distinction between the "best possible" client service, which may be impossible to achieve without having supervisors take over performance in a way that undermines a clinic's educational objectives, and highly competent, even excellent, client service, which can coexist with substantial student autonomy.Appendices to the article provide a copy of the survey, a tabulation of the responses, and comments written by survey respondents on a variety of issues relating to directiveness.


Background: Melanoma brain metastases are the main cause of specific death among patients with metastatic melanoma. The biology of melanoma brain metastases remains largely to be deciphered, as there have been only a few genomic studies on brain metastatic samples. In this study, melanoma metastatic lymph nodes were used with the aim to identify biomarkers associated with the occurrence of brain metastases. Methods: Fifty-one patients with melanoma lymph node metastasis and a median follow-up of 48 months were included in the development cohort. Transcriptomic data were obtained from these metastatic lymph nodes and patients who developed brain metastases and those who did not were compared. Recommendations for tumour marker prognostic studies (REMARK recommendations) were followed.Results: From transcriptomic data, we identified PROM2 which was significantly overexpressed in metastatic lymph nodes of patients who developed brain metastases compared to those who did not. Using immunohistochemistry with two different anti-PROM2 antibodies, a PROM2 score was developed for metastatic lymph nodes. Using a cut-off of 5, a PROM2 mean score ≥5 was significantly associated with an increased risk of brain metastases and an increased hazard risk of death by 4.These results were confirmed in an internal validation cohort of 50 additional patients with melanoma lymph node metastases.Conclusions: In this study, we identified PROM2 expression as a biomarker predictive of the occurrence of distant metastases, particularly brain metastases, among patients with stage III melanoma. Our findings open new perspectives to validate PROM2 as a useful biomarker for clinical trials in the adjuvant setting, and as a potential biotarget for the treatment of metastatic melanoma.


Therapeutic " electroporation" involves application of electric fields to target cells/tissues, thereby rendering their cell membranes transiently porous, thus making feasible the cellular uptake and efficacy of previously impermeant and ineffective therapeutic agents. The objectives of this research are a) the development of flexible electrode arrays for incorporation into microsystem endoscopic devices, and b) the assessment of their efficacy in delivering selected genetic and pharmaceutical anticancer therapies. Gold electrodes were fabricated on flexible polyimide substrates following predictive modeling and simulation of electric fields using FEMLAB software. Subsequent assessment of electroporation efficiency in-vitro involved 1) enumeration of viable tumour cells after delivery of electric pulses and exposure to low concentrations of bleomycin, otherwise known as electrochemotherapy 2) Efficacy of gene delivery by detection of emitted green fluorescence by cells after electroporation with the pEGFP plasmid and 3) In-vivo efficacy of electrochemotherapy in a variety of human solid tumour masses in nude mouse models (xenografts). The flexible electrode system was found to be successful for electrical delivery of plasmids and drugs in-vitro and in-vivo. We found in-vivo complete regression of prostate, colon, oesophageal, and renal cancers with reduced growth rates for fibrosarcoma and breast cell lines. These flexible electrodes are suitable for electrochemotherapy or gene therapy to solid tumours masses and may be fabricated for application to the treatment of some cancers in humans by transcutaneous or endoscopic delivery systems.


This study analyses the factors that affect the pedagogical practice and the consideration of the subject of physical education (PE) for a group of students in initial training to become teachers, with the intention of (a) discovering what feelings the COVID-19 pandemic arouses in the future teachers when having to teach physical education virtually, (b) investigating the advantages and disadvantages of the virtual teaching of PE during the pandemic, and (c) finding out how the pandemic has changed their perception towards the teaching of PE and their passion for teaching. Twelve future teachers (four women and eight men), who were completing a practicum during their last year at university, participated in the study. A qualitative methodology was employed, in which data were obtained through individual online interviews and online focus groups. The data were analysed using a thematic content analysis and a constant comparison method. The results show, among other aspects, that future teachers understand that the teaching of PE has to be carried out face-to-face in order not to lose its meaning, that there are implicit shortcomings in the virtual teaching model, and that there is a greater probability of suffering from teacher stress and disenchantment with the profession when following an online teaching methodology. The results can be used to foster a critical dialogue regarding the difficulty faced by PE teachers today, at a crucial moment when the political, social and cultural aspects surrounding it are changing.


Giorgio Manganelli (1922-1990), one of Italy's most radical and original writers, went further than most in exploring the creative possibilities of hybrid genres and open forms. Ostentation, theatricality, and a love of drapery and verbal excess are defining features of his body of work, which ranges from prose fiction, literary criticism, and drama to travel writing, treatises, commentaries, and imaginary interviews.
This study examines the wealth of Manganelli's imagination – his grotesque animals, speaking corpses, and melancholy spectres – and argues that his spectacular eloquence was shaped by an exceptional awareness of literary and philosophical models. Following Manganelli's lead, the author addresses issues such as the boundaries of meaningful language, the relationship between literary and visual texts, fantasy and realism, and the power of literature to express the apprehensions and intimations of human consciousness.


Although Mar del Plata is the most important city on the Atlantic coast of Argentina, mosquitoes inhabiting such area are almost uncharacterized. To increase our knowledge in their distribution, we sampled specimens of natural populations. After the morphological identification based on taxonomic keys, sequences of DNA from small ribosomal subunit (18S rDNA) and cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) genes were obtained from native species and the phylogenetic analysis of these sequences were done. Fourteen species from the genera Uranotaenia, Culex , Ochlerotatus and Psorophora were found and identified. Our 18S rDNA and COI-based analysis indicates the relationships among groups at the supra-species level in concordance with mosquito taxonomy. The introduction and spread of vectors and diseases carried by them are not known in Mar del Plata, but some of the species found in this study were reported as pathogen vectors.


Introduction: Identifying educational needs of general dentists and prioritizing them in continuing education programs are matters of necessity. This study was conducted to identify the viewpoints of general dentists concerning their educational needs, proper methods of teaching, and implementing continuing education program of restorative dentistry in Rafsanjan and Kerman. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study, in which 145 general dentists in Kerman and Rafsanjan participated, was performed in the year 2007. Data was gathered by a questionnaire consisting of demogra-phic questions, 17 questions about the subjects and headings of continuing education program of restorative dentistry, 8 and 6 questions about proper teaching methods and implementing continuing education programs, respectively. The questionnaire was based on 5 point Lickert scale. Data was analyzed by SPSS software using descriptive statistics and t-test. Results: Ninety three general dentists from Kerman and 52 ones from Rafsanjan participated in this study. The most important educational priorities in continuing education program of restorative dentistry were new generations of composites, infection control, sterilization principles, causes of anterior and posterior composite resin restorations failure and porcelain laminate veneer. Participants preferred teaching methods of practical training in educational workshops, observing practical works, and lecture along with film presentation; they also realized the study of textbooks and scientific journals, watching educational film, attending seminars and congresses more suitable for continuing education program of restorative dentistry. Conclusion: The headings of continuing education program of restorative dentistry should be revised regularly based on the learners' needs. Performing or observing practical work are recommended as teaching methods for this kind of programs. Also new methods should be employed in implementing the program.


Data mining is used to discover interesting and previously unknown patterns from datasets. Association rule mining is a popular and well researched method of data mining for discovering interesting relations between items in the databases. Finding frequent item-sets is an important task in data mining for extracting association rules. In this research, we have taken four association rule mining algorithms that use horizontal and vertical data formats for generation of frequent item-sets. We introduce a new association rule mining algorithm, intersect transaction algorithm that uses purely horizontal database layout and find the frequent item-sets by intersecting the transactions having a no. of items. We have also implemented Apriori and Split Merge algorithms of association rule mining. Our Apriori implementation is the enhancement of the previous Apriori algorithm but uses the same property in finding the frequent itemsets as the previous Apriori algorithm uses. The Enhanced Apriori implementation is better in execution time as compared to the previous Apriori algorithm. The Split Merge algorithms use the split and merge technique to find the frequent item-sets. We have taken the Eclat (Equivalence CLASS transformation) algorithm that uses purely vertical data layout. I tested these algorithms on both real and synthetic datasets and then thoroughly investigate the strengths and weakness of these algorithms by carrying out several runtime experiments. It turns out that the runtime behavior of the algorithms is much more similar as to be expected.


Background A single-use flexible cystoscope with integrated grasper (Isiris, Coloplast, Denmark) has recently become commercially available. The objective of our study is to compare the costs of stent removal in an outpatient clinical environment between the single-use Isiris system (Coloplast, Denmark) to our existing approach using a reusable cystoscope and stent grasper. Methods The number of stent removal procedures at our tertiary center was recorded as a proportion of all cystoscopic procedures performed between February 2016 and February 2017. Elements in the micro-cost assessment included: original purchasing price of an Olympus digital reusable cystoscope, repair fee (based on a one-year contract), sterilization equipment and accessory costs, reprocessing costs of the cystoscope, and labor costs. The costs were estimated on a per-use basis and compared to the purchasing price of Isiris. Results A total of 1775 cystoscopic procedures were performed, and the reusable cystoscope was used for stent removal in 871 (49%) cases. The per-use cost for stent removal procedures using the reusable cystoscope was estimated to be $161.85. The single per-use purchasing price for the Isiris device is $200. Based on the current volume, the break-even point was calculated to be 704 stent pulls. After 704 stent pulls, the cost-benefit favors the reusable cystoscope. Conclusion Based on this micro-cost analysis, per-use costs appear to favor the reusable cystoscope for stent removal. It appears that centers with high volumes of stent pulls may find the reusable cystoscope and stent grasper more cost-beneficial than the single-use system.


two antigenic determinants, both of the egg high-density-lipoprotein type, one of which is common to the very-low-density lipoprotein. In native high-density lipoprotein only the unique determinant is sufficiently exposed to react. On delipidation high-density lipoprotein also reacts with anti-(very-low-density lipoprotein). The difference between very-low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein is apparently due to the lipid moiety of the yolk high-density lipoprotein.


Infant mortality remains high in Haiti, at 74 deaths per 1,000 live births. In this study, we aimed to assess infant mortality in Mirebalais and to identify the associated risk factors. We carried out a census of pregnant women in Mirebalais, at the beginning of the study, over a three-week period. Twelve researchers visited the homes of the newborns to enroll the families in the study and to collect demographic data. Further visits were scheduled for two, four, six, nine and twelve months after birth. If the child died during this time, the investigator asked the mother about all the steps taken to prevent the death of the child, and an autopsy was carried out. The survey began on July 12 1994 and ended on December 31 1995. During that time, about 2,151 pregnant women were enrolled. Seven of these women died and 16 had abortions. In total, 2,069 children were born to the enrolled women. We enrolled 515 other children after birth or following referral by health workers or midwives. We therefore followed 2,584 children. We found that 10% of the mothers were aged between 15 and 19 years, 66.3% had had one to three pregnancies and 73% were entirely uneducated. The early neonatal mortality rate was 4.64 per 1,000 live births, late neonatal mortality was 6.96 per thousand and post-neonatal mortality was 45.6 per thousand live births. Diarrhea was responsible for 60% of the deaths and acute respiratory infections for 11%, these two causes accounting for 71% of the deaths of children aged 1 to 12 months. Thus, although infant mortality has decreased it remains high in Mirebalais, largely due to diarrhea and acute respiratory infections in the post-neonatal period.


A novel approach to varying the surface energy of biofunctional substrates has been developed, where surface energies are controlled by utilizing tunable nanopatterned substrates. In this study we functionalized the nanopattern with streptavidin, providing an adhesive interface for biotinylated probes. To obtain the surface energies, we applied the Johnson-Kendall-Roberts model to the adhesion-induced deformation of elastic beads. The results reveal a linear relationship between surface energy and ligand density, demonstrating the capability of this technique to adjust surface energy.


Coronary angiography in a pair of identical twins is described. Despite similarities in coronary risk factors, major differences were seen in both the anatomy and the degree of coronary disease.


In this paper, we consider the regulation control problem for an underactuated overhead crane system. Motivated by recent passivity-based controllers for underactuated systems, we design several controllers that asymptotically regulate the planar gantry position and the payload angle. Specifically, utilizing LaSalle's invariant set theorem, we first illustrate how a simple proportional-derivative (PD) controller can be utilized to asymptotically regulate the overhead crane system. Motivated by the desire to achieve improved transient performance, we then present two nonlinear controllers that increase the coupling between the planar gantry position and the payload angle. Experimental results are provided to illustrate the improved performance of the nonlinear controllers over the simple PD controller.


The aim of this study was to determine adequate energy doses using specific parameters of LLLT to produce biostimulatory effects on human gingival fibroblast culture. Cells (3 × 104 cells/cm2) were seeded on 24-well acrylic plates using plain DMEM supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum. After 48-hour incubation with 5% CO2 at 37°C, cells were irradiated with a InGaAsP diode laser prototype (LASERTable; 780 ± 3 nm; 40 mW) with energy doses of 0.5, 1.5, 3, 5, and 7 J/cm2. Cells were irradiated every 24 h totalizing 3 applications. Twenty-four hours after the last irradiation, cell metabolism was evaluated by the MTT assay and the two most effective doses (0.5 and 3 J/cm2) were selected to evaluate the cell number (trypan blue assay) and the cell migration capacity (wound healing assay; transwell migration assay). Data were analyzed by the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney nonparametric tests with statistical significance of 5%. Irradiation of the fibroblasts with 0.5 and 3 J/cm2 resulted in significant increase in cell metabolism compared with the nonrradiated group (P < 0.05). Both energy doses promoted significant increase in the cell number as well as in cell migration (P < 0.05). These results demonstrate that, under the tested conditions, LLLT promoted biostimulation of fibroblasts in vitro.


This paper presents the results of the proton irradiation of silicon photomulipliers (SiPMs) by mono-energetic 170 MeV protons with fluence up to 4.6×109 particles/cm2. In our work, three types of silicon photodetectors from Hamamatsu with areas 3×3 mm2 and different subpixel sizes of 25×25 μm2, 50×50 μm2, and 75×75 μm2 were used. The changes in the SiPM dark count rate (DCR) spectrum before and after irradiation in temperatures in the range of 20̂C to −65̂C are presented. The influence of the DCR changes on the energy resolution of the 662 keV gamma line from the 137Cs for a non-irradiated GAGG:Ce (1%) scintillator is investigated. The time period of usability of the SiPM detector irradiated by protons in cosmic space was estimated.


Background: The aim of study was to confirm the clinical effectiveness and results of wide and single anterior approach for frac tures occurring along length of humerus. Methods: A total of 23 patients with humeral fracture were enrolled into our study who were able to participate in at least one year of follow-up. Seven patients had segmental comminuted humeral fractures and 16 patients had distal humeral fractures. We made various tractions of the muscles to expose the proximal and the middle third humerus between the biceps and brachialis and the distal humerus by partial splitting of lateral side of biceps through a single inci sion. Postoperatively, we mea sured the Mayo elbow performance index (MEPI). Results: we achieved bone union in all 23 patients. Solid union of the bone was achieved at an aver age 13.9 weeks. Postoperatively, two complications were observed screw loosening and nonunion. Revision surgery was performed in both patients. The patient with bone nonunion was treated using bone grafts. No postoperative infections or peripheral neuropathies were observed. At the final follow-up (average 20 months), we found that the average MEPI functional score of the patients was 91.7 points regardless of the fracture site. Conclusions: Our whole humerus with a single incision was effective for the treatment of seg mental comminuted and distal fractures. we believe it is a useful alternative to preexisting methods of fracture fixation. (Clin Shoulder Elbow 2016;19(4):223-228)


ABOUT THE AUTHOR Keiji Maruoka is a professor of chemistry in Kyoto University in Japan. Having obtained his Ph.D. degree from University of Hawaii, he spent his career working for Nagoya and Hokkaido Universities before taking his current appointment at Kyoto University. Professor Maruoka has authored over 250 scientific publications and has received numerous scientific awards, including the Inoue Prize for Science, the Ichimura Prize for Science, the Japan Synthetic Organic Chemistry Award, and the Nagoya Medal. He is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a member of the international advisory editorial board of several international journals.


Energy storage systems have the capability to provide viable reductions in the fuel consumption of diesel generators in islanded grids with medium to high penetration of renewable energy sources. Kinetic energy storages systems (KESS) can provide spinning reserve capacity (SRC) in such grids. This allows operating with a lower capacity of diesel generators to meet the same demand. This contribution utilizes the Specification, Design and Assessment Methodology (SDA) to develop a KESS and its operational strategy for the islanded grid of Nome, Alaska. The resulting reduction of the diesel consumption is determined through simulations. A possible secondary function of the KESS is to provide load smoothing which relieves the generators from high dynamic load changes.


Abstract The article presents the library system of the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, structure and functioning of the library system of Illinois, education and training of library staff and academic librarians` status and promotion. The author points out also some current dilemmas of public and school libraries in Illinois, which are connected with the problem of intellectual freedom and free access to information, as that of internet filtering, free access to information for minors, library acquisition policy, library buildings and premises, etc.


A numerical study of graphene plasmons (GPs) propagating along various doping profiles of the graphene sheet is proposed. We show that the GP reflection at an abrupt doping interface is a simple function of the doping difference, consistent with a Fresnel model. In addition, improved transmission is obtained with a tapered interface and we find an optimal size for the transition zone. By considering localized inhomogeneities we describe a Fabry–Perot type cavity leading to an absorption above 60%. Furthermore, an alternative design of a 6 nm length cavity is proposed achieving 100% absorption. These results may lead to novel optical switches, circuits or nano-sensors.


A new chiral stationary phase (CSP) was prepared by attachment of macrocyclic glycopeptide antibiotic eremomycin to the epoxy-activated silica under mild conditions. In contrast to CSP with immobilized vancomycin, which is a close structural analogue of eremomycin, the prepared CSP reveals high enantioselectivity for separation of amino acids enantiomers. It was demonstrated by the example of ristocetin A CSP that method of the immobilization of macrocyclic glycopeptide antibiotics affects remarkably the resulting enantioselectivity.


Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) is a promising technology aiming to capture and concentrate the sun's energy to reach high temperatures, which is essential for thermal power generation. Among the available CSP technologies, parabolic trough is the most mature and commercially developed technology with the longest operational experience of utility-size plants whereas linear Fresnel technology is only beginning to be deployed in pilot projects with significant potential to reduce capital cost and improve performance (IRENA, 2012).Linear Fresnel Collectors (LFCs) use a series of long flat or slightly curved mirrors inclined at different angles to concentrate the sunlight on a fixed receiver located several meters above the mirror field. In conventional LFCs each line of mirrors is equipped with a single-axis altitude angle tracking system. Using the flat mirror as a standard mass-produced commodity reduces the capital costs significantly. However, lower concentration ratio and consequently, lower operational temperature are penalties of using LFC.Further cost saving for line-focus solar collectors is attainable through transition to direct steam generation (DSG) in which the need for an intermediate heat transfer fluid and heat exchangers are removed. Furthermore, an improvement of heat transfer is expected in DSG systems due to the two-phase heat transfer inside absorber tubes. Moreover, the operational temperature and consequently, overall heat loss from the solar field can be reduced in the absence of the intermediate heat exchangers which is beneficial for increasing efficiency and cost effectiveness. Nevertheless, probable flow instability due to two-phase flow in the collector, pressure drop and highly sensitivity to radiation changes are the main challenges still ahead for DSG systems.This thesis research was defined in CSEM-UAE (Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique in United Arab Emirates) company as a part of an R&D program for CSEM concept so-called Solar Island. The aim of this project is to design a low cost/high-performance DSG-LFR (Linear Fresnel Receiver) for Solar Island which is a large circular platform with rotational mechanism capable of tracking the sun's azimuth angle. Owing to the utilization of this novel tracking technique, it is possible to use mirrors with fixed inclination angles. As a result, further reduction in initial cost is achievable as all conventional one-axis tracking compartments are replaced with a single rotational disk. On this basis, the initial design of the LFC prototype for Solar Island has been done previously in CSEM-UAE.The project is tackled, firstly, through developing a two-phase steady state thermal model in the Engineering Equation Solver (EES) program for both non-coaxial and coaxial configurations. In addition, adaptability of the commercially developed products on the market such as Schott Solar and Siemens receivers is studied through performing optical analysis with TracePro. As the next step, a cavity receiver is designed through comparing different alternatives in the case of geometry, material and configuration of tubes.Heat loss from a cavity receiver has a complex mechanism and cannot be analyzed by conventional methods. Therefore, CFD modeling method is used to determine the heat loss rate from the receiver at a certain temperature of the absorber, wind speed and cavity inner pressure along with estimation of the stagnation temperature under no-flow condition. Heat flux on the absorber is obtained from optical analysis based on actual optical properties of the materials. The overall heat loss correlation is extracted as a function of absorber temperature which in turn can be used in EES modeling for further thermal analysis.


Physical fitness and--closely related to it--physiological aspects of physical condition are very important in the elevation of the tolerance level to harmful effects of surrounding factors. To improve the possibilities of withstanding the factors of spaceflight, the cosmonauts undergo special training. Among the training methods there is a physical training program that is planned in relation to the general fitness of the cosmonaut. The following problems will be discussed, based on results obtained by the Polish Institute of Aviation Medicine: 1) The specific future of a physical training program. 2) The results of physiological research in a specifically elevated tolerance level to hypoxia and acceleration. 3) The possibilities of extension of physical training taking into account other flight factors.


Nuclear reactions heat and cool the crust of accreting neutron stars and need to be understood to interpret observations of X-ray bursts and long-term cooling in transiently accreting systems. It was recently suggested that previously ignored neutron transfer reactions may play a significant role in the nuclear processes. We present results from full nuclear network calculations that now include these reactions and determine their impact on crust composition, crust impurity, heating, and cooling. We find that a large number of neutron transfer reactions indeed occur and impact crust models. In particular, we identify a new type of reaction cycle that brings a pair of nuclei across the nuclear chart into equilibrium via alternating neutron capture and neutron release, interspersed with a neutron transfer. While neutron transfer reactions lead to changes in crust model predictions and need to be considered in future studies, previous conclusions concerning heating, cooling, and compositional evolution are remarkably robust.


A fully-integrated antenna-in-package (AiP) solution for W-band scalable phased-array systems is demonstrated. We present a fully operational compact W-band transceiver package with 64 dual-polarization antennas embedded in a multilayer organic substrate. This package has 12 metal layers, a size of 16.2 mm × 16.2 mm, and 292 ball-grid-array (BGA) pins with 0.4 mm pitch. Four silicon-germanium (SiGe) transceiver ICs are flip-chip attached to the package. Extensive full-wave electromagnetic simulation and radiation pattern measurements have been performed to optimize the antenna performance in the package environment, with excellent model-to-hardware correlation achieved. Enabled by detailed circuit-package co-design, a half-wavelength spacing, i.e., 1.6 mm at 94 GHz, is maintained between adjacent antenna elements to support array scalability at both the package and board level. Effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) and radiation patterns are also measured to demonstrate the 64-element spatial power combining.


In this paper finite element analysis of a typical jack-up platform under different impact scenarios are performed using ANSYS software and the effect of various mechanisms in absorbing the energy of collision is determined. A 3D model of Iran-Khazar Jack-up operating in Caspian Sea is prepared. Dynamic nonlinear analyses, including geometric and material nonlinearity, are performed. The effects of preloading due to platform weight and environmental wave and current loading before collision are applied. In first collision between ship and studied jack-up, for impact to chords (leg-like vertical elements) as well as to braces (diagonal or horizontal elements), the main energy absorption mechanism is overall deformation of structure. For second impact it is assumed that the rebounded ship moves again toward the platform with relative wave induced velocity and worst impact scenario is considered. The results show that leg chords can resist to the second impact and the platform in both initial and secondary impacts is damaged locally such as indentation of the chord wall and the whole structure is safe.Copyright © 2006 by ASME


Abstract A topic of current practical interest is the accurate characterization of the synoptic-scale atmospheric state from wind profiler and radiosonde network observations. The authors have examined several related and commonly applied objective analysis techniques for performing this characterization and considered their associated level of uncertainty both from a theoretical and a practical standpoint. A case study is presented where two wind profiler triangles with nearly identical centroids and no common vertices produced strikingly different results during a 43-h period. It is concluded that the uncertainty in objectively analyzed quantities can easily be as large as the expected synoptic-scale signal. In order to quantify the statistical precision of the algorithms, the authors conducted a realistic observing system simulation experiment using output from a mesoscale model. A simple parameterization for estimating the uncertainty in horizontal gradient quantities in terms of known errors in the o...


This paper reports on two studies which investigated the relationship between children's texting behaviour, their knowledge of text abbreviations and their school attainment in written language skills. In Study One, 11–12-year-old children provided information on their texting behaviour. They were also asked to translate a standard English sentence into a text message and vice versa. The children's standardised verbal and nonverbal reasoning scores were also obtained. Children who used their mobiles to send three or more text messages a day had significantly lower scores than children who sent none. However, the children who, when asked to write a text message, showed greater use of text abbreviations ('textisms') tended to have better performance on a measure of verbal reasoning ability, which is highly associated with Key Stage 2 (KS2) and 3 English scores. In Study Two, children's performance on writing measures was examined more specifically. Ten to eleven-year-old children were asked to complete another English to text message translation exercise. Spelling proficiency was also assessed, and KS2 Writing scores were obtained. Positive correlations between spelling ability and performance on the translation exercise were found, and group-based comparisons based on the children's writing scores also showed that good writing attainment was associated with greater use of textisms, although the direction of this association is nor clear. Overall, these findings suggest that children's knowledge of textisms is not associated with poor written language outcomes for children in this age range.


We continue the study of approximating the number of distinct elements in a data stream of length n to within a (1 ± ε) factor. It is known that if the stream may consist of arbitrary data arriving in an arbitrary order, then any 1-pass algorithm requires Ω(1/ε2) bits of space to perform this task. To try to bypass this lower bound, the problem was recently studied in a model in which the stream may consist of arbitrary data, but it arrives to the algorithm in a random order. However, even in this model an Ω(1/ε2) lower bound was established. This is because the adversary can still choose the data arbitrarily. This leaves open the possibility that the problem is only hard under a pathological choice of data, which would be of little practical relevance.
 We study the average-case complexity of this problem under certain distributions. Namely, we study the case when each successive stream item is drawn independently and uniformly at random from an unknown subset of d items for an unknown value of d. This captures the notion of random uncorrelated data. For a wide range of values of d and n, we design a 1-pass algorithm that bypasses the Ω(1/ε2) lower bound that holds in the adversarial and random-order models, thereby showing that this model admits more space-efficient algorithms. Moreover, the update time of our algorithm is optimal. Despite these positive results, for a certain range of values of d and n we show that estimating the number of distinct elements requires Ω(1/ε2) bits of space even in this model. Our lower bound subsumes previous bounds, showing that even for natural choices of data the problem is hard.


The growing importance of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), the biggest non-communicable liver disease, inherently leads to an increased attention to lifestyle and diet that are closely intertwined with NAFLD. Elements of the Western diet such as saturated fats and carbohydrates and thus soft drinks, red meat and ultra-processed foods are linked to NAFLD. Contrarily, diets rich in nuts, fruits, vegetables and unsaturated fats as seen in the Mediterranean diet are linked to less prevalent and less severe NAFLD. In the absence of approved medical therapy for NAFLD, therapy mostly focusses on lifestyle and diet. This short review tries to provide a succinct overview of the current knowledge on the influence of certain diets or individual nutrients on NAFLD and discusses different dietary approaches. It ends with a short list of recommendations that can be used in daily practice.


Finger millet (Eleusine coracana) is a staple food in several parts of the world because of its high nutritional value. In addition to its high nutrient content, finger millet contains numerous bioactive compounds, including polyphenol (10.2 mg/g TAE), flavonoid (5.54 mg/g CE), phytic acid (0.48%), and dietary fiber (15–20%). Polyphenols are known for their anti-oxidant and anti-diabetic role. Phytic acid, previously considered an anti-nutritive substance, is now regarded as a nutraceutical as it reduces carbohydrate digestibility and thus controls post-prandial glucose levels and obesity. Thus, finger millet is an attractive diet for patients with diabetes. Recent findings have revealed that the anti-oxidant activity and bio-accessibility of finger millet polyphenols increased significantly (P < 0.05) in the colon, confirming the role of the gut microbiota. The prebiotic content of finger millet was also utilized by the gut microbiota, such as Faecalibacterium, Eubacterium, and Roseburia, to generate colonic short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), and probiotic Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus, which are known to be anti-diabetic in nature. Notably, finger millet-induced mucus-degrading Akkermansia muciniphila can also help in alleviate diabetes by releasing propionate and Amuc_1100 protein. Various millet bio-actives effectively controlled pathogenic gut microbiota, such as Shigella and Clostridium histolyticum, to lower gut inflammation and, thus, the risk of diabetes in the host. In the current review, we have meticulously examined the role of gut microbiota in the bio-accessibility of millet compounds and their impact on diabetes.


Given a malfunctioning system, sequential diagnosis aims at identifying the root cause of the failure in terms of abnormally behaving system components. As initial system observations usually do not suffice to deterministically pin down just one explanation of the system's misbehavior, additional system measurements can help to differentiate between possible explanations. The goal is to restrict the space of explanations until there is only one (highly probable) explanation left. To achieve this with a minimal-cost set of measurements, various (active learning) heuristics for selecting the best next measurement have been proposed.
We report preliminary results of extensive ongoing experiments with a set of selection heuristics on real-world diagnosis cases. In particular, we try to answer questions such as "Is some heuristic always superior to all others?", "On which factors does the (relative) performance of the particular heuristics depend?" or "Under which circumstances should I use which heuristic?"


The HF hybrid sky-surface wave radar is a new system radar, and because of the complex characteristics of ionosphere as a propagation medium, its detection performance is widely determined by the state of ionosphere. Combined with the layout of the radar system and the character of receiving in wide beam, this paper analyzes the influence of ionosphere on the size of resolution cell and signal to clutter ratio (SCR). First of all, it analyzes and calculates the influence of ionospheric dispersion and irregularities on resolution. Then, it analyzes the calculation methods of the area of resolution cell under the condition of the bistatic radar and the wide beam, and analyzes ionospheric irregularities' influence on the size of resolution cell. At last, according to the basic equation of HF hybrid sky-surface wave radar, it deduces the influence of ionosphere on SCR, and do the simulation with parameters of typical system and ionosphere. The simulation results show that ionospheric dispersion and irregularities affect the size of the resolution cell, reduce the SCR, which go against the detection of ship targets. (6 pages)


The International English Language Testing Systems (IELTS) is viewed as one of the most widely used and internationally recognised tests to measure test-takers'language proficiency in terms of listening, reading, writing and speaking skills (Coffin, 2004). In order to highly accomplish the IELTS academic writing module, it is essential that the candidates should be well aware of its interpersonal expectations which are implicit in the IELTS assessment criteria (Nakamura, 2009). In this paper, the main focus is on the investigation into the interpersonal meanings used in IELTS high scoring academic essays in light of the Hallidayan's framework with a view to exploring how candidates establish relationships with IELTS examniners through linguistic resources successfully, and highlighting some pedagogical implications for expressing writers' opinion and attitude, thereby making practical contributions to score enhancement in their essays.


Abstract Rapidly solidified alloys with a nominal composition of Al76.5Fe23.5 and Al75.8Co24.2 (in at%), corresponding to the Al13Fe4 and Al13Co4 phases, were produced by a melt spinning technique. The microstructure and phase composition of the as-spun and heat-treated ribbons were examined by X-ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The as-spun ribbons consisted of columnar grains with an average size of 1–2 μm, which increased by a factor of 2 after applied heat treatment. The Al13Fe4 as-spun ribbon comprised of two phases: grains of the Al13Fe4 phase surrounded by solid solution of Al, transformed into a single monoclinic Al13Fe4 phase after annealing. The as-spun Al13Co4 ribbons had a multiphase structure. A decagonal quasicrystalline D-phase, the monoclinic M-Al13Co4 phase, and the Al9Co2 phase were identified in their microstructure. After the heat treatment, the mixture of the orthorhombic O-Al13Co4 phase and grains of monoclinic Y-Al13Co4 were observed. The investigations of catalytic properties were performed for the phenylacetylene hydrogenation reaction using pulverized ribbons in the initial state and after annealing. The degree of conversion was in the range of 8–27% and increased with the increasing reaction temperature. The highest selectivity to styrene was obtained for the Al13Fe4 alloy in the as-spun state.


Passive solar heating and cooling retrofit options can significantly reduce the energy consumption of new and existing mobile homes. This paper describes the initial efforts of the Solar Energy Research Institute to explore the solar potential for the existing stock of mobile homes and those in the production stage.