Typically there is variability in the material and geometrical properties of fibre-reinforced composites and this variability is often spatially correlated. Numerical models can predict the response of such panels, but the spatially correlated nature of the variability must be represented within the model. However, characterising the variability, and especially the spatial correlation, is problematic. In this study data is first generated by an automated optical process: light transmissibility measurements are taken of a dry chopped strand mat panel. The intensity of the consequent image is post-processed to describe the fibre density as a random field using the Karhunen-Loeve decomposition. The panel is then cut into beams, from which mobility measurements are taken, providing an ensemble of mobility and natural frequency information. The WKB (after Wentzel, Kramers and Brillouin) approximation, is used in order to find a suitable wave solutions for finite waveguides considering the given random field. Subsequent realisations of the random field are then used to predict the statistics of the vibration response of the beams. Numerical and experimental results show a very good agreement. This approach significantly reduces the computational time when compared to standard Finite Element calculations and provides a suitable framework to account for randomness in the properties.


In this paper, the basic algebraic properties of the optimal PWM problem for single-phase inverters are revealed. Specifically, it is shown that the nonlinear design equations given by the standard mathematical formulation of the problem can be reformulated, and that the sought solution can be found by computing the roots of a single univariate polynomial P(x), for which algorithms are readily available. Moreover, it is shown that the polynomials P(x) associated with the optimal PWM problem are orthogonal and can therefore be obtained via simple recursions. The reformulation draws upon the Newton identities, Pade approximation theory, and properties of symmetric functions. As a result, fast O(n log/sup 2/ n) algorithms are derived that provide the exact solution to the optimal PWM problem. For the PWM harmonic elimination problem, explicit formulas are derived that further simplify the algorithm.


Natural products are one of the main sources for developing new drugs. The alkaloids obtained from the plant family Amaryllidaceae have interesting structures and biological activities, such as acetylcholinesterase inhibition potential, which is one of the mechanisms used for the palliative treatment of Alzheimer's disease symptoms. Herein we report the alkaloidal profile of bulbs and leaves extracts of Crinum × amabile collected in Ecuador and their in vitro inhibitory activity on acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) enzymes. Using Gas Chromatography coupled to Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS), we identified 12 Amaryllidaceae alkaloids out of 19 compounds detected in this species. The extracts from bulbs and leaves showed great inhibitory activity against AChE and BuChE, highlighting the potential of Amaryllidaceae family in the search of bioactive molecules.


This paper derives a control concept for far range Formation Flight (FF) applications assuming circular reference orbits. The paper focuses on a general impulsive control concept for FF which is then extended to the more realistic case of nonimpulsive thrust maneuvers. The control concept uses a description of the FF in relative orbital elements (ROE) instead of the classical Cartesian description since the ROE provide a direct access to key aspects of the relative motion and are particularly suitable for relative orbit control purposes and collision avoidance analysis. Although Gauss' variational equations have been first derived to offer a mathematical tool for processing orbit perturbations, they are suitable for several different applications. If the perturbation acceleration is due to a control thrust, Gauss' variational equations show the effect of such a control thrust on the keplerian orbital elements. Integrating the Gauss' variational equations offers a direct relation between velocity increments in the local vertical local horizontal (LVLH) frame and the subsequent change of keplerian orbital elements. For proximity operations, these equations can be generalized from describing the motion of single spacecraft to the description of the relative motion of two spacecraft. This will be shown for impulsive and finiteduration maneuvers. Based on that, an analytical tool to estimate the error induced through impulsive planning is presented. The resulting control schemes are simple and effective and thus, also suitable for on-board implementation. Simulations show that the proposed concept improves the timing of the thrust maneuver executions and thus reduces the residual error of the formation control.


Considering the impacts COVID-19 has had on travel and many economies, developing virtual experiences that are well-received by different publics has become even more prominent. This paper shows how a multimodal discourse analysis can be used to as a bottom-up approach to identifying narrative themes that can be used in virtual experiences for cultural heritage sites. A case study on 11 UNESCO World Heritage Australian Convict Sites shows how diverse sources of user-generated content, tourism marketing materials and historical information can be analysed and then remixed into a virtual tour of the sites in the form of an interactive web documentary (iDoc). Although this case study involved a total of seven narrative development phases, this paper focuses on two phases, namely how the user model and content model were determined. These models were later used to develop the resulting iDoc prototype. The user model focused on the prospective audience of cultural heritage tourists, and a content model of narrative themes for the iDoc was developed through a multimodal discourse analysis. This bottom-up approach of analysing existing cultural data allows for the discovery of the prospective audiences' interests as well as narrative themes that can be included in virtual heritage experiences. It also provides a new creative methodology that can prevent issues that may arise with top-down narratives that focus too heavily on one institutional perspective or national narrative and lack direct engagement with or understanding of today's publics.


In this thesis, a sensorless method for low and zero speed operation is proposed for a high-power medium-voltage pulse-width-modulated Current–Source-Converter (CSC)-fed Interior Permanent Magnet Motor (IPM) drive system. The proposed method is based on injection of a high-frequency (HF) pulsating sinusoidal signal into the estimated synchronous reference frame of the drive's Field Oriented Control (FOC) scheme. The conventional FOC control scheme, low switching frequency, dc-link inductor and the inverter output three-phase filter capacitor of the medium-voltage high-power current-source drive present some challenges in the generation and design of the HF injection signal. To overcome the challenges, the FOC scheme is modified by introducing a modulation index control with a suitable dc-link current compensation to enhance the dynamic response of the injected signal and prevent any clamp in the injected signal. In addition, a Multisampling Space Vector Modulation (MS-SVM) method is proposed to prevent the distortion in the HF signal due to a low switching frequency to injected signal ratio. It is found that by using the proposed FOC scheme and multisampling modulation scheme, and proper design of the HF signal, an accurate rotor flux angle can be estimated for sensorless zero/low speed operation.

Moreover, a novel input power factor compensation method is proposed for a high-power pulse-width-modulated Current-Source-Converter (CSC)-fed Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) drive system. The proposed method is based on controlling the d-axis stator current component in the field-oriented control scheme of the drive system. The main feature of the proposed scheme is to compensate for the line-side power factor without the need for modulation index control in either the rectifier or the inverter.

Simulation and experimental verification for various objectives are provided throughout the thesis. The results validate the proposed solutions for the main challenges of zero/low speed operation of sensorless Current-Source-Converter (CSC)-fed Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) drive system.


Release of carbohydrates by phytoplankton enhances microbial diversity, promoting associations between algae and heterotrophic organisms. Thus, this work aimed to characterise the dissolved carbohydrates at a Brazilian subtropical coastal lagoon (Merin lagoon), in addition to determining their relationships with environmental parameters and phyto/bacterioplankton communities over one year. We analysed the relationships among physical, chemical and biological parameters by a principal component analysis (PCA) after normalisation of data as z scores. Chlorophyceae showed the highest richness, although Bacillariophyceae and Cyanophyceae showed the highest densities. These classes are essentially represented by centric diatoms ( Aulacoseira cf. muzzanensis ) and filamentous cyanobacteria ( Planktolyngbya limnetica and Planktolyngbya cf. contorta ). Merin lagoon showed a strong seasonal behaviour for most of parameters and phytoplanktonic density was mainly correlated with temperature, specific conductance , phosphate and total bright sunshine duration. Only combined dissolved carbohydrates (CDCHOs) were found and their main components were glucose (31.6%), mannose/xylose (20.6%), ribose (13.9%), arabinose (8.9%) and galacturonic acid (8.1%). The CDCHO amounts were higher in November, March-April and September and the December/January and July/August periods showed lower ones. Ribose was first detected only in the warm months and it gradually decreased with bacterial density. The carbohydrate concentration was coupled to phytoplanktonic density, except in December and January, when the bacterial density was increased. These results supported the significance of dissolved carbohydrates in associations with algae and bacteria in the freshwater planktonic environment. Our data reinforced the influence of phytoplankton community on the natural dissolved carbohydrate pool, besides the significance of such carbon source on the bacterial community dynamic.


Stateful Inspection has become a classical technology for network firewall. Existing session table architectures of Stateful Inspection firewalls cause high time cost of timeout processing. A new architecture is proposed. The new architecture divides a session entry into two separate parts, and designs different data structures for each other. On the base of multi-queue architecture, dynamical timeouts according to available resource improve securities of protected hosts against SYN flood attack. Experimental results show that the new architecture can work well in Gigabit Ethernet network.


In large corporations, requirements are often stored in several locations and formats. Projects
may use different tools, there may be several systems that are not directly integrated and it is
likely that many people are working with requirements across different departments. Therefore,
there is a need to collect these requirements to a single location and format. The main purpose
of this thesis was to investigate how a general purpose tool using simple lunguistical rules would
behave when used on texts in different formats, from different parts of the requirement process.
The framework extracts requirements from texts, regardless of format, and formats them according
to the users' needs. The framework was developed using design research and was evaluated
through a study at Volvo Car Corporation (VCC), where it analyzed three types of requirement
documents: a legal text, a structured requirement document and an unstructured requirement
document. The results of the study were then evaluated by the authors in cooperation with
a representative from VCC. The results show that it is possible to use an automated, general
purpose framework for this purpose with good accuracy. In comparison with current state-ofthe-
art requirement extraction algorithms, the results of this thesis regarding the accuracy of
finding requirements are equally accurate, with potential for improvement. The framework can
be used by practitioners to collect requirements from different sources and migrate them to a
given format.


In 1939 J. M. van Roon and J. J. ter Pelkwijk published some data on two specimens of Orthragoriscus mola (L.) stranded on the Dutch coast. Measurements of bones and muscles of the jaw were given on account of the functional treatise concerning the mechanism of the jaw of Orthragoriscus given by Van Dobben (1935), based upon one specimen that differed in many ways from both individuals we dissected. In the following years, we got three more specimens and an examination of the jaw muscles proved them to be fully agreeing with the two fishes described before. It seems worth while to publish corresponding data and measurements. Specimen C, a female, stranded December 12, 1939 near Kamperduin in the neighbourhood of Schoorl. This fish was more oblong than either of the others. The sides were covered with longitudinal ripples. J. J. ter Pelkwijk dissected it on the beach on December 13. Specimen D, a male caught in a trawl near the coast off Scheveningen December 13, 1940, was brought to the Zoological Garden at The Hague where it was exhibited for a month in a 4 % formol solution. Then it was brought to the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie at Leiden, were it was dissected by J. M. van Roon and P. H. Creutzberg. This fish was much smaller than the others and more circular. It had a conspicuous ridge above the eyes and a curved ridge under the eyes and pectoral fins. Specimen E, a female, stranded November 30, 1941 near Schoorl; it was found by Mr. K. Kuiper at Alkmaar, who sent it to the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, where it was dissected by J. M. van Roon and G. P. Baerends on December 11. This fish differed less than C and D from


The article presents a proposal for a new formula of housing construction based on the author's architectural design of a T-shaped house against the background of the current crisis housing situation in the world. The analysis of the literature showed that there is a gap in defining the typology of low-budget residential architecture, which is developing outside the standard regulatory systems as a bottom-up response to crisis problems. The search for a new housing formula with the use of houses on the T plan is presented on the basis of the use of various features of residential spaces characteristic of single-family and multi-family housing, collective and community housing, and unregulated, as well as on the basis of the geometric and technological possibilities of the proposed solution. The result of this search, based on the research method consisting in the selection of features and criteria characterizing extremely different types of buildings, is a model that largely resembles the idea of a community house and can be a response to the global housing crisis as well as a proposal to complete the typology of housing.


ABSTRACT This symposium considers how the digital humanities (DH), which relies on computer technology to interpret data and present conclusions, can enhance our understanding of tourism history. It begins with an introduction that defines DH, considers how DH can assist the way in which we think about tourism, and discusses the strengths and limitations of applications like text mining and digital mapping. This is followed by a review of the scholarship on digital mapping and the humanities which also highlights some of the important themes and projects that have sprung from this dynamic interdisciplinary dialogue. The latter half of the symposium is dedicated to two project reports. The first describes how the Grand Tour Project at Stanford University is utilizing a database of digital entries which combine digitised text and structured data to illuminate connections between eighteenth-century travellers. The second discusses how the Geospatial Innovation in the Digital Humanities project at Lancaster University is using geo-spatial technologies to examine the relationship between historically evolving ideas about tourist destinations in the Lake District and the contemporary management of such sites. The symposium concludes with some contemplation of the future developments in the realm of digital humanities and tourism history.


ABSTRACT Background Indonesians constituted 79% of foreign care workers for long-term care in Taiwan in 2015. Therefore, it is crucial to explore the effect of work stress and quality of life (QoL) on this population. Purpose This study aims to explore stress levels, social support requirements, and perceived QoL among Indonesian care workers (ICWs) who work in home care settings. Methods A cross-sectional design was used. Data were collected between 2014 and 2016 from a convenience sample of ICWs working in eastern Taiwan using a self-administered questionnaire that comprised the Stress Perception Scale (SPS), Social Support Scale (SSS), and World Health Organization Quality of Life-Brief scale. One hundred fifty-seven valid questionnaires were collected. The response rate was 80.51%. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, one-way analysis of variance, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and multiple regression analysis. Results The results found that the average SPS of the sample was 70.50, with low QoL scores and requirements for more social support. In addition, significant and positive correlations were found between QoL and SPS, SSS, duration of patient care, and hours of care per week. Stepwise regression analysis showed that the most predictive variables for QoL were time spent caring, preservice training, psychological stress, and emotional support, which together accounted for 60.9% of the total variance. Conclusions/Implications for Practice This study facilitated understanding of the stress on ICWs and the impact of social support on their QoL. The findings suggest that new immigrants in Taiwan should be introduced to foreign care workers or nursing attendants. Moreover, long-term-care-related teachers should work with home care institutions or agencies to develop a teaching model for innovative care skills to relieve the perceived stress of ICWs.


With the advancement of medical care and technology, human life expectancy is increasing, many advanced countries have aging societies, and the elderly have increasing needs for society to address; these have become some of the main problems to be solved in modern society (Chang et al., 2021). To solve these problems, long-term care institutions have become one of the solutions. In addition, dementia is the most important social problem among elderly individuals (Tsang et al., 2020). In most Asian countries, the solution to the problem of dementia in the elderly is to establish long-term care institutions, such as villages for elderly individuals and nursing homes. However, there is still the problem of companionship in an aging society. The needs of the elderly lie in companionship. Through family companionship, the elderly can share the joys of daily life with their families.


: This work reports a study on a tidal current system named GEMSTAR, composed of two hydrokinetic turbines supported by a floating submerged structure. A flexible mooring cable links the floating support to the seabed allowing the free rotation of the system and its alignment to changing current direction. The work is mainly focused on the design of the turbine blade with two objectives: keeping a constant power output above the rated power condition and limiting the thrust increase between rated and maximum operating speed. A fixed pitch blade was considered, in order to reduce the costs associated to a complex pitch control mechanism. An analytical procedure for blade design is proposed and validated by comparison to other numerical methods. Above the rated current speed, the power is held constant while the rotational speed of the turbine and of the generator increases, assuming an over-speeding control strategy. The adopted design configuration relies on the possibility of the generator to operate in de-fluxing working conditions. As reported in the last part of this study, a numerical model of the generator has also been developed and applied to a test case in order to analyse the electric behaviour of the system.


Active Magnetic Bearings technology is becoming more and more a standard in Oil and Gas turbo machinery. Touchdown bearings are an important element of all machines levitated by magnetic bearings. Frequently implemented as hybrid ball bearings, they constitute the only mechanical link between the rotor spinning at high peripheral speed and the stator. Since both sides carry fragile parts, any uncontrolled contact must be avoided.Extensive testing has been done in industry. When unplanned down-time would have a high system impact or when repair options are limited (upstream equipment, subsea operation), elaborate testing campaigns are common. A complement, if not an alternative, are computer based transient rotor drop simulations. They allow reducing uncertainties and help qualifying designs. In most cases, simulations use rotor dynamics models combined with contact models allowing an estimation of shaft behavior during a drop. We present a new approach for transient rotor drop simulations, where detailed calculation of the interior ball bearing mechanics is at the center of the model. This is possible by using a multiple-bodies simulation code, which was initially developed for pure ball bearing calculations and implements contact models including lubrication, wear, and geometry imperfections. Here, the same code is used to model entire shaft systems, associated with preloaded touchdown bearings. This technique allows not only to understand and to analyze failure patterns that determine bearing lifetime (contact stress, heat, and deformation), but also to take into account interactions of the bearing itself with the rest of the system.After a feasibility study for validating the capability of simulating rotor drops, three models were realized for three different types of machines of increasing complexity that were all validated by actual drop tests. The last model is a supercritical horizontal shaft system (200kg) representing an actual Oil and Gas application in reduced scale. Simulated shaft behavior was successfully compared to drop test recordings. The output was analyzed for internal bearing mechanics (contact pressures and contact angle, sliding or rolling friction) and could be correlated with evidence found on the bearings from the drop tests.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


Remote terminal units (RTUs) are perimeter supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) devices that measure and control actual physical devices. Cyber security was largely ignored in SCADA for many years, and the cyber security issues that now face SCADA and DCS, specifically RTU security, are investigated in this research. This dissertation presents a new role based access control model designed specifically for RTUs and process control. The model is developed around the process control specific data element called a point, and point operations. The model includes: assignment constraints that limit the RTU operations that a specific role can be assigned and activation constraints that allow a security administrator to specify conditions when specific RTU roles or RTU permissions cannot be used.
RTU enforcement of the new access control model depends on, and is supported by, the protection provided by an RTU's operating system. This dissertation investigates two approaches for using minimal kernels to reduce potential vulnerabilities in RTU protection enforcement and create a security hardened RTU capable of supporting the new RTU access control model. The first approach is to reduce a commercial OS kernel to only those components needed by the RTU, removing any known or unknown vulnerabilities contained in the eliminated code and significantly reducing the size of the kernel. The second approach proposes using a microkernel that supports partitioning as the basis for an RTU specific operating system which isolates network related RTU software, the RTU attack surface, from critical RTU operational software such as control algorithms and analog and digital input and output.
In experimental analysis of a prototype hardened RTU connected to real SCADA hardware, a reduction of over 50% was obtained in reducing a 2.4 Linux kernel to run on actual RTU hardware. Functional testing demonstrated that different users were able to carryout assigned tasks with the limited set of permissions provided by the security hardened RTU and a series of simulated insider attacks were prevented by the RTU role based access control system. Analysis of communication times indicated response times would be acceptable for many SCADA and DCS application areas. Investigation of a partitioning microkernel for an RTU identified the L4 microkernel as an excellent candidate. Experimental evaluation of L4 on real hardware found the IPC overhead for simulated critical RTU operations protected by L4 partitioning to be sufficiently small to warrant continued investigation of the approach.


Purpose
Research within the fields of youth sexuality and safeguarding, and ethical governance more broadly, has traditionally prioritised risk aversion over the rights of young people to participate in and shape research. This excludes younger people from setting agendas and directly communicating their lived experience to those in power. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach
This paper describes and draws upon findings from an innovative two year participatory action research study exploring sexual consent with young people through embedded and participatory research across seven sites. The project was designed with young people and practised non-traditional approaches to research consent. As well as co-producing research data, the findings highlight how methods of co-enquiry and being explicit about the research consent process enabled young people to develop competence that can be applied in other contexts.

Findings
The paper addresses ethical tensions between young people's rights to participation and protection. It argues that alongside robust safeguarding procedures, there is equal need to develop robust participation and engagement strategies with an explicit focus on young people's competence, agency and rights to participate regardless of the perceived sensitivity of the topic.

Originality/value
The paper concludes with proposals for future youth-centred research practice. These relate to research design, ethical governance processes around risk and sensitive topics, emphasis on working collaboratively with young people and practitioners, a greater focus on children and young people's rights – including Gillick competence and fluid models of consent. In doing so, it presents an essential point of reference for those seeking to co-produce research with young people in the UK and beyond.


An Arabidopsis gene is required for normal levels of pectin methylesterase activity and embryo cell expansion during the accumulation of storage reserves. Homogalacturonan pectin domains are synthesized in a highly methyl-esterified form that later can be differentially demethyl esterified by pectin methyl esterase (PME) to strengthen or loosen plant cell walls that contain pectin, including seed coat mucilage, a specialized secondary cell wall of seed coat epidermal cells. As a means to identify the active PMEs in seed coat mucilage, we identified seven PMEs expressed during seed coat development. One of these, HIGHLY METHYL ESTERIFIED SEEDS (HMS), is abundant during mucilage secretion, peaking at 7 d postanthesis in both the seed coat and the embryo. We have determined that this gene is required for normal levels of PME activity and homogalacturonan methyl esterification in the seed. The hms-1 mutant displays altered embryo morphology and mucilage extrusion, both of which are a consequence of defects in embryo development. A significant decrease in the size of cells in the embryo suggests that the changes in embryo morphology are a consequence of lack of cell expansion. Progeny from a cross between hms-1 and the previously characterized PME inhibitor5 overexpression line suggest that HMS acts independently from other cell wall-modifying enzymes in the embryo. We propose that HMS is required for cell wall loosening in the embryo to facilitate cell expansion during the accumulation of storage reserves and that its role in the seed coat is masked by redundancy.


Vertical nanostructure heteroepitaxy opens new opportunities for designing next‐generation electronic devices due to the enthralling multifunction combinations and the abundant heterointerfaces manipulated effects. In this study, self‐assembled heteroepitaxial thin films, vertically aligned metallic LaNiO3 (LNO) and semiconducting NiO with diverse heterointerfaces, are created and systematically investigated by advanced transmission electron microscopy. With the increase of LaNiO3 content, the LaNiO3 phases present as isolated islands encircled by the connected NiO nanoplates and eventually become the continuous matrix with embedded NiO nanopillars. The atomic heterointerface between NiO and LaNiO3 phases is determined to be [NiO2–LaO]LaNiO3–LaO–[NiO]NiO, in which an extra La–O layer is enriched at the heterointerface. Besides, the formation mechanism of the heterointerface and antiphase boundaries observed in LaNiO3 phase is discussed. The electrical transport properties at room temperature can be tuned gradually by changing the volume ratio of constituents. The correlation among the insulator‐to‐metal transition, the carrier types associated with transport behaviors, and the heterostructure evolutions are explored. This study offers a desirable platform to design new multifunctional electronic devices based on the oxide heterojunctions.


Bayesian target classification methods using radar and electronic support measure (ESM) data are considered. A joint treatment of target tracking and target classification problems is introduced. First, a method for target classification using radar data and class-dependent kinematic models is presented. Second, a target classification method using ESM data is presented. Then, a Bayesian radar and ESM data fusion algorithm, referred to as direct identity fusion (DIF), for target classification is presented. This algorithm exploits the dependence of target state on target class via the use of class dependent kinematic models but fails to exploit the dependence of target class on target state. We then introduce a method, referred to as joint tracking and classification (JTC), for treating target tracking and classification problems jointly, by exploiting the dependence of target class on target state via flight-envelope-dependent classes and the dependence of target state on target class via class dependent kinematic models. A two-dimensional example demonstrates the relative merits of these methods. It is shown that, while the incorporation of the two-way dependence between target state and class (i.e., JTC) promises some benefits over the method that incorporates only a one-way dependence (i.e., DIF), there are severe filter implementation difficulties for the former. The results also demonstrate that the fusion of information from radar and ESM sensors via the DIF approach results in improvements over classification methods based on either of the individual sensors.


caution as is required for coffee itself. It is possible that the users of imitation coffees are not avoiding the alleged health-hazards of true coffee (MJA, May 16, 1988), if these are due to the presence of free radicals. Acknowledgements We would like to thank Ultrahealth Ltd for commissioning this survey, and for supplying the samples of imitation coffees. Gordon J. Troup, DSc Graham L. Wilson, PhD Don R. Hutton, PhD Department of Physics Charles R. Hunter, MB BS Department of Anatomy Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3168 1. Ingram DlE. Biological and biochemical applications of electron spin resonance. London: Adam Hilger, 1969: 158-176. 2. Stich HF, ed. Carcinogens and mutagens in the environment. Vol I: food products. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press, 1969: 121·133.


Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, a useful technique due to the speed, ease of use, and adaptability to on-line or offline implementation, has been applied to perform the qualitative classification and quantitative prediction on a number of cotton quality indices, including cotton trash from HVI, SA, and AFIS measurement. It is well-known that these current-in-use trash measuring devices only produce the trash values in some aspects, instead of the content for individual trash component. This difficulty comes from the complexity of co-existence of various trash types, for example, leaves (leaf and bract), seed coats, hulls, and stems. Regarding to this, mixtures of known trash components (e.g., leaves, seed coats, hulls, stems, and sand/soil) with cut lint fibers were prepared physically and then their NIR spectra were correlated with the respective trash contents. The results suggested the feasibility of NIR technique in the precise and quantitative determination of total trash, leaf trash and non-leaf trash components.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the frequency of lifetime psychiatric disorders among 3 groups of subjects: patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) from a tertiary care setting, community residents with FMS who had not sought medical care for their FMS symptoms ("FMS nonpatients"), and healthy controls.

METHODS
We used the Computerized Diagnostic Interview Schedule to assess lifetime psychiatric diagnoses, as well as the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale and the Trait Anxiety Inventory to assess current psychological distress, among 64 patients with FMS, 28 FMS nonpatients, and 23 healthy individuals.

RESULTS
Patients with FMS, relative to FMS nonpatients and healthy controls, were characterized by a significantly greater number of lifetime psychiatric diagnoses (P = 0.002). Nonpatients did not differ from controls in psychiatric diagnoses. Patients also exhibited higher psychological distress levels than nonpatients, and nonpatients showed greater distress than controls. Differences in psychological distress between patients and nonpatients were eliminated after controlling for pain threshold and fatigue ratings.

CONCLUSION
Psychiatric disorders are not intrinsically related to the FMS syndrome. Instead, multiple lifetime psychiatric diagnoses may contribute to the decision to seek medical care for FMS in tertiary care settings.


Cloud computing (CC) is the growing technology for providing multiple virtual infrastructures. Nowadays it is becoming and providing dynamics scaling of resources that are accessible to users as required. Dynamic Resource allocation means allotting the computing resources to the various services needed by the user without any time constraint with the help of virtual machines. It is also known as demand-based resource allocation. In the dynamic resource allocation method, the number of users remotely requesting the computing Resources. So resources are allocated to virtual machines on-demand basis. Here feature prediction is the important part by using the streaming data. So both the process was concentrate on this work. As a result, we propose a hybridization of Hybrid Particle Swarm Optimization and the Modified Genetic Algorithm (HPSO-MGA), which are developed to make the entire process for allocating resources dynamically by scattering tasks or requests in VMs. By using the rule generation process the feature outcome also predicted. The process begins from the User or Consumer by getting data from various resources through on-line. These data will be given to task manager. From the task manager, we can extract parameters like Cost of the task, Speed, Size of data and weight, etc. Similarly, we can extract the details of system resources like CPU Utilization, Memory Usage, Processing speed, and Process Cycle, Bandwidth, Number of requests, load on VM, Disk space from the cloud storage. Here the required features are selected by using Hybrid Particle Swarm Optimization and Modified Genetic Algorithm (HPSO-MGA) to decrease the processing time required for allocating resources dynamically. From all the features only necessary features will be used. Hence time taken for resource allocation is reduced and accuracy becomes low. So our proposed Hybrid Particle Swarm Optimization and Modified Genetic Algorithm (HPSO-MGA) reduce the execution time and increase the performance of resource allocation. Our proposed RA methodology shows better performance when compared with the existing methods.


In this article we studied the adsorption of serum albumin to substrata with a broad range of wettabilities from solutions with protein concentrations between 0.03 and 3.00 mg.mL-1 in a parallel-plate flow cell. Wall shear rates were varied between 20 and 2000 s-1. The amount of albumin adsorbed in a stationary state was always highest on PTFE, the most hydrophobic material employed and decreased with increasing wettability of the substrata. Increasing stationary amounts of adsorbed albumin were observed with increasing wall shear rates at the lowest protein concentration. Inverse observations were made at the highest protein concentration. Transmission electron micrographs of replicas from the albumin-coated substrata showed that proteins were mostly adsorbed in islandlike structures on the hydrophobic substrata. The tendency to form islandlike structures was shear rate- and concentration-dependent and disappeared gradually going to more hydrophilic substrata. On glass, the most hydrophilic material employed, a homogeneous, well distributed, fine knotted, reticulated structure was found. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that both the amount of adsorbed albumin as well as the surface structure of the adsorbed proteins are regulated by the substratum wettability. This observation may well account for the fact that substratum properties can be transferred by an adsorbed protein film to the interface with adhering cells or microorganisms.


The Coupled Cyclotron Facility at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at Michigan State University provides a large variety of new isotopes previously inaccessible and others at rates sufficienct for in‐beam spectroscopy. This talk presents some of our recent results elucidating the structure of exotic nuclei.After a general overview of scientific highlights from the first two years of operation particular results from several in‐beam gamma‐ray spectroscopy experiments in the vicinities of neutron numbers N=16, N=20, N=28 in the π(sd) shell around 56Ni will be discussed. Inelastic scattering experiments with gamma‐ray detection on light and heavy targets have determined specific transition matrix elements and excited state energies. One‐ and two‐particle nucleon knockout reactions were used to investigate the wave functions of specific states and to deduce corresponding spectroscopic factors.


Abstract This paper analyzes how Trump uses metadiscourse as a strategy for denying accusations of racism. We conduct a discourse analysis of press event interactions where Trump denies journalists' accusations of racism or where Trump himself voices others' accusations of racism and then denies these accusations. Analysis of 8 excerpts illustrates how Trump a) uses metadiscourse to reframe his own talk as "accurate" instead of "racist," b) uses "fake news" as humor to delegitimize media and display amicable relationships with his African American supporters and c) labels questions from journalists who ask about his racist actions as "racist" or "nasty." These metadiscursive strategies reproduce racist ideologies that position Trump as well intentioned, not racist, and thus not blame-worthy for racist actions and those who question Trump as unreasonable and sometimes, racist themselves. Thus, Trump uses his authority to control definitions of what counts as racism and is able to perpetuate racism while attempting to maintain a "not-racist" identity. Overall, we highlight how close analysis of forms of metadiscourse as used in particular interactional and relational contexts is consequential for understanding ways that racism is justified and maintained more broadly.


This paper proposes an attentional network for the task of Continuous Sign Language Recognition. The proposed approach exploits co-independent streams of data to model the sign language modalities. These different channels of information can share a complex temporal structure between each other. For that reason, we apply attention to synchronize and help capture entangled dependencies between the different sign language components. Even though Sign Language is multi-channel, handshapes represent the central entities in sign interpretation. Seeing handshapes in their correct context defines the meaning of a sign. Taking that into account, we utilize the attention mechanism to efficiently aggregate the hand features with their appropriate spatio-temporal context for better sign recognition. We found that by doing so the model is able to identify the essential Sign Language components that revolve around the dominant hand and the face areas. We test our model on the benchmark dataset RWTH-PHOENIX-Weather 2014, yielding competitive results.


A major problem in vascularized pancreas transplantation is the lack of reliable methods for the early diagnosis and effective treatment of allograft rejection. Over a 2-year period, 54 rejection episodes occurred in 31 patients (13 isolated pancreas, 18 simultaneous pancreas-kidney recipients) with pancreaticoduodenocystostomy. A total of 253 radionuclide pancreas examinations were performed (mean 8.4 per patient) utilizing 99mtechnetium-DTPA. Computer analysis generated a quantitative measure of blood flow to the allograft caused the technetium index (TI). Rejection episodes were characterized as isolated pancreas (22), combined pancreas-kidney (16), or isolated renal (16) allograft rejection in combined engraftments. The majority of rejection episodes occurred early (within 3 months of transplant, N=47) and were more responsive than late rejection to anti-rejection therapy (89.4% vs 42.9%, P=0.01). Mean urinary amylase (UA) levels and TI during normal allograft function were 29,398 U/l and 0.55%, while levels heralding rejection were 6,528 U/l and 0.40%, respectively (P<0.05). The treatment of rejection based upon renal dysfunction or combined renal and pancreas dysfunction resulted in significantly higher graft salvage with a lower incidence of hyperglycemia when compared to isolated pancreas allograft rejection. Of the 11 patients who developed hyperglycemia, 8 (72.7%) ultimately lost their pancreas grafts (P<0.001). Following therapy, a TI above 0.3% was associated with 97.4% graft survival, while levels below 0.3% resulted in a 70% rate of graft loss (P<0.001). Similarly, pancreas allografts with a UA above 10,000 U/l had 91.1% functional survival, while levels below 10,000 U/l resulted in a 66.7% rate of graft loss (P<0.001). Overall, reversal of rejection occurred in 83.3% of cases, with 9 grafts lost due to rejection at a mean of 4.7 months post-transplant. Therapy with ALG or OKT3 was more effective in reversing allograft rejection than pulsed corticosteroids alone (68.8% vs 47.9%, P=0.05). Patient and pancreas allograft survival is 96.8% and 67.7%, respectively, after a mean follow-up interval of 14.9 months. Monitoring pancreas allograft function by UA, TI, and renal function (in simultaneous transplants) allows for the timely diagnosis and successful treatment of pancreas allograft rejection.


The article deals with the main female characters that appear in Sandra Cisneros' collection of vignettes, House on Mango Street (1991). It sheds light on their lives and motives for their actions, through social criticism of Gloria Anzaldua and the main points she establishes in her semi-autobiographical collection of essays Borderlands: La Frontera (1999). The topics Anzaldua addresses give an insight into the Chicano identity, and the struggle of Chicano women in particular. Through her vantage point, I discuss gender roles, the immigrants' search for identity and their quest for a more dignified life, by trying to reconcile the antagonizing forces of the different parts of their identity.


This article uses religious coping theory to theorize about how and why race and ethnic groups on death row frame religious last statements at the moment of imminent death. Unique data (N = 269) drawn from death row inmates in Texas between December 1982 and April 2016 reveal uniformity in the dominance that black, white, and Hispanic inmates assign to relational forms of expressions that draw them closer to God and expressions that facilitate spiritual intimacy with others, over self-focused expressions that represent efforts to gain control over the imminent death experience or signal a transformed life. There is a hierarchy of preferred religious coping methods that changes for each group following the implementation of a new policy allowing the family and friends of murder victims (co-victims) to witness the execution of inmates. It is concluded that race and ethnic groups differ in the premium they place on preferred religious coping strategies when faced with imminent death, and a change in social context, such as the sudden presence of co-victims at executions, increases the religious content of last statements for all groups.


Abstract. This study focuses on an accurate estimation of ocean circulation via assimilation of satellite measurements of ocean dynamical topography into the global finite-element ocean model (FEOM). The dynamical topography data are derived from a complex analysis of multi-mission altimetry data combined with a referenced earth geoid. The assimilation is split into two parts. First, the mean dynamic topography is adjusted. To this end an adiabatic pressure correction method is used which reduces model divergence from the real evolution. Second, a sequential assimilation technique is applied to improve the representation of thermodynamical processes by assimilating the time varying dynamic topography. A method is used according to which the temperature and salinity are updated following the vertical structure of the first baroclinic mode. It is shown that the method leads to a partially successful assimilation approach reducing the rms difference between the model and data from 16 cm to 2 cm. This improvement of the mean state is accompanied by significant improvement of temporal variability in our analysis. However, it remains suboptimal, showing a tendency in the forecast phase of returning toward a free run without data assimilation. Both the mean difference and standard deviation of the difference between the forecast and observation data are reduced as the result of assimilation.


Treatment of recurrent and metastatic cervical cancer remains a challenge, especially in developing countries, which lack efficient screening programs. In recent years, artemisinin and its derivatives, such as dihydroartemisinin (DHA), which were traditionally used as anti-malarial agent, have been shown to inhibit tumor growth with low toxicity to normal cells. In this study, we investigated mechanisms underlying the anti-tumor effect of DHA in cervical cancer. We evaluated the role of DHA on the expression of bcl-2 and Raf kinase inhibitor protein (RKIP), which is a suppressor of metastasis. The MTT assay was used to compare the proliferation of untreated and DHA-treated Hela and Caski cervical cancer cells. Flow cytometry was used to determine the percentage of cells at each stage of the cell cycle in untreated and DHA-treated cells. We used RT-PCR and western blots to determine the expression of bcl-2 and RKIP mRNA and proteins. We evaluated the effect of DHA treatment in nude mice bearing Hela or Caski tumors. DHA-treated cells showed a time- and dose-dependent inhibition of proliferation and a significant increase in apoptosis. The expression of RKIP was significantly upregulated and the expression of bcl-2 was significantly downregulated in DHA-treated cells compared with control cells. DHA treatment caused (1) a significant inhibition of tumor growth and (2) a significant increase in the apoptotic index in nude mice bearing Hela or Caski tumors. Our data suggest that DHA inhibits cervical cancer growth via upregulation of RKIP and downregulation of bcl-2.


In January 2003, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology hosted a workshop attended by a dynamic mix of computer security professionals, political scientists, economists, engineers, policy works, and a few notable government officials. The main topic of discussion was the purpose and scope of a new cross-disciplinary community - the Cyber Conflict Studies Association - which its founders hoped would provide the basis for a professional field of inquiry on cyberconflict. Although the participants hotly debated the analogy's appropriateness, most agreed that they wanted to build something similar to the academic and policy field of nuclear conflict studies that developed during the Cold War. In the two years since the initial meeting, the community has held numerous research symposia on critical cyberconflict topics, belt the field still needs to advance focused and policy-relevant research on the strategic and technical aspects of cyberconflict. This article represents a first cut at a cyberconflict research agenda.


Wavefront shaping has revolutionized the concepts of optical imaging and focusing. Contrary to what was believed, strong scattering in the optical paths can be exploited in favor of light focusing through turbid media and ultimately improve optical imaging and light manipulation capabilities. The use of light shapers and appropriately engineered scattering structures, i.e. opaque lenses enables the production of nano-scale confined foci and of extended fields of view. Exploiting this concept we fabricate configurable scattering structures by direct femtosecond laser writing. The properly shaped light trespassing the customized structure, a photonic lattice of parallel rods, forms a light-sheet at user defined positions. We demonstrate that our technique enables light-sheets with sub-micron resolution and extended depth of focus, a significant advantage when compared to the existing free space systems. Moreover, our approach permits to focus light of different wavelengths onto the same defined position without moving any optical element and correcting for chromatic aberrations. Furthermore, we demonstrate how an opaque cylindrical lens can be created using a biological structure, hence unveiling the potential advantages for optical microscopic and mesoscopic imaging.


New types of interdigital sensors have been fabricated to investigate their sensing performance. New sensors have been fabricated using different method of manufacturing. Each manufacturing technique used different substrates. Due to different values of permittivity of different substrate, the capacitance values and corresponding impedance values are influenced by these substrates. The substrates variation was used to investigate the effect of substrate properties on sensing performance. The first design was fabricated on a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) material made from a FR-4; the second sensor design was fabricated using thick film on alumina. The third sensor was designed using thin-film (MEMS) technology and was fabricated on a glass substrate. The performances of the sensors were evaluated for different configurations of the electrode structures as well as dielectric materials. Initial experiments have been conducted to analyse the sensor's performance with two peptide derivatives namely Sarcosine and Proline. These peptides are closely related to the target molecule of domoic acid, a natural toxin in seafood. This paper will highlight the design, analysis and fabrication of novel type of planar interdigital sensors. Impedance Spectroscopy detection technique has been used to analyse the sensors performance.


Peptide transport in microorganisms is important for nutrition of the cell and various signalling processes including regulation of gene expression, sporulation, chemotaxis, competence and virulence development. Peptide transport is mediated via different combinations of ion‐linked and ATP‐binding cassette (ABC) transporters, the latter utilizing single or multiple peptide‐binding proteins with overlapping specificities. The paradigm for research on peptide transport is Lactococcus lactis, in which the uptake of peptides containing essential amino acids is vital for growth on milk proteins. Differential expression and characteristics of peptide‐binding proteins in several Lactococcus lactis strains resulted in apparent conflicts with older literature. Recent developments and new data now make the pieces of the puzzle fall back into place again and confirm the view that the oligopeptide‐binding proteins determine the uptake selectivity of their cognate ABC transporters. Besides reviewing the current data on binding specificity and transport selectivity of peptide transporters in L. lactis, the possible implications for peptide utilization by other bacterial species are discussed.


The poem "A Musical Instrument" written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning is being discussed in the paper. The poem is viewed as it contains autobiographical elements. The poet indirectly describes how she fights against the conventional society of Victorian period. She reveals how she disturbed the river of rules with her pen. The poem represents the mythical story of god Pan and the syrinx. She compares herself with the Pan who created music out of reed. She struggled against societal themes just like Pan tore out reeds from the river. She made the best art like Pan made beautiful music from with the instrument. Like Pan modified reed into a musical instrument she reshape the modern thinking and attitudes. She fought for literary freedom in her poetic battle against a society that denied women all freedoms. Victorian society never accepted any art form from women rather they only considered for being a mother. Sufferings of Victorian women can be seen in Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Art was hidden from women by the Victorian society like Syrinx was hidden from Pan by the water nymphs.
The poem portrays the story that Pan once tried to chase the nymph Syrinx. She ran away from him and went near a river then she asked the water nymphs to save her. They turned her into a reed so as to hide her in the river. Pan never found her. So, in a rage, he jumped into the water and walked briskly, thus disturbing the calmness of the river. By the end, he made a musical instrument out of the reed, and its music was haunting and mind-blowing. . Just as Pan did, she worked hard to polish her art to bring the best poetry to the literary world .The poem describes the power and control over women in the society but we are giving a new notion that it contains autobiographical elements.


Fifty five accessions comprising both local and exotic clones were assessed for their resistance to field pest at Abarakata farm, CRIN. The accessions derived from Mambilla plateau, CRIN out-station, Taraba State were screened for resistance to infestation by leaf defoliators. Results revealed that there were significant differences among the accessions in terms of the number of holes on the leaf and plant damage both in the dry and raining season. On NGC15, NGC17, NGC19, C235, C357 tea clones recorded less number of holes and total damage of leaves and thus considered highly resistant to field insect pests. Based on the rating, clones NGC 8, NGC12, NGC14, NGC24, NGC27, NGC40, NGC41, NGC42,NGC49, NGC50,NGC51, C68, C270,C318, C359, C377 were significantly resistant to the insect infestations, while NGC18, NGC22, NGC23,NGC25, NGC26, NGC29, NGC35,NGC47, NGC48, NGC53, NGC54, NGC55, C61, C136, C143, C228, C236, C327, C353, C354, C369, C370 were moderately resistant. NGC13, NGC32, NGC37, NGC38, NGC45, NGC46, C56, C74, C108, C363, C367 and C368 were the most susceptible with the highest damage indices values (P<0.05). The range of each of the resistance indices measured in the susceptible clones in both dry and wet season were number of leaf damage (43-51)(37-46), number of leaf holes (18-19)(16-20).


compression of the adjacent brain by the enlarged aneurysm or ischaemic steal from the main middle cerebral artery owing to the large amount of blood pooling into the giant aneurysm. It is proposed that such a large aneurysm developed from a small saccular aneurysm by continuous dilation due to blood pressure or turbulent blood flow. The large size of aneurysms of congenital origin seems to favour the formation of a laminated clot thus preventing rupture.' Other investigators consider giant serpentine aneurysms orginate from fusiform aneurysms which are most likely caused by a degenerative process of the arterial wall from infection or arteriosclerosis.S59 This case suggests that it is probably of congenital origin and the aneurysm may have enlarged slowly. The possibility of a giant aneurysm must be considered when a nonenhanced CT study shows a well circumscribed high density mass without oedema at the adjacent area of brain and contrast infusion reveals homogenous strong enhancement in the lumen. Sometimes it is difficult to confirm the diagnosis before angiographic study. Giant aneurysms can be divided into three types: partially thrombosed, completely thrombosed, and nonthrombosed.3 "' Our case belongs to the nonthrombosed group and showed a well circumscribed homogeneous mass without perifocal oedema and diffuse enhancement in the lumen with contrast infusion. For the total excision of a giant aneurysm in early infancy, it should be remembered that the patient may have an acute cardiopulmonary insufficiency. In a situation of poor general condition, it is reasonable to proceed with the surgery using the extracorporeal heart-lung machine and hypothermia. It is important to make efforts to minimise the damage of the adjacent functional area accompanying surgical procedures; this principle is especially important in the surgery for a giant aneurysm deep in dominant hemisphere. During resection of a giant aneurysm in the infant it is imperative to avoid damage of the adjacent areas surrounding it because the compressed immature brain has strong potential for restoration of function. The postoperative course of giant aneurysm in the infant is quite different from that in the adult or in the elderly group, because the underlying brain, which is compressed by a large aneurysmal sac, is in a relatively immature state. The marked improvement of the neurologic deficit following an excision of the giant aneurysm in this patient may also be attributed to restoration of adequate blood flow and prevention of steal phenomena and the resultant return of intracranial contents to their normal position.


Breaking a paradigm is to try to solve any situation with a different point of view and different sources. Everyone believes that for drilling a gas well, it is obviously necessary to use only drill pipe. Pemex Exploration & Production (PEP) is giving a tremendous change in this direction in the North of Mexico, in the area of Burgos Basin, Reynosa, Tamaulipas. PEP had successfully drilled more than 40 gas wells using upset tubing with Wedge Thread Technology to drill the last section of the well, using the slim hole design and applying the Tubingless Technique for completion. This has given PEP the opportunity to save 30 to 40% of total cost of each gas well. The conventional drilling programs used to be 17-1/2 in, 12-1/4 in. and 8-1/2 in. bit diameters and 13-3/8 in., 9-5/8 in. and 7 in. casing diameters respectively. This normally requires a 4 1/2 in. drill pipe for drilling the three sections, because the capacity of this pipe (torsion, tension and hydraulics geometry). Finally, the completion was performed with a 2-7/8 in. tubing with a permanent packer on top of the production zone. The new drilling program requires 12-1/4 in., 8-1/2 in. and 5-7/8 in., bit diameters and 9 5/8 in., 7 in. and 3-1/2 in. casing diameters respectively. The 3-1/2 in. tubing has an integral connection on internal-external upset pipe with the Wedge Thread Technology to drill the last section and then it is cemented as a production casing (tubingless technique). Also this tubing has an amazing application to drill because its torsion, tension, bending and compression strengths. Therefore, this 3-1/2 in. tubing has a triple application: as a drill pipe, production casing and tubing.


In eukaryotic cells, the transcription of genes is accurately orchestrated both spatially and temporally by the C-terminal domain of RNA polymerase II (CTD). The CTD provides a dynamic platform to recruit different regulators of the transcription apparatus. Different posttranslational modifications are precisely applied to specific sites of the CTD to coordinate transcription process. Regulators of the RNA polymerase II must identify specific sites in the CTD for cellular survival, metabolism, and development. Even though the CTD is disordered in the eukaryotic RNA polymerase II crystal structures due to its intrinsic flexibility, recent advances in the complex structural analysis of the CTD with its binding partners provide essential clues for understanding how selectivity is achieved for individual site recognition. The recent discoveries of the interactions between the CTD and histone modification enzymes disclose an important role of the CTD in epigenetic control of the eukaryotic gene expression. The intersection of the CTD code with the histone code discloses an intriguing yet complicated network for eukaryotic transcriptional regulation.


We consider a system of N nonrelativistic bosons in two dimensions, interacting weakly via a short-range attractive potential. We show that for N large, but below some critical value, the properties of the N-boson bound state are universal. In particular, the ratio of the binding energies of (N+1)- and N-boson systems, B(N+1)/B(N), approaches a finite limit, approximately 8.567, at large N. We also confirm previous results that the three-body system has exactly two bound states. We find for the ground state B(0)(3)=16.522 688(1)B2 and for the excited state B(1)(3)=1.270 409 1(1)B2.


The initial clearance of hepatitis C virus (HCV) during interferon‐alfa therapy is dose‐dependent. Therefore, higher initial interferon doses (induction therapy) may improve treatment results. This concept was tested in a prospective, randomized controlled trial. Previously untreated patients with chronic hepatitis C were randomized to receive 3 different interferon doses during the first 14 weeks of therapy (Group A, n = 130: 10 MU IntronA [AESCA‐Schering Plough, Traiskirchen, Austria]/day for 2 weeks, followed by 10 MU/2 days for 12 weeks; Group B, n = 124: 5 MU/day for 14 weeks; Group C, n = 119; 5 MU/2 days for 14 weeks) followed in all by 5 MU/2 days for 24 weeks. Throughout the whole study all patients received 1 to 1.2 g ribavirin/day. On treatment, no differences in viral clearance rates were observed. Sustained response rates were also not different among the groups (A: 48.5%, B and C: 41.3%, intent to treat). When data were analyzed according to genotypes, sustained response was almost twice as high in patients with genotype 1 receiving high‐dose interferon induction therapy (A: 44.2%, B: 28.6%, C: 27%, P < .05). In contrast, results were not different in genotype 3a patients (A: 61.3%, B: 75.9%, C: 56.3%; P > .1). These data indicate that high‐dose interferon induction therapy may improve the outcome of interferon/ribavirin combination therapy in genotype 1 patients.


The fungal-related diseases were responsible as one of many reasons for low production of maize in Ind`onesia. Controlling fungal contaminants using chemical is hazardous for human nowadays. Thus the need of environmental friendly vegetative-based fungicide such as from the extract of Ampupu tree bark is important. The objective of this study was to investigate the antifungal effect from Ampupu tree bark crude extract in response to growth of Fusarium sp, which responsible as the causal agent of corncob rot. The inhibition test on growth of Fusarium sp. by Ampupu tree bark crude extract was performed with diffusion well method on PDA as media. The process involved the infusion of crude extracts at 1.5%, 3.0% and 4.5% concentration, respectively, into diffusion well on each petri disk. Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) was used to identify any active compound contained. The result showed that by in vivo treatment, crude extract of Ampupu tree bark with concentration of 1.5%, 3,0% and 4.5%, were able to inhibit the fungal growth of Fusarium miniliforme as the causal agent of corncob rot with diameter of inhibition zone 0.18 mm, 1.85 mm and 2.01 mm, respectively. The higher the concentration of the crude extract given, the larger the diameter of inhibition zone formed. There were 11 active compound found within Ampupu tree bark methanol-based extract, which could potentially become antifungal, i.e. Ethylbenzene, o-Xylene, ALPHA.-PINENE,DELTA.3-Carene, Azulene(CAS)Cyclopentacycloheptene, Tetradecane(CAS)n-Tetradecane, 2,6-Diisopropylnaphthalene, 7,9-Di-tert-butyl-1-oxaspiro(4,5)deca-6,9-dien, Hexadecanamide, 9-Octadecenamide, (Z)-(CAS)OLEOAMIDE, 1,2-Benzenedicarboxylicacid,mono(2-ethylhexyl).


Today it seems like we all have less free time than ever before. As a result, people are getting away for only a few days, doing it more often, and looking for escapes that are unique and off the beaten path. In keeping with that trend, " Golf Hideaways" is an invaluable resource for all kinds of golf travel. The book's thirty-five hideaways-twenty-five top picks plus ten honorable mentions-showcase the most beautiful lodgings at top-rated golf courses of the United States, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic.In order to reflect the many different types of vacationing golfers--from the hardcore golfer who will spend an entire day on the links to the more casual player whose day will include other activities-a variety of resort styles are represented, from old school to new and trendy, and from those with great courses and an ordinary spa to those with ordinary courses and a spectacular spa. With its inclusion of course ratings, photographs, diagrams, and detailed hole-by-hole accounts, the book is primarily for the golfing enthusiast, yet the wide scope of information about the spas, rooms, lodging experience, and surrounding environs will appeal to the non-golfer as well, assuring the traveler of an ideal trip. With its useful contents and attractive packaging, "Golf Hideaways" is sure to be the definitive guidebook on its subject.


Thermally conductive polymer composites, particularly those that include graphitic filler particles, are promising candidates for thermal management in electronic devices. The effective thermal properties of these composites are a function of the morphology, intrinsic thermal properties of the filler particles, and the interparticle contact network. For instance, anisotropic thermal conductivity within the graphitic flakes may be exploited to fabricate composites with bulk anisotropic thermal conductivity through preferential alignment of the flakes. Previously, we experimentally characterized the effective thermal conductivity of graphite-flake epoxy composites using infrared (IR) microscopy and observed a 16-fold enhancement in the effective thermal conductivity of graphite-flake epoxy composite relative to neat epoxy. In this paper, we use discrete element simulations of granular mechanics to evaluate the effect of external mechanical stresses on the microstructural anisotropy of packings of hexagonal platelet particles, characterized by a fabric tensor. We investigate the bulk thermal conductivity anisotropy through a random network model. Applying pressure and shear emulates the forces acting on particles during processing (e.g., shear induced by a doctor blade and normal forces exerted during compaction). We hypothesize that the critical filler volume fraction for percolation is governed by particle aspect ratio.


A quasi-vertical GaN Schottky barrier diode with a hybrid anode structure is proposed to trade off the on-resistance and the breakdown voltage. By inserting a SiN dielectric between the anode metal with a relatively small length, it suppresses the electric field crowding effect without presenting an obvious effect on the forward characteristics. The enhanced breakdown voltage is ascribed to the charge-coupling effect between the insulation dielectric layer and GaN. On the other hand, the current density is decreased beneath the dielectric layer with the increasing length of the SiN, resulting in a high on-resistance. Furthermore, the introduction of the field plate on the side wall forms an metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) channel and decreases the series resistance, but also shows an obvious electric field crowding effect at the bottom of the mesa due to the quasi-vertical structure.


We propose an online heuristic algorithm for the problem of network slice placement optimization. The solution is adapted to support placement on large scale networks and integrates Edge-specific and URLLC constraints. We rely on an approach called the "Power of Two Choices" to build the heuristic. The evaluation results show the good performance of the heuristic that solves the problem in few seconds under a large scale scenario. The heuristic also improves the acceptance ratio of network slice placement requests when compared against a deterministic online Integer Linear Programming (ILP) solution.


is a rare deep fungal infection caused by Basidiobolus ranarum and characterized by the development of swollen erythematous nodular lesions. Several azoles have been shown to be an effective treatment for this condition. Herein, we report a case of basidiobolomycosis that was initially misdiagnosed as a different disease and resolved after itraconazole medication. A 25-year-old man presented with a 2.5-year history of extensive swelling on his right arm, face, and neck. Initially, he was diagnosed with lipoma and scapular tuberculosis; however, no improvements were observed post-surgery and with tuberculosis medication. Histopathological examinations revealed giant cells, aseptate hyphae, and the Splendore-Hoeppli phenomenon. Fungal culture confirmed the isolate to be Basidiobolus ranarum. The patient was given oral itraconazole 200 mg twice daily, and the complete resolution was achieved after 25 months of treatment.


Spherical Fe–Ga particles were prepared by spark erosion in liquid Ar, which directly incorporated the desirable rapid quench from high temperatures. The compositions of the particles investigated were 15.0, 16.3, and 18.9at.% Ga, respectively, as determined from electron-probe microanalysis, x-ray diffraction, and Mossbauer spectra. Composites for magnetostriction measurements were prepared by mixing particles with epoxy at the volume fraction of 48% and curing in a magnetic field. Magnetostriction values of the composites were comparable to those of polycrystalline chill-cast alloys of the same compositions. Composites with particles having Ga concentrations of 18.9at.% had the highest magnetostriction, similar to results reported for bulk Fe–Ga alloys.


We review the WKB method for multicomponent fields obeying hyperbolic linear partial differential equations and derive a general necessary and sufficient condition for the formalism to provide transport equations. We apply the method to linearized perturbations of perfect fluid solutions to Einstein's equation and show that the gravitational and sound wave modes satisfy this condition, whereas a zero-frequency, non-propagating matter mode does not. We derive the transport equations for the wave amplitudes in leading order; they exhibit in particular the influence of background curvature on the propagation of gravitational waves.


Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA

We previously reported that the prolyl peptidase inhibitor, Ari-4175, showed dramatic anti-tumor effects in KRAS mutant colorectal cancer xengrafts when given either alone or in combination with cetuximab. In vitro data suggest that the therapeutic effect of 4175 might partially be due to the augmentation of ADCC through elevating expression of CD16 on NK cells. However, our data indicates that 4175 does not have a direct effect on isolated NK cells. Therefore, we believe that the observed effect on NK cells and augmentation of ADCC is as a result of activation of another cell type possibly working through the production of a cytokine. We noted a significant expansion of neutrophils in 4175-treated mice that occurred prior to increased expression of CD69 and CD16 on NK cells. Therefore, we hypothesized that neutrophils might be stimulated by 4175, which results in subsequent activation of NK cells to enhance their ADCC response.

Ari-4175 was administered orally to nude mice at 200 µg q.d. x5 days/week. Peripheral blood or spleens were assayed for immune parameters, ex vivo, at various time points. Expression of surface markers on myeloid and NK cells were monitored by flow cytometry. Natural cytotoxicity and ADCC were assayed using HCT116 cells and cetuximab in a flow cytometry-based assay. Neutrophil depletion experiments were accomplished by administration of an anti Ly-6G antibody (clone 1A8, cat#BE0075-1, BioXCell), specific for neutrophils, (1 mg per mouse, injected on the days 0, 2, and 4). An Isotype control antibody (rat IgG2a; cat#BE0089, BioXCell) was given at the same dose and by the sameschedule.

We were able to effectively eliminate neutrophils and the previously reported cell population (CD45+ CD3- NKp46- CD11c- CD19- CD11b+ Ly6C+ Ly6G+) that appeared to be upregulated following treatment with 4175. Preliminarily, depletion of neutrophils and this cell subset did not have any impact on ADCC augmentation or activation of NK cells. ADCC was significantly greater with 4175 and cetuximab treatment compared to 4175 alone with or without neutrophil depletion. Additionally, results of xenograft studies with panitumomab, an anti EGFR antibody that does not induce ADCC, and 4175 seem to suggest that there is less activity with this combination than with 4175 and cetuximab which is capable of inducing ADCC.Our results indicate that the immunomodulatory effects of Ari-4175 on NK cells appear to be independent of neutrophils. However, in these experiments treatment with 4175 and neutrophil depletion were initiated at the same time. Additional experiments to better elucidate the mechanism of action of this agent are in progress.

Citation Format: Alexander MacFarlane, Tetyana Bagnyukva, Jiping Zhang, Kerry Campbell, Barry Jones, William Bachovchin, Hossein Borghaei. Antibody dependent cytotoxicity is enhanced by Ari-4175 through NK cell activation. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 2537. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-2537


The geochemistry of cobalt in the Peru upwelling region is dominated by its importance as a micronutrient. A large and previously undocumented flux of labile cobalt behaved as a micronutrient with correlations with major nutrients (nitrate, phosphate; r2 = 0.90, 0.96) until depleted to ≤50 pM of strongly complexed cobalt. Co:P utilization ratios were an order of magnitude higher than in the North Pacific, comparable to utilization rates of zinc in other oceanic regions. Cobalt speciation measurements showed that available cobalt decreased over 4 orders of magnitude in this region, with shifts in phytoplankton assemblages occurring at transitions between labile and nonlabile cobalt. Only small changes in total dissolved nickel were observed, and nickel was present in a labile chemical form throughout the region. In the Peru upwelling region, cobalt uptake was highest at the surface and decreased with depth, suggesting phytoplankton uptake was a more important removal mechanism than co‐oxidation with microbial manganese oxidation. These findings show the importance of cobalt as a micronutrient and that cobalt scarcity and speciation may be important in influencing phytoplankton species composition in this economically important environment.


In this study, Mie and Rayleigh scattering in free space optics (FSO) communication systems were investigated in terms of the atmospheric attenuation. Because of the movement of the Earth, the communication distance and surrounding gas densities are inconsistent in each region. This change leads to atmospheric attenuation and then data losses and inefficient communication in FSO occur. Therefore, the density change and distance must be calculated in each communication once the data is transmitted. In the literature, it was observed that the atmospheric attenuation is regarding some FSO communication parameters such as transmission distance, visibility, and scatter particle size distribution, the number of particles per unit volume, scatter cross-sectional area, and wavelength. Besides, in real-time communication, it is necessary to update FSO parameters simultaneously. However, this updating process for all parameter takes a long time to adapt to a new position. This paper proposes the design of the experiment method (Doe) to determine the severity of the FSO parameters. And Taguchi's Doe method allows analyzing of FSO communication system parameters to avoid long calculation time. Results show that the proposed method helps in understanding the priorities of the parameters in FSO and reducing the updating time.


Background. Knowledge  about  the  pathological  processes  in  the  tissues  of  the  limb  is  necessary  for  the  targeted optimization of their course, the expectation of certain treatment results. The aim of the study was to determine the ratio of different severity cases and the correlation between individual clinical, laboratory and morphometric indicators of the tissues state in patients with trophic disorders in the extremity.Materials and Methods.The material was fragments of the lower leg tissues (bones, soft tissues, skin) of 38 patients with chronic post-traumatic osteomyelitis. Gradation morphometric  indicators  reflecting  the  tissues  state  in  the  lesion  focuses  were  used.  Frequency  analysis  of  semiquantitative indicators and correlation analysis of the relationships between clinical, laboratory and morphometric indicators with the evaluation of the association coefficient were carried out. Results.Trophic disorders in the limb tissues (bones, soft tissues, muscles, skin), observed in patients with lower leg bones post-traumatic osteomyelitis, do  not  represent  a  group  of  well-defined  pathological  processes.  They  form  a  complex  of  dyscirculatory,  ischemic, necrotic, dystrophic, atrophic, inflammatory, reparative and regenerative changes, which are combined in tissues in different proportions. This involves the use of a number of quantitative and semi-quantitative, gradation indicators: clinical, laboratory, and pathomorphological. Pathomorphological changes in the lesions in patients with chronic posttraumatic osteomyelitis of the lower leg bones with clinical signs of trophic disorders do not differ qualitatively from the changes usually detected in chronic post-traumatic osteomyelitis. In the bones, the most frequent are destructive focuses with a predominance of exudative and productive inflammation of high activity, sequestration and osteonecrosis. In paraossal soft tissues, more common are focuses, in which mature fibrous tissue and productive inflammation of low activity predominate. In the skin near the chronic post-traumatic osteomyelitis focuses, there is dermis fibrosis and productive inflammation of low activity.Conclusion. A number of correlations between clinical and laboratory parameters, on the one hand, and morphological parameters, on the other, have been established. The closest and most stable connections for different sites are the following indicators: blood leukocytes (negative dependence for affected bone, soft tissue and skin tissues), ESR (positive dependence for soft tissues), C-reactive protein (positive dependence for soft tissues and skin), agglutination with a polyvalent strain of Staphylococcus aureus (negative dependence for affected bones and skin).


We describe a generic protocol for fair exchange of electronic goods with non-repudiation. Goods can be signatures (i.e., non-repudiation tokens of public data), confidential data, or payments. The protocol does not involve a third party in the exchange in the fault-less case but only for recovery.


We performed surgical resection for a case of hepatic metastasis of an adenoid cystic carcinoma of the parotid gland. A 53-year-old woman underwent parotidectomy for primary adenoid cystic carcinoma in 2004. In 2005, she underwent resection of a local recurrence. However, in 2012, 8 years after primary tumor resection, abdominal ultrasonography revealed a hepatic tumor in the lateral segment, for which we performed laparoscopic partial hepatectomy. The hepatic tumor was histologically diagnosed as a hepatic metastasis of the adenoid cystic carcinoma of the parotid gland. At 8 postoperative months, no further recurrence was observed.


The static vacuum spherically symmetric solutions of massive gravity theories possess two integration constants: the mass M and a scalar charge S. The presence of this scalar charge reflects the modification of the gravitational interaction as compared to general relativity. Surprisingly, these solutions have an asymptotic behavior different from that obtained in the linear perturbation theory. The aim of this paper is to understand how these modified spherically symmetric solutions emerge from a quasilinear approximation in order to generalize them to any arbitrary mass distribution. Along with these modified solutions, we found a new class of static solutions having a Yukawa shape.


Background: This study takes a microscopic overview of main semen parameters such as sperm motility, morphology, fertility rate, sperm concentration, and DNA damage and their relationship with antioxidants. Aim: To explain the role of antioxidant minerals including Vitamin E and C, N-Acetyl cysteine, Selenium, Carnitine, CoQ10, and Zinc in improving semen quality across the semen parameters. Methods: The design of the study is an in-depth review and analysis of minerals that improve semen quality. Results: The result derived from this study stipulates those aforementioned minerals enhance the overall health and wellbeing of the body, which results in the semen quality improvement. The study determines that it is indeed true that antioxidant supplementation for infertile males produces favorable results. The practical implications: are immense including early diagnosis and treatment of infertility. Conclusion: To conclude, supplements such as CoQ10 improve sperm count, the combined dosage of Vitamin C and E diminishes sperm damage, and carnitine enhances sperm morphology and mobility. The study also concludes that with males who have infertility because of Oxidative Stress, the above-mentioned antioxidants produce a positive result. Keywords: Vitamin C and E, Selenium, Carnitine CoQ10, Zinc, Acetyl Cysteine


Intrarachidian cystic lesions are frequent, with highly varied causes. They can be classified according to their location into intramedullary cystic lesions and extramedullary cystic lesions. In these two categories, they can then be regrouped according to the tissue from which they develop. MRI is the first-choice examination for the study of the intracanal contents and the differential diagnosis between the various lesions.


Shielding prevents coupling of undesired radiated electromagnetic energy into equipment otherwise susceptible to it. In view of this, some studies on shielding effectiveness of laminated shields with conductors and conductive polymers using plane-wave theory are carried out in this paper. The plane wave shielding effectiveness of new combination of these materials is evaluated as a function of frequency and thickness of material. Conductivity of the polymers, measured in previous investigations by the cavity perturbation technique, is used to compute the overall reflection and transmission coefficients of single and multiple layers of the polymers. With recent advances in synthesizing stable highly conductive polymers these lightweight mechanically strong materials appear to be viable alternatives to metals for EM1 shielding.


This study examined the functional effects of long-term elevated brain GABA concentrations. The increase in GABA was achieved by use of the GABA-aminotransferase (GABA-T) inhibitor, ethanolamine O-sulphate (EOS). Forms of exploratory behaviour pre viously demonstrated to be sensitive to GABAergic receptor stimulation were measured over a 4 week period of EOS treatment. The most pronounced behavioural effect was an increased duration of investigating behaviour following 2-21 days of EOS treatment. This effect was accompanied by an accumulation of GABA in the substantia nigra and the corpus striatum. After 28-30 days of EOS treatment the GABA concentration was still significantly elevated, whereas the investigating behaviour was no longer different from controls.


ABSTRACT: Based on the facts of an actual fraud investigation and utilizing dialog to creatively present materials that will hold the student's interest, this case introduces students to financial statement fraud and highlights the internal controls of inventory and sales for a private business. It provides students the opportunity to complete financial statement analysis relating to gross margins, and students are asked to identify weaknesses in the company's internal control system. Students are also asked to make recommendations for improvement in the form of a written memo. The case is simple but can be used to introduce the concept of fraud investigation and can stimulate lively classroom discussion concerning student perceptions of whether fraud is, in fact, taking place. It can be used with either introductory-level financial accounting classes or more highly developed accounting courses such as auditing or fraud examination.


The aim of the study was to conduct a comparative analysis of the long-term results of applying PRP therapy and facetoplasty in patients of the older age group with an isolated lumbar facet syndrome. The study included 159 patients over the age of 65 with symptomatic degenerative disease of the facet joints, who were operated on using PRP therapy and facethoplasty in the period from 2016 to 2018. Independent sequential randomization (1:1) of 144 patients was performed using software. A visual analogue pain scale (VAS), Oswestry disability index (ODI), Macnab subjective satisfaction scale, and the presence of complications were used to assess clinical efficacy. As a result, it was established that PRP therapy and facetoplasty are effective methods for treating isolated lumbar facet syndrome in older patients. In the late postoperative period, the best clinical outcomes were recorded according to VAS and the ODI index in the group of patients who underwent PRP therapy.


Based on the first-principles calculations, we investigated the ferroelectric properties of two-dimensional (2D) Group-IV tellurides XTe (X=Si, Ge and Sn), with a focus on GeTe. 2D Group-IV tellurides energetically prefer an orthorhombic phase with a hinge-like structure and an in-plane spontaneous polarization. The intrinsic Curie temperature Tc of monolayer GeTe is as high as 570 K and can be raised quickly by applying a tensile strain. An out-of-plane electric field can effectively decrease the coercive field for the reversal of polarization, extending its potential for regulating the polarization switching kinetics. Moreover, for bilayer GeTe the ferroelectric phase is still the ground state. Combined with these advantages, 2D GeTe is a promising candidate material for practical integrated ferroelectric applications.


【The purpose of this study is to evaluate the characteristic of the iron oxide carrier for removing arsenic contained in the groundwater. 4 types of iron oxide carrier used in the study is iron oxide coated sand carrier (IOCSC), iron oxide coated zeolite carrier (IOCZC), iron oxide plasticity carrier (IOPC) and platinum iron oxide plasticity carrier (PIOPC). The results of this study, IOPC is showed high arsenic adsorption strength and the maximum amount of adsorption than the IOCC. Based on the results of the arsenic adsorption characteristic, by using IOCC was conducted to column test. As a result, PIOPC is showed a high arsenic adsorption amount than IOPC, it was found that the time required to reach the breakthrough point is also extended. Therefore it is determined that stably compliance with water quality standards enhanced drinking water when using the PIOPC.】


This paper reports a preliminary 3D numerical study of submerged oil spilling from a damaged Double Hull Tanker (DHT) using a VOFbased multiphase flow solver within the framework of the open-source CFD package OpenFOAM. In order to reflect the different features of two typical oil spilling scenarios, i.e. grounding and collision, two cases with spilling holes being located on the bottom and side wall of the DHT, respectively, are simulated. The numerical results are compared with the experimental data. Satisfactory agreements are achieved. The hydrodynamic features, particularly the role of the viscosity and turbulence effects, are discussed.


Fruit spoilage of pomegranate is one of the most important problems in postharvest stages and its exports. This decay is mainly due to the influence and spread of saprophytic or parasitic fungi into the pomegranate fruits. In this purpose effects of essential oil from medicinal plants include; caraway (Carum carvi) and peppermint (Mentha piperetta), and packaging (whit or no polyethylene bags) were investigated on shelf life, quality, decay percentage, chilling index and biochemical traits. The pomegranate fruits were kept in 5±1oC and 85-90 percent humidity. The results showed that the highest amount of chilling index and weight loss was in without polyethylene bag treatment by 3.45 and 17.03, respectively. On the other hand the most percent of fungal infection was observed in polyethylene alone treatment by 29.41%. Whereas, essential oils (1000 ppm) of caraway and peppermint was able to control postharvest fungal infection caused by LDPE packaging, completely. The usage of caraway essential oil on pomegranate fruits increased phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity, significantly.


A novel technique for monitoring the pulse broadening due to polarization-mode dispersion (PMD) in optical systems is described. The technique is based on the measurement of the Stokes vectors at different frequencies over the spectrum of the received optical pulse find does not require a priori knowledge of the fiber PMD statistics or details of the optical path. The validity of our technique has been demonstrated by both simulation and experimental results.


REVIEW OF ESSENTIAL ACADEMIC SKILLS IN ENGLISH: LISTENING TO LECTURES Title Essential Academic Skills in English: Listening to Lectures CD-ROM (Volume I) Publisher CELTE University of Warwick Conventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom Phone: (0044) (0)-24 7652 8440 Fax: (0044) (0)-24 7652-4318 Emml: email@example.com ISBN 0902683-46-4 Platform PC only; Windows 95, 98, 2000, or NT. System requirements 486 processor or better with 8 MB of RAM (16 MB preferred); SVGA display (800 x 600, 16 bit color or better); sound card; computer speakers; mouse Support http ://www.ease.ac.uk Target language English (British) Target audience Not stated, but it appears to be designed for advanced intermediate or advanced adult students. Price Single user copy ([pound]30.00), 5 user license ([pound]120.00), 6-20 user license ([pound]220.00), Full-site license ([pound]400.00) OVERVIEW Essential Academic Skills in English: Listening to Lectures is a stand-alone PC software package designed for non-native speakers of English who intend to undertake university study in English. Listening to Lectures, the first in the EASE CD-ROM series, contains digital video of academic lectures as well as activities based on these lectures, and thus introduces learners to the kinds of lecture situations and listening activities they will likely encounter in academic settings. DESCRIPTION Listening to Lectures contains 85 short video clips (approximately 1-2 minutes) from 40 authentic lectures given in 25 different departments, including the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. These clips are divided among six units: Openings, Structure and Organization, Functions 1, Functions 2, Attitudes and Significance, and Argumentation. Getting started with Listening to Lectures is easy. Users simply click on the unit they wish to study. Users also have the option of going through an introductory tour before beginning. Upon beginning a unit, the instructions inform the user of how to proceed. The tasks are organized around watching video clips from lectures. Learners first complete pre-viewing activities and then watch the video clip. The video clip can be controlled by clicking on the pla y and pause buttons and by dragging the slider with the cursor. Information about the lecture such as the title and the speaker of the lecture can be obtained by clicking on the "i" button. In addition, the user can access the entire transcript of what the lecturer is saying by clicking on the speech bubble. At any time during the program, the user can also access the dictionary which contains definitions of words in the lectures and allows learners immediate access to the video-clip in which the word is used, thus providing them with the context for the word. After users watch the video clip, they complete exercises about the lecture. For the most part, these exercises emphasize lecture content and rhetorical features, including discourse-level as well as sentencelevel activities. The exercises are varied in terms of type and format, and they include matching questions, multiple choice questions, drag and drop exercises, and cloze-tests. Users also have the option of taking on-screen notes while watching the video (see Figure 2). Learners can get feedback on their answers or choose to see the correct answers by using the Done and Reveal buttons, respectively. While the form of feedback varies depending on the type of exercise, in all cases a brief explanation of why the user's answer was incorrect is provided The first unit, Openings, focuses on some of the things lecturers commonly do at the outset of their lectures, and thus the six video clips in this unit are all of the beginnings of lectures. …


We consider the problem of finding highly correlated pairs in a large data set. That is, given a threshold not too small, we wish to report all the pairs of items (or binary attributes) whose (Pearson) correlation coefficients are greater than the threshold. Correlation analysis is an important step in many statistical and knowledge-discovery tasks. Normally, the number of highly correlated pairs is quite small compared to the total number of pairs. Identifying highly correlated pairs in a naive way by computing the correlation coefficients for all the pairs is wasteful. With massive data sets, where the total number of pairs may exceed the main-memory capacity, the computational cost of the naive method is prohibitive. In their KDD'04 paper [15], Hui Xiong et al. address this problem by proposing the TAPER algorithm. The algorithm goes through the data set in two passes. It uses the first pass to generate a set of candidate pairs whose correlation coefficients are then computed directly in the second pass. The efficiency of the algorithm depends greatly on the selectivity (pruning power) of its candidate-generating stage.In this work, we adopt the general framework of the TAPER algorithm but propose a different candidate-generation method. For a pair of items, TAPER's candidate-generation method considers only the frequencies (supports) of individual items. Our method also considers the frequency (support) of the pair but does not explicitly count this frequency (support). We give a simple randomized algorithm whose false-negative probability is negligible. The space and time complexities of generating the candidate set in our algorithm are asymptotically the same as TAPER's. We conduct experiments on synthesized and real data. The results show that our algorithm produces a greatly reduced candidate set - one that can be several orders of magnitude smaller than that generated by TAPER. Because of this, our algorithm uses much less memory and can be faster. The former is critical for dealing with massive data.


In view of the common mine disasters such as coal and gas outburst caused by the destruction of gas and coal, the numerical model of RFPA-GAS software was used to establish a numerical model based on a gas outburst accident took place in return roadway of working face 15-17-16041 in Pingdingshan mine. The dynamic failure mechanism of coal and gas outburst under the conditions of different support strengths protection and unsupported conditions was analyzed. Four dynamic processes of coal and gas outburst were discussed, and the dynamic failure mechanism of coal and gas outburst was revealed. The results show that the outstanding effect of the roadway without support treatment is similar to that of the field, and the coal and gas outburst is obviously weakened for supported roadway. Which has effective control of the active support for the protrusion. When the support method is designed, the response mechanism of the coupled support structure should be considered .It provides some theoretical support for the gas outburst control.