ABSTRACT This qualitative research study explored the child care search and selection process from the perspectives of families living in low-income, urban neighbourhoods in the United States. Findings based on interviews with 40 mothers and grandmothers caring for African American preschool-age children showed that child care searches began with referrals from trusted sources followed by site visits. Caregivers' assessments of a settings' environments and activities informed decisions to enrol their children. Barriers related to availability, accessibility, and affordability in participants' neighbourhoods, however, greatly constrained options. Previous experience with other child care providers also informed searches. State-designated quality ratings had little to no influence on the decision-making process. The findings demonstrate the potential challenges and complexities families face when seeking and selecting child care in low-income, urban communities. This work underscores the need for greater access to high-quality care in underserved neighbourhoods and for increases in family and neighbourhood-level supports.


It is a widely accepted principle that software without tests has bugs. Testing reinforcement learning agents is especially difficult because of the stochastic nature of both agents and environments, the complexity of state-of-the-art models, and the sequential nature of their predictions. Recently, the Arcade Learning Environment (ALE) has become one of the most widely used benchmark suites for deep learning research, and state-of-the-art Reinforcement Learning (RL) agents have been shown to routinely equal or exceed human performance on many ALE tasks. Since ALE is based on emulation of original Atari games, the environment does not provide semantically meaningful representations of internal game state. This means that ALE has limited utility as an environment for supporting testing or model introspection. We propose ToyBox, a collection of reimplementations of these games that solves this critical problem and enables robust testing of RL agents.


The physical properties of the dithiocarbamato compounds Mo(R2dtc)4 (R2dtc = R2NCS2−; R = Me, Et, i-Pr, Bz, Ph; R2 = Tm, Pm, MeBz; Tm = (CH2)4, Pm = (CH2)5) and [M(R2dtc)4]X (M = Mo, W; X = various anions), and the dithio acid compounds M(Rdta)4 (M = Mo, W; Rdta = RCS2−; R = Tol, Naf; Tol = p-toluoyl, Naf = 2-naphthoyl), prepared by oxidative decarbonylation of metal carbonyl complexes with disulfides, have been investigated. Conductivity data and infrared spectra indicate that all compounds contain metal ions coordinated by eight sulfur atoms belonging to four ligands.

Voltammetric measurements show for the [Mo(R2dtc)4]°,+ complexes three one-electron oxidation/reductions, indicating the formation in solution of unstable [Mo(R2dtc)4]− and [Mo(R2dtc)4]2+. The [W(R2dtc)4]+ complexes show only one oxidation and one reduction process in the voltage range studied. The substituent effects on the half-wave potentials can be described by the Taft relation. The dithio acid complexes show two redox processes, indicating the formation of M(II) and M(V) compounds. The differences between these complexes and the dithiocarbamato complexes are in agreement with the stronger electron donating properties of the dtc ligand.


A transition-metal- and oxidant-free electrochemical strategy for radical fluoroalkylation of vinyl azides was developed. The reaction was carried out under mild conditions by using inexpensive and bench-stable RfSO2Na (Rf = CF3, CF2H) as fluorination reagents. Depending on the starting material, both the electrochemical radical cyclization and dearomatization products could be obtained. This method provides a green and safe approach to synthesize fluorinated nitrogen heterocycles.


To realise the promises and obligations emanating from various human rights frameworks that set regional normative standards, regional organisations have created organs and agencies with clear mandates. The Pan-African Parliament is one such organ in the context of the African Union. Indeed, article 3(2) of the Protocol establishing the Parliament lists the promotion of 'the principles of human rights and democracy in Africa' as one of its core objectives. However, the status quo clearly shows that the Parliament lacks the capacity to contribute meaningfully to the human rights agenda on the continent. Despite this deficiency, this article explores other avenues through which the organ can effectively contribute to its human rights mandate. However, the contribution questions the wisdom in adopting model laws in the absence of mechanisms to ensure the buy-in of member states as well as the adoption of these laws in national jurisdictions. Finally, the article proposes enhanced cooperation between the Parliament and various AU organs burdened with a human rights mandate to ensure that these organs 'speak the same language' and advance collective positions in furtherance of the broad AU human rights framework.


This study aims to analyze the effect of Intellectual Capital, Conservatism, and Real Earning Management on Future Stock Returns and their Implications on Stock Returns on Mining companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange Period 2013 - 2018. This type of research is quantitative research in which this research is done by explaining the results of data from the calculation of numbers that are calculated and analyzed. The analysis used in this research is regression analysis, where regression analysis estimates the magnitude of the coefficients resulting from a linear equation involving one independent variable to be used as a predictor of the value of the dependent variable. The results of this study indicate that Intellectual capital has a significant effect on future stock returns, Conservatism has a significant effect on future stock returns, Earning management has a significant effect on future stock returns, Simultaneous results Intellectual capital, conservatism, earning management simultaneously have an effect on future stock returns, Implications future stock return on stock returns. These findings indicate that in sample companies, future stock returns on stock returns have no implications


In Korea, the year 2000 marked the official launch of the accreditation system for medical education. The first accreditation project covered 41 medical schools from 2000 to 2004. During the first project, 32 schools received full accreditation, while 9 schools received conditional accreditation since they were new medical schools. Beginning in 2007, the second round of accreditation began, and it will end in 2010. Recently, there has been discussion on how to use the results of accreditation and how to improve the accreditation system at a meeting of "the 5th Anniversary of the Korean Institute of Medical Education and Evaluation (KIMEE) & the 10th Anniversary of the Accreditation Board of Medical Education in Korea" in Seoul, November 18, 2009 [1]. "The proposed usage of results included benefits for accredited schools and limitations for failing accreditation. Accredited schools would received selective government support. Graduates from failed schools would be limited in internship, residency applications, medical specialist boards examination or application in the Korean Medical Licensing Examination. Eventually, their status would be announced and the school closed."

Also, the following plan of improvement was suggested: evaluation and reports by students, questionnaires to students at admission and graduation, reporting every two years, etc. Those suggestions for usage of results is not so easy at the current time since the laws must be revised and the authority of the accreditation body should develop wide recognition by the public. Meanwhile, the plan of improvement might be easier to realize during the next round of the accreditation process.

This accreditation system definitely has contributed to the successful development of medical education in Korea. However, I would like to suggest one more point of improvement during the accreditation process. The present peer review process puts an undue burden on the members of the medical faculty who take on the job of reporting. The work required for writing and interpreting the data is too extensive. The database system KOMSIS (Korea Medical School Information System) should be sufficient to provide the information necessary for accreditation. If KOMSIS contains enough information for peer review, the burden on responsible faculty members can be reduced. Furthermore, faculty research and publication productivity should be checked by the accreditation body by searching KoreaMed [2], PubMed, and Web of Science. That is the method used in other evaluation project for each university carried out by the mass media. Currently, the calculation of productivity through publication of scientific papers is too complex to be summarized. If not only data inputted to KOMSIS are reviewed but also scientific productivity is checked by the accreditation body, the work burden of responsible faculty would be diminished and taking on this job would be a more pleasant and rewarding experience.


Most high-dimensional estimation and classification methods propose to minimize a loss function (empirical risk) that is the sum of losses associated with each observed data point. We consider the special case of binary classification problems, where the loss is a function of the inner product of the feature vectors and a weight vector. For this special class of classification tasks, the empirical risk minimization problem can be recast as a minimax optimization which has a unique saddle point when the losses are smooth functions. We propose a distributed proximal primal-dual method to solve the minimax problem. We also analyze the convergence of the proposed primal-dual method and show its convergence to the unique saddle point. To prove the convergence results, we present a novel analysis of the consensus terms that takes into account the non-Euclidean geometry of the parameter space. We also numerically verify the convergence of the proposed algorithm for the logistic regression on the Erdös-Réyni random graphs and lattices.


Sodium fluoride (NaF) is one of the neglected environmental toxicants that has continued to silently cause toxicity to both humans and animals. NaF is universally present in water, soil and the atmosphere. The persistent and alarming rate of increase in cardiovascular and renal diseases and disorders caused by chemicals such as sodium fluoride (NaF) in mammalian tissues have led to the use of various drugs for the treatment of these diseases. This study aims at evaluating the renoprotective and antihypertensive effects of L- Arginine on NaF-induced nephrotoxicity. Thirty male Wistar rats (150 – 180 g) were used in this study. The rats were randomly divided into five groups of six rats each as Control, NaF (300 ppm), NaF + L- Arginine (100 mg/kg), NaF + L- Arginine (200 mg/kg), and NaF + Lisinopril (10 mg/kg), respectively; orally for eight days. Histopathological examination and immunohistochemistry of renal angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) and mineralocorticoid receptor (MCR) were performed. Markers of renal damage, oxidative stress, antioxidant defence system, and blood pressure parameters were determined. L- Arginine significantly (p <0.05) ameliorated the hypertensive effects of NaF. The systolic, diastolic and mean arterial blood pressure of the treated groups were significantly (p< 0.05) reduced compared with the hypertensive group. This finding was concurrent with significantly increased serum bioavailability of nitric oxide in the hypertensive treated groups. Also, there was significant reduction in the level of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine in the serum of the hypertensive rats treated with L- arginine. There was significant (p<0.05) reduction in markers of oxidative stress such as hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), malondialdehyde (MDA) and protein carbonyl (PCO) and concurrent increase in the levels of antioxidant enzymes in the kidney of hypertensive rats treated with L arginine. The results of this study suggest that L- Arginine normalized high blood pressure, reduced oxidative stress, reduced the expression of renal ACE and MCR, and improved nitric oxide production. Thus, L- Arginine holds promise as a potential therapy against hypertension and renal damage.


The Johns Hopkins Hospital has demonstrated that hospital costs can be decreased without governmental intervention (controls). From 1975 to 1978, the hospital inflation rate was cut by half. One key factor, according to Solomon, was a move to decentralize management which was accompanied by a detailed system for monitoring costs. Also instrumental were administration's consistent reminders to physicians and managers about keeping costs down. The hospital was reorganized from a system of clinical departments that behaved, says Solomon, like "fiefdoms" into 14 autonomous departments that function under their own budgets. Each department controls about 85% of its costs (up from 30%), and is set up to function "like a small business." A breakdown of where cost reductions took place shows a savings of $5 million in overhead and $1.5 million in malpractice claims (Hopkins self-insured). Individual departments have also achieved some dramatic reductions: the Department of Medicine decreased the number of laboratory tests ordered; and the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics built a new facility with fewer beds than the old one.


The tar-rich coal is not only coal, but also a kind of coal-based oil and gas resources. If the pyrolysis technology and scale application are broken through, the abundant oil resource derived from tar-rich coal can be obtained. The underground in-situ pyrolysis technology of tar-rich coal has been proposed lately. Through this technology, the oil-gas resources with in tar-rich coal are preferentially extracted without environmental pollution and excessive semi-coke production. Here, the pyrolysis and mild oxidation characteristics of tar-rich coal were firstly evaluated using thermogravimetric analysis.


Background A needs assessment of women's health services was conducted in support of a WHO sponsored link between Guys and St. Thomas' Hospital, London, and Ndola Central Hospital, Zambia. Ndola Central Hospital is one of five tertiary hospitals in Zambia taking referrals from 23 surrounding rural clinics. The maternal mortality ratio for Zambia was 591/100000 in 2007.1 Method Information was gathered via interviews with staff in the top ten referral clinics and at Ndola Central Hospital, and by auditing patient referral instructions for May 2011. Services available at clinics were described and data was grouped into categories for reason for referral. Referral practices were compared to District Health Office guidelines. Results Antenatal visits, health screening tests and education of expectant mothers were carried out within clinics, but specific services varied at each location. Largely, referral guidelines were followed but some normal deliveries were referred from clinics that weren't equipped as delivery centres. Additionally, large numbers of women self-referred to Ndola Central Hospital, bypassing clinic services. Some larger clinics acted as primary referral centres from non-delivery centre clinics or for HIV related services. Finally, there were frequent problems with transport for referrals as there is only one ambulance which serves all the rural clinics. Discussion Ndola Central could keep a register of women who are self referring, using this information to apply for increased staff budget from the Ministry of Health. Time recommendations could also be added to the guidelines to reduce time delays in accessing specialist care.


An adaptive finite difference method is developed for a class of fully nonlinear time-dependent thin liquid film equations. Equations of the type ht+fy(h) = − ∇·(M(h)∇∆h) arise in the context of thin liquid films driven by a thermal gradient with a counteracting gravitational force, where h = h(x, y, t) is the fluid film height. Enhanced accuracy for the method is attained by covering the front with a sequence of nested, progressively finer, rectangular grid patches that dynamically follow the front motion. Results of numerical experiments illustrate the accuracy, the efficiency, and the robustness of the method.


Studies have demonstrated low serum levels of total protein (TP) and albumin (ALB) in patients with Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), especially with refractory and recurrent disease. However, it is not known whether low TP and/or ALB levels are a risk factor for CDI or merely a result of diarrheal loss. The aim of this study is to determine if low TP and/or ALB level is an antecedent or sequela of CDI, which would be useful in risk stratification of hospitalized or nursing home patients. A retrospective cohort study was conducted in a 700-bed tertiary care teaching hospital. Records of all hospitalized patients with CDI from 2006-2011 were analyzed. The inclusion criteria for the final cohort (n=46) were: subjects not diagnosed with HIV; onset of CDI at least one week after hospitalization; serial values of TP and ALB available on three occasions (at onset of CDI, seven days prior, and post-onset of CDI). Seven days prior to the onset of CDI, 40/46 (87%) subjects had low ALB levels with a mean of 2.6±0.7 g/dL and 37/46 (80.4%) had low TP with a mean of 5.8±1.0 g/dL. At the onset of CDI, 45/46 (97.8%) subjects had low ALB (group: 2.1±0.6 g/dL) and 41/46 (89.1%) had low TP (group: 5.1±1.0). Seven days post-onset of CDI, 45/46 subjects continued to have decreased ALB (group: 2.0±0.6) and 39/46 (84.8%) had low TP (group: 5.2±1.2). The pre-onset data for ALB and TP were significantly different than the comparable data at onset and seven days post-onset (p<0.0001 for both ALB and TP). No significant difference was observed between onset and seven days post-onset. Most patients are hypoproteinemic prior to the onset of hospital-acquired CDI. Although some subjects lost protein after the onset of CDI, this was not statistically significant. This study suggests that antecedent low levels of ALB and TP may be a risk factor for the acquisition of CDI.


Past attempts to exploit the unused capacity of clusters of users' desktop workstations to run super-computing jobs have proven less successful than was expected. One solution to the problems of past approaches is an orbital supercluster. This is a loose federation of clusters of workstations, these clusters being distributed across the world. It has the following properties: • Jobs submitted to the super-cluster are started only on clusters in parts of the world where it is night – when such clusters are free from use (and interference) by desktop users. • Long running jobs are migrated periodically to keep the execution in nighttime. To implement an orbital super-cluster, the following are required: • Techniques for efficient interaction over the very large latencies between an executing job and that job's client. • Techniques for periodic migration of otherwise stationary computational elements of jobs. This paper analyses the reasons for the failure of past approaches, explains the approach and how it avoids past problems, and describes the techniques for interaction over very large communication latencies that will underpin implementation of the approach.


Structurally diverse peroxisome proliferators and related compounds that have been demonstrated to induce the ligand-dependent transcriptional activation function of mouse peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (mPPARα) in transfection experiments were tested for the ability to induce conformational changes within mPPARα in vitro. WY-14,643, 5,8,11,14-eicosatetraynoic acid, LY-171883, and clofibric acid all directly induced mPPARα conformational changes as evidenced by a differential protease sensitivity assay. Carboxyl-terminal truncation mutagenesis of mPPARα differentially affected the ability of these ligands to induce conformational changes suggesting that PPAR ligands may make distinct contacts with the receptor. Direct interaction of peroxisome proliferators and related compounds with, and the resulting conformational alteration(s) in, mPPARα may facilitate interaction of the receptor with transcriptional intermediary factors and/or the general transcription machinery and, thus, may underlie the molecular basis of ligand-dependent transcriptional activation mediated by mPPARα.


Plant species in Clay County, Minnesota have been changing their first flowering dates (FFDs) in response to climate changes. To document those shifts, in 2011 and 2012 I recorded phenological data for Clay County, Minnesota. I added that data to data which had been collected since 1910 for two locations in Minnesota and found that, on average, plants flowered 1 day later than their historical averages in 2011 and 16.1 days earlier in 2012. I also performed experiments upon Lithospermum canescens, a native prairie forb which has shifted its first flowering date (FFD) significantly earlier than in the past century and which is underrepresented in tallgrass prairie restorations. I found that this species does not appear to be pollen limited, that the concurrently blooming plant species have changed noticeably since the early 1900s, and that this species is able to be grown by hand from seed (the first known attempt).


The conducted tests were aimed at determination of the drop diameters and shaping of the velocity field at different configurations of the test injector. The test results allowed defining the relationship between the injector configuration and the distribution of velocities and dimensions of drops in the fuel stream. The effect of the fuel viscosity and injection pressure on the dimensions of fuel drop diameters and the distribution of the velocity field of drops in the stream were tested. The tests were carried out on a special test rig with a fixed volume chamber. The measurements were carried out with the use of laser Doppler measurement systems (PDPA, LDV). The tests were conducted for seven different fuel types varying in viscosity and surface tension. In addition, the injection pressure from 50 MPa to 130 MPa was applied. The test results allowed determining the relationship between the injector structure configuration, fuel types and fuel additives, and the distribution of velocity and an atomisation spectrum of drops in the fuel stream, and the air impact on the fuel stream.


Likelihood-based regression models such as the normal linear regression model and the linear logistic model, assume a linear (or some other parametric) form for the covariates X1, X2, *--, Xp. We introduce the class of generalized additive models which replaces the linear form E fjXj by a sum of smooth functions E sj(Xj). The sj(.)'s are unspecified functions that are estimated using a scatterplot smoother, in an iterative procedure we call the local scoring algorithm. The technique is applicable to any likelihood-based regression model: the class of generalized linear models contains many of these. In this class the linear predictor q = E fjXj is replaced by the additive predictor E sj(Xj); hence, the name generalized additive models. We illustrate the technique with binary response and survival data. In both cases, the method proves to be useful in uncovering nonlinear covariate effects. It has the advantage of being completely auto- matic, i.e., no "detective work" is needed on the part of the statistician. As a theoretical underpinning, the technique is viewed as an empirical method of maximizing the expected log likelihood, or equivalently, of minimizing the Kullback-Leibler distance to the true model.


The Gabinet de Llengua Catalana (Catalan Language Bureau) of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona is working on a program of exercises in Catalan for beginners using the authoring system CALIS. The program, called CATACROC, consists of various modules (noun and verb morphology, vocabulary and reading comprehension) and is designed for use by students teaching themselves as well as for backup on language courses.


This paper evaluates the influence of several parameters on the potential of using increased thermal capacitance (ITC) as a passive energy management technique to decrease a building's cooling load. ITC is implemented by circulating water from a storage tank through a piping system located in the building's ceiling. The cooling load of the ITC enhanced building is compared to the cooling load of a reference building without ITC. TRNSYS, a transient system simulation software, is used to simulate both the ITC enhanced building and the reference building. The following parameters that affect the performance of the ITC are analyzed: tank size, specific heat, mass flow rate, initial temperature of the working fluid, pipe material and wall thickness, and location of the piping system in the ceiling. These parameters are also modified to achieve the best results for each of the climate conditions investigated. The simulations demonstrate that ITC has the potential to reduce the overall cooling load in a range between 4% to 8%, depending on the location and the month of the year.


In this work, we studied the impact of using Zn1−xMgxO to replace the intrinsic ZnO in CIGS solar cells. The effect of Mg content and layer thickness of the Zn1−xMgxO on device formation was investigated. We found that the amount of Mg in the Zn1−xMgxO layer and the layer thickness significantly alter the cell properties. Device characterization indicated that the impact of the Mg content is not limited to the front-window layer, but also extends to underneath the CIGS layer. The numerical simulation nicely explains the relationship between various front-window layers and device performance. Our observation indicates that properties of the front-window layer may be important to junction formation in CIGS devices. Any changes to this part of the device could seriously alter device performance.


Fractals and chaos are novel fields of physics and mathematics showing up a new way of universe viewpoint and creating many ideas to solve several present problems. In this paper, a novel algorithm based on the chaotic sequence generator with the highest ability to adapt and reach the global optima is proposed. The adaptive ability of proposal algorithm is flexible in 2 procedures. The first one is Breadth-first search and the second one is Depth-first search. The proposal algorithm is examined by 2 functions, the Camel function and the Schaffer function. Furthermore, the proposal algorithm is applied to optimize training Multilayer Neural Networks.


Chernenko, О. М., Lieshchova, M. O., Orishchuk, O. S., Chernenko, О. I., Zaiarko, О. I., Tsap, S. V., Bordunova, О. G. & Dutka, V. R. (2020). Biological features of the formation of cattle in the prenatal period of ontogeny and subsequent dairy production. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 26 (6), 1297–1304 The results of the study of the length of the prenatal period of ontogenesis of 51 Ukrainian Red Dairy breed tribal cows are presented, and the relationship of this trait with the rate of growth of the organism in the postnatal period (at birth, at 6, 12 and 18 months) and dairy productivity for the first lactation are investigated. Also, at different stages of the prenatal period of ontogeny the dynamics of the mass of 66 fetus and some parenchymatous organs (liver, spleen, thymus) selected by anatomical preparation are determined. The aim of the research was to establish the possibility of predicting dairy productivity of Ukrainian Red Dairy breed cows over the length of the prenatal period and the effect of this period on the postnatal growth rate of the organism, and also to ascertain the existence of a regularity between the increase in fetus mass and the development of certain hemopoiesis organs at different stages of prenatal development. Laboratory animals were divided into three groups, depending on length of their prenatal period: less than 277 days-reduced (group I), 277–283 – medium (group II) and more than 283 days – extended period (group III). For 305 days of the first lactation, the advantage over milk yield, milk fat yield and milk protein belongs to animals with shortened duration of the prenatal period of ontogenesis in comparison with contemporaries who had an extended period with a statistically significant difference (P < 0.05). A further study in the short term may be a study of the relationship between the duration of the prenatal period and the rate of fetal growth with the subsequent forming of the physique, and in the long term turning into the study of the relationship between the duration of the prenatal period and the rate of fetal growth with a duration of productive use and lifelong productivity.


Abstract Implementation of effective interventions relies on the use of assessment data to adequately describe the learning problem and offer potential solutions. The use of curriculum-based assessment and measurement when combined with the learning hierarchy could offer a paradigm for decision making based on a skill-by-treatment interaction. Meta-analytic procedures were used to analyze the link between skill proficiency and interventions categorized as addressing acquisition or fluency needs. Results suggest that the skill-by-treatment paradigm may be useful for matching skill levels in math to successful interventions and illustrate the need for additional research examining fluency interventions, particularly for students with instructional-level skills.


Introduction: Thoracoscopy is the gold standard for diagnosis of pleural tuberculous (PTB). However, pleural biopsy (PB) is a blind technique of investigation of simple first intension designed to make the histological diagnosis. to evaluate the contribution of PB in the histological diagnosis of PTB. We study retrospectively 49 patients in whom PTB were diagnosed in our military department. PB was sent for culture and histopathological examination. Patients were excluded if they had positive basciloscopy. Results: The mean age was 32 years (12 to 78). 81% were male. A past medical history of tuberculosis was found in 25% of cases. The most frequent symptoms are: chest pain, cough and constitutional symptoms. The TB effusions were all exudative with a mean lymphocyte fraction of 80%. PB was done in 89% of cases with a mild number of fragments was 4,5. Diagnosis was confirmed by closed-PB in 61,9% of cases, boxes from the first biopsy in 53.3% of cases. Thus the sensitivity of the PB is 53%. No complications of PB were noted. The thoracoscopy confirm the diagnosis in 24,4% of cases. 4,4% of cases was histologically non diagnostic. Pleurisy is isolated in 77.5% of cases associated with pericardial disease in 6.1% of cases. Histology found a tuberculous granuloma in 69% of cases with caseous necrosis in 50% of cases. Culture of pleural fragment was positive in 3 cases. In other cases the diagnosis is retained on elements of presumptions. Conclusion: The profitability of PB depends on the extent of lesions and the experience of the operator. The PB is a minimally invasive and cost effective for the early diagnosis of pleural tuberculosis before considering more invasive examinations.


Abstract : The thermal requirements for the TacSat-4 payload electronics (COMMx) were difficult to meet with traditional methods of spacecraft thermal design. TacSat-4 is a U.S. Navy satellite intended to be launched into an elliptical orbit to provide relevant capabilities for communications, data exfiltration, and tracking. In a conventional passive thermal design, the electronics boxes are distributed around the spacecraft at suitable locations where heat rejection to space is available. This technique, while simple, can be inefficient with satellite real estate and so posed a real threat to COMMx payload implementation. Specifically, the spacecraft would become large and heavy due to inefficient packaging, requiring a larger and more expensive launch vehicle. The result of a trade study indicated that a Central Thermal Bus design, a concept first proposed by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in 1994 and the subject of a funded study in 1999, would yield the most efficient thermal control system for the TacSat-4 payload in terms of performance, ease of integration, and more importantly, mass/volume. The challenge facing NRL thermal engineers was to design the payload thermal control system to fit within the multitude of program constraints without limiting payload performance or mission goals.


in the course of the research, we identified seven risk groups, analyzed their influence, and formulated possible measures of the risk mitigation. For initial coin offerings projects, we formulated a special risk‐ assessment scoring system based on a 100‐point scale. investment risks (volatility) were one of the main issues. The only effective option of risk-management here is risk aversion — the refusal of any interaction with the cryptocurrency market. on the other hand, traditional risk management method of diversification has proved its worth and viability on empirical studies of portfolio investments. The portfolio should not be mostly "crypto" but rather it should also consist of traditional assets. it is necessary to consider the opportunity to quit the cryptocurrency market for a short period of time, to prevent the harmful consequences of dramatic price shifts.


Diverse classes of medications are associated with QT interval prolongation and expose patients to the risk of potentially fatal ventricular arrhythmias. Clinicians can minimize adverse events by avoiding prescription of multiple medications associated with QT interval prolongation in high-risk patients.


Field studies have shown that animals often abandon territorial defense when food is abundant, but the causes of this behavior are controversial. Sometimes the cessation of defense is attributed to the food supply being so abundant that monopolization of the resource gains the defender nothing, even though defense would be energetically feasible. Other studies show that when the food supply is rich, such large numbers of competitors are attracted that defense is overwhelmed. Knowledge of the amount of food available relative to the numbers of consumers in the region can resolve the controversy. When food is limited throughout a region, a localized rich foraging area will attract competitors.Defense of such an area therefore may yield a large increase in net benefit to the defender, depending on whether or not so many competitors recruit that defense is too costly. However, when a localized foraging area is rich but food is also superabundant throughout the region, intruders may not recruit even if the area is undefended. Therefore the benefits of defense, if it were to occur, would be low.

Field studies of nectar-feeding birds show that defense continued on rich foraging areaswhen floral nectar was limited to the population regionally, and resulted in enhanced food availability relative to that in undefended areas. However, under conditions of artificially rich food supplies (sugar-water feeders) and extremely limited food regionally, defense was sometimes overwhelmed by competitors. Cessation of defense on locally rich foraging areas also occurred when nectar was regionally superabundant. Therefore, both proposed causes of cessation of defense occurred in these systems and were easily distinguished by examining the degree to which food was limited in the surrounding region relative to localized foraging areas.

I show that animals potentially can assess whether or not food supply is limited in the surrounding region by sampling and comparing standing crops in defended and undefended situations.


Abstract This study reports a production experiment investigating the realization of objects with different verb types in controlled discourse contexts in 68 three- to seven-year-old sequential Cantonese–English bilingual children. The results show the bilingual children behaved similarly to the Cantonese monolingual peers in object omission, but exhibited protracted development and produced target-deviant forms following a Cantonese pattern in omitting objects specified in prior discourse in English. The bilingual children also showed non-target-like uses of the Cantonese post-verbal object pronoun keoi5, which were unattested in monolingual children. Our findings show evidence for bidirectional cross-linguistic influence: the direction of influence goes from the weaker to the stronger language and from the stronger to the weaker language. Vulnerability of object realization in bilingual acquisition can be better understood in terms of the interaction between cross-linguistic influence, input (e.g., quantity and structural frequencies) and other linguistic elements involved in the interface relation (e.g., verb type).


In this article, we propose a vision-based kinematic calibration algorithm for Stewart-Gough parallel structures. Information on the position and orientation of the mechanism legs is extracted from the observation of these kinematic elements with a standard camera. No workspace limitation, nor installation of additional proprioceptive sensors are required. The algorithm is composed of two steps: the first one enables us to calibrate the position of the joint centers linked to the base and possibly evaluate the presence of joint clearances. The kinematic parameters associated to the moving elements of the platform are calibrated in a second step. The algorithm is first detailed, then an experimental evaluation of the measurement noise is performed, before giving simulation results. The algorithm performance is then discussed.


Nowadays, there has been growing interest in the Massive MIMO as a result of improving throughput by leveraging spatial freedom and array gain. It is equipped with millimeter wave (mm Wave) bands to resolve the high path-loss. It is known from the literature that iterated algorithms are usually used to attain the hybrid precoders to accomplish a specific optimization objective. Thus, the complexity remains high because each iteration may include singular value decomposition, the matrix inversion, and so on that motivates us to split the hybrid precoding and combining problem into sub-problems. The proposed solution is a multi-user Massive MIMO hybrid beamforming based on a convex optimization problem that is applied and solved for estimating the digital precoding to eliminate inter-user interference while using codebooks to select analog beamformers. It is apparent in the majority of cases; the proposed beamforming performance is higher than only-analog beamforming, single-user (no interference), the ZF precoding, the MMSE precoding, and the Kalman precoding where the full digital solution is a considerable as the benchmark point with different scenarios due to the reduction of user interference. Thus, there is no consideration for complicated operations such as SVD or inversion matrices as well as no need for data estimation. Our proposed solution can serve a large number of users simultaneously due to more directive gain by using numerous antennas at BS. Based on its less complexity and keeping performance, our solution can be recommended.


After bone marrow grafting, severe unexplained thrombocytopenia and granulocytopenia may complicate the post‐graft recovery of the patient. The present study has shown the presence of antibodies to platelets and granulocytes of donor origin in recipients of both allogeneic and autologous bone marrow grafts. In the case of autografts, such antibodies are by definition autoantibodies, and similar antibodies after allografting may also have an autoimmune origin. It is likely that this is the result of transient immune system imbalance, common to both allo‐ and autografts, in the early post‐graft period. The extent to which these antibodies affect the peripheral counts probably depends on the ability of the engrafted marrow to compensate for the rate of antibody‐mediated cell destruction.


Few studies have reported problem behaviors in adulthood related to the timing of child neglect. The objective was to examine the relationship between classes of child neglect and later behavior. The sample included 473 participants from the prospective Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN); their mean age was 23.8 years. They completed an online survey regarding behaviors and experiences in early adulthood. Neglect was assessed via Child Protective Services (CPS) and self-reports of neglect. Latent class analysis (LCA) identified three classes: Late Neglect, Chronic Neglect, and Limited Neglect. There were significant differences between Limited and Late Neglect regarding later intimate partner aggression and violence (IPAV) and psychological distress, and among all classes for criminal behavior. High-risk youth experiencing neglect beginning in mid-adolescence appear especially vulnerable to later criminal behavior, psychological distress, and IPAV. Those working with such youth can help ensure that their needs are adequately met, to prevent or mitigate problems in adulthood.


OBJECTIVE
To study the effects of the superficial venous trunk (SVT) and its nourishing vessels on early revascularization of the reverse-flow random flap in order to provide theoretical evidences for clinical applications.

METHODS
The morphologic changes of micrangium of the reverse-flow random flap with SVT and without SVT were observed at different phases and compared by optical microscopy and stereological methods.

RESULTS
The micrangium density of the flaps with SVT and without SVT showed a tendency of increasing at 3 days after the operation. At 5 to 10 days, the micrangium density of the flap with SVT was much higher than the flap without SVT. There was significant difference between the two groups, which was proved by the optical microscopy observation.

CONCLUSIONS
This study suggests that SVT and its nourishing vessels could promote early revascularization of the flap after transplantation. The SVT can be of benefit to the survival of the reverse-flow random flap.


Antibacterial activities of methanol and water extracts of blackberry ( Rubus fruticosus ) were tested against 63 clinical isolates of bacteria strains ( Enterobacter aerogenes, Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus ) by disc-diffusion method and minimal inhibition concentration (MIC) values of each active extract were determined. The blackberry extracts proved to be active against all bacteria species tested in this study. The highest antibacterial activity was expressed by methanol and aquouse extracts of blackberry fruits against S. aureus with 20 mm inhibition zone and 0.312 mg/ml MIC value. Also good antibacterial potentials were detected against Enterobacter aerogenes, Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa with methanol and water extracts of blackberry leaves ranging with 10-18mm inhibition zones. Keywords : Blackberry ( Rubus fruticosus), Antibacterial activity, Disc diffusion method.


Adaptive antenna arrays are widely used because of their effectiveness in suppressing strong jamming signals that are received on a sidelobe of the main antenna pattern. In an adaptive antenna systems for jamming suppression, it is customary to assume that the array is composed of equally spaced elements and to avoid aliasing or grading lobes in the antenna pattern; the spaces between the elements are assumed to be the half wavelength X/2. This array structure, whose array elements are assumed to be identical and omnidirectional, is referred to as uniform regular array (URA). However, the cost and complexity of a fully adaptive URA is prohibitive for some applications which require a large number of elements. The main objective of this paper is to investigate the jamming suppression capability of a class of adaptive arrays whose array elements are selected by a particular non-uniform thinning technique so as to achieve better cancellation beam resolution than URA, but with a lesser number of array elements and at a far reduced level of complexity.


Glaucoma is characterized by degeneration of optic nerve axons and death of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). Nerve crush and axotomy of the optic nerve are studied as models of RGC death in glaucoma and of axon regeneration. The mechanisms underlying the response of RGCs to axonal injury remain unclear, however. We have now examined the effects of optic nerve crush on the expression of members of the semaphorin family of neuronal guidance proteins in the rat retina. The expression of semaphorin 3F (Sema3F) in the retina was down‐regulated at both the mRNA and protein levels at 7 days after optic nerve injury, whereas that of Sema3A, Sema3B or Sema3C remained unaffected. Immunohistofluorescence analysis and laser capture microdissection followed by reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction analysis revealed that this loss of Sema3F expression occurred in the RGC layer of the retina. Furthermore, antibody‐mediated neutralization of secreted Sema3F in retinal organ culture resulted in down‐regulation of neuron‐specific βIII‐tubulin (Tuj‐1 antigen), a marker of RGCs. Our results suggest that Sema3F may contribute to the regulation of RGC function or survival and therefore warrants further investigation as a potential mediator of neuroprotection. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


In moving object environments it is infeasible for the database tracking the movement of objects to store the exact locations of objects at all times. Typically the location of an object is known with certainty only at the time of the update. The uncertainty in its location increases until the next update. In this environment, it is possible for queries to produce incorrect results based upon old data. However, if the degree of uncertainty is controlled, then the error of the answers to certain queries can be reduced. More generally, query answers can be augmented with probabilistic estimates of the validity of the answer. We study the execution of such probabilistic nearest-neighbor queries. The imprecision in answers to the queries is an inherent property of these applications due to uncertainty in the data, unlike the techniques for approximate nearest-neighbor processing that trade accuracy for performance.


New tris-o-benzosemiquinonato complexes of Al, Ga, and In based on the sterically hindered o-benzoquinone 5,8-di-tert-butyl-2,3-dihydro-1,4-ethanoquinoxaline-6,7-dione (NN-3,6-Q) were synthesized. The structures of the hexacoordinate metal compounds were investigated by X-ray diffraction. The magnetic properties of the complexes obtained were found to be strongly dependent on their molecular geometry. The octahedral Al and Ga derivatives demonstrate ferromagnetic exchange between the magnetic centers, whereas the trigonal-prismatic In complex shows an antiferromagnetic coupling.


Many elastodynamic solutions exist for wave interactions with defects upon or within an elastic half space bounded above by a vacuum. The aim of this paper is to significantly widen the scope of these solutions by showing that they can be directly utilized, when the vacuum is replaced by a fluid, to find the leading order acoustic (or elastic) responses in the light fluid-loading limit. Using the procedure developed here one can take virtually any elastodynamic solution and use it to generate the leading-order solution for a fluid-loaded elastic solid.


AIM OF THE STUDY
Migrants are an important target group for mailed surveys but also difficult to reach. For planning these surveys and invitational health measures, we assessed response figures for women with and without Turkish migration background.

METHODS
Women aged 50 years living in Westphalia-Lippe were invited to a postal survey at 2 time points about mammography screening. Turkish migrant women were identified in the contact database by a name-based algorithm. Possible differences in sample revision and response among women with and without Turkish migration background were assessed.

RESULTS
Women with Turkish migration background had unknown addresses significantly more often (4.6 vs. 1.7%) and responded to the questionnaires less often (first questionnaire: 14.3 vs. 35.9%; second questionnaire: 70.7 vs. 85.6%).

CONCLUSIONS
For postal invitation to participate in healthcare measures, or recruitment of Turkish migrants for studies, differences in current address and readiness to respond must be taken into consideration.


We examine the post age-16 educational pathways taken by the 44% of young people who do not gain "good" grades in English and Maths at age 16 years. We then assess the causal effects of attending General Further Education (GFE) colleges on education and labour market outcomes for this group.
We use the Longitudinal Education Outcomes dataset, which comprises linked administrative education, employment and income records for the population of English school pupils aged 16 in 2011. To summarise complex post-16 education trajectories, we present Sankey charts stratified by indicators of disadvantage. We study the effects of attending GFE at age 17 on whether a pupil gains a Level 3 qualification by age 19, and their earnings and employment status at age 24. To estimate a causal impact, we use distance from home to the closest GFE college as an instrumental variable, controlling for a rich set of background characteristics.
Our graphical results highlight the complexity of post-16 educational pathways and transitions, which are differentiated by disadvantage. Over 50% have GFE as their first post-16 destination. Results from instrumental variable analyses show a positive association between attending GFE and gaining a Level 3 qualification by age 19, among pupils who do not gain a "good" pass in the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) in either English and/or Maths. Restricting analyses to the bottom of the distribution – those who gain an E, F or G grade in both English and Maths - we do not detect an impact of GFE on qualifications at age 19. Among both subgroups, we do not detect any impact of attending GFE on earnings and employment at age 24 years.
While the post-16 pathways taken by disadvantaged, lower-attaining pupils do increase qualification attainment for some, the value these have in the labour market appears limited. These results may indicate the importance of "soft-skills" and early employment experiences for this subgroup of lower-attainers.


Work in organizations entails an exchange relationship between employees and organization. Apart from the written employment contract, there still exists a set of mutual expectations from the two parties (employer and employee) which remain unwritten and unvoiced and yet drives the behavior of both workers and organizations alike, and this is what is referred to as the psychological contract. Psychological contract refers to the employees' subjective interpretations and evaluations of their deal with the organization. The aim of this study is to explore the impact of breaches or violations in the psychological contract on the performance of employees. It aims to present two concurrent hypotheses, based on theoretical interaction effects of social exchanges (conceptualized as social exchange relationships, fairness, and job security).Data were collected from a sample of 150 employees from both Public and Private Banks in Ghana. Regression analysis was used to explore the moderating effects of social exchanges on the relationships between psychological contract breach and work performance (operationalized as in- role behaviors and organizational citizenship behaviors).It was found that the negative relationship between psychological contract breach and work performance was moderated by social exchanges, such that the relationship was stronger for employees with high social exchange relationship, perceived organizational support, and job security which means that psychological contract breach will negatively affect employees with higher expectations in social exchanges. Keywords: Breach of contract; Social interaction; Psychological contracts; Job satisfaction


An analysis method of tetracyclines far fish and shellfish products containing large amount of low molecular materials and pigments was established. The recovery of the established analysis method for four tetracycline samples was and higher than other methods reported. Especially, proposed sample treatment protocol was shown to be effective for the removal of low molecular materials and pigments that tend to interfere with accurate analysis. The detection limit of oxytetracycline (OTC) and tetracycline (TC) from the sample was 0.02 ppm, and the detection limit of chlortetracycline (CTC) and doxycycline (DC) from the sample was 0.1ppm, To examine the efficiency of the established method and identify tetracycline usage in fish farms, tetracycline group antibiotics in the flounder being cultured was monitored. The improved method can be used for fish and shellfish products effectively and all surveyed fish farms have used tetracycline all the year round. The proposed method was adopted as official method for fishery products by Korean Food and Drug Administration in 2003 and it is being used by regulatory authority as National Fishery Products Quality Inspection Service.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the cause of epistasis in patients irradiated for nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

METHOD
Seventy nasopharyngeal carcinoma cases with epistasis after radiotherapy were retrospectively analyzed.

RESULT
The causes of epistasis were local nasopharyngeal carcinoma recurrent 34.3% (24/70), pseudoaneurysm 14.3% (10/70) and nasopharyngeal crust 51.4% (36/70). Seven cases with local recurrent, 3 cases with pseudoaneurysm and 1 cases with nasopharyngeal crust and osteoradionecrosis died of intractable epistasis.

CONCLUSION
Epistasis in patients irradiated for nasopharyngeal carcinoma is dangerous complication, especially in cases with local recurrent and pseudoaneurysm. Nasopharyngeal crust must be treated actively.


Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a useful technique for noninvasive measurement of oxygenation of the brain and muscle. However, no accurate, quantitative algorithms for continuous wave NIRS (CW-NIRS) have yet been presented dute to the following two problems. The first is that inhomogeneous tissue structure greatly affects measurement sensitivity. We previously reported on the influence of a fat layer on muscle oxygenation measurement and proposed a method for correcting the sensitivity. The second problem is that almost all algorithms for CW-NIRS have been experimentally determined, although an algorithm can be theoretically determined on the basis of diffusion theory if the mean optical pathlength in muscle in an in vivo state is known. In this study, we derived basic equations for a CW-NIRS algorithm based on diffusion theory, and we determined linear and nonlinear algorithms from mean optical pathlengths and validated them by results obtained from phantom experiments. For the determination of pathlength, the absorption and scattering coefficients of the muscle must be obtained by taking into account the influence of afat layer. Laser pulses of 752 and 871 run were applied to the forearms of subjects, and the temporal point spread function (TPSF) was obtained by using a streak camera. The absorption and scattering coefficients of the muscle were determined by fitting the measured TPSF with that obtained by a Monte Carlo model consisting of skin, fat and muscle layers. From these coefficients, the mean optical pathlengths at two wavelengths were obtained and the algorithms were determined.


Marketization of the humanitarian system and the financial independence is thought to have an impact on humanitarian organisations' behavior. With an increased insecurity for aid-workers and thus investment in aid-worker security management, research on this matter is pressing. This thesis seeks to examine the characteristics of the relationship between humanitarian organisations' financial (in)dependency, and their use of acceptance as a security strategy. Acceptance is a security strategy preferred by humanitarian organisations. I pose the research question: How does humanitarian organisations' level of financial independence contribute to their application of acceptance as a security strategy in South Sudan? The thesis answers this through a qualitative case study of three different layers of humanitarian organisations' (MSF and ICRC; INGOs; L/NNGOs) in South Sudan, guided by acceptance as the analytical framework. The study finds that the level of financial (in)dependence can contribute to all components of the acceptance strategy in various ways. Higher level of financial independence provides flexibility and operational independence, and lower level of financial independence impedes flexibility and increases compliance with donor interests. This has consequences for all components of acceptance in some ways, but particularly for principles and mission and programming. (Less)


This paper presents the multiple linear regression (MLR) models developed from electrical resistivity and seismic refraction surveys for quick prediction of subsurface soil's shear strength parameters. A total of four parameters have been considered with electrical resistivity and seismic refraction velocity as the independent variables: and soil cohesion and internal friction angle as the dependent variables. In order to mitigate the effects of nonlinearity of resistivity and velocity, both datasets were initially log-transformed to conform with the fundamental assumptions of regression analysis. Two models were therefore built based on the strong multiple linear relationships between explanatory and response variables, with coefficient of determination (R2), 0.777, p-values, < 0.050, Durbin-Watson value, 1.787 and multicollinearity, 1.185. The obtained models' coefficients were transferred and used for the estimation of 2D models soil cohesion and internal angle of friction for validation. Thereafter, the developed models demonstrated good performance, having subjected to accuracy assessment with results at < 5%, and < 10% for the root mean square error (RMSE) and weighted mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) respectively. Therefore, the new developed soil's shear strength MLR models have provided continual description of soil properties in two-dimensional form, enhancing the subsurface information for site investigations as compared, to one-dimensional information from the invasive method.


Cryptography is the art of concealing a message so that the sender and receiver be familiar with the existence of the message. The Encrypted message provides the possibility to the attackers to modify the secret information. Steganography, on the other hand, is the art of obscuring a message so that the attacker is unaware about the existence of the message. In Encoding strategy, the user can select only WAV format. Since it is very easy for developing the Audio file system. Hiding information in Audio files is considered more complex than Image files since Human Auditory System is more sensitive when compared to Human Visual System Steganography removes unwanted attention coming to the hidden message. Due to Redundancy strategy in Steganography, the Secret message before and after Steganography kept unchanged. In this paper we have proposed a method to enhance the security level in audio steganography using Elliptic Curve Cryptography with randomized changes in Bits. The Secret message can be hidden in the Elliptic Curve Points using the LSB and MSB Techniques. In this paper proposed system works in WAV (Uncompressed format), since it is the easier file format for Development and it maintains Good Quality.


A key aim of the health policy of the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) has been to provide quality health services to all its citizens. In line with the policy objective, the GoB has adopted the primary health care (PHC) approach as a health development strategy. Inspired by the Alma Ata Declaration on PHC, the GoB health policy and programmes aim at ensuring "health for all" (Perry, 2000), with special focus on rural population and the poor. There is now a common mistrust of the public health services in the country and the perceived poor quality of health services push the higher socio-economic groups to seek health services abroad (Mahdy, 2009). I used a narrative interview method to better understand the user perspectives on the quality of PHC to register patients' voices missed in previous predominantly quantitative studies (e.g., Sohail, 2005). Data for the research came from 10 ex-patients who sought primary health services in a health centre in a sub-district in Bangladesh. This paper demonstrates that lack of adequate health professionals, misuse of resources, provider absenteeism, provider-centric consultations result in patient dissatisfaction and ineffectiveness of services. I argue that there is a need for proper maintenance of resources, better monitoring and supervision and address process-related quality issues to ensure better quality health services for the rural people.


Abstract A comparison of the coarsening of nitrogen-rich vanadium precipitates and the coarsening of carbon-rich vanadium precipitates is presented. The precipitate phases are studied experimentally, via fabrication of model alloys, and theoretically, via simulations utilizing the DICTRA software. The experimental investigations indicate that the nitrogen-rich precipitates exhibit a slower coarsening behaviour than the carbon-rich precipitates. Analysis using thermodynamic and kinetic modelling shows that this can be explained by the higher thermodynamic stability of the nitrogen-rich precipitate compared to the carbon-rich precipitate. The calculated coarsening rates are compared with the measured rates, and found to be in satisfactory agreement using reasonable values for the interfacial energies. The investigations are motivated by the fine precipitate size distribution of nitrides and carbonitrides characteristic for high nitrogen alloyed tool steels produced by means of powder metallurgy.


Large-scale growth of high-quality hexagonal boron nitride has been a challenge in two-dimensional-material-based electronics. Herein, we present wafer-scale and wrinkle-free epitaxial growth of multilayer hexagonal boron nitride on a sapphire substrate by using high-temperature and low-pressure chemical vapor deposition. Microscopic and spectroscopic investigations and theoretical calculations reveal that synthesized hexagonal boron nitride has a single rotational orientation with AA' stacking order. A facile method for transferring hexagonal boron nitride onto other target substrates was developed, which provides the opportunity for using hexagonal boron nitride as a substrate in practical electronic circuits. A graphene field effect transistor fabricated on our hexagonal boron nitride sheets shows clear quantum oscillation and highly improved carrier mobility because the ultraflatness of the hexagonal boron nitride surface can reduce the substrate-induced degradation of the carrier mobility of two-dimensional materials.


Thermal spraying is a constantly expanding technology within the surface technology sector, established long time in a wide range of hi-tech applications. Whether in jet engines, in power plants or the printing industry, endless coating requirements can be fulfilled with thermal spraying. However in order to master the "special process" – a term used in international standards and rules – calibrated and monitored systems and parameters are needed. Also, experienced, trained and certified personnel plays an important role to rule such a special process, whose results can only be tested by non-destructive methods to a certain restricted extent. Training and examination of spray personnel is aligned with the respective European training and qualification guidelines of the EWF (European Federation of Welding, Joining and Cutting). Passing the examination, especially for the thermal sprayers confirms their technical proficiency and skills. Additionally, it clearly influences the worker´s labour input and his quality awareness in the workplace. Compliance with standards like ISO 9001 or GTS-QM-Guidelines, means for companies to have their staff trained, qualified and further educated. Experiences have shown that - contrary to expectations - the complete EWF training is in high demand. Sectors such as aerospace, railway and power plant engineering are also increasingly demanding the qualifications for ETS – European Thermal Sprayer and ETSS – European Thermal Spraying Specialist.


In the present study we aimed to evaluate whether oxidative stress and inflammation induced by strenuous exercise affect glycocalyx integrity and endothelial function. Twenty one young, untrained healthy men performed a maximal incremental cycling exercise - until exhaustion. Markers of glycocalyx shedding (syndecan-1, heparan sulfate and hyaluronic acid), endothelial status (nitric oxide and prostacyclin metabolites - nitrate, nitrite, 6-keto-prostaglandin F(1alpha)), oxidative stress (8-oxo-2'-deoxyguanosine) and antioxidant capacity (uric acid, non-enzymatic antioxidant capacity) as well as markers of inflammation (sVCAM-1 and sICAM-1) were analyzed in venous blood samples taken at rest and at the end of exercise. The applied strenuous exercise caused a 5-fold increase in plasma lactate and hypoxanthine concentrations (p<0.001), a fall in plasma uric acid concentration and non-enzymatic antioxidant capacity (p<10(-4)), accompanied by an increase (p=0.003) in sVCAM-1 concentration. Plasma 6-keto-prostaglandin F(1alpha) concentration increased (p=0.006) at exhaustion, while nitrate and nitrite concentrations were not affected. Surprisingly, no significant changes in serum syndecan-1 and heparan sulfate concentrations were observed. We have concluded, that a single bout of severe-intensity exercise is well accommodated by endothelium in young, healthy men as it neither results in evident glycocalyx disruption nor in the impairment of nitric oxide and prostacyclin production.


Abstract. Nectocaridids are soft-bodied Cambrian organisms that have been controversially interpreted as primitive cephalopods, at odds with the long-held belief that these mollusks evolved from a shell-bearing ancestor. Here, I document a new nectocaridid from the Whetstone Gulf Formation, extending the group's range into the Late Ordovician. Nectocotis rusmithi n. gen. n. sp. possesses a robust internal element that resembles a non-mineralized phragmocone or gladius. Nectocaridids can be accommodated in the cephalopod total group if the earliest cephalopods (1) inherited a non-mineralized shell field from the ancestral mollusk; and (2) internalized this shell field. This evolutionary scenario would overturn the traditional ectocochleate, Nautilus-like reconstruction of the ancestral cephalopod, and indicate a trend towards increased metabolic efficiency through the course of Cambrian–Ordovician evolution.


ABSTRACT Modern approaches to the Whorfian linguistic relativity question have reframed it from one of whether language shapes our thinking or not, to one that tries to understand the factors that contribute to the extent and nature of any observable influence of language on perception. The current paper demonstrates that such understanding is significantly enhanced by moving the evidentiary basis toward a more biologically grounded empirical arena. We review recent neuroscientific evidence using a variety of methodological techniques that reveal the functional organisation and temporal distribution of the ubiquitous relationship between language and cognitive processing in the human brain.


ABSTRACT Ugandan adolescents ages 11- to 17-years-old (N = 201; 48% girls; M age = 14.62) answered closed- and open-ended questions about occupational gender segregation, allowing researchers to assess their gender stereotype knowledge. Adolescents answered 38 closed-ended questions such as 'who is more likely to be a doctor?' and were asked to list masculine, feminine, and gender-neutral jobs. Data were analyzed via descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, t-tests, and thematic coding. Findings indicated that adolescents were fairly egalitarian about jobs and there were no differences in occupational stereotype knowledge between males and females. Findings present reasons for hope and for continued work toward gender equality in Uganda. Results may inform interventions that foster egalitarian gender attitudes. Future work could explore adolescents' stereotype endorsement and occupational aspirations.


Mediator systems federate and integrate data from disparate sources in order to elicit information that the individual sources cannot provide independently. The standard mediator architecture employs wrappers that translate heterogenous source data into a common (often semistructured) data model like XML. A "mediation engineer" provides an integrated view definition (IVD) on the wrapped XML sources. In such a system, an IVD is ideally expressed in a declarative query language for XML or semistructured data. When developing the IVD, an XML query language provides the mediation engineer only with a tree-structuredmodel of the source,i.e., the names and possible nesting structure of XML elements as defined by an XML DTD, but gives no hint on semantic relationships, class structures, not to mention application domain specific constraints. Indeed, as shown in [4, 1, 3], mediation should be lifted to the conceptual level when mediating across complex sources whose data comes from seemingly disjoint "worlds",e.g., two neuroscience labs creating information on neurotransmitters and protein distributions, respectively. 1


The cytoplasmic surface of Sec61p is the binding site for the ribosome and has been proposed to interact with the signal recognition particle receptor during targeting of the ribosome nascent chain complex to the translocation channel. Point mutations in cytoplasmic loops six (L6) and eight (L8) of yeast Sec61p cause reductions in growth rates and defects in the translocation of nascent polypeptides that use the cotranslational translocation pathway. Sec61 heterotrimers isolated from the L8 sec61 mutants have a greatly reduced affinity for 80S ribosomes. Cytoplasmic accumulation of protein precursors demonstrates that the initial contact between the large ribosomal subunit and the Sec61 complex is important for efficient insertion of a nascent polypeptide into the translocation pore. In contrast, point mutations in L6 of Sec61p inhibit cotranslational translocation without significantly reducing the ribosome-binding activity, indicating that the L6 and L8 sec61 mutants affect different steps in the cotranslational translocation pathway.


Introduction/Background Prolonged absence from the workplace can lead to deterioration of skills.1 A return to work programme can help staff revisit aspects of practice that they may have lost touch with, thereby restoring competence and confidence. While there are formal occupational health procedures to oversee a gradual return to normal working pattern, there are no educational programmes to support a trainee doctor's return to work. We designed a simulation based programme to support paediatric doctors return to work after prolonged absence and evaluated its usefulness for our participants. This one day course focuses on both clinical and team working aspects of clinical practice and is delivered using high fidelity immersive simulation. Methods We used pre-course and post course questionnaires to evaluate the course. The questionnaire was based on a five point Likert scale from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree". Trainees' views were sought about their confidence in managing acute paediatric and neonatal conditions, as well as their confidence in managing discharge of patients, breaking bad news and launching safeguarding procedures. Twenty four trainees attended five courses, which were delivered between September 2012 and July 2013. Compared to precourse, post course trainees felt more confident in their ability to: lead a team in acute paediatric (P = .011) and neonatal emergencies (P = .000), provide effective handover (P = .003), deliver bad news (P = .000), manage discharge of patients (P = .001) and initiate safeguarding procedures (P = .050). Conclusion Feedback shows that after attending the course trainees felt more confident in managing acute neonatal and paediatric emergencies and situations involving difficult communication. Scenarios involving combination of clinical, communication and team based skills were developed to cover a broad spectrum of skills, which will be useful in day-to-day practice. National guidelines exist regarding slow reintroduction to work to improve clinician's skills and confidence and to reduce impact on patient safety.2,3 The educational benefits of simulation based training are well recognized. Our novel approach in using simulation based learning to deliver "return to work" training showed that it improved trainee's confidence. In the future similar, training programmes can be developed for other medical specialities and for multi-professional use. References 1. Grace ES, et al. Physicians re-entering clinical practice: characteristics and clinical abilities. ContinEduc Health Prof 2011;31(1);49-55. 2. Academy of Medical Royal Colleges. Return to Practice - Guidance. AoMRC, March 2012. 3. The back on Track framework for further training. Restoring practitioners to safe and valued practice. NPSA/NCAS, 2010. Disclosures None.


We compared the efficiency of immunophenotyping using flow cytometry (FCM) and a combination of morphologic and immunocytochemical studies for detecting malignant cells in 92 effusions. Cytologic results were as follows: carcinoma cells, 43 specimens; benign, 42 specimens; suggestive of nonepithelial malignancy, 7 specimens. After immunocytochemical analysis, 5 benign specimens were reclassified as malignant and 4 malignant epithelial specimens as benign. With FCM, cells positive for Ber-EP4, B 72.3, AH6, and HB-TN were detected in 28 to 36 (64%-82%) of 44 carcinomas but only 2 to 12 (5%-29%) of 41 benign specimens. Significant association was seen for coexpression. Ber-EP4 and AH6 were the most sensitive; Ber-EP4 was the most specific. The presence of cells positive for 3 of 4 markers strongly suggested malignancy (34/44 carcinoma specimens [77%]; 3/41 reactive specimens [7%]). The presence of cells positive for all 4 markers was diagnostic of malignancy (17/44 malignant specimens [39%]; 0/41 reactive effusions [0%]). FCM and immunocytochemical resultsfor Ber-EP4 expression showed excellent association. FCM is a powerful tool for diagnosing difficult effusions and can quantify coexpression of various markers in fresh specimens. By using established cellular markers coupled with biological markers, FCM also has great promise for experimental purposes.


The effects of combining naturally evolved photosynthetic pigment–protein complexes with inorganic functional materials, especially plasmonically active metallic nanostructures, have been a widely studied topic in the last few decades. Besides other applications, it seems to be reasonable using such hybrid systems for designing future biomimetic solar cells. In this paper, we describe selected results that point out to various aspects of the interactions between photosynthetic complexes and plasmonic excitations in Silver Island Films (SIFs). In addition to simple light-harvesting complexes, like peridinin-chlorophyll-protein (PCP) or the Fenna–Matthews–Olson (FMO) complex, we also discuss the properties of large, photosynthetic reaction centers (RCs) and Photosystem I (PSI)—both prokaryotic PSI core complexes and eukaryotic PSI supercomplexes with attached antenna clusters (PSI-LHCI)—deposited on SIF substrates.


Summary

Ophiostomatoid fungi are carried by various bark beetles. However, very little is known about the role of these fungi in conifer roots. We studied ophiostomatoid fungi in roots of dying and dead Pinus sylvestris trees and tested the potential phytotoxicity of some isolates using a sensitive bioassay with Lepidium sativum in Poland. Fungi were identified based on their morphology and DNA sequencing. Three ophiostomatoid fungi, Leptographium procerum, Sporothrix inflata and Ophiostoma pallidulum, were isolated from the roots. The most abundant soil-borne fungus, S. inflata, and relatively rare O. pallidulum were isolated for the first time from roots of dying and dead pine trees. The frequency of S. inflata and O. pallidulum correlated with tree decline. The fungi were isolated more frequently from roots of dead than dying trees. Sporothrix inflata and O. pallidulum slightly reduced the stem and root growth of L. sativum. Leptographium procerum reduced more significantly root than stem growth. This species reduced root elongation 32–54% after 10–17 days of incubation.


This investigation of expert witness gender used scenarios addressing threats to the expert, sexuality, parenting by the expert, and lying, and in which intrusive and non-intrusive gender cross-examinations were presented to 352 mock jurors. Male and female experts were matched carefully on attractiveness and other social desirability dimensions. In half of the situations the expert witnesses replied with defensive answers, and in the other half, they replied assertively. The assertive responses were found to be significantly more effective on a number of dependent measures, including perceived credibility. In results consistent with other studies, the male experts were evaluated more positively than the female experts. Sexism and other attitudes of the mock jurors were unrelated to credibility and expert gender. The results are discussed in the context of managing aggressive cross-examinations, role demands for women in the courtroom, and methodological approaches to the study of expert witness gender.


INTRODUCTION
Dengue is the most prevalent arboviral disease in tropical areas. In Mato Grosso, outbreaks are reported every year, but studies on dengue in this state are scarce.

METHODS
Natural transovarial infection of Aedes aegypti by a flavivirus was investigated in the Jardim Industriário neighborhood of Cuiabá, Mato Grosso. Eggs were collected with ovitraps during the dry, intermediate, and rainy seasons of 2012. After the eggs hatched and the larvae developed to adulthood, mosquitoes (n = 758) were identified and allocated to pools of 1-10 specimens according to the collection location, sex, and climatic period. After RNA extraction, multiplex semi-nested RT-PCR was performed to detect the four dengue virus (DENV) serotypes, yellow fever virus, West Nile virus and Saint Louis encephalitis virus.

RESULTS
DENV-4 was the only flavivirus detected, and it was found in 8/50 pools (16.0%). Three of the positive pools contained females, and five contained males. Their nucleotide sequences presented 96-100% similarity with DENV-4 genotype II strains from Manaus, Amazonas. The minimum infection rate was 10.5 per 1000 specimens, and the maximum likelihood estimator of the infection rate was 11.6 (95% confidence interval: 4.8; 23.3).

CONCLUSIONS
This study provides the first evidence of natural transovarial infection by DENV-4 in Ae. Aegypti in Mato Grosso, suggesting that this type of infection might serve as a mechanism of virus maintenance during interepidemic periods in Cuiabá, a city where dengue epidemics are reported every year. These results emphasize the need for efficient vector population control measures to prevent arbovirus outbreaks in the state.


In this study, risk perception and the impact of various environmental factors on accidents involving fishing vessels in small-scale fishing vessels during navigation were examined. Thirty fishing vessel captains from Çeşmealtı and İskele fishing ports evaluated the risks of environmental conditions under different scenarios in the bridge navigation simulator based on the Fine-Kinney risk assessment method. Nonparametric (Mann-Whitney U-test) and parametric tests (Pearson correlation and independent-samples t-test) were performed to analyse other related parameters. The study also conducted a small questionnaire study that included questions such as the number of past accidents by fishermen and the number of engine rudder failures. According to the sum of the fishermen's assessments, reduced visibility was the highest factor increasing the probability and consequences of accidents in sea navigation, while they identified night and heavy weather conditions as the highest factor in port navigation. Fishermen also found navigating their ports safer than sea navigation. There is a significant, positive, and strong correlation between the number of fishermen's accidents and the number of engine rudder failures (p=0.047, r=0.714), the perception of accident probabilities in port navigating with restricted visibility (p=0.027, r=0.726) and in port navigation at night and in heavy weather (p=0.003, r=0.866). According to the results of the study, using the outcomes of the pre-fishing environmental risk assessment, the competent maritime authorities may be able to take effective measures to prevent the occurrence of serious marine casualties.


This article is devoted to the study of new marketing strategies used in green marketing. Green marketing includes both green products and green oriented companies. Companies that seek to enter the new "green" niche need to rethink the 4 P's (product, price, place and promotion) of traditional marketing and use these new strategies to promote environmentally friendly products. Research into this field has yielded four main strategies of ecological marketing: "Lean green", "Defensive green", "Shaded green" and "Extreme green". Each environmental marketing strategy presented in this article is directly connected with the concept of the marketing mix it is related to. Many companies do not want to use all parts of the 4 P strategies but instead choose to use only specific elements of each. This allows companies to choose a tailored "green" marketing strategy to achieve their goals. Green marketing strategies help companies to develop products that are environmentally friendly and satisfy the requirements of consumers.


Staging systems for cancer, including the most universally used TNM classification system, have been based almost exclusively on anatomic information. However, the question arises whether staging systems should be based on this information alone. Other parameters have been identified that should be considered for inclusion in classification systems like the TNM. This is all the more important, as a shift toward nonsurgical treatments for head and neck cancer has been made over the years. For these treatment modalities tumor/biologic characteristics next to anatomic information may be particularly important for treatment choice and outcome. The shortcomings of the current TNM classification system will be discussed, along with suggestions for improvement and expansion of the TNM system based on tumor, patient, and environment‐related factors. Further improvement of the TNM classification is expected to result in better treatment choices, outcome and prognostication of patients with head and neck cancer. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck, 2010


Benefited from the rapid and sustainable development of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors, change detection from SAR images has received increasing attentions over the past few years. Existing unsupervised deep learning-based methods have made great efforts to exploit robust feature representations, but they consume much time to optimize parameters. Besides, these methods use clustering to obtain pseudolabels for training, and the pseudolabeled samples often involve errors, which can be considered as "label noise." To address these issues, we propose a dual path denoising network (DPDNet) for SAR image change detection. In particular, we introduce the random label propagation to clean the label noise involved in preclassification. We also propose the distinctive patch convolution for feature representation learning to reduce the time consumption. Specifically, the attention mechanism is used to select distinctive pixels in the feature maps, and patches around these pixels are selected as convolution kernels. Consequently, the DPDNet does not require a great number of training samples for parameter optimization, and its computational efficiency is greatly enhanced. Extensive experiments have been conducted on five SAR datasets to verify the proposed DPDNet. The experimental results demonstrate that our method outperforms several state-of-the-art methods in change detection results.


Addressing a gap in literature about female homelessness, this paper analyzes the role of social relationships in the lives of homeless women. Bourdieu's theory of social capital and Granovetter's theory of social ties are used as a theoretical framework. The specific analytical focus is on social relationships with family and romantic partners and how these relationships contribute to homeless women's social capital. It was firstly found that despite family being a source of emotional and instrumental support, homeless women's limited or absent family relations represent a burden. Secondly, romantic relationships can provide support and simultaneously represent a straining factor. We conclude that social relationships to both family and romantic partners can in some cases be a source of support but most often are an additional burden to the already disadvantaged situation of homeless women.


The clinical application of circulating tumor markers remains a controversial subject in terms of useful methods and correct interpretation of findings. In particular and despite numerous investigations in the field, we do not have as yet specific or highly sensitive biological markers in breast cancer. Nevertheless, many oncologists often utilize circulating tumor markers in various phases of this malignancy to obtain additional information about disease extent and clinical course. For this reason, we have reviewed the present status of the most widely used serum tumor markers in this neoplasm. Both CEA and TPA are well known, but their organ specificity is not related to breast. Among novel biological markers identified by monoclonal antibodies, special attention has been devoted to circulating agents that are recognized by immunoreagents and that were obtained by immunization with breast-derived products. Both CA 15.3 and MCA are now being validated at the clinical level. From the present review it is clear that today we are still far from being able to make the diagnosis of breast cancer on the sole basis of laboratory findings. On the contrary, some of the available markers can be utilized as prognostic indicators of disease extent and treatment response. Their value greatly increases when combined with conventional diagnostic methods that can be prescribed on the basis of abnormal laboratory findings to confirm or rule out disease recurrence.


ABSTRACT The optical properties of luminescent molecules dissolved in liquid crystals have led to their proposed use in luminescent thin-film polarizers. These molecules are typically required to fulfil a range of criteria related to their absorption and emission properties, degree of alignment and stability; however, concurrently satisfying these requirements has proven a barrier in their practical use. We obtained highly polarized absorption and emission luminescent thin-film polarizer using reactive liquid crystalline monomers and highly dichroic luminescent dyes, both of which have polymerizable end groups. In situ photopolymerization of the liquid crystalline mixtures in the highly ordered SmB phase resulted in the formation of cross-linked polymeric networks in which the anisotropic absorption and emission of the film were fixed. The as-obtained product exhibited a high dichroic ratio (DR = 30) with a large fluorescence quantum yield (ϕF = 0.77). The device is both cheap and easy to fabricate and has the potential to be used in practical electro-optic applications. Graphical abstract


COX-2 and its product PGE2 enhance carcinogenesis and tumor progression, which has been previously reported in melanoma. As most COX inhibitors cause much toxicity, the downstream microsomal PGE2 synthase-1 (mPGES1) is a consideration for targeting. Human melanoma TMAs were employed for testing mPGES1 protein staining intensity and percentage levels and both increased with clinical stage; employing a different Stage III TMA, mPGES1 intensity (not percentage) associated with reduced patient survival. Our results further show that iNOS was also highly expressed in melanoma tissues with high mPGES1 levels, and iNOS-mediated NO promoted mPGES1 expression and PGE2 production. An mPGES1specific inhibitor (CAY10526) as well as siRNA attenuated cell survival and increased apoptosis. CAY10526 significantly suppressed tumor growth and increased apoptosis in melanoma xenografts. Our findings support the value of a prognostic and predictive role for mPGES1, and suggest targeting this molecule in the PGE2 pathway as another avenue toward improving melanoma therapy. Citation Format: Sun-Hee Kim, Yuuri Hashimoto, Sung-Nam Cho, Jason Roszik, Denai R. Milton, Fulya Dal, Sangwon F. Kim, David G. Menter, Peiying Yang, Suhendan Ekmekcioglu, Elizabeth A. Grimm. Microsomal PGE2 synthase-1 regulates melanoma cell survival and associates with melanoma disease progression. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 2285.


The research described in this thesis was aimed at the characterization of the Candida adhesin, and elucidation of the nature of the human epithelial cell receptor with which it combines. Previous data have shown that the fibrillar mannoprotein layer, produced when Candida albicans is grown in high concentrations of galactose, contains the proteinaceous adhesin. Different Candida species from leukoplakia patients were assayed for their ability to adhere to buccal cells. The results supported previous conclusions that there is a relationship between the ability of different Candida albicans strains to adhere to epithelial cells and their capacity for cell surface modification. Extracellular polymeric material (EPM) was isolated from culture supernates of C. albicans after growth in medium containing 500 mM galactose. When used to pretreat buccal epithelial cells, EPM inhibited adherence, which suggested that it contains an adhesin that binds to, and blocks epithelial cell receptors. Fractionation of EPM by affinity chromatography was performed. An index, the adhesion inhibition index (AII) was used to compare the various "lectin-like" components isolated from crude EPM. These studies indicated that use of different buccal cell donors gave different results, with the same C. albicans strain. Attempts to resolve EPM by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophonesis had previously proved unsuccessful. However here, success was achieved using the silver-stain technique. Chemical and enzymatic digestion of the EPM indicated that the protein portion , of the glycoprotein was more important than the carbohydrate at inhibiting adherence. N-Glycanase, papain, mild alkali treatment of EPM, followed by Synsorb-H-2 affinity adsorption chromatography, resulted in a purification of the yeast adhesin of more than 220 fold, relative to the crude EPM (on a protein weight basis). The nature of the epithelial cell receptor for C. albicans was investigated with potential receptor analogues such as sugars, lectins, monoclonal antibodies and saliva. The adhesion of C. albicans to the buccal cells of blood groups A and O, was found to be significant with respect to secretor status but not blood group. Caution should be shown in the interpretation of sugar inhibition tests. Nevertheless, N-acetyl-D- galactosamine was the most effective single sugar as an inhibitor of adhesion for buccal cell donors of blood group A; N-acetyl-D-galactosamine is the immunodominant blood group sugar for group A cells and the possibility exists that the blood group oligosaccharide on the buccal cell surface functions as the receptor for yeast adhesion. Further work would be needed to establish whether the purified adhesin had any therapeutic value in treating Candida infections.


For many natural and synthetic self-assembled materials, adaptive behavior is central to their function, yet the design of such systems has mainly focused on the static form rather than the dynamic potential of the final structure. Here we show that, following the initial evaporation-induced assembly of micropillars determined by the balance between capillarity and elasticity, the stability and reversibility of the produced clusters are highly sensitive to the adhesion between the pillars, as determined by their surface chemistry and further regulated by added solvents. When the native surface of the epoxy pillars is masked by a thin gold layer and modified with monolayers terminated with various chemical functional groups, the resulting effect is a graded influence on the stability of cluster formation, ranging from fully disassembled clusters to an entire array of stable clusters. The observed assembly stabilization effect parallels the order of the strengths of the chemical bonds expected to form by the respective monolayer end groups: NH(2) ≈ OH < COOH < SH. For each functional group, the stability of the clusters can be further modified by varying the carbon chain length of the monolayer molecules and by introducing solvents into the clustered samples, allowing even finer tuning as well as temporal control of disassembly. Using these features together with microcontact printing, we demonstrate straightforward patterning of the microstructured surfaces with clusters that can be erased and regenerated at will by the addition of appropriate solvents. Subtle modifications to surface and solvent chemistry provide a simple way to tune the balance between adhesion and elasticity in real time, enabling structures to be designed for dynamic, responsive behavior.


High quality of service (QoS) for simultaneous speech and data calls is an operational requirement in GSM/(E)GPRS systems. Efficient sharing of resources between voice and data calls, based on movable boundary handover least loaded (MBH LL) is a promising algorithm. Following the ideal case analysis (see Ajib, W., "Gestion de transmission d'un flux temporaire de donne/spl acute/es dans un re/spl acute/seau radio mobile d'acce/spl grave/s TDMA", January thesis report, ENST, 2001), this paper introduces a more realistic evaluation taking into account MS constraints and different MAC options in the GPRS air interface. The results of two MBH LL variants are presented in terms of voice blocking, data GoS (grade of service), and average throughput per call. Simulations show that the MS hardware limitations have little affect on performance in unidirectional data transmission. The same is true for a carefully designed variant of MBH LL for bidirectional operation with multi-slot allocation. Additionally, an enhancement of the algorithm for cell capacity improvement for data calls and a method based on throughput differentiation for data QoS implementation on the radio resource management (RRM) layer are proposed.


We investigate the second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of tetragonal chalcopyrite-structure CuInSe/sub 2/ thin films using optical second-harmonic generation at a fundamental wavelength of 790 nm. An approximate doubling of the second-order optical nonlinearity of the CuInSe/sub 2/ thin films is achieved through changing the substrate from GaAs[001] to In/sub 0.29/Ga/sub 0.71/As[001], thereby reducing the lattice mismatch from 2.2% to 0.2%. This observation suggests that minimizing the lattice mismatch is a key requirement for the growth of high-quality NLO active chalcopyrite structure thin films and is in contrast to some other NLO active thin-film systems.


The paper studies the possibility of assessing the separation of mineral raw materials, taking into account the rheology of the mineral slurry. The ores of the Mayskoye deposit were chosen as the object of the study, characterized by a thin impregnation of the valuable component – gold in the host minerals, which determines the use of fine and ultrafine milling. This fact is essential because the presence of a fine grade seriously affects the rheology of the mineral slurry used in subsequent mineral processing stages. This predetermines the necessity to take into account rheological parameters. The research performed provides the development of a methodology for assessing the separation of minerals in the hydrocyclone based on the interpretation of numerical and mathematical modeling data. using the object-oriented programming language Python, a program for calculating empirical coefficients of the rheological equation, theoretically describing the dynamics of internal transformations of the mineral slurry, was developed. Taking into account the process parameters of the laboratory unit with hydrocyclone and ore properties, three concentrations of solids in the mineral slurry were selected, conditionally corresponding to the minimum, average and maximum values. Rheological equations successively composed for three concentrations, i.e., 400, 500, and 700 g/l, made it possible to calculate the critical shear rates corresponding to the maximum dispersion of the mineral slurry in the hydrocyclone flow. Subsequent numerical simulation using Ansys Fluent software, as well as statistical evaluation of the shear rates at different levels of solids content showed that the shear rate profile in the cross-section of the hydrocyclone corresponding to the maximum dispersion of the mineral slurry is obtained at the content of 400 g/l.