Author(s): Rockwell, Geoffrey; Black, Emily; Selinger, Evan; Davola, Antonio; Seide, Elana; Gulson, Kalervo | Abstract: In April 2019, the High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence (AI) nominated by the EU Commission presented "Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence," followed in June 2019 by a second "Policy and investment recommendations" Document.The Guidelines establish three characteristics (lawful, ethical, and robust) and seven key requirements (Human agency and oversight; Technical Robustness and safety; Privacy and data governance; Transparency; Diversity, non-discrimination and fairness; Societal and environmental well-being; and Accountability) that the development of AI should follow.The Guidelines are of utmost significance for the international debate over the regulation of AI. Firstly, they aspire to set a universal standard of care for the development of AI in the future. Secondly, they have been developed within a group of experts nominated by a regulatory body, and therefore will shape the normative approach in the EU regulation of AI and in its interaction with foreign countries. As the GDPR has shown, the effect of this normative activity goes way past the European Union territory.One of the most debated aspects of the Guidelines was the need to find an objective methodology to evaluate conformity with the key requirements. For this purpose, the Expert Group drafted an "assessment checklist" in the last part of the document: the list is supposed to be incorporated into existing practices, as a way for technology developers to consider relevant ethical issues and create more "trustworthy" AI. Our group undertook a critical assessment of the proposed tool from a multidisciplinary perspective, to assess its implications and limitations for global AI development.


The use of different models of molecular evolution can change the conclusions derived from the evolutionary analysis of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and protein sequence alignments. Several methods have been developed for the selection of the probabilistic model of nucleotide substitution or amino acid replacement that best fits the particular data at hand. Simulation studies indicate that these techniques work very well, and in recent years these methods have been implemented in a number of programs such as ModelTest, ProtTest and recently jModelTest. These programs also provide various tools for quantifying uncertainty in model selection, model averaging or multimodel inference.

Key Concepts:

Models of molecular evolution allow us to calculate probabilities of change between nucleotide and amino acid sequences.

The use of different models of evolution can change the outcome of the phylogenetic analysis.

Different datasets can be best-fitted by distinct models.

Model selection techniques are quite accurate at identifying the generating model in simulations.

Programs like jModelTest and ProtTest facilitate the routinary selection of models of evolution in phylogenetics.

Keywords:

model selection;
likelihood ratio tests;
AIC;
BIC;
DT;
model averaging


A worldwide outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), identified as being caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2), was classified as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on January 30, 2020. Initial sex-disaggregated mortality data emerging from the Wuhan province of China identified male sex as a risk factor for increased COVID-19 mortality.   In this systematic review, we aimed to assess the role of sex in the risk of mortality from COVID-19 in adult patients through comparison of clinical markers and inflammatory indexes.  A systematic search was conducted on the following databases: PubMed, WHO COVID-19 database, Ovid MEDLINE, and Web of Science between the dates of June 15, 2020, and June 30, 2020. Key search terms used included: "sex", "gender", "SARS-COV-2", "COVID" and "mortality". We accepted the following types of studies concerning adult COVID-19 patients: retrospective cohort, observational cohort, case series, and applied research. Further studies were extracted from reference searching. The risk of bias was determined using the National Institutes of Health Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort, Cross-Sectional Studies, and Case Series.  We identified a total of 16 studies published between January 2020 and June 2020 for analysis in this systematic review. Our study population consisted of 11 cohort studies, four case series, and one genetic study, including a total of 76,555 participants. Ten of the studies included in this review observed a higher risk of mortality among males compared to females, and eight of these studies found this risk to be statistically significant.   Sex-disaggregated COVID-19 mortality data identifies male patients with comorbidities as being at an increased risk of mortality worldwide. Further investigation revealed differences in immune response regulated by sex hormones, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) expression, and health behaviours as contributing factors to increased risk of mortality from COVID-19 among males.   Nine out of the 16 studies included were conducted in China. In order to comprehensively assess sex-differences in the risk of mortality from COVID-19, more studies will need to be conducted worldwide. Sex-disaggregated COVID-19 data published in the medical literature is limited, however it has become evident that male sex is an important risk factor for mortality. Further exploration into the impact of sex on this pandemic is required in order to develop targeted therapies, as well as public health policies, and to prevent sex bias in treatment.


Spiral Architecture is a relatively new and powerful approach to machine vision system. The geometrical arrangement of pixels on Spiral architecture can be described in terms of a hexagonal grid. However, all the existing hardware for capturing image and for displaying image are produced based on rectangular architecture. It has become a serious problem affecting the advanced research on Spiral Architecture. In this paper, a new approach to mimicking Spiral Architecture is presented. This mimic Spiral Architecture almost retains image resolution and does not introduce distortion. Furthermore, images can be smoothly and easily transferred between the traditional square structure and this new hexagonal structure. In this paper, we also perform a fast way to locate hexagonal pixels. Another contribution in this paper is a novel construction of hexagonal pixels that are four times as big as the virtual hexagonal pixels. This construction of larger hexagonal pixels does not change the axes of symmetry, and does not create any spaces or overlaps between hexagons.


Abstract Dengue is the most common mosquito-borne viral infection transmitted disease. It is due to the four types of viruses (DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3, DENV-4), which transmit through the bite of infected Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus female mosquitoes during the daytime. The first globally commercialized vaccine is Dengvaxia, also known as the CYD-TDV vaccine, manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur. This paper presents a Ross-type epidemic model to describe the vaccine interaction between humans and mosquitoes using an entomological mosquito growth population and constant human population. After establishing the basic reproduction number ℛ0, we present three control strategies: vaccination, vector control, and the combination of vaccination and vector control. We use Pontryagin's minimum principle to characterize optimal control and apply numerical simulations to determine which strategies best suit each compartment. Results show that vector control requires shorter time applications in minimizing mosquito populations. Whereas vaccinating the primary susceptible human population requires a shorter time compared to the secondary susceptible human.


With the creation in 1992 of the Congestion Pricing Pilot Program, later renamed the Value Pricing Pilot Program, the U.S. Department of Transportation endorsed an expanded investigation into new tolling and pricing applications throughout the United States leveraging electronic toll-collection systems, demand-managing toll rates, and various infrastructure additions and conversions. As of 2005, 15 states had enrolled in the program, and each was attempting some form of tolling or pricing on their highway and road systems. Systematic study of the feasibility of such systems, as required by the program, revealed definitive public attitudes concerning new applications of tolling and pricing. Furthermore, the knowledge gained by earlier practitioners allowed those working on future projects to refine their approach and messages, thereby better managing public perception. This paper identifies the prevailing trends in public opinion concerning tolling and pricing. Using case studies from California, Texas, and Minnesota–where substantial pre- and post-implementation public opinion data are available–the paper identifies common barriers to public acceptance, the selling points of tolling and pricing, the potential supporters and opponents of pricing and tolling proposals, and strategies for educating the public on a proposed program.


Future expectations and promise are crucial to providing the dynamism and momentum upon which so many ventures in science and technology depend. This is especially the case for pre-market applications where practical utility and value has yet to be demonstrated and where investment must sustained. For instance, clinical biotechnology (including a wide range of genetic therapeutic and engineering applications) has been at the centre of ferocious debates about whether or not promises and expectations will be realised. In some cases, the failure of expectations has severely damaged the reputation and credibility of professions, institutions and industry. The need for a better analytical understanding of the dynamics of expectations in innovation is both necessary and timely. This paper develops the basis for a sociology of expectations, drawing on recent writing within Science and Technology Studies (STS) and case studies of biotechnology innovation. In particular, we offer a model for understanding how expectations will predictably vary according to some key parameters. Such factors include the degree to which technologies and innovation relationships are either relatively established or newly emergent. Expectations will also vary according actors' relative closeness and involvement in knowledge production itself. The paper proceeds by analysing the way expectations in clinical biotechnology have changed over time. That is, we compare the way the future was once represented with the way it has been represented more recently. The paper concludes by offering a means by which it is possible to map or model the situatedness of expectations.


With increase in global warming, use of active cooling and heating devices are continuously increasing to maintain interior temperature of built environment, greenhouses and cars. To reduce the consumption of tremendous amount of energy on cooling and heating devices we need an improved control of transparent features (i.e. windows). In this respect, smart window which is capable for reflecting solar infrared energy without interfering with the visible light would be very attractive. Most of the technologies developed so far are to control the visible light. These technologies block visual contact to the outside world which cause negative effects on human health. An appealing method to selectively control infrared transmission is via utilizing the reflection properties of cholesteric liquid crystals. In our research, we have fabricated a smart window which is capable of reflecting different amount of solar infrared energy depending on the specific climate conditions. The reflection bandwidth can be tuned from 120 nm to 1100 nm in the infrared region without interfering with the visible solar radiations. Calculations reveal that between 8% and 45% of incident solar infrared light can be reflected with a single cell. Simulation studies predicted that more than 12% of the energy spent on heating, cooling and lighting in the built environment can be saved by using the fabricated smart window compared to standard double glazing window.


In the last years several datasets on deposition mode ice nucleation in Martian conditions have showed that the effectiveness of mineral dust as a condensation nucleus decreases with temperature (Iraci et al., 2010; Phebus et al., 2011; Trainer et al., 2009). Previously, nucleation modelling in Martian conditions used only constant values of this so-called contact parameter, provided by the few studies previously published on the topic. The new studies paved the way for possibly more realistic way of predicting ice crystal formation in the Martian environment. However, the caveat of these studies (Iraci et al., 2010; Phebus et al., 2011) was the limited temperature range that inhibits using the provided (linear) equations for the contact parameter temperature dependence in all conditions of cloud formation on Mars. One wide temperature range deposition mode nucleation dataset exists (Trainer et al., 2009), but the used substrate was silicon, which cannot imitate realistically the most abundant ice nucleus on Mars, mineral dust. Nevertheless, this dataset revealed, thanks to measurements spanning from 150 to 240 K, that the behaviour of the contact parameter as a function of temperature was exponential rather than linear as suggested by previous work. We have tried to combine the previous findings to provide realistic and practical formulae for application in nucleation and atmospheric models. We have analysed the three cited datasets using a Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) method. The used method allows us to test and evaluate different functional forms for the temperature dependence of the contact parameter. We perform a data inversion by finding the best fit to the measured data simultaneously at all points for different functional forms of the temperature dependence of the contact angle m(T). The method uses a full nucleation model (Maattanen et al., 2005; Vehkamaki et al., 2007) to calculate the observables at each data point. We suggest one new and test several m(T) dependencies. Two of these may be used to avoid unphysical behaviour (m > 1) when m(T) is implemented in heterogeneous nucleation and cloud models. However, more measurements are required to fully constrain the m(T) dependencies. We show the importance of large temperature range datasets for constraining the asymptotic behaviour of m(T), and we call for more experiments in a large temperature range with well-defined particle sizes or size distributions, for different IN types and nucleating vapours. This study (Maattanen and Douspis, 2014) provides a new framework for analysing heterogeneous nucleation datasets. The results provide, within limits of available datasets, well-behaving m(T) formulations for nucleation and cloud modelling. Iraci, L. T., et al. (2010). Icarus 210, 985-991. Maattanen, A., et al. (2005). J. Geophys. Res. 110, E02002. Maattanen, A. and Douspis, M. (2014). GeoResJ 3-4 , 46-55. Phebus, B. D., et al. (2011). J. Geophys. Res. 116, 4009. Trainer, M. G., et al. (2009). J. Phys. Chem C 113 , 2036-2040. Vehkamaki, H., et al. (2007). Atmos. Chem. Phys. 7, 309-313.


Although there are still some controversies on the choice of ideal stent as well as balloon-expandable versus self-expanding stents for aorto-iliac disease; iliac stenting is widely accepted procedure for focal atherosclerotic iliac artery stenosis. Herein, we present an unusual unilateral iliac stenting complication caused by disintegration struts of balloon-expandable stent which was successfully handled by means of kissing stents. 62-year-old woman presented with complaints of severe claudication of the right lower extremity. Short segment stenosis of the proximal right common iliac artery was detected. Balloon-expandable stent was deployed and stent delivery catheter was then exchanged uneventfully for the pigtail catheter followed by a control arteriogram which demonstrated the fractured and elongated stent into the distal aorta centrally. Then, two self-expandable nitinol stents were deployed in bilateral common iliac artery in order to compress the fractured stent struts against the aortic wall. Control arteriogram was obtained showing excellent result with no residual stenosis. However, stent fractures involving balloon-expandable stents in the iliac arteries are extremely rare, this unusual stent fracture type should be considered before implantation of a stent in the iliac artery.


Photoelectrochemical water splitting represents a promising route for producing sustainable and potentially cheap hydrogen as an alternative energy carrier to replace fossil fuels. However, several scientific and technological challenges are still to be solved. One of the key issues is the availability of high efficient catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the anode side of the system, to minimize energetic losses in the process of charge transfer. In this work cobalt and manganese oxides were investigated as cheap and abundant catalysts for the OER in alkaline media. The main focus was put on electrochemically deposited cobalt oxide (CoOx) on FTO substrates, which is easy to fabricate and does not need the application of high temperatures to form the catalyst. On the contrary, annealing of the as-deposited amorphous thin films has led to the formation of crystalline spinel phase Co3O4 correlated to a decrease in activity. In the manganese oxide system on the other hand, crystalline α-Mn2O3, which formed after annealing the galvanostactically deposited film at 500°C in air, showed the best catalytic performance. This material is characterized by (partially) strongly distorted [MnO6] coordination octahedrons with a wide gamut of different interatomic bonding distances. It is assumed that the availability of various kinds of energetically slightly different binding sites at the surface of amorphous CoOx and crystalline α-Mn2O3 is responsible for the high catalytic activity. Overpotentials of 370 and 360 mV at 10 mA/cm have been achieved for CoOx and α-Mn2O3, respectively, which are comparable to the best catalysts based on abundant transition metal compounds. In the synthesis of CoOx electrodes, a systematic increase of the charge during film formation, which is a measure for the amount of the deposited catalyst, had a pronounced effect on the catalytic performance. This behavior was attributed to microporosity of the films, which is supported by TEM imaging. Differential electrochemical mass spectroscopy (DEMS) confirmed that the faradaic current at anodic potentials above 1.5 V (RHE) is related to oxygen evolution. Measurements in buffered aqueous solutions at pH7 revealed acidification inside the pores, if the buffer concentration is too low. In general, the activity at neutral pH is significantly lower compared to alkaline media. In-line synchrotron X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (SXPS) was applied to study the surface state of CoOx and α-Mn2O3 after the application of different anodic potentials. CoOx showed a partial oxidation of Co to Co at moderate potentials, but no Co was detected in the OER potential range. This was surprising, since electrochemical experiments and literature data strongly suggest the formation of Co. In-situ UV/Vis measurements showed a pronounced electrochromic effect and gave further evidence for the appearance of Co at potentials above 1.5 V. Furthermore, UV/Vis studies provided indications for the instability of Co, if the potential is removed, which is the reason for not appearing in the X-ray spectra. Instead, α-Mn2O3 showed a clear share of Mn after application of a potential in the OER regime. This difference in stability of the tetravalent oxidation state is interpreted as a sign for a possible different oxygen evolution reaction mechanism at the electrode/electrolyte interface.


BACKGROUND
Burning fossil fuels, including coal, is the primary source of greenhouse gas emissions driving anthropogenic climate change and its associated health harms. Coal-fired power plants supply 23% of electricity nationally and 42% for Wisconsin, contributing to air pollution and associated respiratory diseases, cancers, and cardiovascular and neurologic disorders, especially for vulnerable populations. Authors seek to quantify residential distance from coal-fired power plants, pulmonary function of Wisconsin residents, and demographics.

METHODS
Data from 2,327 adults aged 21-74 years was obtained from the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin database from 2008 through 2013. Pulmonary function was measured by expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC) as a ratio of FEV1/FVC. An average of at least 3 FEV1/FVC readings less than 80% was considered abnormal.

RESULTS
Adults living near 1 of 11 coal-fired power plants may have worse pulmonary function. The odds ratio of FEV1/FVC values below 80% for those living within 35 km of a coal-fired power plant was 1.24 (95% CI, 0.90-1.70) when compared to those living greater than 35 km from a plant. While Black individuals made up 4.8% of the total sample population, they accounted for 13.3% of individuals living within 35 km of coal-fired power plants. Similarly, Hispanic populations accounted for 4.8% of those living within 35 km of a plant, while making up 2.8% of the sample population.

INTERPRETATION
Significant disparities were found in residential proximity to Wisconsin coal-fired power plants for Black and Hispanic populations, with trends that support worse pulmonary function when living within 35 km of these plants. When linked with socioeconomic and racial/ethnic factors, closing down coal-fired power plants becomes a necessity to reduce disparities and address environmental injustices.


Mind reading or thought prediction is a promising application of functional neuroimaging studies. The emergence of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has, in the last two decades given a boost to these studies. In order to improve the accuracy, predictability and repeatability of thought prediction, it is important to have a representation that can capture the nuances of fMRI activations with respect to a particular cognitive state. In this paper, the process of creating a geometrical representation of the activations using non-linear manifolds is described. Manifold learning brings out the geometry of the activated voxels in the fMRI image. It is shown that this kind of representation is able to give high accuracy in classification studies as compared to using activation profiles.


We report a multifrequency (9.6-, 94-, 190-, and 285-GHz) EPR study of a freeze-quenched intermediate obtained from reaction of substrate-free cytochrome P450cam (CYP101) and its Y96F and Y96F/Y75F mutants with peroxy acids. It is generally assumed that in such a shunt reaction an intermediate [Fe(IV)=O, porphyrin-π-cation radical] is formed, which should be identical to the species in the natural reaction cycle. However, for the wild type as well as for the mutant proteins, a porphyrin-π-cation radical is not detectable within 8 ms. Instead, EPR signals corresponding to tyrosine radicals are obtained for the wild type and the Y96F mutant. Replacement of both Tyr-96 and Tyr-75 by phenylalanine leads to the disappearance of the tyrosine EPR signals. EPR studies at 285 GHz on freeze-quenched wild type and Y96F samples reveal g tensor components for the radical (stretched gx values from 2.0078 to 2.0064, gy = 2.0043, and gz = 2.0022), which are fingerprints for tyrosine radicals in a heterogeneous polar environment. The measurements at 94 GHz using a fundamental mode microwave resonator setup confirm the 285-GHz study. From the simulation of the hyperfine structure in the 94-GHz EPR spectra the signals have been assigned to Tyr-96 in the wild type and to Tyr-75 in the Y96F mutant. We suggest that a transiently formed Fe(IV)=O porphyrin-π-cation radical intermediate in P450cam is reduced by intramolecular electron transfer from these tyrosines within 8 ms.


Summarized are the results of studies that examined the effects of speed limits that were changed on a seasonal basis on Finnish main roads. The first of these studies was an experimental study (1987–1989) in which speed limits were changed according to time of year. A follow-up study was then conducted on the resulting and greatly expanded use of lower speed limits during the winters of 1989 to 1996. Reasons for lowering wintertime speed limits involved primarily adverse road and driving conditions, including slippery roads, the use of studded tires, frequent heavy rain or snowfall, and darkness. In the 2-year study, a statistically significant accident reduction of 14 percent was detected, and the followup suggests an even greater accident reduction. This significant accident reduction was achieved by cutting mean speeds as little as 3.8 km/h. Interviews with drivers showed they accepted the lower speed limits surprisingly well, most likely because they understood the reasons for them. Although significant safety advantages have been gained in poor driving conditions, the gains have been even greater in good conditions on roads of reasonably high standard because such roads are where speed limits dropped the most. Lower wintertime speed limits have had a positive safety effect, even on roads with a fixed 100-km/h speed limit. As a result, most 100-km/h speed limit signs in Finland are now changed manually to 80 km/h at the end of October and back to 100 km/h in early March. These safety measures have proven to be both cost-effective and well accepted. Lower wintertime speed limits are now being planned in other northern European countries.


Abstract Governments in advanced liberal democracies have assigned Vocational Education and Training (VET) a critical role in preparing a productive workforce for the broader economy. This linkage opens the way to use economic theories to expand the understanding of VET. Noted economic theorists have described the use of one economic reductionist technique as 'dualism'. Dualism identifies two mutually exclusive categories and is commonly used to reduce complex economic realities into scenarios more amenable to theorisation and computation. This paper examines the continued relevance of this work for the second decade of the 21st century by examining how VET is problematised. The use of dualism to control and limit the discourses in VET, expressed in dichotomies such as competent vs. not competent, skilled vs. unskilled and advantaged vs. disadvantaged, will be linked to how the apparatus for government intervention in training demonstrates remarkable longevity and thrives upon reductionist conceptions of groups of individuals. It is proposed that the limited range of government responses facilitates dualistic problematisation in VET by creating sub-populations, in this case trainees, who are viewed as other than normal and require intervention. This Australian case study will also demonstrate the adaptability and enduring nature of a governmental training apparatus in the face of varying problem populations that are defined by dualistic thinking.


We have previously described a new type of selective T-cell deficiency (STD) characterized by persistent infections reminiscent of severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID). We show here that STD patients carry a mutation of zap-70 resulting in a loss of the activity of this kinase. The thymus of zap-70-/- patients shows the presence of CD4CD8 double positive cells in the cortex, however, only CD4 but not CD8 single positive cells are present in the medulla. Peripheral CD4+ T cells from the zap-70-/- exhibit markedly reduced tyrosine phosphorylation, fail to produce IL-2, and do not proliferate in response to TCR stimulation by mitogens or antigens. Thus Zap-70 kinase appears to be indispensable for the development of CD8 single positive T cells as well as for signal transduction and function of single positive CD4 T cells.


BACKGROUND
Several observational and preclinical studies have shown that blood transfusion may modify the mortality of patients with myocardial infarction (MI). The aim of this meta-analysis is to evaluate the recent evidence on the effectiveness of blood transfusion for all-cause mortality in patients with MI.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
PUBMED, EMBASE and the Cochrane central register of controlled trials were searched up to June 2016 by two independent investigators. Studies were considered eligible if they recruited adult MI patients and reported hazard ratio (HR) for all-cause mortality comparing those who received blood transfusion with those who did not receive blood transfusion. We abstracted and calculated pooled HRs using a random-effects model.

RESULTS
From 4277 unique reports, we identified 17 studies including 260811 patients with 11 studies examining short-term (in hospital/30-day) all-cause mortality and 9 studies examining long-term (more than 30 days) all-cause mortality. Meta-analysis demonstrated that patients treated with blood transfusion had increased short-term all-cause mortality (HR, 2.39, 95% CI 1.81 to 3.15) compared with those without blood transfusion treatment. Similar findings were observed by subgroup analyses. We also find significant association between blood transfusion and long-term all-cause mortality (HR 1.90, 95% CI 1.40 to 2.58) for MI patients.

CONCLUSIONS
In patients with MI, blood transfusion treatment is associated with patient short-term and long-term all-cause mortality. However, further large-scale prospective studies are needed to establish its validity of this association.


COVID-19 pandemic poses challenges to the healthcare systems worldwide, which soon exponentially strained hospitals' systems and resources, leading them to challenge dilemmas. Meanwhile, the Philippines has made remarkable emergency response efforts against this pandemic but was exhausted due to the multiple healthcare concerns that needed to be addressed. Listening to hospitals' heads and nurse managers about their strategies drove this study to realize its aim to develop a framework for hospital responses during health emergencies. Triangulation was used in data gathering anchored on Glaser and Strauss and Charmaz's constructivist grounded theory. Careful analysis, constant data comparison, theoretical sampling to ensure the saturation of categories, and generating theory intimately linked to and grounded in the data are imperative for qualitative research. Concurrent collection and data analysis assure mutual interaction between what is known and what one needs to know, along with theoretical thinking, which provides emerging ideas that are reconfirmed as new data. The research questions were answered by documentary analysis, ZOOM's virtual interviews, and focus group discussions. A purposive sampling of thirty participants comprised ten participants from hospitals in the three main islands of the Philippines, wherein eventually, thirty participants were reduced to fifteen. Hospitals have a high level of preparedness for health emergencies, and a sustainable framework for the pandemic and other health emergencies is developed in a 5-point domain: operations, morale, infrastructure, finances, and innovations.


The purpose of this research was to analyze the implementation of paternalistic leadership, case study in PT Jasa Raharja (Persero) Central Java branch and to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the paternalistic leadership practice. The results of this study are expected to be the subject of study in human resource management studies, especially in leadership practice.
The participants of this research were 10 people, consisting of 1 (one) Branch Head, 2 (two) Heads of Departments, 2 (two) Heads of Subsection, 2 (two) Adjuncts of Archives and 3 (three) staff. The selection of participants must have criteria that has a minimum effective working period at least 3 years, has been working in this branch at least one year, has a permanent employee status, has a high communication intensity with leaders/subordinates, the leaders at least have two subordinates. This research method was qualitative method with case study research approach.
The result of this study showed that the cultural dimensions of Indonesia society as presented in Hofstede research and Globe project that has high collectivism was proven in this study. This is indicated by the style of paternalism, benevolent, and morale shown by the leaders of PT Jasa Raharja (Persero) Central Java branch. But in this case, the high power distance dimensions indicated in different way by the leaders. They do not show too much the authoritarian style on their leadership practice.


Academic background, consultation processes, and training and support were assessed with semistructured interviews among 18 sport psychology consultants (60% of total membership) of the Flemish Society of Sport Psychology. A total of 61% of consultants were trained as clinical psychologists, most with limited sport psychology background. Assessments revealed that interpersonal relationships skills and communication (63%) and fear of failure (55%) were the most common concerns, whereas stress management (54%), enhancement of relationship and communication skills (31%), and visualization and goal setting (31%) were used in interventions. Recommendations for enhancing the development of applied sport psychology in Flanders include specialization in sport psychology at the academic level, continued sport psychology consultation training, and a better coordination between sport psychology consultants and the world of sports.


Seafloor characterization using multibeam echosounder (MBES) backscatter data is an active field of research. The observed backscatter curve (OBC) is used in an inversion algorithm with available physics-based models to determine the seafloor geoacoustic parameters. A complication is that the OBC cannot directly be coupled to the modeled backscatter curve (MBC) due to the correction of uncalibrated sonars. Grab samples at reference areas are usually required to estimate the angular calibration curve (ACC) prior to the inversion. We first attempt to estimate the MBES ACC without grab sampling by using the least squares cubic spline approximation method implemented in a differential evolution optimization algorithm. The geoacoustic parameters are then inverted over the entire area using the OBCs corrected for the estimated ACC. The results indicate that a search for at least three geoacoustic parameters is required, which includes the sediment mean grain size, roughness parameter, and volume scattering parameter. The inverted mean grain sizes are in agreement with grab samples, indicating reliability and stability of the proposed method. Furthermore, the interaction between the geoacoustic parameters and Bayesian acoustic classes is investigated. It is observed that higher backscatter values, and thereby higher acoustic classes, should not only be attributed to (slightly) coarser sediment, especially in a homogeneous sedimentary environment such as the Brown Bank, North Sea. Higher acoustic classes should also be attributed to larger seafloor roughness and volume scattering parameters, which are not likely intrinsic to only sediment characteristics but also to other contributing factors.


As a major part of fish larval diet in nature, copepods constitute an appropriate live prey for aquaculture purposes. Considering the difficulty of mastering copepod mass production, studies on their growth performance at different environmental conditions are needed to improve their productivity. In this study a new selective approach based on temperature control is proposed to improve the physiological (body size, fecundity and lipid storage) performance of copepods. The estuarine copepod Eurytemora affinis known to have a high genetic variance in temperature tolerance was used as a biological model. First two different copepod lines were obtained after long-term culture at constant cold (7°C) and warm (20°C) temperatures. Then both populations were transferred to a higher temperature of 24°C appropriate for aquaculture use and followed during five generations. During the first two generations (F1–F2) of a cold-acclimated population, female body size and fecundity decreased significantly whereas the survival rate remained high. The high lipid content of this population was used by females to compensate the heat shock of more than 10°C. However, the survival rate decreased dramatically in F3 but allowed the selection of robust individuals which progressively improved their fitness during the following generations. So, compared to the warm acclimated population, the cold acclimated one showed larger body size, higher fecundity and better lipid storage. After only five generations at 24°C the cold-acclimated population showed a significant genetic gain in prosome length compared to the warm acclimated one.


This article presents a model of distributional properties of returns on financial instruments tied to exchange traded funds (ETFs) via high-frequency statistical arbitrage. As the author's model shows, the securities subject to an ETF arbitrage exhibit a well-defined behavior, largely dependent on the behavior of other securities comprising the ETF. The model can be used to improve the risk management of long-term portfolios and, in particular, allow hedging of flash crashes. Furthermore, the author shows that in electronic markets that allow high-frequency trading, the intraday downward volatility for the underlying securities constituting an ETF is bounded from below; as a result, it is less extreme than that of securities not included in any ETFs. Also, downward price movements are more extreme in markets that restrict high-frequency trading than in markets in which it is present.


Now a days too much research work is carried out currently in Android, but one of the biggest issue that faced by any customer as well as developer is that, Android device consumes too much power that leads to battery and heating problems which degrades the performance. This paper depicts the significance of various ways how one can reduce the power consumption of android device in terms of Linux power management, Battery Enhancement, Wake Lock management etc. and provide the efficient result in growth of performance of device. Keyword:-Android power consumption, Android performance management, Battery Enhancement, Power Saving Apps, Power efficiency


Early Modern Écologies is the first collective volume to offer perspectives on the relationship between contemporary ecological thought and early modern French literature. If Descartes spoke of humans as being 'masters and possessors of Nature' in the seventeenth century, the writers taken up in this volume arguably demonstrated a more complex and urgent understanding of the human relationship to our shared planet. Opening up a rich archive of literary and non-literary texts produced by Montaigne and his contemporaries, this volume foregrounds not how ecocriticism renews our understanding of a literary corpus, but rather how that corpus causes us to re-think or to nuance contemporary eco-theory. The sparsely bilingual title (an acute accent on écologies) denotes the primary task at hand: to pluralize (i.e. de-Anglophone-ize) the Environmental Humanities. Featuring established and emerging scholars from Europe and the United States, Early Modern Écologies opens up new dialogues between ecotheorists such as Timothy Morton, Gilles Deleuze, and Bruno Latour and Montaigne, Ronsard, Du Bartas, and Olivier de Serres.


A two-way satellite time and frequency transfer (TWSTFT) network in the Pacific Rim region is under construction to contribute to the calculation of the international atomic time (TAI). Four major time and frequency institutes in this region have been conducting long-term TWSTFT experiments. In addition to these institutes, several others in the region are planning to join the network. A new type of time transfer modem for TWSTFT is also described.


Purpose

This paper aims to analyze the impact of non-perfect reference plane on the integrity of microstrip differential signals at multi-gigabit transmission on a printed circuit board (PCB). The effects of non-perfect reference contributed by signal crossing over split plane such as impedance discontinuity and crosstalk are investigated by performing analysis in two phases.

Design/methodology/approach

The first phase involves three-dimensional electromagnetic modeling extraction using Keysight EMPro software. Meanwhile, the second phase involves the import of model extracted from EMPro into simulation using Keysight Advanced Design System that covers insertion loss, return loss, crosstalk, time domain reflectometry and eye diagram.

Findings

A non-perfect reference plane has a negative impact on signal reflection, attenuation and crosstalk. The analysis results are presented and discussed in detail in the later section of this paper.

Originality/value

The work that studied the impact of the width and the amount of gaps due to crossing of split planes being experienced on the signal integrity was performed by other researchers. Meanwhile, this paper focused on the impact of length and depth of the gap on signal integrity. These research papers serve as a reference guide for high-speed PCB layout design.


: By means of microanatomical methods the inferior tracheobronchial lymph nodes have been investigated in 48 Wistar rats in 2 weeks and 3 months after discontinuance of inhalation of dimethylsulfate (DMS) vapours for 2 and 14 days by the animals in concentration 2.0 mg/m3, that is to say during rehabilitation period. Comparison of relative parameters of the structural components areas and cell composition of the lymph nodes has been carried out. During rehabilitation period after DMS inhalation for 2 days the cortical and medullary areas in histological preparations do not essentially differ from corresponding parameters of an acute experiment (2 days, 2.0 mg/m3, without rehabilitation). Amount (%) of cells with mitotic figures in the lymphoid nodules++ increases in 2 weeks and in 3 months. Contents of poorly differentiated cells during rehabilitation periods increase in the cortical plateau, but keeps nearly at the same low level as during the acute experiment in the lymphoid nodules++. In 2 weeks after DMS influence for 14 days, the cortical and medullary area in the histological preparations reach the control levels. In the lymphoid nodules++ a relative amount of reticular, poorly differentiated, mitotically dividing cells increases, and in the medullary cords contents of middle and small lymphocytes become greater in comparison with the acute experiment (14 days, 2.0 mg/m3, without rehabilitation).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


With the recent introduction of the floating cup (FC) displacement principle, axial piston units can be realised using low cost mass production techniques instead of the more machine shop type of production techniques used to date. As a consequence, a far larger number of displacement volumes can be realised at the same or lower unit costs. An obvious advantage of a larger number of pistons is the reduction of flow pulsation from the unit. This paper focuses on this flow pulsation. In the ideal theoretical case that two out of phase halves of an FC pump directly deliver to the pump outlet, the odd harmonics in the 12 piston based flows from each pump half, will cancel out totally. In reality however, both sides are connected by a duct of finite length. The geometry of that duct and the location of the pump outlet, can significantly influence both the 'external' flow pulsation - at the pump outlet - and the 'internal' flow pulsation - in the duct. The paper shows that if the outlet duct is arranged symmetrical with respect to the two pump halves, perfect cancellation of the odd harmonics is indeed reached but only at the cost of high resonant pressure peaks within the duct. These pressure peaks might cause pump noise. They can be attenuated by either arranging the outlet in a non-symmetrical position or by adding Helmholtz resonators to the duct. Both options were studied; both show potential.


Tonsillar and pharyngeal smears revealed growth of pathogenic microorganisms, mainly of Staphylococcus aureus, in 58.0 +/- 3.7% of 174 patients with duodenal ulcer and gastroduodenitis during remission or unstable remission, in 40.0 +/- 5.3% of 85 patients with other gastroenterological diseases and in 17.5 +/- 6.0% of 40 subjects constituting control group. Urease activity ratio (biological marker of Helicobacter pylori) was found to be approximately the same in every group of patients vs 11.1 +/- 6.2% of 27 healthy persons. Pathogenetic mechanisms of relation between duodenal ulcer, chronic gastroduodenitis and chronic focuses of infection are discussed. Lymphatic pharyngeal ring is supposed to be biotopical for Helicobacter pylori.


Pain is sensed, transmitted, and modified via a variety of mediators and their receptors. Histamine is a well-known mediator of pain. In addition to their antagonistic effects against histamine, classical antihistaminics possess, to various degrees, antimuscarinergic, antiserotonergic, antiadrenergic, local anesthetic, membrane-stabilizing and other pharmacologic actions. Although there have been many attempts to use classical antihistaminics as analgesics and/or analgesic adjuvants, the appearance of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs discouraged such efforts. Here, we compared the analgesic effect of an ointment containing 1% diphenhydramine (a typical first-generation antihistaminic drug) with that of indomethacin (a typical non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) in elderly patients with osteoarthritis and/or osteoporosis who complained of bone-joint-muscle pain. Analgesic effects were evaluated by measuring skin impedance and by subjective pain assessments (using a visual recording system) before and after ointment application. Diphenhydramine ointment exerted a prompt and marked analgesic effect that lasted for several hours, as assessed by either skin impedance or subjective pain evaluation. In contrast, the analgesic effect of indomethacin ointment was marginal, and significant only an hour or more later than that of diphenhydramine. These results suggest that diphenhydramine ointment may be useful for the relief of the bone-joint-muscle pains that are common in elderly subjects.


This research was carried out at the Science Volunteer Program 2018, which is run by Taiwan's Ministry of Science and Technology. The purpose of the research was to understand the effects of self-efficacy, satisfaction, and science trust on science volunteers' intention to continue volunteering. The research drew on the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) to test how social cognitive variables affect volunteers' intention to continue engaging in events and with organizations. A total of 156 volunteers taking part in the program completed a questionnaire measuring Self-efficacy, Satisfaction, Trust, and Intention. A structural equation model (SEM) was developed, and the proposed effects on the variables were tested using SEM procedures. The results of the SEM analysis found that there were positive effects between (a) Self-efficacy and Satisfaction, (b) Self-efficacy and Intention, (c) Satisfaction and Intention, and (d) Trust and Intention. The discussion highlights implications for science volunteer managers who are not only in a position to increase volunteers' behavioral intention to continue their engagement in volunteer work, but also to facilitate interventions to boost volunteering in Taiwan. Keywords: citizen science, science volunteers, social cognitive career theory, structural equation model


It is the important impulse for regional economical growth and coordination that city participates in the regional role and competition. The competition ability of city is based on wide hinterland development and city region coordination. In this paper, the authors address the planning thinking in city region perspective, and take Wusu as a case study. The development conditions of Wusu are analyzed and evaluated, and the development advantages of Wusu are compared with other areas in city region perspective. Then the concept towards the new integrated planning based on the regional coordination and working-in-existing plans system is put forward.


This interdisciplinary dissertation addresses one aspect of the education of Australian urban planners: an ethic of caring for Nature, conceived as a deeply grounded, contextual, ethic based on a sense of connection with the natural world. It articulates what an ethica of caring entails, explores the current state of and' potential for the teaching of environmental ethics within Australian planning schools, examines fiom an ethical standpoint the educational implications of direct connection with Nature, and proposes the foundations for a radical curriculum for planning education to nurture an ethic of caring for Nature. Three pivotal assumptions underpin this research: that Australian urban development is contributing to both local and global ecological crises; that the activities of urban planners help to determine the form and style of urban development and, by implication, the ecological impacts; and that the education of urban planners influences their practice. I argue that a complete revisioning of Australian urban planning education is necessary to counter the entrenched anthropocentrism and utilitarianism which underpin both planning practice and education.

The dissertation sets out to address three questions: What is the current situation in Australian planning schools with respect to the relationship between planning education in general and education in environmental ethics, in particular?; How might the education of urban planners in Australia be changed to contribute to the solution of ecological problems?; and How important to the educator and the student who ultimately becomes the practitioner is a direct experience of Name in giving substance and energy to the formution of environmental ethics?

The study employs two primary research approaches or paths, the path of explanation and the path of expression, the first with a quantitative emphasis, and the second being primarily qualitative research; both are within the interpretive research paradigm. It addresses the educational origins of what appears to be: planners' continued unquestioning participation in Australian urban development ad their resistance to embracing more realistic formulations of a relationship with Nature. It offers the first articulation of a learning model upon which an undergraduate or postgraduate curriculum could be based.

The dissertation begins by asking, via an exploration of secondary sources in feminist epistemology and ethics, what an ethic of caring could involve. The current situation with respect to environmental ethics education in Australian schools of planning is then thoroughly examined, yielding the tentative conclusion that virtually nothing is happening, that there is little to build on. Asking what could be the potential for direct experience of Nature to nourish an ethic of caring, the next section chronicles my personal experience of a year spent consciously attempting to do this: a journey to my ecological self. The last sections of the dissertation summarise the lessons learned from all aspects of the investigation, particularly the direct experience of Nature. Following examination of problems inherent in emancipatory and technocratic liberal educational philosophies, I propose the elements of a radical curriculum for planning education to nurture an ethic of caring for Nature. In the learning model which emerges, the T.EN.C.E.L. model, I argue for a curriculum which contains components of the following elements: teamwork; direct experience of Nature; grounding in community processes and experiences; the formal study of ethics, by means of environmental ethics courses; and attention to the aspects of professional literacy necessary to understand environmental issues related to planning practice.

The dissertation also includes, as an appendix, a videotape, Beginning Again with Nature: Environmental Ethics, designed to communicate those qualities of my journey to the ecological self which are better expressed in sound and images.


Exergy is the very useful tool to evaluate energy systems besides energy analysis based on the first law of the thermodynamics. In contrast to energy, exergy is not conserved and always decreases. There are many types of exergy analysis involving exergoeconomic, exergoenvironmental, advanced exergy-based analyses, extended exergy analysis etc. In this study, an application of the extended exergy analysis is performed. In extended exergy analysis, not only energy related system is considered but also all materials and energy flows' exergy, non-energetic and immaterial fluxes (capital, labor and environmental impact) are turned into exergy equivalent values and utilized in the analysis, which are calculating for local econometric and social data. These methods can be applied to societies or energy based or non-energy-based system. In this study, dynamic exergy analysis and extended exergy application of electricity generation from photon enhanced thermionic emitter is conducted. According to results, some important values can be listed as; extended exergy destruction, conventional based exergy destruction, extended exergy efficiency, conventional exergy efficiency, extended sustainability ratio, conventional sustainability ratio, extended exergy-based depletion ratio and conventional exergy-based depletion ratio are 542106006 MJ, 542084601 MJ, 0.01094, 0.01094, 1.011, 1.011, 0.978 and 0.989 respectively.


The advances in information and communication technologies have been largely predicated around the increases in computer processor power derived from the constant miniaturization (and consequent higher density) of individual transistors. Transistor design has been largely unchanged for many years and progress has been around scaling of the basic CMOS device. Scaling has been enabled by photolithography improvements (i.e. patterning) and secondary processing such as deposition, implantation, planarization, etc. Perhaps the most important of the secondary processes is the plasma etch methodology whereby the pattern created by lithography is 'transferred' to the surface via a selective etch to remove exposed material. However, plasma etch technologies face challenges as scaling continues. Maintaining absolute fidelity in pattern transfer at sub-16 nm dimensions will require advances in plasma technology (plasma sources, chamber design, etc) and chemistry (etch gases, flows, interactions with substrates, etc). In this paper, we illustrate some of these challenges by discussing the formation of ultra-small device structures from the directed self-assembly of block copolymers (BCPs) where nanopatterns are formed from the micro-phase separation of the system. The polymer pattern is transferred by a double etch procedure where one block is selectively removed and the remaining block acts as a resist pattern for silicon pattern transfer. Data are presented which shows that highly regular nanowire patterns of feature size below 20 nm can be created using etch optimization techniques and in this paper we demonstrate generation of crystalline silicon nanowire arrays with feature sizes below 8 nm. BCP techniques are demonstrated to be applicable from these ultra-small feature sizes to 40 nm dimensions. Etch profiles show rounding effects because etch selectivity in these nanoscale resist patterns is limited and the resist thickness rather low. The nanoscale nature of the topography generated also places high demands on developing new etch processes.


The paper argues that Swedish preschool teachers tend to be depicted mainly as subjects for policy implementation when it comes to their mission to teach in preschool. Taking the perspective of inside-out-professionalism, the paper aims to make visible how preschool teachers have developed professional knowledge about teaching from within the preschool context. The methodology is based on content analysis of semi-structured interviews with ten experienced preschool teachers. Teaching is defined openly as a conscious arrangement for learning. Dewey's notions of experience, environment and subject content further informed the interpretation of the results. Two main categories were discerned, both emphasising the experience and active participation of the child: identifying potential subject components in children's experience, and arranging an environment in which the child becomes a part. Each main category further included two sub-categories. Thus the present issue of implementing teaching in preschool could gain from research on established preschool practice based on inside-out-professionalism and made visible through Dewey's theorical lens.


Plant pathogenic yeast were isolated from infected weeds that occur in cereal crops. On the basis of morphological, physiological and biochemical properties the yeast isolated from sow thistle and dandelion have been identified as Rhodosporidium diobovatum Newell & Hunter and Rhodotorula sp. In the experiment the yeast caused pathological process on the weeds, from which they are isolated, on other types of weeds, but also on wheat, oat and soybean.


A method is developed of easily determining the performance of a compressor system relative to that of the power section for a given altitude. Because compressors, reciprocating engines, and turbines are essentially flow devices, the performance of each of these power-plant components is presented in terms of similar dimensionless ratios. The pressure and temperature changes resulting from restrictions of the charge-air flow and from heat transfer in the ducts connecting the components of the power plant are also expressed by the same dimensionless ratios and the losses are included in the performance of the compressor. The performance of a mechanically driven, single-stage compressor in relation to the performance of a conventional air-cooled engine operating at sea-level conditions is presented as an example of the application of the method.


Based on a field work conducted in Kigali, Rwanda in the fall of 2010, this master's thesis aims to highlight a group of girls who often falls out of the official statistics. Girls who are not enrolled in school and do not perform paid labor. By spending their days at home running the family they contribute to the household in different ways that enables the other members of the family to take part in labor and education. In the western world the stage of childhood is traditionally viewed as a time for play, leisure and removed from responsibilities. This thesis shows how a group of girls in Kigali experience the opposite when they, on a daily basis, are left with the responsibilities of running the household. While organizations like the United Nations aims at getting all children out of paid labor and into schools there are still children today experiencing both. Being left out from both the categories of labor and school, these girls are sometimes left behind in the official statistics and not given the needed attention. Through participatory tools and mixed-method research these girls have presented themselves, their families and their lives. Through their stories they show how they are active participants and social actors both economically, on the community level and in the families and how their contribution has significance for the people surrounding them.


BACKGROUND: The increased risk of malnutrition is affected by food insecurity. Studies in adolescents still show mixed results.
AIM: This article aimed to evaluate the association between food insecurity and anthropometry measurements in studies involving adolescents.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: The databases used to obtain the literature were PubMed, ScienceDirect, MEDLINE, and PubMed Central. The keywords used were food security, food insecurity, hunger, malnutrition, obesity, adolescence, adolescents, teenagers, teens, and youth in studies published from 2010 to 2019. A total of 12 articles were used in this review.
RESULTS: The association between food insecurity and the incidence of malnutrition in adolescents in various regions is still diverse. Food insecurity had a negative correlation with BMI-for-age in three studies (33.3%), but one study (11.1%) showed the opposite result. Food insecurity was positively related to low height-for-age (stunting) in 50% of studies, while five other studies (55.6%) showed that food insecurity was not related to BMI-for-age or weight-for-age. Three studies (50%) showed that there was no association between food insecurity and height-for-age.
CONCLUSION: Longitudinal studies, such as Cohort studies, need to be conducted to ensure the actual relationship between food insecurity and nutritional status in various regions.


Nonparametric or distribution-free statistics are a method to quantitatively assess environmental data and environmental impact. This statistical methodology is advantageous in many cases because of the computational easeand the fact that few if any assumptions are needed about the sampled populations. This is particularly important in ecological studies, since organisms are distributed typically in a clumped or patchy fashion, and the use of parametric or normal statistics is ill advised, even if data transformations are made. Specifically ranking methods are discussed. Tests examined include the rank sum test, signed rank test, one-way analysis of variance, and two-way analysis of variance. It is shown that these statistical techniques are oftentimes the method of choice for evaluating ecological data. Examples of their use to assess ecological data and water chemistry data are given.


The Ia (immune-associated, DR) antigen is a cell surface glycoprotein which is absent on normal circulating T lymphocytes but present on activated T lymphocytes. We studied the expression of this antigen on circulating T lymphocytes from patients with untreated hyperthyroid Graves' disease. All patients (n = 33) with recent onset hyperthyroid Graves' disease studied had an increased percentage and number of circulating Ia+ T cells. Patients with non-Graves's hyperthyroidism or Graves' disease patients more than 1 yr after thyroid ablation had normal values for Ia+ T cells. Other cell surface activation antigens, recognized by monoclonal antibodies 4F2 and 5E9, were not present on circulating T cells in patients with Graves' disease. The 100% positivity for increased numbers of Ia antigen-bearing T cells in hyperthyroid Graves' disease contrasts with our finding of 70% positivity in another HLA-DR-associated disease, recent onset type I diabetes mellitus. The pathogenic significance of these cells is not known, but they seem to represent selective activation of the immune system in patients with untreated hyperthyroid Graves' disease.


In this article, we examine the critical leadership practices that herald the capacity of public agencies to effectively meet organizational objectives. In line with best practices in many OECD countries, we selected and screened the leadership and leadership practices in Australia's public service in an effort to understand and extricate the leadership elements that might be useful for public agencies in developing countries. Drawing largely from evidence-based leadership practices from documented sources, we analyzed the framework of the senior executive service and systematically organized the pertinent performance-based management practices that help organizations to identify the staffing and skills requirements of the changing and future organizational environment. Based on our analysis, we observed that performance-based management practices, which underpin organizational capabilities and performance thereof, are results of effortful learning steered by senior executives with acute leadership foresight and managerial competences. This observation is skewed on the fact that senior executives are the fulcrum on which public agencies revolve as they are looked up to by subordinate cadres for business directions and depended on by political leaders to shape policy choices and guide implementation strategies. It is on these notes we suggest the need for organizations to assess their leadership credentials and performance-based management practices, and benchmark them against best practices outlined in this article.


We successfully evaluated the human hepatoblastoma cell line HepG2 as a model to assess phototoxicity of coumarins. Five natural furocoumarins were tested and their phototoxic activities, obtained by measuring cell viability in the presence of UV using the MTT test, were as follows: xanthotoxin (8-MOP) >> heraclenol = trichoclin = imperatorin >> peucedanin, both in growing and confluent cell cultures. This easy-to-perform, miniaturised, quantitative and sensitive method could therefore be used as a primary screening test for phototoxicity of a large number of compounds and plant extracts.


Background: We aimed to assess moderation of affective and cognitive effects of a brisk walk by urban environmental characteristics and the immediate social context. Methods: We conducted a field experiment with time (pre-walk, post-walk), type of environment (park, street), and social context (alone, with a friend) as within-subjects factors. Twenty university students reported on affective states and completed a symbol-substitution test before and after each of two 40-minute walks in each environment. The routes differed in amount of greenery, proximity to water, and presence of traffic, buildings, and other people. Results: On average, walking per se increased positive affect and reduced negative affect. Feelings of time pressure declined to a greater extent with the park walk than the street walk. Revitalisation increased during the park walks to a greater degree when alone, but it increased more during the walk along streets when with a friend. We found an inconclusive pattern of results for performance on the symbol-substitution test. Conclusions: Some psychological benefits of a brisk walk depend on the influence of the immediate social context and features of the outdoor urban environment, including natural features such as greenery and water.


Background. The prevalence of occult hepatitis C infection (OCI) in the population of HCV-RNA negative but anti-HCV positive individuals is presently unknown. OCI may be responsible for clinically overt recurrent disease following an apparent sustained viral response (SVR) weeks to years later. Purpose. To review the available current literature regarding OCI, prevalence, pathogenic mechanisms, clinical characteristics, and future directions. Data Sources. Searching MEDLINE, article references, and national and international meeting abstracts for the diagnosis of OCI (1990–2014). Data Synthesis. The long-term followup of individuals with an OCI suggests that the infection can be transient with the loss of detectable HCV-RNA in PPBMCs after 12–18 months or alternatively exist intermittently and potentially long term. The ultimate outcome of HCV infection is decided by interplay between host immune responses, antiviral therapies, and the various well-identified viral evasion mechanisms as well as the presence of HCV infection within extrahepatic tissues. Conclusion. The currently widely held assumption of a HCV-cure in individuals having had "SVR" after 8–12 weeks of a course of DAA therapy as recently defined may not be entirely valid. Careful longitudinal followup utilizing highly sensitive assays and unique approaches to viral isolation are needed.


The purpose of the current study was to investigate the science and technology teachers' views about FATIH Project. Sub-problems of the study were to determine positive aspects of the project, the problems teachers faced during application process, and their opinions of a technology-integrated science and technology course. The study sample consists of 22 science and technology teachers employed in different geographical regions in Turkey. Case study, a qualitative research method, was used to reveal an existing possible phenomenon. Nine open-ended questions, developed by the researchers and revised based on expert opinions, were used as the data collection tool. Descriptive analysis was utilized in data analysis. According to the findings, the following were concluded: teachers were not adequately trained about FATIH Project, teachers were not adequately informed in consistence with the purpose and implementation of the project; technological equipment was not adequate in their schools, and constant electricity outages in these regions created problems in using the technologies. Findings showed that teachers were not adequately informed about the project and they experienced issues in the implementation. Suggestions towards obtained findings and future studies were included.


This thesis is concerned with an investigation of
certain psychological and physiological processes
underlying perception and attention. In this context
binocular rivalry is selected for close investigation
since it has at different times been related to both
perception and attention. This relationship is demonstrated
by a series of investigations which show that the stimulus
that is currently non-dominant in rivalry is nevertheless
fully analysed. The nature of rivalry indicates that
two complementary visual systems contribute to perception
and attention. Whilst one system (superior colliculus -
posterior association cortex) is responsible for monitoring
unperceived/unattended information and initiating a shift
in attention, the other system (geniculo-striate cortex)
is concerned with currently perceived/attended information.
In the terminology of control theory, these two visual
systems contribute to feedforward and feedback control
respectively. The interaction between the two is considered
to be the correlate of conscious perception and attention,
reflecting the sampling of sensory information by a process
that matches this information against the expectations
based on a model of the world. Confirmation of a
number of predictions refines and further anchors the
theory to physiological mechanisms.


Due to the sheer size of sparse systems of linear equations arising from real-world applications in science and engineering, parallel computing as well as iterative methods are almost mandatory. For the iterative solution of large sparse nonsymmetric linear systems, a 1-norm quasi-minimal residual variant of the biconjugate gradient stabilized method (Bi-CGSTAB) is proposed. The algorithm is inspired by a recent transpose-free 1-norm quasi-minimal residual method (TFQMR/sub 1/) in that it applies the 1-norm quasi-minimal residual approach to Bi-CGSTAB in the same way as TFQMR/sub 1/ is derived from the conjugate gradient squared method (CGS). There is also an intimate connection to a method called QMRCGSTAB that is based on applying the (Euclidean norm) quasi-minimal residual approach to Bi-CGSTAB. Numerical examples are used to compare the convergence behavior of Bi-CGSTAB and its 1-norm quasi-minimal residual variant.


An experimental, laboratory sand model study of the origin of a decompression zone due to fluid extraction in a rock mass was carried out. It was found that an arch structure of sand density changes was formed above the decompression zone. The arch structure, which bears a portion of the load of the upper layer of the sand, can be destroyed by the action of seismic waves. The destruction of the arch causes an increase in fluid pressure in the decompressed zone. The value of the pressure increase is directly proportional to the depth of the decompression zone and inversely proportional to the dimension of the zone.


Lignin depolymerization represents a promising approach to the sustainable production of aromatic molecules. One potential approach to the stepwise depolymerization of lignin involves oxidation of the benzylic alcohol group in β-O-4 and β-1 linkages, followed by Baeyer-Villiger oxidation (BVO) of the resulting ketones and subsequent ester hydrolysis. Towards this goal, BVO reactions were performed on 2-adamantanone, a series of acetophenone derivatives, and lignin model compounds using a tin beta zeolite/hydrogen peroxide biphasic system. XRD, 119Sn MAS NMR spectroscopy, DRUVS and XPS were used to determine tin speciation in the catalyst, the presence of both framework Sn and extra framework SnO2 being inferred. Conversion of ketones to BVO products was affected by electron donation as well as steric hindrance, 4′-methoxyacetophenone affording the highest yield of ester (81%). As the size and complexity of the ketone increased, excess hydrogen peroxide was typically needed for successful BVO. Yields of ester products derived from β-O-4 and β-1 lignin models were modest due to the formation of polymeric material stemming from direct ring hydroxylation.


GENERAL REMARKS Allama Iqbal used both poetry and prose in Persian, Urdu and English to convey his multi-dimensional feelings and thoughts. According to one scholar, "Iqbal was a humanist and true citizen of the world. His works testify to his acknowledged roles as poet and philosopher, educator and student of cultures, lawyer and politician, missionary and visionary, psychologist and sociologist, freedom fighter and inspirer of a new nation, scholar and a man of action, mystic, seer and statesman". 1 As an all time great poet, Allama Iqbal had two shining characteristics—an artistic one that presents poetry for leisurely enjoyment and a visionary one that propels inspirational beams for action and reform. As a great poet he also had a huge canvas to paint on, and his subjects are big issues like humanity. In most of his writings Allama Iqbal talks about the significance of man and his dignity, freedom not only from political subjugation and intellectual servility but also from hunger, ignorance, physical and spiritual illnesses and other social and economic development issues facing the poor and the weak nations of the East. As a universal humanist, Allama Iqbal waged a relentless struggle to promote and defend human self-esteem. Some scholars believe that "even his advocacy of Pakistan was really based on humanist considerations". He could not bear to see one religions group dominating another simply because of numerical majority. 2


This paper describes a concept for a collision avoidance system for ships, which is based on model predictive control. A finite set of alternative control behaviors are generated by varying two parameters: offsets to the guidance course angle commanded to the autopilot and changes to the propulsion command ranging from nominal speed to full reverse. Using simulated predictions of the trajectories of the obstacles and ship, compliance with the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea and collision hazards associated with each of the alternative control behaviors are evaluated on a finite prediction horizon, and the optimal control behavior is selected. Robustness to sensing error, predicted obstacle behavior, and environmental conditions can be ensured by evaluating multiple scenarios for each control behavior. The method is conceptually and computationally simple and yet quite versatile as it can account for the dynamics of the ship, the dynamics of the steering and propulsion system, forces due to wind and ocean current, and any number of obstacles. Simulations show that the method is effective and can manage complex scenarios with multiple dynamic obstacles and uncertainty associated with sensors and predictions.


The purpose of this research is to highlight competing and contrasting definitions of social work that have been the subject of continuous ideological debate. These opposing interpretations have characterized public and professional discourse. It is the growth of, and struggle over, these conflicting versions of social work that we trace by exploring and expanding on the work of African American and White social work pioneers, feminist and empowerment epistemologies, and implications for social work practice and pedagogy. Our discussion emphasizes the construction of meaning through personal experiences by reuniting the head, hands, heart, and soul of our profession. We offer a reconstructed framework that echoes the groundbreaking work of our historical pioneers and collectively weaves their wisdom into contemporary social work practice.


A PROJECT SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF
BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY,
ZARIA IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR
THE AWARD OF MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
(MBA).
DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION,
FACULTY OF ADMINISTRATION,
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY,
ZARIA.
NOVEMBER, 1999


Many IoT devices are part of fixed critical infrastructure, where the mere act of moving an IoT device may constitute an attack. Moving pressure, chemical and radiation sensors in a factory can have devastating consequences. Relocating roadside speed sensors, or smart meters without knowledge of command and control center can similarly wreck havoc. Consequently, authenticating geolocation of IoT devices is an important problem. Unfortunately, an IoT device itself may be compromised by an adversary. Hence, location information from the IoT device cannot be trusted. Thus, we have to rely on infrastructure to obtain a proximal location. Infrastructure routers may similarly be compromised. Therefore, there must be a way to authenticate trusted routers remotely. Unfortunately, IP packets may be blocked, hijacked or forged by an adversary. Therefore IP packets are not trustworthy either. Thus, we resort to covert channels for authenticating Internet packet routers as an intermediate step towards proximal geolocation of IoT devices. Several techniques have been proposed in the literature to obtain the geolocation of an edge device, but it has been shown that a knowledgeable adversary can circumvent these techniques. In this paper, we survey the state-of-the-art geolocation techniques and corresponding adversarial countermeasures to evade geolocation to justify the use of covert channels on networks. We propose a technique for determining proximal geolocation using covert channel. Challenges and directions for future work are also explored.


In a case of clinically fulminant multiple sclerosis (MS), contrast-enhancing lesions were visible by computerized axial tomography (CT). The patient died less than three weeks after the study, making neuropathologic correlation possible. It appears that areas of contrast enhancement correlate in acute MS with early demyelinative lesions, and enhancement is related to breakdown of the blood-brain barrier. That such a disturbance is important in the pathogenesis of demyelination in MS has been suggested by other data as well. The characteristic CT findings of MS must therefore include enhancing lesions that reflect disease activity and that may be the only CT abnormality.


During 2011 several national reforms are implemented in Sweden, among them new curriculum fo rcompulsory school. To support the implementation the National Agency for Education is organizing conferences and producing information material, among other things. There are several target groups for the support, among them responsible authorities, such as private responsible authorities and public responsible authorities (municipalities, the state). How the support received and what is the further need for carrying out the implementation successfully? Has the implementation started? Arethere certain persons selected to work with the implementation at a local level? These were questions included in a questionnaire during spring 2011 to private responsible authorities and public responsible authorities. The result showed that support such as conference with information about reforms and information brochures were perceived as positive support and that the National Agency for Education had clarified different responsibility levels. Everything is not positive, for an example some written documents were late and still not produced autumn 2011 and the website is not easy touse. The implementation process has started according to most of the responsible authorities, some started as early as 2009, most of them autumn 2010. Some difficulties in the implementation process were mentioned, such as for example lack of time, some documents are or were late and other reorganizations also takes time. On the contrary, most of the staff is interested and a rewriting of curricula was perceived as needed. The conclusion is that the support from the National Agency for Education has been well organized and that the responsible authorities are positive to the support.The way the support is organized is suggesting that the National Agency for Education is using a model where the responsible authorities are but one part in a chain where other actors are going to continue. Further studies will explore whether the model is possible to describe the ongoing implementation.


SYSTEMS ANALYSIS AND DESIGN, TENTH EDITION offers a practical, visually appealing approach to information systems development. Throughout the book, real-world case studies emphasize critical thinking and IT skills in a dynamic, business-related environment. The new Tenth Edition will help prepare students for success in today's intensely competitive business world. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.


Over the last decade, the term 'lecture-performance' has come to circulate widely in contemporary art discourses, as the practice has become increasingly popular with artists and within institutions. There is, however, a dearth of available texts which trace this specific subgenre of pedagogical performance art. This research paper examines the history of the artist as speaker and teacher, in an attempt to understand the provenance of this practice. Focusing on current practices that incorporate the lecture form into artistic output, it aims to identify the emergence of key terms, and the parameters that define the public speech of artists as a medium or art form. Utilising diagrammatic representations, the research samples a cross section of contemporary and historical practices that demonstrate the inter-disciplinary nature and broad span of artistic works that use the lecture as an art form. It places the lecture performance in the context of the establishment of educational institutions by artists, and the tradition of the artist-teacher. Through a timeline constructed of works that have been witnessed live, seen online, transcribed or reported through secondary texts, my research attempts to locate the practice within other forms, and under other names, prior to its current identification in contemporary artistic and curatorial practices. It suggests reasons for the form having been largely disregarded in historical and critical writing on art until recent times. This research runs parallel to my artistic project, which incorporates three distinct parts. Each part has evolved from the previous, in relation to findings made through my written and practical research. Back to Basics (2011) the first of these projects, sought primarily to examine the transfer of knowledge and information in the form of pedagogical workshops in the context of art practice. The aesthetic, lyrical and theatrical dimensions of performance in relation to the transfer of ideas in the lecture format were introduced in A Hawk Can Read a Newspaper a Mile Away (2012), a lecture-performance. Finally, A Centre for Everything (2012-13) developed a comprehensive, ongoing collaborative public programme of pedagogical events. Within the context of A Centre for Everything's exhibition at the Monash University Museum of Modem Art, I will present the lecture-performance A Hawk Can Read a Newspaper a Mile Away. This presentation is representative of one aspect of the creative research undertaken as part of this MFA, although aspects of the other projects will be also be exhibited in the space.


Abstract:Before US colonization, the region that would become California was home to an estimated two hundred thousand to five hundred thousand Native people, as well as the highest spatial concentration of grizzlies in the world—an estimated ten thousand. These humans and grizzlies coexisted for an estimated fourteen thousand years before waves of settler colonial violence directed genocidal force against Native societies and completely eradicated California's grizzlies within roughly sixty years. Drawing together an archive of regional history, political discourse, and print and visual culture, the essay offers an ecocultural analysis of how Native people and grizzlies living along the extractive edge of California's international frontier were targeted by symbolic and material economies that framed them as unruly and disposable impediments to transforming captured environments into colonial territory. By attending to the scientific, political, and imaginative slippages among the human and nonhuman that directed the settler projects of attempted genocide and species-eradication, this essay examines how the colonial registers of the wild, the less-than-human, and the outdoors formed the constitutive underside of US Americans' attempts to create "California" by violently remaking the worlds that preceded it.


The Measurement Lab (MLab) provides a large and open collection of Internet performance measurements. We make use of it to look at the state of the German Internet by a structured analysis, in which we carve out expressive results from the dataset to identify busy hours and days, the impact of server locations and congestion control protocols, and compare Internet service providers. Moreover, we examine the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown in Germany. We observe that only parts of the Internet show a performance degradation at the beginning of the lockdown and that a large impact in performance depends on the network the servers are located in. Furthermore, the evolution of congestion control algorithms is reflected by performance improvements. For our analysis, we focus on the busy hours. From the end-user perspective, this time is of most interest to identify if the network can support challenging services such as video streaming or cloud gaming at these intervals.


Learner autonomy, referring to 'the ability to take charge of one's own learning' (Holec,1981), puts an extra burden on teachers to foster learner autonomy and trace whether the students are autonomous enough to manage to govern their own learning process. At this standpoint, web concordancers might be of value in different educational domains. In dealing with written discourse, the extent to which the students may copy the words and phrases from the texts in writing is always the concern of language teachers. To serve this end, this study explores the frequency of the verbatim expressions in students essays as compared to an authentic prompt given before writing. The verbatim expressions in the prompt and the essays were compared with a concondancer on the web. It is seen that web concordancers may be used to trace verbatim utterances in writing courses in English as a Foreign Language (EFL). The use of such utterances in writing indicates text loyalty that may be connected with learner autonomy problems in addition to low linguistic proficiency and inadequate vocabulary stock of the learners. Learners might be guided to use reworded, synonymous, redressed expressions instead. The use of a concordancer can help both learners and language teachers to provide control over writing.


SUMMARY: Mice were inoculated intracerebrally with mixtures of the influenza virus strain NWS and the serologically distinct non-neurotropie strains MEL, OcI and SW. From mouse brains removed about the 5th or 6th day virus strains were obtained which, after at least two passages at limiting infective dilution, showed active encephalitogenic power with the serological character of the second strain of the original mixture. These are regarded as recombinants. The strains in general show in vitro characters close to those of the serologically similar 'parent'. They have, however, diminished enzymie action on ovomucin and do not readily clute from red cells; in this they resemble the strain NWS. They are more readily converted to the indicator state than either of the original strains.
The process by which these unusual types arise is discussed in the light of recent views that intracellular multiplication of bacterial viruses and of some animaal viruses takes place not by binary fission but by the breaking down of the infective unit into smaller particles which are the replicating units. It is concluded that the recombinants arise by recenstitution of infective particles from the pool of repticating units produced by double infection of a single cell by virus particles of both parent types.


In this work, a visible photocatalytic system containing Eosin Y, multiwalled carbon nanotubes and CuO was prepared. The photocatalytic hydrogen evolution from water over this system was studied using triethanolamine (TEA) as a sacrificial reagent. The results indicated that it was an efficient photocatalyst with an average rate of H2 evolution of 373 mmol·h-1·g-1 during first three hours under visible irradiation.


A short sediment core from the inner part of Jakarta Bay, Indonesia, was quantitatively analysed for ostracods (minute Crustacea), total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN) contents, and the vertical distributions were recorded. A total of 53 ostracod species were obtained from 80 continuous core samples. The dominant species were Keijella carriei and Loxoconcha wrighti, which are common in areas with high TOC and TN contents. Based on an analysis of ostracod assemblages and carbon/nitrogen ratio, the study site began to be influenced by organic contamination from around 1950. Although the population of Jakarta City has increased rapidly since then, TOC and TN contents which were low, have gradually increased (0.7%–0.9% and 0.10%–0.12%, respectively), probably due to addition of nutrients from river sedimentation. The increased sedimentation rate after 1950 resulted in an increasing TOC ratio. The observed correlation between TOC and dominant species shows that Phlyctenophora orientalis may be a good indicator for monitoring increases in the narrow TOC content range of 0.7%–1.1%.


: The growth and death of Pseudomonas pseudomallei, the causative agent of melioidosis, in the soil and the antigenic properties of this microorganism in the soil, in culture media, and in the body of animals have been studied. As revealed in this study, P. pseudomallei can grow in nonsterile soil substrates without the loss of virulence and changes in its antigenic structure. In the body of animals this microorganism rapidly adapts its virulence to host species by the transformation of its antigenic structure. The pathogenicity factors of P. pseudomallei are mainly thermolabile antigens, probably exoenzymes. This microorganism has been shown to have close ecological relations with abiotic environmental objects. The author suggests that the type of relationship between saprophytic microorganisms acting as causative agents of diseases and warm-blooded hosts should be characterized as pseudoparasitic.


Predictive modelling of infectious diseases is very important in planning public health policies, particularly during outbreaks. This work reviews the forecasting and mechanistic models published earlier. It is emphasized that researchers' forecasting models exhibit, for large t, algebraic behavior, as opposed to the exponential behavior of the classical logistic-type models used usually in epidemics. Remarkably, a newly introduced mechanistic model also exhibits, for large t, algebraic behavior in contrast to the usual Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Removed (SEIR) models, which exhibit exponential behavior. The unexpected success of researchers' simple forecasting models provides a strong support for the validity of this novel mechanistic model. It is also shown that the mathematical tools used for the analysis of the first wave may also be useful for the analysis of subsequent waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.


This report has not been reviewed for conformity with U.S. Geological Survey editorial standards or with the North America Stratigraphic Code. Any use of trade, product, or firm names in this report is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. 1 U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado, 80225 2 lowa Department Iowa, 52242-1319 of Natural Resources, Geological Survey Bureau, Iowa City,


Hawaiian monk seals are among the most endangered marine mammals and the most basal of the phocid seals. The auditory biology of monk seals is compelling from behavioral, evolutionary, and conservation perspectives, but we presently lack substantive bioacoustic information for this species, with no formal descriptions of underwater vocalizations and limited data concerning hearing. These seals have been isolated for more than 10 million yr and have auditory structures differing from those of related species. Additionally, unlike other aquatically mating phocids, monk seals breed asynchronously and are not known to produce social calls in water. To address existing knowledge gaps, we trained a mature male Hawaiian monk seal to perform a psychophysical task while submerged. Detection thresholds were measured for narrowband sounds across the frequency range of hearing. We also conducted a year-round characterization of the seal's spontaneous underwater vocalizations. This individual demonstrated best hearing between 0.2 and 33 kHz, with a lower high-frequency roll-off than that of related species. Hearing at all frequencies was less sensitive than in other true seals. Despite the absence of conspecifics, the seal regularly produced 6 different underwater calls with energy below 1 kHz. Calling patterns reflected a period of annual reproductive activity lasting about 6 mo, coincident with elevated testosterone levels. This study presents the first examination of underwater vocalizations in Hawaiian monk seals, provides insight into the auditory abilities of this species and the evolution of underwater hearing among phocids, and enables improved assessments of noise effects on these vulnerable seals.


We use a hazard model to estimate the effect of environmental regulation on the diffusion of membrane cell production technology in the chlorine manufacturing industry. We estimate the effect of regulation on both the adoption of the membrane technology at existing plants and on the exit of existing plants using older technologies. We find that environmental regulation did affect the diffusion of the cleaner technology in the chlorine industry. However, it did so not by encouraging the adoption of membrane cells by existing facilities, but by reducing the demand for chlorine and hence encouraging the shutdown of facilities using the environmentally inferior options.


Summary Distributed constraint optimization problems (DCOP) have attracted attention as a means of resolving distribution problems in multiagent environments. We [1] proposed a multiplex method targeting the improved efficiency of a distributed nondeterministic approximation algorithm for distributed constraint optimization problems. The multiplex method targeting the im proved efficiency of a distributed nondeterministic approximation algorithm has been proposed for distributed constraint optimization problems. Since much of the computation time is used to transmit messages, improving efficiency using a multiplex computation of distributed approximation algorithms might be feasible, presuming that the computation time of each node or a small change in message length has no direct impact. Although it is usually impossible to guarantee that the approximation algorithm can obtain the optimal solution, we managed to do so, using a theoretically determined multiplex method. In addition, we show the feasibility of an optimal solution attainment rate of 0.99 by an experiment using a Distributed Stochastic Search Algorithm.


This study focuses on quick plastic forming (QPF), product dimensional tolerances, and removal methods. The traditional curled metal shell mold in QFP, has limitations such as long process time and unstable quality. Therefore, this investigation designed a demolding mechanism, in order to improve the process efficiency and dimensional accuracy of QPF, in the manufacture of metal casings. The research results show that the proposed mechanism can significantly decrease the process time, because it replaces most of the operations of specimens movement after forming completely. The shorter process time reduce the die temperature loss during operation, thus also improving the efficiency by eliminating the need to wait for the die to return to its operation temperature. In terms of dimensional tolerance, the tolerance grade of QPF process was determined using the standard deviation, and found to be between IT10 and IT14. This range covers the scope of CNC cutting and stamping processing, indicating that the process has commercial value in the production of metal casings, because the current mainstream manufacturing process of metal casings comprises casting, stamping and CNC machining.