Mosque is a building type used by Muslim people consists of speech and music rituals. Good acoustical condition in mosques is an important issue to provide desired acoustical environment for prayers and Imams during different worship rituals. Prayers need to feel individuality in praying
 and the sense of unity in recitation of the Quran, hymns. Worship activities need a high level of speech intelligibility and to satisfy prayers in the spiritual aspects which make people feel closed to the God. In the context of study, six historical mosques in Turkey, with different types
 of cover structures and plan typologies, are designated as study areas. The present study contains two methods which the first one is collecting acoustical data by measurements and the second consists of mathematical modelling software program. The purpose of study to investigate effects of
 different plan typology and ceiling structures on acoustical characteristics in mosques with similar volume. Also, distribution of acoustical parameters and the suitability of the values obtained through acoustic simulations and measurements to the recommended values are aimed to be investigated.
 As a result of the investigations, it was concluded that the objective acoustic parameters of mosques changed according to the geometric parameter properties.


In light of the crises, there is a great need to find innovative solutions and cheap local alternatives to provide products that help in responding to these crises, particularly during crises of spread of infection and epidemics, where industrial institutions tend to provide quick solutions to combat infection. Society only has to adopt these solutions immediately and adopt them without ascertaining their quality. Covid-19 pandemic to which the world has been exposed has demonstrated that innovation is the world's hope to address any challenges, as this crisis affected the whole world, which was described as a crisis that stopped the world, where transportation, import, stopped all sectors and people committed In their homes for fear of infection and feeling anxious about everything, which posed a great challenge for designers to innovate and create to provide quick implementation solutions in light of sudden crises.  Indeed, all society members dealt with each other to overcome this crisis, where new products were created, and existing products developed to deal with the new societal change in light of this crisis.And given that this change is linked to a health crisis that has caused people to feel a danger and that they are in constant need of sterilization and avoid contact with things and preserve the social distance, etc., which caused fear and anxiety for all members of society,Which requires dealing with this anxiety seriously to relieve stress and anxiety among people, so providing solutions in the design of daily life products is an ideal option for dealing with these concerns in such crises,So that these emerging behaviors with the emergence of the crisis are implicitly available through products that are used mainly on a daily basis so that people do not feel at risk and also maintain their safety. As such crises occur to societies suddenly and designers have to search for the fastest solutions that can be implemented with available local resources,  It is necessary to search for new ways to design products commensurate with those sudden changes,The transformational design was the most appropriate approach to deal with these changes,This is because the product design and development process is an iterative process subject to research and experience to reach the design goal, and thus transformational design can be included within the product design process to respond to the urgent needs that suddenly appear in society through future visions and Backcasting processes.


The article presents the history of the development and implementation of forensic cytological research methods in the practice of conducting forensic examinations of material evidence in the forensic examination bureau of Ukraine. The modern possibilities of forensic cytology methods for solving investigative issues in solving crimes against human life and health are shown in the article.

Due to the fact, that the object of study of expert cytologists and expert geneticists is the same substance, namely, nuclear cells of different tissues and organs, blood leukocytes, epithelial cells of saliva, vagina, rectum, sperm, and cells of the outer root vagina hair – forensic cytological studies necessitate the preservation of nuclear cells for further genetic analysis. To this end, the staff of the Forensic Cytology Department of the Main Bureau of Forensic Examination developed a method for the preparation of cytological preparations using an ultrasonic water bath, which allows increasing the number of cellular elements extracted.

At the same time, the specialists of the Odesa Regional Bureau of Forensic Examination introduced a technique for conducting molecular genetic analysis of nucleated cells in cytological preparations. Such techniques allow, even with a very small amount of biomaterial, to answer most of the questions posed by the investigator to the expert.


The continued inordinate demise from communicable pathogens in the global South is not the result of an intractable problem thwarting our best efforts to prevent and cure disease; we have the means. Rather, as an accomplice to contemporary imperialism, public health manages (as a profession) and maintains (as an academic discipline) global health inequity. It does this through 'bourgeois empiricist' models of disease causation, which serve protected affluence by uncritically reifying inequitable social relations in the modern/colonial matrix of power and making them appear commonsensical.


The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential of magnetic nanoparticles for enhancing drug delivery using a low oscillating magnetic field (OMF) strength. We investigated the ability of magnetic nanoparticles to cause disruption of a viscous biopolymer barrier to drug delivery and the potential to induce triggered release of drug conjugated to the surfaces of these particles. Various magnetic nanoparticles were screened for thermal response under a 295-kHz OMF with an amplitude of 3.1 kA/m. Based on thermal activity of particles screened, we selected the nanoparticles that displayed desired characteristics for evaluation in a simplified model of an extracellular barrier to drug delivery, using lambda DNA/HindIII. Results indicate that nanoparticles could be used to induce DNA breakage to enhance local diffusion of drugs, despite low temperatures of heating. Additional studies showed increased diffusion of quantum dots in this model by single-particle tracking methods. Bimane was conjugated to the surface of magnetic nanoparticles. Fluorescence and transmission electron microscope images of the conjugated nanoparticles indicated little change in the overall appearance of the nanoparticles. A release study showed greater drug release using OMF, while maintaining low bulk heating of the samples (T=30degC). This study indicates that lower magnetic field strengths may be successfully utilized for drug delivery applications as a method for drug delivery transport enhancement and drug release switches.


The article presents adaptation and verification made for the psychometric characteristics of the Wiesbaden Inventory for Positive Psychotherapy and Family Therapy. The psychometric characteristics and other approbation results for the offered Ukrainian-language version of the examined Inventory are shown. The data on the Inventory diagnostic are described and its prognostic capabilities to determine factors of an individual's self-determination, psychological well-being and psychological hardiness are assessed.


Using nationally representative data from the Family and Child Experiences Survey 2009 cohort (n = 2,842), this study examined the implications of 3- and 4-year-old's absences from Head Start for their early academic learning. The findings from this study revealed that children who missed more days of school, and especially those who were chronically absent, demonstrated fewer gains in areas of math and literacy during the preschool year. Moreover, excessive absenteeism was found to detract from the potential benefits of quality preschool education and was especially problematic for the early learning of children who entered the Head Start program with a less developed skill set. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.


The potential of the marama bean plant, Tylosema esculentum (Burch.) Schreiber, a drought-tolerant, bean–bearing legume, native to Southern Africa, was investigated to potentially form part of a food based approach in rural agricultural extension programmes. Nutrient content and sensory attributes of roasted marama beans were determined as well as the potential of the marama plant as fodder for cattle. Chemical analyses were performed on roasted Namibia and Botswana marama beans to determine the nutritional content thereof. The beans contain high levels of protein, unsaturated fats, phosphorus, calcium, vitamin A, vitamin B3, vitamin B6, folic acid, vitamin B12, vitamin E, iron, zinc and iodine. Quantitative descriptive sensory analyses were performed on roasted marama beans from Botswana and Namibia to determine and compare the sensory attributes thereof. The Botswana traditionally roasted, Botswana oven roasted and Namibian oven roasted samples grouped together. The Namibian traditionally roasted marama bean had a significantly more intense burnt, bitter and chemical aroma and flavour and taste. To assess the value of the marama plant as a fodder for cattle, an experiment was conducted to measure the effect of season, stocking rate and frame size on the diet selection of the marama plant by cattle grazing the veld of the Sandveld Research Farm in the eastern part of Namibia. This study proved that only season had a significant influence on the selection of the marama plant as a feedstuff for cattle. The marama plant is indeed utilized by free-ranging beef cattle, but not preferentially so. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page no. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT v TABLE OF CONTENTS vi LIST OF TABLES x LIST OF FIGURES xii LIST OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS xiii CHAPTER


Research on the effect of main spindle deformation which is caused by hobbing force of gear hobbing machine is an important way to diminish or control the machining tolerance of gear. This paper bases on the structure and technique parameter of some typical large-scale NC gear hobbing machine, and the theory of bend and deformation of beam, a novel equation was proposed in this paper to calculate the hobbing force and deformation by practical hobbing parameter. By calculating and analyzing gear hobbing force and deformation data, we can conclude a change rule between hobbing force and deformation with spindle rotative velocity and hobbing depth. And we can reach a conclusion that we should increase hob rotative velocity and feed in a small hobbing depth in several times, it will diminish cutting force, deformation of hob and workpiece spindle, which will improve the machining precision, efficiency and diminish product scrap ratio. It also prove this research approach has reference value for optimizing gear hobbingmachine structure design, choice of processing technique parameter and machining error prediction and compensation.


Numerical simulation of different physical processes in different regions is one of the wide variety of real world applications. Many important applications such as coupled surface water groundwater flows require the accurate solution of multi-domain, multi-physics coupling of unobstructed flows with filtration or porous media flows. There are large advantages in efficiency, storage, accuracy and programmer effort in using partitioned methods build from components optimized for the individual sub-processes. On the other hand, the multi-domain or multi-physical process describes different natures of the physical processes of each subproblem. They may require different meshes, time steps and methods. There is a natural desire to uncouple and solve such systems by solving each sub physics problem, to reduce the technical complexity and allow the use of optimized, legacy sub-problems' codes in fluid flow. Stabilization using filters is intended to model and extract the energy lost to resolved scales due to nonlinearity breaking down resolved scales to unresolved scales. This process is highly nonlinear. Including a particular form of the nonlinear filter allows for easy incorporation of more knowledge into the filter process and its computational complexity is comparable to many of the current models which use linear filters to select the eddies for damping.

The objective of the first part of this work is the development, analysis and validation of new partitioned algorithms for some coupled flow models, addressing some of the above problems. Particularly, this thesis studies: i) long time stability of four methods for splitting the evolutionary Stokes-Darcy problem into Stokes and Darcy sub problems, ii) analysis of a multi-rate splitting method for uncoupling evolutionary groundwater-surface water flows, and iii) a connection between filter stabilization and eddy viscosity models. For each problem, we give comprehensive analysis of stability and derive optimal error estimates of our proposed methods. Numerical experiments are performed to verify the theoretical results.


Beyond Traditional Superatom Ligands and Cores Evan Ambrose Doud This dissertation summarizes my research in the Roy group on the development, synthesis, and study of new N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) based ligands and nickel phsophinidene core compositions of molecular clusters, also known as superatoms. Chapter 1 introduces superatoms as atomically precise and discreet building blocks for use in the design and synthesis of novel materials. A brief history as well as selected synthetic strategies of superatoms will be introduced. The relevant materials properties of superatoms as well as their dependence on core composition and ligand structure will be discussed. Next, the use of superatoms with specialized or functionalizable ligands to synthesize new materials will be demonstrated. This chapter details the importance of the superatom ligands and core composition is the foundation that the subsequent chapters builds upon in developing these two areas. Chapter 2 introduces a functionalized NHC as a potential superatom ligand. While not necessary for all superatom ligands, ligands that enable electronic access to the superatom core are attractive. In this chapter, the conductance of potential NHC based ligands are probed through the scanning tunneling microscope-based break-junction (STM-BJ) method. A novel method of forming single molecule junctions in situ was used and these ligands are found to display a length dependent conductance with strong coupling to the Au electrode, confirming their potential use as ligands for superatoms. Chapter 3 describes the nature of the NHC–M bond in self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on a Au(111) surface using high-resolution spectroscopy and theoretical calculations. This study was performed as a result of challenges and questions encountered during the work of Chapter 2. The results obtained from this study explore an important structure-function relationship of NHC ligands and have broader impact in materials chemistry beyond superatoms. Chapter 4 explores the synthesis of superatoms with NHC ligands beyond simple imidazolium-based NHCs. This chapter describes the two primary synthetic techniques used and the synthesis of NHC-ligated superatoms. This work is also ongoing and characterization is limited to crude single crystal X-ray diffraction structures and select NMRs. Finally, Chapter 5 details the use of uncommon organocyclophosphine reagents to synthesis novel nickel-phosphinidene molecular clusters, a potential new superatom. In this chapter the synthesis of a family of nickel-phosphinidene molecular clusters is described and studied. A potential application of these molecular clusters is explored through the thermolytic conversion to the industrially relevant Ni2P.


Patients with Huntington's disease (HD) were compared on three tests of remote memory with patients with alcoholic Korsakoff's syndrome (KS) and with control subjects. Though both patient groups were severely impaired in overall performance with respect to the normal control subjects on all three tests, striking differences were evident in the degree of loss for each decade interval. The patients with HD had as much difficulty identifying faces and events from the 1930s and 1940s as faces and events from the 1960s and 1970s. Thus, the pattern of their remote memory loss was "flat", that is, equal for all periods sampled. The retrograde amnesia of the patients with KS was characterized by a steep temporal gradient in which facts pertaining to the distant past were more accurately retrieved than facts concerning events that occurred just prior to the onset of their illness. Taken in conjunction with other recent studies of retrograde amnesia, these results suggest that neurologic patients exhibit at least three different patterns of remote memory loss.


For the purpose of highly secure data transmission and privacy, sometime there is need of storage and encryption of digital video.During the encryption of video, the data hiding can be performed. In this paper proposed scheme is the secure data transmission with directly hiding data in the encrypted version of H.264/AVC videos is presented, which includes three parts are H.264/AVC video encryption, data embedding and data extraction. The content owner encrypts the original H.264/AVC video stream using standard stream ciphers with encryption keys to produce encrypted video stream and the code word substitution for the data embedding purposes, that it eligible codewords can be substituted. Without knowing the original video content, then, a data hider may embed additional data in the encrypted domain by using codeword substitution technique. Data extraction can be done either in the encrypted domain or in the decrypted domain, in order to adapt to different application. Furthermore, video file size is strictly preserved even after encryption and data embedding. Keywords— Data hiding, encrypted domain, H.264/AVC, codeword substituting.


We study the representation of static patterns and temporal associations in neural networks with a broad distribution of signal delays. For a certain class of such systems, a simple intuitive understanding of the spatio-temporal computation becomes possible with the help of a novel Lyapunov functional. It allows a quantitative study of the asymptotic network behavior through a statistical mechanical analysis. We present analytic calculations of both retrieval quality and storage capacity and compare them with simulation results.


Context. The High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) spectrograph has been mounted since 2003 at the ESO 3.6 m telescope in La Silla and provides state-of-the-art stellar radial velocity (RV) measurements with a precision down to ∼1 m s−1. The spectra are extracted with a dedicated data-reduction software (DRS), and the RVs are computed by cross-correlating with a numerical mask.
Aims. This study has three main aims: (i) Create easy access to the public HARPS RV data set. (ii) Apply the new public SpEctrum Radial Velocity AnaLyser (SERVAL) pipeline to the spectra, and produce a more precise RV data set. (iii) Determine whether the precision of the RVs can be further improved by correcting for small nightly systematic effects.
Methods. For each star observed with HARPS, we downloaded the publicly available spectra from the ESO archive and recomputed the RVs with SERVAL. This was based on fitting each observed spectrum with a high signal-to-noise ratio template created by coadding all the available spectra of that star. We then computed nightly zero-points (NZPs) by averaging the RVs of quiet stars.
Results. By analyzing the RVs of the most RV-quiet stars, whose RV scatter is < 5 m s−1, we find that SERVAL RVs are on average more precise than DRS RVs by a few percent. By investigating the NZP time series, we find three significant systematic effects whose magnitude is independent of the software that is used to derive the RV: (i) stochastic variations with a magnitude of ∼1 m s−1; (ii) long-term variations, with a magnitude of ∼1 m s−1 and a typical timescale of a few weeks; and (iii) 20–30 NZPs that significantly deviate by a few m s−1. In addition, we find small (≲1 m s−1) but significant intra-night drifts in DRS RVs before the 2015 intervention, and in SERVAL RVs after it. We confirm that the fibre exchange in 2015 caused a discontinuous RV jump that strongly depends on the spectral type of the observed star: from ∼14 m s−1 for late F-type stars to ∼ − 3 m s−1 for M dwarfs. The combined effect of extracting the RVs with SERVAL and correcting them for the systematics we find is an improved average RV precision: an improvement of ∼5% for spectra taken before the 2015 intervention, and an improvement of ∼15% for spectra taken after it. To demonstrate the quality of the new RV data set, we present an updated orbital solution of the GJ 253 two-planet system.
Conclusions. Our NZP-corrected SERVAL RVs can be retrieved from a user-friendly public database. It provides more than 212 000 RVs for about 3000 stars along with much auxiliary information, such as the NZP corrections, various activity indices, and DRS-CCF products.


This Article examines the United States' response to the September 11, 2001 attacks by Al Qaeda from my perspective as Counsel to the President and then later as Attorney General. It reviews the actions of government lawyers and how federal courts have judged the implementation of U.S. government policy. It explains that U.S. government officials quickly understood that our nation was confronted with a non-state enemy fighting an unconventional war. This forced us to make a number of difficult decisions quickly about how best to fight this threat in a manner consistent with the United States' domestic and international legal obligations. Soon following the attacks, President George W. Bush and the U.S. Congress determined, in essence, that the actions against the United States were more than crimes.The Authorization for the Use of Military Force, passed by Congress on September 18, 2001, reflected a belief that the murder of over 3,000 innocent Americans constituted an act of military aggression against the United States. In the months following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the U.S. government declared that, as a matter of law: (1) the Geneva Conventions did not apply to the conflict between the United States and al Qaeda and (2) members of al Qaeda and the Taliban were not entitled to prisoner of war protections under the Geneva Conventions. These actions formed the foundation of subsequent decisions, including the detention policy at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. There were, at times, strong and differing views within the Bush Administration and Congress about these issues.


Understanding and troubleshooting wide area networks (such as military backbone networks and ISP networks) are challenging tasks due to their large, distributed, and highly dynamic nature. Building a system that can record and replay fine-grained behaviors of such networks would simplify this problem by allowing operators to recreate the sequence and precise ordering of events (e.g., packet-level forwarding decisions, route changes, failures) taking place in their networks. However, doing this at large scales seems intractable due to the vast amount of information that would need to be logged. In this paper, we propose a scalable and reliable framework to monitor fine-grained data-plane behavior within a large network. We give a feasible architecture for a distributed logging facility, a tree-based data structure for log compression and show how this logged information helps network operators to detect and debug anomalous behavior of the network. Experimental results obtained through trace-driven simulations and Click software router experiments show that our design is lightweight in terms of processing time, memory requirement and control overhead, yet still achieves over 99% precision in capturing network events.


A short review of recent investigations of the authors on the Ru(II)-based optical oxygen sensors is presented focused on the influence of: (i) type of the supporting matrix (SiO2 or polymethylmetacrylate based), (ii) precursors used (tetraethoxysilane, ormosil-type alkoxosilanes, methylmetacrylate, polymethylmetacrylate), (iii) method applied for the matrix synthesis, (iv) method for films deposition (dip- and spin coating), (v) chromophore leaching as a result of storage of the films in potentially aggressive media (water, diluted acidic and basic solutions) and (vi) working environment nature on the: a) films morphology, b) the analytical characteristics of the sensing component (linearity of the Stern-Volmer dependence, sensitivity of the device, reproducibility of the results), c) admissible parameters (pH, temperature) of the working medium. Special attention is paid on the effect of sol-sonication (as a tool against dye microcrystallization). The results obtained permit optimal precursors, sol preparation conditions and coating procedure to be recommended for gas and for dissolved oxygen measurement, respectively. The sonication of the sol ensures a rather significant improvement of the sensor performance. The strong quenching of the chromophore in the case of in-situ polymerization of the methylmetacrylate is observed.The sensing films are successfully applied for oxygen determination in natural lake waters and beer.


Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common, preventable and treatable chronic airway disease (CAD) and is the 4th leading cause of illness and death worldwide. CAD represents a group of diseases with different clinical phenotypes, airway inflammation, obstruction and destruction of the lung parenchyma. COPD is a heterogeneous disease, which is characterized by persistent respiratory symptoms and airflow limitation and its prevalence varies considerably across populations. Asthma-COPD overlap syndrome (ACOS) had been reported in 2009 and recognised by Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) and Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) in 2014. ACOS is identified by the features that it shares with both asthma and COPD. Inhaling tobacco smoke is the main risk for CAD, thus smoking cessation is not only the key step for prevention and maintenance therapy for COPD (GOLD 2017), but also it is encouraged in the patient with asthma and their families (GINA 2017). Smoking cessation, pulmonary rehabilitation, pharmacologic therapy and the other therapies for COPD may improve symptoms, health status and exercise ability and reduce frequency of exacerbations (GOLD 2017). At present, COPD is generally diagnosed by lung function measurement using spirometry, but not all individuals presenting with airflow limitation follow the paradigm. On the individual level spirometry may poorly correlate with symptoms, risk of exacerbation, prognosis and response to treatment in COPD. Due to disease heterogeneity, limitations of spirometry and lack of predictive molecular markers, the mechanisms underlying different COPD phenotypes are still unclear. Therefore, identification of the similarities and differences of COPD clinical phenotypes is important, as these phenotypes require different therapeutic approaches and have distinct clinical outcomes. We hypothesised that the potential biomarkers may play an important role and even predict the development of COPD. Accordingly, patients with asthma, COPD and ACOS would exhibit different biomarker profiles. Furthermore, distinguishing COPD phenotypes via distinct molecular and cellular pathways may facilitate the development of individualised diagnosis and precision medicine. The first goal of this study was to identify COPD-specific proteomic changes involved in disease onset and severity. The second goal was to identify novel biomarkers for the clinical COPD phenotypes in smokers and patients with COPD, asthma and ACOS in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. The third goal was to investigate whether the levels of these markers are associated with variables such as pack-years, lung function and sputum cell profiles. Finally, we aimed to evaluate the association of the biomarker levels with a longitudinal decline of lung function. Those studies included the 6-year longitudinal cohort of adult smokers for early diagnosis of COPD studies (Study I, II and III), and the Finnish discovery cohort and the Japanese replication cohort for ACOS studies (Study IV and V). We selected biomarkers identified in our non-hypothesis-based proteomic approaches for early COPD diagnosis, such as transglutaminase 2 (TGM2), bactericidal/permeability-increasing (BPI) fold-containing protein B1 (BPIFB1) and soluble receptor for advanced glycation endproducts (sRAGE). Based on our previous results and non-hypothesis-based proteomic approaches, we developed two panels of potential biomarkers for ACOS: COPD-related biomarkers and asthma-related biomarkers. The four COPD-related biomarkers are neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), myeloperoxidase (MPO), surfactant protein A (SP-A) and sRAGE. The three asthma-related biomarkers are chitinase-like protein YKL-40 (YKL40), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin IL-13 (IL-13). For the early COPD diagnosis studies, induced sputum and plasma samples were categorised into 3 groups: non-smokers, smokers without COPD and smokers with COPD (stable stage I and stage II-III). Lung tissue samples were obtained from non-smokers, smokers without COPD, smokers with COPD and patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). For the ACOS studies, induced sputum and plasma samples were categorised into 5 groups: nonsmokers, healthy smokers, patients with asthma, COPD and ACOS. Sputum cell counts were evaluated from sputum cytospins. TGM2 and BPIFB1 were assessed by Western blot analysis and by cysteine-specific two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS). BPIFB1 was further detected by immunohistochemistry and functional enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). TGM2, sRAGE, NGAL, MPO, SPA, YKL-40, IL-6 and IL-13 levels were measured by commercial ELISA or Magnetic Human High Sensitivity Luminex assay (Luminex assay). Our results showed that TGM2 levels in sputum and plasma were elevated in mild-moderate COPD and associated with lung function. Sputum BPIFB1 levels were elevated in smokers with COPD, whereas plasma sRAGE levels were decreased in smokers without COPD and smokers with COPD. Sputum BPIFB1 and plasma sRAGE levels were significantly associated with reduced airflow limitation over time in smokers with COPD. In the Finnish discovery cohort of the ACOS study, sputum MPO and plasma SP-A levels were significantly elevated in ACOS, whereas plasma sRAGE levels were decreased in ACOS. Sputum IL-13 levels were increased in ACOS when compared with controls. Sputum YKL-40 and IL-6 differentiated ACOS from COPD and asthma based on receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. However, only sputum NGAL results could be repeated from the Finnish discovery cohort to Japanese replication cohort. Importantly, NGAL differentiated ACOS from COPD and independently correlated with forced expiratory volume in one second % (FEV1% predicted) in both cohorts. In conclusion, our findings support the hypothesis that monitoring of these biomarkers may be useful for differential diagnosis between the clinical phenotypes of COPD. TGM2 may be a potential diagnostic and therapeutic marker in COPD, which may relate to COPD onset and severity. BPIFB1 and sRAGE play vital roles in the pathogenesis of smoking-related COPD. High concentrations of sRAGE might be involved in the protective role of the airway. Patients with COPD and ACOS exhibit different NGAL profiles in sputum. These findings suggest that these potential biomarkers could be a novel diagnostic and therapeutic target for COPD. On the other hand, sputum biomarkers reflect both airway inflammation and tissue remodelling, and monitoring these biomarkers may be useful for differential diagnosis between asthma, COPD and ACOS.


The performance analysis of different transmission schemes in emerging wireless communication systems such as outdoor distributed antenna architectures and relay networks requires the adoption of joint multipath fading and shadowing channel models, since the geographically distributed ports experience different small-scale and large-scale fading conditions. In this study, extreme value theory is utilised to quantify the ergodic capacity of multiuser diversity (opportunistic scheduling) over shadowed Nakagami (gamma–gamma) fading channels. The distribution of the maximum extreme for a sequence of independent and identically distributed gamma–gamma random variables is shown to belong to the domain of attraction of the Gumbel distribution and subsequently the effect of independent shadowing on the ergodic capacity of opportunistic scheduling for large number of users is revealed.


Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterized by a chronic inflammation of the joints, which leads to the destruction of articular cartilage and bone. The degree of joint damage assessed by radiographic imaging represents a key outcome in RA. There are several methods for scoring the joint damage associated with RA. The most widely used are the Sharp and Larsen systems, as well as more recent modifications of each method. Radiographic imaging has several advantages compared with other outcome measures in RA, specifically: X-rays reflect the history of joint pathology, provide a permanent record for serial evaluation, and can be randomized and blinded for objective scoring. Several modifications of these methods have been proposed and employed in the investigation of disease progression. A review of the radiographic progression of RA is presented, as well as a simplified scoring system useful for the evaluation of joint damage in RA in a clinical setting.


In this paper we present a detailed experimental study of fractions, xAr = 0.0821, 0.2727, 0.3618, 0.5838, 0.7722 and 0.9049 at 25.0°C. The pressures are measured with a dead -- weight tester. The densities are determined from knowledge of the precise volume and weight measurement of the mixtures. Statistical analysis of the experimental data yielded very precise values for the second and third density virial coefficients. The second virial coefficients calculated with the least squares fitting method and corresponding to above argon mole fractions are 106B = 11.03, 9.16, 7.65, 1.83, -4.98 and --11.00 m3mole-1. Similarly the third virial coefficients are 1012 C = 272, 388, 458, 648, 849 and 1013 m6mole-2.


Rapid prototyping by Gas Metal Arc Welding is a method of making a prototype by creating layers of welds to form a desired shape. The work in this thesis investigates the feasibility of a robotic Gas Metal Arc Welding cell for rapid prototyping and wear replacement applications. The experiments were divided into two categories, ie. thin walled objects and solid objects. The optimal range of welding parameters for the two types of objects were investigated extensively for their suitability for rapid prototyping and wear replacement applications. The experiments include investigations of the mechanical property, surface temperature and surface regularity of the welded steel created by rapid prototyping and wear replacement techniques. The importance and the significance of selecting the correct welding parameters for rapid prototyping and wear replacement applications are demonstrated in this thesis. In the experiments, it was found that the welding parameters lie within a narrow range. It was also determined that the suitable settings are in the short-circuit transfer mode. However, in the case of the solid objects it was determined that spray transfer is a suitable transfer mode for the fill. Quality of Gas Metal Arc Welds for Rapid Prototyping and Wear Replacement IV


Increased oxidative stress resulting from free radical damage to cellular function is associated with a number of neurodegenerative diseases, in particular with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The deposition of amyloid β‐peptide (Aβ), the major pathological hallmark for AD, has been suggested as the central disease‐causing and disease‐promoting event for the disease, and the pathological role of Aβ was partially mediated by oxidative stress. Here we compared the effects of huperzine A (HupA) and tacrine, two acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors available for AD, on Aβ‐induced cell lesion, level of lipid peroxidation, and antioxidant enzyme activities in rat PC12 and primary cultured cortical neurons. Following exposure of both cells to different concentrations of an active fragment of Aβ, a marked reduction in cell survival and activities of glutathione peroxidase (GSH‐Px) and catalase (CAT), as well as increased production of malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD), were observed. Pretreatment of the cells with HupA or tacrine (0.1–10 μM) prior to Aβ exposure significantly elevated the cell survival and GSH‐Px and CAT activities and decreased the level of MDA. Both drugs have similar protection against Aβ insult. Our results indicate that HupA and tacrine exert neuroprotective effects against Aβ toxicity, which might be of importance and might contribute to their clinical efficacy for the treatment of AD. J. Neurosci. Res. 61:564–569, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Charcoal results from incomplete combustion of plant material. It is produced naturally by wildfire, and being relatively tough and unbiodegradable it may be transported and incorporated into a variety of sedimentary environments. Wildfire requires adequate atmospheric oxygen for the combustion of plant fuel (wood, leaf litter). Fossil charcoal from the Devonian onwards suggests that the oxygen level in the atmosphere has not fallen below 13% in this interval. Further, the extreme flammability of even wet plant fuel at oxygen levels above 35% makes this the highest figure compatible with the occurrence of terrestrial vegetation.


Abstract. Recently, building outline extraction from point cloud has gained momentum in particular in the context of 3D building modelling based on a data-driven approach, which has also been our motivation. For an accurate building outline extraction from a point cloud, various factors affecting the quality should be considered. In this research, we analysed the influence of point cloud density on the quality of the extracted building outlines. The input data was a classified photogrammetric point cloud, obtained from the dense image matching of images acquired by an optical sensor mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). For outline extraction, we selected two procedures, namely the direct approach and the raster approach. In the direct approach, building outlines are extracted directly from the points that have been classified as buildings. First, a convex hull with the alpha algorithm is estimated, which is further generalised with the Douglas-Peucker algorithm. This is followed by the shape regularisation to ensure perpendicular angles of the outline. In the raster approach, we first rasterised the building points and then extracted the building outlines using the Hough transform. In both approaches, the result is a roof outline in a 2D plane representing the maximum extent of the building above the surface. The building outlines were extracted from point clouds with five different densities. For both approaches, the quality assessment has shown that point cloud density has an impact on the building outline extraction, especially on the completeness of the outlines.


The promotion of renewable energies (RE) is a worldwide crucial challenge. RE contribute to the security of the energy supply as they reduce the use of fossil resources and nuclear energy, thus alleviating dependence on energy imports. They are also a very important future strategy to reduce greenhouse gases, therefore essential to meet the Kyoto-goals, to reduce climate change and to build up a sustainable energy system. The description of the future role and importance show that the policy field "RE" is deeply embedded in energy and climate policies in general – but it is not that prominent represented in the international arena, especially compared to the institutional settings of the conventional energy industries. RE are not represented by one "concentrated" organisation or an influential global network. In fact, a distinct lack of coordination and cooperation of activities can be observed, which leads to a lot of inefficiencies. There have been different suggestions on how to improve this situation. The discussion about the right path to gain such a global structure for the successful promotion has begun at the world summit in Johannesburg und especially around the international conference of the "Renewables 2004" in Bonn. While for example a global agency as part of the UN system presently seems to be far out of reach, solutions like a voluntary "frontrunner" network of interested states and private actors is discussed more concrete – and yet "under construction". But what seems to be a realistic, useful and necessary design that meets the needs of the (international) RE industry – and what kind of experiences can give consultancy to this process? The paper wants to analyse the current situation of the emerging global RE regime, discuss the various forms of global governance mechanism and will compare the situation with former experiences (success, failures, structures) of other (comparable) global (environmental) regimes.


This review provides an updated vision about the recent developments in the field of drug vectorization using functional nanoparticles and other nanovectors. From a large number of these nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems that emerge nearly every week, only a tiny fraction reaches a pre-clinical or clinical phase study. In this report, we intend to provide contextual information about those nanocarriers and release methods that have shown the best outcomes at in vitro and in vivo experiments, highlighting those with proven therapeutic efficiency in humans. From silicabased porous nanoparticles to liposomes or polymeric nanoparticles, each one of these nanosystems has its advantages and drawbacks. We describe and discuss briefly those approaches that, in our criterion, have provided significant advancements over existing therapies at the in vivo level. This work also provides a general view of those commercially available nanovectors and their specific area of therapeutic action.


Local municipalities have broad authority to regulate land use as provided in state legislation. Like all higher forms of legislation, state law occasionally preempts local legislatures from enacting laws. Generally preemption is appropriate when the area to be regulated by the local laws is comprehensively regulated by state law, the uniformity of the state law will benefit the localities, and inconsistencies in local law are harmful to land owners and municipalities. This article discusses the pros and cons of state preemption on various types of land use regulation.


Until nowadays study of drug profile inside body (pharmacokinetic) and its development is still an interesting topic under pharmaceutical service. Development of an accurate analysis method for small quantity of drug in blood is an important step, HPLC method usually recommended for this purpose. Observation in studying the optimal method to analyze drug in human blood by using internal standard has been done for meloxicam, a new generation of NSAID. Two things has been focused to this observation, finding an ideal internal standard for meloxicam and testing the recovery of meloxicam in blood sample by in vitro. Coefficient of distribution of many samples (piroxicam, trimetropim, caffeine, salisilamid) gives caffeine as recommended internal standard for meloxicam. The recovery test gives 83,58% Ap 3,802%, 74,37% Ap 0,711%, 82,14% Ap 1,937% for analysis meloxicam in human blood without internal standard; and 41,58% Ap 1,108%, 61,60% Ap 1,049%, 56,88% Ap 0,478% for analysis meloxicam in human blood within internal standard.


Nowadays, sustainability has become a complicated issue mainly in urban centres. Owing to the atmospheric emissions, the incorporation of toxic chemical elements is still not well known for urban water-associated ecosystems. Tillandsia bromeliads were employed as passive biomonitors of air pollution. Otherwise, the tank bromeliad Canistropsis billbergioides, native to the Atlantic Forest, was employed for assessing pollution levels since the tank, unlike atmospheric epiphytes, also accumulates chemical elements from water and litterfall. The present study aimed at using leaves of the native epiphytic bromeliads (passive biomonitoring) from riparian areas and the species C. billbergioides (active) to evaluate the atmospheric input of chemical elements for wet ecosystems from the Piracicaba City, Sao Paulo State, Brazil. Chemical elements determined by Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA), such as As, Cr, Hg, Ni, Sb and Zn, were accumulated in leaves of bromeliads. By combining passive and active experimental designs, hotspots for chemical atmospheric pollution were identified in the Piracicaba River Basin.


Polymers containing para‐quaterphenyl rods laterally attached to the polymer main chain have been synthesized. The molecular design choices which led to use of the quaterphenyl rod to achieve auxetic response will be discussed. Preparative chemistry of the monomers will be described along with the details of the polymerization reaction. Both polyethers and polyesters were prepared. The length of the flexible alkyl main chains which link the rods plays an important role in determining whether the resulting polymers will exhibit liquid crystallinity. Polymers with longer alkyl links exhibit nematic liquid crystallinity and the rods appear to have their long axes oriented roughly parallel and along the main chain direction. X‐ray scattering experiments were performed on the polymers both in the quiescent (unstretched) and the stretched states. Results from these experiments suggest that, under tensile strain, site connectivity driven rod‐reorientation occurs in these materials giving rise to an increase in the interchain distance for these polymers. This increase in the interchain separation is consistent with our concept of a molecular level auxetic mechanism for this type of designed polymer. (© 2005 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


The article deals with two various approaches to data preparation to avoid multicollinearity. The aim of the article is to find similarities among the e-communication level of EU states using hierarchical cluster analysis. The original set of fourteen indicators was first reduced on the basis of correlation analysis while in case of high correlation indicator of higher variability was included in further analysis. Secondly the data were transformed using principal component analysis while the principal components are poorly correlated. For further analysis five principal components explaining about 92% of variance were selected. Hierarchical cluster analysis was performed both based on the reduced data set and the principal component scores. Both times three clusters were assumed following Pseudo t-Squared and Pseudo F Statistic, but the final clusters were not identical. An important characteristic to compare the two results found was to look at the proportion of variance accounted for by the clusters which was about ten percent higher for the principal component scores (57.8% compared to 47%). Therefore it can be stated, that in case of using principal component scores as an input variables for cluster analysis with explained proportion high enough (about 92% for in our analysis), the loss of information is lower compared to data reduction on the basis of correlation analysis.


Duhem's philosophy of science is difficult to classify according to more contemporary categories like instrumentalism and realism. On the one hand, he presents an account of scientific methodology which renders theories as mere instruments. On the other hand, he acknowledges that theories with particular theoretical virtues (e.g., unity, simplicity, novel predictions) offer a classification of experimental laws that "corresponds to real affinities among the things themselves." In this paper, we argue that Duhem's philosophy of science was motivated by an anti-sceptical tendency, according to which we can confidently assert that our theories reveal truths about nature while, at the same time, admitting that anti-scepticism should be moderated by epistemic humility. Understanding Duhem's epistemological position, which was unique amongst French philosophers of science in the beginning of the 20th century, requires a careful examination of his accounts of representation, explanation, and of their interrelation.


The aim of this study was to provide an empirical analysis of the performance of Macedonian grape-growing family farms assessed in terms of technical, allocative, and economic efficiency and to relate aspects targeted in the Rural Development Program (RDP) to the efficiency scores. The study was based on a two-step efficiency analysis, applying Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), in the first step, and Tobit regression analysis in the second step. Data were collected between 2006 and 2008 through face-to-face interviews with 300 grape growers in the Tikvesh vineyard district in Macedonia, each represented by the three-year average of inputs, outputs and prices. The results indicated a large potential for efficiency improvement. The average efficiency was 0.71 for technical efficiency, 0.79 for allocative efficiency and 0.56 for economic efficiency. More efficient farms used smaller areas, irrigated a smaller proportion of total area, used less hired labour, used and paid less for inputs, but produced a larger quantity, with higher value per hectare. RDP measures targeted at stable yield, yield quality, and modernisation of equipment were important for enhancing and improving farm efficiency and consequently, the competitiveness of the entire sector.


A method to estimate precise iron loss in an electrical machine is presented. This method implements a 2D finite element simulation of moving structure including the non-linear magnetic behaviour and a new dynamical hysteresis model of the magnetic circuit. The 2D finite element simulation is used to evaluate the induction evolution with time in any point of the motor structure. The time evolution induction signal is then used as the input of the dynamical hysteresis model to estimate the hysteresis cycle and therefore local iron loss. Results on a 4 kW, 4-pole, 3-phase sine fed induction motor show a good agreement between theoretical estimation and measurement. For the first time, it is shown that rotor loss represents 30% of the motor iron loss.


A third era in the surgical treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) utilizes less invasive treatment modalities. Transurethral microwave therapy (TUMT), transurethral needle ablation of the prostate (TUNA) and a wide variety of laser treatments are the most conspicuous new treatment modalities approved or awaiting approval. In general, the alternative treatments produce less improvement in symptoms and peak urinary flow rates (Q(max)) than open prostatectomy or transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP), which remains the "gold standard". However, most are promising, particularly because they are associated with low morbidity. Long-term outcome has yet to be assessed with any of the newer treatments and total costs are difficult to calculate. Most have proved safe, are feasible on an outpatient basis and which, provided a low retreatment rate, will presumably reduce the socioeconomic costs. Although differences are found in outcome, morbidity and costs, none of the newer treatments has demonstrated convincing superiority or established a well-defined niche. In the future, controlled randomized studies against well-documented treatments like TURP or transurethral incision of the prostate (TUIP), focusing on long-term outcome, quality of life and socioeconomic costs, are needed.


Operational requirements are qualities which influence a software system's entire development cycle. The investigation reported here concentrated on three of the most important operational requirements: reliability via fault tolerance, growth, and availability. Accommodation of these requirements is based on an approach to functional decomposition involving representation in terms of potentiafly independent processors, called virtual machines. Functional requirements may be accommodated through hierarchical decomposition of virtual machines, while performance requirements may be associated with individual virtual machines. Virtual machines may then be mapped to a representation of a confilguration of physical resources, so that performance requirements may be reconciled with available performance characteristics.


As computational thinking (CT) is increasing in focus in K-12 education, it is important to consider how teacher education programs may better prepare teacher candidates (TCs). Previous studies have found that TCs do not always have a firm understanding of what CT involves, and they might not have clear ideas about how to develop CT in their future classrooms. In this context, the authors developed a course for elementary school TCs focusing on CT in mathematics education. The course integrated CT in the context of mathematics activities to help TCs develop both a conceptual understanding of mathematics and mathematics teaching with CT. The paper presents a case study analysis of TCs' online discussions and reflection assignments of the course, as well as themes in their learning about and attitudes toward CT in mathematics teaching and learning.


Candidate voters are a significant percentage of the electorate in Pakistani Punjab. Consideration of the last three National Assembly elections shows a consistent attitude: Punjabi voters care more about candidates than they do about political parties. Political parties attract voters in urban districts, but they rely on "electables" (candidates with strong personality and loose party affiliation) in semi-urban and rural districts.


This computational study integrates anatomical and physiological data to assess the functional role of the lateral excitatory connections between layer 2/3 (L2/3) pyramidal cells (PCs) in shaping their response during early stages of intracortical processing of a whisker deflection (WD). Based on in vivo and in vitro recordings, and 3D reconstructions of connected pairs of L2/3 PCs, our model predicts that: 1) AMPAR and NMDAR conductances/synapse are 0.52 ± 0.24 and 0.40 ± 0.34 nS, respectively; 2) following WD, connection between L2/3 PCs induces a composite EPSPs of 7.6 ± 1.7 mV, well below the threshold for action potential (AP) initiation; 3) together with the excitatory feedforward L4-to-L2/3 connection, WD evoked a composite EPSP of 16.3 ± 3.5 mV and a probability of 0.01 to generate an AP. When considering the variability in L4 spiny neurons responsiveness, it increased to 17.8 ± 11.2 mV; this 3-fold increase in the SD yielded AP probability of 0.35; 4) the interaction between L4-to-L2/3 and L2/3-to-L2/3 inputs is highly nonlinear; 5) L2/3 dendritic morphology significantly affects L2/3 PCs responsiveness. We conclude that early stages of intracortical signaling of WD are dominated by a combination of feedforward L4–L2/3 and L2/3–L2/3 lateral connections.


The interview was recorded in San Salvador, El Salvador on June 21, 1984.The Interviewer was Jean Krasno.
Ana Guadalupe Martinez, known as the "Commandante" to revolutionaries in El Salvador, became involved with the leftist movement at a young age when she joined a student strike protesting discrimination against poor students in 1969 at the Universidad de El Salvador. In 1972, when the elected liberal Government was overthrown in a day by a military junta, Ms. Martinez joined the Ejercito Revolucionario del Pueblo (ERP). By 1974, she was the rebel commander in the country's eastern section until 1976 when she was captured and imprisoned for nine months by the Salvadoran National Guard.
She spent the following ten months in exile in Algeria and France before returning to El Salvador in 1978 to rejoin the guerrilla forces. She spent the latter part of the Salvadoran War travelling in Europe to make cabinet-level contacts and argue her cause. In 1992, along with four top commanders of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), Ms. Martinez signed a United Nations brokered peace agreement with the Salvadoran Government to end the 12-year civil war.

In this interview, conducted on 21 June 1997, Ms. Martinez recounted her experiences in the Salvadoran Civil War. She stated what, in her opinion, caused the war; and discussed female involvement in the revolution, her imprisonment, the peace agreement and the importance of the Truth Commission.


Breast cancer is a major health problem in Indonesia, especially among young women. Early onset breast cancer has been known as one of the indicators harboring germline BRCA1/2 mutation. Giving the fact that different BRCA1/2 mutations were found in different ethnic populations and no publications on BRCA1/2 mutation detection in the Indonesian population are available, identifying the Indonesian mutations is important for better risk assessment of Indonesian women who are susceptible to the BRCA1/2 related hereditary cancers. However, the large size of the BRCA1 and BRCA2, and the scattered distribution of mutations complicate the task of mutation detection and make rapid screening for mutations a major technical challenge. In chapter 2, we describe an intelligent pooled DGGE method to screen for BRCA1/2 mutations. This method seems to be the ideal approach for screening naﶥ populations for mutations and was able to detect single base differences using non-toxic and relatively simple and inexpensive procedures. A larger group of early onset breast cancer patients and their family members from three Indonesian cities were screened for BRCA1/2 mutations in chapter 3. A relatively high percentage of early onset Indonesian breast cancer patients were observed to carry a germline mutation in either BRCA1 or BRCA2, which comprises of several novel pathogenic and a variety of novel "unclassified variant" mutations that could be specific for the Indonesian population. Comparison of the three different Indonesian regions for BRCA1/2 mutations pointed to geographic differences. To distinguish between BRCA and non-BRCA carriers among these young women, we investigated in chapter 5 their histopathological and immuno-histochemical characteristics. Within the early onset group ( 2 genes) were more often poorly differentiated and at advanced stage compared to those with infrequent amplification (0-2 genes). This finding is important because it links gene amplification with well established pathological prognostic and predictive features of breast cancer. In chapter 6, we used the methylation specific MS-MLPA technique to do a comprehensive analysis of promoter methylation status of 22 tumor suppressor genes in invasive breast cancer, which revealed remarkable differences in methylation frequency for various genes. Promoter methylation of multiple genes was correlated to poor differentiation and HER-2/neu amplification. Although earlier studies have shown genetic differences between early and late onset breast cancer patients, such differences were not apparent with regard to promoter methylation of the tumor suppressor genes or amplification of the oncogenes analyzed in our Indonesian breast cancer population.


This work analyses an influence of case hardening on fatigue resistance of models of hollow shafts which have a variable diameter ranging from 40 mm to 67 mm, wall thickness of 7 mm and production surface defects on an inner surface layer of the hollow shafts. Case hardened (on both sides) and non case hardened shafts were tested. Both types of shafts were made out of 16MnCrS5 (DIN) steel by cold reduction rolling and were subjected to a flat bending. Tests indicated that the fatigue resistance of the case hardened shafts was significantly higher. The main reason for the lower resistance of the non case hardened shafts was initiation of magistral cracks from the defects on inner surfaces. In case of the case hardened shafts the magistral cracks initiated from the notch on outer surfaces where macroscopic stress was maximal. Different mechanisms of the cracking are discussed from the point of view of compressive residual stresses in the case hardened layer.


Improved delineation of lymphoid malignancy biology has prompted refinement of the 2008 World Health Organization (WHO) classification of hematopoietic and lymphoid tumors with a new framework introduced in 2016. This knowledge has provided valuable insights regarding management. Early clonal proliferations have been set apart given their limited potential for malignant dissemination. Increasing knowledge of molecular drivers of aggressive lymphomas has allowed subclassification and opportunity for clinical investigations to personalize therapy. New insights into T-cell pathophysiology has allowed grouping based on shared molecular and cellular features. This article will summarize the key changes in terms of diagnosis and histopathologic definitions, the impact of these changes on clinical management, and the challenges of future research in this field.


Problem statement: Increasing growth of population and shortage of producing capacity in Bangladesh have caused serious unemployment crisis and has forced the authorities to look for ways to reduce unemployment rate. Due to difference of structure and technology used in economic sectors and activities, the effects of factors on employment are different. So, for the purpose of findings alternatives to reduce unemployment rate in Bangladesh, it is necessary to estimate employment functions in all sectors and activities, analyze the most important factors and variables on these functions. Approach: In this study an attempt had been made to estimate short-run employment functions in manufacturing industries of Bangladesh, which are one of the most important sectors that has formed meaningful percent of country employment and gross national production. Adjustment of employment to its desired level and short run returns to employment had been explored in this study. Results: The model type I in comparison to the model type II of the relationship between value added and employment, which had been found to fit quiet well in Bangladesh manufacturing industries. The results showed that 1% increase in gross value added leads to 0.379% increase in employment. The coefficient of lagged employment is positive, indicated that the level of previous years employment increases the present year employment. Conclusion: The result also showed that the employment is negatively related to the real wage rate and the elasticity of employment with respect to real wage is about -0.251. The growth rate of value added exceeded the growth rate of employment in manufacturing industries in Bangladesh.


Abstract We consider a production-inventory problem in which the production rate can be dynamically adjusted to cope with random fluctuations in demand. Customers arrive according to a renewal process, and the customer's demand is assumed to be exponentially distributed. Excess demand is backlogged. The production is controlled by a two-critical-number rule that prescribes which one of the two possible production rates must be used. Tractable expressions are given for several services measures including the fraction of demand back logged. The analysis is based on the results for hitting probabilities in random walks, where the jump distribution has an exponential right or left tail.


PURPOSE
To investigate the response of choroidal blood flow in the foveal region of the human eye to increases in mean perfusion pressure (PPm = mean ophthalmic artery pressure - intraocular pressure; IOP) induced by isometric exercises.

METHODS
Using laser-Doppler flowmetry, changes in velocity (ChBVel), number (ChBVol), and flux (ChBF) of red blood cells in the choroidal vascular system in the foveal region of the fundus were measured in both eyes of 11 normal subjects (ages 18 to 57 years) during isometric exercises.

RESULTS
During 90 seconds of squatting, PPm increased by an average of 67%, from 46 to 77 mm Hg. This resulted in a significant increase of 12% in ChBFm (the mean of ChBF during the heart cycle), mainly caused by an increase in ChBVelm. A further increase in PPm to a value approximately 85% above baseline resulted in a 40% increase in ChBFm. A significant negative correlation was found between the changes in ChBVelm and ChBVolm, during squatting.

CONCLUSIONS
Previous studies have demonstrated that during isometric exercise, blood pressures in the ophthalmic and brachial arteries rise in parallel. These observations and the current results indicate that an increase in PPm up to 67% induces an increase in choroidal vascular resistance that limits the increase in choroidal blood flow to approximately 12%. This regulatory process fails when PPm is further increased.


As a scientific method, the mining method of horizontal section top coal caving [1-3] has been widely used at Urumqi coal mine in Xinjiang autonomous region. At present, the section height remains at 18~22m in Urumqi mining area, belonging to the large section mining [4], and has the possibility to further improve section height. In this paper, the main factors affecting safety were analyzed to the large section working face, pointing out that safety mining of the large section working face must finish a good job selecting a reasonable section height to maximize the recovery ratio of top coal, filling surface to block air leakage channel supplying oxygen after mining working face, blocking and extracting gas to reduce the gas content at working face, and equipping with modern safety testing facilities to enhance safety of the detection sensitivity at working face in four key measures, which would ensure safety mining for large section faces at steep seams.


In this paper, a new event scheduling mechanism XEQ and a new rollback procedure rb-messages are proposed for use in optimistic logic simulation. We incorporate both of these techniques in a simulator XTW. XTW groups LPs into clusters, and makes use of a multi-level queue, XEQ, to schedule events in the cluster. XEQ has an O(1) event scheduling time complexity. Our new rollback mechanism replaces the use of anti-messages by an rb-message, and eliminates the need for an output queue at each LP. Experimental comparisons to time warp reveal a superior performance on the part of XTW, while experimental results over large circuits (5-milIion-gate to 25-million-gate) shows XTW scales well with both the size of circuits and the number of processors.


This paper presents IOT (internet of things), which compromises capabilities to detect and connect worldwide physical object into an integrated system. As a measure of internet of things serious concerns are elevated over access of individual privacy and personal data pertaining device .This survey summaries the elements, challenges, evolution, application, security and privacy concerns of internet of things.


A general advantage in proficiency has been repeatedly reported for learners receiving Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) when compared to learners who only receive English lessons. However, fine-grained studies addressing the aspects which make up this general advantage are still scarce. Within this context, this paper concentrates on the morphosyntactic development of two groups of (Basque-Spanish) adolescents learning English in high-school over a two-year period. One group (n= 15) received CLIL instruction and English classes while the other group (n=11) only received English classes. The results indicate a clear advantage for the CLIL group, which seems to be at a further developmental stage. Nonetheless, both groups improve over the two years and, unlike previous claims in schools, no signs of fossilization are found although inaccuracies in inflection still exist. In light of these results, the value of increasing exposure in the form of CLIL lessons in high-school is discussed.


Transformational technologies have arrived to the traditional institutions accompanied with new promises and challenges. Nevertheless, little research exists to inform our understanding on the transformation undergoing in our aged old institutions. This short paper presents an in-depth case study at a world-renowned museum in China to develop understanding on the digital transformation of a traditional institution. Our preliminary analysis sheds light on the duality of digital transformation through the theoretical lens of technology affordances. On one hand, digital transformation affords unprecedented possibilities for the revitalization of an aged old institution. On the other hand, digital transformation also generates uncertainties and tensions. Our analysis suggests that most traditional institutions are not well-endowed to quickly adapt to the changing needs in the digital environment. These preliminary findings unveil the intricacies of digital transformation in traditional institutions and serve to inform further theorizing around this underresearched phenomenon.


The kinetics of wax ester synthesis from oleic acid and oleyl alcohol using immobilized lipase from Candida antartica as catalyst was studied with different types of impeller (Rushton turbine and AL-hydrofoil) to create different mixing conditions in 2l stirred tank reactor. The effects of catalyst concentration, reaction temperature, and impeller tip speed on the synthesis were also evaluated. Rushton turbine impeller exhibited highest conversion rate at lower impeller tip speed as compared to AL-hydrofoil impeller. A second-order reversible kinetic model from single progress curve for the prediction of fractional conversion at given reaction time was proposed and the corresponding kinetic parameter values were calculated by non-linear regression method. The results from the simulation using the proposed model showed satisfactory agreement with the experimental data. Activation energy shows a value of 21.77 Kcal/mol. The thermodynamic parameters of the process, enthalpy and entropy, were 21.15 Kcal/mol and 52.07 cal/mol.K, respectively.


The prevailing snowfall regimes at two Scandinavian sites, Haukeliseter, Norway and Kiruna, Sweden, are documented using ground-based in-situ and remote sensing methods. Micro Rain Radar (MRR) profiles indicate three distinct snowfall regimes occur at both sites: shallow, deep, and intermittent snowfall. The shallow snowfall regime produces the lowest mean snowfall rates and radar echo tops are confined below 1.5 km above ground level (AGL). Shallow snowfall occurs under areas of large scale subsidence with a moist boundary layer and dry air aloft. The atmospheric ridge coinciding with shallow snowfall is highly anomalous over Haukeliseter, but is more common in Kiruna where shallow snowfall was frequently observed. The shallow snowfall particle size distributions (PSDs) are broad with lower particle concentrations than other regimes, especially small particles. Deep snowfall events exhibit MRR profiles that extend above 2 km AGL, and tend to be associated with weak low pressure and high relative humidity throughout the troposphere. The PSDs in deep events are narrower with high concentrations of small particles. Increasing MRR reflectivity towards the surface suggests aggregation as a possible growth process during deep snowfall events. The heaviest mean snowfall rates are associated with intermittent events that are characterized by deep MRR profiles, but have variations in intensity and height. The intermittent regime is associated with anomalous, deep low pressure along the coast of Norway, and enhanced relative humidity at lower levels. The PSDs reveal high concentrations of small and large particles. The analysis reveals that there are unique characteristics of shallow, deep, and intermittent snowfall regimes that are common between the sites.


Refugees have an increased risk of unemployment. We initially examined 83 unemployed refugees in Austria (mean age 34.01 years, s = 10.04), 42 of whom attended vocational training courses and 41 of whom did not. At the time of assessment some months later, 37 participants (44.6%) were employed and 46 (55.4%) were unemployed. We used sociodemographic variables as well as collectivistic values, clinical symptoms, command of the German language, perceived social support, and self-efficacy as possible predictors of unemployment. Logistic regression revealed that attending a training course, previous work experience, and a shorter time in Austria increased chances of employment. The logistic regression model we presented will enable practitioners to predict chances of employment in individual cases and to tailor refugees' vocational rehabilitation to their personal needs. The results suggest that vocational rehabilitation for refugees should be provided as soon as possible after asylum has been granted.


Dynamics of complex systems is one of the program 5 themes in the NWO (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research) strategy for the years 2007-2011. The ambition of the current proposal is to initiate integrated activities in the field of complex systems within the Netherlands, to provide opportunities for the Dutch scientific community to start up a research program on 'Complexity', and to join in, and give direction to, European activities in this field. At many levels of activity, Dutch researchers take prominent positions and are internationally recognized for their research in complexity science - a field that by its very nature requires a multi-disciplinary collaboration. However, this has not yet led to an established national community that crosses existing disciplinary boundaries. In this proposal, we call for an effort to bring together ideas, insights, and knowledge from various disciplines and to initiate inspiration and cross-fertilization among traditionally separated fields. We sketch the contours of a scientific 'Complexity' program by focusing on three trans-disciplinary research themes. The choice for these themes is determined by the opportunities offered and challenges posed by the field of 'Complexity', in combination with the existing strengths and highlights of the Dutch scientific community.


Fisher-Vectors (FV) encode higher-order statistics of a set of multiple local descriptors like SIFT features. They already show good performance in combination with shallow learning architectures on visual recognitions tasks. Current methods using FV as a feature descriptor in deep architectures assume that all original input features are static. We propose a framework to jointly learn the representation of original features, FV parameters and parameters of the classifier in the style of traditional neural networks. Our proof of concept implementation improves the performance of FV on the Pascal Voc 2007 challenge in a multi-GPU setting in comparison to a default SVM setting. We demonstrate that FV can be embedded into neural networks at arbitrary positions, allowing end-to-end training with back-propagation.


The emergence of psychopathy as a well-established construct in the assessment of adult criminal offenders has stimulated great interest in measuring psychopathy traits in adolescents. The most useful role for a brief measure of psychopathy might be self-report questionnaire. On the other hand, screening for adolescent psychpathy traits is a particularly sensitive undertaking, because the label Psychopath can influence treatment plans and juvenile justice determinations. Therefore, this study assesses the validity of the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI), a self-reported measure of psychopathic traits in a Lithuanian offender population and in community-based adolescent sample. We assess the validity of the YPI by internal consistency analyses of scale and subscale item sets and the discriminant validity identifying psychopathic personality traits among incarcerated juveniles (N=207) compared with community – based population (N=276). Findings from this research suggested both strengths and weaknesses associated with YPI as a psychopathy assessment instrument in adolescent population.


Estimates of sexual health problems after cancer treatment range from 40% to 100% across cancers, with almost half of cancer survivors reporting problems with sexual functioning. While many side effects of cancer treatment gradually resolve within the first year or two, many sexual health issues do not. These problems can remain severe and constant and can even become worse over time causing considerable distress. Although sexual health issues are common, they are not addressed often enough in cancer settings. There are a variety of barriers to addressing sexual health concerns. In this lecture, we discuss those challenges and offer some possible approaches nurses could use to improve sexual health care, including the BATHE and the PLISSIT models. Case examples highlighting the models are included.


Freshwater lens on small islands may easily be overexploited or polluted due to overdrafts of fresh water by pumping which causes drawdown of the water table a rise or up-coning of the saltwater interface. Present study is concerned with using a three-dimensional finite-difference numerical model to simulate the groundwater flow and transport model to predict the behavior of groundwater system in Manukan Island. The simulations were done using variable density SEAWAT-2000 for three selected pumping schemes.Hydraulic heads (groundwater level) is the highest at the center of the island and decreases in radial shape towards the coast in all the pumping schemes (PS1-PS3). The chloride concentration in the studied aquifer increased by 98.7% in the pumping well if the pumping rate is doubled by the current (PS2 to PS3). The 1.4% seawater-freshwater mixing moves further forward to inland about 1.6m when the current pumping rate was doubled whereas moves backward to sea about 1.7m if the current pumping rate is reduced by 50%. This preliminary model of Manukan island aquifer shows that an overexploitation of groundwater in Manukan Island contributes to the seawater intrusion. Adjusting the future groundwater pumping scheme and improving groundwater management strategies are necessary to protect the freshwater aquifers. The current numerical model is a reasonable representation of the aquifer in Small Island which can be used in similar small islands with similar hydrogeological conditions in elsewhere.


Spanish/English Two-Way Immersion Education (TWI) is a type of bilingual education in which Spanish-speaking and English-speaking students are taught together and both languages are used for classroom instruction. Despite all the empirical evidence documenting TWI as a viable and successful way of educating minority- and majority-language children to be bilingual and biliterate citizens, there are relatively few programs in operation, and up until 2006 there were no public TWI programs in Georgia. Prior to 2006, TWI did not exist in Georgia's public schools, yet schools were struggling to meet the needs of the rapidly increasing Spanish-speaking population, and businesses were challenged with finding employees who were equipped with the linguistic and cultural knowledge to work in the international community. Why were there no public TWI programs in operation in Georgia? What were the reasons? Had anyone ever tried it before? What were the obstacles to starting a public TWI program? Indeed, we have yet to gain a clear understanding of the process by which a person develops a TWI program, overcoming barriers and garnering support at the level of the community, district, and state.

This study is an autoethnographic account of the process and challenges of starting a public TWI school in Georgia. It gives an emic perspective of the procedures, struggles, strategies, and emotions involved in creating an educational program that defies the monolingual norms that dominate public education in the United States in general and in Georgia in particular. In this study I used self-reflection and interactive analysis to document the process of starting a public TWI school in Georgia in order to understand the personal and professional challenges involved.


Multi-antenna wireless communication systems exploit channel diversity otherwise not available in Single Input Single Output (SISO) channels. Implementation of wireless Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems is problematic due to the large sized operational wavelengths over the small dimensionality of the mobile devices. An Adaptive Virtual Relaying MIMO (AV-RMIMO) technique shown in this paper that increases the channel capacity between two single-antenna equipped communication nodes. A Decode-and-Forward (DF) relaying scheme is used. AV-RMIMO-DF, benefits from the increased diversity of the Relaying MIMO channels and is applicable to mobile environments with no fundamental changes to the network topology. MMSE estimation via Adaptive MUD is used for node selection and recruitment to transform multiple single-antenna nodes into a single multi-antenna node. It is shown that AV-RMIMO-DF is capable of a theoretical spectral efficiency up to 16.7bits/s/Hz at an SNR of 30dB and BER up to 10-5 at an SNR of about 11.5dB.


Abstract The chemical synthesis and characterization with spectroscopic and electrochemical properties of [bis(4-fluorophenyl)-methoxy]-substituted metallo-phthalocyanines were reported for the first time. The new phthalocyanines have been characterized by elemental analysis, UV-Vis, FT-IR, and mass spectroscopies. The aggregation behavior of the phthalocyanine compounds was investigated in different solvents and concentrations. It is found that the fluoro substituents of peripherally Co and Cu complexes are examined and induce a shift to the redox processes toward the negative potentials and formed more reversible processes. Metal-based reduction and oxidation reactions were obtained for the Co(II) complex, whereas Cu(II) complexes exhibited Pc-ring-based electron-transfer reactions. The voltammetric measurements supported the proposed structure of the complexes.


This article analyses the counter-terrorist operations carried out by Captain (later Major General) Orde Wingate in Palestine in 1938, and considers whether these might inform current operations. Wingate's Special Night Squads were formed from British soldiers and Jewish police specifically to counter terrorist and sabotage attacks. Their approach escalated from interdicting terrorist gangs to pre-emptive attacks on suspected terrorist sanctuaries to reprisal attacks after terrorist atrocities. They continued the British practice of using irregular units in counter-insurgency, which was sustained into the postwar era and contributed to the evolution of British Special Forces. Wingate's methods proved effective in pacifying terrorist-infested areas and could be applied again, but only in the face of 'friction' arising from changes in cultural attitudes since the 1930s, and from the political-strategic context of post-2001 counter-insurgent and counter-terrorist operations. In some cases, however, public opinion might not preclude the use of some of Wingate's techniques.


This chapter of an edited volume on presidential primaries focuses on the relationship of the primaries to the general election. It does not suffice that the rules are sound for each stage of the overall electoral system considered separately. Instead, the relationship of the two stages must also be sound for the overall system to be coherent. The chapter analyzes this relationship by examining the possibility of a "bolt" from a brokered convention, as occurred in 1912 when ex-president Theodore Roosevelt launched his separate Progressive Party ("Bull Moose") candidacy after losing his bid for the GOP nomination. The chapter considers the hypothetical possibility that something similar might occur in the context of the 2020 Democratic Party primary, where deep ideological divisions between two wings of the party have become evident. If Democrats are internally torn between progressives and moderates, what is the relationship between this internal party split and the general presidential election that inevitably must follow? The chapter considers whether the use of Ranked Choice Voting in the general election and eliminating so-called "sore loser" laws, to permit the losing candidate of a divisive primary election to run in the general election as an independent candidate, would provide a more coherent relationship between the two stages of the overall process than what currently exists.


The growth of trees depends on photosynthetic carbon gain by the leaves, which in turn relies on water and nutrient acquisition by the fine roots. Because the availability of carbon, water and nutrients fluctuates, trees can adjust their leaf and fine-root functional traits to maintain their resource uptake and growth rates. Aboveground, the variation in leaf traits is closely related to light availability, light uptake and tree growth. Within species, leaves show general, plastic responses to their light environment, so that trees can still intercept light when its availability changes. Across species, leaf traits are coordinated along a leaf economics spectrum (LES), which reflects species resource strategies. On the one end of this spectrum, acquisitive species have leaves that allow fast resource uptake and therefore fast tree growth. Conversely, species with a conservative strategy acquire resources more slowly, but retain them longer, so they can tolerate low resource availability. Belowground, the relationships between fine-root functional traits, water and nutrient availability and acquisition, and tree growth are expected to be similar to those aboveground, but are still poorly understood. Understanding these relationships is essential as tree growth results from the simultaneous uptake of above- and belowground resources. Therefore, this thesis examines how fine-root traits relate to growth, and focuses on across- and within-species variation in tree root traits. We first tested whether plant resource strategies can explain drought effects on tree growth across 10 common tree species that ranged from acquisitive to conservative species (Chapter 2). Based on tree-ring analyses, we found that the growth rates of all species were significantly lower in years with dry summers. Although the strength of these growth responses differed, these differences were not related to species resource strategies. However, when groundwater levels receded, acquisitive species grew slower but conservative species did not, which suggests root trait differences across these species. Drought effects on tree growth may thus not always be fully explained from an acquisitive or conservative resource strategy. We further evaluated whether a root economics spectrum (RES) parallel to a LES can explain variation in fine-root functional traits across species (Chapter 3). Our literature review shows no consistent evidence for an RES, due to three fundamental differences between fine roots and leaves. First, fine-root traits are not only aimed at increased resource uptake or conservation, but are also constrained by the soil environment. Second, the relationships between traits and function are far less clear for roots than for leaves. Third, the expected relationships between fine-root traits and resource uptake are obscured by mycorrhizal fungi. Revealing the links between fine-root traits, resource acquisition, and growth across species, therefore requires a multidimensional approach that incorporates these different interacting variables. Chapter 4 examines intraspecific variation in fine-root traits and mycorrhizal biomass in Fagus sylvatica L. and Picea abies L. forests on a poor, sandy soil and a resource-rich clay soil in the Netherlands. Both species increased their fine-root mass and fine-root growth rates on the sandy soils compared to the clay soils, but fine-root morphology did not differ between the soil types. In the P. abies stands, ectomycorrhizal biomass was larger on sand than on clay, possibly increasing tree resource uptake. Besides the strong increase in fine-root mass observed for both species, species may thus also differ in their fine-root plasticity strategies to cope with various soil environments. To understand tree growth from below- and aboveground trait integration, we explored the impacts of fine-root mass and morphology on nutrient acquisition and tree fitness using a whole-tree growth model (Chapter 5). More specifically, we tested which combination(s) of fine-root mass and specific root length (SRL) led to optimal fitness, based on the uptake benefits (i.e. increasing the belowground uptake area) and carbon costs (i.e. turnover and respiration) of these traits. Our results show that tree fitness increased with fine-root mass but especially through an increase in SRL. Furthermore, both a combination of high fine-root mass and low SRL, and of low fine-root mass and high SRL, resulted in similar net carbon gain, indicating that alternative strategies that may lead to similar fitness. To conclude, trees rely on various uptake strategies to ensure belowground resource uptake and tree growth in different environments. Specific root length is often expected to be tightly linked to tree growth, but this thesis shows that there is little support for this hypothesised relationship. Consequently, the functional meaning of SRL requires further study. Instead, fine-root mass and mycorrhizal symbiosis may present more important alternatives to enhance water and nutrient uptake, both across and within species. Moreover, to cope with the highly complex soil (resource) environment, species have adopted various other uptake strategies besides fine-root mass, morphology and mycorrhiza. This thesis stresses that a multidimensional root-trait framework is needed to link fine-root traits to tree growth, that can accommodate this variety of fine-root traits and the diversity of the soil environment.


Our laboratory has previously isolated several tumor cell populations from a single, spontaneously arising mammary tumor of a BALB/cfC3H mouse and established them in tissue culture as independent sublines. These subpopulations differ according to many criteria including growth parameters and expression of tumor-associated antigens. We have tested the interaction in vivo of several of these subpopulations by injecting cell suspensions of the same or different sublines into opposite flanks of BALB/cfC3H or BALB/c mice. The growth characteristics of certain subpopulations were altered by the presence of a different subpopulation on the opposite side. In order to understand the mechanism of interaction, we chose two subpopulations (410 and 168) for further study. In BALB/cfC3H mice, the presence of line 410 tumors on one flank inhibited both 410 and 168 tumors on the other flank. Line 168 tumors did not inhibit either 410 or 168 tumors. The inhibitory effect of line 410 appeared to be immunological, since (a) it was increased by injecting line 410 several weeks before line 168, (b) it was abrogated in mice subjected to 400-rad X-irradiation 2 days prior to tumor cell injection, (c) mice could be made resistant to both line 410 and line 168 tumors by implantation followed by surgical removal of line 410 but not of line 168, and (d) resistance could be adaptively transferred with lymph node cells from line 410-sensitized mice in Winn assays. Thus, immunity to tumor-associated antigens may be one way by which cells of a heterogeneous tumor can interact.


Abstract. Canopy structure is one of the most important vegetation characteristics for land–atmosphere interactions, as it determines the energy and scalar exchanges between the land surface and the overlying air mass. In this study we evaluated the performance of a newly developed multi-layer energy budget in the ORCHIDEE-CAN v1.0 land surface model (Organising Carbon and Hydrology In Dynamic Ecosystems – CANopy), which simulates canopy structure and can be coupled to an atmospheric model using an implicit coupling procedure. We aim to provide a set of acceptable parameter values for a range of forest types. Top-canopy and sub-canopy flux observations from eight sites were collected in order to conduct this evaluation. The sites crossed climate zones from temperate to boreal and the vegetation types included deciduous, evergreen broad-leaved and evergreen needle-leaved forest with a maximum leaf area index (LAI; all-sided) ranging from 3.5 to 7.0. The parametrization approach proposed in this study was based on three selected physical processes – namely the diffusion, advection, and turbulent mixing within the canopy. Short-term sub-canopy observations and long-term surface fluxes were used to calibrate the parameters in the sub-canopy radiation, turbulence, and resistance modules with an automatic tuning process. The multi-layer model was found to capture the dynamics of sub-canopy turbulence, temperature, and energy fluxes. The performance of the new multi-layer model was further compared against the existing single-layer model. Although the multi-layer model simulation results showed few or no improvements to both the nighttime energy balance and energy partitioning during winter compared with a single-layer model simulation, the increased model complexity does provide a more detailed description of the canopy micrometeorology of various forest types. The multi-layer model links to potential future environmental and ecological studies such as the assessment of in-canopy species vulnerability to climate change, the climate effects of disturbance intensities and frequencies, and the consequences of biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emissions from the terrestrial ecosystem.


This paper explores theoretical and empirical ambiguities in the literature concerning the impact of foreign subsidiary autonomy on intra-MNE knowledge transfer. We argue that understanding the interdependences between subsidiary autonomy and the use of different communication systems - e.g. person-based and electronic-based communication systems - is crucial to putting forward new insights in the debate. Based on the recent literature on strategic management, we hypothesize that the two communication systems call for different degrees of subsidiary autonomy and vice versa. Using a data set consisting of 307 dyads between foreign subsidiaries and their parent companies, we find that two distinctive configurations positively affect the extent of knowledge transfer from foreign subsidiaries to their parent companies. The first is the combination of a high degree of subsidiary autonomy and the use of person-based mechanisms, and the second is the combination of low subsidiary autonomy and the use of electronic-based mechanisms.


Abstract. The snow cover plays an important role in Himalayan region as it contributes a useful amount to the river discharge. So, besides estimating rainfall runoff, proper assessment of snowmelt runoff for efficient management and water resources planning is also required. A Land Surface Model, VIC (Variable Infiltration Capacity) is used at a high resolution grid size of 1 km. Beas river basin up to Thalot in North West Himalayas (NWH) have been selected as the study area. At first model setup is done and VIC has been run in its energy balance mode. The fluxes obtained from VIC has been routed to simulate the discharge for the time period of (2003-2006). Data Assimilation is done for the year 2006 and the techniques of Data Assimilation considered in this study are Direct Insertion (D.I) and Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) that uses observations of snow covered area (SCA) to update hydrologic model states. The meteorological forcings were taken from 0.5 deg. resolution VIC global forcing data from 1979-2006 with daily maximum temperature, minimum temperature from Climate Research unit (CRU), rainfall from daily variability of NCEP and wind speed from NCEP-NCAR analysis as main inputs and Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) data of 0.25 °. NBSSLUP soil map and land use land cover map of ISRO-GBP project for year 2014 were used for generating the soil parameters and vegetation parameters respectively. The threshold temperature i.e. the minimum rain temperature is -0.5°C and maximum snow temperature is about +0.5°C at which VIC can generate snow fluxes. Hydrological simulations were done using both NCEP and IMD based meteorological Forcing datasets, but very few snow fluxes were obtained using IMD data met forcing, whereas NCEP based met forcing has given significantly better snow fluxes throughout the simulation years as the temperature resolution as given by IMD data is 0.5°C and rainfall resolution of 0.25°C. The simulated discharge has been validated using observed data from BBMB (Bhakra Beas Management Board) and coefficient of Correlation(R2) measured for (2003-2006) was 0.67 and 0.61 for the year 2006.But as VIC does not consider snowmelt runoff as a part of the total discharge, snowmelt runoff has been estimated for the simulation both with and without D.A. The snow fluxes as generated from VIC gives basin average estimates of Snow Cover, SWE, Snow Depth and Snow melt. It has been observed to be overestimated when model predicted snow cover is compared with MODIS SCA of 500 m resolution from MOD10A2 for each year. So MODIS 8-day snow cover area has been assimilated directly into the model state as well as by using EnKF after every 8 days for the year 2006.D.I Technique performed well as compared to EnKF. R2 between Model SCA and MODIS SCA is estimated as 0.73 after D.I with Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of +0.19. After direct Insertion of D.A, SCA has been reduced comparatively which resulted in 7% reduction of annual snowmelt contribution to total discharge.The assimilation of MODIS SCA data hence improved the snow cover area (SCA) fraction and finally updated other snow components.