The use of a time domain simulation technique for modelling ship motions allows for the evaluation of responses to arbitraryand/or transient excitation. Such a method also accounts for fluid memory effects, exemplified by the generation of motioninduced surface waves, introducing a dependence of the forces and moments on the past motion/excitation. The method usedin this paper uses convolution integrals to describe both the radiation and diffraction contributions. The evaluation of thenon-linear incident wave ((Froude-Krylov)) excitation is carried out at each step of the simulation by integrating thecorresponding pressure over the instantaneous wetted surface. The corresponding, instantaneous hydrostatic restoring forcesand moments are also accounted for by considering weight contributions at the instantaneous attitude of the hull.The effects of forward speed on a fast hull form ((NPL5b)) travelling at Froude number 0.5 in regular head waves areinvestigated. Both monohull and catamaran configurations are examined, the latter with two hull separations, allowing forinteraction effects to be studied. Hydrodynamic data is calculated using frequency domain singularity distribution methods.Two frequency domain methods are used, one employing a pulsating source distribution with forward speed correction, theother using a translating, pulsating source distribution. The data from the frequency domain methods, referenced to a bodyfixed axis system, is transformed into impulse response functions using Fourier transformations. The impulse responsefunctions are used as part of a convolution integral formulation to perform time domain simulations of motions in headwaves. Initially calculations are carried out in regular waves commensurate with the concept of linearity. Subsequently theeffects of non-linearities are investigated by increasing the wave amplitude.


In Reply.— Dr Bracha's finding of left-ward turning preferences in schizophrenic patients does support our own demonstration of right-sided visual neglect in these patients. The fact that results in both studies were also found in neuroleptic-naive patients and that no patients in either study had an opposite asymmetry adds strong support to the hypothesis of lateralized abnormalities in schizophrenia. We differ in the interpretation of the result. Dr Bracha argues that rightsided dopaminergic hyperactivity 1 is responsible and we have suggested elsewhere 2-4 that a left-sided dopminergic deficiency (or a similar lesion) is responsible. A dopaminergic-deficiency hypothesis of schizophrenia has been discussed by other authors 5-7 and is not incompatible with available data. We base our conclusion on the following: (1) We have also observed hyperactivity of the left globus pallidus in neuroleptic-naive schizophrenic patients, 8 a finding seen following the appearance of selective unilateral dopaminergic lesions. 9 This


Background: Health financial reforms began in 2005 through four phases in order to achieve the maximum efficiency and effectiveness in this sector. The first phase was accrual accounting implementation instead of cash method.
Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the most important improvement spaces of the first phase of reform in financial management (accrual accounting) in the viewpoints of financial experts employed in middle and operational levels of Universities of Medical Sciences.
Methods: This qualitative study was conducted in Universities of Medical Sciences in 2013 using
non-probability sampling method (snowball). Saturation was achieved only after 25 semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed using content analysis by Kruger model.
Findings: Seven areas of improvement including staffs, managers, information system, organizational culture, structure, process, and financial were identified as main themes. Each theme contained several sub-themes.
Conclusion: Attempts and planning should be considered by decision makers in order to improve modifiable determinants through practical mechanisms in the first phase of health system financial management.
Keywords: Financial Management, Health Care Reform, Accounting, Qualitative Research


Supplemental digital content is available in the text. BACKGROUND Administering antithrombotics (AT) to the multiply injured patient with blunt cerebrovascular injury (BCVI) requires a thoughtful assessment of the risk of stroke and death associated with nontreatment. Large, multicenter analysis of outcomes stratified by injury grade and vessel injured is needed to inform future recommendations. METHODS Nine hundred and seventy-one BCVIs were identified from the PROspective Vascular Injury Treatment registry in this retrospective analysis. Using multivariate analysis, we identified predictors of BCVI-related stroke and death. We then stratified these risks by injury grade and vessel injured. We compared the risk of adverse outcomes in the nontreatment group with those treated with antiplatelet agents and/or anticoagulants. RESULTS Stroke was identified in 7% of cases. Overall mortality was 12%. Both increased with increasing BCVI grade. Treatment with ATs was associated with lower mortality and was not significantly affected by the choice of agent. Withholding ATs was associated with an increased risk of stroke and/or death across all subgroups (Grade I/II: odds ratio [OR], 4.66; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.48–8.75; Grade III: OR, 7.0; 95% CI, 2.01–24.5; Grade IV: OR, 4.43; 95% CI, 1.76–11.1) even after controlling for covariates. Predictors of death included more severe trauma, Grade IV injury, and the occurrence of stroke. Arterial occlusion, hypotension, and endovascular intervention were significant predictors of stroke. Patients that experienced a BCVI-related stroke were at a 4.2× increased risk of death. The data set lacked the granularity necessary to evaluate AT timing or dosing regimen, which limited further analysis of stroke prevention strategies. CONCLUSION Stroke and death remain significant risks for all BCVI grades regardless of the vessel injured. Antithrombotics represent the only management strategy that is consistently associated with a lower incidence of stroke and death in all BCVI categories. In the multi-injured BCVI patient with a high risk of bleeding on anticoagulation, antiplatelet agents are an efficacious alternative. Given the 40% mortality rate in patients who survived their initial trauma and developed a BCVI-related stroke, nontreatment may no longer be a viable option. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Epidemiological III; Therapeutic IV.


Sister Mary Joseph's nodule (SMJN) refers to umbilical metastatic lesions and indicates widespread intra-abdominal malignancy. The most common primary sites are gastrointestinal and genital tract. Benign umbilical nodules are called pseudo-SMJN (PSMJN) and have been also reported in nonmalignant lesions such as endometriosis, fibroma, papillomas, myxoma, keloid, omphalith, nevi, foreign-body granulomas, and epidermoid cysts. We report a case with PSMJN as an extremely rare manifestation of intra-abdominal tuberculosis.


In recent years, social media has become a common technology-supported learning tool for public and academic use. Students can use social networks to supplement their learning through the discussion and sharing of academic materials. The purpose of this study was to identify the English as a Second Language (ESL) students' experience in the classroom facilitated by using a social media platform. Specifically, a quasiexperimental quantitative research design was used to determine the impact of social media on ESL students' learning performance. Participants consisted of ESL students' at an adult school in Central California aged 18 and older (n = 37). In order to assess the learning performance of ESL students, a Student Perception Toward Social Media in Education survey (SPSME) was used to measure students' feelings about the impact of using social media on academic performance. Independent and paired samples t-tests were conducted to determine if there were statistically significant differences between the means of both groups on the SPSME. Data analysis revealed a statistically significant difference between the mean scores on the post-tests between the two groups (i.e., treatment and control). Meaning that the students in the treatment group demonstrated greater perception of engagement and improved upon their learning performance more than the students who did not receive the social media intervention.


In this paper, the effect of the crack on dynamic behavior of cracked micro-beam in the presence of DC and AC loads are investigated. By applying the residual axial stress and fringing field stress, a nonlinear analytical model of cracked micro-beam is presented and crack is modeled by a massless rotational spring. The governing equation of the system is solved using Galerkin procedure and shooting method. The equilibria curve and dynamic response of cracked cantilever and clamped-clamped micro-beam are extracted below and at the onset of the dynamic pull-in instability. The results show that the behavior of cracked micro-beam is different from ordinary cracked beam due to nonlinear effects. For a fixed relative crack location, increasing the crack depth causes increasing in the resonance amplitude and reduction in the resonance frequency below dynamic pull-in instability. Also, in cracked cantilever micro-beams, by approaching the crack to fixed end, the resonance frequency reduces and the resonance amplitude increases. In cracked clamped-clamped micro-beam, trend of variations of resonance frequency and resonance amplitude against the crack location is not regular. At the onset pull-in instability, the presence of the crack causes cyclic-fold bifurcation points to appear at the lower frequency. Therefore, it causes early pull-in phenomenon or unwanted abrupt change at the micro-beam behavior. The achievement of this study is simulation of the response of the faulty low-voltage switch and MEMS resonators for different severity of crack at the onset of dynamic pull-in phenomenon.


In data integration systems a user request issued at a central site is decomposed into a number of sub-requests, which later on are processed at the remote sites. The results are sent back to a central site for data integration and the results of integration are returned to a user. Data integration systems often failed to show its best performance due to unpredictable data arrival rate. Traditionally, data integration requires the complete results from the remote sites to be available at a central site before final computations begin. An online integration system starts and continues the computations at the central site shortly after every piece of data is received from the remote sites. Execution of online integration plan in static scheduling strategy causes poor performance of data integration system as unnecessary computations are executed in some circumstances. This paper proposes a dynamic scheduling for online integration plans, which employs data increment monitoring system which is able to dynamically change the data integration plans whenever it is necessary.


Recent research on instabilites in the four-wave mixing process is summarized. The four-wave mixing process can cause a laser beam to become unstable to the growth of new frequency components as the beam propagates through a nonlinear medium. Similar instabilities can occur in more complicated optical systems such as lasers and bistable optical devices. The nature of the instability is very different for nonlinearities resulting from one- and two-photon resonances in the susceptibility describing four-wave mixing. The four wave mixing process can lead to chaotic behavior in a self-pumped phase conjugate mirror.


Introduction: Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is the most common form of anemia. Women who are pregnant or lactating and young children are the most affected. Iron protein acetyl aspartilate is a ferroprotein complex that is more efficient versus iron protein succinylate in relatively short periods of time, for example 30 days. Objective: The aim of this clinical study was to investigate the efficacy of acetyl aspartate iron protein supplement in the treatment of anemia in pregnant women after the first trimester. This is the first real-time clinical study testing the usage of an iron protein supplement in a specific population, as there are not sufficient data for such studies in the literature. Study Design: 28 pregnant women with hemoglobin < 10.5 gr/dL and after completing the 12 week of pregnancy, initiated acetyl aspartate protein iron at a daily dose yielding 80g of elemental iron in two uptakes. Similarly, 35 women were studied who received different iron supplements at the same daily dose. After 30 days, hemoglobin values were measured. Inclusion criteria included: age > 18, gestational week > 12, Hb < 10.5 g/dL, Ht < 32%. Exclusion criteria included: age <18, pregnancy < 12 weeks, many pregnancies, history: allergy to iron preparations, ulcer, cirrhosis, hemodialysis, hemochromatosis, aplastic anemia, chronic disease anemia, pancreatitis, renal disease. Results: Treatment with acetyl aspartylated iron lead to higher levels of hemoglobin after four weeks of treatment. Following successive measurements of hemoglobin levels in the 28 women of the study group, Hb levels increased from an initial mean Hb value of 10.04 gr/dL to 10.69 gr/dL. In the control group of 35 pregnant women, an increase in the mean hemoglobin from Hb was observed from 9.99 gr/dL to 10.46 gr/dL. The difference was statistically significant with p < 0.0001. Conclusions: The use of acetyl aspartate iron protein is a very promising option, as there has been an increase in hemoglobin levels to 0.5 gr/dL.


Background: Endurance exercise improves lipid and lipoproteins levels, while low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels are risk factors for cardiovascular disease. There is a lack of evidence for the exercise characteristics in increasing lipids level, irrespective of the fact that endurance exercise increases lipids and lipoproteins level. The aim of this study was to clarify the effect and characteristics of endurance exercise in increasing HDL-C in randomized controlled trials. Methods: A search was performed for published studies between 1999 and 2014. Studies that assessed endurance exercise for ≥8 weeks and also reported the HDL-C levels pre- and post-training were included. The random effects model was used to measure the association between exercise and net change of HDL-C. Univariate regression analyses investigated the correlation of exercise characteristics. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses were performed to explore the sources of heterogeneity and the effect of potential confounders. The influence of pre-exercise lipid profile was assessed by meta-regression. Data were analyzed using Stata SE (12.0). Results: Fourteen studies with a total of 777 subjects were included. The mean HDL-C was reported to be increased and was statistically significant (weighted mean difference: 4.41 mg/dL; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.16–6.66 mg/dL, P < 0.001; I2 = 87.4%, P < 0.001). Univariate analysis indicated that exercise length was significantly associated with a net change of HDL-C (r = 0.56, P = 0.01). Nevertheless, there was no significant association between exercise frequency, duration, and total minutes. By subgroup analysis, exercise increased HDL-C level in Asia, Europe, and Africa and among all body mass index groups (P < 0.05). None of the studies omitted, in turn, seemed to substantially influence the effect of exercise on HDL-C by sensitivity analysis. Meta-regression showed that pre-exercise total cholesterol (TC) negatively correlated with net change of HDL-C (95% CI: 0.127, −0.018, r = −0073, P = 0.012). However, pre-exercise triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and HDL-C did not correlate with a net change of HDL-C. Conclusions: Regular endurance exercise increases HDL-C level in any weight population. Exercise length of more than 8 weeks was the most important element of an exercise prescription. Among all lipid profiles, only the initial lower TC level responded better to exercise training and was more effective in increasing HDL-C level.


The present study investigated Corona Virus(covid-19) in the United States on January 2020 the collected cases of a total on May 6,2020 is 1,193,813 new cases 22,303, total deaths 70,802 with new deaths of 2,523(CDC,2020). The Coronavirus Covid-19( SARS-CoV-2) is a positive sense, single-strand enveloped RNA virus that belongs to the family Coronaviridae. Seen under the microscope appears as a crown-like due to small bulbar projections formed by the viral spike (S) peplomers. Risk groups, Older age more than 65 years plus, males are more affected especially with critical illness COVID-19. Younger adults are also being hospitalized in the U.S from ages 20-44. New cases of Coronavirus in Children, syndrome can bear some resemblance to a rare childhood illness called Kawasaki disease, but as doctors learn more, they are emphasizing that the two conditions are not the same(Belluck,2020). In the US, Obesity appears to be emerging as a risk factor, BMI ≥ 30, in nearly half of hospitalized patients. Blacks appear to be hospitalized at a greater than expected frequency than expected on a population basis(Auwaerter,2020). If the SARS-Cov-2 will follow the traditional respiratory season with a decrease in the late spring and summer. Testing for the coronavirus, the first and most urgent focus is on increasing access to tests to diagnose people with current infections. But now other tests are appearing as well. Antibody tests, which can identify people with signs of past infection, are starting to be available. And a third type of test is on the way. The World Health Organization is closely monitoring the field of candidate Covid-19 vaccines, lists more than 100 projects, though many are being designed in academic laboratories without commercial production capacity. Of the total, eight are already being tested in people, four of them in China. Among the others is an RNA vaccine project being developed by Pfizer and partner BioNTech, which began testing four possible vaccines in a compressed Phase 1/2 trial in the U.S. on May 5,2020. The companies estimate they will be able to produce millions of doses this year, in facilities in the United States and Europe; by 2021, production could reach hundreds of millions of doses(Harris,2020). The focus of this Abstract and paper will be the vaccine for this virus and the new cases that are appearing in children.


After its formal accession to the European Union (EU) on January 1, 2007, Bulgaria gained access to a significant amount of financial resources under the Structural and Cohesion Funds and the instruments in the field of agriculture and fisheries. The country was able to use these funds to overcome its significant backlog in terms of overall economic development, infrastructure and living standards. EU assistance has become particularly important in times of economic crisis, reflecting heavily constrained public and private investment, where EU funds have been a major source of investment in the economy, as well as job creation and conservation. The main objective of this report is to assess the effects of the funding received from the European Structural and Investment Funds at the macro level and by region in the country.


The Internet, initially established by scholars and scientists to freely share information, is being transformed into a source of profit for entrepreneurs and corporations. Commodification, the process of developing things and concepts and even people into saleable products, calls for a representation of the foundational mythology on the Web and its manifestation as symbolic language. This study posits a textual analysis of Wired for the purpose of measuring this transformation on a mythic continuum (connectivity-location-being).


'Let us Live as Hindus': Narrating Hindu Identity Through Temple Building Processes in Amsterdam Zuidoost (1988-2015) asks how Hindu identity has been narrated through turbulent processes of temple building in Amsterdam Zuidoost. It focuses on a critical event in 2010, when a community of Hindus was ordered to evacuate a temporary space that the local district government had provided them. The author argues that struggles to establish a purpose built temple in the neighbourhood are articulated as forms of 'Hindu hurt' that are strategically narrated through the experiences of being ex-colonised indentured workers. However, the ways in which Hindu hurt are articulated shift dramatically after 2010, revealing the ways in which the trauma of losing their temporary space has constructed a moral economy in which transparency, democracy and Hindu solidarity become central tenets of ideal Hindu practice. This dissertation analyses a body of correspondence from 1988-1996 and uses extensive ethnographic interviews with various Hindu and non-Hindu actors in Amsterdam Zuidoost. It also attempts to link current discussions of citizenship in the Netherlands to scholarship on Hindu hurt in the diaspora.


The paper is devoted to vibration monitoring of rotating tools in modern milling machines. Dynamic analysis of slender ball-end milling process was performed and dynamics of the controlled structure was described. Instantaneous change in the spindle speed is applied in order to reduce vibration level. The method of vibration monitoring by means of spindle speed optimal-linear control was developed and implemented with success. Vibration monitoring during high speed milling was performed on the basis of results of computer simulation. These results were verified during experimental investigation on the Alcera Gambin 120CR milling machine.


Buckwheat contains an abundance of antioxidants such as polyphenols and is considered a functional food. Among polyphenols, flavonoids have multiple functions in various aspects of plant growth and in flower and leaf colors. Flavonoids have antioxidant properties, and are thought to prevent cancer and cardiovascular disease. Here, we summarize the flavonoids present in various organs and their synthesis in buckwheat. We discuss the use of this information to breed highly functional and high value cultivars.


Author(s): Lattis, James; Osborn, Wayne; Bartlett, Jennifer Lynn; Griffin, Elizabeth; Hockey, Thomas; McCluskey, Stephen; Oswalt, Terry; Pevtsov, Alexei A; Schechner, Sara; Trimble, Virginia | Abstract: We argue that it is essential that the Astro2020 survey of the present state of American astronomy and the recommendations for the next decade address the issue of ensuring preservation of, and making more discoverable and accessible, the field's rich legacy materials. These include both archived observations of scientific value and items of historical importance. Much of this heritage likely will be lost if action is not taken in the next decade. It is proposed that the decadal plan include recommendations on (1) compiling a list of historic sites and development of models for their preservation, (2) carrying out a comprehensive inventory of astronomy's archival material, and (3) digitizing, with web-based publication, those photographs and papers judged to have the most value for scientific and historical investigations. The estimated cost for an example project on plate preservation is a one-time investment of less than $10 million over ten years plus the typical on-going costs to maintain and manage a medium sized database.


Full-duplex (FD) communication is promoted to double the spectral efficiency when compared with the half-duplex counterpart. In the context of cellular networks, however, FD communication exacerbates the aggregate uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) interference, which diminishes the foreseen FD gains. This paper considers a flexible duplex system, denoted by  $\alpha $ -duplex system, wherein a fine-grained bandwidth control for each UL/DL channel pair in each base station (BS) is allowed, which also leads to partial spectrum overlap between the UL and DL channels. This paper addresses the resulting interference management problem by maximizing a network-wide rate-based utility function subject to UL/DL power constraints, so as to determine user-to-BS association, user-to-channel scheduling, the UL and DL transmit powers, and the fraction of spectrum overlap between UL and DL for every user, under the assumption that the number of available channels and users is equal. This paper solves such a non-convex mixed-integer optimization problem in an iterative way by decoupling the problem into several sub-problems. Particularly, the user-to-BS association problem is solved using a matching algorithm that is a generalization of the stable marriage problem. The scheduling problem is solved by an iterative Hungarian algorithm. The power and spectrum overlap problem is solved by successive convex approximation. The proposed iterative strategy guarantees an efficient one-to-one user to BS and channel assignment. It further provides optimized flexible duplexing and power allocation schemes for all transceivers. Simulations results show appreciable gains when comparing the proposed solution with different schemes from the literature.


Iron lends power to traces of palladium Palladium (Pd) is a mainstay of chemical catalysis. The precious metal has a knack for forging carbon-carbon (C-C) bonds. Handa et al. now report that when mixed in a specific preparation with iron, just parts per million of Pd suffice to catalyze the C-C bond–forming Suzuki coupling reaction. The addition of surfactants allowed the reaction to proceed in water. The protocol bodes well for conserving Pd in pharmaceutical and agrochemical synthesis. Science, this issue p. 1087 An iron preparation substantially lowers the quantity of palladium needed to catalyze a common reaction that forms C-C bonds. Most of today's use of transition metal–catalyzed cross-coupling chemistry relies on expensive quantities of palladium (Pd). Here we report that nanoparticles formed from inexpensive FeCl3 that naturally contains parts-per-million (ppm) levels of Pd can catalyze Suzuki-Miyaura reactions, including cases that involve highly challenging reaction partners. Nanomicelles are employed to both solubilize and deliver the reaction partners to the Fe–ppm Pd catalyst, resulting in carbon-carbon bond formation. The newly formed catalyst can be isolated and stored at ambient temperatures. Aqueous reaction mixtures containing both the surfactant and the catalyst can be recycled.


Abstract The uprisings in some Arab states during the past several years developed into armed conflicts. Therefore, the incidence of violent crimes has become more common with no reliable data on their patterns. The present study aimed to estimate the magnitude of that problem by studying the frequency and pattern of firearm deaths in Tripoli, Libya. A retrospective descriptive study of autopsy cases of firearm deaths was conducted. The data was retrieved from medico-legal reports of cases that were referred to the Forensic Medicine Department of the Judicial Expertise and Research Center, Ministry of justice, Tripoli, Libya during two years from the 1st of January 2014 to the end of December 2015. Structured data sheets were produced. Out of 4,342 unnatural deaths that were autopsied, 774 cases (17.82 %) were due to firearms. Males were commonly targeted. The mean age of victims was 31.7 ± 11 years with significant predominance in the middle age group. Incidence of firearm deaths in non-Libyans increased in 2015 to 8.5%. Homicidal cases represented 92.12% of cases. There was a significant relationship between manner of firing and sex (p ≤ 0.001). In 95.9% of cases, the firing was from a far range. Rifled weapons were used in 98.32% of cases. Head and neck were targeted in 30.8% of cases. There is a high incidence of illegal firearm use and firearm related deaths in Libya. Societal and international efforts are needed to decrease the illicit use and trafficking of such weapons.


An important idea in knowledge representation is that of libraries of reusable knowledge components. The goal of this research is to apply this idea to action description languages. An action language may be used to specify the effects and preconditions of actions, and serves to describe "transition systems"—directed graphs with the vertices representing the states of an action domain and the edges representing the transitions that are caused by performing actions (or by the passage of time). Many actions can be described as special cases of other actions. (For example, pushing, carrying, going can all be described as special cases of moving things around.) However, descriptions of action domains in existing action languages describe the effects of all actions from scratch, which leads to common aspects of different domains getting reinvented over and over.
In this dissertation we first developed a method for defining actions in terms of other actions, in the action language C +, a language with a rich set of features for describing action domains. This provided a theoretical basis for developing a library of general-purpose action descriptions and influenced the design of the Modular Action Description (MAD) language [Lifschitz and Ren, 2006], the semantics of which is based on C +.
We extended the original MAD language in several ways, both in the syntactic dimension and in the semantic dimension, and developed an implementation of this extended language. The extended semantics not only provides new features but also addresses some shortcomings of the original semantics, which were identified during the course of our research. The implemented system was used to develop a library of basic MAD modules, each describing a group of general commonsense facts related to actions.
Several action domains from the knowledge representation literature were formalized using the library of basic action descriptions. The availability of the library led to the representations being much simpler than before and also enabled us to recognize structural similarities of seemingly quite different domains.


Terrain-based underwater navigation using sonar bathymetric profiles is presented. It deals with matching high resolution local depth maps against a large, onboard, low resolution reference map. The matching algorithm locates the local depth map within the a priori larger map to determine absolute position and heading of the vehicle. It uses cliff maps which are steep gradient contours extracted from both local and reference maps. This segmentation provides us with a means to extract critical points, which are defined as high curvature values. The problem is reduced to a singular point-based matching algorithm: given two point sets, find correspondences and estimate transformation between the two sets. In order to register maps at different scales, a part of this study will focus on partial differential equations based scale-space techniques. This approach is tested using real terrain data of the Var underwater canyon (France).


4-Vinylphenylboronic esters 1 and 2 of L-1,2-propandiol (3a) resp. D-mannitol (4a) were polymerized under different conditions to macroporous, crosslinked copolymers. Afterwards the alcohols 3a resp. 4a were split off. The alcohols have thus been used to form chiral microcavities within the polymer, of which those prepared from 1 contain 1 and those from 2 contain 3 binding groups B(OH)2. Binding sites with 2 binding groups have been investigated before. These polymers possessed capacity for the resolution of the racemate of the template used. The kinetics of the mass transfer within polymers with three binding groups per cavity is discussed in more detail. The chromatographic investigation of the binding ability at different pH-values of polymers from 2 for D-mannitol showed even in acidic media a pronounced binding through neutral esters 5, whereas in alcaline media a much stronger binding through basic esters 6 occurred.


GENERALLY it is conceded that a greater operative risk attends the patient with coronary disease than is faced by the person with a normal heart. The mortality rate in surgical patients with myocardial infarction has been variously reported 1 from 5.2 to 44.5%. The unrelenting progress of medical science reflected in the increased life span necessarily brings to the surgeon a greater number of elderly patients with degenerative cardiac changes. Among these patients are those with evidence of severe angina pectoris or myocardial infarction harboring coexistent disease requiring urgent surgery. Usually these patients have some painful or malignant process in which delays in surgical therapeusis are costly, inviting reduced survival rates or even denying significant prolongation of a pain-free existence. In essence, the earliest auspicious application of a definitive operation designed to obviate these undesirable elements is implied by the term "urgent surgery." In most instances the operation is of


To the anthropology of music the legacy of the Pohorje singer and poet Jurij Vodovnik continues to live on in our days. People still sing his songs, and this certainly means that they carry universal messages. Vodovnik's activities can be compared with similar historical and local phenomena like the joculators or Griots. Furthermore, the creativity of a gifted individual from the early 19th century may be compared to contemporary popular music developments from blues to chansons. The A. underpins these comparisons with reflections about the common characteristics of folk music and popular music.


An approach to recover/discover traceability links between software artifacts via the examination of a software system's version history is presented. A heuristic-based approach that uses sequential-pattern mining is applied to the commits in software repositories for uncovering highly frequent co-changing sets of artifacts (e.g., source code and documentation). If different types of files are committed together with high frequency then there is a high probability that they have a traceability link between them. The approach is evaluated on a number of versions of the open source system KDE. As a validation step, the discovered links are used to predict similar changes in the newer versions of the same system. The results show highly precision predictions of certain types of traceability links.


This paper is part of a wider research programme using a dynamic-programming approach to modelling the choices about the amount of risk to take by batting and bowling teams in One Day International cricket. An important confounding variable in this analysis is the ground conditions (size of ground, nature of pitch and weather conditions) that affect how many runs can be scored for a given amount of risk. This variable does not exist in our historical data set and would regardless be very difficult to accurately observe on the day of a match. In this paper, we consider a way of estimating a distribution for the ground conditions using only the information contained in the first-innings score and the result of the match. The approach uses this information to estimate the importance of ground conditions in the determination of first innings total scores. We assume a functional form for a model of first innings scores and we estimate the parameters of our model using Monte Carlo methods. We test the impact of a significant rule change and we apply our findings to selected matches before and after the new rules came into play.


Koalas (Phascolarctidae) are uncommon elements within the Australian fossil record. The earliest representatives are recorded from late Oligocene rainforest assemblages of central Australia. In contrast, the extant Koala Phascolarctos cinereus Blainville, 1816 (the only surviving member of a once diverse family) is found only in eastern Australian open woodlands. Extinction of koalas from rainforests was previously thought to have occurred after the middle Miocene. Recent systematic cave excavations at Mt. Etna, central eastern Queensland, Australia, have revealed several remarkable new middle Pleistocene vertebrate assemblages that are dominated by rainforest-adapted taxa. Within one of the deposits, we have identified a new, but archaic, genus and species of koala. Invictokoala monticola gen. et sp. nov. shares affinities with the most plesiomorphic member of the family, Madakoala Woodburne et al., 1987 (late Oligocene), but is distinguished by possessing higher-crowned upper molars, with a tricsupate (rather than linear) paraconule on M2 (autapomorphic condition within koalas), closely positioned stylar cusps, and better-developed posterior cingulae. Thus, not only does I. monticola represent a 'holdover' from an Oligocene ancestor, but the Madakoala–Invictokoala stem represents a 'ghost' lineage within the Phascolarctidae, with no representatives known between the late Oligocene and middle Pleistocene. Previously, it was thought that the post-middle Miocene loss of koalas from rainforests may have been a result of a co-evolved dependence of koalas to open eucalypt woodlands, and/or competitive exclusion with koala-like rainforest-adapted ringtail possums. However, the inferred diet of middle Pleistocene I. monticola (i.e. non-Eucalyptus) and coeval occurrence with numerous rainforest-adapted ringtail possums does not support that hypothesis. It appears more likely that koalas had always been closely associated with rainforests, at least until the late Quaternary extinction of I. monticola. Generally, the paucity of rainforest faunal assemblages, and specifically, records of fossil koalas through the late Cenozoic drastically limits our understanding of their evolution.


We report our results of talocalcaneal coalition (TCC) resection in 25 feet after failed nonoperative treatment. Preoperative computed tomography (CT) scans were used to quantify the amount of heel valgus and the size of the coalition relative to the posterior facet. The ratio of mean TCC cross-sectional area to the surface area of the posterior facet was 53.4%. Mean hindfoot valgus was 17.8 degrees. The mean AOFAS (American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society) hindfoot score was 81.9, at an average of 2.5 years after surgery. Statistical analysis determined a significant association between TCC > 50% the size of the posterior facet and poor outcome (p = 0.014). Similarly, heel valgus > 21 degrees was associated with poor outcome (p = 0.014). However, there were good postoperative results in feet with heel valgus > 21 degrees and in those whose TCC was > 50% of the posterior facet. Therefore we advocate using these CT-scan criteria for preoperative discussions with patients and families and not for determination of the index operative procedure (resection vs. arthrodesis). Hindfoot arthrodesis should only be used as a salvage procedure. We recommend those feet with heel valgus > 21 degrees use an orthosis postoperatively to stabilize the hindfoot or a secondary calcaneal procedure should nonoperative management fail.


This paper considers groups of musical "contextual" transformations, the most famous of which is a group of bijections between minor and major triads described by the music theorist Hugo Riemann (1880). Mathematically, contextual transformations act on chords or melodies and commute with transposition (shifting by the same number of pitches in the same direction). This is important because most people naturally identify two melodies or chord progressions as "the same" if one is a transposition of the other. Music theorists have studied contextual transposition and inversion groups extensively; in particular, Lewin (1987), Kochavi (1998), and Fiore and Satyendra (2005) used discrete group theory, while Clough (1998) and Gollin (1998) considered symmetries of discrete geometric spaces. The action of contextual transpositions and inversions on the continuous geometric "voice-leading spaces" of Callender, Quinn, and Tymoczko (2008) reveals subtleties that do not arise in the traditional discrete approach. I propose two ways of understanding contextual transpositions and inversions, one employing a "bundle" construction and the other representing contextual transformations as a family of linear transformations. The first involves topological group theory, the second dynamics. I discuss the advantages and drawbacks of each method.


Contemporary methods for dispersion of carbon nanotubes in water and non-aqueous media are discussed. Main attention is paid to ultrasonic, plasma techniques and other physical techniques, as well as to the use of surfactants, functionalizing and debundling agents of distinct nature (elemental substances, metal and organic salts, mineral and organic acids, oxides, inorganic and organic peroxides, organic sulfonates, polymers, dyes, natural products, biomolecules, and coordination compounds).


Late-Caledonian megascopic folds deforming the Old Red Sandstone sequences of southern Norway are mostly synclines of E-W to NE-SW trend and E to NE plunge. Thrusts along the eastern and southern margins of several ORS areas, and stretching lineations, denote approximate southeastward translations of the sequences from their basinal sites. This contractile movement occurred principally along rejuve nated, syn-depositional, planar or listric-style extension faults. Development of the basins took place during the imposition of a fundamental NW-SE to NNW-SSE crustal extension following the major Scandian, Silurian orogenic phase. This was also influenced by an orogen-parallel sinistral mega-shear from Svalbard through northern Britain to the Appalachians which assisted in producing a transtensional regime in southern Norway. Thus, during ORS basin development and sedimentation a subordinate dextral strike-slip component has acted in combination with the basic extensile field. During late Devonian, probably Frasnian time, this transtensional regime was replaced by a SE-directed compres sion, and partly transpression, so producing the macrofolds, late ductile thrusts and other structures which are traceable far outside the confines of the ORS districts.


All book chapters are Open Access distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license, which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles even for commercial purposes, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of the publication. Upon publication of the eBook, authors have the right to republish it, in whole or part, in any publication of which they are the author, and to make other personal use of the work, identifying the original source.


Clinically it is impossible to make difference between the vulvar melanosis the harmless brown spotty change of the vulva and melanoma malignum, that is one of the most dangerous malignancies. Even the dermatoscopical examination was not efficient to exclude the melanoma surely. A small, representative biopsy was enough for the diagnosis, which has exempted the patient from the unjustified mutilating resections. On the patient's skin they detected also a few relatively small disseminated hypopigmented spots. Electronmicroscopically they could observe plenty of melanosomes and big melanosoma-complexes in the lower keratinocyte layers of the vulvar melanotic macules. Melanocytes could not be recognised in the hypopigmented spots.


Absorption of CO2 into toluene/water emulsions was investigated at 293 K using a reaction calorimeter. The experimental results on Henry's constants for CO2 indicated that the gas solubility in toluene/water emulsions could be calculated from the solubilities in the pure liquids. The molar heats of absorption were found to decrease with increasing toluene fraction in the emulsion. The observed mass transfer rates were considerably higher than the absorption rates predicted by the absorption model. Moreover, the enhancement factor, which was defined as the ratio of the mass transfer rate in the presence of the microphase to that in its absence, was found to decrease with an increase in stirring rate. The present results confirmed the earlier assumption of the probable existence of a very thin toluene layer on the top of the emulsion. However, contrary to the previous studies of this system, the observed enhancement factors were not time-dependent. The above disagreement can be explained by differences in estimating the volumetric liquid side mass transfer coefficient for CO2 absorption into emulsion.


The multipath-decorrelating receiver performance depends on the number of resolvable paths. The linear multipath-decorrelating receiver uses as many branches as the number of resolvable paths of the channel in order to improve the performance of the system. However, using all of the resolvable paths of the channel in the receiver increases the system complexity and the decorrelating filter implemented by the use of all the resolvable paths produces high noise enhancement. In this paper, it is shown that taking a subset of the resolvable paths can reduce both the system complexity and noise enhancement and improve the system performance.


This package implements a shooting method for solving boundary value problems, for instance resulting of the application of Pontryagin's Minimum Principle to an optimal control problem. The software is mostly Fortran90, with some third party Fortran77 codes for the numerical integration and non-linear equations system. Its features include the handling of right hand side discontinuities (such as caused by a bang-bang control) for the integration of the trajectory and the computation of Jacobians for the shooting method. The particular case of singular arcs for optimal control problems is also addressed.


The application of Quality Management Systems – QMS, particularly the ISO 9001 standard, in organizations allows the definition of a set of organizational documentation to guide and achieve high levels of efficiency, improve the services' performance and to improve the internal and external quality of the services provided. However, the definition of these type of standards requires a large set of documentation that presents some difficulties in their application like: the access to the correct document (form or procedure) in order to perform a task or provide a service; long time to fulfil the forms and long time to analyze the information to get the key performance indicators associated to the objectives of that standard. Considering the advantages and the emergent evolution of the Information Systems (IS) these types of systems present a good solution to resolve the difficulties of the implementation and application of QMS in the organizations. This paper presents a case study of the application of an IS to support the usage and implementation of the QMS in a High Educational Institution. With the implementation of the IS, the Institution improved the qualification of the administrative services, reduced the search time of the correct documents to perform a task, reduced the time to complete the forms, enabled a direct iteration with the users and the services allowing the schedule of actions by the administrative services to respond to the requests, and also reduced drastically the usage of documents in paper format.


Relationships between discharge and suspended sediment are very complex in most Mediterranean catchments. In the case of the Arnas catchment (Central Spanish Pyrenees), with a long history of human activity, the main factors that explain the variability of suspended sediment concentration (SCC) during floods are the peak flow and the intensity of precipitation. A cluster analysis distinguishes four types of floods according to different characteristics of precipitation, discharge, suspended sediment transport and antecedent moisture conditions. G1 and G2 floods occur under dry conditions (which prevail most of the year), with moderate rainfall and low precipitation intensity; the discharge and suspended sediment response are very fast but limited in intensity. This suggests that the origin of water and sediment is restricted to areas located very close to the channel. G3 floods also occur under dry conditions, although during intense rainfall events; then the response in both discharge and suspended sediment is very high, showing an enlargement of the contributing areas. Under very wet conditions (G4 floods) relatively moderate precipitation produces a very high response in discharge, but suspended sediment concentration records moderate values due to the effect of dilution when the entire catchment is contributing.


Recent technological advances in conventional planar and microstructured solar cell architectures have significantly boosted the efficiencies of these devices near the corresponding theoretical values. Nanomaterials and nanostructures have promising potential to push the theoretical limits of solar cell efficiency even higher using the intrinsic advantages associated with these materials, including efficient photon management, rapid charge transfer, and short charge collection distances. However, at present the efficiency of nanostructured solar cells remains lower than that of conventional solar devices due to the accompanying losses associated with the employment of nanomaterials. The concurrent design of both optical and electrical components will presumably be an imperative route toward breaking the present‐day limit of nanostructured solar cells. This review summarizes the losses in traditional solar cells, and then discusses recent advances in applications of nanotechnology to solar devices from both optical and electrical perspectives. Finally, a rule for nanostructured solar cells by concurrently engineering the optical and electrical design is devised. Following these guidelines should allow for exceeding the theoretical limit of solar cell efficiency soon.


The electric field in the sheath of a low pressure plasma plays an important role in many plasma material processing methods. To further optimize these methods and even more importantly to understand fundamental plasma processes a good understanding of this electric field profile is crucial. However, determining the absolute values and the profile of the sheath electric field experimentally has appeared to be extremely difficult and therefore all available methods lack spatial resolution or are invasive. For instance laserbased techniques have poor spatial resolution and their usage is limited to only those regions where the electric field is relatively high. Probe techniques disturb the electric field and are therefore not feasible to use in the plasma sheath. In this report, a novel approach to electric field measurements in the plasma sheath based on plasma levitated micro-particles is proposed. The first steps that are taken to realize this idea are described here. In the framework of this project a rotating compensator ellipsometer has been developed, including the microcontroller system and the associated source code. To verify the feasibility of the proposed method and the correct functioning of the built diagnostics, the following essential milestones have been achieved. The correct working of the developed ellipsometer has been verified by an investigation of different oxidized Si wafers. The results obtained by the self-built ellipsometer and those obtained by a commercial ellipsometer are compared. The results are in good agreement thanks to the significant effort which is put in to the calibration of the in-house built ellipsometer. To convert the measured ellipsometric angles into physical parameters a model based on Mie theory is derived. Calculations are performed to create a lookup table for the ellipsometric angles Ψ and ∆ for different particle radii. The first experiments on confined clouds of particles are conducted and the first ellipsometric angles are determined. Analyzing the obtained data has not been possible yet as the model does not take into account the size distribution of the particles in the cloud. Insufficient light is detected during single particle experiments hence a better and more stable light source will be installed to increase the signal. A crucial part of the proposed diagnostics is the imaging setup. This setup is fully functional and will be used to determine the position of the plasma levitated dust particle during the electric field measurements. Two test measurements to determine the change of position of a dust particle due to mass loss in a reactive oxygen plasma are performed successfully. The work described above demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed diagnostics to develop into a mature measurement technique with superior specifications. To that end, the next steps to further improve the ellipsometry setup and challenges have been defined and elaborated towards measurements on a single particle and the proverbial Holy Grail for a plasma sheath physicist: determining the electric field profile at the boundary of a plasma.


With electromagnetic flow transducers and pneumatic cuff occluders on the circumflex branch of the left coronary artery in conscious and in anesthetized dogs, we examined the effects of both a temporary reduction in postocclusion hyperemia and one- and two-cardiac cycle occlusions of the artery on the size and the duration of the hyperemic response. After release of 8-second occlusions, flow was prevented from rising to more than 10–20% above the preocclusion value for the expected duration of the hyperemia. Peripheral coronary arterial pressure measurements established that this maneuver produced a pressure gradient. Temporary restriction of arterial inflow markedly reduced the percent repayment of the flow deficit from 618 ± 34± to 213 ± 17% (mean ± SE) and moderately prolonged the duration of the response from 95 ± 4 seconds to 129 ± 5 seconds (P < 0.0005 for both). In conscious dogs, the mean percent repayment after a one-cycle (0.7-second) occlusion was 227%. Much larger and longer-lasting responses were obtained with one-cycle (0.4-second) occlusions in anesthetized dogs in which heart rate and blood pressure were considerably higher. Since restricting arterial inflow resulted in a large reduction in reactive hyperemia with only a small increase in its duration, local mechanisms acting in the interstitial space and possibly in the vascular smooth muscle may be relatively more important for the hyperemia that occurs after short occlusions than is the myocardial release of freely diffusible metabolites that are removed by the blood stream. The results with one- and two-cycle occlusions suggest that myogenic responses contribute to the hyperemia, since it is unlikely that such brief occlusions produce myocardial hypoxia under resting conditions.


Introduction: Dental caries is the most prevalent oral disease among childhood. Dental caries in primary dentition is often neglected since they exfoliate, and its treatment is considered as economic burden among lower socioeconomic families. Aim: To assess the prevalence of dental caries in the primary teeth of 3–6–year-old preschool Anganwadi children in Mudhol town of Karnataka. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted over 758 children, aged 3–6 years studying in 15 Anganwadis of Mudhol. Type III WHO method of examination was followed, and decayed, missing, filled teeth (dmft) index was recorded according to the WHO criteria. The data were analyzed by Z-test and Chi-square test using SPSS version 17 software. Results: Among the study population, 62.14% were found to be affected by dental caries. The prevalence of dental caries increased with increase in age. No significant difference was found with respect to gender. The mean dmft was 2.34. The filled component was nonexistent among these children. Second primary molars were the teeth most affected by caries followed by first molars and central incisors. Conclusion: Dental caries prevalence of 62.14% and mean dmft of 2.34 among Anganwadi children of Mudhol town is a cause for concern. The nonexisting filled component among these children indicates high unmet restorative treatment needs. Dental health services should be made available in the peripheral areas to meet the needs of young children.


In some complex group decision‐making (GDM) problems, the information needing to be processed may be heterogeneous. This may involve consideration of objective and subjective criteria by experts who have their own particular set of criteria, their own preference format for assessing alternatives under these criteria, and who may themselves be assigned differing importance weights as experts. This paper presents a cumulative belief degree approach to cope with heterogeneous information in multiple attribute GDM problems. The proposed approach focuses to aggregate subjective expert assessments and objective criteria that are presented in various representation formats and scales. The methodology employs transformation formulae for several preference representation scales to belief structure, including 2‐tuple representation, classical fuzzy sets, hesitant fuzzy sets, and intuitionistic fuzzy sets. Aggregation formulae are proposed to combine expert criteria evaluations and find a collective preference. A consensus degree is calculated for measuring the agreement between the experts. An illustrative example is presented to clarify the steps of the methodology, and validity of the approach is assured through comparative analysis with the existing methods.


Trust negotiation is an approach to access control whereby access is granted based on trust established in a negotiation between the service requester and the service provider. Trust negotiation systems avoid several problems facing traditional access control models such as DAC (discretionary access control) and MAC (mandatory access control). Another problem is that Web service providers often do not know requesters identities in advance because of the ubiquitousness of services. We describe Trust-Serv, a trust negotiation framework for Web services, which features a policy language based on state machines. It is supported by lifecycle management and automated runtime enforcement tools. Credential retrieval and validation in Trust-Serv rely on predefined Web services that provide interactions with attribute assertion authorities and public key infrastructure.


The connections between natural hazards, natural disasters and human vulnerabilities have become common features of disaster risk reduction (DRR) programmes since the adoption of The Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) 2005–2015. A series of international initiatives have begun to prioritize social vulnerability and community managed disaster risk reduction (CMDRR) in order to enhance the capacity of disaster-affected communities to recover from a disaster with little or no external assistance. This thesis explores whether, and to what extent, CARE can strengthen the capacity of Haitians to promote resilient communities through Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction (CMDRR) programmes, and to see if such programmes can generate sustainable development. The thesis investigates what the underlying vulnerabilities are, through the Pressure and Release (PAR) model, whilst also taking into account the particular historical and political context in Haiti. Vulnerability is evaluated in the three levels: root causes, dynamic pressure and unsafe conditions on the social side. The component on the natural side is the 2010 earthquake itself. The CMDRR process are analysed by applying Cordaid's (2009) four components of DRR: 1) risk assessment and analysis; 2) DRR measures: developing contingency and development plans; 3) self-organization; and 4) participatory monitoring, evaluation and learning system. I also address the relationship between International nongovernmental organization (INGOs) and the community members in general, and the relationship between CARE and the community members in particular. The research draws on qualitative data, mainly from in-depth interviews, focus group discussions (FGDs) and participant observation of the CMDRR process. My findings suggest that people can possess characteristics that make them both vulnerable and resilient. The CMDRR process made the community members resilient in the sense that it had increased their awareness and knowledge capacity in regards to natural disasters, disaster-resilient construction and climate change. The women in La Grenada also felt empowered after the CMDRR process, and used their knowledge to educate the wider community. The CMDRR workshops had strengthened community ties, both within the community and with neighbouring communities. Despite human progress, the opportunities brought through the CMDRR process is not able to contribute to the long-term prosperity. Consistent with the PAR model and the numerous vulnerabilities identified, my findings suggests that resilience building is about good governance: it is primarily and fundamentally political, with its success depending on citizen power, genuine participation and a good relationship between the INGOs, the Haitian population and the government. As such, building resilient communities involves something more from simply dealing with preparedness measures through CMDRR interventions.


The ionosphere is the only region of the terrestrial magnetosphere‐ionosphere system where in situ observations with high temporal resolution and approaching global spatial scale are possible. Ionospheric measurements of magnetic fields with such spatiotemporal coverage have become available from the Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment, combining data from the Iridium® satellites. Motivated by the emergence of this data set, we report here on the first results of assimilation of low‐altitude ionospheric magnetic perturbations into the Lyon‐Fedder‐Mobarry (LFM) global magnetospheric model coupled with the Rice Convection Model (RCM). Our assimilation approach relies on the assumption of a quasi‐steady, linear approximate relation between equatorial magnetospheric pressure and ionospheric Region 2 field‐aligned currents. This approximation is implemented numerically by perturbing large‐scale modes from the Fourier decomposition of equatorial magnetospheric pressures and computing responses of the corresponding modes in the ionospheric magnetic field. This methodology was validated by using model‐based assimilation tests of the so‐called "fraternal twins" type. In this approach, the LFM‐RCM model with one set of parameters is used to generate synthetic observations, while a model version with different parameters is used to assimilate the ionospheric observations and calculate the magnetospheric pressure corrections which are then applied to reproduce the synthetic observations. The model with assimilated synthetic data responded correctly by modifying ionospheric currents and magnetic perturbations in the expected way. We thus found the approach proposed herein to be promising for future assimilation of real data.


Bubat was a name of place in Mojokerto, East Java that in the past time it was a centre for the Kingdom of Majapahit. The name of Bubat alwaysled to emotional impression for the Javanese and Sundanese society. The war of Bubat left not only a deep sadness for Sundanese and Javanese society, but also a long revenge between them. Untill now, there is not name of place or street in West Java using the name of Bubat figures, like Hayam Wuruk and Gajah Mada. In East Java, there was also no name of the war of Bubat figures from Sundanese Kingdom. In this confusing history, there is an idea to produce a documentary film entitled "the war of Bubat". The film will be planned to be an effort of reconciliation for the history of two provinces, East Java and West Java. The film will be planned to open another side of conflict between the Kingdom of Majapahit in East Java and the Kingdom of Sundanese Galuh in West Java in the past time. Is is hoped that the film can be the mission of reconciliation for the two provinces. This plan can lead to pro-contra in Javanese society. In this context, the problem of this writingis: How did the literature of Majapahit Kingdom tell about Bubat story? Was there the war of Bubat? Can the film of the war of Bubat unite the two cultures, Sundanese and Javanese? Or it will unearth the past injury between these two cultures? This writing is only an early investigation for the work of art to unite the two cultures, Sundanese and Javanese.

Key Words:
Sunda, Majapahit, Bubat, Perang


Social computing and online communities are changing the fundamental way people communicate and share information. Social computing focuses on how users may have more autonomy to express their ideas and participate in social exchanges in various ways, one of which may be Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file sharing. Given the risk of opportunistic behavior by malicious and/or criminal communities within the P2P networks, it is crucial to understand the factors that affect individual's usage of P2P sharing software. In this paper, we develop and empirically test a research model which includes trust beliefs and perceived risks as two major antecedent beliefs to the usage intention. Six trust antecedents are assessed including knowledge-based trust, cognitive trust, and both organizational and peer-network factors of institutional trust. Our preliminary results show general support for the model, and offer some important implications for software vendors in P2P sharing industry and regulatory bodies.


The impact of mainsail sheet tension and traveler position on performance has been investigated, particularly under conditions when it is necessary to reduce power. Photographs of the mainsail on a Beneteau First 36.7 under various trim conditions were taken and analyzed to determine sail shape. The resulting shapes were used to create a CFD model, and the aerodynamics forces on the sail plan were determined. The results strongly suggest that for this boat it is more efficient to reduce power by keeping the main sheeted hard and lowering the traveler than by keeping the traveler up and easing the sheet, although a small amount of sheet easing is beneficial. The lift distributions for all sail trim combinations investigated are underloaded near the masthead relative to an elliptic distribution, which means that any additional twist in the main increases the induced drag. The difference in performance is almost entirely attributable to differences in the induced drag.


A soft rot of hosta, caused by an unknown agent, was observed at a large wholesale nursery in South Carolina in 1999. Losses ranged between 80 and 90 percent in the cultivated varieties Aureo-marginata and Golden Tiara that had been chilled at 0°C in a refrigerated storage facility for 8-16 weeks to fulfill dormancy requirements. The causal agent of bacterial soft rot of hosta was determined to be Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora. Hosta plants spray-inoculated with suspensions of E. carotovora subsp. carotovora developed soft rot following 24 hours cold storage at 0°C. Spread of disease occurred during cold storage of dormant hosta rhizome divisions and through vegetative propagation. Bactericides and disinfectants tested were ineffective when used as a protectant prior to exposure to 0°C. Using polymerase chain reaction, specific primers ECC K and W were developed for the detection of E. carotovora subsp. carotovora.


Ontogenetic variation in the strontium:calcium (Sr:Ca) ratios was measured in statoliths of the Japanese common squid Todarodes pacificus. Two different geographical groups of T. pacifi- cus inhabit the Sea of Japan; these groups are separated by the Subarctic Front during the summer. Element ratios were measured with a wavelength-dispersive spectrometer for 11 individuals from a cold-water subarctic region, which harbors large squid (Subarctic Group), for 12 individuals from a warm-water region, which harbors smaller squid (Tsushima Group), and for 2 individuals from the Subarctic Front. The squid ranged from 190 to 218 mm in mantle length (ML) and were 191 to 262 d old. Similar measurements were obtained for 12 tagged T. pacificus (187 to 259 mm ML; 214 to 312 d old) that were released and recovered in the Subarctic and the Tsushima Current between June and August 1997 (tagging duration 5 to >40 d). Ontogenetic variation in Sr:Ca ratios from hatchlings to sub-adults differed between the 2 geographical groups. Sr:Ca ratios were high at hatching followed by a drastic decrease up to 10 d of age for both groups. These ratios increased until 40 d of age, con- tinuing at high levels until around 150 d, when they decreased in all specimens of the Tsushima Group. In the Subarctic Group, however, the variations in Sr:Ca ratios differed between individuals. Sr:Ca ratios at the age when squid recruited to either the Subarctic or the Tsushima Current were similar. These differences reflect the different spawning grounds and transport routes of the 2g roups. Thermal history was recorded from the statoliths of tagged individuals, and small fluctua- tions and seasonal variations in the Sr:Ca ratios were observed. These correspond to diel vertical movements and endogenous rhythms of the squid, and the formation and movements of the cold- water layer in their habitat.


Over the last 30 years, there has been a large amount of research attempting to develop an automatic (or semiautomatic) system for the detection and classification of weld defects in continuous welds examined by radiography. There are basically two large types of research areas in this field: image processing, which consists in improving the quality of radiographic images and segmenting regions of interest in the images, and pattern recognition, which aims at detecting and classifying the defects segmented in the images. Because of the complexity of the problem of detecting weld defects, a large number of techniques have been investigated in these areas. This paper represents a state-of-the-art report on weld inspection and is divided into the two parts mentioned above: image processing and pattern recognition. The techniques presented are compared at each basic step of the development of the system for the identification of defects in continuous welds. This paper deals with the first part.


This paper describes the study made by COPPE/UFRJ which goal is the development of fuel cells systems for automotive applications. The study is divided in two parts. The first is the development of a PEM direct fuel cell. In addition a method for experimentally determine the possibility of using a fuel in a fuel cell is developed. The components of catalysts are also tested such as Tin and Ruthenium in a Platinum coated electrode. The second part is the control system for a fuel cell powered vehicle. The vehicle power is modeled from its actions and losses. A power of 80kW seems to be a great choice if made of 50kW from the fuel cell system and 30kW from an accumulator such as a pack of batteries or a super capacitor.© 2004 ASME


This paper considers the question of providing effective feedback of vehicle dynamic forces to a pilot in haptic teleoperation of aerial robots. We claim that the usual state-of-the-art haptic interface, based on research motivated by robotic manipulator slaves and virtual haptic environments, does a poor job of reflecting dynamic forces of a mobile robotic vehicle to the user. This leads us to propose a novel force feedback user interface for mobile robotic vehicles with dynamics. An analysis of the closed-loop force-displacement transfer functions experienced by the master joystick for the classical and the new approach clearly indicate the advantages of the proposed formulation. Both the classical and the proposed approach have been implemented in the teleoperation of a quadrotor vehicle and we present quantitative and cognitive performance data from a user study that corroborates the expected performance advantages.


Next-generation computation- and network-intensive collaborative applications in various science, engineering, and e-commerce fields feature large-scale computing workflows of complex structures. Efficient algorithms are needed for task scheduling, module deployment, and service provisioning to support the execution of such distributed workflows in heterogeneous network environments and optimize their end-to-end performance for fast system response or smooth data flow. However, deploying large-scale distributed applications in real network environments is extremely challenging due to the inherent dynamics in the reliability, availability, accessibility, and capacity of massively distributed system resources, which are typically shared among a broad community of users over the Internet or dedicated connections. We propose a simulation system to study the execution dynamics of distributed computing workflows and evaluate the network performance of workflow scheduling or mapping algorithms before actual deployment and experimentation. The proposed simulation system visually illustrates the dynamic execution process of workflows in network environments by simulating module execution on computer nodes and data transfer over network links in a completely distributed and parallel manner. Furthermore, the simulation system takes background traffic and workload into consideration to achieve a high level of simulation accuracy for distributed applications deployed in shared production network environments. We implement the simulation system using multi-threaded programming and conduct extensive testings on various mapping schemes using a large number of simulated workflows and networks. The simulation-based performance measurements are quantitatively confirmed by both the experimental observations collected in real networks and the theoretical results obtained by rigorous performance analysis based on well-defined mathematical models.


An influential paper by Kleibergen (2005, Econometrica 73, 1103–1123) introduces Lagrange multiplier (LM) and conditional likelihood ratio-like (CLR) tests for nonlinear moment condition models. These procedures aim to have good size performance even when the parameters are unidentified or poorly identified. However, the asymptotic size and similarity (in a uniform sense) of these procedures have not been determined in the literature. This paper does so. This paper shows that the LM test has correct asymptotic size and is asymptotically similar for a suitably chosen parameter space of null distributions. It shows that the CLR tests also have these properties when the dimension p of the unknown parameter θ equals 1. When p ≥ 2, however, the asymptotic size properties are found to depend on how the conditioning statistic, upon which the CLR tests depend, is weighted. Two weighting methods have been suggested in the literature. The paper shows that the CLR tests are guaranteed to have correct asymptotic size when p ≥ 2 when the weighting is based on an estimator of the variance of the sample moments, i.e., moment-variance weighting, combined with the Robin and Smith (2000, Econometric Theory 16, 151–175) rank statistic. The paper also determines a formula for the asymptotic size of the CLR test when the weighting is based on an estimator of the variance of the sample Jacobian. However, the results of the paper do not guarantee correct asymptotic size when p ≥ 2 with the Jacobian-variance weighting, combined with the Robin and Smith (2000, Econometric Theory 16, 151–175) rank statistic, because two key sample quantities are not necessarily asymptotically independent under some identification scenarios. Analogous results for confidence sets are provided. Even for the special case of a linear instrumental variable regression model with two or more right-hand side endogenous variables, the results of the paper are new to the literature.


A method to mitigate or possibly eliminate reproduction in farmed fish is highly demanded. The existing approaches have certain applicative limitations. So far, no immunization strategies affecting gonadal development in juvenile animals have been developed. We hypothesized that autoimmune mechanisms, occurring spontaneously in a number of diseases, could be induced by targeted immunization. We have asked whether the immunization against specific targets in a juvenile zebrafish gonad will produce an autoimmune response, and, consequently, disturbance in gonadal development. Gonadal soma-derived factor (Gsdf), growth differentiation factor (Gdf9), and lymphocyte antigen 75 (Cd205/Ly75), all essential for early gonad development, were targeted with 5 immunization tests. Zebrafish (n = 329) were injected at 6 weeks post fertilization, a booster injection was applied 15 days later, and fish were sampled at 30 days. We localized transcripts encoding targeted proteins by in situ hybridization, quantified expression of immune-, apoptosis-, and gonad-related genes with quantitative real-time PCR, and performed gonadal histology and whole-mount immunohistochemistry for Bcl2-interacting-killer (Bik) pro-apoptotic protein. The treatments resulted in an autoimmune reaction, gonad developmental retardation, intensive apoptosis, cell atresia, and disturbed transcript production. Testes were remarkably underdeveloped after anti-Gsdf treatments. Anti-Gdf9 treatments promoted apoptosis in testes and abnormal development of ovaries. Anti-Cd205 treatment stimulated a strong immune response in both sexes, resulting in oocyte atresia and strong apoptosis in supporting somatic cells. The effect of immunization was FSH-independent. Furthermore, immunization against germ cell proteins disturbed somatic supporting cell development. This is the first report to demonstrate that targeted autoimmunity can disturb gonadal development in a juvenile fish. It shows a straightforward potential to develop auto-immunization-based technologies to mitigate fish reproduction before they reach maturation. However, the highly variable results between treatments and individuals suggest significant optimization should be performed to achieve the full potential of this technology.


In the last few decades, global changes such as an ever more integrated world economy, new technologies or the emergence of an international knowledge network have increasingly determined developments in European higher education. Policymakers have addressed these challenges using processes that support the practical orientation of higher education, including university-business cooperation. Because employers are becoming important stakeholders and partners in the creation of higher education policy, the future developers of higher education need to know what employers expect of future development and whether they will meet or resist those expectations when it comes to their input. In this article, we identify the areas that need to be improved upon and examine the ways in which employers' experiences with higher education determine their perceptions of it. Building on the EMCOSU (Emerging Modes of Cooperation between Private Sector Organisations and Universities) survey, we analysed the responses of professionals of 397 companies based in five European countries. The analysis indicated that the level at which companies participated in university-business cooperation strongly influenced their perception of the way higher education institutions should develop. To be precise, those with greater experience in university-business cooperation pressed for more strategic cooperation between universities and business, more support for the international orientation of academic institutions, and less attention to the immediate valorisation of applied research, practical orientation and short-term skill development.


Large scale business subsidies tied to national industrial development promotion pro-grams are notoriously difficult to study and inseparable from the political economy aspect of large government programs. The Tunisian Industrial Upgrading Program, initiated in the late 80's, to improve the competitiveness of Tunisian firms increasingly exposed to international competition through firm subsidies, is such an example. The continuation and resurgence of industrial devlopment programs, such as the Tunisian IUP, makes the rigorous evaluation of this type of program within the political economy framework, increasingly important. We use the Tunisian national firm registry database and a perceptions' survey administered by the national research institute to measure the impact of the IUP and its beneficiaries. Using inverse propensity score re-weighted differences-in-differences regressions, we find that when program recipients are large firms, gains of the program are mostly retained by capital-owners, while when subsidies are distributed to small-sized firms, more gains go to labor.


Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) is a relatively new technique for simulating the dynamic response of solids, especially for high velocity impact and fracture problem. However, closer examination of SPH reveals some severe problems. The major difficulties are: (1) tensile instability; (2) zero-energy mode; (3) boundary deficiency; (4) less accuracy. One solution to these major difficulties with SPH is to improve the consistency of the kernel function. Based on the Reproducing Kernel Particle Method (RKPM), the concept of the proposed simplified linear consistency is introduced. The most attractive feature of the simplified linear consistency is the ease and cheapness of doing 3D calculation. One contribution of this paper is to show clearly the accuracy of solution gradually improved by increasing the order of the consistency. Simple 3D impacting models are established with different geometries and higher accurate results are obtained by using higher consistency kernel functions. Other features as numerical convergence, computational efficiency, etc. and some considerations of the simplified linear consistency kernel function are also discussed.


A study of ethnobiological, archaeological, linguistic and historical ethnographic data shows that notions about the cultural and symbolic significance of the African rhinoceros were widely shared among southeastern Bantu speakers and had considerable time depth. African farming communities could draw upon the traits of both the more aggressive and solitary black rhino (Diceros bicornis) and the more sociable and territorial white rhino (Ceratotherium simum) in their conceptualisation of the qualities of leadership. The Mapungubwe gold rhino served as an emblem of sacred leadership in a class-based society. In less-stratified Sotho-Tswana society, the importance of this pachyderm was reflected in its appropriation as a leadership referent in chiefly praise poems, the use of rhino figurines as didactic tools during initiation schools, as well as a plethora of vernacular names and a complex folk taxonomy. Meat cut from the breast of the rhino was the preserve of a chief and a special club of rhino horn was widely employed as a marker of chiefly status. Rhino horns and bones also featured in rainmaking rituals. Monoliths adorning the central courts of nineteenth-century Tswana towns, as well as the walls or courts of Zimbabwe culture and Venda capitals, most probably signified rhino horns, thereby architecturally encapsulating the key qualities of power, danger and protection traditionally associated with African leadership.


Background: Plain films and computed tomography (CT)–based imaging were the first to establish measurements that evaluated patellar instability. Limited research has shown the efficacy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in evaluating these established measurements. Purpose: To identify morphological differences between normal knees and those with patellofemoral instability on MRI to determine what measurements are significant and how MRI-based means differ from historical means based on radiograph and CT imaging. Study Design: Case control study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: Eighty-one controls and 40 patients with recurrent patellar instability between 2006 and 2010 were reviewed. The control patients had a history and an examination negative for patellofemoral symptoms. Patients with patellar instability had a history of at least 2 frank patellofemoral joint dislocations (PFJDs). The MRI images were obtained on the nonweightbearing knee in full extension. Measurements of patellar tilt, trochlear morphologic characteristics, and tibial tuberosity–trochlear groove (TTTG) distance were evaluated on axial slices, and patellar height was measured on sagittal images. Trochlear shape was assessed at the proximal and distal trochlea. Results: All measurements of patellar tilt (mean ± SD) were found to be significantly different between the 2 groups. For patellar height, the Insall-Salvati ratio (control, 1.08 ± 0.02; PFJD, 1.26 ± 0.03) and Caton-Deschamps ratio (control, 1.13 ± 0.02; PFJD, 1.29 ± 0.03) proved to be significantly different. Trochlear morphologic characteristics had numerous measurements prove to be significantly different proximally and distally. These included classic measurements such as sulcus angle (control, 148.48° ± 0.94°; PFJD, 165.57° ± 2.65°) and lateral trochlear inclination (control, 21.27° ± 0.66°; PFJD, 13.31° ± 1.36°) proximally and less established measurements such as the ratio of external (lateral) trochlea to internal (medial) trochlea (control, 1.51 ± 0.05; PFJD, 2.11 ± 0.17), a measurement of facet asymmetry. Conclusion: The MRI-based patellar tilt measures proved to be an excellent group of measurements for delineating between controls and those with instability. Patella alta ratios, such as Insall-Salvati and Caton-Deschamps, demonstrated a statistically significant difference between normal and recurrent dislocators. Trochlear measurements proved significantly different at the proximal and distal trochlea. Our findings demonstrate that MRI is appropriate to help discern recognized pathologic abnormalities that characterize patellofemoral instability.


The present study is to study drug metabolic characteristics of CYP3A46 gene. Sus scrofa CYP3A46 gene from Bama miniature pig liver was obtained by PCR method and cloned in pCDNA3.1, the recombinant plasmid pCDNACYP3A46 was obtained. The recombinant plasmid and empty plasmid were transfected into HepG2 which designated as HepG2-CYP3A46 and HepG2-CDNA3.1 repectively. The stably expressing cell lines HepG2-CYP3A46 and HepG2-pcDNA3.1 were achieved by the selection of gentamycin (G418) ,and were incubated with the probe drug nifedipine (NF) in optimal conditions. After the cells were incubated for 60 minutes, the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was utilized to detect the change of metabolites in cells. The results showed that the sequence of cloned Sus scrofa CYP3A46 gene was correct, and the stably expressing cell the cell lines transfected with pCDNACYP3A46 and pCDNA3.1 were established successfully. The activity analysis demonstrated that the cell line transfected with pCDNA-CYP3A46 had the significantly metabolic activities of nifedipine( P<0.001).


The Acceptorless Dehydrogenative Coupling (ADC) of alcohols with amines is reported using a heterogeneous Fe-catalyst. The reaction operates under mild conditions with the liberation of dihydrogen and water as the byproducts. The developed ADC strategy is simple, efficient, exhibits wide functional group tolerance and can be scaled up. The present catalytic approach possesses a dual role; acting as a catalyst as well as being magnetically separable. The sustainable reuse of a heterogeneous iron catalyst is also shown.


There have been various investigations carried out by researchers on pay level comparisons and pay level satisfactions based on employees from both private and public sectors, but little is known about pay level satisfaction of the UK supermarket employees. This study investigates pay level satisfaction among the UK supermarket employees. Using questionnaire methodology, it was found that over seventy percent of the respondents expressly states that they were dissatisfied with pay. The result of the three-ways analysis of variance (ANOVA) reveals that female employees are more satisfied with their pay when compared with their male counterparts. When job position was compared in relation to pay, the result reveals that while store staffs are generally unhappy with their pay, senior managers are most unhappy. The findings of this research are likely to assist retail managers when contemplating refocusing their pay structure and policy.


It has been proposed that endothelial dysfunction is due to the excessive degradation of nitric oxide (NO) by oxidative stress. The enzyme heme-oxygenase (HO) seems to exert a protective effect on oxidative stress in the vasculature, both in animal models and in humans. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of inhibition or activation of HO on endothelial function in mesenteric small resistance arteries of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Six SHR were treated with cobalt protoporphyrin IX 50 mg/Kg (CoPP), an activator of HO; six SHR with stannous mesoporphyrin 30 mg/Kg (SnMP), an inhibitor of HO, and six SHR with saline. As controls, six Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY) were treated with CoPP, six WKY with SnMP, and six WKY with saline. Drugs were injected in the peritoneum once a week for 2 weeks. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) was measured (tail cuff method) before and after treatment. Mesenteric small resistance arteries were mounted on a micromyograph. Endothelial function was evaluated as a cumulative concentration-response curve to acetylcholine (ACH), before and after preincubation with N(G)-methyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA, inhibitor of NO synthase), and to bradykinin (BK). In SHR treatment with CoPP, improved ACH-and BK-induced vasodilatation (ANOVA p < 0.001) and this improvement was abolished by L-NMMA (ANOVA p < 0.001). SnMP was devoid of effects on endothelial function. In WKY, both activation and inhibition of HO did not substantially affect endothelium-mediated vasodilatation. The stimulation of HO seems to induce an improvement of endothelial dysfunction in SHR by possibly reducing oxidative stress and increasing NO availability.


The COVID‐19 pandemic poses a challenge in coming up with quick and effective means to counter its cause, the SARS‐CoV‐2. Here, we show how the key factors governing cysteine reactivity in proteins derived from combined quantum mechanical/continuum calculations led to a novel multi‐targeting strategy against SARS‐CoV‐2, in contrast to developing potent drugs/vaccines against a single viral target such as the spike protein. Specifically, they led to the discovery of reactive cysteines in evolutionary conserved Zn2+‐sites in several SARS‐CoV‐2 proteins that are crucial for viral polypeptide proteolysis as well as viral RNA synthesis, proofreading, and modification. These conserved, reactive cysteines, both free and Zn2+‐bound, can be targeted using the same Zn‐ejector drug (disulfiram/ebselen), which enables the use of broad‐spectrum anti‐virals that would otherwise be removed by the virus's proofreading mechanism. Our strategy of targeting multiple, conserved viral proteins that operate at different stages of the virus life cycle using a Zn‐ejector drug combined with other broad‐spectrum anti‐viral drug(s) could enhance the barrier to drug resistance and antiviral effects, as compared to each drug alone. Since these functionally important nonstructural proteins containing reactive cysteines are highly conserved among coronaviruses, our proposed strategy has the potential to tackle future coronaviruses.


Approximately 10% of the world's population suffers from some type of hearing loss, yet only small percentage of this statistic use the hearing aid. The stigma associated with wearing a hearing aid, customer dissatisfaction with hearing aid performance, the cost and the battery life. Through the use of digital signal processing the digital hearing aid now offers what the analog hearing aid cannot offer. It proposes the possibility of flexible gain processing, updating filter coefficients using adaptive techniques and digital feed back reduction, etc. Currently lot of attention is being given to low power VLSI design. Major focus in this thesis is given to the impact of multipliers on the power consumption of digital hearing aids. At first booth multiplier and booth Wallace multipliers are designed. The multiplier which consumes less power is taken for designing hearing aid component. The implementation of the Hearing Aid system includes spectral sharpening for speech enhancement and spectral sharpening for noise reduction. A fundamental building block, an adaptive filter, analysis filter, synthesis filter are implemented using Booth multiplier and Booth Wallace multiplier. The simulation of the hearing aid is done both in MATLAB and VHDL. The results from MATLAB and VHDL are compared. The hearing aid is constructed, targeting FPGA. Using the synthesis report and the power calculation report we compare the relative power consumption of the adaptive decorrelator; analysis filter and synthesis filter for these multipliers. The results show that the power consumption is reduced using Booth Wallace multiplier and also that using this multiplier speed is increased. How ever, since the total power consumption is dominated by the FIR, IIR lattice filters, and the total power saving depends on the order of the filter. The hearing aid component is designed in VHDL and implemented in FPGA(VIRTEXII PRO) kit.


Abstract. Understanding the climate impacts of solar geoengineering is essential for evaluating its benefits and risks. Most previous simulations have prescribed a particular strategy and evaluated its modeled effects. Here we turn this approach around by first choosing example climate objectives and then designing a strategy to meet those objectives in climate models. There are four essential criteria for designing a strategy: (i) an explicit specification of the objectives, (ii) defining what climate forcing agents to modify so the objectives are met, (iii) a method for managing uncertainties, and (iv) independent verification of the strategy in an evaluation model. We demonstrate this design perspective through two multi-objective examples. First, changes in Arctic temperature and the position of tropical precipitation due to CO2 increases are offset by adjusting high-latitude insolation in each hemisphere independently. Second, three different latitude-dependent patterns of insolation are modified to offset CO2-induced changes in global mean temperature, interhemispheric temperature asymmetry, and the Equator-to-pole temperature gradient. In both examples, the "design" and "evaluation" models are state-of-the-art fully coupled atmosphere–ocean general circulation models.


Gross et al. (2015) have demonstrated that about a quarter of hits would typically be lost to keyword searchers if contemporary academic library catalogs dropped their controlled subject headings. This paper reports on an analysis of the loss levels that would result if a bibliographic database, namely the Australian Education Index (AEI), were missing the subject descriptors and identifiers assigned by its professional indexers, employing the methodology developed by Gross and Taylor (2005), and later by Gross et al. (2015). The results indicate that AEI users would lose a similar proportion of hits per query to that experienced by library catalog users: on average, 27% of the resources found by a sample of keyword queries on the AEI database would not have been found without the subject indexing, based on the Australian Thesaurus of Education Descriptors (ATED). The paper also discusses the methodological limitations of these studies, pointing out that real-life users might still find some of the resources missed by a particular query through follow-up searches, while additional resources might also be found through iterative searching on the subject vocabulary. The paper goes on to describe a new research design, based on a before-and-after experiment, which addresses some of these limitations. It is argued that this alternative design will provide a more realistic picture of the value that professionally assigned subject indexing and controlled subject vocabularies can add to literature searching of a more scholarly and thorough kind.


Various measures of binaural timing sensitivity were made in three bilateral cochlear implant users, who had demonstrated moderate-to-good interaural time delay (ITD) sensitivity at 100 pulses-per-second (pps). Overall, ITD thresholds increased at higher pulse rates, lower levels, and shorter durations, although intersubject differences were evident. Monaural rate-discrimination thresholds, using the same stimulation parameters, showed more substantial elevation than ITDs with increased rate. ITD sensitivity with 6000 pps stimuli, amplitude-modulated at 100 Hz, was similar to that with unmodulated pulse trains at 100 pps, but at 200 and 300 Hz performance was poorer than with unmodulated signals. Measures of sensitivity to binaural beats with unmodulated pulse-trains showed that all three subjects could use time-varying ITD cues at 100 pps, but not 300 pps, even though static ITD sensitivity was relatively unaffected over that range. The difference between static and dynamic ITD thresholds is discussed in terms of relative contributions from initial and later arriving cues, which was further examined in an experiment using two-pulse stimuli as a function of interpulse separation. In agreement with the binaural-beat data, findings from that experiment showed poor discrimination of ITDs on the second pulse when the interval between pulses was reduced to a few milliseconds.


In this paper superlinear dependence in the intensity–current characteristic, optical and temperature quenching of photocurrent and photoelectric memory in structures made on the basis of compensated 6H-SiC at room and high temperatures are reported. The maximal time of decreasing of the residual current was 5*104 s. With illumination by additional light with 0.62 μm wavelength and increasing of the applied voltage the value of residual current can be changed. The depth sensitivity centre is positioned at Ec -1.1eV and the cross section of captured holes on this centre is 10-21-10-22 cm2 based on our measurements.