This study deals with modelling the performance of an R134a automobile air conditioning (AAC) system by means of adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) approach. In order to gather data for developing the ANFIS model, an experimental AAC system employing a variable capacity swash plate compressor and a thermostatic expansion valve was set up and equipped with various instruments for mechanical measurements. The system was operated at steady state conditions while varying the compressor speed, dry bulb temperatures and relative humidity of the air streams entering the evaporator and condenser as well as the mean velocities of these air streams. Then, utilizing some of the experimental data, an ANFIS model for the system was developed. The model was used for predicting various performance parameters of the system including the air dry bulb temperature at the evaporator outlet, cooling capacity, coefficient of performance and the rate of total exergy destruction in the refrigeration circuit of the system. It was determined that the predictions usually agreed well with the experimental results with correlation coefficients in the range of 0.966–0.988 and mean relative errors in the range of 0.23–5.28%. The results reveal that the ANFIS approach can be used successfully for predicting the performance of AAC systems.


An analogy between damage inflicted by a single point hard particle impact and damage inflicted by inserting a flaw of known dimensions in a static tensile coupon is discussed. The results suggest that residual strength can be predicted as a function of kinetic energy of impact by executing two experiments, a static tensile test on an unflawed specimen and a static tensile test on a coupon previously subjected to a single point impact. The model appears to be accurate for impact velocities which are less than the penetration velocity. For velocities above complete penetration, the residual strength is identical to the static strength of a coupon with a hole having the same diameter as the impacting particle. Comparison of various materials indicates that the impact strength of composite materials is strongly influenced by the strain energy to failure of the reinforcement.L


This paper presents and analyzes test results of the single rate Three Color Marker (srTCM) algorithm middleware implementation. The srTCM, defined at the RFC 2697, basically performs traffic shaping through two token buckets and packet marking according to their traffic parameters. The test environment evaluates a client-server application performance in terms of bandwidth usage and data throughput when all client requests to the server are intercepted and the server output traffic controlled by the srTCM. The test results allowed a fine-tuning of the stTCM parameter configuration aiming bandwidth allocation fairness and better throughput average to individual data streams.


Chlortetracycline (CTC) is a broad-spectrum antibiotic used in veterinary medicine for pulmonary or digestive infections and having a regulatory maximum residue limit (MRL) necessitating an official analytical control method. The purpose of this study was to clarify the identification of different forms of CTC observed in standard solution, in spiked muscle samples and in naturally incurred muscle samples of pigs analysed by LC-MS/MS and to demonstrate the in vivo formation of 6-iso-chlortetracycline and 4-epi-6-iso-CTC as a metabolite of CTC and 4-epi-CTC in muscle. The six following forms were identified, all being isobaric with a protonated molecule at m/z 479 (precursor ion): the keto-enol forms of CTC and the keto-enol forms of 4-epi-chlortetracycline (4-epi-CTC), 6-iso-chlortetracycline (6-iso-CTC) and 4-epi-6-iso-chlortetracycline (4-epi-6-iso-CTC). The 6-iso-CTC and 4-epi-6-iso-CTC were observed only in incurred pig samples so were identified for the first time as metabolites of CTC and 4-epi-CTC. Identification of the different forms was obtained by comparing incurred muscle samples with standard solutions and with spiked samples. Then the differences between the features of the chromatograms obtained by LC-TQ-MS and the fragmentation study of the different forms of CTC obtained by LC-Q-TOF-MS helped us to support this identification. The extraction steps and the LC-MS/MS conditions developed to analyse muscle tissue samples are described. This clarification concerning the rigorous identification of chromatographic peaks allowed us to evaluate the relevance of our monitoring method with regard to the regulations in place in the European Union and could be of help to laboratories involved in official control of antibiotic residues in food of animal origin. Additional results are also presented highlighting the transformation of the CTC when prepared in a mixture with other antibiotics.


This research investigates the linguistic and material conditions which are currently shaping debate on sustainability and 'green architecture' in Nairobi, Kenya. Recently, there has been an ongoing discussion on sustainability and so-called 'green architecture' in Kenya. However, unsurprisingly, the discourse around sustainability is strongly influenced by theoretical concepts and legal regulations produced by and applied in Western Europe, the USA and Australia. This research argues that it is counteractive to discuss sustainable design without asking sustainable for who and by what means. Therefore, it explores the antagonistic relationship between contextual diversity and standardisation of the concept of sustainability within the built environment.

The current discourse depicts a disappointing lack of language, theoretical framework and cultural references embedded within the lives and common practices of Kenyans. Therefore, the need to develop context-based urban landscapes in and by Kenyans that are reflective of their contextual dynamics has not only become opportune but critical. The research argues that in order to construct a situated concept, there must be a critical understanding of contextual dynamics coupled with an appreciation of how these dynamics influence perceptions, assumptions, misconceptions and ultimately the articulation of this concept in the built environment. The research will engage with traces and examples of 'sustainable' practices both in popular discourse and in constructed artefacts (buildings, elements of infrastructure etc.) in order to propose a new (or very old) narrative of and for Kenya to face challenges of a dramatically changing climate and incoming ecological catastrophe.

Through a post- constructivist lens, the study adopted a grounded theory approach for data inquiry and analysis. Having gained an understanding of the context -Nairobi- through document analysis, exploratory focus group discussions with academia and industry stakeholders were conducted as a foundation for data collection. Subsequently, in- depth, interviews with key stakeholders in Nairobi's building industry were conducted. Finally, data collected from the antecedent methods informed the selection and the analysis criteria for four case building in Nairobi. Taking a grounded theory approach, the research entailed a cyclic continuous comparative analysis throughout the data collection and analysis stages in an attempt to establish emerging concepts, commonalities and variations among the cases and consequently generate theories on the construction of the concept of sustainable design in Nairobi.
The study established an intersection between knowledge construction, power, legitimacy and the discourse of sustainability demonstrating the hegemonic nature of western knowledge when imposed and applied on other contexts, in this case Nairobi. Overally, this study offers a critique of the universal perspective demonstrating the importance of context in the construction and understanding of the concept of sustainable design.


Current IaaS cloud providers typically adopt different underlying cloud infrastructures and are reluctant to provide consistent interfaces to facilitate cross-cloud interoperability. Such status quo significantly complicates inter-cloud virtual machine relocation and impedes the adoption of cloud services for more enterprises and individual users. In this paper, we propose vMocity, a middleware framework enabling VM relocation across heterogeneous IaaS clouds. vMocity extends the principles of cold migration and decouples VM's storage stack from their underlying virtualization platforms, which presents a homogeneous view of storage to cloud users. We deploy our prototype system across three representative commercial cloud platforms — Amazon EC2, Google Compute Engine, and VMware vSphere-based private cloud. Compared to existing approaches on both synthetic and real-world work-loads, vMocity can significantly reduce the disruption time, up to 27 times shorter, of relocated services and boost the recovery time, up to 1.8 times faster, to pre-relocation performance level. Our results demonstrate that vMocity is efficient and convenient for relocating VMs across clouds, offering freedom of choice to customers when facing a market of IaaS clouds to align with business objectives (cost, performance, service availability, etc.)


This paper explores popular perceptions of language, in particular linguistic prescription. It focuses not on formal acts of censorship such as might be carried out by a language academy, but on the attitudes and activities of ordinary people in, say, letters to newspapers or comments on radio. In these contexts, language users act as self-appointed censors and take it upon themselves to condemn those words and constructions that they feel do not measure up to the standards they perceive should hold sway. People's concerns about language and the kind of linguistic censorship and puristic activities that accompany them belong to our tabooing behaviour generally. Prescriptive practices are part of the human struggle to control unruly nature – in this case, to define language and to force the reality of 'the boundless chaos of a living speech' (as Samuel Johnson put it in his Preface) into neat classificatory systems. As with tabooing practices generally, linguistic purists see a very clear distinction between what is clean and what is dirty – in this case, what is desirable and undesirable in a language. Linguists who challenge these prescriptions are challenging their 'cherished classifications'. Small wonder there is often such a schism between linguistics and the wider community.


During the 2 last decades several studies have analysed the response of phytoplankton dynamics and benthic trophic webs to increasing anthropogenic eutrophic conditions in the Bay of Brest, France. The present project couples 2 models, a pelagic and a benthic one, to synthesise both these approaches to this ecosystem. This model shows that in spite of net carbon production being more than 10-fold lower than phytoplankton production benthic suspension feeders partly control the phytoplankton dynamics in the Bay. Computation of the nitrogen fluxes reveals the role of the benthic trophic chain in nutrient recycling. It is possible to show that an increase in nitrogen loading in the Bay would have limited consequences on the ecosystem, with the excess nitrogen being transferred to shelf waters without entering the trophic chain. The problem of toxic bloom events that can affect benthic suspension feeders, and consequently the total ecosystem, will have to be thoroughly studied.


Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) challenges the surgeon's skills due to his/her separation from the operation area, which can be reached with long instruments only. Therefore, the surgeon looses access to the manipulation forces inside the patient. This reduces his/her dexterity when performing the operation. A new compact and lightweight robot for MIS is presented, which allows for the measurement of manipulation forces. The main advantage of this concept is that no miniaturized force sensor has to be integrated into surgical instruments and inserted into the patient. Rather, outside the patient, a standard sensor is attached to a modified trocar, which allows for the undisturbed measurement of manipulation forces. This approach reduces costs and sterilizability demands. Results of in vitro and in vivo force control experiments are presented to validate the concepts


Abstract This essay provides a concept-history, a close examination, and a testing of the much invoked "sonata principle" (Edward T Cone, 1967-68), while also introducing a new, contrasting mode of analysis ("Sonata Theory") for sonata-form compositions from the decades around 1800. Within these compositions it was a common expectation that (nontonic) secondary- and closing-material from the exposition would normally be restated in the tonic in the corresponding place in the recapitulation. In mid- and late-twentieth-century English-language analysis (in response to shifting analytical paradigms), this expectation came to be inflated into differing recastings of a much freer, more encompassing "sonata principle" that, at least initially, was proposed to be the "unifying [and] underlying …… principle for the Classical style." Some of the attractions of this idea included its claims to midcentury academic sophistication, its protean flexibility, and its ability to provide quick solutions to otherwise "difficult" moments within highly regarded compositions. Anticipated by the caveats of other writers, this article calls attention to the principle9s limitations and the ways in which it has been imprecisely laid out or misapplied in influential writing. In a few comparative analyses I also present aspects of a more hermeneutically productive mode of analytical questioning "beyond the sonata principle."


Polyphenol-rich fruit and vegetable intake has been associated with reduction in platelet hyperactivity, a significant contributor to thrombus formation. This study was undertaken to investigate the possible role of hippuric acid, a predominant metabolite of plant cyclic polyols, phenolic acids and polyphenols, in reduction of platelet activation-related thrombogenesis. Fasting blood samples were collected from 13 healthy subjects to analyse the effect of varying concentrations of hippuric acid (100 μM, 200 μM, 500 μM, 1 mM and 2 mM) on activation-dependant platelet surface-marker expression. Procaspase activating compound-1 (PAC-1) and P-selectin/CD62P monoclonal antibodies were used to evaluate platelet activation-related conformational changes and α-granule release respectively using flow cytometry. Platelets were stimulated ex vivo via the P2Y1/P2Y12- adenosine diphosphate (ADP) pathway of platelet activation. Hippuric acid at a concentration of 1 mM and 2 mM significantly reduced P-selectin/CD62P expression (p = 0.03 and p < 0.001 respectively) induced by ADP. Hippuric acid at 2 mM concentration also inhibited PAC-1 activation-dependant antibody expression (p = 0.03). High ex vivo concentrations of hippuric acid can therefore significantly reduce P-selectin and PAC-1 expression thus reducing platelet activation and clotting potential. However, although up to 11 mM of hippuric acid can be excreted in the urine per day following consumption of fruit, hippuric acid is actively excreted with a recorded Cmax for hippuric acid in human plasma at 250-300 μM. This is lower than the blood concentration of 1-2 mM shown to be bioactive in this research. The contribution of hippuric acid to the protective effects of fruit and vegetable intake against vascular disorders by the pathways measured is therefore low but could be synergistic with lowered doses of antiplatelet drugs and help reduce risk of thrombosis in current antiplatelet drug sensitive populations.


The objectives of this research are (first) to know General election growth
as an implementation of democracy in Indonesia specially as an empirical
description of General Election since Parliamentary Era until Reformation Era
and as an assessment to know whether General election that was executed was
democratic or not. This assessment used many indicators as General election
order, General election organizer, General election contestant competition,
freedom of elector, and controlling of General election. Second, to know the
position of General election as Constitution implementation in Indonesia specially
from the aspect of General election growth in Constitution and also General
election law and causal factor of changing General election law in every General
election that is implemented in Indonesia. Third, to give solution in order to make
General election perfect in Indonesia governance system. This research use research method consist of normative law research that
having descriptive character by using law approach, political approach, historical
approach and comparability approach. Data in this research are secondary data
with library research as an instrument. The technique to analyse data use
qualitative method through categorize problems based on problems that is
researched by taking conclusion based on logical idea.
The result of this research indicate that General election is fluctuative. The
General Election in the Parliamentary Democracy Era is democratic, The General
election in Guided Democracy Era is not implementated, The General Election in
New Order Era is undemocratic and The General election in Reformation Era is
democratic. The growth of General election as Constitution implementation in
Indonesia experiences a significant growth since Constitution of 1945,
Constitution of 1949, Constitution of 1950 until amandement Constitution
(reformation era). In General election law there are items that need to be
defended, to be vanished and to be corrected. The basic reasons of changing
General election law consist of law aspect, political aspect and sociological
aspect. Small part of solution General election in governance system for
Indonesian future (postscriptum) are necessity in improvement of General election
democratization, necessity in repairing of General election in Constitution and
General election law.
Keyword: General election, constitution and democracy


Neurons derived from human induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (hiPSCs) provide a promising new tool for studying neurological disorders. In the past decade, many protocols for differentiating hiPSCs into neurons have been developed. However, these protocols are often slow with high variability, low reproducibility, and low efficiency. In addition, the neurons obtained with these protocols are often immature and lack adequate functional activity both at the single-cell and network levels unless the neurons are cultured for several months. Partially due to these limitations, the functional properties of hiPSC-derived neuronal networks are still not well characterized. Here, we adapt a recently published protocol that describes production of human neurons from hiPSCs by forced expression of the transcription factor neurogenin-212. This protocol is rapid (yielding mature neurons within 3 weeks) and efficient, with nearly 100% conversion efficiency of transduced cells (>95% of DAPI-positive cells are MAP2 positive). Furthermore, the protocol yields a homogeneous population of excitatory neurons that would allow the investigation of cell-type specific contributions to neurological disorders. We modified the original protocol by generating stably transduced hiPSC cells, giving us explicit control over the total number of neurons. These cells are then used to generate hiPSC-derived neuronal networks on micro-electrode arrays. In this way, the spontaneous electrophysiological activity of hiPSC-derived neuronal networks can be measured and characterized, while retaining interexperimental consistency in terms of cell density. The presented protocol is broadly applicable, especially for mechanistic and pharmacological studies on human neuronal networks.


Abstract. A coral-rubble ridge fringes part of the north shore of Anegada, a low-lying island in the northern Caribbean. Both historical reports and the geological record underline its vulnerability to tsunami and hurricanes. In this study we document the sedimentary characteristics of a coral-rubble ridge, which extends discontinuously along 1.5–1.8 km of chiefly north-facing shores at Soldier Wash. The ridge is less distinctive and appears only in patches along the west-facing shoreline at Windless Bight, where the wave regime is calmer. It is located ca. 8 m from the fair-weather shore, has a maximum width of 15 m and a maximum thickness of 0.8 m. The lower seaward-facing slope of the ridge is relatively flat, probably due to successive reworking, whereas the upper seaward slope is steep and partly displays avalanching faces. The landward flank is gently sloping and terminates abruptly. The ridge is mainly composed of well-rounded, encrusted and bored coral rubble (average diameter of 16 cm) that has been reworked in the shallow marine environment prior to transport. Only a few pieces of angular beach rock and karstified Pleistocene limestone are incorporated. The components build a clast-supported framework. No sand is present in the interstices. Imbrication of flat clasts indicates a deposition during landward bed load transport. The ridge morphology, composition and related hydrodynamic conditions during its emplacement are typical for coral-rubble ridges deposited by hurricane-induced storm surges. In comparison, nearby evidence for tsunami inundation is very different because the tsunami-transported coral boulders on Anegada are much bigger (2 m) than the biggest components in the ridge, they are deposited much farther inland (up to 1.5 km), and the corals seem to have been freshly broken out of the reef by the tsunami. The age of the ridge is difficult to estimate. The dark grey surface of the ridge is caused by bioweathering by endolithic organisms that takes tens of years and may give a very rough estimate of the minimum age of the ridge. Storms and related surges that built the ridge were likely stronger than 2010 hurricane Earl, which attained category 4 north of the island. Earl was able to slightly rework the lower seaward part of the ridge, but transported only few and smaller pieces of coral rubble and sand onshore. Therefore, the coral-rubble ridge found at the north shore of Anegada may imply that the island is vulnerable to hurricane-induced surges of greater impact (in relation to storm path and intensity) compared with the any of the recently documented storms which were only able to rework the ridge.


The ionization process of B2+ by H+ impact is studied using the continuum-distorted-wave eikonal-initial-state (CDW-EIS) method and the modified free electron peak approximation (M-FEPA), respectively. Total, single-, and double-differential cross sections from 1s and 2s orbitals are presented for the energy range from 10 keV/u to 10 MeV/u. Comparison between the results from the two methods demonstrates that the total and single-differential cross sections for the high-energy incident projectile case can be well evaluated using the simple M-FEPA model. Moreover, the M-FEPA model reproduces the essential features of the binary-encounter (BE) bump in the double-differential cross sections. Thus, the BE ionization mechanism is discussed in detail by adopting the M-FEPA model. In particular, the double- and singledifferential cross sections from the 2s orbital show a high-energy hip, which is different from those from the 1s orbital. Based on Ref. [1], the Compton profiles of B2+ for 1s and 2s orbitals are given, and the hips in DDCS and SDCS from the 2s orbital are explained.


This paper develops and simulates a model of the emergence of networks in an interbank, RTGS payment system. A number of banks, faced with random streams of payment orders, choose whether to link directly to the payment system, or to use a correspondent bank. Settling payments directly on the system imposes liquidity costs which depend on the maximum liquidity overdraft incurred during the day. On the other hand, using a correspondent entails paying a flat fee, charged by the correspondent to recoup liquidity costs and to extract a profit. We specify a protocol whereby one bank in each period can revisit its choice whether to link directly to the system, or to become clients of other banks, thus generating a dynamic client-correspondent network. We simulate this protocol, observing the emergence of different network structures. The liquidity pricing regime chosen by a central bank is found to affect the tiering process and the network structures it produces. A calibration exercise on data from the UK CHAPS system suggests that the model is able to generate realistic predictions, ie a network topology similar to that observed in reality, driven solely by the underlying pattern of payments and the structure of liquidity costs.


The serum concentrations of the total thyroxine-binding globulin (TBGt), its pregnancy-associated molecular variant (TBG-1), thyroxine, progesterone, estradiol, and prolactin were measured by radioimmunoassay in the course of the postpartum period (0-40 days) in women. High serum TBG-1 concentrations (an average of 36% of the level observed at the time of delivery) were unexpectedly detected in the late postpartum period (days 36-40) when the concentrations of TBGt, thyroxine, estradiol and progesterone were within normal. The presence of TBG-1 in the maternal blood for a long time after delivery may be caused by estrogen-dependent synthesis and secretion rather than by its slow clearance from the blood.


In the mammalian heart, the action potential spontaneously generated in the sinoatrial (SA) node propagates through the atria to reach the atrioventricular (AV) node. As the only conduction pathway between the atria and ventricles, the AV node functions to delay and regulate action potential conduction between the atria and ventricles. Since Tawara described the anatomical and morphological characteristics of the AV node in 1906, it has been difficult to correlate electrophysiological recordings with distinct cell types and the three dimensional
structure of the AV node due to the exceptional functional and architectural complexity of this region. The cardiac voltage-gated Na+ channel isoform (Na1.5) is known to play a major role in the generation and conduction of the action potential in the heart. Recently, various mutations of
Na, 1.5 responsible for AV conduction block and Na,, 1.5+/- mice with impaired AV conduction have been reported. Various neuronal Na' channel isoforms have also been shown to be expressed in the heart (mouse ventricular myocytes and rat and mouse SA node) and to be functionally important. The distribution of neuronal Na channel isoforms in the AV node is unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the distribution of cardiac and neuronal Na'channel isoforms in and around the AV node.

The nodal cell region was identified by Masson's trichrome staining and confocal microscopy with immunohistochemical markers, such as connexin43 (Cx43), desmoplakin(DP), atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and the type 4 hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated cation (HCN) channel. The unique pattern of expression in the nodal cell region (DP-positive/Cx43-negative/ANP-negative/HCN4-positive) allowed it to be distinguished from the surrounding working myocardium (DP-positive/Cx43-positive/HCN4-negative).

I have investigated the expression of Na,1.5 and other Na+ channel isoforms in rat AV node. Na1.1 was distributed in a similar manner to Na1.5, Na1.2 was not detected. Na1.3
labelling was restricted to nerve fibres and nerve cell bodies and was not detected in myocytes.Na1.3 labelling was abundant in the enclosed node and the common bundle, but much less abundant in other regions. Na1.4, the skeletal isoform, was not studied. Na1.5 labelling was present in atrial and ventricular myocardium and the left bundle branch (right not studied). However, Na1.5 labelling was absent in the open node, the enclosed node and the common
bundle, but present at a reduced level in the posterior nodal extension, transitional cells and AV ring bundle. Na 1.6 was not detected.

The study has revealed a complex organisation of three different myocyte types at the AV junction (including the tricuspid annulus). Impaired AV conduction as a result of mutations in or loss of Na1.5 must be the result of impaired conduction in the AV node inputs (posterior
nodal extension and transitional cells) or output (bundle branch) rather than the AV node itself (open and enclosed nodes).


This paper attempts to dissect the effect of the immunity granted to MINUSCA and MONUSCO peacekeeping military personnel on their accountability (or lack thereof) for the abuse of civilians contrary to their duty to protect the said civilians. It is argued that accountability, because of its deterrent effect, is necessary to prevent the abuse of civilians by peacekeeping military personnel and thus is a necessary condition for the achievement of the mandate of the peacekeeping missions in light of the human security concept. As such, this paper analyses the extent to which the lack of accountability for the abuse of civilians by peacekeeping soldiers is as a result of the immunity granted to them and in light of this, interrogates this immunity. It does so by analysing the cases of abuse of civilians by the peacekeeping soldiers and the relationship between the accountability (and lack thereof) for such acts and the immunity granted to the peacekeeping military personnel. In light of this, it is concluded that the immunity granted to peacekeeping soldiers negatively affects their accountability for the abuse of civilians to the extent that (i) it subjects the investigation to the legal systems of the troop contributing countries, which are often inadequate, (ii) it compromises the collection of evidence, and (iii) it compromises the impartiality of the process. It is also established that this immunity is indispensable to the UN peacekeeping model and thus it cannot be waived. Therefore, it is recommended that any measures taken to foster accountability of the soldiers for abuse of civilians cannot include the waiver of the immunity. Instead, any such measure must examine and address the 3 factors that make immunity problematic in holding peacekeeping soldiers accountable for abuse of civilians.


Electroporation entails brief, high intensity pulse to create transient pores in the cell membrane to facilitate the entry of exogenous macromolecules, which may otherwise be excluded. Removal of the external field leads to the resealing of the membrane electropores permitting the survival of the electrically stimulated recipient cells. Using this technique foreign deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) has been successfully introduced into many cell types both from prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Increase in pulse voltage and length beyond a critical limit has been reported to decrease transformation efficiency, hence in this study we have investigated another strategy i.e. increase in the number of pulses at constant high voltage and pulse duration. Commonly used Agrobacterium strains LBA4404 and EHA101 and binary vector pCAMBIA1301 were used. Transformants were selected on a combination of hygromycin and kanamycin, and confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction analysis. Increase in the number of pulses was found to show a significant and linear increase in transformation efficiency.


Abstract Laboratory-reared southern and field-collected northern strains of plum curculio, Conotrachelus nenuphar (Herbst), were sampled to examine the relationship between degree-day (DD) accumulation and female reproductive development, as measured by mating status, oocyte size, and number of oocytes. The overall goal was to generate an objective degree-day model for predicting damage potential that could be applied to various host commodities rather than relying on separate biofix models for each crop. Adult beetles were dissected to measure mating status, maximum oocyte size, and number of oocytes. Southern strain beetles reared at 25°C initiated mating 9 d after eclosion and did not require mating to induce oocyte development. By 20 d posteclosion, unmated females had significantly higher egg loads compared with mated females of the same age. Logistic regression analysis suggests that southern and northern strain beetles had a stable maximum oocyte length of 62 and 72 μm, respectively. Northern strain females mated after overwintering; with ≈95% of the female population mated after 134 DD (base 10°C), which is before fruit set in many host crops. Oocyte size was the only measured parameter of field reproductive progress that could be linked with confidence to degree-day accumulation. The other two parameters do not share an exclusive relationship with degree-days. Rapid assessment of field-caught female reproductive status could assist in determining the potential for plum curculio damage in high-value commodities and allow for more informed control decisions.


Thousands of tonnes of litter enter the ocean every day, posing a significant threat to marine life and ecosystems. While floating and beach litter are often in the spotlight, about 70% of marine litter eventually sinks to the seafloor, making underwater litter the largest accumulation of marine litter that often goes undetected. Plastic debris makes up the majority of ocean litter and is a known source of microplastics in the ocean. This paper focuses on the detection of ocean plastic using neural network models. Two neural network models will be trained, i.e., YOLACT and the Mask R-CNN, for the instance segmentation of underwater litter in images. The models are trained on the TrashCAN dataset, using pre-trained model weights trained using COCO. The trained neural network could achieve a mean average precision (mAP) of 0.377 and 0.365 for the Mask R-CNN and YOLACT, respectively. The lightweight nature of YOLACT allows it to detect images at up to six times the speed of the Mask R-CNN, while only making a comparatively smaller trade-off in terms of performance. This allows for two separate applications: YOLACT for the collection of litter using autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and the Mask R-CNN for surveying litter distribution.


Near Field Communication (NFC) shows potential in multiple areas like payment, identification, transport, etc. To enable these features to a larger group of users, NFC-capability is nowadays integrated in mobile devices like smart phones. This integration unfortunately leads to an increase of the device's battery drain because the transponder is powered by the provided magnetic field of the mobile device. To decrease this drain, power-management techniques like magnetic field strength scaling are used. Through this scaling the power transfer can be reduced to the transponder's required level. The challenge of this technique is to dynamically adapt the magnetic field strength to physical relation changes of the transponder even during communication. Without this adaption, scaling down the field can lead to the transponder's undersupply or energy is wasted through oversupply. This paper proposes a method, named NFC-DynFS, to realize this adaption and to proper scale the magnetic field strength. In a case study a system, to read digital business cards using NFC-DynFS, is simulated and implemented on real hardware. The power consumption results are evaluated and compared to implementations without NFC-DynFS. Furthermore, possible undersupplies of the transponder are investigated. It can be shown that, compared to implementations without field strength scaling, approximately 26% of the energy can be saved and an undersupply of the transponder can be avoided, until the reader's power transmission limit is reached.


A companding-based transformation method is introduced to quasi-maximum-likelihood (ML) detectors, such as the QR-decomposition-based M-algorithm (QRD-M) and list sphere decoding, for coded multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) systems in this paper. The key idea of the proposed companding technique is to compress (i.e., down-weight) the dubious observation of the accumulated branch metric by taking into account its statistical characteristics so that, after companding, the estimation error of the unreliable detected information bits due to insufficient candidate size and/or channel estimation error is significantly mitigated without disproportionate compromise of the reliable information bits. By employing the proposed companding method, the original leptokurtically distributed log-likelihood ratio of the detected information bits becomes more Gaussian distributed. As an illustrative example, the QRD-M detector is employed in this paper. Numerical results show that the QRD-M detector based on the proposed companding paradigm achieves significant performance gain over the conventional method and approaches the performance of the ML detector for a 16-ary quadrature-amplitude-modulated (16-QAM) 4×4 MIMO multiplexing system with lower-than-linear-detector computational complexity.


Fluorescence characteristics of jet-cooled acetaldehyde at zero field is confirmed to change from the small molecule behavior to the statistical limit behavior in CH3CHO and to the intermediate case in CD3CDO, as the excitation energy increases across the dissociation threshold located below 320 nm. The excitation energy dependence both of the intensity and of the lifetime of the slow fluorescence shows that the dissociation rate becomes faster abruptly with increasing excess energy above the threshold, and the excess energy dependence above the threshold seems to be more drastic in CH3CHO than in CD3CDO. External magnetic field as well as the dissociation in the triplet state plays a role to increase the level density of the triplet state coupled to S1. On excitation below the dissociation threshold, the magnetic quenching of fluorescence becomes more efficient with increasing excess energy and the efficiency of the quenching is larger in CD3CDO than that in CH3CHO by a factor of about 2. On excitation above the threshold, however, the efficiency becomes lower with increasing excitation energy. Thus, the magnetic field effects on fluorescence also change drastically across the dissociation threshold.


Vivid representations are often made by traumatic events with intense emotions. The emotions may be activated automatically from memory on the mere exposure of an affect-loaded stimulus. The aims of this study were to investigate the implicit emotional processing of traumatic events and the moderation of priming by semantic level of the events, using primed naming task at short stimulus onset asynchrony (150ms). A 3 semantic level of traumatic primed events (general, domestic, or foreign words) by 3 target emotions (high-arousal negative, moderate positive, low-arousal negative words) repeated design was used. When the primed words were general (e.g. terror) or domestic (e.g. Sewol ferry disaster) events, response time of high-arousal negative words (e.g. fear or angry) were significantly longer than other emotion words (e.g. happy or sadness). Our findings suggest contrast effects of affective priming as a result of automatic implicit regulation.


This paper describes a dam break experiment on a sloped channel, carried out in a hydraulic flume at UCL for the purpose of computer model validations of extreme events, such as flash floods. An elevated reservoir was situated upstream followed by a 1/20 slope leading up to a flat floodplain. Plexiglas blocks were positioned on the floodplain constituting different urban settlements and creating different obstructions to the flow. The flume was instrumented along its length measuring the change in water depth in the reservoir; the water depth time histories in various locations; the flow patterns and flood front velocity; and lastly the pressure and load on the buildings. The experiments were repeated for different urban settlements, flood intensities (two different initial water depths in the reservoir) and roughness layers along the slope, representative of a vegetated and a non-vegetated hill. In the present study, the experimental results were described qualitatively and compared with theoretical processes and 2D numerical results obtained using OpenFOAM's RAS turbulent model. Water depth, velocity and load measurements were analysed for different cases and it was found that while the 2D model provided a good fit on the slope, the flows generated around the building were more complex 3D formations which lead to inaccuracies. All experiments were repeated multiple times to ensure repeatability and thus the procedure was validated successfully providing a complete dataset that can be used for the validation of computational models for extreme events.


This primer is one in a series of Operational Policy documents being developed by GeoConnections. It is intended to inform Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI) stakeholders about the nature and scope of digital geospatial data archiving and preservation and the realities, challenges and good practices of related operational policies.Burgeoning growth of online geospatial applications and the deluge of data, combined with the growing complexity of archiving and preserving digital data, has revealed a significant gap in the operational policy coverage for the Canadian geospatial data infrastructure (CGDI). Currently there is no commonly accepted guidance for CGDI stakeholders wishing or mandated to preserve their geospatial data assets for long-term access and use. More specifically, there is little or no guidance available to inform operational policy decisions on how to manage, preserve and provide access to a digital geospatial data collection. The preservation of geospatial data over a period of time is especially important when datasets are required to inform modeling applications such as climate change impact predictions, flood forecasts and land use management. Furthermore, data custodians may have both a legal and moral responsibility to implement effective archiving and preservation programs. Based on research and analysis of the Canadian legislative framework and current international practices in digital data archiving and preservation, this primer provides guidance on the factors to be considered and the steps to be taken in planning and implementing a data archiving and preservation program. It describes an approach to establishing a geospatial data archives based on good practices from the literature and Canadian case studies. This primer will provide CGDI stakeholders with information on how to incorporate archiving and preservation considerations into an effective data management process that covers the entire life cycle (DCC, 2013) (LAC, 2006) of their geospatial data assets (i.e., creation and receipt, distribution, use, maintenance, and disposition). It is intended to inform CGDI stakeholders on the importance of long term data preservation, and provide them with the information and tools required to make policy decisions for creating an archives and preserving digital geospatial data.This primer also discusses legal topics, current at the time of publication, for general informational purposes only. It builds on the GeoConnections Research and Analysis Report: Geospatial Data Archiving and Preservation (HAL, 2011). Material found in this primer may not apply to all jurisdictions. GeoConnections is not responsible for the use of any materials or contents of the primer. The contents of this primer do not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as such.


Background. Full-spectrum fluorescent lighting (FSFL) has been credited with causing dramatic beneficial effects on a wide variety of behaviours, mental health outcomes and physical health effects, as compared to other fluorescent lamp types. These effects are hypothesized to occur because of similarity between FSFL emissions and daylight, which is said to have evolutionary superiority over other light sources. Method. This review, covering the period 1941–1999, critically considers the evidence for direct effects of FSFL through skin absorption as well as indirect effects on hormonal and neural processes. Conclusions. Overall, the evidence does not show dramatic effects of fluorescent lamp type on behaviour or health, neither does it support the evolutionary hypothesis.


In recent years, the importance of concurrent programming has increased. However, many programmers are not appropriately trained to write correct and efficient concurrent programs. The techniques that most Operating Systems (OS) textbooks teach are ad-hoc, and such ad-hoc techniques are far too error-prone for solving complex synchronization problems. The global invariant approach developed by G. Andrews is much more formal and structured, and we have been teaching this approach since 1992 at Kansas State University. One possible drawback of the invariant approach is the difficulty to identify an appropriate invariant for a given synchronization requirement. To cope with this problem, we have developed a set of useful synchronization patterns and their solution invariants. Using the patterns, we can solve a wide-variety of synchronization problems found in many advanced OS textbooks. In Fall 2001, we successfully taught our pattern-based approach in our graduate-level OS course. In this paper, we will present our methodology and report qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the methodology by students in the classroom setting.


We study a problem of quick detection of top-k Personalized PageRank lists. This problem has a number of important applications such as finding local cuts in large graphs, estimation of similarity distance and name disambiguation. In particular, we apply our results to construct efficient algorithms for the person name disambiguation problem. We argue that when finding top-k Personalized PageRank lists two observations are important. Firstly, it is crucial that we detect fast the top-k most important neighbours of a node, while the exact order in the top-k list as well as the exact values of PageRank are by far not so crucial. Secondly, a little number of wrong elements in top-k lists do not really degrade the quality of top-k lists, but it can lead to significant computational saving. Based on these two key observations we propose Monte Carlo methods for fast detection of top-k Personalized PageRank lists. We provide performance evaluation of the proposed methods and supply stopping criteria. Then, we apply the methods to the person name disambiguation problem. The developed algorithm for the person name disambiguation problem has achieved the second place in the WePS 2010 competition.


Darwin Harbour, in Australia's Northern Territory, is reported to have seven Catalina Flying Boats that were lost during and shortly after World War Two. Five have been found, but their identification remains a puzzle. This thesis tests if a combined historical and archaeological study can identify the wreck sites and link history to otherwise amorphous assemblages on the harbour floor. This is the first study in Australia of an emergining science called aviation archaeology, which challenges previous attitudes and practices regarding aircraft wreck sites. The United States Navy lost three Catalinas on 19 February 1942. The RAAF are reported to have lost four throughout 1945. The US Navy Catalinas were, hence, early types, whereas the RAAF had lost more advanced machines. This thesis examines the attributes of the different types of Catalinas that were lost and determines if this is a viable method for identifying the wreck sites. The historical record relating to the Darwin Harbour Catalina losses is compiled and analysed for clues in the identification of the archaeological material found on the wreck sites today. This searching, prior to undertaking wreck inspections, has uncovered new information regarding the fate of one RAAF Catalinas that forces archaeologists and historians to re-evaluate the events that occurred in Darwin Harbour during World War Two. In this thesis the assemblages on the harbour floor are linked to their individual histories. This has implications for their management as important places in the Northern Territory. The wreck sites represent the only tangible remains of the recent, but now forgotten Flying Boat history of the Northern Territory. They are an important archaeological resource and their condition suggests that they are also rare. The results of this thesis, furthermore, suggests how the wreck sites can be managed and argues why they should be recognised as heritage places under the Northern Territory Heritage Conservation Act 1991 (NTG 1991). The ultimate outcome ofthis thesis, however, is that this research will act as a starting point for the closure to the Catalina puzzle, by identifying the places where important events happened and in particular, where two RAAF fatalities occurred. This indicates that the place (wreck site) were death occurs is equally important to relatives as where the bodies are buried.


A novel technology is studied in this paper to make photosensitive resin grinding wheel based on layered manufacturing technology. The bond strength among resin layers is analyzed. An effective measure is proposed to improve the bond strength among resin layers of the grinding wheel. We add magnetic abrasive particles into the liquid resin to get rough surface and increase contact area by action of magnetic force. Some experiments are curried out for testing shear strength of resin with magnetic abrasive under different conditions. Results show that this method had a significant effect in improving the bond strength among layers of new grinding wheel.


The two major applications of microwave remote sensors are radiometer and radar. Lots of researches have been conducted on the various aspects of radiometer and radar but internal logical design is mostly ignored by researchers because of its digital logic and complex nature. This paper focus on radiometer from a design point of view and a low noise amplifier is designed and proved mathematically to ensure the high performance and working. The paper is based on a study of radio frequency communications and engineering, as well as an understanding of the radio frequency (RF) circuits. Moreover, practical implementation and performance analysis of low noise amplifier for radiometer is also discussed in this paper. Scientifically, the paper is divided into two parts. In the first part, some background study about the radiometer and its types was carried out so that a basic understanding can be developed by the reader. And in the second part low noise amplifier (LNA) for the radiometer was designed.


Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are acid suppressants, which can effectively control gastric acid secretion through inhibiting the H+/K+ ATPase of parietal cells. In recent years, PPIs are extensively prescribed in patients with liver cirrhosis. The impact of PPIs in such patients is controversial. Helicobacter pylori eradication and reduction of endoscopic treatment related complications are the potential benefits of PPIs in liver cirrhosis. By contrast, bone fracture, clostridium difficile infection (CDI), spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP), and hepatic encephalopathy (HE) are the potential harms of PPIs in liver cirrhosis. Further, prospective studies are required to refine the special indications and contra-indications for PPIs in cirrhotic patients.


The tolerance of Perna viridis to a high inorganic mercury (Hg) exposure was determined based on its accumulation, depuration and distribution. The Hg accumulation of the mussel was conducted for a 4-day semi-static exposure at a 'very' high Hg concentration (100 ig/L). None of the mussels died after the experimental period, indicating that the elevated level of inorganic Hg exposure was not toxic to P. viridis. Following the 4-day exposure, the Hg concentrations were higher in the gill and byssus than in the mantle, foot, gonad and muscle (with bioconcentration factor values being between 13 and 625). The Hg distribution among the different soft tissues after 11 days of depuration was almost similar with that after Hg exposure. The high Hg levels found in the byssus and different soft tissues after the depuration indicated that Hg accumulated in the different ST was tightly bound to metallothionein and it was not easily mobilized. The Hg distribution in the byssus and in the different soft tissues could be due to their differing capacities for Hg accumulation and depuration. Since the soft tissues of P. viridis can accumulate inorganic Hg in high concentrations after exposing to a 'very' high level of inorganic Hg, it has a high bioaccumulative capability and a high tolerance to inorganic Hg. The mussel byssus was found to have the highest depuration rate coefficient, indicating that it could act as one of the excretion routes for Hg and it can be proposed as a sensitive biomonitoring material for Hg. The fecal materials released by the mussel had elevated levels of Hg, indicating that the mussels acted as a Hg retention mechanism in the coastal ecosystem.


Abstract. In 1982, the red tide caused by Cochlodimium polykrikodies occurred at first in Jinhae Bay in Korea. Since then, it causes serious fisheries damage every year. In 2018, red tide occurred when high water temperature. We analyzed red tide occurrence pattern when high water temperature. Red tide occurrence date, occurrence area caused by the Cochlodinium polykrikoides were used provided by National Institute of Fisheries Science. SST data were used the GHRSST Level 4 OSTIA data provided by NOAA. The red tide occurred July 14 to September 2 in 2013, July 29 to October 4 in 2014, August 5 to September 23 in 2015, and July 23 to August 8 in 2018 in Korea. The nearest SST data from the red tide occurrence area were extracted. When red tide occurred, SST was 22~28 °C in 2013, 23~25 °C in 2014, 21~27 °C in 2015, 26~28 °C in 2018. SST in 2013 was increasing trend and 2015 was downward trend. SST in 2018 occurred at high water temperatures above 25 °C. The spatial pattern by using the self-organizing map (3x3 map), node 4 was the highest frequency (16.9%). It is considered that it appears at the beginning and end of red tide occurrence. Node 1 was 16.3% frequency, it showed at the end of 2014 and 2015. SST of node 1 and 4 maintained 22~23 °C on the southern sea of Korea. Node 9 was 13.9%, which is the late 2013 and 2018. Node 9 showed high temperature pattern of more than 26 °C in the southern sea of Korea.


Applications exhibiting irregular behavior through poor memory locality have been a constant challenge for high-performance computing. Architectures supporting hardware multithreading (e.g. Tera MTA and Cray XMT) have been shown to deliver superior performance on such applications by masking memory latency. FPGAs have outperformed traditional architectures on applications that exhibit very large spatial locality and where the data can be streamed through a pre-configured hardware accelerator customized for that application. However, hardware multithreading can be implemented on FPGAs when the memory system can support multiple outstanding memory requests. CHAT (Custom Hardware Accelerated Threads) is a compiler effort targeting the generation of multithreaded hardware on FPGAs for irregular applications. In this paper we explore the multithreaded implementation of SpMV (Sparse Matrix Vector) multiplication on the Convey HC-2ex. Our design uses multiple Computation Engines (CEs) that are supplied workloads from a single management unit. Each job is for an individual row of the matrix, dynamically assigned as engines become available. This approach efficiently copes with matrices exhibiting both high and low row size variances. The CEs use multiple outstanding memory requests to mask the long latencies, and they can handle multiple jobs in parallel to ensure sufficient memory requests. Experimental evaluation on the HC-2ex shows that our approach sustains 80% of the peak memory throughout, and scales linearly up to three on the four FPGAs. After which memory bottlenecks reduce the sustained throughput to 75% of the peak.


ABSTRACT Rare, parasitic plants pose an interesting challenge to restoration practitioners. In addition to the problems associated with small population size, rare parasites may also be limited by their host requirements. We examined how the performance of a rare Pacific Northwest hemiparasite, Castilleja levisecta, was affected by the availability of different host combinations in the greenhouse and in the field. Castilleja levisecta individuals were grown with two individuals of the grass Festuca roemeri, two individuals of the aster Eriophyllum lanatum, one individual of each of these species (a "mixed" treatment), or without any host. We did not find support for the complimentary diet hypothesis, which predicts that parasites grown with multiple host species perform better than individuals grown alone or with a single host. In the greenhouse, C. levisecta individuals grown in the mixed treatment had greater stem growth than those planted with F. roemeri, but did not differ from E. lanatum or no-host treatments. In the field, vole activity had indirect effects on C. levisecta survival mediated through host species: vole tunneling and C. levisecta mortality were strongly associated with host treatments including E. lanatum. Vole tunneling and C. levisecta mortality were strongly associated with host treatments including E. lanatum. Field survival of no-host and F. roemeri treatments were significantly higher than those grown with E. lanatum. Our results emphasize the importance of basing conservation decisions on experimental research conducted under conditions similar to those of the intended application, as greenhouse results were a poor predictor of field performance. For restoration of endangered hemiparasitic plants, we recommend planting with hosts that are not attractive to herbivores.


Perforated plates and shells with variously shaped cutout are often used in engineering structures. Despite the importance of the effects of cutout on the load-bearing capacity and stress concentration of such plates little research has focused on stress analysis of plates with special shaped cutout. This study investigates problems associated with the maximum stresses in perforated composite plates with quasi-square shaped cutouts. Analytical solution based on Lekhnitskii's theory of anisotropic plate is utilized for stress analysis of composite plates with central square shaped cutout. The solution is capable of considering large variety of cutout shapes and loading conditions analytically. Parametric studies were conducted to investigate the effects of variation in cutout bluntness and orientation, material properties, and loading direction on the location and the value of the maximum stress in a flat composite plate subjected uni-axial tension load. Based on results presented herein, the maximum normalized stress of perforated composite plates can be significantly changed by using proper combination of material properties, fiber orientation, loading angle, cutout bluntness, and orientation.


Computer Vision and Multimedia solutions are now offering an increasing number of applications ready for use by end users in everyday life. Many of these applications are centered for detection, representation, and analysis of face and body. Methods based on 2D images and videos are the most widespread, but there is a recent trend that successfully extends the study to 3D human data as acquired by a new generation of 3D acquisition devices. Based on these premises, in this survey, we provide an overview on the newly designed techniques that exploit 3D human data and also prospect the most promising current and future research directions. In particular, we first propose a taxonomy of the representation methods, distinguishing between spatial and temporal modeling of the data. Then, we focus on the analysis and recognition of 3D humans from 3D static and dynamic data, considering many applications for body and face.


Abstract. Using numerical models which require large meteorological data sets is sometimes difficult and problems can often be traced back to the Input/Output functionality. Complex models are usually developed by the environmental sciences community with a focus on the core modelling issues. As a consequence, the I/O routines that are costly to properly implement are often error-prone, lacking flexibility and robustness. With the increasing use of such models in operational applications, this situation ceases to be simply uncomfortable and becomes a major issue. The MeteoIO library has been designed for the specific needs of numerical models that require meteorological data. The whole task of data preprocessing has been delegated to this library, namely retrieving, filtering and resampling the data if necessary as well as providing spatial interpolations and parameterizations. The focus has been to design an Application Programming Interface (API) that (i) provides a uniform interface to meteorological data in the models, (ii) hides the complexity of the processing taking place, and (iii) guarantees a robust behaviour in the case of format errors, erroneous or missing data. Moreover, in an operational context, this error handling should avoid unnecessary interruptions in the simulation process. A strong emphasis has been put on simplicity and modularity in order to make it extremely easy to support new data formats or protocols and to allow contributors with diverse backgrounds to participate. This library is also regularly evaluated for computing performance and further optimized where necessary. Finally, it is released under an Open Source license and is available at http://models.slf.ch/p/meteoio . This paper gives an overview of the MeteoIO library from the point of view of conceptual design, architecture, features and computational performance. A scientific evaluation of the produced results is not given here since the scientific algorithms that are used have already been published elsewhere.


Drugs, says psychiatrist Thomas Szasz, have taken over the lead role from sex in the "the grand morality play of human existence."1 "No longer," says Szasz, "are men, women, and children tempted, corrupted, and ruined by the irresistibly sweet pleasures of sex; instead, they are tempted, corrupted, and ruined by the irresistibly sweet pleasures of drugs." Because dealing with drugs is viewed as a moral problem, politicians tend to compete in their zeal to banish the evil from the kingdom. Those who talk of legalisation are dismissed as mavericks, and whipped back into line. The British government's drug strategy for the next three years states baldly "There will be no legalisation of any currently controlled drugs."2 But some legalisation would help.

The politicians fighting the jihad against drugs want to obliterate the enemy. They, of course, make an exception for legal drugs like alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine; indeed, the British government last week recommended tee totallers to take up drinking alcohol for the good of their health.3 Yet a world devoid of drugs seems as unlikely as a world devoid of poverty and sin. Thomas Sydenham observed 300 years ago that "Among the remedies which it has pleased Almighty God to give to man to relieve his sufferings, none is so universal and so efficacious as opium" (4); and Aldous Huxley wrote "That humanity at large will ever be able to dispense with Artificial Paradises seems very unlikely. Most men and women lead lives at the worst so painful, at the best so …


The DMX process is a second-generation CO2 capture process using a phase change solvent. The development of this process including lab scale and minipilot experimentation has been carried out by IFPEN within different projects such as OCTAVIUS & VALORCO. These studies highlighted the main advantages of the DMX process : high cyclic solvent capacity (from 0.1 to 1 mol CO2/mol solvent), low heat required for regeneration (less than 2.3 GJ/tCO2 for 90 % capture rate), high CO2 purity, no degradation of the solvent (up to 160°C) allowing to carry out the regeneration step at higher temperature and pressure, producing CO2 at higher pressure (up to 6-7 bara), no corrosion of the solvent allowing the use of Carbon Steel material for the construction of the future industrial units. First techno-economic evaluations have shown an OPEX reduction and a CO2 capture cost reduction up to 30 % compared to the first-generation processes using amine-based solvents. DMX process is very promising but it needs now to be demonstrated in an industrial scale pilot plant in order to increase its TRL from 4 to 7.

This demonstration, which is the last step before the commercialisation of this process by AXENS, will be carried within the 3D (DMX Demonstration in Dunkirk) project on an industrial pilot plant to be built at the ArcelorMittal steel mill in Dunkirk (France)
In this paper, are presented the design of the industrial pilot plant; first experimentation plan is also presented and explained. Planning of the demonstration and expected commercialisation will be discussed.


Online convex optimization is a framework where a learner sequentially queries an external data source in order to arrive at the optimal solution of a convex function. The paradigm has gained significant popularity recently thanks to its scalability in large-scale optimization and machine learning. The repeated interactions, however, expose the learner to privacy risks from eavesdropping adversary that observe the submitted queries. In this paper, we study how to optimally obfuscate the learner's queries in first-order online convex optimization, so that their learned optimal value is provably difficult to estimate for the eavesdropping adversary. We consider two formulations of learner privacy: a Bayesian formulation in which the convex function is drawn randomly, and a minimax formulation in which the function is fixed and the adversary's probability of error is measured with respect to a minimax criterion. We show that, if the learner wants to ensure the probability of accurate prediction by the adversary be kept below 1/L, then the overhead in query complexity is additive in L in the minimax formulation, but multiplicative in L in the Bayesian formulation. Compared to existing learnerprivate sequential learning models with binary feedback, our results apply to the significantly richer family of general convex functions with full-gradient feedback. Our proofs are largely enabled by tools from the theory of Dirichlet processes, as well as more sophisticated lines of analysis aimed at measuring the amount of information leakage under a full-gradient oracle.


Time-triggered (TT) Ethernet is a new real-time communication protocol that is fully compatible with Ethernet and provides in addition to the standard Ethernet service a deterministic real-time communication service for distributed real-time systems. This paper elaborates on basic concepts in real-time communication, elicits real-time communication requirements and discusses some innate conflicts that must be considered in any realtime protocol design. In the second part, the rationale and the principles of operation of TT-Ethernet are presented and common properties of all members of the TT-Ethernet protocol family are discussed.


This paper, through the use of the case study, presents the idea that the beginning psychiatrist must often depend on his own native intuition and emphathic skills during his early clinical work. A case is presented in detail to show that amide the anxiety, freshness, and inexperience typifying a beginning psychiatrist, a psychotherapeutic treatment that benefits both the patient and the psychiatrist can be carried out. The growth of the patient and the therapist is described over the course of a three-month hospitalization.


Despite clear production, environmental and economic benefits associated with the adoption of controlled traffic farming (CTF), its use in vegetable production is often constrained by the lack of suitable harvest equipment. A possible solution to that constraint is the use of Wide Span (WS) tractors, which would provide a mechanisation platform on which a wide range of production machinery could be mounted. Such machines are not commercially available, but a prototype developed in Denmark in 2013, and more recent autonomous developments in Canada in 2017, are indicative of future possibilities. Building on earlier work, modelling was done to estimate the economic impact of adopting Mixed-WS CTF, in which a WS harvest platform is integrated with conventional tractors, and WS CTF, based on WS tractors alone. Returns were calculated as income minus operating and ownership costs (including interest and depreciation). As no commercial adoption of WS tractors has yet occurred, modelling was done using conservative estimates of costs and returns applied to case study farm scenarios. Modelling results indicated median increases in average returns of up to 59 per cent. The most important cost factors to be considered were machinery capital costs and the impacts on harvest efficiency under CTF, while on the benefit side of the equation, crop yields had the most influence on modelling results.


We have demonstrated multicolored reflections showing various whitish colors from a bichiral liquid crystal (LC) film. The bichiral LC film was fabricated by using left-handed and right-handed polymeric cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) films with two different helical pitches and an isotropic polymer film in between. Color temperatures of the multiple reflections are controlled from ~4000 K to ~10000 K by changing linear polarization directions of normally incident and reflected lights. This characteristic can extend practical applications of CLCs to illuminant devices.


An electro-hydraulic elevator is a new type of enhanced elevators used in low-rise buildings, no more than eight floors. In this paper, an electro-hydraulic servo system for controlling the speed of a hydraulic elevator prototype by using a proportional valve and PI controller has been investigated theoretically and experimentally. A three floors elevator prototype model with 76cm height has been built, including hydraulic components and electrical components. The elevator system is automated using an Arduino UNO board based Data Acquisition (DAQ) system. LabVIEW software is programmed to control the hydraulic elevator system through L298 DC drive via the DAQ board. The best PI gains have been calculated experimentally using Ziegler–Nichols, trial and error methods. The results showed the effectiveness of the use of Electro-hydraulic servomechanism in enhancing the performance of the hydraulic elevator in terms of comfort and smoothness when people travelled through the elevator floors.


Derivative-free algorithms seek the minimum of a given function based only on function values queried at appropriate points. Although these methods are widely used in practice, their performance is known to worsen as the problem dimension increases. Recent advances in developing randomized derivative-free techniques have tackled this issue by working in low-dimensional subspaces that are drawn at random in an iterative fashion. The connection between the dimension of these random subspaces and the algorithmic guarantees has yet to be fully understood. In this paper, we develop an analysis for derivative-free algorithms (both direct-search and model-based approaches) employing random subspaces. Our results leverage linear local approximations of smooth functions to obtain understanding of the expected decrease achieved per function evaluation. Although the quantities of interest involve multidimensional integrals with no closed-form expression, a relative comparison for different subspace dimensions suggest that low dimension is preferable. Numerical computation of the quantities of interest confirm the benefit of operating in low-dimensional subspaces.


Neuropeptide W is the endogenous ligand for G‐protein‐coupled receptors GPR7 and GPR8. In this review, we summarize findings on the distribution of neuropeptide W and its receptors in the central nervous system and the periphery, and discuss the role of NPW in food intake and energy homeostasis.


Direct contextual policy search methods learn to improve policy parameters and simultaneously generalize these parameters to different context or task variables. However, learning from high-dimensional context variables, such as camera images, is still a prominent problem in many real-world tasks. A naive application of unsupervised dimensionality reduction methods to the context variables, such as principal component analysis, is insufficient as task-relevant input may be ignored. In this paper, we propose a contextual policy search method in the model-based relative entropy stochastic search framework with integrated dimensionality reduction. We learn a model of the reward that is locally quadratic in both the policy parameters and the context variables. Furthermore, we perform supervised linear dimensionality reduction on the context variables by nuclear norm regularization. The experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms naive dimensionality reduction via principal component analysis and a state-of-the-art contextual policy search method.


Background and Aim: Sleep insuf fi ciency is often associated with the life of a university student, yet it is well known that inadequate sleep can have a negative impact on physical and mental health and be detrimental to cognitive skills for learning. The aim of this study was to replicate a Canadian study to survey university student sleep practices, the way in which students address any sleep issues, and the students ' preferred method to receive targeted sleep information. Methods: An anonymous on-line survey was promoted to all enrolled students at one Australian University in August 2017. Results: In total, 601 students responded to the survey. One third indicated that they had insuf fi cient sleep (less than 6.5 hrs). Almost two thirds reported a perception of not getting suf fi cient sleep. There was a signi fi cant association between the reported number of sleep hours, and the perception of high-quality sleep. Strategies to get to sleep included the use of social media which is counter to best practice in sleep hygiene. Conclusion: The study supports the need for education about sleep health coupled with stress management to better the demands of student life.


1. An RVU system can forecast staffing needs for a busy ambulatory ophthalmology clinic. 2. The average amount of time needed for basic ophthalmic screening is 15 minutes. 3. Further studies should be conducted of infrequent tasks and for indirect care before an RVU system can be accurately used.


Observations have suggested that some low-mass stars have larger radii than predicted by 1D structure models. Some theoretical models have invoked very strong interior magnetic fields (of order 1 MG or more) as a possible cause of such large radii. Whether fields of that strength could in principle be generated by dynamo action in these objects is unclear, and we do not address the matter directly. Instead, we examine whether such fields could remain in the interior of a low-mass object for a significant amount of time, and whether they would have any other obvious signatures. First, we estimate the timescales for the loss of strong fields by magnetic buoyancy instabilities. We consider a range of field strengths and simple morphologies, including both idealized flux tubes and smooth layers of field. We confirm some of our analytical estimates using thin flux tube magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the rise of buoyant fields in a fully convective M-dwarf. Separately, we consider the Ohmic dissipation of such fields. We find that dissipation provides a complementary constraint to buoyancy: while small-scale, fibril fields might be regenerated faster than they rise, the dissipative heating associated with such fields would in some cases greatly exceed the luminosity of the star. We show how these constraints combine to yield limits on the internal field strength and morphology in low-mass stars. In particular, we find that for stars of 0.3 solar masses, no fields in flux tubes stronger than about 800 kG are simultaneously consistent with both constraints.


One important component of developing autonomous agents lies in the accurate prediction of their opponents' behaviors when the agents interact with others in an uncertain environment. Most recent study focuses on first constructing predictive types (or models) of the opponents, considering their various properties of interest, and subsequently using these models to predict their behaviors accordingly. However, as the possible type space can be rather large, it is time-consuming, and sometimes even infeasible, to predict the actual behaviors of opponents with all candidate types. Thus, in this paper a tractable opponent behavior reasoning approach is proposed that facilitates ($a$) extraction of a small yet representative summary of all candidates using sub-modular-type maximization, and accordingly, ($b$) identification of the most appropriate type for real-time behavior prediction based on multi-armed bandits. In addition, we propose a knowledge-transfer scheme through demonstration learning to synchronize subject agents' knowledge about their opponents' behaviors. This further reduces the burden of reasoning with all models of their opponents from the perspective of individual subject agents. We integrate the new behavior prediction and reasoning method into a state-of-the-art evolutionary multi-agent framework, namely a memetic multi-agent system (MeMAS), and demonstrate empirical performance in two problem domains.


The different Health Education (HE) models appeared in the scientific literature are analyzed, trying to eliminate the confusion produced by its great diversity, applying a general and systematic point of view. Due to the relevance of that topic in the activities of Health Promotion in Primary Health Care it is urgent a deep reappraisal due the heterogeneity of scientific papers dealing with that topic. The curriculum, as the confluence of thought and action in Health Education, is the basic concept thanks to which it is possible to integrate both scientific logic, the biological one and that pertaining to the social sciences. Of particular importance have been the different paradigms that have emerged in the field of HE from the beginning of the present century: a first generation with a "normative" point of view, a second one orientated from positivistic bases, and a third generation adopting an hermeneutic and critic nature. This third generation of paradigms in HE has taken distances from the behaviouristic and cognitive perspectives being more critical and participative. The principal scientific contributors in the field of HE, internationals as well as spaniards are studied and classified. The main conclusions obtained from this Health Education paradigm controversy are referred to both aspects: 1) planning, programming and evaluating activities, and 2) models, qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Emphasis is given to the need of including Community Participation in all phases of the process in critic methodologies of HE. It is postulated the critic paradigm as the only one able to integrate the rest of the scientific approaches in Health Education.


Inositol hexakisphosphate is known to be the phosphorous reserve in plants particularly in the seeds. Although it has been known for its anti-nutrient properties for many years, recent research shed light on its anticancer properties. Hence, the present study focuses on probable protein targets of phytic acid (PA) through computational methods. Anticancer targets of Regorafenib (23 targets) along with two more protein targets such as mitogen-activated kinase and inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor were included in the study. Docking studies were performed with PA along with regorafenib (as a reference inhibitor) for the selected targets and sorted out the best conformations based on minimum free energy of binding. The best rank was obtained for inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor (−5.02 Kcal/mol) and the least scored one was discoidin domain-containing receptor 2 (−1.56 Kcal/mol). The binding site interactions and affinities of PA were computed and presented.


Abstract LARSEN, P.F. 2012. The macroinvertebrate fauna of rockweed (Ascophyllum nodosum)–dominated low-energy rocky shores of the northern Gulf of Maine. Sheltered, rockweed-dominated rocky shores are one of the most characteristic habitats of the northern Gulf of Maine. Rockweed, Ascophyllum nodosum, provides essential ecological services and recently has been subject to increasing commercial harvesting. This communication documents the associated macroinvertebrate fauna (>1.0 mm) of six characteristic rockweed shores along a 350 km gradient across the northern Gulf of Maine. Seventy-four putative taxa were identified. Numbers of species at each site ranged from 21 to 40. Arthropods, predominantly the barnacle Semibalanus balanoides, accounted for 70% of the individuals encountered. Densities per station ranged from 132 to 48,023 per m2. Numerical analyses demonstrated that rockweed-dominated rocky shores of the northern Gulf of Maine are characterized by nine widely distributed taxa that represent 88.6% of the individuals. These nine are S. balanoides, oligochaetes, the isopod Jaera marina, the periwinkles Littorina obtusata and Littorina littorea, nematodes, the blue mussel Mytilus edulis, the amphipod Gammarus obtusatus, and nemerteans. Seven other taxa occurred widely at low densities. Cluster analysis of sites suggests a possible faunal break in midcoast Maine.


Mini-transplant has been used popularly in recent years. The intensity of conditioning regimens is less in mini-transplant, thus the anti-tumor effect is mainly carried by an immunological reaction, called graft-versus-leukemia (GVL)/graft-versus-tumor (GVT) effect. Thus, graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in mini-transplant has drawn much attention as a surrogate marker for GVL/GVT effect. However, as the regimen-related toxicity is less in mini-transplant, it is also true that GVHD is the single most worrisome adverse event after mini-transplant. As opposed to early predictions, the incidence and severity of GVHD after mini-transplant does not seem to be much different from the one after conventional stem cell transplant (CST). In addition, researchers find that host antigen presenting cells (APC) may play an important role in the development of GVHD, and thus the existence of donor-host chimerism may be critical. As a result, the theory regarding GVHD after mini-transplant is getting more confusing. A comprehensive understanding of GVHD after mini-transplant is necessary.


The lithium diffusion in nanostructured olivine LiFePO4 has been investigated for the first time using muon spectroscopy (μSR). A microwave-assisted approach has been employed for nanoparticle preparation, where the choice of solvent is shown to play an important role in determining particle morphology and crystal chemistry. Two phases have been obtained: Pnma LiFePO4 and the high pressure Cmcm phase. The Li+ diffusion behaviour is strikingly different in both phases, with DLi of 6.25 × 10−10 cm2 s−1 obtained for Pnma LiFePO4 in good agreement with measurements of bulk materials. In contrast, Li+ diffusion is impeded with the addition of the high pressure Cmcm phase, with a lower DLi of 3.96 × 10−10 cm2 s−1 noted. We have demonstrated an efficient microwave route to nanoparticle synthesis of positive electrode materials and we have also shown μSR measurements to be a powerful probe of Li+ diffusion behaviour in nanoparticles.


A device was constructed to test the interfacial strength of PMMA-based bone cement and human cancellous bone under pure tension. Two types of tissue were used in the investigation: (1) formalin-fixed vertebral bone as an in vitro model for weak cancellous bone, and (2) freshly removed metatarsal bone. Tissue--cement joints were allowed to solidify under two different pressures (0.11 and 0.47 MPa), and cement placement time on tissue surfaces was also controlled as a variable. The higher curing pressure only seemed to enhance the strength of interfaces formed with mechanically weak fixed bone but had no significant effect for joints formed with the stronger, freshly extracted tissue. Cement placement time did not have a discernible effect on interfacial strength regardless of the tissue used or the pressure applied during setting. An analysis of fracture morphology by optical microscopy revealed largely cement cohesive failure in some cases and bone or mixed fractures in others. Joints exhibiting mainly cement fracture had the highest interfacial tensile strengths (in the order of 7.5 MPa). Once measured values of tissue porosity were taken into account, the observed joint strength correlated well with cement tensile strength. Based on experimental findings, better stress-dissipating qualities and higher tensile strength are suggested as two important necessary improvements of bone cements based on poly(methyl methacrylate).


The prospect of the Internet as the fastest growing satellite communication application coupled with satellite-based multimedia networks has generated a high level of interest in the performance of TCP over satellite systems. This article presents the network architecture for supporting services based on TCP/IP over satellite. It discusses the key factors that influence TCP performance over satellite links, and compares the benefits and disadvantages of low Earth orbit and geostationary Earth orbit satellite. The article also discusses the feasibility of using LEO satellites to support and expand the Internet. It presents studies of the TCP behavior over a GEO satellite system and LEO satellite constellation based on computer simulations, where two typical Internet applications are taken into consideration: FTP file transfer and Web browsing. The results show that TCP performs much better over the LEO satellite constellation than over the GEO system; even the standard TCP over LEO is better than enhanced TCP over GEO.


This essay argues that three lessons have emerged from the Jamaican Cultural-Political Modern Project convenings that clarify its productive methodological stakes: living with disagreements, seeing interconnected inquiries, and creating embodied archives of critical re-memories. The essay foregrounds the backstory to make visible the intellectual care work that attends this practice.


Background: Understanding contributions of different brain pathologies to domain-specific cognitive trajectories in the oldest old is crucial to guide future intervention studies. Methods: Two-hundred-twenty Oregon Alzheimer's Disease Center research participants who were cognitively intact at entry were followed on average for 7.3 years with annual neuropsychological testing until death (mean age, 93.7 y) and autopsy. Mixed effects models examined the relationship between trajectories in memory, verbal fluency, and mini-mental state examination (MMSE) and pathology (neurofibrillary tangles, neuritic plaques, gross infarcts, hippocampal sclerosis, Lewy bodies, APOE genotype, age at death, and years of education). The association between the MMSE trajectory and pathologic variables were examined using a Poisson model with MMSE errors as outcomes given the nonlinear distribution of MMSE scores. Results: Memory trajectory was associated with the APO&egr;4 allele (P=0.006). Verbal fluency trajectory was associated with gross infarcts (P=0.008). MMSE trajectory was associated with high Braak scores (P=0.03), gross infarcts (P<0.0001), hippocampal sclerosis (P=0.003), moderate neuritic plaques (P=0.04), and the APO&egr;4 allele (P=0.02). Conclusions: The association between trajectory of decline in global cognitive scores and multiple brain pathologies highlights the importance of accounting for comorbid pathologies in therapeutic trials aimed at one specific pathology in the oldest old. Only the APO&egr;4 allele showed an association with memory decline, despite accounting for Alzheimer's disease pathology, suggesting that APOE may be involved in mechanisms beyond amyloid metabolism in its role in memory. Further studies are needed to examine the role of APOE in brain aging.


The Connecticut Mental Health Center Day Hospital instituted a no-smoking policy at the time of relocation to a new building. The attitudes of staff and patients were surveyed before and after the move. Despite the concern and anxiety shown in anticipation of the change in policy, the patients were not affected in a significantly adverse manner. The importance of providing a safe environment for patients and staff includes measures to prevent the inhalation of cigarette smoke. This paper supports the implementation of smoke-free policies in psychiatric settings.


The The Ultimate World of Warcraft Guild Guide teaches you how to become a successful guild leader in World of Warcraft. Strategies in this book include: -Step by step instructions on setting up a guild. -Guild management strategies. -How to create an online presence. -Guild rules, conduct, & management. -The different types of guilds. -Planning and implementing successful raids. -How to recruit members Whether your a veteran or newbie World of Warcraft player this guide will teach you how to setup and operate your own successful WoW guild.


Water and heat flows for three different types of surfacefound within Stockholm, Sweden, were simulated with asoil-vegetation-atmosphere transfer (SVAT) model. Theinfiltration process of a till soil was investigated toestimate the importance of preferential water flow. Theseasonal pattern of soil moisture content could be simulatedwithout taking preferential flow into consideration. However,specific infiltration events showed clear indications ofpreferential flow. The surface heat fluxes of a paved roadcould be simulated reliably with model parameterisation basedon independent information. The impact of the urban modifiedclimate on evapotranspiration (ET) from vegetated surfaces wassimulated by making changes to the meteorological forcing inthe form of increased long-wave radiation and enhancednocturnal air temperature. Long-wave radiation had the mostinfluence on ET, enhancing transpiration from low vegetationand soil evaporation, whereas air temperature mainly increasedtranspiration from tall vegetation. The results are useful forparameterisation of distributed hydrological and meteorologicalmodels.


Computational efficiency is a critical constraint for a variety of cutting-edge real-time applications. In this work, we identify an opportunity to speed up the end-to-end runtime of two such compute bound applications by incorporating approximate linear algebra techniques. Particularly, we apply approximate matrix multiplication to artificial Neural Networks (NNs) for image classification and to the robotics problem of Distributed Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (DSLAM). Expanding upon recent sampling-based Monte Carlo approximation strategies for matrix multiplication, we develop updated theoretical bounds, and an adaptive error prediction strategy. We then apply these techniques in the context of NNs and DSLAM increasing the speed of both applications by 15-20% while maintaining a 97% classification accuracy for NNs running on the MNIST dataset and keeping the average robot position error under 1 meter (vs 0.32 meters for the exact solution). However, both applications experience variance in their results. This suggests that Monte Carlo matrix multiplication may be an effective technique to reduce the memory and computational burden of certain algorithms when used carefully, but more research is needed before these techniques can be widely used in practice.


The pace of technology for use in computing education is staggering. In the last few years, the following technologies have completely transformed our teaching: Piazza, GradeScope, Google Docs, YouTube, Doodle and whenisgood.net, Skype and Google Hangout, and Khan Academy among others. Hardware has also played a part -- we love our Zoom digital voice recorder (for recording CD-quality lecture audio), Blue Yeti USB mic (for audio), and iClickers (for engaging students in class). This panel is an outgrowth of a Technology that Educators of Computing Hail (TECH) Birds of a Feather session that we've held at SIGCSE for seven years, and the panel from SIGCSE 2015 [1] that served as a springboard for a regular column in ACM Inroads [2]. It will provide a chance for seasoned high school and university educators to show you the technologies that have "bubbled to the top" for them, and what key problems they solve. Like concert musicians, they will give live demonstrations and reveal the particular configuration options required to make their technology "sing". We hope this forum will allow the presenters to dive deeply into the common use cases of these technologies, highlight why they are invaluable, share any "gotchas" they've uncovered, and explain how others can adopt them at their institutions. The highlight of the panel is when the audience, inspired by the presentations, is invited to share their favorite "can't live without" technologies as well.


Background: Evidence suggests that the 44.5 million U.S. residents drawing their drinking water from private wells face higher risks of waterborne contaminant exposure than those served by regulated community water supplies. Among U.S. states, North Carolina (N.C.) has the second-largest population relying on private wells, making it a useful microcosm to study challenges to maintaining private-well water quality. Objectives: This paper summarizes recommendations from a two-day summit to identify options to improve drinking-water quality for N.C. residents served by private wells. Methods: The Research Triangle Environmental Health Collaborative invited 111 participants with knowledge of private-well water challenges to attend the Summit. Participants worked in small groups that focused on specific aspects and reconvened in plenary sessions to formulate consensus recommendations. Discussion: Summit participants highlighted four main barriers to ensuring safe water for residents currently relying on private wells: (1) a database of private well locations is unavailable; (2) racial disparities have perpetuated reliance on private wells in some urbanized areas; (3) many private-well users lack information or resources to monitor and maintain their wells; and (4) private-well support programs are fragmented and lack sufficient resources. The Summit produced 10 consensus recommendations for ways to overcome these barriers. Conclusions: The Summit recommendations, if undertaken, could improve the health of North Carolinians facing elevated risks of exposure to waterborne contaminants because of their reliance on inadequately monitored and maintained private wells. Because many of the challenges in N.C. are common nationwide, these recommendations could serve as models for other states. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP890


In this chapter, we describe total laparoscopic hysterectomy (TLH) using retroperi‐ toneal and retrograde technique: it combines the retroperitoneal coagulation of the uterine artery and the retrograde approach to the pelvic organs, as in oncological surgeries. We report our experience in applying this modified TLH with 3-mm instruments and without uterine manipulator, in order to demonstrate its safety and feasibility.


Dynamic epistemic logic deals with the representation of situations in a multi-agent and dynamic setting. It allows to express in a uniform way statements about:

1. what is true about an initial situation

2. what is true about an event occurring in this situation

3. what is true about the resulting situation after the event has occurred.

We axiomatize in this framework what we can infer about (3) given (1) and (2), introducing thereby new techniques to prove completeness. We also show that this axiomatization is decidable. Besides being useful for reasoning about actions, it provides a natural characterization of the product update of dynamic epistemic logic.


In order to optimize the MIG welding procedure of aluminum alloy with longitudinal magnetic field and improve the mechanical property, effect of longitudinal magnetic field frequency on microstructure and properties of surfacing layer were investigated. The results show that when the additional longitudinal magnetic field was introduced into welding process, grain was refined, the wear resistance and tensile strength of the surfacing layer were improved as longitudinal magnetic field frequency increased. When frequency of magnetic field is 20 Hz and exciting current is 15 A, effect of grain refining is the best and the mechanical property is the highest. But when exciting current continue to increase, grain became coarse and the mechanical property decreased. So it is concluded that grain was refined and the mechanical property of the surfacing layer were improved under longitudinal magnetic field. But magnetic field frequency has an optimal value; otherwise grain refining and the mechanical property can't achieve the best effect.