AIM
To describe the process through which Ireland changed its policies towards smoking in work-places and distil lessons for others implementing or extending smoke-free laws.

DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, MEASUREMENTS
This analysis is informed by a review of secondary sources including a commissioned media analysis, documentary analysis and key informant interviews with policy actors who provide insight into the process of smoke-free policy development. The policy analysis techniques used include the development of a time-line for policy reform, stakeholder analysis, policy mapping techniques, impact analysis through use of secondary data and a review process. The policy analysis triangle, which highlights the importance of examining policy content, context, actors and processes, will be used as an analytical framework.

FINDINGS
The importance of the political, economic, social and cultural context emerged clearly. The interaction of the context with the policy process both in identification of need for policy and its formulation demonstrated the opportunity for advocates to exert influence at all points of the process. The campaign to support the legislation had the following characteristics: a sustained consistent simple health message, sustained political leadership/commitment, a strong coalition between the Health Alliance, the Office of Tobacco Control and the Department of Health and Children, with cross-party political support and trade union support. The public and the media support clearly defined the benefit of deliberate and consistent planning and organization of a communication strategy.

CONCLUSIONS
The Irish smoke-free legislation was a success as a policy initiative because of timing, dedication, planning, implementation and the existence of strong leadership and a powerful convinced credible political champion.


: Olecranon fractures in the adult are a common upper extremity injury. There is still no universally accepted classification of these fractures and no uniformity of treatment. Results stated vary considerably, and support can be found in the literature for any of several forms of operative treatment. A review of the literature on olecranon fractures is presented. A system of classification of these fractures based on lateral roentgenograms is proposed; Type I, IIa, IIb, and III (depending on location in the olecranon). An assessment of the results of treatment of 100 patients with such fractures treated by surgical methods is presented. Open reduction and internal fixation with tension band, screws, plate and screws, or band, plate, and screws can be relied upon for satisfactory end results. Type I fractures can be treated by anatomic reduction and tension band wiring; all Type II fractures by tension band technique; Type III fractures with a plate and screws.


Let $G = (V, E)$ be a simple graph of order $n$. The total dominating set is a subset $D$ of $V$ that every vertex of $V$ is adjacent to some vertices of $D$. The total domination number of $G$ is equal to minimum cardinality of total dominating set in $G$ and denoted by $\gamma_t(G)$. The total domination polynomial of $G$ is the polynomial $D_t(G,x)=\sum d_t(G,i)$, where $d_t(G,i)$ is the number of total dominating sets of $G$ of size $i$. Let $G$ be a connected graph constructed from pairwise disjoint connected graphs $G_1,\ldots ,G_k$ by selecting a vertex of $G_1$, a vertex of $G_2$, and identify these two vertices. Then continue in this manner inductively. We say that $G$ is obtained by point-attaching from $G_1, \ldots ,G_k$ and that $G_i$'s are the primary subgraphs of $G$. In this paper, we consider some particular cases of these graphs that most of them are of importance in chemistry and study their total domination polynomials.


SuperWASP is the world's leading ground-based survey for transiting exoplanets. Its database now contains over 300 billion data points covering 30 million unique objects from 10 million images obtained over 1700 nights since 2004. In addition to having discovered 70 transiting exoplanets, SuperWASP enables long-baseline, high-cadence studies of variable stars to be performed. We summarise some of the studies already carried out, and look ahead to the prospects for studying periodic variables with varying periods. The science which is thus supported will include studies of the Blazhko effect in RR Lyræ stars, migrating starspots in rotational variables, third bodies in eclipsing binaries, and coalescing binary stars.


Localisation and navigation are still two of the most important issues in mobile robotics. In certain indoor application scenarios Radio frequency identification (RFID) based absoloute localisation has been found to be especially successful in supporting navigation. In this paper we examine the feasibility of an RFID and compass based approach to robot localisation and navigation for indoor environments that are dominated by corridors. We present a proof of concept system and show how it can be used to localize within and navigate through an environment.


Tuned mass dampers (TMDs) systems are one of the vibration controlled devices used to reduce the response of buildings subjected to lateral loadings such as wind and earthquake loadings. There has been many research of TMDs due to their simplicity. The optimization of properties of TMDs become one topic that will become the main topic in this research. The numerical optimization technique is used to compute the optimum values of TMD parameters that will minimize the maximum displacement of the structure. The concept of genetic algorithms is based on Charles Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest. Genetic algorithm simulates the survival of the fittest among individuals over consecutive generation for solving
a problem. The purpose of this research is to optimize the tuned mass damper parameter that are damping (kd) and damping system (cd). In this research a simple 20 stories building will be used for the simulations. The building is modeled as shear building. The TMDs will be added to the building in the top floor. In order to optimize the parameters of TMDs, Genetic algorithms (GAs) were used to help the optimization problems. For the comparison, different mass ratio with the range between 1% to
10% were us ed. The result of simulation shows that when mass ratio increased, frequency ratio will be decreased. When mass ratio increased, damping ratio of TMD will be increased. Then the building will be simulating subject earthquake ground accelerations such as El Centro 1940, Kobe 1995, Hachinohe 1968 and Northridge 1994 ground accelerations. The displacement of the structure without TMD in El Centro 1940, Kobe 1995, Hachinohe 1968 and Northridge 1994 ground accelerations are 0.244 m, 0.317 m, 0.312 m and 0.693 m, respectively. The acceleration of the structure without TMD are 6.545 m, 1.567 m, 4.31 m and 1.59 m, respectively. When applied with the 10% TMD, the displacement reduced by 18.95% to 0.198 m, 7.6 % to 0.293 m, 31.75% to 0.213 m and 20.10% to 0.554 m. For the acceleration reduced by 90% to 0.655 m, 90% to 0.157 m, 90% to 0.431 m, 90% to 0.159 m. The simulation of the optimized TMDs subject to earthquake ground accelerations show that the TMDs can reduce the displacement and
acceleration of the building effectively.


This paper presents a universal GNSS receiver channel capable of tracking any civil GNSS signal. This fundamentally differs from dedicated channels, each customized for a given signal. A mobile device could integrate fewer universal channels to harvest all available signals. This would allow securing signal availability, while minimizing power consumption and chip size, thus maximizing battery lifetime. In fact, the universal channel allows sequential acquisition and tracking of any chipping rate, carrier frequency, FDMA channel, modulation, or constellation, and is totally configurable (any integration time, any discriminator, etc.). It can switch from one signal to another in 1.07 ms, making it possible for the receiver to rapidly adapt to its sensed environment. All this would consume 3.5 mW/channel in an ASIC implementation, i.e., with a slight overhead compared to the original GPS L1 C/A dedicated channel from which it was derived. After extensive surveys on GNSS signals and tracking channels, this paper details the implementation strategies that led to the proposed universal channel architecture. Validation is achieved using GNSS signals issued from different constellations, frequency bands, modulations and spreading code schemes. A discussion on acquisition approaches and conclusive remarks follow, which open up a new signal selection challenge, rather than satellite selection.


In this master thesis, an extension of the interaction matrix formulation to the discrete-time bilinear state-space model is derived. Several identication techniques are presented from this formulation to identify the bilinear state-space matrices using a superstate vector, derived from a single set of su-ciently rich input-output measurements. The initial state can be non-zero and unknown. Unlike other approaches, no specialized inputs are required, such as sinusoidal or white inputs, or duration-varying unit pulses involving multiple experiments. For that reason, the bilinear state-space identication problem is di-cult to solve, since it can be seen as a linear time-varying system with input-dependent system matrix or state-dependent input-influence matrix.The resultant input-output map from this state-space formulation can be used for output prediction. A relationship between the coe-cients of this input-output map and the bilinear state-space model matrices is obtained via two interaction matrices, corresponding to the linear and bilinear portions of the model, respectively.Numerical examples are provided to illustrate these bilinear state-space model identication techniques and the input-output model identication method. It is concluded that the proposed identication algorithms can correctly identify the original bilinear state-space model, and the identied input-output map correctly predict its system output response, despite the fact that the interaction matrices are only implicitly assumed to exist.


Probit regression and logistic regression are well-known models for classification. In contrast to logistic regression, probit regression has a canonical generalization that allows us to model correlations between the labels. This is a way to include metadata into the model that correlate the noisy observation process. We show that the approach leads to the mathematical problem of integrating a high-dimensional Gaussian density over the positive orthant. We derive a novel parameter estimation algorithm for this correlated probit regression model. We interpret the noise as a latent variable, which leads to a natural formulation of our algorithm as an expectation-maximization (EM) scheme. Each partial M-step is a gradient step, and we can express the gradient in terms of moments of the truncated multivariate Gaussian. Calculating these moments the E-step is expensive using traditional methods. Instead, we use a recent application of expectation propagation (EP) to Gaussian densities. The resulting EM-EP scheme is much faster and thus allows us to treat large data sets.


This article explores the relationship between bodily rhythms and market rhythms in two distinctly different financial market configurations, namely the open-outcry pit (prevalent especially in the early 20th century) and present-day high-frequency trading. Drawing on Henri Lefebvre's rhythmanalysis, we show how traders seek to calibrate their bodily rhythms to those of the market. We argue that, in the case of early-20th-century open-outcry trading pits, traders tried to enact a total merger of bodily and market rhythms. We also demonstrate how, in the 1920s and '30s, market observers began to respond to a widely perceived problem, namely that market rhythms might be contagious and that some form of separation of bodily and market rhythms might therefore be needed. Finally, we show how current high-frequency trading, despite being purely algorithmic, does not render the traders' bodies irrelevant. Yet high-frequency trading does change the role of the body rather than seeking to attune their bodies to the markets, high-frequency traders seek to calibrate their bodies to their algorithms. While the article demonstrates the usefulness of deploying Lefebvre's rhythmanalysis in analyses of financial markets, it also suggests that high-frequency trading in particular might produce new types of market rhythms that, contra Lefebvre, do not revolve around traders' bodies.


Cities are live performances. How people behave in the streets, in the parks, in the outdoor markets, in stadiums, and inside buildings gives cities their unique character, ambience, and tone. It is not only what physical spaces and structures signify about urban organization, hierarchies, and aesthetic invention but the imaginative behavior that people perform in and around those structures that is also important for understanding cities. The interdisciplinary field of performance studies can be instrumental in analyzing how cities are produced and performed precisely because the field and its methodological diversity bridges social, political, theatrical, and architectural forms of thought.


Design and development of scaffold structures for osteochondral (OC) interface regeneration is a significant engineering challenge. Recent efforts are aimed at recapitulating the unique compositional and hierarchical structure of an OC interface. Conventional scaffold fabrication techniques often have limited design control and reproducibility, and the development of OC scaffolds with zonal hierarchy and structural integrity between zones is especially challenging. In this study, a series of multi-zonal and gradient structures were designed and fabricated using three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting. We developed OC scaffolds with bi-phasic and tri-phasic configurations to support the zonal structure of OC tissue, and gradient scaffold configurations to enable smooth transitions between the zones to more closely mimic a bone-cartilage interface. A biodegradable polymer, polylactic acid (PLA), was used for the fabrication of zonal/gradient scaffolds to provide mechanical strength and support OC function. The formation of the multi-zonal and gradient scaffolds was confirmed through SEM imaging and micro-CT scanning. Precisely controlled hierarchy with tunable porosity along the scaffold length established the formation of the bio-inspired scaffolds with different zones/gradient structure. In addition, we also developed a novel bioprinting method to selectively introduce cells into desired scaffold zones of the zonal/gradient scaffolds via concurrent printing of a cell-laden hydrogel within the porous template. Live/dead staining of the cell-laden hydrogel introduced in the cartilage zone showed uniform cell distribution with high cell viability. Overall, our study developed bio-inspired scaffold structures with structural hierarchy and mechanical integrity for bone-cartilage interface engineering.


This article argues that we should examine Chicana/os in relation to other racialized groups in order to develop a fuller understanding of how racial categories form and operate. The article highlights different models of relational work by examining key works in Chicana/o history that have employed such a relational methodology. In addition, the article demonstrates how we can use organizing principles besides race to find links between racialized groups. Lastly, the author revisits key events in Chicana/o history, examining them through a relational lens, to demonstrate what may be gained through this methodology.


This research aims to enhance Scientific Writing Skill (SWS) of students on biology through the application of guided inquiry learning with reading assignment. This research was a three cycles Classroom Action Research (CAR). Each cycle consisted of four phases, i.e. planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. The subjects of this research are 30 students of Grade X MIA 7 of SMA N 4 Surakarta, consists of 11 male and 19 female students. The assessment were analyzed using scientific writing skill's rubric adapted from Toppen (2014), which will measure the ability to develop writing creatively, use spelling and grammar correctly, communicate knowledge which consuct, and connect science and technology with whole world. This research target is the average percentage increase to 65 %. The result of this research is guided inquiry learning had effectively increased student's SWS. The average percentage increased from 38,13 % in pre-cycle to 77,29 % in third cycle. Keywords: Guided Inquiry Learning, Reading Assignment, Scientific Writing Skill


This article evaluates the competitiveness of irrigated rice produced in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, the main partners in the commerce of this cereal. The rice production costs, the agricultural policies, the exchange rates and the common external tariff (CET) in the three countries are analyzed comparatively. The research shows that the rice produced in Argentina is the most competitive of the region, due to the lower production costs per hectare and per bag of 50 kg, followed by Uruguay and Brazil. Regarding the agricultural policy of each country, in Brazil policies are mainly oriented towards rural credit and short term actions, with reduced subsidies for large scale farmers and protection of family agriculture. In Uruguay, the agricultural policies are centered on research, rural assistance, campaigns against diseases and plagues and inspection services. In this country, rural financing is predominantly in US dollars with market interest rates. In Argentina, the farmers are inserted in a market economy without state subsidy. The study also shows that the changes in the exchange policy and the alterations in the common external tariff (TEC) affect the prices of the rice in the region and are prejudicial to competition.


INTRODUCTION
Pneumonia remains a continuing target for performance measurement and quality improvement. The aim of this analysis was to examine 30-day all-cause readmissions after pneumonia to identify reasons for readmission and potential opportunities for improvement.

METHODS
A retrospective chart review was performed on patients readmitted within 30 days after an index pneumonia hospitalization at the University of Connecticut Health Center in 2011.

RESULTS
There were 54 readmissions involving 40 patients and only five (12.5%) patients had readmissions that were deemed potentially preventable. Reasons for readmissions were CHF exacerbation (3), malnutrition (1), and pericardial tamponade (1). Of the 49 non-preventable readmissions, 16 were related to pneumonia/bronchitis. Four out of 16 had known aspiration risks, while the rest had comorbidities including cystic fibrosis, COPD, CHF, HIV, and sickle cell disease. Other readmissions were secondary to underlying co-morbid conditions.

CONCLUSION
These results suggest that most 30-day readmissions after hospitalization for pneumonia may not be preventable.


Ancient dispersal history may be obscured by subsequent dispersal events. Therefore, we intend to investigate the biogeography of metriorrhynchine net-winged beetles, a group characterized by limited dispersal propensity. We used DNA data to construct phylogenies and the BayesTraits and RASP programs to identify putative ancestral areas. Further, we inferred ultrametric trees to estimate the ages of selected nodes. The time frame is inferred from tectonic calibrations and the general mutation rate of the mitochondrial genes. Metriorrhynchini consists of two lineages with Afro/Oriental and Australian distributions. The basal lineages originated in Eastern Gondwana after the split of Australia, India and Madagascar; the Afrotropical and Madagascar Metriorrhynchini separated from the Oriental clades 65 and 62 mya. Several already diversified lineages colonized continental Asia 55–35 mya. A few genera of the Australian clade dispersed to the Oriental region 5–15 mya and reached Eastern India and Southern China. Only Xylobanus crossed the Makassar Strait to Sulawesi and does not occur further to the east. The current distribution of Metriorrhynchini is a result of drifting on continental fragments and over-sea dispersal events limited to a few hundreds of kilometers. We conclude that: (1) Afrotropical and Madagascar lineages originated independently from dispersal events during India's drift to the north and the Mozambique Channel completely isolates the respective faunas since then; (2) Oriental fauna is a recently established mixture of the Indian and Australian lineages, with predominance of the older Indian clades; (3) The fauna of islands located north of Australia colonized Sulawesi after collision with the Sundaland margin and the species rich Australian lineages did not reach Western Wallacea or the Philippines. Our results suggest an impact of subtle differences in biological characteristics on biogeographic history of individual lineages, when mostly lowland and flower-visiting lineages were able to disperse across sea channels.


Driven by the ever growing consumer wireless electronics market and the need for higher speed communications, the 60-GHz technology gifted with an unlicensed 9 GHz frequency band in the millimeter-wave spectrum has emerged as the next-generation Wi-Fi for short-range wireless communications. High-performance, cost-effective, and small form-factor 60-GHz antenna systems for portable devices are key enablers of this technology. This work presents various antenna architectures built on low-cost organic packages. Planar end-fire switched beam antenna modules that can easily conform to various surfaces inside a wireless device platform are developed. The planar antenna package is realized on thin flexible LCP dielectrics. One design is based on a planar Yagi-Uda antenna element and the second on a tapered slot antenna element. A low-loss microstrip-to-slot via transition is designed to provide wide impedance matching for end-fire antenna paradigms. The novel transition utilizes the slow-wave concept to provide unbalanced to balanced mode conversion as well as impedance matching. It is demonstrated that the planar antenna packages may be even integrated with active circuits that are cavity recessed inside the thin dielectric. A compact switched-beam antenna module is demonstrated. The first-ever integrated mm-wave active antenna module on organic package capable of generating both broadside and end-fire radiation is also developed in this work. Both broadside and end-fire radiators are co-designed and integrated into a single multilayer package to achieve optimal directivity, efficiency and frequency bandwidth and yet maintain excellent isolation between the two radiators. Post-wall cavities, image theory and dielectric slab modes concepts are invoked to optimize these functions. Active circuitry are integrated into the same package to add control functions such as beam switching, and also amplify the packaged-antenna gain when operated either as a transmitter or a receiver. A significant challenge in the design of antenna systems for wireless platforms is the assessment of embedded antenna performance, that is, the proximity effects of the platform chassis on the embedded antenna. Various antennas are mounted at different locations inside a laptop computer chassis: modeling and experimental studies are carried out to characterize this problem that is apparent to an antenna behind a radome.
Air traffic control radars usually require cavity filters that can handle high power and low in-band insertion loss while providing enough out-band rejection to prevent interference with neighboring channels. Such radars that operate in the S-band consist of filter banks frequency micro electromechanical systems (RF-MEMS) switches. Evanescent-mode mode cavity resonators are loaded with RF-MEMS tuning capacitance networks to control the resonant frequency of a second-order bandpass filter. The second part is the design of a novel cavity filter architecture for enhanced selectivity near the passband. It is a second-order folded cavity…


Fred Hoyle, the famous British astronomer, had the idea that matters explode from the Sun form planets. This paper develops this idea into the theory of periodical bursts of young stars and planets, provides 9 series of evidences to prove the theory, and explains many facts of the solar system and exoplanetary systems with the theory simplly, self-consistently, and systematically. First, the ratio of semi-major axes and stellar radius of three young exoplanets (V830 Tau b, K2-33 b and GJ674 b) increases with age, because they were born from the burst of their parent star and were pushed away by the strong stellar wind (Table 1). Second, there are many exoplanets and candidates with the ratio less than 5, such as K2-92 b, WASP-103 b and PTFO 8-8695 b. They are in the range of the contracting prostar and there were no enough nebular matters left in the range to accrete into planets. So they were born from the burst of their parent star (Table 2). Third, there is a law of semimajor axis of planets in multi-planet systems, such as Kepler-90's system with 7 planets and HD 10180's system with 6 planets. The law is similiar to Bode's law in the solar system and it means that the planets were born from periodical bursts of their parent star in their youth (Table 3). Fourth, the jovian planets have density, composition and internal energy source similiar to the Sun, which mean they were once parts of the Sun (Table 4). Fifth, different classes of meteorites formed from very high temperature which cannot be reached with energy from accretion. They were once parts of the Sun. They were burst out from the Sun and they cooled down from the very high temperature. Sixth, Mars had widespread liquid water 3.7 billion years ago. Terrestrial and lunar rocks in early time recorded solar wind 10 million times stronger than it is now. These evidences proved that the terrestrial planets then were much nearer to the Sun than they are now. Seventh, satellites of the terrestrial planets, Moon, Phobos and Deimos, have lower density than the terrestrial planets and there is a law of their density. They were burst from the boundary between the core and the mantle of their parent planet in their youth (Table 5). Eighth, Galilean satellites have different ages, of their surface and as a whole, which proved they were born from periodical bursts of Jupiter (Table 6). Ninth, there is a law of semimajor axis of satellites and rings of the jovian planets.


The object of this thesis is to investigate the predictions of the MIT bag model for hadronic scattering. Chapter one provides an introduction to the model, describes the results of the MIT group and presents the zeroth order classical scattering solution of Wu et Al. In chapter two we show how to relate this to experiment and explain why the model needs a quantum treatment and the inclusion of quark-quark interactions to make it realistic. In chapter three we try to improve the naive quantum-mechanical model of chapter two. In chapter four we consider explicit models for the quark-quark interaction and in chapter five we show how these effects may help the bag model to predict the correct form of the nucleon-nucleon interaction. In chapter six we consider a modified bag model without sharp boundaries and attempt to discover the scattering properties of this model. Chapter seven consists of a summary and conclusion.


Purpose
The digital down converter (DDC) is a principal component in modern communication systems. The DDC process traditionally entails quadrature down conversion, bandwidth reducing filters and commensurate sample rate reduction. To avoid group delay, distortion linear phase FIR filters are used in the DDC. The filter performance specifications related to deep stopband attenuation, small in-band ripple and narrow transition bandwidth lead to filters with a large number of coefficients. To reduce the computational workload of the filtering process, filtering is often performed as a two-stage process, the first stage being a down sampling Hoegenauer (or cascade-integrated comb) filter and a reduced sample rate FIR filter. An alternative option is an M-Path polyphase partition of a band cantered FIR filter. Even though IIR filters offer reduced workload to implement a specific filtering task, the authors avoid using them because of their poor group delay characteristics. This paper aims to propose the design of M-path, approximately linear phase IIR filters as an alternative option to the M-path FIR filter.

Design/methodology/approach
Two filter designs are presented in the paper. The first approach uses linear phase IIR low pass structure to reduce the filter's coefficient. Whereas the second approach uses multipath polyphase structure to design approximately linear phase IIR filter in DDC.

Findings
The authors have compared the performance and workload of the proposed polyphase structured IIR filters with state-of-the-art filter design used in DDC. The proposed design is seen to satisfy tight design specification with a significant reduction in arithmetic operations and required power consumption.

Originality/value
The proposed design is an alternate solution to the M-path polyphase FIR filter offering very less number of coefficients in the filter design. Proposed DDC using polyphase structured IIR filter satisfies the requirement of linear phase with the least number of computation cost in comparison with other DDC structure.


This paper aimed at verifying if the original assumptions of the Likert scale were or were not considered in the articles published in the EnANPAD proceedings from 2010 to 2015. This is a quantitative, exploratory and bibliometric research with data processed on Microsoft Excel and SPSS, using frequency distribution and arithmetic means. The research corpus derived from a search in the congress proceedings by using the Likert denomination when it was included in the papers abstract, methodology and/or results. From the 5342 articles published in the period, 742 (13.89%) mentioned such denomination. To verify if the scale's original assumptions were considered, it was tried to identify the following keywords: "sum"; "summation" or "indirect scale". The results showed that in 728 articles (98.1%), the Likert scale original assumptions were not considered, and most of the authors justified that they had been using a Likert-type scale. It must be emphasized that there are important differences between the (original) Likert and Likert-type scales, however, it was verified that its use in the analyzed sample was most of times erroneous. This reality shows that, although very popular, it is necessary an elucidation on the original assumptions of the Likert scale to the Brazilian academy, in order to avoid future misconceptions in its use.


Abstract Background The interaction between tuberculosis and HIV-infected infection is well known and is responsible for the increase in the incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in sub-Saharan Africa over the last decade. This places a considerable extra burden on health services. The Brooklyn Hospital for Chest Diseases (BCH) is a non-acute TB hospital for the City of Cape Town, South Africa. The hospital has 60 children's beds and approximately 140 paediatric admissions annually. This study, undertaken before the availability of antiretroviral drugs in the public sector in South Africa, documents the occurrence of nosocomial infections in HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected children at BCH. Method This retrospective case-control study evaluated the occurrence of nosocomial infections in (HIV)-infected children and age- and time of admission-matched HIV-uninfected children admitted to the BCH, Cape Town, South Africa between July 1999 and December 2001 for the treatment of tuberculosis (TB). Results Forty-seven HIV-infected children (mean age 40 months) and 47 HIV-uninfected children (mean age 41 months) were studied. The HIV-infected children, who were not receiving antiretroviral therapy because it was not yet available in the public sector, experienced 109 episodes of nosocomial infections compared to 22 episodes amongst those not infected with HIV (p = 0.001). Twenty-five nosocomial infections (23%) among the HIV-infected children, but only two (9%) among the HIV-uninfected children, were serious enough to require transfer to a tertiary care hospital for management. Pneumonia was the commonest nosocomial infection and occurred in 26 (56%) HIV-infected patients, of whom three died, but in only four (9%) HIV-uninfected children, none of whom died. An outbreak of varicella affected 10 HIV-infected (21%) and 9 HIV-uninfected children (19%). One HIV-infected child died of varicella pneumonia. Other common nosocomial infections encountered in HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected children respectively were upper respiratory tract infections (pharyngitis, tonsillitis or rhinitis) affecting 21 and four, otitis media in five and one, oral candidiasis in seven and zero, urinary tract infection in four and one and acute gastroenteritis in five and zero children. Five HIV-infected children (11%) died and four of the deaths were known to be due to nosocomial infection; only one HIV-uninfected child died from severe miliary TB. Conclusion Nosocomial infections occurring in HIV-infected children are a serious cause of morbidity and mortality in children hospitalised for the treatment of tuberculosis. Their impact could be reduced by the earlier introduction of antiretroviral treatment and by immunisation against certain of the infecting agents. Post-exposure prophylaxis for varicella could prevent or alleviate disease.


Cloud computing is emerging as a promising field offering a variety of computing services to end users. These services are offered at different prices using various pricing schemes and techniques. End users will favor the service provider offering the best QoS with the lowest price. Therefore, applying a fair pricing model will attract more customers and achieve higher revenues for service providers. This work focuses on comparing many employed and proposed pricing models techniques and highlights the pros and cons of each. The comparison is based on many aspects such as fairness, pricing approach, and utilization period. Such an approach provides a solid ground for designing better models in the future. We have found that most approaches are theoretical and not implemented in the real market, although their simulation results are very promising. Moreover, most of these approaches are biased toward the service provider.


Aim: To isolate, characterise and identify Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) with potential probiotic properties from malted and fermented Acha (Digitaria exilis). Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out at the Department of Microbiology, University of Ibadan, between May 2017 and October, 2017. Methodology: Collected acha grains was sorted, malted for 48 hours, dried milled and sieved. The flour was reconstituted, fermented spontaneously for 72 hours and sampled every 24 hours for isolation of LAB. Results: The probiotic properties of 40 LAB strains isolated were evaluated in vitro. Based on their antimicrobial activity against some common foodborne pathogen and antibiotic susceptibility pattern to standard antibiotics, 14 LAB strains were selected for further screening. They all exhibited strong antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella sp., Escherichia coli, Bacillus sp. and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. All selected strains were investigated for acidic pH and bile salt tolerance, tolerance to NaCl and simulated gastric juice, cell surface characteristics which includes hydrophobicity and auto-aggregation assay. Production of DNAase, gelatinase, Exopolysaccharide and haemolytic ability were investigated for safety assessment. Five strains Original Research Article Wakil and Olorode; AIR, 17(6): 1-12, 2018; Article no.AIR.45414 2 (L12, L15, L118, L213, L214) exhibited tolerance to 10% NaCl concentration and pH 2. All the selected 14 LAB strains resisted the bile salt up to 1.0% except L15 and tolerated simulated gastric juice with a sharp decrease by 90min followed by an increase in the count after 180 min except for isolates L12 and L17. Auto-aggregation value ranged from 0.88% to 93.71% with the highest value recorded for L17 (93.71%). LAB117 had the highest (43.39%) microbial adherence to hydrocarbon (MATH) value and least in L19 (2.08%). All the 14 LAB strains were negative to safety tests but all produced exopolysaccharide except LAB L13 and L19. Based on the morphological, biochemical and physiological characteristics, the 14 LAB isolates were identified as Lactobacillus plantarum (L15, L17, L117, L214), Lactobacillus casei (L113, L116, L213), Lactobacillus sp. (L13, L19, L22, L211), Enterococcus sp. (L12, L115) and Pediococcus sp. (L118). Conclusion: The selected 14 isolates have the probiotic properties required for use as a potential probiotic in weaning food supplements with the best probiotic properties recorded with Lactobacillus plantarum L117 strain.


Long Term Evolution (LTE) constitutes the latest step before the 4th generation (4G) of radio technologies designed to increase the capacity and speed of mobile communications. To support Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Services (MBMS), LTE offers the functionality to transmit MBMS over Single Frequency Network (MBSFN), where a time-synchronized common waveform is transmitted from multiple cells for a given duration. In MBSFN transmissions, the achieved Spectral Efficiency (SE) is mainly determined by the Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) selected. This study proposes and evaluates four approaches for the selection of the MCS that will be utilized for the transmission of the MBSFN data. The evaluation of the approaches is performed for different users' distribution and from a SE perspective. Based on the SE measurement, the approach that either maximizes or achieves a target SE for the corresponding users' distribution is determined.


Background Increasing active travel (walking & cycling, including to/from public transport) is increasingly seen as integral to strategies to raise population levels of physical activity. This study examined: (1) socio-demographic correlates of active travel to work; (2) associations between active travel and cardiovascular disease risk factors in the United Kingdom. Methods Data come from Understanding Society, a nationally representative survey of residents of the four countries of the United Kingdom in 2009–2011. Data come from the 20,000 respondents to the first wave of the survey who were aged 16 – 65 years and in work. Being overweight/obese was defined using self-reported height and weight. Hypertension and diabetes were identified based on responses to the questions "has a doctor ever told you that you have…" Multinomial logistic regression was used to assess associations between socio-demographic factors and mode of transport to work. Logistic regression was used to examine associations between mode of travel and being overweight/obese, having hypertension or diabetes. Analyses were adjusted for age, sex, ethnicity, educational qualifications, social class, and region of residence in the UK. Results For 69% of respondents the main mode of travel to work was inactive transport, with public transport, walking and cycling used by 16%, 12% and 3% respectively. Use of active travel was most often reported by respondents living in London. Those with professional/managerial jobs were less likely to use each form of active transport than those with routine jobs (AOR 0.49 [95% CI 0.43, 0.56] for walking). Black respondents were more likely to walk (1.41 [1.08, 1.84]) or take public transport (2.34 [1.88, 2.90]) than white respondents. Using public transport was associated with a lower likelihood of being overweight than inactive transport (0.85 [0.77, 0.95]). Walking and cycling were each associated with a lower likelihood of being overweight (0.80 [0.73, 0.90] for walking and 0.63 [0.53, 0.75] for cycling) or having diabetes than inactive transport, and walking with a lower likelihood of hypertension (0.83 [0.71, 0.95]). Conclusion There are wide variations in the mode of travel to work across regions and socio-demographic groups in the United Kingdom. The potentially protective effect of active travel on cardiovascular risk demonstrated in this large, nationally representative study adds to growing evidence that a concerted policy focus in this area will benefit population health.


As the human life span continues to increase due, the shortage of caregivers in nursing homes has become critical. In elderly nursing homes, health is maintained by good nutrition, physical rehabilitation, and the monitoring of many daily tasks that require assistance. Various methods were proposed in previous human-monitoring studies, including acceleration sensors and changes in power consumption. Unfortunately, these techniques do not apply to wheelchair users, and the costs of introducing and operating them are high. In this research, we develop a low-cost monitoring method for wheelchair users that uses BLE beacons that determine the amount of wheel rotations and whether the user is being self-propelled or pushed. Since the radio waves transmitted by BLE beacons are weak, the radio wave strength can be easily changed by the distance and direction of the receiver. Using this receiver feature, we installed a BLE beacon to the wheels of a wheelchair and the uniforms of caregivers and estimated their movements from the changes in the strength of the received radio waves. Using the proposed method, we estimated the number of wheel rotations with 100% accuracy and distinguished between self-propelling and being pushed with 93.0% accuracy.


Mental disorder among criminal defendants affects every stage of the criminal justice process, from investigational issues to competence to be executed. As in all other areas of mental health law, at least some people with mental disorders, are treated specially. The underlying thesis of this Article is that people with mental disorder should, as far as is practicable and consistent with justice, be treated just like everyone else. In some areas, the law is relatively sensible and just. In others, too often the opposite is true and the laws sweep too broadly. I believe, however, that special rules to deal with at least some people with mental disorder are justified because they substantially lack rational capacity. Treating people with mental disorder specially is a two-edged sword. Failing to do so when it is appropriate is unjust, but the opposite is demeaning, stigmatizing, and paternalistic. The central normative question is when special treatment is justified.This Article will focus mainly on United States Supreme Court cases to review the current state of the law, with special attention to the contexts in which preventive detention is an issue. It makes no pretense to covering every issue, to providing a complete analysis of these cases, or to comprehensive coverage of all the arguments concerning the issues raised. The Court's cases are simply a vehicle for organizing the overview. The goal is to explore what I consider the most just approach in each area. In some cases, my preferences are foreclosed by constitutional constraints; in others, the preferred approach could be achieved by statute or by state supreme court decisions.


The concept of utility is interpreted (in M. Friedman's intentions) as the present value of future income from investments in human capital occurring in the framework of personal consumption. In this sense consumption is regarded as a productive phenomenon. On this basis the concept of general economic equilibrium can be classified. On the one hand, instead of the disputable theory of social welfare the role of capital market in parallel creating equilibrium between supply and demand of investments opportunities, on the other hand, demand and supply of investment funds is applied. The proposed concept is applicable to explain current changes connected with the transition to knowledge based society.


The statistics of galactic-scale quasar pairs can elucidate our understanding of the dynamical evolution of supermassive black hole (SMBH) pairs, the duty cycles of quasar activity in mergers, or even the nature of dark matter, but they have been challenging to measure at cosmic noon, the prime epoch of massive galaxy and SMBH formation. Here we measure a double quasar fraction of ∼6.2 ± 0.5 × 10−4 integrated over ∼0.″3–3″ separations (projected physical separations of ∼3–30 kpc at z ∼ 2) in luminous (L bol > 1045.8 erg s−1) unobscured quasars at 1.5 < z < 3.5 using Gaia EDR3-resolved pairs around SDSS DR16 quasars. The measurement was based on a sample of 60 Gaia-resolved double quasars (out of 487 Gaia pairs dominated by quasar+star superpositions) at these separations, corrected for pair completeness in Gaia, which we quantify as functions of pair separation, magnitude of the primary, and magnitude contrast. The double quasar fraction increases toward smaller separations by a factor of ∼5 over these scales. The division between physical quasar pairs and lensed quasars in our sample is currently unknown, requiring dedicated follow-up observations (in particular, deep, subarcsecond-resolution IR imaging for the closest pairs). Intriguingly, at this point, the observed pair statistics are in rough agreement with theoretical predictions both for the lensed quasar population in mock catalogs and for dual quasars in cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. Upcoming wide-field imaging/spectroscopic space missions such as Euclid, CSST, and Roman, combined with targeted follow-up observations, will conclusively measure the abundances and host galaxy properties of galactic-scale quasar pairs, offset AGNs, and subarcsecond lensed quasars across cosmic time.


We have developed a motion estimation processor, named COMET (COmpact Motion Estimation processor for real-Time MPEG2 encoding) for real-time MPEG2 encoding. COMET contains a full pel resolution estimation processor made up of 256 processing elements, a half pel resolution estimation processor made up of 8 processing elements and an SDRAM interface. This chip searches motion vectors through a full search method in a horizontal and vertical range of -16 pel to +15.5 pel. COMET is implemented by using 0.5 /spl mu/m-CMOS technology and contains 1.5 million transistors on an area of 12.9 mm/spl times/11.1 mm. COMET has a computation power of 42GOPS at 80 MHz and performs real-time motion vector estimation at a speed of 54 MHz for 720 /spl times/480 pel. An MPEG2 real-time encoding system with a high quality image for MP@ML can be realized using COMET.


Summary
Prior research supports a link between organizational culture and performance but generally falls short of establishing causality or determining the direction of a culture–performance (C-P) relationship. Using data collected from 95 franchise automobile dealerships over 6 years, we studied longitudinal culture–performance relationships to determine whether culture or performance has causal priority, or alternatively, whether a reciprocal relationship exists. Results from cross-lagged panel analyses indicate that culture "comes first," consistently predicting subsequent ratings of customer satisfaction and vehicle sales. Furthermore, the positive effect of culture on vehicle sales is fully mediated by customer satisfaction ratings. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Brooke-Spiegler syndrome is a rare autosomal-dominant genetic disorder characterized by multiple adnexal tumors, including cylindromas, spiradenomas, spiradenocylindromas and trichoepitheliomas. It is caused by germline CYLD mutations commonly leading to a premature stop codon. We here report on 3 novel CYLD mutations in 3 unrelated BSS patients, including the classic phenotype, multiple familial trichoepitheliomas phenotype and malignant transformation. These included c.1821_1826+1delinsCT/L607Ffs*9, c.2666A>T/p.D889V and c.2712delT/p.905Kfs*8. By extending the spectrum of CYLD mutations, better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of BSS can be gained, which might later assist in finding new treatment options.


Background and Aim: Cancer is the third cause of mortality in Iran, killing more than 30000 persons annually. The Motivation Theory is a useful approach for predicting and planning intervention programs to change behaviors related to cancer prevention and early detection. Considering the absence of a valid and reliable protection motivation theory questionnaire for cancer early detection in Iran, this study was conducted to design such a questionnaire and assess its psychometric properties in Yazd was cross-sectional study. A questionnaire was designed based on similar questionnaires currently in use and its validity and reliability were determined. The reliability coefficients were calculated by Cronbach α and intraclass correlation coefficients. To determine the validity of the scale, two methods were used, namely, face validity and content validity. Confirmation factor analysis was used to determine factorial validity using Amous 21 software. Results: The CVR for all items of the questionnaire, CVI, ICC and internal consistency of the questionnaire were found to be 1, 0.97-1.0, 0.71-0.98, and 0.65-0.93, respectively. The confirmation factor analysis revealed that the questionnaire fitted the Iranian population. The Cronbach alpha coefficient for the questionnaire constructs varied between 0.71-0.98 and 0.65-0.93 Conclusion: The validity and reliability of the Persian version of PMT scale for cancer early detection are acceptable and suitable, so it can be used in similar research.


A single cylinder two stroke spark ignition convent ional engine have been modified to linier engine with spring mechanism. Before develop the design of linear engine is necessary to analysis of motion. Although principle of combustion process in combust ion chamber is the same in fact the oscillation movement is different. Simulation technique has bee n adopted to study both linear and conventional engine. 3D engines model have been simulate of the motion. Due to simulate both engines, three different tools have been used. Solid works has bee n used to design, assembly and motion analysis of engine models. However, pressure dynamics have been simulating by GT-Power. Spread sheet has been used to optimize geometry of spring. Spring fo rce and friction force are including components of dynamic and gas dynamic models. Three results have been conducted such as comparison in basic motion (displacement, velocity and acceleration) be tween conventional and linear engine, effect spring design on motion of piston movement and effect fric tion of piston ring and journal bearing on the motion characteristics of linear engine. The simula tion shows clear different motion characteristics between conventional and linear engine. The effect of spring design on motion characteristics is very strong. The friction between ring piston with cylin der liner and journal bearing with rod influenced o f piston movement. However, it need modified the desi gn of spring mechanism.


Growing ultrathin nanogranular (NG) metallic films with continuously varying thickness is of great interest for studying regions of criticality and scaling behaviors in the vicinity of quantum phase transitions. In the present work, an ultrathin gold plasmonic NG film was grown on a sapphire substrate by RF magnetron sputtering with an intentional deposition gradient to create a linearly variable thickness ranging from 5 to 13 nm. The aim is to accurately study the electronic phase transition from the quantum tunneling regime to the metallic conduction one. The film structural characterization was performed by means of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, as well as x-ray diffraction and reflectivity techniques, which indicate the Volmer–Weber film growth mode. The optical and electrical measurements show a transition from dielectric-isolated gold NPs towards a continuous metallic network when t becomes larger than a critical value of tM = 7.8 nm. Our results show that the onset of the percolation region occurs when a localized surface plasma resonance transforms to display a Drude component, indicative of free charge carriers. We demonstrate that, by using a continuously varying thickness, criteria for metallicity can be unambiguously identified. The onset of metallicity is clearly distinguished by the Drude damping factor and by discontinuities in the plasma frequencies as functions of thickness.


Reliability centered maintenance (RCM) is a method of preserving functional integrity. it uses a structured review of maintenance practices to ensure these practices reduce undesirable failures. It is organized common sense and uses many of the maintenance practices that now exist coupled with a logic based linking of maintenance with failure causes. The RCM methodology is selected with the goal of reducing maintenance costs or prioritizing the most appropriate maintenance tasks for the same cost. RCM is used where reliability is important and the consequence of failures is important or critical. RCM can be used to prioritize maintenance tasks where diminishing skilled resources and budgets exist.


Blocking the terminal complement pathway with the C5 inhibitor eculizumab has revolutionized the clinical management of several complement-mediated diseases and has boosted the clinical development of new inhibitors. Data on the C3 inhibitor Compstatin and the C5 inhibitors eculizumab and Coversin reported here demonstrate that C3/C5 convertases function differently from prevailing concepts. Stoichiometric C3 inhibition failed to inhibit C5 activation and lytic activity during strong classical pathway activation, demonstrating a "C3 bypass" activation of C5. We show that, instead of C3b, surface-deposited C4b alone can also recruit and prime C5 for consecutive proteolytic activation. Surface-bound C3b and C4b possess similar affinities for C5. By demonstrating that the fluid phase convertase C3bBb is sufficient to cleave C5 as long as C5 is bound on C3b/C4b-decorated surfaces, we show that surface fixation is necessary only for the C3b/C4b opsonins that prime C5 but not for the catalytic convertase unit C3bBb. Of note, at very high C3b densities, we observed membrane attack complex formation in absence of C5-activating enzymes. This is explained by a conformational activation in which C5 adopts a C5b-like conformation when bound to densely C3b-opsonized surfaces. Stoichiometric C5 inhibitors failed to prevent conformational C5 activation, which explains the clinical phenomenon of residual C5 activity documented for different inhibitors of C5. The new insights into the mechanism of C3/C5 convertases provided here have important implications for the development and therapeutic use of complement inhibitors as well as the interpretation of former clinical and preclinical data.


We analyze the speed limitations of optical electroabsorption modulators. We argue that modulation rate limits are closely related to quantum mechanical adiabaticity. By analyzing the breakdown of the adiabatic approximation, analytical expressions for modulation limits are found. These expressions are numerically validated. Furthermore, we discuss the constraints on the allowable modulation rate set by losses from the quantum well and transition linewidth.


Telemetry is useful for monitoring rare and threatened species if they can be effectively tagged. Relatively abundant, closely related species are sometimes used as surrogates in refining tagging methods or testing the suitability of methods before transfer to rare and threatened species. A decision framework for developing a radio-tagging method of an endangered fish (Macquaria australasica; Percichthyidae) is presented based on experiences with tagging a closely related, surrogate species (Macquaria ambigua). Aquaria and field-based trials demonstrated the suitability of internally implanting a radio-tag with an externally exited antenna on the surrogate species. However, transferring this method to the endangered species under field conditions was unsuccessful in terms of mortality and/or radio-tag rejection. In this case, a surrogate species served to refine radio-tagging methods, but did not successfully indicate the suitability of these methods for a closely related species. This cautionary tale illustrates that surrogate species are not always effective and extrapolation of methods, even across closely related species, may be perilous.


Purpose of reviewTo discuss the rationale for various treatment strategies in rheumatoid arthritis with extra-articular manifestations, and to review advances in understanding the impact of extra-articular rheumatoid arthritis and its management. Recent findingsRecent epidemiologic studies of extra-articular rheumatoid arthritis manifestations have emphasized their major role as predictors of premature mortality in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and provide a rationale for aggressive ant-rheumatic treatment of extra-articular rheumatoid arthritis. Previous uncontrolled or nonrandomized studies favor the use of cyclophosphamide in patients with systemic rheumatoid vasculitis, and methotrexate in the case of other manifestations of extra-articular rheumatoid arthritis. Recent case reports indicate that patients with rheumatoid lung disease may respond to cyclosporine or tumor necrosis factor inhibitors, and that tumor necrosis factor blocking therapy also may be successful in cases of treatment-resistant vasculitis. By contrast, it has been suggested that tumor necrosis factor inhibitors may induce some manifestations of extra-articular rheumatoid arthritis. Data indicating a high risk of serious infections and cardiovascular disease in patients with extra-articular rheumatoid arthritis underline the importance of carefully monitoring such patients. SummaryExtra-articular rheumatoid arthritis is a serious condition, and rheumatoid arthritis patients with extra-articular manifestations should be aggressively treated and monitored. Advances in the understanding of the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis and developments of new, more specific drugs may be of particular benefit to patients with extra-articular disease.


Enhanced activity in low-temperature water-gas shift (LT-WGS) reaction of some ceramometal catalysts compared to conventional Cu–Zn–Al oxide catalyst was demonstrated. Porous ceramometals were synthesized from powdered CuAl alloys prepared by mechanical alloying with the addition of either CuAlexp powders produced by current spark explosion of Cu+Al wires or CuZnAl oxide obtained by coprecipitation. Their structural, microstructural, and textural characteristics were examined by means of X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry, NMR, and adsorption methods, and catalytic properties were studied in the LT-WGS reaction. CuAlO/CuAl ceramometals were found to have mostly the egg-shell microstructure with the metallic cores (AlxCu1–x, Al2Cu, and Al4Cu9) and the oxide shell containing copper oxides and/or mixed oxides of copper and aluminum and, at same time, CuAlO/CuAl ceramometal with incorporated additives was found to create a more complicated microstructure. A large amount of X-ray amorphous oxides of copper and aluminum is typical for all composites. CuAl ceramometal was shown to be more active than the CuZnAl oxide catalyst in spite of a much lower specific surface area. The CuAl+CuZnAl catalyst consisting of prismatic granules showed a higher activity in comparison with CuZnAl oxide consisting of cylindrical granules. The activity of the composite granulated catalyst referred to its unit weight was more than 6-fold higher as compared to the oxide catalyst, while the activity per the surface area was found to be more than an order of magnitude higher due to much higher specific activity of small fraction and additively much lower diffusion limitation of granules.


Path loss of an underwater acoustic communication channel depends not only on the transmission distance, but also on the signal frequency. As a result, the useful bandwidth depends on the transmission distance, a feature that distinguishes an underwater acoustic system from a terrestrial radio one. This fact influences the design of an acoustic network: a greater information throughput is available if messages are relayed over multiple short hops instead of being transmitted directly over one long hop. We asses the bandwidth dependency on the distance using an analytical method that takes into account physical models of acoustic propagation loss and ambient noise. A simple, single-path time-invariant model is considered as a first step. To assess the fundamental bandwidth limitation, we take an information-theoretic approach and define the bandwidth corresponding to optimal signal energy allocation -- one that maximizes the channel capacity subject to the constraint that the transmission power is finite. Numerical evaluation quantifies the bandwidth and the channel capacity, as well as the transmission power needed to achieve a pre-specified SNR threshold, as functions of distance. These results lead to closed-form approximations, which may become useful tools in the design and analysis of acoustic networks.


Al-Azhar Kairo is a symbol of Islamic progress many generations, which Al-Azhar Kairo is an Islamic educational institution that is able to create ulama'-scholars, jurists', students which are able to contribute to Islamic education, especially education of pesantren in Indonesia. Various schools in Indonesia actually have the characteristics of the different education and learning. The characteristics of education and learning in pesantren prove from the ideas and concepts of the leaders and administrators of the cottage. In this case, the head of the cottage PMDG as well several cadres of pesantren have scientific background of the University of Al-Azhar Kairo. Thus directly or indirectly, the process of transformation of philosophy and scientific values occur through programs and activities of the cottage, particularly programs and curriculum activities at KMI. The research problems are: 1. What is the pattern of relations between Al-Azhar Kairo and Pondok Modern Darussalam Gontor. 2. What forms of intellectual interrelation alumni of Al-Azhar Kairo in curriculum development in Pondok Modern Darussalam Gontor. This study uses field research, qualitative descriptive research approach. To analyze the data,the researcher uses data reduction data presentation and verification of data. The researcher collects the data using interviews, observation and documentation. Based on the research results, it can be concluded as follows: 1. The patterns of relationship between Pondok Modern Darussalam Gontor and Al-Azhar Kairo is the pattern of socio-intellectual that with their experience of traveling overseas, cottage cadre delegation to continue the study and a cadre delegation cottage coaching preachers-preachers in the world, as well as its cooperation in the field of education, both with moral and material support. 2. The form and the process of transformation is done interrelation of Intellectual alumni of Al-Azhar Kairo in curriculum development Pondok Modern Darussalam Gontor, either directly or indirectly lead to the development of language, curriculum development and teaching materials development, with reference to some of the works and literature classic of Al-Azhar Kairo in learning activities. Keywords: Intellectual, Al-Azhar Kairo, PMDG, curriculum development


In 2013, Washington State authorized the largest state tax incentive for private industry in U.S. history. It is not remarkable for a state legislature to use tax benefits to retain a major employer — in this case, global aerospace manufacturer Boeing. Laws across all states and thousands of cities routinely incentivize companies such as Amazon, and others, to relocate or remain in particular areas. What is noteworthy, however, is that despite Boeing's significant post-incentive workforce reductions, Washington was unable to recover any of the incentives it had authorized.

This story leads to several important questions, including the following: how effective are state and local legislatures at influencing business location decisions? Do such incentive programs actually achieve their goals of increasing and maintaining jobs? Is the public protected from imprudent spending? This Article looks specifically at the role of state and local governments in encouraging businesses to locate in their jurisdictions. In such cases, state and local lawmakers act as buyers of jobs.

This Article argues for a two-step proposal to limit subnational government actions to incentivize business location decisions. The first step involves a bidding process where companies are awarded incentives based on the lowest dollar amount required to create or retain a job. The second step involves recapturing incentives should a company fail to maintain or achieve a defined number of jobs. This two-step proposal has both regulatory benefits, such as extending public law values to the private sector, and it mollifies the political concern for jurisdictions to appear competitive and the need for public financial protection.


This paper addresses the problems associated with missions using multiple cooperating autonomous underwater vehicles. In such missions, inter-vehicle communication is an important requirement upon which coordination strategy and intelligence decision making functions can be built. This paper presents briefly our current modeling and simulation work on characterizing the vehicle communication performance, together with some of the preliminary results. Even with much simplification of scenario modeling, simulation results exhibit intricate communication characteristics, and they can vary significantly as a function of mission requirements and scenarios.


This study aim at the valorization of wine industry by products; particularly on the extraction and characterization of grape seeds oil using supercritical CO2 (SC-CO2) and polyphenols from grape skins and defatted grape seeds using subcritical water (SW) and then, modeling of the kinetics of extractions and process economic analysis. The overall objective of the work is to develop recovery strategies for wine-making wastes in order to reduce their environmental impact and to valorize them in order to provide wine-makers with the possibility of selling by-products at a profitable price. To address the objectives, the work is divided into seven Chapters. In Chapter 1, some general overview and the fundamental of SC-CO2 and SW technologies along with emerging areas of applications are presented. Special emphasis is given to the work in the field of valorization of agro-industrial by-products. Then, the Chapter ends by stating the general and specific objectives of the thesis. The second Chapter is devoted to the characterization of grape seeds oil. To make the result more holistic, grape seeds from six grape cultivars were extracted using SC-CO2 in two subsequent harvesting years and the resulting oils were characterized. Comparative extractions were also performed by utilizing conventional solvent extraction using n-hexane and by mechanical press. The results testify the potentiality of grape seed oil as a source of unsaturated fatty acids and tocols. Moreover, they offers a clear picture of the similarities and differences among oils from different grape cultivars and obtained through different extraction techniques. The third Chapter is dedicated to compare the effectiveness of the models used to evaluate the kinetic of SC-CO2 extraction curves. Particularly, three models, the broken and intact cells (BIC), the shrinking core (SC), and the bridge (combined BIC-SC) models are critically analyzed. The objective of the Chapter is to objectively choose the best model that can be used in the subsequent Chapters. In order to model the kinetics of SC-CO2 extraction, one of the very important parameter is the solute solubility. But solubility data (especially of grape seed oil) is very scares in the literature. The bulk majority of the scientific works estimate the value of solubility of solute in SC-CO2 from theoretical models. So, the fourth Chapter is devoted to experimental determination of solubility of grape seed oil in SC-CO2 over a range of pressure and temperature of practical importance and the data were modeled by different models to compare their effectiveness. The fifth Chapter is aimed to study the effect of the main process variables affecting the SC-CO2 extraction of oil from grape seeds, both experimentally and through modeling. The dependency of the extraction kinetics on the variables more tested in the literature (pressure, temperature, particle size and solvent flow rate) was confirmed, and original trends were obtained for the less investigated variables, such as the bed porosity (e), the extractor diameter to length ratio (D/L), the extractor free volume and the type of cultivars.
In the sixth Chapter the attention is moved to the valorization of grape skins and defatted grape seeds by using SW. The results show that, both skins and defatted seeds contain significant concentration of polyphenols and SW is a potential green solvent for extracting valuable polyphenols from wine-making by-products. The extraction kinetics was also simulated by a simple model available in the literature. In the seventh and last Chapter, a preliminary economic feasibility study was investigated for the establishment of SC-CO2 extraction plant for the extraction of grape seeds oil. The result shows that, a SC-CO2 extraction plant is technically viable and economically feasible for the extraction of grape seed oil with estimated rate of return on investment at 8.5% and payback period of 5 year at current minimum retail selling price of grape seed oil in the market. The project has an attractive socio-economic and environmental benefit and generates substantial revenue for the local government in the form of tax and will allow wine-makers to sell wet grape marc at a price of up to US$ 10/ton.


Saline water from a storm surge can flow down storm‐damaged submerged water supply wells and contaminate boreholes and surrounding aquifers. Using data from conventional purging techniques, aquifer test response analysis, chemical analysis, and regression analysis of chloride/silica (Cl/Si) ratio, equations were derived to estimate the volume of saline water intrusion into a well and a porous media aquifer, the volume of water needed to purge a well shortly following an intrusion event, and the volume of water needed after delay of several or more months, when the saline plume has expanded. Purging time required is a function of volume of water and pumping rate. The study site well is located within a shoreline community of Lake Pontchartrain, St. Tammany Parish, in southeastern Louisiana, United States, which was impacted by two hurricane storm surges and had neither been rehabilitated nor chlorinated prior to our study. Chemical analysis of water samples in fall 2005 and purging of well and aquifer in June 6, 2006, indicated saline water had intruded the well in 2005 and the well and aquifer in 2006. The volume of water needed to purge the study well was approximately 200 casing volumes, which is significantly greater than conventionally used during collection of water samples for water quality analyses.


Water is an essential resource for social and economic development. The availability of this resource is constantly threatened by the rapid increase in its demand. This research assesses current (2010–2016), short- (2017–2040), middle- (2041–2070), and long-term (2071–2099) levels of water security considering socio-economic and climate change scenarios using the Water Evaluation and Planning System (WEAP) in Vilcanota-Urubamba (VUB) catchment. The streamflow data of the Pisac hydrometric station were used to calibrate (1987–2006) and validate (2007–2016) the WEAP Model applied to the VUB region. The Nash Sutcliffe efficiency values were 0.60 and 0.84 for calibration and validation, respectively. Different scenarios were generated for socio-economic factors (population growth and increased irrigation efficiency) and the impact of climate change to evaluate their effect on the current water supply system. The results reveal that water availability is much higher than the current demand in the VUB for the period (2010–2016). For short-, middle- and long term, two scenarios were considered, "Scenario 1" (RCP 4.5) and "Scenario 2" (RCP 8.5). Climate change scenarios show that water availability will increase. However, this increase will not cover the future demands in all the sub-basins because water availability is not evenly distributed in all of the VUB. In both scenarios, an unmet demand was detected from 2050. For the period 2071–2099, an unmet demand of 477 hm3/year for "Scenario 1" and 446 hm3/year for "Scenario 2" were estimated. Because population and agricultural demands are the highest, the effects of reducing the growth rate and improving the irrigation structure were simulated. Therefore, two more scenarios were generated "Scenario 3" (RCP 4.5 with management) and "Scenario 4" (RCP 8.5 with management). This socio-economic management proved to be effective in reducing the unmet demand up to 50% in all sub-basins for the period 2071–2099.


In recent years, the use of natural fibers as reinforcements in polymer composites to replace synthetic fibers like glass is presently receiving increasing attention. Because of their increasing use combined with high demand, the cost of thermosetting resin has increased rapidly over the past decades. However the widely used synthetic fillers such as glass fiber are very expensive compared to natural fibers. Natural fiber-reinforced thermosetting composites are more economized to produce than the original thermosetting. Moreover the use of natural fiber in thermosetting composites is highly beneficial, because the use of natural fibers will be increased. In this study, a bamboo fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composite that made the RTM was evaluated to mechanical properties.


Author(s): Rhodes, Tyler James | Advisor(s): Abdou, Mohamed | Abstract: Understanding magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) phenomena associated with complex duct geometries and buoyancy effects is required to effectively design liquid metal (LM) blankets for fusion reactors. These topics are investigated in the present work by numerically simulating 3D LM MHD flow using HIMAG (HyPerComp Incompressible MHD solver for Arbitrary Geometry), a code developed by HyPerComp with support from UCLA. In Part I of this dissertation, the simulated geometry is a manifold consisting of a rectangular feeding duct which abruptly expands along the applied magnetic field direction to distribute LM into several parallel channels. As a first step in qualifying the flow, a magnitude of the curl of the induced Lorentz force is used to distinguish between inviscid, irrotational core flows and boundary and internal shear layers where inertia and/or viscous forces are important. Scaling laws are obtained which characterize the 3D MHD pressure drop and flow balancing as a function of the flow parameters and the manifold geometry. Associated Hartmann (Ha) and Reynolds (Re) numbers in the computations are ~10^3 and ~10^1-10^3 respectively while the expansion ratio is varied from 4 to 12. An accurate model for the pressure drop is developed for the first time for inertial-electromagnetic and viscous-electromagnetic regimes based on 96 computed cases. Analysis shows that increasing the distance between the manifold inlet and the entrances of the parallel channels can improve flow balance by utilizing the effect of flow transitioning to a quasi-two-dimensional state in the expansion region of the manifold. Lastly, a Resistor Network Model is developed to describe the effect of the length of the poloidal channels on flow balancing in LM manifold. As the poloidal channels lengthen, the flow balance improves.The simulated geometry in Part II consists of a straight, vertical duct which runs perpendicular to a strong, fringing applied magnetic field. There is also a region of applied heating as the primary goal of Part II is to explore buoyancy effects in MHD duct flows. The unsteady 3D MHD equations are solved using HIMAG. Results are presented for both upwards and downwards flows in electrically conducting (wall conductance ratio cw=0.12) and nonconducting ducts for a range of Ha~10^2, Re~10^3-10^4, and Grashof (Gr) numbers~10^7-10^8. While increasing Gr or decreasing Re increases buoyancy effects, increasing Ha was shown to increase maximum temperature by enhancing flow stability. The extent to which the flow is quasi-2D is analyzed and buoyant effects, in competition with Joule dissipation, are shown to bring about 3D flow features and newly discovered MHD mixed convection phenomena. Steeply diminishing volumetric heating, which approximates nuclear heating, is applied to the vertical MHD flows for comparison to flows with surface heating only. Surface heating generates stronger buoyancy effects than volumetric heating of the same total power; however, many of the same phenomena occur. Therefore, surface heating, the only option for lab experiments, can be useful in exploring the effects of volumetric heating in MHD flows. Lastly, the results of a surface heating case are presented for the purpose of comparison with other codes and experiments, especially the MaPLE-U experiment that is currently is underway at UCLA.


Background: There is increased interest in part-time (PT) positions at academic medical centers (AMCs). Faculty and institutional leaders may have concerns about the potential for academic advancement among PT faculty. Our objective was to determine the impact of working PT on measures of academic productivity. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was mailed to PT and full-time (FT) physicians in U.S. divisions of general internal medicine. Outcome measures included publications and funding. We used multivariate analysis to identify factors associated with academic productivity. Results: The response rate was 63% (176 of 279); 91% of respondents were women (160 of 176). Compared with FT faculty, PT faculty were more often clinicians (Cs) or clinician-educators (CEs) (78% vs. 96%, p< 0.001), were less likely to be fellowship trained (44% vs. 23%, p< 0.001), and reported less academic support, including administrative assistance (84% vs. 67%, p1⁄4 0.008), mentoring (71% vs. 54%, p1⁄4 0.02), and research support (43% vs. 25%, p1⁄4 0.01). PT faculty spent a greater percentage of their time in patient care (55% vs. 45%, p1⁄4 0.01) and teaching (32% vs. 23%, p1⁄4 0.01) and less time in research activities (5% vs. 15%, p1⁄4 0.01) compared with FT faculty. Among Cs and CEs, FT faculty reported more publications (median 2, interquartile range [IQR 5] vs. median 0, IQR 1, p< 0.001) and funding (odds ratio [OR] 2.85, 95% confidence internal [CI] 1.36-5.98). Multivariate analyses showed that fellowship training, mentors, academic support, and number of total years worked were associated with publications and acquisition of funding. There were no associations between working PT and publications or funding. Conclusions: PT faculty report fewer publications and grants. This may be related to insufficient training and academic support. AMCs wanting to facilitate the success of their PT faculty may need to expand the support available to them.


Brains are among the most complex evolved objects. In re-cent years we have seen an explosion in the development of artificial cognitive systems constructed in silico (i.e. digital brains). In fact, we are now capable of creating digital brains whose operation is so complex that they are ef-fectively black boxes (Castelvecchi, 2016; Gunning, 2017). Previous work (Marstaller et al., 2013; Hintze et al., 2018; Kirkpatrick and Hintze, 2019) has identified and expanded upon various information-theoretic measures that can shed light on the internal processes of digital brains. Here we introduce a new information-theoretic measure called Fragmentation ( F ) which can measure how fragmented information is in an a digital brain. To provide a example of the application of F we look at the evolutionary emergence of complexity. Questions regarding the evolution of complexity have been of interest for as long as evolution has been a theory (Gregory, 1935). Nature is responsible for the development of a massive array of complex organisms, each comprised of various organs and regulatory systems that are themselves complex (McShea and Brandon, 2010). It has been observed that complexity can evolve even when complexity itself is being selected against (Beslon et al., 2021). We conclude by using F to show a case of evolved complexity that results in coincidental encryption.


This paper argues that the spatiality of violence needs to pay attention to the production of space as well as the nature of conflict in post-war conditions. Regimes of violence and how they live on in peace, emphasises the need to see how they are assembled in relation to economic, state and social processes implicated in placemaking. Coercion, control and surveillance are all part of the necessary assemblage of ethnic conflict, and in its aftermath, different forms of violence (or simply the threat of violence) reproduce identarian conflict and simultaneously exploit its reproduction. Liberal and increasingly neoliberal forms of peace fail to connect with the people and places most damaged by conflict and the relationship between poverty, sectarianism and place intensify the conditions for enduring forms of paramilitarism and ultimately violence. The paper draws on Belfast, Northern Ireland to argue that tackling the distinct economic conditions of the most marginal places is a critical but undervalued dimension of violence after peace. The analysis concludes by evaluating the potential of the Social and Solidarity Economy in transitional processes in which the relationship between violence, place and poverty are constitutive of embedded forms of materialist peacebuilding.


Cognitive theories based on a fixed feature set suffer from frame and symbol grounding problems. Flexible features and other empirically acquired constraints (e.g., analog-to-analog mappings) provide a framework for letting extrinsic relations influence symbol manipulation. By offering a biologically plausible basis for feature learning, nonorthogonal multiresolution analysis and dimensionality reduction, informed by functional constraints, may contribute to a solution to the symbol grounding problem.


Acoustic waves are considered that are propagating in a layered structure consisting of elastic layers with ideal fluid moving between them. This is a simple model of a fluid‐filled porous medium. First discussed is the dependence of the dispersion curves on the relative velocity of the fluid and on the material and geometrical parameters of the constituents. Dispersion relations for a periodic layering are derived explicitly. Different asymptotic limits can be obtained, which reduce to known solutions for interfacial acoustical wave motion in the presence of flow. The main focus of this talk is the possibility of instabilities triggered by the moving fluid in the layered system. The role of such acoustical instabilities in nonlinear dynamics of poroelastic fluid‐filled media is discussed. This effect can be viewed as a generalized flutter phenomenon, made possible by the permeability of the pore space. [Work supported by ONR.]


In present study, the effect of repetitive deep frying cycles (6 batches) of French fries was evaluated for nutritional changes of commercial oil blend (Canola, Sunflower, Cottonseed and Soybean) along with sensory characteristics of fried food. Each deep fat frying cycle was lasted for 13 min and resultant oil was analyzed for nutritional quality by assessing, free fatty acids (FFA), acid value (AV), para Anisidine value (p-AV), viscosity and fatty acid composition (FAC), while sensory characteristics of French fries were determined by evaluating appearance, color, crispness, taste and overall acceptability. Results showed that with increasing repetitive cycle's leads to increase in FFA, AV, p-AV, and viscosity which is an indicator of frying oil deterioration. Up to 3 continuous cycles oil quality was within the permissible limits of INSO, however beyond that oil quality was not suitable. Result of FAC showed progressive increase in SFA (19.23 to 28.84%) from 1st to 6th frying cycle, while PUFA was significantly decreased during frying (39.31 to 31.75%). Sensory properties of French fries indicated particularly significant change (p>0.05) in color during last frying cycle as compared to other cycles (score 9.5 vs. 7.3).


What do the 1996 elections tell us about where the American people want the country to go? Is the country still shifting toward conservative government? What are the greatest opportunities now to advance the conservative agenda in the Congress? And what can conservatives in the 105th Congress learn from the successes and failures of the 104th Congress? What are you most worried about in a second Clinton term, and how can con- servatives fight the most dangerous liberal initiatives? Policy Review: The Journal of American Citizenship posed these questions to 24 conservative political and intellectual leaders. Dick Armey When the American people gave Republicans the majority in both houses of Congress in 1994, many journalists and pundits called it a sea change, a transformation of the political landscape brought about by an upsurge of voter discontent. In 1996, President Clinton was re-elected on a campaign platform that echoed much of the GOP agenda, and Republicans retained their majorities in both Houses for the first time since 1928. It is clear that American politics and government are being transformed not by sudden upheaval, but by the steady current of common-sense conservatism. There is no longer any question that the nation wants smaller and more effec- tive government, lower taxes, and a return to the values of freedom and responsibility. Exit polls from the election show that more voters identify themselves as conservative than liberal by a margin of almost two to one. It is now up to elected officials on both halves of the political spectrum to fulfill the expectations so clearly expressed by American voters. Both presidential candidates campaigned on conservative principles, as did most winning candidates for House and Senate seats, Republican and Democrat alike. One of the first priorities of the 105th Congress will be to work with the moderate Democrats who campaigned on conservative principles. Since the elec- tion, I have made more than 30 calls to the more moderate of the Democratic members of Congress to invite them to work with us on reforms at a pace the president can handle. We learned in the last Congress that Bill Clinton can't take change in big doses, and we'll continue to reduce wasteful Washington spending and unnecessary government programs, although at a somewhat slower pace. The American people returned a Republican majority in both chambers in part because they know they can trust Republicans to hew to a conservative path and hold Bill Clinton to his campaign promises. One priority of the next Congress will be to help Bill Clinton keep the promises he has made to the American people. Last year, Bill Clinton responded to the conservative call to balance the budget by promising voters a balanced budget with family tax relief.February. We will thoroughly examine the president's budget to ensure that it lives up to the promises he made during the campaign. Now that the GOP has retained a majority in the House and increased its majority in the Senate, the president will find it difficult to back out of a real balanced budget agreement. And with the addition of two more GOP Senators, the American people are virtually assured passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment in the 105th Congress, perhaps even with the president's support. The president has promised to get tough on crime and drugs, two of the biggest threats to America's families. The Republican Congress will make certain that crime stays on the top of the president's post-election agenda, and that dur- ing Bill Clinton's second term the nation will take the necessary steps to stem illegal drug use among our children. Bill Clinton also promised to save Medicare from bankruptcy without imposing any untenable hardships upon Medicare recipients. As the polemics of this last election showed, Medicare can be used as a powerful political tool, but we will ensure that the long-term solvency of the program and the needs of Medicare recipients will supersede politics. …


We present a methodology for calibrating multiple light source locations in 3D from images. The procedure involves the use of a novel calibration object that consists of three spheres at known relative positions. The process uses intensity images to find the positions of the light sources. We conducted experiments to locate light sources in 51 different positions in a laboratory setting. Our data shows that the vector from a point in the scene to a light source can be measured to within 2.7/spl plusmn/4/spl deg/ at /spl alpha/=.05 (6 percent relative) of its true direction and within 0.13/spl plusmn/.02 m at /spl alpha/=.05 (9 percent relative) of its true magnitude compared to empirically measured ground truth. Finally, we demonstrate how light source information is used for color correction.


We study three incompressibility flavors of linearly elastic anisotropic solids that exhibit volumetric constraints: isochoric, hydroisochoric, and rigidtropic. An isochoric material deforms without volume change under any stress system. An hydroisochoric material does so under hydrostatic stress. A rigidtropic material undergoes zero deformations under a certain stress pattern. Whereas the three models coalesce for isotropic materials, important differences appear for anisotropic behavior We find that isochoric and hydroisochoric models under certain conditions may be hampered by unstable physical behavior. Rigidtropic models can represent semistable physical materials of arbitrary anisotropy while including isochoric and hydroisochoric behavior as special cases.


The two-blade propeller, one of the most powerful sources of sound known, has been studied with the view of obtaining fundamental information concerning the noise emission. In order to eliminate engine noise, the propeller was mounted on an electric motor. A microphone was used to pick up the sound whose characteristics were studied electrically. The distribution of noise throughout the frequency range, as well as the spatial distribution about the propeller, was studied. The results are given in the form of polar diagrams. An appendix of common acoustical terms is included.


In this paper the main anatomico-functional data concerning the cerebellum are presented. The numerous hypotheses put forward on the functions of the cerebellum, such as they are listed in introduction, illustrate both the advances achieved and the problems awaiting to be solved. Following a general view of phylogenesis, the peculiar characteristics of the cerebellar cortex structure are emphasized; they include, notably, the properties of the olivo-cerebellar system, which is a source of climbing fibres and the organization into microzones, which constitutes the basic elements of the cerebellum. Finally, two aspects of functional organization are treated: the definition of three types of cerebellum (vestibular, somaesthetic and visual) based on the sensorial afferent pathways and the definition of efferent functional subsets based on sagittal bands identified in the vermis, the intermediate area and the hemispheric portion.


PURPOSE
The aim of this study was to evaluate the lactic acid concentration in supragingival plaque from caries-active pre-school children after a short-term use of either xylitol- or sorbitol-containing chewing gums.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
The investigation consisted of a prospective crossover design with 10 healthy children aged 2-4 years each with at least two caries lesions within the dentine (ds > or = 2). The children were instructed to chew 6 pieces of a test or a control gum every day for a 14-day period. The test gum contained 65% xylitol and the control gum was sweetened with sorbitol. At baseline and after 14 days, salivary mutans streptococci were enumerated with a chair-side test (Strip mutans) and dental plaque was collected from the upper maxillary incisors. After a washout period of 6 weeks, the same procedure was repeated with the corresponding test or control gum. Lactic acid was determined enzymatically in glucose-challenged plaque suspensions.

RESULTS
The lactic acid concentration was significantly reduced (p<0.05) by 22% compared with baseline following the xylitol gum regimen but was unaltered after the control gum. The levels of salivary mutans streptococci were mainly unaffected by both chewing gums.

CONCLUSION
A 14-day use of xylitol-containing chewing gums, corresponding to a daily amount of 5 grams of xylitol, could diminish glucose-initiated lactic acid formation in supragingival plaque in caries-active pre-school children.


Abstract This essay considers a historical novel of recent times in revisionist terms, Kevin McCarthy's debut novel of 2010, Peeler. In doing so, I also address the limitations that the novel exposes within Irish revisionism. I propose that McCarthy's novel should be regarded more properly as a post-revisionist work of literature. A piece of detective fiction that is set during the Irish War of Independence from 1919 to 1921, Peeler challenges the romantic nationalist understanding of the War as one of heroic struggle by focusing its attention on a Catholic member of the Royal Irish Constabulary. In considering the circumstances in which Sergeant Seán O'Keefe finds himself as a policeman serving a community within which support for the IRA campaign against British rule is strong, the novel sheds sympathetic light on the experience of Catholic men who were members of the Royal Irish Constabulary until the force was eventually disbanded in 1922. At the same time, it demonstrates that the ambivalence in Sergeant O'Keefe's attitudes ultimately proves unsustainable, thereby challenging the value that Irish revisionism has laid upon the ambivalent nature of political and cultural circumstances in Ireland with regard to Irish-British relations. In the process, I draw attention to important connections that McCarthy's Peeler carries to Elizabeth Bowen's celebrated novel of life in Anglo-Irish society in County Cork during the period of the Irish War of Independence: The Last September of 1929.


The computational systems of the grid make a way in which different heterogeneous resources distributed geographically are connected in a virtual processing environment. The resource discovery is so critical in such environments. In recent years, authors have proposed different methods in the resource discovery in the grid. Recent methods have tried to decrease the discovery and update costs. Some were successful in lowering the discovery cost and some the updating cost. In this paper, any nodes of the grid take a format as a catalogue. In this form to any attribute of the resource allocated a unique code. These codes are transferred among nodes for the updating and discovery that have low volumes. Contrary to the previous methods, here is presented a method which is of low-cost in terms of both the discovery and the updating. The results show that the traffic and number of visited nodes in our resource discovery algorithm is less than other algorithms.