Moral Epistemology: The Mathematics Analogy * There is a long tradition of comparing moral knowledge to mathematical knowledge. Plato compared mathematical knowledge to knowledge of the Good. 1 In recent years, metaethicists have found the comparison to be illuminating. 2 Sometimes the comparison is supposed to show that moral realism is peculiarly problematic. For example, James Rachels writes, " [H]ow do we know moral facts?....In mathematics there are proofs….But moral facts are not accessible by…these familiar methods [1998, p. 3]. " But other times the comparison is supposed to show that moral realism is no more problematic than mathematical realism. For example, Hilary Putnam writes, " [A]rguments for " antirealism " in ethics are virtually identical with arguments for antirealism in the philosophy of mathematics; yet philosophers who resist those arguments in the latter case often capitulate in the former [2004, p. 1]. " In this paper I discuss apparent similarities and differences between moral knowledge and mathematical knowledge, realistically conceived. I argue that many of these are only apparent, while others are less philosophically significant than might be thought. The picture that emerges is surprising. There are definitely differences between epistemological arguments in the two areas, contrary to what Putnam suggests. However, these differences, if anything, seem to increase the plausibility of moral realism as compared to mathematical realism, contrary to what Rachels suggests. It is hard to see how one might argue, on epistemological grounds, for moral antirealism while maintaining commitment to mathematical realism. But it may be possible to do the opposite. 1. Self-Evidence and Disagreement One reason that moral knowledge invites comparisons with mathematical knowledge is that moral knowledge can appear a priori like mathematical knowledge. Sarah McGrath writes, " [W]e do not attempt to discover what people ought to do in particular circumstances by designing and performing crucial experiments; nor do we think that our moral beliefs are inductively confirmed by observation. Experience does not appear to play an evidential role in our moral knowledge. In these and other ways, moral knowledge seems to resemble mathematical knowledge more than it resembles the kind of knowledge that is delivered by the empirical sciences [McGrath 2010, 108-9]. " McGrath's point is that we seem to arrive at some moral conclusions on the basis of reflection alone. Empirical evidence obviously bears on the question of what concrete things are good, bad, obligatory, and so on. For example, that …


Within the framework of the research project "Climate risks for the population and economy of Russian regions: identification, assessment, management", supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR), a group of researchers from IDI FNISTS RAS made two expeditions to the regions of the Far North: in September 2021 - to the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and in November 2021 - to the Murmansk Region.


A generalized conforming finite element theory was presented to satisfy the C1 continuity condition for plate and shell element. The effectiveness of the theory in the linear analysis has been proved. This paper discusses the membrane locking phenomenon of shallow shell element based on the satisfaction of the requirement of rigid body motion, and a technique is developed to eliminate the membrane locking phenomenon. Accordingly a geometrically nonlinear generalized conforming rectangular shallow shell element with tangential degrees of freedom of midpoints of sides is formulated. Nonlinear numerical analysis of shell stability shows that the element exhibits high precision and fast convergence characteristics.


In Death and Property in Siena (1988), Samuel Cohn used quantitative and qualitative analysis of wills from the thirteenth through the eighteenth centuries to look at changes in piety and property transmission. The Cult of Remembrance complements that book, asking the same questions and (apparently) using the same methodology, but reducing the time period to ca. 1275-1425 and expanding the geographic scope to Arezzo, Assisi, Florence, Perugia and Pisa. Cohn deems the comparative approach necessary because historians have little questioned the degree to which the Florentine experience is representative (2-3), and deems that approach possible because the cities, despite variation in size, economic base, political systems and social ordering, shared a "nearly uniform notarial culture" (4). The book's thesis is straightforward, demonstrated anew in each of the topical chapters. Cohn's primary target is the notion of "civic Christianity," that late medieval Italians shifted from penitential and ascetic concerns to support for institutions which would bring immediate benefit to the community, especially hospitals and lay confraternities; along the way, Cohn also dismisses Burckhardt 's theses of individualism and secularism. Instead, he concludes, the piety of testators changed from what he terms a "mendicant" type (self-effacing, ordering liquidation of assets and generalized bequests to many institutions) to a more egotistical sort (concerned with safeguarding the family patrimony, controlling heirs from beyond the grave, and making fewer, larger bequests which would memorialize self and patriline). Although patterns of bequests were highly localized before the mid-Trecento, all six cities experienced a turning point with the second great wave of plague in 1362-63, and strategies of remembrance converged thereafter. Rejecting impressionistic methodologies which extrapolate cultural patterns from scattered literary and artistic artifacts, Cohn stays close to his evidence base of 3389 wills. He has chosen not to examine other sources which touch on piety and patrimony, such


– The aim of the present study was to investigate the possibility of increasing the adsorption of chlorhexidine to hydroxyapatite and teeth beyond the level observed for untreated material. For this purpose treatment of samples with 0.01 M glycerophosphate or phytic acid prior to the chlorhexidine adsorption was instituted. The results showed that phytic acid strongly enhanced the adsorption capacity of hydroxyapatite and teeth in vitro. Also, the release of the drug, upon elution with water, remained at a continuously higher level and exhibited longer duration in phytic acid–treated samples than in the other ones examined.


'Much work remains to be able to speak of good drivers, true awareness and proper driving', says David Cantero, presenter of Informativos Telecinco (3 pm). The journalist was interviewed by 'Road Safety for Seniors', Accident Prevention and Road Safety Area of Fundación MAPFRE, to discuss road safety, awareness, speed, radar, medical examinations and the elderly, among other topics. David Cantero is an avowed motorcyclist. 'Roads are not designed or built for motorcyclists but for cars' he says.


Background : Rapid population aging in Singapore has placed increased strain on conventional institution-focused long-term care (LTC) services, shifting the emphasis towards the use of community-based LTC services rather than residential facilities. However, a substantial amount of support for older adults is still provided by informal caregivers in the home despite increased efforts to revise the traditional LTC model. Informal caregivers fill their role as caregiver while simultaneously occupying a second role such as spouse, daughter, son, or friend; thus, it is important to understand the impact informal caregiving has on informal caregivers' well-being within the context of each patient-caregiver relationship. Recent studies have shown that providing informal care to a family member can provide positive effects such as emotional fulfillment. Yet, the experiences of informal caregivers are typically characterized by the negative impacts caregiving has on both their physical and psychological health. Few studies have investigated how health impacts differ by caregiver-care recipient relationship type and the effect that formal LTC services has on caregiver well-being. Gaining a better understanding of the stresses imposed by caregiving among different caregiver-care recipient relationship types and how the uptake of services alters caregiver stress will provide policy makers with greater insight into how caregivers can be better supported through more integrated LTC systems. Objectives : Our primary objective was to understand the effect of informal caregiving on family caregivers' psychological health (self-rated general health, stress level, and quality of life) with respect to different types of caregiver-care recipient relationships. Secondly, we examined the effect of LTC service use on the informal caregivers' psychological health. Methods : The study sample consisted of 814 dyads of care recipients and caregivers who participated a longitudinal survey examining the use of LTC services in Singapore. Patients in this study were referred to one of the following LTC services: day rehabilitation care, dementia day care, home medical, home nursing, home therapy, or nursing homes. We used two waves of data for these dyads and employed multilevel regression models to investigate caregivers' self-rated psychological health along three dimensions: stress level (Caregiver Self-Assessment Questionnaire), quality of life (EQ-5D-5L), and general health (EQ-VAS). The primary explanatory variable for our analysis was the type of LTC service that the care recipients reported using during the six months preceding the date of each interview. We adjusted for care recipient and caregiver characteristics that were potentially pertinent to the caregivers' psychological health status as well as the type of LTC services that the care recipients were currently using at the time of each interview. Results : Caregivers who were non-immediate family members presented better psychological health than spousal and adult children caregivers. Spousal caregivers reported significantly lower quality of life than non-immediate family caregivers. Among the immediate family caregivers, spousal caregivers reported significantly lower quality of life than adult children caregivers. Caregivers whose care recipient was referred to a nursing home presented worse psychological health compared to those whose care recipient was referred to community-based services. Accounting for the type of LTC service that the care recipient used during the prior six months as well as whether the care recipient used the index referred service, non-immediate family caregivers scored 2.26 points higher (out of 100 points) on self-rated general health and 0.35 points lower (out of 10 points) on stress level than spousal and adult children caregivers. Caregivers who took care of their spouse scored significantly lower on quality of life by 0.05 points (on a scale of 0 to 1) compared to those who took care of non-immediate family members. Among caregivers who were the spouse and adult child of their care recipient, adult children had a significantly higher quality of life by 0.06 points compared to spouses. Conclusion : Societal expectations and complex interpersonal dynamics between care recipients and caregivers may have attributed to the poorer psychological health reported by spousal and adult children caregivers compared to non-immediate family caregivers. Spousal caregivers' first-hand experience with the functional deterioration of their spouse may have resulted in greater psychological distress compared to caregivers who were more removed from care recipients' day-to-day health challenges. Understanding the impact of LTC service use on caregivers' psychological health while incorporating the unique characteristics of each type of caregiving relationship is important as LTC service models transform. Creating more integrated and holistic LTC systems will involve considerations regarding the dynamics between care recipients and their caregivers. LTC systems of the future should incorporate the monitoring of caregivers' physical and psychological health and increased availability of support for caregivers.


Double-machine air conditioning panel is a stamping part with many forming processes and complicated shapes. Its forming processes include punching, expanding, expanding, flanging, expanding and bending, etc. Because there are many processes and many factors affecting the accuracy of the workpiece, traditional qualitative analysis, physical simulation and experimental verification are used in determining the stamping process plan and mold design, which makes the production cycle longer and the cost higher. Experience in the production of knowledge is not intuitive, not system, and the numerical simulation technology can analyze the sheet metal stamping process, can provide material deformation mechanics of detailed information, the traditional rely on qualitative analysis and the practical experience of the past into quantitative numerical analysis process analysis, realized the digital parts forming process, forming quality evaluation in advance, process inspection, optimization of stamping process and die design parameters, provides the theory basis for reasonable material selection, etc.


Based on the comprehinsive investigations on natural resources of Jiulongshan^s mountain areas, the authors propose an explotation and utilization programme for all aspects of the rich natural resources with the prerequisite of natural conservation in order to prosper the mountain economy. The measures aims at exertion of superiority of forest resource. The processing industry of forest products, cultivation, wildlife managment, tourism and the "third" business should be developed immediately. The exploitation objectives, sequences and measures are also discussed in the article.


Positive column gas discharge tubular PDP with increased luminous efficiency, higher sustain voltage capability and pre‐discharge sustain priming. High speed addressing uses address priming. Independent sustain/address, row address and column data electrodes are separate from sustaining electrodes. The sharing of address electrodes between adjacent rows reduces row drivers by 50%.


What's your assessment? His airway is patent, as indicated by his ability to talk. His respiratory rate is 24 and he exhibits no signs of respiratory distress. His radial pulse is bounding at a rate of 110 and you identify no active external bleeding. He reports that he didn't lose consciousness, and he responds appropriately to questions. Even though the temperature has been in the mid-80s, you wrap your sweatshirt around him to prevent hypothermia, which can occur when environmental temperatures are under 85° F. You identify a 6-inch, 3⁄4"-diameter fragment of the branch protruding from the anterior lateral aspect of the patient's left thigh, with a small amount of blood around the wound. You palpate around the thigh and find that the branch's opposite end is protruding about 1 inch on the opposite posterior medial aspect of his thigh. You don't attempt to remove the branch, which could cause more damage to underlying structures, such as blood vessels or nerves. Instead, you plan to stabilize the branch to prevent it from moving in or out of the wound.


Material characteristics determined for low cycle fatigue (LC F), high cycle fatigue (HCF) or fatigue crack growth (FCG) are different. The question aris es, whether common mechanical and microstructural features can be found or not in this field of loadin g types, based on which relationship among the materials constants can be assumed. The paper introduces the similarity of the stress and strain state, furthermore the dislocation structure having been developed during low cycle fatigue and fatigue crack growth. This can form a basis f or the establishment of a connection between the material characteristics, the exponents of the Mans on-Coffin equation and the ParisErdogan law. The validity of the hypothesis has been illustrated he re by comparing the test results determined for different material grades, steels, one superalloy and a luminium alloys.


Asthma is a chronic lung disease characterized by airflow obstruction, bronchial hyper-reactivity and inflammation of the airways. Immunoglobulin E (IgE) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of asthma. Blocking IgE binding to its high affinity FcεR1 with anti-IgE (omalizumab, Xolair®) can provide moderate-to-severe asthma patients with certain levels of clinical benefit by reducing asthma exacerbations, symptoms, and oral corticosteroid doses, as well as improving quality of life.


This present research focuses on two purposes: they are to find out the application of Vladimir Propp's theory on narrative text models used in Junior High School Textbooks and the authenticity of narrative text models used in Junior high school textbooks. To answer the first research question, the theory is used to analyze the data through document analysis and the second research question answered by comparing the analyses of the text models of JHS textbooks and the authentic texts. The data were four narrative text models taken from four junior high school textbooks that contain narrative texts and the storybook as an example of authentic text. The result showed that the theory was generally applicated on narrative text models used in Junior High School and all of them are belong to not authentic. Three of them are the simplification of the authentic texts and the other is created text. This was caused by context of used (classroom), cultural context and students level of knowledge


In general, FORTRAN is used for numerical analysis and OPS5 or LISP is used for expert systems, This causes problems at the interface because the various applications require different computing languages or environments. This paper describes the approach used to take AutoCAD as a user-interface for an existing finite element structural analysis package. Some principles concerning database management related to data-exchange interface of pre- and post-processing system for FORTRAN structural analysis program are discussed, and numerical examples demonstrate the power of the combination of these programs.


Summary form only given. The long distances between key population centers and the rugged terrain that is typical of much of inland Australia presents a number of unique challenges to the planners, builders and maintainers of telecommunications infrastructure in Australia. It is these challenges and some of the innovative ways they have been addressed which is the subject of the bulk of this presentation. The drivers for the planning of optical fiber networks in the Australian environment are examined.


FRIENDS ARE AT the center of most of our lives. Yet public policymakers and lawyers rarely spend any time thinking about how the structure of our public policies and our law can help sustain and promote our friendships with our nearest and dearest. Few realize that choices we make in the design of our public institutions structure and sometimes regulate our friendship networks. Decision-makers and legislators spend an awful lot of time focusing on the family and designing our public law to account for and promote the family unit. More, special professional relationships of trust and confidence, like our interactions with our lawyers, doctors, and psychotherapists, are heavily structured and regulated by law; even informal intimacies such as those that are produced through cohabitation and co-ownership have a set of rules that structure those relationships. Our friends are no less important than our families, our households, and our professional relationships, and friendships deserve some of the same protection and recognition under the law. The arguments in this essay support two main claims. First, the law must learn to take notice of friendship because friendship matters--to our lives, our law, and the viability of our public institutions. This is not a terribly controversial thesis, perhaps, but it is counterintuitive enough. It turns out that without being terribly self-conscious about regulating friendship, the law does occasionally find a way to make friendship relevant. We need to realize this is happening so we can intervene well when the law must and does get involved in our friendships. Second, and more controversially, our laws, legal institutions, and public policy agendas should be oriented toward promoting and facilitating friendships. The end of the essay gestures at how that might be done. These two claims are somewhat different and can be disentangled. One could agree with the first--that we need to know what we are doing when we regulate friendships and when the law interposes itself within a friendship--but disagree with the second, that the law should promote or facilitate friendship. One could sensibly think that the law should be designed to be sensitive to friendships so as not to trammel them unnecessarily, but that we go too far if we seek a general policy orientation of friendship-promotion. Still, the essay defends both theses. Who is a friend? PERHAPS THE BIGGEST challenge to either aspect of this project is coming up with a useful definition of the friend. The vast majority of us know who our parents, children, brothers, and sisters are. But figuring out who constitutes a friend--and when friendship starts and ends--may be a harder task. A casual definition is usually ready to hand, but it is more challenging to settle on a working definition for more careful analysis. Indeed, if you asked everyone in the country to list his or her friends, it would be reasonable to suspect that those lists would not always line up: Some people would list friends who would not reciprocate. Even friends who would list one another in this thought experiment perhaps cannot be relied upon to be "true" friends at the core, for we all likely operate with varying thresholds, tolerances, and expectations for friendship. We sometimes feel social pressure to call someone a friend. Yet, perhaps, if pressed, we all know who our "real" friends are. We think we know when we have reliable ones, but that does not give satisfactory guidance for any form of codification or sustained thinking for public policy. This is certainly an inauspicious beginning. If legal duties and privileges should flow from friendship, vague standards are troublesome. If my working definition is not much better than "I know it when I see it," it will be hard to convince lawmakers to assign duties and privileges to an amorphous class of citizens. Everyone may see friendship slightly differently. Still, the definitional challenges are not insurmountable. …


Efficient combustion of fuels with lower emissions levels has become a demanding task in modern power plants, and new tools are needed to diagnose their energy production. The goals of the study were to find dependencies between process variables and the concentrations of gaseous emission components and to create multivariate nonlinear models describing their formation in the process. First, a generic processmodel was created by using a self-organizing map, which was clustered with the k-means algorithm to create subsets representing the different states of the process. Characteristically, these process states may include high- and lowload situations and transition states where the load is increased or decreased. Then emission models were constructed for both the entire process and for the process state of high boiler load. The main conclusion is that the methodology used is able to reveal such phenomena that occur within the process states and that could otherwise be difficult to observe.


SANTOS, N. R. (2011). Expert System for Optimized Selection of Transformer Protection Devices against Atmospheric Discharges. Dissertation (Master's Degree) – São Carlos School of Engineering, University of São Paulo, 2011. The objective of this study consists of presenting an expert system that assists the procedures involved with the protection specification of transformers against atmospheric discharges, allowing also to analyze in a detailed and systematic way the behavior of the respective voltage transients that are generated at the supplying area. For such purpose, the expert system developed in this research makes the efficient integration of approaches and techniques that take into account the characteristic aspects of the atmospheric discharges, the experimental analyses that represent the phenomenon and the mathematical models that allow to map the process involved with the formation of the lightning.


On solid particles or viscous form droplets of core material [27], with a coating material [21] Production of the capsule, and that a single individual particles coated by the adhesion of these two main raw material suspended liquid is supplied to the rotating surface [13], a suspension due to the centrifugal action, and dispersed by the rotating surface [27, 27a] and a relatively small droplets of coating material [21a] on the coating on the particles had relatively large. Solidifying the droplets of pure coating material may be recycled suspension. Before the suspension reaches the rotating surface, so that individual components of the core material is distributed in the coating material, so that all the particles to give a coating.


The quality of the phytosanitary treatments and weed control depends on the amount of solution administered uniformly per unit area, coverage and penetration of plant mass, fluid flow rates and droplet size. Most of these indices are fulfilled by nozzles. The most important parts of the sprayer are nozzles. They produce herbicide mixture in small sized droplets that are sent to target surface. This stream of droplets containins particles of different sizes. Measurements were made at the Department of Technical and Soil Sciences, using EP 70 sprayer manufactured by Tehnofavorit BonA£ida and data acquisition was realized using the test benchmark TEST 1000 produced by the German firm Herbst.


This Essay, which is part of a symposium entitled "Is the Rational Basis Test Unconstitutional?," provides a partial response to scholars and jurists, who criticize the current standards of scrutiny as overly rigid and lacking any historical foundation. I argue that the Supreme Court had good reason to create (somewhat rigid) standards of scrutiny beginning in the early-to-mid twentieth century. Around that time, the Court faced a caseload crisis; it could no longer review every federal question case from the inferior federal and state courts. Accordingly, in a series of statutes, Congress granted the Court the discretion to choose the cases that it hears. In order to provide meaningful leadership in this discretionary review system, the modern Supreme Court cannot correct lower court errors on a case-by-case basis. Instead, the Court must articulate broad doctrines that guide the lower courts in the many cases that it cannot review. The tiers of scrutiny, like other broad decision rules, enable the Supreme Court to provide guidance to the lower federal and state courts on the content of federal law — and thereby to promote stability and uniformity in the judicial system.


It was about ten years ago when this happened.One evening, I was walking along a street, humming a tune. Soon a factory was in sight. As I was passing by it, a big dog rushed out from the factory, barking ferociously. It jumped up and tried to bite me. I was frightened terribly. I took to my heels and ran as fast as I could.


Every year companies spend a great amount of money on advertising and promotion. On the other end of the line, consumers are subject to all this advertising and have formed opinions about the different media used to reach their attention and accordingly trust/distrust each media in view of their experience. The aim of the research was to measure consumer trust towards four different types of media; television, radio, newspapers and internet, using the ADTRUST scale, a 20 item, Likert-type measure recently published. Participants were 513 university students. Results showed no significant difference in trust between the different media although marginally significant trends support a previous study. Results did however show different levels of trust within demographic groups such as gender, age and education. Results suggest that consumers neither trust nor distrust advertising but are rather neutral. Homogeneity within the group of participants may affect external validity and future research should apply the ADTRUST scale to a more diverse group of participants in order to get more valid demographical comparisons.


The characteristics of the converter combustion flame are one of the key factors in the process control and end-point control of steelmaking. In a big data era, it is significant to carry out high-speed and effective processing on frame spectrum data. By installing data acquisition devices at the converter mouth and separating the spectrum according to the wave length, high-dimensional converter flame spectrum big data sets are achieved. The data of each converter is preprocessed after information fusion. By applying the SM software, the correspondence with the carbon content is obtained. Selecting the relative data of the two peak ratios and the single-peak absolute data as a one-dimensional signal, due to the obvious nonlinear and nonstationary characteristics, using HHT to do empirical mode decomposition and Hilbert spectrum analysis, the variation characteristics after 70% of the converter steelmaking process are obtained. From data acquisition, data preprocessing to data analysis and results, it provides a new perspective and method for the study of similar problems.


% ^ /n numerous sports and sport events performance is, to a great extent, determined by the level of speed-strength. An optimal preparation (worm-up) is necessary to achieve the highest possible realization of speed-strength in training and competition. Some top international athletes ore said to have produced the highest speed and speed-strength performances immediately after having performed a few Maximal Voluntary Contractions (MVCs). However, os yet no target-oriented and systematic studies of MVCs. as an element of warm-up programmes, have been conducted. Therefore the focus of the following study is on the following questions: (1) To what extent can the short-term potentiation of speed-strength induced by MVCs be considered us a general effect? (2) Can effects of post-tetanic potentiation be triggered in human beings by MVCs? (3) To what extent Is there a connection between possible short-term increases in speed-strength and neuronal effects of post-tetanic potentiation? The results of two complex training experiments show that MVCs carried out during the warm-up can really lead to a considerable increase In speed-strength performances of the lower extremities in alt athletics sprint and jumping events and of the upper extremities in the shot put and the throws, m ^


The photophysical properties of 2,4,6-triphenylpyrylium (TPP+) and three para-substituted tritylium ions encapsulated within Y, β, and MCM-41 have been studied. It was found that TPP+ adsorbed within MCM-41 or silica only emits fluorescence (λmax 470 nm), whereas when this cation is incorporated within HY and LaY, simultaneous emission of fluorescence and room-temperature phosphorescence (λmax 560 nm) was observed. The fluorescence decay consists of two consecutive first-order processes and is dominated by the fast (0.2−0.7 ns) component. In addition to the prompt fluorescence, delayed emission observable 40 μs after excitation was also detected for the three TPP+ samples. Weak fluorescence was observed for the series of tritylium ions embedded within zeolites. The characteristic T−T absorption spectrum of the TPP+ triplet excited state has been detected using time-resolved diffuse reflectance. Depending on the zeolite, shifts in the reflectance maximum and changes in the extinction coefficient of the lon...


This resource showcases Loyola student and faculty digital scholarship projects as well as tools and resources for engaging in digital scholarship. Free and open source tools for digital scholarship projects.


This paper is about detection and tracking a person by mobile robots in in-door environments, such as shopping center and hospital. It uses vision based approaches to recognize texture of clothes. The paper proposes a method to use depth (distance) reference along with scale invariant features (SIFT) to recognize patterns in various orientation, distance and illumination. SIFT is an important feature detection algorithm that is robust against rotation, translation, and scaling in 2D images and to some extent against variations in lighting conditions. But it suffers inadequate performance for visual patterns rotated in 3D space. To overcome this issue, reference inputs given to the algorithm was extended to include images taken from different angles. The proposed algorithm showed considerably improved performance in detection for real-time applications.


In this paper, a new variable-rate finite-state vector quantization (VRFSVQ) for image compression is presented. The VRFSVQ codec system consists of a tree-structured vector quantizer via the M-algorithm for searching, called M-TSVQ, a next-state generator which is specified by using index-matching criterion, and a variable-length codec. From the simulation results, a very low bit-rate image codec with good image quality and low encoding complexity may be achieved.


Two monographs from Austria promise new insights into neglected areas of the history of magic. Manfred Tschaikner discusses the much ignored and underestimated field of treasure hunting. In his pioneering study, he introduces us to treasure seekers who haunted the eastern Alpine region, or to be more precise the territories of today's Austrian federal state of Vorarlberg and the principality of Liechtenstein. Hansjörg Rabanser deals with witch trials in the Tyrol, a region that has been virtually disregarded by recent research. Tschaikner is one of the most productive Austrian historians working on magic. His new book on magical treasure hunting acquaints us with dozens of mostly ill-starred ventures of magicians and frauds spanning the years 1464 to 1858, and spares future historians countless hours of work in the archives of Austria and Liechtenstein. Tschaikner gives his audience all the facts one might wish for, even the most minute ones. His account of treasure hunters' activities, their biographies, and the social and legal framework they worked in is so incredibly detailed the unwary reader might well get lost in it. Even though there is hardly any new literature on treasure hunting, it is well known that until the nineteenth century, treasure seeking was steeped in magic. One common belief was that treasure could allegedly move about and thus actively escape treasure hunters. Ghosts, fairies, or demons were also supposed to watch over treasure, and the connection between ghosts and treasure was especially important. Treasure, often consisting of ill-gotten goods, bound the soul of the person who had hidden it to earth. Thus, contemporaries often regarded treasure hunting as a godly deed—by finding the


Quick Response Code Abstract: Multifactorial respiratory problems are very common in poultry due to intensive rearing methods and caused by coinfection with bacteria (MG, MS, E. coli and Avibacterium spp.) and viruses, such as IBV and ILTV. The conventional procedures are tedious and time taking, to overcome the difficulties in diagnosis of mixed respiratory pathogens, this study was undertaken with the following objective simultaneous detection of MG, MS, IBV and ILTV by Multiplex SYBR Green Real Time PCR. The SYBR Green Real time PCR assay was standardized for simultaneous detection of respiratory pathogens in poultry by targeting IGSR gene for MG, vlhA gene for MS, N gene for IBV and ICP4 gene for ILTV in single tube. The optimized conditions for all genes was initial denaturation at 94 o C for 3.59 mins, followed by 40 cycles of denaturation at 94 o C for 20 seconds, annealing at 55 o C for 45 seconds and extension at 72 o C for 1 min and final extension step was at 72 o C for 10 mins. The amplifications of all four genes was observed and recorded the ct values of 30.28 (IGSR gene), 24.16 (vlhA gene), 19.39 (ICP4 gene) and 11.81 (N gene) and also the recorded Tms were 74.0 (IGSR gene), 82.5 (vlhA gene), 85.5 (ICP4 gene) and 80.5 (N gene). The samples with below 35 recorded threshold cycles value were considered as positive. Out of 19 farms screened, 2 were positive for ILT, 10 for MG,7 for MS and 5 for MG and MS and all were negative for IB. In sreened samples, the recorded ct values for IGSR genes ranged between 11.81 to 30.28, product Tms ranged between 74 to 87, for vlhA gene ct values ranged between 17.39 to25.81, product Tms ranged between 81 to 87, for ICP4 gene ct value was 19.08 and 19.23,product Tms was 81 and 80.5.


Gogo, the inflight Internet company, recently underwent significant transformation. The ecosystem for business operation had shifted rapidly. These changes required the company to quickly adapt elements of its business strategy to increase focus on both innovation of new technology and mature operational practices in order to grow and scale the business globally. To enable these changes, the way employees worked together inside the organization also needed to be transformed. This was the impetus to change the PM process. At its core, the philosophy driving Gogo's changes to PM centered on building a culture of agility. Internal research in partnership with leaders, people managers, and individual contributors was conducted along with external research. Based on the findings from this research, PM practices were redesigned to focus on changes in four key areas: (1) creating a feedback-rich environment; (2) ensuring focus and alignment on meaningful goals; (3) building a cadence for reflection and planning at both the organization and group levels and between employees and their managers; and (4) enabling a culture of development. This case provides insight into the first 2 years of Gogo's journey—beginning with the discovery process and continuing through the design, implementation, and evaluation (inclusive of ongoing adaptation). Throughout the process, significant time and energy were invested in stakeholder engagement, which was imperative for making significant cultural change stick.


Abstract : Smart Filter Design was an analytical and experimental research effort addressing design and real-time implementation of distortion-invariant optical correlation filters. The effort concentrated on ternary phase-amplitude filters (TPAF), which encode modulation values of -1, 0, and 1, and their implementation using magneto-optical spatial light modulators. A powerful new smart TPAF formulation named Metric Sort was conceived and successfully demonstrated on a laboratory correlator. In an added effort, initial simulations investigating neural network approaches for on-line adaptation/synthesis of correlation filters yielded promising results. The effort resulted in 16 published papers including seven in referred journals. (Author)


Foreign fund investment in China creates demand for real estate appraisal, but inevitably imposes challenges on the real estate appraisal industry in China. The majority of real estate appraisers in China are not familiar with the needs and requirements of foreign clients. The core of the problems lies in real estate education in China. This paper intends to study the current condition and the gap in real estate higher education based on questionnaire survey and interview survey. The study shows that there is still a long way to go for the Chinese real estate appraisal education to match the developed countries.


The distinction made by Basbøll between "formal" and "substantive" interests in current phonological research can be cross-classified with a distinction between two approaches to surface data. One, usually labelled "abstract," works toward squeezing all possible generalizations out of the data despite counter-indications on the surface. The other, called "concrete," works with generalizations whose validity and productivity can be verified with surface forms. A number of recent works are mentioned briefly with these distinctions in mind.


To measure the apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) of five main metabolites in the human brain at 3T with PRESS and STEAM, avoiding measurement biases because of cross‐terms. Cross‐terms arise from interactions between slice‐selection and spoiler gradients in the localized spectroscopy sequence and the diffusion gradients.


Normally, word translations are extracted from non-parallel, bilingual corpora, and initial bilingual lexicon, i.e., a list of known translations, is typically used to aid the learning process. This thesis highlights the study of a series of novel techniques that utilized
scarce resources. To make the study even more challenging,
only minimal use of resources was allowed and important major linguistic tools were not employed. Thus, this study introduces some novel techniques for learning a translation lexicon based on a minimally-supervised, context-based approach. The performance of each technique was measured by comparing the extracted lexicon to a reference lexicon based on the F1 score, which is a weighted average of the precision and the recall. The scores may range from 0 (worst) to 100% (best). Analysis performed on the proposed
techniques showed that these techniques had recorded promising F1 scores, ranging from 57.1% to 80.9%, which indicate moderate and best performances. Overall, the �findings of this study further reinforce the use of techniques in exploiting words from small corpora, suggesting that words that are contextually-relevant and
occurring in a similar domain are potentially useful. This thesis also presents a technique to deploy extra (i.e., additional) data, which are harvested from the web, and a novel method for measuring similarity of features between two words of different languages without involving the use of initial bilingual lexicon.


This paper introduces the Imperial Light-Stage Head (ILSH) dataset, a novel light-stage-captured human head dataset designed to support view synthesis academic challenges for human heads. The ILSH dataset is intended to facilitate diverse approaches, such as scene-specific or generic neural rendering, multiple-view geometry, 3D vision, and computer graphics, to further advance the development of photo-realistic human avatars. This paper details the setup of a light-stage specifically designed to capture high-resolution (4K) human head images and describes the process of addressing challenges (preprocessing, ethical issues) in collecting high-quality data. In addition to the data collection, we address the split of the dataset into train, validation, and test sets. Our goal is to design and support a fair view synthesis challenge task for this novel dataset, such that a similar level of performance can be maintained and expected when using the test set, as when using the validation set. The ILSH dataset consists of 52 subjects captured using 24 cameras with all 82 lighting sources turned on, resulting in a total of 1,248 close-up head images, border masks, and camera pose pairs.


Abstract ---This study uses a digital camera to take pictures of Beef Cattle and do image processing to determine the physical size of the body of Beef cattle that looked. On the input image that captured by the camera will do the process of image segmentation to separate the image of beef cattle from the background and eliminates the other objects in the image that are nuisance. Furthermore, with computer vision made the process of identifying specific points of physical of Cattle that used to determine body weight (computational) of Beef Cattle automatically. Determining the weight of Timor's Beef cattle based on image, is presented by the physical characteristics of cattle that is looked: the body length and width of the chest of cattle, and compute cattle weight based on conversion formula that standardized and generally recognized. This Image analysis system is able to actualize the value of body length and width of chest from the pixel values shown in the image. The system has built two models namely Manual models and Maximum Expectations models. On manual models, the user can input a defining point of body length and width of chest in the image that appears on the computer system. In the maximum expectation, users no longer need to input these points but this image-based analysis system will do the computation automatically.


The 2020 International Conference on Transport and Infrastructure of the Siberian Region (SibTrans 2020) has successfully taken place at Irkutsk State Transport University on November 11–13, 2020. SibTrans 2020 continues to be a forum mainly for the Commonwealth of Independent States professional and academic community, engaged in locomotive engineering, railway infrastructure development and related areas of engineering. The major goal of SibTrans 2020 was to bring together scientists and practitioners, engineers and industry researchers to share their experience and novations. The four-day conference provided a great opportunity to initiate discussions on topical issues of instrumentation for testing and maintain railways and locomotives, machine-building technologies and machinery, and discuss the challenges encountered and the solutions adopted. Scientists and practitioners, mostly from Russia, submitted over ten dozen papers. All the papers were reviewed by the editors and invited experts. The most up-to-date and comprehensive manuscripts were selected for this volume. We sincerely hope that the SibTrans 2020 proceedings will show the readers a broad overview of the latest research results on the field of transportation. At last, we would like to express our deep appreciation and gratitude to all the members of the SibTrans 2020 scientific committee for their strenuous efforts. Without their assistance and dedication, it would be impossible to hold the discussion at such a high level and to collect quality papers for compiling the conference proceedings. Finally, we want to show appreciation of all the authors, participants and editors of the proceedings for their critical contribution to the work, organization, and holding of the conference and to the preparation of the papers. With kindest regards, Dmitriy I. Sachkov, Anton P. Kutsiy Programm Committee, Organizational Committee, are available in the pdf


To observe DBNF of moxibustion on stress. Method: 18 male Sprague -Dawley rats were randomly divided into control group, model group and Moxibustion group. All rats except the control group singly housed and exposed chronically 21 days to a variety of mild unpredictable stressors, and the rats of Moxibustion group accepted Moxibustion treatment at the same time. use immunocytochemistry method and computer to quantitatively analyse and With method of histochemistry and immouno-histochemistry, we observe the structure of hippocampal neurons and measure the BDNF infected neurons. Results: Compared with control group, the number of hipoccampal neurons decreased with cell structure destroyed. Immuno-histochemistry results showed that the number of infected nerons of model animals was much less than that of normal animals. moxibustion da zhui can improve behavioral dis-order. And that moxibustion can protect the hippocampal neurons and increase the number of BDNF neurons in hippocampus in the depressed animuals. Conclusion: Moxibustion da zhui can increase the number of BDNF neuron in hippocampus and protect the hippocampus neurons.


This paper interrogates the operational aspects of the Western Cape Rapid Rail Police Unit (RRPU) in the Western Cape railway environment. Specific attention is given to the crime operations executed by the unit, the cooperation of the unit with other relevant stakeholders and the application of crime prevention theories in the Western Cape railway environment. The research was executed in the Rapid Rail Unit of the Western Cape Province on a qualitative research methodology. This study followed a qualitative approach utilising a semi-structured interviews to gather relevant data. For the purpose of this study, the non-probability sampling based on the purposive method was used to select the twenty (20) research participants that were obtained from two Senior Managers, two Middle Managers, two junior managers, six non-commissioned officers, two officials of Cape Town Central Police station, three officials of PRASA Western Cape Province, one retired member of the former Railway Police, one member of the CPF and one regular train commuter participated in this study. The findings firstly indicated that the RRPU in the Western Cape does not properly apply crime prevention operations. Secondly, RRPU in the Western Cape does not implement or considers the crime prevention theories, and thirdly, the Unit is not cooperating with stakeholders in the environment as well as, not focusing on crime in the railway environment in the Western Cape Province. This paper also highlights additional problems affecting the operational performance of the Unit in the environment and attempts to provide solutions to overcome the aspects which influence the effectiveness of the RRPU in the Western Cape railway environment.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the effects of high dose glycosides of Tripterygium wilfordii Hook. f (GTW) on the fertility of young rats.

METHODS
Fifty female SD young rats and 50 male SD young rats were randomly divided into the blank group and the GTW group, 25 in each. GTW was given at the daily dose of 9 mg/kg. After 12 weeks of medication, the male rats were caged together with healthy adult female rats in the ratio of 1:1. The female rats were caged together with healthy adult male rats in the ratio of 2:1. The cage process lasted for two weeks, totally for three times. The pregnant rate of female rats and the survival rate of baby rats were then observed.

RESULTS
There was no significant difference in the pregnant rate or the survival rate of baby rats in the GTW group.

CONCLUSION
High dose GTW showed no obvious effects on the fertility of adult rats or the growth and development of new born rats.


The modulation of the immune system is a major mechanism through which probiotics exert beneficial effects on health. Probiotics, including lactic acid bacteria (LAB), have been reported to enhance innate immunity. The purpose of this study was to screen for LAB strains with excellent immunostimulatory activity isolated from kimchi. We selected five promising strains (Limosilactobacillus fermentum MG5489, Lactococcus lactis MG5542, Lacticaseibacillus paracasei MG5559, Latilactobacillus sakei MG5468, and Latilactobacillus curvatus MG5609) that exhibited immune-stimulating effects by inducing the production of nitric oxide (NO) and pro-inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-1β in RAW264.7 cells. The selected strains significantly increased phagocytic activity of RAW264.7 cells and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) activation. Furthermore, the safety of the selected strains was determined using hemolysis and antibiotic susceptibility tests. The stabilities and adhesion abilities of these strains in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) were also determined. Taken together, these findings suggest that the strains selected in this study have the potential to be novel probiotics to enhance immunity.


Three field examples are presented which show changes in fault patterns at different scales. Normal faults in Jurassic limestones in Somerset consist of zones of sub-parallel segments at the exposure-scale, but contain complex zones of brecciation at the decimetre-scale. Normal faults in chalk at Flamborough Head consist of a complex network of small faults which accommodate strain between a set of large faults. The different-sized faults at Flamborough Head have different geometries and histories, with the larger faults showing a phase of reverse reactivation. The faulting in the Sydney Basin, Australia, can be explained in terms of the evolution and reactivation of transfer zones between overstepping faults. These transfer zones can cause the deformation to appear to be more complex as the analysis becomes more detailed.

Much recent work on the scaling relationslups of faults assumes that self-similar fault patterns occur over a wide range of scales. The data presented in this paper, however, suggest that there are problems in using the deformation pattern at one scale to infer deformation at other scales. Ideally, any analysis should involve the study of a wide range of scales to overcome these problems.


Terahertz (THz) free space signaling through experimental controlled atmospheric turbulence is reported. A THz link at 625 GHz carrier frequency with a maximum data rate of 2.5 Gb/s has been developed. Power attenuation and bit error rate (BER) performance caused by air turbulence are presented and compared with an infrared (IR) link at 1550nm wavelength. Numerical simulation of THz attenuation under different turbulence conditions are shown and compared with experimental data.


The use of different mathematical tools to study biological processes is necessary to capture effects occurring at different scales. Here we study as an example the immune response to infection with the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB). Immune responses are both global (lymph nodes, blood, and spleen) as well as local (site of infection) in nature. Interestingly, the immune response in TB at the site of infection results in the formation of spherical structures comprised of cells, bacteria, and effector molecules known as granulomas. In this work, we use four different mathematical tools to explore both the global immune response as well as the more local one (granuloma formation) and compare and contrast results obtained using these methods. Applying a range of approaches from continuous deterministic models to discrete stochastic ones allows us to make predictions and suggest hypotheses about the underlying biology that might otherwise go unnoticed. The tools developed and applied here are also applicable in other settings such as tumor modeling.


Objective To evaluate the frequency of the infections with Ureaplasma urealyticum and/or Mycoplasma honinis in preterm 23 to 32 week births and the association with the outcomes of new born. Methods One hundred and eighty-seven mother/premature infant dyads with deliveries between 23 and 32 weeks gestational age. Ueaplasma urealyticum, Mycoplasma honinis and IL-6 were determined by PCR and radioimmunity. Medical information and outcome of newborns were recorded. Results Compared with control group, the incidence of Ureaplasma urealyticum and/or Mycoplasma honinis, IL-6 and preterm premature rupture of the fetalmembranes ( PPROM ) were higher in spontaneous group. The PPROM were more common among infants with a positive Ureaplasma urealyticum and/or Mycoplasma honinis. Infants with positive cord blood Ureaplasma urealyticum and/or Mycoplasma honinis were likely to have neonatal systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), but not significantly different for respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). Conclusion Infection with Ureaplasma urealyticum and/or Mycoplasma honinis may play an important role in the causal pathway for spontaneous preterm labor, and impact the outcome of premature infants.

Key words:
Premature infant;  Ureaplasma urealyticum;  Mycoplasma honinis;  Preterm premature rupture of the fetal membranes


The Inspire Peer Mentor Program (Inspire) operates of Flinders University in the southern suburbs of Adelaide, and has received funding from the Department of Family and Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaCSIA). The experience gained during the past three years has indicated that a mentoring program between the University and schools located in its local region, which includes key areas of low socio-economic status, can be a major form of community engagement for Higher Education. Inspire received a commendation in the recent Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) Report (2006) as a strategy for community engagement. This article is written in two sections. The first will use the experience gained from Inspire to discuss the Higher Education sector's involvement in school-based mentoring programs as a strategy for community engagement. Catherine Koerner's analysis of the literature on mentoring, finds that mentoring programs can be an effective intervention with communities to increase school retention rates and engagement with formal learning if they are adequately resourced. She argues that the implication of this finding for the tertiary sector is that mentoring programs can be a strategic form of community engagement. In the second section, John Harris provides a case study of the adoption of the school-based mentoring model by the Teaching Experience Office of the School of Education at Flinders University as one example of how mentoring is being embedded within faculty programs. Anecdotal evidence suggests that those preservice teachers who had participated, as Inspire mentors were better prepared for their teaching practicums. As a result, second year education students are placed on 20 days of school experience over two semesters to better prepare them for their teaching practicums in their third and fourth years of their Education Degree.


The article focuses on the role of the NGOs in the dispute settlement process of the WTO. It argues that NGOs participation is underpinned by the emerging norm of participatory democracy. Given the growing expectations about WTO's accountability, transparency and democratic legitimacy, the NGOs participation could be useful in providing information, expertise and public confidence to the WTO's dispute settlement. The article concludes that as the NGOs are already playing an informal role in the WTO, the debate over the issue should shift from 'whether' to 'how'. There are, however, two problems: NGOs own legitimacy and accountability. The NGOs could resolve these issues by ensuring that they pursue clear objectives and that they are not affiliated with any party to a dispute.


ABSTRACT This study aims to apply the concept of brand love in tourist destinations in order to identify the core-elements that could have influential impacts on generating destination brand love. This study has been carried out using a mixed-method of machine learning and content analysis. We have discovered that the topics have been generated for historical landmarks and destinations by analysing the visitors' online reviews are architecture, historical sites, tradition and shrine places, which could be similar to other tourist historical destinations in a different part of the world. However, this study has the potential to be a model for other researches related to different destinations with possible different topics that emerged. Our study contributes by providing both researchers and managers a novel method to understand what attributes of destination brand love they need to posit more emphasize to attract more visitors based on the destination type.


A compact FD-SOI CMOS fabrication process and device structure was demonstrated. A new damascene-dummy SAC process enabled to fabricate reliable contacts with ultra-thin SOI layers. We showed that using in-situ-boron-doped Si/sub x/Ge/sub 1-x/ as a gate material, the adequate threshold voltage of FD-SOI was realized.


To some readers it may seem a little suspect that we focus our study on the firm's formulations of its goal function. It is not uncommonly felt that the professional contribution of the advisory economist should be restricted to investigating the consequences of different acts in a decision situation. Naturally even such limited tasks have to be related to the goals applicable in the relevant situation, but it could be claimed that the decision-maker should be solely responsible for precisely formulating his goals, thus furnishing the starting-point for the economist's work. Obviously advice will be impossible unless the decision-maker broadly outlines his goal(s) and relevant courses of action. The task of the economist (the advisor) will then be to substitute for such a broad description a formal decision model which the decion-maker can accept. And in accepting the model as a whole, he naturally accepts too the goal function embodied in it. This necessary acceptance does not prevent the economist from playing just as active a role in the detailed formulation of the goals as in the specification of acts and the precise description of the various outcomes. The close relation between these elements in the model provides confirmation of this. The class of decision models that we shall discuss are deterministic (i.e. they contain no stochastic variables) and concern the firm's choice between different investment and financing alternatives. A considerable amount of literature on this subject already exists and it seems important even at this early stage to point out in a general way how the present work fits into the picture. It may be said that a well established investment theory exists only for the special case of the firm functioning in a perfect capital market. In such a market all the participants agree in a definite conception of the investment opportunities and their consequences. The firm can therefor borrow on the various investments up to the discounted value of the future net receipts. The rate of interest is the same for borrowing and lending for all firms and persons on the market. It is also normally regarded as constant over time. There are no transaction costs. Under these circumstances writers are unanimous in declaring that when an economically rational decision-maker evaluates the investments open to him, he should rank them according to their present value at the market rate of interest. What, then, can be said about firms working in a capital market with credit restrictions, different rates of interest, taxes and other market imperfections? How are they to formulate their goals? It is our view that statements so far to be found in the literature are generally based on the rather loose analogies with the case of the perfect capital market. Our aim here is to develop two reasonable analogies somewhat more fully than has been usual before. Contents . CHAPTER 1 . INTRODUCTION1.1 The Aim and the Frame of Reference of the Study1.2 Goal Formulation and Model-Building in Investment Theory.1.3 Courses of Action and their Outcomes.1.4 Basic Assumptions concerning the Firm's Goal Formulation.1.5 Goal Formulation in this Study and in Welfare Economics. CHAPTER 2 . THE FIRM'S TRANSFORMATION OPPORTUNITIES AS THE BASIS FOR THE APPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN GOAL FUNCTIONS IN THE EVALUATION OF INVESTMENT AND FINANCING ACTIVITIES. 2.1 The Applicability of the Present Value Approach to Investment and Financing Evaluations. 2.2 The Applicabilityof the Internal Rate of Return Approach to Investment and Financing Evaluations. 2.3 The Applicability of the Payoff Approach to the Evaluation of Single Investment Projects. 2.4 Summary. Some Comments on Our Conclusions. 2.5 Our Study in the Light of Some Developments in Investment Theory. CHAPTER 3 . THE STOCK MARKET AS THE BASIS FOR THE APPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN GOAL FUNCTIONS IN THE FIRM'S EVALUATION OF INVESTMENT AND FINANCING ACTIVITIES. 3.1 A Simple Model of the Market Value of Stock. 3.2 The Owners' Tax Conditions and the Importance of the Stock Market for the Choice of Goal Function in Corporations Listed on the Stock Exchange. 3.3 Some Comments on the Effect of Transaction Costs and Different Interest Rates on the Choice of Goal Function in Corporations Listed on the Stock Exchange. 3.4 Some Comments on the Importance of the Stock Market for the Choice of Goal Function in Firms not Listed on the Stock Exchange. 3.5 Comments on Some Literature Concerning the Stock Market and the Corporation's Investment and Financing Activities


In this paper, we consider an inverse source problem for a time-fractional equation with variable coefficients in a general bounded domain. The fractional derivative in the problem is in the Caputo sense. Transforming time-fractional inverse problems into optimization problem and using polynomial basis functions, we obtain the system of algebraic equation. Then, we solve the system of nonlinear algebraic equation using Mathematica7 and we have the coefficients of polynomial expansion. We extensively discuss the convergence of the method. Illustrative examples are included to demonstrate the validity and applicability of the new technique.


D URING the nineteen months-April 1917, to November 1918-during which the United States was a belligerent in the World War, American industry and finance passed through an ordeal that brought both strength and weakness into sharp relief. Before this nation could strike its full stride, things were reduced to rather elemental and primitive terms. Much of mystery and of pretense was swept away. Out of it all must come to those in varied pursuits and walks of life, a charity and understanding, one with the other, based on fuller knowledge. During these nineteen mnonths the Federal Trade Commission had a peculiar opportunity to sense what was going on, especially in the industrial world. It has been the cost-finding agency of the government; the expert accountant of the War Industries Board and its Price Fixing Committee, to the Army, the Navy, the Food Administration, the Fuel Administration, the Railroad Administration, the Shipping Board, the Post Office and other agencies. It is to be remembered that cost finding and price fixing were two entirely different functions. One was a striving for exact fact through painstaking study and labor; the other, building on this fact foundation, was a matter of discretion, of judgment, of accommodation to seen and unseen forces and an effort to distribute equitably the hardships inevitably resulting from the dislocations of war. In its cost-finding work the Federal Trade Commission of necessity had to search into the very vitals of industry. Some took this as a matter of course, appreciating at once the end in view. For some other industries, however, such intrusion into the privacy of business was met at first with reluctance and misgivings. For the latter this attitude quickly changed, however, and these industries also welcomed and aided the commission in its work. At the end it can be said that there remains no sus-


White button mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus) in curry, packed in retort pouches were heat-processed in a pressurised autoclave. Retort pouches (105 µ thick) used had an outer polyester layer (12.5 μ), a middle aluminum layer (12.5 µ) and an inner cast polypropylene layer (80 µ); size 20 cm×16 cm; seal size 10 mm and lip size 4 mm. Adequate number of pouches were fixed with glands to insert the thermocouples for recording core temperature of mushrooms using data recorder and computer connected to each other. The mushroom curry was heat-processed to F0 value of 10.3 (time in minutes at 121°C) and heat penetration parameters were calculated. The heating curve obtained was logarithmic in nature and the processed mushrooms were free of bacterial contamination and had desirable sensory attributes. The pouches withstood the pressure and temperature of the retort without delaminating, shrinking or wrinkling and the curried mushroom was found to be sterile over a one year storage period.


A well known preventive replacement policy is the block replacement policy (BRP). In such a policy the item undergoes a planned replacement at a sequence of equally spaced time points independent of failure history. The main advantage of a BRP is its simplicity, because under this policy it is unnecessary to keep detailed records about times of failures or ages of items. The main drawback of a BRP is that at planned replacement times we may be replacing practically new items. In this paper we study a modified BRP which is free of this drawback. We calculate the expected cost of following a modified BRP for lifetime distributions possessing a special structure and illustrate it for the case of an Erlang distribution. A numerical comparison is made between a modified BRP and a standard BRP for the special case of a two stage Erlang distribution.


In this paper, we investigate the resilient consensus problem for the second-order multi-agent system communicating via switching networks. The term resilient means that the control protocols should consider the presence of attacks by some malicious agents. Assuming that the maximum number of malicious agents in the neighborhood of each agent is bounded and known, we propose a local neighbors' information-based on distributed consensus protocol suitable for time-varying topologies to deal with the malicious attacks. It is shown that if the union of communication graphs over a bounded period satisfies certain network robustness property, the states of all normal agents can be guaranteed to reach an agreement resiliently. Numerical simulations are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.


The booster synchrotron and the two storage rings at the NSLS are provided with rf power systems of 3 kW, 50 kW, and 500 kW nominal output power, all at 53 MHz. This power is supplied by grounded grid tetrode amplifiers designed for television broadcast service. These amplifiers and associated power supplies, control and interlock systems, rf controls, and computer interface are described.


PURPOSE. To analyze specific clinical and epidemiological parameters of patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) who were admitted for surgical treatment to the ophthalmological hospital of a multi-specialty in-patient medical center in the period of 2021–2022 years.METHODS. The retrospective elective study analyzed data from 95 patients (95 eyes) with different stages of primary open-angle glaucoma (mean age 73 [67; 80] years old) who were hospitalized for surgical treatment of the disease in 2021–2022. In addition to standard ophthalmological examination, several clinical and epidemiologic characteristics were analyzed in detail, including the prevalence of prescriptions for antiglaucoma hypotensive drugs. Comparison of the obtained results with the data of similar procedures performed in the period from 2005 to 2016 was carried out.RESULTS. The number of main comorbid somatic diseases was on average 3 (2; 4), and comparison of conditions by disease stage revealed no significant differences (p>0.05). Mean duration of the disease (according to anamnesis) was 8 (4; 13) years and was longer in comparison with similar results from 2005–2006 presented in a previous study. The period preceding the first surgical intervention was 5 (2; 10) years and was statistically significantly longer in those with moderate stage of POAG (9 [3; 14] years) compared to those with early stage of POAG (4 [3; 5] years, p<0.05) and advanced stage of POAG (6 [0; 10] years, p<0.04). The average number of drugs at the time of hospitalization for surgical treatment has increased significantly in comparison with the data of the early-mid 2000s and amounted to 4 (3; 4) units (stage I glaucoma — 3 [3; 4]; stage II — 4 [3; 4]; stage III — 4 [3; 4] units), with no statistically significant difference (p1,2=0.64; p1,3=0.21; p2,3=0.42, respectively).CONCLUSION. Unwarranted long-term use of a large number of antiglaucoma drugs ("maximal medication therapy adherence") is a significant problem in modern glaucomatology and can evidently affect future prognosis of the disease.


The polypores of the Helsinki municipal area in South Finland were studied with regard to their microdistributions, host relationships, abundances and economic importance. Altogether 120 species are reported. Five site types were defined, ranging from urban to rural environments: parks proper, tree rows, park forests, forests proper and idle land areas. Distinct differences were found in the species composi tions of urban environments (parks proper and tree rows), as compared with more natural wooded areas (park forests and forests proper). Polypores which prefer urban growth sites (the centric species) are southern in Finland (Fistulina hepatica Schaeff. : Fr., Laetiporus sulphureus (Bull.: Fr.) Murr., Spongipellis spumeus (Sow.: Fr.) Pat.) or ha\e a scattered general distribution (Phaeolus schweinitzii (Fr.) Pat. , Polyporus squamosus Huds.: Fr., Rigidoporus populinus (Schum.: Fr.) Pouz.). Species preferring rural environments (peripheral) are mostly the basic, common forest species of southern and central Finland. A third group of polypores (indifferent) occurs evenly in all environmenta l types, but often varies in pathological properties between areas: for instance , Bjerkandera adus ta (Willd .: Fr.) Karst., Ganoderma lipsiense (Batsch) Atk . (G. applanatum) and Fomitiporia puncta/a (Karst.) Murr. are more readily parasitic when growing in the inner city. The mechanisms and reasons for the fungal infections in park trees are discussed , and some commoner polypores causing rot in park trees are studied more closely. The most harmful park-tree decaying polypores in Helsink i are Ganoderma lipsiense, Bjerkandera adusta, Inonotus obliquus (Pers. : Fr.) Pi!. , Laetiporus sulphureus, Ochroporus igniarius (L.: Fr.) Schroet., Polyporus squamosus and Rigidoporus populinus. The Helsinki municipal area is divided into l -km 2 squares and the distributions of 30 representative species are mapped accordingly. Some typical parks, forests and polypores are illustrated. The delimitation and species of the genus 0/igoporus are discussed. The following polypores are reported as new to Finland: 0/igoporus cerifluus (Berk. & Curt.) Gilbertson & Ryv., Polyporus badius (Pers.) Schw. and Schizopora radula (Pers .: Fr.) Hal lenb. The presence of 0/igoporus balsameus (Peck) Gilbertson & Ryv. in Finland is confirmed.


The XIV Congress of the International Society of Blood Transfusion will be held in Helsinki, Finland, July 27 to August 1, 1975. Plenary Sessions and Special Symposia of interest to immunologists include: Immunogenetics, Immune Responses, and Risks of Blood Transfusion (Hepatitis HB Antigens and HL-A Antigens). The deadline for registration of papers is March 1, 1975 and for submission of Abstracts, May 1, 1975. Free papers falling within the range of the same topics may be incorporated into the Special Symposia at the discretion of the Committee. Among suggested topics are the following: Human genetic markers in anthropology.Plasma protein deficiencies and disease.The complement systemMediators in cellular immunity.Rh prophylaxis.Immunoglobulins in the treatment of infectious disease.Mechanisms of red cell destruction.Subtypes of HBAg.Activation of coagulation, plasma kinin, and complement systems in stored blood.
 All correspondence regarding the Congress should be sent to: XIV International Congress ISBT, 1975.


High- and low-shore populations of Bathyporeia pilosa LindstrÖm, kept in the laboratory under natural day-night illumination and constant dark conditions, show distinct swimming rhythms of tidal frequency (12–4 h) with activity maxima on the early ebb tide. A diurnal component is evident, activity during thenight being greater than during the day. The tidal rhythm deteriorates under laboratory conditions, but swimming activity recurs after a semi-lunar period. Under natural illumination, both populations show a night tide swimming rhythm of semi-lunar frequency, activity occurring mainly over the 'falling' spring tides. Plankton sampling on night tides over the area of the beach occupied by high-shore B. pilosa shows that the animals emerge and swim on ebb tides which are in phase with darkness. The importance of exogenous factors such as wave action, pressure, temperature and light is discussed. Ecological implications and the possible function of the swimming rhythm are considered.


Schools of theological education face a series of organizational dilemmas, arising both from their institutional contexts and their multiple constituencies and missions. This article explores these dilemmas and some of the ways in which theological schools have attempted to meet them.


Paul Oldridge shares handy tips and guidance to start-up accountancy firms to help them prepare for their first Self-Assessment Season.


The irradiation of dimethyl trans-spiro[2.6]nona-4,6,8-trien-1,2-dicarboxylate (I) with a low-pressure mercury lamp afforded two tricyclic valence isomers (II and III). Upon heating, II and III were converted into dimethyl trans-indan-1,2-dicarboxylate (IV), which was also obtained by the thermolysis of I. In order to elucidate the reaction mechanism for the formation of IV from I, we studied the thermal reaction using a deuteriumlabelled compound (V).


We investigate the anomalous flavour changing neutral current (FCNC) interactions of top quark through the process $e^{-}p\to e^{-}W^{\pm}q+X$. We calculate the signal and background cross sections in electron proton collisions at Large Hadron electron Collider (LHeC) with a 7 TeV proton beam from the LHC and a new 60 GeV electron beam from energy recovery linac (ERL). We study the relevant background processes including one electron and three jets in the final state. The distributions of the invariant mass of two jets and an additional jet tagged as $b$-jet are used to account signal and background events after the analysis cuts. We find upper bounds on anomalous FCNC couplings $\lambda$ of the order of $10^{-2}$ at LHeC for a luminosity projection of $100$ fb$^{-1}$ together with the fast simulation of detector effects. As a matter of interest, we analyze the sensitivity to the couplings $(\lambda_{u},\lambda_{c})$ and find an enhanced sensitivity to $\lambda_{c}$ at the LHeC when compared to the results from the HERA.


This paper presents the test strategy employed during the installation of the CARLOS end ladder boards developed for the Silicon Drift Detectors (SDD) of ALICE. Each CARLOS board compresses the data provided by the front-end electronics of one SDD and sends them via an optical link of 800 Mbit/s to the data concentrator card (CARLOSrx) located in the counting room. The paper describes the integration of the CARLOS boards in the final SDD system, including its cooling and mechanical support, the power supply distribution and the optical interconnections. The results of the tests performed after each step of the installation sequence are reported.


The work admission policy which is suited for partial grid system is proposed in this paper. The strategy reserves resources for the general grid work from VIP user, as well as providing preemptive priority for general grid work to take up the service resources from best-effort work. The simulation results show that this strategy can qualify the work service for the general work from VIP user adequately when the work service quality of the general work from non-VIP user and best-effort work are least affected. At the same time, the number of reservation resource can be automatically adjusted due to the proportion between the intensity of general work and the best-effort work .


In this paper a method for more effective structural error quantification in mechanisms generating open trajectories is presented. Generally, mechanism synthesis methods compare the desired curve with the generated curve, taking the mean square distance between the two curves. However, none of these methods is suitable for general application and the problems tackled must fulfil some requirements, for example to be a Grashoff mechanism. Furthermore, to achieve an acceptable final mechanism requires starting the iterations with an initial mechanism that generates a coupler curve similar to the desired one. All these problems are increased due to the difficulty of selecting the most suitable part of the curve when the desired path is an open curve and the curve generated by the mechanism does not coincide in size, orientation and position. The method presented in this paper combines the statistical parameters of both curves with the deterministic ones, in order to compare, without influence ofthe relative orientation, which part of the generated curve best fits the desired one. In this way, the most suitable part of the curve is selected in each iteration, guaranteeing greater speed and efficiency in the final solution with independence fiom the initial mechanism characteristics. The method includes constraint optirnisation in both, the link dimension and the positions of the fixed joints of the mechanism generated.


Along with the application of information and network technique in generation, transmission and distribution of electric power, the network transmission of the data among the dispatching automation system (DAS) and the substations is realized, at the same time, the DAS is interconnected with branches of the power production, so more and more attention is paid to the security of the computer networks for DAS and substations. According to the actual situation of the Yancheng power network a corresponding secure strategy for computer and information system is proposed, especially the secure technology for master station system in DAS and that for substation network, including the firewall, multi-layer protection strategy and intrusion detection system, is emphatically described.


The article analyzed the specific sociological examination of satisfaction with the quality of housing and communal services. Approaches to the improvement of housing and communal services of the urban district


Highly phosphorescent photosensitizer Pd-tetra (o-methoxy-p-sulfo)phenyl porphyrin (Pd- MSPP) was used to follow primary events of photodynamic therapy (PDT). The sensitizer forms complexes with proteins in solutions and biosystems showing remarkable hypsochromic shifts of band and an increase of the quantum yield and life time of phosphorescence at the binding to proteins. It was found the life time of phosphorescence depends mostly on the energy of the lower triplet state of the sensitizer. Therefore photo-chemical quenching of the triplets by cell components is negligible. The quenching of the sensitizer triplets is observed in the presence of free oxygen in biosystems. The degree of quenching varies in dependence on the kind and state of the system and is governed by oxygen concentration and viscosity of the media. It was concluded that the singlet oxygen mechanism of photosensitization is operative only at the primary step of the process.


Bladder cancer, which currently ranks as the fourth most common cancer in men and the eighth most common cancer in women,1 represents an important health problem in the United States. An estimated 54,300 new cases of bladder cancer will be diagnosed in the United States in 2001, with an estimated 12,400 cancer deaths.1 Although the diagnostic capabilities of cystoscopy and biopsy provide adequate diagnosis, they are invasive and costly. Since prostate-specific antigen (PSA) has revolutionized the field of urology, there has been much research to identify an equivalent biomarker for bladder cancer. Though many biomarkers have been discovered and tested, none as yet appears to rival PSA. Moreover, the ideal treatment for various stages of bladder cancer remains undetermined. Can we optimize the treatments for local or advanced tumors and thus increase our therapeutic efficacy? Here we review three timely articles that address these important issues.


In this paper a new differential pair architecture with programmable rail-to-rail constant-g/sub m/ is presented and incorporated into an opamp. Since the architecture adopts a signal processing method to obtain constant-g/sub m/, it can be implemented in any complementary VLSI technology and it functions regardless of transistor operating regions. The experimental results of the proposed opamp show that the total transconductance is constant at any common mode input voltage (CMR) and programmed over very wide range simply by varying the bias current of the opamp. It is also shown that constant unity gain frequency and open loop gain are obtained at any CMR and total harmonic distortion is effectively reduced due to the constant-g/sub m/.


In this paper, a central claim will be that one of the most important influences that technology should have on mathematics education is that many of the most important goals of mathematics instruction should consist of helping students develop powerful, sharable, and re-usable conceptual technologies for constructing (and making sense) of complex systems. A second claim will be that these new conceptual tools don't involve introducing completely new topics into the mathematics curriculum as much as they involve dealing with old topics in new ways that emphasize mathematicsas-communication (description, explanation) more than mathematics-as-rulesfor-symbol-manipulation. A third claim will be that, even though technologybased tools create the need to teach these new levels and types of understandings and abilities, in many cases, technology-based tools are not needed to teach them effectively. So, it is not necessary to have lots of classrooms full of educational technologies in order to provide learning experiences for students that are wise to the needs of a technology-based society. (Author) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the oinal document. What Mathematical Abilities Are Most Needed for Success Beyond School in a Technology Based Age of Information?


It has been estimated that approximately 80% of the world's pediatric population lives in countries with limited resources, and that 43% of these children are malnourished. In children with cancer, malnutrition may antedate the diagnosis or be a result of aggressive chemotherapeutic regimens. Studies have shown that children with cancer and malnutrition have a less favorable prognosis, a higher risk of early relapse, and tolerate chemotherapy poorly when compared with children with normal nutritional status. Improvements in nutritional status may improve tolerance to chemotherapy. An understanding of the mechanisms responsible for the effects of malnutrition on drug disposition and pharmacodynamic response is important, especially for anti‐neoplastic agents, which have a narrow therapeutic index and may be associated with potentially severe or life‐threatening side‐effects. Several factors related to malnutrition have been suggested to alter drug disposition. Diminished protein "status" in malnourished children results in lower amounts of plasma proteins, increasing the concentration of free drug available to exert its cytotoxic effect. Severely malnourished individuals also exhibit decreased oxidative metabolism and reduced glomerular filtration rate (GFR), potentially increasing concentrations of parent drug or active metabolites. Malnourished children receiving chemotherapy for the treatment of an underlying malignancy may need specifically "tailored" protocols to achieve therapeutic response while minimizing adverse acute and long‐term side effects. The role of specific interventions, such as correction of nutritional status or pharmacokinetic drug monitoring, should be evaluated in this context. Int. J. Cancer Supplement 11:48–51, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Material degradation should be considered to assess integrity and residual life of high temperature equipments. However, the property data reflecting degradation are not sufficient for practical use. In this study, mechanical properties of 1Cr-1Mo-0.25V casting steel generally used for turbine casing were measured and variation of microstructure was observed. Degradation was simulated by isothermal heat treatment.


The novelty of new products creates uncertainty for market participants, causing them to engage in sensemaking to evaluate the meaning and usefulness of new products relative to existing offerings. We theorize discourse - the objective information and subjective opinion exchanged in the marketplace - is the key sensemaking mechanism used to reduce uncertainty following a new product introduction. We develop theory and then test the theory utilizing latent growth curve modeling with data from the United States wireless telephone industry from 1998 to 2007 to capture the dynamic nature of market sensemaking. Results reveal complex relationships exist between new product novelty, the resultant conflict necessary to rationalize this novelty, and the volume, duration, and intensity of discourse.


The merger model for elliptical galaxy formation has received increasing attention since it was first suggested by Toomre & Toomre (1972). Van den Bergh (1984) pointed out a problem with the idea that elliptical galaxies were formed by simply combining two, or more, spiral galaxies. He noted that the specific frequency (S N , number of globular clusters per unit galaxy light) is systematically lower for spirals than for ellipticals. Schweizer (1987) suggested that globular clusters (GCs) might be expected to form in the merger process, thereby alleviating or possibly eliminating the S N problem. Ashman & Zepf (1992) developed this idea into a merger model for GC formation with testable predictions. We recently examined this model in the light of new HST and ground-based imaging data on the blue and red sub-populations of GCs in elliptical galaxies (Forbes, Brodie & Grillmair 1997). We concluded that the merger model for GC formation has serious problems, particularly in explaining the characteristics of GCs in giant elliptical galaxies with high S N . A multi-phase collapse scenario was suggested as more consistent with the available evidence.


The utility model discloses a multifunctional pet house comprising a pet house body, wherein a roof of the pet house is provided with a plurality of drawers, the pet house is also respectively provided with a music box and a pet exit, and one side of the pet exit is also provided with a music switch. In the multifunctional pet house, special washing supplies, food and cleaning tools for a pet can be respectively placed in the corresponding drawers, so as to be convenient to use; in addition, the music box on the pet house can be used for playing music for the pet to listen to when the pet plays around.


In recent years, the world economy faced several economic and financial crisis due to the financial globalization and the introduction of new financial product. The downturn of the US real estate crisis and the transmission of US financial crisis to the whole international financial systems were considered as the most serious events that economists haven't anticipated. In order, to avoid the impacts of such crisis many economists suggest the construction of computable general equilibrium models (CGEM) which is a conceptual framework for macroeconomic analysis based on a neoclassical microeconomic foundation. It enables us to expect the impact of economic and financial chocks on the whole economy. This model is based essentially on data provided by the Social Accounting Matrix. The objective of this paper is to present a clear and structured description of an aggregated financial Social Accounting Matrix for the Tunisian economy for the year 2006. This SAM will serves as a perfect database for multiplier analysis and for a financial CGEM.


Premise of research. Toadflaxes (Linaria Mill., ∼150 spp. from the Palearctic region) constitute the largest genus of the snapdragon lineage (tribe Antirrhineae). Here we provide the first extensive phylogenetic testing of systematic and evolutionary hypotheses about toadflaxes. Methodology. Internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences were obtained for 94 species representing all sections of Linaria recognized by recent taxonomic treatments, as well as three species of the morphologically related American genus Nuttallanthus. In addition, 71 sequences representing the remaining 26 genera of Antirrhineae were gathered to test the monophyly of toadflaxes. Phylogenetic analyses were conducted using Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood. Evaluation of alternative topologies was assessed by means of Bayes factor analyses. Pivotal results. Linaria and Nuttallanthus constituted a monophyletic group within the Antirrhineae. Linaria was recovered as a paraphyletic group with Nuttallanthus nested within it. Six major clades were recognized within the Linaria-Nuttallanthus clade. The seed wing, a structure that has been extensively used in systematic treatments, appears to be a homoplasious character in Linaria. Conclusions. The circumscription of Nuttallanthus within Linaria is suggested to preserve the monophyly of the latter genus. Three sections of Linaria (Macrocentrum, Pelisserianae, and Versicolores) that are well defined by distinct morphological traits are also supported as natural groups, while monophyly of the remaining sections (Supinae, Linaria, Speciosae, and Diffusae) is unsupported by our results. Habit, inflorescence, and flower morphology, coupled with seed morphology, are revealed as the key characters in the evolution of toadflaxes.


Abstract An amino-silicone (AS; amino-polydimethylsiloxane) micro-emulsion was tested for its suitability to preserve wood against basidiomycetes in a mini-block experiment and in a test according to the European standard (1996) EN 113. Decay resistance was assessed against the white rot fungi Trametes versicolor, Ceriporiopsis subvermispora, and Hypoxylon fragiforme, as well as the brown rot fungi Coniophora puteana, Antrodia vaillantii, Gloeophyllum trabeum and Serpula lacrymans. Pine sapwood and beech wood were treated with AS emulsions at solute concentration levels of 2%, 5% and 15%. The mini-blocks treated with 15% concentrations of AS resisted decay by T. versicolor and C. puteana over a long time (12 weeks), while samples treated with low and moderate concentrations underwent considerable mass losses. Accordingly, microscopic studies revealed a high degree of colonisation by the white rot fungus and loss of cell wall integrity (brown rot) in samples treated with 2% AS. At high AS content (15%), no or only initial stages of decay could be observed. In the European standard (1996) test EN 113, the mass loss in all fungal cultures except for the white rot ascomycete H. fragiforme was below 5%, when the samples were treated with 15% AS. The effect of low and moderate AS concentration on the decay resistance was dependent on the fungal strain. The mode of action of AS treatment against basidiomycete decay is discussed.