Low cost is one of the main requirements in a communication system suitable for mass production, as it is the case for satellite land mobile communications. Microstrip technology fulfills this requirement which must be supported by a low cost tracking system design. The tradeoff led us to a prototype antenna composed of microstrip patches based on electromechanical closed-loop principle; the design and the results obtained are described.


Current pavement design in Iowa calls for the inclusion of load transfer dowels in transverse joints in both state and local pavements. The dowels have been included to protect the pavement against faulting of the joints and other forms of distress resulting from erosion of the soils from beneath the joints. Faulting has been found to be present mostly at the outer edges of the driving lane. Iowa Highway Research Board Project TR-420 is directed at the evaluation of placing alternative numbers of dowels in the transverse joints of the pavement. A rural and an urban pavement were selected for the test sites on county highways near Creston, Iowa. The sites include subsections containing zero dowels in the transfer joint, three or four dowels in the outer wheel path only, and a full basket of dowels across the joint. This paper will discuss the results of deflection testing in both wheel paths in both pavement directions on the rural and urban sections. Fault measurements, joint opening widths, and visual distress surveys have been conducted twice per year on each of the projects. The construction projects are now one year old and the response to load in each case can now be evaluated.


Programmable logic devices (PLDs) and field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) can be used to integrate large amounts of logic in a single IC. As the capacity of PLDs and FPGAs is grooving, designers can no longer use Boolean equations or gate-level descriptions to quickly and efficiently complete a design. The solution is VHDL. Very High Speed Integrated Circuits (VHSIC) Hardware Description Language (VHDL) became standard for designing with programmable logic devices and Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs). VHDL was established as the IEEE 1706 standard in 1987 [1]. The main advantage of VHDL is portability of code across vendors and devices. The main disadvantage is the loosing control of gate level circuit implementation, which is the penalty for portability. Gray code is the code with only one bit transition between adjacent words. The direct description of Gray counter is based on the equation extraction from the truth table. Such solution of n-bit counter demands 2 product terms [2]. Implementation may be difficult for greater width of counter. The alternative is the using of the auxiliary bit [2]. This bit is changed every clock period and corresponds to bit 0 of a binary counter. With assumption that the auxiliary bit extends Gray code word to the right, the particular bit is changed whenever the less significant bits create word 1,0,...0. The exception is MSB which is changed in addition by word 0,...0. Another description of Gray counter use conversion of Gray code to binary code. After the increment is done in binary code, the back conversion follows.


An alternative design method of sliding mode control for practical implementation on nonlinear isolated bridges is proposed. The proposed controller explicitly reveals the robustness of sliding mode control to parametric uncertainties of structures. The effectiveness of sliding mode control is studied numerically and systematically for an isolated viaduct under extreme earthquakes. The results show that the sliding mode control with appropriate sliding surfaces achieves outstanding control performance compared to the conventional LQR control and viscous damping passive control. Additionally, the performance of active control can be considerably fulfilled by the semiactive control with variable dampers using the proposed control algorithm.


This part also studies a new vision for the city of information and new services that appeared in it and presents some new models for cities the Information Era.


A sensitive solid‐phase enzyme immunoassay procedure was used to determine the concentrations of C‐reactive protein (CRP) in the acute and convalescent phase sera of patients with verified rubella, herpes simplex, cytomegalo, influenza A or B, enterovirus, or mycoplasma infection. In all infection groups about 90% (80% for influenza) elevated CRP values were observed in the acute phase sera (mean values in the different groups 16–57 μg/ml), the highest values exceeding or approaching 100 μg/ml. The serum CRP values were highest in all groups before the specific serum antibodies were detectable and decreased approaching the upper limit of normal controls (2 μg/ml) within 2 weeks. Notable individual variation in the CRP production was seen. We conclude that serum CRP determination should not be used as a reliable criterion to distinguish bacterial and viral infections.


The elementary excitations reflect the internal complex interaction of the microsystem and the various forms of movement, when the system is in the lower-energy state. This paper analyzes and sorts out the starting principium and the physical image of more than ten sorts elementary excitations, and introduces some related achievement in some research and applications field in recent years.


In complex semiconductor devices are strain-inducing material having a reduced insulation resistance, or with a certain conductivity, such as metal nitrides, and the like used in the contact level, in order to improve the performance of circuit elements, such field effect transistors. For this purpose a verformungsinduzierendes material is efficiently trapped on the basis of a dielectric layer stack, which is patterned prior to the application of the actual interlayer dielectric material, wherein side wall surface areas are masked on the basis of spacer elements.


In order to improve the quality of product design,reduce the cost,shorten the development cycle,virtual prototyping technology is used in the process of three points support type clutch press mechanism.The design scheme is rapidly implemented through establishing three-dimensional modeling,assembly and disassembly,adjustment mechanism simulation,motion simulation of mechanism.The physical,mechanical performance of mechanism is analysed,simulated,and predicted.Stress analysis of key parts gives the stress-strain diagram,the key institutions of moving point give displacement,velocity and acceleration curves.Through the virtual operation simulation,early detection of defects can realize the optimization design.


It's just natural that Zhang Ai - ling s sensation and perception of the " wilderness " in human life carries some elements related to her own predetermined gender. On rediscovering and re examining the view of marriage characteristic of Zhang s spiritual world,there only seems to be some sort of brutal reality and hard sober - mineledness behind the veil full of tenderness.


Energy is one of the sectors directly affecting the economic growth and forming a significant part of overall expenses in several industry branches, especially in manufacturing. The development of the energy sector requires significant investments which can only be attracted in a stable and predictable investment environment. Therefore, Latvian energy sector is being planned in a long-term both globally and at the European Union (EU) level. During the last two decades, increase in electricity demand and environmental concern resulted in fast growth of power production from renewable sources, where wind energy is one of the most efficient alternatives. The second important moment is the Baltic power system's development strategy, with the breakdown of continental Europe from the energy circle of BRELL until 2025. The purpose of this paper is devoted to the evaluation sufficiency of the taken measures, taking into account the integration of a large wind farm in the Latvian Electric Power System (EPS) in terms of stability. The methodology proposed in the paper can be applied for the detection of network parameters that are most vulnerable to perturbations such as a voltage drop, as well as defining the relations of said parameters with the EPS parameters, and using this information for the consequent improvement of behavioral EPS properties in general. Thus, knowing the location of sensors, it is possible to determine and control the nodes that undergo the biggest fluctuations of operational parameters during the disturbances.


Making batik is not easy and takes a long time. Until today, batik artisans are still dominated by the elderly, and very few young people are interested and eager to be involved in this industry. There is an urgent need to transfer batik skills to the younger generation to ensure its sustainability. The young generation, especially the children, whom today are never leaving the technology in their daily lives, will be more interested and more easily understand the process of making batik when using game technology as learning medium, such as game-based learning. This paper presents the development of game-based learning that addresses the fundamental issues on how to translate or transfer physically and batik processing into a digital space that children may consider as meaningful visualisation and interaction. The game was developed using Flash platform, showing several tasks that represent every step of the process of making batik. Through the game, the knowledge and skills transfer of making batik can be continued to the young generation.


SK Corporation has developed a new process that enables ultra deep desulfurization (<50 ppm product sulfur) of middle distillates in a very cost-effective way, applying a breakthrough concept to the existing hydrodesulfurization (HDS) technology. The basic concept of this process is to improve HDS performance by removal of NPC (Natural Polar Compound) in diesel and diesel blendstocks using adsorption technology. Firstly, the feedstock is pretreated by SK adsorption process. And then, the treated feedstock is processed in the subsequent HDS process. In tJ1is case, treated feedstock is obtained lower product sulfur level than untreated feedstock in the same HDS operation condition. And also, we found that NPC removal ratio by adsorption is directly proportional to reduction of product sulfur level in HDS process.


The Asian honey bee, Apis cerana are honey producers and pollinators of cultivated crops and wild plants. They occur in Asia, from Afghanistan to China and from Japan to southern Indonesia. A. cerana have yellow stripes on their abdomen and are habituated to Indian plains. These are less aggressive and also display less swarming behavior. Here we report the partial sequence of cytochrome oxidase sub unit I gene (COI) of A. cerana (GenBank Accession No. KM230116) and its phylogenetic relationship. The COI gene sequence of A. cerana showed considerable variation with other Apis species. The COI DNA barcode developed in this study can be used for accurate species identification. The COI partial coding sequence of A. cerana showed 2.72% difference over 513 bp nucleotides to A. cerana isolated from Indonesia (GU191875) and 6.04% to A. cerana isolated from Japan (AF153105). A. cerana demonstrates the efficiency of the barcoding gene in discriminating global phylogeographical variants among the Apis species complex.


Let be the Fourier transform of a Borel measure of finite total variation. The formula can be justified if the integral on the right converges absolutely. For where Now let h → 0 in both sides of this equation and use the Lebesgue dominated convergence theorem.


The soybean cyst nematode (SCN; Heterodera glycines Ichinohe) is the major pest of soybean and is responsible for an estimated loss of over one billion dollars per annum in the United States. The genome of soybean is not completely sequenced and few functional genomic studies have been conducted on the soybean cyst nematode interaction. We apply bioinformatics and data mining tools to analyze DNA microarray data and soybean ESTs to find genes and pathways involved in the resistance of soybean to SCN. We found a number of candidate resistant genes, and found the salicylic acid induced pathway to interact with the jasmonic acid and other pathways to infer resistance in soybean against SCN. The world's first public soybean microarray database was constructed to store microarray data and soybean ESTs. Analysis tools were integrated into this database for faster analysis of DNA microarray experiments. Obnlbine abnalytical pbrocessing (OLAP) was used to mine the microarray experiments and was found to be an efficient and fast method to mine gene expression data.


A new NASA program in High Performance Grand Challenge Computing will be discussed. The investigation seeks to capitalize on work started at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and develop a core suite of SAR software in portable, scalable code targeted for MPP machines. Performance results for SIR-C data processing will be discussed. The intent of the new three year program is to focus both on distributed network processing for high throughput situations that need to use several machines to balance the processing load and to develop access to interactive SAR processing initiated at the scientific workstation but executed on the large parallel machines. While current versions of the code extend through image formation only, interferometric extensions are being designed and will be added.


The Malaysian economy of today is in the process of evolving from a production-based economy (P-economy) into a knowledge-based economy (K-economy). In the theory of K-economy, knowledge is recognized as one of the primary factors in sustaining economic growth aside from land, labor and physical capital. In this study, we focus on formal education as a knowledge-based input in the Malaysian production function. 'The multivariate cointegration test result indicates that education, technical progress, labor, capital and economic growth of the country have a long-run equilibrium relationship, which allows them to elevate together over time. Even though several previous studies show that education might not contribute significantly to the growth of developing countries, our short-run estimated results, based on vector error-correction modeling, show that human capital, with the stock of knowledge accumulated through education, does contribute to Malaysian economic growth. In fact it can be considered as, based on the estimated production elasticities, the second most important input factor, alter physical capital, that promotes economic growth. This result provides empirical evidence that education, which is causally linked to the physical capital and technological progress, is an important mechanism to escalate the transformation of Malaysia into a fully-developed K-economy.


e20597 Background: Cancer patients experience multiple symptoms which vary in prevalence, severity, distress and negative impact on life. Comprehensive assessment is essential. Many validated assessment tools are used. They have limitations; varied content, clinical utility, completion rates, and acceptability. The objectives of this study were: Compare common cancer multisymptom assessment instruments to a comprehensive checklist. Identify commonly assessed ("champions") and frequently neglected ("orphans") symptoms. Examine the clinical importance of "orphan" symptoms. Methods: A 46-symptom checklist was developed from available evidence. This was compared against the content of 6 commonly used, validated, multisymptom instruments. Those with ≤ 2 symptoms, cancer site-specific, and tumor response instruments were excluded. Results: Symptom numbers varied in the 6 instruments; median (range) 19 (3-32). Of the 46 checklist symptoms, only 28 were present in 1 or more of the instruments. "Orphans": 18 of th...


Our presentation focuses on investigations of durability and of degradation of fuel cells at low Pt loadings for automotive application. Major motivations are problems related to the need to reduce the amount of Pt in MEAs down to values of e.g. 0.2 mgPt/cm2 in order to make PEMFC more competitive. The particular challenge is to maintain sufficiently high performance and long-term durability. Both requirements, however, are conflicting with the reduction of Pt loading.
In this context, our study regarding the influence of Pt loading on PEMFC performance and on durability shows that for cathode loadings below 0.2 mgPt/cm2 and for current densities exceeding 1 A/cm2 a sudden increase of mass transport resistance is observed. The same threshold value is found for the increase of irreversible voltage losses which lead to a dramatic reduction of PEMFC durability for cathodic loadings below 0.2 mgPt/cm2.
Another durability issue at low cathodic Pt-loadings (<0.4 mgPt/cm2) is the acceleration of reversible degradation, which leads to a dramatic voltage drop at fuel cell operation (without a recovery interruption). Such an increased reversible degradation is less important for automotive application where regular refresh (recovery of reversible losses) is performed by shutting down the system. Nevertheless, the accelerated reversible voltage decay may be very significant and is, of course, related to irreversible material changes that should not be neglected.
A further aspect of this presentation is the lack of common procedures to reliably determine voltage loss rates in durability tests of fuel cell. This issue leads to severe difficulties in the comparison of results obtained by different institutions or within different projects. Accordingly, special attention is devoted to the discrimination between so called reversible and irreversible voltage losses. The first are permanent and determine the lifetime of a fuel cell. The latter strongly depends on the chosen operation conditions and can be recovered by specific procedures.


We are often faced with the task of having to estimate the amplitude of a source signal in the presence of a background. In the simplest case, the background can be taken as being flat, and of unknown magnitude B, and the source signal of interest assumed to be the amplitude A of a peak of known shape and position. We present a robust method to find the most probable values of A and B by applying the one-dimensional Newton-Raphson method. In the derivation of the formula, we adopted the Bayesian statistics and assmumed Poisson distribution so that the results could be applied to the analysis of very weak signals, as observed in FIMS (Far-ultraviolet IMaging Spectrogaph).


This paper comprehensively evaluates the impacts of drug price reduction between 1997 and 2007 in China by event study method and makes an exogenous test of the price reduction policies by targeting method.It shows that,before and after the implementation of drug price reduction policies,the effect of drug price reduction policies on relative prices in pharmaceutical market is featured by V shape,which means the price reduction intervention in the first month of implementation has the most significant negative effect on medicine market prices which soon revert to the original level before the implementation of drug price reduction policies,and the duration of reduction intervention effect is short.In addition,the effect of drug price reduction policies on drug retail prices is stronger than the one on consumer prices,and the prices of Chinese medicine and medical apparatus and supplies are affected significantly by drug price reduction policies.It indicates that the governments in China take active administrative means of price reduction to intervene drug market,but the intervention effects are limited,which is closely related to our special medicine market environment.


The V-band frequency synthesizer is presented including: a microwave voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), a microstrip coupler, a 3-stage 25 dB centimeter-wave power amplifier, an active high-order IMPATT-diode multiplier, a band-pass filter, and an output isolator. The signal from the VCO tunable in the 7.00-7.10 GHz band throw a microstrip coupler goes to the power amplifier. After the amplification the signal passes to the multiplier, tuned to the 10th harmonic of the VCO operating frequency. This signal is amplified and then multiplied in 10 times by the IMPATT-diode multiplier.


This investigation presents and proposes a methodology for archaeoacoustic analysis of public rituals of plazas in the Mayan area, which includes detailed studies of frequencies on musical instruments, white and pink sound emanations and their reverberations in the plazas, and laboratory studies on the stucco that covered the temples. As a result of the Northern Group study, we got rooms that could be used as scenarios where a musician or a speaker stood and this place allowed the frequency's increase, causing an effect of "horn" in the sound and quality, so they were able to deliver messages at a greater distance, and therefore more people. On the plaza, we establish areas of musical activity and areas where they could locate the spectators with great acoustics and visibility of representations expressed. In addition we found that in this case, the design and construction of the structures by the Maya of Palenque involved a great knowledge of the sounds and behavior.


In order to elucidate the pharmacokinetic characteristics of main ingredients of white Paederia scandens volatile oil and to establish a detection method for drug residues,the volatile oil was qualitatively analyzed by chemical agents,and the main ingredients of volatile oil were quantitatively analyzed by Pre-column derivatization high-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC).The chemical analysis results showed that the volatile oil contained acids,phenols,aldehydes,ketones,alcohols,esters,lactones(including △α,β-γ lactone ring) and reducing components.The HPLC analysis showed that the volatile oil included eugenol,isoeugenol,L-α-terpineol,D-α-terpineol,linalool,methyl salicylate,camphor,borneol and other pharmacological activities ingredients.Compositions with the highest concentrations were linalool,methyl salicylate,borneol,followed by eugenol,isoeugenol,L-α-terpineol,D-α-terpineol,and camphor.The established HPLC method was simple and rapid,with the total time of 30 min for one injection for all the main active ingre-dients.Therefore,the method could be applied in quality control,pharmacokinetic study and detection of drug residues in the volatile oil.


Modern imaging and dosimetry technology are invaluable for defining a three-dimensional target when tumour can be visualised; it is far more difficult to identify a target volume after the tumour has been excised. The Paris system was devised prior to the introduction of modern high dose rate (HDR) equipment, and cannot utilize the flexibility that it offers. A prescription point, such as 'a depth of 10 mm', is often used as a target surrogate, but the localisation of this 'point' is arbitrary. Small variations in its selection may result in large differences in the delivered dose. We sought to devise a more objective method to prescribe post-excision tumour bed brachytherapy. To achieve this aim, an old concept, matched peripheral dose (MPD) was revived, and fused with dose-volume histograms (DVH) generated by modern dosimetry technology. The results are that an objective technique was formulated for retrospectively assessing delivered dose, or prospectively prescribing treatment for tumour bed brachytherapy.


Abstract Electric lighting is responsible for consuming approximately twenty-two percent of the electrical energy generated domestically, second only to that consumed by electric machinery. Of this quantity, approximately fifteen percent of the lighting energy usage is by those lighting products that fall within the category termed High-Intensity Discharge (HID). HID sources, which include Mercury Vapor, Metal-Halide, and High-Pressure Sodium, range in power level from 35 to 2000 watts. Luminaires equipped with these sources are used in outdoor lighting applications and also indoor applications, one category of which is the focus of this article - the illumination of industrial facilities. The term "lighting system" is used in this article to describe all of the elements required to illuminate the target area to required levels. This includes lamps, ballasts, housings, optical assemblies, support structures, and any other components involved in the operation and maintenance of the lighting system. Efforts to reduce energy consumption most often revolve around the use of more efficient or efficacious lighting products which will be successful in providing the desired photometric results. In general, the more efficient the system in converting electrical energy to visible energy, the more expensive are the source and associated control gear. Consequently, the relationship between acquisition cost and performance is a major obstacle in an effort to convince users to install more efficient lighting equipment. This article reviews the performance characteristics of the various HID lamp families that are used domestically in industrial lighting applications. This includes selected energy consumption profiles, cost breakdowns, and life-cycle cost analyses of various HID lighting systems for the purpose of offering guidance to those who are responsible for the selection and application of lighting products. Also provided is an in-depth investigation into the impact of lighting system maintenance upon the energy consumption and overall cost of a lighting project as projected using life-cycle costing techniques.


Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) are nowadays able to produce highly realistic output, but a detailed evaluation of GANs results in scientific environment still remains an open problem. An analysis in [1] suggests that the GANs may not have good generalization properties even when the training appears successful. Authors in [2] presented a 3DGAN architecture for scientific simulations of High Energy Physics detectors which reached a high level of precision in terms of physical quantities. This work expands on the idea presented in [3] and uses the principle of the birthday paradox to make an estimate of the support size of the 3DGAN distribution as well as an estimate of the support size of the target distribution represented by the Monte Carlo data. The results suggest that the support size of the 3DGAN is substantially smaller than that of the training data while highlighting, at the same time, the role played by the definition of duplicate events.


If $(X,T)$ is a rank one system and $g$ a positive
concave funtion on $(0,\infty)$ such
that $g(x)^2 / x^3$ is integrable, then
limsup $_{n\to\infty}$ $H(\alpha_0^{n-1})$/$g(log_2 n) =\infty$,
 for all partitions $\alpha$ of $X$ into two sets with
$\lim_{n\to\infty} \max\{\mu(A)|A\in\alpha_0^{n-1}\}=0$.


Cost-efficient estimation of effective population size from single parr sample for Atlantic salmon conservation monitoring of rear-edge populations in southern France. Fisheries Society of the British Isles Annual Symposium


Corporate governance has been heavily criticized, because of failures of companies across the globe. In response to these failures, legislative and regulatory changes have been introduced. However, skeptics argue that compliance to these legislative and regulatory acts is costly and time consuming causing overregulation. Furthermore, these measures lack business value and there is no guarantee that adherence to these measures can be enforced. This paper presents an argument for the utilization of Business Process Management Systems (BPMSs) in support of good corporate governance. By applying Orlikowski's theory of "Technologies-in-Practice" as theoretical underpinning for the study and after collecting data from a BPMS vendor company and eight BPMS user companies in South Africa, a framework is proposed that explains the utilization of a BPMS in support of good corporate governance.


Interview with Francis "Fuzzy" and Nell Swayze from Center Point, Texas. The interview includes their stories of World War II and ranching in Kerr County, Texas.


Umbilical cordcare is the most important to avoidthe occurrence ofinfectionsin newborns. Umbilical cord care is stil lallowed as long as done by rubbing alcohol or providon iodine. The general objective of this study was to determine the difference Umbilical  Cord Care Using Dry gauze and Moist Gauze for placenta releasing on new bornsin Hospital Guntur Garut in 2013. This research used the quasi experiment design Intake Group Comparison test, the sample used was 44 respondents, divided into 2 treatment groups using a dry sterile gauze and gauzemoist.  The results of the study by using a dry sterile gauze, the average length of cord puput 4 days and 7 days moist gauze.  There are significant differences in for placenta releasing on baby browusing sterile gauze and moist gauze (p-value = 0.0001), or there is a significant effect of treatment on the duration of for placenta releasing on newborns in the Hospital Army Guntur Garut in 2013. To care further recommended the umbilical cord using a dry sterile gauze.


With the development of society and economy, the media gets more and more attention from the society, and plays a more and more important role in the development of social economy. TV program production is an important content of the media, but also promotes the important basic media continue to advance. The need to adhere to the core ideology of TV program production process,raises the level of programming guidelines need to adhere to innovation, changes the traditional mode, the former form, and mode requires content is king continuous optimization. In order to adapt to the new era of society for television production, television program production process only sticks to diversified development, in order to upgrade the overall level of television production.


Abstract Our objective was to create and validate a scale that would allow us to investigate women's experiences of violent practices in healthcare System. The scale was applied to large sample of women (N = 4563) from Chile. We analyzed data and conclude that the final instrument shows good reliability (α = .876 y ω = .921) and a factorial structure of three correlated factors referring to psychological, physical and sexual violence. Similarly, our analysis of the data -using a confirmatory factor analysis and multi-group factor analysis- reveals good fit indexes (CFI = .94 y RSMEA = .06) and supports the scale's metric invariance between groups in age (18 − 31 and 32 − 82) and healthcare centers (public and private). The prevalence rates of the different forms of violence predicted by the scale are reported.


Purpose: Asthma and atopic dermatitis are common chronic diseases and depression is an important comorbidity in allergic diseases. However, the association between maternal depression and child allergic diseases is little known. This study was performed to find out the association between maternal depression and child allergic diseases. Methods: Data were acquired from 2,737 families who participated in the Fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, which was conducted from 2010 through 2012. Results: The prevalence of childhood asthma was 5.3% and that of childhood atopic dermatitis was 14.1%. The prevalence of maternal depression was 3.9%. In univariate analysis, maternal depressions was associated with maternal smoking, lower education level, lower economic state, lower number of household members, maternal asthma, children's asthma (P<0.05), but marital status, maternal employment status, maternal atopic dermatitis, children's sex, children's age, children's atopic dermatitis, residence area were not related to maternal depression. After adjustment, maternal depression was associated with lower house income, maternal asthma, and children's asthma (P<0.05). Conclusion: The present study shows that maternal depression may be associated with childhood asthma, but not childhood atopic dermatitis. These results warrant future studies to explore the mechanisms responsible for the association between maternal depression and childhood asthma. (Allergy Asthma Respir Dis 2015;3:352-357)


Modular multilevel converter (MMC) with partial battery energy storage system (BESS) integration is the critical equipment in the medium-voltage (MV) side of data centers, which not only enhances the power reliability, but also enables real-time power scheduling for data centers and grids. However, the modular structure somehow complicates its auxiliary power supply (APS) and communication architecture. In this paper, a centralized APS (CAPS) with information communication function is designed. The proposed CAPS utilizes a current-transformer (CT)-based H-bridge to power all the submodules (SMs) of MMC, meanwhile the digital signal "1" and "0" are encoded into the shape of the CT current, so that the information can be broadcast to all the SMs synchronously. As an example, the proposed CAPS is utilized to broadcast a synchronization signal to all SMs, which facilitates accurate measurement and synchronized conversion of SM capacitor and battery voltages, thereby helping achieve efficient balancing control of SM voltages. The proposed CAPS is verified in the experimental prototype.


To the Editor:

We have read with interest the article, "Intra-arterial thrombolysis within 3 hours after acute ischemic stroke in selected patients,"1 in the Controversies in Stroke section, wherein the authors cite the Interventional Management …


Bentonites contain a large amount of nanoporous and nanostructured montmorillonite, which is the dominant mineral determining the adsorptive properties of bentonites. In this study, the analyses of the characterization of bentonites for adsorption application include cation exchange capacity (CEC) measurements, swell index, dry screen (granulometric) analysis, x-ray diffraction (XRD), BET-BJH surface area and pore size distribution measurements, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The adsorption of chromium(III) from a 0.01 N Cr(III) solution using bentonites has been studied. The results showed that BNT3 and BNT2 have high CEC values of 100 and 95 mEq/100 g and swell index values of 30 and 24 mm, respectively. The high amounts of CEC and the swell index with high amount of granulometric (particles finer than 36 µm) values indicate that the amount of clay minerals (motmorillonite) is very high. Successful chromium removal efficiencies changed from 94.5% for BNT4 to 99.4% for BNT3. The maximum Cr(III) removal of adsorbents decreased in the following order: BNT3 > BNT2 > BNT5 > BNT1 > BNT4. The removal of chromium was correlated with the variation of bentonite types. This study aims at investigating the effects of different bentonite types on the removal of Cr(III) from synthetic wastewater using low-cost bentonites.


Abstract : On an investigation of the mechanism of epoxytrichothecene inhibition of yeast alcohol dehydrogenase (YADH) reaction, we have accidentally found that dimethyldithiocarbamate (DMDTC) was an effective activator of the enzyme. DMDTC is a vulcanizing accelerator used extensively in manufacturing of rubber products such as stoppers. The compound is an analog of diethyldithiocarbamate (DEDTC), a metabolite of disulfiram (tetraethylthiuram disulfide, antabuse). Disulfiram is a well known drug for treating alcoholism because of its inhibitory effect on aldehyde dehydrogenases. In vivo, DEDTC is as effective an inhibitor of aldehyde dehydrogenase as disulfiram, but has little effect on the enzyme activity in vitro. Similarly, we can not demonstrate any significant effect of DMDTC on aldehyde dehydrogenase by this compound. The kinetic data obtained from our present investigation indicated that the DMDTC stimulation reaction followed an ordered bireactant mechanism in which DMDTC and NAD binding to the enzyme molecules is in an obligate order, i.e., DMDTC binding followed by NAD binding. On the other hand, evidence of formation of a substrate-YADH-DMDTC transitory complex with enhanced enzyme activity can also be shown from the kinetic data that we obtained. The results of our present investigation on the kinetics of the DMDTC stimulation of the YADH reaction will be presented in this paper.


Background A brand is only as important and meaningful as the people who live and breathe it, and the values that underpin it. In a hospice in Scotland we wanted to know what does our brand really mean to the families, volunteers, staff and supporters invested in our work? As a part of development of our strategy we took a critical review of our brand including language, tone of voice and imagery. Methodology The following critical questions underpinned our work: Are we expressing who we are with honesty, integrity and purpose?; Does our brand truly reflect who we are, and what we aspire to be in terms of care and support right across our community; Does our name reflect care delivered not only in a building but also in homes and community settings across our area? Working with a local, personal, and inspiring marketing agency we conducted a mixed methodology review including staff, volunteers and supporters. This took place through workshops, 1:1 interviews and anonymous comments cards around the hospice and shops. Each of these interaction opportunities not only looked at our brand but tied in important questions that would feed into our evolving strategy, mission and vision work. Results The information, ideas and thoughts gathered have been collated into ideas around what our brand proposition could look like going forward. What makes us special, what sums up who we are, and what makes us unique and inspiring has been turned into working ideas that are being shared widely across our stakeholders. This is an iterative process that will grow and develop as feedback is gathered. Next Steps The results will be delivered in the summer of 2019.


Digital radio-relay systems are particularly affected by the frequency selective nature of multipath fading. To know the effects of propagation on radio-relay systems, an experimental measurement setup was realized to characterize their susceptibility to multipath distortion. The setup is basically a recorder of the frequency-selective amplitude and group delay variations. Associated to these informations, data of error presence (single error, error burst, BER, etc.) are collected to determine, by successive elaborations, relationships between error occurrence and critical values of amplitude and group delay distortions. The measured data are stored only when they exceed the prefixed reference masks. Preliminary results are reported.


One of the most common complaints in optics is a feeling of discomfort and dry eyes. Patients can experience discomfort with improper selection of contact lenses: inappropriate refraction, steep or flat fit, choice of lens material without proper examination of the eye surface and without caring about the patient's lifestyle. Рroper anamnesis, detailed complains, careful examination with using of vital dyes helps to avoid discomfort and prescribe the most suitable contact lenses and care products.


Childhood obesity is one among the most serious public heal th challenges of the 21st century. Lots of single and compound drug s have been described in Ayurvedic classics for the management of Obesi ty. Triphalaguduchyadi churnna is one among them and is very safe to be used in children. The drug having Kapham edoha ra and lekhana properties is effective in Sthaulya (Obesity) . Tannin, the main chemical constituent of the drug regulates foo d intake and is a proven hypolipidaemic agent. To overcome the problems of palatability, feasibility, shelf life with the churn n a f orm of drug, an effort is made to convert it into convenient tablet form. This paper is prepared with a view to standardize the product through pharmacognostical and pharmaceutical measures. The compound was analyzed and standardized scientifically through qualitative and quantitative analysis by physico - chemical parameters, Thi n Layer Chromatography (TLC), High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC) and pharmacognostical measures. Pharmacognostical analysis showed c haracteristics of all the ingredie nt drugs in the tablet . Pharmaceutical analysis revealed the presence of t annin, g lycosides and f lavanoids with t annin as the main constituent that accounts 34.26%w/w of the compound. TLC and HPTLC were carried out after organizing appropriate solvent syst em in which 8 and 7 spots were distinguished in TLC and HPTLC respectively . It is inferred that the formulation meets the minimum qualitative standards as reported in the API at a preliminary level. The inference from this study may be used as reference sta ndard in the further quality control researches.


The riverbed around the abutment can experience scouring caused by flow, because its is always directly related to river flow. Abutment can obstruct the flow of rivers causing changes in flow characteristics which in turn will cause local scouring around these buildings. Toe Scour around abutment will be very dangerous and cause loss of stability on the bridge. The case of structure failure on Batang Kalu bridge in Korong Pasa Usang Nagari Kayu Tanam, Padang Pariaman Regency on Monday (10 December 2018) is a clear example of toe scouring. A case study of toe scour was on the Batang Kalu River bridge structure has been carried out. Rainfall data closest to the study location, Kandang Empat Station was used to minimize the errors in the calculation of flood discharge design. Numerical modeling with HEC RAS and scouring estimation with some empiric equation was conducted to predicting scour depth on abutment. Simulation results show scour depth results to an average of 2.731 m and close to the scour depth that occurred in the field (2.83 m). Results showed that the local scouring in the Batang Kalu River bridge structure can be suspected as the influence of the increasing river steepness. Discharge that is triggered by heavy rain with a long duration and increased river flow velocity due to steepness has the potential to create a very intense scouring. Increasing of steepness may have been caused by sand mining activities in the upper reaches. Further studies are needed to see the potential slope changes due to exploitation in the Batang Kalu River upper reaches.


Grubbs Test is a quality control method usually applied in clinical laboratory.In view of existing malpractice in this method,this paper carries out technical treatment on the four teams of data in front,smoothing and rational collecting data,engages quality control from the fifth data on and makes improvement in Grubbs Test.It is proved by theory and experiment that the new method reduces the opportunity of false under-control and false out-of-control.The simulating result makes it clear that the improvement method is effective.


A trust has been commended by England's chief nursing officer for having a high number of black and minority ethnic (BME) nurses in senior positions.


Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of the levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system(mirena) in the treatment of endometriosis.Methods Medline,Embase,The Chinese Biomedical Database(CJFD) and Chinese Science and Technology Journal Full-text Database (CSJD) from their establishment to April 2012 were employed in the study.All the studies included were evaluated by Cochrane Handbook,and homogenous studies were analyzed by Revman 5.1 software.Results Eleven studies were included.Compared with gonadotropin releasing hormone group,the mirena group had no statistical difference in visual analogue score;compared with hysterectomy group,the mirena group had statistical significance in pain relief rate;compared with expectant management group,the mirena group also had statistical significance in pain relief rate.The mirena group showed no statistical significance in adverse effect.Conclusion The mirena can significantly relieve the pain of the patients of endometriosis,and it is worth generalization in clinical.But the related studies are limited and the measure or index of these studies are different,so we look forward to more studies with high quality to prove the effectiveness of the mirena.


We report on an investigation into the nature of the experience that developers have with the spaces in which they work and live based on the reflections of the authors. We describe a few aspects of the structure of developers' experience around the malleability, ownership and control of the spaces and the emotions they induce, and consider what this may mean for future research.


Graph theory was first introduced by Leonhard Euler in 1736 and still being one of the mathematic's topics which is rapidly developing and can be used to simplify mathematic problems. There are many interesting topics in graph theory; one of them is graph labeling. There are many ways of labeling a graph, and one of them is graceful labeling. Let G(V, E is a graph. The injective mapping f: V → {0,1, …, |E|} is called graceful if the weights of edge w(uv) = |f(u) – f(v)| are all different for every edge uv. There is a famous conjecture in graceful labeling. It is said that all trees are graceful. To prove this conjecture, then we must show that every tree is graceful. There are many research papers dealing with the special cases of trees. Many classes of trees have been proven graceful, and one of them is supercaterpillar. Previous research had proved that supercaterpillars with certain conditions are also graceful. In this paper, we generalize the concept of supercaterpillar, and show that the subclass of...


OBJECTIVES
To evaluate if the immunofluorescence analysis of synovial tissue (ST) using antibodies against RANKL/OPG, conjugated with the immunophenotyping of lymphocytes and macrophages, could be of diagnostic and prognostic value in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients.

METHODS
3-year prospective study of 103 consecutive patients submitted to closed needle biopsy for diagnostic purposes. ST was analyzed with routine histologic techniques and immunofluorescence, using monoclonal antibodies against RANKL, OPG, CD163, CD68, CD4, CD8, interferon-gamma and CD19. Patients were prospectively evaluated with a clinical, laboratorial and radiological protocol. At the end of the follow-up patients were divided according to the final diagnosis. Results of the initial histologic evaluation were compared between the main diagnostic groups and in RA patients histologic data was correlated with clinical and radiologic outcome measures.

RESULTS
The RANKL/OPG ratio and the inflammatory infiltrate were significatively higher in RA (n = 25) as compared to the same ratio observed in other inflammatory joint diseases (OIJD, n = 48) and in osteoarthritis (n = 17). The difference between RA and OIJD was specifically confirmed when the comparison involved spondyloarthropathy (n = 26). Final HAQ score and radiologic outcome were correlated with the density of intimal CD68+ macrophages. Radiologic progression was correlated with subintimal CD4+ lymphocytes and CD68+ macrophages and intimal CD68 and CD163+ macrophages.

CONCLUSION
The quantification of the RANKL/OPG ratio and of the number of lymphocytes in the ST might be useful to differentiate RA from other inflammatory joint diseases. The ST number of CD4+ lymphocytes and macrophages are probable predictors of radiologic progression in RA patients.


Purpose: The study appraised youth empowerment programmes through entrepreneurial skills acquisition for self-reliance in Ondo State, Nigeria.

Theoretical framework: The conceptual framework was developed based on an extensive literature review to establish the relationship between youth empowerment, entrepreneurial skills acquisition and self-reliance. This framework serves as a guiding structure for the study, determining the way out of the virulent, devastating, torturing, and continuous  menace of poverty and unemployment bedeviling the youths of Nigeria and proffer lasting solution through entrepreneurial skills acquisition for self-reliance.

Design/Methodology/Approach: The study adopted empirical research approach. Data was gathered from four hundred and fifty participants drawn from six Entrepreneurial Skills Acquisition Centres in three Local Government Areas of Ondo State. The collection of data was by the means of a questionnaire that was structured and well-validated titled Entrepreneurial Skills Acquisition for Job Creation Questionnaire. Descriptive and inductive statistics were used for the data analysis.

Findings: The outcome revealed that many jobless school leavers and graduates in Ondo State were completely ignorant of training opportunities provided by Ondo State Government due to inadequate publicity of the programmes. The Entrepreneurial Skills Acquisition Programmes were not sufficiently funded; most of the Centre buildings were dilapidated and poorly maintained; while the resource persons at the Centres were grossly inadequate and poorly motivated. The acquired entrepreneurial skills have been helping the recipients to set up small-scale business enterprises for self-employment and reliance.

Research, Practical and Social implications: The study contributes immensely and shows that it is no more contestable that in Nigeria today, the acquirement of appropriate entrepreneurial skills will greatly assist the jobless school leavers and tertiary educational institutions graduates in ameliorating the problem of unemployment and poverty and also lessen the several crimes and social vices commonly committed by most youths of Nigeria. The Nigerian youths who have acquired entrepreneurial skills will undoubtedly decide properly on the business enterprise to embark upon and how to seek initial financial assistance to put it in progress.

Originality/Value: The conceptual framework of the study, its empirical research approach, incomparable modality, and practical recommendations contribute to the existing body of knowledge on youth empowerment programmes through entrepreneurial skills acquisition which champions the reduction of unemployment and poverty in Nigeria. It as well  providing valuable direction for stakeholders in  building a supportive creativity in the educational system.


This book presents a clear view on concrete structures. The model presented contains many design possibilities for structural concrete without having recourse to any categories, classes, etc. Covers the following topics: Analyses of the design procedures of structures in reinforced, prestressed and partially prestressed concrete; Properties of materials used in concrete structures; Compression member and the tension member; Behaviour of beams in structural concrete; Design of structures and the possibilities of structural concrete; The practical application of structural concrete, including several examplesand tanks.ent structures, such as slabs, beams, box girders and


The connectivity of power domains is a key factor for realizing a smart grid. Different power domains in smart grid (SG) involves various types of applications and devices each of which comes with its own requirements. In addition, different communication protocols and data models have been already proposed to address those requirements. Due to the differences in communication technologies, interoperability challenges have been raised in SG. Interoperability issues not only deteriorate the connectivity of different domains, but also compromise the potentials of data sharing in SG. The Data Distribution Service (DDS) has emerged as a possible solution since it supports different features such as transport configuration and dynamic discovery mechanism. In this paper, we describe how DDS can be used to address both data interoperability and protocol interoperability in SG. We first describe interoperability issues in SG and then describe the use of a unified data model with DDS and configuring DDS for TCP/IP and UDP/IP. We also implement the configurations and present the results of the implementations for comparative analysis.


Very little is known about the effects of work on women's health and safety specifically. This is despite the fact that about half of the workforce in Australia is made up of women. There are many sectors where women are the predominant workers. Women workers are more likely to work in part-time or casual work, often working more than one job at a time. Women find themselves in insecure employment, and this has consequences with relation to reporting of accidents and injuries, and claiming for, much less receiving, compensation. Better information and better research are needed into the effects of work on women's health and safety. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has stated: 'Historically, work environment research has largely concerned industry work, thus the male worker.' But it is important to look at the question of women's health for a number of reasons:


The stable isotopic (O and D) and water chemical compositions of the precipitation collected from Bangkok (BKK), Kamphaeng-Phet (KPP) and Suphanburi (SPB) in 2015 were performed. All water samples were weakly alkaline and the major ion (Cl, SO4, Na, K) were the same magnitude with low values. The results of isotopic measurements for BKK, KPP, and SPB shown a wide magnitude of variations ranging between -12.22 to 0.51, -11.78 to 5.45 and -15.50 to 0.73, in O (‰) and between -114.49 to 1.43, -86.41 to 27.29, and -81.74 to 2.79, in D (‰), respectively. Both O and D decreased significantly from BKK to SPB and KPP and from cold to warm season because of the evaporation-induced isotopic enrichments. The results of this study revealed the exact relationship between O and D of precipitation changes from geographical region to region which depending on local climatic conditions. The average annual rainfall of O and D for BKK, KPP and SPB were indicated the same derived source of precipitations. These isotopic data provide important baseline information of the regional characteristics of O and D of meteoric water including produce maps of mean annual isotopic values of precipitation in the country.


Inner Tracking System (ITS) of ALICE is used for vertex determination and tracking. Future heavy-ion program at the LHC aims to run with high luminosity. To address this challenge, upgrade program of ITS is underway, which aims at better position resolution (factor of 3), high detection efficiency (>99%), high-rate readout capabilities (100 kHz for Pb-Pb) and moderate radiation hardness (> 700 krad). The new ITS will be composed with 7 layers of silicon pixel chip based on Monolithic Active Pixel Sensor (MAPS) technology. The characterization test of various version of prototype chips at different phases of development has been performed. This contribution will provide the main characterization results obtained from the measurements performed at laboratories and using test beam for finalizing the pixel chip specification.


.............................................................................................. iii ABSTRAK ..................................................................................................iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................... vii LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................... x LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................... xii ABBREVIATIONS ..................................................................................xiv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 General Introduction ............................................................................... 1 1.2 Aims and Objectives ............................................................................... 3 1.3 Scope of Work ......................................................................................... 4 1.4 Thesis Structure ....................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.


Based on the analysis of the existing power system,load demand and natural resources in a remote aboriginal community,a wind/biomass/diesel/battery stand-alone microgrid(SAMG)is proposed to replace the current diesel engine(DE)system.According to the operating characteristics of these distributed generators(DGs),an improved load following(ILF)control strategy is presented to improve the renewable energy penetration and decrease the diesel consumption remarkably,and also to optimize the capacity size and operation conditions of the battery energy storage system(BESS).This ILF strategy uses DE and biomass plant to follow the net load variations at different time scales respectively,and the BESS mainly help to keep the system stabilization.The non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm(NSGA-Ⅱ)is adopted to solve the multi-objective optimization model considering the net present cost(NPC)and the pollutant emission level in the 20years full life cycle.The results validate the effectiveness of the proposed method,and show that the proposed solution is reasonable and feasible,meeting diverse demands,as an optimization solution.


Attenuated rubella viruses retain the property of pharyngeal shedding and might cause unrestricted secondary infections in susceptible contacts of vaccinees. To test this possibility, Cendehill rubella vaccine was administered to 15 susceptible women whose husbands were without detectable rubella hemagglutination-inhibition (HI) antibody. All women developed antibody after immunization. No male spouses had HI antibody eight weeks after administration of the vaccine to the women, or approximately five weeks after the expected period of pharyngeal virus shedding. Lack of spread of rubella vaccine virus among young married couples with close physical contact is further evidence for the low transmissibility of these viruses.


In the first part of the thesis, the evolution of a three-dimensional liquid drop on an inclined substrate oscillating vertically is examined. The oscillations are assumed to be weak and slow, which effectively makes the inertia and viscosity of the liquid negligible. The effects of the vibration-induced inertial force and gravity are balanced by surface tension forces. Asymptotic expressions are derived for the mean velocity of the drop up to the second order, where the small parameter, , is the ratio of the vibration-induced inertia to surface tension. There is no assumption made regarding the thickness of the drop. This distinguishes this study from other theoretical studies of the problem, all of which relied on the thin-film approximation. From an experimental point of view, this approximation is highly restrictive, whereas, crucially, the conclusions of this study may be tested through a specially-designed experiment. It is shown that, if the amplitude of the substrate's oscillations exceeds a certain threshold value, , drops climb uphill. ? itself depends strongly on the thickness of the drop that, in turn, depends on the drop's equilibrium contact angle, β0. It is found that, as β0 grows, there is a dramatic decrease in , which means that thick drops can climb for much weaker substrate vibrations. In the second part of the thesis, the stability of a static liquid bridge rising from an infinite pool, with its top attached to a horizontal plate suspended at a certain height above the pool's surface is studied. Two different models are examined for the bridge's contact line. Model 1 assumes that the contact angle always equals Young's equilibrium value. Model 2 assumes a functional dependence between the contact angle and the velocity of the contact line, and it is further argued that, if this dependence involves a hysteresis interval, the contact line is effectively pinned to the plate. It is shown that, within the framework of Model 1, all liquid bridges are unstable. In Model 2, in turn, both stable and unstable bridges exist (the former have larger contact angles β and/or larger heightsH than the latter). For Model 2, the marginalstability curve in the (β,H)-parameter space is computed.


Working method for a storage subsystem (1) comprising at least a first mass storage (15) having a solid state storage medium (13), at least a second mass storage (16) having a movable read / write head or movable storage medium and at least one control unit (6) for driving the first mass memory (15) and the second mass memory (16), comprising the steps of: - determining the maximum access time and data transfer rates of the first mass memory (15) and the second mass memory (16) in an initialization phase, - receiving a request (21, 31) for storing or reading of data, said request (21, 31) comprises at least an address information, - determining a first storage area (17) on the first mass storage (15) based on the address information, - determining a second memory area (18) on the second mass storage (16) based on the address information, - transmitting a first request part (24) with respect to the first memory area (17) to the first mass storage (15) and - timely transmitting a second request part (25) with respect to the second memory area (18) to the second mass storage (16), - wherein for a file access to the second memory area (18) on the basis of the data determined in the initialization phase, automatically an image of the address is determined in the first mass storage (15) in determining the first and second memory area (17, 18) and a size of the first memory area (17) substantially by an expected delay (26) when executing the second part of request (25, 33) is determined.


The paper presents most important inferences, that have arisen from the research about technical, energetical and economical properties of photovoltaic drive systems (PDS), especially at an angle of conditions of use of different power electronic converters and their operation terms in such systems. The research has been done by availing material models (laboratory stands) and mathematical models (computer simulations). The short description of the most important features of different PDS structures, with presenting their block diagrams, is done. The schematic diagram of simple, and relatively inexpensive, stand-alone PDS without electrical buffer source (e.g. electrochemical accumulator), and with DC commutator motor with permanent magnet excitement, is presented. This system may be applied for irrigation of cultivable lands, or for water circulation and filtration for swimming pools or fountains.


The article substantiates the opinion of Russian and foreign authors that the diagnosis of cardiac diseases and the assessment of cardivascular risk in workers, or those entering a job, is associated with the action of harmful production factors. Among the principal factors leading to the development of work-related cardiac diseases, the main place is occupied by functional overstrain and factors of physical activity. In order to preserve the cardiovascular health of workers, it is necessary to develop Federal clinical guidelines for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of occupational and work-related lesions of the cardiovascular systems, primarily Federal clinical guidelines on work-related hypertension associated with work (high-risk professions).


Various factors, internal and external, affect the environmental performance of firms. In order to improve public environmental policies and business environmental management, it is of prime importance to know better, i.e., to quantify these influences. The purpose of this paper is to show how one can study the influence of specific, quantifiable factors on the environmental performance as measured by indicators elaborated in the scope of the productive efficiency theory. The methodology is illustrated by the analysis of a small data set of U.S. fossil fuelfired electric utilities. The explanatory factors tested include the size and the age of the plants, the fuel mix, and the company's investments and expenditures towards air pollution control and environmental protection. The conclusions that can be drawn mainly confirm the usefulness of the proposed aggregate indicators to study the effect of explanatory factors on environmental performance.


W hen I started this research project, Charles Tilly's work framed the questions I hoped to answer: How is it that national social movements emerged in the United States? How did the American repertoire of collective action enable these movements? What kinds of claims did these early movements make? What shaped this repertoire and these claims? I am therefore especially pleased and grateful that Tilly (2002, henceforward Tilly) finds value in my article. I tried to faithfully characterize the contentious politics perspective on the nineteenth-century rupture in protest forms and the concurrent emergence of national social movements. The theorization of contentious politics has evolved and changed over the past two decades. These changes reflect the admirable openness of its leading advocates to new ideas and research, but they pose difficulties for anyone trying to evaluate the perspective on a particular issue. In referring to the contentious politics perspective, I sought to identify core arguments found mainly in research by Tilly and Tarrow, and in their recent consensus statements with McAdam (e.g., see McAdam, Tarrow, and Tilly 1996; Tarrow 1994; Tilly 1995). In his comment, Tilly's reference to theories of contentious politics is a broader designation that includes works by Sewell. My reference, however, was mainly to Tilly and Tarrow's historical sociology of the national social movement. In finding there a statecentered explanation for national social movements, I am not alone in my sociological imagination (e.g., see Sewell 1990). Tilly's counterpoint, that he never said early large-scale social movements always


This study examined parasites occurring in the insular subspecies of the western grey kangaroo, Macropus fuliginosus fuliginosus, from Kangaroo Island. A total of 25 kangaroos from three sites were examined for gastrointestinal parasites. Fifteen parasite species were identified: eight in the stomach, five in the small intestine and two in the large intestine. Parasite prevalence showed a bimodal distribution: 'satellite' species were predominantly cestodes, whereas 'core' species were nematodes. There was no evidence of co-speciation in the 12 parasite species occurring in both island and mainland western grey kangaroo subspecies. M. f. fuliginosus harboured fewer parasite species than M. f. melanops from the Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia. This might be related to parasite prevalence and the intensity of infection in the original population of kangaroos. Alternatively, it might be related to differing environmental conditions or to chance. Host switching was evident, with Cloacina kartana, which has been recorded as a common parasite of the tammar wallaby, Macropus eugenii, also occurring in some kangaroos.


Abstract Here we show a general approach to achieve dissipative control over toehold‐mediated strand‐displacement, the most widely employed reaction in the field of DNA nanotechnology. The approach relies on rationally re‐engineering the classic strand displacement reaction such that the high‐energy invader strand (fuel) is converted into a low‐energy waste product through an energy‐dissipating reaction allowing the spontaneous return to the original state over time. We show that such dissipative control over the toehold‐mediated strand displacement process is reversible (up to 10 cycles), highly controllable and enables unique temporal activation of DNA systems. We show here two possible applications of this strategy: the transient labelling of DNA structures and the additional temporal control of cascade reactions.


The national theory of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping is an important part of Mao Zedong thought and Deng Xiaoping's theory.This theory explicitly points out the basic priciple and policy of recognizing and handling correct national relation.The theory deeply defines a harmfulness about big Han national thought and narrow nationlism,and it is necessary to object to the two kinds of mistaken tendencies for a long time.This theory has a great significance in the theory and practice.It set up a solid theoretical foundation for making correct national policy of our party and nation,and the theory can guide to our national work.


The Tropical Public Health Unit in Townsville was alerted on 16 March 2004 to the possibility of a cluster of cases of haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS). The public health responses are described and comprised epidemiological and environmental investigations. In addition, the authors describe the organism causing the HUS as a type of Escherichia coli not previously known to elaborate Shiga-like toxin (SLT) in human populations. (author abstract)


This paper presents a register allocator which performs graph coloring on a top-down traversal of nested regions. Register coalescing, live range splitting, and choosing of better hard registers for architectures with irregular register files are done in an integrated way through a register preferencing technique based on dynamically changing hard register costs. As a regional allocator, the top-down regional allocator is simpler than the Callahan-Koblentz allocator based on bottom-up and top-down passes. The proposed register allocator is compared with the Chaitin-Briggs and Callahan-Koblentz register allocators. The same infrastructure and register preferencing technique are used to implement all of these register allocators to ensure a fair comparison. The SPECInt2000 results show that the top-down regional register allocator works best for x86 in the GCC environment.


Concept mining is a process that focuses on extracting ideas and concepts found in documents. The approach is somewhat similar to text mining, with the main difference being that mining a text focuses on the extraction of information rather than ideas. In this paper, we propose concept-based text representation, with an accent on using the proposed representation in different applications such as information retrieval, text summarization, and question answering. This work presents a new prototype for concept mining by extracting the concept-based information from a raw text using leximancer. At the text representation level, we introduce a sentence based conceptual ontological representation that builds concept-based representations for the whole document. A new concept-based similarity measure is proposed to measure the similarity of texts based on their meaning. The proposed approach is domain independent and it could be applied to general domain applications. The proposed approach is going to apply to the domain of information retrieval, and give an assertion for proceeding in the right directions of this research.


Any patient under the age of 55 who presents with new onset dyspepsia should be reviewed for any triggers, and if any triggers are present they should be addressed. If the symptoms continue, then a trial of 4–8 weeks of proton pump inhibitor (PPI) is appropriate. If the symptoms return after that, then Helicobacter pylori stool antigen should be tested and treated if positive. If the symptoms recur, then the patient should be maintained on the lowest dose PPI or given a trial of H2 receptor antagonist. If this is successful, they should be reviewed annually. If it is unsuccessful and symptoms are uncontrolled, then referral to a gastroenterologist or for direct access endoscopy should be considered.


Induced electrical sounding is an effective geophysical way for searching concealed gold mine.According to successful application of Mengshan ore block in Shanhou gold area in Zhaoyuan-Pingdu fault zone,interpretation model of prospecting concealed gold in in Mengshan ore block of Shanhou gold area in Zhaoyuan-Pingdu fault zone is established.It has gained a good geologic effect.


Neuropathic pain is associated with disability, reduced quality of life and employment, and increased healthcare costs. The prevalence of neuropathic pain in the general population ranges from 7% to 10%. The causes of neuropathic pain vary according to the source of nerves damaged. The most common causes of neuropathic pain include: diabetes (painful diabetic neuropathy (PDN)), shingles (post herpetic neuralgia (PHN)), amputation (phantom limb pain), neuropathic pain after surgery or trauma, stroke or spinal cord injury, trigeminal neuralgia, and HIV infection. Sometimes, the cause of infection is not known.


This article, which deals with the Nazis' attempt to destroy the Jewish people and their culture, embodied in the symbol of the Book, seeks to reveal the metaphorical replies which the She ' erit Hapletoh succeeded in producing in the years immediately after liberation (1945-1951), despite endless and unutterable pain. It had to do with starting to read again, that is, to live. It pays homage to the survivors' will to live.


The aim of the article is the development directions of efficiency increase of state regulatory policy in Ukraine. On the basis of the analysis of domestic and foreign scientific thought we give definition of the notion "efficiency of state regulatory policy". We propound to implement the process of improving the effectiveness of state regulatory policy in four consecutive and interlinked stages. On the basis of carried out evaluation of the effectiveness of regulatory policy and definition of influence factors on its level we propound basic directions of efficiency increase of state regulatory policy in Ukraine.


There is a vast literature on distribution, rearing conditions and behavioural studies of clownfishes. However, descriptive information on reproductive behaviour, early developments and life history pathways of Amphiprion ocellaris are scarce. In this study, 7 pairs of A. ocellaris having size 89 to 100 mm (presumptive females) and 40 to 60 mm (presumptive males) were developed through pair formation to generate information on breeding and spawning behaviour, egg morphology, and embryonic, larval, juvenile and adult developments. The spawning was found to be year-round with reproductive cycle of 12 to 15 days intervals and laid 300 to 1000 capsule shaped and adhesive type eggs. The eggs were 1.5-3.0 mm in length and 0.8-1.84 mm in width containing multiple oil globules of varying size and were pale yellow or white for initial two days, turned to black on 3rd to 5th day and silvery on 6th to 7th day of incubation. Hatching took place 168 h after fertilization at a water temperature of 28.5 ± 0.5°C. The ontogeny which began with activation of ovum was classified into embryonic, larval, juvenile, sub-adult, adult and senescent period. The embryonic developments were divided into 29 stages based on the morphological characteristics. The present study is the first scientific report in India on the life history pathways of A. ocellaris commencing from the time of embryonic development to senescent.


ABSTRACT:  Upon the discovery of HCV, dengue virus (DENV) and other flaviviruses have served as models to unravel the biology and mechanisms at play during HCV replication. HCV research has rapidly become a well-established field. Recently, several specific anti-HCV antiviral drugs have been discovered and approved for use in the clinic. Now, the strong emergence of DENV in the world and the associated increasing burden is casting light back to dengue virology and anti-dengue drug discovery. HCV polymerase (NS5B) is a prime target in antiviral therapies, and the analogous DENV polymerase (NS5) is also becoming one. Although both enzymes share common fold and function to some extent, a significant amount of unique structural and functional features have to be clearly delineated to efficiently translate drug design potential between these two essential enzymes.


The paper discusses the different meanings of those terms: higher studies, academic studies, third-level education and formation, in order to identify their peculiarity. In particular, the author focusses on two models of third-level education and formation: the differentiated one (such as in California, UK and France) and the uniform one (such as in Italy). He analyses the limits of the current Italian model, to show the possibile benefits of a plurality of higher studies, not reduced to the academic ones.


The orphan nuclear receptor PXR influence drug-induced effects indirectly by mediating transcription of genes CYP3A4 and MDR1 which play important roles in drug clearance and disposition.Thus,genetic variability in PXR will contribute significantly to drug-drug interactions in clinical practice.This review describes common PXR genetic variants that have been identified to date in the human population and the functional consequence of these variant alleles.In addition,this article also described alternatively spliced variants of PXR which may also contribute to individual variability as well as tissue specific expression.Identification of PXR genetic variants and alternatively spliced mRNAs may ultimately conduce to the evaluation of rationality when drugs given in combination and the predictions of therapeutic effects.


RF front-end design is one of the most important steps in receiver design, and its noise performance has a significant impact on the received signal noise characteristics, baseband processing performance, the final positioning accuracy and other indicators. The theoretical IF value of the satellite signal received by the receiver and the frequency search range of the signal acquisition algorithm depend on the frequency setting scheme of the RF front-end. This paper introduces the RF front-end design of a dual-channel multi-mode multi-frequency receiver, mainly for BI1 and L1C frequency points, the circuit design of the RF end of the receiver is introduced in detail, and the corresponding solutions are introduced for the link attenuation, signal radiation, electromagnetic interference and other conditions of the RF link. And the corresponding link simulation is carried out through ADS to ensure the reliability of the design. The final product is tested by the corresponding hardware and software, and the expected effect is achieved.


The cerebrospinal fluid of five ethanol-intoxicated alcoholics was found to contain only barely detectable (0--5 microM) concentrations of acetaldehyde, thus questioning its frequently advocated contribution to intoxication, dependence and other central ethanol effects.


The paper describes the way in which a text retrieval system for inflected languages, such as Croatian, can be improved. Based on a robust morphological analysis, it can search for all word forms without using a dictionary. Using all the possible combinations of morphological alternation and filtering final results through words in inverted index, a satisfactory level of precision can be obtained.


Bronchoplastic techniques: Plastic-reconstructive techniques in thoracic surgery have led to significant reductions of morbidity and mortality. Holger Rupprecht Particulary the so-called sleeve resections are now commonplace in non-small cell carcinoma in stage I–IIIA, with rather similar five-year survival as conventional resections. 1 Klinikum Fürth, Deutschland Even with infiltration of large vessels (T4-stage), this technique can be applied even in the curative approach, e.g., replacement of the pulmonary artery by a vascular prosthesis ("double sleeve resection"). Extended resection of the anterior and lateral chest wall: Malignant tumors of the chest wall are caused by infiltration of the so-called T3carcinoma of the lung, by primary bone tumors (e.g., chondrosarcoma) or by osseousmetastases from extrathoracicmalignancies (e.g., breast cancer). After "en bloc-resection" of the chest wall including the surrounding lung parenchyma, the large defect is covered by a muscle rotation flap (M. latissimus dorsi). Sometimes thesemuscle flaps can not be used, for example in cachexia. In these cases, the bony thoracic defect is reconstructed by a Goretexpatch (Goretex Dualmesh). Then the patient undergoes laparotomy or laparoscopy and dissection of the omentum of the great curvature of the stomach while preserving the right epiploic artery. Through a subcutaneous tunnel, the omentum is displaced to the thoracic wall to cover the Goretex-patch. To accelerate the wound healing, the omentum is covered with a polyurethane sponge, which is pressed with a suction of 125 mm Hg (vacuum therapy). At about 4 weeks, the healed omentum can be covered with a split skin graft. Intrathoracic infections: Severe thoracic infections (empyema, lung abscess) are usually caused by a pneumonia (80%) or are the consequence of operative complications (e.g., bronchial stump insufficiency).The infection is not curable with the conventional irrigation drains. Often the muscle rotation flaps fail, too. The combination of the transposed greater omentum and polyurethane sponges (VAC) leads to a faster cleaning of the soiled thoracic cavity and accelerates the wound granulation.With this technique, even unfavourable cases could be rehabilitated. Sternal wound infections: The osteomyelitis of the sternum is a potentially life-threatening complication (mediastinitis), especially after cardiac surgery. In these cases, the vacuum therapy (VAC) with polyurethane sponges have contributed to the improved prognosis. Firstly, a more rapid debridement is provoked, and second the chest wall will be stabilized more quickly, because the VAC reduces the shear forces in a dehiscence of the sternum. After reaching clean conditions, a muscle flap or the greater omentum are interposed for final wound closure. 1/10 GMS Interdisciplinary Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery DGPW 2012, Vol. 1, ISSN 2193-8091 Übersichtsarbeit OPEN ACCESS


MESSENGER mission revealed precise moment of inertia parameters of Mercury and its surface chemistry [1, 2]. These data allow to model the internal structure of Mercury, which has a large liquid core with ∼2000 km radius and a solid outer shell with ∼400 km thickness [3, 4]. As density of solid outer portion is apparently higher than that of the expected mantle silicate, the solid outer layer must include dense materials. Recent models [3, 4] showed that the Mercury's core contains sulfur and silicon as light elements due to high S fugacity and low oxygen fugacity of its interior. Those models presented a solid FeS layer at bottom of solid outer shell of Mercury as a dense layer, which separated from liquid outer core as a FeS-rich liquid due to liquid immiscibility of the Fe-S-Si ternary system. To investigate the FeS-rich layer at the top of Mercury's core, we performed the high-pressure experiments on the Fe-S-Si system using a KAWAI-type multi-anvil apparatus. Pressure is fixed at 5 GPa corresponding to the CMB of Mercury and temperature is 1800 K, which is 200 K above the liquidus of Fe-S-Si system reported by Sanloup and Fei [5]. Fe-S-Si sample was kept for 30 min at this condition, and then it was quenched into room temperature. Oxygen fugacity of run charges was maintained around 3 log unit below IW buffer. Texture and chemistry of recovered samples were examined by electron microprobe. We found two immiscible liquids in one run charge, which consist of Fe,Si-rich metallic liquid and FeS-rich sulfide liquid. Sulfur content of metallic liquid ranges 6 to 9 at%, which is higher by ∼5 at% than those reported by Morard and Katsura [6]. Differences in texture of recovered samples and run duration between this study and Morard and Katsura [6] suggest that the latter experiments were in disequilibrium state. Our data shows the liquid immiscible region has a narrower extent than the previous estimation and the Mercury immiscible Fe-S-Si core must contain at least 6-9 at% sulfur. The quenched FeS-rich liquid phase consists mainly of crystalline FeS ( ∼90 vol%) and Fe-Si alloy. In the case that FeS-rich liquid contacted with MgO sample container, (Mg0.8Fe0.2)S crystalline phase coexisted with FeS-rich liquid. Mg-sulfide phase could be made by Fe-Mg exchange reaction between MgO and FeS-rich liquid. In the Mercury core, when FeS-rich liquid ascends to add the bottom of the CMB due to its buoyancy, it makes a stable low density layer. Mg-sulfide phase is produced under low oxygen fugacity and high sulfur fugacity at CMB, and then it incorporates into mantle. This is consistent with the results of X-ray fluorescence spectrometry on the Mercury's surface, which indicates the presence of Mg and Ca sulfides [2].


The evaluation of activation energies of solid-state reactions from differential enthalpic analysis (DEA) is critically assessed in the light of recent work. It is shown that the equation of Borchardt and Daniels, valid for reactions occurring homogeneously in the liquid phase, may, only under certain circumstances, be employed in one of two possible simplified forms for solid-state thermal decompositions. Results obtained by DEA and vacuum microgravimetry in the dehydration of Mn(HCOO)2,2H2O indicate that a meaningful value of the activation energy of the interfacial reaction for this solid may be obtained.


Remote dependency resolution (RDR) is a proxy-driven scheme for reducing mobile page load times; a proxy loads a requested page using a local browser, fetching the page's resources over fast proxy-origin links instead of a client's slow last-mile links. In this paper, we describe two fundamental challenges to efficient RDR proxying: the increasing popularity of encrypted HTTPS content, and the fact that, due to time-dependent network conditions and page properties, RDR proxying can actually increase load times. We solve these problems by introducing a new, secure proxying scheme for HTTPS traffic, and by implementing WatchTower, a selective proxying system that uses dynamic models of network conditions and page structures to only enable RDR when it is predicted to help. WatchTower loads pages 21.2%-41.3% faster than state-of-the-art proxies and server push systems, while preserving end-to-end HTTPS security.


Hematological malignancies are protean in their presentations. Primary cardiac tumors are exceedingly rare, and primary cardiac leukemia presenting as an isolated mass is even rare. Here, we present a case of a young man who presented with one month history of fever and shortness of breath. His examination revealed signs of right sided heart failure. On workup he was found to have a mass in the heart on CT scan of the chest, his transthoracic echocardiography showed an isolated right atrioventricular groove mass. Surgical biopsy confirmed it to be an extremely rare presentation of Pre B Acute Lymphoblastic leukemia(ALL). Though the patient underwent surgical excision of the lesion yet, he developed bone marrow leukemic involvement confirmed by bone marrow biopsy and died of overwhelming sepsis secondary to pancytopenia. This case highlights that hematological malignancies can present as cardiac masses and should be considered during workup of patients presenting with chronic fever and right sided heart failure.


A constrained generalized predictive control(GPC) algorithm is presented for the nonlinear system. Gener-alized predictive control methods are gaining wide spread acceptance industry-as they offer good performance based on simple step response or transfer-function which can be obtained experimentally a GPC. In this paper weare illustrated the GPC without constraint and output constrained controller to induction motor drive. The variable to be controlled are the rotor speed and?uxtrajectory. The load to rque is considered as unknown disturbance. The simulation results show a good performance for the nonlinear systems.


PurposeThis paper aims to demonstrate how skills taxonomies can be used in combination with machine learning to integrate diverse online datasets and reveal skills gaps. The purpose of this study is then to show how the skills gaps revealed by the integrated datasets can be used to achieve better labour market alignment, keep educational offerings up to date and assist graduates to communicate the value of their qualifications.Design/methodology/approachUsing the ESCO taxonomy and natural language processing, this study captures skills data from three types of online data (job ads, course descriptions and resumes), allowing us to compare demand for skills and supply of skills for three different occupations.FindingsThis study illustrates three practical applications for the integrated data, showing how they can be used to help workers who are disrupted by technology to identify alternative career pathways, assist educators to identify gaps in their course offerings and support students to communicate the value of their training to employers.Originality/valueThis study builds upon existing applications of machine learning (detecting skills from a single dataset) by using the skills taxonomy to integrate three datasets. This study shows how these complementary, big datasets can be integrated to support greater alignment between the needs and offerings of educators, employers and job seekers.


Storytelling is an important feature in games and also other types of (semi) automated entertainment systems such as machinima and digital-TV. The majority of the current research in storytelling use precedence-based directed acyclic graphs, or even linear sequences, to model the ordering of events in a story. This approach makes it easier to plan, recognize and perform these events in real-time, but it is also too simple to represent complex human actions, which form the basis of the most interesting stories in this niche. PNF-Networks and Interval Scripting are frameworks to represent, recognize and perform human action that was proposed in the context of computer-aided theatre. In this paper we describe two extensions to this framework that were designed and developed to enable its use in larger scale storytelling systems: Hierarchical PNF-Networks and a template-based definition. Hierarchical PNF-Networks present lower complexity propagation heuristic while the definition language enables high-level and abstract description of the temporal structure of the actions and events that compose an interactive story or game.


Hashimoto?s thyroiditis is a disease which is characterized by
hypothyroidism induced by autoimmune inflammation of the thyroid
gland. This case was referred to the emergency department as a
result of gas poisoning, during which the patient was referred for a
psychiatric consultation because of her persecutory delusion towards
her husband. During routine laboratory tests Hashimoto?s thyroiditis
was diagnosed which clearly explained her symptoms. Her
psychiatric symptoms resolved in 10 days, after introduction of
risperidone (2 mg/ day) and L-thyroxine (0,1 mg/d).


Two feeding experiments were conducted to evaluate if methionine is limiting in practical grow-out diets for tilapia, Oreochromis spp. Four diets containing 32% protein and 5% lipid were designed to compare the use of diets high in dehulled solvent-extracted soybean meal (DSESM) and expeller pressed soybean meal (EPSM) compared with a diet containing 6% fish meal (FM). Tilapia (4.78 6 0.07 g, mean 6 SD) were randomly stocked into twelve 600-L flow-through tanks at 20 fish per tank. After 6 wk, there were no notable trends or statistically significant differences (P . 0.05) in final mean weight, survival rate, and feed conversion ratio (FCR) among the treatments. Because results of this study indicated that DSESM could totally replace FM in practical diets for juvenile tilapia, a second batch of diets were formulated using other protein sources. Typical levels of cottonseed meal (CSM), DSESM, and meat and bone meal (MBM) were used to evaluate whether methionine could be limiting. Two basal diet formulations were tested either without or with methionine supplement (0.06/100 g diet). The first diet contained 15% CSM, 27% DSESM, and 10% MBM and the second diet contained 15% CSM and 37% DSESM. These diets contained 28% protein and 5% lipid. Tilapia (3.90 6 0.05 g) were randomly stocked into twelve 60-L glass aquaria of a recirculation system at 18 fish per aquarium for 5 wk and then moved to the 600-L flow-through tanks for five more weeks. After 10 wk, there were no statistically significant differences (P . 0.05) in final mean weight, survival rate, and FCR among the four treatments. Results of the present study indicated that DSESM and EPSM could totally replace FM's inclusion rate in commercial diets for juvenile tilapia. Furthermore, methionine did not appear to be limiting in practical diets using typical levels of CSM, DSESM, and MBM as primary protein sources.


This article summarizes the results of a retrospective population-based cohort study using the statistical database of SEER*Stat 8.3.54 (produced 3/5/2018 for diagnosis years 1973-2014) to assess, determine, compare, and summarize the occurrence, long-term survival, and mortality indices of 218,066 patients with oral cavity and pharynx cancers by age, sex, race, stage, grade, and disease duration.


A knowledge of the properties of American whiting as compared with those imported from England is of importance to producers of the American material as well as to manufacturers of products in which whiting may be used.

Twenty-two samples of domestic and foreign whiting have been submitted to examination and tested as follows: (1) visual examination, (2) microscopic examination, (3) determination of fineness of grain by three methods, (4) partial chemical analysis, (5) effect of the different whitings on the softening point of ceramic cone mixtures, and (6) effect on rate of vitrification of porcelain bodies.

The results indicate that although the English whitings contain considerably more fine material of a colloidal nature, the American whitings appear to be sufficiently fine grained for all ceramic purposes.

This extreme fineness may play a part in assisting in the flotation of the frit in glazes containing a low percentage of clay, but apparently has no effect in the fluxing point of ceramic glaze or body mixtures.

Sufficient data has been obtained to permit of the preparation of tentative specifications for whiting for ceramic purposes and the main requirements of such a material are given.


Purpose To describe severity and forms of epithelial changes in patients suffering from macular and granular corneal dystrophy.

Methods In examined group 9 patients were included, 4 with diagnosis of macular and 5 of granular corneal dystrophy. Patients underwent basic slit lamp examination and in next order in vivo corneal confocal microscopy. Full thickness corneal scans were made and compared with corresponding images from healthy objects. Additional imaging of epithelial layer with higher magnification was made to compare detailed changes within single cells.

Results On a slit lamp examination we described: in case of granular dystrophy macroscopic, polymorphic deposits of crystal structure, located in full thickness of corneal stroma and in epithelium. In macular dystrophy cornea stromal and epithelial changes took more diffused form. The corneal confocal microscopy images showed different intensity of typical stromal changes (crystalic or diffused depends on dystrophy type). In epithelium, in cases of macular dystrophy, we found different stages of intracellular changes, which secondary involved intercellular space. In granular dystrophy changes localized mostly in intercellular space with preserved cellular architectonic.

Conclusion However both described dystrophies are classified as stromal, in different way involve cells in epithelial layer. Corneal confocal microscopy can be useful for detailed examination of corneal dystrophic changes.