Philosophical Foundations of Chinese Political Ethics (August 1973) '^h^"*-^ong PflUj B, A* , National Taiwan University M" A. , University of Massachusetts Directed by: Dr. Felix E. Oppenheim This study attempts a systematic philosophical analysis of various metaethical theories advanced by prominent Chinese political philosophers in answer to the question whether it is possible to demonstrate that certain basic principles of political ethics are objectively either true or false, independently of subjective moral commitments, and if so, by what method. Like their counterparts in the West, Chinese political philosophers have given various, and often conflicting, answers to this question. The principal objective of this study is, not to make an original contribution to metaethics, nor to give a historical account of the development of these political philosophies, but to provide an analytical interpretation and


From the point of view of its design solution, the shape, the dimensions and the position of an gate have the biggest impact on the final quality of castings. The gate is where the stream of hot-melt flowing into the mould cavity is modulated, and where the speed of this stream changes, which eventually determines the loading mode of the mould cavity affecting the homogeneity of any casting, and thus its mechanical properties as well. The length of the gate for a specific type of casting is determined constantly according to the projection methodology for connecting the gate to the casting. The gate height is determined by its area to length ratio. In practice, several methods are used to determine the gate area. The presented paper deals with an assessment of particular methods of designing the gate area for a specific type of a lightweight casting on the basis of silumin produced, using die casting technology. Since the length of the gate is constant, based on particular methods for determining the area, the gate height is the variable parameter. The performed experiments focus on an assessment of permanent deformation of parts cast at certain gate heights, determined analytically according to particular calculation methods. Permanent deformation serves as an indicator of the most suitable method for the gate area calculation. At the same time, the paper specifies patterns required for the calculation of gate dimensional characteristics, since the available scientific literature only provides indicative values depending on the nature of any given casting or an alloy.


The background of this study is the lack of writing skills of students. This is due to: (a) instructional methods used by teachers always lectures, discussion and provision of duty; (b) students are not trained to write well and truly in the study; (c) the student is only assigned to write his own without the guidance of a teacher; and (d) interaction in the learning occurs only in one direction. To that end, researchers conducted research is conducted with the aim of improving students' writing skills by applying multi-sensory methods in classroom action research. This study was conducted in two cycles, data collection techniques used were observation activities of teachers and students, and a written test. Results of the study stated that through multi-sensory method of increasing students' writing ability. This is evidenced by: (a) the activities of teachers has increased in the first cycle to the second cycle. In the first cycle in the implementation of learning first meeting with a percentage of 45% after the second meeting with a percentage of 55%. Cycle II increased in all three meetings with the percentage of 70% and after the fourth meeting accomplished 75%. Besides the student activity also increased in the first cycle of the first meeting keatifan students reached 48% and in the second meeting reached 61%. In the second cycle to the 3rd meeting with the percentage of 71% and 4 meeting to reach 84%; and (b) the students' writing skills also increased in the first cycle in the implementation of learning first meeting with a percentage of 45% after the second meeting with a percentage of 55%. Cycle II increases at a meeting to 3 with a percentage of 70% and after the fourth meeting accomplished 75%.


Abstract The history of medieval economic sanctions is currently both known and unknown. Many instances of their deployment have been acknowledged or analysed in the context of the conflicts they were part of, like the 1205/1206 blockade of the Rhine as an element in the struggle between Philipp of Swabia and Otto of Brunswick. On the other hand, research in Medieval Studies that puts economic sanctions centre stage is still an emerging field. This paper argues that a broader investigation of episodes of economic sanctioning in the narrative sources is a sensible next step to develop this field, since it would bring the triple advantages of expanding its current geographical and prosopographical scope beyond the ecclesiastic Mediterranean ( 1 ), of putting its currently prevailing focus on normative texts into context ( 2 ), and of obviating the more unnecessary pessimisms currently characterising evaluations of medieval economic sanctions ( 3 ). To show the potential of narrated medieval sanctions episodes to inform our understanding of economic thinking around medieval economic sanctions, three examples from 13th-century historiography are analysed: the above-mentioned blockade of the Rhine, a smugglers' tale in Matthew Paris's 'Cronica Majora' against the backdrop of papal embargo legislation, and Salimbene of Parma's report on third-party participation in a Venetian blockade of the river Po.


Cue I. A 12-year-old white boy presented to the outpatient department with ccllulitis of the dorsiim of the right foot. Apart from erythema and edema, there was little pain and thc lesion siibsided with oral penicillin. I Ie returncd 2% \\-ccks later complaining of throbbing pain and swelling at the base of the riglit second toe. X-rays of the foot showed no changes. He was treated with twice daily intramuscular penicillin injcctioris, local hot soaks, and elevation of the foot. After t h e e days with no improvement, the antibiotic tlicrapy was changed to oral clindomycin and continued for anotlier ~veek. Throughout this period, he remained afebrile. One month after his initial presentation, he was hospitalized again bemuse of further swelling and tenderness


The characteristics of image formation in an optical system are studied in detail under the condition that light coherence at the exit pupil of the condenser is partially coherent. A formula of image formation under such specified condition is derived, from which the well-known Hopkins formula of image formation can be derived as a special case. Images of rectangular and double-bar-type objects are calculated on the basis of the formula derived for different light coherence at the condenser pupil. It is shown that change in light coherence at the condenser pupil causes only slight variation of image structure except for the highly coherent case. It is further shown that, under the condition that the ratio of the numerical aperture of the condenser to that of the objective is small, the resolution of the image obtained in the case of high coherence of light on the condenser pupil becomes poorer than that obtained by Hopkins formula.


Fluoroscopy is radiological technique that can continuously radiate x-ray to penetrate the body and observe the results in real-time video or still images through a monitor. It is useful in providing a real-time x-ray view in interventional and angiographic procedures, but it has several issues such as the risk of huge radiation exposure for patients and operators, and poor image quality due to motion blur. Most fluoroscopy systems based on a thermionic analog x-ray tube adapt fixed pulse driving method using a high-voltage modulation over 100 kV, which imposes limits in reducing unnecessary exposure due to the low time resolution of several ms or more and inflexible pulse condition. In this study, we developed an advanced fluoroscopy system with real-time frame rate modulation using a fully vacuum-sealed digital x-ray tube based on carbon nanotube (CNT) field emitters, providing ultra-low-dose and high-temporal resolution x-ray viewing. The CNT digital x-ray tube with an operational voltage of 120 kV and current of 20 mA, and the fully digital modulation monoblock with pulses of down to 0.1 ms at 1 kHz were fabricated for the advanced fluoroscopy system. Using the developed fluoroscopy system, we could modulate the frame rate in the rage of 1-30 Hz in real-time even during the operation along with perfect digital x-ray pulses, and finally reduce x-ray dose by 56% with improved fluoroscopy image clarity compared to the conventional system under the operation condition, confirming significant reducing of motion blur and unnecessary exposure.


ABSTRACT The mineral glauberite is one of many minerals formed in evaporite deposits. The mineral glauberite has been studied using a combination of scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray analysis and infrared and Raman spectroscopy. Qualitative chemical analysis shows a homogeneous phase, composed by sulfur, calcium, and sodium. Glauberite is characterized by a very intense Raman band at 1002 cm−1 with Raman bands observed at 1107, 1141, 1156, and 1169 cm−1 attributed to the sulfate ν3 antisymmetric stretching vibration. Raman bands at 619, 636, 645, and 651 cm−1 are assigned to the ν4 sulfate bending modes. Raman bands at 454, 472, and 486 cm−1 are ascribed to the ν2 sulfate bending modes. The observation of multiple bands is attributed to the loss of symmetry of the sulfate anion. Raman spectroscopy is superior to infrared spectroscopy for the determination of glauberite.


The aim of the study was to identify the relationship between character strengths and life satisfaction and the mean differences between participants' gender...


Singlet oxygen production efficiency of several laser-excited fullerene
derivatives is compared by measuring the 1268 nm emissions; the efficiency
was independent of the kind of addends, but it decreased with an increase
in the number of addends, and addends at adjacent positions caused a
greater decrease than remote addends.


Recent work in traffic planning uses differential equations and cellular automata to determine qualitative and quantitative characteristics of granular media flow. In this paper we describe a self-organizing framework for distributed target tracking built on ad hoc publish-subscribe data routing techniques. A cellular automata model of sensor network dynamics is derived and used to express the routing framework. Experimental evaluation is performed for alternative target-tracking algorithms using the framework. Evaluation uses discrete cellular automata models.


The direction of arrival (DOA) estimation based on graph signal processing (GSP) has attracted a great deal of attention. Based on the results of the GSP approach to DOA estimation, the paper applies GSP to the coprime sensor array (CSA) for high precision estimating DOA of the narrowband signal. Simulation results show that the GSP-CSA performs well with lower root mean square error at low signal-to-noise ratio compared to classical DOA methods. The sea experimental data analysis has demonstrated the effectiveness of the GSP-CSA method with low computational cost.


The research is to analyze competence of Agricultural Extension Workers (AEWs), ability of farmer groups, and analyze relationship between the AEWs' competence and the ability of farmer groups to support the distinguished North Raman BP3K.  The research method used is a survey carried out in North Raman subdistrict of East Lampung.  Data were collected in March - July 2017.  The data are analyzed descriptively and using Kruskals Wallis test.  Respondents are 77 people consisting of three AEWs' and 74 rice farmers in North Raman subdistrict specified using a purposive sampling method. The results showed the Competence of the AEWs' is in medium category and the ability of farmer groups is in medium category.  There is relationship between the competence of the AEW's and the ability of farmer groups to support the distinguished BP3K in North Raman subdistrict.Key words: AEWs' Competence, BP3K, farmer groups' capability


A technique of assembly simulation path planning based on engineering semantics is proposed. This method classifies the assembly paths and then describes them as templates based on engineering semantics. A fast assembly simulation path planning is realized by reusing the templates of the assembly path, which improves the efficiency of aircraft assembly simulation path planning.


Those inspired by Tim Simkins' paper now need to read how a formula system can be developed in a way which overcomes many of the weaknesses generally associated with such systems.


Fabrication of white light-emitting nanophosphors with high luminous efficacy is an urgent need for the next-generation lighting industry and display systems. While rare-earth ions have been freque...


Objective:To understand child's nutrimental condition of economy wealthy family in this city and provide the scientific basis of designing balance meals. Methods:Extracts 125 people who are 9~12 year old healthy child from grade 3~5 in primary school,male is 62, female is 63 , carry on the following to investigate:(1) meals investigation: using 24 hours reviews method; (2) height bodyweight survey: using the adjusted height body weight to count the survey, even correct to decimal point latter, use the mean values of 2 times of readings ;(3) hemoglobin determination: using the fluorizating metahemoglobin color method, with hemoglobin fast cryoscope (XK-1,the mountain Western Jin Dynasty valuable industry limited company health care instrument plant ) ,determined at that time finished; (4) evaluating method: evaluates the physical nutrition condition according to the standard height body weight method , 110% is mild obese,120% is obvious obese, 90% is mild malnutrition, 80% is obvious malnutrition. Hemoglobin content 120 g/L is anemia. Results:(1) meals investigation: protein intake achieved above 80% of average supply , the heat energy intakes achieved a designated standard 108.2%, calcium intake has not attained a designated standard, only achieved supply 43.8%, this is quite consistent with 1992 national nutrition investigation result, hard intake is higher than supply the standard, but because it achived from vegetative iron primarily, Absorption rate is low, therefore the anemia formation rate caused by iron deficiency was still very high (26.4%) , Vitamin B2 has not attained the designated standard, others have attained ;(2) nutrimental condition: the nutrimental fraction defective is 3.2% (male), 16.2% (female), obese rate is 48.4% (male), 31.7% (female); (3) height body weight survey: height determination result for male student equally 140.0 cm, female student equally 138.9 cm; The average body weight determination result for the male student is 37.2 kg, the female is 34.6 kg; (4) hemoglobin determination: anemia picking out rate is 30.6%(male), 22.2% (female). Conclusion:The health education should be strengthened,and cause the student to form the good diet habit, adjust student's meals structure,and achieve the reasonable nutrition, balanced meals, development nutrition monitor.


Harmonic components in the load-current have a larger impact to the increase of the load noise level of transformers than might be expected from their amplitude. The reasons are (a) the interaction of the harmonics with the large load-current at power frequency, (b) the rising sound radiation efficiency with frequency and (c) the A-weighting filter curve which suppresses sound components at lower frequencies. This paper presents a calculation scheme able to estimate the noise increase and the noise spectrum of electrical transformers for non-sinusoidal load conditions. The proposed calculation scheme is applied to three practical examples


The present disclosure relates to a nitrogen containing thermoplastic polymer composition having reduced combustion toxicity. The disclosed thermoplastic composition comprises at least one polyetherimide resin, and at least one combustion toxicant suppressant. Also disclosed is a method for making the disclosed thermoplastic polymer composition and an article of manufacture comprising the disclosed polymer composition.


The Cauchyand periodic boundary value problem for the nonlinear Schrödinger equations in n space dimensions ut − i∆u = (∇u) β , |β| = m ≥ 2, u(0) = u0 ∈ H s+1 x is shown to be locally well posed for s > sc := n 2 − 1 m−1 , s ≥ 0. In the special case of space dimension n = 1 a global L-result is obtained for NLS with the nonlinearity N(u) = ∂x(u ). The proof uses the Fourier restriction norm method.


The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of dynamic marketing capabilities dimensions (market sensing capability and market learning capability) on customer loyalty in the Shanghai hospitality industry. In this study, data were collected via a self-administered survey using a stratified random sampling method. The sampling frame is 262 employees and managers working in the hospitality industry in Shanghai. The results of the study showed that market sensing capability has a significant and positive influence on customer loyalty. Similarly, market learning capability has a significant positive impact on customer loyalty. ABSTRACT data are reliable and valid for the study. The tests used in this study are the response rate, the reliability test, the correlation test, and the regression test. The most important results of the study showed are the reliability test of the market sensing capability, market learning capability, and customer loyalty variables that are significant internal consistencies for all the items of the variable. The Chronbach alpha values of market sensing capability, market learning capability, and customer loyalty variables are equal to 0.743, 0.888, and 0.896. The correlation test is employed and showed significant and positive effects on the relationships between market sensing capability, market learning capability, and customer loyalty with r = 0.061 and 0.053, respectively, marked at a significant level = 0.000 for both relationships. The regression test for this study was implemented to determine the future contribution of the dependent variable based on the independent variables. The multiple linear regression shows that the two variables (market sensing capability and market learning capability) have significant values less than 0.05 (0.003 and 0.002), and the t value is greater than 1.96 (3.388 and 1.108), which means these two variables influence the customer loyalty in the multiple linear regression model.


Both assessment and reform are prominent topics in education and specifically science education. The purpose of this study was to achieve greater insight into science teachers" perceptions of these issues especially in response to high stakes testing. This study looked at a national sample of United States K-12 science teachers. A survey including 351 participants and telephone interviews of 23 of those science teachers were used to answer the research questions. The survey data was used to gain general insight into science teachers" use of assessment and support for their assessment choices. The interviews provided a more comprehensive view of individual science teacher"s classroom experiences, knowledge of science education reform, and the role of high stakes tests in their pedagogical choices. The science teachers involved in the research demonstrated a passionate concern for equity in assessment. Although they did not all relate their views of best assessment practices as being aligned with reform recommendations, science teachers" explanations of the best forms of assessment were generally consistent with reform suggestions. Factors such as time, money, and influences such as administrators and state tests emerged as rationales for the continued use of more traditional forms of assessment.


Abstract The protologues are reviewed of all 227 fungal names with epithets that refer to New Zealand, and orthographic corrections are indicated for those epithets that do not comply with the requirements of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN). One hundred and seventy‐one of the names were "new" (i.e., basionyms, nomina nova, nomina nuda); 21% of them had epithets that failed to comply with ICBN orthographic requirements. Fifty‐six of the names were recombinations, 30% of which had epithets that did not match the orthography of their basionyms. A set of standard orthographies is suggested, and the appropriateness of their use is discussed.


This chapter examined Fenton and sequencing batch reactor (SBR) treatment of pesticide industrial wastewater. The optimum operating conditions for Fenton pretreatment of the pesticide wastewater were H2O2/COD molar ratio 3.0, H2O2/Fe2+ molar ratio 10, pH 3 and reaction time 60 min. The COD and TOC removal were 58.51 and 39.76%, respectively and biodegradability (BOD5/COD ratio) increased from 0.02 to ~ 0.30 after 60 min reaction time. The reaction followed pseudo-first order kinetics with a rate constant (k) of 0.0083 min−1. In the post-treatment by aerobic SBR, five different Fenton operating conditions were investigated and H2O2/COD molar ratio 3.0, H2O2/Fe2+ molar ratio 25, pH 3 and reaction time 60 min appeared to be the most significant (p < 0.05) operating conditions. The Fenton–SBR treatment at 12 hr HRT achieved COD, TOC and BOD5 removal efficiency of 96.7, 97.7 and 93.3%, respectively. The Fenton-SBR process was effective for the treatment of pesticide wastewater. Classical Fenton and Sequencing Batch Reactor Treatment of Pesticide Wastewater


Optical parametric generators are highly efficient nonlinear optical sources of powerful coherent radiation with very large truly continuous tuning ranges that can operate down to the femtosecond time domain. The principles of the basic three-photon spontaneous and stimulated parametric processes and the current status of the rapidly developing optical parametric device technology will be reviewed in this tutorial.


Landau levels of AB-stacked four- to six-layer graphene were studied experimentally in the presence of a perpendicular electric field. The Landau levels at a low magnetic field showed a characteristic structure that originated from the mini-Dirac cones created by the perpendicular electric fields. Six-fold or twelve-fold degenerate Landau levels arising from the mini-Dirac cones were observed in the vicinity of the charge neutrality point as a radial structure in a plot of their Landau fan diagrams. The structure of four-layer graphene had approximate electron-hole symmetry near the charge neutrality point, while the five- and six-layer graphene showed asymmetry. Numerical calculations of the dispersion relation and Landau level spectra indicated that trigonal warping played an essential role in forming the experimentally observed Landau level structure in low magnetic fields. In high magnetic fields, trigonal warping becomes less significant and the Landau level spectra become simpler, approaching those that were calculated without considering trigonal warping. The appearance of mini-Dirac cones in a perpendicular electric field would be a common feature of AB-stacked multilayer graphene.


Human resource is an issue historically emphasizied by politicians and thinkers.The advancement and reformation of social causes demand many conditions,the promary of which is human resources.It is the basis on which a nation is governed.Ancient Chinese thinkers put forward many wise nation\|governing proposals and opinions about human resource management,and established rich and deep human resource theories.Their opinions about emphasizing on human talents and promoting talents based on capabilities are still of certain referential value for today's modernization drive.


Given the prominent role of clinical trials in evidence-based medicine, proper interpretation of clinical data as statistical evidence is not just a philosophical question but also has important practical implications. It has been recognized for some time that the likelihood paradigm, founded on the law of likelihood, provides an appropriate framework for representing and interpreting statistical evidence. As stated, the law of likelihood is limited to simple hypotheses and not applicable to composite hypotheses, despite the tremendous relevance of composite hypotheses in clinical trials and other applications. This article proposes a generalization of the law of likelihood for composite hypotheses, which helps expand the likelihood paradigm to cover clinical trials. The generalized law is developed in an axiomatic fashion, illustrated with real examples, and examined in an asymptotic analysis. Its implications are explored by making comparisons with common frequentist concepts, by drawing connections with Wald-type procedures, and by noting its utility for interpreting hypothesis tests as reduced data.


Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is a highly aggressive malignancy that is broadly resistant to both cytotoxic and targeted therapeutic agents. However, patients with BRCA2 mutations are reported to have improved responsiveness to certain chemotherapies, and several trials are ongoing to determine their responsiveness to PARP inhibitors, which have shown efficacy in other types of BRCA-mutant cancers. The sensitivity of BRCA2-mutant tumors to platinum agents such as cisplatin is frequently ascribed to the loss of homology-directed repair (HDR) activity, a form of double-strand DNA break repair that requires BRCA2 function. In the absence of HDR, tumors are forced to rely on more error-prone repair mechanisms. Brca2 mutations are present in about 10% of human PDA cases, making it both the most prevalent hereditary alteration and the most frequent "actionable" mutation in pancreatic cancer. In order to study the role of BRCA2 in pancreatic cancer drug sensitivity, we carried out both short-term (10-day) and long-term (survival) intervention studies in three different models of PDA: KrasLSL.G12D/+; p53 LSL.R172H/+; PdxCretg/+ (KPC) mice, a well-validated preclinical model with intact brca2; KPC-Brca2+/-, which are germline heterozygous knockout for brca2; and KPC-Brca2F/F, in which both copies of Brca2 are deleted in the malignant pancreatic epithelial cells. Each model was treated with vehicle, cisplatin, niraparib (a Parp1 inhibitor), or cisplatin + niraparib. Analysis of post-treatment tumor samples in the short-term study compared to pretreatment biopsy samples demonstrated full inhibition of PARylation in response to niraparib treatment. As expected, the KPC mice proved fully resistant to all treatments, with no change in growth dynamics as measured by 3D high-resolution ultrasound. Surprisingly, Parp inhibition did not extend the overall survival of KPC-Brca2F/F mice, although a subset of individual tumors showed transient responses. By contrast, cisplatin monotherapy induced profound regressions in KPC-Brca2F/F pancreatic tumors, including one tumor with a complete response by ultrasound. Overall survival was greatly extended in the KPC-Brca2F/F mice and modestly improved in KPC-Brca2+/- mice (which do not undergo LOH). Notably, we found that the sensitivity of Brca-deficient pancreatic tumors was highly specific to certain drugs, and even varied widely between different platinum compounds. We determined that the mechanism of response to cisplatin treatment was dependent mitotic processes, where Brca2 is known to play a role in mediating abscission in the final stages of cell division. These data suggest a novel mechanism of sensitivity for BRCA2-mutant tumors and provide preclinical support for specific chemotherapeutic agents in PDA patients with BRCA2 mutations. Citation Format: Barbara Orelli, Hans Carlo Maurer, Carmine F. Palermo, Stephen A. Sastra, Kenneth P. Olive. Selective lethality of cisplatin in pancreatic cancer is dependent on mitotic functions of BRCA2 [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Advances in Modeling Cancer in Mice: Technology, Biology, and Beyond; 2017 Sep 24-27; Orlando, Florida. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(10 Suppl):Abstract nr PR12.


By using a three-dimensional particle-in-cell code, this paper reports on the electron-beam propagation behavior in a drift tube under two situations. First, it investigated the influence of the acceleration potential on the beam trajectory when using a periodic permanent magnet (PPM) focusing structure upon keeping constant either the electric current or the beam perveance. Next, taking for granted the optimum focalization parameters found in the previous evaluation, it examined the feasibility of using a hybrid magnetic focusing system (HS)-a PPM array clamped at the ends by a pair of solenoids-so that the value of the magnetic flux density at the entrance to the PPM system satisfies the Brillouin field condition. An experimental setup of the HS using PPM NdFeB permanent magnets without pole pieces is also reported


Background Gigant cell arteritis (GCA) is the most frequent systemic vasculitis in older than 50 years old, with serious repercussions on the quality of life and survival of patients. The low prevalence and heterogeneous presentation make progress in the diagnostic and the knowledge of the disease difficult. Objectives The objective of this study has been to gather a large database to analyze the epidemiological characteristics, the comorbidities and the causes of mortality associated with the hospitalizations by ACG in our country. Methods Retrospective observational study based on data from the Database of Hospital from the Spanish National Health Service with primary or secondary diagnostic of GCA between January 1st, 2005 and December 31th, 2015. The included variables were sex, age, main reason for admission, secondaries diagnostics, time of stay, costs, comorbidities, temporal artery biopsy and mortality. Results The study cohort included 29.576 patients with GCA, 18.568 (62,8%) women, and the mean age was 80 ± 8 years. The number of hospital admissions with this diagnostic has increased between 2008 and 2013 with an annual cumulative increase rate of 3%, passing from 2.487 to 2.997 patients/year. We have found a different disease affectation pattern in men and women in terms of distribution by age group and the comorbidities associated. We have found that the mortality risk increases with the age and with the presence of cardiovascular disease OR 1,816 (1,484-2,221), ischemic heart disease OR 1,590 (1,302-1,941), renal disease OR 1,386 (1,225-1,569) and cancer OR 2,428 (2,039-2,891). While, a decrease in the risk of death was observed in patients who associated polymyalgia rheumatica OR 0.682 (0, 5810,801).Table 1 Comorbidities and mortality in hospitalized with ACG Men Woman Both sexes N % N % N % DM2 * 2948 26,8% 4669 25,1% 7617 25,8% PMR * 1474 13,4% 2715 14,6% 4189 14,2% ICC* 1298 11,8% 2854 15,4% 4152 14% ENF. RENAL * 1556 14,1% 2413 13,0% 3969 13,4% Cancer 809 7,3% 499 2,7% 1308 4,4% IHD * 626 5,7% 565 3,0% 1191 4% ECV * 502 4,6% 651 3,5% 1153 3,9% EPOC 289 2,6% 559 3,0% 848 2,9% CCI* No comorbidities 4833 43,9% 9174 49,4% 14008 47,4% ≤ 2 Comorbidities 5635 51,2% 8697 46,8% 14332 48,5% > 2 Comorbidities 539 4,9% 697 3,8% 1236 4,2% Mortality 712 6,5% 1083 5,8% 1795 6,1% *Statistically significant differences (P < 0.05) DM2: Diabetes mellitus Type 2 PMR: Polymyalgia rheumatica ICC: Congestive heart failure IHC: ischemic heart disease ECV: Cerebrovascular disease CCI: Charlson Index of Comorbidities Conclusion In recent years the number of GCA hospital admissions has increased. The presence of comorbidities is high and greater in men. An increase in deaths for ischemic cause and a reduction of mortality in patients with PMR associated is observed. Disclosure of Interests None declared


This guide provides an overview of IL Steering Committee activities and contains pertinent documents such as meeting minutes and timelines.


In this paper, we examine the role of information sharing and borrower legal rights in affecting the procyclical effect of bank loan loss provisions. Based on a sample of Asian banks, our empirical results highlight that higher non-discretionary provisions reduce loan growth and hence, non-discretionary provisions are procyclical. A closer investigation suggests that better information sharing through public credit registries managed by central banks, but not private credit bureaus managed by the private sector, might substitute the role of a dynamic provisioning system in mitigating the procyclicality of non-discretionary provisions. We also document that higher discretionary provisions in countries with stronger legal rights of borrowers may temper the procyclical effect of non-discretionary provisions. However, these findings only hold for small banks. This suggests that the implementation of a dynamic provisioning system to mitigate the procyclicality of non-discretionary provisions is more crucial for large banks, because such procyclicality cannot be offset by strengthening credit market environments through better information sharing and legal rights of borrowers.


Th e Research Network Macroeconomics and Macroeconomic Policies (FMM) has existed since 1996 as a platform for analysis, research and discussion of macroeconomic issues. It is primarily based in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, but it has established close links to similar networks in other countries, particular in Europe. Since its start the FMM has been concerned with promoting the revival and development of macroeconomic approaches, which have tended to be marginalised, especially in Germany, as a result of the dominance of neoclassical, monetarist and supply-side approaches since the 1970s. According to its latest research programme (FMM 2008), the Research Network aims to be both a platform for discussions about economic theory as well as a forum for economic policy debates:


Cognitive ability predicts mathematics performance. However, there are other factors like study habits and psycho-sociological characteristics which also influence students' performance. With these factors, this study aspires to obtain a structural model that best fit college mathematics performance. The study was conducted using descriptive - correlational method. Employing convenience sampling, a total of 278 second year to fourth year BSED students of the selected state colleges and universities in the Davao region were subjected to study. Descriptive statistics was used to determine the respondents' cognitive ability level, psycho-sociological level, level of study habits, and college mathematics performance. The structural equation modeling (SEM) was then employed to test the structural model fit of the variables. Results show that the respondents have very satisfactory cognitive ability level based on high school GPA and college admission test. Their psycho-sociological and study habits levels were both slightly high.  Their college mathematics performances were also in very satisfactory level. A structural equation model that best fit mathematics performance was determined. The latent variables - cognitive ability, psycho-sociological factors, and study habits have direct effects to the mathematics performance with values 0.17, 0.08, and 0.42, respectively. It means that if these variables increase, college mathematics performance also increases. In the model, the variables being considered significantly contribute to the variation in performance by 25%. For further research on mathematics performance, inclusion of other non-cognitive factors is recommended.


In this paper,a new model of macro assembler course construction is discussed.It presents the main design principles and featuress of "8086/8088 assembler programming" CAI software . By means of CAI courseware, an individual instruction system is formed, in which, student's learning as the core of system, teaching′s lecturing, textbook, experiments, homework, questions and answers, discussion are included.


In 2002, the University of California, San Diego ArtsBridge America program initiated a project that was designed to address the lack of standards-based geography content and culture-based arts instruction within San Diego elementary schools.


Twelve calixarenes have been studied as prospective ionophores for sodium. Five of these have shown promising results in the liquid membrane form. All five have been successfully incorporated into poly(vinyl chloride) membranes, and applied as ion-selective electrodes for sodium. Electrode responses, selectivities towards alkali and alkaline earth metals as well as towards hydrogen and ammonium ions, temperature coefficients and response times have been studied. Based on these results p-tert-butylcalix[4]arene methoxyethylester has been chosen as the best ionophore for the preparation of sodium-selective electrodes. Details of electrode construction are presented.


The present study was aimed at investigating patterns of development of length measuring behavior. Seventy-one 1st-3rd graders were given 10 measurement tasks individually. Each task required S to compare the length of 2 straight lines. Four of the tasks were concerned with formation of schemata of measurement, i.e., the ability of S to judge the relative length correctly by proper measuring procedures, which he applied spontaneously or in imitation of E's demonstration. The other 6 tasks were to test conceptual abilities essential to measurement, in which conditions were such as to call for logical inference on the part of S. They were concerned with conservation of length under change of position, conservation against Muller-Lyer illusion, transitivity, conservation of sub-divided whole, disregard of non-equivalent units, and mutual conversion of 2 different units.Following points were suggested from results:1) In the direct comparison tasks, almost all of the Ss judged the relative length of 2 lines correctly. Successfull respondents in the indirect comparison task (using intermediary items) and the unit iteration task were nearly the same in number, i.e., 2/3 of the 2nd graders and all but few exceptions of the 3rd graders. In the indirect comparison task, most errors were due to the incorrect combination of two direct comparisons which were made with the intermediary. Given a ruler as an intermediary, however, 70% of even the 1st graders responded correctly. This means that numerals assigned facilitated combination of two direct comparisons.2) As for conservation and transitivity (they were observed to be highly correlated), the proportion of correct respondents reached 2/3 of the 2nd and the 3rd graders. On the contrary, 2 tasks involving operational comprehension of unit iteration were much more difficult; only 1/3 of the 3rd graders successfully applied a common unit, disregarding non-equivalent unit-marks.3) Though each schema of measurement has some basic conceptions as prerequisites, a pupil without these conceptions often succeeded in applying the schema and in judging the relative length correctly, if intuitive regulation was permitted.4) Some children compared the length of 2 lines correctly by counting the number of units. At the same time, they often made errors by responding only to the number, disregarding the size of unit. Measuring behavior of pupils of these ages was not clearly differentiated from numerical behavior and was highly influenced by it.


b a Some parts of this book are novel, interesting, or stimulating; the bibliography is useful. Much, however, has less to do with sex and mate-choice than with cognition and brain chemistry, some already appearing in the author's Bird Minds (Kaplan 2016). Substantial parts are of value, notably where broad cognitive issues and research are discussed. Kaplan suggests that habitat complexity promotes avian intelligence, that pair-bonding is more than just about reproduction, and that bonding and cooperative group living correlate with longevity. As in Bird Minds, however, this book contains anthropomorphism, speculation (much unfounded), and factual errors so numerous that I cannot note them all. In presenting and interpreting her anecdotal observations of bird behaviour, the author is as much out of her depth as previously (see reviews of her bird books by Jarman & Jones 2005; Brigham 2008; Frith 2018; Ley 2018).


Parking has become a very serious problem particularly in cities of developing economies including Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania. Because of the rapid socio-economic changes and increase in population, Dar es Salaam city has rapidly expanded with little planning. Such rapid and uncontrolled developments have created an unacceptable level of disparity in the parking demand and supply scenario, which apart from affecting the Level of Service (LoS) provided by the highway mode further compromises the economy and reduce the value of the facilities. To respond to the increasing parking needs and associated problems, this paper examines the parking generation and therefore demand for parking facilities through a parking survey among office and commercial buildings within the CBD of Dar es Salaam. It has been observed from results that there is good correlation between the peak parking spaces occupied and the gross floor area for all categories of buildings. Average parking generation rates have also been determined for different categories of buildings and can be used in planning for parking in CBD facilities and as a basis for the formulation of sustainable solutions to urban transport problems. Keywords: parking generation, parking demand, CBD planning, land-use planning


Bivalve molluscs Teredo teredo and Macoma birmanica secrete CaCO 3 in the form of calcite and aragonite respectively, in the mud flats of Hugli estuary and their magnesium contents in the skeletal carbonate were 4.07% (0.168 mole%) for calcite and 0.17% (0.007 mole%) for aragonite. The stoichiometric solubility products (pK * sp ) of biogenous calcite and aragonite in estuarine waters of the Hugli river were determined as function of temperature (5°-40°C) and salinity (0.109-31.73 x 10 -3 ) at atmospheric pressure.


The Labour Government of 1974–79 formulated the Industrial Strategy to transform Britain's industrial performance. Sector working parties were established to assist companies to become more efficient. The paper examines the policy response of the Tyre Industry Sector Working Party (SWP) to overcapacity and declining competitiveness in the British tyre industry. Policy solutions focused on implementing 'efficiency dialogues' to increase output and efficiency underpinned by job security. Discussions on strategic issues were constrained by the oligopolistic structure of the industry. This restricted the work of the SWP to communication and employee involvement. It confirms the difficulty of reforming the existing institutional arrangements to legitimise company-level interventions.


FIELD: metallurgy. SUBSTANCE: invention relates to a manufacturing method of cold-rolled marketable pipes with the size of 170±1.5×3±0.25×370 mm with increased accuracy as to the wall from steel grade '16Х12МВСФБР-Ш' for fast neutron reactors of a new generation. ESR ingots are cast as hollow ones with the size of 490×in290×3000±25 mm, turned into hollow cakes with the size of 480×in300×3000±25 mm, heated to the temperature of 1130-1150°C, rolled on pilger mills using backing carbon-bearing rings into semi-finished hot-deformed pipes with the size of 338×25×11800±100 mm, pipes are straightened in a six-roll straightening machine, cut into two pipe workpieces with the size of 338×25×5900±25 mm, bored and turned into pipe workpieces with the size of 325×12×5900±25 mm, rerolled on ХПТ450 and ХПТ250 mills along routes - 325×12×5900±25 - 273×8×10000±40 - 219×5×19400±80 mm, pipes with the size of 219×5×19400±80 mm are cut into three pipe workpieces with the size of 219×5×6465±25 mm and rolled on ХПТ250 mill into marketable pipes with the size of 170×3×13400±50 mm, then, they are cut into three marketable pipes of equal length with the size of 170×3×4465±15 mm, which are cut into marketable pipe workpieces with the size of 170±1.5×3±0.25×370 mm or accepted as equal with the size of 170×1.5×3±0.25×4440 mm. EFFECT: reducing metal consumption at hollow ESR ingot - semi-finished hot-rolled pipe workpiece processing. 2 cl, 1 tbl


The world of social networking sites (SNS) has adva nced at a rapid pace, allowing for new opportunities to examine personality and gender dif ferences in online behavior. Motives for managing online networking sites vary between indiv iduals, and include self-validation, facilitating new social relationships, and maintain ing existing ones. This study examines gender and relationship differences, as well as sex ual orientation and relationship status, in association with impression management. Data from a pproximately 350 randomly selected Facebook users was gathered and coded for both subj ective and objective content, including demographics, profile construction and online activ ity. Analysis of the data suggests individuals in a relationship maintain greater rate s of changing their profile picture, post pictures of themselves and other people to a greate r degree ( r = .15, p< .05), and spend more time observing the activities of other Facebook use rs (r = .14, p< .05). Further results indicated that males tended to more often report th emselves as being single, and possessed a higher frequency of engaging in specific online act ivities that provided references to entertainment ( r = .13, p< .05).Users who reported themselves as being homos exual or bisexual were found to more regularly change their profile picture ( r =0.152, p<0.01) and personal profile information ( r=0.118, p<0.05), as well as less often post comments on othe rs' profiles (r=-0.206, p<0.01). Implications for thes e and further findings, as well as proposals for future research, are discussed. International Review of Social Sciences and Humanit ies, Vol. 4, No. 1 (2012), 121-125 122


With all kinds of incidents,natural disasters and large-scale epidemic diseases taking place,the emergency insurance has become more and more important for governance,while theoretical researches in this field is yet under development.This paper tries to put forward some points on the emergency insurance system and a few corresponding countermeasures on the analysis of the situation of our country.


The Junior Members' Forum provides opportunity for paediatricians in training to present scientific and clinical material of research interest. Society acted as judges. Prizes were awarded on the basis of the best scientific paper to Mr Bill McCallion for his paper "Helicobacter Pylori in children in Northern Ireland", and for the best presentation to Dr Fiona Stewart for her paper "Molecular Investigation of patients with Prader Willi syndrome". Helicobacterpylori is a recognised cause of gastritis and peptic ulceration and has been implicated in the causation of gastric carcinoma. The prevalence of Helicobacterpylori among school-children in developed countries is I to 8%. Whilst peptic ulceration in children is uncommon, Helicobacter pylon is believed to be a cause of dyspepsia and possibly recurrent abdominal pain. The aim of this paper is to determine: (1) the prevalence of the infection in children in Northern Ireland, (2) the extent of intrafamilial clustering, (3) if prevalence is associated with social class, (4) if Helicobacter pylori causes recurrent abdominal pain, and (5) the effect of eradication on gastrointestinal symptoms. 367 children were investigated for Helicobacter pylori: 71 presenting with severe dyspepsia had oesophagogastroduodenoscopy, 50 siblings underwent a carbon-13 urea breath test, and 242 children attending for non-gastrointestinal daycase surgery had serological tests only. Of 32 children with severe dyspepsia and Helicobacter pylori 2 had peptic ulcers. Following eradication, dyspepsia was cured in one third, persisted with some improvement in one third, and persisted with no improvement in one third. 20% of children with no Helicobacterpylori had recurrent abdominal pain compared with 28% of those with Helicobacterpylori (p=O. 13).


Volume 12, Number 1, 2004 Contents: Preface. G.A. Troia, S. Graham, Students Who Are Exceptional and Writing Disabilities: Prevention, Practice, Intervention, and Assessment. ARTICLES. B. Saddler, S. Moran, S. Graham, K.R. Harris, Preventing Writing Difficulties: The Effects of Planning Strategy Instruction on the Writing Performance of Struggling Writers. G.A. Troia, M.E. Maddox, Writing Instruction in Middle Schools: Special and General Education Teachers Share Their Views and Voice Their Concerns. S. Isaacson, Instruction That Helps Students Meet State Standards in Writing. C.A. Espin, J.W. Weissenburger, B.J. Benson, Assessing the Writing Performance of Students in Special Education.


Sonogashira coupling of (het)aryl bromides with terminal arylacetylenes provides access towards aryl (het)aryl acetylenes (III) which smoothly undergo Fe(III)-catalyzed double carbonylation in the presence of simple amines or ammonia.


The invention belongs to the field of catalytical combustion supporting, and particularly relates to a combustion-supporting type fuel coal additive and a method for preparing the same. The combustion-supporting type fuel coal additive comprises the following components in mass percent: 53%-68% of mixture of alkali metal oxide, alkaline earth metal oxide and transition metal oxide, 30%-40% of salt oxidant and the balance of metallic oxide active catalyst. Compared with the fuel coal additive in the prior art, the combustion-supporting type fuel coal additive has the advantages of good combustion supporting effect, resource saving, small corrosion in fuel coal equipment, low cost, safety and environmental friendliness.


The invention relates to a system for monitoring resistance encountering of an exploration pipe for logging. The system comprises a winch; the winch is connected with the exploration pipe through a cable, a control circuit is connected between the exploration pipe and the winch, and a monitoring device connected with the control circuit is arranged in the exploration pipe; the monitoring device comprises an acceleration sensor and a microcontroller; and the acceleration sensor is used for acquiring the motion state of the exploration pipe, the microcontroller is used for judging whether the motion of the exploration pipe is stopped or not, and the control circuit is used for controlling the winch to stop running when the exploration pipe stops moving. According to the system for monitoring resistance encountering of the exploration pipe for logging, the problem that the mode of observing and judging whether the exploration pipe encounters resistance manually in a traditional well logging system is not accurate is effectively solved, and the situation that the cable is stacked and wound under a well due to the fact that the exploration pipe encounters resistance when put down is effectively prevented.


The purpose of this article is to identify the means of social and philosophical analysis of the nature and trajectory of the past in the reception of practices for manifestations of social amnesia. The phenomenon of social amnesia is ontologically inscribed in the social reality and is particularly pronounced in periods of social and cultural crisis. It is the reason why the configuration of manifestations of social memory in the characteristics of the national historical process becomes cyclically-wave in nature, when periodically lost contents of memory can go back to history in processed form, responding to the requests of the era and the political class. As memory serves as "the guardian of the past" and a repository of information about the past, the story, which reveals the memory loss, is associated with it or with nostalgia for the past. As a result, social memory, having functional and structural-informative features, includes not only the processes of remembering, but of forgetting, and the nature and trajectory of the reception of the past in contemporary socio-cultural practices, constituting that the essence of social amnesia is peculiar for the deformed character. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n3s3p31


Air transport in the town of Luwuk Banggai has increased significantly, this can be seen with increasing volume flight Syukuran Aminuddin Amir Airport average of 17.59% per year to various regions in the country and has the infrastructure facilities that can accommodate as many as 219261 average passengers/year with a percentage of 17.67% per year. The results of the research can be used to determine the feasibility of investing in the development of an airport by using economic calculation engineering and value advantage of the extension of the runway to 3000 m complete with other facilities with competing methods will be applied as follows: Net Present Value (NPV), Benefit-Cost Ratio (BCR), Internal Rate of Return (IRR), and payback period. From the results of investment appraisal using the NPV method results obtained IDR.79,002,433,592.00 with methods derived into 36.142% IRR greater than 15% and Profitability Index (PI) has a value of 1.126 that is greater than 1 and analysis Payback Period (PP) was obtained within 15 years to reach the Break-Even Point.


In this work we consider a flow network for which the goal is to solve a practical optimal regulation problem in the presence of input saturation. Based on Lyapunov arguments we propose distributed controllers which guarantee global convergence to an arbitrarily small neighborhood of the desired optimal steady state while fulfilling the constraints. As a case study we apply our distributed controller to a district heating network.


Abstract This paper deals with the model of Renaissance tragedy in Calderon's first tragedies. In this model, the topic of the changing Fortune is essential in the configuration of the tragic structure of the play. Its use determines, in some of his early works, the possibility of establishing certain and recognizable patterns in the construction of the main characters, through the interaction of two fundamental principles of the public function, with different applications – and located between the limits of the political and moral qualities defined by the social praxis – : the authority and the use of power. Thus, Zenobia, Aurelian and Decio exemplify opposites models in relation of these two principles of political theory.


Power Line Carrier equipments are widely used in the communications network of AMR and AMI systems. This paper analyzes the necessity and importance of the communication performance test for low-voltage power line carrier equipments,and points out that the communication performance tests should mainly contain receiver sensitivity,transmitter performance,anti-jamming capability,relay performance and so on.Focusing on the contents of the tests,we use the spectrum analyzer,artificial power source network,programmable attenuator and other devices to study and design the test methods.The majority of the test methods introduced in this paper has been implemented specifically and utilized to the actual testing.This article has great significance to the evaluation and selection of power line carrier communication products,and also has great significance for promoting the improvement of the relevant power line carrier communications products.


We prove an effective version of a theorem of Dufresnoy: For any set of 2n+1 hyperplanes in general position in n-dimensional complex projective space, we find an explicit constant K such that for every holomorphic map f from the unit disc to the complement of these hyperplanes, the derivative of f at the origin measured with respect to the Fubuni-Study metric is bouned above by K. This result gives an explicit lower bound on the Royden function, i.e., the ratio of the Kobayashi metric on the hyperplane complement to the Fubini-Study metric. Our estimate is based on the potential-theoretic method of Eremenko and Sodin.


Sustainability and availability of limited natural resources are few of the great concerns over the world. The concrete-jungle has occupied 2 nd largest area after the water on the globe, but it is the time to look for alternatives for Ordinary Portland Cement. The manufacturing of 1 ton of cement can produce approximately same amount of CO 2 which causes huge global warming. In order to reduce these adverse environmental effects, the researchers were started research on replacing OPC partially or fully with supplementary cementitious materials such as fly ash, blast furnace slag, metakaolin, and marble-dust. The present study was aimed to focus on replacing Ordinary Portland Cement with Kadapa marble dust and natural aggregates with recycled concrete aggregates for sustainable infrastructure. The present article focused on evaluating the effect of replacing Ordinary Portland Cement with marble-dust at a replacement dosage of 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30% by weight of cement and replacing natural aggregates with recycled aggregates at a dosage of 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100%. Firstly, a set of recycled aggregate concrete mixes were prepared with different dosages (0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5% by weight of binder) of super absorbent polymer and an optimum dosage of this polymer was determined based on 28-days compressive strength. Secondly, a set of cubic specimens were prepared with marble dust and recycled aggregates and subjected to curing for 7, 14, 28, 60 and 90-days. Thirdly, the optimization of dosage of marble-dust was carried out based on 90-days compressive strength. Later, a relation between 28 and 90-days compressive strengths was developed using a simple linear regression analysis. In addition, the microstructural analysis was carried out using scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffraction and finally a dosage of 15% was recommended for marble dust to replace Ordinary Portland Cement for recycled aggregate concrete.


Abstract The author, by taking into account popular and scientific discourse about "liquid", "globalized" identity (viewed in the context of various social and family roles), attempts to reconstruct an image of a contemporary teenager's identity, referring to "The Face", a 2-minute impression by seventeen year old Szymon Kołoda. On this basis she shows areas of participation of contemporary young people, who balance between two realities: the real and the virtual one. The author supports her reasoning with the concept of hybrid identity by Zygmunt Bauman and the global teenager / culture of diffusion by Zbyszko Melosik. The aim of this article is to make a subjective, socio-psychological interpretation of identity creations present in Szymon Kołoda's picture, rather than psychological diagnosis of the teenage actor's "inner integrity".


13C-NMR spectroscopy (22.5 MHz) was used to characterize poly(butadiene (B)–acrylonitrile (A)–methacrylic acid (M)) liquid terpolymers prepared by emulsion polymerization. The sequence distribution of the monomers in the terpolymers was described in terms of triads BBB, ABA, ABB, BBA, MBB, and AMB and was found to vary with the mode of addition of methacrylic acid monomer. The NMR data was found to be in good agreement with a mechanism of polymerization in which methacrylic acid is preferentially involved in initiation reactions by a thiyl radical arising from the reaction of the chain modifier, 1-dodecanethiol, and cyanoisopropyl radical generated from AIBN initiator. Binders obtained by curing the liquid terpolymers with an epoxy resin showed widely varying mechanical properties with tensile strength varying from 4.3 to 0.6 kg/cm2 and elongation at break from 130 to 450%. It was found that tensile strength increases and elongation decreases with the number of acrylonitrile units between the methacrylic acid crosslinks. Good correlation was obtained between triad population ratio [ABB + BBA] [BBvB]/[ABA][MBB] and the mechanical properties of the binders. Pyrolysis-GC data at 550 and 600°C confirmed the results obtained from 13C-NMR, and the mole ratio of butadiene to arylonitrile in the pyrolyzates showed correlation with the properties of binders.


Smart agriculture is a new agricultural production mode and is considered a potential solution for food supply issues under current limited land space conditions. The application of the Internet of Things (IoT) in smart agriculture can effectively increase food production with relatively low labor costs by deploying various wireless communication sensors in the field to collect plant information during the agricultural process. This paper developed an extendable IoT based sensor system for smart agriculture applications. The proposed sensing system can acquire real-time plant information through its plant environment and plant phenotyping monitoring process. The plant environment monitoring process can collect real-time plant environmental data through multiple wireless environment measuring sensors. At the same time, the plant phenotyping monitoring process can achieve plant height monitoring with the root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 0.051 m and the mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.049 m through remote RGB-D (red, green, blue plus depth data) cameras and 3D reconstruction method. This study shows that the proposed system can provide valuable real-time plant information for farmers' decision-making.


In the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, our country reacted immediately and is now implementing a coherent and coordinated defence strategy. It indeed means the synchronised activity of health care organisations, military, police and disaster management forces as well as territorial public administration bodies. It closely concerns the social field and educational directorate, however protecting the economy is also greatly focused on. Government offices on (district) county level as state public administration bodies of general competence carry out a number of tasks during the times of defence against the pandemic. Initially, they were assisting in handing out protective equipment for the health care sector, making pandemic-related decisions, implementing the testing of social institutions, teachers and health care staff and executing economy protection measures. Following the availability of vaccines, the responsible county working groups are organising the scheduled vaccination activities. The study presents in detail the activities of the Government Office of Békés County in the fight against COVID-19, besides just carrying out its core tasks.


ABSTRACT The deterioration of materials due to the effect of atmospheric pollution generates a cost to society because the maintenance and replacement of degraded materials. Galvanised steel is used in electrical industry to build electrical transmission towers (ETT). The objective of the study was to estimate the annual maintenance cost of galvanised steel used in the construction of ETT. The maintenance cost for galvanised steel was estimated considering the cost of the material surface area and the difference between the maintenance interval of clean and contaminated areas. Maps of intervals and maintenance costs were obtained for galvanised steel (85 and 100 µm), which are the thicknesses regulated in Mexico for ETT. In addition, an ArcGis geographic information system was used for a spatial representation of data from the anthropogenic environment. The mapping of areas at risk of corrosion shows that in the northwest zone, ETT presents the highest maintenance costs for the year 2019. For galvanised steel thicknesses of 85 and 100 µm, there are annual costs of, respectively, 8.68 and 10.16 USD/m2.


Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to persuade all partners in disaster management to take action and create a pair of synergistic and invincible forces – government and people – that interact to bring about a reduction in the impact of natural hazards in Uttaranchal, India.Design/methodology/approach – There is an urgent need for a comprehensive tool to make the community aware of its right to safety. Today, policies and planning for disaster management are a State subject, in which the participation of the community is negligible. Therefore, disaster management has become supply‐driven instead of demand‐driven.Findings – A Citizen's Charter of Disaster Management is considered to be another appropriate tool to bring in citizen‐centric governance. The Charter aspires to meet the present and anticipated needs of citizens in an efficient manner by eradicating errors and wastage through a scientific approach with participation between government and citizens.Research limitations/implications – The analys...


The purpose of this study was the investigation of the relationship between the rate of trust and collaboration of teachers in the high schools of Sari city in 2006-2007. The method of the study was descriptive-correlation. All of the principals and teachers of Sari governmental high schools were considered as population of this research. The sample included 44 principals and 306 teachers were selected by using Kerejcie and Morgan's table. The research instruments were two questionnaires which targeted trust and collaboration: As for the validity of the instruments, Cronbach-Alpha coefficients were calculated 0.869 for the trust and 0.904 for collaboration questionnaires respectively. The scores obtained from both questionnaires were subjected to a number of descriptive and inferential statistics. Results of research showed that: 1) There is a significant relationship between the teachers trust in the principals and teachers collaboration in the school (r = 0.33, p>0.05) 0.2) There is a significant relationship between the principals trust in the teachers and teachers collaboration in the school (r = 0.54, p>0.05) 0.3) There is a significant relationship between the teachers trust in the teachers and collaboration of teachers with their colleagues in the school (r = 0.30, p>0.05) 0.4) There is differences between the trust of teachers with principals based on sexes (t = 1.984, p<0.05) 0.5) There isn't differences between the collaboration of teachers with principals based on sexes (t = 1.241, p<0.05). Comparison of means showed that teachers' trusts in the principal between females were more than males.


"Insanity" of George III: Drawing on a number of contemporary records, Dr. Ida Macalpine and Dr. Richard Hunter conclude that George III suffered from acute intermittent porphyria (p. 65). Leader on this page. Mineral Metabolism in Mania: Dr. Alec Coppen and his colleagues find significantly increased amounts of residual sodium (intracellular and a small amount of bone sodium) and body fat in patients with mania (p. 71). Acute Otitis Media: An audiometric follow-up study on children treated with oral penicillin in general practice by Mr. J. F. Neil and his coworkers showed that permanent damage to hearing was uncommon (p. 75).


The choice of a qualitative research methodology to study some of the questions and problems in adult education has resulted in some significant contributions to the knowledge base of adult education. Among other contributions, qualitative inquiry has led to the concepts of marginality, enrollment economy, and perspective transformation, stimulated research in participation, motivation, and self-directed learning, and led to a better understanding of adult illiterates. The potential of this research methodology for extending the knowledge base of adult education in the future is also discussed.


Mesoporous molecular sieves Al-MSU-S has been prepared from the precursor of zeolite Y using ionic liquids 1-hexadecane-3-methylimidazolium bromide (CMIMB) as a template in basic medium, which exhibited larger pore diameter, pore volume and surface area than that synthesized using cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) template.


In order to enhance security and reliability of mine power supply,the design plan about uninterruptable power system based on PLC is put forward. The programs of the control system are debugged by using S7-PLC SIM simulation function of STEP7 software. Simulation result show that the system can achieve scheduled goals of design and supply a long time power when the mine blower has a power outage.


The demand of natural sand in the construction industry has increased a lot resulting in the reduction of sources and an increase in price. Thus an increased need to identify a suitable substitute, that is eco-friendly and inexpensive quarry dust being extensively used as an alternative to the sand in the production of concrete. In this paper an attempt has been made to determine the properties of hollow concrete blocks produced by replacing sand by quarry dust. Both partial (i.e.50% ) and complete replacement has been tried with and without admixtures. Four different proportions have been considered. In two proportions studies have been made by considering different W/C ratios.


You really know that you are getting old when a short and balding middle aged man comes up to you and says, "Dr Farrell, you used to be my tutor at medical school."

So in an attempt to regain my lost youth, when I was virile and strong with flowing raven locks, the body of an Adonis, and a bottom like a peach (at least that's what my Auntie Mamie used to say—we were a close family, perhaps a bit closer than was entirely healthy, but that's rural Ireland for you), I took the family to Orlando, Florida.

And I must say it has been fantastic. Walking down Main Street, USA, towards Cinderella's Castle was like being a child again, the mother ship calling me home. The happiness is unrelenting, the artifice uncompromising, the ingenuity unremitting. The Spider-Man three dimensional simulation ride at the Islands of Adventure theme park combines a roller coaster, special effects, and virtual reality. The killer whales at Sea World are magnificent, and, despite my uneasiness about their captivity, the palpable bond they share with their trainers is surprisingly moving. In the Fantasmic!, a spectacular daily show at Disney-MGM Studios, Mickey Mouse defeats the forces of evil in a blizzard of pyrotechnics.

A fortnight on holiday allows only the most superficial observations on US society, but gosh, so many Americans are really fat, and some of the aetiological factors are obvious. For example, moving walkways are so called because one is meant to walk on them; they're not called "Sit your big fat butt down and block every one behind you"-ways. The restaurant portions are correspondingly enormous.

One menu included an advertisement for a self-referral coronary heart disease screening clinic. The advertisement was directly opposite the dessert section (which was filling even to look at)—no irony there.

I am prejudiced against private medicine; once patients become clients it is tempting to exploit their gullibility and vulnerability. But I have patients at home who have skipped long queues for hip replacements and cardiac bypasses by paying for them themselves, and they do not regret their investment. Having a prejudice confounded is unsettling.

In the land of the free, money can buy anything, and perhaps there's no better way to spend it.


The L-band signals broadcast by GPS satellites are attenuated by vegetation, making it problematic, if not impossible, to predict the performance of the system in forested areas without some quantitative measure of the structure and density of the local forest canopy. Airborne laser swath mapping (ALSM) observations can be used to rapidly and remotely sample the structure and density of forested areas. We report here the results of a study performed to determine the attenuation of GPS signals in forests, by correlating changes in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the received GPS signals under different canopies, using three dimensional structure and density information about each canopy derived from ALSM observations. The results of this study verify that the loss of signal is strongly correlated with the local structure and density of the forest, and we demonstrate how the ALSM point cloud can be used to better predict the attenuation of the GPS signals. The results of this research also pertain to other modes of microwave transmission in forested areas, including satellite and cellular telephony, and the estimation of biomass from L-band radar.


Livedoid vasculitis (LV) is a chronic recurrent cutaneous disease that is characterized by a netlike vascular pattern of purpuric lesions that progress to ulcers and atrophic white scars. The etiology of LV is unknown. Various therapies have been used for LV with inconsistent results, including antiplatelet agents, fibrinolytics, anticoagulants, prostaglandin E1, and immunosuppressive agents, such as systemic corticosteroids, azathioprine, methotrexate, cyclosporine, and mycophenolate mofetil. We present a patient with idiopathic LV refractory to immunosuppressive therapy who had a good response to treatment with rituximab and cyclophosphamide.


The results of astrometric and photometric investigations of the poorly studied open cluster NGC 1513 are presented. The proper motions of 333 stars with a root-mean-square error of $1.9\;{\rm mas\,yr^{-1}}$ were obtained by means of the automated measuring complex "Fantasy". Eight astrometric plates covering the time interval of 101 years were measured and a total of 141 astrometric cluster members identified. BV CCD-photometry was obtained for stars in an area $17\arcmin\times 17\arcmin$ centered on the cluster. Altogether 33 stars were considered to be cluster members with high reliability by two criteria. The estimated age of NGC 1513 is $2.54\times 10^8\,$ years.


Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid tumor in childhood, and characteristically displays a wide variety of clinical outcomes. While prognosis is generally favorable in low-risk and intermediate-risk tumors, outcome remains poor in high-risk neuroblastoma, and infaust in case of relapse. Multidrug resistance is frequent in high-risk neuroblastoma and remains to be one of the major factors limiting treatment success despite intensive multimodal therapy regimens, highlighting the need for novel treatment approaches capable of reducing neuroblastoma drug resistance. Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are involved in numerous cancer-relevant pathways and have become attractive anti-tumor targets due to their excellent druggability. Broadband inhibition of HDACs is, however, associated with dose-limiting side effects, which can be possibly circumvented by the inhibition of individual tumor-relevant isozymes. Previous work of our group has shown that high expression of class IIb histone deacetylase HDAC10 supports chemoresistance of neuroblastoma cells by promoting macroautophagy. Data suggested that HDAC10 was critical for lysosomal function, but the precise lysosomal role of HDAC10 and its cellular substrates remained unknown.
The data presented in this study indicate that HDAC10 is crucial for lysosomal homeostasis in a number of highly drug-resistant neuroblastoma cell lines (SK-N-BE(2)-C, IMR-32, SK-N-AS) while being dispensable in others (Kelly, NB-1) and in non-transformed fibroblasts. In HDAC10-dependent cells, interference with HDAC10 function causes accumulation of lysosomes, a phenotype that is not observed in case of functional interference with the highly homologous class IIb member HDAC6. Depletion or inhibition of HDAC10 further interferes with downstream lysosomal processes such as lysosomal exocytosis, indicating that accumulating lysosomes are dysfunctional. Lysosomal accumulation and the inhibition of lysosomal exocytosis in turn promote intracellular accumulation of weakly basic chemotherapeutics such as doxorubicin, which does not remain sequestered in lysosomes but is also highly enriched in nuclei. Consequently, co-treatment with doxorubicin and HDAC10 inhibitors efficiently promotes cell death in treatment resistant neuroblastoma cell lines while sparing non-malignant cells.
Lysosomal exocytosis is an important pro-survival mechanism under cytotoxic treatment. Inhibition of HDAC10, and thus lysosomal exocytosis, sensitizes cells not only by promoting doxorubicin accumulation, but also by inhibiting the process of lysosomal exocytosis itself. Moreover, interference with HDAC10 function promotes accumulation of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) both in absence and presence of doxorubicin, suggesting an additional role for HDAC10 in DSB repair.
Preliminary data of mass spectrometric analyses of protein lysine acetylation after HDAC10 inhibition suggest that HDAC10 modulates acetylation of the V-ATPase subunit A and the Ku70/Ku80 complex member Ku80. It is thus conceivable that HDAC10 modulates lysosomal function at the level of lysosomal acidification, as well as DNA repair at the level of non-homologous end joining of DSBs. The recently published function of HDAC10 as N8-acetylspermidine deacetylase remains to be confirmed. Follow-up studies on the mechanistic role of HDAC10 could be greatly facilitated by a highly specific HDAC10 antibody. In this context, several promising HDAC10-reactive mouse hybridoma clones were generated, but recurring instability of the promising hybridoma clones delayed stable production of the antibody.
In summary, in this thesis, a novel function of HDAC10 in regulation of lysosomal downstream mechanisms was identified and a previously published role of HDAC10 in DNA repair was confirmed. These mechanisms possess the translational potential to overcome drug resistance in combination with chemotherapies.


In this paper we decompose the Hilbert Spectrum of an audio mixture into a number of subspaces to segregate the sources. Empirical mode decomposition (EMD) together with Hilbert transform produces Hilbert spectrum (HS), which is a fineresolution time-frequency representation of a non-stationary signal. EMD decomposes the mixture signal into some intrinsic oscillatory modes called intrinsic mode function (IMF). HS is constructed from the instantaneous frequency responses of IMFs. Some frequency independent basis vectors are derived using independent component analysis (ICA). Kulback-Laibler divergence based k-means clustering algorithm is proposed to group the basis vectors into number of desired sources. Then projecting HS on to the grouped basis vectors derives the independent source subspaces. The time domain source signals are assembled by applying some post processing on the subspaces. We have also produced some experimental results using our proposed separation algorithm.


. To study neutrophils' redox regulation in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients with or without Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). Material and methods. We examined 100 ACS patients (mean age 63.7±9.4 years): 54 with unstable angina, 46 – with acute myocardial infarction (MI). Type 2 DM was observed in 46 participants. NBT-test for neutrophils, blood levels of malone dialdehyde (MDA) and circulating immune complexes (CIC) were investigated. Results . One-year incidence of MI and death in ACS patients was linked to nephropathy: increased levels of blood creatinine and urea, proteinuria (especially in Type 2 DM), combined with CIC-dependent activation of neutrophils' redox regulation and activated lipid peroxidation. Maximal mortality was observed in patients with greater duration of DM, and those on pre-hospital insulin therapy. Hyperkaliemia was observed in patients taking aspirin before hospitalization. Conclusion . Poor outcomes in ACS patients are linked to nephropathy (especially in Type 2 DM), associated with CIC-dependent activation of neutrophils' redox regulation.


Resulting from demands of the increasing population and temporal variability in precipitation, there is a need to store water during wet periods to meet demands during dry summer months in arid and semi-arid regions. Technologies for storing water in aquifers such as Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) wells are therefore actively being considered. However, incorporation of ASR technology as part of the regional water resources portfolio has been limited by the lack of tools to assess its suitability. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation was to conceive and design a combined simulation-optimization based decision support system (DSS) intended to promote evaluation of feasibility of ASR systems during regional water planning endeavors. This dissertation: introduces mathematical and foundational concepts relevant to ASR systems; discusses the role and provides the tools for integrating water supply variability into the DSS; demonstrates the relevance of hydro-geochemical reactions and provides a blueprint for characterizing and accounting for these reactions into the DSS; and, provides an accurate and efficient approach to minimize risk associated with hydro-geochemical reaction in the subsurface. Theoretical concepts introduced in this dissertation are illustrated using a case-study in the City of Corpus Christi, Texas.


The planning of noncardiac surgery in patients with a history of coronary artery disease and previous percutaneous coronary intervention with stent implantation is a topic that elicits clinical concern and discussion. These patients face risks related to their underlying coronary heart disease, as well as potential problems related to the coronary stent or associated antiplatelet medications. Some surgical procedures that confer a significant risk of surgical bleeding may require consideration of interrupting dual antiplatelet therapy. This is particularly challenging within the first year after coronary stenting, for which there are only limited data to guide practice.1–5

Article see p 1355

In this issue of Circulation , Wijeysundera and colleagues6 examine cardiovascular outcomes during the 30 days after elective noncardiac surgery among patients who were previously treated with stents. Using province-wide data from Ontario, including 8116 patients undergoing surgical procedures from 2003 to 2009, they assessed the impact of various time intervals between stent and surgery on outcome. They included subjects undergoing orthopedic, vascular, and oncological surgical procedures. The authors concluded that the risk of the composite outcome of 30-day mortality, readmission for acute coronary syndrome, or repeat revascularization after bare metal stent (BMS) implantation was lowest at 46 to 180 days and, after drug-eluting stent (DES), was lowest more 180 days after the procedure.

There are limitations to the data that were available for analysis that the authors acknowledge—no data are available on some key in-hospital outcomes such as perioperative bleeding, myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, and stent thrombosis. The management of antiplatelet therapy around the time of surgery, and clinical factors such that might determine the urgency of surgery, could not be discriminated finely in this administrative database study. Adverse cardiac events after surgery were fairly infrequent (2.1% at 30 …


As a kind of compound prepared by applying fluorescent dye to the terminal of dendrimer,the dendritic fluorescent probe takes on favorable photostability and excellent spectrum characteristics.The author of this paper firstly synthesizes a kind of fan-shaped dendrimer with 2,2-dimethoxyethyeneamine as its core by a divergent method,and then prepares dendritic fluorescent molecules by applying fluorescent dye /(thiazole orange molecule) to the dendrimer's active terminal,finally does a preliminary study on the dendritic fluorescent probe's fluorescent characteristic,and discusses the effect of such conditions as the reaction temperature and time on the yield of the reaction.


Most people have a rosy view of their education, recalling great friends and inspiring teachers. Thus the very title of Bryan Caplan's book The case against education: why the education system is a waste of time and money is likely to provoke. Is he really arguing against education? Yes he is, and he makes a surprisingly compelling case. While more education is associated with higher income, he argues that this is not because individuals are reaping higher returns to the skills they obtained in the labour market (the human capital story) or that those with higher abilities are likely to have higher education levels and higher income levels (ability bias). Instead, education – at least as it exists today – is mostly a way for students to signal that they are good workers to potential employers.


Abstract This article proposes a methodology for the organization of doctoral research in specialized translation. Emphasis is placed on the need to choose the research methods that are best suited to each case and to clearly define the phases and resources to be used in the research. This process of selection must be based on careful consideration of what is to be researched, why and, above all, how to go about it. The concept of text genre is proposed as the main organizing principle of the research, since its multifaceted character shouldl allow different theoretical models to be integrated into the analysis. This article therefore aims to serve as a guide both to doctoral students in the field of specialized translation and to academic staff who are supervising or guiding these students.


Algorithms are increasingly used to guide consequential decisions, such as who should be granted bail or be approved for a loan. Motivated by growing empirical evidence, regulators are concerned about the possibility that the errors of these algorithms differ sharply across subgroups of the population. What are the tradeoffs between accuracy and fairness, and how do these tradeoffs depend on the inputs to the algorithm? We propose a model in which a designer chooses an algorithm that maps observed inputs into decisions, and introduce a fairness-accuracy Pareto frontier. We identify how the algorithm's inputs govern the shape of this frontier, showing (for example) that access to group identity reduces the error for the worse-off group everywhere along the frontier. We then apply these results to study an "input-design" problem where the designer controls the algorithm's inputs (for example, by legally banning an input), but the algorithm itself is chosen by another agent. We show that: (1) all designers strictly prefer to allow group identity if and only if the algorithm's other inputs satisfy a condition we call group-balance; (2) all designers strictly prefer to allow any input (including potentially biased inputs such as test scores) so long as group identity is permitted as an input, but may prefer to ban it when group identity is not.


The prevalence of electronic commerce that we see today makes it necessary for any employee to be familiar with e-business processes. Whether it is a government, a business, or a nonprofit organization, the employer is invariably found to engage in some form of online transactions. Governments publish policies online, businesses sell goods online, and universities offer courses online. Almost all of them accept payments online. It is no surprise, therefore, that there is a demand for e-business literature meant for specialists as well as nonspecialists. We believe this book will satisfy a good part of that demand. In a single volume, it presents an eclectic compilation of the most relevant details about today's e-business processes. We also believe that business managers and academic researchers alike will find this book useful. With the rise of large scale production in the eighteenth century, business process management became the focal point of the business of economics. Adam Smith (1776), in his classic book, discussed business process management by examining the production of pins. He was the first to examine in detail how specialization brings efficiency into production processes. Not coincidentally, it was also the time when humanity witnessed the first rise of multinational corporations in the form of limited liability charters offered to shipping companies by English, French, Dutch, and Spanish governments. E-business process management is strictly a product of the 21 st century. In earlier centuries, it would have been unthinkable even to contemplate e-business process management. Rising computer literacy, falling cost of computers, cheaper communications, and deregulation have all played mutually reinforcing parts in the rise of e-business process management. As e-business grew, so did the research on e-business. The growth in e-business research demanded more journal outlets. Many new journals were started. The most recent among them is the Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations, introduced in 2003. E-business process management is important because information and communications technologies (ICTs) play an increasing role in the economy of every country. In the case of poor


The tasks confronting the perfection of technological requirements of basic parts for combined methods and the use of designing and technological systems of CAD for these purposes are considered in the article. The technology of modeling the body of planetary reducer of one-row star like piston nine-cylinder aviation engine AI-14 in the system «Kompas-3D» is represented there


Shopping assistant robot plays a role as shopping guide in the supermarket. In this paper, we focus on early text labeling tasks which are crucial to design of robot conversation system and instruction selecting system. Part-of-speech tagging and named entity recognition are two fundamental tasks in nature language processing. In this paper, we need to implement both tasks in a robot by employing deep learning technics. The aim of this paper include: 1. Apply deep learning framework TensorFlow presented by Google to integrated robot development platform named Turtlebot2 which is provided by YUJIN ROBOT CO. 2. Construct text labeling model suitable for shopping assistant robot using a special recurrent neural network named long short-term memory.


Citation: Djorie SG, Farra A, Nyasenu YT, Wango SM, Manirakiza A, et al. (2018) Impact of Eating Habits on Cellular Regeneration and Weight Balance in the Central African Republic. J Nutr Health Sci 5(4): 404 Volume 5 | Issue 4 Journal of Nutrition and Health Sciences


The re-emergence of infectious diseases and the increasing rate of the appearance of many antibiotic-resistant strains are major public health concerns. Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) have a great antibacterial effect. Few reports stated the antibacterial effect of low electric field (LEF).

The paper aimed to study the antibacterial effect of LEF at low frequency and investigate the antibacterial effectiveness of using LEF in synergy with ZnO-NPs.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus were examined as models for Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, respectively. The bacterial suspension was exposed to different concentrations of Zn-NPs ranging from 100-1600 µg/ml or 2 V/cm, 500 Hz AC electric field for 5 min. ZnO-NPs were prepared and characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, XRD, FTIR, TEM, and SEM. The combined effect of LEF exposure with each ZnO-NPs concentration was assessed.

 1600 µg/ml ZnO-NPs cause 41.93% and 48.15% death, LEF produces 20.88% and 28.03% death, and the synergetic effect causes 50.41% and 70.27% death for P. aeruginosa and S. aureus, respectively. The death percentages were correlated with DNA concentration and deformation, reactive oxygen species concentration, and ultrastructure changes.

 LEF has antibacterial properties and can be used in combination with ZnO-NPs to increase its lethal effect.


The invention aims at providing a magazine mount for a pistol having a hollow grip (2) into which a cartridge magazine (3) is inserted from below. The mount should be detachable from both sides and offer maximum security, ease of use and have a minimum number of parts. The cartridge magazine (3) has on its front wall a projection (12). A slide (8) that is movable in the transverse direction is arranged in the front part of the grip (3) and is held by at least one spring (9, 10) in a central position in which the projection (12) is supported by the slide (8). The slide (8) comprises a verticalgroove (21, 22) on either side of the projection (12); when the cartridge magazine (3) is inserted, one of the vertical grooves is brought into the path of the projection (12) by the displacement of the slide (8).


Understanding the continuum limit of a theory of discrete random geometries is a beautiful but difficult challenge. In this optic, we review here the insights that can be obtained for Causal Dynamical Triangulations (CDT) by employing the Landau approach to critical phenomena. In particular, concentrating on the cases of two and three dimensions, we will make the case that the configuration of the volume of spatial slices effectively plays the role of an order parameter, helping us to understand the phase structure of CDT. Moreover, consistency with numerical simulations of CDT provides hints that the effective field theory of the model lives in the space of theories invariant under foliation-preserving diffeomorphisms. Among such theories, Hořava-Lifshitz gravity has the special status of being a perturbatively renormalizable theory, while General Relativity sits in a subspace with enhanced symmetry. In order to reach either of them, one would likely need to fine tune some of the parameters in the CDT action, or additional ones from some generalization thereof.


A scaled Chebyshev node distribution is studied in this paper. It is proved that the node distribution is optimal for interpolation in $C_M^{s+1}[-1,1]$, the set of $(s+1)$-time differentiable functions whose $(s+1)$-th derivatives are bounded by a constant $M>0$. Node distributions for computing spectral differentiation matrices are proposed and studied. Numerical experiments show that the proposed node distributions yield results with higher accuracy than the most commonly used Chebyshev-Gauss-Lobatto node distribution.


Frequently the major pressures on the political system are generated by groups that project their objectives and interventions – private interest groups. The presence of these groups in the public arena is considered destructive, and the influences they exercise on the political system are deemed similar to those of corruption. However, political analysts consider that, effects notwithstanding, the presence of interest groups represents an unavoidable cost in any democratic system. A reason for maintaining interest groups is the connection established between citizens and public officials through unions and business, trade or professional associations. The value of such a link may be equivalent to the actual price of the unavoidable distortion that occurs when interest groups are active within the public policy process. The interest groups are certainly too important to be eliminated under the pressure of the myth of corruption.


Abstract Welcome to the first issue of AABFJ for 2012. This issue is weighted towards finance and economics with a diverse range of geographical regions represented in this issue's offerings. Papers in this issue present studies from Indonesia, Italy, Portugal, Australia, Canada, the UK and the US. A variety of ontological approaches are also present, from social constructionist to the assumed realist approaches of the economics and finance articles.


A piezoelectric generator fabricated by multiple circular diaphragm piezoelectric harvesters array is provided to harvest power over a broad range of frequencies. Four harvesters with varies tip masses are incorporated on a board with an area of 98 × 98 mm2. In this case, four strong output power peaks are obtained over frequencies from 120 Hz to 225 Hz. With an optimum load resistance of 15 kΩ, the value of four output power peaks is, respectively, 5.14, 6.65, 9.7, and 10 mW for the generator under an acceleration of 9.8 m/s2. By choosing an appropriate combination of tip masses with piezoelectric elements in array, the frequency range of energy harvesting can be obviously widened to meet the broadband vibration.


Geothermal heat is expected to become an important source of sustainable energy for the Netherlands and geothermal wells are expected to last for decades and provide an acceptable return on investment. The well cement in geothermal wells experiences a unique stress condition due to the injection/production of cold/hot water in a doublet. The impact of these cyclical loads on cement is not known. Critical state constitutive models such as the Modified cam-clay (MCC) are the most suitable to describe cement's mechanical behavior. In this work, we present a new experimental protocol to measure the MCC model parameters for well cement and to quantify the plastic damage accumulation under realistic cyclical conditions relevant to the Dutch geothermal wells. The protocol was tested on class G cement.
 The experiments were carried out in a triaxial apparatus and consisted of: (1) unconfined compressive strength (UCS) tests; (2) hydrostatic compression tests to find the initial size of the yield surface (p0) and the slope of the swelling and compression lines (κ and λ); (3) triaxial tests on both the dry and wet side of the yield surface; and finally (4) cyclic loading tests under conditions relevant to a mid-enthalpy doublet. The effect of cyclic loading on cement integrity is quantified by measuring the inelastic deformation and elastic moduli after each cycle followed by a triaxial test.
 The UCS tests on class G cement show peak stresses of 34-41 MPa, critical state stresses (CSS) of approximately 10 MPa. The triaxial tests performed on the dry and wet side display a strain softening and hardening behavior, respectively, as predicted by the MCC model. CSS values from all the tests align well along the newly defined critical state line (CSL) for class-G cement. The CSL has a slope M = 1.5 and an intercept (p) of -3.7 MPa, which is close to the anticipated tensile strength of cement. Hydrostatic tests give p0 of 23-29 MPa and κ and λ of 0.0046 and 0.02. The cyclic test simulating the producer well show negligible plastic deformation after 10 cycles. Conversely, the deep injector well shows cement damage accumulation.