The current economic crisis has created the opportunity to make better use of financial resources. This article discusses how decision-making processes based on life cycle costing (LCC) and enterprise risk management (ERM) can help transit authorities maximize their return on investment. The goal in LCC is to provide decision makers with equally measured physical asset alternatives by capturing all the projected costs of the asset throughout its completed useful life. The LCC value of an asset can be computed using the formula LCC=Initial Value + Recurring Value - Residual Value. The decision making process must also incorporate a risk management process that will be reflected in the LCC calculated for different alternatives. An ERM framework will ensure that companies deal with uncertainties consistently and efficiently in all their business activities. A case study of the Abu Dhabi Department of Transport is provided to illustrate the use of LCC and ERM in the decision making process.


The study was conducted in Bonli block of Sawai Madhopur district of Rajasthan state selected purposively. A total number of 100 beneficiaries were selected through proportionate random sampling five sample villages on the basis of majority of beneficiaries. The results of the study depicted that the majority of the respondents were found in various socio-economic profile characters like, age, category of 29-47 years (72%), literate (53%), other backward caste (79%), joint families (52%), families size of 6-12 members (50%) and size of land holding marginal farmers (86%) respectively. The maximum number of respondents was found take decision with husband (57.291%) respectively. In decision making process, the social constraints like "Male dominance" had got ranked I. Most of the suggestion being made in view of the expressed opinion of the respondents, observation of the investigator, it may be said "Avoid family norms." had got ranked I in suggestive measures to overcome the constraints faced by respondents.


The safe and stable operation of power grid has long been challenged due to the instability of connected wind power. Current research work rarely considers the temporal and spatial correlation among different positions in wind farms. In this paper, a wind speed statistical model based on multiple spatial and temporal scales is presented. First, spatio-temporal wind speed data is analyzed using empirical variogram, to provide basis for the analysis of the spatial correlation of different locations in wind farm. By using geographic information and the spatial covariance matrix, the spatial structure matrix is constructed, showing the spatial correlation between wind turbines. Then universal kriging and a Bayesian dynamic model are used for modeling. Gibbs sampling method is utilized to analysis the model and a prediction is developed based on it. Forecasting results using actual data of a wind farm confirm the effectiveness of the methods in the paper.


Information management is of great importance to an organization. The quality and quantity of information influence the decision-making conditions, and with the increase in their value, the risk of failure and the uncertainty of undesirable effects are reduced. To a large extent, the accuracy of the decisions made depends on the quality of information held by the recipient. For the proper functioning of the organization, it is essential that the information acquired, processed, developed and circulated is of appropriate quality, i.e. it has a set of characteristics that determine the usefulness of information defined by the users. The article emphasizes that it is the effectiveness of the organization's information system on which it depends to whom, in what form and on what level the information of the desired quality will be provided. Moreover, it was pointed out that it is necessary to systematically examine the information needs of the organization in order to meet the users' expectations and the need for the organization to have the capacity to systematically reject useless information, information overload, and information selection.


Is the Labour Process Theory (LPT) a carry-over of historical cost accounting development, social and political factors of the time, inherited by contemporary business practice? Or is LPT relevant with the changing business environment? This paper discusses the relevance of LPT in the 21st century, placing emphasis on the New Zealand experience. Labour process theory was developed within the cost accounting environment. Development of 'new waves' of labour process theory manifest themselves in the current environment and within management accounting. Labour process theory is a fact in the 21st century. It remains dominant in the manufacturing industry and is apparent in many sectors of the service industry.


This article studied the craft formula of coconut water and cashew pear juice mixed beverage. Use the Box-Behnken design for establishing regression equation of coconut water adding amount, cashew pear juice content, pH value, the sugar content. This model could accurately predict mixed beverage sensory evaluation results in the test range. Response surface method was adopted for optimal craft formula, the result was coconut water 30%, cashew pear juice content 5%, pH value 4.5, sugar content 7%. Use the Box-Behnken design for optimal stabilizers formula, the result was: xanthan gum 0.04%, CMC-Na 0.06%.


The article describes various approaches to the definition of family crises and the levels of manifestation of these crises, as well as socio-psychological characteristics of the experience of family crisis by spouses. As a description of the family crisis, we present the results of a study of factors that affect the manifestation of marriage satisfaction and conflict in young families and the psychosocial work with the family in a crisis situation that corresponds to the data obtained.


This paper applies the concept of population potential to study the spa- tial structure of the European Economic Space-EU15 and its main changes with the enlargement to Central and Eastern European Countries. The analysis shows a rein- forcement of the central areas and a widening and displacement to the East of the middle areas in the European spatial pattern. Moreover population potential allows us to highlight some policy guidelines for the European Spatial Development Perspec- tive and for the future of the European Regional Policy.


An involute curve (or known as an approximated curve) is mostly used in designing the gear teeth (profile) especially in spur gear. Conversely, this study has the intention to redesign the spur gear teeth using the transition (S transition and C spiral) curves (also known as the exact curves) with curvature continuity (G2) as the degree of smoothness. Method of designing the transition curves is adapted from the circle to circle templates. The applicability of the new teeth model with the chosen
material, Stainless Steel Grade 304 is determined using Linear Static Analysis, Fatigue Analysis and Design Efficiency (DE). Several concepts and the related examples are shown throughout this study.


Given the worldwide proliferation of cyberattacks, it is imperative that cybersecurity education and training are addressed in a timely manner. These activities typically require trainees to do hands-on practice in order to consolidate and improve their skills, for which purpose training environments called cyber ranges are used. In this paper we present an open-source system named CyRIS (Cyber Range Instantiation System) that supports this endeavor by fully automating the training environment setup, thus making it possible for any organization to conduct more numerous and variate training activities. CyRIS uses a text-based representation in YAML format to describe the characteristics of the training environment, including both environment setup and security content generation. Based on this description, CyRIS automatically creates the corresponding cyber range instances on a computer and network infrastructure, for simultaneous use by multiple trainees. We have evaluated CyRIS in various realistic scenarios, and our results demonstrate its suitability for cybersecurity education and training, both in terms of features and performance, including for large-scale training sessions with hundreds of participants. key words: cybersecurity training, cyber range, education support system


This research found that Islam rah}matan li al-'a>lami>n in Shamsi Ali's thought is a grace or welfare for the entire universe, Moslem and non Moslem as well. The concept of Islam rah}matan li al-'a>lami>n according to Shamsi Ali is implemented in the Muslim's lifestyle that devoted, peaceful, moderate, dynamic, progressive, democratic, and respectful toward differences which constitutes a blessing and positive contribution to human welfare and dignity.
Islam rah}matan li al-'a>lami>n is described in the gait of  da'wah of Shamsi Ali through bi al-Lisa>n da'wah, bi al-Qala>m da'wah, and bi al-H{a>l da'wah by combining various models of da'wah which is also partly known in Christian mission: spiritual growth preaching model, educational preaching model, inclusive preaching model, and open preaching model. The last two models of preachings are unknown in the literature of Christian mission theory and at the same time will be Shamsi Ali's contribution in the development of da'wah theory.
This research promotes some of the previous researches: First, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who stated that the Muslim community in America has applied the Islam rah}matan li al-'a>lami>n which characterized by building a strong vision to unify moderates, anti-violence and against extremism. Second, Mohamed Al - Hilali explains there is  effectiveness  of  leadership that can be felt by Islam in America. Third, Julie Nava wrote that Muhammad Shamsi Ali is a figure representing Islam rah}matan li al-'a>lami>n principles. Fourth, Muhammad Fethullah Gülen in Turkey and out side Turkey has proved himself to be an example in applying Islam rah}matan li al-'a>lami>n. This study refuses or does not support the research of  Noor Ul Mobeen which stated that the first generation of Muslim students' leadership in America in 2009-2012 failed in spelling out Islam rah}matan li al-'a>lami>n. The approach used in this research: religion, history, leadership, and communication, while the method uses grounded research.


Abstract The abundance of megafauna was estimated at two locations in Sognefjorden, western Norway, using television and still photography. The analyses revealed differences between the methods as well as between the two locations, the central trough (water depth about 1250 m) and H0yangsfjorden (water depth about 290 m), a shallow side arm of Sognefjorden. Density estimates from the photographs were generally higher than from the videos. The elevation of the camera also influenced the estimates, a shorter bottom distance leading to higher numbers. The predominant animals at both locations were decapod crustacens of the genus Munida: M. sarsi in Hoyangsfjorden and M. tenuimana in the central trough. Megafaunal density appeared much higher in the central trough, but the results were probably obscured by the burrowing behaviour of decapods in Hoyangsfjorden. The high dominance of a decapod crustacean in deep Sognefjorden is in contrast to observations from similar depths at the continental slopes and resemb...


This paper examines the perpetuation of incrementalist policy in the implementation of election process of voter registration that has been characterized by failures, complains and protest by citizens in Nigeria. Described here are; the alternative paradigm of rational-comprehensive information and knowledge building and application for development management, geographic information systems technology and how it has been used for successfully managing elections in South Africa. We used the method of aetiology, analysed secondary data. Our findings include historical and systematic exclusion of residents of remote rural areas of Nigeria such as the northern parts of Cross River State from vital development processes such as election registration and voting in Nigeria due to marginalizing policies that are promoted incrementally.


Indefinite pronouns are words which replace nouns without specifying which noun they replace. A question asked by English students is: how to use anaphora to refer to indefinite pronouns, since they can refer to any gender? In English, there is not a pronoun that can refer to a specific gender nor how to define the gender through the use of articles such as in Portuguese. Our objective is to understand what words or expressions are most often used to make anaphoric references to indefinite pronouns. The following indefinite pronouns were analyzed: 'someone', 'somebody', 'anyone', 'anybody'. Our data for analysis was extracted from newspaper texts in the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). We observed the first 50 occurrences of each pronoun in the corpus to see which ones present anaphors and to see what words or expressions are most often used to make anaphoric references.


Emulsification of pyrolysis oil produced from plastic waste has been experimented. The employed cascade heating steps and heating rates pyrolysis process provides 80% product yield using waste plastic or recycles HDPE pellets as a raw material. Water-in-oil emulsion is produced ultrasonically and mechanically with Span80 as a surfactant. The emulsion stability was assessed by water droplet size and visual observation of any phase separation. An ultrasonic mixer is found to be more effective than mechanical homogenizer in terms of homogenous stability to emulsify plastic oil with water. For emulsion with 10% water by volume, the emulsion is observed to be stable for up to 24 hours after mixing.


Abstract— This review documents the variations in the radiographic appearance of the stylohyoid chain; the clinical significance of the variations, diagnosis and treatment is discussed. A case report is included. 1985 Australian Dental Association


The classification of users' sentiment from social media data can be used to learn public opinion on certain issues. The presence of sarcasm in sentences can hamper the performance of the classification as it tends to "fool" the system. In this paper, we investigate mechanisms for detecting sarcasm in Malay social media data that contain sarcastic contents; more specifically the public comments on economic related posts on Facebook. Two features were investigated; the n-gram and punctuation marks. Features selection in the form of Pearson's correlation was then applied to reduce the features size. To measure the performances of the selected features, two supervised classification techniques were employed which are k-Nearest Neighbors and non-linear Support Vector Machine. Experiments on sarcasm detection and classification were conducted. Results show that combination of n-gram and punctuation marks produced the best F -measure and Area Under Curve of 0.818 for sarcasm detection. Extended experiment on sarcasm classification recorded F -measure of 0.991 with Area Under Curve of 0.994 for sarcasm positivity while F -measure of 0.902 with Area Under Curve of 0.846 for sarcasm negativity.


The interaction between poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and symmetrical tetramethyl-, tetraethyl-, tetrapropyl-, and tetrabutylammonium bromides (TMAB, TEAB, TPAB, and TBAB, respectively), has been investigated by tensiometric and fluorescent techniques to determine the critical aggregation concentration (cac) of the surfactants in the presence of polymer. The cac values were compared to the values of the critical micelle concentration (cmc) of the surfactants in the absence of polymer. The cmc was found to decrease in the sequence: NaCl ~ AB > TMAB > TEAB > TPAB > TBAB. The data indicate that the degree of the conuterion binding is found to increase with the increasing size of the alkyl chain length of the tetraalkylammonium bromides (TAAB). However, the cac showed the different outcome. There is not the maximum value of cac in the TBAB experimental system. It implies that the degree of the conuterion binding is too large to form the complex. In three components system of TAAB/SDS/PVP, the NMR results show that SDS interacts with PVP, forming micelle-like clusters bound onto the polymer, and furthermore suggest that the SDS/PVP complex formation implies the synergic effects of the electrostatic attractions and the hydrophobic interaction. Both of them are weak influences, so the clusters are looser than micelle structures. It also hints that only the superficial layer of SDS aggregates is affected by the presence of PVP.


The phase locked loop (PLL) will introduce the negative resistance near the fundamental frequency, which deteriorates the stability of doubly fed induction generators (DFIG) system under the inductive weak grid. This article develops the impedance model of the DFIG system based on direct power control without PLL, and analyzes the frequency coupling characteristic of established impedance model. The phase margin around the fundamental frequency is enhanced after cancelling the PLL. However, there will be a high-frequency resonance issue related to the frequency coupling characteristic. Based on the simplified high-frequency impedance model and the Bode diagram of equivalent single-input single-output impedance, it can be found that the DFIG system is more prone to have stability issues when the degree of frequency coupling is enhanced. An impedance reshaping control strategy is proposed to reduce the degree of frequency coupling at high frequency and suppress the high-frequency resonance. The experimental results validate the availability of the proposed reshaping control strategy.


The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) delivers monthly gravity fields since it was launched in March 2002, which provides a new way to monitor the groundwater storage variations for large regions. In this study, we attempt to apply the GRACE data combined with estimated soil moisture based on the water balance approach to estimate monthly groundwater changes in the western Kansas of approximately 100,000 km2. The comparison of different Gaussian smoothing radiuses indicated that a smaller filter radius (150 km) is more appropriate for this size of the study area to get more effective gravity signals. The results are compared with in situ yearly measurements of groundwater levels and show a prominent seasonal cycle. The groundwater storage changes estimated from GRACE data agree well with the measured groundwater levels during 2003 and 2008. Both of them show a decline trend. Such observation results from GRACE data will provide regional fundamental information for water resource management.


This paper attempts to quantify the environmental quality of a mining project site by assigning weights to each environmental component, depending on its relative contribution to the overall environmental quality. The final computed score is a single numerical value that defines the status of the environment. A real-life example of the West Bokaro Mining Complex has been included to illustrate the methodology.


Perovskite large-scale solution manufacturing methods combined with relevant crystallization thermodynamics and kinetics, as well as challenges including stability, toxicity, and module cost issues towards commercialization are reviewed.


A QI-free coal tar pitch prepared by solvent extraction from a soft coal tar pitch was subjected to a series of thermal treatments at a predetermined temperature for different holding times. The development of mesophase was discussed in terms of its size and content in the heat-treated pitches. Results showed that the size and yield of the dispersed mesophase spheres in the isotropic matrix strongly depended on the holding temperatures. When the holding temperature was less than 400 °C, only a few of small spheres formed in the mesophase pitches. However, when the holding temperature was over 420 °C, the diameter and yield of mesophase spheres in the heat-treatment pitches increased progressively with increase of the holding time. Treatment at 440 °C for 4h led to 19.9 % of the yield and the average sphere radius was 4.5-100 . In the SEM photograph of mesocarbon microbeads obtained from the heat-treated pitches using soxhlet extraction. Many small flaky particles and sporadic rugby ball-shaped particles were observed as well as a large number of spherical particles.


However, it has become abundantly clear that grammatical "rules" are of various degrees of generality. Some may apply to relatively large classes of lexical items, others apply to highly restricted classes; and individual lexical items tend to have their own unique grammatical properties. As Gross (1979:859) put it more than 25 years ago: "Syntactic rules are always limited to certain lexical items; ....". More recently, studies of large corpora have shown that words tend to occur more frequently in certain grammatical patterns rather than in others, and that words do not occur in certain grammatical patterns where they otherwise might be expected to occur.


This paper presents a new method for the incremental integration of overlapped range images. It is assumed that frame transformations between all pairs of views can be reliably computed. This method progressively merges each new sensed range image with the current reconstructed model. The proposed method consists of three stages. In the first stage the overlapped regions are identified. Then, from the overlapped regions, the points that define the integration boundaries are projected over a reference plane and are triangulated over that 2D space by means of a constrained Delaunay algorithm. Finally, the obtained triangulation is back projected to the 3D range image space. These new triangular meshes represent the sewing between the meshes to be integrated. In this way a new single triangular mesh which will be used to merge with futures range images is generated. Experimental results are presented.


Inept distribution and communication within the family planning movement hinder progress. The design of family planning programs and the emphasis on certain types of contraceptives must take into account the political realities of the situation. Paramedical and nonmedical distribution of contraceptives would be more effective than restriction of this function to the medical profession. Family planners should assume an adequate demand for their services and concentrate on meeting the demand. Only when there is no demand should effort be expended on education and motivation programs.


During the human motion capture, static calibration is quickly invalid for inertial measurement units (IMUs) loosely mounted on the body. In this paper, we propose a dynamic position calibration algorithm for IMUs mounted on the human lower limbs based on joint constraints. To solve the problem of IMUs position displacement, we introduce Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm. Furthermore, we use the fusion algorithm in the field of quaternion to improve the attitude calibration performance of a single IMU. We analyze the performance of the algorithm through a walking test of a complete gait cycle. Also, comparing it with a high-precision IMU-MoCap reference device. The simulation results show that PSO can effectively calibrate the IMUs position in reality motion capture, which means that the dynamic calibration algorithm may be applied to other limb joints based on joint constraints.


Tunable wavelength erbium doped fiber linear cavity laser, based on mechanically induced long-period fiber gratings (MLPFG) is presented. The laser was tuned applying pressure over the MLPFG, in order to monitor this, pressure is applied over a plate with periodic grooves that has a short length, this pressure is controlled by a digital torque tester as a result tunable effect is observed. The grooves have a period of 620µm and the maximal pressure without breakpoint fiber is around 0.80lb-in2. Furthermore, the MLPFG used can be erased, reconfigured and exhibit a transmission spectra with termal stability, similar to high cost photoinduced long period gratings. In this work, by pressure increment distributed over the MLPFG from 0.40 lb-in2 to 0. 70 lb-in 2, tuned operation range of 14nm was observed and single line emission was tuned in the C telecommunication band. According to the stability analysis the signal to noise ratio was 29 dB and minimal wavelength oscillations of 0.29nm.


As most readers will know, in March and April this year the ACT Supreme Court provided four consecutive weeks of mediations. This involved two mediators conducting separate lists, and on most days taking two matters each. There were a few gaps in the schedule, and one of the mediations was listed for a whole day. Eleven related matters were listed over two days.


Refugee women emerged as a social issue during the decade 1978-88 as a result of a series of historical events. Beginning in 1978, there was an increased number of refugees in the world, and among these, women and children began forming the majority in refugee camps and holding centres; some refugee-receiving countries, such as Pakistan, built "widows' camps." In the same decade, there was a marked increase in the number of churches and other nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), whose global outreach to refugees focused on development projects overseas and sponsorship programs at home. En route to overseas refugee sites, women often attended meetings with immigration staff, intergovernmental, and intemational nongovernmental organizations, and visited international headquarters of these organizations in Geneva, Vienna, Washington, and cities in Latin America. They became involved with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Division for the Advancement of Women at the United Nations Office Vienna (DAW/UNOV). Networkcontacts expanded among advocates of human rights and women's rights as information was relayed back to Canada from official and informal channels and filtered down to provincial and local offices, grassroots organizations, advocacy groups, and refugee coalitions. Networks are a critical resource in moving a social issue forward: they sponsor meaning, reinforce collective identity, and function as an accessible


PEP-II is an asymmetric e+-e- collider operating at the Upsi(4S) energy and has recently set several performance records. The luminosity has reached a peak of 1.2 x 1034 cm-2 s-1. Operating in continuous injection mode for both beams PEP-II has delivered up to 0.91 fb-1 day-1. Peak currents have reached 3.0 A of positrons and 1.9 A of electrons in 1732 bunches. Total delivered luminosity since turn-on in 1999 has exceeded 450 fb-1. This paper reviews the present performance issues of PEP-II and also the planned increase of luminosity in the near future to 2 times 1034 cm-2 s-1.


The study of the possibility of the interaction between chromium and oxygen during the production of chromium-containing steels is one of the practically important tasks for the steelmaking. In the present work, thermodynamic modeling of phase equilibria in the temperature range 1600–1800 °C for the Fe–Cr–O system was carried out. Thermodynamic analysis was performed using the method for constructing of the surface solubility of components in a metal, which is a diagram linking changes in the compositions of the liquid metal with changes in the compositions of the resulting interaction products. For the simulation, we used the data on the equilibrium constants of the reactions occurring in the melt, as well as the values of the first-order interaction parameters (according to Wagner) of the components in the liquid iron. In the course of the work, it was found that, in the temperature range 1600–1800 °C, the following products can be formed as interaction products: liquid oxide nonmetallic inclusions of variable composition (FeO, CrO, Cr2O3); solid particles of the ferrochromite FeCr2O4; pure solid chromium oxide Cr2O3; solid particles of the compound Cr3O4. The boundaries of the thermodynamic stability of these oxide phases formed in the melt of the Fe–Cr–O system were also determined. According to the calculation results, the deoxidizing ability of chromium in an oxygen-containing iron-based melt was evaluated. It is determined that the maximum deoxidizing ability of chromium at 1600 °C falls on the equilibrium region of the liquid metal with the solid chromium oxide Cr2O3, while the minimum oxygen concentration is 0.0204 wt. % for 5.31 wt. % chromium. The results obtained in the course of this calculation were compared with the available literature data.


Thin polymer films are widely used as dielectrics in devices operating in the field of electrical engineering or power electronics, such as capacitors, and the thermal property of the films is of great importance for the heat dissipation of involved devices. Thermal diffusivity (D) is one of the crucial parameters concerned with heat conduction. The existing methods, however, have some difficulties in measuring thermal diffusivity of the thin film within 10 micrometers. In this study, a novel way based on thermal pulse method is proposed to measure thermal diffusivity. A step-shaped electric field is set within the two-layered sample composed of two identical films. The thermal response current is recorded after the sample partially absorbing the incident pulse. Based on the sample structure and the known parameters such as electrical field, electrode thickness and sample thickness, a multiparameters fitting is adopted to reconstruct the experimental current. The obtained thermal diffusivity is well consistent with the data in the literature.


Many elements exhibit anisotropic scattering at energies of interest in reactor calculations. A method is presented for the calculation of transport cross sections including the observed anisotropy. (auth)


The reaction of pyrethrin I (1) with sodium hydroxide in ethanol produced the cyclopentadienone 29 which rapidly underwent Diels-Alder dimerisation to give two cyclopentadienone dimers which were isolated in 30 and 38% yield, respectively. A combination of one-dimensional and two-dimensional NMR spectroscopic studies allowed determination of the structure and stereochemistry of the higher and lower Rf dimers as being 26 and 27, respectively. The dimers are formed by cycloaddition reactions of the least substituted alkene of the cyclopentadienone, and via both possible regioisomeric endo transition states.


Beside plant drugs the application of herbal mixtures using in several indication fields is very popular in our time. Since these herbal mixtures contain several bioactive agents, their analysis may cause difficulties. Therefore the description of measurements of components and their standardization is generally missing from the Pharmocopoeias. The examined Species thymi composita (STC) is highly effective because of its cholagog, carminative, expectorant, anticatarrhal etc. activity. STC is the mixture of Althaeae radix et folium (marshmallow leaf and root), Verbasci flos (mullein flores), Liquiritiae radix (liquorice root) and Thymi herba (thyme). The macroscopic and microscopic identification of components, phytochemical characterization have been described, the element composition of the herbal mixture, plant drugs constituents and teas was studied and the in vitro element absorption was examined. It has been stated that the STC could be characterized by its mucilage content and volatile oil composition. STC and its tea contain elements as well and the in vitro absorption of some of elements showed relatively high amount. The presence of bioactive compounds, volatile oil components, mucilage and elements may be jointly important in the complex effect, although the relatively higher Mg and Zn content in the tea is particularly relevant that acts via signal transduction process.


High-temperature–pressure experiments were carried out to determine the chlorine–hydroxyl exchange partition coefficient between hornblende and melt in the 1992 Unzen dacite. Cl in hornblende and melt was analyzed by electron microprobe, whereas OH in hornblende and melt was calculated assuming anion stoichiometry of hornblende and utilizing the dissociation reaction constant for H2O þ O 1⁄4 2(OH) in water-saturated melt, respectively. The partition coefficient strongly depends on the Mg/(Mg þ Fe) ratio of hornblende, and is expressed as ln K1 1⁄4 (Cl/OH)hb/(Cl/OH)melt 1⁄4 2 37 – 4 6[Mg/(Mg þ Fe)]hb at 2–3 kbar and 800–850 C. The twofold variation in Cl content in the oscillatory zoned cores of hornblende phenocrysts in the 1991–1995 dacite cannot be explained by the dependence of the Cl/OH partition coefficient on the Mg/(Mg þ Fe)hb ratio, and requires c. 80% variation of the Cl/OH ratio of the coexisting melt. Available experimental data at 200 MPa on Cl/OH fractionation between fluid and melt suggest that c. 1 2–1 8 wt % degassing of water from the magma can explain the required 80% variation in the Cl/OH ratio of the melt. The negative correlation between Al content and Mg/(Mg þ Fe) ratio in the oscillatory zoned cores of the hornblende phenocrysts is consistent with repeated influx and convective degassing of the fluid phase in the magma chamber.


The specific objectives of this project were; to examine and explain the response of laying broiler breeders to different constant and cycling ambient temperatures, to different dietary concentrations of lysine and the temperature x dietary lysine interactions. A quantitative literature review indicated that there was a curvilinear (P 0.05) effects on hatchability or chick quality. Increasing dietary lysine concentrations tended (P 0.05) hatchability or chick quality. Increasing dietary lysine increased (P=0.044) blood lysine concentration and increased (P=0.026) blood haematocrit values in birds kept at 21°C but not in those kept at 32°C. There was a similar temperature x lysine interaction (P= 0.031) in carcass protein composition and a trend (P<0.1) for this same interaction in body weight change of the hens in two experiments.


Fracturation analysis in the Tsushima islands (southwest Japan) brings information on the Tertiary tectonics of the Korean strait. A NW-SE compression affects the Middle Miocene intrusions and the Eocene to Lower Miocene turbidites. This late phase is correlated to a regional compressional event dating from Upper Miocene to Pliocene, during which the Tsushima Fault moved left-laterally. An early phase is responsible for the formation in the turbidites of right-lateral strike-slip faults oriented parallel to the Tsushima Fault. These structures suggest an early right-lateral motion along the Tsushima Fault before Middle Miocene


Bis(trimethylsilylethynyl)sulfane 1 reacts with triethylborane, Et3B, via 1,1-organoboration to give at first (Ζ)-1-trimethylsilyl-2-diethylboryl-1-but-1-enyl(trimethylsilylethynyDsulfane 2, and after prolonged heating (6 d in boiling toluene/Et3B) bis[(Z)-1-trimethylsilyl-2-diethylboryl-1-but-1-enyl]sulfane 3 as the final product. The (Z)-configuration at the C=C bond in 2 prevents the ring closure via intramolecular 1,1-vinyloboration, and the same is true in the case of 3 with respect to potential Et3B-elimination. Attempts to induce (Z/£)-isomerization at the C=C bond(s) in 2 or 3 by irradiating with UV light were not succesful. There was no effect at 0°C, but after 2 h at 70°C the equilibration between 1 and 2 was observed. Starting from a pure sample of 2, the alkyne derivative 1 is formed in w 30 % yield which was not observed when 2 was heated without UV irradiation.


In this paper, a compact measurement method is proposed for deriving the input impedance from the near-field scattering characteristics of an antenna under test. The relationship between the backscatter data including the near field and the input impedance of the antenna is derived. It is shown that scattered waves can be in the near field if electrical coupling of transmitting and receiving antennas with the antenna to be measured is small. When orthogonally placed transmitting and receiving dipoles are used as a model for the measurement system, practically valid results can be obtained if these antennas are more than a half-wavelength apart from the antenna under test. Experiments are carried out to validate the method by impedance measurement of balanced and unbalanced dipoles. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn Pt 1, 88(9): 1–8, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ecja.20220


Actively cooled in-vessel components like divertors or limiters require high quality and reliability to ensure safe operation during long term use. Such components are subjected to very severe thermal and mechanical cyclic loads and high power densities. Key requirements for materials in question are e.g. high melting point and thermal conductivity and low atomic mass number. Since no single material can simultaneously meet all of these requirements the selection of materials to be combined in composite components as well as of manufacturing and non-destructive inspection (NDI) methods is a particularly challenging task. Armour materials like graphite intended to face the plasma and help to maintain its desired properties, are bonded to metallic substrates like copper, molybdenum or stainless steel providing cooling and mechanical support. Several techniques such as brazing and active metal casting have been developed and successfully applied for joining materials with different thermophysical properties, pursuing the objective of sufficient heat dissipation from the hot, plasma facing surface to the coolant. NDI methods are an integral part of the manufacturing schedule of these components, starting in the design phase and ending in the final inspection. They apply all kinds of divertor types (monobloc and flat-tile concept). Particular focus ismore » put on the feasibility of detecting small flaws and defects in complex interfaces and on the limits of these techniques. Special test pieces with defined defects acting as standards were inspected. Accompanying metallographic investigations were carried out to compare actual defects with results recorded during NDI.« less


Objective To investigate the impact of health education and treatment compliance in patients with depression and chronic viral hepatitis. Methods A total of 153 cases of patients with chronic hepatitis B,77 cases were randomly divided into observation group and control group 76 cases,by experts and clinicians implement health education programs designed observation group and control group to implement regular health education, compared to treatment, adherence, depression and quality of life. Results The intervention group was observed MMAS-8 scale 1 to4,6 to 7 proportions were significantly lower than the control group(P 0.05), the first eight scored significantly lower than the control group(P0.05), the treatment compliance of observation group were significantly higher adherence(P0.05). The degree of depression observation group after the intervention were significantly reduced than the control group(P 0.05),SDS scores were significantly lower than the control group(P 0.05). After the intervention,the WHOQOL-BREF quality of life scale scores in all areas of observation group were significantly higher than the control group(P0.05).Conclusion Patients with chronic hepatitis serious depression,poor adherence to drug treatment through targeted psychological guidance,compliance guidance,lifestyle guide health education programs effectively relieve depression in patients and improve treatment compliance and overall quality of life.


Background and purpose: Bracing is an accepted non-operative treatment for idiopathic scoliosis patients to halt the progression of scoliosis curvatures. Its efficacy in correcting scoliosis curvatures, however, is not clear. The authors report their preliminary experience with a new custom-made spinal orthosis, a three-dimensional (3D) air pressure bracing system for the management of scoliosis patients. Methods: A group of 11 brace-treated volunteers, aged 14-32 years, with idiopathic scoliosis participated in the trial. Patients wore the 3D air pressure brace for 15-18 hours per day for at least 4 months. Standardized evaluations were performed to assess the curvature and vertebral rotation using the Cobb and pedicle methods by comparing three standing anteroposterior radiographs taken before and after treatment. Results: The mean bracing treatment duration was 229.5±57.7 days. At the last follow-up, the primary lumbar curvature improved 29.4±7.6° (Wilcoxon signed ranks test, Z=-2.524, p=0.012, α=0.017) with brace and 15.0±3.5°(Z=-2.521, p=0.012) without brace. All patients with primary lumbar scoliosis showed improvements in vertebral rotation of at least one grade as compared with pre-brace (Z=-2.598, p=0.009, α=0.017) and without brace (Z=-2.646, p=0.008). Conclusions: Our results suggest that part time wearing of the 3D air pressure brace is effective in decreasing the degrees of lateral spinal curvature and vertebral rotation. However, further studies are necessary to include more patients and to follow the patients for a longer period of time in order to examine the maintenance effect and to determine the efficacy of this brace in patients with single lumbar curve as well as those with lumbar and thoracic curves and rotations.(FJPT 2003;28(3): 117-128)


In this paper, a new human detection approach from still image is proposed. Two vector features are extracted from the image. Histogram of oriented Gradient feature represents the gradient information of human. Histogram of modified local binary pattern is extracted from images convolved with Gabor filter, as a feature vector to represent texture information. It can be seen as a supplement of gradient information. Different support vector machine classifiers are trained by each type of vectors. Finally, two classifiers are combined together for the final result by using the proposed integration method. Because two features contain different information, they have low error dependency and can get high detection rate. Experiment is performed in a large dataset and it shows that this method outperforms state-of-the-art approaches and other combinations of features.


We have performed ab initio algebraic diagrammatic construction [ADC(3)] Green's function calculations of the valence photoemission spectra of PF3 and NiPF3. We obtained overall good agreement with experiment for both the free PF3 molecule and the PF3 molecule chemisorbed on a Ni(111) metal surface. A comparison to NiCO shows that there are certain similarities between NiPF3 and NiCO, not only in the σ donor–π acceptor bonding mechanism in the ground state, but also in the metal–ligand CT excitations associated with the creation of a valence hole in the ligand. However, it appears that the many‐body effect, such as the configuration interactions in the final ionized state, seems to be weaker for NiPF3 than for NiCO, judging from the main line spectral intensity. The quasiparticle picture of the 4e level breaks down completely as in the case of the 1π level of NiCO.


Suicide is one of the ten leading causes of death in the world (> 400,000 deaths annually). The pattern of suicide and the incidence of suicide vary from country to country and cultural, religious and social values play important role in suicide. Our study's objective is to describe the epidemiology and pattern of suicide by hanging, in central region of Delhi. This five-year (1st January, 2006 to 31st December, 2010) retrospective study is carried out in the Department of Forensic Medicine, Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi. Total 550 (19.89%) deaths of suicide by various means and out of total, 129 (23.45%) deaths were due to hanging. The highest number of suicide by hanging (n=45 cases, 34.88%) was in the age group of 21- to 30 years in both genders. The least number of hangings (n=7, 5.4%) deaths were in those over 50 years. Males (n= 96, 74.41%) outnumber females. The ratio of male to female suicide is 2.9:1. Peak hangings were in July and August (n= 33 cases, 25.58%) and least in May (5 cases, 3.8%). Maximum numbers of suicides were during morning hours (6–10 am) constituted 37 deaths (28.68%).


The invention relates to a stall information inquiry and stall reservation interconnection service system, which comprises data acquisition terminals, communication machines and a server group, wherein the data acquisition terminals transmit data to the communication machines; then the data are transmitted to the server group by the communication machines; each data acquisition terminal comprises a microprocessor, a power supply module, a sensor module, a communication module, an address selection module and a stall state control module; each communication machine comprises a microprocessor, a power module, a communication module, a general packet radio service (GPRS) module and a global positioning system (GPS) module; and the server group comprises a database server, a geographic information system (GIS) server and a WEB server. According to the system, the function of reserving the stall in various modes can be realized, and the stall information inquiry and stall reservation interconnection service system supports Internet Web access and mobile phone Wap access and provides reservation modes, such as telephone inquiry, short message inquiry and the like. The data acquisition terminals of the system are hardware which can be clipped. The stall information inquiry and stall reservation interconnection service system has the advantages of strong anti-interference performance and compatibility, and the problem of complex and limit spatial wiring is solved.


The utility model discloses a rain-sludge dual-purpose landscape type ecological purifying system which comprises an upper-layer surface flow artificial wetland treatment system and a lower-layer biochemical treatment system, wherein filter fillers are paved on the bottoms of a preliminary filter tank, a final filter tank and a baffling-type artificial wetland of the upper-layer surface flow artificial wetland treatment system; plants are planted on the preliminary filter tank, the final filter tank and the baffling type artificial wetland; a water collecting tank, a hydrolyzing tank, an oxic tank and a clear water tank are separated by wall bodies; partition walls of the water collecting tank and the hydrolyzing tank are equipped with a channel; the hydrolyzing tank and the oxic tank are equipped with a water drainage pipeline communicated with the upper part of the artificial wetland; the oxic tank is equipped with a gas exhausting pipeline extending into the air; the preliminary filter tank is arranged above the water collecting tank; water inlet holes communicated with the water collecting tank are uniformly distributed on the bottom of the preliminary filter tank; the final filter tank is arranged above the clear water tank; water inlets communicated with the clear water tank are uniformly distributed on the bottom of the final filter tank; and the baffling type artificial wetland is arranged above the hydrolyzing tank and the oxic tank.


Summary

Total amounts of Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Bt, Rb, Si, Y, Zr and Pb were determined in soil samples from approximately 250 profiles. Examples of automatically plotted maps show the distribution of some of these elements in topsoils and subsoils. Element distribution in the soils is related to land units based on underlying rock-type and air photograph interpretation; these units distinguish soils of different lithological and drainage status and many are dominated by a single soil subgroup. Agricultural and pollution aspects of the work are discussed. The survey indicates the present levels of the elements, and may be used as a comparison in future pollution studies.


This paper describes a micro gas chromatography (μGC) system that comprises a Knudsen pump with bidirectional capability (KP2), a two-stage preconcentrator-focuser (PCF2) and a separation column. In this valveless system, the bi-directionality of the pump allows flow reversal in the multi-stage preconcentrator. The KP2, PCF2, and separation column are arranged in a 4.3 cm3 stack, and used with a commercial flame ionization detector. In preliminary experiments, the μGC system demonstrated quantitative separation of benzene, toluene, and xylene (BTX) in ambient room air.


While entrepreneurship is normally researched as something positive, this paper illustrates the dark sides of the construct. This conceptual research paper applies entrepreneurship literature to generate new insights into entrepreneurship in organised crime and entrepreneurs in criminal organisations. Criminal entrepreneurship is found in organised crime, where criminal entrepreneurs choose to organise a criminal business enterprise in order to exploit illegal market opportunities. Entrepreneurial opportunities can be exploited in a variety of ways, depending on strategy and available resources. As organised crime is growing locally as well as globally, law enforcement agencies need to develop their understanding of strategic criminal entrepreneurship. Based on perspectives in this paper, the dark side of entrepreneurship needs to be further explored within both the legitimate and illegitimate business sector in the local as well as global perspective in future research.


This paper describes the classic flow shop scheduling problem, and its mathematical model has been set up. Adopting a classic heuristic algorithm to solve this problem has been discussed and the flow shop scheduling problem has been developed. Secondly, the mathematical model based on job shop scheduling problem has been established from the perspective of applied engineering. A new genetic algorithm of two point reverse crossover operator has been proposed and experimental test has indicated that a new crossover operator has a better effect in solving classic JSP case. Finally, main functions and core roles of enterprise ERP system have been discussed systematically and scheduling design methods in discrete enterprise has been described in detail.


PURPOSE: An ink sticks with discernible patterns is provided to distinguish the discernible patterns formed on an ink sticks body from the other discernible patterns in a set. CONSTITUTION: An ink sticks with discernible pattern comprises an ink stick body and discernible patterns(200a,200b,200c,200d). The ink sticks body with ink materials is formed in order to be contained to an ink stick of a first set. The ink stick body comprises the ink stick of the first set and an ink stick of a second set. The ink stick(100a,100b,100c,100d) of the first set has a different series with the ink stick of the second set. The discernible patterns formed on the ink stick body are one discernible pattern among the discernible patterns of one set. The discernible patterns are formed on a pattern area of the ink stick body which can be visually distinguished from the other discernible patterns.


Abstract : Research under this contract involved three main problem areas: (1) diagnostic and critical data analysis (including exploratory and robust methods) , (2) analysis of distribution shape (techniques and applications to real data), and (3) implementation in computer software of selected data-analytic techniques. This final report summarizes the research and major results in each of these three areas. Keywords: Analysis of variance, Exploratory data analysis, Interaction, Outliers, Regression diagnostics, Robustness, Statistical software.


What do you value most about your voice? As ethnomusicological studies of the voice expand, so must our understanding of what voice even means. Voice must entail more than just a sonic phenomenon, but must also relate to our ideology. By fusing an ethnomusicological and legal perspective, this article will explore the "right of publicity," introduce the concept of the negative voice, and explain why Waits stands as the culmination of a gradual evolution of the right of publicity. These explorations can help us understand how musicians can protect their ideological, as well as their physical, voices.


Dear Editor, Infection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) could cause dramatic response in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients at multi-omics level,1–3 thus it is essential to systematically assess the pathogenesis of COVID-19. In our previous study, we presented the first trans-omics landscape of 236 COVID-19 patients with 4 clinical severity groups (including asymptomatic, mild, severe and critically ill cases) and found that the mild and severe COVID-19 patients shared several similar characteristics.4 However, it is crucial to discriminate mild from severe COVID-19 patients to prevent the latter from the progression of disease by facilitating early intervention. Herein, we developed an extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost)machine-learningmodel to predict the COVID-19 severities by leveraging multi-omics data. Briefly, we randomly stratified samples for the training set (80%) and the independent testing set (20%) (Figure 1A, seeMethods in the Supporting Information).After normalization, a total of 297 multi-omics features were preliminarily selected by applying a hybrid method (see Methods in the Supporting Information). The XGBoost model was trained on the training set with the preliminarily selected features, achieving mean micro-average AUROC (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve) and mean micro-average AUPR (area under the precisionrecall curve) of 0.9715 (95% CI, 0.9497–0.9932) and 0.9495 (95% CI, 0.9086–0.9904), respectively (Figure 1B and C). This showed strong generalizable discrimination among the four severities based on fivefold cross-validation over 100 iterations. The multi-omics features were prioritized and ranked by the XGBoost model and the SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations, see Methods in the Supporting Information) value. Top 60 important features were further selected consisting of 19 proteins, 11 metabolites, 7 lipids, and 23 mRNAs (Figure 1D, Figures S1-S4). With the top 60 features, the XGBoost model was re-trained and val-


In response to the letter from Styra Avins (Tempo, January 2003), I am grateful to stand so fascinatingly corrected with regard to the (poorly documented?) aspect of US cultural history in question.


The article deals with the ethical and philosophical position of the writer in dramas of Chekhov and Andreyev. The aspects of the existential anthropology are investigated in this work: the depth of alienation in the situation of untrue existence, the double-natured human personality and necessity of the existential decision to overcome the barriers of the objectivization. The tragedy of the human being is concluded in breaking of the person's wholeness, in the barrier between phenomenal and noumenal existence. The analysis of the symbolic motifs as the embodiment of authors' concept of true being is suggested in this paper. The hard working of pneuma in the conditions of "sick existence" (N. Berdyaev) is connected with the situation of existential choice, the results of which are ambiguous.


Nitrile hydratase activity in Rhodococcus rhodochrous DAP 96253 can be induced with multiple inducers that include urea, cobalt (Co), iron (Fe) and nickel (Ni). When induced with Co/urea, cells of R. rhodochrous DAP 96253 expressed the highest level of nitrile hydratase activity (~200 units/min·mg-cdw) when compared with the other inducers tested. Cells induced with Co had the second highest nitrile hydratase activity (~7 units/min·mg-cdw), whereas in the uninduced cells, nitrile hydratase activity was lower than 1 unit/min·mg-cdw. Similarly in R. rhodochrous DAP 96622, when induced with Co/urea, the nitrile hydratase activity of R. rhodochrous DAP 96622 cells was around 50 units/min·mg-cdw which was the highest of all inducers tested. When induced with Co only, the nitrile hydratase activity of R. rhodochrous DAP 96622 was around 20 units/min·mg-cdw, and the nitrile hydratase activity of R. rhodochrous DAP 96622 uninduced was the same as the nitrile hydratase activity of uninduced R. rhodochrous DAP 96253. When Co/urea induced R. rhodochrous DAP 96253 cell lysate was examined on gradient SDS-PAGE and analyzed by Image Quant TL, the nitrile hydratase bands (both α and β subunits)


Magnet detection is popular in industry and agriculture process and people's daily life.Along with the research and rapid development of micro Electro-Mechanical systems(MEMS) in recent years,more and more researches on the magnetic field sensors are appeared.This paper briefly reviews some kinds of magnetic field sensors and evaluates the fabrication technology and the sensitivity based on the principle of these MEMS sensors.The trends of the micromachined magnetic field sensors in future are discussed.


Pediatricians, neonatologists and pediatric endocrinologists are often challenged with determining the significance of atypical thyroid and adrenocortical function studies in preterm, low birth-weight (gestational age <37 weeks; birth-weight <2500 g), very low birth-weight (gestational age <30 weeks; birth-weight <1500 g) or extremely low birth-weight (gestational age <27 weeks; birth-weight <1000 g) neonates. The neonatal period is defined as the first 30 days after birth. Often, these neonates are critically ill and being treated with several medications that further confound their evaluation and therapeutic management. Physicians who care for these patients are regularly faced with the questions: What are normal values of thyroid hormones and cortisol in preterm neonates? What is the significance of hypothyroxinemia or hypocortisolemia in these subjects? When is hormone-replacement therapy warranted? In this review, the physiology of thyroid and adrenocortical hormone secretion in the fetus and neonate...


The article discusses the main types of maladjustment reactions in children. The results of the authors' experimental research are described. The experimental group consisted of 104 senior preschool children. In the course of the study, the children were observed and parents were questioned. The data obtained were entered into a prognostic table to determine the risks of an unfavorable course of adaptation at school. The main reasons for the appearance of difficulties in children in the learning process are identified, protective behavioral reactions are described. Methods and means of preventive activities of the teacher are proposed.


A method for recognizing and processing at least one attached to a commodity supplier code assembly, comprising: - detecting two-dimensional image data of the supplier code assembly; - sending the captured image data to a control unit; - applying at least one first image processing method in order to determine at least from the image data, a filter characteristic, wherein the at least one filter characteristic relates to at least one external feature of the supplier code; - applying at least one second image processing method in order to determine at least a typical code pattern from the image data, wherein the code pattern on the spatial arrangement of at least two of the vendor codes to each other and / or refers to a fixed part of the supplier code; - retrieving stored in a memory unit label data sets by the control unit, wherein the label data records each containing data corresponding to at least the at least one filter characteristic and a code pattern; - filtering the label data sets on the basis of at least one filter characteristic; - Compare the code pattern identified with stored in the label records code patterns; - selecting a set of tag data, if a match exists; - reading the information contained in the supplier code; and - inputting of the read information in a database, where the meaning of the information read is assigned based on the selected label data set stored data.


Efficacy of paclobutrazol was determined when applied to rooted cuttings before transplant. Cuttings of large-leaf Rhododendron catawbiense Michx. were treated with paclobutrazol applied as a 40-mL drench. In 1998, concentrations of 0, 1, 2, 10, or 20 mg.L -1 were applied to liners before root development was complete in February, or after cuttings were root-bound in May. The same volume of solution was applied to other plants at concentrations of 0, 5, 10, or 20 mg.L -1 in July 1998, after transplant to 1-gal pots. In 1999, a 40-mL drench of paclobutrazol at 0, 1, 2, 5, 10, or 20 mg.L -1 was only applied to liners in April. All cuttings were transplanted to 1-gal pots and set in the field. The elongation of stems was measured after each of three flushes of growth. Plants were far more responsive to paclobutrazol when it was applied before, rather than after transplant. There was a saturating response to paclobutrazol concentration and the half-maximal response occurred at 2 to 4 mg.L -1 (0.08 to 0.16 mg/plant). At low rates, later flushes of growth were affected less than earlier flushes. However if paclobutrazol was applied at 10 or 20 mg.L -1 , later flushes of growth were inhibited more completely than early flushes. Flowering was enhanced by paclobutrazol. Paclobutrazol at 2 mg.L -1 applied to rooted cuttings before transplant was sufficient to inhibit growth of rhododendron, but not to the point where later flushes of growth were excessively short. Chemical name used: 2RS,3RS-1-(4-chlorophenyl)-4,4-dimethyl-2-(1,2,4-triazol-l-yl)-pentan-3-ol (paclobutrazol).


The ambitious objectives of the 5th Generation (5G) mobile communications subtend a profound change in the way mobile networks are designed, both in the infrastructural aspects and in the operational protocols. Network slicing is considered as a promising deployment option to enable tailored and logically separated resources and value-enabled platforms to the vertical industries. This paper introduces the concept of a lean packet system in support of a tailored and flexible data plane to better align the provisioned network (slice) with the requirements of the vertical industry. The described solution provides a great match between deployment flexibility, resources utilization and routing efficiency. The design of an experimental testbed is described and results from an experimental evaluation of routing efficiency against alternative solutions confirm the value of our concepts.


This article describes London Electricity's completed project to provide a 44 MW supply for the Millennium Site at Greenwich. The works included construction of a new tunnel under the River Thames, installation of twelve 11 kV circuits in the tunnel and around the Dome, and installation of eight container substations 11 m above ground level in large cylinder structures exterior to the Dome. The article reviews how the project was designed, planned and executed to a successful conclusion.


Risk to persons caused by gravitationally driven site-specific natural hazards along traffic routes is frequently reduced with Early Warning Systems (EWS). To identify an optimal risk reduction strategy, decision-makers should be able to quantify the effectiveness and costs achieved with EWS and compare both to alternative mitigation measures. A recognized framework approach for quantifying the effectiveness of EWS is currently lacking. We provide such a framework approach, which includes six steps that enable a structured quantification of the effectiveness, from the reliability of the EWS. To this end, site specific EWS are distinguished in two classes and the reliability analyses are conducted according to specific needs with Bayesian Networks (BN).


Background: Traditionally the HR function has had a low level of integration and has had only different internal processes and effective administration systems issues on the agenda. In recent years ...


Independed power supply plan worked out on the ";;Renewable energy sources and hydro-power engineering";; department. It capacity is up to 30 kw and it is developed on the basis of renewable energy sources plant base modules combined use of small hydroelectric power station by capacity up to 10 kw, wind power station by capacity up to 8 kw and daily regulation pneumohydraulic accumulators. Energy plant's plan determinations with the various energy accumulation system's solutions are in the report. The methods of estimation wind and hydraulic energy potential with reference to a place of electrical energy use are considered. Parameters substantiation models, modes of independent energy supply system with energy accumulation routine are analyzed on the basis of combined wind power station and hydroelectric power station use.


Obtaining time temperature curves is critical for evaluating the performance of compartments that are designed for safe – operation in the event of a fire accident. The main factors influencing the time temperature curves are ventilation factor and – fire load. In this study, a real-scale fire experiment was carried out by considering the fire load and ventilation factor for obtaining time temperature curves. In the real-scale fire experiment, two types (A-type: 2.2 (L) m × 2.0 (H) m and B-type: – 2.2 (L) m × 1.0 (H) m) of single openings were applied to a section of mock compartment (dimensions: 2.4 (L) m × 3.6 (W) m × 2.4 (H) m), and the fire loads were set to 162.4 (1st) and 194 .6 (2nd) MJ/m2. Wood cribs, used as combustibles, were placed in two types, and a small heptane pool was used as an initial fire source at the bottom. The temperature change inside the compartment was measured, and the ceiling showed the maximum temperature. An average maximum temperature of 354 .8 and 507.1 °C was measured for the 1st and 2nd fire loads at A-type opening, respectively, whereas average temperature of 570.0 and 612.5 °C was measured for the 1st and 2nd fire loads, respectively, at B-type opening.


The graduation thesis deals with air-supported membrane structures. A short historical overview is done and some modern examples are presented. The behavior of air-supported structures is explained, focusing on basic components of such structures, which are air under pressure, source of pressure and air-tight envelope. Materials and their manufacture, joints, typical details, pressure generating units, air locks and structural installation are described. Following this description, the design process is presented. Knowledge on form-finding and cutting patterns is important in this field of civil engineering, as well as loading conditions due to internal pressure, snow loads and wind loads; therefore all this is discussed on a conceptual level. More distinct view on this topic is given by presenting some standards that are regulating this field and applying concepts into practice. At the beginning of second part of the thesis, some computer programs are presented that can be used in the design process. This is followed by an example of design of an air-supported membrane structure over the football field. All important parts of such design are presented in detail, like conceptual design, form-finding process, identification of actions on structure, calculation of internal forces and deformations, dimensioning of membrane and joints and defining of cutting patterns.


By drawing a parallel between metadynamics and self interacting models for polymers, we study the longtime convergence of the original metadynamics algorithm in the adiabatic setting, namely when the dynamics along the collective variables decouples from the dynamics along the other degrees of freedom. We also discuss the bias which is introduced when the adiabatic assumption does not holds.


In order to ensure the safe operation of subways, it is necessary to detect the metro gauge and track geometry in time. However, the manual detection and the large rail inspection car is inefficient and expensive. Therefore, we have developed a multi-sensor integration detection and analysis device. Sensors, such as a laser scanner, a gauge sensor, an angle sensor, and a single-chip computer, are integrated into a rail inspection trolley, and the functions of gauge detection, gauge analysis, rail gauge calculation, and superelevation calculation are realized. Through the calibration of an odometer and a sensor, the accuracy of the device can meet the requirements of the standard. The device is applied to Changsha Metro Line 3 to detect and analyze the gauge and track geometry state. Finally, the device realizes the functions of the gauge intrusion alarm, automatic input of graphics and gauge intrusion data, automatic identification of sleepers, and automatic collection of track geometry data.


Comprendre les Évolutions Électorales. La théorie des réalignements revisitée. Pierre Martin. Paris: Presses de la Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques, 2000. Pp.472, 4 maps, 66 tables, 22 figures, biblio, index. FF 245 (paper) ISBN 2–7246–0799–6 Critical Elections. British Parties and Voters in Long‐Term Perspective. Edited by Geoffrey Evans and Pippa Norris. Sage: London, 1999. Pp.xl + 310, 38 figures, 107 tables, biblio, index. £55 (cloth) ISBN 0–7619–6019–8; £18.99 (paper) ISBN 0–7619–6020–1. Democracy in the European Union. By Christopher Lord. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999. Pp.146, biblio, index. £10.95 (paper) ISBN 1850758689. European Integration After Amsterdam: Institutional Dynamics and Prospects for Democracy. Edited by Karlheinz Neunreither and Antje Wiener. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Pp.ix + 384, biblio, index. £50 (cloth) ISBN 0–19–829641‐X; £18.99 (paper) ISBN 0–19–829640–1. How to Democratize the European Union ... and Why Bother? By Philippe C. Schmitter. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000. Pp.150, biblio., index. £46 (cloth) ISBN 0–8476–9904–8; £13.95 (paper) ISBN 0–8476–9905–6. Federalism and the European Union: A Political Economy Perspective. By DAVID MCKAY. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. Pp.viii + 200, biblio, index. £15.99 (paper) ISBN 0–19–829677–0. Das Ausschusswesen der Europäischen Union: Praxis der Risikoregulierung im Binnenmarkt und ihre rechtliche Verfassung. Edited by Christian Joerges and Joseef Falke. Baden‐Baden: Nomos Verlag, 2000. Pp.407, 17 charts, biblio. DEM 98 (paper) ISBN 3–7890–6584–6. Governing with Judges: Constitutional Politics in Europe. By Alec Stone Sweet. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Pp.xiii + 232, biblio, index. £35 (cloth) ISBN 0–19–829730–0; £16.99 (paper) ISBN 0–119–829771–8. Parliamentary Party Groups in European Democracies: Political Parties Behind Closed Doors. Edited by Knut Heidar and Ruud Koole. London: Rouledge/ECPR, 2000. Pp.xv + 303, biblio, index. £60 ISBN 0–415–22336–9. Power and Prosperity: Outgrowing Communist and Capitalist Dictatorships. By Mancur Olson. New York: Basic Books, 2000. Pp.xxvii + 233, biblio, index. £19.50 (cloth) ISBN 0–465–05195–2. Institutions and Institutional Change in the Federal Republic of Germany. Edited by Ludger Helms. London: Macmillan, 2000. Pp.xiii + 229, biblio, index. £42.50 (cloth) ISBN 0–333–73663‐X. The New Politics of British Local Governance. Edited by Gerry Stoker. London: Macmillan, 1999. Pp.xvi + 294, biblio, index. £16.95 (paper) ISBN 0–333–72817–3; ISBN 0–333–72818–1. The New Management of British Local Governance. Edited by GERRY STOKER. London: Macmillan, 1999. Pp.xxvi + 280, biblio, index. £16.99 (paper) ISBN 0–333–72815–7; ISBN 0–333–72816–5. Cities in Contemporary Europe. Edited by ARNALDO BAGNASCO and PATRICK LE GALES. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2000. Pp.ix + 219, biblio, index. £13.95 (paper) ISBN 0–521–66488–8; ISBN 0–52166248–6. Debating Governance: Authority, Steering, and Democracy. Edited by Jon Pierre. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Pp.xi + 247, index. £35 (cloth) ISBN 0–19–829514–6; £16.99 (paper) ISBN 0–19–829772–6. Democratic Governance and New Technology: Technologically Mediated Innovations in Political Practice in Western Europe. Edited by Jens Hoff, Ivan Horrocks and Pieter Tops. London: Routledge, 2000. Pp.xiv + 191, index. £50 (cloth) ISBN 0415189225. The Politics of Telecommunications. National Institutions, Convergence, and Change in Britain and France. By Mark Thatcher. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Pp.370, biblio, index. £45 (cloth) ISBN 0–19–828074–2.


This article uses a regression discontinuity approach to study the influence of New York City's school grading policy on student math and English language arts (ELA) achievement. We find evidence that students in schools receiving a failing grade realized positive effects in English in the 1st year of sanction, but we find no statistically significant effect during the 1st year of sanction on student math achievement. There is no evidence that receiving letter grades other than F had positive effects. Finally, we show that students in schools that received an F-grade in the 1st year continued to realize a positive average ELA effect in the 2nd year and that a positive math effect was evident as well.


21141 Background: Black and Hispanic breast cancer patients have a worse outcome when compared to Caucasians. This could be due to socioeconomic, cultural or biologic factors. We hypothesized that ...


One of the primary objectives of the Petroleum Institute is to prepare future engineers to address both environmental issues and reduction in energy sources. With this in mind, an alternative energy laboratory has been established to provide an essential vehicle to educate engineers on these topics. This laboratory contains state-of-the-art hands on experiments related to sustainable energy and environmental issues. An example of one of these experiments is the direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). Fuel cells are considered as a promising power source in portable and automotive applications [1-4]. This study outlines a low cost experimental setup for characterization of a single commercial DMFC, which was designed and fabricated in parallel with a senior design project.


Electrical Power System (EPS) breadboard simulation testing for the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility-Imaging (AXAF-I) spacecraft is being performed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). This real-time testing will verify functionality of software control routines and where possible, operation of flight type hardware. The breadboard completely encompasses the AXAF-I EPS allowing contingency simulation and planning. The planned cycling operation of the breadboard will provide a real-time orbital cycle lead over the flight vehicle and hopefully identify any chronologically induced anomalies while sufficient time remains to take corrective action or make preventative moves on the flight vehicle. The breadboard system will also offer a platform for analysis of the EPS of the flight vehicle to investigate the source of anomalies observed during flight. The AXAF-I EPS testbed utilizes three Ni-H/sub 2/ batteries composed of cells from the same build lot as the cells in the batteries on the flight vehicle. Operation of the breadboard EPS with the flight type Ni-H/sub 2/ batteries is scheduled to begin early June 1997; the launch of the AXAF-I spacecraft is scheduled for summer 1998. This paper discusses the design and assembly of the AXAF-I EPS breadboard testbed with an emphasis on the design and performance of the Ni-H/sub 2/ batteries.


According to the structural features of portal frame on lower frame the design process of this kind of structure utilizing PKPM software in practice is introduced as well as practical method for integral design.


Nanoemulsions (NEs) are kinetically stable emulsions with droplet size on the order of 100 nm. Many unique properties of NEs, such as stability and rheology, have attracted considerable attention in the oil industry. Here, we review applications and studies of NEs for major upstream operations, highlighting useful properties of NEs, synthesis to render these properties, and techniques to characterize them. We identify specific challenges associated with large-scale applications of NEs and directions for future studies. We first summarize useful and unique properties of NEs, mostly arising from the small droplet size. Then, we compare different methods to prepare NEs based on the magnitude of input energy, i.e., low-energy and high-energy methods. In addition, we review techniques to characterize properties of NEs, such as droplet size, volume fraction of the dispersed phase, and viscosity. Furthermore, we discuss specific applications of NEs in four areas of upstream operations, i.e., enhanced oil recovery, drilling/completion, flow assurance, and stimulation. Finally, we identify challenges to economically tailor NEs with desired properties for large-scale upstream applications and propose possible solutions to some of these challenges. NEs are kinetically stable due to their small droplet size (submicron to 100 nm). Within this size range, the rate of major destabilizing mechanisms, such as coalescence, flocculation, and Ostwald ripening, is considerably slowed down. In addition, small droplet size yields large surface-to-volume ratio, optical transparency, high diffusivity, and controllable rheology. Similar to applications in other fields (food industry, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, etc.), the oil and gas industry can also benefit from these useful properties of NEs. Proposed functions of NEs include delivering chemicals, conditioning wellbore/reservoir conditions, and improve chemical compatibility. Therefore, we envision NEs as a versatile technology that can be applied in a variety of upstream operations. Upstream operations often target a wide range of physical and chemical conditions and are operated at different time scales. More importantly, these operations typically consume a large amount of materials. These facts not only suggest efforts to rationally engineer properties of NEs in upstream applications, but also manifest the importance to economically optimize such efforts for large-scale operations. We summarize studies and applications of NEs in upstream operations in the oil and gas industry. We review useful properties of NEs that benefit upstream applications as well as techniques to synthesize and characterize NEs. More importantly, we identify challenges and opportunities in engineering NEs for large-scale operations in different upstream applications. This work not only focuses on scientific aspects of synthesizing NEs with desired properties but also emphasizes engineering and economic consideration that is important in the oil industry.


The mechanisms of sulfoxidation and epoxidation mediated by previously synthesized and characterized iron(III)-iodosylbenzene adduct, FeIII(OIPh) were investigated using para-substituted thioanisole and styrene derivatives as model substrates. Based on detailed kinetic reaction experiments, including the linear free-energy relationships between the relative reaction rates (logkrel) and the σp (4R-PhSMe) with ρ = −0.65 (catalytic) and ρ = −1.13 (stoichiometric), we obtained strong evidence that the stoichiometric and catalytic oxidation of thioanisoles mediated by FeIII(OIPh) species involves direct oxygen transfer. The small negative slope −2.18 from log kobs versus Eox for 4R-PhSMe gives further clear evidence for the direct oxygen atom transfer mechanism. On the contrary, with the linear free-energy relationships between the relative reaction rates (logkrel) and total substituent effect (TE, 4R-PhCHCH2) parameters with slope = 0.33 (catalytic) and 2.02 (stoichiometric), the stoichiometric and catalytic epoxidation of styrenes takes place through a nonconcerted electron transfer (ET) mechanism, including the formation of the radicaloid benzylic radical intermediate in the rate-determining step. On the basis of mechanistic studies, we came to the conclusion that the title iron(III)-iodosylbenzene complex is able to oxygenate sulfides and alkenes before it is transformed into the oxo-iron form by cleavage of the O−I bond.


The conventional prediction of fatigue crack growth relies on a priori data set and hence, a calibration procedure is required. However, the occurrence of damage and the prediction of damage growth in real time are very unpredictable. Several factors inherently influence the wave signal and make it difficult for the user to interpret the data through direct comparison. To minimize this error in damage estimation, a statistical approach would be the best available solution. A model which can explicitly represent the a priori data set and can also estimate the output parameter (such as damage quantity) from the current data set is extremely important. Simultaneously, there should be a minimum power consumption for the proposed algorithm. Hence, in this effort a two-step analysis is adopted. First, the signal features are extracted using newly proposed discrete time energy model and then Gaussian mixture model (GMM) is used as a classification modeling technique to estimate and quantify the progressive damage. In this article, the effort is not limited to estimating the damage growth but extended to generate an 'early alarm system'. The early alarm system is achieved by the damage occurrence identification and damage extent which can be calculated using the Mahalanobis distance. GMM is frequently used in the field of computer science for pattern recognition and classification. This would be the first attempt towards implementing such models for hot spot monitoring problems.


ABSTRACT Water deficit in semi-arid areas is a limiting factor affecting crop production and quality. The Middle East suffers from low rainfall and high temperatures. Foliar fertilization with Tecamin max®, compensates for nutrient deficiency by roots due to water deficit. The water soluble fertilizer Tecamin max® was applied to foliage to determine effects on morphological traits of the okra [Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench], cvs. Samara and Ptira, under water deficit. There were irrigation levels of 50 and 100% based on field capacity, and concentrations of Tecamin max® (0, 2.5 and 5.0 mL∙L−1). 'Samara' had the tallest plants (115.50 cm), most leaves/plant (~ 31), longest time to flowering (30.44 days), most fruit/plant (51.38) and highest total yield (1.120 kg∙m−2). The 100% irrigation level produced values for plant height (107.66 cm), number of branches/plant (12.72), number of leaves/plant (29.77), total leaf area (492.00 dm2/plant), number of fruit/plant (46.27), and total yield (0.982 kg∙m−2) that were higher than for the 50% level. The 2.5 mL∙L−1 application of Tecamin max® produced plants that were 110.75 cm tall, having 14.25 branches/plant, a total leaf area of 529.33 dm2/plant, ~ 48 fruit/plant and total yield of 1.056 kg∙m−2 that were greater than for the other treatments. Foliar application of Tecamin max®, regardless of cultivar, improves vegetative growth under normal, and water deficit, conditions.


With the population aging, stroke is becoming one of the leading causes of adult disability, such as gait impairment. Robots have been developed to overcome the limitations of manual therapy for rehabilitation, but most of them are bulky, expensive, and available only to big hospitals [1]. A significant portion of patients still have residual gait impairments, such as knee hyperextension and drop foot, after discharge from hospitals. Therefore, there is a great need for a home-based wearable robotic system for gait rehabilitation. Numerous robots have been developed specifically for the ankle joint to tackle the drop foot problem, such as the MIT ankle robot [2] or to aid the knee joint such as Tibion [3]. However, research aiming at providing active assistive torque to both the knee and ankle was very limited. The knee-ankle-foot orthosis (KAFO) presented in Ref. [4] is lightweight but not portable because of the tethered operation with pneumatic actuation system. We present an intelligent compact and modular powered knee-ankle-foot orthosis for chronic stroke patients to conduct gait rehabilitation at outpatient rehabilitation centers or at private homes. We developed a novel compact compliant actuator and linkage mechanism to achieve light-weight and modular design.


The design and operation of the street lights are expected to change in near future with the influence of reducing electronic component prices and increasing environmental consciousness. In this paper, networking intelligent street light (ISL) concept is discussed. The capabilities of look up table, neural networks and fuzzy logic are compared when they are used for a simulated street light controller. The look up table was the easiest to develop. The neural network smoothed the response curves and provided continuous transitions between the modes. The fuzzy logic allowed integration of many sensors more easily. However, evaluation and perfection of the responses when all the possible inputs were concerned were difficult. Keywords—Street light, neural network, fuzzy logic, solar cell, LED lights


E-learning is one of the most important learning approaches within which intelligent software agents can be efficiently used so as to automate and facilitate the process of learning. The aim of this paper is to illustrate a comprehensive categorization of intelligent software agent features, which is valuable for being deployed in the virtual world of learning and training. The characteristics of agents make them worthwhile for being used in the implementation and improvement of e-learning information systems, especially the web-based or web-enabled e-learning mechanisms. An extensive exploration of agent-related international papers has been conducted so as to cover a wide range of internationally accepted features as well as the classification of agents and their correspondent references. These agent characteristics enable the online learning mechanisms to act on behalf of the user in electronic learning and to respond to specific requirements in a more efficient and effective manner than the traditional learning systems. The implementation of agents according to the most useful features helps teachers transfer the related knowledge easier, faster, and more directed towards the targeted audience of the e-learning system for a better and deeper learning quality.


Using starch and acrylonitrile as reagents, 0.002 mol cerium nitrate as initiator, a highly water-absorbingresin was obtained from graft copolymerization and alkaline hydrolysis. This water absorbing resin can absorb about300 times its weight in water. After using methanol to dry the resin, it was broken into granule sized base material, ontowhich was spread 0.5% essence of peanuts to produce a non-toxic rodenticide that cause rats to drink large quantities ofwater and then swell and die. The effect of reagent proportions, initiator concentration, reaction time, and reaction tempera-ture on water absorbing capacity of the base material was investigated as well as the water absorption requirement forrodenticide efficacy. Preliminary experiments were conducted on field rats to determine efficacy of the rodenticide.


Nancy Lemberger's Bilingual education: Teachers' narratives is an interesting book, although probably not to SLA-type scholars. Bilingual education is written "to inform preservice and veteran teachers about the field of bilingual education on a very personal level" (back cover), presumably to be used as a text.


Contents: On the Large and Small Increments of Fractional Lvy Brownian Fields On Oblique Reflecting Switched Diffusion Processes On the Weak Law of Large Numbers for Weighted Sums of Pairwise Negative Quadrant Dependent Random Variables The Moduli of Continuity and Large Increments of a Class of Gaussian Processes Random Walk Tests and Pseudorandom Number Generators Increments Theory on Gaussian Processes The Law of Large Numbers for Fuzzy Numbers with Unbounded Supports On Moduli of Continuity for a Two-Parameter Fractional Lvy Brownian Motion on Rectangles Total Occupation Times for Symmetric Stable Processes and Gaugeability A Note on Limit Theorems for the Two-parameter Wiener Process.


Streamflow prediction in ungauged basins (PUB) is challenging, and Long Short‐Term Memory (LSTM) is widely used to for such predictions, owing to its excellent migration performance. Traditional LSTM forced by meteorological data and catchment attribute data barely highlight the optimum data integration strategy for LSTM and its migration from data‐rich basins to ungauged ones. In this study, we experimented with 1,897 global catchments and found that LSTM‐corrected Global Hydrological Models (GHMs) outperformed uncorrected GHMs, improving the median Nash‐Sutcliff efficiency (NSE) from 0.03 to 0.66. Notably, there was a large gap between traditional LSTM modeling in ungauged basins and autoregressive modeling in data‐rich basins, and GHM‐forced LSTM were an effective way to close this gap in ungauged basins. The spatial heterogeneity of the performance of GHM‐forced LSTM was mainly influenced by three metrics (dryness, the leaf area index and latitude), which described the hydrological similarity among catchments. Weaker hydrological similarity among continental catchments results in larger variability in GHM‐forced LSTM, with the best performance in Siberia (NSE, 0.54) and the worst in North America (NSE, 0.10). However, the migration performance of GHM‐forced LSTM was significantly improved (NSE, 0.63) in ungauged basins when hydrological similarity was considered. This study stressed the advantages of GHM‐forced LSTM and due significance should be attached to hydrological similarities among catchments to improve hydrological prediction in ungauged catchments.


This article describes the archaeological work in the rural settlement Krivandino (Shatura district of the Moscow region) on the object, which was positioned as "megalithic complex of the Bronze Age". The author reports about the results of the diggings and scientific findings


Aim: To evaluate the anticancer effects of cisplatin,topotecan, and cisplatin with topotecan to human ovarian epithelial cancer in nude mice. Methods: Twenty four nude mice were subcutaneously implanted with human ovarian epithelial cancer cell line SKOV3 on the right side of nude mice's back, and divided into 4 groups after 21 days:control group, cisplatin group, topotecan group,and cisplatin with topotecan group.Different treatments were served from 21st day after implantation and all mice were sacrificed after 39 days. The tumor volumes of the mice were measured respectively during the therapy time.The tumor growth inhibiting rates of each group were calculated. Moreover, the curves of tumor growth were drew. Results:Significant differences in average tumor volumes and tumor growth inhibition rates were found between the treatment group and the control group( P 0.05).The tumor volumes in combination group were significantly less than those of other groups( P 0.001). Compared with cisplatin group(26.54±8.42)% and topotecan group (38.18±11.12)%,the growth inhibiting rates of tumor in combination group (73.17±30.78)% were significantly higher. Conclusion: Combined application of cisplatin and topotecan has stronger inhibition on tumor growth than single use,and they has a synergic anticancer effect to ovarian cancer.


This article attempts to assess Jon Elster's contribution to rational choice in Ulysses and the Sirens and Sour Grapes. After reviewing Elster's analysis of functional versus intentional explanations, the essay moves on to the crucial distinction between the thin and broad theories of rationality. The former elabo rates on the traditional economist's preference / feasible set apparatus; the latter is the more demanding theory which inquires into the rationality of beliefs and preferences. Elster's approach to the broad theory normally consists in using the thin theory as a reference point and in making purposefully limited departures from it. The essay illustrates the method while commenting on Elster's discus sion of autonomous preferences in Sour Grapes. It goes on to stress some impor tant analogies between Elster's use of the thin and broad theories, on one hand, and Weber's ideal-typical method, on the other. The final assessment is phrased in terms of these analogies; it is suggested that Elster is at his best when the ideal-typical method and his own separate from each other, that is, when he comes to grips with the broad theory in its own terms.


Multi document summarization is a process to produce a single summary from a set of related documents collected from heterogeneous sources. Since the documents may contain redundant information, the performance of a multi document summarization system heavily depends on the sentence similarity measure used for removing redundant sentences from the summary. For graph based multi document summarization where existence of an edge between a pair of sentences is determined based on how much two sentences are similar to each other, the sentence similarity measure also plays an important role. This paper presents an enhanced method for computing sentence similarity aiming for improving multidocument summarization performance. Experiments using two different datasets show the effectiveness of the proposed sentence similarity measure in improving the performance of a graph based multidocument summarization system.


Manual scoring of arousals is generally conducted by sleep experts in spite of being time-consuming and subjective. Our objective of this study was to develop an algorithm for automatic detection of sleep arousals without distinguishing between the types of arousal and sleep disorder groups. The processed and analysed data multiple overnight Polysomnography (PSG) recordings, consisting of 9 human subjects (6 male, 3 female), with age range of 34-69 and different conditions (4 patients with obstructive sleep apnoeas, 4 healthy and 1 patient with periodic limb movement disorder). PSG biosignals were processed to extract necessary features. K-nearest neighbours (KNN) was used as the classifier and performance of algorithm were evaluated by Leave-One-Out Cross-Validation. The average sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of algorithm was 79%, 95.5% and 93%, respectively. These results demonstrate that our algorithm can automatically detect arousals with high accuracy. Furthermore, the algorithm is capable to be upgraded for classification of various types of arousals based upon their origin and characteristics.


Water Scarcity is one of the most important environmental hazards world-over associated with atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere. In spite of receiving intensive orographic rainfall, different sources of fresh water; most parts of the population is facing increasing water scarcity day by day. It is more prevalent in the under developed as well as developing countries, than in comparison to the developed ones. The water scarcity is having multiple reasons behind it. in the broader sense, the causes behind the water crisis are mainly of two types. They are either natural or anthropological. The present paper tries to focus on the mechanisms of water scarcity from the perspectives of physical processes and anthropogenic processes. Today's water scarcity in the developing and under developed world is mostly triggered by anthropogenic activities decreasing water supply both in relative term and absolute term. This paper finally presents some measures that can be taken to reduce the hazardous effects of water scarcity for sustainable development of the ecologically fragile ecosystems. At the end, this paper also tries to throw some light as a solution to this problem (in a long term way) for betterment of inhabitants of those water scarce regions of the world.


We have carried out a magnetostratigraphic study of uppermost Cretaceous and lower Paleocene strata of the Williston Basin that are exposed in central North Dakota and easternmost Montana. Five overlapping sections were sampled that extend from the marine Fox Hills Formation through the predominantly continental Hell Creek Formation and Ludlow Member of the Fort Union Formation into the overlying marine Cannonball Member of the Fort Union Formation. Rock magnetic study indicated that the detrital magnetic mineral carrying the sediment's natural remanent magnetization is an ilmeno-hematite with low Curie temperature (<225 °C) and that secondary viscous and chemical overprints are routinely present. The base of magnetic polarity Chron 29r, which contains the K-T boundary, is located at the Hell Creek-Fort Union formational contact in central North Dakota but lies within the uppermost Hell Creek Formation in eastern Montana. This is consistent with palynological placement of the K-T boundary within the Ludlow Member in central North Dakota and at the Hell Creek-Fort Union formational contact in eastern Montana. The paleomagnetic data suggest that the Hell Creek Formation in central North Dakota terminated at least 90000 yr before the palynological K-T boundary, while the Hell Creek Formation in eastern Montana terminated synchronously with the palynological K-T boundary. This resulted from a time-transgressive change in paleoenvironmental conditions related to westward transgression of the Cannonball Sea, which was present in central North Dakota about 160000 yr after the K-T boundary. The earlier Upper Cretaceous marine Fox Hills regression and overlying marine Breien Member (Hell Creek Formation) incursion occurred during normal magnetic polarity Chron 30n.


A capacitor of a semiconductor device and its manufacturing method are provided to maximize dielectric characteristics by forming a dielectric film of a tetragonal or cubic structure using a ZrYO layer obtained from an ALD(Atomic Layer Deposition). A capacitor of a semiconductor device includes a lower electrode(41), a ZrYO dielectric film, and an upper electrode. The ZrYO dielectric film(42) is formed on the lower electrode. The upper electrode(43) is formed on the ZrYO dielectric film. The thickness of the ZrYO dielectric film is in a range of 30 to 300A. A predetermined layer is formed on the ZrYO dielectric film, wherein the predetermined layer is made of one selected from a group consisting of Al2O3, HfO2, TiO2, HfxAlyOz, Ta2O3, La2O3, CeO2, and ZrxAlyOz.