In order to evaluate the logistic industry development level of each region in Shanxi Province, firstly, we set up an evaluation index system. Secondly, based on the data in 2015, we apply grey relational analysis model, entropy weight evaluation model and location entropy evaluation model to evaluate the logistics development level of different regions in Shanxi province. The results showed that the logistics development level of Taiyuan is the highest, and Jincheng is the lowest. Finally, we put forward some suggestions to improve the whole level of logistic development in Shanxi Province.


Using the RBV as a theoretical backdrop, the study is intended to begin the line of inquiry: Do IT asset matter and improve the firm performance? This inductive research used panel data estimation technique for unbalanced panel data to measure, describe, and analyze the firm performance. The results reveal a mixed behavioral effect of IT asset on firm performance. The positive influence of IT asset on firm performance suggests that a firm should invest to develop IT infrastructure in order to effectively promote firm IT capability and performance. However, the inverse relationship between IT asset and firm performance suggests that IT intensive stocks are not performing well in the stock market of Bangladesh. The study explains the IT asset's contribution to firm performance from RBV perspective in the context of Bangladesh as well as extends the literature in this field.


ABSTRACT The Chinese Altay orogenic belt (comprising the Ashele, Kelan, and Maizi volcano-sedimentary basins) contains more than 20 volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits and mineralizations. VMS deposits in the Kelan Basin are hosted in volcano-sedimentary rocks of the Lower Devonian Kangbutiebao Formation. The orebodies are lenticular bedded in shape and are conformable with the surrounding country rock. The ore structures include massive, banded, ribbon, dense disseminated, veinlet, stockwork, and veinlet-disseminated structures. Four mineralizing events have been identified in the Dadonggou Pb–Zn, Tiemierte, and Wulasigou polymetallic deposits. We performed Rb–Sr isotopic dating on sphalerites and pyrites of the exhalative-sedimentary period from the Dadonggou, Tiemierte, and Wulasigou deposits. Seafloor exhalative processes are identified as being most significant for the formation of economic mineralization during the 394–391 Ma interval. The syndepositional VMS deposits in the Chinese Altay formed during the Early–Middle Devonian (386–413 Ma): the mineralization ages of the Maizi, Kelan, and Ashele basins are 386–400 Ma, 391–413 Ma, and 387–394 Ma, respectively. The younger subvolcanic hydrothermal mineralization in the Ashele Basin occurred from 379–383 Ma. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT


This paper presents an approach for dense depth estimation taking the input of a trinocular stereo. The approach works with a global energy minimization framework based on Markov Random Field models. The occlusion and spatial consistency constraints are explicitly considered in an iterative fashion. Depth maps are initialized by belief propagation using AD-Census metric, and then refined by Mean Shift Segments Fusion. We further incorporate the occlusion constraint for trinocular stereo to refine our depth map. In order to make the inference tractable, we implement our algorithm in an iterative scheme where the disparity map and occlusion map of each view are updated iteratively. Finally, three disparity maps corresponding to a trinocular stereo are estimated. Our approach addresses the problems such as untextured regions, occlusions, inconsistency in spatial region in a unified framework. The experimental results show our approach works well on trinocular stereo.


On the basis of a case study the success of palliative radiation of metastasis of a non-small-cell lung cancer in the spine is demonstrated and the limits of this palliative therapy are discussed. Pain control seems to be the first aim, stabilisation of the spine and myelodecompression to prevent paraplegia could be another.


Clara Janes's Kampa is a love song dedicated to the renowned Czech poet Vladimir Holan. The work includes a musical and lyrical composition performed on tape, and its unconventional musical mode offers an alternative to divisions between western and non-western literary and musical forms. The poetry of Kampa presents musical methods of bridging the chasm between self and other, and the work offers this union in the midst of regions on the periphery of traditional eastern and western divides. Janes (1940-) has been recognized as one of Spain's great mystical love poets, and she has also received Spain's Premio Nacional de Traduccion (1997) for bringing Czech, Turkish, Persian, Arabic, Portuguese, English, Chinese, and French literary texts into Spanish letters. The publication of Kampa in 1986 signaled Janes's budding interest in cross- cultural literary contact, and it also increased public awareness of Janes's young literary career. Kampa, which includes a book of poems and a musical recording in Janes's own voice, is a love song dedicated to a passionate literary exchange with the dissident Czech poet Vladimir Holan. The work's international flavor and its unique musical elements garnered critical attention, in- cluding endorsements from two of Spain's most well-respected female writers, Rosa Chacel and Maria Zambrano. Chacel's brief epilogue to Kampa emphasizes Janes's growing importance, describing her as "entre las grandes poetisas del amor" (100). Likewise, Zambrano's published review of Kampa praises the mystical and musical qualities of the voice that speaks in the work: "la voz no es hacia, ni sobre, ni porque, en donde todo rastro se ha borrado; voz abismatica, voz que sale sin romperlo del silencio, voz que esta sobre el abismo, sostenida por la musica" (III). Upon opening Kampa' s elegant boxed set, readers encounter an insert introducing the book and offering insights regarding the work's approach to "being." The insert quotes Maria Zam- brano's notion that "la musica sostiene en el abismo a la palabra," and Janes adds that "ese abismo es el vacio de antes de ser" (emphasis original). The expression "antes de ser," translated "before being" or "pre-being," signals Kampa' s unusual approach to existence. While previous studies have analyzed Kampa' s distinct ontology, critics have focused primarily on feminist readings and have thus largely ignored two crucial aspects of the work - its musical form and its cross-cultural content.1 The "other" of Kampa, figured as a reclusive, island-dwelling Czech poet, writes in a different language, inhabits a distant and solitary geographical space, and speaks from the political and literary isolation of Eastern Europe. This study focuses on the musical and cross-cultural aspects of Kampa, elements that play a significant role in the trans- formation of the work's poetic speaker. The poetry of Kampa employs literary allusions and musical forms that challenge the insularity not only of the "self but also of the related construct "Western Europe" and its ostensibly distinct (and privileged) ways of knowing. My analysis will begin by considering Kampa's approach to being, followed by close readings of Kampa' %


In recent years, the standards of drug therapy for advanced kidney cancer have undergone significant changes associated with the appearance of the effective immune checkpoint inhibitors, as well as the high affinity second-generation multi-kinase inhibitors. One of the new tyrosine kinase inhibitors associated with the proven antitumor activity and safety in patients with advanced forms of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is cabozantinib. The standards of drug therapy for advanced renal cancer have significantly changed in recent years with the emergence of effective anti-tumor immune response checkpoint inhibitors and high-affinity second-generation multikinase inhibitors. One of the novel tyrosine kinase inhibitors with proven antitumor activity and safety in patients with advanced renal cell cancer (RCC) is cabozantinib. In the first-line therapy for advanced renal cancer, the combination of cabozantinib with nivolumab became the regimen of choice in patients of all risk groups, according to International Metastatic RCC Database Consortium (IMDC), regardless of the presence of a sarcomatoid component in the tumor based on the results of the randomized phase III CheckMate 9ER clinical trial (n=651), which demonstrated a significant benefit of immune targeted therapy compared to sunitinib in terms of overall survival (OS; median 37.7 and 34.3 months, respectively), progression-free survival (PFS; median 16.6 and 8.3 months, respectively) and objective response rate (ORR; 55.7 and 28.4%, respectively). Cabozantinib monotherapy in the first-line therapy of advanced renal cancer in patients in the intermediate-risk and poor-risk groups is an alternative regimen reserved for patients with contraindications to anti-tumor immune response checkpoint inhibitors. This recommendation is based on the results of the open-label phase II RCT, CABOSUN (n=157), which showed a significant increase in PFS in the cabozantinib group compared to sunitinib (8.6 month vs 5.3 months, respectively). Also, cabozantinib is the drug of choice in papillary RCC due to the proven advantage in terms of PFS over sunitinib (9.0 and 5.6 months, respectively) demonstrated in the SWOG 1500 phase II RCT (n=152). Cabozantinib remains the drug of choice for second-line therapy of RCC resistant to anti-angiogenic therapy, based on the results of the phase III METEOR RCT, in which the drug showed a compelling advantage over everolimus for PFS (7.4 and 3.8 months, respectively) and OS (21.4 and 16.5 months, respectively). The article presents a detailed analysis of these studies.


Random Telegraph Noise (RTN) characteristics of p-type silicon nanowire FinFET have been studied. It is shown that from multilevel RTN noise characteristics the presence of multiple traps inside the gate oxide may be predicted.


Computations1 Nan y M. Amato Ping An amato s.tamu.edu pinga s.tamu.edu Te hni al Report 00-009 Department of Computer S ien e Texas A&M University College Station, Texas 77843-3112 January 15, 2000 Abstra t In this report, we des ribe the relationship between task s heduling and deterministi mesh sweeps that arise in parti le-transport omputations. In parti ular, we argue that the eÆ ient parallelization of su h omputations is most a urately viewed as a generalization of the traditional task s heduling problem and not as an appli ation for domain de omposition, as has been generally assumed in the past. In fa t, as we show, the transport problem represents an interesting omposite task-s heduling problem: given one set of tasks, and multiple dependen e graphs for these tasks (one for ea h distinguishable sweep dire tion), nd an assignment of tasks to pro essors that minimizes the time required to pro ess all su h graphs. Within this ontext, our goal is to study and propose s heduling algorithms that are suitable for the parti ular generalization of the s heduling problem that arises in the ontext of transport sweeps. This report do uments our progress to date and des ribes future plans. It onsists of three parts. First, we de ne the traditional task s heduling problem and des ribe relevant related work. Se ond, we des ribe our progress in building a C++ task s heduling library that will provide a testbed in whi h to evaluate and ompare the s heduling algorithms we design, in luding an experimental evaluation of the (traditional) s heduling algorithms implemented to date. Third, we brie y outline our plans for future work.


The article considers and analyzes a new type of IT technologies - cloud technologies (cloud services). The possibility of implementing cloud technologies in a telecommunications enterprise was studied, with the calculation of the economic effect for the enterprise.


One method to measure the bunch shape at the free electron laser at DESY Hamburg (FLASH) is to use the synchrotron radiation (SR) emitted from charged particles traveling through the first bunch compressor. For the numerical simulation of the generated high frequency synchrotron radiation the uniform theory of diffraction (UTD) is employed. In this paper a new promising comparison of measured and simulated fields is shown. Furthermore, the applicability and limitations of the method are discussed.


HE development of percutaneous techniques has made it necessary to revise some of the former criteria for cordotomyY -',1~ The ease, simplicity, and safety of percutaneous cordotomy have increased in number the patients for whom the procedure can be used. These factors, together with the associated relief from pain, have resulted in our use of the percutaneous method in an initial series of 400 patients subjected to more than 600 cordotomies in a 2-year period. Previously on this service only 20 to 30 open cordotomies would have been done in a comparable period. Among the 400 patients was a group of 100 who required bilateral lesions. This report will review data from the 225 cervical percutaneous cordotomies performed on these 100 patients. Methods and Material The technique for percutaneous radiofrequency cervical cordotomy is that described previously 17 with the following modification. An omnidirectional cineradiographic unit is now used exclusively for radiographic visualization. During placement of the cordotomy needle, a specific attempt is made to introduce 0.2 to 0.5 ml of 1.5% lidocaine into the epidural space; when the needle enters the subarachnoid space an additional 0.1 ml is injected intrathecally. The radiofrequency lesion is made progessively with 2.5 sec increments, rather than 5 sec. Once the desired level of analgesia is attained, the last time-exposure is repeated three times, or a total of four, to assure more complete necrosis. This last modification was instituted with the sixteenth patient in this series and probably represents the reason for the better long-term results in those patients who followed.


Soil is the basis of the ecosystems and of our system of food production. Crops can uptake heavy metals and potentially toxic elements from the soil and store them in the roots or translocate them to the aerial parts. Excessive content of these elements in edible parts can produce toxic effects and, through the food chain and food consumption, result in a potential hazard for human health. In this study soils and plants (spring wheat, Triticum aestivum L. and maize, Zea mays L.) from a tannery district in North-East Italy were analyzed to determine the content of some major and micro-nutrients and potentially toxic elements (Al, Ca, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Ni, P, Pb, S, Zn, V). The soils of the area are moderately polluted; Cr is the most important inorganic contaminant, followed by Ni, Cu and V. Factor analysis evidenced that the contaminants are in part anthropogenic and in part geogenic. Major anthropogenic origin was detected for Cr, Ni (from industrial activities), Zn, Cu, Cd (from agriculture practices). Biological Absorption Coefficient (BAC) from soil to plant roots and Translocation factor (TF) within the plant were calculated; major nutrients (K, P, S) and some micronutrients (Cu, Zn, Mg, Mn) are easily absorbed and translocated, whilst other nutrients (Ca, Fe) and potentially toxic elements or micronutrients (Al, Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb, V) are not accumulated in the seeds of the two considered plants. However, the two edible species proved differently able to absorb and translocate elements, and this suggests to consider separately every species as potential PHEs transporter to the food chain and to humans. Cr concentrations in seeds and other aerial parts (stem and leaves) of the examined plants are higher than the values found for the same species and for other cereals grown on unpolluted soils. Comparing the Cr levels in edible parts with recommended dietary intake, besides other possible Cr sources (dust ingestion, water), there seems to be no health risk for animal breeding and population due to the consumption of wheat and maize grown in the area.


Spatial statistic data is location related data which could be visualized on a map that forms a thematic map. Nowadays, more and more spatial related data could be reached through internet as the development of geospatial data sharing. Traditionally, cartography of these data is done by experts manually; however, automatic cartography of the spatial statistic data could be of value to the users in a distributed circumstance who have no knowledge of cartography. In this paper, domain ontology on web thematic mapping is defined, according to this ontology, a service-chain of web cartography services is generated which could handle the spatial statistic data and get a thematic map automatically.


Abstract Few interventions for family caregivers of persons with dementia (PwD) focus on both dementia care skill-building and the enhancement of acceptance and compassion towards oneself and the PwD. We designed a multicomponent, mindfulness-based 4-session caregiver intervention (Practice of Acceptance, Awareness, and Compassion in Caregiving, or "PAACC") to reduce burden in caregivers of family members with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD) and TBI-related AD. A prospective, randomized trial design is being implemented to compare the effectiveness of PAACC to the well-known, evidence-based REACH-VA intervention. Seventeen family caregivers (Mean Age = 68.71 years; 82% women; 30% had high school or less education) have participated in the trial thus far and provided qualitative responses to acceptability questions. High acceptability was noted for all intervention components of PAACC. Participants completed 95% of mindfulness homework during the study period. A majority also reported practicing spontaneous, informal mindfulness while engaged in daily activities (e.g., going for a walk, cooking). One participant noted incorporating mindfulness in her daily spiritual practice. The majority remarked that PAACC taught them to be more aware and accepting of the PwD's illness. Others mentioned becoming more aware of which stressors triggered them, and that they were able to avoid arguments with the PwD because of this increased awareness. Overall, our results suggest that this mindfulness-based multicomponent intervention is a promising method for promoting stress reduction for family caregivers of persons with dementia regardless of age, stage of dementia, education level, or rurality. Implications for research and practice will be discussed.


The interaction between the flow of the nozzle and the acoustic motion in the combustion chamber acts as an important factor in suppressing combustion instability where nozzle damping effect can be evaluated by nozzle admittance. In this study, Modified Impedance Tube experiment is implemented to predict the acoustic nozzle damping effect. The experimental admittances are compared to numerical admittances values which are calculated from one-dimensional linearized Euler equation of Crocco's theory. As a result, it was possible to identify qualitatively the tendency between increasing and decreasing parts. Also, Efficient frequency bands of nozzle attenuation can be predicted.


In reinforcement learning problems, agents take sequential actions with the goal of maximizing a time-delayed reward. In this chapter, the design of reward shaping for a continuing task in a multiagent domain is investigated. We use an interesting example, keepaway soccer (Kuhlmann, 2003; Stone, 2002; Stone, 2006), in which a team tries to maintain ball possession by avoiding the opponent's interceptions. The keepaway soccer problem, originally suggested by Stone (2005), provides a basis for discussing various issues of multiagent systems and reinforcement learning problems(Stone, 2006). The difficulties of this problem are twofold, i.e., the state space is continuous and the sense-act cycle is triggered by an event, such as a keeper (learner) getting the ball. Since the learner selects a macro-action which ABSTRACT


This paper reviews recent experimental evidence related to searches for exotic mesons and charmed particles. In addition, evidence for exotic particle exchange is reviewed, and search experiments in progress are discussed. Upper limits of 2μb to 10μb have been placed upon exotic meson production in forward processes while limits of 1μb to 2μb exist for exotic mesons produced in baryon exchange processes.


The following research called Status Huamachuco Resort to Develop a Competitive
Tourist Supply, aims to identify and describe tourism resources, tourist services,
favorably positioned in the minds of local consumers as a cultural tourism product
and tourism infrastructure image counting the resort Huamachuco formed through
the application of different methods, techniques and instruments proposed by the
theory of spatial planning instruments, thus it gets structuring research in six
chapters, the first is oriented mainly to the description of the general data of the study
area and from the second chapter the largest percentage of the research is essentially
because it is the development of the tourism inventory, analysis at the level of
attractiveness of tourism resources identified.
The third chapter is oriented quality analysis by focusing on a model of quality
measurement and diagnosis called SERVQUAL tourism infrastructure chapter,
which is also evaluating the capacity of receptivity of tourists, in the fourth chapter,
generated tourism image is analyzed through promotional activities and its various
distribution channels revealed important data that are reflected in the recognition and
positioning of the resort Huamachuco in the mind of a domestic or foreign consumer,
the analysis of the physical infrastructure each resource was developed minutely in
the fifth chapter, which provides a detailed analysis of the tourism infrastructure and
road marking both as a tourist resort; Finally the sixth chapter is oriented to the
analysis of tourism management and analysis of how the public organization is
chapter - while privately identified by those who have the responsibility of each
resource or destination as
Finally to achieve this end scientific methods were used: - deductive, analytic -
synthetic, ethnographic, analytic - comparative and inductive statistical method, each
of these with their respective instruments were employed in both the stage and in the
field cabinet stage, information presented in the following investigation.


For approximately 30 years, hematologists have sought the humoral regulator of platelet production, thrombopoietin.1 Although a factor with the appropriate physiologic effects was partially purifie...


This invention discloses a compressing method for wavelet images based on approaching quantization one by one quickly including: analyzing an image to be processed to several sub-bands of different frequencies by wavelet transformation, carrying out modulating codes of difference pulse to a sub-band with the lowest frequency, coding difference amplitude and symbols after coding, carrying out quick approaching to quantization code one by one to HF sub-bands then to carry out entropy code to the sub-bands of HF and LF, which reduces relativity among symbols since the lowest band sub-band of LL occupying most energy of transformed coefficient is coded completely and an independent code technology to symbol separation.


In the emerging smart grid technologies, resource utilization is diversified and responsive demand became an important tool in availing various benefits. The informed load curtailment is a popular means of demand response aspect with customers being facilitated by financial incentives for offered load reduction. Therefore, augmentation of such responsive loads with unit commitment process can be effective in resource scheduling of smart grid. This paper attempts to develop a binary fireworks algorithm application solve unit commitment problem along with demand response and wind energy. While the wind energy is considered as non schedulable, load curtailment is modelled as schedulable through demand response aggregator. Further, system and thermal unit constraints applicable for wind energy and DR are modified. The proposed methodology is tested on system with coal fired thermal generation, demand response aggregator and wind energy. Various possible scheduling scenarios are laid out for examination. Simulation results are presented and discussed in detail. Results shows the effectiveness of demand response in reducing the operational cost of system operator. Also, the demand response showed betterment when scheduled along with wind energy. The reduction in cost from from traditional thermal unit scheduling is observed to be 6.5% which is best among all the possible scenarios.


Ultrafast laser micromachining results depend on both the processing parameters and the material properties. The thermal effects are negligible if a good combination of processing parameters is chosen. However, optimizing the processing parameters to achieve the required surface quality on a given material can be quite complex and time consuming. Within the framework of the European LAMpAS project, we developed a model to estimate the heat accumulation on a surface as a function of the laser fluence, scanning speed and line pitch. The simulation results were correlated with experimental ones. The predictions of the model allow evaluation of the heat distribution on the surface, and optimize the ultrafast laser micromachining strategy, yielding negligible thermal damage.


Asphalt ages easily under the natural environment of light, heat, and oxygen. A good amount of pavement damage, such as cracks, chaps, and trenches, is caused by asphalt aging, which shortens the service life of asphalt pavement. The aging rules of asphalt differ from oil source to oil source. Here, 18 typical asphalt samples were subjected to short-term aging experiments using a thin-film oven test. The principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis were carried out on eight aging-resistance indexes. The results classified the 18 types of asphalts into 2 groups according to the oil source, which indicated that the aging resistance of asphalt primarily depends on its oil source. Furthermore, based on the PCA and cluster analysis results, a discriminant model of different aging performance asphalts with a very high accuracy rate was established. These results provide a scientific basis for reasonable selection, quality monitoring, and guarantee of the origin of asphalts.


The two steps Taylor-Galerkin fractional step finite element method,which is of second order accuracy in space and time,is proposed for the three dimensional nonlinear large amplitude sloshing problem.The calculating coordinates is fixed on the container and the exited acceleration is regarded as mass force.Following this method,the intermediate velocity is obtained explicitly neglecting pressure gradient term,and the velocity is corrected for the effects of pressure once the pressure field has been obtained from the pressure Poisson equation.The level set approach is applied to track the free surface implicitly.In order to track the free surface,the transport equation of level set function is solved in each time step and the level set function is reinitialized through iteration method to maintain it as a distance function.The governing equations of the system are discretized by the two steps Taylor-Galerkin method,which is of high order accuracy and easy to carry out.The validity and reliability of this method in this paper are verified by two numerical examples.


This study examines dynamic transitions of Brinkman equation coupled with the thermal diffusion equation modeling the surface tension driven convection in porous media. First, we show that the equilibrium of the equation loses its linear stability if the Marangoni number is greater than a threshold, and the corresponding principle of exchange stability (PES) condition is then verified. Second, we establish the nonlinear transition theorems describing the possible transition types associated with the linear instability of the equilibrium by applying the center manifold theory to reduce the infinite dynamical system to a finite dimensional one together with several non-dimensional transition numbers. Finally, careful numerical computations are performed to determine the sign of these transition numbers as well as related transition types. Our result indicates that the system favors all three types of transitions. Unlike the buoyancy forces driven convections, jump and mixed type transition can occur at certain parameter regimes.


The effects of TEA with 1% lidocaine without epinephrine oa systemic and coronary hemodynamics and myocardial metabolism were studied in 7 dogs. Coronary blood flow was measured by means of electromagnetic flowmeter through coronary sinus catheterization. The results showed that heart rate, mean artery pressure,central venous pressure and cardiac index were decreased. The depression of systemic circulation was mainly due to the relative hypovolemia induced by vasodilation of blocked zone. Although coronary blood flow reduced, myocardial oxygen consumption decreased oven more resulting from an attenuation of pre and aft erload of heart and heart rate. Therefore, myocardial oxygen balance was maintained wall without the evidenca of ischemia.


This paper proposes an application of the Infinite Unit Axiom and grossone, introduced by Yaroslav Sergeyev (see [7] - [12]), to the development and classification of one and two-dimensional cellular automata. By the application of grossone, new and more precise nonarchimedean metrics on the space of definition for one and two-dimensional cellular automata are established. These new metrics allow us to do computations with infinitesimals. Hence configurations in the domain space of cellular automata can be infinitesimally close (but not equal). That is, they can agree at infinitely many places. Using the new metrics, open disks are defined and the number of points in each disk computed. The forward dynamics of a cellular automaton map are also studied by defined sets. It is also shown that using the Infinite Unit Axiom, the number of configurations that follow a given configuration, under the forward iterations of cellular automaton maps, can now be computed and hence a classification scheme developed bas...


Introduction: barter networks and information islands Paul Seabright Part I. Theory: 1. Some lasting thing: barter and the value of money Jayasri Dutta 2. Barter Relationships Canice Prendergast and Lars Stole 3. An anthropological view of barter in Russia Caroline Humphrey Part II. Large Scale Empirical Studies: 4. Barter in post-Soviet societies: what does it look like and why does it matter? Alena Ledeneva and Paul Seabright 5. Different types of non-monetary transaction in Russia Simon Commander and Christian Mummsen 6. Barter in Russia Sergei Guriev and Barry W. Ickes 7. The household in a non-monetary market economy Simon Clarke 8. Barter in transition economies: competing explanations confront Ukrainian data Dalia Marin, Daniel Kaufmann and Bogdan Gorochowskij 9. Barter and non-monetary transactions in transition economies: evidence from a cross-country survey Wendy Carlin, Steven Fries, Mark Schaffer and Paul Seabright Part III. Ethnography: 10. How is barter done? The social relations of barter in provincial Russia Caroline Humphrey 11. Shadow barter: economic necessity or economic crime? Alena Ledeneva 12. Surrogate currencies and the wild market in Central Siberia David G. Anderson 13. Bear skins and macaroni: the social life of things at the margins of a Siberian state collective Nikolai Ssorin-Chaikov Conclusion: what is to be done? Paul Seabright and Simon Commander.


Little is known of Ralph Buckland. Anstruther records that he was born in 1564, educated at the Merchant Taylors' School and Magdalen College, Oxford, ordained in Rome in 1588 and sent as a 'seminary priest' to England where he was arrested and banished in 1606. He died in 1611 leaving behind him two works, both printed secretly in England, Seaven Sparkes of the Enkindled Soule (1604/5) and An Embassage to Heaven (1606–10). The earlier volume, a collection of original psalms, is a significant work from many points of view. It has literary value both as a poetic text and as a technical experiment, showing an early awareness of the mechanics of Hebrew prosody and current scholarly debate about its practice. It is also a poignant record of the predicament of the recusant Englishman around the time of the Gunpowder plot and an effective register of his state of mind.


A new algorithm using the Householder transform to directly update an inverse data covariance matrix is examined for adaptive phased array radar (APAR) problems This algorithm is shown to operate very efficiently on parallel matrix-vector processors without the need for costly vector outer products. The processing accuracy requirements for this algorithm are shown to be roughly half that of more conventional direct approaches, which nearly doubles the processing speed. We investigate the performance of this algorithm with various jammer scenarios, and incorporate a joint jammer-clutter reduction architecture using a displaced phase center antenna (DPCA).


Resumen en: The study identifies what the decision makers in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of the luxury hotels of Natal/RN, Brazil understand by CSR and how...


To solve the problems associated with processing massive data,information integration and multi-purpose utilization in petroleum resource information,a spatial data warehouse management system is proposed based on GIS in this study.Object-oriented design method is adopted for the development.Microsoft Visual Studio 2008(C#) is used as a development tool.Also,ETL and Oracle 11g OLAP tools are used to import data and service development.The system design is optimized by optimal coding specifications of 10 topics data,naming rules and data association to enhance data integration and generality.The study is useful in comprehensive utilization of national petroleum information and integration of geoscience data.


The energy of different Nb disordering and ordering substitution in TiAlwith various composition is calculated using the pair-wise potential model. It is observedthat the Nb atoms situated on the Ti sublattice in TiAl, and the increasing of Nb and Alcontents is beneficial for the ordering occupation of Nb atoms.


Artificial lift systems are widely used in oil production, of which sucker rod pumps are conceptually among the simpler ones. The reciprocating movement of the plunger triggers the opening and closing of two ball valves, allowing fluid to be pumped to the surface. Their built-in ball valves are subject to long-time erosion and fail as a consequence of this damage mechanism. Understanding the principal damage mechanisms requires a thorough examination of the fluid dynamics during the opening and closing action of these valves.
 In this article, we present a fluid-structure interaction model that simultaneously computes the fluid flow in the traveling valve (TV), the standing valve (SV), and the chamber of sucker rod pumps during a full pump cycle. The simulations shed light on the causes of valve damage for standard and nonideal operating conditions of the pump. In particular, our simulations based on real pump operating envelopes reveal that the so-called "midcycle valve closure" is likely to occur. Such additional closing and opening events of the valves multiply situations in which the flow conditions are harmful to the individual pump components, leading to efficiency reduction and pump failure. This mechanism, hitherto unreported in the literature, is believed to constitute the primary cause of long-term valve damage.
 Our finite element method-based computational-fluid-dynamics model can accurately describe the opening and closing cycles of the two valves. For the first time, this approach allows an analysis of real TV speed versus position plots, usually called pump cards. The effects of stroke length, plunger speed, and fluid parameters on the velocity and pressure at any point and time inside the pump can thus be investigated. Identifying the damage-critical flow parameters can help suggest measures to avoid unfavorable operating envelopes in future pump designs.
 Our flow model may support field operations throughout the entire well life, ranging from improved downhole pump design to optimized pump operation or material selections. It can aid the creation of an ideal interaction between the valves, thus avoiding midcycle valve closure to drastically extend the mean time between failures of sucker rod pumps. Finally, our simulation approach will speed up new pump component development while greatly reducing the necessity for costly laboratory testing.


The cell turnover of the epithelial attachment was autoradiographically studied in mice. To keep the enamel as it was, the special method was employed according to Terasaki & Shiota. The investigation was performed, focused on the dynamic aspect of the radioactive index with normal and gingivectomized preparation after the wound was almost recovered in 4 weeks or 7 weeks.From these the following results were obtained.1) In the normal upper palatal gingiva, the labeled cells were recognized in the apical part 1 hour after the injection for the first time. At 1 day after they were in their maximum and at 10 days no labeled cells were observed. The radioactive indices were 6.22, 14.88, 7.23, 2.34 and 1.00 at 1 hour, 1 day, 3 days, 5 days and 7 days after H3-thymidine administration. On the other hand, in the coronal part they were not observed until 3 days after the injection. After 14 days they completely disappeared. The radioactive indices were 0.56, 4.83, 10.71, 14.03, 4.20 and 1.98 at 12 hours, 1 day, 2 days, 3 days, 5 days and 7 days respectively.From these results it was postulated that the labeled cells migrated from the apical part to the coronal part as it was observed that the epithelial cells did not collapse to the enamel.In the upper buccal gingiva the values of the respective radioactive index were almost same. The tendencies of the migration of these epithelial attachment cells were not different from those in the upper palatal gingiva.2) In the preparation gingivectomized 4 or 7 weeks before, the same migration pattern was observed as the normal one, furthermore the epithelial cells did not fall into the enamel. In the so-called epithelial attachment the epithelial cells seemed to always be supplyed and renewed. The values of the radioactive index were slightly higher in 4 weeks after operation than control, but in 7 weeks those were almost equal with control.These observations imply that the relation between the enamel and epithelial attachment cells is not in the simple mechanical contact.


In New South Wales, at least 28 species of native rodents have been recorded since European settlement. Four of these are extinct nationally, six are extinct in the State, six are vulnerable and four are endangered; only eight remain non-threatened. Declines and losses have been greatest in central and western New South Wales and least in the State's north-east. Neither body weight nor habit are associated with status, but taxa such as Rattus species with broad diets and habitat preferences remain generally less threatened than ecological specialists. Threatening processes affect all vulnerable and endangered species, with predation from introduced carnivores, grazing from livestock, clearance of vegetation and changed fire regimes being among the most severe. No species occur entirely on reserved land, while two endangered species have no secure land tenure. A program of survey, research, management and education is proposed to help achieve recovery.


Biopulping is the process of pretreating chips with fungus before mechanical pulping, resulting in significant energy savings and sheet strength improvements. This work presents sugar analysis, methylene blue adsorption, and titration data suggesting an increase in acid group content in wood is common with biopulping treatment. Some discussion of possible mechanisms of acid generation and fungal self-protection is presented. INTRODUCTION The main advantages of biopulping are similar to those of cold soda treatment: reduced refiner energy and increased mechanical properties in the resulting pulp. The effects of cold soda are due to acid group generation from the deesterification of hemicellulose (1). This study investigated whether increases in acid group content may be responsible for the chemical and physical changes in wood during biopulping as well. Enzymes are often identified as the decay agents in white rot fungi, which includes biopulpers, while hydroxyl radical is the primary degradation tool of brown rot fungi (2). Since enzymes are too large to penetrate sound wood (3), fungi must use small diffusible agents during initial decay to open up the wood structure. Brown rot fungi appear to have evolved from white rot fungi (4), suggesting that white rot fungi may have a competent system for production of extracellular hydroxyl radical. This has been supported by evidence of extracellular hydroxyl radical production in white rot fungi (5-7). If biopulping fungi produced hydroxyl radical, one would expect hydroxylation of the aromatic lignin structures and depolymerization of carbohydrates (8). Both of these chemical reactions would generate acidic sites in the wood, which increases the fiber saturation point (FSP) of the wood and sheet properties of the pulp. There are many other possible routes to acid generation on pulp as well. Oxalic acid, known to crystallize on hypha as calcium oxalate, provides several possibilities. Oxalate radical decays to formate radical, which could add to wood forming a terminal acid group. Alternatively, esterification of one end of oxalate ion (or other dicarboxylic acid) onto any alcohol in the wood would leave the free acid end bound to wood substrate. Acid groups produced by oxidative depolymerization of carbohydrates or oxidation of aldehydes could be accomplished with manganese peroxidase, laccase with a mediator, or other oxidants such as peroxyl radical. We suspect that biopulping fungi might use a mechanism of hydroxyl radical production as has been shown in the closely related brown rot fungus Postia placenta (2). Constant acid production might curtail radical production immediately adjacent to the hypha, protecting the fungus, and still allow the reaction to proceed at a distance. Calculations in this paper show that a pH gradient to accomplish this is very unlikely. METHODS AND MATERIALS Treatment Fresh chips of white spruce (Picea glauca), aspen (Populus tremuloides), white pine (Pinus taeda), and eucalyptus (50/50 mix of E. grandis and E. salignia) were placed in 20-L incubators and decontaminated with atmospheric steam for 10 min. After cooling, water (to make final 50% solids), corn steep liquor (0.05% on dry wood), and innoculum were added and incubated for 2 weeks. SS3 (Ceriporiopsis subvermispora L14807SS3) was added as blended mycelia (0.0005% w/w) and grown at 27°C. BKM and RP78 (Phanerochaete chrysosporium BKM and the monokaryot daughter strain RP-78) were inoculated as spores (5x10/kg) and grown at 39°C. Pulp was atmospheric refined to 750 freeness (CSF) and stored frozen. All of these fungi produce consistent energy savings and strength improvement during biopulping. Sugar analysis Samples of control and SS3 treated white pine chips were milled to pass a 1-mm screen and ca. 100 mg subsamples were treated with 5.0 mL of water at 121C for 1, 2, or 4 h. All treatment solutions also contained 0.11% ethylene glycol. Aliquots of treatment extracts were filtered, acidified with H2SO4, and hydrolyzed for carbohydrate analyses. Residues were collected by filtration and analyzed for carbohydrate content. The hydrolysis and chromatographic conditions used are described elsewhere (9), except that the primary hydrolysis step was omitted in the case of the extracts. Standard deviation in sugar % of dry weight was 0.02%. Methylene blue analysis Known weights of pulp were placed in 50-mL centrifuge tubes with 5 mL 1M borate buffer (pH 8.5), five clean steel balls, and mixed to break clumps. Aqueous methylene blue (35 mL, 1mM) was added and tubes tumbled for 1 h. Samples (1.5 mL) were removed and centrifuged at 20,000 × g for 5 min. Two dilutions of 0.5 mL into 5 mL H2O and 0.125 mL 1N HCl were made and vortexed. Two (0.2-mL) samples from each dilution were analyzed at 610 nm in a UV/VIS microtiter plate reader. Micromoles of dye adsorbed by pulp equalled 35*(1-Asample/Ablank). Acid group titration Refined chips from a single pass (750 mL CSF) were aused. Extracted samples followed Tappi T-264-88 with the substitution of toluene/ethanol (19:81 molar ratio) for benzene/ethanol. All pulps for titration were then alternately soaked and rinsed in 0.1N HCl (total of 18 h). After rinsing with millipore water, samples were freeze dried. Conductivity titrations and analysis generally followed the method of Katz (10). Titration of 1.4 g pulp in 1 L of 0.0015 N KCl with 0.1 N KOH (3 mL/h from syringe pump) was followed with pH and conductivity measurements. HCl (20 mmol) was added at the start of the titration to extend the initial strong acid portion of the conductivity curve. The endpoints for strong and total acid groups are the intersections of the horizontal minimum value line with the initial downward slope line and the final upward slope line (see Fig 2). Two or more runs were performed for each condition. Wood pH Wood blocks approximately 3 cm on a side were removed from incubators at various intervals and frozen. When all blocks were collected, they were thawed and the end grain smoothed with a microtome knife. The blocks were then squeezed in a vise until water pooled on the end grain surface. The pH of this solution was measured with a flat pH probe. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Sugar analysis Data in Table 1 indicate that the biopulping fungus SS3 decreased mannose, glucose, and xylose content in the wood but increased galactose. This suggests that the fungus degrades glucomannans, glucuronoxylans, and xylans during initial colonization of the wood. Data in Table 2 reinforce this pattern, showing that hemicelluloses, especially xylose, are more easily The hemicelluloses could be extracted after biopulping treatment.


One of the priorities set out by the NHS Long Term Plan in 2019 was a commitment to improving services and outcomes for those living in care homes and thereby reducing avoidable emergency hospital admissions This was to be achieved by rolling out the Enhanced Health in Care Homes model nationally by 2024 The COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected care homes in 2020, and consequently NHS England brought forward the national rollout of the model and instructed primary care networks to begin implementation by the end of July 2020 This article reflects on one nurse's experience of implementing the model in a care home in her area and the challenges that were overcome The authors also suggest improvements to the implementation process [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Primary Health Care is the property of RNCi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use This abstract may be abridged No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract (Copyright applies to all Abstracts )


The need to become language proficient is in demand. Non-native speakers seek competent individuals who are confident in expressing themselves in the second language. Hence, the assurance of producing language proficient learner is still far at hand because of the limited interaction and the lack of confidence and competence in using English language. The present study aimed to find out the influence of interactive learning and linguistic environment in oral English language performance of college students in Sudan and Ethiopia. (Madrunio et. al.,) said that it has become a widespread notion that speakers" use of different language results in intercultural communication. It is thus important to emphasize that the ownership of English cannot be attributed to just one country or to those who use it as a native or home language. The varieties of English spoken by different speech communities have evolved for a reason. They use it for communal purposes. These varieties have been heavily influenced by the local culture and its speakers. Specifically, this study sought to answer the following questions: the


The two main fixing methods in the assembly process of optical components are adhesive bonding and thread fastening. For both methods, boundary loading effect is generated on optical component, which results in stress distribution in it. The quantitative prediction and control of the stress distribution in optical component is not available because the boundary load induced by adhesive or thread is difficult to control and test quantitatively. Up to now, the interrelationship and variation between the boundary load and the internal stress in optical component have not been effectively studied. Based on the above requirements, quantitative radial boundary loading and real-time measuring methods for optical component are proposed in this paper. Quantitative interrelationship between the boundary load and the stress distribution and surface form in optical component can be obtained by integrating the stress and surface measurement devices with radial boundary loading system. This innovative loading and measuring device is suitable for various sizes of optical components, and it solves the quantitative application and control problems during loading, measuring, and real-time detection of adhesive curing force.


Over the next decades, NASA's planned solar system exploration missions are targeting planets, moons and small bodies, where spacecraft would be expected to encounter diverse extreme environmental (EE) conditions throughout their mission phases. These EE conditions are often coupled. For instance, near the surface of Venus and in the deep atmospheres of giant planets, probes would experience high temperatures and pressures. In the Jovian system low temperatures are coupled with high radiation. Other environments include thermal cycling, and corrosion. Mission operations could also introduce extreme conditions, due to atmospheric entry heat flux and deceleration. Some of these EE conditions are not unique to space missions; they can be encountered by terrestrial assets from the fields of defense, oil and gas, aerospace, and automotive industries. In this paper we outline the findings of NASA's Extreme Environments Study Team, including discussions on state of the art and emerging capabilities related to environmental protection, tolerance and operations in EEs. We will also highlight cross cutting EE mitigation technologies, for example, between high g-load tolerant impactors for Europa and instrumented projectiles on Earth; high temperature electronics sensors on Jupiter deep probes and sensors inside jet engines; and pressure vessel technologies for Venus probes and sea bottom monitors. We will argue that synergistic development programs between these fields could be highly beneficial and cost effective for the various agencies and industries. Some of these environments, however, are specific to space and thus the related technology developments should be spearheaded by NASA with collaboration from industry and academia.


Abstract In many Seyfert galaxies the 2-20 keV X-ray spectrum typically softens with increasing X-ray flux. This effect has been explained by two different models; either pivoting of a single spectral component or relative changes in the normalisations of two components (a hard and a soft) which each have constant shape. We present a model-independent technique to analyse spectral variability, the 'flux-flux' plot, which shows conclusively that the two-component model is correct for some Seyfert galaxies (including the well studied MCG–6-30-15 ) but in other Seyferts spectral pivoting applies (e.g. NGC 4051). The nature of each of the spectral components in MCG–6-30-15 are briefly examined.


A postprocessor program was written for converting United Computing Corporation Automatic Programmed Tool (APT) cutter location data to a format compatible with the Ex-Cell-O 921/922 turning machines equipped with DDNC or a Bendix 1800 Control. The program is written in MACRO-11 and FORTRAN IV language for the PDP-11/10 minicomputer, and is run under control of the computer's disk operating system software. 44 figures, 6 tables.


The interaction of fast (tens of keV/amu) ions with atoms, molecules, and solids, has been a subject of interest to some in the Quantum Theory Project and their collaborators for some time, resulting in theoretical and computational investigations of various aspects of the problem. This note briefly reviews several broad areas that have received, and continue to receive attention.


Poxviruses, of which vaccinia virus is the prototype, are a large family of double-stranded DNA viruses that replicate exclusively in the cytoplasm of infected cells. This physical and genetic autonomy from the host cell nucleus necessitates that these viruses encode most, if not all, of the proteins required for replication in the cytoplasm. In this review, we follow the life of the viral genome through space and time to address some of the unique challenges that arise from replicating a 195-kb DNA genome in the cytoplasm. We focus on how the genome is released from the incoming virion and deposited into the cytoplasm; how the endoplasmic reticulum is reorganized to form a replication factory, thereby compartmentalizing and helping to protect the replicating genome from immune sensors; how the cellular milieu is tailored to support high-fidelity replication of the genome; and finally, how newly synthesized genomes are faithfully and specifically encapsidated into new virions. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Virology, Volume 9 is September 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.


The article employs the case-study of a corporal exchange of a cross-country mountain bike racing event in Australia to elaborate the feedback process in a situation where in the spectators have already experienced the circumstances and feelings of the performers. The connection that is established between these two parties in such sporting events is discussed in detail.


Many companies continually strive toward creating and maintaining quality products and processes. What is vitally important, but is often overlooked in the literature, is that to achieve a quality organization, you must begin by emphasizing the importance of creating and maintaining quality data and information systems. Information pervades all activities of an organization, and without efforts to collect, store, and process data in a manner that ensures quality information the organization's ability to promote total quality will be severely lessened. This paper presents a discussion of issues related to data quality, problems achieving data quality, and methods to address these problems. A discussion of quality software is also presented, as is a focus on the total quality management effort as it applies to information systems.


Urban soils have been changed much by human impacts in terms of structure, composition and use. This review paper gives a general introduction into changes from compaction, mixing, water retention, nutrient inputs, sealing, gardening, and pollution. Because pollutions in particular have caused concerns in the past, metal pollutions and platinum group metal inputs have been treated in more detail. Though it is not possible to cover the entire literature done on this field, it has been tried to give examples from all continents, regarding geochemical background levels. Urban metal soil pollution depends on the age of the settlement, current emissions from traffic and industry, and washout. It seems that in regions of high precipitation, pollutants are swept away to the watershed, leaving the soils less polluted than in Europe. Health hazards, however, are caused by ingestion and inhalation, which are higher in 3rd world countries, and not by concentrations met in urban soils as such; these are not treated within this paper in detail. With respect to pollutants, this paper is focused on metals. Contrary to many reviews of the past, which mix all data into one column, like sampling depth, sieved grain sizes, digestion and determination methods, these have been considered, because this might lead to considerable interpretation changes. Because many datasets are not Gaussian distributed, medians and concentration ranges are given, wherever possible. Urban dust contains about two to three fold the hazardous metal concentrations met in urban soils. Some data about metal mobilities obtained from selective and sequential leaching procedures, are also added. Soil compaction, pollution, sealings and run-offs cause stress situations for green plants growing at roadside locations, which is discussed in the Section 5. Environmental protection measures have led to decrease metal pollutions within the last decade in many places.


This article explores the use of oral paraphrase as an informal and versatile strategy for assessing and enhancing listening comprehension in mainstreamed students with language and learning disabilities. In light of the comprehension demands of content-area classrooms, paraphrasing can give students and teachers immediate feedback on students' ability to comprehend and orally reconstruct the lesson. Some approaches to assessing the listening comprehension demands of individual classrooms and using various dimensions of paraphrasing to enhance students' language comprehension and production skills in the context of content-area information are presented.


Bulgaria is a small country (111 001.9 sq. km; population 7 761 000) in southeastern Europe. Bulgarian, the mother language of 84.8% of the population, is an Indo-European language and a member of the southern branch of the Slavic languages. Currently, there are approximately 10 million people speaking Bulgarian, including 1.5 to 2 million second-language speakers. Some communities in Canada, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Turkey (Europe), Ukraine, and the USA also speak Bulgarian (Wikipedia, 2006). The aim of this report is to present the current state of the development of the Bulgarian HINT.


The optical performances of fabricated diffractive micro-optical lens are determined by some fabrication process parameters. These key fabrication parameters are found to be the laser intensity, the speed of the movable stages, the distance from the top surface of the photoresist to the UV objective lens, the starting laser intensity, the laser intensity variation step and the overlap of the adjacent patterns. In order to get the continuous-relief profile, a method was used to fabricate diffractive optical lens with any surface relief profile. Each zone of the diffractive micro-optical lens is divided and linewidth is achieved by changing the fabrication parameters. A computer control program has been developed to optimize the key fabrication parameters for fabricating the high quality continuous-relief diffractive micro- optical lens matched with design parameters. The fabricated lens has a focal length of 1.1 cm, which is very close to the design value of 1.0 cm.


N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) is a popular solvent in the battery industry, but its environmental impact has caused a shift towards aqueous-based slurry compositions. However, its use is limited in several nations due to its hazardous effects on humans and the environment. Developing environmentally friendly aqueous processing for electrode manufacturing is crucial as a countermeasure. To implement green and sustainable production method, a water-based battery electrode processing is devised to replace NMP, the standard organic solvent. In addition, the manufacturing procedures of lithium-ion battery electrodes must be tuned for the electrodes to provide equivalent performance to those produced by conventional processing.
 In this study, we developed a simple aqueous battery electrode manufacturing method to form channels to reduce tortuosity and kinetic limitation of thick, high mass loading LIB battery electrodes and, more importantly, to improve rate performance at high C-rate while ensuring scalability and lowering electrode manufacturing cost


Can be shortened to provide a pre-written to the nonvolatile semiconductor memory device during a write period and total write, comprising: a first electric energy, the second nonvolatile semiconductor memory cells (M) data is rewritten; in the first, while applying a second plurality of memory cell write pulse, write control circuit for writing (3-8). Write control circuit (3-8) does not depend on the first and second memory cell write state, while applying a first pulse is written in advance thereon; after application, does not depend on their write state, in first, while applying a first writing pulse of the second predetermined potential difference higher than the first predetermined write pulse on the second storage unit. Then, on the first and second memory cells having a column address pulse is applied is lower than a second predetermined voltage, and initial write pulse to a first potential difference is smaller than the second potential voltage rising errand.


The dramatic progress in power-scaling of ultra-short pulse (USP) lasers and their growing use in industrial applications call for flexible and robust beam delivery systems (BDS) over several meters with no temporal or modal distortions. Inhibited coupling (IC) hypocycloid Kagome hollow-core photonic crystal fiber (HC-PCF) has recently proved to be an excellent solution for guiding these USP. In order to reduce further the attenuation of such fiber and then to increase the BDS capabilities, we report on an optimized IC Kagome HC-PCF exhibiting record loss level (8.5dB/km at 1030nm) associated with a 225nm wide 3-dB bandwidth and low bend sensitivity.


Many blockchains utilize public peer-to-peer networks to communicate transactions. As activity on blockchain-based DeFi protocols has increased, there has been a sharp rise in strategic behaviour from bots and miners, commonly captured by the notion of Maximal Extractable Value (MEV). While many works have focused on MEV arising from the smart contract layer or consensus layer, in this work we study how a strategic agent can maximise realisable MEV through the optimal choice of network peers. Specifically, we study how existing definitions and algorithms for latency optimization can be augmented with information about the transactions themselves in order to optimize peering algorithms. We formally model this optimization objective for two classes of consensus protocols : 1) time-based ("fair ordering") protocols and 2) single leader-based protocols. We present an efficient local algorithm for choosing peers strategically, and evaluate our algorithm on real world data to show that it outperforms benchmark algorithms that either choose peers randomly or do not exploit information about blockchain transactions.


An 82-year-old female patient with arterial hypertension, goitre after radioactive iodine therapy (2009 AD; currently hypothyroidism treated with hormonal supplementation), with history of two episodes of pulmonary embolism (2010 AD), with probable pulmonary hypertension based on echocardiogram, was admitted to our clinic due to permanent atrial fibrillation with symptomatic bradycardia (recurrent syncope) to have a permanent pacemaker implanted. Since the patient presented with signs of well-developed circulation in the superficial veins of the neck and chest and widened mediastinal silhouette in X-ray, venography of the upper extremities was performed before the pacemaker implantation (Fig. 1). The examination revealed the occlusion of both subclavian veins, abundant collateral circulation, and no signs of contrast flow through the superior vena cava (SVC). The unavailability of the SVC route for cardiac pacing is a rare but challenging complication. It is met in patients post mastectomy and/or radiotherapy to chest, with previous infection in SVC leads or their multiplicity, recurrent erosion, abnormal venous anatomy, and burns. There are a few options in such instances. Most patients are referred for epicardial lead placement, either by minimally invasive surgical implantation or an open thoracotomy, which bear the increased risk of general anaesthesia, peri-procedural complications, and prolonged hospitalisation and recovery. Additionally, the concerns regarding long-term electrophysiological performance of those leads have been raised. In selected cases the interventional radiology team might attempt the recanalisation using balloon dilatation, which is often not possible due to the occlusion site or unfavourable anatomy, as in our patient. Another option would be to use leadless pacemakers — devices with a power source incorporated delivered to the heart using e.g. a femoral vein route (almost on the market), or systems comprising a small receiver implanted into the heart with a miniaturised pulse generator/transmitter placed under the skin in the upper chest (under evaluation). The transiliac route is a verified but underutilised means of the pacemaker implantation in patients lacking a pectoral approach. The method does not require extraordinary instrumentation or sophisticated operational techniques, and it is currently available and cheaper in comparison to the aforementioned leadless technologies. Moreover, any potentially increased risk of lead dislodgement, infection, and iliac vein thrombosis was disproved in clinical studies (Mathur G et al. Europace 2001; 3: 56–59; Guerrero JJ et al. Pacing Clin Electrophysiol, 2005; 28: 675–679). The presented patient was qualified for the iliac approach procedure. The external iliac vein was cannulated superior to the inguinal ligament (Fig. 2). An active fixation lead Medtronic CapSureFix Novus 5076 — 85 cm was advanced to the right ventricular septum near the apex (Figs. 3A, B). The lead was secured to the muscular fascia, and a subcutaneous pocket was fashioned in the right lower abdomen where a standard single-chamber pulse generator was placed. The ventricular lead parameters were acceptable: R wave of 6.0 mV, pacing threshold of 0.8 V/0.5 ms, and an impedance of 700 W. Neither peri-procedural complications nor pacemaker parameter abnormalities were recorded during the follow-up of 9 months. Subsequently, while searching for the culprit of the central veins obstruction and possible malignancy, a computed tomography scan of the chest was performed which showed a massive goitre compressing the veins. The patient was referred to surgeons for further diagnostics and qualification for thyroid gland resection. Summing up, the iliac approach is a less invasive and feasible alternative to epicardial lead implantation. Figure 1. Venography showing i.a. both subclavian veins occlusion (arrows) and developed collateral circulation


Analytical table of contents Preface Introduction: rationality Part I. Representing: 1. What is scientific realism? 2. Building and causing 3. Positivism 4. Pragmatism 5. Incommensurability 6. Reference 7. Internal realism 8. A surrogate for truth Part II. Intervening: 9. Experiment 10. Observation 11. Microscopes 12. Speculation, calculation, models, approximations 13. The creation of phenomena 14. Measurement 15. Baconian topics 16. Experimentation and scientific realism Further reading Index.


It is important for high-tech virtual enterprise to select co-partners. In this paper, in order to make enterprises select co-partners scientifically and reasonably in bid evaluation decision, Analytic hierarchy process model and group decision making model are set up. Practice proves that they are suitable and practicable for multilevel and multifactor problems.


Because of the current access equipments can hardly fulfill the new operations such as flow media,deeply research- es about EMD 10G linecard's function and architecture are presented,and the WDRR algorithm based on FPGA is put forward to combine the up data,which improves the delay performance without increasing the complexity of calculation excessively.This paper also proposes a FPGA+TCAM+2*SRAM method of multieast pipeline lookup in allusion to the super-wide table lookup,which is as wide as 1 920 bits,in contrast with the conditional method,the new method increases the efficiency as much as 67%.At last the simulation and test results indicate that the scheme can fulfill the requirement of EMD 10G linecard.


Fire management is increasingly acknowledged as a necessary tool to maintain diversity in desert environments such as the Great Victoria Desert of Australia, but it needs to be informed by accurate fire history data. We compared and assessed the utility of Landsat-derived and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-derived burnt area mapping (30 m and 250 m resolution, respectively) for sub-regional, landscape and habitat scale management. We did so by using Sentinel-2-derived, 10 m resolution, burnt area mapping as a reference, to determine the most appropriate product to support land management planning. At the landscape scale, Landsat had significantly lower average omission and commission errors (3.4% and 8.0%, respectively) compared with that of MODIS (42.2% and 19.9%, respectively). At the habitat scale, Landsat burnt area percentage was more accurate, in plots of 500 m × 500 m (root mean square error (RMSE) 0.6% to 8.6%), but offered lower accuracy when estimating partially burnt habitat plots of 120 m × 120 m (RMSE 14.1% to 23.9%). Only Landsat-derived fire scar mapping provided enough detail to produce reliable fire history maps to inform fire management and biodiversity conservation operations at a sub-regional scale, landscape scale and a habitat scale of 500 m by 500 m.


The application of UASMaster is presented in this paper for the low-altitude unmanned Aerial Vehicle( UAV) image data processing task,and then a systematic study is conducted on the topic of the emergency services protection oriented quick image mosaic technology and the methodological framework of data production in large scale mapping.


Field evaluation of BAU-Biofungicide and plant extracts was performed to manage leaf blight of wheat caused by Biopolaris sorokiniana from November, 2015 to April, 2018. Two susceptible varieties of wheat viz., Kanchan and Prodip were used in the experiment. Aqueous extracts of neem leaf and garlic clove, Trichoderma based preparation BAU-Biofungicide and an inducer Bion were evaluated in the field as seed-treatment or seed-treatment along with foliar application. In addition, a chemical fungicide (Tilt) was used as positive control and an untreated negative control were included in the experiment. Based on the three years of experiment in three cropping seasons during 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18; seed treatment with BAU-Biofungicide was found highly effective to reduced leaf blight severity in both cultivars. The lowest disease severity was observed in plots where Tilt was used as spray followed by seed treatment with BAU-Biofungicide plus BAU-Biofungicide spray. BAU-Biofungicide showed better performance in controlling leaf blight of wheat. Based on the findings of the present study, BAU-Biofungicide potentially reduce the severity of Bipolaris leaf blight of wheat therefore, it could be an effective option for the growers for eco-friendly management of leaf blight disease of wheat and obtaining higher yield.


Submitted for the TSF09 Meeting of The American Physical Society Aberrated Optical Tweezers For Manipulation Of Nanoparticles SAMARENDRA MOHANTY, KUNAL TIWARI, UT Arlington — Asymmetry leading to aberrations is the most unwanted parameter in optics, especially while working on a microscopic system such as optical tweezers using high numerical aperture microscope objectives. While considerable efforts are being made to minimize aberrations in optical tweezers for stable trapping, optical tweezers that are asymmetric in size along transverse directions due to astigmatic beams, enabled controlled rotation of microscopic objects. More interestingly, adding further aberrations (such as coma) in the intensity profile of the asymmetrically shaped optical tweezers, even more complex tasks such as parallel transport of microscopic objects has been achieved. Here, we report transport of dielectric nanoparticles of different sizes using aberrated optical tweezers. The aberrated optical tweezers was generated by using Gaussian output from Ytterbium fiber laser which was first stretched using a cylindrical lens and subsequent aberrations were introduced by either tilting the beam with respect to the microscope objective or by use of an additional lens. We could generate the asymmetric potentials selectively in a controlled way in X and or Y-directions over an extended spatial region. This development would further facilitate the growing use of optical tweezers for mixing as well as sorting at nano level. Samarendra Mohanty UT Arlington Date submitted: 04 Oct 2009 Electronic form version 1.4


Rho-associated protein kinase (ROCK) signaling correlates with cell shape, with decreased cell spreading accompanied by decreased ROCK activity. However, how cell shape and ROCK activity impact chondrogenesis of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) remains inconclusive. Here we examine the effects of ROCK inhibition on human MSC chondrogenesis in four different culture models including 3D microribbon (μRB) scaffolds, 2D hydrogel substrates, 3D hydrogels, and pellet. For each culture model involving biomaterials, four polymers were compared including gelatin, chondroitin sulfate, hyaluronic acid, and polyethylene glycol. ROCK inhibition decreased MSC chondrogenesis in μRB model, enhanced chondrogenesis in pellet, and had minimal effect in 2D or 3D hydrogel models. Furthermore, we demonstrate that MSC chondrogenesis cannot be predicted using ROCK signaling alone. While varying biomaterial composition can impact the amount or phenotype of resulting cartilage, varying biomaterials did not change the chondrogenic response to ROCK inhibition within each culture model. Regardless of culture model or ROCK expression, increased cartilage formation was always accompanied by enhanced N-cadherin expression and production, suggesting N-cadherin is a robust marker to select culture conditions that promote chondrogenesis. Together, the results from this study may be used to enhance MSC-based cartilage regeneration in different culture models.


Background Incomplete ST-segment deviation resolution (STR) after epicardial flow restoration may represent microvascular dysfunction and predicts an unfavorable outcome in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). From recently published data concerning STEMI patients that underwent primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), increased mortality in patients with multivessel disease (MVD) was attributed to the presence of a chronic total occlusion (CTO) in a non-infarct-related artery (IRA). We evaluated whether the presence of MVD with or without a CTO in a non-IRA significantly contributes to incomplete STR in a large cohort of patients undergoing primary PCI for STEMI. Methods In this single-center study, 2127 STEMI patients underwent primary PCI between 2000 and 2006. The IRA and presence of MVD was determined during diagnostic angiography preceding primary PCI. MVD was assessed if ≥ 1 non-IRA showed ≥ 1 coronary stenosis of ≥ 70% and a CTO was defined as a 100% luminal narrowing in a non-IRA. STR was defined as the relative difference (in %) of the summed ST deviation between the pre-PCI and the immediately post-PCI 12-lead ECG. A post-PCI STR of ≥ 70% was considered complete. Results During emergency coronary angiography, singlevessel disease (SVD) was observed in 1474 (69.3 %) patients, MVD without a CTO in 433 (20.4 %) patients, and MVD with a CTO in a non-IRA in 220 (10.3 %) patients. MVD patients less frequently showed complete STR compared to patients with SVD (OR 1.2 95% CI, 1.0 – 1.5 p = 0.046). However, the occurrence of complete STR in SVD patients and MVD patients without a CTO was comparable (OR 1.1, 95% CI, 0.9 – 1.4 p = 0.43). In MVD patients with a CTO, STR was significantly less often complete compared to patients with SVD or with MVD without a CTO (OR 1.6 95% CI, 1.1 – 2.6 p = 0.01). Conclusion STEMI patients with MVD undergoing primary PCI showed complete STR less often compared to SVD patients. This effect is mainly due to a subgroup of MVD patients with a CTO in a non-IRA and not due to mere MVD.


Over 360 distribution coefficients (KJ for cesium, iodine, selenium, Strontium, technetium, and uranium were measured in fiscal year 1998 using 20 sediments collected fkom borehole 299-El 7-21 on the Hanford Site as part of the Immobilized Low-Activity Waste-Performance Assessment (ILAW-PA). Additionally, the pH and cation-exchange capacity (a measure of the total quantity of cations that a sediment can adsorb) of these sediment samples were measured. The sediment samples originated from the Hanford formation (informal name). Statistical analyses, using Student's t-test and correlation were conducted with the measured values. There were no significant differences between layers 1 and 2 for the selenium, strontium, technetium, and uranium & values (statistics could not be applied to evaluate layer 3 v whereas the con- servative estimate was the miniium value, except for the conservative uranium&estimate that was based on the second-to-lowest value because of the presence of an unusually low value that was not consistent with other values from this borehole or previous reported values. Overall, the estimates are consistent with values used for the ILAW-PA, with some notable excep- tions. The conservative & estimates for technetium and uranium are approximately the same as those used for the ILAW-PA. The conservative ~alues for cesium, selenium, and strontium were appreciably more conservative than necessary. The conservative iodine value is appreciably less than that used in the ILAW-PA and was based on a literature review of & values measured using Hanford Site sediments. The cause for the lower iodine &values measured in borehole 299-E 17-21 sediments is not known, though the sediments used in this study clearly had appreciably lower concentrations of fme materials than the Hanford Site sediments previously used in iodine sorption measurements. These differences in &values underscore the importance of basing& estimates for the ILAW-PA on measurements using site-specific sediments.


The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has performed research investigating the Test Device for Human Occupant Restraint 50 male (THOR-50M) response in Oblique crash tests. This research is being expanded to investigate THOR-50M in the driver position in a 56 km/h frontal impact crash. Hybrid III 5 percentile adult female (AF05) anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs) were used in this testing to evaluate the RibEye Deflection Measurement System. The AF05 ATDs were positioned in the right front passenger and right rear passenger seating positions. For the right front passenger, the New Car Assessment Procedure (NCAP) seating procedure was used, except the seat fore-aft position was set to midtrack. For the right rear passenger, the seating followed the FMVSS No. 214 Side Impact Compliance Test Procedure. The NCAP frontal impact test procedure was followed with additional vehicle instrumentation and pre/post-test measurements. Results from this test series were compared with previous NCAP crash tests. The THOR-50M showed similar kinematics to the Hybrid III 50 but predicted a higher risk of chest and femur injury. The mid-track seat position of the right front passenger AF05 led to lower levels of femur compression loading due to additional distance to the dash. BrIC for the driver and front passenger showed higher injury risk than HIC15. In all vehicles, the rear seat AF05 predicted a substantially higher risk of head, neck and chest injury than the right front passenger. The AF05 RibEye output showed a higher peak deflection (x-axis) than the chest potentiometer. Introduction The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA's) New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) has been conducting frontal impact tests at 56 km/h (35mph) into a rigid barrier to provide the public with a simple rating system on the safety of new automobiles and to aid with purchasing decisions. Currently, a large number of new vehicles have NCAP star ratings of 4 and 5 stars. This frontal crash test typifies vehicle crash inputs that are a major source of injuries and fatalities in the field. Recent Fatality Analysis Reporting System data indicated that, despite improvements in seat belts and air bag technology, restrained occupant fatalities persist in frontal impacts. This NHTSA Crashworthiness research study presents results and compares anthropomorphic test device's (ATD's) response to that of the most recent NCAP testing. This study utilized new ATDs to evaluate occupant protection in NCAP's frontal impact crash test. Test Device for Human Occupant Restraint 50 percentile male (THOR-50M) were used to determine if current vehicle safety systems can be improved [1]. The THOR-50M was positioned in the driver's seat. The Hybrid III 5 percentile adult female (AF05) was positioned in the right front passenger's seat as it is in current NCAP frontal impact tests. Since not all passengers sit in the full-forward position, the seat was positioned at mid-track to investigate the implications for occupant kinematics and injury risk for smaller occupants. This study also evaluated the rear seat position because it has been shown to be less protective for some occupants than the front [2]. An AF05 was used to evaluate the restraint effectiveness for a rear seat passenger. Additional instrumentation was added to both AF05 ATDs used in this study. The RibEye Multi-point Deflection Measurement System [3] was installed into both AF05s in the hope of enabling improved resolution for chest deflection. The RibEye system can record up to twelve chest locations and measure deflections in the local x and y axes. Methodology Frontal Impact Crash Testing In the NCAP frontal impact test setup, a test vehicle is directed into a rigid barrier at a speed of 56 km/h perpendicular to the barrier face. Vehicle instrumentation is comprised of accelerometers positioned about the vehicle. Based on the response of the ATDs positioned within the vehicle, an injury risk is calculated for each occupant and those results are combined to generate the joint probability of injury. In this study, each AF05s was equipped with the RibEye Measurement Deflection System to provide greater detail on chest deflection for the crash events. The instrumentation allows the recording of x and y positions of LEDs mounted bi-laterally on all six ribs of the AF05. The LED sensor heads are placed on each rib 6 cm from the center of the sternum. Rib #1 is at the top of the chest and rib #6 is at the bottom. In the current research study, six vehicles were instrumented with additional accelerometers and angular rate sensors to record vehicle kinematics. In addition, string potentiometers were positioned inside the vehicle to record the deformation of the left and right side toe pan. Two Chevrolet Malibu models were tested in sequence to compare ATD and vehicle response repeatability. Due to the additional ATD and data acquisition equipment, five of the six vehicles had test weights that were greater than the NCAP vehicle weights. The single vehicle weighing less was the F-150 SuperCrew which was tested without the 4X4 drivetrain that was present on the NCAP test vehicle. To assist in bringing two of the test vehicles (Mazda3, Fit) closer to the NCAP weights, the amount of Stoddard fluid was reduced to approximately 1/3 of the fuel tank's capacity. Table 1 shows the list of test vehicles and corresponding NCAP vehicle tests. Table 1: Research / NCAP frontal impact test vehicles NHTSA Test Number Make Model Year Weight (kg) 9332/7856 Chevrolet Malibu 2015/2013 1870/1844 9333/7856 Chevrolet Malibu 2015/2013 1867/1844 9334/8531 Toyota Highlander 2015/2014 2335/2250 9335/9097 Ford F-150 Super Crew 2015/2015 2474/2577 9336/8539 Mazda Mazda3 2015/2014 1599/1470 9337/9033 Honda Fit 2015/2015 1427/1329 Results Injury Criteria and Associated Injury Risk – THOR50M Occupant injury risk was assessed by determining the probability of a given severity of injury based on the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) [4] [5]. For the head, neck, and chest, the probability of an AIS score of three or higher (AIS ≥ 3) was calculated. For the femur, the probability of an AIS score of two or higher (AIS ≥ 2) was calculated. The injury criteria and associated risk functions used to predict injury risk for the THOR-50M in the driver's seat were used in the assessment of THOR-50M injury in oblique moving deformable barrier crash tests described by Saunders, et al [6]. Injury Criteria and Associated Injury Risk – AF05 The injury criteria and associated risk functions used to assess injury for the AF05 in this right front passenger seat were those used in frontal NCAP testing [7], with one addition. In this testing, the front AF05 was equipped with angular rate sensors to allow the calculation of Brain Injury Criterion (BrIC) [8]. Injury risk assessment for the rear seat occupant utilized the frontal NCAP risk functions for the AF05 [7]. Occupant Injury Assessment Driver The driver's seat in NCAP tests is positioned at mid-track. The THOR-50M in this study was seated using a new procedure developed to achieve reproducible position and posture by accounting for the adjustability, flexibility, and measurement capabilities of the THOR-50M [9]. During the tests, seat belt pretensioners and frontal air bags deployed for the driver. Force limiting seat belts were noted in all tests at the driver position. However, the Toyota Highlander lap belt force also showed a rise and peak that is more characteristic of a seat belt without force limiting. The initial lap belt force indicated force limiting behavior until approximately 40 milliseconds after impact. The belt force then steadily increases up to a 6000 lb peak. Seat belt loads for the driver are shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2. Curtain air bags deployed in both of the Chevrolet Malibu tests and in the Toyota Highlander test. Curtain air bag deployment was not considered to affect ATD response in these test events because occupant motion was directed primarily forward. In the three tests with curtain air bag deployment there was no observed contact with the driver's head. Figure 1: Driver, shoulder belt force Figure 2: Driver, lap belt force Fo rc e (N ) Fo rc e (N ) Fo rc e (N ) Fo rc e (N ) For all crashes in this study, the THOR-50M HIC15 was higher than the 50 percentile male Hybrid III (AM50) response seen in the NCAP testing (Table 2). The highest increase over the NCAP results was seen in the first Malibu test with an increase in risk of 1.1%. This was also the highest Driver HIC15 injury risk for this study. Table 2: Driver, HIC15 values and injury risk C he vr ol et M al ib u C he vr ol et M al ib u To yo ta H ig hl an de r Fo rd F -1 50 M az da 3


Chickens are a species of vertebrate with varying colors. Various colors of chickens must be classified to find color-related genes. In the past, color scoring was performed based on human visual observation. Therefore, chicken colors have not been measured with precise standards. In order to solve this problem, a computer vision approach was used in this study. Image quantization based on k-means clustering for all pixels of RGB values can objectively distinguish inherited colors that are expressed in various ways. This study was also conducted to determine whether plumage color differences exist in the reciprocal cross lines between two breeds: black Yeonsan Ogye (YO) and White Leghorn (WL). Line B is a crossbred line between YO males and WL females while Line L is a reciprocal crossbred line between WL males and YO females. One male and ten females were selected for each F 1 line, and full-sib mating was conducted to generate 883 F 2 birds. The results indicate that the distribution of light and dark colors of k-means clustering converged to 7:3. Additionally, the color of Line B was lighter than that of Line L ( P <0.01). This study suggests that the genes underlying plumage colors can be identified using quantification values from the computer vision approach described in this study.


The development of the anion exchange membrane (AEM) which transports OH anions across the electrolyte membrane, unlike the conventional proton exchange membrane (PEM) transports H protons has resulted in various types of membranes that exhibit different transport and structural capabilities, that is, benzyltrimethylammonium moieties radiation-grafted onto PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) and FEP [poly-(tetra fluoroethylene-co-hexafluoropropylene)] membranes.


The proposal of the Dossier entitled "Policies and educational management in Latin America" represents a collective effort of national and international researchers to contribute under different theoretical-methodological approaches with the interpretation of the phenomena circumscribed to public policies and the educational management of different countries of the region. continent. It is imperative to situate the regional scenario in the context of the political, social and economic transformations experienced by Latin American countries in recent years, which directly affect the definition of new agendas for public educational policies and perspectives for the management of the educational institutions. These changes, according to Scaff, Souza and Paxe (2018), are now governed by the logic of the privatization of the supply of education through public financing, together with a greater regulatory centralization of the State at the service of the market, and for the inviabilization of democratic spaces of participation and decision. Furthermore, understanding the similarities and the multiple differences present in the educational reality of Latin America is an increasingly necessary initiative in terms of advancing the socialization of knowledge and the creation of spaces for continuous reflections between institutions and researchers, with the objective of strengthening the perspective of regional integration.


The present invention relates to the method of preparing of ezetimibe and derivatives thereof as well as the use of ruthenium catalyst for preparing said compositions.


Problems with rainfed lowland rice cultivation in Sambas Regency include; the level of productivity is still low and the attack of blast disease and planthopper pests. Therefore, the introduction of new high-yielding varieties that have high productivity and resistant to blast disease and planthopper pests. Besides that, new improved varieties are in accordance with the tastes of the local community. This study aims to determine the analysis of the financial feasibility and preferences of farmers to the character of superior varieties of rice in rain-fed rice fields. The field research was carried out on 10 hectares of farmers' land and survey in Matang Danau village, Paloh sub-district. Research time is from April to August 2018. Respondents were 30 ethnic Malay cooperative farmers. Data collected included input and output data of rice farming, farmer characteristics, plant morphology. Data collection through observation and interviews with farmers. Observations were made on growth in the field and just before harvest. From the results of the study showed that the new superior variety of Inpari 41 was feasible to be cultivated with MBCR 1.49 with additional gross revenue of Rp 5,435,000 (39.92%) with again on the total cost of Rp 1,252,940 (22.45%) of the variety Cilosari. Farmers like the Inpari 41 variety because based on plant type, plant height, panicle length, number of productive tillers, level of production, resistance to pests and diseases, grain loss rate, grain color, aspects that get attention in developing rice in rainfed lowland are vegetative growth, grain form, quality of rice, rice texture, and taste of rice that are favored by local farmers as information for breeders in assembling new superior varieties of rainfed lowland rice. Keywords: Financial feasibility, Preference, New high yielding varieties, Rainfed lowland


We have measured the thermopower of Ni-Zr metallic glasses over the range of composition from ${\mathrm{Ni}}_{70}$${\mathrm{Zr}}_{30}$ to ${\mathrm{Ni}}_{25}$${\mathrm{Zr}}_{75}$. In contrast to the other simple nonmagnetic metallic glasses, Mg-Zn and Cu-Zr, the thermopower is a strong function of composition and changes sign at the Ni-rich end. The results are shown to be consistent with the Faber-Ziman model for liquid metals.


High temperature causes huge yield loss in rice. Heat-shock factors (Hsfs) are key transcription factors regulating the expression of heat stress-responsive genes, but natural variation and functional characterization of Hsfs have been seldom reported. A significant heat response locus was detected by genome-wide association study (GWAS) using green leaf area as an indicative trait. A miniature inverted-repeat transposable element (MITE) in the promoter of a candidate gene HTG3 (heat-tolerance gene on chromosome 3) was found to be significantly associated with heat-induced expression of HTG3 and heat tolerance (HT). The MITE-absent variant has been selected in heat-prone rice-growing regions. HTG3a, an alternatively spliced isoform encoding a functional Hsf, positively regulated HT at both vegetative and reproductive stages based on the results of HTG3a over-expression and knockout rice lines. The HTG3-regulated genes were enriched for heat shock proteins and jasmonic acid signaling. Two heat-responsive JASMONATE ZIM-DOMAIN (JAZ) genes were confirmed to be directly up-regulated by HTG3a, and one of them, OsJAZ9, positively regulates HT. We conclude that HTG3 plays an important role in HT through the regulation of JAZs and other heat-responsive genes. The MITE-absent allele may be valuable for HT breeding in rice.


1Outsourcing and Manufacturing Solutions, Inc. (OMSI) AFP-RSBS Industrial Park, Western Bicutan, Taguig City, Metro Manila 2Natural Sciences Research Institute, College of Science University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City 1101 3Animal and Dairy Science Cluster (Dairy Training Research Institute) College of Agriculture, University of the Philippines Los Baños, College, Laguna 4031 4Institute of Biology, College of Science, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City 1101


In this article the basic principle on data mining is studied, and the use of this technology in college gym data analysis are discussed.


This essay intends then to give tools guided by the environmental management system norm ISO 14001: 2015 and to alert about the consequences that the dumping of chemical substances and the bad disposition of the dangerous waste entails, generating conscience on environmental aspects associated with this activity economic.


This dissertation explores the role of other-regarding preferences in the form of altruism, spite, or status considerations in the resolution of adverse selection and moral hazard. Two chapters reflect upon the implications of asymmetric information on other-regarding preferences for incentive mechanism design in general and human resource management in specific. A third chapter reflects upon how moral hazard in the presence of other-regarding preferences may generate and shape people's ethical convictions regarding their abidance by social norms and formal law. Implications for public economic policy are drawn.


In the present study takes into account an analytical deduction of the relation between the maximum and average velocities of the flow in ducts or pipes of rectangular and elliptical shaped section, with the purpose of getting an expression to enable simple and fast calculation of the flow rate in ducts. Starting from the equation that models the flowing fields in rectangular and elliptical pipes, expressions to calculate the maximum and average velocities of the flow are obtained; dividing them the relation between them is obtained. From the result, it may be observed that in rectangular tube, the relation between maximum and average velocities depends only on the aspect ratio. This relation assumes its biggest value when the transversal section of the tube is a square. In elliptical tube the relation between maximum and average is equal to 2 in all case, incusing circular tube. On the other hand in rectangular and elliptical tube, the viscosity of the fluid, the variation of the linear pressure, and the measurements of the transversal section of the tube influence the maximum and also the average velocities. Keywords: No circular pipe, maximum and average velocities of draining, no conventional flow


We present an approach to tune the effective mass in an oxide semiconductor by a double doping mechanism. We demonstrate this in a model oxide system Sr$_{1-x}$La$_x$TiO$_{3-\delta}$, where we can tune the effective mass ranging from 6--20$\mathrm{m_e}$ as a function of filling or carrier concentration and the scattering mechanism, which are dependent on the chosen lanthanum and oxygen vacancy concentrations. The effective mass values were calculated from the Boltzmann transport equation using the measured transport properties of thin films of Sr$_{1-x}$La$_x$TiO$_{3-\delta}$. Our method, which shows that the effective mass decreases with carrier concentration, provides a means for understanding the nature of transport processes in oxides, which typically have large effective mass and low electron mobility, contrary to the tradional high mobility semiconductors.