A study of the induced flow pattern, in quiescent air, by the trielectrode plasma curtain (TPC) discharge is presented and analyzed in terms of the electrical characteristics of the discharge. The TPC discharge is based on the combination of a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) with a corona discharge (CD) in a three-electrode system, and basically, it consists of the "stretching" of a pure DBD by the action of a negative CD generated between the active electrode of the dielectric barrier and a remote third electrode. It was found that the observed flow pattern is mainly controlled by the forces exerted at the vicinities of both exposed electrodes, where the electric field is very high. On the other hand, the net force produced at the interelectrode gap seems to be very small in spite of the large current flowing there, a fact that can be attributed to the relatively low value of the electric field at the streamer channel.


Introduction: Past volcanism and its gradual interactions with aeolian processes have played a vital role in Martian landscape evolution. With the possibility that future Mars missions might be focused more on subsurface exploration, Martian lava fields and associated caves appear to be interesting targets for astrobiological, geomorphological, and in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) research [1, 2]. Caves display steady environmental, geophysical, and geochemical conditions supporting habitation in extreme extraterrestrial conditions [3]. Several possible "skylights" of usually >100 m diameter have been reported in Martian lava fields. However, a possible prevalence of meter-scale features, about an order of magnitude smaller and difficult to identify even in HiRISE images, cannot be ruled out. There are several constraints and facets of remote sensing-based research on Martian caves/lava tubes: (1) spotting and confirming caves in remote sensing images is difficult unless we have images from multiple view angles, 3D terrain profiles, thermal signatures, and subsurface RADAR profiles; (2) to project it as the site of future Mars exploration or settlements, determining the structural soundness and approachability of any cave is important, again requiring multiple data inputs; (3) the Martian equivalents of smaller terrestrial lava cave types can still be sufficiently large as exploratory targets, owing to lower Martian gravity. However, they can still be undetectable in available remote sensing images owing to their smaller dimensions. The Icelandic volcanic-aeolian environment can serve as a good analogue site to study smaller lava caves such as inflationary caves, surface tubes, liftup caves, and conduits. Iceland has about 15,000 km2 of active sandy deserts consisting of volcanic materials in a perfect aeolian setting [4]. These lava fields are known to harbor many huge lava tubes/caves and various types of small caves [5]. As explained above, detection and mapping of such cm-to-m-scale caves require extremely high-resolution photogrammetry possible only using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) [6]. Use of UAVs for Mars analogue research is still in early stages [7]. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is sending the first UAV to Mars with Mars 2020 rover mission. We start this research with three main objectives: (1) UAV-based high-resolution imaging survey; (2) identification and characterization of small cave openings on UAV images; (3) high-resolution comparison between Icelandic and Martian lava flows. Study Area: Considering our focus on the small dimension caves, we selected a part of the Leirhnjúkur fissure volcano lava field, situated in Krafla Caldera in Iceland (Figure 1) as the study area. This lava field has numerous vent caves, formed by upwelling and withdrawing of the basalt lava directly from the magma chamber [5], with rather small (1-2 m wide) surface openings. These caves widen out towards the bottom reaching up to 4-5 m in dimensions.


Flavor oscillations can occur on very short spatial and temporal scales in the dense neutrino media in a core-collapse supernova (CCSN) or binary neutron star merger (BNSM) event. Although the dispersion relations (DRs) of the fast neutrino oscillations can be obtained by linearizing the equations of motion (EoM) before the emergence of any significant flavor conversion, one largely depends on numerical calculations to understand this interesting phenomenon in the nonlinear regime. In this work we demonstrate that there exist nontrivial solutions to the flavor EoM that govern the fast oscillations in one-dimensional axisymmetric neutrino gases. These solutions represent a coherent flavor isospin wave similar to the magnetic spin wave in a lattice of magnetic dipoles. We also compute the DRs of such waves in some example cases which are closely related to the DRs of the fast neutrino oscillations obtained in the linear regime. This result sheds new light on the long-term behavior of fast neutrino oscillations which can have various implications for the CCSN and BNSM events.


We report room-temperature synthesis of a covalent organic framework (COF) using the combination of benzene-1,3,5-tricarbaldehyde and 1,4-phenylenediamine. The method is quite simple and the obtain...


In Nigeria and most developing countries, tomatoes (Lycoperscium esculentum) production is seasonal, geographical and are usually in short supply during the dry season. Storing them in the fresh state has been a problem. There is still a dearth of information on the optimum condition of drying with comparable characteristic on rehydration. This study therefore investigated the optimum drying conditions of the south-western Nigeria market tomato varieties i.e. Roma-VF, Koledowo and Ibadan-Local varieties and the mass transfer kinetics. Pre-treatment in a binary (sugar and salt) osmotic solution of concentration (45/15, 40/20, 50/10), temperatures (30, 40, 50), soaking time (30, 60, 90, 120, 180min) and fruit to solution ratio of 1:10 was studied. Drying was monitored at three temperatures (40, 50 and 60C) until equilibrium weight was achieved using the oven dry method. Optimum condition was based on highest water loss, weight reduction and least values of solid gain, moisture content and residual water. Results of water loss and solid gains were significant (p<0.05) for all variables considered. Drying occurred in the falling rate phase and optimum condition of 45g sugar, 15g salt, 50C solution and drying temperature has been established. Moisture transfer is by diffusion. Keywords-Osmotic dehydration, Water loss, Solid gain, Drying, Tomato, Optimum condition


The invention discloses a kind of preparation method of coffee grounds gac, comprise pre-treatment, de-oiling, dipping, the steps such as activation and cleaning, first also carbonized by the grease carried out coffee grounds in vacuum pyrolysis de-oiling removing coffee grounds and obtain coffee grounds carbon precursor, phosphoric acid is used to soak ultrasonic under different impregnating ratio (mass ratio of phosphoric acid and coffee grounds carbon precursor) as activator again, activate under different vacuum condition after drying, consider activation final temperature, vacuum tightness, temperature rise rate, soak time, the activation conditions such as impregnating ratio are on the impact of coffee grounds Properties of Activated Carbon, prepared coffee grounds gac yield is high, and iodine sorption value and methylene blue adsorption value have all exceeded national gac primary standard (iodine sorption value 1000mg/g, methylene blue adsorption value 135mg/g), can be used for the absorption to toxic and harmfuls such as the formaldehyde in room after fitting up, it is the extraordinary material for air purification of absorption property, whole carbon technique processed avoids the blocking of coffee grounds grease to coffee grounds gac hole, simple possible, duty parameter is stablized, environmental protection is pollution-free.


To the Editor.— In a BRIEF REPORT (232:509, 1975), we published findings of an outreach program to control venereal disease among homosexuals. The subject response rate (85%) confirmed the value of an anonymous reporting method; the discovery of two primary syphilis cases gave credence to case finding by field-screening a high-risk population. My purpose here is to further document the findings of this study with results of subsequent field testing. This testing was done at regular intervals in the gay bar used in the original report. During eight screening sessions held at two- to three-month intervals, 396 clients had blood tests for syphilis; an anonymous number system was used. The average call-back rate was 70%. Of the blood samples drawn, 17 were reactive to the VDRL test. On follow-up, four of the 17 cases were confirmed early infectious syphilis. The following is a breakdown of the test results: New early


Abstract. The aim of the present study was to establish the economic efficiency of the use of some herbicides and combinations in the control of weeds in the Sudan grass variety "Endje", grown in conditions without irrigation. The study was conducted in the period 2018 – 2020 in the experimental field of the Agricultural Institute – Stara Zagora. The following herbicides were tested:Arat – 0.200 kg/ha, Buktril universal – 0.8 l/ha, Stomp new 330EK- 3.5 l/ha, Wing P – 3.5 l/ha and Dicopur F-1.1 l/ha. The economic analysis was prepared on the basis of developed technological projects, according to the yield obtained from each variant. It was found that the most economically efficient was the variant with the application of the herbicide Buctril universal – 0.8 l/ha. The profitability was the highest – 34% and from one hectare you got BGN 980 more profit compared to the option without herbicides.


With the coming of Knowledge economy, the quality of members determines the competition of the enterprises. Although the training is beneficial for the development of members, enterprises and the society, many enterprises are unwilling to carry out the training. The paper aims at the resignation and the causes and focuses on the organizational constraints on the members to realize more fully the purpose of the training of the organization.


Cataract surgery in eyes with pseudoexfoliation syndrome is associated with increased intraoperative and postoperative risks. Strategies for improving outcomes include attention to IOL selection, and one surgeon describes why he is using a particular IOL.


Mutual information is a measure of association between two random elements on a joint alphabet. However mutual information lacks an upper bound and therefore conveys little about how strong the association is. Standardized mutual information on the other hand measures the association on the scale from zero to one. In this paper, four versions of standardized mutual information are shown to each satisfy the properties that it is zero if and only if the two random elements are independent and that it is one if and only if there is a one-to-one correspondence between them. Furthermore, two sets of nonparametric estimators for all four versions of standardized mutual information are discussed. The first set includes four plug-in estimators and the second set includes four estimators based on Turing's perspective. The asymptotic normalities of all discussed estimators are respectively established. Department of Mathematics, UNC Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 28223


The paper explained that traditional leakage protection principles such as zero-sequence direction relay principle and zero-sequence current's maximum principle are unable to implement selective leakage protection in situation of great disparity between long and short lines and big unbalanced current through analyzing an actual example,and proposed a scheme of selective leakage protection in the situation by use of zero-sequence current's break variable principle.The scheme judges leakage by comparing zero-sequence current with inherent capacitive current of each power line as follows: if zero-sequence current of one power line changes suddenly compared to inherent capacitive current,then the power line would be leakage line;if zero-sequence current of non power line changes suddenly compared to inherent capacitive currents,then main line leakage happens.The application showed the validity of the zero-sequence(current's) break variable principle.


【Objective】 As one of the necessary macronutrients for fruit tree growth, phosphorus affects ecological environment and sustainable development. It's very important to study the characteristics of phosphorus input and phosphorus load in orchard in order to improve phosphorus nutrient management. 【Method】Based on the data collection through soil fertility survey of orchard, farmer interviewing and agricultural statistics database, the characteristics of P application, surplus and P load were studied using nutrient balance method at different regions in Hebei.【Result】The average application rate of P fertilizer was 230.6 kg P2O5·ha-1, with common types of calcium superphosphate, diamine phosphate and compound fertilizers; The P input rate through manure application was 128.1 kg P2O5·ha-1, with common animal waste and manures. The proportions of livestock manure and fowl manure in organic manure species accounted for 35.8% and 25.5%, respectively. The P fertilizer applied rate in the orchards in northeast and central-south districts of Hebei plain were 378.5 and 195.5 kg P2O5·ha-1, respectively, and were relatively higher than the other region. P surplus was investigated in the 80% of surveyed orchards, with the average amount of 269.5 kg P2O5·ha-1, and highest amount of 1 900 kg P2O5·ha-1. High rate of P supply caused soil P accumulation in orchard, however, P over-fertilization were investigated on 88.5% of orchards with excessive soil P accumulation. P surplus rate and soil environmental P load in these orchards at the northeast and central-south districts were higher than the other regions of Hebei plain. Soil available P level in 33.6% in thesurveyed orchard had been over the critical risk level of P. 【Conclusion】High P input in the orchards of some regions led to very high rate of P load to soil environment, and this will increase high environmental risk in Hebei.


SUMMARY In thirteen patients the physiological deadspace: tidal volume ratio and the alveolar to arterial oxygen tension difference have been measured immediately before and during anaesthesia with halothane in oxygen after 30–70 minutes spontaneous respiration. The mean values were unchanged and it was concluded that the physiological shunt was also unaltered except in two instances which are discussed. In a further series of ten patients an average reduction of 27 ml in the physiological deadspace was measured as a result of endotracheal intubation.


Let <j>(n) denote the Euler totient function. In 1900, E. Landau proved that Tinzx l/^(/i) = ̂ (log x + B) + E0(x) where A > 0 and B are constants and E0(x) — 0(log x/x). In an earlier paper, we sharpened this result and in the present paper prove, in particular, some average and 0-type theorems for the error function EQ(x).


A study has been made of the protons emitted by magnesium, aluminium and silicon targets when bombarded by deuterons of energy between 700 and 1000 keV. The Q values of these (d, p) reactions have been accurately determined. Observations of the induced radioactivity in the targets and comparisons with the Q values in analogous nuclei permit tentative assignments to the isotopes responsible. The Q values and assignments are: 24Mg (d, p) 2SMg 26Mg (d, p) 26Mg* 2®Mg (d, p) 27Mg 27A1 (d, p ) 28A1 28Si (d, p)2»Si " Si (d, p)«Si Q = 5 03 MeV Q = 4-45 MeV (to excited state) Q = 4 05 MeV Q = 5-46 MeV = 4-46 MeVl = 3-98 MeV 1 (to excited states) = 3-31 MeV j Q = 6-16 MeV .= 4-87 MeV) .. .. , . , . = 3-75 MeV j The yield of the proton group attributed to 26Mg (d, p ) 26Mg* shows a resonance at 955 kV bombarding voltage, as does also the yield of radioactive 26A1 formed in the reaction 26Mg (d, n) 26A1. This indicates a resonance level in the compound nucleus 27A1 at an excitation energy of 17 MeV. The maximum energy of the β+ rays from 26A1 was measured as 2-8 MeV. The Q values listed above lead to a set of nuclear mass values, but these mass values are not always in satisfactory agreement with the published Q values for certain other reactions.


The presence of openings can have an effect on the load capacity and cracking regime for brick walls. Often the type and magnitude of cracking indicate the cause of cracks. However, cracks in brick walls appear after construction under working load due to different reasons. The presence of openings in brick wall with conventional length of lintel gives small bearing area. Thus, as a result of concentrated load on part of the wall, corner cracks occur above the openings. In addition, openings divide the wall to two parts, the first part next to the opening act as pillars and are stressed much more than the second part below the opening. Thus, as a result of differential stress, vertical shear cracks occur under opening in the wall. For these reasons, there is a need for redistribution the load by using sill under opening and increasing the bearing area by increasing length of lintel and sill. In the present study, a total of seven brick wall specimens having a wall dimensions (85*65) cm and thickness (10) cm with square opening (25*25) cm were tested .The brick wall specimens were divided into three groups as follow : i. Group one consisted of wall with R.C lintel length of 35 cm as a control wall. ii. Group two consisted of three strengthened brick wall specimens by wooden lintel of lengths (L= 35, 50,65cm). iii. Group three consisted of three strengthened brick wall specimens by wooden lintel and sill of lengths (L= 35, 50,65cm). All wall specimens were tested under static loads in regular increments from zero up to the crack load then failure load. In addition, wall deformations have been measured by LVDT. A finite element analysis was performed using SAP2000 to define the stress distribution path as well as the expected positions of cracks that might occur in walls with openings using different techniques of strengthening. The obtained test results show that using wooden lintel with length (65cm) gives an increase in the load carrying capacity up to (130 %) from the control ultimate capacity. In addition, using wooden lintel and sill with length (65cm) gives an increase in the load carrying capacity up to (171%) from the control ultimate capacity .However, ductility has been significantly increased. In addition, it was found that strengthening with this technique is durable, economic and easy to apply during construction. The results suggest that adding sill under openings is very effective to overcome and prevent cracks under the working load in the wall and increasing the length of lintel and sill during construction shows the best performance in increasing the load carrying capacity and ductility.


Basketball class is an important part of physical education in modern colleges and universities. The instruction quality of basketball class directly affects students' interest in sports, physical exercise and physical strengthening. Therefore, in the process of basketball instruction in modern colleges and universities, it is very important to optimize teaching strategies. In view of this, based on the existing research results, in this paper, the author analyzes the application of leisure sports teaching in college basketball courses from the theoretical aspect, and designs the basketball instruction contents of colleges and universities based on leisure sports. Finally, from the perspective of leisure sports, the author puts forward the strategy of basketball instruction optimization in modern colleges and universities from the aspects of determining teaching objectives, highlighting the concept of "peopleoriented" education and positioning basketball instruction in colleges and universities. From the perspective of leisure sports, the author studies basketball instruction strategies in modern colleges and universities, aiming to promote the upgrading and reform of basketball instruction in modern colleges and universities.


The effect of grain size at micro- and nanoscale on the surface electron stability of copper as reflected by the electron work function (EWF) was investigated. In the ambient environment, the surface reactivity increases with decreasing grain size in the micron range, but decreases when entering the nanometre range. When in a solution with associated passivation, grain refinement enhances resistance to corrosion. However, the situation is reversed when no passivation is involved. In the former case, the improved surface stability and corrosion behaviour caused by nanocrystallization can be attributed to the formation of a more protective passive film. In the latter case, nanocrystallization accelerates material dissolution resulting from enhanced activity of surface electrons at high-density grain boundaries. The correlation between EWF and the corrosion behaviour, as well as the mechanisms involved, are discussed.


The 10 MW High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTR-10) constructed at the Institute of Nuclear Energy Technology (INET), Tsinghua University in China reached its first criticality by the end of 2000. The temperature measuring system of the in-core components is described in this paper. This system consists of the thermocouple penetration assembly of the reactor pressure vessel (TPARPV), the thermocouple penetration assembly of the reactor containment (TPARC) and the distributed computer-based data acquisition and processing system (DCS). Some new techniques were developed and applied, such as the thermocouple penetration technology under the high temperature and high-pressure environment and the laser welding technique. The TPARPV is the key measurement device and is described in detail. The general behavior of the TPARPV and TPARC was confirmed under HTR-10 operating conditions. The helium leakage rate of the TPARPV is 1×10-7Pa-m3/s while the helium leakage rate of the TPARC is less than 1×10-2 Pa-m3/s. The insulation resistance of the sheathed thermocouple is more then 109Ω. The temperature measurement error of the system is 2.3°C. The results of testing and field inspection and operation demonstrate that the design of the temperature measuring system is reasonable and reliable and that the performance of the system satisfies the design requirements of the HTR-10. These new techniques used in the temperature measuring system can be applied not only to other high temperature gas-cooled reactors but to various reactor types as well.


: Persons with Disabilities (PwD) are one of the groups most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The implementation of social and physical distancing made workers with disabilities have to face many challenges at work. This affects the career development of PwD. This study used a case study method to identify various challenges and support needed in the career development of PwD during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were obtained by purposive sampling method. Data collection was done by semi-structured interviews. Data analysis was carried out with a 2-step coding process. The results of this study showed the challenges for career development of PwD were their personal characteristics (e.g., type and severity of their disability), disempowering family, limited access to education and vocational training, insufficient health care and facilities, discrimination, and negative stigma at the workplace. The support needed for career development of PwD were opportunities to access higher education and vocational training, supportive family, co-workers, and workplace environment. The results of this study offer an evaluation to stakeholders thus that they can provide adequate accessibility for PwD at work.


The characteristics of spectral method and the fundamental problems of spectral methods are summarized, leading to the necessity of localization of spectral methods. Two stages of finite spectral method are introduced., especially the finite spectral method based on truncated Fourier integral. Several finite spectral schems are proposed and results on varions problems are shown.


The New Horizons encounter with the cold classical Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69 (informally named "Ultima Thule," hereafter Ultima) on 1 January 2019 will be the first time a spacecraft has ever closely observed one of the free‐orbiting small denizens of the Kuiper Belt. Related to but not thought to have formed in the same region of the solar system as the comets that been explored so far, it will also be the most distant, and most primitive body yet visited by spacecraft. In this letter we begin with a brief overview of cold classical Kuiper Belt objects, of which Ultima is a prime example. We give a short preview of our encounter plans. We note what is currently known about Ultima from Earth‐based observations. We then review our expectations and capabilities to evaluate Ultima's composition, surface geology, structure, near space environment, small moons, rings, and the search for activity.


The OBJECTIVE was to increase the safety of laparoscopic decompression of the abdominal trunk.METHODS AND MATERIALS. The results of treatment of 30 patients who underwent laparoscopic decompression of the celiac trunk were analyzed. Intraoperative bleeding requiring conversion to laparotomy occurred in two (6.7%) cases.RESULTS. To prevent such a complication, a method of preventive installation of a balloon catheter into the celiac trunk was introduced, which allows creating a temporary occlusion of the vessel in case of damage. A similar approach was used in 10 (33.3%) patients. The need to cover the lumen of the vessel with a balloon arose in one observation (3.3% of all patients and 10.0% using this technique). Bleeding from the inferior phrenic artery, which originated from the celiac trunk, was stopped by laparoscopic access.CONCLUSION. The experience presented in this paper allows us to consider the installation of a balloon boat in the celiac trunk as one of the possible ways to improve the safety of its laparoscopic decompression. Further research is needed to obtain a definitive picture of the effectiveness of this approach.


This paper deals with transferences due to the linguistic contact between Quechua and Spanish as observed in the speech of vernacular speakers who live in Chubut, especially on the Gulf of San Jorge area. Cases of permanent loanwords, i.e. those adapted to Quechua linguistic system, nonce borrowings, syntactic transferency and cases of code switching are also Palabras clave quechua bilingüismo contacto lingüístico transferencias cambio de código


The aim of this paper is the understanding of the fiber orientation by investigations in respect to the inner configuration of a polylactic acid matrix reinforced with short carbon fibers after a fused deposition modeling extrusion process. The final parts were analyzed by X-ray, tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging allowing a resolved orientation of the fibers and distribution within the part. The research contributes to the understanding of the fiber orientation and fiber reinforcement of fused deposition modeling parts in additive manufacturing. INTRODUCTION A literature review of research on fiber-reinforced polymers in additive manufacturing using mainly glass and carbon fibers showed that prior work in the field of FRPs in FDM has already been performed by [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11] investigating the direction of fiber-reinforced Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) using carbon and glass fibers in an Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) or polylactic acid (PLA) matrix and discussing the strengthening of the material as well as the fiber orientation. An overview of the increase of tensile strength and Young's modulus achieved by the above-mentioned sources using FRP in FDM is shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2. The preliminary data of Figure 1 and Figure 2 may be suggestive of trends, but due to it's tentative nature we voluntarily abstained from implying any quantitative relation by fitting a regression model. Investigations of the final part were performed using a JSM-5910 Scanning Electron Microscope -50 0 50 100 150 200 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 st re ng th in cr ea se in % fiber content in % Strength Increase with Fibers using FDM FIGURE 1. Increase of tensile strength according to literature research with different amounts of fibers. 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 m od ul us in cr ea se in % fiber content in % Youngs Modulus Increase with Fibers using FDM FIGURE 2. Increase of Young's modulus according to literature research with different amounts of


An energy saving method for electronic devices is revealed. At least one reference image and a plurality of temporal images are set up by capturing a temporal scene in front of an electronic device. Compare the reference image with each temporal image to check if the user is in front of the electronic device. If the user is not in front of the electronic device, the electronic device is driven to enter the energy saving mode for saving power consumption of the electronic device.


The authors examine the monthly structure of Spanish tourism using fractionally integrated techniques. They propose the use of a procedure attributable to Robinson (1994) that permits the simultaneous testing of degrees of integration at both zero and seasonal frequencies. The tests have standard null and local limit distributions. However, finite-sample critical values are computed and the power properties of the tests in finite samples are also examined. The results, based on the numbers of foreigners and foreign guest nights in Spain, show that both frequencies are important, the order of integration at the long-run or zero frequency being much higher than that corresponding to the seasonal monthly structure.


In the future Internet of Things, intelligent embedded devices are expected to not only offer their functionality as a web service, but also to be able to discover and cooperate with other devices and services in a peer-to-peer way. The new capabilities of the emerging infrastructure will have a significant impact on industrial applications, services and business practices. In this paper we explore the simulation of such an infrastructure composed of heterogeneous web-service enabled (SOA-ready) devices with the help of a multi-agent system.


Petroleum exploration and production are associated with great risk because of the uncertainty on subsurface conditions. Understanding the impact of those uncertainties on the production performance is a crucial part in the decision making process.Traditionally, uncertainty assessment is performed using experimental design and response surface method, in which a number of training points are selected to run reservoir simulations on and a proxy model is built to give prediction for the whole design space. The quality of the response surface strongly depends on the method used to construct them. In this paper we evaluate the use of thin plate spline (TPS), artificial neural network (ANN) and support vector regression (SVR) for this application. Results show that when properly tuned ANN and SVR provide superior performance to TPS.


The final thesis deals with the rating, and its role in market orientated economies. The first chapter describes the role and functions of financial markets and deals with their classification. This chapter also describes the risks, which are present by trading on financial markets. It defines the term rating, explains the history and circumstances of its origins,and its role in the financial sector. There is also presentedin the first chapter the rating classification, characteristics and role of rating agencies and the methodology of rating elaboration, where it explains the role of structural prediction models. The second chapter monitors the development of Slovak economy performance by analysing the chosen macroeconomic indicators,and illustrates the influence of economic development on states ratings, and the projection of this trend on the government debt prices, measured by consols long - term interest rates. The third chapter defines the term financial crisis, describes the reasons of actual financial crisis outbreakand its development,and its advancement to the economic crisis, and investigates which role played the rating agencies in this process. Moreover it describes the rating agencies failures and adopted EU regulatory provisions aimed to elimination of rating processes failures.


The use of digital synthetic aperture techniques to obtain high resolution ultrasound images of eye and orbit was proposed. The parameters of the switched array configuration to reduce data collection time to a few milliseconds to avoid eye motion problems in the eye itself were established. An assessment of the effects of eye motion on the performance of the system was obtained. The principles of synthetic techniques are discussed. Likely applications are considered.


Due to high use of Social Media platform, Live-stream videos are proven as successful buzz marketing activity because they provide an interactive element for consumers on social media. Buzz marketing is a strategy that creates word-of-mouth marketing with viral content, influencers, and interactive events to create buzz around the launch of a new product or service. In this paper, Strategies for Effective Buzz Marketing with use of social media are discussed and also the impact of buzz Marketing over consumers and how much Buzz Marketing is influential for the potential customers retention is also explained.


PURPOSE: A method and a device for reproducing music of a portable terminal are provided to use a device of reproducing music of a portable terminal, thereby reproducing and conversing between different other music through a plurality of channels and a plurality of output units. CONSTITUTION: A GUI(Graphic user Interface) provides a guide for controlling output of a music file. A display unit(212) displays the GUI. A control unit(200) selects a reproducing target music file through each channel. The control unit reproduces the selected music file through an output unit(220,222) corresponding to each channel. The control unit controls the conversion of a music file into a music file which is reproducing in other channels by setting a reproduction time or a reproduction point of a music file during reproduced in a specific channel.


In view of changing market,this paper introduces the necessity of setting up the fast logistic supply chain under the mode of mass customized production and the function of distribution,and also gives the reason that network information technology is a support and guarantee to modern logistic systems.


Objective To improve the early diagnosis of peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) by analyzing the X-ray characteristics, and to evaluate radiologic examination in the diagnosis of PPCM.Materials and Methods The X-ray findings in 50 cases with PPCM were retrospectively analyzed.Results The typical X-ray signs of PPCM were as follows: heart enlargement, diminished heart pulsation and pulmonary congestion.Conclusion PPCM has specific clinical background and characteristic X-ray signs. X-ray examination plays an important role in the diagnosis and differential diagnosis for PPCM.


Ring-expanded zinc phthalocyanines 3, 4, and PcS27 were synthesized from new carbazole-fused phthalonitriles 1 and 2, and the effect of direct annulation of heterocycles with the phthalocyanine macrocycles on their optical and electrochemical properties were investigated. Carbazole-fused zinc phthalocyanine 3 exhibited an intense Q band in the near-infrared-light region, owing to destabilization of the HOMO energy level, whilst low-symmetry push–pull compound 4 showed a well-defined split Q band, owing to splitting of the LUMO and LUMO+1 energy levels. Sensitizer PcS27, which had a donor–π-linker–acceptor structure, showed a panchromatic response from the visible-light region to the near-infrared-light region if used as a light-harvesting dye on TiO2 electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells.


Hybridomas obtained by in vitro stimulation with lipopolysaccharides (LPS) of BALB/c, MRL/lpr, and NZB splenocytes were selected for expression of VH7183 by hybridization using slot blotting. Northern blot analysis showed that the majority of hybrids produce a full length message complementary to the VH7183 probe. The frequency of VH7183 hybridomas was significantly higher in NZB mice as compared with BALB/c mice. Using multiple binding assays, 60% of the total antibodies encoded by VH7183 were specific for self-epitopes. Finally, the vast majority express cross-reactive idiotypes borne by autoantibodies of various specificities.


In image wrapping, the post-filtering is necessary to avoid aliasing effect. Here, we develop a hybrid space-variant directional filtering for post-processing. In order to reduce the computation, we classify the filter area as three blocks: constant, oriented, and irregular. The constant and irregular blocks are local average filtering and elliptical weighted average filtering. In oriented model, we propose a new filtering method called elliptical weighted adaptive directional moving average filter. In the experiments, we show that our method may correct the distorted images and have better results, with better subjective quality, especially with high magnification ratio, such as four times or more.


In this paper, we develop a model of a single variable sampling plan with censoring. The property for each item in a batch is determined by a variable which is exponentially distributed. A polynomial loss function is considered. In the case of Type II censoring, we suggest a simple algorithm for the determination of the optimal sampling plan. The algorithm is finite, i.e. it will find the optimum after a finite number of steps.


Objective To investigate clinical features,early diagnosis and therapy of aortic dissection(AD).Methods The clinical data of 11 patients with AD was retrospectively analyzed.Results There were many clinical manifestations,such as sudden severe tearing pain on chest and back(8 cases),under the xiphoid pain,nausea and vomiting(2 cases),waist and abdomen pain,vomiting and nausea(1 case).6 cases were diagnosed as aortic dissection,but 2 cases were misdiagnosed as acute myocardial infarction,2 cases as acute gastroenteritis and 1 case as renal colic and renal insufficiency.The misdiagnosed cases were diagnosed by color Doppler ultrasound and post-enhanced spiral CT scan in 4 cases,autopsy in 1 case.After treatment 5 cases improved,the shortest length of stay was from 7 d up to 35 d;6 patients died.Conclusion AD is liable to be misdiagnosed because of its diverse clinical manifestations,and timely diagnosis and rational treatment are important in improving the prognosis.


Solar-driven hydrogen (H2) production is considered one of the most sustainable methods for clean energy generation to replace fossil fuel-based energy. Herein, we report a highly efficient 3D coral-like N-doped cadmium oxysulfide (Cd(O,S)) photocathodes for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in an alkaline solution. The N5-Cd(O,S) achieved an onset potential of 0.63 VRHE with a photocurrent density of 0.74 mA.cm-2 at 0 VRHE, and solar-to-hydrogen efficiency (hSTH) of 6.6 %. For practical application, the amount of evolved H2 by N5-Cd(O,S) photocathode was 12.3 mmol.cm-2 performed at 0 VRHE, improved 2-folds from Cd(O,S) without N dopant. Moreover, N5-Cd(O,S) exhibited excellent stability of 95.8 % for over 10 h HER testing. This work reveals that N5-Cd(O,S) photocathode can capture incident light efficiently with the 3D coral-like microstructure. In addition, the contained oxygen vacancies (OVs) in N5-Cd(O,S) play a dominant role for photoelectrochemical H2 generation.


Polyaluminum chlorides with a high Al13 content (PAC-Al13) and a high Al30 content (PAC-Al30) were prepared in a laboratory. The crystalline morphology, SEM images, XRD patterns, aluminum species distribution, and charge neutralization capability of PAC-Al13 and PAC-Al30 with a basic ratio (B = [OH−]/[Al3+]) of 2.4 were investigated comparatively. The branching morphology and prismatic crystal images of PAC-Al13 and PAC-Al30 were obtained firstly by a simple concentration and crystallization method, and interestingly it was found that these branches appeared to be growing along the diagonal of the tetragonal crystals. The aluminum hydrolytic species distributions of PAC-Al13 and PAC-Al30 were quite different: PAC-Al13 mostly contained the medium polymeric species Alb while the high polymeric species Alc was the main ingredient in PAC-Al30. PAC-Al13 and PAC-Al30 exhibited almost the same charge neutralization capability throughout the investigated dosage range, which demonstrated that the coagulation differences of PAC-Al13 and PAC-Al30 investigated in our previous study were probably caused by the stronger bridge-aggregation and sweep-flocculation actions of PAC-Al30 in the coagulation process. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were also used to characterize the powder PAC-Al13 and PAC-Al30 samples. Moreover, the monomolecular aluminum salt of AlCl3 was investigated in this study as a control.


The quantity of Internet of Things (IoT) devices in the marketplace and lack of security is staggering. The interconnectedness of IoT devices has increased the attack surface for hackers. "White Worm" technology has the potential to combat infiltrating malware. Before white worm technology becomes viable, its capabilities must be constrained to specific devices and limited to non-harmful actions. This paper addresses the current problem, international research, and the conflicting interest of individuals, businesses, and governments regarding white worm technology. Proposed is a new perspective on utilizing white worm technology to protect the vulnerability of IoT devices, while overcoming its challenges.


To provide a linear LED module and a backlight unit including the same. A backlight unit of the present invention includes a rear case which is disposed behind the display panel, a reflective plate located behind the display panel in the rear case, one or more LED bars and linear reflector includes a linear LED modules disposed along one side edge of the reflection film, the linear reflector, and the mount portion in which one or more LED bars mounted along the length direction, the mount portion and integrally is formed, it includes a complex reflecting portion that reflects primarily toward the light emitted from LED bar reflector, a reflector, toward the light reflected primarily by the combined reflecting portion on the display panel secondarily reflect Te. .The


In the context of increasingly stringent pollution standards, engine pollutant emission reduction is a great challenge for spark ignition (SI) engines. The very narrow operating zone of the three-way catalyst necessitates a good control of the air/fuel equivalence ratio and therefore a good estimation of the aspirated air mass. We consider in this study a turbocharged SI engine equipped with variable valve timing actuators (VVT). This device acts as a disturbance by impacting on the air mass flow through the inlet valves. This impact can be estimated from real-time measurement. Two observers of the aspirated air mass are then proposed in this paper. After proving convergence in the two cases, we carry out comparisons based on simulation results.


We use gauge-gravity duality to model the crossover from a conformal critical point to a confining Fermi liquid, driven by a change in fermion density. The short-distance conformal physics is represented by an anti-de Sitter geometry, which terminates into a confining state along the emergent spatial direction. The Luttinger relation, relating the area enclosed by the Fermi surfaces to the fermion density, is shown to follow from Gauss's Law for the bulk electric field. We argue that all low energy modes are consistent with Landau's Fermi liquid theory. An explicit solution is obtained for the Fermi liquid for the case of hard-wall boundary conditions in the infrared.


This paper discusses the timing of monetary integration and supporting economic policies during a rapid and largely uncontrolled process of Korean reunification. The paper concludes that the transitory use of a separate currency in each region and supporting economic policies would help limit the initial costs of unification although the extent of the eventual cost reduction would depend critically on the success of ensuing economic reforms in the North during the transition.


Wang Gu,a comparatively excellent Character of the Wangs family in San Huai,was a high official in the Ministry of Revenue in feudal China.He was incorrupt in politics and upright in humanness.Although his life time was full of frustrations,he was consistent in his political view.As his political attitudes were quite close to those of Sima Guang,Wang Gu was finally regarded as a member of Yuan You party and was banished from the court until his death.At that time,he had truck with many bookmen and scholars,especially his care for Su Shi,which enabled Su Shi to live safely through his whole life in such an inclement environment in Huizhou.


The invention discloses a novel geological polymer and a preparation method thereof. The novel geological polymer is prepared from the following components by mass percent: 10-45 pelelith micropowder, 18-50 dolomite micropowder, 5-28 superfine slag powder of iron tailings and 2-20 an alkali-activator. The geological polymer provided by the invention has properties of early strength and rapid hardening, is good in volume stability, chemically corrosion-resistant, high in interface bonding force, good in anti-permeability, good in high temperature resistance, hydrothermal action-resistant and good in durability, is capable of automatically adjusting temperature and humidity, and the like; the pelelith micropowder in the novel geological polymer is light in mass and high in strength, has heat insulation property, sound absorption property, fire resistance, acid and alkali resistance and corrosion resistance, is free from pollution and radioactivity, and the like, thus being an ideal, natural, environment-friendly and energy-saving raw material; the dolomite powder in the novel geological polymer is beneficial to the improvement of early and late stages compressive strengths of the geological polymer; if the powder is finer and the mixing amount is more, an early enhancement effect is more remarkable.


Obesity is associated with increased dyspnoea and reduced health status in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Studies on the effects of obesity on exercise capacity showed divergent results. The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of obesity on weight‐bearing versus weight‐supported exercise tolerance in obese and normal weight patients, matched for age, gender and degree of airflow limitation.


The magnitude and processes of solute acquisition by dilute meltwater in contact with suspended sediment in the channelized component of the hydroglacial system have been investigated through a suite of controlled laboratory experiments. Constrained by field data from Haut Glacier d'Arolla, Valais, Switzerland the effects of the water to rock ratio, particle size, crushing, repeated wetting and the availability of protons on the rate of solute acquisition are demonstrated. These 'free-drift' experiments suggest that the rock flour is extremely geochemically reactive and that dilute quickflow waters are certain to acquire solute from suspended sediment. These data have important implications for hydrological interpretations based on the solute content of glacial meltwater, mixing model calculations, geochemical denudation rates and solute provenance studies.


This paper proposes a new method for correction of tool run-out on a machine tool using a laser. The shank part of the tool attached on the machine spindle is irradiated with the laser beam. The thermal stress caused by laser irradiation at the irradiated part can make a very small deformation. First, the deformation patterns based on the thermal stress are shown. Second, experiments are carried out in order to investigate the influences of laser irradiation conditions on the deformation. Finally, a few case studies are performed using a cutting tool and succeeded in reducing the tool run-out to sub-microns.


Abstract : Previous investigations of oscillating (harmonic) flow past circular cylinders via the discrete vortex method have met with limited success due to a variety of reasons. These assumptions have proven to be too severe, and cannot allow the prediction of the kinematics and dynamics of the oscillating flow about bluff bodies in general and about a circular cylinder in particular. In the current analysis, the ambient velocity was given by U = Um sin wt, and the velocity distribution and the boundary layer were calculated about the cylinder at suitable time intervals. Several methods were implemented to predict separation, all of which required a minimum of arbitrary assumptions. Nascent vortices were placed at the separation points in such a manner that the Kutta condition was satisfied. Several functional forms of dissipation were investigated, but it was found not to be of overriding influence in the flow kinematics. Counter vortices were found to be a necessary aspect of the analysis, providing continuity from one half cycle to the next. Flow visualization experiments were conducted for a Keulegan-Carpenter number of 10 as a basis for comparison. The kinematics obtained from the numerical model produced a vortex shedding pattern which was typical of those observed experimentally for higher Keulegan-Carpenter numbers. Significant problems were encountered in the prediction of boundary layer separation. At this point, it was obvious that the interaction of a vortex with a boundary layer warranted analysis in a much simpler flow situation; the blade-vortex interaction (BVI) problem proved to be ideal.


The authors report 8 cases of patients with synovial cysts (3 cases) or diverticuli (5 cases) of the lumbar joints, compressing the sciatic roots. They describe the radiological aspects of the two sides of the degenerative pathology of the posterior articular processes, which are relatively unrecognized (14 cases in the literature). They insist on the advantage of saccoradiculography which is the only test to be able to demonstrate dynamic alterations in relation with diverticuli, if performed in a standing position. The authors show the advantage of tomodensitometry which supports the diagnosis of cyst in the presence of a fibrous wall image. They emphasize the value of the arthrography of the posterior joint; it presents a diagnostic role by visualizing the cavities, and a therapeutic role by permitting the injection in situ of steroids and/or local anesthetics.


In Italy, nuclear power is currently on the agenda of the national government. After abandoning nuclear energy 20 years ago, Italy has not had any direct experience since. Besides its social acceptance and the problem of handling radioactive waste, the economic appraisal of nuclear energy compared to coal and gas is the most controversial item in the current debate on energy resources. Unfortunately, the figures published in the literature comparing the competitiveness of nuclear energy against fossil fuels differ wildly. This inconsistency demonstrates the uncertainties in the evaluation process. This paper develops an approach based on fuzzy-sets to handle the uncertainty of nuclear power costs. The underlying aim is to appraise the economic advantages of nuclear power compared with other traditional energy sources, namely coal and natural gas. Having illustrated the general state of the art of nuclear power in terms of production, installed power and economics, a more detailed evaluation follows to select the most important economic and financial parameters involved in calculating the industrial cost (overnight cost, O&M, fuel, etc.) to then build the fuzzy functions and process them using the fuzzy TOPSIS method in order to obtain a final ranking of alternatives analyzed.


The aim of this investigation was a comparative analysis of isotypic structure of specific antiviral systemic humoral immune response in hospitalized patients with influenza caused by virus A(H3N2) or A(H1N1), including the A(H1N1)pdm09. Paired acute and convalescent phase sera from 109 adult patients aged 18 to 67 years with laboratoryconfirmed influenza A were analyzed by ELISA. Purified surface glycoproteins of influenza A viruses of different subtypes containing the hemagglutinin and neuraminidase were used as antigen for sensitization of plates in ELISA.The absence of type-specific conserved internal proteins in antigenic material allowed to carry out a subtype-specific differentiation of antibodies against influenza viruses in ELISA. Regardless of the subtype of influenza A viruses caused the disease, the most pronounced response was observed by subtype-specific IgG1 (70–90% of seroconversions). It has been shown for the first time that low activity of virus-induced IgG2 (6–9% of seroconversions) is a peculiarity of the immune response both to primary or recurrent infections with A(H1N1)pdm09. In patients repeatedly suffered by «seasonal» influenza A(H1N1) in 2007/2008 or influenza A(H3N2) in 2012–2014 IgG2 seroconversion's rates were 40–59% (р < 0,05). Reaction virusspecific IgG3 was also weaker in patients with influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 (29–44% of seroconversions) than in subjects with influenza A(H1N1) or A(H3N2) (65% and 56% of seroconversions, respectively). Geometric mean titers of virus neutralizing antibodies identified during recovery phase in patients with primary and secondary influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 (1/28 and 1/103, respectively) were significantly lower than in patients recovered from influenza A(H1N1) or A(H3N2) (GMT were 1/594 and 1/378, respectively). It was shown that the surface glycoproteins of influenza A viruses may be an allergens. Virus-specific IgE seroconversion rates were comparable in all groups reaching 25–45%. The high activity of virus-induced serum IgA was detected in patients with influenza A(H3N2) or A(H1N1)pdm09 (60–79% of seroconversions). Thus, study of virus-specific activity of various immunoglobulin isotypes provides important information about the formation of adaptive antiviral immune response to influenza A viruses, and also estimate the contribution of its protective and immunopathogenic components to pathogenesis of the disease.


It is shown that there exist infinitely many A4 quartic fields with a power integral basis. Mathematics Subject Classification: 11R21


Abstract Background The genus Tabanus Linnaeus has a worldwide distribution and is the richest in species; however, it is probably not monophyletic. In the Neotropical Region, its richness is certainly underestimated, mainly due to the large number of species and the absence of recent taxonomic revisions. New information We describe Tabanusrondoniensis sp. n. from the State of Rondônia, Brazil, based on a conspicuous tabanid species possibly related to the T.nebulosus species group. Diagnosis, discussion and illustrations are also provided.


The aim of this prospective study is to analyse the functional and radiological outcome of tibial fractures treated by intramedullary nailing through
supra patellar approach.15 patients with tibial fractures were operated by intramedullary nailing through suprapatellar approach. Oxford knee
scoring system was done to evaluate the functional outcome. Serial radiographs were taken to assess the fracture union at 2 weeks, 6 weeks and 12
weeks. Fifteen patients (male 11 female 4) with fracture both bones leg i Results : ncluded in our study. The most common cause was motor vehicle
accidents (9 cases), self limiting fall (4 cases), assault (2 cases). The mean age was 45 years. All fractures united at a mean period of 3.5 months. To
conclude, Suprapatellar tibial nailing has the benets of decreased operating time, good ouroscopy visualisation, minimal blood loss and ability to
achieve and maintain good reduction throughout the procedure.


Here we present an approach to assign identical partial charges to atoms with chemically equivalent environments. We show how atoms of a molecule can be grouped into sets of atoms with equivalent environments by comparing the atom neighborhoods with subgraph isomorphism and graph canonization. As an extension to the charge assignment problem, we introduce the symmetric charge assignment problem where the task is to select a charge for every atom of a molecule from a range of candidate charges. Charges have to be selected such that chemically equivalent atoms receive the same charge and such that the sum of partial charges matches the total known charge of the molecule with a slight margin for error. Each candidate charge has a score that is based on the observed frequency of that charge in a database of already parameterized molecules. By selecting charges that maximize the sum of scores under these conditions we assign charges that are frequently assigned in similar chemical environments. We show that the symmetric charge assignment problem can be modeled as a multiple-choice knapsack problem variant and show that our variant remains weakly NP-complete. We give an Integer Linear Programming formulation and design a transformation algorithm to assign identical partial charges using an existing pseudo-polynomial time Dynamic Programming algorithm. We evaluate our method on a database of about 261.000 parameterized molecules and compare our computed charges to quantum-mechanically (QM) derived charges. We show that our method results in very similar average charge errors, but increases the usability of the computed charges in molecular dynamics simulations.


&NA; Mounting public concern regarding the cost of and access to health care in the United States has moved the issue of health care reform (HCR) to a priority position on the policy and legislative agendas of the current administration. Regardless of the directions taken by reform initiatives, it is inevitable that their ultimate impact on cost, quality, and access issues will depend upon the extent to which practicing physicians adopt clinical management strategies that directly influence and continuously improve the efficiency, effectiveness, appropriateness, and humaneness of patient care. Some proponents of HCR favor central control and regulation strategies to modify physicians' practice behavior; past history suggests that these approaches will likely fail. This paper proposes an alternate strategy to link, through health care policy (HCP) initiatives, the large existing infrastructure in continuing medical education (CME) to institution‐ and community‐based programs designed to achieve optimum patient outcomes and resource consumption. The rationale for this proposition comes, in part, from a growing body of scientific literature which indicates that diverse CME interventions improve physician performance and, frequently, health care outcomes of patients. In addition, the adoption and diffusion among physicians of optimal patient management techniques are enhanced when practicing clinicians in a community are directly involved in designing and implementing problem ‐based learning programs. The CME community must engage in health cure reform debates, develop coalitions, and begin to build HCP agendas that expand the role of CME as a cost‐effective and politicaly sound mechanism for continuously enhancing physiciuns' lifelong learning und improving patient care outcomes.


This paper argues that the US immigration system is anachronistic in today?s global economy, where human capital is increasingly crucial for successful advanced economies. It argues that some consensus over reform is certainly possible, and it seeks to understand the reasons behind the failure of previous attempts at reform. It makes a thorough investigation of the dynamics of high-skill immigration to the US through a systems analysis, which is controlled for mid-long term global dynamics and key actor preferences. The systems analysis utilise the latest research in immigration economics to evaluate the relative importance and dynamics of the determinants of the US immigration system. These inputs are mapped and their interactions analysed to determine which changes in US immigration policy would be most beneficial for high-skill immigration. From this analysis, it makes a series of policy prescriptions for reforming US immigration policy to adapt to current and future trends. This policy paper primarily differentiates itself with the significant contribution of allowing policymakers to estimate and react to future trends. It also provides some practical advice on how to achieve these reforms due to its inclusion of sub-models of actor interaction informed by public policy approaches.


This chapter describes types of lines which may perhaps be regarded as 'hybrids' of those discussed in the two preceding chapters, since, of the two conductors which constitute each line, one is circular and the other rectangular in cross-section.


This paper focuses on a comparison of two radical right-wing parties, Ataka and the Great Romania Party, their positions in the national party system, and their relationships with the governing parties as well as with other national right-wing parties. In this essay the party programmes, electorate, attitude to minorities, and degree of nationalism will be compared. Another important part of this paper is comparison of the election results of these parties and their chances of remaining in the national parliaments (and thus becoming a crucial part of party system). All the details mentioned above will be analyzed against the background of theories of radical right-wing parties.


In recent years, the population size of Beijing is expending sustainably. The high speed increase of the population is closely interrelated with the urban problems such as traffic congestion, housing difficulty, water scarcity and environmental pollution. In the high view of urban development strategy, exploring a variety of effective policies and measures to guide and evacuate the population,is an important link to materialize sustainable development for the capital. Integration of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei has been promoted as the national strategy, in the future, we should use industry's development and functional promotion to enhance the population appeal in the area around the capital, and guiding the reasonable distribution and orderly movement of regional population in the integration rejoin of BeijingTianjin-Hebei, so as to achieve sustainable development of population, economy, society, resources and environment.


The optical properties and electrical properties of a series of low-band-gap conjugated copolymers, in which alkyl side chains were substituted at various positions, were investi- gated using donor-acceptor conjugated copolymers consisting of a cyclopentadithiophene derivative and dithienyl-benzothia- diazole. With substituted side chains, the intrinsic properties of the copolymers were significantly altered by perturbations of the intramolecular charge transfer. The absorption of poly(2, 6-(4,4-bis(2-octyl)-4H-cyclopenta-(2,1-b:3,4-b 0 )dithiophene)-alt-4, 7-bis(4-octyl-thiophene-2-yl)benzo-2,1,3-thiadiazole) (PCPDT- ttOTBTOT (P2)), which assumed a tail-tail configuration, tended to blue shift relative to the absorption of poly(2,6-(4,4- bis(2-octyl)-4H-cyclopenta-(2,1-b:3,4-b 0 )dithiophene)-alt-4,7-bis (thiophene-2-yl)benzo-2,1,3-thiadiazole) (PCPDT-TBTT (P1)). The absorption of poly(2,6-(4,4-bis(2-octyl)-4H-cyclopenta-(2,1-b:3, 4-b 0 )dithiophene)-alt-4,7-bis(3-octyl-thiophene-2-yl)benzo-2,1,3- thiadiazole) (PCPDT-hhOTBTOT (P3)), which assumed a head- head configuration, was blue shifted relative to that of P2 .T he electrical transport properties of field-effect transistors were sensi- tive to the side chain position. The field-effect mobility in P2 (l2 ¼ 1.8 � 10 � 3 cm 2 /V s) was slightly lower than that in P1 (l1 ¼ 4.9 � 10 � 3 cm 2 /V s). However, the mobility of P3 was very low (l3 ¼ 3.8 � 10 � 6 cm 2 /V s). Photoexcitation spectroscopy showed that the charge generation efficiency (shown in transient absorption spectra) and polaron pair mobility in P1 and P2 were higher than in P3, yielding P1 and P2 device performances that were better than the perform- ance of devices based on P3. V C 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 49: 1821-1829, 2011


of religion (this is the danger in survey books, and I am sure Professor Thomas would not want his book to be taken as a substitute). They will also, I hope, feel the need for more critical analysis. For instance, they may well think that the following sentence (p. 22, on Plato) 'Whatever may be thought to be the status of the Forms in reality, the recurrence of qualities, relations and patterns in things can be explained only by the fact that potentialities which are distinguishable from things have been actualised in them' is a re-wording of a problem rather than an 'explanation'. The chapters on Whitehead and Tillich in particular give the impression that the problematic elements in their philosophies lie mainly in their deviations from classical theism. There is a great deal problematic in them besides this. The first chapters, up to and including that on Aquinas, seem to me the best, perhaps because the general lines of interpretation can now be more clearly seen for the earlier philosophers. The whole book is beautifully produced, free from misprints, and contains a considerable bibliography. I have noted, however, that Mr Ian Crombie's An Examination of Plato's Doctrines is listed both there and on page 13n. as having been published in 1930 instead of 1962, and the reference on page 13n. should be to page 389, and not page 391.


This paper considers the analysis of linear models where the response variable is a linear function of observable component variables. For example, scores on two or more psychometric measures (the component variables) might be weighted and summed to construct a single response variable in a psychological study. A linear model is then fit to the response variable. The question addressed in this paper is how to optimally transform the component variables so that the response is approximately normally distributed. The transformed component variables, themselves, need not be jointly normal. Two cases are considered; in both cases, the Box-Cox power family of transformations is employed. In Case 1, the coefficients of the linear transformation are known constants. In Case II, the linear function is the first principal component based on the matrix of correlations among the transformed component variables. For each case, an algorithm is described for finding the transformation powers that minimize a generalized Anderson-Darling statistic. The proposed transformation procedure is compared to likelihood-based methods by means of simulation. The proposed method rarely performed worse than likelihood-based methods and for many data sets performed substantially better. As an illustration, the algorithm is applied to a problem from rural sociology and social psychology; namely scaling family residences along an urban-rural dimension.


ABSTRACT:
 Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii DC.) has rarely been observed to experience noticeable defoliation from insect or mammal herbivores, and this freedom from enemies is presumed to contribute to its invasiveness. However, during the summer of 2007, I observed extensive defoliation of current year's shoots on Berberis populations across central and northern New Jersey. Additional reports from volunteer observers showed that similar amounts of herbivory occurred in southern New York. I examined the upper 15 cm on a sample of 4868 current year's shoots on 320 plants in a population in New Jersey; of these shoots, 11.6% were completely defoliated, 65.3% were partially defoliated, and 23.1% showed no defoliation. Only 9% of plants showed no defoliation on any shoot; 87% of these were small plants with less than three stems per root base. The fraction of stems completely or partially defoliated was higher on larger plants (more stems per root base), but did not vary with slope position, plant density, or numbers of current year's shoots per plant. The defoliating agent was shown to be Coryphista meadii, the barberry geometer, a lepidopteran native to all of North America. Further studies will be necessary to determine if the herbivory is recurrent, if it is occurring throughout the introduced range of B. thunbergii, and if it has impacts on barberry's reproduction, growth, and survivorship.


Purpose. The purpose of this article is to study the role of Nikolai Mikhailovich Yadrintseva in the course of development of the Altai periodicals and its research and statistical activities in the Altai. Methodology. When writing the article were used General scientific methods like analysis, comparison, generalization. Results. As a result, the author analyzed the research, ethnographic and statistical activities of Nikolai Mikhailovich Yadrintsev in the Altai. Visiting with the research mission Altai, N.M. Yadrintsev published grandiose essays and articles not only about the ethnographic side of the Altaian "aliens", but also was able to give his inhabitants a map of the locality and a detailed description of meteorological observations. The role of N.M. Yadrintsev in the development of the Altai periodicals and gives a general description of the newspaper "Eastern Review" under his leadership. Despite the fact that publications on behalf of N.M. Yadrintsev in the Altai were not preserved, with the exception of a small quatrain, he managed to raise the provincial periodicals to a completely new level. Together with Siberian correspondents, he was able to inspire a whole generation, as a result of which universities, museums and numerous Siberian publishing houses began to develop in the cities of Siberia. With the arrival of Nikolai Mikhailovich in the Altai, the periodical press noticeably developed and strengthened. Practical implications. The article can be used in the teaching of local history, the history of Russia and Russian journalism.


Layered double hydroxides (LDH's), M (II) 1-x M (III) x (OH) 2 (CO3) x/2·nH2O (M (II) =Mg, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, M (III) =Al, Fe) were prepared by the conventional coprecipitation method. The structures of the samples were analyzed by XRD and FT-IR measurements. Methanation of the sorbed CO2-3 ions was carried out using a thermo-balance system in H2 Gas flow of the atmospheric pressure. Apparent CH4 evolution was observed in the cases of Ni/Al-, Ni/ Fe-, Co/Al- and Co/Fe-systems. Following features ware found concerning to catalytic effects: (1) Nickel-containing LDH's have high activity for methanation, (2) Cobalt-containing LDH's have relatively low methanation activity, (3) The existence of Fe (III) is effective both on lowering the methanation temperature and on increasing conversion to CH4. Methane generation from these compounds was interpreted in terms of thermodynamic property of metals composing the brucite layers.


Most Brazilian software development companies focus onthecustomer's needs, thuscreating cells dedicated to these customers bothforproducts thathavebeenbuilt orthat arebeingbuilt. Furthermore, theynormally lackthefinancial resources necessary forinvestments inspecialized technologies andprofessionals, leading themtouseprocesses thatdonot adheretothemarket's bestpractices, suchasobject-oriented technology, standard development methods andprocedures such asRUP (Rational Unified Process), UML (Unified Modeling Language), MSF (Microsoft Solutions Framework) andquality modelsproposed bySEI/CMMI(Software Engineering Institute / Capability Maturity ModelIntegration). Thischapter describes thegeneral concepts ofthelowandhighcomplexity software development processes andmodels, thestepsthata smallBrazilian software development companyfollowed to achieve maturity, parting froma research anddevelopment initiative intheaforementioned processes, andfinally creating andinstituting theCustomized Software Engineering Process - CSEP and the ProcessSupportTool - PST. An economic/financial overview of theBrazilian marketfor software development isalsopresented, besides historical data concerning theprojects before andafter theimplementation of theprocesses andtool, aswellasthesuccess obtained, andlastly theemerging trends inBrazil's software development market. I.BACKGROUND Oneofthefactors that determine thecompetitiveness of thecompanies isthedefinition ofthetarget market. Customer companies ofdifferent sizes, whoneedsoftware based products orsystems expect toreceive quality solutions, in other words, that meetthedefined requirements. Besides the agile models, theproposals madebyRational, suchasthe RUP,andMicrosoft's MSFwill bedescribed, whichalthough beingsimilar, clearly display differences regarding complexity andlevel ofdepth inrelation tospecific subjects, thus justifying thecombination ofbothprocesses. Theauthors cover inthefollowing sections theprocesses andmethods that stand outintheBrazilian market andthat wouldsupport software development companies individually, capable ofmaking themcompetitive.


The mean parallactic motions of stars in the equatorial zone -2° to +20, for different spectral types, have been studied by Miss Barney and me in a recent paper.' In another paper of mine,2 a systematic difference in the drift of giant stars relative to the stars of the main sequence has been investigated in further detail. In order to get additional evidence of the mean parallactic motion of AG stars of different spectral types I utilized the proper motion by Gyllenberg.3 Plotting the mean proper motions in right ascension and in declination, it is evident that they cannot be represented by simple sine curves. I first attempted to ascribe the deviations-from sine curves to systematic errors in the catalogue places. On account of the large size of the effect it seems hardly possible to do so. I have also tried to account for the deviations by ascribing them to the fact that parallactic motions are less in the Milky Way than near its poles. If so the F stars, which show no galactic concentration among the magnitudes here considered, should not show the deviations, or at least should do so to a lesser degree. This was not found to be the case. The phenomenon may be due to a rotation of the stellar system as suggested by Lindblad.4 Recently Oort5 has investigated the observed term in the radial velocities of distant objects of the form a-sin 21 + b-cos 21, under the assumption that there is a rotation about the center of the star system and that the rotational velocity depends only on the distance from this center. The proper motions of the Gyllenberg stars seems to show a similar term having the argument 2a. The expressions for the velocity components are, therefore, assumed to be in rectangular galactic coordinates: i = w, cos b sin I W2 cos b cos I 77 = w3 cos b cos I + @4 cos b sin I =


This study was carried out in Gökhüyük State farm in 1997 and 1998.The effects of bacteria inoculation, zinc and molybdenum were investigated in split-split plot design with 3 replication. In experiments, inoculated and non-inoculated treatments were combined with zinc (0, 0.28 and 0.70 ppm Zn ) and molybdenum ( 0, 0.025 and 0.050 ppm Mo ). Zinc and molybdenum were sprayed to plants when they were 10 to 20 cm height. In the analysis, the years were combined. Zinc and molybdenum have had significant effect on P, Zn, Mn and Fe contents of seeds.


Drug‐induced liver injury (DILI) is a major cause of acute liver failure (ALF), where hepatocyte necrotic products trigger liver inflammation, release of CXC chemokine receptor 2 (CXCR2) ligands (IL‐8) and other neutrophil chemotactic molecules. Liver infiltration by neutrophils is a major cause of the life‐threatening tissue damage that ensues. A GRPR (gastrin‐releasing peptide receptor) antagonist impairs IL‐8‐induced neutrophil chemotaxis in vitro. We investigated its potential to reduce acetaminophen‐induced ALF, neutrophil migration, and mechanisms underlying this phenomenon. We found that acetaminophen‐overdosed mice treated with GRPR antagonist had reduced DILI and neutrophil infiltration in the liver. Intravital imaging and cell tracking analysis revealed reduced neutrophil mobility within the liver. Surprisingly, GRPR antagonist inhibited CXCL2‐induced migration in vivo, decreasing neutrophil activation through CD11b and CD62L modulation. Additionally, this compound decreased CXCL8‐driven neutrophil chemotaxis in vitro independently of CXCR2 internalization, induced activation of MAPKs (p38 and ERK1/2) and downregulation of neutrophil adhesion molecules CD11b and CD66b. In silico analysis revealed direct binding of GRPR antagonist and CXCL8 to the same binding spot in CXCR2. These findings indicate a new potential use for GRPR antagonist for treatment of DILI through a mechanism involving adhesion molecule modulation and possible direct binding to CXCR2.


Bioethanol or biofuel as an alternative to fossil fuels has been expanded in the last few decades in the whole world. Use of bioethanol as a renewable transportation fuel will minimize the amounts of fossil-derived carbon dioxide (CO2) to the Earth's atmosphere. Yeast is the most favorite organism for ethanol production because of its diverse substrate specificity and ease of production of ethanol under anaerobic condition. The main objective of this research work was to isolate & characterize stress tolerant, high potential ethanol producing yeast strains from agro industrial waste. In total 4 yeast isolates have been characterized on the basis of morphological and physico-chemical characters. Based on morphological appearance of vegetative cell under microscope, ascospore production, colony character and physico-chemical characters all the strains was identified to be Yeast. Phylogenetic identification by DNA sequencing confirmed that the strain P is Saccharomyces Unisporus, strain C is Saccharomyces cerevisiae, strain T is Saccharomyces cerevisiae & strain DB2 is Candida piceae. Most of the strains were thermotolerant, pH tolerant, ethanol tolerant as well as osmotolerant. They were resistant to cycloheximide at 0.0015g/100ml concentration, hydrogen peroxide (0.50%), Chloramphenicol (30µg/disc) but growth was inhibited in the presence of 1% acetic Acid. The strains P, C & T showed good Invertase activity & only the T strain was capable of producing killer toxin. They were capable of fermenting glucose, fructose, sucrose, amylose & trehalose. Ethanol producing capability of the strains was studied using sugarcane molasses as substrate. The bioethanol production capacity of the yeasts were found to be 15%, 14.5%, 12% & 8.15% for P, C, T & DB2 respectively at pH 6.0, 30oC temperature in media with 5.5% initial reducing sugar concentration in shaking condition. Pilot scale ethanol production by P strain was 13.10%, C strain 11.15%, T strain 9.80% & DB2 strains 7.85% at 60 hours. These strains could be potential for ethanol production from cane molasses.


The paper presents a numerical method used to analyze the dynamics of a mechanical system that presents three inner links namely: two elastic links by linear springs and one link by rigid rod of negligible mass. The whole system has three degrees of freedom.


The invention relates to a remote monitoring system for medicine taking of a patient. The remote monitoring system includes an electronic medicine bottle terminal, a patient medicine taking monitoring information service system, and a hand-held terminal, wherein the electronic medicine bottle terminal, the patient medicine taking monitoring information service system, and the hand-held terminal communicate by a mobile internet; the electronic medicine bottle terminal internally includes a programmable control module, a power control model, an information prompt module, and a wireless communication module; the patient medicine taking monitoring information service system is arranged on a dedicated server or a cloud platform (a hospital medical administrative system), manages patient information, medicine bottle information, doctor information, medicine information, medicine taking situation of the patient and the like, communicates with an electronic medicine bottle by the mobile internet, and sends a voice or short message prompt of medicine taking to the hand-held terminals of the patient and a family member of the patient by a mobile communication network. According to the invention, the remote monitoring system for medicine taking of the patient can remind the patient to take medicine at anytime and anywhere, so that failure to take medicine on time or medication time disorder of the patient can be avoided, and the treatment quality of the patient can be improved.


Folic acid is one of the daily needs of body, and a substance that, by participating in some of the vital functions of the body and with proper consumption, we can prevent certain diseases in the embryonic and adolescence period. Enrichment is a method in which a specific amount of a substance from necessary material enters the intended diet and it supplies daily body intake. Regarding the high level of rice consumption in the community, rice was chosen as a suitable substrate for enrichment. The amount of 0, 0.4, 0.8 and 1.2 gr of folic acid was added to 300 gr of rough rice cultivar Hashemi and the enrichment was performed using a parabolic or semi-boiling process. After peeling and whitening, the effect of increasing the concentration of folic acid on the qualitative properties and cooking of brown and white rice was studied. The highest and lowest amount of amylose was different in white and brown rice regarding the amount of folic acid. The results showed that with increasing folic acid, the amount of amylose in the grain decreased and the mean gelatinization score in folic acid treatments (5.72) was significantly higher than folic acid-free treatments (5.5). Based on this result, the use of folic acid significantly increased the gelatinization score in rice which reduced the temperature of the gelatinization and reduced the cooking time as well.


A methodology is presented to assist the synthesis of engineering decisions based on the representation of feasible space. Given a parametric model and initial specifications, the Extensive Simplex Method is proposed to traverse the extreme points of an approximate linear model. The connected extreme points are projected to a set of two-dimensional viewing planes to visualize the feasible space. Based on the established bounds of the feasible space, the designer can assess the system performance capability, evaluate the feasibility of design alternatives, negotiate the trade-off of system performance attributes, and eventually converge to a desirable engineering design. The method is applied to a beam design problem throughout the design process of concept selection, parametric design refinement, and inverse reasoning. The result indicates that the proposed methodology can help the designer not only to obtain a flexible design solution with better overall system performance, but also to gain insight to the design problem and its specifications. Such insight into the problem leads to increased competence in product design.


In this paper, we consider a semiparametric regression model involving a $p$-dimensional explanatory variable ${\mathbf{x}}$ and including a dimension reduction of ${\mathbf{x}}$ via an index $B'{\mathbf{x}}$. In this model, the main goal is to estimate $B$ and to predict the real response variable $Y$ conditionally to ${\mathbf{x}}$. We review some standard approaches based on sliced inverse regression (SIR).


The induction of large-scale plasticity in the adult brain should be key for recovery from severe damage of the central nervous system. Here, drastic motor recovery was observed after subhemisection spinal cord injury in macaques that received intensive training and cortical electrical stimulation. During recovery, movement-related activity increased in ipsilesional sensorimotor areas and functional connectivity from ipsilesional to contralesional areas was strengthened. Electrical stimulation applied widely across bilateral sensorimotor areas induced muscle twitches in affected and intact forelimbs. The interhemispheric inhibition observed before injury was switched to facilitation. Furthermore, massive re-routing occurred in corticospinal axons from the contralesional motor cortex. Such global disinhibition and massive plasticity would open the workspace for the reorganization of motor networks to recruit novel areas for recovery. One Sentence Summary Global disinhibition and corticospinal plasticity for drastic recovery after spinal cord injury in macaque monkeys.


The effect of a high N incorporation in self-assembled InAs quantum dots (QDs) is investigated by analyzing the electronic and structural properties around QD region. Capacitance-voltage profiling and admittance spectroscopy shows that N incorporation into the InAs QD layer leads to drastic carrier depletion in the QD layer and neighboring GaAs layers due to the formation of a deep defect state at 0.34–0.41 eV. The signature of this defect state is similar to those defects observed in strain relaxed QDs or InGaAs/GaAs quantum wells when the InAs deposition thickness exceeds a critical thickness. Accordingly, the N incorporation might result in strain relaxation either by increasing localized strain or by inducing composition inhomogeneities, which provide nucleation sources for strain relaxation. The argument of strain relaxation is supported by transmission electron microscopy that reveals lattice misfits at the QD layer and neighboring GaAs layers.


In this study we used Escherichia coli strain F11(P155) of porcine origin. The heat-stable enterotoxin (ST) was produced with a batch fermentor under agitation (500 rpm) and forced aeration (5 liters/min) in Casamino Acids yeast extract medium containing 0.2% glucose. The pH varied from 7.2 to 7.8. The maximum amount of ST was obtained after 7 h of growth. ST was purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation, ultrafiltration on Amicon membranes, and chromatography in Bio-Gel P-4. The enterotoxin, which was purified approximately 1,000 times, was active at nanogram levels. On 20% polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, ST exhibited an Rf of 0.6 ST was recovered from the gel slices by eluting in buffer and testing the activity in suckling mice, since no band appeared on the gel after staining with Coomasie brilliant blue R, Schiff reagent, or red oil. ST was resistant at pH 2 to 10 and at 100 degrees C for 15 min, but it was inactivated at 121 degrees C; it did not lose biological activity after treatment with pronase, lipase, or amylase. In suckling mice antiserum obtained from rabbits or goats immunized with ST neutralized the enterotoxin activity of a cell-free supernatant of purified ST.


Two new pregnane glycosides were isolated from the leaves of Gymnema sylvestre (Retz.) R.Br. ex Sm. Their chemical structures were determined as (20S)−12β-tigloyloxy-5α-hydroperoxy-3β,8β,14β,17β,20-pentahydroxypregn-6-ene 3-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)‐6-deoxy-3-O-methyl-β-D-allopyranosyl-(1→4)-β-D-oleandropyranosyl-(1→4)-β-D-cymaropyranosyl-(1→4)-β-D-cymaropyranoside (1) and (20S)−12β-benzoyloxy-5α-hydroperoxy-3β,8β,14β,17β,20-pentahydroxypregn-6-ene 3-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)‐6-deoxy-3-O-methyl-β-D-allopyranosyl-(1→4)-β-D-oleandropyranosyl-(1→4)-β-D-cymaropyranosyl-(1→4)-β-D-cymaropyranoside (2) on the basis of the extensive spectroscopic methods, including 1D, 2D NMR, HRESIMS, and in comparison with the reported data. At the concentration of 200 µM, compounds 1 and 2 showed moderate anti α-glucosidase and α-amylase activities with inhibitory percentage of 31.1 ± 1.2 and 42.3 ± 1.7% (for α-glucosidase), and 27.8 ± 1.3 and 34.5 ± 1.5% (for α-amylase), respectively.


The poor operational performances previously exist in the filtration systems of 3 sets of phosphoric acid facilities with dihydrated phosphogypsum process in Honglin Chemical Co., Ltd. Then the higher filtration intensity, productive capacity and the phosphorus recovery are obtained for the employment of filter aid in the filtration systems of the abovementioned 2 sets of phosphoric acid facilities with dihydrated phosphogypsum process and 1 set with the dihydrated phosphogypsum section of semidihydrated phosphogypsum process, except the semihydrated phosphogypsum section. The annual cost of filter aid with 240 thousand RMB Yuan brings a benefit of more than 10 million RMB Yuan from the yield growth. Further the contrasts are drawn in technoeconomic indexes for the 3 sets of facilities with or without filter aid.


In the above-stated communication, after alluding to Dr. Rattray's observations and remarking that I had formerly held the same views as he did, namely, that less carbonic acid was exhaled under increasing temperatures of the sun; I add, I am now compelled, however, to alter this view, and to conclude that more carbonic acid is formed in the body under a tropical or nearly tropical sun than under temperate latitudes. Lest I should be considered as ascribing to the sun's heat a power which so far has not been acknowledged by physiologists, namely, that of increasing the formation of carbonic acid or the combustion in the body, I must beg to explain in a few words how the question now stands. I shall end by asking leave to suspend any opinion as to the cause of the increase of combustion in the body I observed to take place on the Island of Teneriffe, until more direct experiment has been brought to bear on the subject.


Implementation of bilingual teaching is an effective way for the realization of the internationalization of higher education and for the training of persons with multiple abilities who can be geared to the needs of the modernization, the future, and the world. The paper makes a preliminary research on the signification, nature, objective, pattern of bilingual teaching, the basic qualifications and the training way of a bilingual teacher.


We have applied the frequency map analysis of Laskar (1993) to the following dynamical models of the 2/1 asteroidal mean-motion resonance: the planar restricted three- body model and the planar restricted four-body model with Sat- urn. It allowed us to reproduce the chaotic region, which is formed by the overlap of secondary resonances in low eccen- tricities. We have examined the chaos generated by high-order secondary resonances in moderate eccentricities and concluded that, in the three-body planar model, most of the area remains regular even in the model with Jupiter's eccentricity equal to 0:061. But, when the basic secular frequencies of Jupiter's orbit weretakenintoaccount,themoderate-eccentricityregionturned chaoticandaslowchaoticdiffusionappeared.Thediffusionwas foundtobemoresignicantinthefull,planarfour-bodymodel. Asteroids exhibited random excursions in the phase space and we studied this possible mechanism of resonance emptying in several 10-Myr integrations.


Loving a place is not always easy. Russell Cobb's The Great Oklahoma Swindle: Race, Religion, and Lies in America's Weirdest State is complicated labor of love that critically examines Oklahoma's h...


This paper discusses how theories from the Human-Computer-Interaction (HCI) and the information systems development fields can be combined in order to achieve more actable, and thus more usable, information systems. More specifically, one aim of this research is to create a reconciliation of the HCI perspectives of usability with the language action perspective into what we call actability. The paper discusses advantages and limitations found in both the language action perspective and in prevalent HCI theories. This paper has been accepted for the 8 International Conference on HumanComputer Interaction (HCI International'99), August 22-27, 1999, Munich, Germany, and is concurrently published in its conference proceedings.


The quantitative estimation of calcium in sugar-house prod ucts, SLlch as raw juice, clarified juice, syrup, molasses and raw sugar is very important in sugar manufacturing. Many methods for this estimation exist in the literature pOinting to the im portance of the calcium content, but a lso to the complexity of the problem. Since the standard analytical oxalate method is cumbersome, m any routine methods have been proposed. The eldest of these is the soap mcrhod of Spengler and Brendel (4)" which gives an estimate of the total quantity of calcium and magnesium, with doubtful accuracy, however. Several workers have developed in recent years more elegant methods based on the EDTA (ethylenediamine tetra acetate) re action. In these methods the sugar solution is titrated with a solution of EDTA in the presence of eriochrome black [Honig (1), Saunier and Lemaitre (3)] . The amount of EDTA employed is a measure of the calcium plus magnesium content. v\Then the calcium content is desired, a second titration is carried ou t on the sugar solution after precipitation of the calcium, or another indicator such as murexide [Ramaiah, Vishnu and Chaturvedi (2)] is used, which , however, requires a photometr ic titration apparatus. The great disadvantage of the EDTA titra tions, even with a photometer, is the troubles which occur on examining stark colored solutions like raw juice and molasses. It is sig nificant that in the 1964 edition of the IClTMSA methods of sugar analysis, a method ror determination of calcium is not mentioned. The present communication reports a simple, sensitive and accurate method for estimation of ca lcium, which is elaborate by Trinder (5) for blood, but so far is not applied to sugar houst: products.


Preface. 1. Propaedeutics. 2. Simple Continued Fractions. 3. Congruence. 4. x2--Ry2 = C. 5. Classical Construction Problems. 6. The Polygonal Number Theorem. 7. Analytic Number Theory. Bibliography. A Appendix: Answers to Selected Exercises. Index.


Mathematical models, graphical analysis and numerical solvers allowed us to study heat transfer theory with interesting results. An optimal fin design and optimization process to get an efficient heat exchanger will be presented in this paper. Genetic algorithms technique and finite elements method worked together to find the best geometric configuration for both problems. We designed our own genetic algorithm code named GA7 and adapted it to each optimization problem. Efficiencies below 60% are not economically accepted and must be avoided for fin design. Analysis permitted us to get efficiencies up to 90%. For heat exchanger we could maximize heat flux obtaining different geometric dimension with good results. MatLab® and COMSOL integration increases capacity of GA and offers a new optimization process for COMSOL. This is a great solution for functions of high level of sophistication on energetic systems.


Optical resolutions by inclusion complexation with a chiral host compound.- Crystalline dipeptides: their molecular recognition to be useful to enantiomer separation.- Optical resolution via complex formation with O,O'-dibenzoyltataric acid.- Spontaneous chiral crystallization of achiral materials and absolute asymmetric transformation in the chiral crystalline environment.- Preferential enrichment: a dynamic enantiomeric resolution phenomenon caused by polymorphic transition during crystallization.- Optical resolution by means of crystallization.- Lipase-catalyzed kinetic resolution of racemates: a versatile method for the separation of enantiomers.- Enzymatic kinetic resolution.- Preparative-scale separation of enantiomers on chiral stationary phases by gas chromatography.- Practical resolution of enantiomers by high-performance liquid chromatography.


The experimental network for the project of interconnecting CATV in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan started from March, 1998. In this project, three CATV companies in Hanshin area, Kobe, Nishi-nomiya and Amagasaki are connected serially with optical ber via ATM switches. In this network, the jitter process of MPEG2 stream is investigated experimentally. In addition, the simulation model is also developed for the performance evaluation of the future extended network. Recently, it was reported that the cell stream of our experimental network exhibits the self-similar nature over the several timescales. In this paper, we construct the simulation model of the testbed network focusing on the generation of self-similar trac, and investigate the relation between the self-similar trac and the jitter of MPEG2 cells.


Light can also be shown to exist in time harmonic fields, where complex phasor analysis, Maxwell's equations and constituent relations from vector calculus are deployed to unearth the plane velocity embedded in electromagnetic radiations. A sinusoidal vector phasor radiation that contains this phenomenon in phase, direction and magnitude is x-rayed and using vector calculus equations and constitutive relations to bring out the phenomenon of light (plane velocity) in relation to the speed of light in a medium.


In this paper the Technology of Integrated Fluidics is described which is fully realized under using of printed circuit boards technology (PCB). The width of channels may be in the range of 80 µm and 8 mm. Pumps, valves, mixers, and complex fluidic systems have been realized. The structural parameters are changeable in a wide range. The behavior of channels and elementary fluidic elements in dependence of the size of the structure is been explained.


By use of "conjugate gradients" technique, concurrent efficiency greater than 90 percent. Algorithm applies method of conjugate gradients to iterative solution of finite-element problems on concurrent processor. With algorithm, iteration rates nearly proportional to number of processors. For sufficiently large problems, fraction of proportional speedup achieved, called concurrent efficiency, exceeds 90 percent. Results indicate future application of this and related algorithms to large finite-element problems depend primarily upon applicability of iteratiave techniques, not upon issues of concurrency or efficiency.