We present a methodology for formal verification of scheduling phase of High-Level Synthesis (HLS) when speculative code motions are performed during this process. Verification relies on establishing functional equivalence between the result of scheduling and the behavioral specification of the design, using their FSMD models. We propose and formally define a relation between the two FSMDs that is less constrained than the strong equivalence, but stronger than weak equivalence. For verification of scheduling involving speculative code motions, we propose the notion of FSMD recomposition, a transformation that alters the state sequence and/or the operation of each state, while maintaining the functionality. The equivalence conditions are formulated in higher-order logic, and their correctness is verified in the theorem proving environment PVS. The entire verification flow, including formal model extraction and proof generation is fully automated.


In response to a request from the court to the Legal Adviser of the Department of State, by a letter dated November 29, 1995, the United States submitted a Statement of Interest in Meridien International Bank Ltd. v. Government of the Republic of Liberia. The United States stated that the executive branch had determined that allowing the (second) Liberian National Transitional Government (LNTG II) access to American courts was consistent with U.S. foreign policy. The court, the United States maintained, should therefore accord that Government standing to assert claims and defenses in the action on behalf of the Republic of Liberia.


In this work, the evolution of spherically symmetric charged anisotropic viscous fluids is discussed in framework of [Formula: see text] gravity. In order to conduct the analysis, modified Einstein Maxwell field equations are constructed. Nonzero divergence of modified energy momentum tensor is taken that implicates dynamical equations. The perturbation scheme is applied to dynamical equations for stability analysis. The stability analysis is carried out in Newtonian and post-Newtonian limits. It is observed that charge, fluid distribution, electromagnetic field, viscosity and mass of the celestial objects greatly affect the collapsing process as well as stability of stars.


assigned surreptitiously to the mammography arm, which explains the lack of observed benefit11. The most recent nbss report1 tallied the breast cancers that occurred in each of the two study arms after the screening period ended (that is, between years 6 and 25), counting 2584 cancers in the screening arm and 2609 cancers in the control arm. If the screening arm had been enriched for women at "high risk," that enrichment must have been performed in a peculiar fashion, using only risk factors that have a transient effect. Perhaps Dr. Mukherjee would care to explain what those factors were. It follows that the excess of cancers seen in the screening period (years 1–5: 666 vs. 524) was a result of early diagnosis and not from stacking the deck. In any case, compelling evidence against the criticism of assignment of high-risk women to the screening arm is provided in the most recent analysis1, and that criticism is no longer raised (although no one has retracted or apologized). Instead, critics now insist that many women with palpable lesions were sent directly to the screening arm by duplicitous research assistants. There is no reason to believe that such actions (which would involve a national conspiracy of dozens of coordinators who spoke two official languages) were taken, but even if they had been, the study and its conclusions would not necessarily be invalidated. Even if all the women with prevalent cancers had been shunted to the screening arm, the situation could still be remedied by ignoring all cancers found at the first screening round (prevalent cancers) and focusing instead on the incident cancers. Such a strategy is not uncommon in screening studies. In the nbss, no woman had the opportunity to "cross the floor" from one study arm to the other after initial assignment. Therefore, if we exclude all prevalent cases from the analysis and focus on women with no cancer at study entry, we can re-evaluate the benefit of mammography thereafter. The hazard ratio for death from breast cancers detected in screening rounds 2–5 was 0.90 (95% confidence interval: 0.69 to 1.16; p = 0.40). A little learning is a dangerous thing. — Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism


(1958). New species of Lepidiota (Coleoptera: Melolonthinae) from Queensland, Australia. Annals and Magazine of Natural History: Vol. 1, No. 12, pp. 802-806.


Passive seismic imaging is used to map the development of hydraulic fractures in relatively non-fractured and naturally fractured reservoirs. The images obtained for multiple stimulations throughout the U.S. identified non-complex preferential fracture growth patterns with constrained permeability enhanced pathways, lithologically controlled symmetric and asymmetric hydraulic fractures, and complex fracture patterns associated with fluid-flow along pre-existing fault networks. In this paper, we examine these observations in the context of establishing effective field drainage through optimal well placement.


Mineral and heavy metal concentration of six aquatic plants possessing health promoting effects and used in indigenous medicine (as medicinal food) were determined using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy. Different elemental constituents at trace levels of plant play an effective role in the medicines prepared. A total of 11 elements Ca, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Pb and Zn have been measured. Their concentrations have been found to vary in different samples. Result of the present study provides vital data on the availability of some essential minerals, which can be useful to provide dietary information for designing value –added foods and for food bio fortification. Apart from this, data on the contaminated levels of heavy metals highlights the necessity on the quality and safety concerns about their use. Medicinal properties of these plant samples and their elemental distribution also correlated.


During thermal cycling under oxidizing conditions, thermal barrier systems undergo microstructural and morphological changes as well as stress development. These evolutions initiate cracks whose propagation leads to spallation. Works by Streiff et al. and Pint et al. showed that Hf additions improve spallation resistance of nickel aluminide coatings or alloys. Based on these results, Hf is added to a �-NiPtAl thermal barrier system. The chosen manufacturing process consists in depositing, onto the superalloy, alternative Hf and Pt layers by sputtering. A conventional diffusion treatment is performed before out-of-pack aluminizing and final heat treatment. To study the effect of Hf on TGO adherence and rumpling, the systems are thermally cycled, at 1100°C in air, in same time as conventional Pt-modified nickel aluminide thermal barrier systems. After failure, TGO and bond coating microstructure and composition are analyzed by SEM and compared to the "as-processed" systems.


Summary A technical approach for the study of the kinetics of antibody producing cells is possible by combination of autoradiography and the fluorescent antibody technic. Results show that: 1. Almost all antibody containing cells present by day 4 of a secondary response are newly formed cells arising from mitotic division of a precursor sometime after antigenic stimulation; 2. Most plasma cells do not arise by direct, non mitotic differentiation from lymphocytes; and 3. Functionally differentiated antibody containing cells can divide.


The Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change is funded by a consortium of industrial and foundation sponsors. For the complete list see http://globalchange.mit.edu/sponsors/all.


In this paper we present an ethologically inspired methodology for the incremental improvement of collective group behaviors. The goal is to aid in the implementation of eecient group behaviors , where eeciency is measured in terms of time, interference, and robustness. Among these, it is interference that can provide the best indication of how to modify a collective group behavior in order to accomplish a given task more eeciently. Interference may be reduced by employing one of the three canonical spatio-temporal arbitration schemes presented: pack arbitration, caste arbitration, or territorial arbitration. The choice of an arbitration scheme for a given task is based on which provides the most improved ee-ciency. As an example of this methodology we implement a collective hoarding behavior with four robots, and show how this group behavior may be improved by using the interference present in the system to help in the selection of the best arbitration scheme. Topic areas: collective and social behavior, autonomous robots, applied adaptive behavior.


Production cost models are often used for planning by simulating power system operations over long time horizons. The simulation of a day-ahead energy market can take several weeks to compute. Tractability improvements are often made through model simplifications, such as: reductions in transmission modeling detail, relaxation of commitment variable integrality, reductions in cost modeling detail, etc. One common simplification is to partition the simulation horizon so that weekly or monthly horizons can be simulated in parallel. However, horizon partitions are often executed with overlap periods of arbitrary and sometimes zero length. We calculate the time domain persistence of historical unit commitment decisions to inform time domain partitioning of production cost models. The results are implemented using PLEXOS production cost modeling software in an HPC environment to improve the computation time of simulations while maintaining solution integrity.


Objective The proper and correct usage of medication plays a significant role in the treatment of children's disease,due to the fact that drug therapy as an important part of children's recovery.The incident,which is the side effects of children's medication usage,occurs repeatedly nowadays.Departments concerned,therefore,should pay more attention to the safety drugs for children immediately.


Weblog is powerful learning media that triggered interaction and self-assessment among students. This study indicates that weblog is very useful tool of learning to be used in developing the students' active writing interaction as well self-assessment. The students could continuously improve their writing skill through studying and sharing their knowledge through weblog and all comments posted by their friends are useful for the improvement of their writing skill. This study adds to the understanding of the use weblog in teaching English, especially in teaching writing. It is also intriguing to the students as they are well exposed to technology in their daily lives. The online environment of weblogs really offers a learning place that encourages collaboration and analytical thinking towards providing constructive comments on their writing assignments necessary for students to improve their writing skill.


We employ the variational theory of optimal control problems and evolutionary algorithms to investigate the form finding of minimum compliance elastic structures. Mathematical properties of ground structure approaches are discussed with reference to arbitrary collections of structural elements. A numerical procedure based on a Breeder Genetic Algorithm is proposed for the shape optimization of discrete structural models. Several numerical applications are presented, showing the ability of the adopted search strategy in avoiding local optimal solutions. The proposed approach is validated against a parade of results available in the literature.


The potential for using advanced composite materials in the construction of commercial marine craft is explored by addressing three questions, in turn: whether advanced composites should be used; if so, where they should be used; and if their use is appropriate, how they should be used. The discussion includes clarification of the differences between composite materials and advanced composite materials, and covers: the importance of saving on weight; recent developments in advanced composites; manufacturing techniques; design aspects; and the involvement of the classification societies.


We report here the molecular cloning, expression, and characterisation of a human homologue of rat centaurin-α, which we have termed centaurin-α1. The cDNA contains a single open reading frame, which encodes a 373-amino-acid protein with a calculated molecular weight of 43,429 Daltons. Centaurin-α1 shows high identity at the amino acid level with the other centaurin-α homologues, p42IP4 and PIP3BP. Northern analysis revealed that centaurin-α1 expresses as a single 2.5-kb transcript, mainly in the brain. Recombinant centaurin-α1 binds the inositol head group of PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 and Ins(1,3,4,5)P4, with high affinity (Kd 139.7 ± 10.5 nM) and inositol phosphate specificity, consistent with it functioning as a putative PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 receptor. In keeping with this conclusion, we have shown that GFP-tagged centaurin-α1 recruits to the plasma membrane in a PI 3-kinase-dependent manner and the recruitment is inhibited by the PI 3-kinase inhibitor wortmannin. These results suggest that centaurin-α1 can function as an in vivo PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 receptor.


Huantai County is a high grain yield representation on the North China Plain,where a substantial increase have occurred to the nitrate concentrations in groundwater due to the long-term intensive farming resulting in a severe harm to local farmers′ health.323 farmers in Huantai County was investigated about their desires for the groundwater protection.Meanwhile,the consciousness about environmental protection,the desire to improve groundwater environment,as well as the awareness of environmental protection responsiblity for the local farmers were also under consideration.The result showed that most farmers were worried about the harm brought by the groundwater pollution,but few of them understood that unsuitalbe agricultural production would lead to the groundwater pollution.About half of the farmers expressed the lack of technological instructional from agro-experts,though most of them would like to adopt new environmental-friendly fertilizer.Most farmers were ready to join in the Agricultural Production Association to improve their agricultural technology,but scarce sense of responsibility on groundwater protection was still in existence.The higher education and income farmers gained,the higher sense of responsibility and environmental protection awareness would they have,and the bigger possibility for them to accept improvements by means of agricultural techniques.Thus it can be seen that strengthen the publicity on pollution prevention and increase the input are necessary,and promoting the construction of technology transfer system and improving the groundwater quality monitering and supervision system is of the equal importance.


This article is a commentary on a previously published essay: Is the increasing policy use of Impact Assessment in Europe Likely to undermine efforts to achieve healthy public policy? (Katherine E Smith, Gary Fooks, Jeff Collin, Heide Weishaar, Anna B Gilmore) 2009.


This document describes the different categories of traffic management scenarios including problem statements. Subsequently the requirements are derived for a traffic engineering architecture within the evolved packet system.


The development of mosquito vector control technology the entomopathogenic fungi have advanced field in recent years. However, entomopathogenic fungi have several advantages over the microbes for formulation in biopesticides as many species have a robust spore stage capable of survival in products. The fungal spores, metabolites, protein, toxins, enzymes, and nanoparticles have been shown significant efficacies against adults and its developmental stages of mosquitoes. With continuing improvements in formulations and application technology, it is likely that many more niche mycolarvicides and mycoadulticides can be come to market, especially with the increased markets due to a rise in organic production and the reduction in the number of chemical pesticide available. The commercial development of entomopathogenic fungi for mosquito control has been hindered by outdated performance relative to chemical insecticides. However, the new technologies are urgently required for their isolation and maintenance impedes their field application. Recently many agents have shown promising findings under field conditions still have certain economical limitations. This review addresses new prospective of the fungal infection used for mosquitoes control present to future based alternative.


Economic development is the core in the bridgehead construction and it will inevitably pose an irrevocable threat to the protection of national culture.However,it cannot be ignored that the rises and falls of the national culture are closely connected with the survival of the nation.Therefore,in the bridgehead construction,it is urgent to firmly raise people's consciousness of culture security,to maintain national culture,and meanwhile,to build a culture bridgehead.


Objective To investigate relation of IL-18 and collagen fibre(CF) with plaque stability in aorta atherosclerotic lesion.Methods Morphology and content of CF in rupture of aorta atherosclerotic group(A group),non-rupture of aorta atherosclerotic group(B group) and normal aorta group(C group) were examined by Massion's staining.Expression of IL-18 by was measured immunohistochemical staining among three groups.Results Increasing and arranging turbulence of the CF was found in tunica intima,middle layer and tunica adventitia in A and B groups.Around necrosis of atheromatous plaque,CF significantly increased and arranged turbulence,but the CF decreased or disappeared in necrosis area of atheromatous plaque in A group.The CF significantly increased,arranged turbulence and extended to SMCs in necrosis of atheromatous plaque in B group.Arranging orderliness and absence of disruption of the CF was recorded in C group.Percent age of CF content was significantly different among three groups(P0.01).It showed the IL-18 is strong positive in endothelial cells,inflammatory cells and necrosis of atherosclerotic plaques in A group,positive in B group and quite lowness or negative in C group.There were significant difference among three groups(P0.05).IL-18 and CF were significant dependability among groups,respectively(P0.05).ConclusionIt was indicated that IL-18 overexpression caused a marked decrease in collagen content and led to vulnerable plaque in aorta atherosclerotic lesion.


The authors investigate dynamic analysis of a bridge supported under a moving load, by many vertical supports. Modeling of each vertical support was done both as a linear damper and a linear spring. The Euler-Bernoulli beam theory forms the basis of the analysis. The concepts of damping force, spring force, and distributed moving load are utilized in the present concept, while the use of matching conditions is avoided. Obtaining an exact solution is highly simplified, when these forces are expressed in terms of the problem's unknown function. In order for an exact solution to be reached, there is utilization of an important Dirac delta distribution function. The supported bridge response is plotted and compared to different parameter values. Results are compared with previous papers in the case of an undamped bridge with no supports.


The preparation of the nucleophile trans-[RuCl(NO)(1)], where 1 is the bidentate ligand Ph2PCH2C18CH2PPh2, and of the five-coordinate species [RuCl(CO)(NO)(1)], [RuCl(CO)(NO)(Ph2PCH2Ph)2] and [RuCl(NO)(2)(1)] are reported.

The crystal structure of [RuCl(CO)(NO)(1)] shows that the coordination around the metal atom is distorted trigonal bipyramidal with the phosphorus atoms in axial positions. The RuNO bond angle is 142.8°. 1H- and 31P-NMR. and NO IR.-data for the above complexes are reported and related to the coordination geometry.


In the Ultra-long concrete structure,through the use of expansive concrete strengthened with technology,both for the convenience of construction and shorten the construction period,but also improve the crack resistance of concrete to enhance the permeability of underground structures.


A subject of the real research is the criminal legislation of People's Republic of China on responsibility for rape. In work object of the specified crime is investigated, characteristic of the victim and subject of offense is given, the content of signs of the objective and subjective parties of crime reveals. Also characteristic of the qualifying signs is given in article. It is noted that studying of the foreign legislation and practice of its application is important both from theoretical, and from practical the points of view. Experience of foreign legislators allows to consider possible negative consequences when reforming the domestic legislation. The analysis of judicial practice, opinions of the Chinese and domestic scientists, the kriminogenic and qualifying signs allowed to establish strong and weaknesses of the Chinese legislation regarding a regulation of responsibility for rape. The Russian and Chinese criminal legislation has many common features. In many respects it is caused by the long-term socialist direction of development of the Russian Federation and People's Republic of China. Nevertheless, the Chinese criminal legislation in the studied part has certain differences. So, for example, social, cultural and political and legal features of the Chinese system did not allow it to develop balanced by criminal - a legal mechanism of protection of the person against sexual encroachments irrespective of his floor. Now in criminal law of People's Republic of China there is no independent responsibility for violent acts of sexual nature with penetration (anal, oral sexual contact) concerning males (in Russia such actions form the corpus delicti provided by Article 132 of the Criminal code). Such actions, despite high public danger, on the current edition of the law can be qualified only as infliction of harm to health or as dissolute actions.


This dissertation presents empirical analysis of linear and nonlinear models in macroeconomics and financial economics. It conveys the message about the substantial benefit in the analysis stems from a little departure from the standard models. By relaxing some assumptions, especially the linearity, it demonstrates some significant improvements of analysis performed in terms of accuracy and theoretical consistency. Empirical Analysis of A Core Inflation Measure in An Estimated DSGE Model The first chapter presents the analysis of inflation by allowing an ad-hoc time-varying inflation target given by one of the best core inflation measures, namely the PCE trimmed mean core inflation. At the same time, we are evaluating the core inflation measure by directly incorporating them into a dynamic general equilibrium model. The analysis of the inflation dynamics, especially in correspondence to its broken-down components is interesting and worth exploring further. It is argued that the Fed has been actually targeting a time-varying inflation target consistent with the underlying inflation dynamics. Analysis of New Keynesian Phillips Curve Relationship in An Estimated Nonlinear DSGE Model This paper estimates a nonlinear DSGE model based on Amisano & Tristani (2010) with US data. The model is approximated up to the second order. Conditional particle filter is used to calculate the likelihood and Bayesian method is used to simulate the posterior distribution of the parameters. The analysis of the nonlinear NKPC better accommodates short-term sharp-turns of the dynamics in the economy. It shows different impulse responses that are conditional on high or low inflation rate in the initial period. As a result, the relationships between inflation, its inertia, the expected inflation and output are more consistent with the theory suggested by the model. Value at Risk (VaR) Based on GARCH-Type Estimated Volatility of 5 Stock Markets The Great Recession has stirred up debate about risk management practices. Value-at-Risk (VaR) is often blamed for imprudent excessive risk taking leading to the crisis. VaR-based potential loss calculation is based on the assumption of normality of the shocks. In reality, shocks distributions are often highly kurtotic. VaR will be more accurately representing the real risks if such distributions are used in the calculation. EGARCH(1,1) with Student t-distribution is shown to be more reliable than the simple standard RiskMetrics and the standard GARCH(1,1) approaches.


We were very pleased by the paper of Borrelli and colleagues (1) and we would thank for their consideration. Nowadays, macular diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) underwent a strong improvement in terms of pathophysiology understanding and treatments efficacy monitoring, thank to multimodal imaging techniques.


Part of Plenary Session IV: Imagining & Focusing on the Future presented at the Learning Spaces Collaboratory, 2019 LSC National Colloquium November 1-3, 2019 Kansas City, Missouri


Sensor networks operate without any infrastructure thus, they are very vulnerable in security. Especially, the false report injection attack makes the sensor nodes become compromised and injected false information. So, the life of legitimate nodes is getting shorter rapidly. Ye et al. proposed the Statistical En-Route Filtering of Injected False Data in Sensor Networks (SEF) as a security technique about the false data injection attack. SEF can verify that whether a report is false report or not through the en-route filtering. But if the number of false reports is very small, SEF can waste a lot of energy by verifying the many legitimate reports as well as the false reports. In this paper, we suggest a method to use the limited energy of nodes efficiently in sensor networks by controlling the probability of attempts to verify a report using the fuzzy logic. The attempts to verify the reports probability is determined in consideration of the number of neighbor nodes of each node, the number of hops from each forwarding node to the BS, and the ratio of false reports which are received from a neighbor node. Hence, we can expect the method will be more efficient than SEF to decrease energy consumption to verify the event reports in sensor networks.


In this paper the performance of delta modulation (DM) systems have been studied by computer simulation when the input signal to the DM coder is a voiceband data signal. First, the parameter values of three DM systems, linear DM (LDM), constant factor DM (CFDM), and continuously variable slope DM (CVSD) has been optimized for 4800 bits/s differential phase shift keying (DPSK) signal. Then, the performance of the three DM systems have been studied for ideal and noisy channels. It has been found that the peak signal-to-quantization-noise ratio (SQNR) is nearly the same regardless of coding scheme used, but CFDM yields the widest dynamic range. In a noisy channel, however, CFDM is very sensitive to channel bit errors. Considering the overall performance, CVSD appears to be the best among the three DM systems studied. Also, the performances of DM's have been compared with those of PCM and DPCM systems. In addition, we have studied the effect of DM quantization noise on modem bit error rate by the Monte Carlo simulation method. It is possible to transmit a 4800 bits/s DPSK signal at a bit error rate below 10-5by CVSD with the rate of 32 kbits/s.


Patient: Female, 59 Final Diagnosis: Delayed kidney graft function Symptoms: — Medication: — Clinical Procedure: Living donor kidney transplantation Specialty: Transplantology Objective: Unusual clinical course Background: Delayed graft function is a clinical term to describe the failure of the transplanted kidney to function immediately after transplantation. Case Report: A 59-year-old woman suffered from a rare case of delayed graft function lasting 148 days after unrelated living donor kidney transplantation. Until now, 15 years after transplantation, organ function is still good, with serum creatinine levels about 1.4 to 2.0 mg/dl. Conclusions: Even after prolonged graft dysfunction, good graft function can be achieved.


This paper presents an analogue four quandrant multiplier depending on the square law of MOS transistors,which consists of 28 MOS transistors only.This circuit has a good linearity with nonlinear error less than 2% within 1/3 supply dynamic range. Its passband is 62 kHz,chip area is 0. 47 mm2 with power consumption of 5 mW under supply voltages of ±5 V.


Introduction to the HyperText Markup Language. HTML and Document Design. Graphics and Images in HTML Documents. The Design of Web Collections. Strategic Web Site Design. HTML in Detail. Advanced HTML--Proprietary Extensions and New Features. Uniform Resource Locators (URLs). The HTTP Protocol. Data Processing on an HTTP Server. CGI Examples, Programs, and Tools. About the Web Site. Index.


PURPOSE: A retardation film, a method for fabricating the same, and a liquid crystal display comprising the same are provided to improve viewing angle compensating effect by adjusting retardation values to a thickness direction and to a plane direction. CONSTITUTION: A retardation film comprises an acrylic film(c) and a coating layer(a). The coating layer comprises a negative C type material. The negative C type material comprises the repeat unit of a formula 1. In the formula 1, the R is equal to each other or different from each other. The R is separately selected from a group comprising -H, -CH_3, -CH_2CH(OH)CH_3, -CH_2CH_2OH, -CH_2CH_3. The n is between 100 and 300.


Companies around the world have recognized that environmental issues and social values constitute some of the most important management concerns and have actively introduced environmental, social, and governance management (ESG management, ESGM). In the digital age, an attempt is also often made to incorporate digital transformation into ESGM. However, research on the combination of digital leadership, ESGM, and organizational innovation is still in its early stages. Therefore, in this study, a research model was constructed by combining ESGM and organizational innovation (OI) from the perspective of digital leadership (DL). Specifically, for achieving organizational sustainability (OS), the mediating effect of two variables—ESGM and organizational innovation—was also explored, and empirical analysis was conducted on Korean and Chinese companies. We took into consideration the premise that the impact of digital leadership, ESGM, and organizational innovation on organizational sustainability could be different due to the differences in the cultures and systems of the two countries. For empirical analysis, partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used. The results showed that digital leadership in both countries had a significant effect on ESGM and organizational innovation. Specifically, both digital leadership and ESGM together with organizational innovation played an important role in organizational sustainability in the entire model. However, between digital leadership and organizational sustainability, the mediating effect of ESGM and organizational innovation was different, viz., Korea had partial mediating effects and China had complete mediating effects. It is expected that this study would fill the research gap in the area of digital leadership in ESGM and contribute to the implementation of corporate ESGM strategies and organizational innovation. Furthermore, valuable implications for organizational sustainability and the sustainable growth of companies are also presented.


Mapping ultrasound fields in water for imaging purposes is most commonly achieved by piezoelectric detectors. Because the sensitivity of detectors falls off with decreasing element size, this becomes a specific limitation of piezoelectric detectors. Additionally, in the case of systems based on a piezoelectric detector mechanically sacnning, acquisition speed can be unacceptably low, while the use of a 2D array of detectors to overcome this limitation is prohibitively expensive. Optical ultrasound detection techniques may offer a potential to overcome those limitations [1]. A promising technique is based on the detection of acoustically induced changes in the thickness of a Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI). A FPI based ultrasonic sensor can provide broadband frequency responses of several tens of megahertz, optically element size of a few tens of micrometers and high sensitivity, comparable to those of piezoelectric detectors. A rapid data acquisition approach is that illuminating the sensor with laser pulse and the acoustic field can be mapped in parallel at discrete time intervals using a 2D CCD array. The concept is notionally similar to that of an acoustic camera taking snapshots of the acoustic field [2]. It samples signals of acoustic field by switching the laser irradiation, which is not easy to realize high frequency sampling such as megahertz. Then, we proposed a new approach, which illuminates the sensor with a large diameter CW laser beam and utilizes high-speed camera to sample the signals with shutter of the high-speed camera.


Acrylic acid in exhaust was determined by using ion chromatography.The common inorganic anion did not produce interference to the sample analysis.Calibration curves for acrylic acid of the method exhibited linearity in a range between 0.100 mg/L and 10.0 mg/L.Detection limits were 0.04 mg/m3 for controlled emission and 0.003 mg/m3 for uncontrolled leakage.The RSD of duplicated exhaust samples ranged from 3.4% to 10.5%.Spiked recoveries of samples ranged from 91% to 102%.


We investigate the spectral response of an unpumped distributed-feedback waveguide resonator, subject to thermal chirp. Experimental and simulated results indicate that such chirp causes an increase in outcoupling losses and, therefore, in the resonance linewidth.


To deal with the employment difficulty for university graduates,an engineering practical training system for the major of electronics and information was constructed.The system is constructed based on the laboratory teaching platform with entire functions.It combined with company engineer and technician training and introduced the market mechanism.The training mechanism is applied for improving the practical ability and innovation ability of talent to meet of the talent training need from the academic and economic development.


As anyone who has sat in a waiting room anxiously reading through a monthold issue of Sports Illustrated or Cosmopolitan can attest, physicians are very busy people. Most physicians see hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of patients each year. After examining and advising so many patients, a physician, understandably, will not be able to recall the speciŽ c treatment of each individual patient. Unfortunately, in the interest of time, most physicians do not tape-record or transcribe their conversations with individual patients. Ordinarily, a physician will mark in the patient's chart, or dictate, only information that is considered to be important and relevant to the patient's treatment. This raises an important issue. If a patient sues a physician claiming that he or she did not give informed consent before a medical procedure, then how can a physician defend himor herself? To defend such a claim, a physician probably will need to rely on his or her habits under a given set of circumstances. The habit evidence rule sometimes permits a physician to introduce evidence that it was habit to inform each and every patient of the risks involved in the procedure to be performed. Many jurisdictions that have ruled on this question allow physicians to utilize the habit evidence rule, but should they? This commentary concludes that they should. Section I explains the basics of the doctrine of informed consent. Section II discusses the origin of the habit evidence rule and the difference between habit and character evidence. Section III looks at cases where physicians have tried to introduce habit evidence in informed consent claims. Section IV examines why it is important to allow this type of


This article states how we teachers educate a good child for one family,a good student for one school and a good citizen for our society.Teachers learn not only books' knowledge but also the society's knowledge,and teachers have not only perfect skills but high quality.The students not only raised by their families,but schooled by our teachers.As executives of modern education,we should have profound knowledge,straight personalities and selfless love and high quality.We should use those that we mentioned above to affect them,and our society should be filled with love.


Current state-of-the-art systems for measuring movements at a microscopic scale in MEMS mostly rely on laser Doppler vibrometry (LDV). However, a major downside of LDV is that only one point at a time can be tracked and only in the direction of the incident laser beam. On the other hand, stroboscopic video microscopy (SVM) allows monitoring the inplane displacements of all points in the field of view simultaneously. Commercially available vibrometry systems often provide an SVM mode. However, their resolution typically ranges from several to tens of nanometers. In contrast, some experimental SVM systems described in literature have achieved resolutions down to tens of picometers. Here we compare the performance of our self-built SVM setup to a modern commercial LDV device in characterizing piezoelectric actuators made from sintered lead zirconate titanate (PZT). The samples were stimulated with sinusoidal signals to induce surface strain in all three directions of space. Maps of the induced strain fields were recorded in-plane with SVM and out-of-plane with LDV. Our measurements prove that SVM, as realized in our setup, can be a cost-effective alternative to LDV for monitoring and characterizing of MEMS with sub-nanometer accuracy. Especially at low frequencies and when applied to challenging samples, SVM can outperform LDV in terms of accuracy and time efficiency.


This paper introduces the concept of 'product stewardship' as a new policy approach towards solid waste management. The German Packaging Ordinance is analysed as a prototype of this new approach. Particular attention is paid to the economics of the Packaging Ordinance, to the practical implementation problems and to the likely impact of the planned EU Directive. Finally, what can be learned from the German experiences for the future design of waste management policies involving product stewardship is discussed.


The pure nuclear quadrupole resonance frequencies of the Br79 isotope are given for a number of previously unreported bromobenzene derivatives. The resonance frequencies of the Br81 isotope in these and other previously reported compounds are compared with the electron density in the vicinity of the carbon atom to which the bromine is bonded.


Abstract This study explores the socio-economic legacies and critique of nation-building found in the work of Jose Joaquin Fernandez de Lizardi (1776-1827). In the nineteenth century, the Latin American elite struggled to disassociate itself from a suffocating colonial machine; they sought their own identity, and writing became a way to express their frustration. As in other parts of Latin America, Mexican intellectuals protested fossilisation via Cervantes's Don Quijote. Using the Spanish author's text as a blueprint, Lizardi's Don Catrín de la fachenda depicted a turbulent society that was in the process of abandoning a decaying colonial order. Don Quijote's characters engaged in power struggles and were involved in a variety of forms of social antagonism. Lizardi juxtaposed and superimposed these on an American geographical and socio-economic space where there was much dissension around the nation's direction. The social and economic rules of Mexico (and Latin America) today can be said to be already present in the social exchanges in Don Catrín. It was in this context that Don Quijote was "Mexicanised" by Lizardi and thereby made to participate in local reflections on liberty, patriotism, capitalism, and citizenship. Cervantes's text thus took on a socio-political meaning in the narrative of Latin America's past and present.


An experiment sequence has been developed for the Nicolet FTMS-2000 differentially pumped, dual cell Fourier transform mass spectrometer (FTMS) that enables ultra-high-resolution daughter ion MS/MS spectra to be easily acquired without requiring pulsed valves for collision gas introduction. Full advantage is taken of the differential pumping capability of the spectrometer by forcing and dissociating ions in the high-pressure source cell, then pulsing the daughter ions across the conductance limit into the lower pressure analyzer cell where they are detected. Under these low-pressure conditions it is possible to obtain ultra-high-resolution spectra and exact mass measurements of the daughter ions. By the use of this approach, resolution in excess of 200,000 (fwhm) has been demonstrated for isobaric daughter ions at m/z 105. Both positive and negative ion collision induced dissociation (CID) spectra have been successfully generated.


Ammonia has received widespread attention as an indispensable chemical for humans and a potential energy source for a future low-carbon society. To meet the urgent requirements for a high output...


This paper shows the simplified equation to predict the ultimate moment capacity and corresponding rod stress in reinforced concrete beam with external post-tensioning rods. Because the stress of external post-tensioning rod depends on the beam deflection, the previous analytical model for post-tensioned beams requires a tedious iteration process. Also, the stress equations in ACI code or other researchers' models are suitable only for internal tendons in concrete beams. In this study, given the lack of analytical approaches to predict the nominal stress of the external unbonded rod, a simple and robust equation has been proposed for externally post-tensioned concrete beams. It is concluded that the proposed equation predicted the stress of external steel rods in post-tensioned concrete beams reasonably well.


Composite endpoints, consisting of the union of two or more outcomes, are often used as the primary endpoint in time-to-event randomized clinical trials. Previously, Gomez and Lagakos provided a method to guide the decision between using a composite endpoint instead of one of its components when testing the effect of a treatment in a randomized clinical trial. Consider the problem of testing the null hypotheses of no treatment effect by means of either the single component or the composite endpoint. In this paper we prove that the usual interpretation of the asymptotic relative efficiency as the reciprocal ratio of the sample sizes required for two test procedures, for the same null and alternative hypothesis, and attaining the same power at the same significance level, can be extended to the test procedures considered here for two different null and alternative hypotheses. A simulation to study the relationship between asymptotic relative efficiency and finite sample sizes is carried out.


The present study shows the result of a rock fall hazard evaluation of the area downstream the Norman Castle that overlooks Forza d'Agro (Messina Province - Italy). The study was aimed at evaluating the penetration capacity of a rockfall in the inhabited center, to evaluate the number of houses involved in the transit area of the boulders. On the basis of the data obtained, a hazard assessment was developed that took into account not only the type and magnitude of the landslide phenomenon, but also the probability of occurrence of the event or its return time.


Abstract The use of surface electromyography (SEMG) has increased exponentially in the past four decades. SEMG is one of the most widespread measures employed today in psychophysiological assessment and one of three primary biofeedback modalities. This article briefly outlines three areas that the author believes are important for SEMG to address if it is to continue to flourish in the future: applications in telehealth, the use of telemetry and ambulatory monitoring, and studies on the stability or reliability of surface electromyography.


The aim of this study is to assess the pollution of the water in the Bay of Durres from wastewater discharges, including the one generated from livestock units. Monitoring expeditions were carried out in the coast line of Durres Bay. There were appointed 2 sampling points, The first point named Currila is located in the north suburb of the city of Durres and the second point named Plepa in the estuary of the wastewater and livestock water discharges, in the south of Durres city and were analysed physic-chemical indicators in May and August 2011. The results of the analysis showed evident differences compared to the reference parameters of EU for the bathing water quality. Specifically Streptococcus Faecalis resulted 3.1 x 10 and 9.3 x 10 MPN/100 ml water (May/August) in the Currila point, versus 3.5 X 10 and 9.8 X 10 MPN/100 ml water (May/August) in the estuary of the wastewater discharges (Plepa point), while the reference parameters of EU for the bathing water quality is 2 x 10 MPN/100 ml water. Specifically Escherichia coli resulted 1.5 x 10 and 3.4 x 10 MPN/100 ml water (May/August) in the Currila point, versus 2.3 X 10 and 9.3 X 10 MPN/100 ml water (May/August) in the estuary of the wastewater discharges (Plepa point), while the reference parameters of EU for the bathing water quality is 1 X 10 MPN/100 ml water. As observed, among others, the seasonal and livestock units effects are evident. It can be concluded that, to control pollution, is important to treated wastewater and the water that is generated from the livestock units before discharge them in the sea water, because they are a risk factor of pollution. Key-words: water, quality, pollution, analysis, samples, treatment


Let C be a Grothendieck category, M be an object of C , and S s Ž . End M , the endomorphism ring of M. When M is a generator of C , C then we have, according to the Gabriel]Popescu theorem, that C is Ž w equivalent to a certain quotient category of Mod-S see, e.g., 3, Theorem x. X.4.1 . If M is arbitrary, then one may consider the hereditary torsion Ž . theory T, F of C , with the torsionfree class F consisting of all M-disw x w x tinguished objects in the sense of 2 , and it is shown in 1, Theorem 1.7 that there is again an equivalence between the quotient category C of C M Ž . with respect to T, F , and a quotient category of Mod-S, provided only w x Ž that C be locally finitely generated. In his review of 1 , T. Kato MR 91b: . 16009, 1991 conjectured that this last result holds even without the condition that C be locally finitely generated. The purpose of this note is to prove that the conjecture of Kato is true, thus extending both Theorem w x 1.7 of 1 and the Gabriel]Popescu theorem. To this end, let us first fix some additional notation. w x Contrary to the use in 1 , we will now write multiplication in S as a composition of morphisms. Let us denote by F the set of right ideals I of w x S such that MrIM is a T-torsion object. Recall from 1, Theorem 1.6 that Ž w x. if F is a Gabriel filter of right ideals of S see, 3, VI.5 , then C is M Ž . equivalent to the quotient category ModS, F .


Abstract : A numerical method based on the axisymmetric, incompressible Navier-Stokes equations is combined with a lifting surface code to predict the vortex wake of hovering rotors. The lifting surface code, AMI Hover, is used to obtain the circulation distribution on the blade. This circulation distribution is fed into the Navier-Stokes code to compute the vortex wake under this specified circulation distribution. An iteration approach is used between these two codes to converge the circulation distribution and the shape of the vortex wake. A relaxation scheme is developed to resolve the instability encountered among the tip vortices. A reconcentration scheme is used to solve the diffusion problem due to the strong artificial viscosity. The results from the present method are compared with experimental data obtained by smoke-flow visualization and hot-wire measurements for several rotor blade configurations. The comparisons show that the present method is able to predict the complex wake system shed by a hovering rotor.


The utility model relates to technology of household appliances and solves the following problems: in the traditional refrigerator, the deterioration of a food is hard to discover and other foods are thus polluted. The utility model provides a refrigerator capable of monitoring freshness preservation degree of food. The utility model adopts a technical scheme as follows: the refrigerator capable of monitoring freshness preservation degree of food comprises a refrigerator body, wherein the refrigerator body comprises a freezing cabinet and a power source module and a cavity is arranged inside the freezing cabinet. The utility model is characterized in that the refrigerator further comprises a gas sensor module, a display module and a control module, wherein the gas sensor module is connected with the control module, the control module is connected with the display module and the control module is connected with the power source module; and the gas sensor module is arranged in the internal cavity of the freezing cabinet. The utility model has the benefits of user friendliness and applicability to the refrigerator.


Precordial ST-segment mapping was serially applied in the Coronary Care Unit for the study of the effect of oxygen inhalation on the ischemic injury in 17 patients with acute anterior transmural myocardial infarction. A 49-lead ECG system was used. The sum of all ST elevations (ZST) recorded was taken as an index of magnitude of ischemic injury and the number of recording sites showing ST elevation (NST) was taken as an index of extent of ischemic damage. Stability of the precordial maps was observed over a period of one hour while the patients were on ambient air. Oxygen inhalation for a mean of 66 min resulted in a fourfold increase of


Leonurus artemisia (Lour.)S.Y.Hu se ed oil was extracted with hexane.After saponification and esterification with meth yl the oil was determined by capillary GCMS.11 compounds have been determined and its content of unsaturation is 74.36%,of which linoleic acid and oleic acid are main and their contents are 41.48% and 2844% respectively.


Adopting organizational learning theory,the paper analyzes the relativity of equipment support capability generation and organizational learning,takes an anatomy of equipment support capability generation mechanism,then studies the mechanism on the angle of knowledge transference,and finally,puts forward the problems that we should put attention to.The paper can support ideas to realize the essence and direct our equipment support capability generation practice.


Software-Defined Networking (SDN) has been adopted as an emerging networking paradigm within Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). SDN enables WSNs with self-configuration and programmable control to dynamically and efficiently manage the network functionalities. Generally, in WSN, smart sensing devices suffer from the low battery issue and they may be deployed in such environments where frequent recharge is not possible after the deployment. Therefore, this work focuses on energy-efficient routing problem considering Software-Defined Wireless Sensor Networks (SD-WSN) architecture. In SD-WSN, Control Server (CS) assigns the tasks to selected Control Nodes (CNs) dynamically. Thus, the CNs' selection process is developed as one optimization (NP-Hard) problem to make the network functional. To solve this problem effectively, a nature-inspired algorithm i.e., Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO) is hybridized with Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) in order to improve its convergence and overall performance. This hybrid variant of GWO is dedicated to offering a Balanced clustering (BC) based routing protocol, this variant is referred to as HGWO-BC. Further, to solve the problem effectively, a fitness function is designed that considers several parameters e.g., intracluster distance, CS to CNs distance, nodes' residual energy, and cluster size. Thus, the proposed approach performs balanced, energy-efficient, and scalable clustering and prolongs the network life-time. To verify its effectiveness, an exhaustive simulation study is done. Comparative results show that the HGWO-BC approach outperforms other state-of-the-art approaches concerning network life-time, residual energy, network throughput, and convergence rate.


For residual compensation of an earth-fault distance relay, a compensation method using only a reactive compensation factor (X0/X1) for the transmission line or a compensation method using both a reactive compensation factor (X0/X1) and a resistive compensation factor (R0/R1) which are widely used in Japan. In this paper, we present the reason why measuring distance errors of earth-fault distance relays occur even when these two residual current compensation methods are used. Furthermore, with the compensation method that uses both reactive and resistive compensation factors, we have shown that depending upon whether the ratio, (RG/RA) of the line to earth resistance (RG) to line to line resistance (RA) is larger or smaller than the resistive compensation factor (R0/R1) that an earth-fault distance relay will respectively either overreach or underreach for a double line to earth fault.


A silicon smelting furnace and a process for utilizing this furnace for the production of silicon is described. The process involves a process in which equilmolar proportions of silicon carbide and silicon dioxide are charged to the reaction zone of a silicon furnace. Above the furnace is placed a shaft containing particulate car bon in the amount of 2 moles of carbon per mole of silicon dioxide charged to the reaction zone. As energy is applied to the reaction zone, molten silicon, gaseous silicon monoxide, and gaseous carbon monoxide are formed, the gases passing through the shaft of carbon, converting the carbon to silicon carbide. The silicon carbide, so formed, is combined with an equimolar pro portion of silicon dioxide, and the cycle is repeated. Aside from an initial charge of silicon carbide, the feeds to the smelting furnace are silicon dioxide and carbon, silicon carbide being formed concurrently in a bed of carbon separated from the furnace reaction zone during the smelting cycle.


Background In the past few decades,the balance of Th1/Th2 is often used to explain the immune mechanisms of fungal infection and fungal disease.More recently,a novel subset of CD4+ effector Th cells has been found to participate in anti-fungal infection response.However,whether Th17 is involved in the immune response in fungal keratitis is unclear up to now.Objective Present study was to investigate the expression change of Th17 type cytokine and its specific transcription factor,retinoid-related orphan nuclear receptor gamma t (RORγt),in the cornea of Fusarium solani keratitis.Methods Ninety-six clean BALB/c mice were divided into Fusarium solani keratitis model group and control group by randomized digital table.Fusarium solani keratitis models were established by epikeratophakia-assisted corneal epithelial erasion and interlayerly injection of 5 μl (1 × 106 CFU/ml) Fusarium solani solution in the right eyes,and the equal volume of PBS was injected in the same way in the control group.10% KOH wet film was used to examine the fungal hyphea and funga strain was identified by inoculation.The corneas were examined under the slit lamp microscope 1 day,3,5,7 days after modeling and the inflammatory response was scored based on the criteria of Wu and Hu.The histopathological examination of corneas was performed in the time points above.Real time fluorescence quantitative PCR was used to detect the expression levels of interleukin-17 (IL-17) mRNA and RORγt mRNA in the corneas.The expression of IL-17 protein in the corneas was detected by ELISA.The use and raise of the mice followed the Statement of Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology.Results The inflammatory scores were 3.2±0.8,6.6± 1.1,9.4± 1.1 and 6.8±0.8 in 1 day,3,5,7 days after modeling,showing a significant difference among them (F =89.786,P =0.010).The inflammatory scores were higher in the third and seventh day than that in the first day (P<0.05),but they were significantly lower than that in the fifth day (P<0.05).The infiltration of inflammatory cells showed a coincident tendency with the score.The expressing levels of IL-17 mRNA (2-ΔΔCt) in the corneas were 4.12±0.73,20.72±1.81 and 14.16±1.88 in 3,5,7 days after modeling,with statistically significant differences in comparison with those in the control group (P<0.01),and the expression level was significantly higher in the fifth day than those in the first,third and seventh day in the model group(P<0.01).The expression levels of IL-17 protein (ng/g) were significantly increased 1 day,3,5,7 days in the model group compared with the control group (P<0.01).A similar change was found in the expression of RORγt mRNA to that of IL-17 mRNA.Conclusions Expressions of IL-17 and its transcription factor RORγt upregulate in the fungal keratitis and has an association with inflammatory degree,which suggests that Th17 subset may play an important role in the immune responses of fungal keratitis.

Key words:
Fungal keratitis; Interleukin-17; Retinoid-related orphan nuclear receptor gamma t; Immune response


There are various motives for quantifying plutonium (Pu) in spent fuel assemblies by means of nondestructive assay (NDA) including the following: strengthening the capability of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to safeguard nuclear facilities; quantifying shipper/receiver difference; determining the input accountability value at pyrochemical processing facilities; providing quantitative input to burn-up credit assessments and final safeguards measurements at a long-term repository. In order to determine Pu mass in spent fuel assemblies, thirteen NDA techniques were identified that provide information about the composition of an assembly. A key motivation of the present research is the realization that none of these techniques, in isolation, is capable of both (1) quantifying the Pu mass of an assembly and (2) detecting the diversion of a significant number of rods. It is therefore anticipated that a combination of techniques will be required. A 5 year effort funded by the Next Generation Safeguards Initiative (NGSI) of the U.S. DOE was recently started in pursuit of these goals. The first two years of the plan calls for researching all thirteen techniques using Monte Carlo modeling while the final three years involves fabricating hardware and measuring spent fuel. Here, we present the work in two main parts: (1) an overview of this NGSI effort describing the motivations and approach being taken; (2) The preliminary results for one of the NDA techniques - Passive Neutron Albedo Reactivity (PNAR). The PNAR technique functions by using the intrinsic neutron emission of the fuel (primarily from the spontaneous fission of curium) to self-interrogate any fissile material present. Two separate measurements of the spent fuel are made, one with and one without a cadmium (Cd) layer surrounding the fuel assembly. The ratios of the Singles, Doubles and Triples count rates obtained in each case are analyzed; known as the Cd ratios. The primary differences between the two measurements are the neutron energy spectrum and fluence rate in the spent fuel, along with some impact on the detection efficiency which is a consequence of the change in the emerging spectrum. The presence of the Cd layer surrounding the spent fuel assembly hardens the neutron energy spectrum. If the geometry of the measurement situation is unchanged between the two measurements, the change in the Cd ratio between these two measurements can be related to the reactivity of the fuel assembly which in turn can be related to the fissile content.


This paper mainly studies the automatic landing guidance system based on multi-scale asynchronous fusion algorithm, which can effectively improve the accuracy of landing. Firstly, on the basis of establishing the full nonlinear motion equations of six degrees freedom of carrier-based aircraft, a multi-mode guidance system composed of a variety of sensors is designed. Furthermore, in order to solve the problem of asynchronous information fusion combined with multi-mode guidance system, the adaptive unscented Kalman filter algorithm, multi-scale estimation theory and distributed federal filtering structure are adopted, and the sensors with different sampling frequencies are regarded as different scales, and the suboptimal estimation results are obtained through the local filter and sent to the main filter to obtain the global optimal estimation after fusion. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed algorithm is verified by simulation results.


This paper describes the hardware configuration of a tension control test-bed and its monitor and analyzing system,and analyzes the process data measurement,multilevel-tension control,supervisory and data acquisition.Finally,a neural cell PID control strategy and its optimization process are verified though experiments on this test bed.


SUBJECT AREAS: Executive compensation; Labor negotiations; Paper industry; Reengineering; Restructuring; Shutdowns. CASE SETTING: Geographic Setting: Philadelphia, PA; Industry Setting: paper products; Number of Employees: 31,000; Case Time Frame Start: 1994; Case Time Frame End: 1994 REQUESTS FOR COPIES: To obtain a copy of this case, please contact Harvard Business School Publishing, 60 Harvard Way, Boston, MA 02163. Phone: (800) 545-7685. MAILTO:email@example.com, web:http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu or you may contact the author directly. Case No: 9-296-048, Scott Paper Company Case No: 5-298-088, Teaching Note Scott Paper Company provides an inside look at a major corporate downsizing program led by the controversial turnaround manager "Chainsaw" Al Dunlap. In less than a year, Dunlap oversaw the elimination of almost one-third of the company's 34,000 hourly and salaried employees, through layoffs and asset sales. By the end of the restructuring in late 1995, when Scott was acquired by Kimberly-Clark, the market value of Scott's common stock had increased by more than $3 billion (over 200%). Dunlap's personal wealth increased over this period by nearly $100 million, reflecting his compensation and appreciation in the value of his Scott stock holdings and executive stock options. The Scott case highlights the key challenges that senior managers face when overseeing a corporate downsizing program. One of the most important challenges is determining the extent of layoffs. The employee layoff decision is conceptually similar to the decision facing managers in a debt restructuring as to how much the firm's debt should be reduced. The analytics of the layoff decision are usually much more complicated, however. This case provides students with the opportunity to discuss how such a program should be designed and implemented to create maximum value for stockholders and other corporate stakeholders. It also allows students to analyze the sources of value in corporate downsizing (i.e., whether stock price gains that result from downsizing reflect value creation or value transfers).


We provide an introduction to graph homology and cohomology, giving the definitions of four homology and cohomology theories of graphs, and proving some results on the relation between the combnatorial and topological properties of graphs and their homology. The only required background is undergraduate algebra.


The donor impurity distribution in a GaN epitaxial layer was studied using Raman imaging. The A1~LO! Raman line at 735 cm is found to be inversely correlated to the presence of silicon in GaN due to phonon interaction with the free carrier plasma associated with donor impurities in the material. The spatial variation of the A1~LO! signal was imaged directly using newly developed instrumentation. Features with dimension of about 0.5 mm are observed in faceted GaN crystallites. This variation in free carrier concentration is attributed to preferential donor impurity incorporation during growth. © 1996 American Institute of Physics. @S0003-6951~96!03644-3#


We investigate the stochastic behavior of the single-trajectory spectral density S(ω,T) of several Gaussian stochastic processes, i.e., Brownian motion, the Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process, the Brownian gyrator model and fractional Brownian motion, as a function of the frequency ω and the observation time T . We evaluate in particular the variance and the frequency–frequency correlation of S(ω,T) for different values of ω. We show that these properties exhibit different behaviors for different physical cases and can therefore be used as a sensitive probe discriminating between different kinds of random motion. These results may prove quite useful in the analysis of experimental and numerical data.


Measuring time lags between time series or light curves at different wavelengths from a variable or transient source in astronomy is an essential probe of physical mechanisms causing multiwavelength variability. Time lags are typically quantified using discrete correlation functions (DCFs), which are appropriate for linear relationships. However, in variable sources such as x-ray binaries, active galactic nuclei (AGNs), and other accreting systems, the radiative processes and the resulting multiwavelength light curves often have nonlinear relationships. For such systems it is more appropriate to use nonlinear information-theoretic measures of causation such as mutual information, routinely used in other disciplines. We demonstrate with toy models the limitations of using the standard DCF and show improvements when using a discrete mutual information function (DMIF). For nonlinear correlations, the latter accurately and sharply identifies the lag components as opposed to the DCF, which can be erroneous. Following that, we apply the DMIF to the multiwavelength light curves of AGN NGC 4593. We find that x-ray fluxes are leading UVW2 fluxes by ∼ 0.2 days, closer to model predictions from reprocessing by the accretion disk than the DCF estimate. The uncertainties with the current light curves are too large, though, to rule out negative lags. Additionally, we find another delay component at approximately − 1 day, i.e., UVW2 leading x rays, consistent with inward propagating fluctuations in the accretion disk scenario. This is not detected by the DCF. Keeping in mind the nonlinear relation between x ray and UVW2, this is worthy of further theoretical investigation. From both the toy models and real observations, it is clear that the mutual-information-based estimator is highly sensitive to complex nonlinear relations. With sufficiently high temporal resolution and signal-to-noise ratio, we will precisely detect each of the lag features corresponding to these relations.


Structure from motion (SfM) is used to recover camera poses and the sparse structure of real scenes from multiview images. SfM methods construct a view‐graph from the matching relationships of images. Redundancy and incorrect edges are usually observed in it. Redundancy inhibits the efficiency and incorrect edges result in the misalignment of structures. In addition, the uneven distribution of vertices usually affects the global accuracy. To address these problems, we propose a coarse‐to‐fine approach in which the poses of an extracted key‐subset of images are first computed and then all remaining images are oriented. The core of this approach is view‐graph key‐subset extraction, which not only prunes redundant data and incorrect edges but also obtains properly distributed key‐subset vertices. The extraction approach is based on a replaceability score and an iteration‐update strategy. In this way, only vertices with high SfM importance are preserved in the key‐subset. Different public datasets are used to evaluate our approach. Due to the absence of ground‐truth camera poses in large‐scale datasets, we present new datasets with accurate camera poses and point clouds. The results demonstrate that our approach greatly increases the efficiency of SfM. Furthermore, the robustness and accuracy can be improved.


The purpose of this manuscript is to introduce a novel conceptual design of a method that allows integration of Bayesian Uncertainty Analysis (BUA) with Bayesian Sensitivity Analysis (BSA) for event-driven indicators of system's availability. Such Bayesian Integrated Global Uncertainty and Sensitivity Analysis (BIGUSA) procedure integrates the previously independently developed global UA and SA methods. The discussed approach is based on global exploration of parameters' space, which allows to capture higher-order interactions between correlated variables, thus avoiding common pitfalls of methods based on local state space explorations. The method is developed for a generic industrial facility characterized by the following input-output signals: (i) inputs - the stochastic events causing failures of individual assets; (ii) outputs - the availability, which is measured with suitable quantitative indicators of the facility. The objectives of the proposed BIGUSA are twofold: (i) description of the uncertainty profile of the availability of the analyzed facility (system) given the uncertainty profiles of the building blocks of the system (assets); (ii) assessment of how sensitive the availability of the facility is to individual failure events that might occur at the assets level. This is done by adopting the Bayesian approach, in which, at the higher level, the failure rates (FRs) are sampled from Bayesian priors which are fed to the stochastic simulation engine at the lower level of the algorithm. Stochastic realizations produced by such simulation engine are used to describe uncertainty profiles of the outputs (UA stage) and their sensitivity to variations in the input variables (SA stage). The former is performed by nonparametric density estimation, while the latter is assessed with Sobol indices, which measure how much of the output variance is due to variance in inputs.


This paper examines the continuity, change and adaptation of blat – as a Soviet time, informal, economic transaction network, that existed as a response to a non-functional economy. The analysis is based on 33 in-depth interviews conducted in 2009 during a pilot field study in Ukraine and Belarus. The main focus is on individuals' descriptions, justifications and explanations of their ongoing informal participation in today's blat. Theories on informal institutions, path dependence and of the relationship between individuals and the post-Soviet state are elaborated to highlight the characteristics of today's blat transactions. A continuous presence of blat, as readapted to new socio-economic circumstances, is stressed. Today's blat constitutes a channel for giving bribes or to guarantee good social services. Blat involves more money and an increasing number of autonomous bribe collectors demanding bribes in the contacts with civil servants. Individuals justify their participation in these informal activities by placing the blame on the existence of dysfunctional laws, heavy bureaucracy, lack of state control, illicit acts by other citizens or the state officials and on a low identification with the (immoral) state. Respondents also present an ongoing preference for informal solutions, as a better way of solving many everyday problems. (Less)


In this study it was aimed to describe the effects of different humidity on thermal conductivity of Uludag Fir (Abies bornmulleriana M.). The lowest thermal conductivity of 0.0910 Kcal/mh°C was obtained from oven-dry samples. The highest thermal conductivity of 0.1904 Kcal/mh°C was obtained in completely wet samples. Consequently, oven-dry wood samples could be used as insulation material.


The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of organic chemistry anxiety on sophomore undergraduate students in relation to chemistry attitude and organic chemistry achievement. The participants were 228 sophomore undergraduate students, enrolled in organic chemistry courses. Anxiety and attitude were measured using O-CAS and CAS, respectively. O-CA was measured by determining a point total for each student, using the results of exams and quizzes from organic chemistry courses. The results of an ANOVA showed a significant difference in the means for O-CA and chemistry attitudes scores between the low, moderate, and high anxiety groups. The findings also revealed a moderate, significant negative correlation between organic chemistry anxiety and achievement, and a small, significant negative correlation between organic chemistry anxiety and chemistry attitudes. In addition, there was a small, significant positive correlation between chemistry attitudes and organic chemistry achievement.
Key words: achievement, chemistry attitude, organic chemistry anxiety, undergraduate students.


This research used nondestructive testing technology to evaluate the anchorage quality of soil anchors. We first created a soil model in the laboratory and then performed a nondestructive experiment on the soil anchor using the stress wave reflection method. Our study displays variable characteristics of the acceleration response curve of a soil anchor under transient excitation. The fixed end reflection signal was very strong, while the reflected signal from the embedded end was weak. This is mainly caused by attenuation of both the fixed reflection signal and the stress wave. The stress wave velocity characteristics in the soil anchor were between the values of anchorage medium materials and free anchors. The velocity is not only related to the characteristics of the bolt body and anchorage medium, but also to the adhesive strength between the bolt and anchorage medium.


The results of the study of the intensity and depth of the hardening that occurs during vibration treatment by measuring microhardness are presented. Improving the quality of the surface layer leads to increased wear resistance, metal fatigue resistance and, consequently, to increased reliability and durability of machine parts.


The invention provides a rechargeable battery and a pack of the same. The rechargeable battery includes an electrode assembly for charging and discharging a current, a case having an opening in a direction intersecting a plane of the electrode assembly, and a cover for sealing the opening in the case which houses the electrode assembly therein, wherein the case further includes a vent integral with the case on one side of an extension direction of the plane of the electrode assembly, and a vent protective portion formed adjacent to the vent.


Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the incidence and self care practice for nausea/vomiting in patients with cancer during chemotherapy. Method: The participants were 100 patients with cancer over 20 years of age who visited the outpatient department or were hospitalized for chemotherapy Self care in the case of nausea and vomiting was measured by the Dodd's scale. Data were analyzed using the SAS program and the following statistics were used frequency, percentage, unpaired t test, and Pearson correlation coefficient. Results: The ratio of the occurrence of nausea/ vomiting in the participants was 70.0%. The incidence of nausea/ vomiting was significantly higher for women than for men. The incidence of nausea/ vomiting was also higher for patients with cancer not in the gastro-intestinal system (GIS) compared to that for patients with GIS cancer. The incidence of nausea/ vomiting positively correlated with anorexia, skin injury, and fatigue. Conclusion: The ratio of occurrence of nausea/ vomiting for the participants was 70.0%. The incidence of nausea/ vomiting was higher fur women and patients with cancer not in the GIS. The incidence of nausea/ vomiting positively correlated with anorexia, skin injury, and fatigue. The results indicate that nausea/vomiting is a frequent symptom, particularly in women and there is a need to provide interventions to decrease the effects of this symptom.


Epoxy-functional porous polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) microparticles were synthesized by templated polymerization in two-steps by using monodisperse 2µm poly(GMA) seed latex particles as a template. In the first step, templated polymer latex was swollen in emulsion medium to obtain micron size porous POSS particles. In the second step, the hydrophobic monomers metharcyl-POSS, epoxy-functional monomer glycidyl methacrylate (GMA), the crosslinking agent GDMA and the thermal imitator diffused into the swollen template in emulsion medium for free-radical polymerization. The resultant poly(POSS-co-GDMA-co-GMA) microparticles were obtained in polydisperse form due to the high molecular weight of the silica cage core of POSS created difficulty in the diffusion step. However; monodisperse composite microparticles were obtained around 5.8 ± 0.4µm in size via centrifugal post-separation. The spherical fine porous hybrid structure was fully characterized as morphological, thermal, chemical composition, and crystalline form by SEM, TGA, FTIR, and XRD respectively.


Due to their poor thermal conductivity, plastic based composites could have high local temperatures when heated. The rigidity of the material could then decrease dramatically leading to a premature failure when it's loaded. In order to avoid such problem, heat dissipation is necessary. When heat transfer by cooling becomes difficult, conductive material fillers could be added to the raw material, providing that they would not reduce its strength. Metallic fillers are used in the industry under various forms depending on the manufacturing process. This paper presents the results of a finite element analysis of the heat dissipation capacity of a unidirectional GFRE in which highly heat conductive carbon fibers are added. The study shows the effect of the thermal conductivity, the amount and the dispersion of such fillers on the temperature decrease in the composite submitted to a concentrated transient heat source. An increase of the filler conductivity has a significant effect on the temperature drop at the neutral axis of the unidirectional composite. However, when the filler conductivity is high, a "breakover" point beyond which continued increase in the filler thermal conductivity has small benefits. In this paper, it is shown that the replacement of a small amount of glass fibers by carbon fibers, leads to an important decrease in the temperature in the composite. A continued increase in the volume fraction of the conductive material, has little effect on the temperature decrease. The study also shows that the distribution of the conductive fibers in the composite cross-section has an important effect on its thermal efficiency.


Schwannoma is a benign encapsulated neoplasm of nerve sheath developing from Schwann cells. Most schwannomas occur in the head and neck region, mediastinum, and retroperitoneum. Rarely, have they been reported in hand, tongue, palate, and larynx. Schwannomas may occur sporadically or in association with neurofibromatosis.[1,2] The scrotum is an extremely unusual site for developing a schwannoma with less than ten reports in the literature.[1-5]


Objective To study the expression of NAD(P)H oxidase subunits P~(22phox)mRNA in blood phagocyte in patients with hypertension. Methods Subjects were divided into four groups based on family history of hypertension: group of hypertension and normotensives who had family history of hypertension (FH and FN group) and the group of hypertension and normotensives who had no family history of hypertension (NFH and N group). The phagocytes in blood was acquired by density gradient centrifugation analysis. P~(22phox)mRNA expression was determined by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. The activity of anti-oxygen species unit in serum was detected by colorimetric analysis.ResultsThe phagocyte NAD(P)H oxidase subunits P~(22phox)mRNA expression was significantly increased in FH(6.60±0.59) and NFH(6.07±0.56) groups compared with FN(4.99±0.29) group and N(4.13±0.51) group. Differences of NADP(P)H oxidase subunit P~(22phox)mRNA expression between FH vs NFH was significant(P0.01) as well as FN vs N group(P0.01). The activity of anti-reactive oxygen species units was significantly decreased in hypertension group(FN:1151.55±118.3; N:1174.99±90.65;FH:777.59±43.69;NFH:797.91±44.48). Conclusions The expression of NAD(P)H oxidase subunits P~(22phox)mRNA is significantly increased in FH and NFH group compared with FN and N group. Impact of inheritance determinant on the expression of phagocyte NAD(P)H oxidase subunits P~(22phox)mRNA is significant.


Gestalt principles, a set of conjoining rules derived from human visual studies, have been known to play an important role in computer vision. Many applications such as image segmentation, contour grouping and scene understanding often rely on such rules to work. However, the problem of Gestalt confliction, i.e., the relative importance of each rule compared with another, remains unsolved. In this paper, we investigate the problem of perceptual grouping by quantifying the confliction among three commonly used rules: similarity, continuity and proximity. More specifically, we propose to quantify the importance of Gestalt rules by solving a learning to rank problem, and formulate a multi-label graph-cuts algorithm to group image primitives while taking into account the learned Gestalt confliction. Our experiment results confirm the existence of Gestalt confliction in perceptual grouping and demonstrate an improved performance when such a confliction is accounted for via the proposed grouping algorithm. Finally, a novel cross domain image classification method is proposed by exploiting perceptual grouping as representation.


This paper evaluates performances of Second Order Generalized Integrator-Quadrature (SOGI-Q) supported adaptive control algorithm for distributed static compensator (DSTATCOM) to enhance power quality (PQ) in a non-ideal grid in the presence of unbalanced non-linear load. SOGI-Q makes it possible to identify the changes associated with the strength of the grid using the tracking of voltage unit templates. The proposed algorithm is used for extraction of average power consumption corresponding to load current component for estimating the reference signals. Reference signals are compared with sensed non-ideal grid signals for generating gating signals for the DSTATCOM to mitigate the various PQ issues. Proposed SOGI-Q control algorithm has been successfully designed for non-ideal grid scenario to mitigate current harmonics, voltage harmonics, reactive power, maintain load balancing and power factor of the grid in the presence of non-linear load. The study is performed using MATLAB software in Simulink environment.


We present a solution to maintain an expanded mode in the extremity of a single mode fiber by using a piece-of multimode step index fiber. With a 25 /spl mu/m spot size, the average connection loss is 0.36 dB (without Fresnel reflection) for a multimode section length inferior to 5 cm. This process is particularly suitable for expanded beam connectors and fiber matrices.


The article presents the problem of constructing a type-optimal unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) group according to the modified method of dynamic condensations with functional constraints. It specifies optimization problem of uniform protomodules set partition to an optimal number of clusters, and also a modification of dynamic condensations method. Shows a process for constructing minimizing sequence allowable configuration options UAVs system on engine's thrust and its cost. As a result, the programme-methodical packet for constructing type-optimal UAVs system is introduced.


Polar marine environments host a complex assemblage of cold-adapted auto- and heterotrophic microorganisms that affect water biogeochemistry and ecosystem functions. However, due to logistical difficulties, remote regions like those in close proximity to glaciers have received little attention, resulting in a paucity of microbiological data. To fill these gaps and obtain novel insights into microbial structure and function in Arctic regions, a survey of microbial communities in an area close to the Blomstrandbreen glacier in Kongsfjorden (Svalbard Archipelago; Arctic Ocean) was carried out during an early summer period. An Unmanned Autonomous Vehicle designed to safely obtain seawater samples from offshore-glacier transects (PROTEUS, Portable RObotic Technology for Unmanned Surveys) was equipped with an automatic remotely-controlled water multi-sampler so that it could sample just beneath the glacier, where access from the sea is difficult and dangerous. The samples were analysed by image analysis for the abundance of total prokaryotes, viable and respiring cells, their morphological traits and biomass; by flow cytometry for autotrophic and prokaryotic cells (with high and low nucleic acid contents) as well as virus-like particle counts; by BIOLOG ECOPLATES for potential community metabolism; and by fluorimetry for potential enzymatic activity rates on organic polymers. Contextually, the main physical and chemical (temperature, salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen and nutrients) parameters were detected. Altogether, besides the PROTEUS vehicle's suitability for collecting samples from otherwise inaccessible sites, the multivariate analysis of the overall dataset allowed the identification of three main sub-regions differently affected by the haline gradient (close to the glacier) or terrigenous inputs coming from the coast. A complex microbiological scenario was depicted by different patterns of microbial abundance and metabolism among the transects, suggesting that ice melting and Atlantic water inflow differently supported microbial growth.


Housing and construction have a significant impact on the consumption of resources of any society. At the same time, on all policy levels strategy documents towards sustainable development highlight the importance of improvements in resource efficiency. Against this background, this contribution presents results of research on the impact of demographic trends and changing user preferences on the use of resources within the housing sector with a focus on construction materials. The material intensity of different types of housing (in particular detached homes vs. apartment buildings) are quantified under different development scenarios drawn on the basis of two medium sized German case study municipalities showing declining and stagnating population development. Among other, the results indicate that the per capita stock of construction materials within the housing sector remains either stable or may even increase despite a falling population. With respect to alternative development scenarios, our results show, that under the condition of a stable or growing population a shift of housing supply from single-family (detached) homes towards a higher share of multi-unit residential buildings can contribute to a more efficient use of materials. An interesting option under the condition of a declining population is the conversion of a potentially growing number of vacant single-family homes into smaller multi-unit/multi-purpose residential buildings since it can help to avoid vacancy and keep otherwise wasted resources in use.


The manner in which transient waves propagate in a medium with classical viscous losses is generally addressed is by determining solutions to the wave equation originally derived by Stokes. Exact solutions are difficult to obtain even for plane waves and simple transient forms and consequently, approximations are generally made. A related problem, of particular interest in relation to ultrasound transmission in soft tissue, is propagation in a medium, whose absorption coefficient obeys power-law frequency dependence, i.e., /spl alpha/ /spl prop/ /spl omega/". By using a recently obtained solution to a causal convolution wave equation, expressions are obtained for one-dimensional transient propagation for n=2 and n=1. Analytical expressions are obtained for a sinusoidal step function source when the effects of dispersion are ignored. When the effects of dispersion are accounted for, it is shown that the propagation can be expressed in terms of Fourier transforms. Examples are used to illustrate the results for both dispersive and non-dispersive media.


We analyzed human Mut-S-Homologon-2 expression in normal endometrial tissue (n = 15) and malignancies of the uterine corpus (n = 40). Human Mut-S-Homologon-2 protein was investigated immunohistochemically on frozen sections, using a highly sensitive streptavidin-peroxidase technique and a specific mouse monoclonal antibody (clone FE11). Human Mut-S-Homologon-2 labeling pattern was compared with the staining pattern of the proliferation marker Ki-67 in the same tumors. A human Mut-S-Homologon-2 immunoreactivity score (human Mut-S-Homologon-2-IRS: negative 0-1; weak 2-3; moderate 4-6; strong 8-12) for semiquantitative analysis of human Mut-S-Homologon-2 expression is presented. In normal endometrial tissue samples we found weak nuclear immunoreactivity for human Mut-S-Homologon-2 in 67%, whereas the remaining 33% were negative for human Mut-S-Homologon-2 (mean human Mut-S-Homologon-2-IRS 1.25 ± 1.29). All malignancies of the uterine corpus analyzed revealed moderate to strong nuclear immunoreactivity (mean human Mut-S-Homologon-2-IRS 9.00, ± 3.16). Human Mut-S-Homologon-2 staining was heterogeneous, with visual differences among individual tumor cells. Expression of human Mut-S-Homologon-2 protein was consistently and strongly upregulated in tumor cells of malignancies of the uterine corpus compared with normal endometrial tissue (human Mut-S-Homologon-2-PP p<0.001; human Mut-S-Homologon-2-IS p<0.001; human Mut-S-Homologon-2-IRS p<0.001). No statistically significant correlation in comparing the labeling patterns for human Mut-S-Homologon-2 with the labeling patterns for Ki-67 (mean percentage of Ki-67-positive tumor cells 22.00% ± 17.20) was observed in malignancies of the uterine corpus (human Mut-S-Homologon-2-PP p=0.443; human Mut-S-Homologon-2-IS p=0.234; human Mut-S-Homologon-2-IRS p=0.173). Our findings indicate that human Mut-S-Homologon-2 is expressed in normal human endometrial tissue and that expression of human Mut-S-Homologon-2 may be of importance for the genetic stability of malignancies of the uterine corpus in vivo.


We have examined the nonlinear optical properties of InAs/GaAs superlattice quantum wells imbedded in a n-i-p-i structure. Measurements were made over a wide range of optical intensities from ≈100 mW/cm2 to 1 kW/cm2. At the smallest intensities, optical nonlinearities are observed which arise from the screening of the built-in electric fields and the corresponding electroabsorption. These nonlinearities are very energy efficient; however, they saturate at a relatively small value (ΔT/T = 10%). At higher intensities, changes ΔT/T ≈ 50% or larger are observed due to state filling and saturation of the excitonic absorption resonance. These effects are similar to those observed in conventional quantum wells; however, the presence of the doped material causes a separation of electron and hole populations which lengthens photocarrier lifetimes and reduces the required intensities. All material in the structures, grown by molecular beam epitaxy, is GaAs (transparent at the wavelengths of interest) except for the quantum wells which are short period InAs/GaAs superlattices. The use of alternating InAs and GaAs layers to produce a region of smaller band-gap avoids the problem of alloy disordering arising from the use of an InGaAs ternary.


During the development of an embryo into a juvenile, the physiology and behavior of a fish change greatly, affecting exposure to and uptake of environmental pollutants. Based on experimental data with sole (Solea solea), an existing bioaccumulation model was adapted and validated to calculate the development of concentrations of persistent organic pollutants in the tissue of developing fish. Simulation revealed that toxic tissue concentrations of pollutants with log octanol–water partition ratio (KOW) > 5 peak at the moment when the larvae become free‐feeding, when the lipid reserves are depleted. This may explain the delayed effects observed in fish early‐life‐stage experiments with exposed eggs. In the field, eggs can be exposed through maternal transfer to adult pollutant tissue concentrations, which will increase in the larva to peak tissue concentrations, exceeding those of the adult fish. The results demonstrate the risk of underestimating the effects of lipophilic persistent organic pollutants with log KOW > 5 in short‐term, early‐life‐stage fish tests and underscore the importance of maternal transfer as an exposure route in the field situation. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2012;31:1381–1390. © 2012 SETAC


The paper discusses the problems of legal regulation of delivering persons (extradition) for the criminal proceeding. On the basis of analysis of current criminal trial legislation of Russia, norms of international law, international agreements and practice of European Court on human rights, the structure is formulated and the content of judicial control is disclosed with regard to cases related to consideration of complaints of persons to be extradited. The authors concluded that the court, assessing the validity of the decision on extradition of a person for criminal prosecution to a foreign state, should be guided by humanistic foundations and universally recognized principles.


For the Philippines to benefit from the ASEAN integration and globalization, in general, it must be able to mould highly educated citizens who can proactively engage themselves with the national, regional and international knowledge economies.1 The Philippines has nine research universities that presumably lead its approximately 2,500 higher educational institutions in moulding these needed citizens. These nine research universities are the eight autonomous constituent units of the University of the Philippines and De La Salle University. The idea of the modern research university was invented more than 200 years ago in Berlin by the philosopher, linguist, humanist and statesman Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835). Around 1850, American educational leaders started to appropriate Humboldt's ideas to establish the American research universities. As the University of the Philippines is an American creation and at the same time the flagship institution of Philippine higher education, this paper used the Humboldtian philosophy of education as well as its American rendition in looking at the soundness of this university's claim to as a research university. To attain this goal, this paper has three substantive sections: 1) a discussion on Humboldt's philosophy of education, 2) a discussion on the American translation of Humboldt's philosophy of education, 3) a critique of the foundational principles of the University of the Philippines as a research university.


Optics as a teaching tool is investigated within this paper, with special emphasis on the proposed use of a Maximum Impact Flow (MIF) in order to stimulate student's interests. MIF introduces a template in terms of individual steps and linked functionality. MIF is shown to fuse separate learning tools together into a cohesive unit. Prioritisation and teaching structures are also discussed with the promotion of technology identified as a


Based on the fracture theory,the model of damage base beam is established and the main roof of ultimate frcture moment and stress are analyzed.The results showed that the model is more close to the practice and more accurate for the study of overburden strata Movement and mine pressute.


When three night-shift nurses at a large metropolitan medical center in the Northeast recently called in sick, the skeleton crew on a busy medical/surgical unit ignored the usual protocol involved in the bedside bar-coding of medications. Instead of scanning each patient's wristband and then the bar code on the medication package while at the patient's bedside, the nurses created surrogate patient bar codes and scanned all of them prior to going into patient rooms as a way to save time.


: TSE – Prion – Creutzfeld-Jakob – BSE – Therapie Prion Diseases. Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are clinical entities recognized both in humans and animals. Current evidence suggests that TSEs are caused by a self-propagating alteration of infectious protein particles known as prions. In addition, there is strong evidence for a genetic pre-disposition for the disease and documentation that transmission can cross species borders. The current public awareness of TSEs has resulted from the clinical symptoms observed in bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and the demonstration that a new variant of the Creutzfeld-Jacobs syndrome is probably the result of transmission from animals to humans. This has led to uncertainity amongst clinical personnel when dealing with patients presenting with TSEs. We review briefly the spectrum of TSEs known both in animals and humans, report on recent developments in the diagnostics and therapy, and discuss iatrogenic sources of infection.