Functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI) is an effective means to study the mechanism of action of acupuncture and enables a visualized study of cerebral functional changes produced by acupuncture and moxibustion at points.The article,taking meridians as the key link,review recent years' domestic and foreign achievements in magnetic resonance imaging studies of the effects of acupuncture and moxibustion on cerebral function,deals with the correlations of the effects of and indications for meridians and acupoints with cerebral cortex function,summarizes the problems existent in the studies and anticipates the future research directions.This will play a facilitatory role in the studies of acupoint specificity,acupoint combination effects,the pathways of brain-mediated actions of acupuncture and moxibustion,and the neurophysilogical mechanism of acupuncture-moxibustion treatment.


Most of metal cutting and processing companies are going through the difficulties such as frequent downtime and high failure rates by missing times to...


Objective An auto-recognition system for measurement of liver proportion in computerized tomography imaging was developed for early diagnosis of hepatitis B-related liver cirrhosis.Methods The right and left liver proportion in CT imaging in patient with hepatitis B was measured and an formula was established in the database.Results The difference of L1/L2 and R1/L1 ratio between patients with liver cirrhosis and with chronic hepatitis B was significant(p 0.05);we got a formula of D=1.650 L1/L2+0.509 R1/L1-5.019 and the cut-off value was 0.0795;when D0.0795,the liver cirrhosis was diagnosed,while D0.0795,the chronic hepatitis B was considered.The accuracy of cirrhosis diagnosis was 68.42%,and of the exclusion was 89.8%.Conclusion We may use the auto-recognition system in CT-imaging to predict or diagnose the early liver cirrhosis.


Trustworthiness is key concern that has been addressed only after a technology is developed and deployed.This paper analyzes the recognitions and research actions of academe and corporations currently on trusted computing, based on which investigates the connotation about it, and discusses the problems needed to solve in order to provide trustworthiness for applications on Internet platform.


How service employees act and speak with customers is an important part of service quality, so customer orientation (CO) and emotional labor have become critical issues in the hospitality industry. Applying the emotional labor concept to Donavan and his associates' 2004 study about the relationship between CO and job satisfaction, this study aimed to demonstrate how the relationship is established in hospitality. Drawing on person–job fit theory from the perspective of emotional labor, this study examined different


Binary and ternary composites based on isotactic polypropylene and low-density polyethylene in a wide range of ratios without and with filler content have been investigated. Micron-scale vegetable cellulosic components initiating biological degradation have been used as fillers for polymeric composites. The analysis of stress-strain behaviour of the composites has shown a non-additive dependency of elongation and tensile strength at break on blends composition. Based on this study results the composition and structure of polymeric phase of binary and ternary composites, as well as dimensional parameters of filler particles have a significant impact on stress-strain behaviour of the materials. The main regularities determining materials mechanical properties have been discovered, that, in turn, could be used for predicting service behaviour of composites under investigation.


Fractal geometries are based on the recursive repetition of a simple geometrical shape. This process allows to obtain very complex structures with few iterations. The introduction of fractal perturbations on the geometry of a patch antenna lead to multiple frequency resonance. The aim of this project activity is to study the radiating behavior of the modeled antenna both adding and subtracting the fractal geometry to the antenna shape. A successive step may integrate an optimization tool in order to define an optimal antenna geometry which comply with a given set of frequency bands.


An active area of current research is the use of semantics in concurrency control. Simulations using a new concurrency control protocol, called complex two-phase locking, can quantify the benefits of using semantics within long-duration transaction systems. It is then possible to determine if the benefits gained are worth the human effort required to obtain the semantics.


The invention wheat germ, rice bran, the extracts and refined glucose and boil the yeast extract of sterile algae are joined to the effective microorganisms which mainly lactic acid bacteria and yeast to the prepared culture medium to prepare a fermented drink natural sex antioxidants, oktakosanol, beta-glucan and bacteria beverages and fermented thing of its production method containing a mixture of various physiologically active substances.


Two little known species of brown algae, Litosiphon mortensenii S. Lund and L. groenlandicus S. Lund, described from East Greenland have been compared with the type species of the genera Litosiphon Harv. and Asperococcus Lamour. They are distinguished from the genus Litosiphon by their basally sheathed hairs, hecatonematoid microthalli, mediate differentiation of embryospores, and lack of sympodial branching of the macrothallus. They are considered more primitive than Asperococcus by the absence of paraphyses and by the non-localized formation of reproductive structures. The new genus Trachynema is proposed to accommodate these plants; it finds a natural position in the Punctariaceae.


In paced repetitive weight lifting, as in a finger ergographic task, gravity will carry the weight down to the base during the relaxation phase of any single complete excursion. Occasionally relaxation is not complete and S holds the weight suspended above che base, againsc gravity, uncil he hears the next beat of the metronome. This pattern, measurable in millimeters, has been labeled breakdown of work and may have broad implications for the phenomenon of "freezing at the controls" in the operation of motor vehicles or aircraft in stressful situations. In the present experiment an attempt was made to relate the incidence of breakdown of work co the intensity of the muscle action potentials (MAP) of the working muscles induced by various stressors. The general hypochesis under examination is that che direction of the relation between MAP and performance within any given task situation is not necessarily dependent upon how the MAP is induced. Confirmation of the hypothesis would facilitate funue research on the relation of stress and/or muscle tension to performance in mental and motor work. Whereas breakdown in ergographic and other types of motor work is frequently observed, there have been few attempts at quancifying its relation to physiological or psychological events. Somecimes breakdown is regarded as symptomatic of fatigue in work decrement studies with lictle consideration given it as a separate and distinct parameter of motor performance. In chis regard its importance has been made apparent by Starr (1951), who indicates that breakdown represents greater physiological work and poorer efficiency than that manifested in normal work patterns. Elsewhere, Lion and Brockhurst (1951) report decreased excursions, "stalling, or freezing up" in paced repecitive ergographic movements of the eyeball. The authors found no decrease in acceleration of the eyeball and hence no reduction of the forces in the extrinsic ocular muscles during breakdown. This supports their assertion thac fatigue is not a factor in the produccion of breakdown. In another contexc Klein (1953) reported posicive correlations berween breakdown in ergographic work and MAP in ego-oriented Ss. Arnold (1942) observed that breakdown in shorthand symbols, as indicated by illegibility, had


Colonial societies are generally committed to the maintenance of inequalities between the colonizer and the colonized, and the discourse of the powerful within such societies will reflect this. Inequalities will be justified in language, where beliefs are expressed and applied. I am concerned here with an extreme example of this inequality, that between free citizens and slaves. The case I shall consider is that of the dominant 'white' group as they were represented by officials of the Court of Justice in the eighteenth century Cape of Good Hope when dealing with the large numbers of slaves who were brought before them on criminal charges.


Impermeable stricture of the urethra is a condition so distressing and so dangerous to the afflicted patient that it well merits our interest and our best efforts. The bulbomembranous urethra, as its name implies, is that portion of the urethra included within the bulb proper and extending backward through the triangular ligament and compressor urethrae muscle as far as the apex of the prostate gland. Anteriorly it is, of course, continuous with the penile urethra. In this short stretch, on the average 1½ or 2 inches in length, are found the great majority of strictures which in their different stages and various complications yield problems of treatment that demand the nicest judgment on the part of the surgeon in order to secure the best result for the individual patient. Twenty years ago I had the privilege of addressing the American Medical Association on a similar subject, and I can now


The problem of computing optimal network tolls that induce a Nash equilibrium of minimum total cost has been studied intensively in the literature, but mostly under the assumption that these tolls are unrestricted. Here we consider this problem under the more realistic assumption that the tolls have to respect some given upper bound restrictions on the arcs. The problem of taxing subnetworks optimally constitutes an important special case of this problem. We study the restricted network toll problem for both non-atomic and atomic (unweighted and weighted) players; our studies are the first that also incorporate heterogeneous players, i.e., players with different sensitivities to tolls.

For non-atomic and heterogeneous players, we prove that the problem is NP-hard even for single-commodity networks and affine latency functions. We therefore focus on parallel-arc networks and give an algorithm for optimally taxing subnetworks with affine latency functions. For weighted atomic players, the problem is NP-hard already for parallel-arc networks and linear latency functions, even if players are homogeneous. In contrast, for unweighted atomic and homogeneous players, we develop an algorithm to compute optimal restricted tolls for parallel-arc networks and arbitrary (standard) latency functions. Similarly, for unweighted atomic and heterogeneous players, we derive an algorithm for optimally taxing subnetworks for parallel-arc networks and arbitrary (standard) latency functions.

The key to most of our results is to derive (combinatorial) characterizations of flows that are inducible by restricted tolls. These characterizations might be of independent interest.


This paper describes a method for the interpretation of traffic scenes based on the detection and recognition of those objects, or classes of objects which are typically found in an urban scene. Since generic model-based recognition schemes are unsuitable for the analysis of traffic scenes and result in very poor performances, each of the different classes of objects which we expect to find in a typical scene is identified according to some selected features. After identifying the object, its main parameters are computed and, when needed, the object is further classified. The classes of objects we have considered included the roadbed, vehicles, buildings, trees, crosswalks and road signs. The method described here has been successfully tested on a wide set of images of traffic scenes and provided a general-purpose reconstruction of the whole traffic scene as viewed by the driver.


For the problems existing in power cable,s operation,such as weak monitoring and heavy maintenance,a monitoring system for power cable based on GPRS and optical fiber thermometry technology is introduced.The system consists of main monitoring station,communication link and measurement terminal.Measurement terminal uses OFDR fiber thermometer to measure the surface temperature of power cable continuously.Data collector and GPRS network constitute communication link.The collector reads the measured temperature data from thermometer and then transmits it to main monitoring station by GPRS.According to the measured temperature data,the main station could calculate the rated ampacity,critical ampacity and cyclic load ampacity of the cable in term of IEC 60287 and IEC 853,and issues the calculation result by web page.The system makes use of the load ampacity of cable abundantly,and brings in much economic benefits.


Wireless relay is an essential technology to achieve a flexible network for ubiquitous communication. To improve throughput performance in the network, network coding (NC) has been proposed for a two-user relay node. NC is a concept encoding both users' data into one packet and multicasting it simultaneously. However, if the relay node has two or more antenna elements, antenna pattern control is additionally required to send the packet efficiently to both users. In this paper, we formulate several transmit-beamforming techniques in the interactive wireless relay system and compare the performance with each other and with non-NC systems. Numerical analysis has shown that the method maximizing the total capacity in NC provides the best performance.


The present study was undertaken on bottlegourd in a 9×9 diallel cross excluding reciprocals. The 36 F1 hybrids along with nine parents were sown in RBD with three replication under four environments created by sowing the experimental material on two different dates at two different locations. The mean squares of gca and sca were highly significant for all the traits. This indicated that both additive and non additive genes played significant role in the inheritance of these traits. The gca:sca ratio was more than one for all the traits. Mean squares due to interaction, i.e. gca × environment and sca × environment were significant for all the traits. Cultivar Banswara Local-1, Pusa Naveen, 1C 92374 and PSPL were good general combiners for yield contributing traits in all the environments. Only, nine crosses exhibited significant positive sca effects for fruit yield contributing traits in E1, E2, E3, E4 and pooled environment. The cross combination Banswara Local 1 × Pusa Naveen, Banswara Local 1 × IC 92374 and IC 92374 × PSPL, exhibited significant economic heterosis for total fruit yield/plant and yield contributing characters.


In this note, we propose an exegesis of the Maxwell equations for electromagnetism. We begin with an analogy between the homogeneous Maxwell equations and the equations needed to describe the vorticity field of an incompressible inviscid fluid. We suggest that the inhomogeneous equations are analogous to two equations valid in turbulent hydrodynamics. Once the analogy is completed we give the mechanical analogue of the Poynting vector and we explain the influence of a long solenoid on the motion of a charged particle.


The research examined the extent of pollution by leachate generated from Ijagun dumpsite, Odogbolu Area, Southwestern Nigeria, on the groundwater using electrical resistivity method. Four vertical electrical sounding measurements were taken around the dumpsite, Two on the dumpsite (VES 1/ VES 2), and the other two (VES 3 /VES 4) around the dumpsite (serving as control) using schlumberger array technique. The result obtained interpreted both quantitatively and qualitatively, iterated with WINRESIST software. From the computer output, three curve types were obtained from the field survey (A, H, KHA). There is indication of the presence of the contamination in the VES 1 (layer 2) and VES 2 (layer 2) due to their low resistivity values while there are yet no pollution in VES 3/ VES 4 due to their high resistivity values compare to that of VES 1 and VES 2. The stratigraphy at the dumpsite consisting of Sand, Dry sand and Sandstone which shows that the dumpsite is situated on aquiferous materials that is highly porous and permeable and may aid the free flow of leachate into the groundwater. Therefore, there is need for drinking water quality assessment to determine the suitability of the groundwater for human and industrial consumption.


In this paper, load frequency control problem for power system is discussed. In the proposed method, we consider power system model including generator and battery. Also, saturation is taken into account as a constraint on the input to the model for generator and battery. Then, a cost function considering the storage capacity constraint is formulated. The connected power system cooperatively determines control input that minimize the cost function and keep the power system stable. Furthermore, we propose to consider the economic dispatch methodology considering the suppression of the fuel cost in power system. Therefore, load frequency control and economic dispatch methodology considering constraints of generator and battery are proposed in this paper. Finally, we confirm the effectiveness of our proposed method through numerical simulation.


Background. Primary gastrointestinal lymphoma currently is considered to be an uncommon complication of chronic inflammatory bowel disease. All tumors reported in which recently developed techniques, such as immunohistochemical markers, were used for lymphoma classification proved to be non‐Hodgkin lymphomas. Gastrointestinal lymphomas developing in Crohn disease are a very heterogeneous group, with tumors of both B‐cell and T‐cell lineage represented, along with some tumors of equivocal phenotype. By contrast, gastrointestinal lymphomas complicating ulcerative colitis all have proved to be so‐called polymorphic B‐cell lymphomas.


A method for measuring the radiation power of an object (1) to be measured from the output signal of a reception antenna (15) in such a way that the electromagnetic wave radiation center of the object (1) to be measured is matched to a position in the vicinity of one focus (F1) of a closed space (12) enclosed by an elliptically spherical metal wall surface (11), which is obtained by rotating an ellipse around the axis line passing through the two foci, and the electromagnetic waves radiated from the object (1) to be measured is reflected on the wall surface and is collected at the reception antenna (15) disposed at the position of the other focus (F2). In the method, at least one of the object (1) to be measured or the reception antenna (15) is moved along the axis line passing through the two foci to maximize the output signal power of the reception antenna (15), and the maximized output signal power is stored as a first measured value. A reference antenna (160) placed in place of the object (1) to be measured and the reception antenna (15) are moved in the same way as described above, and a measured value obtained when maximizing the output signal power of the reception antenna (15) and correction data are used to calculate the entire radiation power of the object (1) to be measured.


For this paper, the authors have surveyed a total of 22 engineering management (EM) programs in the United States (both accredited and non-accredited). The purpose of this study was to analyze the offering of risk management courses as part of the engineering management curriculum. The findings showed that the majority of the programs did not offer a single dedicated course on risk management and merely covered the topic as part of other courses such as project management. The authors have made recommendations that risk management should be included as a required part of the EM curriculum due to the higher prevalence of risk in today's ever changing business environment.


Multiple forecasts predict a strong increase in demand for public transport (PT) over the next couple of decades. This increase will put pressure on the pedestrian infrastructures associated with public transport: public transport vehicles and platforms, waiting areas, corridors or even the services available to customers (shops, ticket machines). The problems which can arise concern multiple actors. On one hand, users wish to move around freely and safely inside the infrastructure, implying low levels of congestion. On the other hand, the public transport operators try to maximize the number of passengers who use their services while minimizing the operational costs. Although these objectives seem antagonist to each other, there is one common aspect between them: avoiding poor user experience. In order to attract users to their system, PT operators must ensure that the level-of-service experienced by the passengers is acceptable. To achieve this, the operators must either limit the demand levels such that the infrastructure can support it, or increase the capacity of the infrastructure to cope with a larger demand. This challenge of improving the efficiency of the infrastructure has been vastly studied in vehicular traffic over the past decades. Addressing this challenge gave birth to Dynamic Traffic Management Systems (DTMS) which aim at increasing the capacity of road networks by exploiting the fundamental relationships of traffic. For example, DYNASMART is an evaluation tool for advanced traffic management systems (ATMS), while DYNAMIT aims at providing prediction-based guidance for route choice. For an in-depth review, see Mahmassani (2001) and Ben-Akiva et al. (2003). Traffic management systems have various strategies available, some examples are ramp-metering, variable message signs, traffic signals or perimeter control. Unlike vehicular traffic, management strategies for pedestrian flows are still largely unexplored. We propose a framework which is capable of evaluating and generating optimal management strategies for pedestrians. The objective is to design a flexible framework similarly to frameworks proposed for vehicular traffic, where the specificities of pedestrian traffic are taken into account. We develop, similarly to perimeter control, a gating strategy which can be used to control pedestrian flows. The calibration of this controller relies on two assumptions: 1) the existence of an aggregate fundamental diagram and 2) a linear relationship between the outflow from an area and the generalized flow within that area. Both of these assumptions have been verified based on empirical data collected in the train station of Lausanne (Switzerland), location chosen for the case study.


On July 13, 2013, George Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges in the death of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old unarmed Black male who was walking home from a trip to the store on February 26, 2012. In the aftermath of the trial, which captured the nation's attention, a new generation of activists began to publicly critique state violence, anti-Black racism, and the expansion of the American carceral state. One of the most prominent critiques came from three Black women, Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi, and Alicia Garza, who used the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter as "an ideological and political intervention in a world where Black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise" (Garza, 2014). Since then, as the death toll of unarmed Black men and women continues to rise, #BlackLivesMatter has served as an affirmation of the value of Black life and an international call to action against various forms of violence, inequality, and injustice. Although the phrase #BlackLivesMatter (BLM) is often used in relation to the police involved killings of unarmed Black American men like Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, and Michael Brown, the movement itself is committed to a broader ethical, intellectual, and political project. In addition to addressing the deaths of cis-gendered men and boys, BLM activists have also attempted


This paper surveys the English Chinese dictionaries during the 20th century. Then it describes their six main characteristics and explores eleven proplems.Finally it puts forward eight countermeasures.


Presented on October 15, 2018 from 12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m. in the Groseclose Building, Room 402, Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech).


Introduction Why Is This Book Being Written? Why Am I Writing This Book Goals of This Book Intended Audience How This Book Is Organized Security Vocabulary Virus or Attack Naming Security Terminology Software Testing and Changes in the Security Landscape Software Testing as a Discipline Security Has Become More of a Priority Security Efforts Have Become More Visible Perimeter Security Just Isn't Enough All Trust Is Misplaced Security Testing Considerations Security Testing Versus Functional Testing Discovery of Software Vulnerabilities Assume Attackers Know Everything You Do Know Your Attackers Exploiting Software Vulnerabilities Common Security Hindering Phrases Software Development Life Cycle versus Security-Testing Life Cycle Black-Box versus White-Box Security Testing Guard Your Own Gates The Role of Security Testing Effectively Presenting Security Issues Threat Modeling and Risk Assessment Processes Threat Modeling Terms Initial Modeling of Threats Pitfalls of Threat Modeling Threat Trees DREAD STRIDE MERIT OCTAVE and OCTAVE-S Personas and Testing Creating Personas Using Personas Pitfalls of Personas Security Personas Security Test Planning Overview of the Process Start Drafting Your Test Documents Dissect the System Gather Information Develop Security Cases Prioritize Tests Develop a Test Plan of Attack Draft a Schedule Review the Plan and Test Cases Run Test Passes Postmortem the Results Sample Security Considerations Universal Stand-Alone Applications APIs Web Applications/Web Services/Distributed Applications Vulnerability Case Study - Brute Force Browsing Pseudonyms Description Anatomy of an Exploit Real-World Examples Test Techniques Vulnerability Case Study - Buffer Overruns Pseudonyms Description Anatomy of an Exploit Real-World Examples Test Techniques Vulnerability Case Study - Cookie Tampering Pseudonyms Description Anatomy of an Exploit Real-World Examples Test Techniques Vulnerability Case Study: Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) Pseudonyms Description Anatomy of an Exploit Real-World Examples Test Techniques Vulnerability Case Study: Denial of Service/Distributed Denial of Service Pseudonyms Description Anatomy of an Exploit Real-World Examples Test Techniques Vulnerability Case Study: Format String Vulnerabilities Pseudonyms Description Anatomy of an Exploit Real-World Examples Test Techniques Tools Vulnerability Case Study: Integer Overflows and Underflows Pseudonyms Description Anatomy of an Exploit Real-World Examples Test Techniques Vulnerability Case Study: Man-in-the-Middle Attacks Pseudonyms Description Anatomy of an Exploit Real-World Examples Test Techniques Vulnerability Case Study - Password Cracking Pseudonyms Description Anatomy of an Exploit Real-World Examples Test Techniques Vulnerability Case Study - Session Hijacking Pseudonyms Description Anatomy of an Exploit Real-World Examples Test Techniques Vulnerability Case Study - Spoofing Attacks Pseudonyms Description Anatomy of an Exploit Real-World Examples Test Techniques Vulnerability Case Study - SQL Injection Pseudonyms Description Anatomy of an Exploit Real-World Examples Test Techniques Fuzz Testing Assumptions Process Steps Case Studies Background - Cryptography Encryption How Encryption Works Encryption Tools Crypto Is Not Always Secure The Future of Crypto Background - Firewalls TCP/IP Port Scanners Types of Firewalls Drawbacks to Using Firewalls Background - OSI Network Model Application Layer (Layer 7) Presentation Layer (Layer 6) Session Layer (Layer 5) Transport Layer (Layer 4) Network Layer (Layer 3) Data Link Layer (Layer 2) Physical Layer (Layer 1) Background - Proxy Servers Types of Proxy Servers Circumventor Anonymous Background - TCP/IP and Other Networking Protocols TCP IP UDP ICMP ARP RARP BOOTP DHCP Background - Test Case Outlining (TCO) Goals What Is (and Is Not) a TCO Benefits of a TCO Steps in Test Case Outlining TCO Formats TCO Maintenance TCO to Scenario Additional Sources of Information Recommended Reading Recommended Web Sites and Mailing Lists Index


IT is probably presumptuous to talk about the city of the future and planning when so much of the American temper is to encourage so much openness and to so discourage planning that cities, and health services as well, "grow like Topsy." We have only so much form and coherence as inheres in the chance mix among diverse organizational aims and activities. Each organization is subject to a minimum of control or guidance from society, but is subject to a very tight control within its own organizational bureaucracy, which obstructs wide-scale planning. Nonetheless, medicine and the social sciences have had a long association and the urge toward some kind of wider health and urban planning is persistent, so that the two disciplines have much in common. Interest in the relationship between medicine and society is not new, although the direction of interest has changed in style. Psychosomatic medicine explored the relationship between health and the patient's psychological needs. Long-term disability opened up the collaboration between social adjustment, rehabilitation, motivation, and physical capacity. Aid to underdeveloped countries led to interest in the effects of cultural differences on the use of medical care. The enactment of health insurance for the elderly has concentrated attention on administration and structural organization. And today the study of urban problems and poverty has focused attention on the total urban environment as the medical milieu. This new approach involves more than the familiar demographic descriptions of a population, such as age, sex, ethnic and economic class. To these must be added at least one further dimension: the symbiosis of the individual and his environment; the use which people make of their environment. Such matters are often discussed in science fiction terms. The future city has been rebuilt into gleaming towers. Traffic moves quickly without any delay. There are no visible slums. Medical diagnosis is scientized with a vast battery of new machines and devices. Human organs are replaced and surgery performs new miracles. Presumably everyone is healthy, or is made healthy. Everyone has leisure to develop his talents.


In order to evaluate the coordination level of a system,the method of coordination assessing is designed.Its key procedures are as the followings.Firstly,the system is divided into several subsystems and a number of representative factors that can be easily measured by specific indexes for every chosen subsys- tem.Secondly,based on the certain criterion the factors are divided into two classifications:satisfactory and dissatisfactory.Counting and summing up the factor numbers of each classification in a subsystem,they are used for calculating the state degree of the subsystem by the normalized process.Thirdly,the location of the state point of the system,depended on the state degrees of the subsystems,is determined in the certain space,in which numbers of dimension are decided by the number of subsystems.In the space there is a line named completely coordinated growth;the state points fallen in the line indicates that the state degrees of various subsystems are equal and develop in the same proportion.Fourthly,the tow distances,one is the distance between the state point and the line of completely coordinated growth (named deviation degree) and the other is the distance between state point and the origin (named advancement degree),can be calcu- lated.Finally,based on the two distances the development synchronism among subsystems and the coordi- nation of the system composed of the subsystems can be evaluated.The method presented by the paper is used to evaluate the coordination among land use subsystem,natural environment subsystem and social and economic subsystem in Tongzhou town.The evaluation results indicate that the method is suited for assess- ing the coordination of complex system because its meaning is clear and definite,its calculation is standard and simple and its results are objective and constant.


The article confirms the validity of the use of a professionally oriented approach in teaching a foreign language to students of non-linguistic specialties, which provides for the formation of students' skills and skills of a foreign language professional and communicative ability to carry out speech activity in a foreign language. It is possible to achieve the effectiveness of the process of teaching a foreign language by creating certain conditions for activating the expediency of using active methods in teaching them professional knowledge and skills in a foreign language, which will significantly affect their scientific activities. The educational institution "Vitebsk State University named after P.M. Masherov" has been teaching students of the II stage in Russian for many years according to the developed curricula. During the academic years, close cooperation is carried out with the People's Republic of China on the preparation of masters in various specialties. The Department of Theory of Methods of Physical Culture and Sports Medicine of the University actively participated in this process: curricula and programs were translated into English. The evaluation plan of the acquired and acquired knowledge of the program provides for the writing and defense of course and master's theses by students. Preparation and implementation as a particular example of cooperation between the Republic of Belarus and the People's Republic of China in the field of education, the training of Chinese students at Masherov VSU is presented.


A new controller based on artificial neural network (ANN) for induction machines is introduced and implemented. The introduced controller is designed for efficiency maximization. The neural network (ANN) is used for commanding optimum voltage and frequency that maximizes the drive efficiency. To provide the required data to train and test the artificial neural network a simulation program was written to calculate commanded voltage and frequency that would drive the induction machine with maximum efficiency at different load and speed. The controller is able to control the induction machine over a wide speed range from standstill to high speeds in the flux-weakening region. The trained neural networks are employed for the control of an induction machine under different loads. It has been found that the neural network control system is reliable without using a speed sensor. The proposed controller is an appropriate technique for speed sensor-less control of an induction machine to drive an electric vehicle (EV). The performance of this control system has been found to be as good as those controllers, which have been used in the induction machine model. The descriptions of the control system, training procedure of the neural network is also given. Simulation results are shown to validate the scheme


Recently I have published in this journal an article called »Two cases of allergy-like reaction with hemorrhagic diathesis following roentgen treatment» (Zwei Fälle von allergie-ähnlicher Reaktion mit hämorrhagischer Diathese im Anschluss an Röntgenbehandlung). One of the patients, a man 62 years old, suffering from myastenia gravis, received roentgen treatment against thymus, i. e. to the upper part of the medias tinum, including sternum, the seize of the field about 100 cm. We gave 3,200 r during 8 days with a daily dosage of 400 r. (Skin-target distance 40 cm, 170 kv, 15 ma, /ï mm Cu + 1 mm Al). On the very same day, that the treatment was finished, the patient was taken ill with symptoms of hemorrhagic diathesis. He showed widespread small hemorrhages in the cutis and bloodstained expectorations. The skin reaction on the field of treatment was very intense. A thrombocytopenia with a lowest count of 23,000 thrombocytes was recorded. After a week the patient improved but about one month after the roentgen treatment he got a recurrence of his hemorrhagic diathesis. Even at this time he suffered from a productive hemorrhagic cough. This time the bleedings in the skin did not disappear until after one month. He entered the hospital a week after the beginning of the recurrence and the thrombocytic count was then 69,000, the following day 87,000. Hereafter the thrombocytic count varied between 90,000 and 180,000. In the beginning the bleeding time was increased to thirty minutes and it was gradually normalized during two and a half months. No other disturbances of the coagulation could be discovered. The patient died in his hemorrhagic diathesis about four months after the roentgen treatment had been finished. The other case presented a more violent course. The patient, a woman 75 years old, was given 3 or 4 times 600 r on each of six thoracic fields


Abstract The purpose of this project is to understand the electrical conductivity and infrared absorption spectrum of a hybrid material between Tellurium nanowires and a carbon polymer called PEDOT:PSS. This hybrid material shows much higher conductivity than its components and this behavior gives a great promise for thermoelectric effect. The most intriguing property of this material is observed when taking absorption spectrum from far to near infrared. The hybrid material shows a much bigger absorption edge than Te NW. This project attempts to explain this shift using the confinement energy model and Fermi blocking (due to doping). The result from these two models shows that the absorption can be best explained using the Fermi blocking model in which the hybrid material acts as a highly doped semiconductor. This result might be useful to understand its behavior further by controlling the amount of PEDOT:PSS in the hybrid.


Xlets are Java applets that are developed for interactive digital television broadcasting. In this paper, I will explain the methods that I used for the creation of Xlet-based applications which utilize online data processing in the IDTV broadcasting environment. The themes that I chose for these Xlets are the Earthquake and Tsunami Early Warning application, the Recent Seismic Activity Report application, and the Emergency Services application. The online data regarding the Recent Seismic Activity Report application are provided by the Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute (KOERI) of Bogazici University in Istanbul; while the online data for the Earthquake and Tsunami Early Warning application and the Emergency Services application are provided by the Godoro website which I used for storing (and retrieving by the Xlets) the earthquake and tsunami early warning simulation data, and the DVB network subscriber data for utilizing the emergency services (Police, Ambulance and Fire Department). The main research question of this paper is how to use digital television as a medium to convey timely and pervasive information regarding seismic warning data to disaster-stricken communities.


The present invention is a multiple that by circulating the air inside of the electronic apparatus of the portable electronic system including an electronic device converting AC / DC voltage having the ability to dissipate heat generated in the apparatus and that, the portable electronic system and a system housing for housing the electronic circuit unit, the system side of the housing has a opening for an air outlet are formed, e through a connector and a connector to be and that the electronic circuit unit electrically connected to and disposed in the vicinity of the system housing opening and supplying the supply voltage to the circuit unit includes a power adapter assembly for sucking the internal air of the system housing through the opening.


The Shivalik range of Himalayas, represent the most fragile ecosystem in India. In order to restore the ecological environment in this area, a hilly watershed typical of the region of 21 ha area was brought under study in 1963. The watershed has been under complete protection and was treated by soil and water conservation measures during 1963-64. A dam of height 5.5 m was constructed across the main channel to store 0.54 ha-m of water at the strategic location. Low cost check dams and water spreaders to dissipate the erosive force of runoff and arresting sediment were constructed mainly in the first and second order streams. Temporal changes in water yield from hilly catchment of Shivalik were monitored for forty years (1963-2003). Initially the results have been highly encouraging as due to protection and management there was drastic reduction in water yield. However, the trend changed after sometime questioning the sustainability of soil and water conservation treatment in the watershed and the change in vegetation composition.


Handedness, or laterality, in crabs possessing dimorphic claws has been examined for several species of brachyuran decapods. These studies have revealed that the major (crusher) chela is located predominately on the right cheliped in species that depart from a 1 : distribution of rightand lefthandedness (Przibram, 1931; Hamilton et al., 1976; Vermeij, 1977; Barnwell, 1982; Jones & George, 1982; Ng & Tan, 1985). Haley (1969) reported that the major chela occurred on the right side on 50 % of the 500 Ocypode quadrata (Fabricius, 1787) he collected from the Texas coast. Similar information on other species of Ocypode is lacking, although this genus has been the subject of several morphometric studies (Cott, 1929; Huxley, 1931; Sandon, 1937; Crane, 1941; Haley, 1973). The painted ghost crab Ocypode gaudichaudii H. Milne Edwards & Lucas, 1843, ranges intertidally along the Pacific coast from the Gulf of Fonseca, San Salvador, to Chile, and the Galapagos Islands (Rathbun, 1918). This crimsonred species of ghost crab has dimorphic chelae with truncated tips; presumably an aid in deposit feeding (Crane, 1941). I collected and examined 457 0. gaudichaudii from four beaches in Corcovado National Park, located on the Osa Peninsula on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. The locations were: Punta


Satisfaction of tourists is the key success for tourism destination sustainability because it is a reason for tourists to return to the destination. This research wanted to see the anomaly at Sunan Muria Tomb, Kudus, Central Java related to the satisfaction of tourists on the limited accessibility which is one of the four components that must be owned by a tourist destination according to Cooper, et.al. (1993), in addition to attractions, amenitas, and ancillary service. This research uses descriptive qualitative method and phenomenological approach. Methods of data collection with field observation, in-depth interviews and literature study. The results of this study indicate that access to the tomb of Sunan Muria, both with the stairs and motorcycle taxi is still far from feasible. The stairs are not flat because it is made of stone times, quite steep and there is no cover on so if the rain down the stairs become muddy and slippery. Although there is motorcycle taxi service, but the level of security (riding safety) is also low. This destination for tourists still has interesting attractions as pilgrimage destination with adequate amenitas (food stalls and lodgings) and ancelery service (from the YM2SM or Sunan Muria foundation and the Tourism Office of Kudus District Government), although accessibility is very problematic. All the visitors complained about this, but that did not dampen interest for a return visit. This is an anomaly in the Sunan Muria pilgrimage destination.


B cells undergo affinity maturation and class switch recombination of their immunoglobulin receptors during a germinal center (GC) reaction, before they differentiate into long‐lived antibody‐secreting plasma cells (PCs). Transcription factors such as Bach2 and Mitf are essential during this process, as they delay premature differentiation of GC B cells by repressing Blimp‐1 and IRF4, two transcription factors required for terminal PC differentiation. Therefore, Bach2 and Mitf expression must be attenuated in activated B cells to allow terminal PC differentiation, but the precise mechanism remains enigmatic. Here, we provide evidence that miR‐148a, a small noncoding microRNA, fosters PC differentiation and survival. Next‐generation sequencing revealed that miR‐148a is the most abundant microRNA in primary human and murine PCs, and its expression is upregulated in activated murine B cells and coincides with Blimp‐1 synthesis. miR‐148a targets Bach2, Mitf and proapoptotic factors such as PTEN and Bim. When prematurely expressed, miR‐148a promotes the differentiation and survival of plasmablasts and reduces frequencies of IgG1+ cells in primary B‐cell cultures. In summary, we propose that miR‐148a is a new player in the regulatory network controlling terminal PC differentiation and could, therefore, be a therapeutic target for interfering with PC differentiation and survival.


This kind of writing always gives me the creeps. Rather than seize the day (my favorite genre) it is haunted by the passage of time and the burden of the past. It marks an occasion of dubious significance, perhaps even an overdue date, or (worst of all) a deadline. Is it really fifty years? So what? And what does that mean? Is this the time for elegiac expressions, nostalgic, sentimentalizing, melancholy, tired, irrelevant? Has Critical Inquiry grown old? No, actually. That was me. I got old, but CI did not. Thanks to its longstanding policy of bringing young people into the editorial group, the journal is as young as ever. In fact the founding generation in 1973–74 (all full professors) was probably the oldest group that ever ran it. I got old and irrelevant, not to say irreverent, so they asked me to say something from beyond the grave. So what should I talk about? If I try reciting the history of the journal, I will be forced to name names, and that will take upmy entire word allotment. I was advised to limit the length of this to a thousand words, a tenth of what I would need to chronicle the wild ride of Critical Inquiry through the rise of new disciplines and methods, new topics and questions in the humanities and social sciences over the last fifty years. But I must not even start naming the numerous intellectual movements that have rustled through the leaves of this journal and fertilized its roots, or that would take up my entire word allotment as well. And besides, it's all there, accessible online. Look it up. So what is there to say, then? Some lines of the late John Prine immediately came to mind when I received this invitation:


When asked – "What now, Joseph?" – it opens the questioning regarding the male gender, do work-family conflicts also fall upon them? Or does this fact not involve them. This study analyzes how the professors of the Graduate Programs in Management stricto sensu in Curitiba-PR-Brazil, with entrepreneurial profile, deal with the conflicts resulting from the work-family relation in the development of entrepreneurial competences. Joseph here symbolizes them, through the poetry of Carlos Drummond de Andrade (in a counterpoint, the possible questionings and anxieties of the male gender in contemporaneity in the intersection between work and family).This study marks its


CHRISTIAN, LEA ANNE. Metaphors in Decision Science: An Analysis of an Argument. (Under the direction of Steven B. Katz.) This research examines how computational metaphors function in building a scientific theory. Herbert A. Simon's The New Science of Management Decision was chosen for study. Two methods of analysis were used: a metaphor analysis, which foruses on the metaphors and determines how they are functioning, and an argument analysis, which focuses on the way the scientist builds an argument using grounds, waffilnts, and claims. The metaphor analysis revealed the transference of one system (a computer system) to an abstract system (human thinking) through rhetoric. The argument analysis revealed that the metaphors act as warrants, grounds and claims within the argument, resulting in a complex theory based on computational metaphors. The argument analysis also includes Toulminian diagrams to illustrate Simon's argument. This study discusses the social nature of the scientific method and illustrates the role of metaphor in science, concluding with recommendations for future research. Copyright © 1993 by Lea Anne Christian. All rights reselVed. METAPHORS IN DECISION SCIENCE: AN ANALYSIS OF AN ARGUMENT by LEA ANNE CHRISTIAN A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Technical Communication DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH


This paper presents a coverage-driven constraint random-based functional verification (CCRFV) method of pipeline unit in a microprocessor. The environment of verification, which is created by means of verification methodology manual (VMM) for SystemVerilog, is reusable and can reduce verification time. The model created by combining classification trees, which can ensure to cover complete coverage and to close the gap from the specification of a test plan to SystemVerilog. Using this environment of verification, we can not only know whether there are bugs in the design under test (DUT) or not, but also can easily locate design errors.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ABSTRACT Pernicious anemia is not encountered commonly as an etiology for B 12 deficiency in Indian population.It occurs frequently in northern Europeans as well as Africans.We highlight a case of B12 deficiency in a male,the etiology being perniciousanemia.


This paper presents the solution of a Goursat problem for homogeneous hyperbolic partial differential equations by using the Laplace transform method. The solutions are obtained as finite sums of elementary functions. Beside the scientific purpose, the paper also has a didactical one, since the use of the Laplace transform to solve partial differential equation generally presents great difficulty to students. There are very few exercises of this type, which are generally difficult to solve. However, the class of hyperbolic equations solved here by the Laplace transform method contains a wide variety of particular cases that can be easily solved by the aforementioned method. Due to the fact that the considered equations are complete solvable in elementary functions, the students do not require additional knowledge. The paper continues the Author's concerns about the Laplace transform, recorded in the Introduction.


Introduction : Clinical education is the most fundamental part of the curriculum of nursing students that combines theoretical kno-wledge and practical skills and prepares them to enter the field of patient care and provide clinical and treatment services. Different ways of clinical education have a direct impact on the clinical skills acqu-isition and student satisfaction. So, this study aimed to investigate the relation between preparation of preceptors and nursing student's satisfaction of clinical education. Materials & Methods : This research was a cross-sectional research study. 44 clinical preceptors and 202 nursing students parti-cipated in the research during 1391. The preparedness questionnaire for preceptors had two parts, the demographic and clinical preparation, and students' satisfaction questionnaire also had two sections including demographic information and 25 questions about their satisfaction. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 16. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statist-ics and sample analysis methods. Also, the chi-square test was used to link survey objectives and research questions. Findings : The average of age was 22.5 years for students and 40 years for preceptors. 75 percent of preceptors had bachelor deg-ree, and 25 percent had master degree. They had averagely 16.34 and 5.69 years services and preceptor experience, respectively. 53.5 percent of students reported a high satisfaction and only 10.4% reported a low satisfaction. There was statistically significant relation between clinical preparedness of preceptors and student satisfaction (P=0. 024). Relation between clinical preparedness and sex (P=0.05), marital status (P=0.01) and coaching experience (P=0. 038) were significant and in the female groups, the number of married people and coaching experience was more than 5 years. Relation of student satisfaction with the sex (P=0.004) and student's employment (P=0. 001) were significantly higher in male and employed groups among and and presenting guidelines and clinical education plan promote clinical training and


In this paper, we propose a robust online action recognition algorithm with a segmentation scheme that detects start and end points of action occurrences. The algorithm has following characteristics. 1) The algorithm incorporates human knowledge about relations between action names in order to toughen the algorithm. 2) The algorithm uses time-series Action Probability that represents the likelihood of each action occurrence at every frame time. The Action Probability is obtained from time-series human motion using support vector machine. 3) The classification technique with hidden Markov models (HMMs) enables the algorithm to detect robustly and immediately the segmental points. The experimental results using real motion capture data show that our algorithm not only prevents the system from making unnecessary segments due to the error of time-series Action Probability but also decreases effectively the latency for detecting the segmental points.


We present a record of pollen and spores of coprophilous fungi from a sediment core from Auel infilled maar, Eifel, Germany, covering the period from 42,000 to 36,000 yr b2k. We can show that vegetation cover was dominated by a boreal forest with components of steppe and cold-temperate wood taxa. The proportion of wood taxa was higher during interstadials, whereas steppe-vegetation became more prominent during stadials. During Heinrich stadial 4, temperate taxa are mostly absent. Spores of coprophilous fungi show that megaherbivores were continuously present, albeit in a larger number during stadials when steppe environment with abundant steppe herbs expanded. With the onset of Greenland stadial 9, forests became more open, allowing for steppe-environment to evolve. The shift in vegetation cover coincides with the highest values of herbivore biomass at the time that Neanderthal humans demised and Anatomically Modern Humans most probably arrived in Central and Western Europe. Megaherbivore biomass was a direct consequence of vegetation cover/availability of food resources and thus an indirect consequence of a changing climate. Herds of large herbivores following suitable (steppe) habitats may have been one cause of the migration of AMH into Europe, going along with their prey to productive hunting grounds.


The methodology for selecting the parameters of a parallel active filter to compensate higher harmonics in a power supply system with distributed generation has been validated. The structure of the parallel active filter based on power transducer elements is proposed in the paper. A control system for the parallel active filter in conditions of power supply systems with distributed generation based on phase conversions and relay controllers with variable width of hysteresis has been developed. A mathematical model of the parallel active filter with the proposed control system in the power supply system with distributed generation has been developed. The dependences between the performances of higher harmonics compensation by the parallel active filter with the developed control system have been obtained according to the simulation results.


Our attention has been drawn to lapsi and errors in a recent publication in this journal concerning Cricotopus Wulp (Diptera: Chironomidae) (Drayson et al., 2015).


All-beef and soy-extended patties were frozen to −18°C in either 24, 48, 72 or 96 hr and stored at −23°, −18° or −7°C for 6, 9, 12, 18 or 24 months. Freezing produced considerable reductions in both sensory and instrumental measures of tenderness with the effects being greater for the slower freezing rates. Thus, just after freezing, and prior to storage, tenderness was found to be higher in patties subjected to faster freezing compared to slower rates of freezing. Storage at −7°C reduced sensory scores for tenderness and increased stress in relation to strain during shearing. Extending patties with soy reduced the effects of freezing rate, storage temperature and storage time on tenderness.


Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) is aberrantly activated in many human cancers. We tried to find STAT3 inhibitors from natural sources and found that Xanthium fruit extracts decreased phosphorylation of STAT3‐Y705. 8‐Epi‐xanthatin (EXT) was isolated from the extracts. When DU145 cancer cells were treated with EXT, p‐STAT3‐Y705 was decreased with an IC50 of 3.2 μM. EXT decreased the expression of STAT3 target genes, such as cyclin A, cyclin D1, and BCL‐2, and induced PARP cleavage, indicating apoptotic cell death. Downregulation of EXT‐induced p‐STAT3‐Y705 was rescued by pretreating DU145 cells with antioxidants, such as N‐acetyl‐L‐cysteine (NAC), indicating that reactive oxygen species (ROS) were involved in the EXT‐induced inhibition of STAT3 activation. Furthermore, we proved the association of EXT with STAT3 protein by using a drug affinity responsive target stability (DARTS) assay and a cellular thermal shift assay (CETSA). EXT inhibited proliferation of DU145 cells with a GI50 of 6 μM and reduced tumor growth in mice xenografted with DU145 cells. Immunoblotting showed that phosphorylation of STAT3‐Y705 was lower in EXT‐treated tumor tissue than in control tissues. Collectively, we found that EXT binds to, and inhibits, STAT3 activation and could be a lead compound for anticancer therapy.


The nature of psychic life, the anatomical seat of cognitive, motor and sensory functions, and the origin of neurological diseases were broadly debated by ancient Greek scientists since the earliest times. Within a few centuries, speculation of philosophers and physicians laid to foundations of modern experimental and clinical neuroscience. In this review we shall present the most important Greek philosophers and physicians living between the 5th and the 3rd century before Christ (B.C.) and examine some of their leading theories concerning the mechanisms of cognitive activity, the nature of perception and voluntary movement, and the causes of neurological and psychiatric disorders


Amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) causes the decrease of the inverted population density and the nonuniformity of gain in slab amplifier for high power laser systems. In this paper, a three dimension model, based on the data in SG-II, in which the residual reflection in the cladding and the ASE process are taken into consideration, is built to analyze the space distribution and time evolution of small signal gain coefficient using Monte Carlo algorithm and ray tracing. This model has been verified by comparing with the experimental data. The traverse size of slab is 68.2cm×36.3cm, which is usually decided by the clear aperture and the manufacture. By means of the model, the impact of thickness, residual reflectivity and the stimulated cross section of neodymium glass to the ASE are analyzed in detail.


This study explores the strategic development of Plumbuita – Steaua Rosie – Petricani area in Bucharest, with an eye to reveal the strategic objectives, policies and development priorities. The findings of this study reveal that the strategic development of this area in Bucharest is possible if a coherent strategy is to be implemented, taking into account the economic, social, and environmental problems that may be solved in the near future. The study was carried out using a wide range of sources from the national and international literature, as well as local experiences in urban management and planning the strategic development of urban areas. The findings of this study may be used for further research in the field of strategic development of cities.


Applications of PCM-to-air heat exchangers (PAHXs) were discussed in literature for free cooling application due to their latent thermal storage abilities. This paper aims to justify the generalization of a numerical model of PAHX and to compare the thermal performance of two different configurations of PAHX system. A generalized numerical model is developed and validated based on general apparent heat capacity method. The validation results show good agreement of the generalized approach in terms of averaged error with the experimental data. Model potential and limitations are discussed, and further recommendations are proposed to improve model accuracy. The paper ensures the significant potential of a PAHX ventilated façade configuration in free cooling applications.


Characteristics of radar range profile has great effect on target recognition and it is important to analyze them. Against dechirping pulse signals,this paper proposes an real-time range profile algorithm suitable for marine targets,and analyses the features of range profile of marine targets with real raw data,as well,discuss the effect of range profile on target auto-recognition and give the usual ways to deal with the features.Finally envelope alignment and power transformation used in radar recognition pretreatment are analyzed,which lay the foundation for radar target recognition based on HRRP.


The role of archaeology has been neglected for almost eighty-five years in the study of the First World War of 1914-1918. The beginnings of a modern, scientific archaeology informed by material culture studies began in 2002 with an initial focus by both disciplines on the material culture of war. This new kind of archaeology is multidisciplinary, and investigates landscape, remembrance, cultural heritage, museums, and tourism, as well as military history in the development of a distinctive methodology for investigating the multifaceted nature of the world's first global industrialised conflict and its legacy. This new approach is called Modern Conflict Archaeology, and is empirically and theoretically distinct from the more traditional military history practices of Battlefield Archaeology.


Hydrotreating processes for diesel fuels are becoming increasingly important, owing to environmental regulations limiting sulfur and aromatic compounds, which are becoming more strict. Among investigations into hydrotreating modeling, most of the studies use a homogeneous model to simulate the reactor. However, for a real industrial reactor, that is not always an accurate assumption. Furthermore, reports of efforts to find the best operating conditions are very scarce. In this study, a heterogeneous model of three main reactions—hydro-desulfurization, hydro-denitrogenation, and hydro-dearomatization—was applied to simulate the hydrotreating reactor. The model results show a good agreement with literature experimental data. The effects of important operational parameters such as temperature, pressure, liquid hourly space velocity, and H2/oil ratio on various hydrotreating reactions are also evaluated. Finally, a multi-objective optimization based on non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II is carried out...


In the era of big data, where the amount of information is growing exponentially, the importance of data mining has never been greater. Educational institutions today collect and store vast amounts of data, such as student enrollment and attendance records, and their exam results. With the need to sift through enormous amounts of data and present it in a way that anyone can understand, educational institutions are at the forefront of this trend, and this calls for a more sophisticated set of algorithms. Data mining in education was born as a response to this problem. Traditional data mining methods cannot be directly applied to educational problems because of the special purpose and function they serve. Defining at-risk students, identifying priority learning requirements for varied groups of students, increasing graduation rates, monitoring institutional performance efficiently, managing campus resources, and optimizing curriculum renewal are just a few of the applications of educational data mining. This paper reviews methodologies used as knowledge extractors to tackle specific education challenges from large data sets of higher education institutions to the benefit of all educational stakeholders.


ABSTRACT Understanding loyalty and disloyalty in conjunction can ensure comprehensive understanding of loyalty which is important for sustained profitability of online retailers. This study examines the simultaneous impact of consumer-related (e-lifestyles) and technology-related (website quality) dimensions on loyalty and disloyalty of Indian online clothing shoppers. Two survey-based samples of data were collected from 217 (Sample 1) and 644 (Sample 2) experienced online shoppers. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis techniques were used to validate e-lifestyle (three dimensions) and website quality dimensions (four dimensions). Sample 2 was divided into loyal and disloyal groups (based on loyalty scores) which were subject to logistic regression. While both e-lifestyle and website quality dimensions are significant in discriminating between the loyal and disloyal groups, the effect of website quality dimensions is more pronounced with website visual-engagement having the highest positive impact on loyalty. The study draws on conclusions for marketers and suggestions for future research.


This paper assesses the short and long run effects of currency devaluation on output growth in Ethiopia. The study is conducted by using quarterly time series data over the period ranging from 1998.Q1 to 2010.Q4 and employing a vector auto regression (VAR) model. By controlling the monetary and fiscal policies, it is found that currency devaluations are contractionary in the long run and neutral in the short-run. Other results are that monetary policy has positive effect on output growth, while total government expenditure has negative effect. Moreover, this study clarifies that devaluation explains a considerable part of real gross domestic product change in Ethiopia. Since the Ethiopian export is dominated by primary agricultural products, it is insensitive for the change in exchange rate; it is not also possible for the government to allow market forces to determine the value of Ethiopian birr. Policy intervention is needed to balance the adverse impact of exchange rate movements until the economy is well transformed from agricultural sector to industrial sector and then, the economy becomes less dependent on imported raw materials. Thus, monetary policy plays a bigger role since it affects the total output positively and significantly.

 Key words: Currency devaluation, output, vector auto regression (VAR).


This paper describes the development of GPS, the active and passive modes in which the system can be used, the control, terrestrial and cosmic segments of GPS. Satellite layout, control station display and their role are presented and the GPS operating principle is explained in detail. In this paper lists driver and vehicle monitoring systems. The driver and vehicle monitoring system enables measurement of fuel consumption and factors related to driver driving style, such as speed, acceleration, idling, and braking, each affecting fuel consumption, maintenance costs and safety. In this way, the system can help to achieve some of the following benefits: reducing fuel consumption by recording the amount of fuel consumed to determine losses and eliminating the cause of their occurrence, reducing fuel consumption through better vehicle management, reducing the number of accidents leading to reduced insurance costs, reducing maintenance costs through better quality vehicle management by the driver, identifying individuals who need training.


Sepsis is responsible for 750,000 hospital admissions and 215,000 deaths annually in the U.S. To determine how the burden of sepsis is distributed


N95 filtering facepieces (FFPs) are an important component of personal protective equipment (PPE) to mitigate the risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission in healthcare workers. Fit testing is conducted to ensure that a seal can be achieved between the user and the FFP so that the FFP provides the intended level of protection. Without an adequate seal, an N95 FFP offers the same level of protection as a surgical mask. In June 2020, after obtaining human research ethics approval (ethics approval no.: 13453) and registering with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (no.: 12620000702910), we conducted a single-centre, prospective cohort study in a university teaching hospital. Anaesthetists and anaesthesia registrars and nurses who were part of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) airway team were invited to participate in a fit testing study to evaluate the pass rate of the BSN Medical ProShieldR N95 (size medium TN01-11 and small TN01-12, thereafter called ProShield N95; BSN Medical Australia, Mulgrave, Victoria) using quantitative fit testing with a PortaCount 8048 machine (TSI Incorporated, Shoreview, MN, USA). The ProShield N95 was the most commonly used FFP in our hospital at the time of the ethics application. We hypothesised that users who passed a fit check, as described by the Department of Health and Human Services (State of Victoria, Australia), would also pass the fit test. As part of the study, participants selected the Proshield N95 size that they would usually wear and performed a fit check. They were then immediately fit tested using the modified Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) protocol. An overall fit factor of 100 or greater was considered a pass in line with Australian standards and OSHA legislation. Participants who did not pass were provided education using the 'real time mode' on the PortaCount machine. This mode allowed participants to modify their FFP placement to observe directly how this affected the fit factor in real time. If participants could consistently achieve a fit factor or 100 or greater in the 'real time mode', they were asked to doff and re-don the FFP for repeat testing. If the overall fit factor remained less than 100 during the retest, the fit test was considered failed. If appropriate, the test was repeated with a different size ProShield N95. A total of 65 participants were tested in our study. All the participants passed a fit check but only 22/65 (34%) passed the subsequent fit test. The difference in the pass rate between the fit check and fit test was statistically significant with a P<0.0001 using a two-sided Fisher's exact test. A further 16 participants passed after either receiving education using the 'real time mode' function or changing the size of the FFP resulting in an overall pass rate of 38/65 (58%). There were no statistically significant differences observed in the pass versus fail rates between gender, age and ethnicity (Table 1). Our study is consistent with previous studies which have also found that fit checking alone is insufficient to assess the adequacy of a N95 FFP seal. However, our study found a higher fail rate in participants who passed a fit check compared to other studies. This could be due to the construction of the duckbill-style FFP, which is less rigid than a cup or three-panel FFP.


ABSTRACT

An analytical model is presented to examine the performance of multiple tuned mass dampers (MTMD) for the long span bridges subjected to wind excitation. The reduction of dynamic response and the increase of the flutter velocity by the attachment of the MTMD to the bridge are discussed. Through a parametric analysis, the characteristics of MTMD are studied and the design parameters including mass, damping, bandwidth, and total number of TMDs are proposed. A comparison of effectiveness between a single TMD and MTMD is also presented in this paper. The results indicate that the MTMD, designed with the recommended parameters, is not only more effective but also more robust than the usual single TMD against wind-induced vibration. The superior robustness of the MTMD is especially significant in the torsional direction.


The Aluminum Powder Plant of PetroChina Jilin Petrochemical Company Higher Alcohol Factory belongs to metal smelting chemical industry,it produces super thin aluminum powder via internationally advanced nitrogen gas atomization system circulating technology.With quick national economical development,some new projects,transformation projects and extension projects were built up and put into operation.Enterprises should complete construction work as well as post evaluation work of investment projects.The application of post evaluation in project planning,investment decision,administration level and economical efficiency are discussed by using the analyzing evaluation method-comparison method of post evaluation according to successful experience of technical reform of aluminum powder plant and comparing the direct goal and macro goal according to the survey result after project reform.


Aim of the current study was to evaluate the efficacy of non polar extract (NPE) of Aloe vera gel (AVG) for 60 days (~25μg/daily/orally) in rodent model of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). After treatment, steroid hormones and insulin levels were estimated by ELISA, serum lipid profile along with ovarian steroidal enzyme activity. Also, transcript as well as protein level of key receptors and steroidogenic enzymes were evaluated. Parallely, pairs of ovaries were excised and stained with Hematoxylin and Eosin (HE) to monitor the structural changes from group of animals. During course of study, stability of non polar extract (NPE) of AVG was evaluated by High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC) during study (15, 30, 45, 60 days). PCOS rats after treatment with NPE demonstrated a decrease in serum testosterone and insulin level with improved estradiol and progesterone levels. Also, decrease in transcripts level of steroid receptors while increased aromatase expression were observed after NPE treatment. These genes expression study was correlated with relative changes were observed with protein expressions. Non polar phytosterol rich fraction treated PCOS rats improved metabolic phenotype as well as ovarian function. These modulations ameliorate the PCO condition suggesting that these could possible novel targets in management of PCOS. INTRODUCTION: Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder among women of reproductive age 1 . It is characterized by hyperandrogenism, insulin insensitivity and chronic an ovulation 2 . In this regard, also has shown that PCOS follicle demonstrated high levels of LH, Steroidogenesis Acute Regulatory Protein (StAR), CYP17 and CYP11A mRNA expression when compared with size-matched control follicles 3 . Also, muscles biopsied from PCOS obese women exhibited impaired insulin-stimulated samples association of IRS-1 with PI-3K, concomitant with a decrease in glucose transport 4 . QUICK RESPONSE CODE DOI: 10.13040/IJPSR.0975-8232.7(12).4933-48 Article can be accessed online on: www.ijpsr.com DOI link: http://dx.doi.org/10.13040/IJPSR.0975-8232.7 (12).4933-48 As central core of PCOS is insulin resistance, current available mode of treatment is use of insulin sensitizers like metformin 5 . But these drugs have their own side effects upon prolong usage 6 . Hence, currently researchers are exploring alternative therapy to treat and manage the infertility disorders 7 . In this context, many scientists have demonstrated the role of medicinal plants in the control of hyperglycemic condition 8 . One such plant, that has been explored, recently is Aloe vera Mill. which has shown to have several medicinal effects including hypoglycemic effect 9 . Our previous reports also suggested that whole extract of Aloe vera improves steroid status and lower hyperlipidemic condition in PCOS phenotype 10, 11 . Moreover, Aloe vera gel contains 75 potentially active constituents: Polysaccharides, vitamins, enzymes, minerals, sugars, lignin, saponins, salicylic acids and amino acids 12 . Several reports


Healthcare organizations are undergoing massive change fueled by competition, mergers, and new rules. Leaders are expected to chart a clear, straight course and mobilize energies toward the organizational goals. However, with diverse pressures in the middle of a constantly moving organizational landscape, leaders are challenged with how to implement important corporate change effectively. Lessons learned from a master juggler can instruct leaders on how to keep several balls in the air while nurturing and sustaining cultural change.


The present invention relates to a high frequency generator for generating an alternating electromagnetic field for ionizing the propellant (4), and ion drive system for a spacecraft comprising an acceleration system (7) of the charge carrier (1). The ion drive system, the first device capable of obtaining high voltages required from the generated current and / or voltage to the acceleration system (7) by high-frequency generator (4) for generating an alternating electromagnetic field including.


This study aims to understand the effect of gross profit, operating profit, net profit, and working capital on future cash flows in infrastructure companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange for the 2016-2019 period. This research uses quantitative methods. The data used is secondary data obtained through the website www.IDX.co.id. The analytical method used is the multiple linear regression analysis method. The results obtained partially gross profit and net profit have a positive and significant effect on cash flows in the future. Meanwhile, operating profit and working capital have no significant effect on future cash flows. Simultaneously gross profit, operating profit, net profit, and working capital have a significant effect on future cash flows in infrastructure companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange for the 2016-2019 period.


The main objective of this work is to investigate the effect of thermal annealing in forming gas atmosphere on the mechanism of deactivation and reactivation of phosphorus in silicon-based Schottky diodes. Firstly, the microwave plasma power, initial phosphorus concentration in the samples and hydrogen flux were fixed as 650 W, 1015 cm–3, and 30 sccm, respectively, to investigate the behavior of different working parameters of diodes, specifically the duration and temperature of hydrogenation. Secondly, few samples hydrogenated at 400 °C for 1 h were annealed under the forming gas (10% H2 + 90% N2) within the temperature range from 100 to 700 °C for 1 h. The profiles of active phosphorus concentration were monitored by evaluating the change in concentration of phosphorus after hydrogenation or thermal annealing in a forming gas environment through capacitance-voltage measurements. The obtained results depict the temperature and duration of hydrogenation, which ultimately reveals the complex behavior of phosphorous and hydrogen in silicon. However, the phosphorus passivation rate is homogeneous over all the depths measured at 400 °C. The thermal annealing in a forming gas indicates the increase in passivation rate of phosphorus as a function of annealing temperature, till the passivation rate attains saturation in the sample annealed at 400 °C. At higher temperatures, a decrease in the concentration of phosphorous-hydrogen complexes is observed due to the dissociation of these complexes and reactivation of phosphorus under thermal effect.


With the continuous development of Internet technology and the gradual popularization of smart phones, new media has emerged and impacted the traditional media. Traditional media is relative to the new media rising in recent years. The traditional means of mass communication are well-known: newspapers, radio, television and so on. The new media uses digital technology to provide information and services to users through computer networks, computers, mobile phones, digital TV and other terminals. Because of its two-way communication mode, more personalized communication behavior, diversified content forms, rich display methods and other important characteristics, it has a great impact on the traditional media.


In this paper, particular key aspects of the philosophies of Plotinus and Wang Yangming have been analysed comparatively on the basis of important passages of their works. The method used for this investigation can be defined as that of transversal comparative induction, in which the focus is more on working out the details of affinities and similarities. As this means a first step in an encompassing systematic context, differences will be introduced more briefly. The present investigation aims to provide a foundation for a more differentiating and therefore complementing second part, which will consider other contents and topics in both philosophies. The present analysis is performed in three systematic steps and with regard to three basic philosophical ideas: (1) the idea that human consciousness is a central medium in the universal process and interrelatedness of (biological) life as a whole; (2) the idea that the self-unfoldment of reality represents a meta-cognitive process beyond the limits of subjectivity and finite consciousness; and (3) the idea that it is our major task to perfect and know ourselves by means of a "return" to the highest underlying foundation of this universal process. In their own ways, Plotinus and Wang Yangming both show that by enfolding human reflexivity toward the ineffable source of all reality in thought, feeling, human activity, and natural processes, namely by actively pursuing the path of moral and intellective perfection, we become fulfilled mediators of a universal process and of that which all of it represents.


A CAD software system for hull lines based on .NET is introduced in terms of system construction and principle. The system adopts a 3D V-shaped fairing computing model, which sufficiently considers the consistency of lines offsets in three different projection planes. By means of tree structure for parametric hull lines and 3-dimensional modeling technology, the system supports total-process-design of hull lines. Such a system not only can draw main parameter table, lines offsets table and lines plan grid automatically, support interactive design and synchronous adjustment for hull lines, but also can cut the hull synchronously and produce the 3-dimensional model of the hull. The implementation of this CAD software system for hull lines improves the hull design efficiency and quality.


What is the target? Thousands of physicians ask themselves that question many times everyday in their battle against diseases. Sometimes it is prevention, and most of times it is treatment. The another question should be asked: Is that treatment efficient and sufficient or not? In Rheumatology, our target is remission or low disease activity as unfortunately there is no cure in most diseases in our field. Osteoarthritis causes an economic, and social burden and specially knee affection causes disability and handicapping to old and non old people. So, cure is a dream to patients who become disabled or waiting that fate and also structural and functional restoration is the dream of physicians. This study is a result of four-years work, and I hope it become a step in the way to that dream.


Background and Aim:  Obesity as a risk factor for colorectal neoplasm (CRN) is controversial. In the present study, we evaluated visceral obesity as a risk factor for CRN.


The paper looks into a theoretical aspect of conflict definition: the main theoretical approaches to definition of the concept 'conflict' are identified, different definitions of the above concept reviewed, specifically those offered by Y. Matsievskii, D. Feldman, Y. Stepanov, V. Andreiev, D. Dzvinchuk, A. Lypnytskii and other researchers. The difference between the concepts of 'contradiction', 'crisis' and 'conflict' is shown. It is demonstrated that the conflict is always rooted in disagreement or contradiction. The conflict may be resolved through settlement of discord and discrepancy or escalate into an open clash or violent fight. Complexity and versatility of the phenomenon of conflict encourage its further research. And today of primary topicality is examination of the conflict in the Donbas.


Being designed based on the theory of 3-D air-flow in the vane wheel, the 3-D flow rotor, which is the key component of a centrifugal blower, is more efficient and energy-saving than the regular one, thus representing the primary development direction of centrifugal air blower. A modification project was then undertaken at SISG Co. to improve the performance of the D900-21 centrifugal air blower based on the 3-D flow theory, and has yielded a good result, with the flow rate reaching 1 000 m3/min and the pressure up to 0.26 MPa, all in accord with the design specifications.


Abstract Power-frequency magnetic fields were measured with two types of instruments at a large automobile transmission plant and the results were compared. A group of machining and assembly workers (n = 57) wore a datalogging three-axis personal monitor, and also had each of their work locations measured with a hand-held meter. Time estimates at each of these locations were combined with averages of the meter readings to give surrogate daily-weighted average (DWA) exposures, which were compared with measures of central tendency derived from the personal monitor. Nonparametric correlation coefficients were used to compare the two estimates. Closer agreement was found between the DWA and the datalogger's geometric mean (Spearman coefficient, rs = 0.85) than between the DWA and the arithmetic mean (rs = 0.77), apparently because both the geometric mean and DWA were relatively insensitive to brief peaks. Principal sources were identified and their distances from the usual work position were estimated. Demagn...


Objective : Bronchoscopy is a diagnostic procedure. Due to lack of cooperation of children, pediatric bronchoscopy is necessarily accompanied by anesthesia. The most prevailing method of anesthesia in children is inhaled anesthesia, but since duration of anesthesia is long and there is involuntary respiration in this method, the amount of dispersed gas is high. The objective of this review is comparing inhaled anesthesia with sevoflurane and intravenous anesthetics with propofol in children under flexible bronchoscopy, in order to do a more appropriate and safe bronchoscopy and also to improve recovery after general anesthesia in children. Methodology : 80 children under the age of 10 who were going under flexible bronchoscopy, were randomly divided into two groups of 40 individuals. For anesthesia of one group inhaled sevoflurane was given, and for the second group intravenous propofol was given; then in both groups changes in blood pressure, heart rate, O2 saturation t, and recovery time were recorded and compared. Findings : There is no significant difference in three times measurement of both anesthetics. In other words the average blood pressure shows no difference after anesthesia, start of bronchoscopy, and end of bronchoscopy in both anesthetics (P-value=0.771). Moreover, no significant difference was observed in three times measurement of both anesthetics. This means that the average heart rate shows no difference after anesthesia, start of bronchoscopy, and end of bronchoscopy in both anesthetics. Furthermore, the average o2sat is different after anesthesia, start of bronchoscopy, and end of bronchoscopy in both anesthetics (P-value>0.001).


ANCER of the head and neck region reC mains localized for presumably long periods of time before metastases appear below the clavicles. Because of these growth characteristics, it is felt that a high percentage of patients with this type of cancer should be cured provided the therapy is aggressive. The major cause of treatment failure in clinically operable cases has been local recurrent disease. The local recurrence rate for head and neck lesions has been reported to range from 24% to slightly more than 50%.1. 3-5 Multiple foci of recurrence in the region of the operative wound and under the flap area in patients with head and neck cancer has raised the question of the incidence and significance of seeding of the wound by cancer cells at the time of operation. Almost all of the malignant intraoral lesions are on the surface and are ulcerated, so that even with careful handling of tissues during surgery, the likelihood of viable tumor cells being left on the operative field is con-


Many of the quality costs are hidden and difficult to identify by the usual assessment systems. The model of the iceberg of costs is very often used to illustrate this issue: only part of the costs of higher and lower quality are the obvious - those drawn in the face above the water level. Identification and improving these costs will significantly reduce the total cost of activities. In the triology, according to the planning phase, once the operations are launched, most of the time, 20% of the activities must be resumed due to the deficiencies of quality. Even in this situation, the process may be out of control (supposedly the activity will be resumed in a proportion of 40%) and must be brought back within the limits of control by taking appropriate measures. After a period of time, by implementing the improvements of quality (the third step of the trilogy), chronic loss may be reduced to a much lower level. Thus, quality control ends to be regarded as a component element of all phases of the production process, from the detection of market requirements, design, design, achievement, and until the product's product to the customer. Improving quality must be continuous and progressive, focus on long - term objectives trying to reach the progress of quality so that the firm will pass on a new level of performance.


Anxiety and depression are common and deleterious comorbidities in people living with dementia (PLWD). Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is one of the few promising treatments; however, it is unclear whether PLWD have the necessary prerequisites to engage in this. Having an understanding of cognitive mediation, that a thought mediates the relationship between an antecedent event and its emotional consequence, is key for engaging with CBT and is also a critical component of emotion regulation. There are no measures of this construct validated for PLWD. This study aims to adapt and validate an existing measure for this population. A secondary aim is to assess its applicability in older adults (OA) without a recognised neurocognitive impairment.


Provides how Prof. Chu's students may access the FASB and GASB Codifications of Accounting Standards and information to help explain them. June 2015 Exposure Draft for Proposed Accounting Standards Update (ASU) for Not for Profit Entities (Topic 958) and Health Care Entities (Topic 954): Presentation of Financial Statements of Not-for-Profit Entities


Extensive medical research has revealed evidence of a strong association between hippocampus atrophy and age-related diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). Therefore; segmentation of the hippocampus is an important task that can help clinicians and researchers in diagnosing cognitive impairment and uncovering the mechanisms behind hippocampal changes and diseases of the brain. The main aim of this paper was to provide a fair comparison of 2D and 3D convolution-based architectures for the specific task of hippocampus segmentation from brain MRI volumes to determine whether 3D convolution models truly perform better in hippocampus segmentation and also to assess any additional costs in terms of time and computational resources. Our optimized model, which used 50 epochs and a mini-batch size of 2, achieved the best validation loss and Dice Similarity Score (DSC) of 0.0129 and 0.8541, respectively, across all experiment runs. Based on the model comparisons, we concluded that 2D convolution models can surpass their 3D counterparts in terms of both hippocampus segmentation performance and training efficiency. Our automatic hippocampus segmentation demonstrated potential savings of thousands of clinician person-hours spent on manually analyzing and segmenting brain MRI scans


For the BTZ black hole in the Einstein gravity, a statistical entropy has been calculated to be equal to the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy. In this paper, its statistical entropy in the higher curvature gravity is calculated and shown to be equal to the one derived by using the Noether charge method. This suggests that the equivalence of the geometrical and statistical entropies of the black hole is retained in the general diffeomorphism invariant theories of gravity. A relation between the cosmic censorship conjecture and the unitarity of the conformal field theory on the boundary of AdS3 is also discussed.


In this work a method for cadmium and lead determination in fresh meat based on slurry sampling graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry is proposed. The fresh meat samples were weighed directly into the autosampler cups of the spectrometer using a microbalance and the slurry was prepared using tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH). The use of the response surface method for optimizing the slurry preparation has shown that it was possible to find the optimum zone in the experimental field of the variables under study. Calibration was performed against aqueous standards and a mixture of 0.05% v/v Pd + 0.03% v/v Mg + 0.05% v/v Triton X-100 was used as a modifier. The results obtained for cadmium and lead in two certified reference materials were statistically not different from the certified values on a 95% confidence level, indicating that calibration against aqueous standards is suitable for this application. A comparison of the results obtained by slurry sampling with the digestion method adopted by the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture showed no significant differences between the results at the 95% confidence level. The positive results obtained in this work suggest that the application of this procedure in other element determinations is worthy of exploration.


Interpretive research methods of various sorts have long been used to study "the political," but the full range of such methods is not widely known, and many are curious about what they entail. Others, who begin to use one or another of them, have questions about how to proceed. For those just learning about these methods, questions may be as basic as: "What does ethnomethodology mean?" "What is semiotic analysis?" "Are these approaches recognized as legitimate in political science?" Scholars engaging, or perhaps teaching, these methods might ask, e.g., "How do ethnographers overcome problems of accessing their field site, talking to strangers, and turning a year's worth of observational and interview notes into concise text?"We thank 2005 and 2006 Program Chairs Ron Schmidt and Val Martinez-Ebers and Executive Director Betty Moulds and Associate Director Elsa Favila at the Western Political Science Association, and Qualitative Methods 2006 Section Program Chairs Julia Lynch and Melani Cammett, and Michael Brintnall, Rob Hauck, Christina Marmor, and others on the conference organizing staff at APSA. Michael and Rob came to the Café at the Western in 2006 to see for themselves what it was that we were trying to do. We are grateful for their help in making it possible at APSA. And, of course, we thank all those colleagues who have contributed their time and thought to creating the Café with us, including Cecelia Lynch, who saw right at the beginning that it was a 'café' and came up with its definitive name.


This paper studies the hiring behavior of firms exposed to the recent China-US trade war. Our analysis leverages information from a Chinese online job board and a firm-level measure of tariff exposure obtained from customs transactions data. Firms that are more exposed to US tariffs on Chinese goods responded by posting fewer job vacancies and offering lower wages. The latter is partly balanced out by increased non-wage compensation. We also find a negative relationship between US-tariff exposure and the educational background required in firms' job ads. China's retaliatory tariffs against the US does not appear to have a statistically significant systematic impact on hiring. The paper also reports heterogeneous adjustment patterns across firms of different size, ownership and product mix. Overall, the trade war reveals to have negative impact on firms and job-seekers in China.


English architect John Soane created dramatic and unpredictable buildings that continue to inspire architects worldwide. This biography tells the story of the self-made, irascible architect's turbulent life and the remarkable buildings he designed, including the Bank of England.


This study seeks to analyze the relationship between rural and urban production activities, mapping the rural production structures more strongly related to better performances of urban economic activities in Rio Grande do Sul state. Two panel data models were estimated, with fixed effects method: one for thes tate cities during the period from 2001 to 2008 and another for the micro regions between 1996 and 2008. Results indicate that the urban production growth is related to an increase of agricultural production and that, in general terms, better urban performances of cities are associated with more diversified rural production structures.