The sheep industry in Barbados plays a vital role in the provision of meat for its diverse ethnic and cultural population of over 270,000. The industry supplies only about 15% of the lamb/mutton consumed locally. The government and other agencies have embarked on programmes to increase the production of lamb to reduce importation. In addition, IICA has embarked on a plan that proposes to improve production of the Barbados Blackbelly Sheep (BBB) sheep by increasing the number of breeding stock of superior performance through the establishment of nucleus flocks. In addition, breeding and multiplication units and technological packages on management for farmers and other stakeholders will also be established.


The supply of available organs for donation is limited. In this article we describe the legal and ethical principles surrounding donation of organs from a prisoner.


In order to be innovative in hospitality industry the role of leadership style on employees is very crucial. Leaders are in direct contact with employees and their encouragement and support can trigger the employees to be innovative in delivering the service. In hospitality industry the front-line employees need utmost attention as this industry totally depends on the service of employees especially front-line employees who set the first impression of the hotels. Leadership styles have significant impact on employees' innovation. The study aim was to examine the impact transformational leadership (TL) on innovation in hotel industry of Malaysia. This study filled the gap by examining the transformational leadership style impact on innovation in front line employees. Total 480 questionnaires were distributed among the employees of 5stars hotels which were located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. To examine the hypotheses, this study applied the SEM (AMOS). Findings revealed that transformational leadership had a significant positive effect on employees' innovation. Interesting finding came in mediation analysis, in which affective commitment mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and innovation. Findings of this study are beneficial for management of hotels to understand the role of transformational leadership style, affective commitment on employees in order to be innovative in delivering services. This study provided the in depth analysis for top management to better handle and incite the innovation in employees as the leaders are directly responsible to lead employees in innovative way to be innovative.


This paper describes the low noise and high gain front-end S-band receiver for the portable satellite ground terminal for the voice, video and data communication mainly at the time of disaster like earthquake and tsunami or at the remote area where land based networks are not present. This design is having very low noise figure, high gain and low spurious levels. Channel is selected at the RF frequency with the use of synthesizer. Low Noise, compact size, low power consumption, and low cost are the satisfaction for developed unit.


Fluid intake recommendations during exercise have changed substantially over the past half century. Up until the 1970s, marathon runners were advised to avoid drinking during competitive racing.1 In 1996, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) advised athletes to replace all sweat lost during exercise by drinking the maximum amounts that can be tolerated.2 Then, in 2007, the ACSM recommended drinking 0.4-0.8 L/h of fluid during exercise with lower fluid volumes for slower and lighter individuals competing in cool environments, and higher volumes for faster and larger individuals competing in warm environments. These guidelines also state that athletes drink enough to ensure that they do not lose more than 2% of body mass because a greater loss is thought to impair exercise performance.3

These guidelines have emerged from studies modelling parameters that influence the rate of sweating. One study4 predicted that a fluid intake rate of 0.4-0.8 L/h kept body mass loss within 3% and prevented body mass gain in 50-90 kg subjects running marathons at 8.5-15.0 km/h in cool and warm ambient conditions—that is, 18o C and 28o C, respectively. The …


Detection of smuggled nuclear materials at transit points requires monitoring unknown samples in large closed packages. This review contends that high-confidence nuclear-material detection requires induced fission as the primary mechanism, with passive radiation screening in a complementary role. With the right equipment, even small quantities of nuclear materials are detectable with a high probability at transit points. The equipment could also be linked synergistically with detectors of other contrabond. For screening postal mail and packages, passive monitors are probably more cost-effective. When a suspicious item is detected, a single active probe could then be used. Until active systems become mass produced, this two-stage screening/interrogation role for active/passive equipment is more economic for cargo at border crossings. For widespread monitoring of nuclear smuggling, it will probably be necessary to develop a system for simultaneously detecting most categories of contraband, including explosives and illicit drugs. With control of nuclear materials at known storage sites being the first line of defense, detection capabilities at international borders could establish a viable second line of defense against smuggling.


Let {B n} be the Bernoulli numbers, and let m and n be natural numbers. In this paper we prove that (2-2 2n )B 2n ≡1-4n+∑mk=12n2k2 4k B 2k (mod 2 4m+3 ) and (3-3 2n )B 2n ≡2-6n+2∑mk=12n2k3 2k B 2k (mod 3 2m+1 ).Taking m=1,2 we obtain the two congruences for (2-2 2n )B 2n (mod 2 7) and (3-3 2n )B 2n (mod 3 5),which were announced in .


The growth of the anthropogenic activity in the country, due to the increase of the vial axes , have caused that the agricultural boundary growth to produce a substantial loss of the forestry mass near the areas established as protected.
The present Document allows the determination of the changes that have occured in land cover and fragmentation during the past 8 years in a highly delicate area in the country as is the Cayambe – Coca, Sumaco and Napo-Galeras National Parks and the Antisana Ecological Reserve through the methodology of Steenmans and Pinborg (2000)
The fragmentation index as well as the change in land cover, establishes quantifiable and qualitative information that once they are represented in maps and statistical information, can be used as a valuable decision maker tool that can help us to propose conservation projects in the more intervene areas.
With this background we can determine various options of conservation corridor using the available information from remote sensors and develop its spatial analysis through a Geographic Information System


Coupled oscillator systems require oscillators with properties that heretofore have not been addressed in oscillator design. Specifically, one needs to achieve wide locking bandwidth - the counterpart to low Q if the oscillator is based on a resonant circuit. This letter introduces an approach to design of wide locking bandwidth by dealing with oscillator design in a feedback format. The specific realization reported here employs a MMIC amplifier with transmission line feedback external to the MMIC. Reactive loads that are weakly coupled to the transmission line allow one to achieve wide locking bandwidth. Results for an implementation at K/sub /spl alpha// band are provided.


Average mortgage rates fell substantially in the first half of the 2000s, suggesting the availability of generally cheaper mortgage financing. These declines might reflect several factors, including changes in (i) the conduct of monetary policy and other developments in the market for Treasuries; (ii) the pool of borrowers' characteristics; (iii) the mix of mortgage products offered by originators; and (iv) the supply of funds channeled into mortgage markets that affected rates across the board. We decompose the variation in mortgage rates between 2000 and 2007 into these four components. To this end, we analyze a large micro dataset of 3.7 million observations on mortgage loans that became part of private label securitized pools. Using a rich set of controls for loan and borrower characteristics, the term structure of yields, zip-code level variables and a flexible specification with multiple interactions, we construct the counterfactual interest rates predicted by each of the aforementioned components in isolation. Our results suggest that changes in the pool of borrowers alone should have resulted in a slight upward trend in mortgage rates, reflecting an increase in the riskiness of the average borrower. In contrast, variations in the mix of mortgage products pushed average interest rates down considerably, particularly through the growing popularity of adjustable rate mortgages, which often commanded relatively low 'teaser' rates. However, even after controlling for these developments, as well as the term structure of Treasury yields, average mortgage rates experienced a significant and rather abrupt fall in mid-2003. This decline is larger for Subprime mortgages (130 basis points) but still substantial for Alt-A and Prime products (80-90 basis points). Conversely, this component of average mortgage rates adjusts upwards suddenly in late 2006, beginning with Subprime products. Interestingly, this component co-varies closely with Gilchrist and Zakrajnek's (AER 2011) excess bond premium. This suggests that the same factors highlighted by their work in the corporate bond market, particularly the risk-bearing capacity of the financial sector, also played an important role in shifting the supply of mortgage financing. Preliminary results using over 4 million loans from an alternative database indicates a similar, albeit more modest, development amongst mortgages that were either agency securitized or retained in banks' portfolios.


Waste heat contained in the exhausted steam from a turbine in a power plant should be recovered for the purpose of reducing waste heat loss and thermal pollution.Taking the NZK660-24.2/ 566/566 unit as an example,a steam-organic fluid combined cycle was employed to achieve the target of reducing the waste heat emission.The new cycle can be divided into two subunits: steam cycle parts and organic fluid cycle parts.In this model,a waste-heat exchanger was added to realize heat transfer from the steam with certain thermal parameters to the organic fluid.Due to a much lower enthalpy value of the organic fluid than that of the steam with the same exhaust steam parameters,the turbine waste heat loss could be reduced.Meanwhile,the plant output could be increased as well as the thermal efficiency.Finally an analysis was carried out on the characteristics and thermal economy of power generation of steam-organic fluid combined cycle,which was based on the original unit's design values,and an obvious thermal efficiency improvement can be observed.It could be concluded that this research provides a reference for energy saving.


Developing the competence to use information technology in teaching is one of the important occupational competencies for teachers in the digital age. Information technology application development has many implications in promoting the training process to train and develop students, in accordance with the actual conditions of education in Vietnam and the general trend of the world is essential. Research paper on needs assessment using information technology of teachers in online teaching, proposing the process of identifying the structure of information technology competencies and requirements for capacity development to use information technology in online teaching of training institutions. The parameters in this paper present an empirical research result to address the need to develop the information technology application competence in online teaching, necessary to successful organize online teaching with a variety of theoretical and practical pedagogies in technology in education.


Aluminium foam is widely known as an energy absorptive material which can be used as a protective cladding on structures to enhance blast resistance of the protected structures. Previous studies show that higher density provides larger energy absorption capacity of aluminium foam, but results in a larger transmitted pressure to the protected structure. To lower the transmitted pressure without sacrificing the maximum energy absorption, graded density foam has been examined in this study. An analytical model is developed in this article to investigate the protective effect of linear density foam on response of a structure under blast loading. The model is able to simulate structural deformation with reasonable accuracy compared with experimental data. The sensitivity of density gradient of foam cladding on reinforced concrete structure is tested in the article.


The Parkfield, California, segment of the San Andreas fault is transitional in character between the creeping segment of the fault to the northwest and the locked Carrizo Plain segment to the southeast. The rate of shallow fault slip decreases from 25–30 mm/yr northwest of the epicenter of the 1966 Parkfield earthquake to zero at the southeastern end of the 1966 rupture zone. Data from a network of trilateration lines spanning the San Andreas fault near Parkfield and extending to the Pacific coast near San Luis Obispo shed light on the rate of fault slip at depth since the 1966 earthquake. In this study, average rates of line length change and shallow fault slip were inverted to determine the slip rate at depth on the Parkfield fault segment. The fault is taken to be a vertical surface with unknown distribution of strike-slip displacement in an elastic half-space. A striking result of the inversions is that all solutions providing acceptable fits to the data exhibit a locked zone essentially coincident with the rupture surface of the 1966 Parkfield earthquake. The data require that the locked zone extend nearly as far north as the 1966 epicenter; however, the vertical extent of the locked zone is not well resolved. Over much of the Parkfield segment the fault is slipping faster at the earth's surface than it is at seismogenic depths. In order to fit the trilateration measurements it is necessary to include a component of contraction normal to the trend of the San Andreas. The inversion results suggest a spatially uniform normal strain of −0.06 μstrain/yr. The orientation of the contraction is compatible with geologic and seismic evidence of active folding and reverse faulting in the region. The magnitude of the contraction is consistent with convergence rates inferred from global plate motion models.


In today's schools, homes, and public spaces, children are becoming frequent and experienced users of technology. As this trend continues, it is increasingly important to understand both the needs of children and the nature of technological design for young people. With this in mind, the IDC conference focuses on addressing the challenges of interaction design for children. We also explore the opportunities that new technologies afford -- and the impact that those technologies have -- in the everyday lives of young people.IDC is organized now for the fifth time. The series was launched as a workshop in 2002 in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. It grew into a full conference in 2003 in Preston, England, before moving to the United States with the conferences in 2004 in Maryland and 2005 in Boulder, Colorado. In 2006 the conference returns to Europe as it now takes place in Tampere, Finland.To address emerging research and development, IDC 2006 sought for long papers, short papers, demonstrations, and posters in three broad areas: emerging technologies for children, the impact these technologies can have on children's lives, and new research methods which give children a voice in the design, development, and evaluation processes. In response to the call for participation, we received 37 submissions for full papers, out of which 14 were accepted for presentation in the conference. With an acceptance rate of 38% we hope to provide a high-quality technical program that combines the Nordic tradition of emphasis on design and usability with emerging interaction methods and techniques. The long paper program is supplemented by 12 short talks (chosen out of 31 submissions, for an acceptance rate of 39%) and 6 posters. The selection of papers, posters, and short talks was by international committees, totaling 53 experts.The field of the IDC conference is maturing, and this year we tried a new format for the first day of the conference. A Child-Computer Interaction Master Class was organized for newcomers to the field by Janet C. Read, followed by a "Views on Our Field" session, chaired by Panos Markopoulos, that gave a chance to several invited speakers and the audience to discuss current trends and future directions of the field.


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medical, physicalizing one' whereby 'moral ideology... is naturalized.' This material leads into a discussion ofthe ways in which the narrator's ambivalent experience in the Alcyone episode in Chaucer's Book ofthe Duchess affects his dream in 'failfing] fully to carry through a corrective specification ofthe narrator's position in relation to gender and sexuality.' Although Spearing faults Kruger for failing to look beyond the medical perspective to other social and cultural factors that inform dream poetry, the narrow focus of this essay also makes it the most daring and interesting in the collection. The central word in David Aers's 'Interpreting Dreams: Reflections on Freud, Milton, and Chaucer' may well serve as a modesty topos for a diapter that weaves together the notions that male readers need to dominate and subjugate the experiences ofothers— especially women—and that the alterity of the Middle Ages remains overstated in the scholarly imaginary, especially that of non-medievalists. 'Baring Bottom: Shakespeare and the Chaucerian Dream Vision,' Kathryn Lynch's dever contribution to the volume, analyzes A MidsummerNight's Dream as Shakespeare's 'reading ofChaucer [as] a reading of a reading of an already sophisticated tradition of readings [sic];' the playwright thereby 'parodies and revises the medieval dream-vision tradition.' Lynch successfully proves that both authors use the dream-vision as 'a form that embodies the infinite regressiveness of language and its self-undermining deconstruction,' but this assertion may strike readers as somewhat less than the sum of its interesting parts. The final essays, Peter Holland's 'The Interpretation ofDreams in the Renaissance' and Kathleen McLuskie's "The "Candy-Colored Clown": Reading EarlyModern Dreams' present compendia of sixteenthand seventeenth-century ideas about dream interpretation. Holland's work is generally more descriptive and historically oriented (and is valuable not least fot its inclusion of seventeenth-century Jewish dream theory from Italy), while McLuskie analyzes the ways that dramatists could draw upon 'the rich and varied tradition ofdream representation' to create a wider variety ofeffects than were available to their predecessors. We could say much the same for twenty-first century scholars, for as this volume shows, they can draw upon an increasingly rich variety of theoretical and historical material (induding their own) to create helpful new readings ofmedieval and Renaissance dream literature.


The new parallel sequencing technologies produce gigabases of genome information in just a few days bring with them new problems for storage and processing – necessary to be overcome. Sequencing technologies have applications in genome sequencing, metagenomics, epigenetics, discovery of non-coding RNAs and protein binding sites. The abundance of different options for managing and dealing with the data could be found confusing: but there are two major problems in NGS data processing: algorithms for alignment of sequences (for which exists a reference sequence) and algorithms for de novo assembly problems (for no reference sequence is available ). Different factors define the choice of better algorithmic solution: cost, reads length, data volume, rate of data generation). As a result the particular bioinformatics solution depends on the biological application and on the type of sequencing technology used to generate the data. All the technologies have their strengths and weaknesses and limits of their performance for providing error free sequenced data. Most sequenced microbial species are presented as data of 16S ribosomal RNA, which is highly conserved between different bacterial species. The assessment of variations in their sequences can provide information for the biological diversity of bacteria in metagenomic studies. This can lead towards a more accurate and faster alternative to the methods used for bacterial identification (such as phenotypic identification). The reliability of 16S RNA sequencing depends on distinguishing such variations from possible errors introduced by the sequencing method itself. As such errors may bias the phylogenetic analysis of the data, it is important to filter them as much as possible. On the other hand, overzealous error correction may lead to a certain loss of valuable information concerning more rare variants in the sample, again introducing bias. The data used in this work consists of two separate runs and is generated by 454 Roche sequencing platform which has an estimated error rate of 0,25%. Our purpose is to tackle the problem of error correction and estimate the amount of change we can introduce to the raw output data without losing too much biodiversity information.


Youth mentoring is a popular and well-respected volunteer activity in the USA. Although there is support for the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of community-based mentoring (CBM), the research on school-based mentoring (SBM) – the most popular form of youth mentoring – is mixed. Most of the SBM studies find inconsistent or small effects. The reason for the difference in the success of CBM and SBM may be the unique context, structures and goals of SBM relative to CBM. In an effort to guide SBM programmes towards larger and more consistent positive results, the authors review context-specific considerations of providing mentoring in schools. We present several evidence-based practices that are compatible with SBM and should strengthen the effects of this popular intervention. To illustrate the importance of these considerations, we provide a case example of redeveloping a failed SBM programme into a promising programme by reviewing two iterative randomized evaluations. Finally, we encourage school-based mental health experts' involvement in the redevelopment of SBM.


The potential integration of polymer nanofibers in photonic devices and circuits is a major driver for research on their waveguiding and optical gain properties. Emission in the near‐infrared is especially important in this framework in view of the realization of nanofiber‐based optical amplifiers. Here, the optical gain properties of electrospun fibers embedding near‐infrared light‐emitting molecules are investigated. Upon pulsed optical pumping, line narrowing typical of amplified spontaneous emission is observed, with gain of 5.5 cm−1 and threshold fluence down to 0.25 mJ cm−2. Importantly, the stimulated emission characteristics are strongly dependent on individual fiber characteristics and on the mutual alignment of nanofibers in arrays, thus being tailorable through the fiber architecture and assembling. These results open interesting perspectives for the exploitation of electrospun fibers as active components in the near‐infrared range.


This paper explains the importance of standard fibre-optic LANs, and gives an overview of the state of development of the main emerging fibre-optic LAN standards. Fibre-optic enhancements to 802·3, 802·4 and 802·5 are discussed, as well as FDDI and FDDI-2. A brief mention is made of 802·6 and SONET, which are not LANs but are relevant to the discussion. The need for a rational cabling infrastructure is mentioned, as is the need for conformance tests. Some of the practical reasons why it makes sense to have fibre available at the end stations are discussed.


In the paper,a kind of blueprint of urban seismic emergency management system database is given.The origination of the data and the construction of feature classes for the emergency managemant system database are introduced.The data contents and the processing method are also presented.


Undifferentiated embryonal sarcoma of the liver (UESL), a rare tumor that predominantly affects children, generally has been considered an aggressive neoplasm with an unfavorable prognosis. More recent reports have indicated that modern multimodal treatment and supportive care improve the survival of children with UESL. Data regarding the treatment and survival of adults have not been reviewed comprehensively, and only a few adult patients with UESL have been reported in the literature.


This chapter looks at the effects of the broken justice system on public health. First of all, jail and prison are profoundly unhealthy environments. Disability-adjusted life years lost linked to incarceration is over double those attributed to other conditions commonly experienced in the general population. Although prisoners are the only US citizens with a constitutional right to health care, they often face delays in accessing care, restrictive medication formularies, a lack of acute care options, and understaffing of specialty care medical providers, particularly in the areas of mental health and addiction treatment. But well beyond this, the health effects of the justice system extend into all reaches of the population. A mother's incarceration, for example, is associated with a 30% increase in infant mortality rate, with a stronger effect among blacks than whites. Moreover, residents of neighborhoods with high incarceration rates have a two- to threefold increase in rates of depression and anxiety. Ultimately, a broken justice system compromises the health of the public and deepens the unfairness that characterizes racial health inequities in the country.


We investigated environmental stresses tolerance of the extracellular vitamin B 12 producing lactobacilli cultures and confirmed the screening strategy of vitamin B 12 producing Lactobacillus strains, isolated from the infants' fecal sample. Three cultures ( L. plantarum NCDC958 and NCDC957, and L. rhamnosus NCDC953) endowed with extracellular vitamin B 12 producing ability from our previous work were amplified for cbiK gene with new primers designed in this study and their characteristics in tolerance to environmental stresses (such as temperature, salt, sugar, and ethanol) were studied for the first time with both optical density (OD) measurements and pour plate count method. We confirmed amplification of the 257 bp cbiK gene in these cultures, which codes for important B 12 -structural enzyme cobalt chelatase and successfully selected B 12 -producing strains. These cultures showed tolerance upto 6% NaCl, 30% sucrose, 42 °C temperature and 8% ethanol. Importantly, extracellular vitamin B 12 producing culture L. rhamnosus has first-time been reported for the environmental


Based on a large scale survey of cadmium concentration in soil and vegetables in Tianjin five suburbs,the characteristics of cadmium levels in soil and vegetables were analyzed. In addition,absorption capability of soil cadmium with different vegetable species was researched. Risk of vegetable soil cadmium to human health through soil-vegetable-body was assessed by Monte-Carlo technique. The data of soil cadmium complies with the log normal distribution. Cadmium concentrations in soils ranged from 0.04 to 3.2mg/kg,with arithmetic mean,median of 0.31mg/kg and 0.24mg/kg. Compared with the background cadmium concentrations of soil from tianjin,the arithmetic mean of soil cadmium was higher,there appeared to be a significant accumulation of cadmium in soil collected from fields that produce vegetables. In all of the vegetable species,wild cabbage,brassica juncea,cucmuls sativus,cucurbita pepo,lycopersicon esculentum,solanum,bean and allium fistulosum has the samples that the cadmium concentration is higher than the maximum levels of cadmium in food. The synthetically ration of the cadmium contents exceeding criterion is 7.6 percents. CHAID system cluster analysis on the cadmium bioconcentration factor(BCF) in vegetables indicated that the samples could be separated into four groups based on BCF and there were significant difference between the four groups. The assessed results by Monte-Carlo model testify that there was significant risk to human health under heavy metal pollution soil.


Paralyzed state is the state in which a patient undergoes spinal cord injuries, strokes, or a condition that affects the nervous system of the human body. It is a condition where a patient entering this state is considered a disabled person. Rehabilitation of paralyzed persons is difficult because his/her minute improvement is not noticed thus it takes days, weeks, and even years together. Due to this current situation, the bystanders or hospital staff cannot notice any abnormal conditions or slight body movements which act like life-saving indications that are always unnoticed. To prevent this situation our proposed project is introduced, it consists of sensors that monitor different vital information and also help the patients to convey their messages to the bystanders. The information is stored with a separate database and using an IoT platform such as the Blynk application the alert message or abnormal conditions are noted and viewed by care-takers and also the doctor.


The manager's guide to using Linux and open source for competitive advantage.Using Linux and open source technologies, thousands of enterprises are cutting costs, gaining flexibility, and discovering powerful new sources of business value. Now, there's an objective, realistic manager's guide to using Linux and open source technology for competitive advantage. Martin Fink helps you get past both the hypesters and the naysayers, so you can accurately assess the benefits, costs, and risks of open source in your organization. Writing strictly from the manager's viewpoint, Fink covers every step of the Linux and open source project lifecycle, and every crucial issue, from licensing to collaborating with the open source community of developers. Coverage includes: Assessing the costs, benefits, and risks of pursuing Linux and open source initiatives Open source licensing: avoiding the minefields Managing Linux and open source projects within your company Assessing the size, breadth, and capabilities of the open source community Building strong, positive, synergistic relationships with external open source communities The crucial role of Linux standards Integration, development, deployment, migration, coexistence, support, and training Understanding the difference between the Linux kernel and the Linux operating system Understanding and choosing Linux distributions How the open source paradigm impacts commercial software developers Open source business models: what it takes to make a profit from open source technology Applying the open source development methodology in a corporate setting "A thought-provoking analysis of the role of open source software in the corporate environment. A must-read guide for managers considering how open source can help their organization."-Tim O'Reilly, O'Reilly and Associates, Inc.


statement outlining the purpose of the new publication, along with an extensive list of future contributors, was relegated to a page in the advertising section that preceded the main text. It was evident, however, that the journal had been inspired by similar publications in England, including the long-running Journal of Horticulture, Cottage Gardener, and Country Gentleman's Companion. In particular, its format and content mirrored m many respects that of The Gardener's Chromcle, which had begun publication in 1841.


Aphasia is an acquired communication deficit that impacts the different language modalities. PDAs have a form factor and feature set that suggest they could be effective communication tools for people with aphasia. An ethnographic study was conducted with one participant both to learn about communication strategies used by people with aphasia, and to observe how a PDA is incorporated into those strategies. The most significant usability issues found were file access and organization. A participatory design phase followed, resulting in a paper prototype of a file management system that addressed the key usability issues identified. The participatory approach continued during the implementation of a high-fidelity prototype.


Abstract Bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) based on the Mg–Zn–Ca ternary system are considered as potential bioresorbable metals for orthopaedic applications as they are comprised solely of biocompatible elements. In the present study, a series of six Ca rich and ten Mg rich BMGs were synthesised and their corrosion behaviours characterised using potentiodynamic polarisation. A complex interaction between the elements in this compositional window was observed, whereby a significant increase in dissolution rate was accompanied by increasing Ca content or decreasing Mg content. Although the addition of Zn had a positive contribution in reducing the rate of corrosion, its effect was not dominant. In addition, a form of passivation was observed in the Mg rich BMGs, although it appears that such passive corrosion behaviour is not directly related to a high Zn content.


The aims of this research work were directed to evaluate the capacity of acoustic signal response to monitoring the mandarin fruit firmness change during storage. The dominant frequency, firmness index and elasticity coefficient as a function of time could be expressed as a decreasing polinomial function. A good correlation was established between the acoustic parameters (firmness index and coefficient of elasticity), and fruit compression force, for these data, the correlation coefficients were 0,88 & 0,91 respectively. The results indicates that it might be possible to identify the ripeness state of an individual mandarin by using the present method, and that the nondestructive acoustic test could replace conventional compression test in order to determine mandarin fruit firmness and expected shelf- life.


The present invention provides a high acceleration detecting sensitivity and suppressing other-axis sensitivity of the acceleration detecting means. The acceleration detecting device having: a rectangular annular housing (5); a first drive arm (10), which is supported by both end portions of two opposing sides of end of the housing; the second drive arm is configured to cantilever (11) and a cantilever structure of a detection arm (12), the base end portion extending toward the other end side is fixed by the edge of one end; concave portions (15a, 15b), which are formed on the same surface corresponds to the end edges of two parts of both end portions of the drive arm; and a constricted portion (16a, 16b), which is formed on the opposite upper and lower surfaces near the one end side, a first excitation electrode driving arm is provided with excitation fixed at both ends of the bending vibration, the second driving arm has one end fixed flexural vibration excitation of the excitation electrodes, the detection arm with pick-up charge pump by bending vibration of the detection arm when the bending vibration generated in the fixed end of the electrode.


The development of information technology and public administration paradigms that emphasize services for the benefit of society has affected the strategic efforts of e-Gov in Indonesia. For that, there is a need to create qualified, competitive, effective and efficient of the public services. Indonesia's E-Gov Policy has been applying principles of good governance and information technology to serve and interact with the community. Some local governments, including South Jakarta Municipality has been implementing e-Gov to optimize public service. e-Gov in South Jakarta Municipality is reflected on the implementation of a management information technology to improve services to the community by creating a web site, namely http://selatan.jakarta.go.id/. The information presented in South Jakarta Municipality website includes tourism, local regulations, and other information of Municipality of South Jakarta. This article is the result of field research entitled "The Role of Information Systems Management in the Creation of Competitive Advantage and Quality Improvement Services Public Information" in South Jakarta Municipality. The result shows that public service in website South Jakarta Municipal Government used to support the plan of development of e-Gov is still in the stage information dissemination, not two way interaction. Public service website run by South Jakarta Municipality is planned to integrate services on the process to obtain civic identity cards, urban planning permits, tourism, population, building permits et cetera. e-Gov applications using information technology in the office of South ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ Jakarta Municipality still has many obstacles, i.e human resources, budget used and infrastructure.


Gives an objective, factual overview of what has to be done to prepare for competitive tendering in UK libraries, with particular reference to public libraries. Discusses the national situation, the purpose of competition, its advantages and success criteria. Considers the particular experience of the pioneer enabling London Borough of Bromley. Gives a straightforward description of the steps necessary in preparing for competition: the service review and articulation of standards, and the separation of client and contractor functions. Considers the client role of writing and specification, establishing the contract strategy, implementing and monitoring the contract, together with the options for contractor side preparation. Finally, comments on the potential difficulties of the client‐contractor division.


Electron-electron interactions have strong effects on the low-energy excitations of a one-dimensional metal. Luttinger liquid theory, which is supposed to describe this situation, predicts, among other things, that an injected electron will split into separate charge and spin excitations, which propagate at different velocities. We shall review some experiments and theoretical analyses where spin-charge separation can have manifest consequences, including discussion of the spin-incoherent regime, which can occur in low-density electron systems, when the temperature is low compared to the energy scale for charge excitations, but larger than the spin-exchange energy for neighboring electrons.


We report the generation and manipulation of electrorheological (ER) droplets that exhibit the giant ER effect. The experiments were carried out on specially designed microfluidic chips, in which the ER droplets were generated by using the microfluidic flow-focusing approach. Both the size and formation rate of these droplets can be controlled through digitally applied electrical signals. The principle of droplet manipulation is based on the electrical responsiveness of ER droplets and hence the denotation of "smart" when the electrical signals can be triggered by sensing/control devices. Due to the unique characteristics of the GER effect, the smart droplets can deform and even stop the microfluidic channel flow under an applied electric field. The pressure difference induced by the smart droplets inside the micro-channel is controllable by varying the field strengths, droplet sizes and particle concentrations in the GER suspension. By trapping and timed release of smart droplets in different micro-branch channels, we demonstrate that the smart droplets generated upstream cannot only be stored or displayed in the desired downstream channel(s) and thereby offer the potential of micro-droplet display, but also be useful in counting, flow directing and sorting the desired number of passive droplets sandwiched between two smart droplets. Such capabilities of smart droplets will enable the programmable control of discrete processes in bio-analysis, chemical reactions, digital microfluidics, and digital droplet display.


Abstract GaAs and InP were grown on Si(111) by low-pressure metal-organic chemical vapour deposition and the interfaces were studied by weak-beam and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Both cases represent highly mismatched heteroepitaxial systems which form hexagonal misfit dislocation networks consisting of partial edge dislocations which accommodate more than 95% of the misfit. The experimental growth conditions were chosen such as to be compatible with integrated Si-device processing. In the case of GaAs the network nodes are only partially extended whereas for InP they are fully extended. A thin region in the InP layer close to the interface contains a high density of stacking faults and microtwins, the bounding partial dislocations of which contribute to strain accommodation. In the upper part of both layers open=ended stacking-fault tetrahedra exist, relieving stress. Growth on {111} planes produces a low density of threading defects and therefore is promising for the growth of InP a...


1. For a corresponding degree of narcosis, nembutal caused a lesser fall in the body temperature of guinea-pigs than ether.

2. The horizontal distribution of subcutaneous temperature under the previously described burning iron has been plotted.

3. For temperatures of the burning iron ranging from 45° to 70°C., observations have been made of the final equilibrium subcutaneous temperature; similar observations have also been made on subcutaneous temperature reached after a 1-minute application of the iron.

4. The temperatures, at which the changes produced by burning occur, have been defined with greater accuracy.

The authors wish to thank Professor R. A. Peters, F.R.S., for his continued interest and Dr. David Evans and Dr. M. C. Manifold for their help with the planning of this investigation. One of us (K. M.) is indebted to the Medical Research Council for a personal grant and the other (R. J. R.) to the Carnegie Trustees. The Medical Research Council has also contributed towards the cost of this research.


A part-of-speech tagged corpus is a very important knowledge source for natural language processing researchers. Today, several part-of-speech tagged corpora are readily available for research use. However, because there is wide diversity of morphological information systems (word-segmentation, part-of-speech system, etc.), it is difficult to use tagged corpora with an incompatible morphological information system. This paper proposes a method of converting tagged corpora from one morpheme system to another.


Abstract Education programs seeking accreditation are increasingly obliged to provide evidence of how their programs assess preservice teachers' knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Although all three of these elements are complex, dispositions are shrouded by ambiguity. This high degree of ambiguity seems to contribute to an aversion toward assessing them. The resultant absence of assessment processes and tools prompted us to embark on our journey with the concept of teacher dispositions. Here we share our journey and the ongoing reflection on the process and product, as well as the larger role of teacher dispositions in education.


Selecting manuscripts which have not been revised and returned to "Shandong Land and Resources" journals,reasons of manuscripts which can not be revised timely have been analyzed.It is regarded that log cycle,comprehensive ability of editors and attention degree of the author are important factors affecting the manuscript revision.On these basis,some countermeasures are put forward,such as shortening the review period,strengthening effective communication and regulating the submission process in order to ensure the timely manuscript srevision.It can ensure timeliness of the manuscripts and avoid the loss of excellent manuscripts.


Tensile fractures were tested in condition without separation,with slight separation and with severe separation of hull structural steel plate.The results show that separation phenomenon of hull structural steel plate is not only effected by inherent reason,but also by external factors.


The requirements for the prompt usage of traffic infrastructure capacities define the technological frames which ensure updated maintenance and development of new traffic infrastructure capacities by implementing graphical and computer systems. Technical documentation (TD) based on the technology of geographic information systems (GIS) allows fast analysis of graphical and alphanumerical data with the aim of identifying spatial relations among various cartographic elements. The paper analyses and presents the methodological bases of building GIS with the aim of designing the traffic network topology, as well as structural and functional analysis which uses the acquired knowledge to propose concrete solutions on connecting data about the position of infrastructure facilities with their properties in the railway traffic safety.
KEY WORDS: technical documentation, geographic information system, structural and functional analysis, software for technical drawing, signalling devices, railway


In this article, I am trying to answer the question: is Attachment Parenting an optimal parenting model for child's psychosocial development? I am posing a hypothesis: Attachment Parenting is a parenting model that will assure child's proper psychosocial development providing its parents head for child's weal in the first instance, they evaluate child's abilities and needs and customize the Attachment Parenting's methods to these needs, not the reverse. The aim of this article is to present Attachment Parenting, that was devised by William and Martha Sears. I took presenting the general postulates of attachment theory, which claims that parent-child relation creates a child's psychosocial development, as a starting point. Moreover, I discuss `Attachment Parenting' with its seven ideals as a practical response to an appeal for engaging in care and upbringing of children based on the strong and permanent bond between a parent and a child. Subsequently, I am trying to submit the Attachment Parenting model to pedagogical estimation, discussing its positives and negatives.


'transcendent' beauty never altogether breaks free from an analogy with visual desirability. In Chapter 5, 'Beauty Across Cultures: Israel and Rome', K. seeks to cement his main theses by triangulating Greek with the vocabularies of Hebrew and Latin (including comparative observations on translations of the Hebrew bible into Greek and Latin). He claims that Hebrew manifests the same linkage as Greek between beauty and desirability, while his survey of Latin terminology (including pulcher, formosus, bellus, speciosus, decor) is particularly aimed at reinforcing the denial of a clear-cut ancient notion of artistic or aesthetic beauty. K. does, however, detect subtle glimmers of the latter in some of Cicero's applications of pulcher to the artworks pillaged by Verres, and he also draws attention to the importance of Augustine's platonising idea of beauty as that which is attractive in itself. The concluding chapter, 'Greek Beauty Today', offers a synopsis of the dominant values of ancient aesthetics (pleasure, emotion, awe and moral reactions) designed to underline the view that beauty became central to aesthetic experience only in the Renaissance, and still more so in the eighteenth century. But with Romanticism beauty was challenged by sublimity; later on, modernism questioned its status, on grounds of both sentimentality and politics, as the overriding goal of art. Despite some recent 'recuperation' of beauty in aesthetics, K. would resist a return to an eighteenth-century perspective. His ultimate conviction is that understanding Greek ideas can help us at least try to resolve some of our own dilemmas over the lexicon and experience of beauty. Only a scholar of K.'s superb range and sureness of touch could have packed so much material into a relatively short space without any loss of lucidity. This is a fine, though I had better not say 'beautiful', achievement, full of perceptive and penetrating readings (as well as a rich set of endnotes). If there remains room for further debate over many details (it is hard to determine when one should and should not translate kalos as 'beautiful' without the risk of begging the question one way or the other), that is only as it should be: the mystery of beauty haunts the intellect aswell as the senses. I noticed only a handful ofmisprints. Lucian, Zeuxis 7 is oddly translated on p. 109. And there is an unexplained discrepancy between two very different hypothetical dates for Demetrius, De elocutione, on pp. 100 and 175.


The problems associated with marine traffic engineering in the Baltic area are difficult to solve, and casualty statistics are extremely important as a basis for safety and anti-pollution activities. A statistical analysis has been made of the data relating to a total of 283 ship casualties in 1971–72; the results are presented and the discussion covers local and seasonal distribution, distribution by other time-dependent variables, and weather, visibility and the use of navigation equipment at the time concerned. The statistics further cover the type of ship involved, its nationality, loading condition, age, speed, and the damage arising. This paper was presented at the November meeting of a Navigation Group in Helsinki.


Lithium metal negative electrodes for liquid cells have high theoretical capacity, but suffer from unstable metal interfaces during charging. Here a model for morphology evolution during plating is presented that focuses on the interface instability during plating at low to moderate current density. It is proposed that the instability is caused by stress due to excess Li atoms incorporated in the metal during electrodeposition. The resulting stress gradients drive diffusion along the lithium surface that amplify surface roughness. The instabilty is modeled by extending the Asaro-Tiller-Grinfel'd diffusional instability for stressed surfaces of elastic solids to interfaces between elastic layers, namely that between lithium metal and the solid-electrolyte interphase. The assumption of elastic deformation is valid for lithium deposits less than about 1 micron thick. Linear stability analysis revealed that the model predicts the correct scaling between instability length scale and stress: for elastic stress of order 1 MPa as found experimentally, the spacing between interface protrusions is a few microns, similar to typical distances between whiskers on deposit surfaces. The model suggests that the instability can be suppressed by use of elastically stiff current collector substrates.


The level of education is an increasingly important factor that determines both social-economic changes and the systems of norms and values. On the one hand, globalization processes offer the richness and variety of the goods of culture, and the access to "broad" knowledge. On the other hand, they reinforce the tendency for unification and standardization of many areas in an individual's life. In order to properly refer to modern changes a university is subject to, we should trace historical changes that affected this institution and analyse modern expectations that are shaped by the global market of services.
This article focuses on the analysis of the process of science globalization. Such approach to science is characterized by the analysis of features that define science as a social institution. In this context, the most important challenges and difficulties related to the specific features of the global exchange market have been presented


Municipal treated wastewater could be considered as a water source for food crop irrigation purposes. Enhancing the quality of treated wastewater to meet irrigation standards has become a necessary practice. Nanofiltration (NF) was used in the first stage to produce permeate at relatively low energy consumption. In the second stage, two membrane combinations were tested for additional water extraction from the brine generated by the NF process. The simulation results showed that using a hybrid forward osmosis (FO)–reverse osmosis (RO) system is more efficient than using the RO process alone for the further extraction of water from the brine generated by the NF process. The total specific energy consumption can be reduced by 27% after using FO as an intermediate process between NF and RO. In addition, the final permeate water quality produced using the hybrid FO-RO system was within the allowable standards for food crops irrigation.


Surgical treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) has made great progress in recent ten years,although the appropriate selection of treatment methods remains controversial.Surgical resection of HCC is still widely recognized as the first choice,which has been remarkably improved by effectively controlling intra-operative bleeding.However,the ischemia/reperfusion injury and long-term recurrence still proposes challenges to Pringle's maneuver.The indications of liver transplantation also expand in recent years,and many centers have used marginal donor liver and living donor liver.Remission of the shortage of donors,local ablation of small HCC,and surgical resection still lack the support of randomized controlled trials.In summary,the surgical treatment of HCC should strictly based on the indications of various therapies,which should be prudently verified by randomized controlled trials.


The study offers a short geographical overview of migration studies and theories, doing so in the context of the European migration crisis of 2015–2016. It outlines the history of international migrations affecting Europe (immigration, emigration, migration within Europe and between countries) and the demographic effects of such migration on the present European population. It then analyses and examines the global and regional causes of recent migration to Europe (the European Economic Area, EEA), the countries of origin of the migrants, the main routes of migration, and the destination areas in Europe. As far as intercontinental migration is concerned, Europe was characterised by emigration between the 16th and mid-20th centuries (partly in consequence of colonisation) and mainly by immigration thereafter. Immigration has principally affected Western Europe, the more developed part of the continent. In consequence of post-World War II reconstruction, dynamic economic development, local labour shortages, and the decolonisation process, Western Europe received many migrants, initially from the Mediterranean region and subsequently (i.e. after the collapse of communism in 1989–1990) from the post communist European countries. Meanwhile, the core areas of the EEA became the main destination for migrants coming from predominantly Muslim regions in Asia and Africa (SW Asia, Muslim Africa). This decades-old process has recently accelerated and now constitutes mass migration. The global and regional causes of such intercontinental migration in the sending areas are as follows: the population boom, economic backwardness, unemployment, growing poverty, climate change, desertification, negative ecological changes, global political rivalries and local power changes (e.g. the Arab Spring, 2011), growing political instability, wartime destruction, multiple and cumulative crises, general hopelessness and despair.


The urge to achieve climate protection goals and a more prevalent interest in finding alternatives to fossil fuel based products focus attention increasingly on cascade raw material utilization respectively to intensify commercial production processes. The present project provides a study on the combination of liquid/liquid extraction and esterification using the system acetic acid/octanol and 4-dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid as catalyst. The surfactant 4-dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid causes emulsification during extraction, but emulsification was successfully avoided by using supported liquid membrane permeation equipment.


Using the theory of differential equation,turn the boundary value problems into equivalent operator equations.After that,the existence of the fixed point for the operator equations is studied using fixed point theorem in cones.Meanwhile,the sufficient conditions of the solvability for the class of second-order-point boundary value problem is presented.


Malalignment is often postulated as the main reason for the high failure rate of total ankle replacements (TARs). Only a few studies have been performed to correlate radiographic TAR malalignment to the clinical outcome, but no consistent trends between TAR alignment parameters and the clinical outcome were found. No standard TAR alignment measurement method is present, so reliable comparison between studies is difficult. Standardizing TAR alignment measurements and increasing measurable parameters on radiographs in the clinic might lead to a better insight into the correlation between malalignment and the clinical outcome. This study aims to develop and validate a tool to semi-automatic measure TAR alignment, and to improve alignment measurement on radiographs in the clinic.A tool to semi-automatically measure TAR alignment on anteroposterior and lateral radiographs was developed and used by two observers to measure TAR alignment parameters of ten patients. The Intraclass Coefficient (ICC) was calculated and accuracy was compared to the manual measurement method commonly used in the clinic.The tool showed an accuracy of 76% compared to 71% for the method used during follow-up in the clinic. ICC values were 0.94 (p<0.01) and higher for both inter-and intra-observer reliability.The tool presents an accurate, consistent, and reliable method to measure TAR alignment parameters. Three-dimensional alignment parameters are obtained from two-dimensional radiographs, and as the tool can be applied to any TAR design, it offers a valuable addition in the clinic and for research purposes.


Silicene, a 2D allotrope of silicon, is predicted to be a potential material for future transistor that might be compatible with present silicon fabrication technology. Similar to graphene, silicene exhibits the honeycomb lattice structure. Consequently, silicene is a semimetallic material, preventing its application as a field-effect transistor. Therefore, this work proposes the uniform doping bandgap engineering technique to obtain the n-type silicene nanosheet. By applying nearest neighbour tight-binding approach and parabolic band assumption, the analytical modelling equations for band structure, density of states, electrons and holes concentrations, intrinsic electrons velocity, and ideal ballistic current transport characteristics are computed. All simulations are done by using MATLAB. The results show that a bandgap of 0.66 eV has been induced in uniformly doped silicene with phosphorus (PSi3NW) in the zigzag direction. Moreover, the relationships between intrinsic velocity to different temperatures and carrier concentration are further studied in this paper. The results show that the ballistic carrier velocity of PSi3NW is independent on temperature within the degenerate regime. In addition, an ideal room temperature subthreshold swing of 60 mV/dec is extracted from ballistic current-voltage transfer characteristics. In conclusion, the PSi3NW is a potential nanomaterial for future electronics applications, particularly in the digital switching applications.


Urbanisation and Changes in modern infrastructure have introduced new challenges to firefighting practices. The current manual operations and training including fire investigation, hazardous chemicals detection, fire and rescue are insufficient to protect the firefighter's safety and life. The firefighting and rescue functions of the existing equipment and apparatus and their dexterity are limited, particularly in the harsh firefighting environments. We aim to innovate a smart robot-assisted firefighting platform in smart firefighting to perform searching and rescuing practice in the fire ground, and to facilitate the efficient decision makings. Concerning harsh environments for the complex fire ground (including chemical plants and other venues), we investigate, study, and innovate information acquisition (sensing and visioning technology), transmission (ultra-remote signal transmission) and processing (multi-sensor fusion technology), instrumentation (actuating technology, robotics thermal protection technology), control (multi-degree of freedom mobile and operating robot control methods, obstacle avoidance and sweeping, Decision Support Systems (DSS)) and communication (Human-Robot (H2R) interaction systems, Machine-to-Machine (M2M)).


This special issue of Geography Research Forum thus aims at exploring aspects of representing the public interest in plans, planning laws and by planning agencies. Since we cannot define the public interest in a straightforward algorithm, our aim is to look at the inevitable dilemmas associated with seeking out the public interest and integrating it into spatial plans, laws and administrations.


ethylenedioxythiophene commonly known as PEDOT. These coatings enable intimate, long-term electrical and biological connections between implantable electrodes and the target tissue, offering the conductivity and stability of metals with the ease of processing and biological functionality of polymers. In this paper, we compare the in vitro electrical performance of three types of implantable electrostimulation devices: active fixation pacing leads, cochlear electrodes, and spinal cord stimulators with and without the BT DOT coatings. Significant decreases in impedance and polarization were observed along with significant increased charge storage capacity. The results suggest that such coatings may enable future medical device design improvements such as smaller device profiles and extended battery life.


Background: Foramen magnum (FM) meningiomas are uncommon lesions, considered challenging because of the vicinity of the medulla oblongata, the lower cranial nerves, and the vertebral artery. Surgery for meningiomas located in the region of the foramen magnum anterior or anterolateral to the brainstem constitutes a formidable challenge and has been studied by various authors for many years through various approaches. Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of conventional posterior approach for ventral FM meningioma. Patients and Methods: From September 2002 to June 2008, eight patients with foramen magnum meningiomas arising from the anterior or anterolateral rim of the foramen magnum underwent operations in the Department of Neurosurgery at Kasr Alainy Hospital, Cairo University, Egypt. All patients were operated on in a semi-sitting position by use of a conventional suboccipital approach with a midline incision and extension of the craniectomy laterally toward the side of the tumor up to the occipital condyle. Results: Total tumor resection was achieved in six patients, and a subtotal resection of the tumor was performed in the other two patients due to inability to free vascular territories; in one of them, part of the tumor in relation to the vertebral artery (VA) and in the other, part in relation to posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA) was left behind. After surgery, one patient developed exaggerated lower cranial nerve weakness and two patient developed pseudomeningocele. The follow-up period was 24 months; there has been no recurrence of the tumor or growth of the residual tumor. Conclusion: Ventral and ventrolateral FM meningiomas can be removed gross totally and safely using a posterior suboccipital approach without the need for far lateral approach.


ABSTRACT This paper reports on the findings of an empirical investigation into the relationship between industry sector and the export performance of small, locally-owned firms in the Jamaican economy. Given the small size of the Jamaican economy, it is expected that all firms would be engaged in exporting but clearly this is not the case. It appears that the industiy sector does impact on the ability to export. To investigate this issue, the paper uses survey data of 92 exporters and non-exporters to estimate a logistical regression model of the firm's export behaviour. The results revealed that industiy sector, firm size and the nature of the firm's product are all important factors that influence its export behaviour. The novelty of the findings is also seen in the directionality of the relationship between industiy sector and firm export performance. Key words: Export, industry sector, small, locally-owned firms. INTRODUCTION There is a rich amount of work on the export performance of firms, especially the small and medium sized firm (Coviello & Jones, 2004; Jones & Coviello, 2005; Dana, 2004; Dimitratos & Jones, 2005; Rialp et al., 2005; Miesenbock, 1988; Leonidou et al., 1998; Leonidou, 1998; Leonidou & Katsikeas, 1996; Aaby & Slater, 1989; Coviello & McAuley, 1999; Oviatt & McDougall, 1994; Zou & Stan, 1998; Williams, 2009; 2011). These works have focused on different aspects of the firm's export performance such as: firm and managerial characteristics that impact on export performance (e.g. Leonidou et al., 1998), the impact of firm size and age (Zou & Stan, 1998; Miesenbock, 1988; Williams, 2011); factors that stimulate the decision to initiate export (Williams, 2009; Bilkey, 1978), among other issues. Still, the majority of works in this area focus on the managerial characteristics which influence export performance. Indeed, Aaby & Slater (1989: p.16) after reviewing 55 studies, which focused on the firm's export behaviour, concluded that: "it appears as if it is the management's commitment, perception and attitude towards export problems and incentives that are good predictors of export success". Further, Miesenbock (1988), in a comprehensive review of the literature, which looks at studies that focus on the firm's export behaviour, also shared the view that it is the persuasion of the decision maker that will determine whether or not the firm exports. This may help to explain the heavy bias towards looking at managerial factors in the quest to understand the firm's export behaviour. Despite the heavy bias in research towards studying managerial factors in relation to small firms' export performance; other researchers have pointed out the importance of external variables that may influence performance (Zou & Stan, 1998; Cavusgil and Zou, 1994). Most studies focus on govermnent policies (Alvarez, 2004; Wilkinson, 2006) and market characteristics (Katsikeas et al. 1996; Cavusgil and Zou, 1994). Although some efforts have been made in looking at external factors, it appears that there is still some way to go in order to better understand the impact of external factors on export performance. Indeed, in their review of the literature on the export performance of the firm, Zou & Stan (1998) argued that the research on the enviromnental factors that influence export performance was the lowest. According to Madsen (1987), it seems that the lack of emphasis on the enviromnent is still characterising the export performance studies in the last decade. This observation made over two decades ago is still relevant today. Although there is a growing literature on the export performance of the firm (Leonidou & Katsilceas, 1996; Leonidou et al,, 1998), very little mention is paid to the role of external factors such as the industry sector in which the firm operates, in influencing the export performance of the firm. This is even more so, when the research is analysed from a geographical perspective. …


The spectrum at points in the field of coherent line sources and coherent line arrays was calculated. Large fluctuations exist in the farfield due to the directivity pattern for a fixed length source except on the main lobe of the source directivity pattern. When the length of the source is inversely proportional to the frequency, the spectrum is undistorted at all points in the farfield. In the nearfield, however, the spectrum is distorted even for the on‐axis case for a fixed length source. It is less distorted than in the farfield for points outside the main lobe of the source. For a source whose length is inversely proportional to frequency, the high frequencies are in the farfield and the low frequencies are in the nearfield. The spectrum contains a low‐frequency peak whose frequency depends upon the distance from the source where the measurements are made. Errors of estimating radiated pressure levels by measuring in this nearfield and extrapolating by inverse distance spreading can be quite large.


A method for generating an audio output signal of the virtual microphone at a recording position of a virtual environment may be configured to simulate a device. The apparatus includes a position estimator and a sound event information calculation module (120). Sound events position estimator (110) adapted to indicate the estimated position of the sound source position of the sound source in the environment; wherein the sound events position estimator (110) is adapted according to a first real microphone located at the first position of the real environment is a first spatial direction information provided by the microphone, and a second direction in accordance with information provided by the second microphone in the second real spatial position of the real environment of the microphone to the sound source position estimation. Information calculation module (120) adapted to input a first audio signal is recorded, according to a first real microphone position, the virtual position of the virtual microphone, and a sound source position, to generate an audio output signal.


<In it. On examination of the patient on June 15, 1965, her throat appeared normal, except that the tip of a particularly mobile left styloid process could be felt under the left anterior tosillar pillar, and her throat was nowhere tender except at this spot. On the opposite side an even longer styloid process could be felt, but it continued past the palpable area and was not tender. An X-ray examination by Dr. B. P. Anderson Stuart on the same day confirmed the -diagnosts, the styloid processes being about 7 em. long (Figure 1').


This study explains how the term of piety which is shown by well-known niqabis women on a social media like Instagram that has been negotiated and commodified for a certain reason. By using theoretical concept concerning on Commodification of Piety, which means labelling the name of Islam (kind of a new piety) to explain commodity (Shirazi, 2016), this study argues that by using Instagram, niqabis women who have an online Muslim clothing brand has modified the values of piety on women's body in Islamic context. A qualitative approach of feminist paradigm was used to see the various digital data of a caption and photo in their Instagram posts. The result of this study shows that niqabis exploit the values of piety in the form of "hijrah" and "syar'i clothing" categorization to build an Islamic brand that unconsciously contains Muslim women body knowledge propaganda. This study concludes that there is a commodification process on the values that constructed on Instagram. That process is not only involving niqab and the piety, but also the commodity of women body to praise the Muslim clothing product sale.


Abstract Adhesive bonding technology make it possible to join different materials and to assemble lightweight joints with high mechanical performance. These advantages over conventional technologies have led to a growing interest in these joints in timber construction. This study reports the results of an experimental campaign on double-lap adhesive joints between timber and GFRP adherends assembled with two different commercial structural epoxy adhesives. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the applicability of the bonding technique in the field of civil engineering and in the manufacture of window frames with adhesive joints (patent application No. 1020000023128, inventor Prof. Munafò). The results obtained after curing under laboratory conditions are compared with those obtained after exposure to high temperatures (40 °C) and relative humidity (100% RH). The results show that the effect of artificial ageing varies depending on the adhesive and generally leads to a reduction in the ultimate strengths and stiffness for both adhesives. The best mechanical performance in terms of ultimate load and stiffness is obtained by the epoxy adhesive EPX1 in each configuration tested, with values for ultimate load and displacements sufficient to ensure the mechanical performance in the range of applications studied. The epoxy adhesive EPX2 showed a significant decay of mechanical performance after artificial ageing and exhibited lower ultimate displacements and loads.


Multipliers have been widely used in DSP and computer vision processors. To improve the testability of this model, a DFT method, BIST, has been used this paper, which implements an improved LFSR as a test pattern generator, and an MISR as a signature analyzer to the multiplier. This BIST structure has a little influence on the inner multiplier structure and its speed. The test results show that it obtains a high fault coverage and it can be used in other similar circuits.


Abstract 1574 Follicular lymphoma (FL) is an indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), with a highly variable natural history ranging from an indolent disease to a rapidly progressive one such as its transformation to aggressive NHL. We have used the Follicular Lymphoma International Prognostic Index (FLIPI) that uses patient- or tumor-specific characteristics for the risk-stratification of patients with FL at the time of diagnosis. The tumor microenvironment, including variable monocyte-derived cell infiltration, has recently shown to play an important role in the clinical course of FL patients. Wilcox et al. showed that an elevated absolute monocyte count (AMC) is associated with inferior overall survival of FL patients receiving varying treatment strategies (Wilcox RA, et al. Leuk Lymphoma 2012). We retrospectively evaluated the prognostic changes in AMC at diagnosis in FL patients treated with rituximab plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (R-CHOP) therapy alone. This study included 157 consecutive FL patients treated with the R-CHOP therapy at 1 of the 7 participating hospitals between 2001 and 2009. Since 2001, the Yokohama City University Hematology Group in Japan uniformly and curatively treated patients with FL, except for those with stage 1 FL; the patients were treated with 6 cycles of standard R-CHOP therapy for 21 days. Patients who showed partial response (PR) after the initial 4 cycles were administered a total of 8 R-CHOP cycles, and those who did not show PR after the initial 4 cycles or patients in whom the disease progressed at any given time received salvage therapy. Patients who had bulky masses at diagnosis received involved field radiation following 6—8 cycles of R-CHOP therapy. Patients for whom the doses had to be reduced by more than 20% were excluded from the study. The study included 80 men and 77 women, with a median age of 63 years at diagnosis (range, 18—80 years). The FL of the 157 patients were classified as grade 1 (n = 65), grade 2 (n = 60), grade 3a (n = 20), and grade 3b (n = 12) according to the World Health Organization (WHO) scheme. The median AMC at diagnosis was 349 cells/μL (range, 10—1110 cells/μL). The median observation period for surviving patients was 45 months. The 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) estimated for the entire cohort was at 71.3%. The differences in the PFS when patients were stratified according to their AMCs were not significant. The effect of the following variables on PFS were assessed: (1) AMC > 390 cells/μL; (2) age > 60 years; (3) hemoglobin level 4; and (6) advancement of clinical stage. In the univariate analysis, the presence of more than 4 nodal areas (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.65, 95% CI, 1.58—4.47, P P = 0.01) were associated with inferior PFS. However, in the multivariate analysis, the association between the presence of more than 4 nodal areas and survival was found to be significant (HR = 2.33, 95% CI, 1.28—4.24, P = 0.006). Therefore, both univariate and multivariate analyses indicate that AMC was not a prognostic factor for PFS. There was no statistically significant correlation between AMC and FL patients9 clinical outcome. AMC is not a prognostic factor in FL patients treated by R-CHOP. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Ab initio method has been employed to study hydrogen bond properties of NH 3·(H 2O)complexes, the bond energy and the bond length have been calculated at the DFT theory level for different basis sets and with G3 method. The hydrogen bonds of NH 3·(H 2O) complexes have two configurations.


A simple method for the regiocontrolled synthesis of the 4,5-disubstituted N-phenylpyrazole regioisomers 2 and 3 from β-enamino diketones and phenylhydrazine is described. Pyrazole 2 was prepared regioselectively by carrying out the reaction in a protic solvent, whereas pyrazole 3 was obtained as the main product by using an aprotic solvent. Steric factors regarding the β-enamino diketones also influenced the regiochemistry of 2 and 3. The influence of solvent on the reaction outcome can be rationalized by using Fukui indices. The structures of 2 and 3 were unambiguously elucidated by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy, two-dimensional HMBC experiments, high resolution mass spectrometry, and X-ray crystallographic analysis.


and microbial number, biomass, and activity (Smeltzer et al., 1986; Dick et al., 1988; Torbet and Soil properties and forest productivity can be affected by heavy Wood, 1992). Each of these effects can potentially re- equipmentusedforharvestandsitepreparationbuttheseimpactsvary greatly with site conditions and operational practices. We assessed the duce tree growth. In contrast, soil compaction can in- effects of ground-based logging on soil physical properties and subse- crease soil water holding capacity (Gomez et al., 2002b), quent Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb) Franco) growth on unsaturated water flow (Sands et al., 1979), root contact a highly productive site receiving vegetation control in coastal Wash- with soil (Bhadoria, 1986), and N uptake (Gomez et al., ington. We also tested the effectiveness of tillage in maintaining or 2002a), and may therefore result in conditions being enhancing site productivity. On average, about half of the area of more favorable for tree growth. ground-based harvested plots was affected by vehicular traffic. Sixty- Recent studies have revealed a large degree of site- threepercentofthetreeswereplantedonmicrositeswithsomedegree specificity both in soil and tree growth responses to soil of soil disturbance. Soil bulk density at the 0- to 30-cm depth increased compaction (Brais, 2001; Gomez et al., 2002b; Smith, from0.63to0.82Mgm 3 inthemostcompactedportionsoftrafficlanes. 2003). These research results have promoted new in- The area-weighted increase in soil bulk density in the 0- to 30-cm depth was 27%. Soil strength in traffic lanes increased at all depths sights onthe effectsof soilcompaction onforest produc- 55 cm but never exceeded 1300 kPa. Tillage to the 60-cm depth re- tivity in different soil types, and demonstrated the im- turned the soil to its initial strength condition. Volumetric soil water portance of having site-specific soil-quality assessments content in compacted traffic lanes was greater than that in non- in forests. Moreover, there is still limited information on compacted soil. Total soil porosity decreased 10 to 13% with compac- the relationships between soil compaction/disturbance tion, while available water holding capacity increased. In compacted and tree responses. Also, compaction is not the only soil, macropore space was reduced 40 to 52%. The study revealed no type of soil disturbance resulting from harvesting activi- detrimental effects on tree height and diameter from soil compaction ties. Soil mixing, puddling, and rutting can cause disrup- at age 4. At stand age 3, a tree volume index was actually greater for tion of water flow and other effects. Topsoil can also trees planted on traffic lanes than for those on non-disturbed soil. be displaced if stumps are bladed to make access for skiddingorforwardingequipment.Itisthereforeimpor- tant to characterize disturbance so that compaction is


Based on the RGB color space,a novel approach to remove the impulse noises in an image is proposed.At first,in each color channel of an image,the locations of impulse noises are detected in serial mode.With the judgment threshold adjusted adaptively according to the average value of the four fields surrounding the pixel,the pixels of impulse noise are detected.Furthermore,the detected results of impulse noises of every color channel image are synthesized to the final result of the whole color image.On the basis of the results,an approach of improved median filtering is applied to selectively remove the impulse noises in a color image.Simulation experiments show that the approach,which is integrated by both modes of scalar quantity and vector,can remove the impulse noises of color image effectively and have better performances than the other existing approaches of color image filtering.


Nevertheless, zero tillage is the best choice because crop residues retained in zero tillage decreases evaporation, controls soil temperature, reduces erosion, reduces total cultivation costs, increases soil organic carbon stock, enhances water use efficiency and increases crop yield on sustainable crops. A range of resource management technologies are advocated to increase water productivity. In all agro-climatic conditions, the conservation of soil moisture is a crucial priority for improving soil and water productivity. Conserved soil moisture helps minimise water inputs without impacting grain yields, which further increases the output of water and crops. The best choice for efficient water usage and sustainable output could be zero tillage after maintaining sufficient residue load and with proper control of weeds. Keeping all of these under consideration, an attempt was made to come up with an efficient sustainable solution that could be used to implement the zero tillage successfully.


Given the explosive growth in the size and the complexity of the Data Web, there is now more than ever, an increasing need to develop methods and tools in order to facilitate the understanding and exploration of RDF/S Knowledge Bases (KBs). To this direction, using as a starting point an abridged version of the original data source, highlighting the most representative concepts and providing further exploration operators, would greatly improve the exploitation potential of the information they contain. In this paper, we present RDFDigest+, a novel tool that enables effective and efficient RDF/S KB exploration using summaries. The tool employees a diverse set of algorithms for identifying the most important nodes, offering a wide range of possibilities to capture importance. Then the selected nodes can be combined using multiple state of the art algorithms in order to generate a complete schema summary graph. In addition, we present a new approach enabling the dynamic exploration of summaries through two novel operations zoom and extend. Extend focuses on a specific subgraph of the initial summary, whereas zoom on the whole graph, both providing granular information access to the end-user. To make the system more responsive, we enable both offline and online calculations and we also provide approximations and progressive algorithms. The aim of this demonstration is to dive in the exploration of the sources using summaries and to enhance the understanding of the various algorithms used. For the demonstration, we will use five diverse RDF/S KBs, in terms of size, connectivity and complexity, to show the functionality of the system. Then, we will allow conference participants to directly interact with the system to test its capabilities. PVLDB Reference Format: Georgia Troullinou, Haridimos Kondylakis, Kostas Stefanidis, and Dimitris Plexousakis. RDFDigest+: Exploring RDF/S KBs Using Summaries. PVLDB, 11 (5): xxxx-yyyy, 2018. DOI: https://doi.org/TBD Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Articles from this volume were invited to present their results at The 44th International Conference on Very Large Data Bases, August 2018, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Proceedings of the VLDB Endowment, Vol. 11, No. 5 Copyright 2018 VLDB Endowment 2150-8097/18/1. DOI: https://doi.org/TBD


─ This letter presents a dual-mode dualband Bandpass Filter (BPF) using a single Square Patch Loaded Stepped-Impedance Square Open Loop Resonator (SPLSISOLR). The first four Transmission Poles (TPs) of SPLSISOLR can be tuned freely. A pair of high-impedance microstrip lines coupled with the resonator are employed to excite these four TPs to build up a dual-mode dual-band BPF, with two TPs in each passbands. The tapped point of the 50  feeding lines can be freely sliding on the high impedance microstrip lines, which increases the design freedom of external quality factor of two passbands. To validate the proposed method, a dual-band filter centered at 1.79/5.42 GHz with -3 dB fractional bandwidth of 4.5%/22.5% and compact size of 0.15λg × 0.14λg are designed. The fabricated filter has the merits of high band-to-band isolation, wide stopband, DC block and simple design procedure. Index Terms ─ Bandpass Filter (BPF), dual-band, dual-mode, open loop resonator, patch resonator.


In the present work, para-aramid fabrics (p-AF) were physically modified via an anchoring process of 0.05 wt% MWCNT to the aramid fiber surfaces by coating the MWCNT/phenolic/methanol mixture on p-AF, and then by thermally curing phenolic resin of 0.01 wt%. Para-aramid fabric-reinforced vinyl ester (p-AF/VE) composites were fabricated using p-AF/VE prepregs by compression molding. The effect of MWCNT anchoring on the thermo-dimensional, thermal deflection resistant, dynamic mechanical, mechanical, and impact properties and the energy absorption behavior of p-AF/VE composites was extensively investigated in terms of coefficient of linear thermal expansion, heat deflection temperature, storage modulus, tan δ, tensile, flexural, and Izod impact properties and a drop-weight impact response. The results well agreed with each other, supporting the improved properties of p-AF/VE composites, which were attributed to the effect of MWCNT anchoring performed on the aramid fiber surfaces.


The magnitude of the problem of understanding the structure/function relationships of eukaryotic chromosomes can be appreciated from the fact that the human diploid genome contains more than 2 meters of DNA packaged into 46 chromosomes, each at metaphase being several microns in length. Each chromatid of a chromosome contains a single DNA molecule several centimeters in length. In addition to the DNA, chromosomes contain an equal weight of histones and an equal weight of non-histone chromosomal proteins. These histones are the major chromosomal structural proteins. The non-histone chromosomal proteins are involved in the DNA processes of transcription and replication, in chromosome organization and in nuclear architecture. Polytene chromosomes with their bands and interbands and puffs of active genetic loci provide visual evidence for long range order as do the bands and interbands of mammalian metaphase chromosomes. The gentle removal of histones and all but the most tightly bound 2--3% of non-histone proteins from metaphase chromosomes revealed by electron microscopy a residual protein scaffold constraining a halo of DNA loops extending out from the scaffold.


Precision Electroweak Measurements at Future High Energy Colliders The prospects for precisionmeasurements of the properties of the Z,W, Higgs and top particles will be reviewed. The machines considered will be the LHC and its upgrade, the future e+ecolliders, both linear and circular, and the 100 TeV Future Hadron Collider. The importance of improvements in some other experimental inputs and in the theoretical calculations will be addressed.


The long-term orbital evolution modeling of 95P/Chiron (2060) is discussed with its implication to the physical evolution of this representative of Centaurs group. In this work we have carried out the orbital evolution modeling for 2060 Chiron (cometary designation 95P/), for 33 other objects of Centaurs population, and for 2 distant Jupiter-family comets 39P/Oterma and 29P/SchwassmannWachmann 1. The calculations were produced for 1 million years backward and forward from the present time. The Everhart implicit single sequence methods for integrating orbits were used. Due to discovered cometary activity in 2060 Chiron it is of interest to reveal Centaurs modeled orbits with small perihelion distances. Such orbits could lead to "waking up" of cometary nature in some Centaurs. The modeled orbital evolution patterns of Centaurs are analyzed and the fraction of potential candidates to comets are discussed.


For 3D printing based on Digital Light Processing (DLP) technology, the tradeoff of size and resolution remains challenging due to the limitations of the existing techniques. Therefore, we propose an approach to improve the feature resolution without sacrificing the part size. It is achieved by changing the projection distance and then adjusting the projection resolution and format, which is different from the previous printing principle of fixed resolution. To achieve this process, the tripteron 3-Degree-of-Freedom (3-DoF) parallel mechanism is innovatively applied to the DLP 3D printing structure, which simplifies the control process. Since the projection is fixed on the motion platform, the projection distance changes as the platform moves in space. Then the PLC-based program is developed according to the motion process, which successfully runs on the established prototype. Finally, the experiments are designed through the orthogonal method to optimize the molding process parameters. The effectiveness of the approach is verified by the feature forming comparison experiment. The results show that it can reduce the size of features by about 1.3 times through adjusting the projection resolution under the same size parts. Our method provides a new way for solving the contradiction, but more research needs to be done.


In order to evaluate the uncertainty in the measurement sequence for unidirectional positional deviation of numerically controlled axes,it builds a sequence measurement model and presents the itch state-combined standard uncertainty(UCI) with laser interferometer.The experiment result shows that the contribution rate generated at the uncertainty with the deviation of temperature from the standard temperature contributes to UCI is larger than 80%.Only UCI can represent the contribution rate.Therefore,it is scientific and reasonable that the measurement precision of unidirectional positional deviation of numerically controlled axes can be evaluated by UCI instead of the experiment standard deviation.


We adopt a foaming method to prepare polyvinyl formal containing different amonunts of bamboo charcoal,using polyvinyl formal foam as a base,and bamboo charcoal as the adsorption packing material.Besides have the small density and high specific strength excellent characteristics of polyvinyl formal,this composite materials also have strong adsorption property,which can be effectively used in sewage disposal system microbial carriers.In this paper we study the factors of dosage of HCl,formaldehyde,bamboo charcoal and temperature by experiment.


Under the revolutionary banner of Marxism,Lenin led Russian proletariat armed uprising and Soviet regime safeguard,during which he inherited and developed the Marxist theory of proletariat army construction,and made a series of important exposition.The main contents include:The proletariat must establish and consolidate their own armed forces;proletarian army must be composed of workers and peasants and struggle for the interests of workers;proletarian army must be led by the Communist Party;proletarian army must strengthen political work;proletarian army must strengthen education and training;and proletarian army must implement the strictest discipline.


Objective To explore feasibility of the treatment and the surgical technique of laparoscopic cholecystectomy(LC) for acute cholecystitis.Methods The clinical data of 86 cases with acute cholecystitis were reviewed retrospectively.Results It was successful in 84 cases;conversion to open surgery in 2 cases.The average time of operation was 65min(40~200min),without any operative complications such as trauma of gastrointestinal tract,biliary tract and so on.Only one case complicated wound infection in umbilicus.The average time of hospitalization after operation was 6d(3~11d).Conclusion LC is a safe and effective methods to treat patients suffered from acute cholecystitis.


We study the evolution of an adaptive network whose growth occurs simultaneously to the propagation of a disease. The dynamics of the network growth is entangled to the spread of the disease, since the probability for a node in the network to get new links depends on its healthy or infected state. We analyze the influence that such coupling mechanism has both on the diffusion of the disease and on the structure of the growing networks. Our results point out that a strong interplay between network growth and disease spreading produces networks with degree–degree correlations and nontrivial clustering patterns.


s (in conference proceedings)  B. Mohanty, S. Aamir and S. P. Pandey. Seasonality of reproduction in a tropical bird, Estrilda amandava (Red Munia): Study of pituitary-testicular axis. In: proceeding of 81 st annual session and national symposium on sustainable management of biodiversity using science and technology. November 24-26, 2011, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.  S. P. Pandey and B. Mohanty. Dietary pesticide disrupt pituitary-thyroid axis of a wild bird, Red Munia (Amandava amandava). In: proceeding of 30 th Annual Symposium of the Society for Reproductive Biology and Comparative Endocrinology (SRBCE) and national conference on Novel Aspects and Emerging trends in Reproduction and Endocrinology, January 30-February 01, 2012, Udaipur, India.  B. Mohanty, S. P. Pandey, and S. Amir. Low dose mixture of thyroid-disrupting pesticides disrupts pituitary-gonadal axis of wild bird, red Munia (Amandava amandava). In: proceeding of International Symposium on Comparative Endocrinology and Stress Physiology. February 16-18, 2012, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.  B. Mohanty, S. P. Pandey, S. Aamir and K. Tsutsui. Effects of thyroid disrupting pesticides on hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular axis of a tropical bird, Amandava amandava. In: proceeding of 10th International Symposium on Avian Endocrinology. June 5-9, 2012, Jifu, Japan.  S. P. Pandey, S. Aamir, B. Mohanty and K. Tsutsui. Dietary pesticide induced neuroendocrine disruption may lead to premature aging. In: proceeding of 16 th Biennial Conference of Association of Gerontology (India) and International Symposium on Aging (ISOA-2012). October 1-3, 2012, Shillong, Meghalaya,


Nanoimprinting lithography was initiated as an alternative way to achieve nanoscale structures with high throughput and low cost. We have developed a UV-nanoimprint process to fabricate 34(34 crossbar circuits at 50 nm half-pitch (equivalent to a bit density of 10 Gbit/cm2) with single-layer structure. We devised a technique that exploits the opposite free energies of the mold and substrate surfaces to produce a very uniform resist film without any trap air. As the pitch size decreases, lift-off process with single-layer structure was difficult to define metal wires. Sixty-six by sixty-six crossbar structures with a half-pitch of 30 nm (equivalent to a bit density of 30 Gbit/cm2) were produced with bi-layer structure.


Abstract Nystatin is an antifungal agent used for prophylaxis and treatment of candidiasis, especially oral mycosis. Efficacy of nystatin conventional dosage forms is limited by the short residence time and bitter taste of the drug. This research aims at designing an optimized formulation of oral mucoadhesive gel of nystatin-loaded alginate microparticles, which can be retained in the mouth. Sodium alginate solution containing nystatin was added to the solution of calcium chloride under stirring. Microparticles containing nystatin were incorporated into the Carbopol gel. Size, loading, and release profile and mucoadhesion were investigated. The most suitable microparticles with particle size of < 250 μm were prepared with alginate concentration of 1%(w/v), calcium chloride of 1%(w/v), drug:polymer concentration 1%, and ratio of alginate solution:calcium chloride of 1:10. This formulation showed 49.1% drug loading and 98.2% encapsulation efficiency. Carbopol 934 gel provided optimal mucoadhesive properties. Release profile proved a burst release, which can be attributed to the surface associated drug, followed by a slower sustained release phase for all microparticles. The developed system with ability to adhere to the oral mucosa has great appeal for treatment of localized infections and can mask bitter taste of the drug and be retained in the mouth for long periods.