The effects of radiation on the functional vasculature of the hamster cheek pouch has been evaluated by isotopic techniques. The86 Rb extraction system has been used to measure blood flow, while51 Cr-labeled erythrocytes have been utilized to determine changes in blood volume. Modifications in these two parameters were determined by comparisons between irradiated and control pouches in the same animal. As early as 2 wk after irradiation, the isotope techniques indicated increases in blood flow and volume for doses of 2000 and 3000 rads. At later times, modification in both flow and volume were indicated with doses of 500, 2000, and 3000 rads. No change was observed after a dose of 1000 rads.


I describe a protocol that can be used to authenticate digital time signals transmitted between time servers and client systems. This authentication is useful to protect the data from being modified en route and to guarantee that the messages really originated from a bona fide server operated by a national timing center. The protocol is based on the standard Network Time Protocol, which is widely used for synchronizing computers on the Internet. The authenticated version of the protocol can be realized using either packet-switched networks (such as the Internet) or standard dial-up telephone circuits. The implementation using dial-up telephone circuits can provide authenticated messages with an accuracy of about 1 ms, but this version requires dedicated modems and telephone lines for its implementation. The Internet version can provide equivalent accuracy in principle, but is vulnerable to a number of attacks that can degrade the accuracy and that are difficult to detect. Either method is suitable for applications that only require a timing accuracy on the order of 1 s. The protocol will be generally available, but will be most useful for systems that are involved in time-sensitive commercial or financial transactions.


Online Reinforcement Learning (RL) is a fast-growing branch of machine learning with increasingly important applications. Moreover, making RL algorithms robust against perturbations is essential to their utility in the real world. Adversarial RL, in which an attacker attempts to degrade an RL agent's performance by perturbing the environment, can be used to understand how to robustify RL systems. In this work, we connect an adversarial attack model to streaming algorithms: the victim samples paths based on its interactions with the environment, while the adversary corrupts this stream of data. We construct an attack algorithm in Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) for a random-sampling victim and prove its optimality, in addition to investigating an adversarial strategy against an epsilon-greedy victim with a warm start period. In the epsilon-greedy setting, we bound adversarial corruption and analyze how to exploit this highly adaptive model to improve upon warm start budget. Experimentally, we show that our algorithm outperforms baseline attacks, and we generate random MDPs to characterize how their general-case structure affects the adversary's ability to maintain its warm start corruption.


The paper aims at exploring the ability and performance of female doctoral candidates in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Based on relevant information at the entry and exit levels, the paper reveals that women participation is high in Science despite an earlier finding which suggests high participation in Art and Humanities. Regardless of specialization, the paper shows that females whom achieved better results in their undergraduate level are more ready and capable to undertake doctoral degree. Female doctoral candidates also performed better in their thesis examination and form substantial proportion of candidates graduated on time in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.


It is shown that almost strict positive realness (ASPR) of a linear system is equivalent to its hyper minimum phaseness. The reformulation and extension of stability conditions for some classes of direct adaptive control systems are given based on the hyper minimum phaseness of the plant. The new conditions are easy to check and helpful for establishing interrelations between implicit adaptive control and adaptive control with an implicit reference model.


This work investigates and empirically assesses the current status of quality management systems implementation in the Greek academic libraries. More specifically, the main aim of this paper is the assessment of pitfalls and benefits of ISO 9001:2000 standard development, implementation and certification in the Greek academic libraries and information services. For that purpose, a. inferences and recommendations based on a national and international literature review for ISO 9001:2000 in academic libraries is provided, and b. an empirical research in regard to the effects of quality management system implementation in the Greek academic libraries is conducted. The empirical study was based on similar attempts for the Greek service sector. A questionnaire has been developed and distributed through electronic mail to the directors of the academic libraries within the spring of 2007. The open and closed questions that are included in the questionnaire express a. the reasons that may lead to a decision for ISO 9001:2000 standard implementation and, b. the expectations of academic libraries top management in regard to the effect of ISO 9001:2000 implementation in library operations and/or information service quality.


This paper aims to describe the main outcomes of the ADMS4LV project which stands for Advanced Distribution Management System for Active Management of LV Grids. ADMS4LV targets the development and demonstration of a framework with adequate tools to optimize the management and operation of Low Voltage (LV) networks towards the effective implementation of Smart Grids. This work details the main functionalities of ADMS4LV and discusses their implementation. The validation of the functionalities is presented from demonstrations in a laboratorial setup, namely regarding the algorithms which using advanced data analytics, accomplish to operate LV networks with low observability, (i.e., with few real-time measurements) and without having full knowledge of the networks' technical characteristics, such as the consumers' phase connection to the grid. The assessment of the results shows the adequacy of the ADMS4LV solutions for deployment in distribution networks with current infrastructures, differing unnecessary investments in sensory devices.


Several new antibacterial candidates shared the stage with some promising antifungal candidate agents during the poster summary session "Early New Antimicrobial Agents" of the 2015 Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC), partnered with the International Congress of Chemotherapy, in San Diego, Calif., last September. The antibacterial agents include less-toxic versions of polymyxin, a 2-pyridone that is specific for Neisseria, and several siderophore conjugates with surprising types of antibacterial activities. The antifungal prospects include agents active against DNA but with unusual or, in another case, undisclosed mechanisms, as well as a stabilized echinocandin.


Objective:To investigate the antagonism effects of agmatine on morphine tolerance and substance dependence.Methods:The antagonism effects of agmatine on morphine tolerance and substance dependence were observed by behavioral pharmacological approches use of receptor antagonists,measurements of concentration of cAMP and NOS activity.Results:Agmatine has analgesic effects,potentiates morphine analgesia,prevents the tolerance and substance dependence induced by morphine.These effects of agmatine are antagonized by idazoxan.Agmatine prevents the up-regulation and over-shooting of cAMP after morphine withdrawal and inhibits NOS activity.Conclusion:The results suggest that agmatine may inhibit morphine abstinence syndrome,the possible mechanisms include activation of imidazoline receptors,prevention of cAMP up-regulation and over-shooting,and inhibition of NOS activity.


The silk fibroin membrane is an amphoteric ion exchange membrane composed of both weak acidic and weak basic groups. 5 Fluorouracil is an anti cancer drug. The condition of 5 fluorouracil blended into silk fibroin membrane has been investigated, then deliverance of 5 fluorouracil from blended membrane of silk fibroin and 5 fluorouracil was measured in the pH range from 3 to 9. The results of SEM, FTIR, DSC show that 5 fluorouracil could be evenly blended into silk fibroin protein. After coating with silk fibroin, the dissolve rate of 5 fluorouracil fixed on silk fibroin and 5 fluorouracil blended membrane could be descended, and the delivery time of 5 fluorouracil could be prolonged. The delivery time and dissolve rate also depends on pH values of soaking solution. It is expected that silk fibroin membrane could be used as the matrix of 5 fluorouracil delivery system.


This paper aims to optimize the quality characteristics of the drilling process in glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) composites. It focuses on optimizing the drilling parameters with drill point angles concerning delamination damage and energy consumption, simultaneously. The effects of drilling process parameters on machinability were analyzed by evaluating the machinability characteristics. The cutting power was modeled through drilling parameters (speed and feed), drill point angle, and laminate thickness. The response surface analysis and artificial neural networks enhanced by the particle swarm optimization algorithm were applied for modeling and evaluating the effect of process parameters on the machinability of the drilling process. The most influential parameters on machinability properties and delamination were determined by analysis of variance (ANOVA). A multi-response optimization was performed to optimize drilling process parameters for sustainable drilling quality characteristics. The obtained models were applied to predict drilling process characteristics, and exhibited an excellent harmony with the experiment results. The optimal drilling process factors were the highest spindle speed and the lowest feed, with a drill point angle of 118° for the laminate of 4.75 mm thickness.


Genetically inherited disorders of neuronal migration are being increasingly implicated in the etiology of common childhood neurologic problems. The diagnoses is based in genetic studies as karyotyping; FISH studies for regions 17p13.3 and 22q11.2; and specific tests for monogenic entities (for example : LIS1 , DCX , ARX ) METHODS: Description of the elements of the physical examination and neuroimaging pattern that motivated the specific molecular testing in 4 patients with cortical malformations. RESULTS: Patient 1: 3y.o. male with microcephaly, hypotonia, epileptic encephalopathy, no other dysmorphic features. Brain MRI: posterior greater than anterior lissencephaly gradient, subcortical band heterotopia. Novel LIS1 mutation c.1233A>AC (missense). Normal parental testing. Patient 2: 7y.o. male with microcephaly, spastic quadriparesis, epileptic encephalopathy, no other dysmorphic features. Brain MRI: anterior greater than posterior lissencephaly gradient. DCX mutation c.907C>T (stop codon). Normal parental testing. Patient 3: 5y.o. female with spastic quadriparesis, refractory epilepsy, dysmorphic features. Brain MRI: agyria-pachygyria complex. 22q11.2 microdeletion. Normal parental testing. Patient 4: 3y.o. male with spastic quadriparesis and neonatal epileptic encephalopathy, hypothalamic dysfunction with defective temperature regulation, chronic diarrhea and ambiguous genitalia. . Brain MRI: lissencephaly with absent corpus callosum, severe bilateral hippocampal hypoplasia. Novel ARX mutation c.1034G>C (missense). Mother: carrier of same mutation. CONCLUSION: The sensitivity of genetic studies in cortical malformations is high when requested according to the characteristics of neuroimaging and associated anomalies. Using this knowledge the clinician can provide accurate diagnosis and counselling, avoiding unnecessary testing.


The starting point for the discussion about autobiographical threads included in works of Silesian historiography in the Middle Ages was a reflection on issues connected with some medieval authors hiding their identity, as a result of their modesty, humility or conventions which excluded the possibility of signing some types of texts. The article addresses strategies of self-presentation employed by the authors of historiographic works and methods of their identification. Authors frequently tended to write in the third person singular, which was to provide objectivity and excluded emotional involvement in described events. However, in the narrative heat of the moment, the author sometimes adopted the first person singular whereby disclosing his identity. Another method by which the author could reveal his identity was his conscious involvement in the narration of single autobiographic accounts (i.e. annals), which were not connected with the main body of the work. It sometimes happened that the author disclosed only part of his biography describing his official participation in various events and omitting to refer to his private involvement. Sporadically, the authors of Silesian origin provided autobiographic information outside their works. Such records took the form of scattered annalistic notes in codices which belonged to the authors or were used by them. The last way of identifying the author is the analysis of information characterizing the author's background such as the community of a monastery or collegiate church. Conclusions made on this basis are oft en hypothetical and controversial.


This, on the base of the obtained data it is seen that the main load on the environment deals with the dust evaporation at welding. In the region of the investigation there are areas consisting hard elements in the plants higher than normal readings.


and Antigone. People would want tragic representations to go on, and there was not a y6vtfio<; 7TOM?T»7? left; it does not appear impossible then that something of this kind may have happened. Only why did not the poet make Creon the forbidder if so ? I can only answer that his political tendency outran his artistic discretion, just as Dryden's did when he modernised a passage of Chaucer's Prologue and turned the ' pore Persone of a toun' into a non-juror. At the same time one is forced to allow that the author must have been soaked in Aeschylus. The number of parallels to be found in phraseology even among the extant plays is very great, but are they designed or undesigned coincidences ? My own opinion is that they do indeed offer a certain difficulty, but not one that is insurmountable. Many imitators can do as much in that way; look, for instance, at the Culex.


This paper is concerned with minimal-length representatives of equivalence classes of words in F2 under AutF2. We give a simple inequality characterizing words of minimal length in their equivalence class. We consider an operation that "grows" words from other words, increasing the length, and we study root words — minimal words that cannot be grown from other minimal words. Root words are "as minimal as possible" in the sense that their characterization is the boundary case of the minimality inequality. The property of being a root word is respected by equivalence classes, and the length of each root word is divisible by 4.


A radionuclide such as technetium 99m and molybdenum 99, which has been strongly demanded as a radioactive substance, can be produced remotely and repeatedly in a single target vessel by introducing a target substance that has been dissolved in a liquid or mixed with a liquid into the target vessel, drying the target substance in the target vessel to reduce the volume of a liquid component, and then irradiating the target substance with a beam emitted from an accelerator.


IT is now generally appreciated that prolonged treat, ment with the phenothiazine group of drugs is frequently accompanied by the development of a variety of extrapyramidal syndromes (Ayd, 1961; Skottow, 1964). An acute, dystonic reaction appearing within hours or days after commencing treatment with the perazine series of phenothazines is seen less commonly, and is frequently confused with tetanus (Melvin, 1962; Donovan, 1963). The reaction may be mild and limited, and may show little more than a variety of grimaces, trismus and oculogyric crises recurring at intervals of several minutes, or it may be severe and alarming, with violent muscular spasms that give rise to opisthotonus in combination with a wide variety of dystonic limb postures lasting for longer than 24 hours after the withdrawal of medication. The patient to be described developed symptoms under circumstances which led a number of observers to consider the diagnosis of hysteria. Thus, the reaction was left untreated for several hours and allowed a characteristic pictorial account to be recorded.


This thesis sets out to investigate the understanding of the relationship between key-frame movement performances and procedural animation. It is geared towards building a theory of practice that would help develop a succinct method for generating believable character animation using procedural animation. This research places an emphasis on a practical aproach to the theory of animation and movement, and investigates the historical development of character animation and the notion of believability. It uses Laban Movement Analysis as a method in the application of procedural animation. The study seeks to address the following objectives: (1) To examine what areas of procedural animation may enhance the believability of a key-framed movement performance; (2) To identify the areas of procedural animation that are or could be used within professional studio practice; (3) To examine the potential of procedural animation to help develop convincing and life-like character movements; (4) To identify where and how a keyframed character movement can be enhanced procedurally; (5) To carry out empirical studies in order to analyse the effects and possible benefits of procedural enhancements on a key-framed movement.


Previous studies have discovered intergenerational linkage between maternal nutritional status and the subsequent health of their offspring. This literature review aimed to explore the connection between the nutritional status of mothers during pregnancy and the occurrence of dental caries in their children. PubMed and Scopus were used for searching articles, adhering to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) protocol. The process involved eliminating duplicate articles, and further refinement included articles published within the timeframe of 2013-2023 and those published in the English language. Review articles, studies involving animals, letters to the editor, book sections, and conference proceedings were excluded. Articles that did not provide information on the variables of interest and sample details were also excluded. Data extraction included author names, article titles, publication years, study designs, indicators of maternal nutritional status, type of dentition under consideration, and the reported outcomes. After meticulous removal of duplicate articles and careful application of the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 7 articles met the study's eligibility criteria. The study results collectively indicated that lower levels and intake of maternal plasma vitamin D, reduced maternal plasma folate levels, inadequate gestational weight gain, and overall poor maternal nutritional status were associated with an increased risk of dental caries in their children. It is crucial for mothers to maintain a diet that guarantees the adequate nutrition of the developing fetus.


The Stewart theorem is reseached and two promotion theorems were given and used to solve competition questions.The promotion theorem 2 was transplanted to three-dimentionl space.


In this study, the concrete in which the hybrid fiber with different volume and rate was intermixed in high fluidity concrete. However, Fiber Ball is frequently caused by the decrease in the dispersion of the fiber. The research has been conducted primarily study of single fiber or hybrid fiber, such as different length of single fiber. Therefore, we investigate the mechanical properties of concrete was mixed with a combination of various fibers been produced domestically. Its purpose being to provide basic data for evaluating the impact hybrid fibers on the fluidity of concrete.


This guide contains links to websites and databases that may be used for your project. It also contains links to graphic organizers and instructions on MLA 8 citations.


As urban green areas are centers of public recreation and rendezvous, they should be incorporated in the city master plan in order to get proper management and development. However, these urban areas, especially cooperative housing green areas and street trees in Addis Ababa are facing problems related to their development and management. The prime objectives of this study are therefore to find out challenges and opportunities for the development and management of cooperative housing green areas and street trees. To deal the issue under study effectively, the study employed mixed research methods and used questionnaire, in-depth interview, focus group discussion, observation, and desk review for data collection. Therefore,the study is significant in terms of identifying the challenges and opportunities for the development and management of cooperative housing green areas and street trees in Nifas silk Lafto Sub-city within Addis Ababa


This is the editorial of the "Privacy, Security, and Trust in Computational Intelligence (PSTCI)" special issue of the journal Computational Intelligence , Wiley publications. The enormous computation, communication, and storage capabilities of the state-of-the-art computing paradigms such as cloud computing, Internet of Things, and edge computing have enabled a variety of large-scale applications and services that generate big data. The main goal of the collection and storage of big data is to extract knowledge, intelligence, and insights for decision-making in real applications. Recent advances in computational intelligence have brought a great number of opportunities for computational intelligence to have novel models, algorithms, and methods with the use of the scalable and distributed computing infrastruc-ture mentioned above for big data analytics. However, the scalable computational paradigms and infrastructural platforms have posed unprecedented security threats to the computational intelligence models, algorithms, and frameworks, rendering users severely vulnerable to privacy leakage and misuse when attempting to extract rich information from big data and challenging the trust management of the numerous computing services and diverse data sources for computational intelligence. Hence, it is high time to investigate the privacy, security, and trust issues that occur in computation intelligence to cater to the era of big data and deep learning with cloud/edge computing. The


I t was an unprecedented and symbolic moment: Last Octo-ber, the U.S. government quietly invited 12 industry lobbyists to join the nation's negotiating team for the pan-American free trade agreement. These lobbyists, representing the Motion Picture Association of America, America Online, the Software Publishers Association, among others, joined the citizenry's diplomats largely because government officials wanted their expertise as the administration tried to rewrite trade agreements for the nation's benefit. This development illustrates industry's growing power to influence the development of worldwide Internet-related laws. This power is giving industry a major opportunity to build the legal foundations for the information age—before any political opposition can organize itself. The actors in this struggle are competing governments, companies, and advocacy groups. Industry's main advantage includes its ability to hire lobbyists, the prestige it has won from high returns on Wall Street, and its simple strategy—get governments out of the way. The picture is different among the argumentative and cash-strapped advocacy groups, including consumer groups, privacy supporters, unions, free-speech proponents, nationalists, and social conservatives who generally oppose industry's agenda without having a common strategy to unite them. Between these two camps are government officials. They want what industry offers—plenty of good jobs and technical marvels for their voters. They also want what the advocacy groups claim to offer—some kind of solution to the many problems created by the international free-market. But governments themselves are racing against each other, sharply hindering their ability to work out widely accepted compromises that combine the best choices offered by industry and the advocates. The offer made by executives such as John Chambers, chief of Cisco Systems, to government leaders around the world is amazing and simple: accept my terms, and the resulting economic gains will lead to reelection. These gains, says Chambers, will come from e-commerce, expected to top $1 trillion in the next few years. Chambers' offer is backed by vast fortunes created on Wall Street, and the substantial economic gains now enjoyed by a broad segment of U.S. citizenry employed in the high-tech industry and its nontechnical support staff—the hot-dog vendors on the


We have extended a form of double perturbation theory for molecules by including a screening constant in the calculation. We have computed the ground state energies for the diatomic systems H2+ , HHe2+, H2 and HHe+ with inclusion of screening. A comparison of the results with those in the unscreened approximation is interesting. Thus for the one-electron systems the energies up to second order are better if we do not include screening. However, for the two-electron systems the energies up to second order are improved by screening except at small internuclear separation.


Teaching and practicing correct pronunciation is often neglected in English language lessons. The importance of correct pronunciation is unquestionable as it is a fundamental feature of successful communication. For this reason, it needs to be taught and practiced right from the beginning of English language teaching, because young learners are the best recipients and often can achieve flawless-like pronunciation. This qualitative study investigates how teachers perceive teaching pronunciation at several primary schools in Slovakia, focusing on teaching techniques and materials used for teaching pronunciation, and aspects of pronunciation. Methods for collecting research data were observation and interview. Findings show that the most used teaching techniques are corrections, drills and songs, and that the most used materials are pictures and textbook CDs. Segmental aspects were practiced when learning new words, but without any particular attention to segmenatal features and suprasegmental aspects of rhythm were practiced by rhymes, chants and songs and no attention was paid to word stress. The study indicates that teachers pay attention to teaching pronunciation, but without particular focus on different features of pronunciaton and using limited teaching techniques and materials.


Mediastinal involvement (MI) in Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) has been rarely reported. Here, we describe the clinical, radiological, and biological presentation, and the outcome of childhood LCH with MI.


We provide an economic analysis of forum selection in international business contracts. International business contracts or multi-state transactions within federally structured countries might be subject to more than one sovereign adjudication system. In case of conflict between the transacting parties, the appropriate tribunal must be identified. We examine the question of business firms' optimal choice of the forums to adjudicate future business disputes. We extend the investment model approach to litigation by applying a "portfolio theory" type analysis. We show that firms that prefer higher expected income and lower income volatility are better off diversifying the forums under which they litigate business disputes. This stands in contrast to real-world business practice that consistently shows a clear preference to selecting the "home" court and legal system to settle international business disputes. In a fraction of the cases, both parties gain by selecting a certain forum, because of specialization for example, and it becomes optimal to ignore diversification. In most cases, however, the relevant factors that affect forum selection are zero sum and priced ex ante, court bias, for example. Once priced, there is no incentive to disregard diversification. We hypothesize that, in addition to specialization, factors such as managerial moral hazard explain the real-world behavior of firms: managers are less likely to be blamed, ex post, for choosing the "home court." We suggest that, as international barriers decline and international trade grows, firms will diversify the forums in which they adjudicate international business disputes.


We propose a family of reliable symplectic integrators adapted to the Discrete Non-Linear Schr\"odinger equation; based on an idea of Yoshida (H. Yoshida, Construction of higher order symplectic integrators, Physics Letters A, 150, 5,6,7, (1990), pp. 262.) we can construct high order numerical schemes, that result to be explicit methods and thus very fast. The performances of the integrators are discussed, studied as functions of the integration time step and compared with some non symplectic methods.


Mineralogical study of samples from depression fills on an isolated basalt plateau in Central Sardinia showed that, although the basalt is free of quartz and mica, fair amounts of these minerals occur in the finer fractions. Results from X-ray analyses of silt fractions and morphoscopical analyses of sand fractions indicate that the bulk of the quartz and mica is of eolian origin.

The eolian quartz is predominantly of medium and coarse silt size and, in the upper 10 cm of the depression fills, constitutes about 20 per cent of the soil mass (approx. 20 kg/m2). Eolian mica is present in smaller amounts and is of medium silt or smaller size.

The provenance of the eolian material could not be established with certainty, although a local origin can be excluded.


Aiming at lack of fault samples and diagnosis knowledge in nautical steer,introduce a method based on support vector machine(SVM).According to nautical steer nonlinear input-output mapping feature,analyze SVM classification mechanism,introduce the fault diagnosis steps based on SVM,and solve the classification problems of small sample mode.Then,use simulation to verify the validity.The simulation result shows that the method fault classification correctness can reach 92%.


A new thin-layer model for crop drying has been developed with the object of reducing or eliminating
empirically determined factors. The representation of heat and mass transfer processes is based on fundamental
principles and considerations.
The model has been validated for the falling rate period of drying using Soya beans, and the agreement between
prediction and experiment is good. It is shown that for a given grain type the heat and mass transfer properties required
for the model can be obtained from straightforward measurements using parameter identification.


This study discusses the development of online mechanics concept inventory (OMCI) instrument based on local wisdom. The purpose of this study to determine the quality of the online mechanics concept inventory instrument based on local wisdom. The type of this research is Research and Development (RD). The developed instrument is integrated with local wisdom, so that every item has literacy as a stimulus for the question. The concept inventory instrument is one of the test tools presented online which is used to measure students' conceptual understanding. The research model used is Borg and Gall. The instrument developed were validated by expert judgment. The results of the validation assessment are in the form of qualitative and quantitative content validity. The results of qualitative validity can be seen in terms of materials obtained on an average of 99.2%, construction is averaged 93.3%, and language is averaged 97.4%. While the quantitative analysis of validity is done using Aiken's v equations obtained an average of 0.841 of valored 0.841 is so high, it is worth being used to measure understanding the conception of learners.


This paper proposes a novel particle swarm optimization algorithm based on sexual reproduction for speech enhancement. In the proposed algorithm, the population is divided in two equal subgroups: male and female. The male subgroup pays more attention to the global search, but the female subgroup focuses on the local search. Therefore, females utilize local search capability in prosperous regions, while males search the problem space globally to avoid entrapment in a local minimum. The crossover operation between two groups adds new solutions to the population. Experimental results indicate that the sexual reproduction-based particle swarm optimization (SRPSO) outperforms the standard particle swarm optimization (SPSO), and gradient-based NLMS algorithm in speech enhancement application.


The advent of efficient recoil separator devices coupled to large arrays of germanium detectors and versatile focal plane detection systems has in recent years allowed a wealth of spectroscopic information to be obtained for transfermium nuclei. At the Department of Physics at the University of Jyvaskyla, the RITU gas‐filled separator is employed in conjunction with the GREAT focal plane spectrometer and the JUROGAM array of germanium detectors. Whilst initial studies using these devices concentrated on even‐even nuclei, more recent experiments have attempted to study single‐particle properties by examining the structure of odd‐mass nuclei and multi‐quasiparticle states. An overview of the instrumentation used and highlights from the recent experimental campaigns is presented.


The ability to locate objects and people indoors remains a substantial challenge and effective centimeter-level smartphone-based indoor positioning, is still an open problem. Conventional smartphones have recently been used for centimeter-level indoor positioning by performing acoustic Time-of-Flight (ToF) ranging. Due to limitations in the smartphone hardware, i.e. available bandwidth typically below 24 kHz, these systems use signals with both audio and ultrasonic spectral content in the ranging process. By using signals with lower frequencies (in the audio band) it is possible to measure longer distances, thus circumventing the high attenuation that ultrasounds suffer. But a system using audible signals would be quite annoying for humans. In this paper we propose a methodology to design non-invasive audio pulses, i.e. pulses with reduced perceptual impact on humans. Additionally, we have evaluated the proposed non-invasive pulses with naïve subjects in a soundproof room for different sound pressure levels.


A continuous zone-drawing/zone-annealing method was applied to poly(ethylene terephthalate) fibers in order to improve their mechanical properties. Apparatus used for this treatment was assembled in our laboratory. The continuous zone-drawing treatment was carried out at a drawing temperature of 103°C under an applied tension of 6.6 MPa to fully orient amorphous chains in the drawing direction without inducing thermal crystallization. The continuous zone-annealing treatment was carried out twice at an annealing temperature of 160°C under 102.2 MPa and at 183°C under 161.1 MPa to crystallize the highly oriented amorphous chains. The fiber was continuously drawn and annealed at a rate of 420 mm/min. The fiber obtained had a birefringence of 0.260, a degree of crystallinity of 55%, a tensile modulus of 18 GPa, and a storage modulus of 21 GPa at 25°C. Despite the large difference in the treating speed between the continuous zone-annealing and zone-annealing, their values are approximately equal to those of the zone-annealed PET fiber that was reported previously.


A spiral rotor 1 is provided with a formed and the outer end 43 of the fitting hole of the rotor 5 or the central axis of the helical teeth of the small-diameter shaft is provided, the central shaft 3 projecting to the outer end of the rotor 2 on the axis of the outer insert or embedded in the shaft 5 or the small-diameter insertion hole, the insertion hole 7 provided with the small-diameter shaft or rotor axis 6 of the other system. Further, formed in the circumferential surface of the metallic shaft covered with a synthetic resin with a spiral groove, the spiral groove of the rotational direction of the screw rotor rotational direction opposite to the helical grooves formed by the contour, the contour with a smooth peak curve connecting, the step is provided with said shaft, the shaft surface covered with a synthetic resin.


After a brief review of Benard convection experiments at low temperatures, experiments with dilute solutions of 3He in superfluid 4He in small‐aspect‐ratio cells are described. In both rectangular and cylindrical geometries, two states with distinctively different thermal conductances are observed. The square of the frequency of the oscillation found in the state with higher conductance is observed to vary linearly with e=(ΔT/ΔTc)−1. The transition to chaos has been studied using a solution of 1.6 mole % 3He in a rectangular cell with an aspect ratio Γ=1.00 at 0.7 K. Techniques used to characterize the transition include the time series, power spectral density, phase space reconstruction of the trajectory, and Poincare sections. The analyses reveal clearly that the chaotic state is described by a strange attractor.


Root growth of seedlings of old and new winter wheat cultivars and a spelt wheat at varying levels of nitrogen

Root growth of five old (time period 1882–1920) and five new (time period 1975–1982) winter wheal cultivars and a spelt winter wheat cultivar was investigated in two greenhouse trials. Nitrogen (NH4NO3) was supplied at six (Exp. I) and two (Exp. II) levels (sub- to supraoptimal for shoot growth). The seedlings were grown in sand-filled polyethylene tubes of 4.5 cm diameter and 50 cm length at 20 oC. The plants were harvested 11 (Exp. I) and 12 (Exp. II) days after emergence. At this early stage of development root growth o: old and new cultivars differed only slightly. The old T. aestivum cultivars had more seminal roots. The longest roots of the modern cultivars penetrated into deeper layers of the substrate. For some traits, cultivar: seemed to respond specifically to the varying N-supply. However, there were no significant difference: between old and new cultivars. Neither were old cultivars better adapted to low N-fertilization nor were modern cultivars superior in tolerating toxic concentrations of NH4NO3. Increasing N supply changes root growth as follows: decline in root dry matter, increase in shoot/root ratio of dry weight, decrease in number of seminal roots, shortening of axes and more laterals, increase in diameter of the laterals and less significantly of the main roots, increase in density of laterals, decline in root surface area. The number of apices was affected only to a very small degree.


By the structure analysis of capacitive bushings and the theoretical calculation of capacitance and dielectric loss measurements,it is pointed out that,the measurement of widely used Xilin Bridge positive connection mode(mode 1),which installs the bushing flange vertically on the grounding metal stand,is not correct,and the measurement must be corrected by the given formulas for capacitance and dielectric loss tangent value;when test the transformer bushing not installed,the bushing flange should be insulated to ground(mode 2);only mode 1 can be used to test the transformer bushing installed,meanwhile the flange panel insulation resistance and capacitance should be measured respectively and the measurements corrected;the measurements without correction may result in the misjudge of fault.


Development of multi-photon phosphor materials for discharge lamps represents a goal that would achieve up to a doubling of discharge (fluorescent) lamp efficacy. This report reviews the existing literature on multi-photon phosphors, identifies obstacles in developing such phosphors, and recommends directions for future research to address these obstacles. To critically examine issues involved in developing a multi-photon phosphor, the project brought together a team of experts from universities, national laboratories, and an industrial lamp manufacturer. Results and findings are organized into three categories: (1) Multi-Photon Systems and Processes, (2) Chemistry and Materials Issues, and (3) Concepts and Models. Multi-Photon Systems and Processes: This category focuses on how to use our current understanding of multi-photon phosphor systems to design new phosphor systems for application in fluorescent lamps. The quickest way to develop multi-photon lamp phosphors lies in finding sensitizer ions for Gd{sup 3+} and identifying activator ions to red shift the blue emission from Pr{sup 3+} due to the {sup 1}S{sub 0} {yields} {sup 1}I{sub 6} transition associated with the first cascading step. Success in either of these developments would lead to more efficient fluorescent lamps. Chemistry and Materials Issues: The most promising multi-photon phosphors are found in fluoride hosts. However,more » stability of fluorides in environments typically found in fluorescent lamps needs to be greatly improved. Experimental investigation of fluorides in actual lamp environments needs to be undertaken while working on oxide and oxyfluoride alternative systems for backup. Concepts and Models: Successful design of a multi-photon phosphor system based on cascading transitions of Gd{sup 3+} and Pr{sup 3+} depends critically on how the former can be sensitized and the latter can sensitize an activator ion. Methods to predict energy level diagrams and Judd-Ofelt parameters of multi-photon transitions are needed to help guide the experimental material selection. This report provides the theoretical basis for leading knowledgeable researchers along the path to develop multi-photon phosphor systems. The ultimate goal, a doubling of fluorescent lamp efficacy, is not going to be easily obtained. This report begins the process and should be followed with detailed experimental and theoretical research to continue the development process.« less


Maleic anhydride was reacted with p-aminophenol and p-toluidine in the presence of di-phosphorus pentoxide (P2O5) as a catalyst to produce two compounds: N-(4-hydroxy-phenyl)maleimide (I) and N-(4-methylphenyl)maleimide (II). The new azo compounds I(a-c) and II(a-c) were prepared by the reaction of I and II with three different aromatic amines, namely aniline, p-aminophenol and p-toluidine. The structures of these compounds were confirmed by CHN, FT-IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, mass spectrum and UV/Vis spectroscopy.


We present a lattice method for determining scattering phase shifts and mixing angles for the case of an arbitrary number of coupled channels. Previous nuclear lattice effective field theory simulations were restricted to mixing of up to two partial waves for scattering of two spin-$1/2$ particles, which is insufficient for analyzing nucleon-nucleus or nucleus-nucleus scattering processes. In the proposed method, the phase shifts and mixing angles are extracted from the radial wave functions obtained by projecting the three-dimensional lattice Hamiltonian onto the partial wave basis. We use a spherical wall potential as a boundary condition along with a channel-mixing auxiliary potential to construct the full-rank $S$ matrix. Our method can be applied to particles with any spin, but we focus here on scattering of two spin-$1$ bosons involving up to four coupled channels. For a considered test potential, the phase shifts and mixing angles extracted on the lattice are shown to agree with the ones calculated by solving the Schrodinger equation in the continuum.


A dominating set in a graph $G$ is a set $S$ of vertices such that every vertex of $G$ is either in $S$ or is adjacent to a vertex in $S$. Nordhaus-Gaddum inequailties relate a graph $G$ to its complement $\bar{G}$. In this spirit Wagner proved that any graph $G$ on $n$ vertices satisfies $\partial(G)+\partial(\bar{G})\geq 2^n$ where $\partial(G)$ is the number of dominating sets in a graph $G$. In the same paper he comments that an upper bound for $\partial(G)+\partial(\bar{G})$ among all graphs on $n$ vertices seems to be much more difficult. Here we prove an upper bound on $\partial(G)+\partial(\bar{G})$ and prove that any graph maximizing this sum has minimum degree at least $\lfloor n/2\rfloor-2$ and maximum degree at most $\lfloor n/2\rfloor+1$. We conjecture that the complete balanced bipartite graph maximizes $\partial(G)+\partial(\bar{G})$ and have verified this computationally for all graphs on at most $10$ vertices.


AbstractAccurate prediction of instantaneous and time-dependent deformation of superstructure in-span hinges is important for preventing a mismatch of bridge decks. Time-dependent deflection of in-span hinges hinge curl in posttensioned bridges depends on the construction sequence and the material time-dependent properties. Structural analysis software is an important tool for estimating time-dependent deformations. Computational modeling was conducted to calculate the hinge curl in posttensioned bridges considering two approaches, the spine model and the three-dimensional finite-element model. Both modeling approaches estimated well the actual deformation behavior of the bridges. Based on the measured and computational data, a new simple method is proposed in this study for estimating the hinge curl during and after construction. The computational results were in good agreement with those estimated using the proposed simple method. Parametric studies on the effect of geometrical changes revealed that hor...


Canuto, ladron astuto, first Murcian amateur film, was shot in 1952. ln 1953, it was Una aventura vulgar, the success of which at the National Contest of Barcelona encouraged the constitution of the association Amigos de la Fotografia y del Cine Amateur [Friends of Photography and Amateur Filming]. From horh films, two different ways of making films were derived: a more practical and crafier option, coming from Canuto ..., and a more artistic and intellectual one, in the line of Una aventura vulgar. Yet a third tendency arose as a heiress of the family filnling of the twenties. This stage, the significant names of which nlere Julian Onate, Antonio Crespo, Pedro Sanz, Antonio Medina and Antonio Aguirre, came to its end about 1962. Features of this period were the theorizing liveliness and the important interriational presence of its productions.


Steve Yao and Lute Malcki Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, CA 91109 Tel: 818-393-9031 Fax: 818-393-6773 Email: firstname.lastname@example.com. nasa.gov ABSTRACI' Brillouin amplification in digital photonic systems has been extensively studied by many authors. Unfortunately, it has been proved to be impractical due to its narrow bandwidth and high spontaneous emission noise. Perhaps because of such unsuccessful attempts in the digital domain, the application of Brillouin amplification in analog photonic systems was seldom investigated. In fact, the related Brillouin scattering is generally considered to bc harmful and extensive efforts have been devoted to minimize its effect.


The purpose of selecting optimal launch point is to optimize the attack effect, which is of great significance to airborne multi target attacking system. It is put forward that the optimal launch point should be selected in the common segment of attacking path and attacking area according to the rule of maximizing the overall kill probability. After setting forth the research methodology,the algorithm of selecting optimal launch point is designed, and the simulations and results are presented.


One of the most famous algorithmic meta-theorems states that every graph property that can be defined by a sentence in counting monadic second order logic (CMSOL) can be checked in linear time for graphs of bounded treewidth, which is known as Courcelle's Theorem. These algorithms are constructed as finite state tree automata, and hence every CMSOL-definable graph property is recognizable. Courcelle also conjectured that the converse holds, i.e., every recognizable graph property is definable in CMSOL for graphs of bounded treewidth. We prove this conjecture for k-outerplanar graphs, which are known to have treewidth at most 3k-1.


Hemorrhagic cystitis (HC) is a life threatening complication after haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (SCT). The aim of this study was to value clinical benefit of FXIII in severaly affected patients remaining symptomatic after conventional conservative treatments. Patients and methods Data from patients treated with factor XIII for severe HC after allogeneic SCT were reviewed. Severity of hematuria was evaluated according to National Cancer Institute common toxicity criteria. Clinical improvement was defined as complete or partial resolution of macroscopic hematuria, changes in the irritative urinary symptoms, and decrease of platelet transfusions. Results Nine patients (4 women, 5 men) were treated with one or two infusions of 50 UI/kg body weight of factor XIII between 1998 to 2007. Patients characteristics are summarized in the table. FXIII concentrate were administred between 8 and 15 days after the beginning of urinary symptoms except for two patients [Day 30 ; Day 46]. Only one patient showed a low FXIII level before injection. In four cases, several infusions were necessary. All patients were in thombocytopenia (platelets


A semiconductor ceramic composition and a manufacturing method having a positive temperature coefficient of resistance. The semiconducting ceramic composition comprises a barium titanate semiconducting ceramic composition containing silicon oxide and manganese, the semiconducting ceramic composition further comprises an amount of the barium titanate semiconducting ceramic composition as a reference amount of sodium 0.0005-0.02wt% .


Fast acquisition is the major challenge for DS (direct sequence)/FH (frequency hopping) spread spectrum system. A DS/FH acquisition circuit which implements a digital noncoherent correlation scheme is studied extensively. The closed-form expressions of the mean acquisition time by single dwell decision and two-dwell decision are obtained with the state diagram respectively. The results show that, in the circumstance of low signal noise ratio (SNR), the approach of two-dwell decision performs better than the approach of single dwell decision. Keywordsdetection probability; false alarm probability; mean acquisition time; spread spectrum


Foreword by Edward R. Canda Introduction : The Coming of Integrative Body-Mind-Spirit Social Work Part I: A Theoretical and Practice Framework of Integrative Body-Mind-Spirit Social Work 1. The Philosophical Underpinnings of Integrative Body-Mind-Spirit Social Work: Holistic Wellness and the Beauty of Harmony 2. Assumptions of Integrative Body-Mind-Spirit Social Work Regarding Change Part II: Elements of Integrative Body-Mind-Spirit Social Work 3. Systemic Assessment: Everything is Connected 4. Formulating a Treatment Plan: A Multidimensional Approach 5. The Power of the Mind: Moving Beyond Cognition and Problem Resolution 6. Nurturing the Body for Balance and Tranquility 7. From the Body to the Mind and Spirit (by Rainbow T. H. Ho) 8. Spiritual Growth and Transformation: Expanding Life's Horizons 9. Centering the self: Personal Growth and Transformation Part III: Applications and Treatment Effectiveness 10. The Efficacy of the Integrative Body-Mind-Spirit Group and Social Support Group on Female Breast Cancer Patients (by Rainbow T. H. Ho, Cecilia L. W. Chan) 11. Improving the Quality of Life and Psychological Well-Being of Patients with Colorectal Cancer (by Antoinette M. Lee, Cecilia L.W. Chan, Andy H.Y. Ho, Clarissa N. Wang, Venus Y.H. Tang, Stephanie S.M. Lau, Pamela P.Y. Leung, Y. T. Fu, T. K. Yau, and Judy W.C. Ho) 12. Instilling Hope: The Efficacy of Integrative Body-Mind-Spirit Group Treatment for Taiwanese Female Patients with Depressive Disorders (by Fei-Hsiu Hsiao) 13. Integrative Body-Mind-Spirit Approach to Enhance Women's Well-Being (by Siu-Man Ng and Elaine Y. L. Tsui) 14. Meditation and Treatment of Trauma Survivors (by Mo Yee Lee, Amy Zaharlick, Deborah Akers) Part IV:Learning and Using Integrative Body-Mind-Spirit Social Work in Practice 15. Ethics and Integrative Body-Mind-Spirit Social Work 16. Learning Integrative Body-Mind-Spirit Social Work Appendix I: Additional Information on Yin-Yang Perspective, Buddhism, and Daoism Appendix II: Internet resources References Index


With the improvement of living standard, people are becoming more and more interested in traveling, especially to visit wild animals. How to analyze the tourism experience of tourists visiting wild animals has become a research hot spot. The text comments left by tourists on the Internet can provide relevant information, so it is essential to carry out the research on the tourism experience of wild animals based on the text analysis on the Internet. The purpose of this paper is to solve the problem on how to understand the tourism wild animals after the visit of the tourism experience problems, by studying the current common network text analysis method, the tourists leave comments on the Internet information extraction, using relevant software comprehensive analysis of relevant information, using content analysis and qualitative analysis of a combination of both sexual themes, on how to analyze tourism personnel to visit wildlife tourism experience has carried on the detailed analysis and research. The tourism experience of wildlife tourists is analyzed in detail and accurately. The results show that the core themes of wildlife tourism experience are tourists, destinations and wildlife. When tourists visit wild animals, they are more likely to take photos and get close contact with them. They are closer to wild animals and interact with them more, which means that tourists are more satisfied with their tourism experience. This web-based text analysis method is 20% more efficient than traditional methods such as questionnaires.


The present invention discloses a method for suppressing a nonlinear spacecraft in orbit slight vibration absorber apparatus, including a cavity, a spring, an annular permanent magnet, and the permanent magnet damping; and said annular permanent magnet fixedly connected to the inner wall of the cavity in the together, a top end of said spring is connected to the cavity, the other end of the permanent magnet through the inner circle of the annular permanent magnet; said damping cavity and a top end connected to the other end through the inner annular permanent magnet and permanent connection. Unique design of the present invention, installed inside the spacecraft require high vibration damping portion, it is suitable for the work to suppress vibration of the structure microgravity environment, and therefore work for vibration suppression in the spacecraft in the space environment with good results. This simple structure, easy manufacturing, and low cost.


Abstract Accelerated cortisol production is observed in patients with severe infections, trauma, burns, illness, and surgery. The cortisol levels observed in relative adrenal insufficiency are insufficient for controlling the inflammatory response. Sudden discontinuation of glucocorticoid therapy is one of the causes of relative adrenal insufficiency. A 63-year-old-man who had undergone cord blood transplantation for T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) and had shown complete remission for 2 years was admitted to our hospital because of high fever, general fatigue, lowering blood pressure, and tachycardia. Physical, laboratory, and imaging examinations revealed T-ALL relapse and pneumonia. Although administration of antibacterial drugs and vasopressors relieved his symptoms and temporarily resolved his fever, he showed prolonged fatigue and mild fever; thus, we could not stop administering vasopressors. He had been using the following three types of topical steroids for chronic eczema for several years: betamethasone butyrate propionate, prednisolone valerate acetate, and hydrocortisone acetate. Thereafter, he had himself discontinued topical steroids because of general fatigue. We suspected his symptoms were caused by relative adrenal insufficiency due to sudden discontinuation of topical steroids; thus, we administered 100 mg of hydrocortisone intravenously. His fever resolved remarkably, and he resumed application of topical steroids and started oral steroid supplementation. His temperature was maintained in the normal range. He successfully achieved complete remission with salvage chemotherapy followed by a second transplantation; with the use of low-dose oral steroids, he did not develop relative adrenal insufficiency. Adrenal insufficiency is known to be caused by sudden discontinuation of oral steroids. Furthermore, we should pay attention to sudden discontinuation of topical steroids, which could cause relative adrenal insufficiency.


This essay rewrites the history of Irish poetic experiment away from modernism, or at least from contemporary industry-driven senses of the term which have multiplied to the point of overuse as a catch-all category. It is divided into two parts. The first part of the essay focuses on questions of literary history, defining some of the key trends of literary production and reception in Ireland during the 1920s and 30s. By surveying the negative impact of religion and censorship on literary development within the Irish Free State (1922–1937), the essay challenges the concept of Ireland as a place of widespread modernist assertion. The second part of the essay steers the discussion towards an 'avant-garde' trio of Irish writers, offering an extended and detailed characterisation of their poetry. It traces the emergence of an experimental Irish poetry with a selection of examples taken from Denis Devlin's Intercessions (1937), Thomas McGreevy's Poems (1934) and Samuel Beckett's Echo's Bones and Other Precipit...


Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) is the most commonly used method for sulfonamide determination. Its accuracy, however, can be affected by many factors. In this study, sulfadiazine (SDZ), sulfadimidine (SMZ), and sulfadimethoxine (SDM) in milk were selected to investigate an accurate determination method and the potential influencing factors in the use of ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). Milk samples were extracted by 25 mL perchloric acid solution (pH = 2) and cleaned up using HLB solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartridges. Four kinds of filters, including PTFE, GHP, nylon, and glass fiber, were compared, and PTFE was selected since it had the best recoveries of target sulfonamides (SAs). Three quantitative methods, including external standard (ES), matrix matching (MM), and isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS), were compared, among which IDMS exhibited the best accuracy. The matrix effect under different mobile phase compositions and of different sample matrices were evaluated and discussed. Ion suppression effects were observed during the determination of all SAs, which got stronger with the increase of the methanol composition percent in the mobile phase. After correction by IDMS, the matrix effect could be neglected. Matrix spiked recoveries at three spiked levels (1 μg/kg, 10 μg/kg, and 20 μg/kg) ranged from 96.8% to 103.8% by IDMS. The expanded relative uncertainties were in the range of 2.02% to 5.75%. The method exhibited wide application range, high accuracy, good stability, and high sensitivity.


Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) velocity spectra are a compact way to represent the flow information in a velocity‐resolved image set. Fully developed steady flow in long tubes gives NMR velocity spectra with average velocities which correlate well with the values derived from the flow rate. The ratio of average velocity to peak velocity correlates well with the Reynolds number. Tubes with compressed cross sections have velocity spectra similar to those of circular tubes. Tubes with irregular walls have velocity spectra in the entrance region that are markedly different from those from smooth‐walled tubes. © 1990 Academic Press, Inc.


Irradiation of [Ru3(CO)12] in hexane in the presence of SbPh3gives the title complex as the major product. X-Ray diffraction has shown that the environment around the ruthenium atom is distorted trigonal bipyramidal in which the SbPh3occupies an equatorial site. The angle (C–Ru–C) between the equatorial carbonyl groups is 137° and that (C–Ru–C) between the axial carbonyl groups is 173°. This geometry represents an intermediate configuration in the dynamic rearrangement path between trigonal-bipyramidal and square-pyramidal co-ordination. The crystals are triclinic. The unit cell chosen has space group B1 with a= 14.02, b= 10.42, c= 17.49 A, α= 121.0, β= 89.2, γ= 81.7°, and Z= 4. The structure has been refined by least squares to R 0.036 for 4 157 counter amplitudes.


The advancements in the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, and state-of-the-art computing techniques are the main pillars of the next-generation defense technology. The Internet of Battlefield Things (IoBT) with edge intelligence offers new opportunities for defense professionals for smart and effective military operations. The IoBT network connects soldiers by placing smart sensors on armor, weapons, bodies, and surroundings. This article presents a novel edge intelligence-based estimation of gunshot direction from the sensor-enabled glove for smart IoBT wearables. A multiagent multilayer perceptron (MA-MLP) and other regression models are developed and tested on the experimental dataset collected during this study. The MA-MLP model consists of two distinct MLP networks and a fusion block to estimate the gunshot direction. This article demonstrates the effect of multiple subjects, sensor positions, and gun material on the mean absolute error (MAE) of MA-MLP prediction. The software simulation results show that our proposed MA-MLP model has outperformed traditional machine-learning techniques such as linear regression (LR), SVM, and MLP with an MAE of 4.09°. Two different hardware designs, that is, intellectual property (IP) cores of the pretrained MA-MLP model are implemented and tested on a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) for a system on a chip (SoC)-based edge gateway. The first IP core requires 280 ns with a power consumption of 354 milliwatts, while the second IP core requires 380 ns with 178 milliwatts power consumption per inference. Prediction accuracy (PA) of 97.48% with a reduction of throughput to 92.2% is achieved for both IP cores. This work is one of the first attempts to implement FPGA-based edge intelligence for IoBT wearables. The short computation time, low power consumption, small footprint, significant throughput reduction, desired accuracy, and processor offloading are achieved by both flexible hardware models designed explicitly for edge intelligence.


Vibrio fetus was located by immunofluorescence within the endometrial epithelium of experimentally infected heifers. Bacterium-like structures were also located by electron microscopy within endometrial epithelial cells.


Contents: Introduction Part I Setting the Stage: Ferdinand III's public image and the Thirty Year's War Justitia et pietas: a portrait of Ferdinand III, Part II Means of Production Emblematic sound: musical performance as a mirror of imperial majesty and piety The politics of printing: the print program of Giovanni Felice Sances. Part III Music as Representation: Musical portraiture: representations of the emperor in sound Mirrors and models: piety and spirituality in the service of the crown Maria Patrona Ferdinandi (et Austriae): Ferdinand III's Marian devotion as public image Epilogue: Ferdinand III's image after the war Appendix Bibliography Index.


T he main aim of this paper is to theoretically investigate the steady two-dimensional electrical MHD stagnation point flow of Casson nanofluid over a non-linear stretching sheet. Problem formulation is developed in the presence of slip conditions and suction or blowing on the non-linear stretching sheet in a porous medium. The resulting governing equations are converted into a system of non-linear ODE's by applying a suitable similarity transformation and then solved numerically by using a well-known Keller Box method. The effects of different physical parameters on the velocity, temperature and concentration profiles are shown and discussed. Numerical values of local Sherwood number and Nusselt number are tabulated.


According to the prevalent experimental documents, there is a direct relation among these positive effects, such as objective and equitable human resource management practices and job performance. The main purpose of this study is to expand previous studies by proposing and testing an integrative model which examines the mediating variable of fundamental relation between human resource management practice and job performance. Data was gathered from 549 managers of Iranian petroleum industry. Multiple regression analysis is used to test theories. The results showed that the human resource management practices indirectly effects on job performance in two ways: 1) Positive job satisfaction, organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior, 2) Leaving the negative or negative word of mouth. Recommendations, implication of management, and areas for future research are discussed.


In this doctoral thesis, we study a widely investigated branch of the operational research domain, i.e. the scheduling of production systems. Scheduling, in general, can be seen as the allocation of limited resources to tasks in order to optimize a certain objective function. Machine scheduling, in particular, refers to problems in a manufacturing environment where jobs have to be scheduled for processing on one or more machines to optimize one or more objectives. Within the machine scheduling field there is a large variety of problem types, based on the characteristics of the jobs, the restrictions of the process and the objectives to be optimized. In this dissertation, several machine scheduling problems, ranging from the single machine environment to the multi-stage job shop environment, with varying job characteristics, process restrictions and objective functions, are scrutinized. For these problems, various algorithmic optimization approaches as well as two practical case studies are discussed. Our study starts with the analysis of a number of single machine scheduling problems for which a number of meta-heuristic solution procedures are developed. We then make the extension to the parallel machine scheduling environment and present a novel hybrid solution approach. Our study is further extended to the multi-stage job shop environment with the development of priority rules as well as two meta-heuristic solution procedures. Finally, in order to bridge the gap between theory and practice, we discuss two real-life case studies in a manufacturing and a service industry environment. In a first case study, we develop a hybrid job shop scheduling procedure that serves as a simulation tool for a Belgian manufacturing company in order to improve its current scheduling approach. Next, a link to the health care environment is made by means of a case study performed at two Belgian hospitals. This study aims at investigating the usefulness of existing machine scheduling principles and procedures in a dynamic and uncertain patient scheduling environment and at formulating critical and well-defined guidelines to improve the current way of patient planning.


Urticaria is a common dermatological condition that can occur in acute and chronic forms. Common urticaria is generally easy to diagnose; however, urticarial syndromes should be considered in cases where lesions persist for greater than 24–36 h, the location of lesions has bilateral symmetry, urticarial lesions are accompanied by additional elementary lesions, and/or the patient presents with additional systemic symptoms. Additionally, urticarial syn‐ dromes should be considered for patients with typical urticarial lesions that do not respond to systemic antihistamine treatment. Hyperpigmentation or bruising can be observed fol‐ lowing resolution of urticarial syndromes. Many cutaneous and systemic diseases can cause urticarial syndromes. Systemic causes of urticarial syndromes can affect multiple organ systems and may be accompanied by systemic symptoms such as fever, asthenia, and arthralgia. Clinicopathologic correlation is essential for the accurate diagnosis of urticarial syndromes. In this chapter, cutaneous and systemic etiologies of urticarial syndromes are reviewed.


One of the most polluted areas with too high levels of heavy metals as a result of nonferrous metallurgic industry in Romania is the regi on of Copsa Mica. The main objectives are to assess the dynamics and evolution of heavy metals (Cd, Pb) pollution of the surface and ground waters, and the children' s exposure after the passage to the new environmental framework law in Romania. Comparison the environmental levels of heavy metal between 2004-2005 years revealed that even with the considerable decrease t hat was noticed over the last decade, the heavy metals concentration remains more than the maximum admitted value. Also, children's exposure to heavy metals un fortunately remains rather important. The findings of our study reflect the ne cessity to intensify the measures of reduction of emission from smelter, along with cont rol of children's exposure in order to achieve the goal of accession into the EU by 200 7.


Pressure drop is an important parameter of microchannel liquid cold plate. In this article, the pressure drop of the staggered strip fin microchannel was simulated based on porous model equivalence by FLUENT software. Periodic cell pressure drop was simulated to equal to that of the entire liquid cold plate. The parameters of the porous model were calculated by the relationship between pressure drop and flow rate. A model including manifold and liquid cold plate was established, in which the liquid cold plate was equivalent by the porous model, and the total pressure drop of the cooling module was acquired by simulation. Finally, a test system was built, and the simulation method based on the porous model equivalence was proved to be simple, efficient and accurate through the comparison of simulation and test values.


Influenza and its complications account for substantial morbidity and mortality among young adults and especially among the elderly. In young adults, immunization provides 70–90% protection, while among the elderly the vaccine may be only 30–40% effective; hence the need for new, more immunogenic vaccines. We compared the safety and immunogenicity of a novel IL‐2‐supplemented liposomal influenza vaccine (designated INFLUSOME‐VAC) with that of a commercial subunit vaccine and a commercial split virion vaccine in young adults (mean age 28 years) in the winter of 1999–2000. Seventy‐three healthy young adults were randomly assigned to be vaccinated intramuscularly with the following: a commercial subunit vaccine (n = 17, group A), INFLUSOME‐VAC (n = 36, group B), and a commercial split virion vaccine (n = 20, group C). The three vaccines contained equal amounts of hemagglutinin (∼15 μg each) from the strains A/Sydney (H3N2), A/Beijing (H1N1), and B/Yamanashi. INFLUSOME‐VAC induced higher geometric mean HI titers and higher‐fold increases in HI titers against all three strains, compared with the two commercial vaccines. In addition, seroconversion rates for the A/Sydney and B/Yamanashi strains were significantly higher (P < 0.05) compared with the split virion vaccine, and significantly higher for the three strains compared with the subunit vaccine (69–97% vs 35–65%, P ≤ 0.02). Moreover, the anti‐neuraminidase response was significantly greater (P = 0.05) in group B vs group A. INFLUSOME‐VAC caused mild local pain at the injection site in a significantly higher proportion of the vaccinees (83%). Thus, INFLUSOME‐VAC is an immunogenic and safe vaccine in young adults. J. Med. Virol. 69:560–567, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


The watershed of Sawmill Brook is undergoing urbanization that has increased the frequency of bankfull discharge. The increased runoff is causing extensive bank erosion in the main channel that has increased the size of the bed material and the rate of bedload discharge. The increased frequency of moderate floods, the channel widening, and the change in the sediment transport regime is causing a change from a meandering to a braided channel pattern. With continued urbanization of the basin the present disequilibrium of the channel will be enhanced resulting in an unstable channel pattern for Sawmill Brook.


Objectives: Assessment of bone density following stem cells therapy /corticotomy in the treatment of mild dentoskeletal class III malocclusion through cone beam tomographic analysis. Patient and methods: CBCT scan was done at T1in the beginning of the study and T2 after 6 months. Two groups of randomly selected patient, group I(6males and 4 females with age average of (20years 10months) in which patients were treated using corticotomy facilitated orthodontics with incorporation of stem cells, while in group II(5 males and 5 females with age average of (19 years 8months) the patients were treated using corticotomy facilitated orthodontics. Results: In both groups; there was no statistically significant change in bone density after treatment.


This paper reports on a survey of the 20 largest Nordic universities, 12 Humboldtian type universities and 8 technical universities, and their espoused objectives and strategies regarding their entrepreneurial and innovation role related to regional and national economic development. The study is based on archival data; public documents issued by each university and higher education authorities. The paper describes and analyzes objectives, strategies, organizational capabilities and performance measures in relation to the Nordic universities' innovative and entrepreneurial role and finally discusses reasons for varying empirical patterns.


This study aims to know the experience, competence and discipline of works on the performance of employees at the general hospital Labuhan Haji Tengah South Aceh. The data used in this study is the primary data obtained by distributing questionnaires 86 respondents. The method used in this study using convenience sampling method. To analyze the data used multiple regression analysis test tools. The results showed that work experience, competence and work discipline have a positive influence with employee performance. Partial test shows that there is a significant influence of the variables of work experience and competence on the performance of employees in the Labuhan Haji Tengah general hospital in South Aceh. While the work discipline variable has no significant effect. Simultaneously shows that work experience, competence and work discipline have a significant effect on the performance of employees in Labuhan Haji Tengah General Hospital South Aceh . Keywords:  Experience, Competence, Discipline, Employee and Performance


The main stages in choosing the optimal technology for thermal treatment of MSW (municipal solid wastes) at the stage of feasibility study are discussed. The analysis of the influence of the fuel component on the structure of the WTE plant is carried out. Recommendations have been developed for choosing the optimal energy structure of a WTE plant, ash and slag management schemes, and thermal utilization technologies that are most suitable for the location of the facility. A study was conducted on the influence of the selected structure of the energy complex on the decision to choose a gas treatment system. A comparison of criteria for choosing the structure of the energy complex at the MSW in comparison with the energy thermal power plant (TPP) is made. Due to the economic and environmental problems that appear during the construction of WTE plants, when it comes to waste scheme for cities and regions, it is recommended to use a scheme with the maximum use of secondary raw materials from waste and thermal treatment only of residues that are not subject to recycling, from which the fractions containing the largest amount of pollutants (RDF fuel) are extracted. The technology using deep recovery of secondary raw materials will simplify the structure of WTE plant, reduce capital and operating costs, and most importantly reduce emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere with flue gases, ash and slag.


Sulfur film and resin film were used in this study,and each membrane shell was set by three concentration gradients.We studied the effects of the membrane shell on soil enzyme activities and microbial biomass carbon nitrogen and phosphorus.The results showed that application of sulfur film and resin film caused a certain extent effect on soil biological properties and the membrane shell caused a significantly effect on the urease and catalase activities,and little effect on soil phosphatase activity.At maturity stage,the sulfur membrane treatments significantly increased soil urease activity,which was different from the podding stage.There was biggest of microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen content when the application rate was moderate(2g/kg).In addition,application of sulfur film and resin film significantly reduced the microbial biomass phosphorus content.


147 Members and Fellows of the American Psychological Association were surveyed to assess their endorsement of religion and science as sources of knowledge and their self-perceived conflict between these two orientations. A 37-item questionnaire was constructed to assess religiosity, religious ideology, scientific thinking, and self-perceived conflict. Psychologists reported mild to moderate involvement and identification with religion, which is much lower than that found among the genera] public. However, they were also skeptical of science as providing the only mode of fully explaining the world. While there was a low, positive correlation between religiosity and personal conflict, subjects were generally conflict-free. Few psychologists endorsed coexisting religious and scientific belief systems.


Most of the music we enjoy uses the musical qualities of different instruments to create specific perceptual and emotional effects that composers sculpt over time. Timbre is the auditory attribute that distinguishes different instruments. Research on timbre perception has demonstrated that it is multifaceted and contributes in many ways to the perceptual organization of musical structures. The art of structuring music with timbre is orchestration. A survey of orchestration treatises reveals the dearth of underlying theory, in sharp contrast to other traditional areas such as harmony and counterpoint, which have long theoretical traditions. We seek to develop a theoretical ground for orchestration practice starting with the structuring role that timbre can play in music. Many aspects of musical structuring are achieved by auditory scene analysis, the perceptual processes that result in unified events, integrated streams of events, groups of events segmented into phrases and sections, and larger-scale units extended over time that we call orchestral gestures. The roles that timbre plays in the manifestation of these principles in orchestration practice will be considered as potential elements of a theory of orchestration. How such principles might be incorporated into computer-aided orchestration systems and computer-aided orchestral rendering systems will also be examined.


The Year of the Nurse has not only coincided with the global COVID-19 pandemic, but also the growing momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement. BANCC president-elect Helen Eftekhari highlights the legacy of British-Jamaican nurse Mary Seacole to modern nursing and the vital contributions made to the profession by black, Asian and minority ethnic nurses today.


Resourcing curriculum in the digital environment, and the important role of school libraries and teacher librarians working with their teachers, is reflected in any number of recent discussions, activities and research (Hay & Todd, 2010; Hay & Foley, 2009). Issues related to digital literacy and digital citizenship, reflected in Departmental priorities and current media topics, are included in any consideration of 21st century pedagogy and skills, including information literacy. Relevant, engaging resourcing is required for authentic teaching and learning support in the complex digital environment. There is much freely available on the internet. Support is also provided for NSW government schools through a range of programs and initiatives. Teachers and students wish to make the most of the best resources in the online world. They can be unsure how to access or appraise the quality of the plethora of resources available. The NSW Curriculum and Learning Innovation Centre (CLIC) will continue to offer quality connected learning support for teachers and students. Teachers and teacher librarians can also utilise, for example, teaching strategies and selection tools such as resource reviews and Links4Learning in My Library to support their needs.


QCD predicts matter at high density should exhibit color superconductivity. We review briefly several pertinent properties of color superconductivity and then discuss how baryons are realized in color superconductors. Especially, we explain an attempt to describe the color-flavor locked quark matter in terms of bosonic degrees of freedom, where the gaped quarks and Fermi sea are realized as Skyrmions, called superqualitons, and Q-matter, respectively.


The paper deals with the active and reactive power control of voltage source converters (VSC) for distributed generation. The control method explained is based on the instantaneous power theory. The power converter regulates the DC-Bus voltage and also controls the reactive power injected to the grid. The presented control strategy is evaluated by simulation in Matlab-Simulink.


Working capital is nerve system of any business. Without proper working, capital management firm cannot achieve its objectives and not possible to maintain financial soundness. So in this perspective, this study was undertaken to study working capital management practices of agro-processing and trading firm. Ten years (2006-07 to 2015-16) secondary data related to current assets, current liabilities, liquid assets, debtors etc.was collected directly from the company's annual reports. Ratio analysis, Karl Pearson's correlation and regression analysis were used to analyze the collected data. From the study, it is found that the liquidity position is not sound and it is difficult for the firm to meet its current obligations in time as and when they are due. However, working capital turnover shows fluctuating but increasing trend over a period of time which indicates that efficiency of working capital management is improving. Inventory turnover and working capital turnover is positively correlated with return on assets. The working capital turnover ratio is positively and debtors' turnover ratio is negative correlates with a net profit margin.


Korea Background: Lesch types 2 (L2, anxiety model) and 3 (L3, depressive model) of alcoholism exhibit different responses to anti-craving agents, and most treatment guidelines provide differential treatment strategies for bipolar depression (DEP) and unipolar DEP. We compare the psychological characteristics of L2 and L3 alcoholism and between the unipolar and bipolar subgroups. Methods: We reviewed medical records of patients who were diagnosed with alcohol use disorder using the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria and classified as L2 and L3 using Lesch Alcohol typology software. All patients completed self-report scales (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test [AUDIT], Beck Anxiety Inventory [BAI], Beck Depression Inventory-II [BDI-II], and Korean Symptom Checklist-95 [KSCL95]). The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the Wilcoxon Rank-Sum test, and ANOVA. Results: Of the 43 patients, 23 were assigned L2, and 20 were assigned L3. The scores for the KSCL95 subscales fell generally in the increasing order of the L2-unipolar (L2U, n=10), L2-bipolar (L2B, n=13), L3-unipolar (L3U, n=11), and L3-bipolar (L3B, n=9) types. The L3B scores were greater than the L3U scores for most KSCL95 subscales, by contrast with the DEP and BAI scores. Conclusion: We found psychological differences between L2 and L3 and identified the unique psychological characteristics for each subgroup by polarity. The psychological characteristics of these subgroups of alcohol use disorder may help improve the treatment success rates through individualized treatment strategies.


extrapolation beyond the follow-up time is impossible and the Kaplan-Meier curve at time points with a small number of subjects at risk may have large variance. Currently, the RMST, which is based on other types of survival curves, such as survival curves derived from a parametric survival model or multivariable adjusted curves, is applicable. Dynamic RMST curves have been proposed to overcome the drawbacks of the Kaplan-Meier estimate, where the RMST difference or ratio over a range of values to the restriction time is computed The RMST in the non-inferiority trial and competing risk can be found elsewhere. A regression method using pseudo values [24] or prediction modeling with respect to the RMST with subject baseline covariates [25] are available.


A broadband achromatic reflective metasurface is proposed. For the right-handed circular polarized wave, the reflected wave could keep the same chiral. The abnormal reflection angle is able to hold at 32° from 9.5GHz to 11.5GHz, corresponding of the relative bandwidth 19.02%. The work efficiencies can keep over 70% and the peak could reach to 83%. The designed metasurface can be applied to the antenna arrays and communication systems.


Cluster systems provide an excellent environment to run computation hungry applications. However, due to being created using commodity components they are prone to failures. To overcome these failures we propose to use rollback-recovery, which consists of the checkpointing and recovery facilities. Checkpointing facilities have been the focus of many previous studies; however, the recovery facilities have been overlooked. This paper focuses on the requirements, concept and architecture of recovery facilities. The synthesized fault tolerant system was implemented in the GENESIS system and evaluated. The results show that the synthesized system is efficient and scalable.


This research aims to determine: (1) the implementation Gawai Dayak Ceremony in Pontianak; (2) the shifting values that occur in Gawai Dayak Ceremony in Pontianak West Kalimantan; (3) the social impacts that occur in the community around Pontianak; and (4) the economic impact on surrounding communities Pontianak. This study uses qualitative research methods to shape strategy case studies spikes. Sources of data used are informants, places and events, and documents. Data collection techniques using direct observation techniques, in-depth interviews and document study. Mechanical trailer (sampling) used is purposive sampling. The validity of the data using triangulation and data analysis techniques using interactive analysis techniques. Ceremony for the Dayak Gawai Dayak in West Kalimantan has several functions, namely the function of spiritual, social functioning, and functioning as an asset that support tourism. Gawai Dayak Ceremony was also aims to increase the sense of brotherhood and mutual cooperation among fellow citizens who were involved in the implementation of the traditional ceremonies.


This dissertation is focused on the image of a public university as deciding factor has an influence on potential students. The main goal of this dissertation is to analyze an image of Facutly of Economics and Aministration at Masaryk university in the minds of the select group of high school students, and suggest the possible changes in a content of the image of this educational institution in public sector.


PURPOSE: An apparatus and method for cleaning a photo mask are provided to prevent damage to a photo mask by removing pellicle adhesive remnants using laser. CONSTITUTION: A photo mask(1) includes a first region(10) and a second region(20). A pattern(15) is formed on the first region. Pellicle adhesive remnants remain in the second region. A laser provider(200) removes the pellicle adhesive remnants by applying laser to the pellicle adhesive remnants.


PrefaceMap of Lan NaIllustrationsLegendary HistoryPrehistory c. 1,000,000 B.P-C. A.D. 750Protohistory c. 750-c. 1200The Mon Era of Lamphun c. 750-c. 1200The Thai Era of Lan Na c. 1250-presentArrival of the Thais c. 1050-c. 1300The Making of Lan Na c. 1300-c. 1400The Golden Age of Lan Na c. 1400-c. 1525Decline and Loss of Independence c. 1526-1558Fragmentation 1558-c. 1775Renaissance and Integration as a Part of Siam/Thailand c. 1775-presentAppendix: Lan Na Rulers of the Mang Rai Dynasty


The ambient preservation is related directly with the health of a population, that depends on diverse factors: social, economic, cultural and politicians. In this context the present work it had as objective evaluate the aspects socioeconomic and ambient of the nesting Sir of Bom Fim no Municipio de Alagoinha - PB, that it was accomplished the period May to June, 2011. Was applied "In loco" 50 questionnaires diagnostic socioeconomic and ambient with farmers and youth. Were analyzed 19 variables, related aspects socioeconomic, environmental and health. Note that many of the families is supported by men and perceives that education this community is still very poor. The population is already well aware of the possible health problems caused by untreated water. The profile of these communities is related to factors linked to the preservation of the environment and health care, both individually and collectively.


An experimental characterization of the ultrawideband (UWB) propagation channel in an underground mine environment over the frequency range from 3 GHz to 10 GHz is reported in this paper. Two kinds of antennas, directional and omnidirectional, were used to investigate the effect of the antenna directivity on the path loss propagation and on the time dispersion parameters in both line-of-sight (LOS) and no-line-of-sight (NLOS) underground galleries. The measurement and simulation results show that the path loss exponents in an underground environment are larger than their counterparts in an indoor environment. In NLOS, the directional-directional (Direct-Direct) antenna combination showed better radiation efficiency for reducing the time dispersion parameters while the omnidirectional-omni directional (Omni-Omni) case resulted better performance in term of path loss. After extracting the channel parameters, a statistical modeling of the UWB underground channel based on data measurements was conducted.


132 Background: Numerous resistance mechanisms have been postulated in progressive mCRPC. Determining the presence of putative predictive biomarkers in patients requires a real-time tumor assessment because the biology changes under the influence of the specific therapy(ies) that a patient (Pt) has received. We examined CTC and CTC subpopulation incidence and molecular characterization of tumors from Pts with progressive mCRPC to assess if determinants of resistance can be assessed through a CTC test. Methods: 48 samples from 21 unique progressive mCRPC pts treated with androgen receptor targeted (AR tx) therapies, 9 (43%) on Abiraterone plus Prednisone (AA+P) and 12 (57%) on Enzalutamide (E). Samples were collected and shipped to Epic Sciences, where cells were stained and CTC identified by fluorescent scanners and algorithmic analysis. CTCs, defined as classic (CK+ CD45- w/intact DAPI nuclei and distinct), apopotic (CK+, CD45-, non-intact nuclei) and CK- (CK-, CD45-, intact and distinct) were identified...


This paper presents the reactive power flow and its influence on the wide-frequency operation of sinusoidal filter-equipped induction motor (SFE-IM) drives. A sinusoidal filter, placed at the output of a voltage source inverter (VSI) to filter the pulse width modulated (PWM) voltages, unfolds a research opportunity in SFE-IM drives, as the filter capacitors also supply reactive power to the IM. The paper comprehensively investigates this reactive power flow in an SFE-IM system with filter capacitor values designed using two different methods. In continuation, with the designed capacitors, the paper analyzes issues in the wide-frequency operation, such as reactive power imbalance, abnormal escalation in inverter currents, variation in power factor seen by the VSI, and high current stress on DC-bus capacitors and VSI. Furthermore, the analysis formulates the method of filter capacitor selection for the wide-frequency operation of the SFE-IM system in terms of IM and LC filter parameters while resolving the issues mentioned above. The proposed analysis is simulated in MATLAB/Simulink and experimentally validated on a 5 hp IM drive.


Markov random field (MRF) models are a popular tool for vision and image processing. Gaussian MRF models are particularly convenient to work with because they can be implemented using matrix and linear algebra routines. However, recent research has focused on on discrete-valued and non-convex MRF models because Gaussian models tend to over-smooth images and blur edges. In this paper, we show how to train a Gaussian conditional random field (GCRF) model that overcomes this weakness and can outperform the non-convex field of experts model on the task of denoising images. A key advantage of the GCRF model is that the parameters of the model can be optimized efficiently on relatively large images. The competitive performance of the GCRF model and the ease of optimizing its parameters make the GCRF model an attractive option for vision and image processing applications.


ABSTRACT Increasing road construction activities in Nigeria has led to increased demand for lateritic soil (LS), whose properties vary from one location to another, and. The properties of some of this laterite deposits along road alignment can be improved to enable it withstand traffic loads. This paper presents results of the laboratory evaluation of LS stabilised with oil palm fibre ash and cement blends, with a view to determine its suitability as flexible pavement construction material. The mixtures were subjected to British Standard heavy (modified Proctor) compaction energy to determine their strength characteristics. Test results show that the properties of LS improved with oil palm fibre ash and cement treatment. The maximum dry density decreased with corresponding increase in optimum moisture content as the cement content increased from 0% to 6% and the LS content of the mixtures decreased with increased oil palm fibre ash, at a fixed per cent of cement. The peaked California bearing ratio of 190.09% (soaked) recorded for the 80% LS + 14% OPFA + 6% C mix proportion, with 14th day unconfined compressive strength of 785.75 kN/m2, cohesion of 140 kN/m2 and angle of internal friction of 25°, can be used as a base material in road construction. Further work may be encouraged to assess resilient modulus of this material under cyclic load.


Fine grain cemented carbide having high hardness and toughness is used in various kinds of precision procecing industries such as semiconductor, electronic device, machine work. In order to make clear grain growth mechanism of WC phase for fine grain cemented carbide, a lot of studies have been done. However, there have been a few studies on formtion mechanism of ultrafine WC powder. We succeeded in manufacturing of ultrafine WC powder by direct carburizing method (direct reaction of W oxide powder with C). Particle diameter of WC powder made by direct carburizing method is mainly determined by the nucleation generated by the reaction from WO2.72 to WO2. Direct carburizaing method is advantageous to the manufacturing of ultrafine WC powder, and cemented carbide made from ultrafine WC by direct carburizaing method has higher hardness, strength and toughness than conventional cemented carbide.


Drag finishing is a mass finishing technique in which workpieces are dragged through a mass of granular media contained in a stationary drum. Only a small portion of the media immediately surrounding the workpieces actually flows, with a shear band separating this fluid region and the static, solid-like portions that occupy most of the drum. In this presentation, we report on our benchmarking of two promising granular flow dynamics models. The models were input into ANSYS FLUENT as user-defined functions and simulation results were compared against experimental data found in the open literature.


The distinctive feature of Indian career women is that they do not abandon their conventional role of home maker while taking any job. In the context of epoch making changes that the Indian banking scenario witnesses, their level of performance needs an in-depth analytical study further, women are said to blend judiciously the traditional love for home and professional excellence. They possess certain inborn qualities of patience, tolerance, courtesy, affability etc. – qualities most required for banking which is essentially a service industry. The present study is aimed at helping the high level authorities to frame a suitable policy for recruitment of women employees on a large scale if the findings confirm that their innate traits influence significantly their performance efficiency. The present study investigated the relationship between demographic factor of women executives and their level of feminine traits. The conclusion has been given.