We establish numerical lower bounds for the monochromatic connectivity measure in two dimensions introduced by Sarnak and Wigman. This measure dictates among the nodal domains of a random plane wave what proportion have any given number of holes, and how they are nested. Our bounds provide the first effective estimate for the number of simply connected domains and for those that contain a single hole. The deterministic aspect of the proof is to find a single function with a prescribed zero set and, using a quantitative form of the implicit function theorem, to argue that the same configuration occurs in the zero set of any sufficiently close approximation to this function. The probabilistic aspect is to quantify the likelihood of a random wave being close enough to this function.


We present a work on Symmetric Sociology on Science Education from a theoretical framework that articulates Bruno Latour's and Mikhail Bakhtin's Philosophies. We perform a metalinguistic analysis of the texts about Quantum Physics present in the Physics textbook approved by the PNLDEM 2015 in dialogue with the philosophical interpretations about the photon in scientific papers. We present the dialogic relation among the different scientific and didactic speeches, explicating the re-elaboration of meaning that exists in every text. We show that the textbook authors hybridize different visions into a particular vision, which is not in dialogue with contemporary research in most textbooks, so these narratives could not even be considered Quantum Physics (since they attribute to photons a performance with many classical aspects). Furthermore, we show that all textbooks omit the theoretical construction that encompasses the photon, following the same didactic and ideological proposal found in undergraduate textbooks, as described by Kuhn, that is, omitting controversies and pushing the establishment of a paradigm. Such didactic parallel suggests the subordination of Science Education to the Scientific Community in a sort of didactic colonialism. Even if we agreed that the goal of Science Education is to educate "little scientists" (which is not the case), there is the problem that the paradigm presented by the texts has not been hegemonic for, at least, eight decades. Finally, the developed theoretical articulation proved to be fruitful to analyze Science Education and its symmetrical relations with nature and society.


Development of the Thermal-FSI (Fluid Solid Interaction) let to accurate the process of cooling the steam turbine set. It provide to shorter times of maintenance and repairs of the turbine sets. The cooling of the steam turbine which temperature exceeds 500°C can take time of one week. Insulation and housing is taken off when temperature reaches 100°C. In analysis was applied thermal-FSI which takes into account temperature changes between solid material and fluid. In the paper authors propose this way to estimate effort of the turbine structure caused by an intrusion of water into the flow channels.


Within the competences developed in the social sciences classroom in secondary education, one of the most influential in shaping society is social and civic competence. In this context, educating for citizen participation and democracy is one of the main tasks in this stage since it lays the foundations for personal development, and it is the last stage in which competencies are developed globally. This exploratory type of research carries out a qualitative analysis of the results of a didactic intervention whose purpose is this task. It was carried out with a sample of 143 students, chosen by convenience procedure, not probabilistic, under the necessary conditions to participate in the intervention during the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 academic years. Its objective is to analyze the training of secondary education students in Spain from the areas of social sciences and philosophy for democratic participation in society. The analysis methodology was qualitative and was carried out with the help of WEBQDA software. The results show an evolution in the knowledge about the concepts of "democracy" and "participation" and the disposition for citizen participation in the students included in the sample.


This work describes the application of digital control systems analysis and design techniques to improve performance of an instrument. The basic approaches are the mathematical modelling of the instrument, stability analysis, controller design to achieve satisfactory performance, and computer simulations of the system. The combination of theoretical analysis and computer simulation provides an effective and economical solution.


A commuting tuple of operators (S1, . . . , Sn−1, P ), defined on a Hilbert space H, for which the closed symmetrized polydisc is a spectral set, is called a Γn-contraction. To every Γn-contraction, there is a unique operator tuple (A1, . . . , An−1), defined on Ran(I − P ∗P ), such that Si − S n−iP = DPAiDP , DP = (I − P P ) 1 2 , i = 1, . . . , n− 1. This is called the fundamental operator tuple or FO-tuple associated with the Γn-contraction. The FO-tuple of a Γn-contraction completely determines the structure of a Γn-contraction and provides operator model and complete unitary invariant for them. In this note, we analyze the FO-tuples and find some intrinsic properties of them. Given a Γn-contraction (S1, . . . , Sn−1, P ) and n − 1 operators A1, . . . , An−1 defined on RanDP , we provide a necessary and sufficient condition under which (A1, . . . , An−1) becomes the FO-tuple of (S1, . . . , Sn−1, P ). Also for given tuples of operators (A1, . . . , An−1) and (B1, . . . , Bn−1), defined on a Hilbert space E, we find a necessary condition and a sufficient condition under which there exist a Hilbert space H and a Γn-contraction (S1, . . . , Sn−1, P ) on H such that (A1, . . . , An−1) becomes the FO-tuple of (S1, . . . , Sn−1, P ) and (B1, . . . , Bn−1) becomes the FO-tuple of the adjoint (S∗ 1 , . . . , S ∗ n−1, P ∗).


The author describes eight new species of the genus Alchemilla L. (Rosaceae) found in the Pyrenees and the Cantabrian Mountains. Characteristics which distinguish them from some closely related species are mentioned.


Vinnik N. S., Matyukh S. A., Morozova V. A. Consequences in case of excess of snow load on the roof


1.1. Self Avoiding Walks. The majority of this paper deals with self-avoiding walks (SAWs). The N step SAW ω beginning at point x on the lattice Z–the d dimensional hypercubic lattice–can be defined as a sequence of sites (ω(0), ω(1), ..., ω(N)) with ω(0) = x satisfying |ω(i+ 1)− ω(i)| = 1 and ω(i) 6= ω(j) for i 6= j[2]. The length of ω is denoted as |ω| = N. Denote the number of SAWs of length N beginning at the origin by cN . There is a lot of empirical evidence to suggest that


Technological innovations must be brought to the people who need it maximum. Crime records in moving train has brought the vulnerability of innocent passengers and women folks of our country into a sharper focus now and has made us revisit the present day safety status during surface transportation in train. ZigBee module capable of sending information packets up to a couple of kilometers can relay this information to the motor man's cabin when such modules are fitted in every compartment including the motor man's cabin with some switches for the passengers to request for help during desperate situations.


The new-round eastward expansion of NATO, pushing the boundary to the gate of Russia, suppresses its tactical space . According to the military specialists'suggestion, Russia makes corresponding military adaptation, holds many large-scale military performance simultaneously, propagates to develop new weapons and enlarge the military reforms and so on.The above measures indicate that Russia is still an influential nuclear power and has faculty to be against USA-leading NATO.


Modern governments increasing their role in education have caused increasing conflicts when parental religious or philosophical convictions conflict with values represented by school curriculum and activities. International human rights recognize the superior right of parents to control their child's education and free nations must not impose unreasonable constraints on private schools and should permit their citizens to homeschool. However countries like Germany and Sweden do excessively regulate private schools and either oppress or highly disfavor homeschooling causing some to flee while others have sought, and in at least one case received, political asylum in the United States.


Thermal conductivity of a food material is an essential physical property in mathematical modelling and computer simulation of thermal processing. Effective thermal conductivity of non-homogeneous materials, such as food matrices, can be determined experimentally or mathematically. The aim of the following research was to compare the thermal conductivity of short pastry biscuits, at different baking stages (60-160 min), measured by a line heat source thermal conductivity probe and estimated through the use of thermo-physical models. The measures were carried out on whole biscuits and on powdered biscuits compressed into cylindrical cases. Thermal conductivity of the compacted material, at different baking times (and, consequently at different moisture content), was then used to feed parallel, series, Krischer and Maxwell-Eucken models. The results showed that the application of the hot wire method for the determination of thermal conductivity is not fully feasible if applied directly to whole materials due to mechanical changes applied to the structure and the high presence of fats. The method works best if applied to the biscuit component phases separately. The best model is the Krischer one for its adaptability. In this case the value of biscuit thermal conductivity, for high baking time, varies from 0.15 to 0.19 Wm –1 K –1 , while the minimum, for low baking time, varies from 0.11 to 0.12 Wm –1 K –1 . These values are close to that reported in literature for similar products.


In eukaryotes, the conserved kinase Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated (ATM) negatively regulates DNA double-strand break (DSB) formation and plays a central role in DSB repair. Here, by using cytogenetic approaches, we demonstrate that ATM also plays an essential role in protecting meiotic chromosome integrity in Arabidopsis thaliana at extreme high temperature. We determined the chromosome localization patterns of DSB formation proteins SPO11-1 and DFO during prophase I, both of which were disturbed by heat stress. Evaluation of the number of RAD51, DMC1, SPO11-1 and DFO protein foci in meiocytes of Arabidopsis atm mutant clarifies that ATM does not mediate the heat-induced reduction in DSB formation. Interestingly, meiotic spread analysis showed that chromosome fragmentation level was significantly increased in atm but was lowered in the mre11 and mre11 atm mutants under high temperature, indicating that ATM-dependent meiotic chromosome integrity at high temperature relies on the functional MRE1-RAD50-NBS1 (MRN) complex. Moreover, contrary to the rad51 and mnd1 mutants, which exhibited enhanced meiotic chromosome integrity under heat stress, the rad51 atm and mnd1 atm mutants retained high levels of chromosome fragmentation at extreme high temperature. Furthermore, heat stress reduced chromosome fragmentation level in the syn1 and syn1 atm mutants. Collectively, these data suggest that ATM-mediated DSB repair is required for meiotic genome stability in plants at extreme high temperature, which possibly acts in a RAD51-independent manner and relies on functional chromosome axis.


A new relaxation process, explaining the change of elasticity in rubberlike polymers at critical stress (0.1−0.5 kgf/cm2) has been discovered. This process is characterized by the low value of activation energy (weak temperature dependence of relaxation times) and large sizes of kinetic units (strong dependence of relaxation time on stress). Critical stress depend on temperature and for rubberlike polymers turns to zero at 40°−60°C. Mechanism of the phenomena can be explained by the existence of the ordered molecular microregions, creating additional crosslinking points of nonchemical nature with free chains of the network, breaking up at critical stress. Observed phenomena is analogous to the process of forced rubber elasticity of those polymers in glassy state. Critical stress is analogous to the limit of forced rubber elasticity below glass transition temperature.


Knowledge sharing among construction project members is very crucial for improving project success and project performance. It can also reduce mistakes in the construction process. Project management has been growing more complicated, and project members need to learn best practice from others. Currently, knowledge sharing is not well performed yet; especially, few research studies have been focused on the relationship evaluation of supporting factors that affect knowledge sharing from different contexts in construction projects. Therefore, this study aims to develop the causal relationship model of supporting factors from psychological, individual, organizational, and technological factors that affect mediators – knowledge sharing behavior and knowledge sharing processes, and evaluate the influence level of mediators on knowledge sharing outcomes. The questionnaire survey was used to collect the data from 25 building construction projects in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, of which 320 were returned indicating a 64% response rate. Research hypotheses and causal relationship model were developed. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was employed to test the model fit. Then, the structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the hypothesized relationships among the independent, mediators, and dependent variables. The empirical result illustrates that psychological, individual, and organizational factors have a significant effect on both mediators. However, the technological factor has an insignificant impact in this study. In addition, this study reveals that both mediators have a significant influence on knowledge sharing outcomes, but knowledge sharing behavior is strongly influenced than knowledge sharing processes. These useful results can be used to provide a better understanding of knowledge sharing in the context of construction projects.


To determine ciliate diversity and community structure in the polar ecosystem efficiently, we applied the pyrosequencing technique to the polar samples. To select the appropriate sequencing depth using a ciliate-specific primer, we evaluated different pyrosequencing depths, ranging 4149–112,306 reads. At a 3% distance cutoff for clustering, 750 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were identified, and 332 were composed of a single read (singletons). The singletons showed a 1.8-fold increase in OTU richness, although their beta diversity showed no significant changes. The ratio of singletons in each sequencing depth was sharply decreased after reaching the sequencing depth of approximately 10,000 reads, and the singletons did not completely disappear even at 73,435 qualified reads. The data set without singletons showed saturated trends in rarefaction curves. In addition, we built a normalized data set without the singletons (1227 reads × eight samples). Among the samples, one brackish water having a broad range of salinity (3–23 PSU) at the Arctic coast presented the highest OTU richness (103), while a temporal pool at the Antarctic coast with a high salinity of 53.4 PSU, showed a relatively lower OTUs (8). Each normalized sample showed a distinct community structure. Interestingly, a freshwater lake on King George Island shared relatively higher OTUs with salt-water samples (72.1%), suggesting a higher inter-relationship with closely located coastal water environment.


Abstract.  1. Interspecific competition among parasitoids may play a key role in the community dynamics of tritrophic plant–herbivore–parasitoid systems and has important implications for management of herbivorous insect pests.


high; remote/near neighbours; small/big. But the detail is not reported, and there are no references to its publication. (It appeared in Nature: Rolett and Diamond, 2004.) More generally, Diamond concludes that he knows of no case 'in which a society's collapse can be attributed solely to environmental damage: there are always other contributing factors' (p. 11). Along with environmental damage, he identifies another four: three – climate change, hostile neighbours, and friendly trade partners – may be significant in any one society; the fourth – the society's responses to its environmental problems – always is. While this verbal presentation will not satisfy those – 'hard' scientists and policymakers alike – who want a former evidence base for the models and actions, it provides an interesting framework within which more work can be done. More importantly, the book is both provocative and easily read: it is written for a wide audience and will be easily accessible for it – the science on which it is based has been placed in a format which many can appreciate. As such, it will be a valuable resource for the introductory courses on environmental issues/problems that are springing up in many educational institutions. For geographers (sensu stricto) the book may be a disappointment: although Diamond is presented as a geographer (or just about: he works in a university department of geography), we know he is not one really. As a late interloper he has stolen our ground, presenting a wide audience with the sort of book that we are forever bemoaning that geographers should but do not write (for which, if we are in the UK, we blame the RAE: Johnston, 2006!). He is getting geography a public profile for us. It is a fascinating read, however – not least because it shows what little many of us geographers (including this one) know about the world we profess to study.


Harmonic power can be shared by controlling the equivalent harmonic impedance of distributed generation (DG) units in islanded microgrids. This paper firstly reviews several methods for controlling the equivalent harmonic impedance of DGs and adopts the method based on resistive active power filter (R-APF). Then, a droop relationship between the equivalent harmonic impedance of DGs and their remaining power capacities (ZDG_h_eq-SDG_remaining droop relationship) is put forward. And it is combined with the R-APF based control method to form the control scheme for DGs in islanded microgrids. With this control scheme, harmonic power is shared according to the remaining power capacities of DGs. Unlike many existing control schemes for harmonic power sharing, the control scheme proposed in this paper is insensitive to line impedance variations and does not need communication systems. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme is verified by simulation results.


In the present study, a modified cellular automaton CORe (Cellular Operator for Recrystallization) was used to predict the recrystallization (RX) texture and microstructure of 70% cold rolled commercial AA8079L alloy at 300°C. The nucleation of the Cube orientation is of considerable scientific interest since the Cube texture component influences significantly the anisotropy of material properties. Experimental data collected during this investigation were used for subsequent modeling. By studying the annealed material by EBSD, an average nucleation rate at Cube bands was established and used in the model. The simulated microstructure reveals, in general, good agreement with experiment. The texture prediction shows the right tendency, but the modeled intensity of the Cube texture is about 2 times smaller than in experiment.


The confusing unification of local-area networks and active networks is an extensive question. After years of natural research into the location-identity split, we demonstrate the refinement of courseware, which embodies the natural principles of e-voting technology. Here we argue that the acclaimed introspective algorithm for the study of extreme programming by David Clark et al. [13] runs in W(n) time. It is entirely an essential ambition but is derived from known results.


This paper discusses and demonstrates how to use children's interests combined with children's literature to make learning easier. According to the paper, the concept is to choose an area that excites children, one where they already have a developed schemata or knowledge base, then to use children's trade books about that topic to teach the skills and strategies that build stronger readers. The paper uses the theme of a love of cats as an example of an interdisciplinary approach to teach a variety of reading skills, strategies, and genre and opines that this same approach is effective with any topic that interests children. It lists the benefits of using an interdisciplinary teaching approach and provides examples of how to accomplish this approach. It then outlines several literary genres--fantasy, realistic fiction, poetry, content information--and provides some examples and activities which can be adapted to different grade levels by changing the materials and directions. The paper concludes by summarizing key points when using an interdisciplinary approach. (Contains 7 references and an extensive bibliography of "cat books" in various genres. Lists 7 web sites.) (NKA) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. 12th European Conference on Reading DubOin, Oreiland Juiy 1-4, 2001 Teaching With Cats: integration of Chiidren's interests and Literature to Enhance Reading Comprehension Gail Goss9 Ed. D. Central Washington University Elllensburg9 Washington 983926-7409 USA goss-(4cwilloedu Reading instruction that uses topics familiar to children makes learning new information easier and increases comprehension. viduais iearn more rapidiy when engaged in meaningfui activities that interest them. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Cri) This document has been reproduced as Ch 31( received from the person or organization originating it. 0 Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. (/) Points of view or opinions stated in this document do nor necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. 2 BEST COPY AVAILABLE PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY


The search for efficient spin conversion in Bi has attracted great attention in spin-orbitronics. In the present work, we employ spin-torque ferromagnetic resonance to investigate spin conversion in Bi/Ni80Fe20(Py) bilayer films with continuously varying Bi thickness. In contrast with previous studies, sizable spin-transfer torque (i.e., a sizable spin-conversion effect) is observed in Bi/Py bilayer film. Considering the absence of spin conversion in Bi/yttrium-iron-garnet bilayers and the enhancement of spin conversion in Bi-doped Cu, the present results indicate the importance of material combinations to generate substantial spin-conversion effects in Bi.


The method of ultraviolet spectrophotometry to determine chlorogenic acid content in Cleavers was established.Cleavers extracted by the alcohol,chlorogenic acid as the reference substance,the absorbance of Cleavers was measured at the maximum absorption wavelength of 329.40 nm.The result showed that 1 g Cleavers contained 2.284 mg chlorogenic acid.The method was precision and had good repeatability with strong practical application.


Every social service institution definitely needs funds to carry out various service programs, one of which is raising funds for the construction of mosques or mosque renovations. Thus, there are still many mosques that raise funds by taking to the streets and asking road users, so that it can hinder the smooth flow of traffic, as well as many mosque charity boxes in every shopping center and in one shopping center there can be two to three mosque charity boxes. which exists. In this study, use the website as a research base that aims to mobility towards its use. The system that will be built will use the CodeIgniter Framework as a framework in the development of the Crowdfunding system. In this study using the prototype with the consideration that the prototype is easier to implement and has a smaller risk of failure. This application is designed using Java Programming Language, HTML5 Bootstrap, codeigniter and MYSQL database. Software testing results have been tested using the Black-Box Testing method. the result is that the menu button on the website can work properly and the website can be run on all smart phones. The results of this study are in the form of a Website-Based Mosque Fundraising Platform with the Crowdfunding Method which can accommodate donors to give alms and mosque administrators can make mosque charity fundraising either for renovation or construction.


We demonstrate an alternative route to reliably prepare hydrogen‐doped indium oxide (In2O3:H). The common hydrogen source, water vapor, was substituted in our process by hydrogen and oxygen gas. The resulting films showed similar optical and electrical properties. Nevertheless, the process using gaseous hydrogen led to a simplification of the deposition process. By replacing the hydrogen source we increased the reproducibility of the electrical film properties significantly, thus, paving the way for a reliable device implementation of the material. Furthermore, we investigated the degradation behavior of In2O3:H under damp heat conditions as preliminary test for long‐term durability in photovoltaic devices. The results revealed a degradation of the electrical properties that differs in detail regarding the amorphous and polycrystalline material. In the amorphous material, the main degradation is caused by loss of charge carriers, whereas in the polycrystalline material a drop of the charge carrier mobility causes a significant rise of the resistivity. However, we show that the relative degradation of the In2O3:H films is similar to other transparent contacts that are implemented in solar cells. Finally, we demonstrate that the degradation of the charge carrier mobility in the polycrystalline In2O3:H films is completely reversible by vacuum annealing at 200 °C.


Summary This article reports the results of a survey designed to provide some quantitative evidence concerning the extent to which misconceptions about force and motion exist among primary school teachers. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first investigation of its kind carried out in the UK. The survey questionnaire contained statements based on those made by primary teachers about every‐day situations involving forces and motion elicited during an earlier in‐depth interview phase of the research. This questionnaire was administered in person by a member of the research team in schools and at INSET courses, in the autumn term of 1988. Responses were obtained from 159 primary teachers with a variety of different backgrounds, ages and teaching experience. The results showed that nearly all of the respondents held views of force and motion that are not in accord with a Newtonian interpretation. Many of the respondents are best described as 'naive impetus believers', in that their beliefs about moti...


Two experimental studies bear out the assertion that the probability of short-term recall of verbal units is adversely affected by the similarity of interpolated items. The possibility is conceded that some confounding of trace decay and interference factors may occur whenever an interval between an original presentation and its subsequent recall is filled with some intervening activity; yet it may be concluded that the results broadly corroborate and support the interference hypothesis as the major explanation of short-term forgetting, and of the decisive role of similarity.


acid: this has the advantage of being readily volatilized by heat, or even, from a large area, in the cold, whereas lactic acid has to be sprayed. These substances are rapidly bactericidal in air in very low concentration, but in order to act well on bacteria in dried particles they require a high humidity. They have been actually tested in the mass at the National Institute for Medical Research, where frequent slit sampler counts of atmospheric bacteria were made during the lunch hour. Both acids reduced the rise during this period of activity by about half, whereas the installation of ultra-violet lamps had a comparatively slight though appreciable effect. As Lidwell said, any such attempt to achieve practical air disinfection is still only an experiment. We can give no confident answer to inquirers who seek some means, apart from improved ventilation or lessened overcrowding, of improving the atmosphere of their premises in winter.


Abstract This paper examines whether high-speed Internet affects students' college applications. Our analysis links the diffusion of residential broadband to the testing and application outcomes of millions of PSAT and SAT takers and reveals that students with broadband in their postal code perform better on the SAT and apply to a higher number and more expansive set of colleges. While the availability of broadband generally improved applications to college, the effects appear to be concentrated among high-SES students, suggesting that the new technology may have increased preexisting inequities.


The cardiovascular responses to bronchoscopy under general anaesthesia were investigated in 36 premedicated patients. Twelve patients acting as controls received a standard intravenous anaesthetic of intermittent thiopentone and suxamethonium. A further 24 patients were given either fentanyl6 pgglkg or aventanil 18 pgglkg intravenously, one minute prior to induction. There were signijcant rises in systolic arterial bloodpressure (p < 0.05) and in rate pressure product (p < 0.05) in the patients in the controlgroup, but these changes were not seen in those patients receiving either fentanyl or awentanil. However, dysrhythmias and ST segment changes indicative of myocardial ischaemia were present in some patients in all three groups.


Exploiting and utilizing file information resources is an important piece of work in colleges and universities.In order to do it well,archivists should deepen their understanding,renew their modes of thinking,enrich file resources,strengthen editing research,establish network and improve management. [


Native starches of potato, wheat, maize, and waxy maize were subjected to oxidation with: sodium chlorate(I), hydrogen peroxide in the presence of Cu2+ ions and sodium chlorate(III) in the presence of formaldehyde. Native starches and their modified preparations were determined for the content of carboxyl and aldehyde groups. In order to determine changes in the surface structure of starch granules, microphotograps (SEM) were taken and specific surface (SBET) was determined. In the research performed sodium chlorate(I) and hydrogen peroxide were found more effective in the oxidation process as they induced greater changes in the surface structure of the investigated oxidised starches than sodium chlorate(III). The most remarkable changes in the specific surface area of the starches examined were caused by sodium chlorate(I), with an increase reported for maize starch and a decrease for wheat starch.


The laser-assisted chemical vapor deposition of copper onto thermal SiO 2 -overcoated Si wafers in a cold wall atmospheric pressure reactor, using Cu(hfa) 2 in Ar/H 2 (10%), or argon as carrier/diluent is discussed. The substrate was biased thermally at 130°C in Ar/H 2 or 200°C in Ar. A multiline (λ= 488 to 514 nm) continuous wave 4 μm focused spot diameter, 150 mW argon ion laser was used to heat the spot to a temperature at, or above, the required decomposition temperature, ≥150°C in Ar/H 2 and ≥250°C in Ar. The steady-state temperature on the SiO 2 prior to the beginning of deposition was estimated using a modified Lax model, since there is no convenient way of measuring it experimentally. Under the conditions employed, a maximum copper spot growth rate of 0.12 μm/min was obtained at 0.095 W laser power. The laser-assisted growth rates in the present system can be predicted within a factor of two from the kinetic model of Ehrlich and Tsao. An incubation time which varies inversely with power, and with the composition of the carrier gas was observed on SiO 2 , due to the low absorption of the incident energy in the SiO 2 at the small laser power used. Auger electron spectroscopy, of the copper deposits has shown small levels of carbon and oxygen. It is possible that the temperature at the center of the beam spot is greater than 400°C after copper begins to nucleate, and that the organic ligands undergo some fragmentation, or that some degree of oxidation and carbonaceous contamination occurs upon exposure to air when specimens are removed from the reactor. Using the described deposition methods, it should be possible to effect repair of broken copper lines on a microelectronic package in a minute or two.


e22003Background: Talimogene laherparepvec (TVEC) is an oncolytic herpes virus approved by the FDA for intralesional therapy in unresectable metastatic melanoma. However, little is known regarding ...


Workplace-based assessment is a core element of the changes introduced in Modernising Medical Careers (MMC), yet it has been sparsely researched in the UK and there are still psychometric and validity data needed to support its introduction. Supervisors and tutors are wary of it, but it could


The purpose of this study is to analyze the critical thinking dispositions of the students attending at the associate degree program of Vocational School of Health Services and to determine the factors affecting their critical thinking dispositions. All the students, attending at the associate degree program at Vocational School of Health Services of a university in 2010-2011 academic year, constituted the population of the study. 413 students, who were accessible and accepted to participate in the study, were included in sample group of the study. Data was collected using questionnaire form and the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory. It was determined that 66.8% of the students participating in the study were female, 30% were 19-year old and 59.1% were first-year students. The maximum participation was specified from the medical documentation and secretariat (24.5%) program. The critical thinking disposition scores of the students included within the scope of the study were 201.22±22.41 and at low level. As a result of the analyses performed, it was determined that there was no statistically significant difference between the critical thinking total mean scores according to the gender, age, program, grade and school achievement status (p>0.05). The educators should try active learning strategies that provide meaningful learning in order to develop the critical thinking skills of the students in the vocational schools of health services


The bi-directionally regulated effect is an essential characteristic of acupuncture therapy.This article is aimed to review the ancient literature records of bi-directional regulation effects of acupuncture therapy and analyze the influencing factors and mechanism of acupuncture briefly,so as to emphasize the importance of using the bi-directionally regulated effects in clinic and the necessity of further studying its mechanism.


The present invention contains a tissue or intracellular triglyceride accumulation inhibitory compound of cardiovascular, and an object thereof is to provide an agent having a superior prophylactic or therapeutic effect on diabetic cardiovascular complications. The present invention, neutral fat accumulation inhibitory compound (preferably, medium chain fatty acids and / or medium-chain triglycerides) relates an agent for the prophylaxis or treatment of diabetic cardiovascular complications containing.


Mega universities (i.e. those with over 100,000 students) are among the most important providers of distance education worldwide and are increasingly using ICT-based learning. Until recently they placed more emphasis on widening access than assuring quality, but now they recognise quality assurance as a key issue that needs to be addressed not only within individual universities but also jointly and in the global context. At the same time QA frameworks are at an early and therefore crucial stage of development. This chapter reports on a recent survey to examine and compare QA practices in mega universities and draws certain important lessons for the mega universities in the future development of effective QA policies. Where lifelong learning is referred to, this is understood as a process that people undertake to acquire knowledge, skills, and values needed for personal and occupational development throughout their lifetimes; often linked to adult learning.


Summary The present paper deals with some aspects of the anaphoric and cataphoric reference functions of the particle (harf) ḥaiṯu in Modern Standard Arabic, paying special emphasis on its versatility in syntactic structures for expressing different meanings (local, temporal, causative and adversative). By touching upon compounds of ḥaiṯu, e.g. bi-ḥaiṯu (anna), (min) ḥaiṯu anna, min ḥaiṯu and ḥaiṯumā, as well as discussing their German equivalents a moderate contribution is to be rendered in order to further specify references in Arabic-German dictionaries.


Consumerism in India is still in its nascent stages, even though India has celebrated the silver jubilee (25 years) of the enactment of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA), 1986. 80.33% (2011 census) of the population of Tamil Nadu is literate, but a majority of the population is unaware about the Act, their rights and duties, and about the functioning of the consumer courts at National, State, and District Levels. The present study examines and compares the performance of all 30 District Forums in Tamil Nadu for a period of 4 years commencing from January 2007 to December 2010 (2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010). District Forums were studied 'Collectively' and not 'Individually'. 'Monthly Statement of Pending and Disposal' (48 monthly statements) on the Number of cases pending at the beginning of each month, Cases filed in each month, Total cases to be disposed off in each month, Disposed in each month, and Pending cases at the end of each month were obtained from the Tamil Nadu State Commission, and was used as the base data. The study excludes cases under Non-Appearance, Technical Grounds, and Against Government. Statistics revealed that, on an average, all the 30 District Forums in Tamil Nadu had disposed off only 4.59% of the cases and about 95.39% of the cases were pending during the years 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010. Statistics conclude that District Forums in Tamil Nadu functioned inefficiently during the study period. However, this conclusion will be one-sided if 100% blame is imposed on the Government, as 50% of the blame also falls on the consumers themselves. Consumers, rather than demanding the streamlining of the existing condition and disposing off the backlog of cases in consumer courts, have to make optimum use of the dysfunctional courts to fight against unethical trade practices.


The essence of shaft friction of jacked pile is friction at the pile-soil interface; but the mature tribology theory has not been used to study the mechanism of shaft friction yet. In this paper, friction mechanism of adhesion and deformation in tribology is introduced systematically. Using it to explain the sliding friction mechanism at the pile-soil interface of jacked pile, a good results is obtained. It provides a new approach to research the shaft friction of pile. The study suggests that unlubricated friction between jacked pile and soil is external friction, the sliding friction between jacked pile and soil is lubricated friction in mud that causes the shaft friction in the jacking process far less than that in load test. A pause during pile jacking can give rise to a sharp increase of pile jacking pressure. The principal cause for the increase of pressure is that the disappearance of the lubricating film of mud that brings the friction between jacked pile and soil from lubricated friction into unlubricated friction; the friction between jacked pile and soil in load test is unlubricated friction before failure; the strengthening of shaft friction near the tip of pile is due to the increase of tangential force caused by the improvement of soil strength underneath the pile that improves the coefficient of friction between piles and soil.


A method is described for revealing the contact area between a plane and a fiber under the action of a transverse pressure distribution. It involves pressing the fiber against a plane-glass surface which has been lightly smoked with a gas flame and measuring the resultant impression microscopically.


Rapid fluctuation with a frequency dependence of 1/f � (with � ' 1 2) is characteristic of radiation from black-hole objects. Its origin remains poorly understood. We examine the three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) simulation data, finding that a magnetized accretion disk exhibits both 1/f � fluctuation (with �'2) and a fractal magnetic structure (with the fractal dimension of D�1.9). The fractal field configuration leads reconnection events with a variety of released energy and of duration, thereby � / �


To examine the relationship between genetic variants in the interleukin-6 receptor gene and obesity. The result showed that the carriers of Asp358 homozygotes had higher risk in developing obesity when compared with Ala358 homozygotes (OR = 1.32,95% CI 1.07-1.68, P = 0. 041). Interleukin-6 receptor gene pulymorphism was significantly associated with obesity.

Key words:
Interleukin-6 receptor gene;  Polymorphism, single nucleotide;  Waist circumference;  Body mass index


To the Editor:

The case report by Koci and colleagues,1 about the 63-year-old woman who presented with abdominal pain and had subsequent evidence of pathologic cardiac conditions, should be read and thought about by all hospital clinicians who work in acute medical and surgical care. This case is indeed an instance of takotsubo syndrome as a comorbidity of another illness—surgical abdomen, in this example. We all need to change our mindset and realize that takotsubo syndrome can often present as a morbidity,2 in either classic or milder forms.3 Two areas merit particular attention.

First, the authors say that the patient's electrocardiogram (ECG) shows changes from an ECG recorded 2 years earlier.1 Scrutiny of the tracing of the authors' Figure 1 reveals low-amplitude QRS complexes in all leads except V2 and V3. Low-amplitude QRS complex has recently been reported as a diagnostic feature of takotsubo syndrome,4 and it is attributed mechanistically to myocardial edema, which is usually detected with use of cardiac magnetic resonance. It would be of interest to ascertain whether transient low-amplitude QRS complexes developed on this occasion in comparison with the patient's previous and subsequent ECGs. Second, the authors refer to "how essential bedside echocardiographic evaluation has become for acute management, especially in the emergency department."1 One could even go further by suggesting that "focused cardiac ultrasound be implemented."5 In this situation, many members of the hospital management team would use hand-held echocardiographic devices—frequently and early in the clinical course6—for all patients who have acute medical and surgical illnesses.


During past five decades,land use and climate changed substantially in upstream basin of the Naoli River,Sanjiang Plain,resulting in huge hydrological changes accordingly.However,quantitatively distinguishing the hydrological responses to each factor-land use change and climate change,is not an easy issue.In this paper,the impacts of land use and climate change to hydrology in this region were assessed.First,based on the hypothesis of one factor changes slightly,we built the functions that hydrological processes responses to land use and climate change separately and forecasted the hydrological change resulting from cropland change and climate change respectively.Second,the impact of each factor to hydrologic change was quantitatively distinguished and then the hydrological processes driving force model was built based on precipitation and cropland area through least square arithmetic.Last,we gave a forecast model of hydrological processes with both natural and anthropogenic factors.The results showed that between 1956 and 1975,climate had a strong effect on hydrological processes.However,after 1975 the influence decreased gradually.Taking one with another,climate model behaved better to simulate annual average discharge than to simulate the peak discharge.Furthermore,cropland expansion that has being done since 1954 did not bring on significant change to hydrological processes.But comparing with annual average discharge,land use change impacted peak discharge more.Hydrological processes driving force model in this study was fairly ideal and it gave the modeling errors of 0.5 and 1.04,indicating the precision improved highly,which,was in contrast to a single factor model.In addition,the dynamic model performed more suitable for annual average discharge whose precision improved more with the R2 of 0.933.As a whole,hydrologic processes in the basin were mainly affected by climate change,while the effect of land use change was weaker relatively but unneglectable,especially,effect to peak discharge is increasing.


Photoactivatable (caged) bioeffectors provide a way to remotely trigger or disable biochemical pathways in living organisms at a desired time and location with a pulse of light (uncaging), but the phototoxicity of ultraviolet (UV) often limits its application. In this study, we have demonstrated the near-infrared (NIR) photoactivatable enzyme platform using protein kinase A (PKA), an important enzyme in cell biology. We successfully photoactivated PKA using NIR to phosphorylate its substrate, and this induced a downstream cellular response in living cells with high spatiotemporal resolution. In addition, this system allows NIR to selectively activate the caged enzyme immobilized on the nanoparticle surface without activating other caged proteins in the cytosol. This NIR-responsive enzyme-nanoparticle system provides an innovative approach to remote-control proteins and enzymes, which can be used by researchers who need to avoid direct UV irradiation or use UV as a secondary channel to turn on a bioeffector.


For many years, sampling theory has been based on Shannon and Nyquist who stated that bandlimited signals can be exactly reconstructed using samples acquired at or higher than Nyquist rate (1949). Recently however, the focus has shifted to compressed sensing, where if the underlying signal is sparse, the signal can be represented by a small collection of linear projections. It is now understood that many type of signals, such as images and audio signals, fall into this category. Compressed sensing techniques are very useful in applications where taking a large number of measurements of the object is very costly, such as in medical imaging. Recently norm-minimization ideas from compressed sensing have been adapted for classification tasks via class-specific image dictionaries. The key assumption is that the vectorized versions of training images belonging to the same class lie in a low-dimensional subspace and therefore, any new representation from this image class can be approximated by a linear combination of the training images. The sparse representation of these are naturally discriminative and so, classification can be performed based on reconstruction error. The seminal contribution by Wright et al. to face recognition has demonstrated the robustness of this approach to a variety of real-world distortions. In many applications, prior knowledge about a collection of test images belonging to the same class can be exploited to improve classification performance in a joint sparsity setting. In this work, we exploit inter-channel information between the red, green, and blue channels of color images in a joint sparsity framework for the classification of histopathological images.


The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is one of the most sensitive and fragile regions to climate changes, which has been found experiencing distinct warming trend in recent decades. We detected the vegetation greenness trends with the MODIS data in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau during 2000–2009. The annual average normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) increased 0.036 yr−1 in this region. Statistically significant increasing trend appeared in about 20% of the vegetated area, primarily in the northeastern Plateau. Only 4% of the study region, mostly in the southern Plateau, showed significant decreasing NDVI trend.


Implications of observation scale and relay ramp development (sensu Peacock and Sanderson, 1991) on the stress field variation was experimented through a case study. Microtectonic observations and measurements carried out on Late Triassic dolomites and Middle Eocene sedimentary rocks on a great number of sites in the Vertes Mts.


The present article describes a case study of an ethnographic type which intended to identify the relation between the corporal culture patrimony of Guarani people and school education. Conducted in a state run Indian school, located in the cost of Sao Paulo state, the investigation made use of participant observation, interviews with the school professionals and photographic records. The data, recorded in field diaries, were subjected to critical description and compared with the theorization of the body culture, Indian education and anthropology. The research reveals the remaining of Guarani corporal practices in the extra-school context and its absence in the curriculum. Among the elements which lead to the understanding of this dissonance, the issue of ethnic identity and fragmentation process is highlighted


In Plato's usage, the word 'tauton' had two basic meanings, one being sameness, and the other being distinctiveness. Relevancy crisis refers to the idea that the church cannot reach contemporary people, while identity crisis implies that there is no common agreement on what the Christian church really is. The substitution theory became dominant in the church at the time when the New Testament church replaced the Old Testament people. The church itself identified who a Jew was and what Israel meant. There is a kind of identity that is not freely chosen, but it is given freely to an individual. Though national identity is not a creational order such as 'male and female' yet it should be taken into account when spoken about Christian identity. Nationalism is an aggressive self-realization, and should not be confused with patriotism, which is the responsibility one possesses for their nation.Keywords: Christian identity; Israel; Jew; national identity


A study of local buckling of wide-flange and box section beams subjected to stress gradients due to transverse loading is presented. The resulting eigen matrices are solved using a search technique. Buckling coefficients for typical cases are presented. Results are compared with those used for customary design procedure.


The popularity of network-based computation has increased during the past years. Storing data and performing computations using for example cloud services is commonplace nowadays. However, the information security in network-based computation rarely is satisfactory. One technique to improve information security for networked computations is based on secure multiparty computations. The idea of multiparty computation originates from Yao, who considered the secure computation with two parties by introducing the technique called garbled circuits. The technique was then generalized, but still the exact definitions for different security measures were not established until Bellare, Hoang and Rogaway proposed a definition of a garbling scheme and several security notions for garbling schemes. This gave inspiration to study the security properties of garbling schemes from different perspectives, including adaptivity and reusability. In this paper, we study the adaptive security for a certain type of reusable garbling schemes. First, we consider general constraints to achieve security for this specific type of garbling schemes. Then we analyze the adaptive security classes of reusable garbling schemes. More specifically, we prove a relation between security classes that has been left open in earlier research.


The `tipping point' phenomenon is discussed as a mathematical object, and related to the behaviour of non-linear discontinuity waves in the dynamics of topical sociological and biological problems. The theory of such waves is applied to two illustrative systems in particular: a crowd-continuum model of pedestrian (or traffic) flow; and an hyperbolic reaction-diffusion model for the spread of the hantavirus infection (a disease carried by rodents). In the former, we analyse propagating acceleration waves, demonstrating how blow-up of the wave amplitude might indicate formation of a `human-shock', that is, a `tipping point' transition between safe pedestrian flow, and a state of overcrowding. While in the latter, we examine how travelling waves (of both acceleration and shock type) can be used to describe the advance of a hantavirus infection-front. Results from our investigation of crowd models also apply to equivalent descriptions of traffic flow, a context in which acceleration wave blow-up can be interpreted as emergence of the `phantom congestion' phenomenon, and `stop-start' traffic motion obeys a form of wave propagation.


For an artifact-free dataset, pre-processing (known as normalization) is needed to correct inherent non-uniformity of detection property in the Compton camera which consists of scattering and absorbing detectors. The detection efficiency depends on the non-uniform detection efficiency of the scattering and absorbing detectors, different incidence angles onto the detector surfaces, and the geometry of the two detectors. The correction factor for each detected position pair which is referred to as the normalization coefficient, is expressed as a product of factors representing the various variations. The variance-reduction technique (VRT) for a Compton camera (a normalization method) was studied. For the VRT, the Compton list-mode data of a planar uniform source of 140 keV was generated from a GATE simulation tool. The projection data of a 1Corresponding author. c © 2011 IOP Publishing Ltd and SISSA doi:10.1088/1748-0221/6/01/C01040


The objective of this research is to evaluate school supervisor's performance including the planning, the implementation and the follow-up of academic supervision which wasconductedbyschoolsupervisorsinSMPNinKulonProgoRegency.Thisresearch method used quantitative approach. The evaluation model used is was Discrepancy Model. This research was conducted at SMP N in Kulon Progo Regency with 7 school supervisors and 144 subject teachers examined in national examination. Data collection technique used questionnaires and the instruments used questionnaires. The technique of data analysis used quantitative descriptive statistics. The results of this study indicated that (1) the performance of school supervisors in the planning of academic supervision reached 98%, (2) the performance of school supervisors in the implementation of academic supervision reached 85.48% and (3) the performance of school supervisor on follow up of academic supervision reached 96.47%. Based on these results, it can be concluded that the performance of school supervisors in SMP N in Kulon Progo Regency is good and almost maximal in accordance with existing standards. However, there are some performance inhibiting factors that must be addressed, especially in the implementation stage of academic supervision.


Since the Industrial Revolution, with the development of technology, the skin and surface design in architecture has been separated from a main body as various architectural materials appeared either and formulated its unique characteristics and fields. This study is intended to examine the possibility of a smart building surface to develop the next generation technology by applying smart technology. That is a normative alternative in the future, in a situation that the expression of skin and surface design, as an interface to be expanded since the advent of digital media era, may not reach the limit of design, based on the expression of the skin and surface design experimented by the recognition of architects together with the separation from the main body and the structure from the progress of technology.


Abstract The method of short characteristics is extended to two-dimensional heterogeneous Cartesian cells. The new application is intended for realistic pin-by-pin lattice calculations with an exact representation of the geometric shape of the pins, without need for homogenization. The method keeps the advantages of conventional discrete ordinates methods, such as fast execution, together with the possibility to deal with a large number of spatial meshes. Expansion bases, spatial integration, and balance conservation are discussed. A Fourier analysis of the method shows that the scheme preserves the asymptotic behavior of analytical transport. Two coarse-mesh finite difference acceleration techniques have also been analyzed and generalized with the use of Eddington's factors to speed up the rate of convergence of the inner iterations. Numerical examples for realistic configurations show the precision of the method and the efficiency of the accelerated iterations. An analytical stability analysis is also presented for studying the nonconverged behavior of the accelerated scheme, and we give numerical proof of chaotic behavior and the existence of bifurcations.


The design and implementation of personal communications systems requires the prediction of wave propagation relating to signal-to-noise and signal-to-interference calculation in a cellular system [93]. Small-cell network configurations especially microand pico-cell types are of major interest for urban environments. The commonly used criteria for the definition of a micro-cell is related to the base-station height. For a typical micro-cell the base-station antenna height is below the average roof-top level of the surrounding buildings or at about the same height. Thus the resulting cell radius is in the range of about 250-500 m. However a prediction range of up to several km has to be regarded for inter-cellular interference calculations. A pico-cell base-station is usually installed inside a building providing coverage also outside around the building. A tutorial and overview on wave propagation modeIling for wireless personal communications is given in [94].


Law Number 5 of 2014 concerning State Civil Apparatus stipulates that Civil Servants (PNS) who are detained because they are designated as criminal suspects are temporarily dismissed as PNS, but Law Number 8 of 1981 concerning the Criminal Procedure Code (KUHAP) only requires that a copy of the warrant for further detention or detention or a judge's decision be given to the family of the suspect. This study aims to determine and explain the impact of the absence of provisions in the Criminal Procedure Code regarding copies of detention orders to the Civil Service Supervisory Officer on the temporary dismissal of Civil Servants who are detained because they are designated as suspects. The approach method used in this research is normative juridical. The results of this study indicate that the absence of provisions in the Criminal Procedure Code regarding copies of detention warrants to Civil Service Supervisors related to Civil Servants who are detained because they are designated as suspects causes the issuance of Temporary Dismissal Decrees is often late.


ABSTRACT Using monthly data on arrivals at tourist accommodation establishments, we estimate the quantile dependence of tourism activity between four Southern European countries: Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal. We find evidence of strong positive dependence between tourism activities across a wide range of quantiles. Most of the dependence is driven by right-tail events; i.e. tourism sectors seem to grow together. Our results, therefore, suggest that the efforts of a joint European tourism policy appear to have some merit, as tourism activity already behaves similarly across countries, and therefore, pursuing joint policies should be less risky and less difficult to implement.


Modernity is mentioned as an expression of the new order which heralds the complete break from the past and tradition on the basis of secularism that advice returning the face to the world and rationality capable of revealing explicitly the relation between human actions and world order. The new order promises to offer to human a quite new, easy, regular and that is a happy life by means of deriving from a completely emptied intellect and basing on science, mind, and development. Therefore, within this modernization process, each field related to human life is at the target of change. Modern human beings build new social, economic, and even ethical systems for themselves in accordance with the needs of the age thinking that they can overcome everything with their enlightened mind. Our purpose with this study is to able to assess and determine the place of utilitarian ethics on the modern world which is one of the systems built in modern world and appears with a new identity in the new world order, though, we can date it back to the antique age. In terms of utilitarian ethics, one of the most long-termed views and which we deal with on the basis of Mill, happiness is the happiness of the greatest number of people, is desired as the last goal and pleasure is the only value criterion


Barrier certificate is a powerful and practical approach of safety verification for hybrid systems. In this paper, we propose a novel Counterexample-Guided Inductive Synthesis (CEGIS) procedure for synthesizing neural barrier certificates. The CEGIS procedure is structured as an inductive loop where a learner and a verifier interact to synthesize barrier certificates. The learner trains candidate barrier certificates expressed as feedforward neural networks with polynomial activations, and the verifier employs computer algebra techniques to either ensure the validity of the trained candidate barrier certificate or produce informative counterexamples, which can effectively reduce the number of CEGIS iterations. We implement the CEGIS tool and evaluate its performance over a set of benchmarks. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our approach.


Induction motors are widely used in transportation, mining, petrochemical, manufacturing and in almost every other field dealing with electrical power. These motors are simple, efficient, highly robust and rugged that's offering a very high degree of reliability. But like any other machine, they are vulnerable to faults, which is left unmonitored might lead to catastrophic failure of the machine in the long run. On line condition monitoring of the induction motors has been widely used in the detection of faults. This paper deals into the various faults and study of conventional and innovative techniques for induction motor faults with an identification of future research areas.


Evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of extracts of flowers of Helichrysum and Sparrow leaves Natallya Adamtsevich, Postgraduate Student, Department of Biotechnology, Belarusian State Technological University Valery Baltousky, Professor of the Department of Chemical Processing of Wood and the Department of Biotechnology of the Belarusian State Technological University, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Associate Professor Viktar Lyavontsyev, Head of the Department of Biotechnology, Belarusian State Technological University, Candidate of Chemical Sciences, Associate Professor Uladimir Tsitok, Director of the Central Botanical Garden of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Corresponding Member Su mmary. The article provides an assessment of the antimicrobial activity of the extracts of the everlasting flowers and the leaves of the littlewale against gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus), gram-negative (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa) pathogenic bacteria and yeast-like fungi (Candida albicans). It has been established that the extract of the flowers of the everlasting has an antimicrobial action only against gram-positive bacteria. All types of the studied microorganisms are not sensitive to the extract of the leaves of the littlewale.


RF MEMS plays an important role in microwave switching. The high performance of RF MEMS shunt such as high bandwidth, low insertion loss, and high isolation have made these switches well suitable for high performing microwave and millimeter wave circuits. This paper presents a RF MEMS shunt capacitive switch for Ka and V band application. This paper investigates the effect of various geometrical parameters on RF characteristics of the switch. The simulation results are presented and discussed.


A body massager comprises a housing having a membrane attached thereto. A ball is moveably retained within a cup, the ball engaging with and moveable along an inner surface of the membrane. A drive means drives the cup and ball across the inner surface of the membrane.


Renewable energy technologies that can provide optimum and cost-effective energy savings to mitigate global warming, energy crisis and to achieve energy efficiency continue to be of paramount importance. The present study focused on identifying critical parameters such as the volume of hot water drawn off; ambient temperature; relative humidity; refrigerant temperatures at the inlet and outlet of the compressor and condenser; and deterministic quantities such as time used, power consumption and coefficient of performance (COP) as indicators to benchmark the performance of both the split and integrated types of air-source heat pump (ASHP) water heaters. The basis for analysis was on two predominant scenarios: first-hour heating rating and the heating cycle due to controlled volume of hot water drawn-off wherein both the integrated and split types ASHP water heaters experienced vapour compression refrigeration cycles. A data acquisition system was constructed and implemented to monitor the performance of both systems. The results obtained during summer season showed that, under the scenario of 150 L hot water withdrawal, the average COP of the systems was 3.18 and 2.85 for the split and integrated types respectively. The average power consumed was 1.29 (split type) and 0.85 kW (integrated type). The times of operation were 84 minutes (split type) and 138 minutes (integrated type).


An expert system (ES) to solve the problem of choosing a catalytic titrimetric procedure for determining monobasic carboxylic acids is described. Carboxylic acids were divided into 3 groups-aliphatic, aromatic, and α-aminocarboxylic acids-based on their behavior in catalytic titrations with different indicator reactions, titrant, and/or solvent and the possibility of their selective determination in the presence of other acids.


In order to study the distribution system of the logistics parks with the support of cloud computing, the paper analyzes the distribution of goods under the conditions of the massive resources and real-time information assisting problem. When the distributed system selecting the paths in massive resource planning for each scheduling, it increases the number of paths selection and reduces transportation costs.. This paper uses the mathematical programming and optimization theory to establish an optimal mathematical model of costs and time for the target path, and introduce the optimal solution of the genetic algorithm. This paper demonstrates through an example application that this model is efficient and embodies the advantages of cloud computing in logistics applications.


8546 Background: The analysis of the cancer genome provides clinically meaningful information such as actionable cancer driver mutations. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) provides a complete mutational landscape at an affordable cost thereby having increase clinical utility compared to the usual approach of targeted panel sequencing (TPS). To understand the capabilities of WGS in oncology, we conducted a study in lung adenocarcinomas. Methods: We produced WGS (surgically resected tumor tissues and matched blood; mean coverage 42x) and TPS (tumor only; SNUH panel encompassing 75 cancer genes; mean coverage 904x) through the Illumina sequencing platform and conducted comprehensive bioinformatic analyses. Oncogenic driver events, including single base substitution (SBS), insertion or deletion (INDEL), complex deletion-insertion, and fusion oncogene, were investigated in both datasets. Lastly, we compared the pattern-based mutational features, such as tumor mutational burden (TMB), mutational signatures, and copy number changes which is associated with genomic instability. Results: In 60 lung adenocarcinomas, the TPS method identified 120 driver mutations from the 75 targeted genes. Of these, 114 mutations were also detected by the WGS method, showing 95.0% sensitivity of WGS in detection of core driver mutations. In uncovered genomic regions by TPS, WGS captured 9 additional driver mutations (such as loss-of-function mutations in PIK3R2, ARID2, and APC) and 37 copy number variations (such as amplification of LMO and SMO, deletion of PIK3R1 and APC) in the cancer genes. TMB calculation is straightforward in WGS however, sophisticated considerations were necessary in TPS for TMB, to remove false positives and germline mutations. TPS showed a good capability for identifying hypermutator tumor samples, but a quantitative estimation was not always feasible due to the substantial background fluctuation, particularly for INDELs. Mutational signatures are unique combinations of mutation types in a given sample, which can give important clues to the mechanism underlying mutations. TPS showed adequate mutational signatures (cosine similarity > 0.7), but was not constantly satisfactory in tumors with high TMB ( > 20,000 genome wide SBS and INDELs). In TPS, approximately 30% of high TMB tumors represented marginal cosine similarity (0.5-0.7), and tobacco smoking related signature (SBS 4) found in WGS was captured only in 50% of the associated cases (9 out of 18). For DNA copy number changes and loss-of-heterozygosity analyses, WGS showed a much higher resolution. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates that WGS has comparable capabilities for the detection of driver mutations in core oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. WGS was superior for pattern-based features, such as TMB, mutational signatures, and copy number changes. WGS is a medically necessary more comprehensive approach to precision oncology.


Due to the volume of multimedia sensed data, a network of Multimedia Internet of Things (MIoT) devices faces various challenging constraints, most notably in terms of communication overhead, power consumption, and memory usage. A set of these MIoT devices is unable to overcome the large data-size challenge via the use of the Lossy Multimedia Compression (LMC) such as JPEG and BPG since they are limited in memory and computation. Instead, in this paper, we propose to down-scale images at MIoT devices with a factor of 2, 3 or ≥ 4, which reduces the memory consumption, computation, and communicated data size and consequently the latency and energy consumption. To recuperate high-quality images, we apply a Deep Learning (DL) denoising/super-resolution model at the server-side. On the other hand, as MIoT devices use a wireless connection, there is a higher risk of transmission packets loss compared to a wired connection. Almost, packets loss are managed through costly data re-transmissions or data redundancy. However, these solutions with intrinsically voluminous data such as the multimedia one are costly, especially for limited MIoT devices. To overcome this challenge, the denoising/super-resolution model did also undergo a training model to retrieve high-quality images from down-scaled erroneous ones. The obtained results show how effective this proposed solution is, especially when it comes to the enhancement of visual quality of down-scaled and erroneous images with minimum communication, latency, and consequently resource overhead.


Using a social constructivist approach to the history of technology, this article examines the jitney-bus phenomenon in urban Canada between 1914 and 1929. These hailed-ride common carriers briefly flourished during the First World War, but were soon suppressed by municipal regulators. Their suppression, though intended to protect public transit from "destructive" competition, in fact weakened it by depriving it of a flexible, speedy alternative to the private automobile. The article explains both the importance of jitneys in a modern context and the reasons for—and the social groups behind—their quick demise in most Canadian cities during the First World War.


The automated detection of tsunamigenic signals at oceanic observation stations is highly desirable for the advancement of current tsunami early warning systems. These are supported with matching methods using large numbers of tsunami wave propagation modeling scenarios. New techniques using real-time scanning of hydrodynamic signals around a network of stations in an open ocean have been developed for the detection of tsunamis. Spectral ratios with respect to background signals and their levels of similarity across stations were investigated. The new developed algorithms will be wrapped as a reporting web service for the TRIDEC tsunami early warning system in the future.


The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of brand image and promotion on consumer loyalty with satisfaction as an intervening variable on tomato plastic bag products. This type of research uses associative research. The data source used is the primary data source. In this study the dependent variable is loyalty (Y), the independent variable is brand image (X1) and promotion (X2), and the intervening variable is consumer satisfaction (Z). The data test in this study consisted of a validity test, a reliability test and a path analysis test. Based on the analysis of the research data, it can be concluded that: 1) Brand Image (X1) and Promotion (X2) affect satisfaction (Z); 2) Brand Image (X1) and Promotion (X2) affect Loyalty (Y); 3) Satisfaction (Z) has an effect on Loyalty (Y); and 4) Brand Image (X1) and Promotion (X2) have an influence on consumer loyalty through consumer satisfaction of Tomato brand Plastic Bag Products.


The genus Rhoadsia is endemic to western Ecuador and northern Peru and includes two described species that differ in body form, size, and the elevations at which they occur. Unfortunately, there is uncertainty about the number of species that should be recognized in the genus and the causes of the morphological variation documented within and between species. We take advantage of a survey of the fish fauna of the Santa Rosa River in southwestern Ecuador that yielded large numbers of Rhoadsia altipinna, to expand knowledge of the ecological, morphological, and genetic variation of this species. Specimens were collected at five sites at elevations between 31 and 613 m above sea level, and each site was sampled in December 2012 and July 2013. Rhoadsia altipinna was the second most abundant species in the Santa Rosa River, was one of only three species collected at all elevations, and was more common in pool mesohabitats than riffle mesohabitats. Geometric morphometric analysis of body shape variation indicated strong sexual dimorphism and allometry, with body depth increasing substantially with size. More interestingly, body depth declined with elevation in the Santa Rosa River. This intraspecific pattern of variation mirrored the interspecific divergence reported between the two recognized species. Lower elevation R. altipinna are known to be deeper bodied than high elevation R. minor. However, specimens of R. minor from the paratype series measured for comparison were still more streamlined than all Santa Rosa R. altipinna examined, including those collected at the highest elevations and juveniles. Although body shape differed significantly between Santa Rosa River R. altipinna and other populations from southwestern Ecuador, the geographic differences appeared small relative to variation attributable to sexual dimorphism and allometry. Finally, sequencing of a fragment of the cytochrome oxidase I gene for samples from the Santa Rosa River and two samples from the neighboring Guayas River drainage failed to recover a monophyletic Santa Rosa lineage. Although haplotype frequencies differed significantly between the Santa Rosa and Guayas River samples, the lack of monophyly and similarity among the haplotypes make the genetic data more consistent with divergence of geographically isolated populations within a single species than with interspecific divergence. Further analysis of morphological and genetic variation throughout the range of the genus will help elucidate its ecological and evolutionary dynamics.


This is an action research study focussing on Second level schools in Ireland. The research is carried out in two separate schools, one a Fifth Year Leaving Certificate higher mathematics class (senior class), and a Junior Certificate learning support class (junior class). The aim of the research is to see if podcasts can improve the learning and motivation of the students.

Podcasts were made available to the senior class and students completed a research diary each time they listened to the podcasts. The diary noted any changes in student behaviour during the study. The areas focussed on were, study patterns, cognitive learning outcomes and the students' motivation and "learning to learn". Learning preferences were studied to see if the use of podcasts were associated with aural learning styles.

The study of the Junior Certificate class focussed on the students themselves creating podcasts. There were various levels of literacy difficulties in the class. The students' motivation was monitored by questionnaire based on Keller's ARCS motivational model. The results of their work both written and a podcast was assessed using rubrics to see if there were any differences in quality and content. Teacher logs were use to get teachers views of the study and its effects.

The results show podcasts had little effect on motivation of the senior class but cognitive outcomes of podcasts as a study resource and as a source for consolidation was considered good. The study helped to highlight problems with the use podcasts in the current Leaving Certificate system.

The junior study found that creating podcasts have significant motivational appeal and the use of podcast substantially helped students with literacy difficulties. The study was very positive in many respects and podcasts will continue to be used by the teachers with this class. Modifications on their use will be made to suite the circumstances on an ongoing basis.


insurance liabilities and the stochastic processes generating losses. It is assumed the insurer collects premiums at the beginning of the period equal to the expected loss. Capital is therefore required to cover the actual losses in excess of the expected value. The computations are basically applications of the law of large numbers and the central limit theorem. Cummins assumes a normal distribution, although he properly states that comparable results are available for a wider range of distributions. Cummins shows that, when the risks are identically and independently distributed (i.i.d.), the required capital per policy approaches zero as the number of individual policies approaches infinity. In contrast, when the risks are correlated, some amount of capital is required even in the limit as the number of risks approaches infinity. Cummins reasonably interprets this as meaning that catastrophic risks, which sensibly imply correlated risks, require more capital than do independent risks. I think it important to add that fat-tailed distributions raise an even more distinctive issue, which may help explain why most catastrophe insurance lines are generally not offered by private insurers. A key property of fat-tailed distributions is that the benefits of diversification may not arise. For example, let an insurer start with a portfolio consisting of just one catastrophic risk, say risk A. Now suppose the insurer decides to diversify by creating a portfolio with one-half risk A and one-half risk B. Remarkably, the risk exposure of the portfolio may actually rise, contrary to the normal case of diversification benefits. The intuAGENDA F irst, the conference planners must be complemented for their foresight to put catastrophe insurance on the agenda for this conference, long before Hurricane Katrina crashed into New Orleans. As Katrina illustrates, the problems affecting catastrophe insurance in the United States are taking on, well, catastrophic proportions. Major changes are required in how the government intervenes in each of the major catastrophic risks—earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, and terrorism. Turning to the task at hand, it is always a pleasure and enlightening to read a paper by David Cummins (2006). This one is no exception. My comments follow the lines of David's paper, taking up these topics in turn:


Objectives: The purpose of this study is to compare the results of revascularization in a critically ischaemic limb due to infragenicular arterial diseases, using either the conventional bypass operations or endovascular revascularization. Methods: Over a period from December 2010 and May 2012, forty patients suffering from limb-threatening ischaemia were included in this study; all of the patients had peripheral arterial disease falling into Fontaine III & IV categories. All patients had extensive infrapopliteal disease (TASC type C&D). All patients had a good run off at the posterior tibial, anterior tibial or dorsalis pedis. The patients were divided into group A treated by PD bypass surgery and group B treated by endovascular management. Results: The primary patency rate of group A at 6 months and one year was 77% and 65% respectively, with limb salvage rate 80% after one year follow up. In group B the primary patency rate at 6 months and one year was 65% and 60% respectively, with limb salvage rate 75% after one year follow up. Conclusions: PD bypass has primary success rate and limb salvage rates higher than infragenicular PTA that might be due to our still growing experience in PTA.


An inventive method for automatically computing a maximum pulse length of a non-selective excitation pulse for a pulse sequence in which during the irradiating of the non-selective excitation pulse at the same gradient are connected, comprising the steps of: - loading a first parameter which indicates the in the measurement, for which the pulse length of the excitation pulse is to be maximized, desired field of view (FOV), - loading a second parameter which specifies the maximum gradient (G - calculating the maximum pulse length of the excitation pulse based on the first and second parameters. By maximizing the pulse length, the SAR exposure of the object under examination, which is examined by means of a pulse sequence whose pulse length was calculated according to the invention decreases.


Scholars have become increasingly fascinated with cross-cultural approaches to various disciplines in order to understand the concept of globalization. However, a joint historical and comparative approach to gender equity education in China and India is adopted much less in the academic world. This article aims to fill this lacuna by looking at both countries across time and culture in order to develop a holistic perspective. It argues that both countries are optimistically targeting "greater" gender equality in education. The rate of progress in each country varies in accordance with the influences of the country's own patriarchal system, cultural and gender beliefs, and efforts to change such beliefs. It concludes that China better performs at achieving gender equality in education than India.


Objective To explore the clinical effect of Theophylline Sustained-release Tablet combined with tiotropium in the treatment of stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD), and to analyze its effects on pulmonary function and airway remodeling. Methods Stable COPD patients(90 cases) were selected from April to October 2013 for the study, which were divided into control(43 cases) and treatment(47 cases) groups. The patients in the control group were po administered with Theophylline Sustained-release Tablets, 0.1 g/time, once every 12 h; The patients in the treatment group were administered with tiotropium on the basis of the control group, 1 grain/time, once daily. The patients in the two groups were treated for 2 months. After the treatment, forced expiratory volume in one second(FEV1), FEV1 percentage of expected value(FEV1%Pred), and FEV1/forced vital capacity(FVC) were evaluated before and after the treatment of the patients in the two groups. Respiratory questionnaire(SGRQ) was adopted to assess the quality of life, and 6 min walking distance(6MWD) was applied to the observation on the changes of exercise endurance of the patients in the two groups. The levels of matrix metalloproteinases-9(MMP-9) and interleukin-8(IL-8) in sputum were detected before and after the treatment. Results After the treatment, FEV1, FEV1%Pred, and FEV1/FVC of the patients in the two groups were higher than those before treatment, and the difference had statistical significance(P 0.05). After the treatment, FEV1, FEV1%Pred, and FEV1/FVC of the patients in the treatment group were higher than those of the patients in the control group, and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant(P 0.05). After the treatment, 6MWD of the patients in the two groups was higher than that before the treatment, and that of the patients in the treatment group was higher than that of the patients in the control group with the significant difference(P 0.05). After the treatment, SGRQ, MMP-9, IL-8 of the patients in the two groups were decreased more than those before the treatment, and the difference had statistical significance(P 0.05). After the treatment, SGRQ, MMP-9, IL-8 of the patients in the treatment group dropped off more sharply than those of the pateints in the control group, and the difference of the patients between the two groups was statistically significant(P 0.05). Conclusion There is significant effect of Theophylline Sustained-release Tablets combined with tiotropium in the treatment of stable COPD, which could improve the pulmonary function and airway remodeling in patients. Theophylline Sustained-release Tablets combined with tiotropium is worthy of clinical popularization and application.


Using the method of commutative algebra, we show that the set $\mathfrak{R}$ of nilpotent elements of a vertex algebra $V$ forms an ideal, and $V/\mathfrak{R}$ has no nonzero nilpotent elements.


Abstract Groups of basking sharks engaged in circling behaviour are rarely observed, and their function remains enigmatic in the absence of detailed observations. Here, underwater and aerial video recordings of multiple circling groups of basking sharks during late summer (August and September 2016–2021) in the eastern North Atlantic Ocean showed groups numbering between 6 and 23 non‐feeding individuals of both sexes. Sharks swam slowly in a rotating "torus" (diameter range: 17–39 m), with individuals layered vertically from the surface to a maximum depth of 16 m. Within a torus, sharks engaged in close‐following, echelon, close‐flank approach or parallel‐swimming behaviours. Measured shark total body lengths were 5.4–9.5 m (mean L T: 7.3 m ± 0.9 s.d.; median: 7.2 m, n = 27), overlapping known lengths of sexually mature males and females. Males possessed large claspers with abrasions that were also observed on female pectoral fins. Female body colouration was paler than that of males, similar to colour changes observed during courtship and mating in other shark species. Individuals associated with most other members rapidly (within minutes), indicating toroidal behaviours facilitate multiple interactions. Sharks interacted through fin–fin and fin–body contacts, rolling to expose the ventral surfaces to following sharks, and breaching behaviour. Toruses formed in late summer when feeding aggregations in zooplankton‐rich thermal fronts switched to non‐feeding following and circling behaviours. Collectively, the observations explain a courtship function for toruses. This study highlights northeast Atlantic coastal waters as a critical habitat supporting courtship reproductive behaviour of endangered basking sharks, the first such habitat identified for this species globally.


Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a genetic substance that brings heredity factor. DNA consist of four bases, which are adenine, timine, guanine, and citosine. Each base is symbolized by A, T, G, and C. There are coding and noncoding regions in DNA data. Coding region (called exon) is a DNA region that's useful to describe heredity factor. Many methods can be used to determine coding region in DNA data, one of them is by using Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT). Simulation using DFT is performed by entering the algoritm similarities into Matlab language program. The purpose of simulation are to predict exon length, to get the value of optimized spectral and to get the value of exon total power spectral. Optimized spectral is useful to identify exon position in DNA data. The results of simulation reveal that the total power spectral value of exon is proportional to N-point DFT value for each DNA sequence and the optimized spectral value of DNA is also proportional to quantity of exon bases and exon length. Optimized spectral value reaches maximum for more quantity of exon bases and more length of exon than when optimized spectral value reaches minimum. Keywords: deoxyribonucleic acid, exon, optimized spectral, total power spectral.


This works presents an innovative application of Markov Decision Process (MDP) to a medium-term mining logistics planning problem considering the mine-to-client supply chain. We implemented three distinct algorithms based on state-of-the-art approaches to solve large-scale problems, and compared their results. Furthermore, we combined all three variants in a single novel algorithm that attained fast convergence and may be an alternative to circumvent the curse of dimensionality underlying large scale problems.


We develop the noncooperative game with individual pricing for the general multiple access channel (MAC) system without successive interference cancellation (SIC). Each user allocates its own power by optimizing the individual utility function with clever price adaptation. We show that by the proposed prices, the best response (BR) power allocation of each user converges rapidly. The individual prices are proposed such that the Shannon rate-based quality-of-service (QoS) requirement of each user is achieved at the unique Nash equilibrium (NE) point. We analyse different behavior types of the users, especially the malicious behavior and the resulting NE power allocation and achievable rates of all the users with malicious users. We illustrate the convergence of the BR dynamic and the Price of Malice (PoM) by numerical simulations.


Foreword to the Revised Edition. Preface. Fundamental Concepts. Introduction to Waves. Some Theorems and Concepts. Plane Wave Functions. Cylindrical Wave Functions. Spherical Wave Functions. Perturbational and Variational Techniques. Microwave Networks. Appendix A: Vector Analysis. Appendix B: Complex Permittivities. Appendix C: Fourier Series and Integrals. Appendix D: Bessel Functions. Appendix E: Legendre Functions. Bibliography. Index.


The Uniform Accountancy Act (UAA) is the product of a joint effort by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. It is intended to serve as a model for public accountancy legislation by the individual states, and is designed to protect the public interest, promote high professional standards, and advance the goal of uniformity across jurisdictions. In response to growing dissatisfaction with the current status of professional accountancy regulation, the UAA was substantially revised in 1998. Based on existing rationales for governmental involvement in occupational licensing, we assess whether selected changes reflected in the revised UAA are consistent with its stated public interest objective. We conclude that many, but not all, of these changes are in the public interest. Based on an economic theory of regulation, the paper also examines the likelihood that the states will adopt the proposed changes. Because the CPA profession is w...


This study provides a strategic framework for Chinese companies to assess their global readiness and identify innovative ways to move up the global value chains in their respective industries. At the same time, foreign companies - whether active in China or not will benefit from this study by factoring our insights into the formulation of their business strategies. China has 43 companies in the Fortune Global 500 list in 2009, up from 11 in 2002 and 16 in 2004. The value of overseas acquisitions completed by Chinese companies doubled in 2008, and 2009 has already seen a succession of highly ambitious bids. Chinese companies are looking to make a global impact and achieve high performance.


Along with the competition for talent intensifying,more and more enterprises start to use the broad band salary pattern to attract the talented persons.No doubt,the broad band salary has many merits,but many enterprises have entered the erroneous zone in the implementation process.This thesis has analyzed the flaws of the broad band salary from the aspects of satisfying the employees' demands,exterior competitiveness of the salary,and the achievements management and so on,and proposes the effective process of the broad band salary pattern,finally puts forward the effective flow of broad band salary as a reference for enterprises.


For efficient business continuance and backup of mission- critical data an inter-site storage network is required. Where traditional telecommunications costs are prohibitive for all but the largest organizations, there is an opportunity for regional carries to deliver an innovative storage service. This session reveals how a combination of optical networking and protocol-aware SAN gateways can provide an extended storage networking platform with the lowest cost of ownership and the highest possible degree of reliability, security and availability. Companies of every size, with mainframe and open-systems environments, can afford to use this integrated service. Three mayor applications are explained; channel extension, Network Attached Storage (NAS), Storage Area Networks (SAN) and how optical networks address the specific requirements. One advantage of DWDM is the ability for protocols such as ESCON, Fibre Channel, ATM and Gigabit Ethernet, to be transported natively and simultaneously across a single fiber pair, and the ability to multiplex many individual fiber pairs over a single pair, thereby reducing fiber cost and recovering fiber pairs already in use. An optical storage network enables a new class of service providers, Storage Service Providers (SSP) aiming to deliver value to the enterprise by managing storage, backup, replication and restoration as an outsourced service.


ABSTRACT
 We describe two new macraucheniid litopterns from the late middle Miocene (ca. 13 Ma) Quebrada Honda Fauna of southern Bolivia. The holotype of 'Theosodon' arozquetai, sp. nov., is a partial cranium preserving RI2-M3 and LP1-M3, elements of the hind limb, and two metapodials. An upper cheek tooth series is also referred to this species. The holotype of Llullataruca shockeyi, gen. et sp. nov., is a mandible preserving nearly the entire lower dentition. A dentary, several upper teeth, and a variety of postcranial elements are also referred to this species. Two specimens from the slightly older locality of Cerdas, Bolivia, are assigned to L. cf. shockeyi. A phylogenetic analysis recovers 'T.' arozquetai as sister to Theosodon spp., and we provisionally refer it to that genus pending its revision. Llullataruca shockeyi forms a polytomy with three late Oligocene-early Miocene 'cramaucheniines' and the later-diverging macraucheniids. The body mass of 'T.' arozquetai is estimated at 80.8-116.2 kg, slightly smaller than early Miocene T. garretorum. Llullataruca shockeyi is among the smallest known macraucheniids based on dental dimensions and is estimated at 35.3-54.6 kg. Theosodon' arozquetai and L. shockeyi are the first well-characterized macraucheniids from the middle Miocene, and the latter species demonstrates that relatively early-diverging lineages persisted at least 7 million years longer in tropical latitudes than they did in Patagonia.


Abstract Kriging is a spatial prediction method that is core to the geo-statistical paradigm. Commonly applied in the environmental sciences, it enables a prediction at an unsampled location coupled with a measure of confidence in its accuracy. Many variations of kriging exist, some of them complex, especially those that allow many parameters to vary spatially. Calibrating such a kriging model and interpreting its results can therefore be quite daunting. We suggest that visualization and visual exploration can help with this task. In particular, we focus on the moving-window kriging model, evaluating three newly developed robust variants of this model against a basic counterpart. We use star icon maps and plots to visually explore model results to evaluate model parameterization, specification, and performance.