Recent research points to the fact that sex offender registration has collateral consequences for those who are placed on the registry. Little is known about female sex offenders, particularly their thoughts about what will happen to them once they are released from prison. This study adds to what is known about sex offender perceptions of the registry. Forty-one incarcerated female sex offenders were interviewed to assess their perceptions of what they would face once released and returned to the community including their potential placement on the sex offender registry. Results indicate that female sex offenders believed they would face challenges in housing and employment and were fearful of being stigmatized as 'sexual predators' regardless of their actual conviction. In contrast, the women were hopeful that they could have positive family relationships. Study implications and limitations are also discussed.


Back propagation neural network is one of the extensively applied multilayer feedforward neural network in artificial neural net-work.Basic principle of BP algorithm is analyzed firstly,then some defects such as slow convergence rate and getting into local minimum in BP Algorithm are pointed out,and the root of the defects is presented.Finally,in view of these limitations,several methods such as genetic al-gorithm and simulated annealing algorithm etc.are led to optimize BP algorithm.Simulation Experiment results show that these methods in-crease efficiently the convergence performance of BP algorithm and avoid local minimum.The Chinese character recognition system is real-ized as a result of the use of improved BP networks.Experimental results show that the system based on the improved BP algorithms can suc-cessfully overcome obstacles out of the complexity of the Chinese characters' structures,and of difficulties to foresee written forms' changes.


Photo-mediated ultrasound therapy (PUT) is a novel technique using combined laser and ultrasound to generate enhanced cavitation activity inside blood vessels. The stresses produced by oscillating bubbles during PUT are believed to be responsible for the induced bio-effects in blood vessels. However, the magnitudes of these stresses are unclear. In this study, a two-dimensional axisymmetric finite element method-based numerical model was developed to investigate the oscillating bubble-produced shear and circumferential stresses during PUT. The results showed that increased stresses on the vessel wall were produced during PUT as compared with ultrasound-alone. For a 50-nm radius bubble in a 50-μm radius blood vessel, the produced circumferential and shear stresses were in the range of 100 kPa–400 kPa and 10 Pa–100 Pa, respectively, during PUT with the ultrasound frequency of 1 MHz, ultrasound amplitude of 1400 kPa–1550 kPa, and laser fluence of 20 mJ/cm2, whereas the circumferential and shear stresses produced with ultrasound-alone were less than 2 kPa and 1 Pa, respectively, using the same ultrasound parameters. In addition, the produced stresses increased when the ultrasound pressure and laser fluence were increased but decreased when the ultrasound frequency and vessel size were increased. For bubbles with a radius larger than 100 nm, however, the stresses produced during PUT were similar to those produced during ultrasound-alone, indicating the effect of the laser was only significant for small bubbles.


In this paper, acceleration motion of a single vertically falling non-spherically particle in incompressible Newtonian fluid is investigated. The acceleration motion of vertically falling non-spherical particles in the fluid such as water can be described by the force balance equation (Basset-Boussinesq-Ossen equation).The main difficulty in the solution of this equation lies in the nonlinear term due to the nonlinearity nature of the drag coefficient. The settling velocity was calculated by using the Diagonal Pade' Approximant method and Varinational Iteration method (VIM). The results were also compared with fourth order RungeKutta method(R-K 4 th order) to verify the accuracy of the above methods. It was shown that the velocity results are same when t∈[0,1] and from t>1, Diagonal Pade' approximation method can lead more accurate results as compared to VIM. Acceleration motion of single particle is shown in fig.4. In short time particle changing its velocity by a varying amount but t>3 sec. particle does not change its velocity (acceleration is zero)i.e. after 3 sec particle is not accelerating . it attains its highest velocity. To obtain the results for all different methods, the symbolic calculus software MATLAB is used. Keywords-Acceleration motion, Diagonal Pade' approximation method, non-spherical particle and Varinational Iteration method (VIM).


The loading system of the existing hydraulic motor performance test platform is complicated, the interference is too much, and it is not suitable to measure the hydraulic motor noise level. In this paper, a new platform for measuring the sound pressure level of the hydraulic motor noise is designed. It satisfies the requirement of simplification and less interference in other parts of the noise test except for the test object and ensures the accuracy of test results. This paper firstly introduces the hydraulic system and its principle, calculates the relations of the flow, pressure and power theoretically and verifies them with AMEsim. Then the control part, mechanical structure and semi-anechoic room of the hydraulic system are introduced and the method in the noise experiment is also explained. Finally, the noise level of a bent-axis type hydraulic piston motor is measured in the semi-anechoic room. The background noise and hydraulic motor noise under different conditions are tested by the Danish BK acoustic test system to verify the functionality and stability of the test platform and the noise spectrum, the efficiency of hydraulic system and the effect of the power recovery are analyzed.


The presence of anoxia and hypoxia in bottom waters is regularly observed in salt wedge riverine estuaries. The extent of oxygen depletion depends both on physical circulation patterns and biogeochemical processes such as organic matter mineralization, photosynthesis and sediment oxygen demand. Over the past decade, reduced flows in the Swan-Avon River catchments have led to reduced flushing of nutrients and organic matter in the Swan-Canning estuarine system in Western Australia (WA), and more intense stratification that has been able to penetrate further upstream. As a result, hypoxia and anoxia in the upper reaches is a now a persistent management challenge due to detrimental effects on estuarine biodiversity and overall amenity and health of the river. As part of a multi-pronged strategy to tackle the problem of eutrophication in the estuary, several oxygenation plants have been installed in the upper reaches of the river that use micro-diffusers to re-oxygenate anoxic and hypoxic waters. In this study we have aimed to simulate oxygen dynamics and assess the overall efficiency of the oxygenation plants through development of a finite volume coupled hydrodynamic – biogeochemical model of the Upper Swan estuary (Figure 1). The model accurately captured the saltwedge dynamics and extent and severity of hypoxia and anoxia. The model has been used to explore budgets of oxygen and nutrients for different plant operational regimes, and has allowed us to define the spatiotemporal benefit of these scenarios. The results are used to inform the most cost effective way to achieve the desired improvements in river habitat.


Soil solarization has been used in regions and periods with high temperature and solar radiation availability. In cooler periods, however, this method is not effective in the open field, but may be improved inside closed glass and plastic greenhouses. In this study, the raise in soil temperature by using a low plastic tunnel to cover solarized soil to intensify soil heating was evaluated in the Central Region of the Rio Grande do Sul State, South Brazil. The effect of soil solarization on carrot yield was evaluated as well. On the average, maximum temperature in solarized soil under low tunnel was 5.2°C and 4.1°C in Summer and 5.3°C and 5.1°C in Fall, higher than usually solarized soil at 2 cm and 5 cm depths. A significant increase in carrot yield resulted by solarization, even in the absence of known pathogens.


Particle simulations of stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) are presented in which stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) also occurs. Frequency spectra of forward and backscattered light are compared for various ratios of ion mass to electron mass. SBS is seen to weaken the SRS backscattering in all cases in which the plasma density profile includes the quarter‐critical density. For cases in which the plasma density remains below quarter‐critical, the SRS backscattering is not strongly affected by the SBS. In long‐scale length, quarter‐critical density cases for which mi/me=400, large amplitude density perturbations grow and persist.


Summary form only given. Inside of working PDPs, there exist highly reactive conditions in the gap between two glass panels. Accordingly, reactive species generated by plasma collide each other and the wall of the plates. In fabricating process, front and rear panel are sealed with a glass frit, followed by baking and charging with gas. The inside surface of panel starts to change after turning on the PDP and applying plasma in each cell. In order to achieve a stable discharge condition, a period of time is necessary. This final step of manufacturing is called an aging process. For reducing the time of process, it is important to understand the physical and chemical changes of inner surface of the panel and composition change of inside gas during the aging process. We designed an in-situ analysis system for 7-inch test panel prepared by each fabrication process. Test panels with various aging time are also introduce to the UHV system. The panels are disassembled by wobble sticks and transferred analysis chambers to investigate the changes. We examine the surfaces mainly by using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and atomic force microscope (AFM).


A study has been carried out into sources of consumer health information available in the UK, with particular emphasis on the use of electronic sources of health information As part of this latter aim, the research has entailed an investigation of the Internet to identify the types of health information available. This paper discusses briefly the sources of health information that are available to the public, focusing on electronic information sources, and then presents the results from the search of the Internet for health information. (The links presented were correct at the time of going to press but, as with the nature of the Internet, some links may change.) The facilities available on the Internet which were used to guide the search are presented. Twenty major health information sites were identified and examples of the types of subjects presented at each site are given. The information found is judged for its suitability for the consumer or professional. In conclusion, the usefulness of the Internet as a health information source is considered.


Automatic navigation system for agricultural vehicles have become a widely used technology in precision agriculture over the last few decades. More and more sophisticated tractor control systems, however, revealed that exact positioning of the actual implement is equally or even more important. Based on literature sources and patent databases, the aim of this review is to introduce implement guidance systems and describe its current application in agricultural implement. Agricultural implement guidance is an essential technology for autonomous vehicle operations. In addition, applications and new technologies associated with navigation sensors on passive and active implement guidance are analyzed. Finally, challenges and future perspectives of agricultural implement systems are summarized and forecasted. This study can enrich the application of automatic navigation sensors on agricultural implements and provide a reference for the application of automatic navigation on more field operations.


This case study is an in-depth examination of how Erika (a pseudonym) interpreted and understood her genetic test results for breast cancer susceptibility. Her experience is presented in the form of a biography, which was built from key passages retrieved from the semi structured interview the author conducted at Erika's home. The interview data showed that Erika's interpretation and understanding of her inconclusive test results were embedded in her own and her family's experiences with breast cancer. Her interpretation of her test results was influenced by perception of risk for future breast cancers for herself and her family, as well as from the continued etiological uncertainty of her current breast cancer. Although unfinished, Erika's experience of receiving inconclusive genetic test results for breast cancer susceptibility provides examples of possible universal themes within the experience of others who receive


2. Rossignol JF, El-Gohary YM. Nitazoxanide in the treatment of viral gastroenteritis: a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial. Aliment Pharmacol Ther 2006; 24:1423–30. 3. Siddiq DM, Koo HL, Adachi JA, Viola GM. Norovirus gastroenteritis successfully treated with nitazoxanide. J Infect 2011; 63:394–7. 4. Rossignol JF, Lopez-Chegne N, Julcamoro LM, Carrion ME, Bardin MC. Nitazoxanide for the empiric treatment of pediatric infectious diarrhea. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 2012; 106:167–73. 5. Kempf B, Edgar JD, Mc Caughey C, Devlin LA. Nitazoxanide is an ineffective treatment of chronic norovirus in patients with X-linked agammaglobulinemia and may yield false-negative polymerase chain reaction findings in stool specimens. J Infect Dis 2017; 215:486–7. 6. Thorne L, Goodfellow I. Reply to Kempf et al. J Infect Dis 2017; 215:487–8. 7. Chang KO, Sosnovtsev SV, Belliot G, King AD, Green KY. Stable expression of a Norwalk virus RNA replicon in a human hepatoma cell line. Virology 2006; 353:463–73. 8. Wobus CE, Karst SM, Thackray LB, et al. Replication of norovirus in cell culture reveals a tropism for dendritic cells and macrophages. PLoS Biol 2004; 2:e432. 9. Rossignol JF, La Frazia S, Chiappa L, Ciucci A, Santoro MG. Thiazolides, a new class of anti-influenza molecules targeting viral hemagglutinin at the post-translational level. J Biol Chem 2009; 284:29798–808. 10. Karst SM, Baric RS. What is the reservoir of emergent human norovirus strains? J Virol 2015; 89:5756–9.


An approach to modeling multiphase flow of a gas-liquid compressible mixture taking into account the liberation and dissolution of gas is considered. Approach is based on an implicit pressure calculation using the finite element method and explicit phase transport. A computational scheme for modeling the processes of gas component transfer between oil and gas phases based on the known pressure dependence of the gas factor is described. In the considered approach the changes of phases volume appearing during the flow process are taken into account in the right-hand side of the equation used for pressure calculation. An iterative method for solving the obtained nonlinear boundary value problem for pressure calculation is described. This method based on the linearization of the pressure dependence of phases volume changes in the right-hand sides of the equation and boundary conditions. The verification of the proposed method is carried out on a test problem from the comparative project SPE-1. At each time step it takes an average of two nonlinearity iterations. The resulting plots of well data and gas phase distribution data are in good agreement with the results of the SPE-1 project participants.


Models for unitary air conditioners and heat pumps typically have difficulties in providing accurate predictions for the following situations: 1) charge modeling over a large range of charge levels, 2) two-phase refrigerant entering fixed-orifice expansion devices, 3) two-phase refrigerant entering compressors, and 4) non-uniform refrigerant mass flow allocation among evaporator circuits at low indoor air flow rates. This paper provides a detailed evaluation of the impact of non-uniform refrigerant mass flow allocation among evaporator circuits on performance predictions. In addition, it gives brief descriptions and overall assessments of improved modeling methodologies for the other three issues. The study utilizes data obtained from extensive testing at a wide range of operating conditions for two R-410A units and one R-407C unit.


Research Aims: The study aim is to explore value proposition creation from the perspectives of non-bus transportation services and to investigate the factors in customer perceived value, especially functional value (operations, facilities, professionalism, and price), that influence purchase intention from customers' perspectives. Design/methodology/approach: This mixed methods study used personal interviews, participant observation, and a survey to collect the data. Then, we conducted exploratory case study by using organisational level logic model as a qualitative analysis technique. Finally, we used regression for hypothesis testing of the quantitative section. Research Findings: The results indicated that non-bs transportation services should give extra efforts to build great value propositions to meet customer needs. The interview and participant observation results on non-bus transportation service providers' perspectives showed that that two providers studied have different strategies to create strong value propositions. The survey results on customers' perspectives showed that all aspects of functional value (operations, facilities, professionalism, and price) significantly influence purchase intention. Thus, those two perspectives do not completely align. Theoretical Contribution/Originality: The integrated framework of customer value proposition created by firms and customer perceived value, which was empirically tested in this study, showed that superior value proposition can be achieved where there is a feedback loop between these two perspectives. Managerial Implications in the Southeast Asian context: Managers have to consider not only the individual aspects of price competitiveness and comfort of services as value propositions but also the integration of facilities and professionalism to build perceived value through value propositions in intercity non-bus transportation services in Southeast Asian contexts. Research limitations and implications: This study had only two variables (functional value and purchase intentions). Functional value had four sub-variables (operations, facilities, professionalism, and price) as independent variables. Other variables could influence purchase intention for non-bus transportation service providers.


The design of a control chart requires the specification of three decision variables, namely the sample size, n, the sampling interval, h, and the action limit under which the process must be stopped for potential repair. In this paper, the Bayesian attribute control chart, namely the np chart for short run production, using a variable sample size is discussed. In a simulated experiment, optimal solutions of the static np chart, the basic Bayesian np chart, and the Bayesian scheme with adaptive sample size are presented. Results of the empirical study show that varying the sample size leads to more cost savings compared with the other two approaches. In order to detect how the input parameters affect decision variables, a regression analysis is conducted. It is obtained that the benefits of using the basic Bayesian np chart and the Bayesian chart with adaptive sample size instead of the static scheme are affected by the length of the production run. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Microwave ultrasonic attentuation measurements have been made on single crystals of topaz, beryl, and tourmaline, and all are found to exhibit very low losses. The room‐temperature attenuation coefficients are consistent with the Akhiezer mechanism which arises from interactions between the ultrasonic wave and the thermal‐phonon assembly.


Etc. The present invention App Store (Application Store) as contained in or relating to the content open licensing system and method that can be linked to, and more particularly, to a character or scenario to be used for application developers to develop applications for the App Store app thing of the open-licensing system and method that allows you easily get the license to use the content The present invention provides a content open licensing system that can be included or linked to the app store, can be reserved with the program developer selects the content and provide the user interface to enter the conditions, and the content copyright holder their contents license permitting conditions in which you can enter content licensing permit means that you can search the registered content licensing information retrieval means, a program developer license management means for managing the license purchase request means for receiving permits the licensing of the content, the signed license cases , compliance with the terms and conditions for the examination of compliance with the license permit conditions for application developers to develop screening means, application management means, calculated the revenue share amount to divide the amount of revenue with content copyright owners resulting from the application for the management of the development application and Acid unit, and includes a license expiration date calculating means for notification by calculating the license expiry date, and wherein the content copyright holders and content and the identifier of the developer authorized licenses in the content and the applications developer to develop for storing so as to correspond to each other including a storage means


Correlation of esophageal manometry and 24-h ambulatory pH motoring with endoscopic and histological changes in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease


ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to find out the ways to supplement the Census, the digital maps, and their integration in comparison with the U.S. Census and the TIGER file and in light of their usefulness for urban and environmental analysis in Korea. Recommendations in this study are: ① to include questions on household income and housing price in the Census, ② to implement a 1~5% sampling survey similar to PUMS in the U.S. Census, ③ to make the Census Tract as a minimum size unit of analysis through subdivision of current Eup, Myon, and Dong into 5~10 smaller units, and ④ to utilize the 1:5,000 scale digital maps completed by the Korea National Geographic Institute for the fast and efficient activation of digital maps instead of producing 1:1,000 or 1:1,200 scale digital maps through each city's effort.KEYWORDS: Census, Digital Map, TIGER, PUMS, Census Tract 1998년 7월 31일 접수 Received on July 31, 1998 1 한동대학교 건설도시환경공학부 School of Construction and Urban Environmental Engineering, Handong University (firstname.lastname@example.com) * 본 연구는 1997년도 한국학술진흥재단 대학부설연구소과제 연구비에 의하여 연구되었음.


Wright's article has two themes running through it: a discussion of the meaning of De Manneville and a history of custody in England from medieval times onward set against historians' theories of family development. Comment on her article then is best divided into two parts. I begin with her wide-ranging history, for here she makes an indisputable contribution to women's history that needs only notice and emphasis.


Lead is present everywhere in the environment and has been defined as one of the greatest threats to the
human health. In this paper, attempts have been made to study a way of recycling the lead produced from
waste usage and disposed of in such a way as to avoid degrading the surrounding environment. In order to
contain the waste, recycled asphalt material is mixed with the lead and then heated with microwave energy.
This is an attempt to solidify and reduce the lead contaminants and use the final product as sub-base material
in road pavement construction. The microwave heating of the specimens is carried out with 30%, 50%, 80%
and 100% of power at 800W. The optimum power mode is used to compare with the conventional heating of
asphalt with sulfur additive. The results are characterized by compact density, permeability, and subjected to
toxicity test with regards to lead concentration. A mechanical test to evaluate the stability is also performed on
the three methods of solidification and to prove that microwave zapping method allow to convert into an
environmentally stable material for recycling without having to be deposited in a landfill site.


Habitat quality is the key to regional ecological restoration and green development, and land use change is an essential factor affecting habitat quality. Studying the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of land use change and habitat quality under multiple scenarios is significant for regional ecological restoration and management, and for preventing future ecological and environmental risks. We used the improved Logistic-CA-Markov (Logistic-Cellular Automata-Markov) and InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs) models to establish the spatial patterns of habitat quality in the Yellow River Basin from 2000 to 2040 and analyzed the characteristics of land use and habitat quality changes under scenarios of natural development (S1), ecological protection (S2), and urban expansion (S3). The results showed that in 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020, the main land use types in the watershed were dryland and grassland, accounting for more than 72%. Paddy land, dryland, woodland, middle-coverage grassland, and unused land all showed decreasing trends, whereas all other land types showed increasing trends. Influenced by human activities and the environment, the watershed habitat quality was low, with 80% of the areas with middle to low grades, but the overall trend was rising. The spatial variability in habitat quality of the watershed was significant, with habitat quality improvements in the central and northern regions and continued deterioration around the cities in the southern and western parts. The spatial autocorrelation and aggregation of habitat quality in the watershed were strong, and future land use patterns in the study area had a significant relationship with human activities. Simulation of future scenarios revealed ecological conservation catalytic effects on habitat quality in the study area, whereas urban expansion deteriorated watershed habitat quality. This study could provide support for future ecological conservation decisions.


We present a fast and robust sparse time-invariant Radon transform (RT) in the mixed frequency-time domain. In the proposed method, the 2D alternating split Bregman algorithm is introduced to solve the optimization problem. Two proximity operators are applied to promote the robustness and sparseness of the RT in the time domain, while the forward and inverse RTs are computed in the frequency domain. With high efficiency and easy implementation, the proposed method is resistant to the outliers. The synthetic and real data examples demonstrate the better performance of the proposed method when applied on the noise-contaminated data, compared with the traditional non-robust RTs.


Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are endorsed as means to support efficient data collection from wireless sensor networks due to their flexibility and agility. However, the limited battery capacity of the UAVs becomes a bottleneck to the applications on many occasions, especially the networks deployed on the vast land. To this end, we consider a multi-UAV assisted data collection framework and propose a synchronized network to handle the energy issue, in which a truck carrying backup batteries moves together with the UAVs, acting as a "mobile charging station". Our goal is to minimize the total mission time for data collection from all the sensor nodes. We first develop a clustering algorithm to divide the region of interest into multiple clusters in a load-balanced way so as to minimize the number of movements of the UAVs, then formulate the trajectory optimization task as a coordinated multiple traveling salesman problem which is heuristically solved by a utilization-balancing trajectory planning algorithm. Numerical results indicate that our proposed scheme can effectively find the trajectories for the truck and UAVs. Moreover, our proposal sheds light on how to design a high-efficient and practical way for data gathering from large-scale wireless sensor networks.


Constituting the color image of the subject in a specific color, a specific color value of the pixel extracted at target pixel positions from the first viewpoint of the first color image data corresponding to a viewpoint, the third viewpoint and the second viewpoint and the corresponding first two viewpoint color image data and color image data extracting third viewpoint color image data of each pixel value of the first color component and second color component, is calculated in the following manner to obtain new viewpoint color image data of the second specific color a difference between pixel values of a specific color pixel value, i.e., such that the determined new second view of a particular color and color image data of a first viewpoint, the first color component with respect to the color image data of a second viewpoint the second color component of the pixel value difference between pixel values of the first color component pixel value and the third viewpoint color image data, and a second color component of the color image data of the second viewpoint and the third viewpoint color image data and holding a difference between the correlation between the pixel values.


being positioned by the window in the envelope. In order to include all questions desired in the door-to-door (or home) survey, it was necessary to prepare two "envelopes." The procedure was as follows: the interviewer would insert a blank tabulating card designed for mark-sensing in envelope A when beginning the interviews; as the respondent answered the questions, the interviewer marked the card in the appropriate "window" space with the special soft pencil provided him; when he had completed the questions, he removed the tabulating card from envelope A, inserted it in envelope B, and completed the interview in the same manner as described above. He then removed the marked card from envelope B, wrote on the back of the card, in ink, his name as the interviewer, and the address and classification data of the respondent (to permit checking on interviewers, since they had been given specific addresses at which to interview). A 287


Renewable Energy Sources (RES) have been gaining popularity on a continuous basis and the current global political situation is only accelerating energy transformation in many countries. Objectives related to environmental protection and use of RES set by different countries all over the world as well as the European Union (EU) are becoming priorities. In Poland, after years of a boom in photovoltaic (PV) installations, the Renewable Energy Sources Act has been amended, resulting in a change to the billing system for electricity produced by individual prosumers. The change in the billing method, also in pursuance to the provisions of EU laws, has contributed to the inhibition of the PV installation market for fear of energy prices and investment payback time. In this paper, by using the Net Present Value (NPV) method, three mechanisms of billing of electricity from prosumer micro-installations—based on the net-metering principle and net-billing principle (using monthly and hourly prices)—have been analysed. Particular attention has also been paid to the aspects of electricity self-consumption and energy storages, which play a significant role in the economy of PV installations in the net-billing system.


Aluminium hydroxide gels were precipitated from aluminium isopropoxide by addition of water or aqueous solutions of Na2SO4, NaCl and NaNO3. The antacid activity of the gels was assessed on the basis of determinations of their total capacity to neutralize HCl, while structure of the gels was studied by X-ray diffraction analysis and IR spectrometry. It has been stated that prolonged storage, higher storage temperature and presence of water promote conversion of the active form of aluminium hydroxide gels in pharmaceutical preparations into less active forms.


OR MANY URETHANE and urethane-urea polymer applications, it i s often Fl desirable to prolong the pot life when blending the isocyanate and active hydrogen components such as the hydroxyl or amine components, respectively. This i s necessary in many cases in order to avoid premature curing in the formation of these polymers. For certain urethane applications such as one-can coatings (e.g., for wire enamels), and one component elastomer systems, "indefinite" pot life i s required. In those cases it i s desirable to use "blocked" isocyanates, also referred to as "splitters." Blocking of isocyanates i s an equilibrium reaction which schematically can be represented as follows:


Multilayer structure containing vertically stacked InAs/InP self-assembled quantum wires have been successfully grown by molecular-beam epitaxy. The influence of the InP spacer layer thickness on the structural and optical properties of the wire superlattice has been studied by means of transmission electron microscopy and photoluminescence. The coherent propagation of the strain field in the sample with a 5-nm-thick spacer determines by a size filtering effect a good homogeneity and uniformity of the wire stacks, and hence a good optical quality. The exciton recombination dynamics in the wire superlattice cannot be related to thermal escape of carriers out to the barriers, as occurs in single layer samples.


Disease resistance is an extremely valuable control measure of rusts in cereal crops and is based, almost entirely, on simple procedures of identification and incorporation of major genes for resistance into economic varieties. Usually, several loci that carry these genes are known in each plant species. Frequently, several alleles at a locus can be distinguished on the basis of their reaction to various races of the pathogen. In spite of the vast array of resistance genes now known, their use has been sharply limited by the restricted number of loci in each species. The result has been a never-ending cycle of (1) releasing a variety resistant to prevalent races, (2) finding it susceptible to new races of the pathogen appearing a few years later, (3) breeding resistance to the new races, and (4) releasing the new variety only to find it susceptible, a few years later, to yet new races of the pathogen. Thus, breeding for rust resistance in cereals has been so repetitious that the value and use in disease control of genes that condition resistance to only a portion of the possible rust races is now widely questioned.' Although major genes for rust resistance have been used extensively, little is known about their fine structure. This is probably due to the fact that in crops, where resistance genes have been of maximum importance, genetic analyses requiring large test-cross progenies are not feasible. Economic and biological considerations, however, provide compelling reasons why studies on the structure of genes for rust resistance should be made. The system of genetic resistance to rust, Puccinia sorghi Schw., in maize, Zea mays L., is apparently parallel to that found in other cereal crops. In maize, there are at least five loci (Rpl, Rp3, Rp4, Rp5, and Rp6) at which dominant genes for rust resistance occur.2-6 Rp, is located in the short arm of chromosome 10 and was considered to occupy the terminal position on the genetic map.3'7 Recently, Rpi has been shown to be located between Rp5 and Rpe which are 1.1 and 2.1 map units, respectively, from it.' Orientation of these genes with respect to the centromere is not known. Rp3 and Rp4 are independent of Rpi. On the basis of genetic studies and disease reaction, 14 alleles, Rpia, Rp b. .. to Rpi', all dominant to recessive allele rp1 for susceptibility, have been distinguished at the Rp, locus.5' 6, 8 Allele Rpid is unique in conditioning resistance to all of 59 P. sorghi cultures collected from various regions of the United States and Mexico.9 Other dominant alleles have progressively narrower spectra of resistance, but do not fall into a linear array with respect to dominance relationship. In heterozygotes between dominant alleles, resistance is equal to the sum of the resistance of the two separate alleles. In some instances the resistance is equal to a naturally occurring third allele, which leads to suspicion that Rp, is a complex locus or region.


Minophylline (theophylline ethanoate of piperazine) and aminophylline (theophylline ethylenediamine) were determined spectrophotometrically in dosage forms without interference from excipients and/or preservatives. A mixture of minophylline, in about 30-fold concentration, with phenobarbital was assayed for both components with good accuracy and high reproducibility.


It is no secret that the Obama administration has promoted energy policies that favor clean renewable energy and conservation in place of traditional fossil-fueled generation. National and state policies combined with advances in communications, metering, security, storage, wind and photovoltaic generation, electric vehicles, efficient and smart appliances, lighting, and many others are already impacting the energy industry and are poised to completely change the energy landscape.


The ΛCDM paradigm, characterised by a constant equation of state w = − 1 for dark energy, is the model that better fits observations. However, the same observations strongly support the possibility of a dark energy content where the corresponding equation of state is close to but slightly smaller than − 1 . In this regard, we focus on three different models where the dark energy content is described by a perfect fluid with an equation of state w ≲ − 1 which can evolve or not. The three proposals show very similar behaviour at present, while the asymptotic evolution of each model drives the Universe to different abrupt events known as (i) Big Rip; (ii) Little Rip (LR); and (iii) Little Sibling of the Big Rip. With the aim of comparing these models and finding possible imprints in their predicted matter distribution, we compute the matter power spectrum and the growth rate f σ 8 . We conclude that the model which induces a LR seems to be favoured by observations.


The concept of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) has been accepted as one of viable alternative to promote the infrastructure development. Yet, recently some of government institutions have been applied PPPs for developing local tourism site for their region. The situation is going to be more complex when the PPPs deal with some non-physical attributes and generate several shortcomings. Therefore the need of specific model to cover PPPs as the concept and tourism development as its substance is become essential. This research attempts to explore the model by using a specific review toward the recent literatures and theories. It is conducted by contextual approaches intended to adjust with Indonesian tourism development. The result of this research has described the specific model which is constructed from the series of literature discussion from previous studies. It has designed to minimize the weakness and vulnerable points from PPPs for tourism development.


Knowledge Management is one important component of an organization in determining the internal development of the organization. Knowledge Management enables organizations to collect, store, distribute, and reuse the knowledge that a company's assets have. Likewise in the area of education, knowledge management has now evolved to be easier to deploy. Many colleges have tried to figure out how to use social computing to collaborate with educators and students in knowledge management. The most frequent problem of knowledge management is the willingness of the user to use or distribute it. The collaboration and communication aspects of social computing or web 2.0 is the basic successful use of knowledge management. The purpose of this study is to define and analyze how social computing can be utilized in knowledge management and implemented by the organization so that the purpose of knowledge management can be achieved. This research used TAM to measure the technology acceptance to 60 respondents, as the result all variables are correlated and has influence to the actual use.


Various techniques for effecting knowledge transfer are provided. In one embodiment, knowledge transfer tasks are identified through parsing of one or more repositories comprising project-related artifacts to ascertain tasks that are relevant to a transitioning project participant, and that may be further analyzed to determine whether knowledge transfer is necessary. In a similar vein, knowledge transfer recipients may be identified through similar parsing of the one or more repositories to identify project participants that are relevant to knowledge transfer tasks, with the resulting list of associated project participants narrowed down to selected knowledge transfer recipients according to their respective ability/availability to receive the knowledge transfer. Because these processes can be automated, including the use of an interactive interface, and based on stored artifacts, the subjectivity and variability of prior art techniques may be substantially reduced.


Developing low‐cost, high‐performance, and durable photoanodes is essential in solar‐driven photoelectrochemical (PEC) energy conversion. Sb2S3 is a low‐bandgap (≈1.7 eV) n‐type semiconductor with a maximum theoretical solar conversion efficiency of ≈28% for PEC water splitting. However, bulk Sb2S3 exhibits opaque characteristics and suffers from severe photocorrosion, and thus the use of Sb2S3 as a photoanode material remains underexploited. This study describes the design and fabrication of a transparent Sb2S3‐based photoanode by conformably depositing a thin layer of conjugated polycarbazole frameworks (CPF‐TCzB) onto the Sb2S3 film. This structural design creates a type‐II heterojunction between the CPF‐TCzB and the Sb2S3 with a suitable band‐edge energy offset, thereby, greatly enhancing the charge separation efficiency. The CPF‐TCzB/Sb2S3 hybrid photoanode exhibits a remarkable photocurrent density of 10.1 mA cm−2 at 1.23 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode. Moreover, the thin CPF‐TCzB overlayer effectively inhibits photocorrosion of the Sb2S3 and enables long‐term operation for at least 100 h with ≈10% loss in photocurrent density. Furthermore, a standalone unbiased PEC tandem device comprising a CPF‐TCzB/Sb2S3 photoanode and a back‐illuminated Si photocathode can achieve a record solar‐to‐hydrogen conversion efficiency of 5.21%, representing the most efficient PEC water splitting device of its kind.


We study the security of communication between a single transmitter and multiple receivers in a broadcast channel in the presence of an eavesdropper. We consider several special classes of channels. As the first model, we consider the degraded multi-receiver wiretap channel where the legitimate receivers exhibit a degradedness order while the eavesdropper is more noisy with respect to all legitimate receivers. We establish the secrecy capacity region of this channel model. Secondly, we consider the parallel multi-receiver wiretap channel with a less noisiness order in each sub-channel, where this order is not necessarily the same for all sub-channels. We establish the common message secrecy capacity and sum secrecy capacity of this channel. Thirdly, we study a special class of degraded parallel multi-receiver wiretap channels and provide a stronger result. In particular, we study the case with two sub-channels two users and one eavesdropper, where there is a degradedness order in each sub-channel such that in the first (resp. second) sub-channel the second (resp. first) receiver is degraded with respect to the first (resp. second) receiver, while the eavesdropper is degraded with respect to both legitimate receivers in both sub-channels. We determine the secrecy capacity region of this channel.


Large-scale roughness bed flow is a special flow condition which is commonly seen in mountainous rivers. In this paper, gradient flume experiment is carried out with plum-blossom distributed cubic obstruction blocks with 50 mm edge, and large-scale roughness bed flow characteristics including free surface morphology, flow velocity distribution, turbulence propagation and friction head loss coefficient are studied by high-precision measuring and statistical analysis. In addition, CFD based numerical model is established in this paper to verify the experimental results and provide a prediction method to expand the experiment. After that, a modified empirical formula of friction head loss coefficient considering more important influence factors is proposed in this paper based on the experimental results and the numerical simulation results, which provide a practical calculation method of friction head loss coefficient for engineering reference.


The central axis of Buddhist spiritual practice is meditation. Meditation is essential for the full development of wisdom and compassion, and the complete cessation of suffering. In this paper, I will touch on how Buddhism defines meditation, the role and methods of Buddhist meditation, and the place of meditation in the context of the path leading to liberation and enlightenment. I will also attempt to briefly survey the positive effects and benefits of meditation, commenting on some salient features of several Buddhist meditation approaches and techniques.


This paper addresses the setup and first results of an inter-comparison study of methods for computing the nonlinear four-wave interactions in discrete spectral models. The purpose of this study is to provide an objective frame work to inter-compare computational methods which all try to solve the same complicated kinetic equation. A description is given of various theoretical and numerical approaches, each trying to solve this equation for a given discrete wave spectrum. For the inter-comparison a test strategy is proposed, consisting of simple static tests for a given spectral resolution and input spectrum, and dynamic tests in which the timeand/or space evolution of a wave spectrum is evaluated in conjunction with other source terms for wind input and dissipation. In this paper, static tests are carried out using two quasi-exact approaches from literature (WRT and RIAM) and two approximate approaches (DIA and SRIAM). The results of the inter-comparison reveal various differences that can be used to further improve the computational methods. It is pointed out that the proposed test strategy can also be used to objectively judge the performance of new computational methods.


Introduction: Electronic devices have been used by increasingly younger people, leading researchers to investigate the impact of these technologies on the health of developing children.
Objective: To investigate the impact of smartphone use on the postural control of Brazilian children 6 to 9 years old.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted with 278 children from public schools in Goiânia (Goiás, Brazil). The children were assessed in an orthostatic posture with the computerized baropodometry system in three conditions: eyes open, eyes closed, and using a free smartphone application.
Results: The children were 8.36 years old on average, 82% of them were well-nourished, and had a daily mean screen time of 2 hours. The postural control analyses revealed that the children made greater postural adjustments with their eyes closed than with them open. When using the smartphone application, the postural adjustments were similar to those with eyes closed. In the stabilometry, the postural displacements made by the children behaved similarly to the static assessment only in total feet surface area.
Conclusion: Smartphone use and absence of visual stimulus in the orthostatic position caused postural instability in children 6 to 9 years old. These findings can contribute to understanding the impact of technologies on children's development of balance in daily tasks.


Abstract The Swedish Telecommunications Administration (STA) has designed and marketed ComforTable®, a generic workstation for visual display terminals (VDTs). Among its features are pushbutton, electrically operated height adjustment for the table top and a digital display showing the operational height in centimetres. ComforTable® meets current user needs and demands for flexibility, and it is designed to accommodate the newer models of VDTs in Sweden, virtually all of which come with tiltable, height-adjustable screens and thin, detachable keyboards. This paper presents a rationale for the development and use of this generic workstation.


The method of Ostrogradsky has been used to construct a first-order Lagrangian, hence Hamiltonian, for the fourth-order field-theoretical model of Pais–Uhlenbeck with unfortunate results when quantization is undertaken since states with negative norm, commonly called "ghosts," appear. We propose an alternative route based on the preservation of symmetry and this leads to a ghost-free quantization.


A conventional nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer with an original low-frequency limit of 2 MHz and equipped with an electromagnet is rebuilt to allow performing NMR experiments at reson ...


This study assesses the impact of campaign effort and election reform on voter turnout in state legislative elections. It uses a nationwide survey of state legislative candidates to measure various campaign activities and combines this information with data on election laws, political conditions, and district-level demographics. The primary finding is that candidate expenditures, party get-out-the-vote efforts, and Election Day registration laws have a synergistic effect on turnout. Campaign efforts heighten citizen interest in politics close to the election, often after registration deadlines have passed. Unlike other election reforms, Election Day registration allows citizens' late-campaign interest to be translated into increased voter turnout.


Measurements of DC strain produced by transverse deflection of a fiber optic embedded graphite/ bismaleimide composite panel in cantilever geometry were made using a Mach Zehnder interferometer and active homodyne demodulation technique. The measured strain ranged from an average longitudinal strain of 2.0 x 10-4 to 6.6 x 10-7, corresponding to a maximum transverse deflection of 0.3 inches (3%) and a minimum transverse deflection of 0.001 inches respectively. We find that the strain optic coefficient of the embedded fiber ranges from 30% to 40% less than the value for uniaxial strain. In addition, these measurements reveal hysteresis and or creep during the loading and unloading cycle of the composite. Experiments were performed to determine sources of DC drift, and the main sources of DC drift identified. Calibration of the results is discussed as well as future modifications that will permit four orders of magnitude increase in tracking range, greatly improved interferometer stability, and elimination of the effects of piezoelectric hysteresis on the measurement of strain.


AIM: To observe the expression of apoptosis regulating proteins Bcl-2,Bax and the changes of cortical somatosensory evoked potential(CSEP),motion evoked potential(MEP) after acute spinal cord injury,and to explore the relationship between them.METHODS: Fifty six Wistar rats were randomly divided into 7 groups.Six groups were divided as acute spinal cord injury model,the other group was used as control.CSEP and MEP were monitored after 0 h,6 h,12 h,24 h,48 h and 72 h.The spinal cord was taken and then HE staining and immunohistochemistry methods were used to study the pathology changes and expressions of Bcl-2 and Bax.RESULTS: The peak of CSEP and MEP showed a immediate drop or disappear,and then partially raised at 6 h,declined again at 12 h and partially raised at 24 h,and then raised obviously at 48 h,the peak still lower than normal at 72 h.Changes of the peak value showed a double posture of decreased-raised-declined again and raised again.The incubation period of peaks extended corresponding to the different degrees.There was a weak positive expression of Bcl-2 and Bax at 6 h after injury.By 24 h after injury,the positive expression of Bcl-2 was maximal and the positive expression of Bax was maximal at 12 h after injury.CONCLUSION: The changes of CSEP and MEP have a very closely correlation to the degree of spinal cord injury.CSEP and MEP may serve as electrophysiological indicators to judge the motor function and the prognosis after acute spinal cord injury.


[Objective] To understand present status of dietary behavior and existing problems among mine workers in Inner Mongolia,and to provide some evidences for the design and intervention of nutrition education.[Methods] Investigation was conducted by means of questionnaire for the dietary pattern in 3046 workers.[Results] The rate of having breakfast everyday was 53.4%;eating coarse grain everyday accounted for 11.5%;eating bean everyday accounted for 9.6%;eating eggs everyday accounted for 17.5% ;eating animal offal everyday accounted for 11.5% ;eating fat everyday accounted for 11.5%.[Conclusion] We should strengthen nutrition knowledge and education,especially in heavy manual workers,get out of a bad diet habit,master reasonable nutrition method and improve nutrition status of whole population..


The paper is focused on modelling of wave propagation in cancellous bones using Biot's theory. Almost all required input mechanical and structural parameters for 31 pure femoral trabecular bone specimens were measured individually. Then frequency dependent wave parameters predicted by the model were compared with the results of ultrasonic tests performed on the same specimens. To compare the predictions to measurements, additional interactions of the plane harmonic wave with the slab of cancellous was considered. The most important finding is the significant contribution of the fluid/bone and bone/fluid boundaries on the global attenuation loss. The corrected values of attenuation coefficient are of the same order of magnitude compared to measured values. The theoretical results exhibit higher attenuation of fast wave compared to that of the slow wave in good agreement with experimental observations. Moreover the amplitude ratio of simulated time domain signals of both longitudinal waves (accordingly to t...


This paper presents efficient methods to compress time code aimed at karaoke application by utilizing the linguistic and musical characteristic of karaoke. In particular, we propose a novel codeword rule for the beat of music. Experimental results show that our proposed methods drastically reduce time code.


In the past, forward-adjoint coupling procedures in air-over-ground geometry have typically involved forward fluences arising from a point source a great distance from a target or vehicle system. Various processing codes were used to create localized forward fluence files that could be used to couple with the MASH-MORSE adjoint leakages. In recent years, radiation plumes that result from reactor accidents or similar incidents have been modeled by others, and the source space and energy distributions as a function of time have been calculated. Additionally, with the point kernel method, they were able to calculate in relatively quick fashion free-field radiation doses for targets moving within the fluence field or for stationary targets within the field, the time dependence for the latter case coming from the changes in position, shape, source strength, and spectra of the plume with time. The work described herein applies the plume source to the MASH-MORSE coupling procedure. The plume source replaces the point source for generating the forward fluences that are folded with MASH-MORSE adjoint leakages. Two types of source calculations are described. The first is a ''rigorous'' calculation using the TORT code and a spatially large air-over-ground geometry. For each time step desired, directional fluencesmore » are calculated and are saved over a predetermined region that encompasses a structure within which it is desired to calculate dose rates. Processing codes then create the surface fluences (which may include contributions from radiation sources that deposit on the roof or plateout) that will be coupled with the MASH-MORSE adjoint leakages. Unlike the point kernel calculations of the free-field dose rates, the TORT calculations in practice include the effects of ground scatter on dose rates and directional fluences, although the effects may be underestimated or overestimated because of the use of necessarily coarse mesh and quadrature in order to reduce computational times. The second source calculation uses a point kernel like method to calculate directional fluences at points surrounding user-specified detector and structure locations and folds those fluences with MASH-MORSE adjoint leakages to calculate free-field and shielded fluences and dose rates and the indicated protection factors. Both source calculation methods were tested for determining dose rates at specified locations within a two-story concrete building. For two early time steps, results from the second method are 50 to 60% higher than those from the first method, but the protection factors differ by only a few percent. This indicates that the free-field and shielded fluence spectra are similar and differ mainly in magnitude. Other comparisons were made, and from the comparisons there was a perceived underprediction by TORT. That underprediction can be attributed to the coarse mesh and quadrature used in the calculations. The second method, while not rigorously correct, requires much less computer time for a reasonably good estimate of the shielded dose rates within a structure.« less


An investigation has been performed into the influence of Sm3+ substitution on the structural, optical, and magnetic characteristics of Co0.5Mn0.5SmxFe2–xO4 (x = 0.0-0.1 and x changes at a step of 0.02) and its prospective use as an effective photocatalyst. The examination also explored the potential use of this composition as a proficient photocatalyst. The structural results verified the production of cubic spinel structures in all compositions. The determination of crystallite size has been done via the Williamson-Hall approach, taking into account the influence of strain variables. The ferrite nanoparticles' spherical form was identified via transmission electron microscopy (TEM) examination. The Co0.5Mn0.5Fe2O4 sample exhibited a particle size distribution of around 40 nm. The optical band gap, ascertained using UV–vis-diffuse reflectance (DRS) spectra analysis, ranged from 1.38 to 1.43 eV. Vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) analysis revealed that the produced sample was soft magnetic with moderate magnetization (58.18 emu g−1 - 42.73 emu g−1). Methylene Blue (MB) dye's photocatalytic degradation (PCD) was used to study the photocatalytic behavior while exposed to sunlight. The Sm-doped Co-Mn nanoferrites synthesized in this study exhibit potential for use as effective active photocatalysts in the degradation of toxic industrial dyes. This application promises to enhance safety in both the environmental and healthcare sectors.


Different models adopted in land conversion for reforestation have improved the physical and chemical properties.The degree of this enhancement by the adopted models follows the order of mountain closure for regeneration,mixed plantation of grass and trees,mixture of robinia and hypophea and pure robinia plantation.The increase of soil water contents by the models of mountain closure for regeneration,mixed plantation of grass and trees,mixture plantation rbinia and hypophyea and pure plantation of robinia are 13.44%,7.91%,2.77% and 1.03%,respectively.The organic increase by mountain closure and mixed plantation of grass and trees are respectively 23.88% and 20. 88% over the contrast,and total nitrogen increased by 23.86% and 36.2%.Stock volume in pure robinia were increased by 67.4% and 56.9%.


Abstract The public display of textile activist art generates visibility and attention. The artworks discussed in this paper are material signs of rebellion against sexualized violence against women/as women read persons and femicides. This article portrays feminist resistance to sexualized violence/femicides through critical crafting, which is (textile) craft-based activist art. This artistic practice makes invisible violence visible; or feminist phrased the private becomes the political. Textile crafting strategies place sexualized relations of violence to which women are exposed in patriarchally organized (industrial) cultures worldwide – that is, in both the global North and the global South – at the center of the discourse. The art-activists analyzed in this article are concerned with triple-binds that arise in the entanglement of racism, sexism and classism. The projects aim to make visible the situation of survivors of sexualized violence and the relatives of murdered women* and generate a sense of self-empowerment through the co-creation of agency for survivors. This paper asks what correlations arise when traditionally feminine textile crafts are charged with issues of sexualized violence and used as a display for gender-political protest in public space. Feminist art-activists from the collective Force: Upsetting Rape Culture take socio-critical positions with their work The Monument Quilt and try to undermine cultural narratives of gender stereotypes and the associated attributions. The Monument Quilt and its Mexican partner project La Casa Mandarina are textile mouthpieces, as they reflect a huge accumulation of voices in public space. This visual plurality combined with the signal color red of the individual textile parts acts as a metaphor for subjects who (re)conquer urban space loudly and clearly qua screaming red.


Objective:To explore the curative effects on nutrition health education for the patient with hypertension by health belief model.Methods:100 patients were randomly selected and divided into 2 groups.The control group was treated with routine health education measures,and the experimental group was treated with the seminar of the health belief model,which is based on the routine nutrition health education.The conditions of knowledge of nourishment and change of unhealthy eating habits were compared between the two groups after the intervention 3 months later.Results: A remarkable improvement on knowledge of nourishment,change of unhealthy eating habits was got in the experimental group than that in control group,P0.01.Conclusions: Nursing programmes on the basis of the health belief model are proved to be an effective pathway for the patients with hypertension to change their unhealthy eating habits.


The ring-involute tooth spherical gear with two degrees of freedom is considered as the research object. Through the combination of theory and experiment, a further study is conducted on it. According to the theory of rapid prototyping, comprehensive consideration of the ring-involute teeth spherical gear tooth profile surface forming principle and transmission features, traditional machining method, transmission error and the actual application, a fast processing method of the ring-involute tooth spherical gear is proposed. Spherical gear model is built in Solidworks surface modeling environment. Through the use of rapid prototyping equipment, the ring-involute tooth spherical gear is worked out. Tooth root thick, addendum thickness and transmission error of spherical gear is further measured on this basis with the method of rapid forming. Basic parameters meet the requirements. The rapid prototyping processing method is proved to be practical, effective and valuable.


Human beings are different from one another not only in terms of physical appearance but also in terms of ethnicity, language, etc. These differences tend to form or reinforce the concept of 'the Other.' In addition, it seems that primary factors contributing to the forming or reinforcing of the perception of 'the Other' are still the ones related to religious differences. In this article, we will look into religion-related differences in the Quranic perspective, drawing on the ways utilized to deal with the concept of 'the Other' throughout Islamic history. More specifically, in this article, we seek to put forth an account effective and useful in dealing with the concept of 'the Other' in the perspective of Quranic revelations. In doing that we will be especially focusing on the relationships between peoples of different religions in the Ottoman Empire and how the relevant Quranic verses were interpreted and acted out by the Ottomans. By investigating the Quranic perspective and how it was implemented in history, we seek to make a contribution to modern ways that are utilized in dealing with the concept of 'the Other.'


The HyperSpectral Imager for Climate Science (HySICS) is the core instrument of the CLARREO Pathfinder (CPF) mission and scheduled to be launched to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2023. HySICS is an Offner-Chrisp imaging spectrometer designed to meet an unprecedented radiometric uncertainty requirement of 0.3% (k=1) across its 350-2300 nm spectral range. The requirement represents a need for significant improvement over the radiometric calibration (RadCal) of existing space-borne spectrometers. The strategy to demonstrate that HySICS achieves this level of uncertainty includes an Independent Calibration (IndCal) using a pre-launch, detector-based RadCal relying on a tunable laser source. The system planned for the IndCal is the Goddard Laser for Absolute Measurement of Radiance (GLAMR) that has been developed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and used recently in the absolute radiometric calibration of several multi-spectral instruments. GLAMR data from a calibration demonstration system developed for the CLARREO mission have been combined with HySICS characterization data to develop an imaging spectrometer model that simulates HySICS' behavior. The goal of the HySICS instrument and GLAMR model is to prepare for GLAMR testing of HySICS, optimize the test configuration, and verify the RadCal error budget. A Monte-Carlo simulation of the GLAMR RadCal based on the model is conducted to predict the detectors' outputs at miscellaneous testing parameters. The main application of the simulation is a sensitivity study through the tuning of these parameters to identify the calibration error sources and determine quality metrics that can define the need for repeat HySICS measurements. The HySICS instrument model developed will be maintained and improved to support the CPF IndCal.


Abstract Patriarchalism, the language of domination, has led to androcentric language‐‐to the detriment of women. Androcentric language, the language of male superiority, is the linchpin of patriarchalism. The church is a patriarchal structure, and androcentric language has persisted in the church. Ecclesial patriarchy has marginalized women, excluding them from the church's ministry. Although the Hebrew Bible and New Testament emerged from patriarchal cultures, some biblical texts, if taken seriously, offer hope for emancipation from patriarchalism. Gender‐inclusive language is not an end in itself, but must lead to inclusiveness that reaches well beyond gender issues.


: With the development of the times and changes in society, the social environment faced by college students is constantly changing. Their own learning initiative, hobbies, academic performance, the expansion of the gap between the rich and the poor in the family, and the pressure of employment competition are all in the past. Different characteristics, the factors that induce their mental health problems also show more complex and diverse characteristics, Therefore, it is necessary to use a lot of data technology to conduct in-depth research on their mental health problems. This article aims to study the design and implementation of an intelligent BD-based mental health analysis system for colleges and universities(CAU). In this study, when analyzing the causes of mental health problems, a comprehensive use of various data and related analysis techniques for in-depth mining and analysis, to make the results of the analysis more logical and effective. This article first analyzes the basic principles of data mining and data warehousing in detail, group analysis methods, anomaly extraction methods, and correlation algorithms, and then designs an algorithm-based algorithm-based mining anomaly algorithm for fast data retrieval. At this point, students who may have mental health problems can be identified. Analysis of logic based on real data can provide a reliable basis for psychological teachers, thereby improving the efficiency and effectiveness of school psychological counseling. Experimental research results show that the system has the most accurate analysis of abnormal eating and sleep states, with 91.61%, and the lowest detection accuracy in psychotic abnormal states, with only 61.28%. In abnormal states such as depression, anxiety, paranoia, and horror, The test results are relatively accurate, about 80%. It is still necessary to strengthen the overall configuration and design of the system to maximize its value in practical applications.


An X-band radar has been built with an antenna capable of rotational speeds up to 1400 rev/min, and a display system which follows at these speeds. This enables only one or two pulses per beam-width to be displayed, the pulses received from successive looks at the sea clutter being de-correlated. A conventional fluoride p.p.i. tube and a storage p.p.i. tube were used simultaneously. The resulting improvements from de-correlation and integration are demonstrated.


ABSTRACT Analysis of the leaf oil of Aegle marmelos afforded the identification of eight monoterpene hydrocrabons (71.85%), ten oxygenated monoterpenes (8.54%), four sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (14.02%) and one oxygenated sesquiterpene (0.78%). Of the more than 20 compounds identified, myrcene (54.03%) was found to predominate. Among the compounds identified by spectroscopic and chemical means, p-menth-l-en-3β,5β-diol (1.04%) was characterized as a new constituent.


It is conventional wisdom among those who study collective bargaining and unionism that labor practices are diverse. From the early studies of private sector unionism to recent studies in education, researchers have found that the character of labor-management interactions, the content of contracts, and the effects of unionism vary widely. To be sure, there are discernible patterns that emerge across sites, but particular practices are so influenced by personalities, history, local values, customs, and financial exigencies, that the outcomes are as different as they are similar. I have argued that this is good news to those who work in and worry about schools, because it suggests that the presence of unionism does not predetermine a particular set of outcomes. Actors still are capable of acting in deliberate and meaningful ways. In their new, provocative book, The Changing Idea of a Teachers' Union, Kerchner and Mitchell reject the diversity theory of unionism and contend that educational labor practices do, in fact, follow predictable patterns. Based on questionnaire data gathered in 73 California and Illinois school districts and subsequent ethnographic studies in four districts from each of the two states, the authors advance a generational theory of unionism. Their analysis of local experiences leads them to conclude that teacher unionism can be expected to move through the same series of stages, no matter what the district. First, during the meet-and-confer generation, teachers advance their collective interests, but defer to administrators and school board members when the parties disagree about the district's purposes and priorities. Second, during the good faith bargaining generation, management comes to accept the teachers' right to represent their own interests and to bargain about economic and procedural matters. Attention centers on conflict management as the parties increasingly routinize their practices. Third, during the negotiated policy generation, the parties stop trying to manage around collective bargaining and, instead, begin to shape school district policy through the contract and the union. Based on both qualitative and quantitative analysis of survey and interview data, the authors conclude that intense, ideological conflicts about the appropriate role of the union erupt toward the end of each generation and these ideological conflicts propel labor relations into subsequent generations. The first conflict results when unions are perceived to be relatively unsuccessful in representing their members' interests, and school boards are viewed to be closed to external influence and insufficiently attentive to important labor relations issues. The second conflict emerges when teacher organizations are seen to be successful in tending to the interests of their members but irresponsible in meeting the needs


This paper presents a simple technique for performing Batik image retrieval using the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) approach. Two CNN models, i.e. supervised and unsupervised learning approach, are considered to perform end-to-end feature extraction in order to describe the content of Batik image. The distance metrics measure the similarity between the query and target images in database based on the feature generated from CNN architecture. As reported in the experimental section, the proposed supervised CNN model achieves better performance compared to unsupervised CNN in the Batik image retrieval system. In addition, image feature composed from the proposed CNN model yields better performance compared to that of the handcrafted feature descriptor. Yet, it demonstrates the superiority performance of deep learning-based approach in the Batik image retrieval system.


This paper examines some of the circumstances and the ways in which the instrumentality of vision has come to dominate our discourse since the Renaissance. Furthermore, it addresses our recent attempts at subjecting architecture to post-structuralist and textual theories only possible in the domain of pure ideality as the result of which the architectural object is read independently of its worldly situation. My intention however, is not only to advocate the experiential aspects of architecture but to argue that the world itself remains always implicated in our discourse. In other words, our readings cannot be abstracted from the world anymore than our experiences can be.


This research article investigates thematic development used on Sunday sermon texts in Batak Christian Protestant Church that were delivered by the preachers. Based on systemic functional linguistics with the framework of textual function, this research article focus on analysing how the thematic development constructed and construed on Sunday sermon texts. In addition, this research article looks and discusses how the preachers used and adapted the thematic development in delivering the Sunday sermon texts. This study was a descriptive qualitative. Model interactive data analysis was used in analysing the data. There were seventeen texts of Sunday sermon texts that were analyzed in this research article. The findings of this research article showed that only five patterns of thematic developments that were found from eight patterns of thematic development. This research article highlights how the usage of thematic development in delivering the Sunday sermon texts. It is also recommended that another preachers use thematic development in delivering their sermon to the congregation in understanding the sermon they delivered.


Efficient resource provisioning is required when running Spark applications in public clouds. However, how to optimize resource provisioning to minimize the time and/or monetary cost for a specific application remains an intractable problem since resource provisioning may differ from application to application and even be affected by the amount of input data. Existing resource settings heavily rely on random selection or previous deployer experience, frequently leading to low-quality resource provisioning. Therefore, there is an urgent need to propose an approach towards optimal resource provisioning for Spark applications in public clouds. This is a PhD proposal, where an approach based on time and monetary cost modeling is presented for cloud resource provisioning optimization under two typical constrained scenarios. The approach systematically drives resource provisioning for a specific Spark application, which may save a significant amount of time and money, compared to randomly selected settings.


The aim of the present paper is to provide a mixture design modelling to evaluate the effect of different sand types on fresh properties of self-compacting concrete (SCC). A statistical approach was used to highlight the effect of river sand (RS), crushed sand (CS) and dune sand (DS) as proportions in binary and ternary systems in SCC composition. The responses of the derived statistical models are sand packing density (SPD), T500 and J-ring. The resulting mathematical models are used to illustrate the variation of different responses in ternary contours plots with respect to the proportions of RS, CS and DS. This offers flexibility to optimize RS, CS and DS blends with tailor-made of a given property that suit a particular recommendations. Results indicate that SPD of RS can be enhanced by a 40% of CS and 30% of DS proportions. Moreover, it is shown that flowability, measured by J-ring, can be improved by the increase of CS and DS in RS-CS and RS-DS binary systems. Results also indicate that passing ability measured with T500 decreased with the increase of CS proportion and increased with the increase of DS proportion in binary and ternary systems.


Objective To compare the sensitivity and specificity of combined-antigen-ELISA assay established in our lab with the standard latency-IFA in virology center of Paris,and to determine the possibility of combined-antigen-ELISA assay for epidemic study use. Methods 32 AIDS-KS serum and 23 serum from skin tumor patients after liver transplantation were tested HHV-8 infection with both combined-antigen-ELISA in our lab and the latency-IFA assay available in virology center of Paris,12 serum samples from KS patients,children serum from XinJiang,Sichuan of China and France were tested by combined-antigen-ELISA in our lab. Results Of 32 KS,75% and 40.6% of the serum were HHV-8 positive by combined-antigen-ELISA and the latency-IFA assay respectly. Of the 13 HHV-8 positive serum tested by the latency-IFA assay,12 also showed positive reaction by combined-antigen-ELISA assay. 19 KS serum were HHV-8 negative by the latency-IFA assay,12 of 19 were HHV-8 positive by combined-antigen-ELISA,of 23 skin tumor patients after liver transplantation,19 were HHV-8 positive by combined-antigen-ELISA,and of 23 skin tumor patients after liver transplantation,1 serum showed weak HHV-8 positive by combined-antigen-ELISA assay and all negative by latency-IFA assay in France. Screening serum from KS of Xinjiang and children from Xinjiang,Sichuan and France with combined-antigen-ELISA assay showed different infection rate: KS in Xinjiang HHV-8 infection was 100%,children serum from Xinjiang,Sichuan and France were 17.8%,1.4% and 0% respectively. Conclusion Compare with latency-IFA assay,combined-antigen-ELISA assay in our lab was constructed with necessary sensitivity and specificity for HHV-8 research detection.


The imposition of the National Curriculum and, speciŽ cally, Literacy Hour has raised much feeling and concern among those involved with young children. Do these frameworks really serve the needs of the 0–8 year age group? Or are they sti ing mechanisms extinguishing the  ames of creativity and joy in acquiring language and literacy? Is there still room for thinking, self esteem, and the importance of relationships in learning developing language and literacy? This book places these aspects at the centre of language and literacy development. It is one of a series of books edited by Tina Bruce describing children's development in the 0–8 age range. The quest is to look holistically at essential themes for young children in an accessible and attractive way. Those wishing to Ž nd Literacy Hour validated and some easily lifted ideas for individual education programmes (IEPs) will be severely disappointed. Marion Whitehead takes an unapologetically oppositional stance to the structure of the National Curriculum and the current divide between preschool and school age children. She does not like either framework and vehemently says so. She uses evidence from many sources; theoretical models, visual observations, anecdotes, and personal thoughts to provide the reader with a rich and imaginative survey of the thoughts, feelings, talk, listening, and play that young children engage in while they develop language and literacy. The book begins with a thoughtful glossary of the technical terms used (how nice to Ž nd this at the beginning of a book instead of the end!) and Chapter One tackles the development of language. She outlines how we become 'talkers, thinkers and mark makers' immediately putting written language on the map even though we have some way to go in the text for detailed description of writing development. Chapter Two describes issues for bilingual children and those involved with them. Notions of underprivileged


Peripheral airway involvement in asthma remains poorly understood. We investigated impulse oscillometry (IOS) measures of peripheral airway function in a population‐based birth cohort.


CLLC resonant converters are an attractive option for battery charging applications due to their bidirectional power flow and high efficiency. Pulse frequency modulation (PFM) is the simple method to drive CLLC converters. However, PFM cannot regulate the output voltage under the light-load condition properly, which leads to high switching and core losses. Phase-shift modulation techniques, such as dual-phase-shift (DPS) modulation, can overcome this challenge. However, more improvements are demanded due to high circulating currents in phase-shift modulations. In this article, an improved modulation technique based on triple phase shift (TPS) has been applied in CLLC converters to improve the light-load efficiency. TPS modulation like any other phase-shift modulation keeps the switching frequency of CLLC converters fixed at the resonant frequency under the light-load condition and regulates the output voltage by its three phase-shift parameters. The improved TPS modulation has lower circulating current at the same average output current compared to DPS modulation. Therefore, higher efficiency, smaller peak, and RMS current values can be achieved under the light-load condition. In addition, the proposed TPS modulation has a better flexibility in regulating the output voltage under the light-load condition due to an extra phase-shift parameter compared to DPS modulation. The proposed TPS modulation has been analyzed thoroughly in this article, and a proper selection of phase-shift values has been explained to improve the efficiency of the converter. Finally, advantages of the improved TPS modulation have been validated by simulation and a 1-kW experimental setup.


VINTAGE: Consistently warm temperatures during the spring and summer months resulted in an early start to harvest. A combination of these warm daytime temperatures, cool summer nights and the lack of any heat extremes resulted in near perfect grape ripening. These ideal climatic conditions resulted in the 2014 wines exhibiting varietal and fresh fruit characters with a balanced and lingering acidity. WINEMAKING: Fruit was harvested from individually selected blocks on our Russell Road vineyard in Frankland and our Langton vineyard in Mount Barker. The grapes were picked with a ripe fruit profile to create a style of Chardonnay rarely seen these days. Direct from the press, the juice was transferred into a selection of new and aged French oak barrels for fermentation. These barrels were monitored over the cool, 12 day fermentation period, to preserve delicate fruit flavours while enhancing the textural barrel characteristics. 100% of the barrels then underwent malolactic fermentation, while regular lees stirring occurred over the 6 month maturation period, further adding complexity and a textural mouthfeel.


An image sensor and a method for fabricating an image sensor are provided to prevent and reduce white pixel defects in a photodiode by using a low level nitride component included in an PRO(Resist Protection Oxide) layer. A P-well region(203) is formed in a substrate. An isolation structure(205) is formed in the substrate. A transistor(210) is formed on the substrate, and comprises a transistor gate(213) and at least one source/drain region(220). The transistor gate is formed on the substrate. A gate dielectric layer(209) is formed between the transistor gate and the substrate. A spacer(215) is formed on the transistor gate and sidewalls of the gate dielectric layer. A conductive region such as the source/drain region is formed in the substrate, and is located adjacent to the transistor gate. A predetermined region such as a photodiode region(230) is defined, and connected with the transistor. The photodiode region comprises an n-type photo sensor(NPS) region(235) and a p-type photo sensor(PPS) region(237).


We discuss briefly some of the basic issues involved in the field of metal-insulator transition. We point out why this area is a profitable area of research. We also suggest certain definite action plan for this area in particular and the area of low temperature solid state physics in general.


Ceruloplasmin is a ferroxidase enzyme that in humans is encoded by the CP gene. Ceruloplasmin is the major copper-carrying protein in the blood and in addition plays a role in iron metabolism.  It is an enzyme synthesized in the liver containing 6 atoms of copper in its structure. Mutations in the ceruloplasmin gene can lead to the rare genetic human disease aceruloplasminemia, characterized by iron overload in the brain, liver, pancreas and retina. The most important clinical application of the ceruloplasmin test is in the diagnosis of various dreadful diseases like Wilson's disease, copper deficiency syndrome, Menkes kiny hair syndrome, nephrotic syndromes, malabsorption and with some cases of advanced liver disease in which decreased level of serum proteins have occurred. Ceruloplasmin is high in a variety of neoplastic and inflammatory states. The antioxidant effects of ceruloplasmin could have important implications for various neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease in which iron deposition is known to occur.


Extensive use of nonhuman primates for biomedical research has contributed to periodic acute shortages of these animals. As a result, various resources have been developed to assist investigators in maintaining healthy eolonies and eonserving stocks, A wide range of expertise is available at the national and international levels to investigators working with nonhuman primates.


The ancient Christianity entered into Galicia in two waves, representatives of the process of aculturation in this area. The first wave, bearers of the Priscilianism, persisted in the violent branch of the Monks. The second wave, heir to the transformations which took place after Martin of Dumium meant the alineation of the rural system to a new facet of the Christianism which had reached again the town comming from the rural world and for that reason resuted to be effective in this same environment.


The lack of high-quality labeled data is one of the main challenges to a lot of relation extraction tasks. Distant supervision introduces many noises, while labeling data manually is costly. In this paper, we design a novel labeling rule called the POS rule. POS rule improves the precision of relation extraction by considering the position, ontology, and semantic of relations. We propose a POS rule mining and optimization framework to generate high-quality labeled data. Experiments on real datasets show that the proposed discovery algorithms can find high-quality POS rules which accurately label training data for relation extraction.


Experiments conducted on solid-state ionic membranes that convert atoms into ions that can in turn be extracted into energetic beamlets and thereby produce thrust are described. The capability of ionizing and transporting ions is shown to be both rapid (over 10 mA/cm 2 ) and efficient (of order 1 eV/ion). Although similar in appearance to cesium contact sources, solid-state ionic membrane devices are shown to operate successfully at lower temperatures (400 to 700 °C) thus making them much more efficient than cesium- based devices. The process of extracting the ions by field emission is shown to limit the extracted ion current density. The need to select an emissive surface material/propellant ion combination with a low work function is suggested. Based on successful demonstrations of ion extraction, the Emissive Membrane Ion Thruster is proposed and shown to offer the potential for substantial reductions in ion thruster system cost and complexity as well as improvements in scalability and reliability compared to existing ion thruster designs


The movie 'The Hedgehog' is reviewed. Set in an exclusive Parisian apartment building, the film tells the story of the concierge Renee and her relationships with those living in the apartments.


We present a computational study of finite-time mixing of a line segment by cutting and shuffling. A family of one-dimensional interval exchange transformations is constructed as a model system in which to study these types of mixing processes. Illustrative examples of the mixing behaviors, including pathological cases that violate the assumptions of the known governing theorems and lead to poor mixing, are shown. Since the mathematical theory applies as the number of iterations of the map goes to infinity, we introduce practical measures of mixing (the percent unmixed and the number of intermaterial interfaces) that can be computed over given (finite) numbers of iterations. We find that good mixing can be achieved after a finite number of iterations of a one-dimensional cutting and shuffling map, even though such a map cannot be considered chaotic in the usual sense and/or it may not fulfill the conditions of the ergodic theorems for interval exchange transformations. Specifically, good shuffling can occur with only six or seven intervals of roughly the same length, as long as the rearrangement order is an irreducible permutation. This study has implications for a number of mixing processes in which discontinuities arise either by construction or due to the underlying physics.


The paper proceeds as follows: The first section sketches some main theoretical arguments concerning the dynamics of executive governance: first a set of arguments based on organisation theory is developed, after which we look into how policies can determine politics. The subsequent section outlines how executive governance has developed in EU research policy, reviewing the studies that form the basis for claims of technocratic dominance, segmentation and path dependence particular to EU research policy. Finally an overview is given of some main developments in the executive governance of research policy in the last decade, looking first into change and stability in its structure and capacity at the European level and then on empirical patterns of executive governance in committees and networks as evidenced in data on the Commission's expert group system.


The objective of present study is to asses and enhances the coping strategies of adolescent girls. Adolescent defined as stage of storm and stress along with at this age proper training for adoptive coping skills would result for mentally healthy individual further family and society. Coping is individual capacity to deal as well manage with various stress of life without causing greater loss or getting back to homeostatic phase again. Coping is mainly of two type functional and dysfunctional coping or problem focused and emotional focused. Functional coping strategies are contributing factor and dysfunctional are threats to mental health. Purpose of this study was to enhance functional coping strategies in adolescent's girls and lessen the use of dysfunctional coping skill. Sample for present study consist of 120 adolescents girls those who were having several issue. By giving them training of behavioral technique, meditation and relaxation, technique for the period of three months we assessed their coping strategy. Coping strategies scale by Srivastava used to measure the coping of girls before and after giving the training for approx three months. The result shows significant difference between the score on coping strategy scale before and after the training. Functional coping skills enhanced and use of dysfunctional coping lessened. To observe the mean difference t test carried out to see the pre to post test difference. Findings suggest that Meditation, Behavioral techniques and Muscles relaxation Technique was considerable impact on enhancing functional coping skill as well as reducing avoidance coping.


Background Metaplastic breast carcinoma (MBC) comprises a histologically diverse group of malignancies that seem to have characteristics different from those of invasive duct carcinoma. The objective of this study was to describe the clinicopathological appearance of MBC and the prognostic outcome of patients with this disease in order to establish proper management. Methods A total of 38 patients were diagnosed with MBC between 1998 and 2009, at National Cancer Institute, Egypt. Patient medical records were revised, and the overall survival and disease-free survival were estimated. Tissue samples from 30 of these 38 patients were available, and immunostaining for estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), and Her2/neu was performed for all samples. Results The most common subtype was carcinosarcoma, of which grade III was reported in 20 patients. Immunohistochemically, all patients were negative for estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor, three were positive for Her2/neu overexpression, and 53.3% were positive for EGFR. Adjuvant chemotherapy was used in 31 patients and adjuvant radiotherapy in 25 patients. The mean follow-up was 32 months (5–59 months). Seventeen patients (44.7%) failed therapy, and nine of them died of disease. Locoregional failure was reported in three patients, distant failure in 10, and both were reported in four patients. The 4-year overall survival was 59±13%, and the disease-free survival was 37±12%. Conclusion MBC is a rare entity among cases of breast carcinomas in Egypt. The diagnosis is difficult in some cases and requires rigorous use of immunohistochemistry. Most patients present with poor prognostic indicators. A multicenter approach for large-scale studies is recommended to analyze the tendency for EGFR expression in MBC. These findings have potential implications for the design of clinical trials involving anti-EGFR-directed therapy.


A recent increase in quality collecting activities in Laos and Vietnam, particularly by local collectors, has added significantly to our knowledge of the insect faunas in these countries. The genus Paratrichius Janson, 1881 is no exception, new species are being discovered regularly. In the current study, three new species closely related to Paratrichius vicinus (Bourgoin, 1915) are described.


The authors give a counterexample to show that the RSA-based cryptosystem with low exponent proposed by Lee and Chang (Computer Communications 21 (1998)) is vulnerable to the low exponent attack with respect to their suggested lower boundary for the size of the public encryption key. That is, an eavesdropper can recover the plaintext from the ciphertext without knowing the secret decryption key, even though the size of the secret decryption key is large enough. The authors also suggest a new lower boundary for the size of the public encryption key for the Lee-Chang cryptosystem to enforce secrecy.


Frequently modern temples have certain problems with heating and ventilation, despite the strict design rules and the installation of religious buildings. There is a necessity to organize proper air exchange and ensure proper heating of the air throughout the space in a complex building. Moreover, to calculate the geometry of natural flows and supply jets, ensure the removal of polluted air bypassing crowded areas and the most important thing is to protect wall paintings and art objects from sedimentation of soot particles and dirt. Using the method of electronic digital modeling, the effectiveness of the proposed model of temple ventilation was confirmed, which is able to provide maximum protection and preservation of the interior decoration and works of art in the room at any mode of operation. Using the created model, specific design characteristics of ventilation and air heating systems were obtained and evaluated. Based on this, it was proposed to develop a project for their reconstruction.


Resumen en: As part of a large project aimed to the discovery and follow up of massive eclipsing systems in young clusters and stellar associations, we have obtained...