The recent increase of wood-plastic composite ma terials in various application areas has underlined the need for an efficient and robust methodology to char acterize their nonlinear anisotropic constitutive be havior. In addition, the multiplicity of various loading conditions in structures utilizing these materials fur ther increases the need for a characterization method ology that accounts for this complexity. In responding to these needs, this paper presents a data-driven methodology that utilizes multi-degree of freedom mechatronic loading systems to systemati cally collect behavioral data of specimens constructed from these materials. These data represent force, stiff ness, and dissipated energy versus displacement data for each specimen tested. The highly nonlinear behav ior of these specimens was confirmed and is discussed in the context ofthe associated damage strain-induced micro-cracking. Michopoulos: Research Scientist/ Engineer and Director, Computa tional Multiphysics Systems Laboratory, Center of Com putational Material Science, U.S. Naval Research Labo ratory, Washington, D.C., USA Hermanson: Research Engineer, USDA Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin, USA Badaliance: Affiliate Professor, Department of Mechanical & Indus trial Engineering, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA This methodology further utilizes the acquired data to construct an analytically defined model of the ob served behavior in terms of identifying the total (re coverable and irrecoverable) energy density spent for deforming and damaging these materials. A con strained optimization formulation leads to the deter mination of the unknown parameters defining this methodology. Subsequently, the identified constitutive behavior in terms of the dissipated energy density is utilized to predict load-displacement behavior of specimens test ed outside the context of the automated loading frames utilized for the characterization. Validation discussion between the predicted behavior and the ex perimentally established behavior conclude this work. Introduction The markets for wood-fiber thermoplastic compos ite (WPC) products used in housing and other building applications are growing rapidly. Though current use is dominated by the replacement of deck boards and railing systems in outdoor wood decks (Smith 2001), many other WPC building products are in use or un der development, including window framing, simu lated wood shake roofing, and house siding (Bender et al. 2003, Lundin et al. 2001). While the latter men tioned products are considered "nonor semi-struc tural" and generally do not bear life safety concerns, the use of these new composites in decking, railing, and other "structural" components does raise safety concerns. With foreseen advances in product develop ment, it is certain that the WPC industry will expand into the large structural wood products market, re placing the structural framework (joists, posts, and Michopoulos, Hermanson, and Badaliance ~ 145 beams) of decks and potentially other structural ele ments used in housing. Because this technology is re cent (Clemons 2000), little technical information is available to predict the structural response of these products and the impact of their use on public safety. The multiplicity of various loading conditions in structures utilizing these materials further increase the need for a characterization methodology that ac counts for this complexity. This paper illustrates how data-driven material characterization combined with automated multi-de gree of freedom mechatronic loading systems can be used to quantify the non-linear anisotropic response of WPCs subjected to the multiplicity of loading condi tions that they would encounter in structural applica tions. The data-driven material characterization ap proach utilizes the data obtained via experimentation as the input for prediction of system behavior. As an example that will be discussed later in the paper, flex ure is a combination of tension, compression, and shear. Thus, the data obtained by tensile, compressive, and shear testing is used to predict flexure behavior without relying on a priori assumptions of component behavior. In fact, making assumptions on WPC behav ior will lead to erroneous results. An important characteristic of WPCs is that tension and compression behaviors are vastly different. For most common construction materials, such as steel or solid wood, it can be assumed that the material strain behavior is the same in tension and compression and that shear effects can be ignored. This greatly simpli fies the mechanics of materials equations used to cal culate fundamental engineering properties, such as modulus of rupture (MOR, a measure of bending strength) and modulus of elasticity (MOE, a basic mea sure of material stiffness). Currently, manufacturers, and many researchers, assume that these simplified equations hold true for WPCs. This leads to inaccurate measurements of properties and to significant error in Figure 1. ~ Views of the IPLS (left) and the NRL66 (right). scaling up measured properties from small coupon tests to full-size structural members. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to demonstrate the data-driven approach and provide a description of multi-degree of freedom mechatronic systems devel oped for polymer matrix composites (PMC) that have systematically obtained data on WPCs. This data sub sequently can be used to determine the response of WPCs to the multiplicity of loadings seen in structural applications. Multi-Dimensional Loaders for Data-Driven Characterization Multi-Dimensional Characterization of PMCs In order to characterize the constitutive response of a PMC system, the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has developed a system identification approach utiliz ing custom-made testing machines that expose mate rial specimens to discrete loading paths spanning the loading space of the specimen structure. Two charac teristic examples of such machines are the In Plane Loader System (IPLS) and the Six Degree of Freedom Loader System (NRL66) shown in Figure 1. Details about these machines and the associated automated processes are given in Mast et al. (1983), Mast et al. (1992), Mast et al. (1995a), Mast et al. (1995b), and Mast et al. (1995c). Specimen Considerations Composite materials associated with various appli cations range through a wide variety of constituent materials. Each different combination of matrix, fiber or particulate, fiber or particulate coating, layup angle, stacking sequence, etc. corresponds to a different ma terial. Although the approach discussed in this paper is applicable to both fiber and particulate PMCs, it has been historically applied to fiber PMCs. Approxi mately 100 material systems with fibers ranging from Kevlar to IM7 graphite and several thermoset resins 146 ~ 9th International Conference on Wood & Biofiber Plastic Composites and thermoplastic organic polymers have been tested and characterized with the approach discussed. Specimen geometry was designed to satisfy the fol lowing requirements: • The characteristic dimensions should be large enough relative to fiber or average particulate diameter and lamina thickness (when applica ble) to ensure that the material could be ana lyzed as either a single mechanically equivalent homogeneous anisotropic monolithic material or a collection of layers of varying orientations of such materials. • The overall specimen size should be small enough to keep material costs at a manageable level. • Strain riser(s) (such as notches, holes, etc.) should be present to guarantee that high strain regions occur well away from all specimen boundaries. Experimental Procedure The objective of the IPLS is to control the rigid body motion of the boundary of the specimen that is held by the movable grip and at the same time measure the boundary displacements and tractions. Because the actuators of the IPLS are constrained to move in a plane parallel to the specimen, the resulting motion in volves only three degrees of freedom relative to any frame ofreference on that plane. As can be seen in Fig ure 2, the grip motion can be resolved into three basic components: • sliding (shearing) u0, • opening/closing u1, and • in-plane rotation u2. Specified combinations of actuator displacements, therefore, map into particular combinations of these three basic motions. In order to visualize the loading space, it is advanta geous to think in terms of a three-dimensional dis placement space with coordinates (u0, u1, u2). The is sue then is how to select a representative family of paths that cover the space and how to sample along each path. It was decided to cover the boundary dis placement space with a set of 15 uniformly distributed radial loading paths as indicated in Figure 3. Note that because of geometry and material symmetry about the axis along the notch(es), only the half space corre sponding to positive sliding displacement (u0 > 0) need be considered. The required set of observation points is generated by sampling boundary displace ment and force data along each path. A particular test in which the actuator motions are continuously varied corresponds to a specific path in this space. Only 15 specimens are required, and 50 observations per loadFigure 2. ~ Loading modes of the in-plane loader sys tem. Figure 3. ~ Loading paths shown in displacement space of the IPLS. ing path are obtained from a single specimen. The lo cus of the end points of all loading paths for the same increment is a sphere as shown in Figure 3, where two arbitrary loading paths at three arbitrary increments are presented as an example along with the two basis case loading paths of pure shearing and opening. The traditional NRL methodology for PMC characteriza tion uses the dissipated energy density function (DEDF) as a storage mechanism for their constitutive behavior. The se


Several flow measurement methods have been developed to get more in depth information of two-phase flow. Digital image processing technique is one of the methods which provide many advantages. It is classified as non-intrusive methods and able to process a large number of images. Furthermore, this technique is also supported by the flexible algorithm and advanced technology in high speed camera. In slug flow, the presence of small bubble become one of the biggest challenges since it can distract slug interface. This work explains image processing procedures to get clear interface between the gas and liquid phase on horizontal slug flow. Then the image processing technique was applied to a set of slug flow data. The experiment was conducted in a horizontal pipeline with 50 mm inner diameter using the combination of superficial liquid velocity 0.20.77 m/s and superficial gas velocity 0.7 – 1.88 m/s. The flow was recorded using high speed video camera and extracted into images sequence. Next, applied algorithm is well explained and the example of image processing result is presented. When the interface is clear, some slug flow parameter can be calculated like its velocity, length, and frequency. This method is able to reveal the effect of liquid superficial velocity and gas superficial velocity on slug flow parameter. Moreover, present data is also compared with previous research and shows good agreement. Keyword Two-phase Flow, Slug Flow, Flow Characteristics, Flow Visualization, Digital Image Processing.


The C.R.S. has in preparation a number of volumes designed to throw light on several parts of Catholic history since the Reformation. The fifty-first volume to be issued will be The Wisbech Stirs (1595-1598), edited by Miss P. Renold. This brings together related documents from a number of sources including St. Paul's Cathedral Library, the Inner Temple, Westminster Cathedral Archives, and Stonyhurst College. This volume is in the press and will be issued to members in 1958.


The qualities of eucalyptus oil have been recognised since the early years of Australia* s European settlement, and an industry based on it grew from the mid-nineteenth century to reach maturity by the turn of the century. Eucalyptus distilling has always been a 'struggle* industry, based on the geographic and social margins of Australian society, subject to environmental, market and labour fluctuations, and ultimately largely supplanted by overseas production, an ironic outcome given the essential Australianness of the product. This article traces that history, and the technology of eucalyptus distilling, focusing on a case study of the Queanbeyan district of New South Wales in the 1950s and the archaeological remains ofthat era.


This paper considers a concrete example, and designs an improved output-feedback controller from the viewpoint of reducing the control effort at premise of maintaining the desired control performance (e.g., asymptotical stability). By introducing a new rescaling transformation, adopting an effective reduced-order observer, and choosing ingenious Lyapunov function and appropriate design parameters, the output-feedback controller guarantees the globally asymptotical stability of the closed-loop system. Simultaneously, from both the theoretical analysis and a concrete example, the smaller critical values for gain parameter and rescaling transformation parameter are obtained to reduce effectively the control effort and the rate of change of controller than the design of the related papers. At last, simulations are given to compare the control effort of two control schemes.


and discursively determined, McHugh argues for the potential use of Foucault to theorise fleshy, material, socially situated bodies with agency. To develop this potential, in Chapter 4 he turns to Merleau-Ponty and Bourdieu in a suggestive attempt to integrate these three theorists' insights about intersubjectivity, lived embodiment, power, and the structure-agency problem—one which deserves more elaboration, I think. He again turns to art history and criticism to illuminate medical practice and the surgeon-patient relation. Finally, he poses some interesting questions (though not, I think, adequate solutions) about the ethics of cosmetic surgery and what it means to care for the Other (in this case, the patient) from the point of view of a cosmetic surgeon. I would have appreciated further discussion of these questions in light of McHugh's earlier discussion of the feminist debates, particularly as he sides with Kathryn Pauly Morgan's position that what seems to amount to "choice" in cosmetic surgery is often a reflection of conformity with patriarchal norms of beauty. McHugh rejects as disingenuous and ethically irresponsible the claims of some surgeons that they are just doing what patients ask; he points out that cosmetic surgeons materially benefit from, participate in, and reinforce these norms, and he carefully analyses surgeons' power to anatomise, normalise, and discipline patients. Yet, in the end, he seems to suggest that the burden of responsible decision-making in cosmetic surgery lies principally with clinicians; and that ethical conduct and "excellence" for surgeons consists in caring for the patient and acting in accordance with their own and their patient's particular values and experience. It is not clear to me that this responds adequately to his critique of his profession's investments and interests in the (highly gendered) field of power in which patients "choose" surgery. This thoughtful, stimulating book will be of potential interest not just to those interested in the substantive topic who have some familiarity with Foucauldian approaches, but also to those wanting to amend Foucault with other theorists, the better to account for material embodiment, agency, and lived experience. The experience of the author contributes some fascinating insights to his analysis of the face in cosmetic surgery; further rigorous research on this topic would suggest how broadly those insights might extend. Dalhousie University Emma Whelan 90 © Canadian Journal of SoCiology/CahierS CanadienS de SoCiologie 40(1) 2015 Emma Whelan is a professor of sociology and of gender and women's studies. Her research and teaching focus on the sociology of health, medicine, and science, particularly claims-making contests and standardisation practices, the expert-lay divide, and women's health. She has published on pain medicine, endometriosis, and medical classification, among other topics. She is now working on a study of hand washing education in public health. Email: firstname.lastname@example.com


Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), a common cerebrovascular disease, seriously threatens human health and has severe secondary injuries, while existing treatment methods have many limitations. α2δ‐1 is a subunit of voltage‐gated Ca2+ channels (VGCCs) and can act on glutamate receptor N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate receptors (NMDARs) to relieve neuropathic pain.


I am not an anthropologist, so cannot contribute anything to the subject in which Diane Barwick was so distinguished and humane a worker. But her voice, in its humanity, its dedication to reason and justice, speaks across 140 years to an early observer of the relations between Aborigines and white invaders: Alexander Harris. If due attention had been paid to what he had to say in his book Settlers and convicts (1847) many of the tragic mistakes which have bedevilled black-white relationships might have been avoided. It is their absolute honesty and freedom from cant which bring Alexander Harris and Diane Barwick so close together across a century; reminding ourselves of their closeness helps to sustain a faith that justice and reason will not fail.


The origin and evolution of ultra-compact dwarf galaxies is a conundrum. Why do we care about the problem. GAIA? The relevance of the massive black hole at the centre of the system is... HST observations reveal regions of a few hundreds of pc in nteracting galaxies such as the Antenn


The purpose of this article is to discuss, from a case study, the extent to which the attribute quality is being built into the implementation of institutional markets. Accordingly, we conducted a qualitative study, which consisted of interviews with eighteen social actors directly involved in the conduct of the Program of Food Acquisition (PAA) and the National School Feeding Program (PNAE), in the municipality of Erechim, Rio Grande do Sul. Data collected realize that the 'quality' attribute presents itself as a crucial element in the process of social construction of markets. We conclude that the institutional arrangements that support new agri-food supply channels, comprise a fruitful environment for the establishment of social pacts that strive for quality in the process. Nevertheless, persistent disagreements and inconsistencies between those involved, ranging from questioning the merits of the products as well as the absence of organic products in the case analyzed.


Heavy metals exist in soils in various chemical forms including free metal ions and organo-metal complexes. The ratio of free metal ions has been known to be highly associated with the plant absorption of heavy metals. This study aims to understand the effect of free ions and organo-metal complexes on the absorption of lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) by plants. For this, lettuce grown in a hydroponic system for 28 days was consequently grown another 48 hours using Pb and Cd solutions. The ratios of free ion to organo-metal complexes in the solutions were adjusted at 100:0, 90:10, 70:30, 60:40 by four different organic acids (citric, oxalic, acetic, and humic acid). After that, the concentration of Pb and Cd in lettuce were analyzed. The Pb and Cd absorption by lettuce was more relied on the types of organic acids treated and the type of metals rather than the ratio of free metal ions. For example, citric acid increased the Pb absorption while it decreased the Cd absorption by lettuce. There was no significant relationship between free metal ion ratios and both Pb and Cd uptake by lettuce. It could be explained that citric acid, a relatively higher molecular weight organic acid, has higher ion binding capacity, so it forms organo-Pb complex easily due to the higher affinity of Pb on the binding site in comparison with Cd. Consequently, this complexation would assist Pb uptake by lettuce.


[Abstract]: The Federal Government released a Green Paper in November 2008 concerning possible reforms of electoral finance law in Australia. This paer discusses the mooted reforms in light of the constitutional right in Australia to freedom of political speech, and compares the regulation of electoral financing in the United States and the United Kingdom.


Abstract Background/Purpose Companies are becoming aware of the fact that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is becoming the imperative of their sustainable business model despite the potential costs it could generate. Researchers are mostly focused on estimating the relationship between CSR and financial performance where most of the findings indicate their positive relationship. This paper expands existing research and focuses on the relationship between CSR and the risk of bankruptcy using the data from 102 midsize and large companies from non-financial sectors using the data for four years. Research expands existing studies on the EU level according to the fact that most of the existing studies are performed among US companies. Method Descriptive statistics and SEM-PLS methodology was used to compare and analyze financial data with data collected from 7 groups of stakeholders. Results Research results indicate that the relation between CSR and the risk of bankruptcy is negative. Conclusion: Becoming a socially responsible company is in the best interest of all stakeholders because CSR activities contribute to financial stability and maintenance of going concern assumption.


Electronic states in symmetric InSb/AlInSb quantum wells are studied theoretically. An eight-band k·p calculation is performed for quantum wells with different barrier heights and well widths in the presence of a magnetic field applied perpendicularly to the quantum well. Influences due to strain and self-consistent Hartree potential are taken into account. By calculating transition energies and corresponding optical transition matrix elements, one can identify the calculated transitions as spin resolved cyclotron resonances, spin conserved, and spin flipped intersubband transitions. It is found that even with an in-plane optical polarization, the spin flipped intersubband transitions cannot be ignored completely. Using well-accepted bulk band parameters and experimentally known quantum well structure parameters, calculated transition energies are compared to experimental data of a recent magneto absorption measurement. A reasonably good agreement is found for the overall magnetic field dependence. The influence of a tilted magnetic field is also briefly discussed.


Abstract The gaseous refractive index of acetaldehyde in relation to the density of the substance is found to be 1·0007879 for λ 5461, while the dispersion over the range λ4358-λ6708 is represented by the Sellmeier expression (μ-1) d =7·4653×1027/(9779·3×1027-ν 2), νbeing the frequency of the incident light. The gaseous refractive indices of ethyl acetate for γ 5461 and γ 5893 (N.T.P. conditions) are found to be 1·001408 and 1·001399 respectively, both results being in agreement with previous work of Mascart.


In this paper, connections between different gauge‐theoretical problems in high and low dimensions are established. In particular, it is shown that higher dimensional anti‐self‐duality equations on the total spaces of spinor bundles over low‐dimensional manifolds can be interpreted as the Taubes–Pidstrygach generalization of the Seiberg–Witten equations. By collapsing each fibre of the spinor bundle to a point, solutions of the Taubes–Pidstrygach equations are related to generalized harmonic spinors. This approach is also generalized to arbitrary fibrations (without singular fibres) compatible with an appropriate calibration.


We describe a new method for the accurate measurement of optical rotation. It is based on curve-fitting the signal of a new optical rotation polarimeter that we have recently developed. The calculated accuracy ($\sim{80}\,\,\unicode{x00B5} ^\circ $∼80µ∘), and precision ($\sim{220}\,\,\unicode{x00B5} ^\circ )$∼220µ∘) are potentially useful for various applications in the fields of biomedical devices and analytical chemistry.


Methods to identify cause-effect relationships currently mostly assume the variables to be scalar random variables. However, in many fields the objects of interest are vectors or groups of scalar variables.
We present a new constraint-based non-parametric approach for inferring the causal relationship between two vector-valued random variables from observational data. Our method employs sparsity estimates of directed and undirected graphs and is based on two new principles for groupwise causal reasoning that we justify theoretically in Pearl's graphical model-based causality framework. Our theoretical considerations are complemented by two new causal discovery algorithms for causal interactions between two random vectors which find the correct causal direction reliably in simulations even if interactions are nonlinear. We evaluate our methods empirically and compare them to other state-of-the-art techniques.


This paper reports on the attitudes of 23 South Australian General Practitioners (GPs) towards adopting Health Informatics (HI) technology. The qualitative study suggests attitudes are determined by contextual GP perceptions of competing managerial, technological and political factors. Findings indicate increasing exposure to HI use in performance of their role influences GP perceptions of the importance and certainty of implementation outcomes in different healthcare delivery contexts. Behaviour at the prospect of change perceived as uncertain, involuntary or not of demonstrable benefit to patients, tends to manifest as resistance. The findings highlight the desirability of potential HI technology use in a particular healthcare context being associated with benefits to the GP patients and practice rather than diminution of GP control over change to their role and value.


This paper presents the results of a numerical simulation study of the performance of Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS), specifically, reservoirs with subcommercial permeability enhanced by hydraulic stimulation. The performance under consideration here is the net electrical power delivered as a function of time and the parameters in this exercise reflect conditions encountered at the Desert Peak EGS project in Nevada. Three well geometries are considered: (a) doublet (an injection and production well pair), (b) triplet (an injector flanked by a production well on each side), and (c) five-spot (an injector at the center and a production well at each corner of a square). The injector and producers communicate through a double-porosity reservoir with a thickness of 4,000 feet and at a temperature of 410°F. After enhancement by stimulation, the hydraulic characteristics of the reservoir are assumed to remain constant. The thickness of the stimulated zone was varied from 500 to 4,000 feet, and a range of fracture spacings (from 1 to 1,000 feet) and fracture permeabilities (from 1 to 100 millidarcy) following enhancement were considered. The spacing between the injector and producers was varied over a wide range. The injection water temperature was assumed to be 180°F, which is the temperature of the separated brine available from the existing Desert Peak power plant. The injection rate was dictated, through reservoir simulation, by the production rate assigned to the producers. Production wells were allowed a maximum drawdown of 500 psi and the injection well was limited to a maximum pressure buildup of 1,000 psi. From the forecast of the production rate and temperature, the gross power available was calculated as a function of time from the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics; from this, the net power available versus time was calculated for each scenario, after subtracting the parasitic power needed by injection and production pumps. For each combination of assumed geometry, injector-producer spacing, stimulated thickness, and enhancement level (fracture spacing and permeability), the net power generation capacity versus time ("net generation profile") was calculated. For each case, the mean and variance of the net generation over 30 years, net power produced per unit injection rate, and the fraction of the in-place heat energy recovered were estimated. The results indicate that power generation from an enhanced geothermal system, such as at Desert Peak, should be technically feasible under a variety of development scenarios.


Xanthenes and benzoxanthenes are important classes of compounds, especially benzoxanthenes, has received significant importance in recent years because of their wide range of biological and therapeutic properties such as antibacterial [1], antiviral [2] and anti-inflammatory [3], moreover in photodynamic therapy [4] and antagon-ists for the paralyzing action of zoxazolamine [5]. These are also available from natural sources, as Santalin pigments [6]. Furthermore, these compounds can be employed as dyes [7], pH-sensitive fluorescent materials for visualization of biomolecules [8] and used in laser technologies [9]. For the synthesis of xanthenes and benzoxanthenes many procedures available including the cycloacylation of carbamates [10], trapping of benzynes by phenol [11], cyclocondensation between 2-hydroxy aromatic aldehydes and 2-tetralone [12], cyclodehy-drations [13] and intramolecular phenyl carbonyl reaction of aldehydes with -naphthol by dehydration [14]. In addition, synthesis of benzoxanthenes and their related products synthesized by the reaction of -naphthol with formamide [15], carbon monoxide [16] and 2-naphthol-1-methanol [17]. Several reagents have been used for the synthesis of benzoxanthenes such as sulfamic acid [18], selectfluor


This paper proposes a disturbance observer-based internal model control for the three-phase LCL-type grid-connected inverter. The proposed control scheme is designed in dq-frame, and the compound controller includes an internal model control (IMC) feedback part and a feedforward compensation part for the disturbances by using a disturbance observer (DO). The attractive advantages of this structure are that the lumped disturbances including the strong coupling effects of LCL filter, model mismatched and external disturbances can be suppressed effectively, and the parameters of the two controllers can be designed separately with easy implementation. The simulation and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method has a better lumped disturbance rejection property than that of PI method in controlling three-phase LCL-type inverter.


onset until reperfusion was longer in patients with non-culprit CTO (303 vs. 253 minutes, p<0.001). Presence of non-culprit CTO was coupled with higher rates of diabetes (30.1% vs. 23.4%), renal failure (39.3% vs. 26.0%), anemia (20.0% vs. 15.2%), previous MI (34.6% vs. 13.0%), previous CABG (10.9% vs. 1.0%) and stroke (11.6% vs. 6.0%) (p<0.05 for all comparisons). After adjusting for the observed baseline differences, non-culprit CTO increased the risk of mortality at 30-days (15.8% vs. 5.3%, adjusted HR 2.0, CI95% 1.3–3.1, p=0.004), which was maintained at 3 years as well (31.1% vs. 13.6%, adjusted HR=1.7, CI95% 1.3–2.2, p<0.001) (Figure). Landmark analysis showed, that in patients surviving 30 days after primary PCI, non-culprit CTO was still independently associated with increased mortality risk up to 3 years (HR 1.6, CI95% 1.2–2.2, p=0.001). Importantly, the observed association of non-culprit CTO with increased 3-year mortality was similar across different MI localizations (p for interaction 0.76).


The subacute toxic effects of Pb and Cd on the nematode Acrobeloides nanus were assessed by the indoor culture.The influences of different Pb and Cd concentrations on the course of reproduction and body length were analyzed,and the toxic effects between exposed nematodes and their progeny were compared.Results suggested that the body length of the exposed nematodes(P0)and their progeny(F1)decreased significantly compared with the control(p0.05,p0.01).With the increase of exposure concentrations,the body length of the exposed nematodes(P0)and their progeny(F1)showed a decreasing trend.With the increase of exposure concentration,the brood size of A.nanus decreased gradually.The 72h-EC20 and EC10 of Pb for reproduction of A.nanus were 17.41 and 4.36mg·L-1,respectively,and the 72h-EC50,EC20 and EC10 of Cd for reproduction of A.nanus were 4.47,0.91 and 0.53mg·L-1,respectively.The obtained results indicated that Pb and Cd exposure could significantly inhibit the growth and reproductive capacity of A.nanus;the body length and brood size of A.nanus showed an obvious concentration-dependent manner.


ABSTRACT This study explores the characteristics of collaboration between people with Japanese value orientation in co-design workshops. We define co-design as an approach where designers collaborate with non-designers to design new products or services. This research investigates the effect of culture and value orientation on co-design between designers and non-designers in a Japanese context. Through interviews with four professional designers, we identified that the participation of Japanese non-designers in a co-design workshop might be hindered by the presence of an expert, who is perceived as a person in a higher social position. With 20 subjects, we experimentally investigated the impact of power distance on collaboration. European and Japanese groups of non-designers generated and discussed ideas in two conditions – with or without a professional designer in the group. Through behaviour and speech analysis, we assessed the quality of collaboration within the group. Depending on their power distance score, the contributions of participants were affected differently by the presence of a professional designer. Unlike in the European groups, the presence of a designer in a Japanese group created a hierarchical structure that hindered the participation of non-designers. This work is expected to support the development of co-design methods adapted to their cultural contexts.


The changes in dyeing properties of the variouscationic dyeable polyester fibers have been studied on the dyeing rate and the uptake of C. I. Basic Red 2, and the following results were obtained. (1) The glass transition temperature of the atmospheric dyeable polyester fibers in water are 17∼27°C lower than that of the high pressure dyeable fibers (Tg 95°C). (2) The temperature dependence of the diffusion coefficient for a basic dye obeys the Williams-Landel-Ferry equation. (3) The diffusion coefficient of the atmospheric dyeable type are considerably higher than that of the high pressure dyeable type. (4) The saturation value of the atmospheric andhigh pressure type fibers are 180-200 and 110 m. mol/kg, respectively.


The utility model relates to a double-level planet speed reducing oil pumping unit with a built-in winding drum. The double-level planet speed reducing oil pumping unit comprises a tower frame and an oil pumping rod lifting mechanism, wherein the lifting mechanism is positioned on a lifting platform at the top of the tower frame and comprises a driving motor and a rotary winding drum provided with a groove on the outer wall, the top end of the oil pumping rod is connected on a belt, and the other end of the belt is fixedly connected in the groove and can be collected or released in the groove. The lifting mechanism further comprises a head end support, a tail end support and a double-level planet speed reducing mechanism, wherein the rotary winding drum is arranged between the head end support and the tail end support, the double-level planet speed reducing mechanism is arranged in the rotary winding drum, a primary speed reducing mechanism of the double-level planet speed reducing mechanism is used for receiving power from the driving motor, a secondary toothed ring of a secondary speed reducing mechanism of the double-level planet speed reducing mechanism serves as a power output component and is fixed on the inner wall of the rotary winding drum through a large flange, the driving motor is a speed regulation reversing motor fixed on the tail end support, and a motor shaft of the driving motor extends into the rotary winding drum and is fixedly connected with a sun wheel of the primary speed reducing mechanism. The double-level planet speed reducing oil pumping unit is low in cost, compact in structure, low in fault rate and capable of saving energy.


Using a sample of syndicated loan facilities granted to US corporate borrowers from 1987 to 2013, we directly gauge the lead banks' market power, and test its effects on both price and non-price terms in loan contracts. We find that bank market power is positively correlated with loan spreads, and the positive relation holds for both non-relationship loans and relationship loans. In particular, we report that, for relationship loans, lending banks charge lower loan price for borrowing firms with lower switching cost. We further employ a framework accommodating the joint determination of loan contractual terms, and document that the lead banks' market power is positively correlated with collateral and negatively correlated with loan maturity. In addition, we report a significant and negative relationship between banking power and the number of covenants in loan contracts, and the negative relationship is stronger for relationship loans.


Flame acoustic characterization of a coal water slurry (CWS) gasifier is an important information which can show the flame burning state and its flow characteristics.In order to better understand the burning characteristics of impinging flame and its effect on the gasifier,the four-nozzle impinging flame and two-nozzle impinging flame of the gasifier with different conditions were studied respectively.The statistical theory and Hilbert-Huang transformation were used to analyze the flame acoustic signals in time and frequency domains.The results showed that with the increase of fuel or oxygen,the rate of chemical reaction increased and the flame burned more and more intensely,but the stability of the flame became worse.And oxygen played a key role in the process.The standard deviation of four-nozzle impinging flame noise was greater than that of the two-nozzle impinging flame noise,but the change of the standard deviation was the reverse.It meant that the four-nozzle impinging flame burned intensely but stably.In the condition with a low ratio of CWS feed and oxygen,the noises of four-nozzle impinging flame were concentrated in the low-frequency bands below 45 Hz and the medium-frequency 45—100 Hz band,indicating that four-nozzle impinging flame was more stable.


Background: Self-care during Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) helps people follow self-care strategies to reduce the spread of the virus. To control the disease, people need to engage in self-care behaviors, which should be investigated by a valid and reliable instrument to yield valid and credible results.

Objectives: This study aimed to validate the Persian version of the Self-Care in COVID-19 Scale (SCOVID Scale).

Methods: The sample included 582 participants from Tehran's general population, selected through convenience sampling in 2021. They were divided into two groups, one for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and the other for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Cronbach's alpha coefficient and McDonald's omega were used to assess the internal consistency. Standard error of measurement and the interclass correlation coefficient were also employed to examine absolute and relative stability, respectively.

Results: In the EFA, three factors, including Precaution, Routine Activities, and Lifestyle, were extracted, explaining 32.31% of the total variance in COVID-19 self-care. Internal consistency of the whole scale using both Cronbach's alpha coefficient and McDonald's omega was above 0.7. The goodness of fit indices of the second-order CFA were in the acceptable range (x2=262.365, df=82, P<0.001, RMSEA=0.062, PCFI=0.725, PNFI=0.703, IFI=0.930, and the CFI=0.929).

Conclusion: The Persian version of the SCOVID Scale is a valid and reliable instrument that can be used in studies on COVID-19.


We present a simple and reliable technique to fully characterize the polarization state of a terahertz wave over a wide range of frequencies. Application to polarization ratio and crystal birefringence measurements is given.


The pathophysiology of Gulf War Illness (GWI) remains elusive even after three decades. The persistence of multiple complex symptoms along with metabolic disorders such as obesity worsens the health of present Gulf War (GW) Veterans often by the interactions of the host gut microbiome and inflammatory mediators. In this study, we hypothesized that the administration of a Western diet might alter the host metabolomic profile, which is likely associated with the altered bacterial species. Using a five-month symptom persistence GWI model in mice and whole-genome sequencing, we characterized the species-level dysbiosis and global metabolomics, along with heterogenous co-occurrence network analysis, to study the bacteriome–metabolomic association. Microbial analysis at the species level showed a significant alteration of beneficial bacterial species. The beta diversity of the global metabolomic profile showed distinct clustering due to the Western diet, along with the alteration of metabolites associated with lipid, amino acid, nucleotide, vitamin, and xenobiotic metabolism pathways. Network analysis showed novel associations of gut bacterial species with metabolites and biochemical pathways that could be used as biomarkers or therapeutic targets to ameliorate symptom persistence in GW Veterans.


Detrital zircons from modern sediments display an episodic temporal distribution of U-Pb crystallization ages forming a series of 'peaks' and 'troughs', which are interpreted to represent either periods of enhanced generation of granitic magma perhaps associated with mantle overturn and superplume events or preferential preservation of continental crust during global collisional orogenesis (Fig. 1). The close association of those peaks with the assembly of supercontinents implies a causal relationship between collisional orogenesis and the presence of zircon age peaks. Here these two endmember models (episodic periodicity of increased magmatism versus selective preservation during collisional orogenesis) are assessed using U-Pb, Hf, and O analysis of detrital zircons from sedimentary successions deposited during the ~1.3-1.1 Ga accretionary, ~1.1-0.9 Ga collisional, and < 0.9 Ga extensional collapse phases of the Grenville orogenic cycle in Labrador and Scotland (Fig. 2). The precollisional, accretionary stage provides a baseline of continental crust present prior to orogenesis and is dominated by Archean and Paleoproterozoic age peaks associated with pre-1300 Ma Laurentian geology. Strata deposited during the Grenville Orogeny display similar Archean and Paleoproterozoic detrital populations along with a series of broad muted peaks from ~1500 to 1100 Ma. However, post-collisional sedimentary successions display a dominant age peak between 1085 and 985 Ma, similar to that observed in modern North American river sediments. Zircons within the post-orogenic sedimentary successions have progressively lower εHf and higher ∂O values post-1800 Ma until ~1200 Ma whereupon they have higher εHf and ∂O within the dominant 1085-985 Ma age peak. Furthermore, the Lu-Hf isotopic profile of the Grenville-related age peak is consistent with significant assimilation and contamination by older crustal material. The timing of this dominant age peak coincides with the peak of metamorphism and magmatism associated with the Grenville Orogeny, which is a typical collisional orogenic belt (Fig. 3). Figure 1: The volumes of magma generated (black line) and their likely preservation potential (grey line) vary through the three stages associated with the convergence, assembly, and breakup of a supercontinent [1]. Peaks in igneous crystallization ages that are preserved in the rock record (shaded area) reflect the balance between the magma volumes generated during the orogenic cycle and their respective preservation potential. Figure 2: The age range of pre-, syn-, and post-orogenic sedimentary successions sampled in this study overlain by the zircon U-Pb age spectra. The vertical axis represents relative probability. Highlighted above the time scale are the stages of the Grenville orogenic cycle. Br: Bradore Formation; DM: Double Mer Formation; LE: Loch Eil Formation; TG: Torridon Group; BH: Battle Harbour Psammite; SG: Sleat Group; Si: Siamarnekh Formation.


In this collection of articles, the authors reflect on justice and beauty. The question is: Why do the authors reflect on, or were asked to again reflect on justice, or more particularly, why on beauty? Why justice and why beauty, and not, for example, ethics and aesthetics? The answer, of course, depends on how justice and beauty are defined. In many of the articles, the authors did relate justice to ethics and beauty to aesthetics. Some authors, however, deliberately decided for either "justice" or "beauty", not merely related to ethics and aesthetics. For some of the authors, it was important to define and further develop justice. For others, the further development and definition of beauty was more important. In addition to the question as to why the authors reflected on justice and beauty, the question was: What does justice have to do with beauty, or beauty with justice? Why relate justice to beauty, or beauty to justice? Although they did not take this relation as a given, the authors in most of the articles in this collection tried to relate justice to beauty, and beauty to justice. They all deemed this relation to be given at least more prominence in theological reflections.


The aim of this paper was to analyse the impact of long-term operation of a zinc-works on the soil environment based on 20-year observations. The study material comprised the surface soil samples and soil profiles collected in close vicinity of the zinc-works in Miasteczko Śląskie (Southern Poland) and in the locations within certain distance from the plant. The total content of Pb and Zn in the surface soil samples collected in the vicinity of the zinc-works in 2018 ranged from 3,975 to 26,200 mg/kg for Pb and from 3,358 to 21,867 mg/kg for Zn. These values were considerably higher than those recorded 20 years earlier (i.e. 601–11,939 mg/kg and 1,009–13,924 mg/kg for Pb and Zn, respectively). The mineral composition was dominated by quartz, feldspars and carbonates (e.g. calcium carbonate). Additionally, iron hydroxides (lepidocrocite), lead sulphates (anglesite) and zinc silicates (hemimorphite) were found. The bioavailable quantities of Pb and Zn in the soil samples collected in 2018 amounted to 30% of the total content in the case of Pb and 34% of the total Zn content. Twenty years earlier, the mean values were 66% (Pb) and 44% (Zn), respectively. The acidity of the soil samples collected in the vicinity of the zincworks indicated their very good buffering capacity, as well as the capacity to release 58–60% of the total Pb and Zn contents to the environment, with a pH decrease of only 3 units. The Risk Assessment Code (RAC) calculated based on the Pb and Zn cations in the exchangeable positions and bound with carbonates indicates that even after 20 years, there is still a high environmental risk related to the presence of those metals in soils. This paper also demonstrates that presently the major factors contributing to the pollution of soil are deflation and suffosion of small particles from the old, unprotected mining and industrial waste dumps.

http://www.jeeng.net/pdf-119815-49563?filename=Lead and Zinc in Soils.pdf


Closed chamber measurements are widely used for determining the CO2 exchange of different ecosystems. Among the chamber design and operational handling, the data processing procedure is a considerable source of uncertainty of obtained results. We developed a standardized automatic dataprocessing algorithm, based on the statistical computing environment R, which (i) calculates CO2 fluxes measured by closed chmabers, (ii) parameterizes temperature (Reco) and PAR (GPP) dependency models, (iii) optionally computes an adaptive temperature model, (iv) models Reco, GPP and NEE, and (v) evaluates model uncertainty. The dataset contains the developed R-script and the used test data, originating from measurments (2010-2012) at a cultivated fen situated in the northeast of Germany.


Heritability in the risk for developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been established, but most genome‐wide association studies (GWASs) of PTSD involve relatively small sample sizes and limited identification of associated genetic loci. This report describes the methodology of a Veterans Affairs (VA) Cooperative Studies Program GWAS of PTSD among combat‐exposed U.S. veterans.


Such a facility would need to be endowed or sponsored, to guarantee its continuity. IUCN has very limited endowment, and depends for its financial balance on year-to-year fund-raising. This is not a satisfactory arrangement for a long-term facility such as the one discussed in this memorandum. Accordingly, it is suggested that the creation of a World Conservation Archive and a World Conservation Library should be the subject of bequest, donation, or sponsorship, by a patron or patrons whose names (or the names of those who they might prefer to see associated) would of course be attached to the facility.


The concept that cell injury is associated with alterations in the permeability of cell membranes is well documented. Green and co-workers have shown that, in tissue culture, cells injured by cytotoxic antibody permit the diffusion of electrolytes and larger molecules across the cell membrane.' The appearance of lactate dehydrogenase and transaminase in the serum of patients with myocardial infarction and the concomitant decrease in the activity of these enzymes in the ischemic fibers support this concept.2'3 On the other hand, the diffusion of large molecules (such as plasma proteins, normally present in the interstitial fluid) into the cells and the demonstration of them in cells as indicators of cell injury has not been appreciated. Plasma proteins are present normally in the interstitial fluid that surrounds cells in vivo.4 Thus, the permeability of cell membranes is being tested constantly by plasma proteins that vary in size and shape. Cell injury, if associated with increased permeability of cell membranes, may be evidenced by the intracytoplasmic diffusion of one or more types of plasma proteins. This is particularly likely when the cell injury is accompanied also by enhanced capillary permeability that causes a local increase in interstitial plasma proteins. Muscle fibers in experimentally induced myocardial infarcts in dogs have been recently shown to contain albumin, immune gamma globulin (IgG), and fibrinogen, which are not demonstrable in normal muscle fibers.5 Further, these plasma proteins were "bound" to the muscle fibers. That is, saline washing of cryostat sections prior to incubation with fluorescein-labeled specific antiserum did not remove these plasma proteins. The distribution of diastase-resistant periodic acid-Schiff-positive material (D-PAS) previously described in ischemic muscle fibers2'6'7 corresponded to the distribution of the plasma proteins. Since many of the plasma proteins are PAS-positive, these probably account in part Supported by Research Grant AI-o3i88 from the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Public Health Service. Presented in part at the Annual Meeting of the American Sodety for Experimental Pathology, Atlantic City, N.J., April I966. Accepted for publication Sept. I9, I966.


Murine marrow cells, when incubated in methylcellulose culture in the presence of erythropoietin and conditioned medium for two weeks, produced large macroscopic bursts containing normoblasts, macrophages, and often megakaryocytes. The clonal nature of these mixed colonies was supported by linearity studies and analyses of the percentages of constituent cells in different plating conditions. Time course observations and studies of the effects of L‐cell‐conditioned medium revealed that colony‐forming cells for the mixed colonies (CFU‐mix) are at earlier stages of hemopoietic development than burst‐forming units (BFU‐E). The mean of the modal sedimentation velocities of CFU‐mix was 3.4 mm/hr and was in close agreement with that reported for the spleen colony‐forming units. Almost none of the CFU‐mix was in a DNA synthetic phase as measured by short‐term exposure to tritiated thymidine. These results strongly indicate that CFU‐mix represent a population of pluripotent hemopoietic stem cells in murine marrow.


but rather a highly organized state with all its parts co-ordinated. We see a culture under the Druids, overleaping national boundaries and shared by the Celtic states in Gaul and Britain, and yet keeping its own nationality, its own characteristics. For Professor MacNeill " Nationality is the type of civilisation which a people has developed, which has become that people's tradition, and is distinctive of that people." Civilization is the genus and nation is the species, and there is nothing he fears more than that uniformity—the uniformity of Latin civilization under the Romans and in later ages of the Renaissance which eventually " penetrated into Ireland under her conquerors and displaced a rich national culture and replaced it by a pretentious and imitative vulgarity." This sameness for him was calamitous. Most think of the Druids as a conservative priestly body. According to Professor MacNeill they were not priests but the men of learning and culture in the nation. They did, indeed, among other matters legislate on religious rites and rubrics, but their chief functions were the educators and law framers of the Celtic states. In reading the book one is asked to be critical ; none welcomes such an attitude more than Professor MacNeill. He says : " I suggest that nearly every generalization that has passed current about things Celtic or things supposed to be Celtic— the Celtic race, the Celtic temperament, Celtic art, the Celtic Church, Celtic society—stands equally in need of revision and rectification." But it must be borne in mind also that the author is a very great authority, one whose work cannot be lightly dismissed. D.L.D.


Critical circuit breakers are the objects of careful preventive maintenance programs where utilities require reliable operation. The ability of the asset to operate when needed is a critical component of equipment protection from further damage. These maintenance programs can be very expensive with more frequent and comprehensive tests and inspections and failure of the breaker to operate when needed can cause significant collateral damage. In many cases this becomes a burden on the operation and maintenance budgets as well as time consuming for the engineer to successfully manage. High voltage circuit breakers are valuable assets and monitoring of these assets enables utilities to proactively maintain equipment. This paper will review the different aspects of circuit breaker monitoring such as mechanical integrity, SF6 gas levels, contact wear, control electronics and stored energy system.


Linear arrays of ultrasonic transducers are commonly used as ultrasonic probes in medical diagnostics for imaging the interior of a human body in vivo . The crosstalk phenomenon occurs during the operation of transducers in which electrical voltages and mechanical vibrations are transmitted to adjacent components. As a result of such additional excitation of the transducers in the array, the directivity characteristics of the aperture used changes, and consequently there is interference with proper operation of a given array and the emergence of distortions in the obtained ultrasound image that reduce its quality. This paper studies the manner of propagation of mechanical crosstalk in the designed model of a linear array of ultrasonic transducers on the basis of unwanted signals, which appeared on elementary piezoelectric transducers when power is supplied to the selected transducer in the array. The universal model of linear array of ultrasonic transducers, which has been developed, allowed the simulation of mechanical crosstalk, taking into account the cross-coupling phenomenon in all of its structure with the use of finite elements method (FEM) implemented in COMSOL Multiphysics software. The analysis of crosstalk signals showed that they consist of aggregated pulses propagating with different speeds and frequencies. This signifies the formation of different vibration modes transmitted simultaneously via different paths. The paper is an original approach which enables to identify different vibration modes and estimate their participation in the crosstalk signal and their ways of propagation. Conclusions from the research allow predicting specific design changes which are significant due to the minimization of mechanical crosstalk in linear arrays of ultrasonic transducers.


Laminar mixed convection flow of an incompressible, electrically conducting, viscous fluid with variable viscosity and variable thermal conductivity through two parallel horizontal walls under the influence of variable magnetic field is studied. Arrhenius model is used to express variable viscosity and thermal conductivity. In this model, the variable viscosity, and also the thermal conductivity decrease exponentially with temperature. The fluid is subjected to a constant pressure gradient and an external magnetic field perpendicular to the plates. The plates are maintained at different but constant temperatures. Approximation technique is used to obtain the solution of the coupled non-linear equations of the velocity field and the temperature distribution. The expressions for skin-friction and heat transfer rate are also derived. The effects of parameters of engineering importance on velocity field and temperature distribution are discussed graphically, while effects on skin-friction and rate of heat transfer are presented in tabular form and discussed. Nomenclature B variable magnetic field, 0 B constant magnetic field, when 1 T T    , p C specific heat at constant pressure,


Nowadays, the success of the different institutions depends on the security of their information against possible attacks. Because much of this information is related to persons' activities, so safeguarding their identities is essential for these successes. For this purpose, persons' identity recognition can be categorized as an effective method to enhance the security of information systems. To do this, most of these systems use biometric methods, which are very efficient compared to traditional methods. In this context, the present paper attempts to design an effective multimodal biometric system using hand biometrics. In this work, Finger- Knuckle-Print (FKP) and PaLMprint (PLM) biometrics are used. In addition, for high accuracy, two simple and effective deep learning based feature extraction techniques, PCANet and DCTNet, are integrated. The security analysis presented in this paper can help simplify the understanding of biometric systems and thus finding a robust solution to protect information systems. Our experimental results, using a synthetic multibiometric dataset of 165 persons, show that our proposed system has a high identification rate and a very low classification error compared to several existing methods.


Mr.Yao Ming is the most important top player in 2006 World Championship and his every action atches special attention of the public at all times.His exertion will decide the Chinese team's success or failure,and the Chinese team couldn't have entered the 16 top teams without his excellent exertion.The author generalizes and summarizes Mr.Yao Ming' technical application by referring to some related references in hopes of Mr.YAO's better exertion as well as the Chinese team's better performances in Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.


In this paper, we focus on the decision-making challenge in autonomous driving, a central and intricate problem influencing the safety and practicality of autonomous vehicles. We propose an innovative hierarchical imitation learning framework that effectively alleviates the complexity of learning in autonomous driving decision-making problems by decoupling decision-making tasks into sub-problems. Specifically, the decision-making process is divided into two levels of sub-problems: the upper level directs the vehicle's lane selection and qualitative speed management, while the lower level implements precise control of the driving speed and direction. We harness Transformer-based models for solving each sub-problem, enabling overall hierarchical framework to comprehend and navigate diverse and various road conditions, ultimately resulting in improved decision-making. Through an evaluation in several typical driving scenarios within the SMARTS autonomous driving simulation environment, our proposed hierarchical decision-making framework significantly outperforms end-to-end reinforcement learning algorithms and behavior cloning algorithm, achieving an average pass rate of over 90%. Our framework's effectiveness is substantiated by its commendable achievements at the NeurIPS 2022 Driving SMARTS competition, where it secures dual track championships.


The purpose of this study was to analyse the occurrence of psychiatric symptoms in parents with handicapped children and to examine their satisfaction with life. Participants were 113 parents of handicapped children. Data for the study were obtained from the Brief Symptom Inventory, Satisfaction with Life Scale and Personal Information Questionnaire. Results indicated that psychiatric symptoms and satisfaction with life exhibited dramatic differences due to the specific handicaps of their children. Except for depression and hostility, all other psychological symptoms were found as predictors of satisfaction with life of the parents with handicapped children. The results found in this study indicate that, the level of negative self-concept and somatization increase as the parents' educational status decreases. As the life satisfaction of the parents gets higher, the negative self-concept and somatization levels decrease. Also, the psychological symptoms of the parents vary according to the type of disability of their children.


According to the analysis on "Northeasternphynomenon" of leading industry of Old Industrial Base in Northeast China and the relationship between creative value float and it,this paper put forward the idea of gaining creative value of periodical flow through the cooperation among education,research and industry to race to control a creative commanding point in the fields of leading industries in Old Industrial Base in Northeast China,such as equipment manufacturing industry,petrochemical industry,iron and steel industry,new material industry,etc;to promote the RD activity composed mainly of enterprise and to quicken enterprising speed;to gain creative value flowing to highly sophisticated products through innovative integration;to obtain the creative value flowing to division of labor and service and to acquire the counter-measure and suggestion to remove "Northeasternphynomenon" of the development of leading industry in Old Industrial Base in Northeast China.


The swelling of plant motor cells is regulated by various signals with almost unknown mediators. One of the obligatory steps in the signaling cascade is the activation of K+-influx channels -K+ channels activated by hyperpolarization (KH channels). We thus explored the regulation of these channels in our model system, motor cell protoplasts from Samanea saman, using patch-clamp in the "whole cell" configuration. (a) The most novel finding was that the activity of KH channels in situ varied with the time of the day, in positive correlation with cell swelling: in Extensor cells KH channels were active in the earlier part of the day, while in Flexor cells only during the later part of the day; (b) High internal pH promoted the activity of these channels in Extensor cells, opposite to the behavior of the equivalent channels in guard cells, but in conformity with the predicted behavior of the putative KH channel, cloned from S. saman recently; (c) HIgh external K+ concentration increased (KH channel currents in Flexor cells. BL depolarized the Flexor cells, as detected in cell-attached patch-clamp recording, using KD channels (the K+-efflux channels) as "voltage-sensing devices". Subsequent Red-Light (RL) pulse followed by Darkness, hyperpolarized the cell. We attribute these changes to the inhibition of the H+-pump by BL and its reactivation by RL, as they were abolished by an H+-pump inhibitor. BL increased also the activity KD channels, in a voltage-independent manner - in all probability by an independent signaling pathway. Blue-Light (BL), which stimulates shrinking of Flexor cells, evoked the IP3 signaling cascade (detected directly by IP3 binding assay), known to mobilize cytosolic Ca2+. Nevertheless, cytosolic Ca2+ . did not activate the KD channel in excised, inside-out patches. In this study we established a close functional similarity of the KD channels between Flexor and Extensior cells. Thus the differences in their responses must stem from different links to signaling in both cell types.


The invention relates to a method for measuring the content of 3BS (tribasic lead sulfate) and 4BS (tetrabasic lead sulfate) in a cured product by an X-ray diffraction internal standard method. The method comprises the steps of carrying out qualitative treatment and content estimation on the cured product, drawing standard curves by the internal standard method, measuring the content of the cured product, adding an internal standard substance into a cured electrode plate subjected to ball grinding, and grinding again, wherein the ratio of the internal standard substance to a sample is the same as that during standard curve drawing; and measuring diffraction peaks to be detected of the internal standard substance as well as 3BS and 4BS by an X-ray diffractometer after sample preparation, recording the integrated intensity ratio of the diffraction peaks to be detected of 3BS (or 4BS) and the internal standard substance, and finding the content of 3BS and 4BS on the 3BS and 4BS standard curves. The method is convenient in qualitative analysis and accurate in quantitative analysis, and has low error less than 1%-2.5%, and therefore, the simple, rapid, accurate and effective detection method for measuring the content of 3BS and 4BS in the cured product, which is difficult to be measured accurately in the prior art, is provided.


At the close of the period of the British Mandate over Palestine, at the end of 1947, the population of the country numbered 1,970,000 persons. Twothirds of them were Arabs, and one-third Jews. The great majority of the Arabs (86 per cent) were Muslims, and almost all of the remainder were Christians. ' Continuing clashes between Jews and Arabs intensified following the United Nations vote on 29 November 1947 on the partition of Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish state. They grew more serious during the succeeding months, and with the invasion of the newly proclaimed state of Israel by armies of neighboring Arab countries on 15 May 1948, local fighting turned into a general conflict. During the same period the great and significant change began in the composition of the population which lived in that part of Mandatory Palestine which subsequently became the state of Israel. Palestinian Arabs began to leave their homes. Some of them went to other towns and villages within Palestine, and others left the country in order to find temporary refuge from the growing violence. During the first months after the United Nations vote the initiative for leaving came primarily from the Arabs themselves. Following the capture by Jewish forces of Haifa and of Jaffa in April 1948, the number of instances grew in which the Jewish forces encouraged the Arabs to leave their localities, or simply expelled them. After Israel declared its independence on 14 May 1948, the expulsion of Arabs increasingly became a definite policy of the fighting units. Residents of many Arab villages, who had not fled when their villages were captured, were expelled by the Israeli occupying forces. The flow of fleeing and expelled Arabs became a flood. The government of Israel permitted few to return to their homes, or to resettle in other localities. At the end of the 1948 war only 20 per cent of the Arabs who were living there in November 1947, remained within the borders of Israel. There were two major changes which affected the Arab population of Palestine with the termination of the British Mandate and the establishment of Israel. First, the Arab population in that portion of the mandated territory which became the state of Israel was transformed from a community possessing economic and political power, and the potential for expanding this power within the framework of the Mandate or the states which were to have been established under the partition plan, into a community dependent on the governing institutions of an overwhelmingly Jewish majority. Second, the change in the socio-economic and political position of the Arab population was accompanied by a change in its size and thus in its opportunity to become again powerful in Israel. Not only did the number of Arabs remaining in Israel decline greatly, but the hostile relations existing after 1948 between Israel and the neighboring Arab countries prevented the latter from exerting any significant influence on Israeli policy towards the Arabs who remained in the


Porphyry of Tyre poured a great deal of effort into his polemical work Against the Christians, frequently held up as the pinnacle of anti-Christian writing in antiquity. Unfortunately for modern scholars, both this work and his topically-related Philosophy from Oracles only survive in fragmentary form. Adding to the difficulties of scholars working on Porphyry's writings in this area, the last truly standard edition was A. von Harnack, Porphyrius. Gegen die Christen (1916). Porphyrian studies remain controversial, not least because over the last century a number of Harnack's editorial decisions have been challenged and a number of new fragments identified as Porphyrian. There is nothing radical in B.'s view of the philosopher or his work. He holds to a unified composition of Against the Christians, and after surveying the cases for dating it in either A.D. 270–71 or 303, he concludes that the evidence is insufficient to delineate between the two options (pp. 22–7). For the reception of Porphyry by Eusebius, Jerome and Augustine, B. simply refers readers to the chapters on these topics in A. Magny, Porphyry in Fragments (2014), a resource which is recent, but which I believe must be utilised with due caution (see review in CR [2015], 405–7). While B.'s volume is useful, albeit not unique, as a modern collection of the evidence, it is much more. In terms of layout, each Porphyrian fragment receives a thorough treatment, although B.'s format may require a little getting used to, offering in sequence as it does each individual fragment or testimony, followed by German translation and then commentary. While some might wish for a critical apparatus, the various primary source texts are reproduced clearly from standard editions. The fragments and testimonies of Against the Christians are divided into three sections for genuine ones with attributions to specific chapters, genuine ones without such affiliation and dubious ones. Given that topically similar pieces may be dispersed among these, it is very helpful that B. has offset this by providing Porphyry's wide-ranging but fragmentary work with four indexes, for sources (both Biblical and others), names, places and topics. Thankfully, De Gruyter has maintained the high standards for paper and binding typical of German publishers. Space precludes discussion of every issue or contested fragment, but suffice it to say that although there are a few specific points worth noting, B.'s analysis is generally THE CLASSICAL REVIEW 52


Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) gas in the air surrounding residential areas near Sugar Factory X presents a noteworthy health hazard, particularly for children. The objective of this study is to identify the sources of NO2 pollution and perform an Environmental Health Risk Analysis (EHRA) on children's exposure. This study is a quantitative, descriptive-analytical research using secondary data from ambient air quality tests in residential areas surrounding Sugar Factory X in 2022. The data were obtained from relevant agencies. The data were analyzed using EHRA method. The analysis identified the boiler chimney emissions of Sugar Factory X as the primary source of NO2 gas in that area. The overall risk characterization indicated that NO2 concentrations of 0.0514 mg/m3, 0.0528 mg/m3, and 0.0541 mg/m3 were unsafe for children weighing 15 kg and 20 kg, based on a 24-hour daily inhalation time and an exposure frequency of 350 days/year. The effects of exposure were projected over a period of 6 years. Children weighing 15 kg are at a higher risk than children weighing 20 kg. The NO2 concentration limit for a 15 kg child was 0.0261 mg/m3, while for a 20 kg child, it was 0.0348 mg/m3. Sugar factory X is the only source of NO2 pollution in the adjacent residential areas, which poses a threat to children living in these nearby areas, especially those weighing 15 kg. Sugar Factory X is expected to undertake several measures, including replacing the boiler chimneys, conducting regular equipment maintenance, and establishing green belts.


This paper proposes a new z-domain model for all-digital phase-locked loop(ADPLL)whose output frequency is inversely proportional to the control word of digital controlled oscillator(DCO).With this new z-domain model,bandwidth and phase margin can still be acquired for these ADPLLs.Finally,a cycle-domain simulator is written to verify the correctness of z-domain model and the results are in good agreement within only 0.5-db measurement error bars.


Inspired by natural photosynthesis, a new green catalyst with better photocatalytic properties was obtained. Nanostructured TiO2, a cheap cost natural Chlorophyll‐a as an electron promotor and a mussel‐inspired polydopamine (PD) bio adhesive were synergistically combined in the double S‐scheme hybrid photocatalysts The role of PD as a bridging molecule between the pigments of Chl and TiO2 was clearly demonstrated by improved charge transfer and recombination rate. Methylorange as a probe molecule was used to test the stability and efficiency of the new photocatalyst. This challenging approach on obtaining new green bioinspired catalysts avoiding critical raw materials is in line with the new vision on catalysts. The results of this study show the effectiveness and stability of the new photocatalyst. Based on the combined effect of PD functionalization and Chl sensitization, the NT/PD‐Chl heterostructure photocatalyst had the best photo(electro)catalytic performance for MO degradation which was shown to be 97.74 % after 180 min.


Corynebacterium hydrocarboclastus S10BI or S489BI can accumulate a good deal of Lglutamate in a thiamine-deficient medium at the expence of hydrocarbon, but can not form L-glutamate in a thiamine-sufficient medium in spite of rapid cell growth, as already reported. In order to establish the optimal culture condition for L-glutamate formation, the influence of the following factors was first studied: hydrocarbon concentration, pH control, nitrogen sources, temperature, aeration and supplement of metal ions or amino acids. Then L-glutamate production from a variety of hydrocarbons or petroleum fractions was examined. Sodium oleate was found to stimulate growth remarkably instead of thiamine. Ferrous ion was found to be obligatory for L-glutamate formation and was suggested to have taken part in the earliest step of n-alkane oxidation.


Water‐cooled gratings manufactured for spherical grating monochromators of the Advanced Light Source beamlines 7.0, 8.0, and 9.0 were measured with the laser plasma source and reflectometer in the Center for X‐ray Optics at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. The square‐wave gratings are ion milled into the polished electroless nickel surface after patterning by holographic photolithography. Absolute efficiency data are compared with exact electromagnetic theory calculation. Interorder stray light and groove depths can be estimated from the measurements.


This paper mainly carries out research on TFET device based on FDSOI. The simulations were performed at the single event transient effect (SET), The effects of The high-energy particles from different positions, different incident depths and different incident angles, and the mechanism of charge collection in the sensitive position are analyzed, the effects of different bias voltages on SET is discussed. Finally, a device-level Radiation-Hardened technique for SET of the device is proposed.


Abstract Library tutorials offer on demand and as-needed instruction, a necessity as higher education continues to extend the reach of online learning. Our institution has increased its online course offerings alongside a university-wide shift in pedagogical and student-centered philosophy. To align our library tutorials webpage with these advances, we achieved a comprehensive redesign through a survey, student usability study, and librarian focus group. Guided by user-experience design, web accessibility, and Universal Design for Learning principles, we organized the new web page to better support our learning community.


Professor Hellings is also the founder of the European Forum for Research and Education in Allergy and Airway Disease, an international nonprofit involving a consortium of European key opinion leaders aiming at the implementation of optimal care for chronic respiratory diseases. He is also founder and director of the European Rhinoplasty Course, and member of European and American guideline committees. イブニングセミナー


Sorghum earhead worm, identified as Cryptoblabes gnidiefla bfiliicre (Lepidoplera: Pyralidae) was recorded for the first time from Hnryana state on sorghum crop. The larvae of this pest feed on the grains. They form web out of the excreta and silken thrcads on the cobs. The number of caterpillar pep earhead of sorghum varied from 3 to 11. The larval period varied from l"2 to 20 days. Pupation tnok place inside the silken webs end pupal period was about 6
to 15 days under laboratory conditions


This paper deals with the design of active suspension systems the disturbance attenuation with respect to the road disturbance when some parameters of the suspension model are uncertain, A two-degree-of-freedom quarter-car model is used to implement an LMI-based H2/H∞ approach with polytopic description of the suspension mode.


This brief is devoted to investigating the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${H} _{ \infty }$ </tex-math></inline-formula> relay tracking control problem of a group of agents in a monitoring region. In order to solve such a problem, we partition the monitoring region into several "tracking zones" based on a Voronoi diagram. Then, we propose a novel impulsive model to describe this relay tracking problem, and define the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${H} _{ \infty }$ </tex-math></inline-formula> performance for this model. A relay tracking control protocol, which can guarantee the desired <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${H} _{ \infty }$ </tex-math></inline-formula> performance, is designed based on the solution of a set of matrix inequalities. The effectiveness of the proposed relay tracking control algorithm is illustrated by numerical simulations.


Because it is primarily an Early Modern English text (in terms of its English language), the earliest text of the Book of Mormon understandably employs plural was — for example, "the words which was delivered" (Alma 5:11). It does so in a way that is substantially similar to what is found in many writings of the Early Modern period — that is, it manifests the syntactic usage, variation, and differential rates typical of that era. T study looks at a subset of the questionable grammar of the Book of Mormon. It focuses on the use of was in contexts where standard modern English requires the verb form were. This has been called plural was by linguists, as a convenient way to refer to the notinfrequent use of was with plural subjects that has been present in the language since Middle English and possibly earlier.1 Of course we miss these readings in the current LDS text; we must turn to the following edition to see them today: Royal Skousen, ed., The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text (New Haven, CT: Yale UP, 2009). Indeed, we could not learn about these matters without such a critical text. Because of the resources that have become available recently, it is a new day in the study of the English-language text of the Book of Mormon. Most of the examples presented here — from both the Book of Mormon and the Early Modern English textual record — will be new to virtually everyone; they should be eye-opening. Here I unapologetically focus on the form of expression, not the content; cases of exceptional usage, not the majority usage. Still, some excerpts provide us with a glimpse of interesting content. 1. Terttu Nevalainen, "Vernacular universals? The case of plural was in Early Modern English", Types of Variation: Diachronic, dialectal and typological interfaces, edited by Terttu Nevalainen, Juhani Klemola, and Mikko Laitinen (Amsterdam: Benjamins, 2006), 351–69, 355. The Case of Plural Was in the Earliest Text


Objective To evaluate the susceptibility weighted imaging in the recessive cerebral micro-bleeding(rCMB). Methods With the application of 3.0T whole body magnetic resonance imaging equipment, these sequences of T1WI, T2WI, FLAIR, DWI, SWI were carried out. SWI was the VEN-BOLD-HR gradient echo sequence. SENSE parallel acquisition technique was applied, with SENSE factor 2. The thickness was 6mm, slice gap 0.6mm. Results The rCMB were manifested as round low signal, occasionally accompanied by visible single or double low signal ring of the outer peripheral. The lesions were with the uneven distribution, different sizes, various numbers. Conclusion SWI has a higher value in the detection of rCMB, with important clinical significance in the guidance of clinical treatment or determining the prognosis of the diseases.


Adolescents who live in family contexts at risk for maltreatment demonstrate high rates of adverse mental health concerns (Mills, 2013). There are many factors associated with maltreatment risk. Parental mental health, and maternal depression in particular, is a pervasive issue associated with risk for maltreatment (e.g., Dubowitz et al., 2011; Windham et al., 2004). Further, the association between maternal depressive symptoms and adolescent problem behaviors also is well established (e.g., Brenning, Soenens, Braet, & Bal, 2012; Lizardi, Klein, & Shankman, 2004). Less is known, however, about factors that intervene in the relationship between maternal depression and adolescent mental health concerns (Brennan, Brocque, & Hammen, 2003), particularly among families at risk for child maltreatment. Scholars suggest positive family interactions may protect adolescents of high-risk family contexts from developing negative outcomes (Houltberg, Henry, & Morris, 2012). As such, it is important to determine the extent to which positive mother-adolescent relationship quality intervenes in the association between maternal depressive symptoms and adolescent problem behaviors among families at risk for child maltreatment.There is a clear link between maternal depression and adolescent mental health concerns (e.g., Brenning et al., 2012; Lizardi et al., 2004). Heritability, innate dysfunctional neuroregulatory mechanisms, and family processes such as parent-child relationship quality are key factors through which the transmission of mental health concerns from mothers to children may occur (Goodman, 2007). Research testing the parent-adolescent relationship as a pathway through which maternal depression influences adolescent outcomes, however, is scarce (Brennan et al., 2003). This is unfortunate because family processes, as opposed to heredity and innate mechanisms, are characteristics that can be changed.Maternal depression has consistently been found to be associated with externalizing (Grant et al., 2000; Lizardi et al., 2004; Pugh & Farrell, 2012; van der Molen, Hipwell, Vermeiren, & Loeber, 2012) and internalizing (Boyd, Diamond, & Ten Have, 2011; Brenning et al., 2012; Jones, Beach, & Forehand, 2001; Lizardi et al., 2004) problem behaviors among adolescents. Mothers specifically have been of empirical focus for a number of reasons: rates of depression are higher among women compared to men, rates of mental health concerns of adolescents of mothers with depression are significantly higher than same age adolescents of mothers who are not depressed, and adolescent mental health concerns are more strongly associated with maternal compared to paternal depression (Goodman, 2007). Clearly, however, not all adolescents of mothers who are depressed exhibit poor mental health. Thus, it is important to identify pathways that contribute to differential outcomes among adolescents of parents with known risks (Brennan et al., 2003).Parent-Adolescent Relationship as an Intervening FactorResearch supports an association between maternal depressive symptoms and lower parent-adolescent relationship quality (Goodman, 2007). For example, in a study involving a community sample of adolescents, though families generally tended to be happy and well-functioning, higher levels of maternal depressive symptoms predicted stress in the mother-adolescent relationship 12 months later (Jones et al., 2001). Additionally, results from a meta-analysis indicated mothers with depressive symptoms demonstrated more hostility toward and disengagement from their children (Lovejoy, Gracyk, O'Hare, & Neuman, 2000).Among community samples, there also is strong support for the link between parent- adolescent relationship quality and adolescent externalizing and internalizing outcomes. Specifically, high quality parent-adolescent relationships are associated with lower levels of adolescent mental health concerns (Manders, Scholte, Janssens, & De Bryuyn, 2006). …


Effective retrieval of images from databases can be attained by adopting relevance feedback mechanisms. The vast majority of such mechanisms that have been proposed so far are based on modifying either the query point, or the feature space, or the similarity measure, so that the average similarity between pairs of relevant images is as minimum as possible. In this paper, a relevance feedback technique based on the nearest-neighbor rule is proposed. For each image of the database, a relevance score is computed as the ratio between the distances from the nearest non-relevant and relevant images respectively. Relevance is thus related to "local" properties of the images rather than to the estimation of global properties. Reported results on the Corel dataset show that the proposed mechanism allows attaining large improvements in retrieval precision compared to other mechanisms.


One of the key factors for measuring success in distance learning is student interaction with learning materials. Remote instruction has gained substantial traction with the advent of online education, and this attention has increased in the presence of global pandemics. The asynchronous nature of remote learning has deteriorated the quality of education for learners, which calls for the design of novel interactive techniques to promote student engagement. We study the impact of traditional learning tools such as textbooks and videos in contrast with interactive learning media in computational and algorithmic thinking, and investigate students' perception of learning and actual learning comprehension in higher education.


e have measured I-Xe ages o f 7 C3 chondr i t e s . Together with e a r l i e r d a t a on Ranazzo (1) and Karoonda (2) and magneti te f r a c t i o n s from Orgueil ( 3 , 4 ) , Murchison, and Karoonda ( 4 ) , t h e r e now a r e ages f o r 11 carbonaceous chondr i t e s (Table 1 ) . C l a s s i f i c a t i o n s a r e from Van Schmus and Hayes (5) and McSween (6,7,8), and inc lude t h e f i n e r subd iv i s ions o f t h e C3V and C30 groups.


The objective of this work is to study the effect of lanthanum substitution by calcium on the physico‐chemical properties of La1−xCaxMnO3+y (0⩽x⩽1) solid solutions with a particular attention to the importance of the surface properties.XPS analysis reveal a significant changes in the La3d,4d; Ca2p; O1s and Mn2p characteristics as well as the excess of concentration with respect to the bulk resulting from the incorporation of Ca in La sublattice. The surface manganese deficit, which is systematically found for any substitution level x, is comparatively low for x = 0.6 and particularly important for solids with high amount of calcium.All these properties are correlated with surface catalytic performances in the methane combustion reaction. The best activities are observed with x⩽0.6. While the difference is barely perceptible for the samples with 0⩽x⩽0.4, a particular positive effect on the catalytic performances is found for x = 0.6.


Traditional CNN models are trained and tested on relatively low resolution images (<300 px), and cannot be directly operated on large-scale images due to compute and memory constraints. We propose Patch Gradient Descent (PatchGD), an effective learning strategy that allows to train the existing CNN architectures on large-scale images in an end-to-end manner. PatchGD is based on the hypothesis that instead of performing gradient-based updates on an entire image at once, it should be possible to achieve a good solution by performing model updates on only small parts of the image at a time, ensuring that the majority of it is covered over the course of iterations. PatchGD thus extensively enjoys better memory and compute efficiency when training models on large scale images. PatchGD is thoroughly evaluated on two datasets - PANDA and UltraMNIST with ResNet50 and MobileNetV2 models under different memory constraints. Our evaluation clearly shows that PatchGD is much more stable and efficient than the standard gradient-descent method in handling large images, and especially when the compute memory is limited.


The article presents a trace of the presence of St. Teresa of Avila in the poetry of Adam Mickiewicz. It is an attempt to interpret the poem [Snuć miłość...] [To spin love…] in the context of the image of a silkworm from the treatise Zamek wewnętrzny czyli Mieszkania [Internal Castle or Flats]. It resembles the editorial and comparative findings of the researchers of "pondering in Lausanne" in order to emphasise the main meaning of the first line of the work: "Snuć miłość jak jedwabnik nić wnętrzem swym snuje" [To spin love like a silkworm spinning the thread with his inside". The zoological contexts lead to mystical entomology.


The opinions expressed in this editorial are not necessarily those of theeditors or of the American Heart Association.From the Divisions of Circulatory Physiology and Cardiology, Colum-bia Presbyterian Medical Center, New York (D.M.); the Albert EinsteinCollege of Medicine, Bronx, New York (T.J.); and the University ofMichigan, Ann Arbor (K.A.).Correspondence to Donna Mancini, MD, 622 West 168


This paper deals with the analysis of welfare effects for an EU member state brought by the Eastern enlargement of the EU. We will try to answer the traditional microeconomic question: "what amount of compensation would the consumers require in order to forego the change brought by the enlargement?" (...) The assessment of this point provided by our multisectoral model INTIMO is very detailed because it produces both the sectoral price indexes, the composition of personal consumption and the distribution of personal income. However, the quantitative analysis of the welfare issue with this tool raises some problems described in the following paragraphs. A solution is proposed and an estimation of welfare effects for some policy scenarios is presented.


Subtitle: Sorting through logistics challenges can be a dirty job for CPG companies. But well-planned manufacturing, smart packaging, and cost-effective transportation can help wash away inefficiencies from any supply chain cycle.


There are many types of brain tumors. Some are the result of the spread of cancer from one part of the body (for example, a lung cancer) to the brain. This article focuses on treatment of a different group of tumors that arise from the cells of the brain itself. These are called primary brain tumors. Primary brain tumors are fairly common: about 22,000 people in the United States find out that they have a primary brain tumor each year.

Many of the primary brain tumors arise from cells in the brain called glial cells. Glial cells play an important supportive role to the main brain cells, which are called neurons. Tumors that arise from glial cells are referred to as gliomas. Some gliomas are treated effectively with surgery, some require treatment with radiation therapy, and many are treated with chemotherapy. Chemotherapy may be used alone, but is often used in combination with other treatments.

One major concern about treating primary brain tumors is that the treatments are not perfectly selective. In other words, in trying to kill the tumor cells, some important …


Compared to the traditional orthogonal multiple access, non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) technology can achieve higher spectrum efficiency and support more massive connectivity. In this paper, we conduct comprehensive study and comparison on current NOMA technologies that many mainstream companies have proposed for the fifth generation (5G) wireless communication standard. According to the characteristics of the NOMA schemes, we classify these schemes into four categories: scrambling-based NOMA, spreading-based NOMA, coding-based NOMA, and interleaving-based NOMA. We systematically summarize the transceiver block diagram of each category, and detail basic principles, key features, and transmission-reception algorithms of all NOMA schemes. Furthermore, the theoretical analysis based on average mutual information is given to evaluate the achievable sum-rate performance of the NOMA systems and their potential performance gains as compared with OMA. Comprehensive simulations are carried out for the block-error-rate performance evaluation of these NOMA schemes as well, which coincide with the theoretical analysis. By comparing the performance of these technologies, some promising schemes and directions are suggested for the future 5G NOMA development.


A reversed phase high performance liquid chromatographic assay for determination of Retinoic Acid in raw materials and in hard gelatine capsules containing Tablettose® as excipient is described. The method uses a UV diode array detector. The solution concentrations were measured on weight basis to avoid the use of an internal standard, otherwise necessary for the presence of the undissolved matrix. The study of the recoveries, planned in a Latin square as experimental design, shows that the accuracy and precision of the method are excellent. The assay is selective and stability indicating. The method resolves three related substances (13-cisretinoic acid, 5,6-epoxy-5,6-dihydroretinoic acid and 4-oxo-retinoic acid) with quantitation in the range 0.04 % 0.2 % of the labelled amount of Retinoic Acid (10 mg).


This paper analyzes SDH transform network's service feature and flowing tendency based on presentation of Guangzhou Power supply branch, the paper provides the optimum destination of the SDH network's structure, then SDH network's optimum involved layer partition and topology structure which are described in detail.


The paper attempts to compare government revenues of Kuomintang (KMT) and Chinese Communist Party (CCP), through exploratory estimations of their respective ones on wheat in 1946. The balanced scenario suggests that CCP was of far more superior taxation efficiency (4.28 times) than KMT, and its revenue may even had surpassed the latter (1.25 times) as of the year. Thus, the outcome of civil war largely proclaimed by the great divergence of taxation efficiency and financial mobilization, marking the eventual phase in state construct since late imperial China.


Noting the trend toward more independent trade unions in developing countries, this article examines whether the presence of unions strengthens or weakens the benefits to be gained from economic policy reform. We show that the presence of "passive" unions—ones that choose their wage-employment contract given the firm's cost-minimizing strategy—increases the welfare gains from trade liberalization, because trade reform lowers the wage premium enjoyed by the unionized sector, reducing a distortion in the labor market. These gains are amplified when the unions are "active," namely, when they negotiate a contract with the firm that is off its labor demand curve. Such a contract results in featherbedding—paying workers more than their marginal product—and trade reform reduces the amount of featherbedding. The policy implication for Bangladesh—a country with strong trade unions and a protected unionized sector—is that the benefits of further trade liberalization may be greater than otherwise predicted. In Indon...