Lean practices are being adopted around the world by different types of business and enabling organizational improvements evidenced in the different types of studies published. What is no different in services from the adoption of lean office practices. And this article seeks to confirm such evidence in order to diagnose the organizational management of two secondary schools, based on lean office practices. This was possible through a multistudy study carried out in two public schools located in the State of Para / Brazil. Based on the case study protocol and a systematic review of the literature, it was possible to trace the types of services performed by the objects of study, which consume material and human resources, equipment and infrastructure for their effective execution and are the targets of lean practices in terms of reducing waste to increase productivity. Thus, the data were treated with the application of lean office practices in order to better evaluate the management performance of the main services (issuance of declarations, certificates and reservations) carried out by the schools. The maps of the current state of the administrative flows of the mentioned services were elaborated showing the possible wastes that can be eliminated and / or reduced. Subsequently, the construction of the future map gave this study an analytical character of the processes in both institutions, which showed great differences both in the infrastructure of the schools and in the total lead time of the services provided by the same. Thus it became possible to propose solutions for the reduction of the total time of the value stream, mechanisms to make the environment more visual and procedures to be able to quantitatively measure demand, processes and capacity. Repeating the highlighted process in this study can in the short term, achieve efficient improvements and solutions that further favor the flow of value that serves Parents / Students, the main users of these services.


Crowd management is of paramount importance when it comes to preventing stampedes and saving lives, especially in a countries like China and India where the combined population is a third of the global population. Millions of people convene annually all around the nation to celebrate a myriad of events and crowd count estimation is the linchpin of the crowd management system that could prevent stampedes and save lives. We present a network for crowd counting which reports state of the art results on crowd counting benchmarks. Our contributions are, first, a U-Net inspired model which affords us to report state of the art results. Second, we propose an independent decoding Reinforcement branch which helps the network converge much earlier and also enables the network to estimate density maps with high Structural Similarity Index (SSIM). Third, we discuss the drawbacks of the contemporary architectures and empirically show that even though our architecture achieves state of the art results, the merit may be due to the encoder-decoder pipeline instead. Finally, we report the error analysis which shows that the contemporary line of work is at saturation and leaves certain prominent problems unsolved.


In this paper, a C-band strip-line circulator operating at 3 to 4.2 GHz is designed. The parameters of the circulator are designed and simulated by ANSYS High-Frequency Electromagnetic Simulation (HFSS) software. Isolation is one of the key indicators of the circulator's performance. The simulation results show that an isolation of the circulator in the mid-band range of 3.3-3.8 GHz is greater than 22 dB, and the relative bandwidth exceeds 14%, which is sufficient for 5G spectrum n78. In addition, the return loss when port 1 excited is greater than 20 dB in the working frequency band. The relationship between uniform and non-uniform biasing simulations, ferrite and dielectric material selection are the main important point to considered for designing high isolation circulator. Therefore, the circulator presented in this paper can provide a reference scheme for the design of high-performance circulator or isolator.


This paper provides insight into the economics that underpin the dynamic, real-time allocation of scarce road space using traffic control in New South Wales (NSW). We explain the history and status of the underlying system, SCATS, that was first created and is continually developed in NSW, and which has also been adopted across the other Australian states, and internationally. Using the results of traffic microsimulation modelling and analysis we provide evidence of the social benefit delivered to NSW by traffic control operation. This paper's contribution is the novel presentation of these facts and perspectives to the Australian economic community.


Colletes neoqueenensis Friese, 1910 is a rare species from southern Argentina known to me from its type series only. The species has also been recorded from Chile, but its occurrence in that country remains to be confirmed. Examination of some museum specimens misidentified as C. neoqueenensis indicates that bee taxonomists are often unaware of its actual identity. To clarify this, I provide a series of diagnostic characters as well as a detailed redescription of the female lectotype. High quality photographs of the type specimen are also given so the species can be more easily identified.


Summary.  The coaxial field systems on Dartmoor are widely interpreted as the result of a relatively rapid period of planned land division during the middle centuries of the second millennium BC. This article seeks to challenge this notion of a 'planned landscape'. Using examples from southern (Shaugh Moor) and north-eastern (Kestor and Shovel Down) Dartmoor, it is demonstrated that the boundaries materialized existing structures in the landscape which had emerged through patterns of dwelling and long histories of tenure. In seeking to present a new narrative for the enclosure of the Dartmoor landscape, it is argued that tenure was articulated at a local level through the relationship between occupancy and ancestral ties to the land, and that land division was only possible because the forms of tenure and perceptions of landscape were already in place. The coaxial pattern emerged in a reflexive tradition of boundary construction rather than as part of a transformative plan or a conscious strategy to reorganize and enclose the moor.


The news that two British journalists and their unnamed Iraqi colleague were arrested and charged by the Turkish authorities [though released following publication of this article] for "engaging in terror activity" serves to illustrate once again that these are the most perilous of times for those seeking to report conflict and civil unrest.


Growing memory capacities and the increasing number of cores on modern hardware enforces the design of new in-memory indexing structures that reduce the number of memory transfers and minimizes the need for locking to allow massive parallel access. However, most applications depend on hard durability constraints requiring a persistent medium like SSDs, which shorten the latency and throughput gap between main memory and hard disks. In this paper, we present our winning solution of the SIGMOD Programming Contest 2011. It consists of an in-memory indexing structure that provides a balanced read/write performance as well as non-blocking reads and single-lock writes. Complementary to this index, we describe an SSD-optimized logging approach to fit hard durability requirements at a high throughput rate.


Information technology can facilitate the dissemination of knowledge across the organization-even to the point of making virtual teams a viable alternative to face-to-face work. However, unless man...


SWOT method was used to analyze the internal strengths,weaknesses,external opportunities and threats of Nanjing General Hospital of Nanjing Military Command,PLA. Based on the results,four development policy were put forward:developing the sections prepared for war; inducing invigorative system in human resource management; enhancing the value of nosocomial brand; strengthening of the audit about the medical cost accounting.


Abstract: A synthetic peptide (25 amino acids) corresponding to a specific portion of the third intracytoplasmic loop of the rat serotonin 5‐HT1B/1Dβ receptor was coupled to keyhole limpet hemocyanin and injected monthly into rabbits. Anti‐peptide antibodies were detected by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay and characterized by immunoprecipitation of the 5‐HT1B/1Dβ receptor in CHAPS‐solubilized extracts from rat striatal membranes. Up to 60% of solubilized striatal serotonin‐O‐carboxymethylglycyl[125I]iodotyrosinamide ([125I]GTI; a selective 5‐HT1B/1D radioligand) binding sites were immunoprecipitated and subsequently pharmacologically identified as 5‐HT1B receptors. The remaining 40% of [125I]GTI binding sites were shown to be 5‐HT1D receptors. In addition, these antibodies were successfully used in immunofluorescence experiments to detect the 5‐HT1B/1Dβ, but not the 5‐HT1D/1Dα, receptor in transiently transfected LLC‐PK1 cells. Immunoautoradiographic experiments performed with brain sections from the rat, mouse, and guinea pig showed that the substantia nigra and globus pallidus contained the highest densities of 5‐HT1Dβ receptor‐like immunoreactivity. Comparison of the regional distribution of immunolabeling with that of the specific binding of [125I]GTI in the brain of these species further confirmed that the anti‐peptide antibodies selectively recognized only the 5‐HT1Dβ component of [125I]GTI specific receptor binding sites.


The study reports results of the survey on shrimp farmers regarding awareness on feeds and feed management. 60% of the farmers has moderate and 32% of them had good awareness about feeds and their management. The respondents perceived that availability and cost of feed were high. However, it was felt that the respondents needed guidance on better feed management practices through extensive education programmes.


Today, great focus has been placed on context-aware human-machine interaction, where systems are aware not only of the surrounding environment, but also about the mental/affective state of the user. Such knowledge can allow for the interaction to become more human-like. To this end, automatic discrimination between laughter and speech has emerged as an interesting, yet challenging problem. Typically, audio-or video-based methods have been proposed in the literature; humans, however, are known to integrate both sensory modalities during conversation and/or interaction. As such, this paper explores the fusion of support vector machine classifiers trained on local binary pattern (LBP) video features, as well as speech spectral and prosodic features as a way of improving laughter detection performance. Experimental results on the publicly-available MAHNOB Laughter database show that the proposed audio-visual fusion scheme can achieve a laughter detection accuracy of 93.3%, thus outperforming systems trained on audio or visual features alone.


Abstract : This document contains full information for installing and operating a program which is designed to translate the FORTRAN from the PLANIT (programming Language for Interaction Teaching) system of programs into the TACPOL language for compilation on the AN/GYK-12 computer. PLANIT is an interactive training system which is now operational on the AN/GYK-12, having been installed via the program herein described. While the normal method for installing the PLANIT system requires the existence of a FORTRAN compiler on the target computer, this was circumvented for the AN/GYK-12 installation by developing the Translator (TRANSL) program to first translate the FORTRAN into TACPOL for use with the PSS-B compiler, the only compiler on the AN/GYK-12. Although the installation of PLANIT is complete on the AN/GYK-12 computer, future updates of PLANIT may necessitate additional use for the TRANSL program.


Complete and accurate reporting of the design and implementation of studies is an essential component in guiding decisions in healthcare. Transparent reporting of studies that evaluate the accuracy of medical tests is recommended because such studies are more prone to bias than some other forms of research. Given that diagnostic accuracy is not a fixed property of tests, readers should know where and for whom the test was evaluated (1). Poor reporting of accuracy studies thus impedes the objective appraisal of such studies and limits the generalizability of study results. Suboptimal descriptions of study findings may also make tests seem more favorable than they really are, which eventually may lead to premature adoption of medical tests into practice, unnecessary testing, and high healthcare costs (2).

Ten years have passed since the initial publication of the Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy (STARD)2 initiative. Inspired by the Consolidated Standards for the Reporting of Trials (CONSORT) Statement, the STARD statement was developed with the aim of improving the reporting of diagnostic-accuracy studies. It consists of a checklist of 25 items that ought to be reported and recommends the use of a flow diagram that describes the design of the study and the flow of patients in the study. STARD was created by a group of experts, researchers, editors, methodologists, and members of professional organizations. The STARD statement was first published in 2003 in 13 biomedical journals, including Clinical Chemistry . To date, >200 biomedical journals have encouraged the use of STARD in their instructions for authors, and the statement has been cited approximately 1654 times (ISI Web of Knowledge, February 2013). More information on the STARD initiative can be found at http://www.stard-statement.org.

After 10 …


The deterioration of black tea, characterised by a loss of flavour and astringency and sometimes by the acquisition of undesirable "taints" is accompanied by lipid hydrolysis and by autoxidative reactions that cause losses of theaflavins, amino acids, sugars, photosynthetic pigments and some volatile aliphatic constituents and increases in non-dialysable pigments and some volatile phenolic components. These reactions are accelerated by moisture and heat. Although lipid oxidation is insignificant except under hot dry conditions, it is postulated that oxidation of free fatty acids released during storage occurs during brewing, and has a profound influence on the quality of the liquor.


Two different non-destructive in-situ techniques to determine the compressive strength of masonry mortars are compared and cross calibrated. Both mediods act on small cylindrical regions of mortar: the PNT -G method determines the energy spent to make a hole of prescribed dimensions; the HELIX method measures the force required to extract a heliçal device tapped to a prescribed depth. The two techniques are compared using different mortars in sets of 6-unit stack bonded prisms and mutually verified against the results ofthe cube and prism compressive strength ofthe mortars.


Polyolefin composition comprising (a) a first heterophasic propylene copolymer (HECO1) having (i) a melt flow rate MFR2 (230 ° C) measured according to ISO 1133 in the range of 40.0 to 60, 0 g / 10 min, and (ii) a content of xylene solubles cold (XCS), determined according to ISO 16152 (25 ° C), of at least 15% by weight, wherein further (iii) the intrinsic viscosity (IV), determined according to DIN ISO 1628/1 (in decalin at 135 ° C) fraction soluble in xylene cold (XCS) of the heterophasic propylene copolymer (HECO1) is in the range of from 2.5 to 4.3 dl / g, and (b) a second heterophasic propylene copolymer (HECO2) comprising a propylene homopolymer (H-PP2) and an elastomeric propylene copolymer (E2), wherein (i) said second heterophasic propylene copolymer (HECO2) has a melt flow rate MFR2 (230 ° C) measured according to ISO 1133 in the range of above 1.0 to 8 , 0 g / 10 min; (Ii) the fraction soluble in cold xylene (XCS) of the second heterophasic propylene copolymer (HECO2) has an intrinsic viscosity determined according to DIN ISO 1628/1 (in decalin at 135 ° C), in the range of more than 3.7 to 9.0 dl / g; and (iii) the comonomer content of fraction soluble in xylene cold (XCS) of the second heterophasic propylene copolymer (HECO2) is in the range of 10.0 to 40.0% by weight, wherein - the relationship by weight of the first heterophasic propylene copolymer (HECO1) and the second heterophasic propylene copolymer (HECO2) [(HECO1) / (HECO2)] is in the range of 9: 1 to 200: 1; and / or - the amount of second heterophasic propylene copolymer (HECO2) in the polyolefin composition is equal or less than 10% by weight, based on the total weight of the polyolefin composition.


Abstract. Internet of things is a huge network of large number of devices with sensors. This group of devices is estimated to grow over 25 billion in 2020 as its growth since its evolution has been truly more than just rapid growth. With such a growth in network expansion and increase in number of connected devices, security always have been an issue to be improved and one of the weak areas in IoT environment. While applying security in IoT environment the main characteristics of IoT being heterogenetic and the number of IoT devices are the challenges that need to be dealt with some efficient and feasible approach. Therefore, to address this problem, we propose a method of securing IoT system using basic principles of machine learning. The system will analyze the data and detect the malicious packets received from the edge devices. The experimental study showed improved results with the dummy data sets in an IoT environment.


Firefighting and evacuation training are important tasks in maritime education and training, especially for crews working on large passenger ships, to ensure the safety of the vessel, cargo and passengers. With the evolution of virtual reality (VR) technology and the introduction of wearable hardware, a change in paradigm has happened in firefighting and evacuation training where these new technologies are being introduced. This paper serves as a review on the use of VR technology in maritime firefighting and evacuation training, trying to answer the following questions: what is the current state of using VR technology, and what are the research gaps that need to be addressed to further accelerate the implementation of VR? Research shows that other industries have adopted the use of VR technology relatively quickly, but the maritime industry still seems reluctant. As for the research gaps, the physics-based modelling of fire spread is discussed along with two other topics: the lack of immersive solutions for evacuation and the potential for developing search and rescue scenarios onboard a ship.


The proposal discusses the obstacles arising from interconnected information systems that support the management in Brazilian federal public universities. Question the nature of information and sources that are used in the decision-making process by managers. It aims to analyze the information generated from the Management Information Systems in UFRN Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte for decision making. This is a Case Study, which reflects the problems of the various institutions of higher education. Presented the system used in UFRN and its modules. It was concluded that the use of management systems are useful for Universities. It is observed that there are limitations that seek to overcome, such as asset control, module integration and system cost, with the possibility of implementing a Controller.


The invention relates to a melt adhesive composition comprising a polymer POLY - 1 - butene, a binder resin, and 3 to 25% by weight of a conjugated diene polymer hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated, liquid or semi-liquid, prepared by Polymerization and MOLECULAR WEIGHT HAVING A maximum of 40,000.


This paper introduces the entire roadmap and detailed research methods of our NSFC project. A three-stage roadmap is proposed for energy store application of marine power station, and called upon to solve the key issues of health feature rapid extraction and modeling for battery pack. Efficient numerical modeling, rapid ICA and EIS testing and degradation of key features investigating makes the acquirement of the key features much faster. Graph theory and data mining method will be applied in the preparation of the performance and health relationship between cells and pack. A double-layer model will be finally proposed to describe the performance and health behavior of the battery pack. This project can provide a systematic method for extracting health features of energy store battery pack, the findings will enrich the theoretical understanding of battery pack health and its degradation mechanisms, and provide strong support for health status evaluation in further.


Air flow measurement at the outlets of air terminal devices installed in ventilation systems is very difficult. At the outlets of anemostats, swirl diffusers, grilles, the air flow can swirl, contract, or expand sharply, change its direction, etc., which causes great measurement errors. Therefore, it was necessary to develop a universal measuring device that would make it possible to measure air flow rate with high accuracy. It should consist of an air collector (for collecting and rectifying air flow) and a sensor for measuring air flow rate (integral hot-wire anemometer). Several air collector designs have been investigated. The parabolic air collector was chosen as the rational one. It has low aerodynamic resistance and good air flow distribution. To reduce the influence of turbulence and air swirling, a cylindrical stilling channel with a built-in rectifying grille is connected to the air collector. Experimental studies on various air distribution devices made it possible to obtain a refined calibration dependence for an integral hot-wire anemometer, the dependence being used to calculate air flow rate. The influence of the aerodynamic resistance of an airflow meter on air flow rate is taken into account with the help of a correction that must be introduced into the values measured.


The matrix elements calculated by Upadhyaya and Sinha for one-phonon interactions with spin waves have been used to calculate the phonon relaxation time. It is found that for wave number q, ${{\ensuremath{\tau}}_{q}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}\ensuremath{\propto}T{q}^{4}$. For such a Rayleigh-type scattering, coupled with contributions from external boundaries and point defects, the thermal-conductivity integral can readily be evaluated exactly in the approximation of isotropic, acoustic phonons, and for temperatures much less than the Debye temperature. The resulting analytic expression has been fitted to measurements by Slack on single crystals of Mn${\mathrm{F}}_{2}$, Co${\mathrm{F}}_{2}$, and MnO. A very good fit is found only for Mn${\mathrm{F}}_{2}$, for which experiment and theory agree from 0\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K to the maximum at 14.7\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K where three-phonon processes take over. In Co${\mathrm{F}}_{2}$, high impurity content led to low-temperature resonances, and agreement was found only at the lowest temperatures and near the maximum. The magnetic fitting parameter obtained in this way, however, agrees as to order-of-magnitude with theoretical estimates. In MnO, agreement was poor and few conclusions could be drawn.


This paper presents the design of a circular polarized antenna array in X-band with high efficiency. The antenna array consists of a linear polarized antenna array and a circular-polarization polarizer. Full metal structure and corporate feeding network are adopted in the linear polarized antenna array to achieve high efficiency and wide band properties. The polarizer is metal strips printed on a one-layer substrate in periodic layout. An antenna array with 4 × 4 radiation elements and 12×12 polarizer elements is designed. The simulated results show that the antenna array can cover the bandwidth from 8.3 GHz to 9.2 GHz with VSWR<2.0 and the axial ratio below 3.0 dB. The realized gain varies from 17.8 dB to 18.0 dB over the frequency band. The taper feeding is used here.


umerous public opinion polls rank discipline as the biggest problem facing the public schools. ' But for univer sity professors, those who study and write about problems of education, discipline is not a problem of great importance. If it were, the professional literature would reflect that concern. As Edward Wynne points out, "Discipline is not ignored as a topic, but it is apparently not a matter of high concern."2 Substantial scientific re search on classroom discipline is rare. Clearly, professionals from the univer sity have turned their backs on the public. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, while the public was naming discipline as the worst school problem, many univer sity professors (who were never allies of the lower schools) joined the romantic critics of the schools (e.g., Herbert Kohl and Charles Silberman) in calling for the liberation of children from the tyranny of school.3 Surely many Americans must have perceived this as undermining disci pline in the schools. One must wonder about the political impact; the perception that the education profession was exacer bating the discipline problem (or, at the very least, was unresponsive to it) may well be contributing to a continuing un willingness to underwrite the costs of education. Although professorial unresponsive ness to the public is not politic, it is defen sible on the ground of academic freedom. In a free society, university professors have the right, indeed the obligation, to select their own problems for research (al though sociopolitical forces and govern ment policy deeply affect choices). But more than academic freedom is at issue here. The field of education is intimately related to public authority. Professors of education are not removed from public accountability and should be responsive to public anxiety about the schools. Even if the public were not worried about discipline, however, discipline should still be a matter of grave concern for professors of education. Knowledge of the theory and methodology of class room discipline is of paramount impor tance to those preparing to enter the teaching profession. In fact, for more than half a century surveys have identified discipline as the primary concern of pros pective and beginning teachers.4 Yet the term "discipline" (or "class control," for that matter) rarely appears in the index of educational methods texts. Professionals from the university seem to have turned their backs on practitioners in the schools as well as on the public. True professionalism requires scientific investigation of the practical problems of a profession in order to improve practice and provide a solid base for it. As John Dewey pointed out more than half a cen tury ago in The Sources of a Science of Education, one of the first principles in the development of a science of education is that the problems that researchers at tempt to solve must derive from the edu cational situation.5 Writing on virtually the same problem in 1978, N. L. Gage concluded that research workers should "look straight at the problems of teach ing."6 Surveys and polls reflect the con sistency with which discipline has been identified as the top problem in public education; it must be systematically studied to effect improvement. But re searchers have seemed, on the whole, un interested in such study. Occasionally, teacher educators have been chided for ignoring the problem of discipline in the schools. In 1961 David Ausubel alleged that colleges of education were maintaining "a conspiracy of silence about the existence of disciplinary prob lems in the schools.'"' There is, of course, no evidence to support the idea of a con tinuing coverup, Watergate style; com mentators on the issue have tended to pre sent the problem in deceptively simple terms. However, such claims prevent us from seeing clearly the background of the problem, which we must understand in order to know ourselves and our own his torical/political commitments.


The electrochemical nuclear acetamidation of aromatic compounds ethylbenzoate, acetophenone, benzoic acid and benzene have been carried out at platinum anode under the process of nuclear oxidation. The removal of electrons from the aromatic π-electron system is achieved by the electrochemical oxidation. The electrolysis is carried out at the constant anode potential in an electrolytic cell assembly containing reaction mixture and electrodes. The products 4-acetamidoethylbenzoate, 4-acetamidoacetophenone, 4-acetamidobenzoic acid and N-phenylacetamide formed during the electrolysis are reported here.


Through education, discussion, publishing, and collaboration, the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS) leads in developing standards and best practices for selecting, identifying, acquiring, organizing, managing, retrieving, and preserving recorded knowledge. In the dynamic library environment, ALCTS's mission is ambitious. Maintaining effectiveness in its pursuit requires flexibility, creativity, persistence, and an organizational culture of continuing revitalization. ALCTS members' activities this year demonstrate that brave inventiveness. Below is a summary, arranged under the four Critical Issues Areas identified in ALCTS's innovative strategic plan. Explaining What We're About and What We Do At the 2012 American Library Association Annual Conference, adopting recommendations of the Advocacy Task Force chaired by Mary Beth Weber, the ALCTS board of directors agreed in principle to establish two groups to address advocacy issues within the context of ALCTS. This year, we implemented the groups, which made considerable progress on their charges. First, to assist members in demonstrating and articulating the value of library functions in ALCTS's areas of interest, we formed a temporary group, the Technical Services Advocacy Resources Task Force. This task force, chaired by Louise Ratliff, compiled a collection of facts, websites, "elevator speeches," and other resources for members' use in their libraries, which are available on the ALCTS website. Second, the board established a division-level standing committee, the Advocacy Coordinating Group, to enable ALCTS to play a proactive, effective role in policy development and legislative influence. The new committee, chaired by Olivia M. A. Madison, will scan the environment for policy discussions and decisions falling within ALCTS's areas of interest, recommend positions and prompt action, and provide coordination with other groups. Through the activities of the Advocacy Coordinating Group, we hope to bring ALCTS expertise to a variety of pertinent policy discussions. Preservation Week, now an ALCTS signature event, provided opportunities for libraries to connect with members of their communities by helping them preserve their personal, family, or community heritage. Held April 21-27, Preservation Week 2013 featured noted author Steve Berry as a spokesperson; Berry's enthusiasm for the event has helped raise its profile. Registration at free webinars on family photographs, archives, and personal digital archiving totaled 2,500 individuals. An event tracker listed sixty-four events held by sixty-one organizations. Online flyers provided new content targeted to military families. "Dear Donia," featuring an ALCTS member giving preservation advice, launched with a live Facebook chat session. In these activities and more, Preservation Week explained what we are about by demonstrating it. Improving How We Operate ALCTS continually reviews its structure and operations, and it seeks members' input regarding ways to improve. This year, in response to member concerns about travel while enhancing committee effectiveness, we implemented a new appointment cycle requiring members of most division committees to attend face-to-face meetings only at the ALA Annual Conference. We hope the new cycle enables more individuals to serve on committees, and frees members who attend the ALA Midwinter Meeting to participate in interest group discussions and other educational and networking events. With committee membership overlapping at the ALA Annual Conference, the new cycle should also provide greater continuity for effective virtual functioning throughout the year. We will continue to explore organizational changes and new types of committee structures--such as the Continuing Education Committee's Technical Support Group for webinars and virtual meetings--at enhance members' ability to participate in delivering ALCTS programs and services. …


The article deals with forms of public support to publishing companies, not provided for but allowed by the Constitution to promote pluralism of information (without, however, «generally existing a subjective right» to receive them, as recalled also by the Constitutional Court in its recent ruling no. 206/2019). Over time, a number of direct and indirect measures have been provided for: first supplement to the price of paper and then, with law no. 416/1981, much more varied measures. Since 1990, while indirect aids have been extended to almost all operators in the sector, direct contributions have been maintained only for those companies considered to be weaker and more deserving. Following the economic crisis that broke out in 2008, the latter contributions were reduced and configured as legitimate interests, with their consequent payment only within the limits of what was allocated in the specific item of the budget of the Presidency of the Council. This led to a specific dispute, which also affected the constitutional legitimacy of the law choices made between 2008 and 2012. Despite the acknowledged internal inconsistency of these ones, «which first create expectations and then authorize them to be denied», the Constitutional Court stated that it had to «take note of the impossibility of replacing or supplementing the discipline in question, which is reserved to the discretion of the legislator». The conclusion reached by the Court is questionable, but, even if it had been different, it would not have been able to change an overall picture of low incidence of support measures arranged over time, especially in today's context of deep and rapid change in the publishing sector


Simple Summary The gastrointestinal tract; as an important mediator of nutrients and elements; regulates bone health. In this study, we examined the effect of supplementation with yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae on bone characteristics in young Japanese quails. We found that yeast probiotics, through their action on the gut-bone axis, have a positive effect on the structure of articular cartilage and microarchitecture of trabecular bone in young female quails. These data could provide useful information for further research into the supplementation with yeast probiotics aimed to reduce the risk bone fractures during the egg-laying period Abstract The aim of the study was to investigate the changes in bone geometry, histological structure, and selected mechanical characteristics in young male and female Japanese quails supplemented with Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Quails were fed a basal diet containing no yeast or a basal diet supplemented with 1.5% (15 g per 1 kg of diet) of inactive S. cerevisiae, for a period of 42 days. S. cerevisiae inclusion had no effect on bone weight, length, and density, diaphysis geometry (cross-sectional area, wall thickness, moment of inertia) or on the mechanical strength (yield load, ultimate load, stiffness, Young's modulus, yield stress, ultimate stress). Yeast supplementation improved the morphology of the articular cartilage both in male and female quails, as the total thickness of the articular cartilage was significantly increased. In trabecular bone, an increase in real bone volume and trabecular thickness was observed in females supplemented with S. cerevisiae, while in males the increase in trabecular number was accompanied by a reduction in trabecular thickness. The results of the present study demonstrate that S. cerevisiae, through a sex-dependent action on the gut-bone axis, improved the structure of articular cartilage and microarchitecture of trabecular bone. The positive effects of S. cerevisiae supplementation were more evident in female quails.


A visible trend over the past few years involves the application of organic electronic materials to the interface with biology, with applications both in sensing and actuation. Examples include biosensors, artificial muscles and neural interface devices. These materials offer an attractive combination of properties, including mechanical flexibility, enhanced biocompatibility, and capability for drug delivery. Most importantly, high ionic mobilities in organic films enable new ways of signal transduction. An example of a device that takes advantage of these properties is the organic electrochemical transistor (OECT). In this device, ions from an electrolyte enter a conducting polymer channel and change its conductivity, hence the drain current. As such OECTs offer a convenient and powerful way to transduce signals of biological origin. Here we report high performance OECTs that are used to record neural activity. As such, they promise to yield a new tool for neuroscience and enhance our understanding on how the brain works.


To the Editor: —In an article entitled "The Ultraviolet Ray as a Prophylactic Against Radiodermatitis" by George C. Andrews and the writer, published inThe Journal, Nov. 28, 1925, several errors were made when quoting from an article by R. H. Rulison entitled "The Prophylaxis of Roentgen-Ray Overdosage," published in The Journal, Nov. 8, 1924. Rulison's patient was a woman instead of a man, as quoted by us. The roentgen ray was applied through a one inch aperture in a lead screen. We stated that a very small area of skin had been irradiated. The ultraviolet ray was of a strength sufficient to cause a slight erythema after four daily exposures. We stated that the roentgen-ray treatment was followed by very vigorous treatment with the Kromayer lamp. Rulison estimated the dose of roentgen rays administered to his patient as 4⅓ units. We stated that several times the standard unfiltered erythema


A Research Project Submitted to School of Security, Diplomacy and Peace Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Degree of Masters in Security Management and Police Studies of Kenyatta University. November, 2017


Principal speakers at the opening ceremonies were Senator Lister Hill of Alabama and Abraham Ribicoff, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. Senator Hill, who delivered the dedication address, was co-author with the then Senator John F. Kennedy, of the National Library of Medicine Act of 1956, which authorized construction of the new building. Dr. Worth B. Daniels, Clinical Professor of Medicine at George-


By considering electrostatic surface waves propagating along a plasma cylinder, it is demonstrated that solitary variations in the cylinder radius may appear. The properties of these slow perturbations are determined by the surface wave intensities.


Services marketing is marketing based on relationship and value. It may be used to market a service or a product. Marketing a service-base business is different from marketing a product-base business. Services marketing is a specialized branch of marketing. Services marketing emerged as a separate field of study in the early 1980s, following the recognition that the unique characteristics of services required different strategies compared with the marketing of physical goods. The purpose of this paper is to study the concept, scope and challenges and issues in service marketing.


The forms and status of Phosphorus in soils derived from varied parent materials in Cross River State were examined. The study involved soil sampling at 0-15cm depth from five locations representative of soils formed from coastal plain sand (CPS), shale (SH), basement complex rocks (BCR) sandstone (SS) and basaltic rocks (BAR). The soils were analyzed for the various forms of P and routine soil properties using standard procedures. The results obtained indicated that total P varied widely due to the nature of parent materials and ranged from mean value of 76.8mg/kg in sandstone to mean value of 290.9mg/kg in shale with the order of relationship being SH > BAR > BCR > CPS >SS. Organic–P varied widely ranging from mean value of 22. 8 mg/kg in sandstone to 99.7mg/kg in shale and in the order SS < CPS < BCR <BAR < SH. The relative abundance of the active P forms were in the order of Fe–P > Al–P > Ca–P in all the soils except those formed from shale where Ca–P was more abundant. Same trend in distribution was observed for total active and total inorganic–P forms being in the order SS < CPS < BCR < BAR < SH. Available P extracted by the two methods correlated strongly with the other P forms. Bray P–2 method removed larger amount of P than Bray P-1 and the soils varied remarkable in their available P contents. Available P indices of 8mg/kg (Bray-1) and 15mg/kg (Bray–2) showed that soils derived from shale and basaltic rocks were high and well endowed with Plant available P whereas the soils formed on coastal plain sand, basement complex rocks and sandstones were relatively low and deficient in P content and would certainly require P fertilization for optimum crop production. The levels of P in these soils informed the need for proper understanding of the various forms of P to enhance soil P management and judicious fertilizer Usage.


Based on the perspective of industrial organization,this paper argues that the theory on the forming of industrial cluster is evolving along the path "resources—cost—competitiveness—globalization". The organization of industrial cluster is posited between market and firm,constructed by network relations and network resources. The growth of it has different characteristics in different stages for the influence of various factors,especially international competition and global economy. Therefore,the future research on the domain may be focused on the interaction between the organization of cluster and its form's internationalization.


1. Historically, the Mediterranean Sea supported a rich shark fauna. Presently, however, populations of most shark species have largely due to intense fishing pressure. of trawlers, drifting longliners and longliners bycatch selected shark species — Alopias vulpinus , Cetorhinus maximus , Galeorhinus galeus , Hexanchus griseus , Isurus oxyrinchus , Mustelus Prionace glauca Squalus acanthias (89.7%) 2017, 89 of griseus confidence interval (CI) = 145, 34), of G. galeus (95% CI = 30, A. vulpinus


Background: The clinical value of the clustering of metabolic diseases linked by the common pathogenesis of metabolic inflammation has not been clarified.
 Methods: We named the cluster of metabolic inflammatory diseases as 'metabolic inflammatory syndrome (MIS)' and included atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes (T2D), non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and obesity/overweight as its components. We studied the participants with T2D from six medical centers in China (4,711 participants). MIS, metabolic syndrome (MS) defined by Chinese Diabetes Society and coronary heart disease (CHD) were assessed according to records from the medical centers. We calculated the detective rate of MIS and analyzed its risk for CHD by binary logistic analysis, comparing with MetS.
 Results: In the participants with T2D, MIS had a detective rate of 96.2%, more highly than MIS (57.0%). MIS components had high detective rates (atherosclerosis: 80.9%, NAFLD: 57.3%, obesity/overweight: 61.7%), compared with MetS components (hypertension: 64.4%, dyslipidemia: 38.2%). MIS had a greater odds ratio to predict CHD than MS [MIS: odds ratio, 4.71; 95% confidence interval (CI), 2.31 to 9.62; P Conclusions: MIS had a high detective rate and appeared to be an independent risk factor of CHD. Therefore, this concept might be used for screening, prevention and researches for metabolic diseases at their early stages. A person who has one of the MIS components, especially atherosclerosis, should screened for the other MIS components, for their high detective rates and the relationship between meta-inflammation and them which was like the melons on one vine.


These light-hearted "Getting to know you" lyrics were written by Oscar Hammerstein for music by Richard Rodgers. They are spoken and sung by the character, Anna, in The King and I as she is preparing to teach the King's many children. The song came to mind when I was looking for a way to introduce this fascinating issue of Topics in Language Disorders (Vol. 31, No. 4), by issue editors, Dana Kovarsky and Judith Duchan, on the topic of "Rapport and Relationships in Clinical Interactions." Initially, I worried that the lyrics might be too light-hearted to do justice to such an important and weighty topic. Certainly, being "liked" is not what clinical rapport is all about, is it? On the other hand, liking and being liked, according to at least one article in this issue (Fourie, Crowley, & Oliviera, 2011), is not unimportant, particularly in the minds of children. Furthermore, in this era of Facebook, "liking" something has acquired a whole new meaning. So I delved further to retrieve the full set of lyrics for "Getting to Know You." Without repeating all of them, two other stanzas struck me as particularly relevant to the topic of establishing rapport, not only between teachers and pupils


The characterization of stably closed maps of topological spaces as the closed maps with compact fibres and the role of the Kuratowski-Mrowka' Theorem in this characterization are being explored in the general context of lax (T, V )-algebras, for a quantale V and a Setmonad T with a lax extension to V -relations. The general results are being applied in standard (topological and metric) and non-standard (labeled graphs) contexts.


The title compound, [NiII(H2O)6][NiII(C4H4O4S)2]·4H2O, consists of [NiII(H2O)6]2+ complex dications, [NiII(C4H4O4S)2]2− complex dianions and non-coordinated water molecules. In the complex dianion, two thiodiacetate dianions coordinate to the NiII ion in a fac-SO2-tridentate chelating mode, resulting in a distorted octahedral trans-NiO4S2 coordination geometry. The crystal structure is stabilized by an extensive O—H⋯O hydrogen-bonding network.


An 18‐month randomized double‐blind study was conducted in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis to compare the effects of once‐daily teriparatide 20 μg with alendronate 10 mg on bone histomorphometry. Biopsies were obtained from 42 patients. Indices of bone formation were significantly higher after 6 or 18 months of teriparatide compared with alendronate treatment.


Aortic aneurysm repair in the presence of renal artery ectopia may be challenging. A variety of techniques have been described to minimise intra-operative renal ischaemia. We report a case of abdominoiliac aneurysm where the single right kidney received its dominant arterial supply from the aneurysmal left common iliac artery. We harvested the patients varicose left long saphenous vein to use as a temporary intraoperative shunt between the right brachial artery and the right kidney, incurring a total renal ischemia of 12 (5+7) minutes. The patient recovered well with no interruption of renal function. We suggest this new technique may prove advantageous in selected cases.


The authors define an open, scaleable telemedicine architecture to reduce the time of reports delivery and consultation; increasing their simplicity via introducing common image presentation, storage and telecommunication formats and methods for telecardiology. They've developed a software application to implement it introducing the most appropriate digital imaging methods and formats using the latest available technology.


Summary A simple hydrolysis method has been developed for determination of phenylethanoid glycosides in Lamiophlomis rotata (L.R.). Different kinds of phenylethanoid glycosides were hydrolyzed in hydrochloric acid solution to produce corresponding phenethyl alcohols and cinnamic acids, mainly containing hydroxytyrosol, homovanillyl alcohol, 3,4-dimethoxyphenethyl alcohol, caffeic acid, fumalic acid and 3,4-dimethoxycinnamic acid. The six analytes could be determined simultaneously by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The effects of mobile phase, pH and concentration of running buffer, detection wavelength, flow rate and injection volume were also investigated. Under the optimum conditions, the six hydrolyzates could be perfectly separated within 45 min. The response was linear over four orders of magnitude with detection limits (S/N = 3) ranging from 1 × 10−8 to 1.5 × 10−4 mol L−1 for the analytes. The method has been successfully applied to the analysis of real sample Du-Yi-Wei capsule and Q...


Aim: To develop and validate a survey for the measurement of the effect of contact lenses on ocular physiological parameters, visual functions, appearance, and socioeconomic and psychological factors. Material and Methods: Between September 2018and July 2019, 392 participants who applied to Erzincan University Faculty of Medicine Department of Ophthalmology were included in the study. All patients were contact lens users at least one year. Participants were aged 18 or above. A questionnaire containing 36 questions was created and distributed to contact lens users. All participants answered the questionnaire completely. Results: Of the 392 respondents, 202 (51.5%) were male and 190 (48.5%) were female. The total scores of correlations of 36 items ranged from 0.310 to 0.598. Factor loads ranged from 0.359 to 0.770 and all were considered statistically significant. (KMO: 0.878 p<0.001) The questionnaire was divided into three subgroups: ocular and visual effects, appearance and socioeconomic and psychological factors. Cronbach's α for the correlation of items within the three subscales were 0.927 for ocular and visual effects, 0.929 for appearance and 0.892 for socioeconomic and psychological factors subscale and this show the survey is reliable. Conclusion: The contact lens satisfaction survey was meticulously developed using both exploratory factor analysis and Rasch analysis to assure good content validity, internal consistency, and a low answering load. Our contact lens satisfaction survey can be used for contact lens users aged 18 years and above who have been using contact lenses for at least 1 year.


Object Microsurgical clipping is a widely used surgical technique in intracranial aneurysm treatment. It can be difficult in large sized aneurysms, and those with wide necks, thick walls and calcification located in the vicinity of the neck. This study reviewed calcification of the intracranial aneurysm wall and its relation to patient age, gender, location and size of the aneurysm. A possible cut-off value after which the aneurysm calcification rate increases was also investigated to classify patients' risk factors for microclipping. Methods A retrospective review of all unruptured intracranial aneurysms that underwent digital subtraction angiography at a single centre was performed. Flat-detector computed tomography images of the aneurysm were reviewed for aneurysm location, size and calcification. The independent samples t test and χ2 test were used to show the relation between aneurysm wall calcification and patient age, gender, aneurysm localisation and size. Results None of the reviewed factors were statistically significantly related to aneurysm calcification except aneurysm size (P < 0.01). Receiver operating characteristic curves showed aneurysms greater than 10.5 mm could be predicted to be calcified with a sensitivity of 80% and specificity of 63%. Conclusion In this study, the presence of calcification was related to aneurysm size. Larger aneurysms were more likely to be calcified. Aneurysms greater than 10.5 mm should be further investigated with a modality such as flat-detector computed tomography to show the calcification in detail, especially if microclipping is considered.


Publisher/Subscriber System is receiving increasing attention for providing customized information delivery. Context-based event matching is vexing issues in large-scale event-matching publish/subscribe systems. Major constraints in distributed environment such as location, behaviour that motivate for designing efficient algorithms for scalable communication system. Analysis of its difficulty and evaluation of its solutions is still a problem. This paper contributes towards survey of existing event matching algorithms in publisher/subscriber system.


UNSTRUCTURED
 With thousands of mHealth solutions on the market, patients and healthcare providers struggle to identify which solution to use/prescribe. The lack of evidence-based mHealth solutions may be due to limited research on intervention development and continued use of traditional research methods for mHealth evaluation. The Multiphase Optimization Strategy (MOST) is a framework which aids in developing interventions which are economical, affordable, scalable, and effective (EASE). MOST Phase I highlights the importance of formative intervention development, a stage often overlooked and rarely published. The aim of MOST Phase I is to identify candidate intervention components, create a conceptual model, and define the optimization objective. While MOST sets these three targets, the framework itself does not provide robust guidance on how to conduct quality research within Phase I, and what steps can be taken to identify potential intervention components, develop the conceptual model, and achieve intervention EASE with the implementation context in mind.

To advance the applicability of MOST within the field of implementation science, this paper provides an account of the methods used to develop an mHealth intervention. Specifically, we provide a comprehensive example of how to achieve the goals of MOST Phase I by outlining the formative development of an mHealth prompting intervention within a diabetes prevention program. Additionally, recommendations are proposed for future researchers to conduct formative research on mHealth interventions with implementation in mind.

Given its considerable reach, mHealth has the potential to positively impact public health by decreasing implementation costs and improving accessibility. MOST is well-suited for the efficient development and optimization of mHealth interventions. By using an implementation-focused lens and outlining the steps in developing an mHealth intervention using MOST Phase I, this work can may guide future intervention developers towards maximizing the impact of mHealth outside of the research laboratory.


Introduction Drainage water management, in the context of subsurface agricultural drainage, consists of managing outflow with a goal of reducing drainage volume. Because less water is leaving the system, a corresponding reduction in the amount nitrate-nitrogen can be expected, although concentrations tend to be similar when compared with conventional drainage. The objective of this work is to determine the impact of drainage water management on drainage outflow, water table depth, and crop yields.


This paper addresses load balancing algorithms for the wireless links to solve the fairness problem, where stations are not able to gain access equally to the shared wireless medium. The fairness problem occurs mostly because of the existence of hidden stations and the presumption of a non-fully connected wireless network topology. In this paper, p/sub ij/-persistent carrier sense multiple access based algorithms are proposed in which a fair wireless access for each user is accomplished using a pre-calculated link access probability. Link access probabilities are calculated at the source station in two ways using connection-based and time-based media access methods. Each active user broadcasts information on either the number of logical connections or the average contention time to the stations within the communication reach. Each station reserves a specific priority for its each link to gain access to the shared medium based on the exchanged information. The proposed algorithms are dynamic and sensitive to the changes in the network topology. They are applicable to all CSMA based media access control protocols to provide a degree of fairness.


In this paper we will present our latest research results of integrated silicon antennas for automotive radar applications (f = 80 GHz). The design procedure as well as simulation and first measurement results will be given. Within this work two antenna designs, a 1-dimensional array (single line antenna) and a 2-dimensional antenna array (4 lines with 4 patches), will be shown. First measurement results are very promising for system application of an 80 GHz monolithically integrated automotive radar as well as for an integrated monitoring system. A simple monitoring system, using integrated MOTT Schottky diodes, is proposed as possible system application for the presented antennas.


would have been much more satisfactory, and certainly more convenient, if a place had been found in the volume for laryngeal and tracheal diseases, which form one of the most important subdivisions of the department of medicine with which this volume is concerned. This omission is, of course, not the fault of the translator, who seems to have executed his task with care and fidelity. The volume is illustrated by drawings of several elegant instruments, many of which are of the author's own design, and are now largely used in this country. An appendix by the translator contains a number of notes from recent writers relative to the subjects


The CTP workflow not only simplifies the printing technique but also lowers the cost of printing.At the same time,It also avoids the dot loss caused in the process of image information transfer and enhances the quality of products and productivity efficiency.To establish scientifically and reasonably the principal parameters of the plate-making technique in CTP workflow and provide guarantee for high-quality plate-making as well as printing and afford reference for CTP technique flow parameters research,in this paper factors that can affect the plate-making quality were analyzed; orthogonal experiment including four factors and two levels were designed;the dot-gain rates of 50%dots of experimental plates were measured;the method of difference was used to analyze the primary and secondary relationship of factors that can affect the plate-making quality.The established parameters in this paper for laser power,developing temperature, developing speed and brush speed in plate-making workflow are 13W,25℃,65cm/s and 90rpm,respectively.


The ''exceptional openness to universal perspectives'' in the Polish writer Bruno Schulz's (1892–1942) ''apocryphal Drohobycz'' and William Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County invites this bold attempt ''to map an area of correspondences between [these two] imaginative worlds'' (introduction 7). Schulz is not a familiar figure in English-speaking countries because of the scarcity of translations of his works into English; he is best known in theWest for The Street of Crocodiles (1934, trans. 1963). ''The Provincial and the Universal in theWorks of William Faulkner and Bruno Schulz'' is the first of this volume's four chapters. Starting with the ambivalent attitudes of each author toward the artist's condition, which ''mirrored their ambivalent attitudes towards their own regions,'' Maszewski uses the language of Schulz to frame Faulkner's world in a new way: ''Like Schulz's reader of 'the dynamic perspectives of distance' in 'The Republic of Dreams,' 'a good way to the south' on the map of his own country, Faulkner saw 'the ready contours of myth suspended over the site' '' (37, 13). In the chapter ''Female Figures in SelectedWorks of Bruno Schulz andWilliam Faulkner,''Maszewski bringsThomasMann andGoethe into the discussion, as well as Schulz's drawings, for Schulz was an important visual artist, too. The discussion gets richer and richer. Marionettes come into play: ''At home in Drohobycz, Galicia, and at home in Oxford, Mississippi, Pierrot wears a Protean costume answering the artist's need to pose the question 'Who am I' in relation to life and cultural heritage'' (70). The profundity of chapter 3, which opens with quotations from Derrida,Writing and Difference, and Schulz, ''The Book,'' is suggested by its title: ''Schulz's 'Geometry of Emptiness' and Faulkner's 'The Shape of a ' [sic]: A Matter of Correspondences.'' Yet the English is pellucid, the argument clear and forceful. The final chapter, ''Faulkner's and Schulz's Attitudes towards the Question of Literary Borrowings,'' shows the confluence of centuries of literary tradition in these twomasters.Maszewski shows his own remarkable breadth as a scholar in the


Delhi High Court refuses to interfere with prima facie order passed by CCI post submission of DG Investigation Report* The High Court of Delhi in a recent judgement dated March 9, 2018 has…


Vision transformers (ViTs) have gained increasing popularity as they are commonly believed to own higher mod-eling capacity and representation flexibility, than traditional convolutional networks. However, it is questionable whether such potential has been fully unleashed in prac-tice, as the learned ViTs often suffer from over-smoothening, yielding likely redundant models. Recent works made pre-liminary attempts to identify and alleviate such redundancy, e.g., via regularizing embedding similarity or re-injecting convolution-like structures. However, a "head-to-toe as-sessment" regarding the extent of redundancy in ViTs, and how much we could gain by thoroughly mitigating such, has been absent for this field. This paper, for the first time, systematically studies the ubiquitous existence of re-dundancy at all three levels: patch embedding, attention map, and weight space. In view of them, we advocate a principle of diversity for training ViTs, by presenting cor-responding regularizers that encourage the representation diversity and coverage at each of those levels, that enabling capturing more discriminative information. Extensive ex-periments on ImageNet with a number of ViT backbones validate the effectiveness of our proposals, largely eliminating the observed ViT redundancy and significantly boosting the model generalization. For example, our diversified DeiT obtains 0.70% ~ 1.76% accuracy boosts on ImageNet with highly reduced similarity. Our codes are fully available in https://github.com/VITA-Group/Diverse-ViT.


The need to reduce cash payments in the national economy has been substantiated. The practical experience of economically developed foreign countries to reduce payments in cash has been analyzed. The features of the policy to reduce cash payments in the Russian economy have been designated. Based on the highlighted factors, determining the pace of development of non-cash and electronic transfers, it has been concluded, that the reduction of cash payments in the Russian economy should be based on the optimal combination of regulatory and administrative measures to limit cash payments and the development of the technological base and payment infrastructure.


The objective of this paper is to compare the products and services of conventional bank to participative bank. Since, India does not have alternative banking system (participative banking) so there is lack of awareness among people about products and service offerings of participative bank1. Also, there is lot of confusion among people as how Islamic bank would function without interest and will it be able to provide all banking services that customers are usually getting from conventional banks. Through this paper the researcher tried to bridge this gap by comparing the main products offered by conventional bank with participative bank. Also, researcher tried to highlight as how conventional bank generates income through their offerings and compared the same with participative bank, as how it functions without interest and what all contracts they use to provide shari'ah complied products.


being of the best quality; that the vapour should be largely diluted with air; and that all haste, hurry, and impatience should be avoided, wlii le nervous patients should be reassured as far as possible, and the state of the bowels and bladder should be carefully looked after. Ile considered it a point to be considered wliether the chloroform should be given gradually or rapidly, and quoted the opinion of Mr. Robert Kirk (recently published), that it was necessary to keep up a continiuous atmosphere of the vapour until deep anesthesia was produced, andc not to stop slhort of this point for any reason whatever, no matter what the operation. He also suggested the possible existence of individual idiosyncrasies, which renidered certain person s unable to take chloroform with impuinity. III conclusion, lie expressed his confidence that the profession would Iind some ineans by which deatlhs froin chloroform imlight be reduced to a minimum, and that they would all agree loyally ini adopting tlhem. The discussioni that followed revealed a good deal of divergeince of opinlion as to the respective merits of ether and clhloroform, one miiember goinig so far as to advocate the entire abandonment of chloroform in favour of ether, while the majority of speakers seemed to look uponl the former as being, ,on the whole, a safe and tolerably satisfactory anesthetic. No formal resolutions were put to the meetinig, but, to an impartial observer, the conelusions that were pointed to by the majority of the speakers were briefly as follows: As regards chloroform compared with ether, the statistics that recorded a greater mortality from the former were rendered valueless by the fact that clhloroform was being constantly given in private practice in Iinor operations, parturition, and convulsloIlS, aind that such administrations would not appear in statistics unless they were fatal; that undoubtedly chloroform, if giveni recklessly and in too concentrated a dose, would be more likely to kill than ether, but that ether, even when skilfully givein, sometimnes induced a fatal bronclhitis or pneumonia, and that its rapid evaporation caused it to be inhaled at a low temperature and so reduce(d the temperature of the patienit; that the choice should be determined by the circumstances of each individual case, but that it was a good rule for the casualty department of lhospitals, where the lhousesurgeoins hiad to perform niinor operations, that the routine practice slhould be to use etlher. As regards the mortality from clhlorofornm, it seemed probable that a very small proportion of deaths was unavoidable, from idiosyncrasy on the part of the patients; but that much mniglt be done to reduce it to a minimuim. Chlloroform should never be admninistered while the stomach was loaded, tlle bowels should be previously relieved, and, above all, the administrator should give his undivided attention to the patient, watching especially the countenance, pulse, and respirationi. As regards the quality of the clhlorofornm, it appeared that wlhat was sold as metlhylated chloroform wvas identical in composition with what was sold as pure chloroform, and those whlo lhad had experience witlh both could detect no difference in their plhysiologieal effects. The probable outcome of the debate will he a renewed confidence on the part of the profession an(l the public in the amesthetics that are in common use, and increased diligence on the part of the younger generation of practitioners to master the details of their administration. The present season has been Imarked as in other years by an increase in the number of cases of enteric fever, and some prominent citizens have been attacked. It lhas beein supposed by some that this poinits to a defect having arisen in the sanitary arrangements of tIme large business houses arouind the Exclhange. There is, however, no evidence to show that this is the case, as the lealthl-rate from enteric fever is not above thel average for tIme timiie of year, anid as compulsory notificatioIn has only beei in force during the current year there is no meaans of ascertaining whletlher or not the cases are in excess. I)r. William Carter wvill, at the close of the present year, relinquish tlie duties of medical officer of healtlh for WVest l)erby, whiclihe has discharged in an able and conscientious mainner for many years. It is nowv seven years since 1r. Carter, believinig that his other professional engagements would interfere with hiis thorough performance of the duties of tIme post, tendered hiis resignationi, and lie was only induced to withdraw it at thle urgent request of the board, wlho expressed so strongly the loss his retirement would involve and offered to modify their arrangements to such an extent to suit his convenience that he thought it would be ungracious to persist in his determination. Dr. Carter accordingly held on till the beginning of this year, when he again resigned, with the full determination of carrying his resigniation into effect. The same desire was expressed that he would reconsider the step, and when he declined to do this he was asked to retain the office till the end of the year instead of relinquishing it in the spring, as he intelnded to do. Dr. Carter resigns on account of the pressure of other engagements.


Generative sound is derived from mathematical formulae creating new sonic structures from a simple set of instructions. This paper outlines the processes that were devised for the generative score and sound design for OMA: Ausländer und Staatenlose. It explores in brief the influence of artists in the development of digital media and the role chance plays in the evolution of creative ideas. In particular, the paper focuses on the generative software, KoanPro, which the author has used extensively throughout the course of his research. The body of work developed as a result of this research, Lost Time Accident, was chosen as the merit award winner in the Time-Based category of the CAT 3 Digital Imaging Awards, 1996, Melbourne, Australia. Lost Time Accident was described as "...truly innovative and a great marriage between 'sound' content and technical competence." The ideas and systems discussed here are further advanced in the papers and lectures titled, The Politics of Dissonance, Lost in Sound and Sound Breeding. An article derived from this paper, Lost Time Accidents: A journey towards self-evolving, generative music, was published by Some Such, Journal of New Musique Australia (December 1996).


Complexes of diazepam (DZM) with the metal nitrates of thorium, uranium and cerium have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectra and pH metric analysis. In the view of above studies complexes were found to have the general composition [L(M1) (NO3)4], [L(M2) (NO3)2] and [L(M3) (NO3)4]. Where, L= ligand (DZM), M1= Th(IV), M2= UO2(II) and M3= Ce(IV). The ligand act as a bi-dentate chelating agent and the complexes were proposed to be the octahedral in geometry. The ligand and its metal complexes were screened for their antimicrobial activities on bacteria (E. coli, S. typhi, B. subtitilis, S. aureus) and fungi (A. niger, F. species, P. triticena, A. flavous).


The impact of blockages in the performance of next generation wireless networks has recently attracted a lot of attention. In this case, the existence of blockages can provide performance gains as the aggregate interference at a receiver is reduced. Furthermore, the employment of directional antennas at the network's nodes can further boost the performance through the power gains which antenna directionality produces. However, the impact of blockages on wireless power transfer has not been investigated equally. In this paper, we consider a bipolar ad-hoc network where the nodes employ directional antennas and have simultaneous wireless information and power transfer capabilities. We study the effects of blockages and directionality on the energy harvested by a receiver and show that the performance gains from the existence of blockages can be adjusted in order to increase the average harvested energy.


A sodium derivative of 1,3-dimethylbarbituric acid or l,3-diethyl-2-thiobarbituric acid undergoes an efficient acylation reaction at the position 5 by treatment with an acyl chloride in the presence of pyridine. There is a continuing interest in development of new methodologies for the introduction of a substituent at the position 5 of barbituric acids, which is due to the wide spectrum of biological activity of the 5-functionalized derivatives (1-3). Surprisingly, however, only a few reports have described acylation of 1,3-dimethylbarbituric acid (1). Benzoylation can be accomplished by treatment of 1 with benzoyl chloride in the presence of triethylamine and zinc cyanide (3) or by the reaction of a sodium derivative of 1 with benzoyl chloride (4). Compound 1 can also be acetylated by treatment with a large excess of acetic anhydride (5), but similar preparations of higher alkanoyl derivatives have not been reported. As a part of this work we have found that a prolonged heating of (i) 1 with an alkanoyl chloride in the presence of triethylamine or (ii) a sodium salt of 1 with the alkanoyl chloride in various solvents produced only traces of the desired 5-alkanoyl derivative of 1. In many cases the starting material 1 has been isolated in high yield from the crude mixtures. We found, however, that efficient acylation of 1 is achieved by the reaction of its sodium derivative 3 with an alkanoyl chloride in the presence of pyridine. This is illustrated in Scheme by the preparation of 5(co-chloroalkanoyl)-substituted 1,3-dimethylbarbituric acids 8 and 9 from 1 and the respective ωchloroalkanoyl chlorides 4 and 5. l,3-Diethyl-2-thiobarbituric acid (2) is also efficiently acylated by this method, as shown by the synthesis of compounds 10-12. Obviously, pyridine undergoes a reaction with acid chloride to generate an intermediate product, such as 7, that is more reactive than the starting acid chloride. In a typical run, a solution of 1 or 2 (10 mmol) in THF (10 mL) was added to a suspension of NaH (0.3 g, 95%, 12 mmol) in THF (50 mL), and the mixture was heated under reflux and a nitrogen atmosphere for 2.5h. After cooling the resultant solution of 3 was treated with an acid chloride (15 mmol) and then pyridine (1 mL), and the mixture was stirred at 40 °C until a GC analysis showed the absence of 1 or 2 (24-36h). Concentration on a rotary evaporator was followed by treatment of the residue with water (5 mL) and then extraction of the mixture with chloroform (3x20 mL). Drying of the extract (MgS0 4 ) and concentration was followed by crystallization of the residue from an appropriate solvent (6).


By examining transcripts of the unpublished minutes of meetings held in January 1967 by the Commission of Fine Arts in Washington, D. C., the author accounts for the government9s rejection of Marcel Breuer9s design for a Franklin Delano Roosevelt memorial, one of several rejected proposals for a monument still awaiting completion half a century after the death of the president.


Aim This study aims to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of mothers of infants and young children (0–23 months) in a rural area in Upper Egypt regarding breastfeeding (BF), complementary feeding, and weaning and to find the relation between knowledge and attitude of mothers and exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) practice. Subjects and methods A crosssectional study was conducted on 308 rural mothers who attended the Rural Health Unit of Bany-Semaiae village, Abou-Teeg District, Assiut Governorate, seeking health care for themselves or for their children and accompanying a child aged less than 2 years. Results The study revealed that most of the studied mothers knew that BF is the best nutritive source for the baby in the first 6 months and had good knowledge about the benefits of BF for child. Regarding weaning, most of the mothers defined weaning as BF cessation. Most of the mothers agreed that BF protects child from infection, 96.6% agreed that it is the best milk to child's health, 37% agreed that breast milk may alter body shape of the mother, and 31.5% agreed that BF should be stopped during mother's illness. Overall, 39.6% initiated BF immediately after delivery, and 74.4% of the mothers offered prelacteal feeds to baby in the first 3 days after delivery. Regarding knowledge level, 24.4% of mothers had good knowledge. Concerning mother's attitude toward feeding children, 70.1% of mothers had a positive attitude. EBF in the first 6 months was 44.2% and continued BF at 1 year was 60.6% of study children. It was found that mother's attitude level is significantly associated with EBF but not associated with knowledge level. Conclusion The study concluded that mothers' feeding practice of their children was less satisfactory, and there is a need for enhancing EBF through launching health education campaigns targeting the concerned mothers and their families.


This report records the results of an excavation of a medieval settlement next to Gogar Church that was discovered within the construction corridor of the Edinburgh Tram line. The remains relate to the medieval village of Nether Gogar and date from the 11th to the 15th century, although later material was also recovered. The results of this work complement previous work on the site of Nether Gogar (Morrison et al 2009) and add to the growing evidence of medieval rural settlement in the Edinburgh area. The excavation was carried out by Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (GUARD), while the post-excavation phase was undertaken by GUARD Archaeology Ltd on behalf of Edinburgh Tram Project for The City of Edinburgh Council.


The paper deals with the processing of information on the state of a computer system using probabilistic automata. An intelligent system model for the detection and classification of malicious software is proposed which compares a set of features that are characteristic for different classes of viruses with multiple states of the machine. The analysis process is reduced to the modeling of the automaton operation taking into account the probability of transition from state to state where each step is recalculated depending on the environment reaction. The received research results allow one to draw a conclusion about the possibility of using the offered system for harmful software detection.


The sophistication-interaction theory of mass policy reasoning, which posits that the strength of the relationship between abstract principles and policy preferences is conditional on political sophistication, dominates the study of public opinion. This article argues that the sophistication-interaction theory does not hold to the degree the consensus claims. Specifically, it challenges the proposition that sophistication promotes the use of domain-specific beliefs and values. Analysis of 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, and 1990 NES data yields two compelling findings. First, a series of confirmatory factor analyses indicate that beliefs about equal opportunity, self-reliance, and limited government in the social welfare domain and about militarism and anticommunism in the foreign policy domain are structured coherently and equivalently in the minds of citizens at different levels of sophistication. Second, structural equation model results demonstrate that political sophistication does not systematically enhance the impact these principles have on policy preferences.


Zanthoxylum schinifolium Sieb. et Zucc. (syn. Fagara schinifolia Engler) was studied for its potential anti-inflammatory properties. The hydrosol extract prepared from the Z. schinifolium branch was analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Here, five main chemical components were identified in the hydrosol of the branches of this shrub. The main chemical compounds in the branch inhibited both an Immunoglobulin E (IgE)-antigen complex and a dinitrophenyl-bovine serum albumin (DNP-BSA)-induced β-hexosaminidase release in a dose-dependent manner in RBL-2H3 mast cells, and at the tested concentrations did not show cytotoxicity to RBL-2H3 cells. Moreover, hydrosol obtained from the branch substantially inhibited a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced overproduction of intracellular active oxygen (ROS) and nitric oxide (NO). Consistently, the soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor-attachment protein receptor (SNARE) proteins of SNAP23, syntaxin4, VAMP7, and VAMP8 were remarkably decreased through hydrosol treatment. Hydrosol suppressed the activation of SNARE proteins in DNP-BSA-stimulated RBL-2H3 cells and inhibited ROS and NO in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. Camphor and estragole are the main chemical components of hydrosol and downregulate the LPS-induced phosphorylation of the SNARE proteins. The hydrosol obtained from the branch of Z. schinifolium has therapeutic benefits for allergic inflammatory diseases.


: This paper discusses a study which investigated the factors influencing the use of custody for a sample of offenders sentenced for theft offences. The results suggest that the decision to use custody was affected by a number of factors which fit with a just deserts approach to sentencing. However, other contributory factors were also identified and the implications of these results are discussed. It is argued that sentencers should be encouraged to persevere with community penalties even when they are breached, in the same way that they persevere with the use of custody even when it fails to deter offending.


For the safety of electrical appliance maintainers,this essay analyzes the collocation principles of busbar earthing switches in high-voltage distribution installations and gives an example of a real engineering design to prove them.


The new educational policy in Indonesia does not require English as a compulsory subject in primary school. To respond to the current policy, some primary schools, especially Islamic affiliated primary schools still have a commitment to provide English lessons as an extracurricular subject. Since there is no regulation toward the teaching and learning process, implementing Content-Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) approach into teaching materials aims to improve the learning process. This study used ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation) model to design the CLIL materials and reached the third stage. The results highlight that after conducting a need analysis, the syllabus and t he students' activity book consists of three selected topics that integrate Islamic values into CLIL model. They were Caring for Living Things, My Heroes, and My Dream Job. Those topics were adapted from a thematic book applied in the school partner under the Curriculum 2013. These topics were designed into three main subjects i.e., Science, Islamic Content, and Arts. Furthermore, before each topic, vocabulary-based activities were presented followed by three kinds of activities. Islamic values are integrated into CLIL materials to promote Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL) also to advocate local wisdom-based curriculum, particularly infusing the Muslim cultures and values. This study concludes that there is a need to integrate Islamic content to English materials in Islamic primary affiliated schools. © 2022 JELS and the Authors - Published by JELS.


The empirical mode decomposition (EMD) has achieved its reputation by providing a multi-scale time-frequency representation of nonlinear and/or nonstationary signals. To extend this method to vector-valued signals (VvS) in multidimensional (multi-D) space, a multivariate EMD (MEMD) has been designed recently, which employs an ensemble projection to extract local extremum locations (LELs) of the given VvS with respect to different projection directions. This idea successfully overcomes the problems of locally defining extrema of VvS. Different from the MEMD, where vector-valued envelopes (VvEs) are interpolated based on LELs extracted from the 1-D projected signal, the vector-valued EMD (VEMD) proposed in this paper employs a novel back projection method to interpolate the VvEs from 1-D envelopes in the projected space. Considering typical 4-D coordinates (3-D location and time), we show by numerical simulations that the VEMD outperforms state-of-art methods.


The construction technique of dry stone, declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, has historically materialized in Mallorca in the form of a varied range of constructions with different functions. The massive construction of dry stone walls in the Mallorcan countryside has left an outstanding landscape and territorial imprint, which constitutes a rich source of geographical analysis. An unpublished cartography of the walls located in the Serra de Tramuntana mountain range in Mallorca is presented as an essay, a cartography that has served as a basis for their classification and provisional quantification. With the support of basic cartographic, photo-interpretation and GIS techniques, the detailed examination of two official cartographic bases has allowed us to determine their usefulness as reliable sources for locating and understanding the dry stone walls in our study area, with a view to a more far-reaching geographical study of them.


Craig Baltimore is an Associate Professor in the Department of Architectural Engineering at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and he is a licensed California Structural Engineer. His areas of expertise are in sustainable knowledge transfer, masonry, earthquake engineering, sustainable practices, and curtain wall design. In addition, he has interest in bringing concentrated solar power to urban areas through heliostat and solar tower power technology. He is actively involved with the Masonry Society and the Architecture Engineering Institute. Current efforts in sustainable knowledge transfer are focused in the planning, design, and construction of a Polytechnic school in rural East Africa (Sam, Tanzania). The project is a collaboration of the people of Sam (Headed by the Catholic Diocese), Cal Poly SLO (headed by Baltimore), NGO (the Mbesese Initiative), and industry (Arup Los Angeles).


While the prime tone of the latter poems by Li Yu and Li Qingzao mainly stresses on "sadness and sorrowfulness,"the visual angle presents quite distinctive discrepancies. For physical images,Li YU prefers the royal dignified and stately ones, and Li Qingzao is inclined to have the worldly living pictures. For the representation of images,Li Yu states explicitly with strong inner conflictions,while Li Qingzao presents implicitly with much reserve. For the aesthetic mood,Li Yu starts from panorama to details,with much more stresses of the strength on the tone of sad and sorrow,while Li Qingzao gets on the opposite way with her breath focused on the tragic color. Three points can account for their discrepancies,among which are their individual experiences of tragic life,the identification of self value,and the social culture in which they live.


This thesis examines the relationship between cultural representations of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and the internet, focusing on how the subject of CSA is reformed and resituated in humorous ways through digital spaces. Through examples that range from humorous internet characters representing paedophilia to 'harrowing online firstperson essays' that unintentionally fall into parody, the thesis aims to problematise our understanding of CSA, and the power struggles between abused and abuser (while considering issues of gender, age, race, queerness and social status) when translated to the transient space of digital media.

The research takes an interdisciplinary approach to analyse how humour has become a primary lens for the discussion and representation of CSA in digital spaces. The thesis argues that the internet can help us reassess the division between an 'authentic' traumatic experience and 'second-hand' voyeurism. Does CSA fall into parody when retold and reinvented in these online spaces? Does humour necessarily entail a distancing process? What are the consequences of this in terms of changing meanings? Is it a form of coping mechanism, or a fetishisation of a taboo topic? And does this digital mode of storytelling have wider implications for public perceptions of this issue?

CSA is an under-researched area within the digital media studies field, whilst the majority of trauma theory writing is rooted in a pre-digital age. This PhD's methodology hinges on close textual readings of digital cultural representations of CSA, thus questioning what CSA-themed content means to audiences in a twenty-firstcentury internet age. This is informed by a pre-digital historical context, in which the analysis is located within a wider history of provocative subcultural engagements with taboo themes. It identifies how these cultural redefinitions and reinterpretations create a space for debate, subversion and transgressive humour, and thus provokes a challenge to received narratives of traumatic subjects.


The research objective was to determine the payroll system on Bank Tabungan Negara Surabaya. The research method used in this study is descriptive. Bank Tabungan Negara Surabaya as an object in this study. Primary data obtained from interviews on Bank Tabungan Negara employee Surabaya Assessment is done through a qualitative approach, namely by analyzing the system payroll and internal control systems. This proves that's Bank Tabungan Negara Surabaya has pengganjian system and internal control systems are quite good. So as to meet the company's employee satisfaction. The results of the evaluation of payroll systems and procedures are adequate payroll company that due to the separation of functions, the aspects of organizational structure, aspects of the authorization system, aspects of the recording procedures, aspects of healthy practices in the internal control structure. Keyword: the payroll procedures, internal control system.


Lewis makes an important point that the apparent failure of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) outcome predictors to predict CPR outcome in the study by Rosenberg et al 1 may have been due to a bias that resulted from the proper application of DNA orders that, in turn, resulted in the exclusion of those least likely to survive among the attempted CPR population. If this were the case, we would hope that Rosenberg et al would enlighten us as to the manner in which this selection was accomplished. There is no mention, however, by Rosenberg et al that any unusual application of the do-not-resuscitate process was in place at either one or both of the hospitals examined. Indeed, there was a rather wide variation from hospital A to hospital B in survival of resuscitation (Table 2 1 ) and in survival to discharge (Table 3 1 ) in a number of the subgroups analyzed.


A functional fermented bubble drink containing roasted grain powder and fermented products including cereal wine, fruits and vegetables is provided. The bubble drink controls a vital function, has anti-cancer properties by stimulating an immune system and lymphatic system and a biofeedback function and prevents various diseases and senescence. A functional fermented bubble drink is prepared by mixing roasted grain powder and fermented products which are obtained by fermenting cereal wine, functional material, fruits and vegetables. The functional fermented bubble drink contains oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and/or carbon dioxide gas. The rice wine is prepared by fermenting rice, barley, wheat, millet, oat, cow pea, buckwheat, sorghum, red bean, Job's tears, proso millet, glutinous rice. The functional material contains bioactive materials, mineral, loess, tourmaline and the like.


One of the challenges proposed by the European framework for higher education has been to develop a quality and accessible university education in order to reduce situations of exclusion of disabled students. In this sense, it is essential to reduce the existing gap in the academic performance of this group with respect to other students. The general objective of this study has been to analyze the application of inclusive methodologies in university students with disabilities from a teaching perspective. The adopted methodology was non-experimental quantitative with a sample of 313 teachers from the University of Alicante who have taught students with disabilities and who responded to a questionnaire designed ad hoc of 51 items. The results obtained show that teachers frequently use visual aids and use the same materials both in theory and in practice. Concerning perceptions, teachers consider that students with disabilities should acquire the same skills as the rest of their classmates and it was not difficult for them to teach them. Furthermore, the results showed significant differences in perceptions according to the professional category and the branch of knowledge of the teachers. From the aforementioned, it can be concluded that, although positive changes are perceived in teaching methodologies, it is necessary to continue making progress in improving teaching practice and the quality of education that facilitates the conditions for the academic performance of people with disabilities in Spanish universities.


Improved sensor technologies and driver assistance systems offer the possibility for drivers to coordinate their driving maneuvers. Building on this development, a cooperative assistance system could make traffic safer and more efficient. This paper describes the methodology and results of a two-step study evaluating user acceptance factors of a future cooperative assistance system, focusing on passenger cars and heavy trucks. In order to achieve this, cooperative behavior during current traffic situations is evaluated. The analysis shows that one problem in today's cooperative traffic is to initially recognize the need for cooperation. Cooperative assistance systems that indicate a present possibility of cooperation could support cooperative behavior in traffic. In addition, evaluation of car versus truck drivers in this study shows a difference in their stress factors and cooperative behavior. This fact indicates that these two user groups should be considered separately in development of a human-machine-interface for a cooperative driver assistance system.


The {\lambda}-exponential family has recently been proposed to generalize the exponential family. While the exponential family is well-understood and widely used, this it not the case of the {\lambda}-exponential family. However, many applications require models that are more general than the exponential family. In this work, we propose a theoretical and algorithmic framework to solve variational inference and maximum likelihood estimation problems over the {\lambda}-exponential family. We give new sufficient optimality conditions for variational inference problems. Our conditions take the form of generalized moment-matching conditions and generalize existing similar results for the exponential family. We exhibit novel characterizations of the solutions of maximum likelihood estimation problems, that recover optimality conditions in the case of the exponential family. For the resolution of both problems, we propose novel proximal-like algorithms that exploit the geometry underlying the {\lambda}-exponential family. These new theoretical and methodological insights are tested on numerical examples, showcasing their usefulness and interest, especially on heavy-tailed target distributions.


This work presents a method for simulating power networks in real-time on general purpose personal computers. Real-time simulation of power networks is a mature industry, with big players dominating the market. However, the implementation is limited to dedicated high-end hardware and software. This effort benefits the researcher and small-scale user who may wish to explore real-time applications without making a large investment. The approach offers further insight into the workings of real-time computing, in particular parallel processing using methods similar to the published description of the SSN method developed by OPAL-RT. The implementation of the developed method on a PC with multiple cores requires very little resources besides MATLAB/Simulink and a C++ development environment. The method was tested on the IEEE 123 bus system and found to require only three processing cores, where previous attempts on dedicated real-time hardware required five cores.


China's rise has stirred up world-wide debate. In Australia, China has been one of the keywords in its foreign and strategic policies and on news media. Its rise intensifies the dual functions―benefit provider and security offender to Australia and the tensions between greed of economic gains and fear of China's increasing geopolitical strength and influence. The "fear and greed" narration is well-presented on Australian mainstream media. Such ambivalence can also find its expressions in the recent typical case of China's rise―the Belt and Road Initiative. It is worthwhile to find out how Australia's ambivalence to BRI and China's rise is represented on media and to draw the sociopolitical inferences behind "fear and greed". The thesis is going to take BRI as a typical example of China's rise to examine the ambivalent "fear and greed" narration on Australian mainstream news media. Data sample includes news reports of BRI from ABC News, The Australian, The Australian Financial Review, The Sydney Morning Herald, and The Age from September 1st, 2013 to October 31st, 2017. The discourse analysis on China's images finds that Australia is rather biased against China, regarding China both as a lucrative friend and a threatening enemy. The bias lingers on for centuries and generates misunderstanding, mistrust, and anxiety. Profit drives Australia to establish closer economic ties with China, while value differences would not allow too much proximity but help to maintain a robust alliance with its allies. Australia's position between its major economic partner and traditional allies has caused much concern and will have a long-term influence on its policy-making decisions.