Gives the introduction of the hardware, software, touch panel HML designation of the automatic control system of LQB 1000 imperative Asphalt Mixing Plant, which composed of programmable logic control. Gives the flow chart of software and diagram of touch panel HMI screen.


The aim of this research is to determine the effect of innovation organization and free float on financial performance with firm size as a moderating variable. Data collection techniques are used to conduct interviews and distribute questionnaires to the management of financial companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. The analytical method used in this study is structural equation modeling using software data processing Smart PLS. The research results of the Innovation Organization have a negative and significant effect on Financial Performance, Free Float has a positive and significant effect on Financial Performance, and Free Float has a positive and significant effect on Financial Performance by being moderated by Firm Size.


Objective To explore the method for comprehensive performance judgment of clean room so as to obtain scientific and constant experimental data from every clean room. Methods The data including 8 indexes toward the airborne particles, settling microbe, wind speed, noise, illumination, difference of air pressure, temperature and relative humidity, were collected from 223 clean rooms in 46 enterprises, hospitals and scientific research centers, which were tested by the center for disease prevention and control of Hangzhou city from 1999 to 2003. From the three aspects of the grade, category and surveillance year, the data were analyzed by grey-related analysis to judge its comprehensive performance. Results The Grade 100 was the best in all levels, the hospitals in all categories and 2003 in all years. Conclusions Grey-related analysis is an accurate and practical method for comprehensive evaluation.


The invention provides a video collecting and processing method for shot-put teaching and training in order to change the current situation that people lack measuring means for a shot-put throwing angle and other key parameters when carrying out shot-put teaching and training. According to the method, related parameters are automatically measured by collecting video images through the video processing technology, accurate analysis data are provided for shot-put teaching and training, and therefore the shot-put teaching and training efficiency is improved better.


The Environment of the Northern North-Atlantic Ocean: Modem Depositional Processes and their Historical Documentation.- An Overview of Sea-Ice Conditions in the Greenland Sea and the Relationship of Oceanic Sedimentation to the Ice Regime.- Constraints on Carbon Drawdown and Export in the Greenland Sea.- Particle Flux Variability in the Polar and Atlantic Biogeochemical Provinces of the Nordic Seas.- Biogenic Particle Sources and Vertical Flux Patterns in the Seasonally Ice-Covered Greenland Sea.- Distribution, Export and Alteration of Fossilizable Plankton in the Nordic Seas.- Distribution of Calcareous, Siliceous and Organic-Walled Planktic Microfossils in Surface Sediments of the Nordic Seas and their Relation to Surface-Water Masses.- Particle Transport, Distribution Patterns of Sedimentological Properties and Biological Communities.- Modem Ocean Current-Controlled Sediment Transport in the Greenland-Iceland-Norwegian (GIN) Seas.- Records and Processes of Near-Bottom Sediment Transport along the Norwegian-Greenland Sea Margins during Holocene and Late Weichselian (Termination I) Times.- Patterns and Determinants of the Distribution and Structure of Benthic Faunal Assemblages in the Northern North Atlantic.- Exchange Processes across the Sediment Water Interface.- Bentho-Pelagic Coupling and Carbon Dynamics in the Northern North Atlantic.- Fluxes of Organic Carbon and Biogenic Silica Reaching the Seafloor: A Comparison of High Northern and Southern Latitudes of the Atlantic Ocean.- Concentration and Microbial Decomposition of Organic Material in Sediments of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea.- Changes in the Hydrate Stability Zone on the Norwegian Margin and their Consequence for Methane and Carbon Releases Into the Oceanosphere.- Climate Change and Paleoceanography.- The Potential of Synoptic Plankton Analyses for Paleoclimatic Investigations: Five Plankton Groups from the Holocene Nordic Seas.- Paleoceanographic Proxies in the Northern North Atlantic.- Examination of the Use of Biomarker Proxies for the Reconstruction of Paleoceanographic Conditions in the Northern North Atlantic.- Fundamental Modes and Abrupt Changes in North Atlantic Circulation and Climate over the last 60 ky-Concepts, Reconstruction and Numerical Modeling.- Planktic and Benthic Foraminifera as Indicators of Past Ocean Changes in Surface and Deep Waters of the Nordic Seas.- Dansgaard-Oeschger Oscillations: A Hydrodynamic Theory.- Circulation of the Glacial Atlantic: A Synthesis of Global and Regional Modeling.- Present and Past Oceanographic Controls of Sediment Formation in the North Atlantic-Arctic Gateway (A Critical Appraisal of SFB 313 Scientific Results).


Abstract Focusing on local communities' resistance to Hsinchu Science Industrial Park, this paper suggests that high-tech development projects in Taiwan should not be understood as something that stands in opposition to neo-liberalism, but as part of neo-liberal globalization. Moreover, this paper argues that neither the effective state intervention nor networks among high-tech firms are adequate to explain Taiwan's high-tech and capitalist development. Nor can this development be interpreted as an outcome of a combination of these two factors. Instead, it is an outcome of zoning technologies under neo-liberal governmentality and ongoing processes of primitive accumulation. While this high-tech development benefits high-tech capital and professionals active in that field, it suspends or curtails the rights of those citizens who are seen to have a low market value and lack global competiveness.


ABSTRACT Laser shock peening (LSP) is a unique and efficient surface modification technique that surface engineers have commonly adopted to tailor metallic materials' surface and subsurface properties. The primary goal of this review paper is to highlight LSP as a surface modification technique for materials used in aeroengine, as this further ameliorates the commercialization of LSP in aeroengine sectors. The recent research articles focused on the application of LSP to improve the surface characteristics (i.e. surface residual stresses, hardness) and to resist the corresponding service challenges (i.e. fatigue, wear) of the aeroengine metallic material have been reviewed. In addition, a brief explanation of LSP and its controlling parameters is included. From the aeroengines perspective, challenges and future aspects for improving LSP application and commercialization are summarised based on the authors' experience and published literature.


20 virus types and subtypes belonging to several viral groups and their respective antisera were tested by counterimmunoelectrophoresis (CIEP). Group-, type- and/or subtype-specific precipitation line


To develop an influencer detection system, we designed an influence model based on the analysis of conversations in the "Change My View" debate forum. This led us to identify enunciative features (argumentation, emotion expression, view change, ...) related to influence between participants. In this paper, we present the annotation campaign we conducted to build up a reference corpus on these enunciative features. The annotation task was to identify in social media posts the text segments that corresponded to each enunciative feature. The posts to be annotated were extracted from two social media: the "Change My View" debate forum, with discussions on various topics, and Twitter, with posts from users identified as supporters of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria). Over a thousand posts have been double or triple annotated throughout five annotation sessions gathering a total of 27 annotators. Some of the sessions involved the same annotators, which allowed us to analyse the evolution of their annotation work. Most of the sessions resulted in a reconciliation phase between the annotators, allowing for discussion and iterative improvement of the guidelines. We measured and analysed inter-annotator agreements over the course of the sessions, which allowed us to validate our iterative approach.


Semi refined carrageenan (2%w/w) plasticized with 0.9% (w/w) glycerol (G) added with Persicaria minor (PM) extract and 0.4% (w/w) BHA as antioxidant additives for the development of active packaging films. The extraction of PM using 75% (v/v) ethanol: water ratio showed the highest polyphenol content with 176.80±4.37 Gallic Acid Equivalent (GAE)/L sample and 94.65±0.17% inhibition analyzed using DPPH antioxidant activity (p<0.05). The characterization of SRC-G based film containing 0.4, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0% (w/w) PM and BHA were observed using FTIR, mechanical and physical properties of the treated films. FTIR spectrum band showed insight analysis of PM extract and BHA with carrageenan. SRC film plasticized with glycerol improved overall physical properties including thickness, barrier and flexibility and increased tensile strength and elongation at break compared to the SRC film only (p<0.05). The active films with PM extracts (2.0% w/w) exhibited good mechanical properties with tensile strength and elongation at break with 28.01±0.17 and 37.37±0.29 respectively (p<0.05). The addition of PM extract in SRC films increased the moisture content and opacity as proportionally to the concentration of PM extracts. Film treated with 2.0% PM showed lowest value of films solubility compare to all sample (p<0.05). Hence, the characterization measurement of SRC based films demonstrated great potential with natural extract formulation for the development of active film packaging for food products.


The project is designed to provide low voltage start to induction motor. This is achieved by using star to delta conversion. The star delta starter is generally obtained from three contractors, electromechanical timer and a thermal overload for operating a 3 phase motor at 440 volt at ac mains supply 50Hz.A set of relays are used to shift the motor connections from star to delta with a time delay. Since in star connection current is same in different phases while line voltage is root three times the phase voltage. So the voltage is reduced if motor is started as star. And also in delta connection the voltage is same as that of phase voltage so full voltage is applied if we run the motor as delta connection. The interlocking arrangement of all the contactor coils is traditionally wired in 440volt AC. If any of the phase goes off the single phasing circuit comes into action which disconnect the motor and save it from overloading.


The most difficult aspect of this exhibition and its catalogue was to find designers capable of transforming paper from a mere material into jewellery, because, as Gio Ponti said in 1957, "beautiful material is the same for everyone. But only a few succeed in creating beauty from a modest material." The exhibition, involving 60 artists from all over the world, in an exceptional venture passes through distant cultures with a single thing in mind: paper. Whether it is folded, embroidered, braided, sewn, sponged, plisseed, punched, recycled, glued or painted with watercolour; paper can be turned into unexpected decorations and forms. Unusual like the origami of Nobuko Murakami, elegant like the plisse of Janna Syvanoja and Daniele Papuli or the ruffs of Dutchman Nel Linssen, flower-like as in the geometric designs of Sandra di Giacinto or material like the textures of Ritsuko Ogura, joyful like the flowers of Ana Hagopian, the collages of Feroci Design or the spectres of the Polish designer Andrzej Szadkowski, or conceptual like the compositions of Fritz Maierhofer. 6 designers (Deep Design, Marco Ferreri, Giulio Iacchetti, Miriam Mirri, Marco Romanelli with Marta Laudani, and Paolo Ulian) have designed 6 paper jewels especially for the exhibition, which are available and "ready to wear". When the exhibition finishes it will set off on an international tour and return to Italy in 2010 to the Fabriano Paper Museum.


Through this article we aim to highlight the importance of social and educational policies for promoting equity in the Romanian educational system. The paper also contains an investigative study aimed at evaluating the personality traits of teachers and their level of anxiety and the role that certain maladaptive cognitive mechanisms have in the manifestation of counterproductive professional behaviors.  The data of the study were collected based on online questionnaires from 31 teachers from the "Kemal Ataturk" National College in Medgidia, Constanta County, Romania.


Tiara.Ardilla.Tama.2017. Students' difficuties in learning English speaking skill at SMAN 5 Jambi. Thesis, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Jambi University. First supervisor: Reny Heryanti, S.S, M.Hum and second supervisor: Susanah, S.Pd, M.Sc

Key words: Perception, Speaking skill, Difficulties

 This research Students' difficulties in learning English speaking skill at SMAN 5 Jambi. The objective of the study is to find out students' difficulties in learning English speaking skill. The design of the research is by using quantitative method with survey research design. The subject of this research is the Students' (Science class) at SMAN 5 Jambi. The data of this research were collected by using questionnaire. The item for the questionnaire were adapted from Khampreted(2012) it has 20 closed statements, the questionnaire were distributed to 93 respondents, the result showed that students have problem with their confidence, the students afraid of making mistakes while speaking English. They also felt nervous and worried when speaking English. In aspect of pronunciation and vocabulary, they have difficulties in completing the sentences. They confess that they want to speak like native. Unfortunately, they do not have good pronunciation they also have problem in grammar. This research suggested that the students should solve their own problem in learning English, they may read English books and articles to overcome their vocabulary problems. They may also practice with their friend to practice their pronunciation and speaking skills, the most important point is that the students have to be confidence to speak English.


This article looks at pavement preventive maintenance by examining seven of the most notorious misconceptions regarding preventive maintenance. For each myth, the authors provide suggestions for addressing them, noting the benefits that a preventive maintenance program offers. These suggestions include: 1) preventive maintenance can lead to a reduced rate in backlog growth; 2) early application is more effective than corrective treatment; 3) treatment applications can be very cost-effective; 4) a preventive maintenance program should be effectively promoted to management; 5) ensure that the program is supported by individuals at all levels of the organization; 6) ensure a good public relations campaign; and, 7) reinforce the fact that preventive maintenance programs are affordable.


Blood Politics: Race, Culture, and Identity in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Circe Sturm. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002. xi. 249 pp., photographs, notes, bibliography, index.


The recent research is developing in a vast speed to develop the cloud orchestration system. In cloud system the remotely managed servers are storing, finding, removing, replacing and retrieving the various services in an adaptive optimized manner. The lot of services are provided by the vast number of providers in the market with the help of approximation theory by the rough set system (RST). RST finds in helping in getting the efficient cloud resources as a service to the users. The proposed OCRS (Optimized Cost Resource System) approach is being simulated and compared with the existing cloud simulator. The simulator gives the approximate results in many parameters of cloud services. In all aspects our algorithm is performing better.


Splenic cysts are rare clinical entities, reportedly occurring in only 0.5%–2.0% of the population. The first splenic cyst was reported in 1829 by Andral, and with the increasing use of diagnostic imaging, splenic cysts are now more commonly being diagnosed incidentally. We report the case of a splenic cyst in an 18-year-old man who initially presented to a remote nursing station in Labrador with non-specific abdominal complaints. After being transferred to a community hospital, the patient was found to have a very large splenic cyst and he subsequently underwent a total splenectomy with the removal of an associated epidermoid cyst.


This paper analyzes the problems existing in the arrangement, contents and textbook of The Introduction to Architecture Technology. Means of innovation has been put forward concerning them.


Topomerization observed for the isopropyl-methyls in the title compounds was reinvestigated with use of the total line shape analysis of NMR spectra. It was found that deprotonation from the pyrrolium cation preceded and was an independent step from the topomerization but the former strongly affects kinetic parameters for the latter process in the presence of excessive hydrogen halide. The extent of the excessiveness of hydrogen halide in the system also affects the reaction rates and the effects were discussed on the standpoint of activation parameters. The rates of topomerization of the isopropyl-methyls were found to be identical with the rates of enantiomerization at the 1-substituent in 1-(1-bromopropyl)-3-isopropyl-2-phenylpyrrolium ion to suggest that the topomerization in other compounds was also attributed to the ionization at the 1-substituent. The results suggest that a 1-pyrrolyl group assists ionization of 1-pyrrolylmethyl halide more effectively than a phenyl group in benzyl halide. This was...


This paper examines how borrowing ceilings in the personal loan market affect the portfolio choice of consumers. Most papers on borrowing constraints do not address the question of portfolio choice: it is typically assumed that all assets can be liquidated to finance consumption in the case of an income shortfall.' In this case, borrowing ceilings will never bind until consumers have run their assets down to zero and borrowed up to their limits. However, it may be more realistic to assume that consumers have a choice of allocating wealth between short-term liquid assets (e.g., cash) that can be used for current consumption purposes, and longer term illiquid assets (e.g., housing equity, CDs) that cannot be used for current consumption purposes but may be used as collateral for loans. The central question of this paper is whether the presence of borrowing ceilings in the personal loan market will induce individuals to hold a larger share of their assets in liquid form. This question is addressed within the context of two types of borrowing ceilings. First, it is assumed that borrowing ceilings are exogenous, in that they are unaffected by the individual's portfolio choice. This assumption is similar to that made in many papers on borrowing constraints.2 The presence of exogenous borrowing ceilings will unambiguously lead to more liquid portfolios. Individuals who know that there is a limit to the amount that can be borrowed will hold a larger share of their wealth in liquid form, since by doing so the probability of becoming credit constrained in the future is reduced. The case of exogenous borrowing ceilings is contrasted with the case in which borrowing ceilings are due to interest rate ceilings in


Time reversal invariance violation is tightly constrained in the Stan- dard Model, and the existence of a T-violating effect above the predicted level would be an indication of new physics. A sensitive probe of this symmetry in the weak interaction is the measurement of the D-coefficient in neutron decay. This parameter characterizes the triple-correlation of neutron spin, electron mo- mentum, and neutrino (or proton) momentum, which changes sign under time reversal. The emiT experiment, now on line, attempts to improve the measure- ment of D, whose current average is 0.3 + 1.5 x 10 -3.


By measuring the levitation forces between a single domain GdBCO bulk superconductor and assembled bar magnets(ABM) in different configurations at liquid nitrogen temperature, the effects of ABM configurations on the levitation force of single domain GdBCO bulk superconductor are investigated. The maximum levitation force is obtained at the same vertical gap distance Z =5 mm between the superconductor and the ABM for configurations with different lateral gap distance( D )between the magnets of the ABM. It is found that 1) for the ABM consisting of 3 bar magnet, the levitation force of the GdBCO bulk decreases from 22.8N to 9.7N with the D value increasing from 0 to 30 mm, when the magnetic pole N of the middle magnet is pointed upwards and the directions of magnetic pole N of two side magnets are pointed to the middle magnet in horizontal direction; the levitation force of the GdBCO bulk increases first from 9.2N to 13.9N and then decreases to10.4 N with D value increasing from 0 to 30mm, if the magnetic pole N of the middle magnet is pointed upwards and the directions of magnetic pole N of two side magnets are pointed downwards;2)for the ABM consisting of 2 bar magnets, the levitation force of the GdBCO bulk decreases from 11.2N to 1.2N with D value increasing from 0 to 30mm, when the directions of magnetic pole N of two side magnets are pointed upwards; the levitation force of the GdBCO bulk increases first from 6.0N to 6.8N and then decreases to 2.9N with D value increasing from 0 to 30mm, if the directions of magnetic pole N of two magnets are anti-parallel in horizontal direction; 3)for the ABM consisting of only 1 bar magnets, D ≡0, and the levitation force of the GdBCO bulk is about 9.5N. The results indicate that the magnet configuration and its detailed parameters of ABM are very important for improving the levitation force of a superconductor and helpful for designing and application based on the superconducting magnetic levitation system.


Objective To investigate the psychological status of undergraduates in School of Public Health and Family Medicine,Capital Medical University and to take measures to lower the psychological burdens and reduce the negative outcomes.Methods Based on relevant literatures and investigations,a self-designed questionnaire was used to survey all 205 undergraduates(The investigating rate was 83.7%,the collecting rate is 91.1%).The questionnaire was answered by students at spare time in the anonymous,self-administered way.Their psychological burden was leveled as none,little,strong,and extreme.The Data were analyzed by Chi-square test,Wilcoxon signed rank test and correlation analysis.Results Among all the objects,8.8% of students felt no pressure,65.4% felt a little,19.0% felt more and 4.8% felt too high a pressure.The data showed that pressure from academic achievement and job searching was the most common sources referred to.Facing the pressure,39.5% and 20.5% of students treated it by talking with friends and family members respectively,and 20% chose to manage it by themselves.In response to the pressures,most students prefer defocusing or self-adjustment.Conclusion The level of pressure in the undergraduates is normal.But various activities and psychological education are still needed for students to make their school life smooth.


Logistics Journal, Vol. 2012, Iss. 01 - Truncated distributions of the exponential family have great influence in the simulation models. This paper discusses the truncated Weibull distribution specifically. The truncation of the distribution is achieved by the Maximum Likelihood Estimation method or combined with the expectation and variance expressions. After the fitting of distribution, the goodness-of-fit tests (the Chi-Square test and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test) are executed to rule out the rejected hypotheses. Finally the distributions are integrated in various simulation models, e. g. shipment consolidation model, to compare the influence of truncated and original versions of Weibull distribution on the model.


Supplier categorization is considered as a business approach to reduce the logistic costs and improve business performance. In this work we propose a data clustering algorithm for supplier categorization namely S-Canopy clustering. It is simply making use of canopy clustering to reduce the number of distance comparisons. Comparison analysis shows a feasibility to obtain better results for categorization of suppliers in a supplier base.


Molecular Orbital calculations using the SC-MEH method have been carried out for the interaction of Adenine, Guanine and Cytosine as DNA base and diaminecytosineplatinum(DCP) in various conformations. The results showed that the order of DCP binding to the DNA bases was guanine > adenine > cytosine and the stabilization energy of cis-isomer was larger than that of trans-isomer in the adenine-DCP complexes system. Furthermore, platinum(II) binding to DNA bases markedly gives rise to change of atomic charge in DNA bases ring, which can explain anti-tumor activity of platinum complex.


Using near-field optical microscopy, we have performed coherent excitation spectroscopy of self-assembled quantum dots (SAQDs). A pair of coherent pulses with a time delay between them allows measurement of the temporal coherence of the carrier wave function in single quantum dots. The observed decoherence time is about 15 ps and is well explained by resonant Raman scattering of phonons. Furthermore, quantum beats originating from the superposition of two closely spaced coherent states have been observed. This opens up possibilities of quantum mechanical control of the carrier wave function in SAQDs.


Abstract A new exponentiated generalized linear exponential distribution (NEGLED) is introduced, which poses increasing, decreasing, bathtub-shaped, and constant hazard rate. Its various mathematical properties such as moments, quantiles, order statistics, hazard rate function (HRF), stress–strength parameter, etc. are derived. Five distributions, exponential distribution (ED), generalized linear exponential distribution (GLED), Rayleigh distribution (RD), Weibull distribution (WD), and generalized linear failure rate distribution (GLFRD) were used for comparison with NEGLED model using a dataset of blood cancer patients. Estimation of the parameters using the maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) method was obtained and to evaluate their performance a simulation study has been carried out. Finally, a dataset of 40 Leukemia patients was analysed for illustrative purpose proving that the NEGLED outperforms compared distributions.


A microsensor has been developed to measure the spreading of molten metal microdrops upon impact with a solid surface with a time resolution below 1 s. The sensor consists of fine conducting lines made of a gold (Au) and titanium (Ti) two-layered structure on an insulating surface. The spreading of molten metal on the sensor leads to a resistance drop, which is converted to diameter evolution. Its measurements are made with a digital oscilloscope, which is much faster than state-of-the-art visualization systems. This work demonstrates the ultrafast sensing capability with a molten tin (Sn) microdrop. The sensor is especially useful for measuring the rapid expansion of the contact area in the very early stages of impact, which determines the degree of splashing. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


We show that the spectral dimension ds of two-dimensional quantum gravity coupled to Gaussian fields is two for all values of the central charge c ≤ 1. The same arguments provide a simple proof of the known result ds = 4/3 for branched polymers.


The anomalous latent and sensible heat flux over the North Pacific in boreal winter and their impact on sea surface temperature(hereafter SST)anomalies are analyzed by using a long-term integration of the ocean-atmosphere coupled model FGOALS_s of LASG/IAP.The relative contributions of heat flux components and oceanic dynamical terms to the SST variance are compared.The results show that the FGOALS_s can reproduce the dominant characteristics of the mean state of surface heat fluxes and the interannual variance of turbulent heat flux.In the extra-tropical North Pacific Ocean,significant correlation exists between anomalous latent and sensible heat flux and SST tendency anomalies in boreal winter.The turbulent heat flux is the most important factor that determine the SST variance,whereas the downward short wave flux is dominant only to the southeast of Hawaii archipelago.The model has a reasonable performance in capturing the leading mode of winter time SST tendency in the extra-tropical North Pacific Ocean and the corresponding pattern of sea level pressure anomalies.Analysis shows that the anomalous large-scale atmospheric circulation affects the turbulent heat flux and thus plays a significant role in changing the SST anomalies.The diagnosis based on model results supports that in the boreal winter extra-tropical North Pacific Ocean,the atmospheric forcing is dominant in the local air-sea interaction processes,and the new edition of the coupled model FGOALS_s is applicable to investigate the air-sea interaction over the North Pacific in wintertime.


Significance This report shows that the reducing power in the environment influences oxidation of glutamate in a neuronal tissue. Glutamate is a neurotransmitter, and it is especially important as a metabolite because it is required for synthesis of glutathione, other amino acids, and proteins. Glutamate also is a key intermediate in glutamine-dependent anaplerosis, now considered to be a principal source of citric acid cycle intermediates in cancer cells. Our analyses also show that the reducing power in the environmental can influence glutamate oxidation in cancer cells. Glutamate in neurons is an important excitatory neurotransmitter, but it also is a key metabolite. We investigated how glutamate in a neural tissue is protected from catabolism. Flux analysis using 13C-labeled fuels revealed that retinas use activities of the malate aspartate shuttle to protect >98% of their glutamate from oxidation in mitochondria. Isolation of glutamate from the oxidative pathway relies on cytosolic NADH/NAD+, which is influenced by extracellular glucose, lactate, and pyruvate.


This study's primary purpose is to evaluate the viability of securitizing micro-credits using blockchain technology. To answer this question, we conducted a theoretical analysis of the present obstacles in the microfinance industry and proposed an innovative strategy to address the major issues of liquidity and process efficiency. This study underlines, from a safety standpoint, the need to consider the influence of regulatory limits as well as the requirement for an expert's evaluation of the suggested model.


Thermal transmittance or U-value is an indicator of the building envelope thermal properties and a key parameter for evaluation of heat losses through the building elements due to heat transmission. It can be determined by calculation based on thermal characteristics of the building element layers. However, this value does not take into account the effects of irregularities and degradation of certain elements of the envelope caused by aging, which may lead to errors in calculation of the heat losses. An effective and simple method for determination of thermal transmittance is in situ measurement, which is governed by the ISO 9869-1:2014 that defines heat flow meter method. This relatively expensive method leaves marks and damages surface of the building element. Furthermore, the final result is not always reliable, in particular when the building element is light or when the weather conditions are not suitable. In order to avoid the above mentioned problems and to estimate the real thermal transmittance value an alternative experimental method, here referred as the natural convection and radiation method, is proposed in this paper. For determination of thermal transmittance, this method requires only temperatures of inside and outside air, as well as the inner wall surface temperature. A detailed statistical analysis, performed by the software package SPSS ver. 20, shows several more advantages of this method comparing to the standard heat flow meter one, besides economic and non-destructive benefits.


Application of heuristic solution procedures to the practical problem of project scheduling has previously been studied by numerous researchers. However, there is little consensus about their findings, and the practicing manager is currently at a loss as to which scheduling rule to use. Furthermore, since no categorization process was developed, it is assumed that once a rule is selected it must be used throughout the whole project. This research breaks away from this tradition by providing a categorization process based on two powerful project summary measures. The first measure identifies the location of the peak of total resource requirements and the second measure identifies the rate of utilization of each resource type. The performance of the rules are classified according to values of these two measures, and it is shown that a rule introduced by this research performs significantly better on most categories of projects.


A numerical program developed based on meso-damage mechanics,was adopted to simulate the deformation,damage and fracture,i.e.the whole failure process of brittle composite matrix reinforced by particles under uniaxial tensile load.The effect of particles size was consequently investigated in this paper.From the simulation,one can concluded that different particles size could cause different failure mechanism and therefore,had profound effect on the failure mode,strength,but had less effect on the Young's modulus of the composites.


This paper presents the results of an exploratory study conducted to identify the factors that influence people and communities to participate in crowdsourcing approach of crime information. The study uses as survey, self-administered questionnaires distributed to the crowd in the public areas in Selangor and Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia as well as through an online survey website. Analysis performed to more than half of 139 valid responses of the survey reveals that the respondents participated in crowdsourced crime reporting and sharing using recent technologies such as mobile application mainly to help reduce the crime rate (nature of problem factor); to contribute to the betterment of mankind and they like the idea of contributing to something of value to the world (altruism factor); to exchange ideas or knowledge on crime information with the crowdsourcing community and to obtain crime related information (learning factor); to share crime related information to others (interest in topic); and to alert others so they can be more cautious (reciprocity factor). Findings from this survey have guided a research work to develop a prototype of mobile application to demonstrate how the application can support neighborhood crime watch activity by enabling community members to share crime incidents information.


The generalized special relativity is used to construct new quantum momentum perturbation theory. This theory is based on momentum Eigen equation. Treating elementary particles as vibrating strings or strings of finite length or strings of periodic structure, the momentum was shown to be quantized, for harmonic oscillator particle in a crystal and in a box.


Emotional intelligence (EQ) plays a vital role in psychological and social adjustment of individuals. Present study was designed to make a comparative analysis of the facet of EQ in context of sighted and visually impaired (VI) school students. The main objectives of this study were to measure EQ level of sighted and visually impaired students, to make a comparison between EQ of sighted and VI students and to investigate the role of students' demographic variations of gender, age, grade, family socioeconomic status and parental qualification in determining their index of EQ. Schutte Emotional Intelligence Scale (SEIS) developed by Nicola Schutte was used to measure the EQ, it has 33 items and 7 subscales named as Appraisal of Emotions in Self, Appraisal of Emotions in Others, Emotional Expression, Emotional Regulation of others, Utilization of Emotions in Problem Solving and Uncategorized. A stratified random sample of 200 students was taken from sighted and visually impaired schools going secondary and elementary level students. Among them 110 were male and 90 were female, whose' aged ranged from 14 to 19 years. Findings revealed that sighted school students have higher EQ as compared to visually impaired school students. It was also revealed that male VI students have higher EQ as compared to VI female school students. Moreover, sighted learners from higher income families have higher emotional intelligence as compared to VI school students from low income families. Finding of the study will be useful for the VI and sighted students and their teachers. Findings also provide opportunities to psychologist and school counsellor as s devise some strategy that can boost the EQ level of VI students which ultimately helps VI students in psychological and social adjustment.


■ Abstract Changes in genes and in developmental processes generate the phenotypic variation that is sorted by natural selection in adaptive evolution. We review several case studies in which artificial selection experiments in insects have led to divergent morphologies, and where further work has revealed information about the underlying changes at both the genetic and developmental levels. In addition, we examine several studies of phenotypic plasticity where multidisciplinary approaches are also beginning to reveal more about how developmental processes are modulated. Such integrated research will lead to a richer understanding of the changes in development that occur during evolutionary responses to natural selection, and it will also more rigorously examine how developmental processes can influence the tempo and direction of evolutionary change.


Aqueous diethanolamine (DEA) solutions are commonly used for the absorption/scrubbing of acidic gases (CO2 and H2S) from natural gas apart from its wide applications in the formulations of consumer chemicals namely, soaps, shampoos, emulsifiers etc. During these processes high concentrations of DEA are released into the atmosphere in the form of waste water/effluents causing a severe pollution to the environment. Hence these stable organic compounds need to be treated/degraded/mineralized before being released into the atmosphere. Hence in the present research an attempt was made to employ UV/H2O2 based advanced oxidation process for the degradation of DEA. Experiments were conducted using a synthetic solution of DEA with a concentration range of 500 - 2000 ppm. The other variables used for the DEA degradation experiments were, the initial concentrations of H2O2, pH and the temperature. Experiments were conducted in a glass reactor, using UV lamp (8W) as radiation source. The DEA removal efficiencies were estimated based on the TOC measurements. Based on the experimental results the optimum conditions for the maximum removal efficiency were obtained by using the Box-Behnken Response Surface Methodology (RSM). A quadratic regression model was developed to represent the present experimental results on the degradation efficiency as a function of the variables. The experiments conducted based on the estimated optimum conditions showed a satisfactory agreement with the predicted values.


Luo Shu is one extremely successful authoress is the respect of the novel in the 1930s,though her creation before death is not much.She opens up the rugged foot-path alone,fixes one's eyes on it in wider social life,and fills with the sufferings and fights of peasants of small bay in a river of Sichuan.In her description of salt workers and women with deep feeling,she moulds a series of typical personal image and widens the behavior field of the subject matter for Modern Chinese Literature,abundant modern personal gallery of literature,thus takes the course of its own among the modern authoresses.


Abstract Our objective was to adjust and validate predictive equations for appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM) in patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). Whole-body DXA data in 90 RA patients were used for measurement of ASM (kg). The prediction equation anthropometric for muscle mass proposed by Lee et al was used to generate estimates of ASM. Appendicular skeletal muscle mass index (ASMI, kg/m2) was calculated. Frequency analysis, Paired student's t-test, Linear regression, Pearson correlation, Intraclass correlation coefficients, and Bland-Altman scatter were performed. The statistical significance considered was p<0.05. Lee's equation was overestimated by 30% when compared with ASMI by DXA. When stratified by nutritional status, Lee's equation overestimated the ASMI by 30% in overweight patients and by 50% in obese patients when compared with DXA (p<0.05). These adjusted equations estimated values for ASMI were closer to those obtained by DXA than those estimated by the original Lee's equation (p<0.05). This greater concordance was confirmed by the observed interclass correlation coefficients and by Bland-Altman scatter graphs. In conclusion, the prediction of muscle mass in RA patients may be performed with equations that consider the nutritional status of patients.


I THE Lovett and Rodee paper on "Transfer of Stress from Main Beams to Intermediate Stiffeners," published in the October, 1936 issue of this JOURNAL (Volume 3, Number 12), the value of the ratio of the effective modulus of rigidity to the modulus of elasticity, G'/E, as calculated in the paper, is much lower than the theoretical. This is mainly due to the neglecting of the effect of the sheet in taking compressive stress in the effective width. Due to the fact that the sheet adjacent to the spar takes compression with the spar (assuming the stress intensity in the effective width of the sheet the same as that of the spar), as the spar transfers some compressive stress to the adjacent stiffener, the sheet transfers some of its stress too; so the shear stress or shear strain will increase with the distance from the center of the spar up to the end of the effective width. At the center of the panel, the sheet takes almost no direct stress, so the shear stress over that portion is constant. By the same reasoning, as the effective width of stiff ener No. 1, (see Fig. 2) is approached, the shear strain decreases up to the center of the stiffener. A straight line, MN, perpendicular to the axis of the spar on the top surface before loading, will be a curved line, AFGB, after loading. The shear strain used in figuring G'/E is the average shear strain across the spar to the stiffener, i.e., the slope of the dotted line AB. So the corresponding amount of sheet to be included in the effective area for the spar and the stiffener, should be up to the points F and G, respectively, where the slope of the curve AFGB equals the slope of the dotted line AB. This amount of sheet between A and F or G and B varies from C/2 to C, depending upon the ratio of the


Apert syndrome is a rare congenital disorder craniosynostosis, involving abnormalities, symmetric syndactyly of the hands and feet and tooth anomalies. The aim of the present report is to show an 11-year old boy with Apert syndrome, her general and orofacial clinical characteristics and the dental management


Economic change in China will move hundreds of millions of households from poverty to prosperity. But what does everyday life look like for a Chinese family living through Chinese economic development? As a consultant and ethnographer working for ReD Associates I'd like to share some intimate experiences from my research with a middle-class man who has lived through the country's transformation.


PWM rectifier control system is designed, where predictive current control in two static reference frames is as current control method, voltage space vector pulse width modulation is pulse width modulation method, and traditional PI regulator is adopted as DC voltage control. This method has an advantage of quick response of hysteresis current control, the frequency of apparatus is fixed, and control system has only one PI regulator, so modifying parameter is simple. The results of simulation verify suggested scheme.


The antigenantibody reaction of the acidic phytase and the relations between the phytase and the phosphate in each growing step of the tomato pulp are measured. It is found that phytase exsits in the pulp of the tomato. The activity of the phytase is inverse proportion to the concentration of the phosphate and even is suppressed completely when the concentration of the phosphate exceeds 0.26 mmol/L. By using proper phytic acid as inducer the suppression of the phosphate on the phytase can be relieved. 


The transition from the stationary and homogeneous state of the collision-free space charge sheath between plasma and wall to a strongly inhomogeneous and instationary state with arc spots is initiated by local enhancement of power supply from the plasma, connected with increasing electron emission. The general relations between surface emissivity, net current density, sheath potential and power density in such "active" boundary layers are derived, taking the feedback of emitted electrons on the plasma parameters into account. Conditions and possible paths to sheath instability and arc spot formation are discussed.


A second-quantization formalism has been used to obtain a general expression for the generalized oscillator strength (GOS) for inner-shell electron transitions between two open shells of any atom. The present formula together with the spin polarized technique of the random-phase approximation with exchange are then employed to investigate correlation effects in the GOS for the Na 2p{sup 6}3s({sup 2}S){yields}2p{sup 5}3s{sup 2}({sup 2}P) transition. Results are compared with those measured by Bielschowsky et al. [Phys. Rev. A 43, 5975 (1991)]. The present formula has also been used with Hartree-Fock wave functions to calculate the GOS's for the carbon 2s{sup 2}2p{sup 2}({sup 3}P){yields}2s2p{sup 3}({sup 3}P) and 2s{sup 2}2p{sup 2}({sup 3}P){yields}2s2p{sup 3}({sup 3}D) transitions. The calculated multiplet oscillator strengths for the two transitions are compared with the experimental values.


The study conducted by Seligman and coworkers included in the previous issue of Critical Care demonstrates that copeptin is a promising marker to predict outcome in patients with ventilatorassociated pneumonia. In recent years, copeptin has emerged as a new prognostic marker in a variety of diseases, such as sepsis, community-acquired pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary failure, heart failure and myocardial infarction. What is the pathophysiological basis for these findings? Copeptin together with vasopressin is co- secreted from the posterior pituitary and therefore mirrors the amount of vasopressin in the circulation. Vasopressin is a main secretagogue of the hypothalamo–pituitary– adrenal axis, thereby mirroring the individual stress level. Furthermore, vasopressin is an important hormone in salt and volume regulation. In this context, copeptin is also a diagnostic marker in patients with diabetes insipidus and in patients with disordered water states. In the previous issue of Critical Care, Seligman and coworkers showed that copeptin, the C-terminal part of the vasopressin prohormone, increased continuously with the severity of sepsis [1]. Copeptin remained the only accurate prognostic marker for mortality in patients with ventilatorassociated pneumonia. Procalcitonin and the PaO 2 /FiO 2 ratio, shown to be prognostic in ventilator-associated pneumonia [2], unfortunately were not included in the analysis. Nevertheless, the authors conclude that copeptin could be useful in risk-stratifying patients with ventilatorassociated pneumonia and may provide an early indication of treatment failure.


In order to study the linear combination design method of underground roads, a road model with 16 test sections was designed for 8 common horizontal and vertical line combinations, and two test environments, up and under ground, were built. Fifteen participants participated in the driving simulation experiment. Driving behaviors between different lanes of roads on-ground and underground roads of each test section, each section with up or down slopes and with left or right turns were compared and analyzed. Then the applicability of different horizontal and vertical line combination in underground road design was evaluated.


A program for the in-house monitoring of the precision and accuracy of clinical laboratory analyses has been developed and implemented on a microcomputer system. A description of the functions and statistical analyses available is given.


Public transportation systems are core infrastructures to smart cities and are expected to perform on a daily basis and in a reliable manner. However, such systems can be affected by external and internal events that manifest as delays. There are two sources customers can consult, which will impact their decision rewarding commuting times; either the official (provided by the transportation agency) or the reported by other passengers. It is debated whether the first approach is more accurate than the latter. This work compares both alternatives, using Natural Language Processing techniques and visual analytics to determine the delays on trains and evaluate their resilience process. For this purpose the impact of a massive snowstorm in November, 2018 to New York's Metro North Railroad system was used as a case study.


It is widely acknowledged that entrepreneurs gain a unique knowledge from bankruptcy which may allow them to restart a more successful business. In accordance with this the EU recommends Member States to invest in the reactivation of bankrupt entrepreneurs. In Flanders however, it seems that entrepreneurs who have failed are often not inclined to set up a new business. Literature suggests this might be due to the negative image from which bankrupts suffer. The key question in this research is whether the negative perception associated with bankruptcies influences the degree to which one is willing to support a restart. Results from a survey among 3377 respondents show that the perception of the amount of fraudulent bankruptcies is a strong predictor of support towards a restart.


Cemented carbide tools having a long life time for copper and copper alloys have so for been needed. Then, the interfacial reaction at elevated temperature between pure copper (tough pitch copper) and titanium carbide (TiC) or titanium nitride (TiN) layer deposited on WC-Co substrate by CVD or PVD was examined using diffusion couples prepared at 1273 K to know whether the layer was effective to check the reaction or not. It was found that two sorts of layers, in no relation to the coating methods, did not almost react with pure copper. It was observed that titanium atoms diffused out from each layer to absorb oxygen or nitrogen, leading to the formation of extremely thin titanium layer with dissolved oxygen or nitrogen at the interface. In the application of cemented carbide tools for copper and copper alloys, the TiC or TiN coating was suggested to be very useful.


extent to which modern techniques and the accumulation of data have extended the field over which accurate identification may be made. The book thus presents a collection of essays which are most useful, presenting up-to-date reviews over a range of topics. It will prove to be of interest to archaeologists, showing the way in which new trends in Quaternary Studies are brought to bear on problems of common interest. The book may be read with satisfaction by those who have little botanical background. It is well produced, in a clear style, with excellent diagram reproduction. F. A. HIBBERT


In 'Modernist Painting' (1960), Clement Greenberg famously wrote that 'flatness alone was unique and exclusive to pictorial art'. However, in a less cited passage, he admitted to exaggeration: there 'can never be an absolute flatness', and an artist like Mondrian pursued 'a pictorial, strictly optical third dimension', a perceived turn to opticality for which the critic was later faulted. Closer readings of drafts for this and other seminal texts such as 'Towards a Newer Laocoon' (1940) show that Greenberg was himself a close reader or connoisseur of the spatial and optical (i.e. 'plastic') modalities of Mondrian's 'Neo-Plasticism'. An underlying tension thus emerges between the familiar Greenberg as ideologue-theorist and a lesser-known Greenberg as connoisseur-critic. The former constructed powerful dogmas of modernism that constituted his primary, lasting influence, yet his greatest contribution may lie precisely in his close readings of specific artists, above all within the orbit of Mondrian's space.


Immunodot assay using a microfiltration device-enzyme- linked immunofiltration assay- was used to screen hybridoma supernatants from fusion plates for the presence of antibodies to foot-and-mouth-disease virus. Freshly harvested infected cell culture supernatant, as the source of virus, was suitable for the assay. All immunodol-positive supernatants were reactive with complete virus particles (1465 particle) in ELISA. Though immunodot assay was as specific as ELISA, it helped in maximizing the antigen-antibody reaction in the supernatants giving lesser OD values in ELISA. Moreover, the assay system was very much time saving as it dispersed with long incubations and washing steps of ELISA.


Lack of basic knowledge of Taujeeh A-Qira'at leads to insufficient handling of any of the instruments of this comprehensive field of study, and these instruments include Hadith prophetic tradition, unusual recitations, Arabic grammar, morphology, and poetry. This study reveals the extent to which Ibn Zanjalah recognizes these sciences and analyzes them scientifically. The study aims to highlight the fact that the science of Taujeeh Qira'at cannot be derived from one aspect but the entire sciences complementing each other. The study also aims to determine in which of the sciences Ibn Zanjalah excelled and understand what he missed. The study is based on analytical inductive method. Ibn Zanjalah's Hujjatul Qira'at was selected and analyzed based on how the author combined the Islamic sciences and what are the sciences contained in the book, though this study exclusively analyzes Taujeeh Al-Qira'at using Qur'an, Hadith and poetry. This study revealed Ibn Zanjalah's strong interest in the sciences of Taujeeh Al-Qira'at and the sciences contained in the book, such as Qur'an, Hadith, prophetic tradition, Arabic grammar, morphology, poetry and languages. The study also revealed Ibn Zanjalah's sources of evidences such as Jahiliyyah and Islamic poetry. In addition, the study revealed Ibn Zanjalah's shortcomings in terms of providing evidences from Hadith. Based on proofs, it could be concluded that Ibn Zanjalah is not amongst the scholars of Hadith.


The compositions and thicknesses of Y–Ba–Cu–O films radio frequency (rf) sputtered from a nonstoichiometric oxide target were determined as a function of deposition conditions. Variations in chamber pressure, rf power, and substrate position were observed to shift the as‐deposited cation composition along a single line in the Y–Ba–Cu ternary composition diagram. Deposition rates of up to 24 nm/min were achieved with good cation stoichiometry. Films deposited on YSZ substrates at the optimized sputter conditions produced a zero resistance transition temperature of 88.7 K after a post deposition helium/oxygen heat treatment. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and x‐ray examination of the films revealed a strongly oriented large‐grain polycrystalline microstructure.


Laughter has a unique aspect in adolescence, insofar as it defines the modes of encounter between the adolescent subject and the Other. The laughter indicates a comic representation of the Other, and its ridiculous aspect. In this sense, it articulates the dimensions of laughter, anxiety, and cruelty. Laughter is the mark of a sort of decline of the Father, as it reveals his inadequacy, but it also contains the surprise element of a father figure removed from the overwhelming omnipotence of the imaginary Father. Therefore, laughter can help to understand one of the issues in adolescent therapy—and more generally, of all adolescent subjects, if we maintain the idea of a painful adolescence that characterizes our "actual" clinical practice.


Lake Laut Tawar is located in Aceh district of Aceh province. The lake were used by the community as a livelihood by making a Cages. One of the elements that influence the fish growth is an element Phosphate (PO4) and other such as, pH, nitrate-nitrite, temperature and others. The lake has undergone changes caused by the use of commercial feed. The sampling locations based on the environmental setting by using method "purposive sampling" from January to May. The results was found of 0.1407 mg/L phosphate with fish expenditure amounting to 23728.61 ton / year using cages of net with number as 92, stocking density at 48,950 of fish and marine area 19.77 Ha. However the standard classes showed is under class II Regulation with No. 82 Year 2001 3400, solid lowest stocking cages tail on the size of 2.5 x 2.5 x 3M (spacious, 181m3) with post-harvest fish expenditure amounted to 1,214 tons of fish/year, the highest 9,250 cages tail on the size e of 5 x 5 x 3m (spacious 123m3) with fish expenditure by 2,800 tones of fish/year. While the results of feed conversion and Phosphate content is 12.70% with the Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) was 1,635 and 1,491.


Because of a history of marginalization, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender (LGBT) individuals experience stress associated with their minority status (Meyer, 2003), which may threaten self-esteem (Herek, Gillis, & Cogan, 2009) and psychological quality of life (Radkowsky & Siegel, 1997). Mindful attention and self-esteem are associated with increased mental health (Rasmussen & Pidgeon, 2011); however, these constructs have not been studied together in a sample of LGBT people. We hypothesized that mindful acceptance and self-esteem explain a significant proportion of variance in psychological quality of life of LGBT individuals, and that the relationship between stress and psychological quality of life is moderated by mindful attention & self-esteem. We recruited 177 participants from the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and performed both a linear regression analysis and two moderation analyses to test our hypotheses. Controlling for age and years of education, we found that mindful acceptance and self-esteem accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in psychological quality of life (adj. R2 = .56, p = .02). Moderation analyses revealed that both mindful acceptance (&bgr; = −.17, p < .01) and self-esteem (&bgr; = .47, p < .01) moderate the relationship between stress and psychological quality of life. Our findings suggest that clinicians should consider the relationship between mindful acceptance, self-esteem, and stress when addressing the psychological quality of life of sexual and gender minorities. Future research should further examine positive psychological constructs of members of the LGBT communities in effort to address LGBT quality of life.


In the prime mover simulation system,parameters of the PI regulator are always confirmed with traditional methods,which consume much time and are hard to get ideal parameters.This paper proposed an immune generic algorithm to quickly obtain the PI regulator optimal parameter in the prime mover simulation system. By an example with MATLAB,we compared the control effect between the traditional method and the immune generic algorithm.The results prove that immune generic algorithm can fix the PI parameters quickly,and enable the prime mover simulation system to have a better dynamic characteristic.


In fact of human life will not be separated from the differences. The differences are such strata, economy, race, ethnicity, culture even a religion. We like or dislike, plurality is inevitable in people's lives. The Qur'an considers interfaith cooperation has no prohibition in religion. based on a verse, firstly that the reality of plurality is sunnatullah. Secondly: if we observe well, the reality of plurality existing in the Qur'an, related  to a tolerant attitude. Thidrly, tolerant attitudes will manifest the brotherhood of the Faith, then it is not forbidden in Islam. fourthly: from this manifestation of brotherhood will create interfaith cooperation, where the Qur'an encourages Muslims competing in virtue regardless without looking background of racial, cultural and religious differences.


doi: 10.1093/af/vfaa047 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact email@example.com © Tokach, Goodband, DeRouchey, Woodworth, Gebhardt Feature Article Slowing pig growth during COVID-19, models for use in future market fluctuations


Methods which determine the number and disorder of lattice planes in a crystal from the Fourier cosine coefficients of the intensity profile of an X-ray reflection use only the low harmonics and require that the coefficients be normalized so that the zero harmonic is unity. Experimentally, the profiles can only be recorded over a smaller range of scattering angle than required by the theory, and it is necessary to subtract background, which is likely to be estimated with considerable error, before determining the coefficients. It is shown that with polymer fibres this causes serious errors in the normalization, and in the values of those low harmonics used in the size and disorder determination, and prevents reliable values being obtained. Methods which avoid normalization and use only high harmonics are needed. It is shown that disorder may be obtained in such a way, but not size, for which low-order normalized coefficients are essential. A method of extrapolation is described and tested which enables the accurate high harmonics to be used to improve the estimates of the low ones. Whilst this will yield more reliable values of crystal size than are obtainable from existing methods, the accuracy depends entirely on the validity of the extrapolation, which cannot be tested in many cases of interest.


Letter from A. F. Hicks to Dr. Joseph Pound, Surgeon General 3rd Brigade discussing the news that some of their former officers have "offered their services to the government" and that he is preparing his department so that if his brigade were called up "we would be ready for Service in a short time."


Spatial variability refers to the lack of consistent models, e.g., deep neural network (also known as deep learning), across geographic areas. Spatial variability has been observed in many geophenomenon including climatic zones, USDA plant hardiness zones, and terrestrial habitat types (e.g., forest, grasslands, wetlands, and deserts). However, current deep learning literature follows one size fits all (OSFA) approach to train single deep neural network model that do not account for spatial variability. In this work, we investigated a spatial-variability aware deep neural network (SVANN) approach where distinct deep neural network models are built for each geographic area. We evaluate this approach using aerial imagery from two geographic areas for the task of mapping urban gardens. The experimental results show that SVANN approach provides better performance in terms of precision, recall, and F1-score to identify urban gardens. We also provide a detailed case study to interpret spatial variability in terms of the relative frequency of urban garden features. 2012 ACM Subject Classification Computing methodologies → Machine learning


The objective of this paper is to examine the conflict between MNEs and the host country in the case of the Indonesian National Car Project and to derive lessons for Korean firm`s international operations. Contrary to the national-firm driven development strategy taken by South Korea, the MNE-driven development strategy of the automobile industry in Indonesia created a serious conflict between the Indonesian government and the MNEs. Realizing a poor performance of its automobile industry led by MNEs, the Indonesian government ambitiously launched the National Car Project in the mid 1990s, designed to create a domestic automobile firms and to constrain the foreign MNEs` operations. However, the project had created a fierce political reaction among the foreign MNEs and in their home country governments. Eventually, the decision by the WTO DSB and the IMF conditionality had turned the bold project into a failed attempt. The central proposition of this paper is that under the WTO regime the host country governments` intervention in MNEs` operations will highly likely lead to a failure, mainly due to the external constraints that local governments face. The lessons from this paper shows that Korean firms` cooperation with the Korean government within the context of WTO would constitute an effective solution to reduce the oversea management risk and uncertainty associated with the unilateral intervention taken by the host governments.


To examine the descriptive validity of the economic theory of teams and, more particularly, to study observation, communication, and decision behaviors, sixty business and government executives were asked to make recommendations for the optimal design of a hypothetical sugar plantation information system. Few of the subjects made mathematical calculations; instead they used observation, communication, and decision heuristics which seem representative of behavior occurring in real situations. Ten percent recommended the optimal team theory solution while the remainder exhibited inefficient and sometimes mutually inconsistent heuristics. In some cases too little information was collected and distributed: 1 information expected at particular communication or decision centers was not available at that center, and 2 information observed or communicated was not extensive enough to yield maximum expected net profits. In other cases too much information was collected and distributed: 1 the information, when used, did not yield big enough improvements to cover its cost, 2 the information, when used, resulted in a lower expected gross profit due to interdependencies, and 3 the information observed or communicated was never used. Implications of the results for both theory and practice are discussed.


Slow invariant manifolds (SIM) are calculated for spatially inhomogeneous closed reactive systems to obtain a model reduction. A robust method of constructing a onedimensional SIM by calculating equilibria and then integrating along heteroclinic orbits is extended to two new cases: i) adiabatic systems, and ii) spatially inhomogeneous systems with simple diffusion. The adiabatic condition can be modeled as a new algebraic constraint in the limit of unity Lewis number. Diffusion effects on the SIM are examined for systems with small characteristic lengths. A diffusion correction is obtained by using a Galerkin method to project the infinite dimensional dynamical system onto a low dimensional approximate inertial manifold. This projection rigorously accounts for the coupling of reaction and diffusion processes, and an analytic length and time scale coupling is shown. An example is demonstrated on a system of NO production which highlights the correlation between an established isothermal spatially homogeneous technique and the new techniques.


This study conducted to characterize of coronary artery obstruction and related findings in ischemic heart patients using cardiac scintigraphy for the identification of myocardial ischemia, 146 patients were studied at basal conditions and also asked for fasting after night till the intravenous injection of the radiopharmaceutical, after the injection time about 15-20 min the patient should eat a fatty meal and chocolate for the good excretion of the gall bladder, to evaluate the performance and regional wall motion of the lef ventricle. The results showed that the body mass index percentage in this sample was in the range of 43.05-61.05. The number of patients who were catheter candidate was 56 patients with 43%, and the patients were not candidate to cathode were 74 patients with 57% of all patients. For the group of patients where type of ischemia was assessed, 29.5% of patients were reversible posterior and inferior wall, 15.1% of patients were fixed large from apex to base, 9.6% of patients were mild basal inferior wall, 4.8% of patients were mild anterior wall, 6.2% of patients were antro septal. 34.9% of patients were moderate ischemia.


Changes to the manufacturing of biological agents can lead to drugs with different components from the original medicine tested in clinical trials, challenging assumptions about safety, say David Hunt and colleagues


The 13th book of the Annales was sometimes seen as a turning point in the evolution of the style of Tacitus. However philologists are seldom questioning the position occupied by books 1 and 2 in that evolution. Statistics based on the LASLA files and on the software Hyperbase-Latin suggest that, in fact, beyond various lexical, morphological and syntactic variations, the major characteristic of the style of Tacitus seems to be its great homogeneity.


Intestinal microbiota plays an important role in the human organism homeostasis and it is subject to several perturbations caused by diet and environmental factors, inducing dysbiosis. The search for compounds can help rebuild the intestinal microbiota because sometimes this is the only treatment option for intestinal dysbiosis. Phenolic compounds are neutralizing free radicals, showing a mutual relationship with foods rich in flav onoids, so they might be helpful during the restoration of the intestinal microbiota. This study analyzed the direct effect of these compounds on Lactobacillus rhamnosus, cultivated with and without flavonoids in MRS broth, in different growth phases and concentrations. After that, were exposed to enzymes that are involved in the human digestive process to analyze any alteration. Flavonoids quercetin, rutin, hesperetin, and hesperidin were individually tested. The results showed that the presence of flavonoids increased the number of colony-forming units (CFU) compared to the control group (without flavonoids), especially when added before the lag phase. In the digestibility test, quercetin showed a minimal effect for the acidic stomach stage, but for the other steps mimicking the further digestive system, there was no difference compared to the control, all being killed after bile salts. Therefore, we concluded flavonoids are helpful in the proliferation of the tested stain; however, it is necessary to develop more efficient methods so that the flavonoids can overcome the digestive system and reach the intestine with total efficiency.


ELANE (Elastase, Neutrophil Expressed), which has been identified as an oncogene in various tumors, is associated with neutropenia, both cyclic and autosomal dominant forms. However, little is known about ELANE on leukemia progression. To better understand the role of ELANE in leukemia progression, the expression level of ELANE, as well as correlation and survival analyses, was performed in patients with leukemia. Gene expression of ELANE on the normal monocytes and myeloid leukemia samples was obtained and compared via Oncomine. Correlation of ELANE and proto-oncogenes includes MYC and TP53 was assessed. The clinical prognostic value of ELANE was found to be elevated using Metzeler Acute myeloid leukemia microarray. As a result, ELANE was found to be highly expressed in the leukemia samples compared to normal monocytes. ELANE was found to be positively correlated with MYC expression, whereas it was negatively correlated with TP53 expression. Additionally, high expression of ELANE was associated with a relatively shorter survival time in leukemia patients, suggesting that ELANE is an oncogene in leukemia development. In conclusion, ELANE acts as a pro-oncogene in leukemia, which provides a potential therapeutic target.


Bantimurung - Bulusaraung National Park is the largest karst-ecosystem in Indonesia. Situated in the centre of W allacea -B ioregion , the national parkhas significance role as stonghold of many species taht are endemic to this biodiversity's hot spot.  This study aims to reveal mammals'diversity in the national park. The study was conducted from February to March 2011. At leat  12 species consisting of 9 f amily of mammals recorded in the national park including the endemic and rare species such as Sulawesis's Moore Macaque Macaca maura , Sulawesi's Bear Cuscus Ailurops ursinus , Sulawesis's Dwarf Cuscus Strigocuscus celebensis , and Tarsier  Tarsius fuscus . Keywords : Mammals, diversity, conservation, national park.


In this paper, using a Lyapunov-like function, we derive an adaptive iterative learning control (ILC) scheme for the trajectory tracking problem of rigid robot manipulators, with unknown parameters, performing repetitive tasks. The control scheme is nothing else but a PD controller plus an iteratively updated term designed to cope with the unknown parameters and disturbances. The control design is very simple in the sense that the only requirement on the PD and learning gains is the positive definiteness condition. In contrast with classical ILC schemes where the number of iterative variables is generally equal to the number of control inputs, the proposed controller uses just two iterative variables. In this framework, the acceleration measurements and the bounds of the robot parameters are not needed. Furthermore, we show that it is possible to use a single iterative variable in the control scheme at the expense of the knowledge of some bounds of the system parameters.


1. Speech Analysis and Transmission.- Linear Prediction of Speech and its Application to Speech Processing.- Medium and Low Bit Rate Speech Transmission.- Algorithms and Devices for Pitch Determination of Speech Signals.- 2. Acoustics and Phonetics.- Acoustic-phonetic Decoding and Adaptation in Continuous Speech Recognition.- Acoustic-phonetic Knowledge Representation: Implications from Spectrogram Reading Experiments.- Phonetic Recognition by Linear Prediction: Experiences at ENST.- Acoustic-phonetic Analysis Based on an Articulatory Model.- The Efficiency of Demisyllable Segmentation in the Recognition of Spoken Words.- Interaction between Auditory, Syllabic and Lexical Knowledge in a Speech Understanding System.- 3. Applications.- Speaker Independent Connected Word Recognition.- An Algorithm for Connected Word Recognition.- SERAPHINE: A connected Word Recognition System.- Implementation of Models for Speech Recognition with very Large Scale Integrated Circuit Technology.- 4. Systems.- Self-organized continuous Speech Recognition.- The Erlangen Speech Understanding Project.- Semantic and Pragmatic Processing in Continuous Speech Understanding.- The ARIAL II Speech Recognition System.- 5. Miscellaneous.- Speaker Recognition: A Survey.- Complexity of Algorithms and Pattern Recognition.- Selecting, Designing, and Using Practical Speech Recognizers.


Aim at the characteristic of high-voltage AC contactors which frequently switch load circuit in the power system,based on the analysis of the main factors for contact erosion,combining with the advantages of power electronic device,a brand new high voltage AC contactor controlling circuit is developed.The record of computer virtual instrument indicates that the prospected goal of the research hare achieved and the design is improved the overall effect of the contactor.


Introduction: Automated haematology analysers measure several haematological parameters including
platelet indices importantly PDW, MPV and Plateletcrit. PDW has been receiving attention among
all platelet indices due to its usefulness for distinguishing between reactive thrombocytosis and clonal
thrombocytosis.
Objectives: 1.To compare the PDW values in Normal Individuals and in patients with thrombocytosis.
2.To analyse the utility of PDW in patients with Thrombocytosis.
Materials and Methods: T his prospective observational study was conducted in central laboratory of
Dr B R Ambedkar Medical college Hospital, a tertiary care hospital. PDW values which were obtained by
automated haematoanalyser HORIBA were tabulated and compared in 250 individuals with normal platelet
count and 250 cases of thrombocytosis. Detail analysis of PDW values were interpreted in thrombocytosis
cases to study its utility.
Results: An increase in mean PDW was observed in patients with thrombocytosis when compared with
individuals with normal platelet count. Mean PDWshowed variations in patients with thrombocytosis with
varied underlying aetiologies.
Conclusion: PDW is a simple platelet index which increases during platelet activation. PDW is more
specific marker of platelet activation since it does not increase during simple platelet swelling.

Keywords: PDW, Thrombocytosis, Variations, Reactive thrombocytosis.


Since the start of the 4th industrial revolution, technologies have been developed in the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), and 5G. Compared to other technologies IoT is currently being commercialized more than other technologies where the numbers of connected things are increases every year. The IoT has a huge advantage to provide convenience and lots of information to users, but security cannot keep up with the speed of development. IoT services continue to provide services for related devices, but at present, more and more types of new services are being combined with other technologies by utilizing the services of devices. This paper reviews and analyzes research on security issues and services related to the Internet of Things to explore how security trends and service delivery will develop in the future.


Atomic oxygen and ozone are essential reactive species in plasma oxidation processes. Pure oxygen discharge is preferable to produce atomic oxygen and ozone while a difficulty in measuring their local densities exists. The ozone density is typically measured by UV absorption, but its resolution is insufficient for measuring the local ozone density in filamentary discharges. The atomic oxygen density can be measured by two-photon absorption laser-induced fluorescence (TALIF) method. However, ozone interference from the in situ atomic oxygen production due to ozone fragmentation by the incident UV light disturbs the TALIF measurement of the discharge-originated atomic oxygen. Therefore, compensation for ozone interference is necessary in atomic oxygen measurements. In this study, we propose a method to separate ozone interference from the discharge-originated atomic oxygen signal by focusing on different TALIF signal dependence on the laser intensity between atomic oxygen density and ozone density. By changing the laser intensity in the TALIF measurement, we separate the signal of atomic oxygen density from that of ozone interference. Under a short-gapped pulsed barrier discharge at a 3.1 mJ discharge energy, the gas temperature and the local densities of the atomic oxygen and ozone in the observed volume are estimated to be approximately 380 K, 3.8–11.3 , and 3.4 , respectively. This estimated atomic oxygen density is consistent with the absolute atomic oxygen density calibrated by the Xe-TALIF measurement. This consistency indicates that our method is applicable for absolute density measurements of atomic oxygen using ozone as the calibration reference.


The amine 8-{4-[(6-phenylpyridin-3-yl)methyl]piperazin-1-yl}-3,4-dihydroquinolin-2(1H)-one was crystallized as the hydrochloride salt 4-(2-oxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinolin-8-yl)-1-[(6-phenylpyridin-3-yl)methyl]piperazin-1-ium chloride. Its structure is compared to that of the salt 4-(2-oxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinolin-8-yl)-1-{[6-(4-fluorophenyl)pyridin-3-yl]methyl}piperazin-1-ium chloride monohydrate, a fluorinated analogue.


The pollen morphology of 22 Asian Vigna [subgenus Ceratotropis (Piper) Verdc.] species, including wild and cultivated taxa from India, was investigated with light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The quantitative data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and multivariate statistics. The pollen grains are prolate spheroidal in shape with equatorial diameter of 36.06-116.33 μm and polar diameter of 36.31-120.96 μm in equatorial view. The small pollen dimensions were observed in Vigna hainiana, V. trilobata, and V. indica and the largest in V. vexillata. The pollen grains have reticulate-homobrochate and reticulate-heterobrochate types of pollen sculpture. The lumina are psilate or granulate with penta-hexagonal, penta-polygonal, and irregular shape. The muri are sinuous, straight, or narrow-straight. Pair group method using arithmetic averages analysis was used to divide the main pollen taxa into four groups based on pollen morphology. Statistically distinctive taxa were identified using principal component analysis. In the present investigation, the taxa studied demonstrated sufficient pollen polymorphism in their sizes, equatorial views, lumina shapes, and muri widths.


The highly complex world of organic rubber-processing chemicals—involving dozens of companies in a more than $400 million annual business—has begun a weak recovery in the U.S. this year after hitting a 20-year low in 1982. Production of these chemicals may rise 7% to 132,000 metric tons in 1983, if American auto makers, the prime customers, produce 6 million cars this year, or only 3% to 127,000 metric tons if they do not. As U.S. economic recovery gets under way, rubber processors and chemical producers are adjusting to a new climate in marketing of organic rubber-processing chemicals. One main influence is a strengthening dollar, which is attracting a rising tide of imports. Another internal matter shaking up the business is withdrawal of American Cyanamid from production of important workhorse accelerator types. Over the longer term, renewed growth in rubber chemicals may be hampered by downsizing of tires for smaller cars, a trend that will not be ...


Mark Twain once said, "So far as I am able to judge, nothing has been left undone, either by man or native, to make India the most extraordinary country that the sun visits on his rounds. Nothing seems to have been forgotten, nothing overlooked." This famous American writer's statement manages to perfectly describe the explosion of diversity and culture that is India. From the tropical monsoon climate in the South to the temperate climate that is the North, India is diverse in the extreme. Its terrain ranges from the sweeping upland plains of the Deccan Plateau in the South, and the flat, rolling plains located about the Ganges River, to the arid heat of the deserts of the West and the majestic and immense Himalayan Mountains and their valleys to the North. However, it is this exact diversity that presents such a difficulty to the modern day economic and environmental issue that is biofuels. The diverse climate and geography cause it to be difficult to initiate one crop as the primary biofuel crop for the entire country, just as difficult as it would be for subsistence farmers to afford to pay for the seeds necessary to grow such crops without outside financial assistance. Rather, for both the development of biofuels and improvement of food security, it is better to concentrate on tapping into a largely unused and under-appreciated resource -the women of India. The discrimination against and under education of women in India needs to be combated by government incentives, non-governmental organizations, and programs specifically designed to educate and empower women. If this were done, women would become a valuable asset in the modern-day development of biofuels as well as improvement in food security.


Smart substation is an extension of substation automation technology development. It is a substation with completely digital process of information collection, transmission, processing and output. This paper analyzes the technical background of smart substation and reviews the characteristics, structure and advantages of the current smart substation automation system. Finally, this paper summarizes the construction features of smart substation at this stage according to the smart reconstruction project case of 500kV Gangshi substation in Gangshi of Hunan.


According to the advancement of the medical science in recent years, Taiwan has come into the aging society. Due to the increase of elderly people, the requirement of wheelchair is increasing gradually. Therefore, we develop a system to increase the security of the wheelchair. This research is to configure sensors in a wheelchair for measuring the position and the operation of wheelchair users. If the sitting posture of the wheelchair user is bad or the wheelchair user has the danger, the system will show a warning message to tell the caregiver. According to the position shown, the caregiver can go to the area to help the wheelchair user directly. In addition, a care system running on smart phone is developed, so that the caregiver can take care for wheelchair users anywhere and anytime. Finally, a novel data mining system is designed and implemented for analyzing the wheelchair operations for wheelchair users. It can find out the incorrect or unfitting sitting posture of the wheelchair user for long periods, or environmental problems to provide more useful information for the caregiver. The caregiver can take care for the wheelchair user by this integrated system.


Abstract.  Astragalus baerlukensis L. R. Xu, Zhao Y. Chang & Xiao L. Liu, a new species of Leguminosae, is described from northwestern Xinjiang, China. The new species is similar to A. ellipsoideus Ledeb. but differs by its notably long and filiform calyx teeth 6–8(−9) mm, oblong capitate racemes 2.5–3.5 cm long, and linear bracts 8–10 mm long. The latter taxon has shorter, subulate calyx teeth only to 3–4 mm, obovate capitate racemes 3–6 cm, and shorter, subulate-lanceolate bracts 5–6 mm long.


CHINA-Europe interaction is gathering pace around the tenth anniversary of the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and the EU.Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte visited China in November 2013.A week later,Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang met with President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso at the 16th meeting of Chinese and European Union leaders.Shortly after,Li Keqiang


Poultry production is an important economic activity in the state of Parana, and as any other, is under risk. In this context, economic analysis of broilers integrated management was employed to evaluate the risks, considering the acclimatized, automated and manual systems. By using the risk variables: price of product, productivity and costs of production, it was possible to identify the main risk sources and their influence on the net income. The results showed that the profitability of activity is more sensitive to the components of proceeds than to the costs, being the price the most sensitive variable. We also verified that the acclimatized poultry house has possibilities of higher loss for lower levels of risk, and the higher the risk the most interesting the earnings, in comparison to the automated and manual systems. The manual system was the one that presented earnings in higher levels of risk (above 25%).


This study examines the rating problems in medium-size companies in Germany. The rating models employed by international rating agencies are in general not applicable for medium-size companies. Therefore, ratings made by international agencies using their conventional criteria would hardly give good results for small and medium size firms.
The capital needs of medium-size companies encourage the development of services of new rating agencies in Germany which consider medium size companies as the targets of their services. The need for external capital is greater and there are stronger ties between management and capital ownership in medium size companies. On the other hand, rating becomes so crucial when they plan to go public.. Rating is useful not only for investors, creditors and customers but for management as well. Rating has not yet become a popular concept in Turkey. Those firms - mostly commercial banks- that want to be rated apply to international rating agencies for their services.


Classroom teaching is a major pattern of world teaching, and will exist for a long time. Today, multimedia teaching based on multimedia computers has become a sign of teaching modernization. The paper tries to make study in combination of CAI courseware and teaching organization pattern in demonstrative classroom.


A series of experiments aimed at studying antimicrobial properties of gel experimental samples has been carried out, and their prolonged action in vivo and in vitro has been compared. The gel under study is a processed composition based on polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and antimicrobial drugs; it is intended for the prevention and treatment of implant-associated infection in traumatology and orthopedics. Two methods were used to process the composition: ionizing radiation and heating. PVP treated in this way is a matrix for drug delivery to the structures of the articular cavity, which allows using antimicrobial medicines, in particular gentamicin and fosfomycin, for targeted influence on infectious agents. All gel samples, regardless of the method for their preparation, exhibited antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, the main causative agent of postoperative infectious processes. The antimicrobial properties of the gel were long-lasting; they were observed for 14 days. No pathological changes were found in the tissues adjacent to the gel.

Key words: implant-associated infection, surgery, traumatology, biofilm, polymer hydrogel, gentamicin, fosfomycin


This paper discuss about a bridgeless SEPIC converter configuration which resolves the problem of power factor for brushless DC motor. The current path is designed with two switches only which reduce the conduction losses. The topology is designed in discontinuous current mode to improve the power factor and to reduce current stress in input side. Since, BLDC motor is driving from a $ 3\phi $ AC voltage supply; a DC to AC converter is necessary. But this operation practically results in reduced output voltage. To avoid this problem, a inverter is implemented with pulse width modulation method to improve the efficiency of overall system.


Using single factor method and orthogonal experiment,the study takes Kaolin and corn straw as raw materials and H3PO4 as activator and dips them in different activator concentration,different kaolin and corn straw mass ratio as well as different impregnation ratio under different conditions, and then carbonize them in low temperature by electric furnace, muff calcining to prepare kaolin/corn straw composite adsorption material.The adsorption capacity for methylene blue solution was characterized by T6 visible spectrophotometer,and automatic specific surface area and porosity analyzer was used to characterize the composite adsorption material under the optimal experimental conditions. The results show that the optimal experimental conditions are: Under the conditions of 25% Concentration of H3PO4 , 1:4 mass ratio of kaolin to corn stalk and 2.5:1 impregnation ratio, the adsorption value of  methylene blue on the composite adsorbent is 1.116mg/g, the specific surface area is 7.56m2·g-1 and the single specific surface area is 6.82m2·g-1. The microporous volume was 1.24×10-8mL·g-1 and the microporous area was 0.57m2·g-1,the results show that the pore structure of the composite adsorbent is not uniform, and there are a lot of micropores and a certain amount of mesopores in the samples.


Introduction Diabetic foot ulcers account for many hospital admissions and is a major cause of amputations. This is preventable by effective identification, education and preventive foot care practice. Objective Determine the level of knowledge and practice of foot care among patients with chronic diabetic foot ulcers. Methodology Individuals with diagnosed diabetic foot ulcers (n=110) were selected from National Hospital of Sri Lanka for this descriptive study. They were given an interviewer administered, pre-tested questionnaire. Patient perceptions of foot care were enquired. A scoring system ranging from 0 to 10 was employed to analyse the responses given for level of knowledge and practice of diabetic foot care. Results Mean age was 58.4 years (SD ±8.6) and 57.3% were males. Non-healing ulcers were present among 82.7% and amputations amounted to 38.2%. The control of diabetes was poor in 60%. Regarding foot care knowledge, the mean score was 8.37, 75.5% had scored above mean and 52.7% were aware of all principles of foot care. Regarding foot care practices, the mean score was 4.55, 47.3% participants had scored below mean and 22.7% did not practice any foot care principle and hence scored 0. A Statistically significant difference exists between the foot care knowledge and practice scores (p Conclusion Results demonstrate a satisfactory knowledge on diabetic foot care but practices of preventive techniques were unsatisfactory. Good patient follow-up to increase compliance would help to improve this situation.


MSOR Connections May 2006 Vol 6 No 2 In the recent past, measures have been put in place nationally to ensure that all students embarking upon undergraduate programmes with a strong mathematical content have access to resources that will ease their transition into higher education. Universities have taken a variety of steps to ease any problems at the school/higher education interface. Substantial effort is going into initiatives designed to encourage more school students to study mathematics in the post-compulsory sector and to improve the quality and preparedness of those that do.


Abstract Two groups of thirty male university students, equated on the basis of scores achieved when learning a series of nonsense syllables, were blindfolded and given 10 massed trials in two large maze tasks. No significant differences were found in the motor tasks between those of high and low verbal ability. No significant correlations were found between verbal and motor ability as measured by the experimental tasks.


As clinicians, we have a poor understanding of why some patients with rotator cuff tears have pain and loss of function, while others have pain but seemingly good function, and still others have no pain and good function [7], despite having full-thickness rotator cuff tears [9]. Are some patients able to use compensatory muscles to overcome their rotator cuff deficits? Do some patients exhibit higher pain thresholds than others? Does the long head of the biceps brachii muscle have a say in all of this?We really don't have good answers to any of these questions. However, we do know that a fullthickness rotator cuff tear alone does not fully explain patients' symptoms of pain or weakness [12]. We also know that patients who undergo rotator cuff repairs and have incompletely healed or re-torn tendons consistently demonstrate improvements in pain and function [11]. There is a well-known association between pathologic findings of the long head of the biceps brachii and supraspinatus rotator cuff tears [14]. We also know that patients with rotator cuff tears who undergo tenotomy and tenodesis of the long head of the biceps have alleviated pain without an adverse effect on their strength or function [3]. Patients with rotator cuff tears respond differently to physical therapy and many compensate well. Additionally, many can avoid surgical repair altogether [1, 8]. Lastly, published data suggest that the biceps brachii, deltoid, and surrounding musculature have increased activity in patients with symptomatic rotator cuff tears [2, 4-6, 10]. In this issue of Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, Veen et al. [13] compared patients who had symptomatic chronic rotator cuff tears with agematched controls who had no shoulder pain or rotator cuff tears, as confirmed on imaging. Using EMG, they found that patients with symptomatic rotator cuff tears demonstrated hyperactivity of the posterior deltoid and biceps brachii muscles during shoulder elevation. There was decreased activity in these patients during the downward phase of shoulder motion. The posterior deltoid functioned less in conjunction with the remaining deltoid, and the intact portion of the rotator cuff demonstrated lower coactivation in these patients than in the control group. Based on this, surgeonsmight consider focusing physical therapy on addressing the biceps and posterior deltoid in patients with rotator cuff tears.


CORE,a trust model is proposed to solve agent coalition formation problem in multi-agent counter environment. The model characterizes an agent's trust from two aspects of competence and reputation. The Euclidean distance formula of vector space on competence field is used to measure the extent which an agent fits for a particular task,and the membership function is used to characterize an agent's reputation. At the begin of the task,the model selects appropriate agents to form a coalition according to their trust value;in the middle of the task,the agent's competence gains and reputation updates;after completing the task,the model can renovate every agent's trust according to their behavior during the coalition,which is viewed as an evidence for next task. Finally,the model is carried out by programming on the NetLogo software.