1. Unitary currents due to calcium‐activated potassium ion channels were studied in inside‐out or outside‐out excised membrane patches from guinea‐pig hepatocytes. 2. Potassium ion channels were identified which were activated by internal calcium ions and blocked by external apamin (50 nM) or (+)‐tubocurarine (10 microM). These properties are characteristic of the whole‐cell potassium conductance increase evoked in guinea‐pig hepatocytes by hormonal stimulation. 3. The single‐channel conductance was 20 pS in inside‐out or outside‐out patches with external and internal K+ ion concentrations of 150 and 135 mM respectively and gluconate anion. Reducing external K+ concentration to 5 mM reduced the unitary conductance for outward current to 6 pS. 4. The calcium sensitivity was investigated with buffered internal Ca2+ ion concentrations in the range 0.3‐2.2 microM. Tubocurarine‐sensitive channels had an open probability of less than 0.05 at 0.3 microM‐internal Ca2+. This increased steeply to a maximum of 0.85 at concentrations of 1.1 microM‐Ca2+ or higher. 5. In patches with a single channel active, analysis of open and closed intervals showed that openings occurred in bursts. The increase of open probability at high internal Ca2+ concentration was associated with prolonged bursts of channel opening. 6. Comparison of these results with data from whole‐cell conductance changes and with published levels of intracellular Ca2+ ion concentration (Woods, Cuthbertson & Cobbold, 1987) suggests that a large proportion, more than 40%, of potassium ion channels in guinea‐pig hepatocytes are activated by hormonal stimulation.


: Freckles are common pigmented lesions frequently observed on the face and other sun-exposed areas of the skin. Ephelides have an autosomal dominant inheritance, indicating that melanocyte activity and sun exposure are significant risk factors for the development of these lesions. The importance of freckles can be discussed from two perspectives of cosmetics and their complications. This research is the first step in gaining access to extensive scientific and experimental resources of Persian medicine (PM). "Barash" and "Namash" are the equivalent terms for freckles in medieval manuscripts of Persia. Therefore, words related to "Barash & Namash" from PM ancient manuscripts and other relevant keywords were searched in Google Scholar, PubMed, and Scopus databases. Extracted results were subsequently compared and recorded under the following classification. The clinical symptoms of freckles were similar to those of "Namash & Barash" diseases. Different therapeutic methods to treat such diseases in PM include lifestyle modification, medication, and manual intervention. There are several preventive and therapeutic methods for the management of freckles. Further research is required in this regard to identify more academic evidence.


In this paper, space curves of constant breadth according to Bishop frame in Euclidean 3-space are studied. It is shown that in some special cases, space curves of constant breadth are slant helix. Moreover, the differential equations characterizing the space curves of constant breadth in E are given. 3 are given


In this paper, research in navigation of indoor service robots was summarized and some examples about the application of commerce service robots were given. Firstly feature, classification, theory, and other information on current navigation system was demonstrated. Secondly some comparatively successful methods on navigating data processing were described in detail. At last by summing up all sectors achieved in the indoor service robot navigation, the trends toward intelligent navigation of autonomous robot was predicted.


Selecting the proper process conditions for the injection-molding process is treated as a multiobjective optimization problem, where different objectives, such as minimizing the injection pressure, volumetric shrinkage/warpage, or cycle time, present trade-off behaviors. As such, various optima may exist in the objective space. This paper presents the development of an integrated simulation-based optimization system that incorporates the design of computer experiments, Gaussian process (GP) for regression, multiobjective genetic algorithm (MOGA), and levels of adjacency to adaptively and automatically search for the Pareto-optimal solutions for different objectives. Since the GP approach can provide both the predictions and the estimations of the predictions simultaneously, a nondominated sorting procedure on the predicted variances at each iteration step is performed to intelligently select extra samples that can be used as additional training samples to improve the GP surrogate models. At the same time, user-defined adjacency constraint percentages are employed for evaluating the convergence of iteration. The illustrative applications in this paper show that the proposed optimization system can help mold designers to efficiently and effectively identify optimal process conditions. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Adv Polym Techn 26:71–85, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/adv.20092


This paper develops three basic arguments. First, it presents the basic underpinnings of Brazilian diplomacy in the past half century, concentrating on the changes adopted in the 1980s and the 1990s up to the foreign policy put forward by Lula's government (2003–2009). It recognises that Lula's foreign policy represents a step forward, especially where Africa is concerned. However, it does not seem to be clear whether the Brazilian economy has enough strength to sustain such a foreign policy, as is shown in the second part of the paper. This is indeed the case if comparisons are made with India, China and even South Africa, when the latter's regional role is considered. Finally, an effort is made to summarise the recent political cooperation established between Brazil and African countries as well as to present an overview of Brazil's trade and investment relations both with the region as a whole and with some important individual partners. Once this picture is established, we investigate whether these realms—diplomatic/political and economic—take independent tracks, or if they do interact in a coherent manner. Africa remained deep inside Brazil and Brazilians, not as something external to ourselves. But as a mythic space; neither geographical, nor historical.


Serotonin, or 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), a very important neurotransmitter that mediates various physiological and pathological functions, which are also dependent on its various types of receptors and transporters. However, also due to the diversity of the receptors and transporters, it is still tricky to define the role of serotonin clearly. In order to have a better understanding of serotonin's role in psychiatric disorders and contributes to future research of therapeutic treatments to the mental disorders, this paper aims to review the role of 5-HT receptors and transporters in neuropsychiatric domains. 5-HT1A, 1B are the most studied serotonin receptors in depression and anxiety disorder. In addition, 5-HT2 and 5HT3 are involved in anxiety disorder, OCD, and also in schizophrenia. 5-HT6 and 5HT-7 receptors also might affect pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Given the complex pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders, serotonin may be less causal in causing the disorders especially depression, but they are still importantly involved in these disorders and the understanding of serotonin receptors is one of the keys to provide therapeutic treatment.


The objectives of this paper are to identify the hierarchical structure of inhabitants' consciousness toward walking environment in winter and quantitatively evaluate their preference by applying the method of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The survey was carried out in urban areas of Nagaoka. Walking environment of roads can be measured by "a link score" and "a route score", which are mainly dependent on the types of snow removal systemes. The route scores of roads are empirically tested by the route choice behaviour of walkers in winter.


The purpose of this study is to examine the most ideal design of the external form and the internal figure for the duct type AUV using the CFD. The most important factor when designing an AUV is to consider drag force and thrust because these determine the power-efficiency. Therefore, to design an ideal AUV various factors which affect drag force and thrust were drawn. Also to minimize the amount of experiments and analyze the CFD efficiently the experiments design was used. Through this process design factors were found which minimizes the drag force and thrust influence on the Duct type AUV.


Blood transfusion is a lifesaving intervention for millions of recipients worldwide every year. Storing blood makes this possible but also promotes a series of alterations to the metabolism of the stored erythrocyte. It is unclear whether the metabolic storage lesion is correlated with clinically relevant outcomes and whether strategies aimed at improving the metabolic quality of stored units, such as hypoxic storage, ultimately improve performance in the transfused recipient.


Eventually, you will extremely discover a extra experience and attainment by spending more cash. yet when? complete you consent that you require to acquire those every needs in the manner of having significantly cash? Why dont you try to get something basic in the beginning? Thats something that will guide you to understand even more in this area the globe, experience, some places, similar to history, amusement, and a lot more?


Abstract Asymmetric metasurfaces supporting quasi-bound states in the continuum (BICs) with high Q-factors and strong light–matter interaction properties are attractive platforms for label-free biosensing applications. Recently, various meta-atom geometries have been exploited to support sharp high-Q quasi-BIC resonance. However, which meta-atom design may be a better practical choice remains unclear. Here, we compared several established meta-atom designs to address this issue by conducting an extensive theoretical discussion on sensing capability and fabrication difficulty. We theoretically revealed that the tetramer meta-atom geometry produces a higher surface sensitivity and exhibits a larger size-to-wavelength ratio than other meta-atom schemes. Furthermore, we found that metasurfaces with a higher depth considerably enhance surface sensitivity. The performance of two asymmetric tetramer metasurfaces (ATMs) with different heights was demonstrated experimentally. Both shallow and thick ATM structures exhibit sharp high Q-factor resonances with polarization-insensitive features. Notably, the surface sensitivity is 1.62 times for thick ATM compared to that for shallow ones. The combination of properties opens new opportunities for developing biosensing or chemical-sensing applications with high performance.


It has been shown that Cu(II) chloride anchored on ..gamma..-aminopropyl aerosil is an active and stable heterogeneous catalyst for the reaction of cumene oxidation by oxygen. The catalyst accelerates the stage of cumyl hydroperoxide decomposition, thereby initiating a heterogeneous-homogeneous reaction that proceeds through a radical chain mechanism.


Abstract Dry ashing and wet acid digestion of selected plant tissues were conducted and evaluated for their effectiveness in the spectrophotometric determination of boron (B) using the Azomethine‐H method. In dry ashing, two parameters were varied: ashing aids and length of oxidation period. In wet acid digestion, two different mineral acids were used and the length of the oxidation period was varied between 12 and 24 h. Results showed that samples treated with sulfuric acid in dry ashing had the lowest recoveries of B. Boron concentrations in tissues oxidized for 12 h in wet acid digestions were at least 40% higher than the results obtained for any dry ashing technique.


Objective To investigate the expression of eNOS and measured MVD in brain astrocytoma, the correlation between eNOS and MVD and whether they are different with the grade of astrocytoma.Methods Tissues of brain astrocytoma were obtained from 65 patiants, 8 samples normal brain tissue were used as normal controls. Using the polyclonal antibodies of anti-eNOS, anti-VWF performed immunohistochemical staining.Results (1) The correlations between the levels of eNOS、 MVD expression and the tumor histological grade are detected by statistical analysis.(2) There is not significant difference about MVD between the eNOS positive expression tumor group and eNOS negative expression tumor group.Conclusion (1)The levels of eNOS expression correlate with the astrocytoma histological grade. The level of MVD correlates with the astrocytoma histological grade too. eNOS and MVD can be helpful to recognize malignant grade of astrocytoma patients. (2)It is significant to detect the expression of eNOS in tumor for us to evaluate the biological behavior of tumor.


In this paper we study the dynamics of inflation in Macedonia, provide three forecasting tools and draw some policy conclusions from the quantitative results. We explore three forecasting methods for inflation. We use a Dynamic Factor Model (DFM) for short-term, monthly forecasting. We also develop two quarterly models: A Vector Error Correction Model (VECM), and a New Keynesian Phillips Curve (NKPC) for a more structural model of inflation. The NKPC shows a significant effect of output gap and inflation expectations on current inflation, confirming that the expectations channel of monetary transmission mechanism is strong. In terms of forecast-error variance, we show that all three models do very well in one-period ahead forecasting.


PURPOSE: A handcuffs with position information providing function is provided to send position information to police authority by using position data of the handcuffs and a serial number of the handcuffs transmitted from the handcuffs to a GPS satellite. CONSTITUTION: When a criminal in handcuffs having a fixed ring, a moving ring, an appliance frame, a locking member, and a leaf spring escapes from the police, the handcuffs wirelessly transmit a serial number thereof and position data thereof to a center through a base station by using a GPS satellite. The data received from the center are transmitted to each police station, a prison, etc. such that the criminal is arrested as soon as possible. The fixing ring of the handcuffs includes a power switch, a GPS receiver, a control part(100), a ROM(110), and a wireless transmitter. The power switch turns on/off power of a power part(70). The GPS receiver receives wirelessly a position of the handcuffs and the serial number of the handcuffs from the GPS satellite 130.


The research paper mainly focuses on the development of parental application for all elementary schools in Oman. This paper aims to promote and motivate the students in their study, as it also aims to make the relationship between teachers, parents, and their children intimate. Currently, all Omani elementary schools, especially the public schools are not having a mobile app where the parents can enter the system and start interacting and discussing with the faculties through several things such as behavior, grades, posts, and among others. The main goal of this papers is to strengthen the parent-child relationship so as to is to enhance the association amongst schools and parents to enable the kids to rise scholastically. The research analysis provides an effective technique for identifying all the problems that have been targeted. It also emphasizes the importance of a user-friendly system that can be easily operated by people. In this paper, an incremental model has been used since it focuses primarily on making the life cycle a "multi-unit" cycle. Such a model usually aims to divide the courses into smaller, more viable modules. After looking at all sources of literature, it turns out that developing this app is an essential and important step towards improving teachers, parents and even students. It not only seeks to improve the performance of all public schools, especially the first cycle, but also enhances the study and work experience. Under this proposed system, parents can access to view everting related to their children such as attendance, grades, behavior, and others.


Normalization is a grammatical transformation in which verbs,adjectives and adverbs are transformed into nouns and clauses are transformed into nominal phrases. By increasing the lexical density of English sentences,normalization can achieve the function of economy,vividness,formality,precision,which is significant to formal college English writing.


Objective: To increase the species of functional polysaccharides and exploit the garlic (Allium sativum L.) resources. Methods: The garlic polysaccharide (GP) was obtained by water extraction, DEAE chromatography and so on. The GP's purity was detected by the Sephadex G100. Sulfated garlic polysaccharide was gained by the method of sulfur trioxide pyridine complex. The degrees of sulfation (DS) was determined by barium sulfate turbidimetry. The mode of substitution was analyzed by IR and 13CNMR spectrum. Results: Pure garlic polysaccharide and its sulfated product were obtained. The sulfur content of sulfated garlic polysaccharide was 18.19% with its DS 2.19 IR and 13CNMR spectrum showed that the sulfate bound to the position of C-3 and C-5.


Due to enormous availability of internet, social networking and micro blogging websites such as twitter, instagram, are increased. The users registered with the website utilize the webpage as a platform to express their thoughts as comments and convey their opinions to the global users. Cyber bulling has become one of the serious issues in recent days because of controversial comments and thoughts exposed in the micro blogging websites that impacts the society and certain group of peoples in a negative way. The amount of negatively impacted comments on micro blogs are getting increased in recent days, it is required to identify those traits as a crime impacted feeds for police attention. Texting is a technique used to make a classification of large weights into clusters of related data. The proposed framework is focused on collecting various tweets from the micro blogs, further pre-processing it using natural language processing (NLP) for the features selection, is implemented using partial spam Optimization (PSO). Based on the feature extraction process, the classification model is developed using ensemble approach. The proposed approach considers Ensemble feed forward decision tree (EFFDT) model to classify different types of negative tweets from the given database. The machine learning algorithm namely Support vector Machine (SVM) algorithm and K-Nearest Neighbour (KNN) algorithm are used for comparison with the proposed method. The performance result of these algorithms are compared in terms of precision, F1Score, accuracy and further compared to the state of art approaches.


Test strip (10) is a base substrate (12), including the spacing layer (14) and body cover (18) and chamber cover layer comprises a cover (20) to (16). Space layer (14) includes a gap portion (22) for providing sample-receiving chamber (24) which extends in between the base substrate (12) and the cover layer (16). Base substrate (12) has an electrode system (26) including the electrode traces (30) terminating a plurality of electrodes (28) with contact pads (32). Electrode is defined as the portion of the electrode traces are positioned in the sample receiving chamber (24) in (30). Suitable reagent system (33) overlaps the sample receiving chamber of the electrode. According space layer body cover (18) and chamber cover overlapping (14), defines its during the slot (34), said slot sample fluid enters the chamber from the edge opening or fluid receiving opening (35), air defining a vent opening for the sample receiving chamber communicating with in order to be able to escape. Therefore, the test strip includes a dosage tops (36) and meter insertion end (38).


Recent research was carried out to calculate the acoustics generation induced by flow numerically. In this paper, a modified hybrid acoustics/viscous splitting technique was employed in a computational simulation to calculate the acoustic generation when flow passes through a baffle in duct. The acoustics/viscous splitting technique for Computational Aeroacoustics (CAA) was first developed by Hardin and Pope. Traditionally, CAA problems were computed by Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) to solve the compressible Navier-Stokes equation. However DNS is very expensive in terms of computation power and time consuming. The Hybrid approach is regarded as a alternative of solving the aeroacoustics problem. Perturbation technique is employed to calculate the acoustics perturbation which superimposes with the incompressible solution to obtain the compressible flow solution. In this paper, the hybrid CAA technique was developed and applied in a 2D duct with single baffle.


We present a theoretical study of a recently proposed class of quantum interference transistors that utilize quantum interference effects in ultrasmall semiconductor T structures. Our analysis reveals that the attractive features of these transistors are the very low power‐delay product and multifunctionality; whereas the major drawbacks are extreme sensitivity of the device characteristics to slight structural variations, low gain, and low extrinsic switching speed in digital circuits caused by a large resistance‐capacitance (RC) time constant arising from an inherently low current‐carrying capability. The low switching speed of the transistors can however be improved dramatically by switching the device optically rather than electronically, using virtual charge polarization caused by optical excitation. This mode of switching (which is possible because of the small value of the threshold voltage) eliminates the RC time constant limitation on the switching time and results in an ultrafast optoelectronic ...


The expectation is that drones, or "unmanned aerial vehicles" (UAVs), to give them their proper name, are about to rise - both figuratively in terms of usage statistics and literally as the hum of quadcopters above our heads becomes the new normal. With the increase in drone usage, there has been a parallel increase in media reports about incidents involving UAVs. In this paper, the author explores how to make sure sky doesn't fall on our heads.


This paper describes the software part of a robot system developed, within the framework of the Advanced Robotic System (SYRA) project, at the GERSIC Research Laboratory. This software tool achieves the four following functions: Action , Perception , Communication. and Reasoning. The main functions of Syra are summarized in section 1. Section 2 is devoted to its knowledge representation system. The last part describes an application to the computation of trajectories in a cluttered world.


131 Saudi Journal of Anesthesia / Volume 14 / Issue 1 / January‐March 2020 Sir, Regional anesthesia is increasingly becoming important component of perioperative management of surgical patients either for surgical anesthesia or as a component of multimodal analgesia technique due to the tremendous number of benefits it offers in improving patient outcomes. One of the important advances in regional anesthesia which has widened the horizon for peripheral nerve blocks is the continuous perineural blocks (CPNBs), wherein a catheter is threaded in vicinity of nerve bundles to allow local anesthetic infusion and thus, extended benefits of regional anesthesia to the patients.[1,2] These techniques offer the possibility of prolonging intraoperative anesthesia as well as effective postoperative analgesia while minimizing the risks associated with systemic analgesics and central neuraxial blocks. The peripheral nerve stimulators and ultrasound (USG) aid in precise placement of these catheters in relation to the neural bundle.[1,2] The catheter placement techniques that are currently used to place the CPNBs are the nonstimulating catheter technique described by Steele et al.[3] and the stimulating catheter technique described by Sarnoff.[4] These involve the use of a stimulating needle with either stimulating or nonstimulating catheters with a stimulating nerve block needle. Typically, the procedure is done using the commercially available equipment (e.g., Contiplex Tuohy needle system, B Braun Melsungen AG, Melsungen, Germany). Nonavailability of the equipment and its high cost is one of the main deterrents to use of continuous blocks.


This study aims to investigate the effect of auditors' professional commitment and audit time budget pressure on audit quality mediated by auditors' independence at the Audit Board of the Republic of Indonesia (BPK RI). This study applies explanatory research with a questionnaire method. The survey was conducted in mid-2020. The questionnaire was distributed to the head office and representative offices of BPK RI in 34 provinces. The samples of this study were 132 BPK RI auditors throughout Indonesia. Data analysis used the Partial Least Square test to examine the influence of the variables of auditors' professional commitment, audit time budget pressure, auditors' independence, and audit quality. The results of this study conclude that audit quality can be influenced by auditors' professional commitment either directly or indirectly through auditors' independence, while audit time budget pressure only indirectly affects audit quality through auditors' independence. These findings indicate that the majority of BPK RI auditors have conducted quality audits because the majority of BPK RI auditors are parties with high professional commitment and parties who can work professionally under audit time budget pressure in every audit assignment by maintaining their independence. This is evidenced by the majority of BPK RI auditors who cannot be influenced by personal interference or closeness with the audited entity to produce quality audit reports (LHP). © 2020 by the authors. Licensee SSBFNET, Istanbul, Turkey. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).


Two types of topological indices, Wiener and Hosoya indices, of three classes of reciprocal graphs (namely , and ) have been shown to be expressed in terms of the number of pendant vertices (n). The Wiener index is expressed in analytical form whereas the Hosoya index is expressed either by recurrence relations or directly by matrix products for which a facile computer program can be written. It has also been shown that the Hosoya index of can be obtained in analytical form.


Recovery studies for 3,4-benzopyrene (BaP) are necessary for quantifying polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons on solid matrices. One of the main problems in recovery studies is the simulation of samples, on which a known quantity of BaP is adsorbed and homogeneously divided on solid substrates. In this study the samples were spiked by the addition of a toluene solution containing /sup 14/C-BaP, taking into account that BaP was not homogeneously divided on the adsorbent. The samples were treated by two destruction methods, i.e., a wet destruction with a potassium dichromate-sulfuric acid and orthophosphoric acid and a combustion with oxygen. The liberated CO/sub 2/ was adsorbed and the /sup 14/C radioactivity analyzed by means of liquid scintillation counting. 6 references, 1 figure, 5 tables.


ABSTILCT. The generalized thermoelasticity theory recently developed by Green and Naghdi is employed to investigate thermoelastic interactions caused by a continuous line heat source in a homogeneous isotropic unbounded solid. Hankel-Laplace transform techni'que is used to solve the problem. Explicit expressions, for stress and temperature fields, are obtained for small time approximation. Numerical values are displayed graphicay. Our results show that this theory predicts an infinite speed for heat propagation in general, and includes the second sound phenomena as a special case.


A field experiment was conducted during rabi, 2016-17 to evaluate the efficacy of ten insecticides for the control of Yellow Stem Borer (YSB), Scirpophaga incertules (Walker) in rice variety Samba mashuri, BPT-5204. All the treatments were found significantly effective in reducing the infestation of YSB and increasing the yield compared with control. The insecticide Chlorantraniliprole 18.5 SC @ 0.3 mL/L was found more superior in controlling YSB infestaion with lowest percentage of Dead Hearts (DH) and white Ear Heads (WEH) and gives more yield and the insecticide cartap hydrochloride 50 SP @ 2 g/L shows least effective.


An AOI algorithm for PCB based on feature extraction is presented in this paper.First acquiring image through 3CCD color camera and LED array hemispherical ring structure light resource of red,green,blue,then image is processed to show the features,at last,we extract chip component solder joint's place features,shape features,logical features to check the components.With the proposed algorithm,as it showed in experiments,it can identify lacking solder,surplus solder,no solder,pseudo joints,wrong component,damaged component,component absent,shift,tomb stone,wrong polarity,etc.and it has very little misjudge ratio.


This master thesis has two components. The first is the effect study of formulation variables on microstructure and macroscopic properties of Kefiran films (Kefiran is an exopolysaccharide obtain from Kefir´s grains gown in milk). The second is application study of Kefiran films formulation like coatings over skin of Colombian creole mangoes. The effect of glycerol into microstructure of Kefiran was evaluated in the order to contribute to fundamental understanding of their effect on barrier and mechanical properties of films based on this. Kefiran films with glycerol addition were characterized thought termogravimetric analysis (TGA) with gas mass spectroscopy (MS), differential scanning calorimetric (DSC), tensile properties and water vapor permeability (WVP) measurement. The findings of this study showed that glycerol has two different effects depending their addition level into Kefiran films; An antiplasticizer effect to low levels (?10%) and plasticizer effect to high levels (15%?). The film with 10% of glycerol addition has the lowest WVP. The film with 25% of glycerol addition has similar tensile properties that low density polyethylene (LDPE). The effect of citric acid and chitosan addition into Kefiran films formulation was evaluated with WVP and tensile properties characterization. Also their antibacterial effect against Escherichia Coli. The addition of citric acid 25% (w/w) into Kefiran films reduces film´s WVP and increases film´s mechanical resistance. The addition of chitosan 33% (w/w) into Kefiran films gives to these antibacterial effect against E.Coli. The effect of Kefiran coating with or without glycerol content into properties of Colombian cleole mangoes was studying. Carbohydrates (fructose and sucrose) and ethanol concentration of mangoes was determinate by liquid chromatographic (HPLC). The carbon dioxide (CO2) production and color change of mangoes were monitoring under hermetic storage, as well as mass loss under open storage.


Within the context of Africa's rapid population growth and the need for increased productivity of land, a debate is raging on the indigenous land system. Some researchers view customary tenure systems as economically inferior arrangements acting as a static constraint on agricultural development and providing insufficient tenure security to induce farmers to make necessary investments (Dorner, 1972; World Bank, 1974; and Harrison, 1978). The main source of inadequacy in tenure arrangements, according to this view, is the fundamental disequilibrium between systems embodying a long tradition of extensive farming practices on the one hand, and requirements of output growth in the context of intensive agriculture on the other hand (Eicher and Baker, 1882; Gouror, 1991). To facilitate economic growth and prevent the static and dynamic efficiency losses assumed to be associated with this tenure arrangement, the establishment of freehold title and the subdivision of the commons were proposed. Others have countered that the indigenous tenure arrangements are dynamic in nature and evolve in response to changes in factor prices (Boserup, 1981; Feder and Noronha, 1987 and Bruce, 1988). More intensive study of communal tenure systems in a broader framework and the recognition of the multiple functions these systems perform have led to a reassessment of this view against the backdrop that they are far from static and evolve in response to exogenous changes. Contrary to earlier beliefs which saw


Sunil Prasad. In the present study composition of HA, TiO2 and bioglass were successfully synthesized and biocomposites were prepared by powder metallurgy method. Microstructure and morphology of the biocomposites were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Analytical, thermal and microstructural investigations were carried out by XRD, SEM, DTA/TGA techniques, and results shows considerable higher rates of apatite formations. The dissolution behavior of the bioactive glasses and biocomposites in SBF showed in vitro test for all samples. Addition of X%HA and X%TiO2 in (100-2X%) 45S5 bioglass improves mechanical properties such as hardness, compressive strength, elastic modulus of these biocomposites.


Purpose: To analyze the elderly patients' demand in the field of language emotional attributes which is different from the particularity of the general population, and then used it to design the Smart Voice Assistant for elderly patients. Methods: The types of character
 are called the experts, assistants, family members and pets according to two evaluation scales which are 'friendly–unfriendly' and 'dominant–submissive.' Professional Mandarin Chinese broadcasters were invited to record their voice of a neutral sentence respectively. With differences
 in pitch, volume, tone color and sound quality, varied types of characters were simulated and eight pieces of voice record were generated. Twenty old people were selected to participate in the measurement test to grade these eight pieces of voice based on their acceptability of these voices.
 Results: Experiment shows that the male test group's preference value to the male voice is 4.4250, a little higher than their preference value to the female voice which is 3.9000. But the Independent Samples T Test shows that the significance of F Test is 0.345 > 0.05, while that
 of corresponding T test is 0.051, a little higher than 0.05. Hence it can be assumed that the male test group has almost no difference in the preference for voice gender. And the average of the female test group's preference value is 3.9500 for the male voice and 4.9750 for the female voice.
 Therefore, the female test group prefer female voice. In Independent Samples T Test, the significance of F Test is 0.909 > 0.05, while that of T Test is 0.000 < 0.05. Hence the female test group's voice gender preference has statistically significance difference. In terms of the individualization
 of voice type with different voice characters, the average grades from male test group to expert, assistant, family and pet type is 4.75, 4.85, 3.9, 3.15, while male test group is 3.65, 4.40, 5.40, 4.41. Conclusion: Based on the experimental results and verification, voice interaction
 among the elderly patients in the home environment, family-female type is the best choice.


Two rare earth nitrate complexes with phosphinoxide (-CH 2P(O)Ph 2)-substituted calix arene were prepared and characterized by elemental analysis and IR spectroscopy. Their crystal structures were determined by X-ray diffraction method. Lanthanum nitrate complex [L·La(OH 2)(NO 3) 2]NO 3( L=tetrakis(methylenediphenylphosphinoxide)calixarene) belongs to tetragonal crystal system, space group P4 32 12 with a=1.897 7(4) nm, b=1.897 7(4) nm, c=3.108 7(11) nm; Z=4; V=11.196(5) nm 3; D c=1.097 g/cm 3, F(000)=3 712, μ=0.491 mm -1, R 1=0.118 1, wR 2=0.193 0. Europium nitrate complex [L·Eu(OH 2)(NO 3) 2]NO 3·CH 3OH belongs to monoclinic crystal system, space group C 2/c with a=2.881 72(11) nm, b=5.401 5(2) nm, c=2.011 89(7) nm; β=133.406 7(9)°, Z=8; V=22.751 1(14) nm 3, F(000)=7 464, R 1=0.067 1, wR 2=0.179 4. The structures of the two complexes are very similar, the rare earth atoms are both nine-coordinated with four oxygen atoms from phosphorus-oxygen bonds and four oxygen atoms from two bidentate nitrate anions and one oxygen atom from a water molecule. The coordination polyhedron is a single-capped square antiprism. In the europium complex, a methanol molecule was included in the calixarene.


Economic globalization is both a fact – world markets, heightened trade, and vast increases in capital flows – and an ideology. Rodrik has no dispute with economic globalization as a real process, which fosters trade between nations and which sometimes reduces transaction costs. But he is dead set against the idea, which he calls hyperglobalization, that national and local constraints are irrelevant impediments to the beneficent operation of free trade. As many historical and recent crises have shown, unregulated global markets are unstable, prone to bubbles and collapse. Rather than irrelevant, national regulatory institutions and practices protect and support globalization. Markets depend on states and cannot work without them. National markets are "embedded" in states where democratic participation, safety nets, and anti-trust legislation controls business. In nations, the demos provides a constituency for the economy, whereas the sole constituency for global markets are the elites who profit from it.


INTRODUCTION MS (Manufacturing Message Specification) is an OSI application layer protocol that enables remote applications (called clients) to control and supervise various heterogeneous industrial devices (called servers). MMS is a part of the Manufacturing Automation Protocol (MAP) project initiated by General Motors [1]. As physical devices may have different functionalities and capabilities, MMS provides a means for modeling them as abstract virtual objects in a way that hides their particular function-alities. The object model called a Virtual Manufacturing Device (VMD) lays between an application program and adevice, and allows the functions and capabilities of a device to be mapped to objects defined in the MMS standard [2, 3]. Time is an important characteristics that should be taken into account in an industrial environment. The concern for real-time requirements is a key issue for wide adoption of MMS in industrial plants. Many authors have proposed real-time extensions to MMS [4, 5, 6, 7]. Most of these works propose a modification to the MMS protocol, the addition of new services and objects or an addition of new parameters to services. However, the MMS standard do not provide any hint of how to implement MMS services. This is left open to the designer of MMS servers. Implementation of MMS services is an interesting aspect but we do not address it in this paper. Instead, we focus on the integration of MMS servers in a real-time environment. All existing implementations of MMS have been done on top of operating systems that are not dedicated to MMS applications. For example, there are MMS implementations on UNIX, Window NT, MS-DOS, or on real-time operating systems such as Vxworks or OS/2. However, the implementations do not support real-time execution of MMS services. In the case of operating systems such as Unix, they are not suitable for real-time execution and they do not provide appropriate synchronization mechanisms. MMS implementations on real-time operating systems have been done in user space-in this case, MMS is viewed as an application program and does not benefit from real-time support. There is a strong similarity between the MMS and an operating system. For example an in-depth comparison of classical semaphores and MMS semaphores is given in [8]. The question that we address in this paper is the following: if there is a strong similarity between MMS and an operating system, and if MMS is used for control shop-floor devices (such devices require an …


An unsteady-state pulse technique has been used to evaluate kinetic parameters for catalytic cracking of heavy gas oil with steamed commercial catalysts. The method closely mimic conditions of commercial FCC riser reactors. The experimental results obtained at a catalyst time-on-stream of under 20 s allowed the evaluation of activation energies and kinetic constants for gas oil decomposition into gasoline and light gas plus coke, as a whole, as well as for individual groups.


Typical semantic search query for Semantic search promises to provide more accurate result than present-day keyword matching-based search by using the knowledge base represented logically. Existing keyword-based retrieval system is Preference for the semantic interpretation of a user's query is not the meaning of the user keywords of interconnect, you can not search. In this paper, we propose a method that can provide accurate results to meet the user's search intent to user preference based evaluation by ranking search. The proposed scheme is Integrated ontology-based knowledge base built on the formal structure of the semantic interpretation process based on ontology knowledge base system.


Stephan Guth: "The Arabic Novel since the 1980s" The study examines some recurrent motifs in Arabic novels from the 1980s until the early 2000s in the light of an analytical method that assigns "postmodern" features their place in a trinary structure of meaning. Faced with the destruction of their "houses", the heroes start to "dig" in the ruins and, later in the period, begin to discover "treasures" that seem to have survived undamaged: An alternative approach in a time where the term "postmodernism" has come under attack as being too Eurocentrist.


The authors look forward to the relation between green chemistry and efficient utilization of mineral resources and discuss the characteristics of traditional mineral processing process, the importance of application of green chemistry, the mineral processing and metallurgical processes friendly to environment and how to develop green chemistry and technologies. On this basis, the authors give an preliminary idea for promoting efficient utilization of China′s mineral resources.


Only a handful of young people of the village and the surrounding countryside ever enrolled in any kind of educational institution beyond high school. Yet, what were the young people studying in the secondary school in this little mountain village? In a social studies class, they were memorizing lists of products of South American countries. Their mathematics work had no relationship to the problems they might encounter in the school shop or at home or elsewhere. In an English class, students were reading eighteenth and nineteenth century British novels: at the time of my visit one class was dissecting Ivanhoe. (This mountain school and community, I hasten to say, was not typical; many other Puerto Rican schools were more relevant to learners, society, and values, and many other communities had higher living standards.)


Introduction This study aimed to examine the tactics and strategies of Indonesian public officials to restore their reputation after making false claims and policies on coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19). The significance of this study can be separated into two categories. First, the application of image restoration theory to public organizations and public officials is uncommon. Second, it is essential to analyze the application of this theory to diverse social, political, and economic contexts of emerging nations; as a result, these distinctions may lead to varied research conclusions. Methodology A dataset of 2,000 Instagram posts by Indonesian public officials was generated to conduct the content analysis. Results This study found that reducing offensiveness, evading responsibility, and taking corrective action are the three most commonly seen practices followed by Indonesian public officials. This study confirms that denial and mortification are employed exceedingly infrequently in non-Western countries because both these strategies are believed to diminish the image of public leaders in public view. Discussion This study presents the practical implications that public officials or public relations experts who represent them must be cautious since it can have severe implications on their reputation. This study also argues that erroneous claims when posted by public officials attract unwanted public attention and negatively affect their image. Furthermore, this study provides practical implications for public officials and their representatives to be more cautious while handling media accounts.


After 30 years of technical and economic difficulties, the submarine outfall of the city began operation (December 2014). The outfall, designed for 9m 3 /s flow, consists of HDPE pipe (4120 m long, 2 m diameter, 540 m diffuser) perpendicular to the coast. The new WWTP (2018), have coarse and fine grids, grit chambers and degreasers prior to 3 mm rotary sieves. The paper shows the evolution of microbiological indicators of faecal contamination (Escherichia coli and fecal enterococci ) in the city's coastline, before and after operation of the outfall (1995-2019). It also includes the beach management mitigation programme (pretreatment effluent chlorination based on the use of "Virtual Beach" empirical model) to preserve recreational marine water quality while the submarine outfall was being constructed (2008-2013) The results showed the immediate effect of the submarine outfall in maintaining the water quality of Mar del Plata beaches, without the need for chlorination until today. The submarine outfall achieved the objective of protecting the health of the population and the tourism industry. At present Submarine outfall and WWTP allows work in beaches' certification promoting the economic development of the city In addition, Escherichia coli and enterococci bacterial decay measurements in the far field, and precision salinity measurements are presented. Preliminary information from the T90 study is provided for better understanding and adjustment of variables that explain the results found at beaches, as well as to make a contribution for future outfall modeling at similar latitudes.


I present low-resolution optical spectroscopy of two very low luminosity young stellar object candidates in Taurus. Both have faint companions with separations less than 6″, reported by Itoh, Tamura, & Nakajima, who considered them as likely substellar objects. However, the optical spectra demonstrate that they are reddened background stars (Av ≥ 4 mag). One of the candidate primaries is confirmed as a new member of the Taurus T Tauri association. It is a classical T Tauri star of early M spectral type with blue and near-infrared continuum excesses. The spectrophotometric properties indicate that it could be an edge-on disk. The other candidate primary is a background early-type star.


Quite often, the author's conclusions about a particular ancient writer were left a bit vague in the main discussion, becoming clearer only as Leyser summarized them in subsequent chapters when he discussed later reactions to an earlier work. Thus, it is only as one concludes the book that the full import of all the arguments and discourses on ascetic authority prior to Gregory the Great becomes clear, a reality which does make for a satisfactory culmination to the book. Despite potential drawbacks, this is a very interesting and informative book that scholars interested in the development of asceticism in Late Antiquity, or more specifically in the thought and world of Gregory the Great, should read. Ryan Patrick Crisp, Columbus, Ohio


Urban theory emphasises the dynamic nature of cities. Processes like restructuring, densification, segregation, gentrification and the contesting of urban centralities are core issues in current discourses on cities. Social, environmental, economic or political questions are broadly studied in their connectedness to urbanisation and urban transformation. Change is an ever present urban condition. Change is also related to conf lict. People negotiate and fight over change. Materialities and fixations of different kinds exert resistances towards change. Institutions are challenged by and seek to control change. Urban conf lict and change are more than anything the products of collective human action and of the processes humans conceive to structure their lives and the world. Against the background of continuously shifting conditions of conf lict and change, descriptions of and assumptions about spatial transformations have to be constantly re-examined and revised. Researchers and theorists from different backgrounds devise concepts to develop a better understanding of urban phenomena and to share their ideas with others. However, the complexity and recursive nature of urban processes raise major difficulties in representation, analysis and conceptualisation, not without consequences for their conceptual integration into architectural and urban theory and operational integration into urban practice. If change is an omnipresent aspect of urban reality, and if conf lict is connected to change in multiple ways, to what extent, and in which ways, are they addressed in architectural and urban theory? Although a significant number of concepts in architecture and urbanism are related to change in one way or the other, it seems that conceptualisations of conf lict are underdeveloped. This is even more the case with joint conceptualisations of conf lict and change. If they are studied in combination, change is often established as the main topic, whereas conf lict is relegated to a supporting or subsidiary function. The reason for this might be twofold: change is such an evident phenomenon in the built environment that assigning it a key role in research does not require much justification1; at the same time, change is closely related to what architects and urbanists do in practice. The actions which they employ in their work, such as designing, communicat-


This paper presents a novel real-time multi-feature multi-scale codebook-based background subtraction algorithm, targeted for challenging surveillance environments. Our contribution is three-fold. First, we present an extension of the Codebook background model [4] that combines multiple features, such as intensity, colour and texture, in a principled way, simultaneously taking into account both the feature's confidence and its similarity score. Second, a new local texture pattern descriptor is proposed, entitled Local Ratio Pattern, generalizing previously successful local pattern methods [9]. Third, a generic multi-scale confidence fusion scheme is provided, in order to aggregate individual results at different scales. A thorough evaluation is performed on the challenging I2R dataset [8]. In addition, a comparison is carried out with other competing methods, leading to state-of-the-art performance.


Under the influence of novel corona virus pneumonia, the staff are controlled Therefore, it is a difficult problem to measure the parameters of wood structure building on site The measurement error of traditional wood structure parameters in complex environment is large, so an efficient and accurate measurement and recognition method is needed In this paper, a method combining random decrement method and ITD method is proposed to measure the frequency, damping ratio and other structural dynamic parameters of ancient building timber structure under crowd random load excitation In this paper, the frequency and damping ratio of the typical ancient building timber structure are predicted by using the artificial neural network model trained by the known data The experimental results show that the population density has a great influence on the measurement of the dynamic parameters of the wooden structure of ancient buildings Using this method, combined with the long-term monitoring data of temperature and humidity, the influence of various environmental factors on the dynamic characteristics of the structure can be analyzed This provides data support for structural damage identification and health monitoring [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Intelligent & Fuzzy Systems is the property of IOS Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use This abstract may be abridged No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract (Copyright applies to all Abstracts )


According to traditional taxation theories,individual tax falls into three categories: comprehensive income tax,classified income tax,and mixed income tax.The economists in China have made mistakes in the issue of equity and efficiency in this regard.On one hand,there exists some misunderstandings that the efficiency in levy;on the other hand,there are also some misunderstandings that the classified income taxation plays a better part in promoting equity in the process.In fact,the individual income taxation can be divided into 4 categories from the factors-classification and progressivity.From the perspective of levy efficiency,comprehensive taxation is better than classified taxation.While from the perspective of equity,comprehensive taxation outdoes classified taxation,for it fits the fair play which is the spirit of economy market.Therefore,individual income taxation reform should take the route of a hybrid system of comprehensive-proportional taxation system.In recent years,the amount of tax-free in personal income tax has been revised twice,because of the influence of interest groups.The revisals have nothing to do with the efficiency and equity,which are the objectives of the taxation system reform.The key to the taxation system reform is to choose a suitable tax patterns,paying attention to main goals and adopting comprehensive reform.In this process,the influence of the interest groups should be wary of.


To make further research of brain impedance, we develop the 10MHz single-channel system and its test phantom, which can distinguish the four different kinds of concentration NaCl brine ranging from 0.001 s/m to 6 s/m. And the preparatory imaging result is given by modeling the normal human brain tissue (0.375 s/m) utilizing 0.195% NaCl brine as an object in this paper.


Crop root water uptake has strong correlations with transpiration and yield. An accurate prediction of crop root water uptake can benefit understanding of the law of transpiration and soil water movement. Under water and salinity stress, maize root water uptake will decrease because of soil water pressure and osmotic head. Usually such reduction of water uptake can be expressed by models such as the additive model and the multiplicative model. Based on a field irrigation experiment, we calculated spring maize root water uptake in this study by setting different combinations of water amount and saline concentration based on the water balance method. One additive model and four multiplicative models of root water uptake were calibrated and verified in order to simulate the impact of water and salt stress on root water uptake. The result shows that multiplicative models are better than the additive model in simulating the experimental data from different treatments. Therefore, the multiplicative model is recommended as the optimal model of root water uptake of spring maize under water and salinity stress in the arid region of north‐west China. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Objective To discuss the nursing of middle and old age patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary dis ease (COPD). Methods Twenty-nine cases of middle and old age patients who received medical treatment against COPD in our hospital from April to December in 2012 were selected. All the patients were conducted detailed nursing investigation and analysis. Results All the patients had an positive recovering after medical treatment in hospital and careful nursing. Therefore they were sent home and with an average weight gain of 1-2 kilograms. None of them suffered from bedsore. Conclusion Middle and old age COPD patients can lead healthier, happier lives and reduce the burden of families and society through effective medical treatment, appropriate nursing and correct health guide.


Fuel metabolism in mammals is exquisitely regulated to ensure the generation of the energy needed for cellular functions. Although it was clear that fuels such as glucose elicit hormone secretion to ensure their appropriate utilization, the role of the nutrients themselves as regulatory molecules has not, until recently, been fully appreciated. Over the past several years there has been an increasing number of published reports highlighting the critical role played by the major fuels of intermediary metabolism, glucose and fatty acids, as well as nutrients such as cholesterol in regulating the transcription of genes involved in their ultimate utilization. For example, the uptake and subsequent metabolism of glucose in muscle and liver were long thought to be under the exclusive control of insulin. It is now clear that glucose regulates the transcription of a number of genes that are also controlled by insulin; these include phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase liver-type pyruvate kinase and glucose-6-phosphatase. However, for some genes the metabolism of glucose to an as yet unidentified cellular intermediate is required for gene transcription. The fourcarbon fatty acid butyrate has long been known to influence cell differentiation and to alter gene transcription, whereas polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) control the transcription of a number of genes, including fatty acid synthase, Spot14, and ApoA1. Research on the sterol regulation of transcription of the genes in the cholesterol biosynthetic pathway and the low density lipoprotein receptor has been especially insightful in providing a mechanism for understanding the detailed pathway for sterol control of its synthesis and utilization. The search for the signaling pathway involved in the effects of specific nutrients on gene transcription is now under way, and several candidate proteins have been identified. PUFA control of gene transcription has been shown to involve the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR), a family of receptors that is also activated by the hyperlipidemic agents, the fibrates. Other transcription factors, such as hepatic nuclear factor-4 (HNF-4), also respond to fatty acids in cellular transfection assays. The first minireview in this series by Eric Duplus, Martine Gloriane, and Claude Forest entitled "Fatty Acid Regulation of Gene Transcription" reviews the evidence supporting the role of PPARg2 and HNF-4 in the control of gene expression fatty acid and suggests other candidate proteins that may play a role in this process. Several transcription factors have been proposed as intermediates in the control of gene expression by glucose. These include Sp1, the pancreatic duodenum homeobox protein (PDX1), which is specific for the insulin promoter, upstream stimulatory factors 1 and 2 (USF1/USF2) that bind to E boxes in specific genes, and chicken ovalbumin upstream promoter transcription factor II (COUP-TFII). More recently, the sterol regulatory element binding protein 1 (SREBP1-c) has been mentioned as a candidate transcription factor for both glucose and insulin action on specific genes in the liver and adipose tissue. These and other aspects of glucose control of gene transcription are discussed in the second minireview in this series entitled "Glucose Regulation of Gene Transcription" by Sophie Vaulont, Mireille Vasseur-Cognet, and Axel Kahn. The third minireview in this series by Timothy F. Osborne entitled "Sterol Regulatory Element Binding Proteins: Key Regulators of Nutritional Homeostasis and Insulin Action" is dedicated to the role of the isoforms of SREBP in the nutrient control of gene transcription. Originally described as a factor for the control of sterol metabolism in the liver and adipose tissue, the SREBP family of transcription factors (there are three major isoforms) has a unique activation process, which involves clipping from the endoplasmic reticulum membrane in response to sterols and other regulatory signals. There is an expanding list of factors that activate SREBP; the most notable is insulin. The minireview by Timothy F. Osborne details the known regulation of gene transcription by the SREBPs and discusses what is known about the interaction of these proteins with other transcription factors. The reviews contained in this minireview series were originally selected from an ASBMB Symposium on the "Nutrient Control of Gene Transcription" held in Taos, New Mexico in October, 1998 and have been updated since then by the authors to reflect recent information in this rapidly evolving field. * These minireviews will be reprinted in the 2000 Minireview Compendium, which will be available in December, 2000. Minireview Prologue THE JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY Vol. 275, No. 40, Issue of October 6, p. 30747, 2000 © 2000 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc. Printed in U.S.A.


Using an ansatz for the eigenfunction, we obtain the analytic solution to the radial Schrodinger equation for the inverse-power potential V(r)(The equation is abbreviated), and the general formula of energy eigenvalues is obtained. The result shows that the parameters in the model potential have to satisfy relevant restraint conditions.


The mechanisms of silver and mercury metal deposition on boron-doped diamond electrodes were investigated using a prior model of three-dimensional diffusion controlled nucleation/growth to interpret the data. The mechanism of nucleation depends upon the nucleation overpotential and metal ion concentration. At low overpotentials, instantaneous nucleation can be observed and, at high overpotentials or concentrations, the process becomes progressive. No underpotential phenomena are observed, consistent with exceptionally weak interaction between the deposited metal and the diamond surface. Active sites corresponding to a low density of surface sites on the electrode which act as critical nuclei during the electrodeposition. Anodic reactions of silver were also investigated. It was found that the resulting product depends on the silver concentration in the solution. Soluble Ag(II) forms only at low concentration (<0.5 mM Ag + ). Increasing concentration leads to formation of sparingly soluble oxysalts of formula Ag 7 O 8 X, where X is NO - 3 or CIO - 4 , with voltammetric characteristics and adhesion similar to these found for cathodic metal deposits.


Linear low density polyethylene(LLDPE) is an advanced resin within polyolefins,and has been one of the most demanding synthetic materials and fast industrialized in recent years.The development is relied on the pre-catalysts,in which titanium complexes have widely explored.In this feature article,the new progress and our contribution of titanium complex pre-catalysts is illustrated,and the correlations between complex structures and their catalytic performances are discussed.


Titanium dioxide thin film reactors prepared by the chemical vapor deposition method were modified by silver and platinum using the photoreduction deposition method. Powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry were carried out to characterize the TiO2 photocatalysts. The results suggested that metal ion concentration had great influence on the preparation of Ag/TiO2 photocatalysts. Silver ion concentration of 1.5 mM contributed the most to the conversion of salicylic acid while the illumination time was of minor importance. However, the illumination time had the most obvious effect on the preparation of Pt/TiO2 catalyst. For conversion of salicylic acid, an 8 h illumination time had the maximum contribution while platinum ion concentrations showed no obvious influence. It was found that the photoreduction deposition method did indeed deposit silver and platinum on the surface of TiO2 catalyst and that the crystal structure of the photocatalysts remained in the anatase form after modification.


LDV, PIV and some methods using ultrasonic sound have been often employed to measure multiphase flows. Fine particles are usually added into flows as tracer or scattering particles. The effect of particles added in on the flow characteristics is, however, not examined in detail. Because multiphase flows, especially gas-liquid systems, have gas-liquid interfaces, where impurities are known to aggregate, fine particles may aggregate in gas-liquid interfaces, and may affect the flow situation. Therefore, we measured the movement of helically rising bubbles to investigate the effect of fine particles mixed into the liquid phase. Polyethylene particles of 160μm and 10.6μm medium diameters are used. The reductions of helical sizes and rising and moving velocities are recognized by adding particles. The effect of particle size is also discussed.Copyright © 2011 by ASME


Congenital brachymetatarsia is a relatively rare condition with a short metatarsal bone. The first and fourth metatarsals are affected most commonly, and sometimes the phalangeal bones are also short.3 Many surgical methods have been described for correction of brachymetatarsia, including onestage lengthening with an intercalary bone graft and gradual lengthening by callotasis.1,4 Any surgical technique, when properly tailored to the patients' individual deformity and expectations, can achieve a cosmetic and functional result. We have noticed that in some patients, however, short nail deformity is often associated with brachymetatarsia of the first ray and continues to be a source of dissatisfaction after metatarsal lengthening (Figures 1 and 2). Recently, distraction lengthening has been used to correct a contracted nail deformity in partially-amputated fingers.2 The rationale for this method is that the nail must have the support of bone and soft tissue; thus restoration of the supportive structures is the first step in a nail reconstruction. The results in amputated fingers showed that the soft tissues complied with bone lengthening such that the nail plate and the nail bed were also elongated and flattened. The problems noted with the method were stiffness of the distal interphalangeal joint and a longer treatment period.2 We have applied this concept


Ad-Hoc network technology is a mobile internet technology of the future that will be used widely not only in Mobile Network but also in Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) and Ubiquitous Network For this to occur, distributed routing protocol design, loop prevention for link information reduction in overhead for control messages and route restoration algorithm must be improved or complemented. Security techniques that can guarantee safe com-munication between Ad-Hot nodes net also be provided. This study proposes and evaluates a new authentication mechanism for MANET. The mechanism segregates the roles of certification authority to keep with the dynamic mobility of nodes and handle rapid and random topological changes with minimal over-head. That is, this model is characterized by its high expandability that allows the network to perform authentication service without the influence of joining and leaving nodes. The efficiency and security of this concept was evaluated through simulation.


Due to the success achieved by graphene, several 2D carbon-based allotropes were theoretically predicted and experimentally synthesized. We used density functional theory and reactive molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the mechanical, structural, electronic, and optical properties of 8-16-4 Graphyne. The results showed that this material exhibits good dynamical and thermal stabilities. Its formation energy and elastic moduli are -8.57 eV/atom and 262.37 GPa, respectively. This graphyne analogue is a semi-metal and presents two Dirac cones in its band structure. Moreover, it is transparent, and its intense optical activity is limited to the infrared region. Remarkably, the band structure of 8-16-4 Graphyne remains practically unchanged at even moderate strain regimes. As far as we know, this is the first 2D carbon allotrope to exhibit this behavior.


The quantum molecular dynamic method is used to study the fusion reaction in the {sup 16}O+{sup 16}O system and its fade out with the increase of the incident energy. It is shown that without two-nucleon collisions there appears the so-called fusion window, as in the time-dependent Hartree-Fock approach, while with the inclusion of two-nucleon collisions the low partial wave cutoff in fusion disappears. The fade out of the fusion process with the increase of the incident energy is found to be due to the increase of the cross sections mainly of the incomplete fusion process in the whole range of the impact parameter and partly of the deep-inelastic-collision--like process in the peripheral region. The calculated fusion cross section as a function of incident energy is shown to be in good accordance with experiments.


If we know the degrees of certainty (subjective probabilities) p(S/sub 1/) and p(S/sub 2/) in two statements S/sub 1/ and S/sub 2/, then the possible values of p(S/sub 1/&S/sub 2/) form an interval p=[max(p/sub 1/+p/sub 2/-1,0), min(p/sub 1/,p/sub 2/)]. As a numerical estimate, it is natural to use a mid-point p of this interval; this mid-point is a mathematical expectation of p(S/sub 1/&S/sub 2/) over a uniform (second-order) distribution on all possible probability distributions. This mid-point operation & is not associative. We show that the upper bound on the difference a&(b&c)-(a&b)&c is 1/9, so if the size of the corresponding granules is /spl ges/1/9, we will not notice this associativity. This may explain the famous 7/spl plusmn/2 law, according to which we use no more than 9 granules.


A single luminescence method is described in which second derivative solid surface phosphorescence and fluorescence were used for the qualitative analysis of two components in high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) fractions. The method was applicable to solvents from both normal and reversed-phase HPLC systems. The approach demonstrates how fluorescence and phosphorescence can be combined at room temperature for qualitative analysis. 5 references, 6 figures.


Mobile compute environments provide a unique set of user needs and expectations that designers must consider. With increased multimedia use in mobile environments, video encoding methods within the smart phone market segment are key factors that contribute to positive user experience. Currently available display resolutions and expected cellular bandwidth are major factors the designer must consider when determining which encoding methods should be supported. The desired goal is to maximize the consumer experience, reduce cost, and reduce time to market. This paper presents a comparative evaluation of the quality of user experience when HEVC and AVC/H.264 video coding standards were used. The goal of the study was to evaluate any improvements in user experience when using HEVC. Subjective comparisons were made between H.264/AVC and HEVC encoding standards in accordance with Doublestimulus impairment scale (DSIS) as defined by ITU-R BT.500-13. Test environments are based on smart phone LCD resolutions and expected cellular bit rates, such as 200kbps and 400kbps. Subjective feedback shows both encoding methods are adequate at 400kbps constant bit rate. However, a noticeable consumer experience gap was observed for 200 kbps. Significantly less H.264 subjective quality is noticed with video sequences that have multiple objects moving and no single point of visual attraction. Video sequences with single points of visual attraction or few moving objects tended to have higher H.264 subjective quality.


This paper takes the Anhui Province Sports Institute of Suzhou University of college student basketball referees for example,through the literature material law,questionnaire survey and data analysis methods,to study the influencing factors about sports specialized university student basketball referees' penalty ability.The results show that,the influence of sports specialized university student basketball referee's penalty power factors are: law enforcement experience,professional knowledge,emotion,body condition,external factors,and proposed own suggestion based on the analysis of variety factors,aim at improving the students' quality of basketball referees' penalty.


The data reflecting the level of technogenic radio-nuclides content in food products (vegetables, fish, sugar, products of grain processing, meat and dairy products) which are grown, produced and processed in the Novoorsk twp. and its suburbs are presented in the article. There are 12 farm enterprises and 4 large industrial plants which emissions might contain heavy metals and, hence, have negative impact on the safety of raw food-stuffs. The content of cesium-137 and strontium-90 in food products was determined by means of the modern spectrometric complex «Progress» software. As result of expert examining of food products produced in the Novoorsk township and its neighboring territories there was not revealed any deviations from SanPiN. All the products can be considered as corresponding to the requirements of radiation safety.


Classical statistical approaches can define the heterogeneity in soils and allow comparison of desertification tendencies of different soils. In this study, desertification tendency of a land consolidation area located in arid climate conditions with pasture and agricultural lands is evaluated by considering the coefficients of variation. In the study, coefficient of variation values were determined to define desertification tendency for sixteen soil variables at four different slopes (0-2%, 3-6%, 7-12%, > 12%). For this purpose, 1808 soil samples were collected from the Aksaray-Ortaköy district land consolidation project area. Soil texture, saturation, pH, EC, % salt, % lime, Ca+Mg, Na, SAR, ESP, B, Clay Ratio I, Clay Ratio II and Clay Ratio III contents were taken into consideration in the study. Saturation, pH, % salt, % lime, % silt, % clay, Ca + Mg, Na, SAR, ESP and B properties showed significant differences in different slope groups according to the coefficients of variance. Generally, the coefficient of variation values increased with increasing slope and this situation was considered as a higher risk of desertification. It has been concluded that, considering the coefficient of variation values, it is possible to group the soils in terms of desertification risk.


Microgrids active characteristics such as grid-connected or islanded operation mode, the distributed generators with an intermittent nature, and bidirectional power flow in active distribution lines lead to malfunction of traditional protection schemes. In this article, an impedance-based fault detection scheme is proposed as the main protection of microgrids by applying the proposed equivalent circuits for doubly-fed lines. In this scheme, relay location data and positive sequence voltage absolute value of the other end of the line are used. It can detect even high impedance faults in grid-connected and islanded modes. It is robust against load and generation uncertainties and network reconfigurations. Low sampling rate and minimum data exchange are among the advantages of the proposed scheme. Moreover, a backup protection scheme based on the conductance variations is suggested. No requirement for the communication link is a distinguished advantage of the proposed backup protection scheme. The proposed schemes have been simulated using PSCAD and MATLAB software and the results confirmed their validity.


The flow throttling device for the V-shaped cone-type cutting device, the throttling device to break the traditional flow through the throttling device will shrink to the concept of the pipeline near the central axis, the use of coaxial pipe installed in the V-shaped tip cone contraction of the fluid gradually cutting edge to the inner pipe wall, by measuring the V-shaped inner cone to measure the differential pressure before and after the flow of design ideas. This V-cone flowmeter in a shorter straight pipe conditions, to a wider range than on the clean or dirty fluids to achieve a more accurate and more effective flow measurement. This will be based on single-chip cone flowmeter air mixing systems used in ship gas flow measurements, experimental results show that the SCM-based cone flowmeter has a small size, light weight, high accuracy, easy to use security features .


Personal and social harmony is the inevitable requirement of the Scientific Outlook on Development and the construction of the socialist harmonious society's important component.The establishment and improvement of the socialist market economy free individuals and the society from ties of blood,geographical or working relations and make them develop separately,and bring solid economic basis for social harmonious development.Building service-oriented government and realizing the three fundamental changes will create a stable political environment for individual and social harmonious development.Creating compact culture and realizing the transformation from the identity to the contract will provide good cultural environment for harmonious development of individuals and the society.


Tacrolimus (FK506), an immunosuppressant, is a popular option for combination drug treatment of nephrotic syndrome. It is well‐tolerated by most patients and rarely induces anaemia. We report a case of anaemia in a girl with immunoglobulin A (IgA) nephropathy that occurred after FK506 treatment.


With the rapid development of computer technology and the need of college Eng-lish teaching, the automatic grading of college students' English writing level is an inevitable trend. This is the inevitable result of the combination of computer tech-nology and English teaching. The theoretical basis of this paper is the feedback of English writing and related theories introduced as follows. This paper analyzes the influence of automatic scoring and feedback system on English writing level via testing the variation of student composition's grammar, structure, length and grade in a teaching experiment. The experimental results indicate that online feed-back is effective in evaluating students' English writing proficiency, which can help students improve their writing proficiency and independent writing ability. The students' attitudes and views towards automatic grading and feedback system were investigated with 118 students in the English experiment class of SUST as the test object. The research results can suggest a guide line in the improvement of college students' writing competence and evaluation of the effect of automatic scoring feedback system.


The human resources structure situation and its the subject problems of the Chinese construction enterprises were analyzed, The reasons were studied from the aspect of the planned economy system, human affairs system, internal management system and enterprise human capital investment. The target-oriented measures were proposed to optimize the human resources structure of the chinese construction enterprise and enhance the enterprise competitiveness.


This Master's Thesis tries to explain and analyze a phenomenon that affects workers in many economies, the Wage Theft. Which can be defined, in general terms, as the denial of wages or other worker's rights rightfully owned by an employee. To do so, an explanation of what is Wage Theft and what is not Wage Theft will be provided to be able to identify correctly the phenomenon. Later, as Wage Theft happens inside the production process, and thus, inside the firm, this economic institution will be analyzed, focusing in the existence of power relations or hierarchies within it, through a review of the related academic literature. As the central part of this Master's Thesis, a model of Wage Theft will be developed, this model will be based on the conflict of interest between employers and employees about the level of effort performed at work by the last ones and the time they spend working. Therefore, the existence of Wage Theft will depend on the relative forces of each side of the conflict. In that model, for the Wage Theft to happen, it will imply that the workers would be working more time than they were hired for. To finish, an empirical analysis of the Spanish case has been made with the objective of testing my theoretical model. It has been difficult to develop the analysis due to the lack of data, so I hope that this Master's Thesis can work as a first step in a new research field in labor economics.


ichen sclerosus is a lymphocyte-mediated inflammatory dermatitis hat most commonly occurs in the anoenital epithelium. Although the exact revalence of lichen sclerosus is not nown, it has been reported that it affects in 660 British women and approxiately 1 in 70 women in a general gyneology private practice in the United tates. 4 The chronic inflammation asociated with this condition often leads o scarring and distortion of the vulvar rchitecture (Figure 1). Frequently, scar issue forms between the clitoral prepuce nd the glans clitoris leading to "buryng" or "phimosis" of the clitoris (Figre 2). Phimosis of the clitoris is often problematic because smegma can accumulate in the space between the clitoris and prepuce that can cause a smegmatic pseudocyst. These pseudocysts can become inflamed or infected. In addition, clitoral phimosis frequently causes loss of clitoral sensitivity, which may cause secondary anorgasmia. Lastly, women with clitoral phimosis often complain of psychologic trauma caused by the distortion of their vulvar architecture and a perceived diminution of their sexuality or femininity. In the past, surgery for lichen sclerosus was reserved for patients in whom there was associated high-grade vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia or carcinoma. Surgery to correct architectural changes such as narrowing of the introitus or clitoral phimosis was contraindicated because of a process known as the Koebner phenomenon. Koebnerization in lichen sclerosus is a pathologic process in which normal skin becomes sclerotic after it is injured or traumatized. Thus, surgery can lead to even more vulvar scarring. Treatment with topical ultrapotent topical corticosteroids such as clobetasol propionate has changed the management of lichen sclerosus. In addition to tent topical corticosteroids reverse the underlying histopathologic changes of lichen sclerosus. By reversing the underlying chronic lichenoid inflammation, further scarring of the vulva is prevented. Therefore, by applying ultrapotent topical corticosteroids after surgery, Koebnerization theoretically could be prevented and surgery to correct scarring from lichen sclerosus could now be successfully performed. The purpose of this study was to assess patient satisfaction with surgery to correct clitoral phimosis, as well as to determine potential complications associated with this procedure.


ABSTRACT The purpose of this collection is to discuss what we may learn from thinking about the EU in federal terms. Our point of departure is that this represents a two-fold challenge. It is on the one hand a matter of establishing 'how federal' the EU is (the EU's federal challenge). On the other, the EU has federal features but is not a state; thus raises the question of whether federal theory and practice may have to be adapted to take proper account of the EU (the EU's challenge to federalism). The contributions to this collection supplement and extend existing scholarship through focusing on two important lines of inquiry. The first focuses on the relationship between federalism and democracy, with particular emphasis on how federal systems respond to and deal with citizens' interests and concerns, within and outside the political system. Particular emphasis is placed on representation, in the process of federalization, and as a feature of established systems. The second line of inquiry places the emphasis on the relationship among the governments of federal systems. The focus is on intergovernmental relations, and the particular merits that emanate from studying these from a federal perspective.


Combining with project practice,the author describes some aspects which should be controlled well in asphalt concrete pavement construction,provides concrete joint treatment measures,so as to improve asphalt concrete pavement construction technology,and make asphalt concrete pavement paved has enough strength,stiffness,stability and durability.


Doctors are under increasing pressure to prescribe a little something to help nervous patients through their driving test, but Dr Delvin wonders whether there really is anything safe and effective that can be offered.


Background: Recent data suggest that the chance of successfully maintaining a pregnancy may be influenced by the sex of previously born children. We explored a possible relation between sex of the first-born infant and the risk of preterm birth in the second pregnancy. Methods: Using data from the National Medical Birth Registries in Denmark 1980–2004 and Sweden 1980–2001, we selected all women whose first and second births were singleton and who had information on sex of first-born infant and gestational age for the second (Denmark, n = 393,686; Sweden, n = 603,282). Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used to estimate the hazard ratio of preterm birth in the second pregnancy according to the sex of the first-born infant. Results: Compared with women whose first baby was a girl, women with boys had an increased risk of preterm birth in a second pregnancy (hazard ratio = 1.10 [95% confidence interval = 1.07–1.13]). This result was consistent in the 2 populations. The association was not confounded by maternal age, interpregnancy interval, or sex of the second infant or by maternal characteristics that do not vary from one pregnancy to the next. Conclusions: Exposure to a male fetus may increase a woman's risk of preterm delivery in the next pregnancy. While the findings have no direct public health relevance, they may suggest new pathways by which preterm birth can occur.


In this paper, the effect of MgCl2 addition on the synthesis of hercynite was investigated. For this reason, hercynite was prepared by co-precipitation of AlCl3∙6H2O and FeCl2∙4H2O along with various amounts of MgCl2 at 60°C. Then, the co-precipitated materials were calcined at 1300, 1400 and 1500 °C in air atmosphere. Afterwards, phase composition and microstructure of samples were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that the formation of hercynite simply took place with the presence of MgCl2 due to the release of Mg cations and then, the formation of spinel structure and its evolution to hercynite structure. Moreover, the addition of MgCl2 influences the amount of hercynite phase. Calcination temperature affects hercynite crystallite sizes so that hercynite crystallite sizes increas by the increasing of calcination temperature from 1300°C to 1500°C.


In order to prepare our laboratory for the implementation of STR data exchange with Europe [1,2], we have undertaken to genotype DNA samples from three ethnic populations common in the UK. Allele frequencies generated using the PowerPlex ESI 16 System (ESI 16) are presented, along with observations of discordance with alternative multiplexes. 370 white Caucasian (EA1), 309 Afro-Caribbean (EA3) and 373 Indo-Pakistani (EA4) samples were collected in the UK from consenting unrelated donors as buccal scrapes or liquid blood samples. All standard laboratory procedures were controlled by a quality management system. All typing systems employed provided concordant STR profiles for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Standard Reference Material 2391b, genomic components 1–10 (Gaithersburg, MD, USA). Each batch of amplification reactions included a negative control to monitor allelic drop in and a positive control (supplied by the manufacturer), which was used to monitor successful amplification and concordance. Each electrophoresis run included a sample of allelic ladder specific to the STR multiplex chemistry being processed, which was used to inform allele designation at the analysis stage. All profiles were tabulated in Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corporation, WA, USA) and filtered to highlight any duplicated samples, which were removed prior to statistical analysis. Samples were extracted using Qiagen chemistry, either the DNA Investigator Kit for the BioRobot EZ1 Workstation, the QIAamp 96 DNA Swab BioRobot Kit for the BioRobot 8000 Workstation, or the manual QIAamp DNA Blood Mini Kit (Qiagen, Crawley, UK), according to the manufacturer's instructions. DNA samples were quantified with PicoGreen (Invitrogen, Paisley, UK) as described previously [3], or using the Quantifiler Duo DNA Quantification Kit (Applied Biosystems, Warrington, UK) as described previously [4]. Amplifications with ESI 16 and PowerPlex ESX 16 System (ESX 16) kits (Promega, Southampton, UK), AmpFlSTR NGM PCR amplification kit (NGM) (Applied Biosystems, Warrington, UK) and the Investigator ESSplex kit (ESS) (Qiagen, Crawley, UK) were performed according to the manufacturers' instructions [5–8]. Samples processed with AmpFlSTR SGM Plus (SGM+) (Applied Biosystems, Warrington, UK) were carried out using 1.5 ng DNA template measured by PicoGreen or 2 ng if measured by Quantifiler Duo in a total reaction volume of 25 ml. Thermal cycling was performed in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions [9] for 28 cycles, except the final hold was performed at 4 8C. All amplifications were performed on a MJ Research Tetrad thermocycler (Bio-Rad, Hemel Hempstead, UK).


In deciding what to eat each day, most of us consider a variety of factors, from fat and calories to what tastes best. But we don't usually think about the amount of global warming emissions resulting from the food we eat. The fact is, though, if you're trying to reduce your personal share of global warming emissions, your diet can make a big difference.


It is shown how the availability of structural degrees of freedom in various ternary AnB4−nC4 adamantine semiconductors can lead to their energetic stabilization when grown epitaxially, and how the substrate strain can preferentially stabilize one structure over another even when the two are equally stable (or unstable) in bulk form.


This paper deals with the complex situation that lived Athens at the first decades of the Ist Century BC. Between the good and advantageous relations with Rome, that led Athens to big benefits from the control of the Delian markets, and the hard sack of the city by the troops of Sulla in March 86, the city suffered an economical crisis that derived in political instability. The government of Athens finally was hold by some persons who acted like tyrants, in a moment when events and historical context (social conflict and economical crisis) seems to remember the situation that produced the historical phenomenon of the Greek Tyranny.


An intake temperature sensor 9 capable of precisely detecting the temperature of intake at high speed even in a low air mass flow zone is provided. In an intake temperature sensor 9 having a temperature detecting element 6 inserted in an opening provided in an intake pipe 3 to be disposed in the intake pipe, a temperature detecting element is mechanically joined with a heat sink 4 directly exposed to the flow of the intake flowing in the intake pipe, and the temperature of the intake is output based on an output obtained from the temperature detecting element. Thus, the thermal resistance of the temperature detecting element with respect to the intake flow can be reduced; therefore, the intake temperature sensor 9 capable of precisely detecting the temperature of the intake at high speed even in the low air mass flow zone can be provided.


We have investigated the effect of high-pressure oxygen annealing (HPOA) on metal–alumina–nitride–oxide–silicon (MANOS)-type flash memory devices. HPOA devices show significant improvement of retention characteristics at elevated temperatures under positive gate bias owing to the reduction of charge loss rate through the blocking oxide. Considering the improvement of electrical characteristics and the change in the Al chemical state, this was attributed to the effective removal of traps and the recovery of the stoichiometry of Al2O3 layer by oxygen passivation. We also confirmed this effect in a Si–Al2O3–Pt capacitor. As a result, we consider that HPOA could be a crucial process for future MANOS-type memory devices.


This literature review discusses the educational applications of distance education by examining its historical foundations, its presence and effects on educational curriculums, and its future. The purpose of this literature review is examines research on the topics of how distance education operates and what role distance education plays in the field of education. The conclusions formed within this document are based upon literature reviewed about the topic of distance education and a personal interview. This review has led to a conclusion that distance education offers non-traditional students opportunities to educate and re-educate themselves while simultaneously allowing traditional students a chance to learn through a new method of instruction.


Since self-rule in 1959,five reforms have been conducted in primary school educational streaming of Singapore.All the reforms could be divided into three education phases,which are the survival-driven phase,the efficiency-driven model and the ability-driven model of education.However,one common feature is shared among them: Singapore has gone through constant adjustments with the concept about talents in the field of education in order to satisfy different types of human capitals for economic development.According to the economic needs for different human capitals at different times,Singapore education system has undergone self-improvement and self-perfection,realizing the sound interaction between education and economy,which has contributed to the economic transformation in Singapore,also ensured the high quality and achievements of education.


Analysis of footprint data is important in the tire industry. Estimation procedures for multiple change points and unknown parameters in a segmented regression model with unknown heteroscedastic variances are developed for analyzing such data. Our approaches include both likelihood and Bayesian, with and without continuity constraints at the change points. A model selection procedure is also proposed to choose among competing models for fitting a middle segment of the data between change points. We study the performance of the two approaches and apply them to actual tire data examples. Our Maximization-Maximization-Posterior (MMP) algorithm and the likelihood-based estimation are found to be complimentary to each other.