Three multiband microstrip patch antennas (MPAs) to operate at (3.5/5.5 GHz) WiMAX, upper (5.2/5.8 GHz) WLAN and C frequency bands are presented in this paper. The proposed antenna structures are mainly constructed from the fork-shaped monopole antenna. These three antennas (Ant.1-3) are namely mender fork-shaped antenna (MFA), spiral fork-shaped antenna (SFA) and double SFA (DSFA). All antennas are fed by coplanar waveguide (CPW) structure and printed on the front side of FR substrate with surface area of 21×21 mm2. A new approach is presented for designing the proposed antennas to resonate at the specified operating frequency bands. Initially, a conventional MPA fed by microstrip-line is designed to operate at 5.8-GHz WLAN band. Then, intermediate antenna prototype structures are obtained during the design process until achieving the desired antennas. The Ant.1 and Ant.3 gives dual-band characteristic covering 5.2/5.8 GHz-WLAN band including 5.150–5.875 GHz and 3.5/5.5 GHz-WiMAX including 3.4–3.7 GHz and 5.25–5.85 GHz, respectively. The Ant.2 gives tri-band covering the aforementioned dual-band besides to C-band 7.25 GHz (6.84 – 7.50 GHz). An electromagnetic simulator CST MWS ver. 2018 was used to analyze the designed antennas. The simulated results demonstrate that a dual- and tri-band operation can be easily provided by these antennas as well they have good dipole-like and omnidirectional radiation characteristics, stable gain and high-radiation efficiency indicating that the proposed antennas are candidate for WLAN/WiMAX applications.


The thermal behavior of coal tar refined soft pitch (CTRSP) was investigated by using polarizing microscope with heating stage and thermogravimetric analyzer. The phenomena of carbonization regime process of CTRSP were observed directly in the micro-picture taken online. The results showed that the carbonization thermal dynamic process of CTRSP is divided into several typical stages. At 30-250°C,there is small molecular evaporation; at 250-390 °C,there is thermal decomposition and small molecular evaporation; at 390-480°C,there is the condensation of small molecules and radicals into macromolecules and directional arrangement generating small spheres; at 480-520°C,there is the coking stage; at 520-560°C, there is the semicokes dehydrogenation and shrinkage. The spherules are formed at about 390°C. The growth process of the spherules is divided into several stages: absorption optical isotropic matrix asphalt to grow, two spherule collision fusion and growth, finally (at 480-520°C) due to gravity is greater than surface tension small spheroid disintegration deformation and became fibrillar semicoke (at 520-560 °C). Thermogravimetric (TG) - differential thermogravimetry (DTG) curve are treated by Freeman-Carrolls non isothermal differential method, coal tar soft pitchs first-order reaction is from 253°C to 325°C, from 370 °C to 413°C two temperature stages, activation energy is 28.575 kJ/mol and 60.210 kJ/mol, pre-exponential factor is 2.328×106 and 1.4833×107, respectively. The microscopic picture recording was consistent with thermal heavy kinetic equation and the results confirmed that the chief of thermal decomposition reaction is operated from 253 °C to 325 °C, the most of condensation polymerization reaction is operated from 370 °C to 413 °C.


The invention relates to a test method for measuring efficiency of an electric driving system of a novel-energy automobile, which comprises the following steps: (1) a PC (Personal Computer) machine reading and treating road spectrum information and obtaining corresponding real time accelerator and brake pedal information; (2) the PC machine feeding back the real time accelerator and brake pedal information to an entire automobile controller, the entire automobile controller respectively calculating a rotate speed value and a torque value; (3) the entire automobile controller feeding back the rotate speed value to a dynamometer controller and feeding back the torque value to a motor controller, the dynamometer controller and the motor controller respectively controlling a dynamometer and a motor to rotate; (4) the PC machine calculating an output power of the electric driving system through the rotate speed value and the torque value; (5) a power analyzer collecting voltage and current information of a power supply, the PC machine calculating an input power of the electric driving system; and (6) the PC machine calculating the efficiency of the electric driving system. The test method provided by the invention can continuously test the efficiency of the electric driving system on all the points of the road spectrum and is simple and convenient.


Modeled after the British system, school psychologists in Hong Kong are called educational psychologists. Hong Kong is the first location in Asia to have a recognized specialty vocation in educational psychology and a program for their professional preparation. The first program in Hong Kong, established by the University of Hong Kong in 1981 during British colonial rule, is a two-year full-time master's degree program that adopts a scholar-practitioner model. Three more programs have been developed in Hong Kong during the last decade. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University established a master's degree program in 2009. The University of Hong Kong also launched a doctor of philosophy program and a doctor of psychology program in educational psychology at about the same time. The rapid growth in quantity and quality of professional preparation in Hong Kong is a response to the local expansion of the educational psychology services as well as a regional and global trend in professional preparation. The purpose of this article is to describe the preparation of educational psychologists in Hong Kong, the nature of their services, and the impact of living and working in a multicultural environment on them.


This thesis aim is to design ultra-wideband, 24-GHz and V-Band CMOS low noise amplifiers. The theme can be divided into three parts:
In the first part, a 3.1 ~ 10.6 GHz low noise amplifier is designed for ultra wideband (UWB). Splitting-Load inductive peaking techniques realize a 3.1 ~ 10.6 GHz low noise amplifier. The advantages of the circuit are enhanced bandwidth, good input matching, low noise figure, low cost and reduced chip area for using Splitting-Load inductive peaking technique. In order to achieve small group-delay-variation at the same time, in the output stage we increased the frequency of the dominant pole of the LNA. The shunt peaking was for output matching, there we used three inductors for this work. We design LNA in TSMC 0.18 ?m CMOS technology, incorporated with Splitting-Load inductive the peaking technology so we can complete the above numerous merit. The experimental result shows that we achieve our anticipated characteristic with infer technology was presented in our results. High 12dB gain, S11 below -12 dB, S22 below -11.8 dB, flat noise figure of 3.7~ 4.9 dB and the group-delay-variation only ±17.15 ps form 3.1 to 10.6 GHz. The result shows of power consuming 21.8 mW, and chip area only 0.31 mm2, that the LNA is suitable for SOC.
In the second part, the 24-GHz low noise amplifier is implemented for the short-range radar system. In order to obtain a high gain of 20 dB, we used four common source and conjugate matching techniques between each stage. The Current-reuse technique is adopted in the third and the fourth stage to reduce power dissipation. In the fourth stage, to further improve the limitations imposed on the supply voltage, the R-feedback circuit is presented in this work. We design high gain and low noise LNA in TSMC 0.13 ?m CMOS technology. The experimental results showed that the 3 dB bandwidth of 9.4 GHz, flat noise figure of 3.6~ 4.1 dB, consuming power of 18.8 mW, chip area of 0.38 mm2, group-delay-variation of ±12.05 ps, and have figure of merit (FOM) of 3.84, The results show that the LNA is suitable for high resolution radar systems.
 Final, we design a V-band LNA in TSMC 0.13 ?m CMOS technology. Using the shunt inductor at high frequency, the stray capacitance can be opened with LC circuit. This can enhance power gain and decrease noise figure, only four transistors for this work, the circuit can have 13dB gain and 3dB bandwidth of a 7 GHz, S11 below -11.4 dB, S22 below -8.5 dB, a noise figure of 5.7 dB and good P1-dB of -14 dBm and IIP3 of -3.5 dBm at V-band were achieved, chip area only 0.31 mm2. According to the performance, very suitable conformity in V-band front end receiver.


Abstract : In a preliminary study, variations on classical conditioning procedures were investigated. Using a previously developed lie detection test, a set of physiological measures was obtained. In conditioning trials, an aversive stimulus (a noise) was sounded by the experimeter (E) after each lie response. A second set of physiological measures was obtained without the use of the aversive stimulus. Three parameters were studied: electrodermal response (EDR), respiration, and electrocardiographic response (ECG); the EDR proved to be the most sensitive indicator of responses accompanying deception. The main study was divided into two parts: Part I consisted of E interpreting the physiological response and making a ''clinical judgement'' as to when the subject was lying; in Part II, a conditioning procedure was used in an attempt to associate the act of lying with an aversive stimulus. In accordance with an established training schedule, the stimulus was withheld during certain trials. Physiological responses observed at such times were designated as conditioned responses. To preclude the possibility that E, knowing the correct answer, might be biased, he was given the correct answer only in UCS trials, where this knowledge was essential for administration of the aversive stimulus. So that S would not become conditioned to a single number rather than to the act of lying, as in the pilot study, a wide variety of tasks was presented in the conditioning procedure. Again, the EDR proved to be the most sensitive indicator; when it was used as the criterion during CS trials, E was able to detect lies with approximately 75percent accuracy. (Author)


IRI (International Roughness Index) evaluation criteria are studied based on passengers physiology and psychology reaction in this research. In the test process, three kinds of data are collected simultaneously. The first kind of data is passengers dynamic ECG (electrodiagram) data which represents the human body's reaction varying with riding vibration acceleration; the second kind of data is vibration acceleration data which is caused by the road IRI value and driving speed as measured by the three-axis accelerate meter; the third kind of data is pavement roughness, which is measured by the laser road condition test vehicle in field test and is calculated by a computer procedure in a simulation test. The simulation and field tests all prove that there exists a correlation between passengers' HRV (heart rate variability) and vertical vibration weighted root-mean-square acceleration (defined as aw). When aw increases, the HRV decreases. It was further proved that passengers will feel more uncomfortable when they suffer a bigger aw. On the other hand, both test results testify that there is a linear co-relationship between IRI value and aw at the same driving speed. Ultimately, based on the field test IRI∼ aw curve and the vibration evaluation criteria of ISO2631 (1997), an IRI evaluation guideline is established. The new IRI threshold will be helpful to objectively evaluate asphalt pavement's riding comfort and assist in the better maintenance decision-making.


This article has the propose of discussing the question of national identity construction considering the debates between writers and journalists of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo at the time of Garrincha, alegria do povo (Joaquim Pedro de Andrade) and Rei Pele (Carlos Hugo Christensen) movies release in 1963. I attempt to establish a dialogue of these positions with the thought of Nelson Rodrigues, on his intention to check the possibility of the construction of the nation from the soccer fields, concerning the possible contributions of the two players to the Brazilian society.


The purchasing function is the strongest link in the hospital supply chain. The stakes which are related to it are often complex and difficult to define. Public institutions and hospitals are all invited to master these link operations, with a particular focus on the hospital-supplier relationship. One of the most crucial is the selection of the right supplier, which is based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria. However, few methods and tools are available to guide the decision-maker to make optimal choices based on different types of criteria. Therefore, we propose in this paper a new heuristic for a common optimum work between hospitals and suppliers, in order create a value control in costs, deadlines and quality. Our paper is composed of five parts. The first shows the interest of the study. The second presents the literature review. The third explains the problematic situation. The fourth sets out our work methodology and the proposed model. In the fifth part, we illustrate the proposed methodology through a case study. And we finish our paper with a conclusion and work prospects.


during short and long-term memory formation (Muir et al., 1992; Sarter and Bruno, 1997). There is evidence for cholinergic modulation of top-down processes involved in cognition, where higher (associational) areas infl uence the pattern of activation of primary sensory cortices (Robbins, 2005). However, acetylcholine receptor expression is higher in primary sensory and limbic cortical areas relative to association areas of cortex (Mesulam, 1995). To investigate the mechanisms underlying the infl uence of ace-tylcholine on cortico-critical interactions we turn here to in vitro and in silico models. Such models have demonstrated that, for glutamatergic excitation, neocortical gamma rhythms are generated predominantly in layers II/III by fast spiking, GABAergic interneurons in heterogeneous neuronal networks formed by both electrical and chemical synapses (Cunningham et al., 2004). This type of population rhythm is seen alone in this model in primary auditory cortex, but also manifests concurrently with beta2 rhythms (20–30 Hz) in association (parietal) cortex. In this model, with glutamatergic excitation, the beta2 rhythm seen is generated by different cortical neuronal interactions to those seen for gamma rhythms. Beta2 oscillations occur in deep rather than superfi cial laminae (Roopun et al., 2006, 2008), and occur as a population phenomenon in a manner not dependent on chemical synaptic transmission. Instead, gap junctional connectivity between electrically active layer 5 intrinsically bursting (IB) cell compartments (e.g. their axons) provides both the drive for axonal bursting and a mean to synchronise this bursting within the population. The rodent horizontal cortical slice is an ideal reduced model with which to study the effects of cholinergic neuromodulation on the basic properties of above dynamic processes. The juxtaposition of parietal (associational) and primary auditory cortices allows for the modelling


Many children present to emergency departments following head injury (HI), with a small number at risk of avoidable poor outcome. Difficulty identifying such children, coupled with increased availability of cranial CT, has led to variation in practice and increased CT rates. Clinical decision rules (CDRs) have been derived for paediatric HI but there is no published comparison to assist in deciding which to implement. The content of the three of highest quality and accuracy are described and compared. Systematic reviews of paediatric HI CDRs were published in 2009 and 2011. To identify CDRs published since the most recent review, key databases were searched, selecting studies which included CDRs involving children aged 0e18 years with a history of HI. Quality was assessed using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies Tool, and performance evaluated by reported accuracy. Three high quality CDRs were identified: CATCH (Canadian Assessment of Tomography for Childhood Head Injury) CHALICE (Children's Head Injury Algorithm for the Prediction of Important Clinical Events) and PECARN (Paediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network). All were derived with high methodological standards but differed in key areas, including study population, outcomes and severity of HI. Each stated different predictor variables and only PECARN provided a separate algorithm for young children. CATCH and CHALICE identify children requiring CT and PECARN those who do not. All perform with high sensitivity and low specificity. PECARN is the only validated CDR, and none has undergone impact analysis. These three CDRs should undergo validation and comparison in a single population, with analysis of their impact on practice and financial implications, to aid relevant bodies in deciding which to implement. INTRODUCTION In developed countries, injury is the leading cause of death and neurological disability among children, with head injury (HI) being the most common injury type. The annual incidence of HI is estimated at 1850/100 000 for 0e4 year olds, 1100/100 000 for 5e9 year olds and 1170/100 000 for 10e14 year olds. HI is therefore a very common reason for presenting to emergency departments (EDs), although the vast majority (80e90%) are mild in severity. However, among these children there are a number at risk of avoidable poor outcome. 6 8e11 Assessment in the ED focuses on identifying injuries which are potentially life threatening or require neurosurgical intervention. Cranial CT is currently the reference standard investigation for intracranial injury. It provides rapid identification and guides management, with early diagnostic imaging linked to improved outcomes and reduction in admission rates. However, it does not detect all brain injuries and may detect coincidental abnormalities. 8 13 Cranial CT also poses a degree of risk to the patient. The lifetime cancer mortality risk attributable to the ionising radiation dose from a single cranial CT is about 1 in 1500 in a 1 year old and about 1 in 5000 in a 10 year old. Exposure of the infant brain to ionising radiation may influence cognitive abilities in adulthood. Children with HI may be noncompliant either due to fear or agitation, and may require sedation, which carries risks of airway and haemodynamic compromise. 19 A lack of evidence to aid in the identification of children with significant injury, and clinician concern regarding missing such an injury, has given rise to uncertainty as to which patients require investigation. This, coupled with increased availability and reduction in the time it takes to perform cranial CT, has led to substantial variation in practice and an increase in cranial CT rates. The number performed in North America has more than doubled since the early 1990s, 20e23 despite the fact that a large proportion in this setting are normal. To optimise the balance between identifying significant injury and minimising exposure to radiation, several clinical decision rules (CDRs) have been derived. CDRs are decision making tools derived from original research (as opposed to consensus based clinical practice guidelines) which incorporate three or more variables from history, physical examination or simple tests. They help clinicians cope with the uncertainty of medical decision making and improve their efficiency. CDRs for HI have been derived and widely incorporated into adult practice. Several specific to paediatric HI have been derived but have been less widely incorporated into practice due to variable quality and heterogeneity. Two recent systematic reviews of CDRs for paediatric HI have been performed. 12 The first, in 2009, reviewed CDRs for HI of all severities, and identified two of high quality and performance: CHALICE (Children's Head Injury Algorithm for the Prediction of Important Clinical Events), and the CDR derived by Palchak; the second, published by Pickering in 2010, reviewed CDRs for minor HI, and identified the CDR derived by the Paediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) as being the best validated CDR. Pickering planned a meta-analysis of rules that had been independently validated in multiple homogenous cohorts but found that no rule had Emergency Department, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia Emergency Department, Monash Medical Centre, Clayton, Australia James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, UK The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia Correspondence to Dr M D Lyttle, Emergency Department, Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, Bristol, UK; firstname.lastname@example.com Accepted 27 December 2011 Review Emerg Med J 2012;29:785–794. doi:10.1136/emermed-2011-200225 785 Published Online First 2 September 2012 group.bmj.com on October 9, 2017 Published by http://emj.bmj.com/ Downloaded from


In this paper, the main attention is focused on transient of control input signal, and then, we propose a novel model reference adaptive controller for SISO systems with relative degree less than three. When we control real devices by using the elementally conventional adaptive controller, we have an experience that high frequency oscillations with large amplitude occur in the control input signals. This is one of serious problems in actual applications. To generate a control input signal without oscillation, a novel estimator using an observer for the output tracking error signal is proposed. Using the estimator, it is shown theoretically that the control input signal converges with any convergent rate to an ideal input signal given by adding the exact model matching input signal and a smooth exponential damping signal. From the property it can be expected that. oscillations are hard to occur in the control input signals. Moreover, it is also proved theoretically that. the transient output error responses can be specified by setting design parameters.


Anoxic marine zones (AMZs) constitute pelagic systems distinguished from the oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) by the complete absence of detectable oxygen and the accumulation of nitrite in mid-waters. At the top of the oxygen-depleted layer and below the oxycline, nutrients are abundant; light intensity is very much reduced (<1% of incident light) and a secondary chlorophyll maximum (SCM) is developed. The shoaling of the oxygen-depleted layer, product of the AMZ expansion, could enhance this SCM, which has little-known biogeochemical effects. Here, we show that the SCM is contributing a measurable signal in the particulate organic carbon (POC), enough to alter the δ13CPOC in the top of the oxygen-depleted layer. This data showed significant differences among stations with and without the development of a SCM, being 3.0‰ heavier when a SCM is developed, and indicating photosynthetic activity and/or remineralization in the top of the AMZ. More depleted δ13CPOC values were also found when no SCM was present indicating stronger chemoautotrophic activity, potentially driven by anammox and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria activity. Assimilation rate data show that when sufficient light and Prochlorococcus are present, photosynthesis exceeds chemoautotrophic carbon fixation, and can exceed heterotrophic assimilation of glucose or acetate. However, in the majority of the stations, assimilation rates of both glucose and acetate exceeded carbon fixation rates under light stimulation, suggesting that often the SCM is still a net heterotrophic system.


Diffractive Optically Variable Image Devices (DOVIDs) are popular security features used to protect security documents such as banknotes, ID cards, passports, etc. Checking authenticity of these security features on both user as well as forensic level remains a challenging task, requiring sophisticated hardware tools and expert knowledge. Recently, we proposed a technique exploiting a large-scale photometric behavior of DOVIDs in order to discriminate denominations and detect counterfeits. Here we investigate invariance properties of the proposed method and demonstrate its robustness against various common perturbations, which may have negative impact on the acquisition quality in practice. Presented results show a great potential of this approach primarily for security and forensic purposes, but also for other applications, where automated inspection of DOVIDs is of interest.


This study aims to determine the map of the development of research on the theme of insurance efficiency which is published in journals equipped with digital object identifiers. The research was conducted in August 2023. The data analyzed were 336 research journals related to insurance efficiency published from 1992 to 2023. During this period, the most research on insurance efficiency occurred in 2022 with 40 publications. The data is then processed and analyzed using the VOSviewer application program to determine the bibliometric mapping for the development of insurance efficiency research. The results show that cost efficiency, economy, evidence, firm, insurance firm, insurance sector, market, risk, originality value, relationship and stage data envelopment are the most widely used topics. The research development map for this theme is divided into 5 clusters. Cluster 1 consists of 11 topics, cluster 2 consists of 9 topics, cluster 3 consists of 9 topics cluster 4 consists of 5 topics and cluster 5 consists of 5 topics.


Many genres and media create a blurring line between reality and fiction. Radio serials and in particular radio soap operas have inspired devotion in their listeners to the point where their fans throw themselves wholeheartedly into a universe of outward unreality and inward reality. This leads to framing errors, by which I mean an extension of blurring of reality. We will look at several examples from world radio soaps, including those from the US, Britain, Turkey, France, and Poland. However, radio soap operas do not have a monopoly on the blurring line between reality and fiction. Instead, audio drama is poised to profit well from this uncertainty and has shown itself capable of it many times, beginning in the 1920s in Europe and most famously in War of the Worlds (1938). War of the Worlds is, however, not the end of the story, and the way audio drama uses framing errors continues to this day.
The study


Orphan transactions are those whose parental income sources are missing at the time that they are processed. These transactions typically languish in a local buffer until they are evicted or all their parents are discovered, at which point they may be propagated further. To date, there has been little work in the literature on characterizing the nature and impact of such orphans, and yet it is intuitive that they should affect the performance of the Bitcoin network. This work thus seeks to methodically research such effects through a measurement campaign on live Bitcoin nodes. Our data show that about 45% of orphan transactions end up being included in the blockchain. Surprisingly, orphan transactions tend to have fewer parents on average than non-orphan transactions, and their missing parents have a lower fee, larger size, and lower transaction fee per byte than all other received transactions. Moreover, the network overhead incurred by these orphan transactions can be significant, exceeding 17% when using the default orphan memory pool size (i.e., 100 transactions), although this overhead can be made negligible, without significant computational or memory demands, if the pool size is simply increased to 1000 transactions. Finally, we show that when a node with an empty mempool first joins the network, 25% of the transactions that it receives become orphan, whereas in steady-state this quantity drops to about 1%.


The transition of the Russian state from the centralized system of management to a market economy should be reflected in the sphere of social-labor relations. Changing of social and economic structure has aggravated the problems of employment, has returned unemployment in the Russian society 60 years later. It was necessary to reconstruct Public employment service, which has been created in the USSR and liquidated by 1930 as superfluous it had made the business unemployment in the USSR has been completely liquidated. As far as the purposes of the Russian Service of employment coincide with the purposes of Soviet and whether they coincide basically the author should find out.


A folding wheelchair has side frames connected by front, rear and bottom toggle braces which in the folded position permit the side frames to come together. Each toggle brace is preferably formed from a pair of U-shaped elements hingeably connected at the base of the U, the toggle braces co-operating with the framework such that folding is initiated by lifting upwardly of the bottom toggle brace. This is best achieved by a rigid rod linking the front and rear toggle braces and carrying abutment element for engaging with the bottom toggle brace so that folding of the front and rear toggle braces cannot occur until the bottom toggle brace is lifted. The wheelchair may have at least one toggle brace of U-shaped members with the base of each U divided transversely to provide for relative rotational motion between the portions of each U-shaped member. The wheelchair may also have a novel folding footrest.


The technique of Infrared(IR) Focal Plane Array(FPA) is widely used in military,medical fields,etc.As the core part of readout circuit,the operational amplifier(OPA)decides the performance of the whole circuit.This paper describes a kind of OPA,which is used in IR FPA readout circuit structure based on the direct inject circuit including the analysis and design of the OPA.We use the Spectra to simulate the circuit and get the results which accords with the designed target.Its Av reaches 61 dB and the phase margin is 61o with the ICMR(input common-mode range) ranging from 0 V to 3.65 V.


C. Yang, W. M. Stadler, M. Medved, G. S. Karczmar University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States Introduction: Accurate estimation of the arterial input function (AIF) is essential for quantitative analysis of DCE-MRI data. We have previously demonstrated that a common AIF can be estimated from the contrast agent concentration versus time curves (Ct(t)) in two reference tissues with different enhancement patterns (1). This double reference tissue method (DRTM) is based on the two assumptions that (a) each tissue's AIF has the same shape, but may have a different arrival time; (b) we know a priori what kinetic model can adequately describe the Ct(t). Assumption (b) of the DRTM has limited its applications. For a particular tumor, it is usually unknown what kinetic model is adequate (2). This makes the tumors generally unfit as the reference tissues in the DRTM. Now we generalize the DRTM to a multiple reference tissue method (MRTM). Materials and Methods: In the MRTM, which uses two or more reference tissues with unknown kinetic parameters to estimate the AIF, we use an automatic model selection scheme to drop Assumption (b) in the DRTM. We start from a simple kinetic model, for example a two-compartment model (3) without inclusion of the blood plasma volume parameter, νp. With the simple model, we estimate the AIF and obtain the goodness of the fit to the data. Then we increase the model complexity for example by including the parameter νp. Using the new model, we will estimate the AIF again and obtain the goodness of the fit by the new AIF. We will stop increasing the model complexity when the improvement in the goodness of the fit is statistically insignificant. With this scheme, the adequate kinetic model for the reference tissues is determined from the data themselves. By using a non-parametric smoothing method (4) and modifying a Fast Fourier Transform algorithm (5), we are able to significantly increase the accuracy of the algorithm. We apply the MRTM to the DCE-MRI data of 8 renal cell cancer patients from an on-going clinical trial on the cancer drug Sorafenib. T1 weighted images of bone metastases in the pelvic region were scanned with 2 second resolution for about 7 minutes pre and post bolus injection of Gd-DTPA. Using a cluster analysis (6), voxels in the tumor ROI are divided into subsets such that all voxels within each subset have similar Ct(t). The tumor heterogeneity leads to many subsets having a significantly different mean Ct(t) (Fig. 1a) so that each subset can be considered as a reference tissue. Selecting 3-8 subsets as the "multiple reference tissues", the AIF was then estimated with the MRTM using the two-compartment model. For each tumor the automatic model selection scheme was used to determine whether the inclusion of the blood plasma volume parameter was necessary. The adjusted Chi-square, defined as the sum of squared errors divided by the variance of the measurement noise and the degree of freedom, is used to indicate the goodness of the fit. For comparison, we also used a fixed bi-exponential AIF (3) to fit the tumor data. Results: One representative example is shown in Fig. 1. In 5 out of 8 patients, the contribution of the blood plasma to the measured contrast agent concentration in tumors was found significant. The AIFs estimated by the MRTM generally demonstrate both a first pass peak and a washout phase. Even the second pass of the contrast agent bolus can be shown with striking details due to the high signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the fitted AIF (Fig. 1b). The AIFs estimated by the MRTM all closely resemble published AIFs determined by blood sampling (7). The adjusted chi-square of the fit by the AIFs estimated with the MRTM is usually over 10 times less than that by the fixed bi-exponential AIF. Due to the improved fit by the estimated AIF, the kinetic parameters of the tumor estimated on a voxel-by-voxel basis were found to have high SNR (Fig 1c-1e). Discussions and Conclusions: The MRTM can be generally applied in DCE-MRI studies to estimate the local AIF of tumors using the heterogeneous tumor itself as a source of "multiple reference tissues". The estimated local AIFs closely resembled published AIFs and significantly improved the goodness of the fit. Further studies are needed to investigate whether this method can provide more reproducible quantitative DCEMRI parameters to assess tumor perfusion and permeability, hence improving DCE-MRI based cancer diagnostics and therapeutic monitoring. References: 1. Yang C et al, MRM 2004; 52:1110. 2. Port RE et al, MRM 1999; 10:233. 3. Tofts PS et al, MRM 1991; 17:357. 4. Fan J and Gijbel I, Local polynomial modeling and its applications, 1996. 5. Riabkov DY and Di Bella EV, IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 2002; 49:1318. 6. Everitt BS, Cluster analysis, 1993. 7. Fritz-Hansen T et al, MRM 1996; 36:225.


The distribution of the potato leafhopper, Empoasca fabae (Harris), eggs in alfalfa stems was studied in 2 fields in Montgomery Co., Va. to develop sampling plans for studies on leafhopper population dynamics. Stems collected in the field were cleared and stained with a lactophenol-acid fuchsin mixture. This permitted visual observation of the eggs inside the stems. Egg density in the field and their allocation in the plant were determined from June through Aug. 1976. Eggs were found mainly in the primary and lateral stems, with ca. 3% in the leaf petioles, but none in the leaves or leaf midribs. Succulent plant tissue was preferred for oviposition. Eggs were seldom found more than 17 cm from the growing tip. As the primary stem lignified, more eggs were placed in the lateral stems.

Egg distribution patterns generally fit the negative binomial model. Sampling efficiency based on this distribution was in most cases only reliable within a 30% coefficient of variation due to low egg densities.


Laser aided direct metal/material deposition (DMD) process, one of the technologies based on laser cladding, has demonstrated the ability to make a metal component directly from a 3-D CAD model. DMD process is achieved with a laser system combined with a NC machine tool or laser-robot system. Making metallic parts directly, designer can reduce unnecessary steps such as mock-up and molding. In the sense, DMD process is rather a rapid production technique than a rapid prototyping process. With continued advancement, DMD process, one of the leading solid freeform fabrication techniques, has demonstrated the ability to make a metal part with heterogeneous components directly from a CAD model. One unique advantage of the process is that building different metallic parts in same object can be achieved alternating metal powders. The advantage gives designers better quality of products than others can offer. Another attractive point is that some features such as cooling channel, heat sinks, sensors, fibers, and even hard phases for composites can be embedded during the process. This paper summarizes the fundamentals of the process, process control and influence of process parameters, and reports some examples produced utilizing the technique with the characteristics of fabricated parts.Copyright © 2002 by ASME


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the stress-strain relationships of single-jersey knitted fabrics from uniaxial tensile test followed by deformation behavior using finite element analysis. In order to elaborate the study, high, medium and low tightness knitted fabrics were selected and deformation of fabrics analyzed in course, wales and bias directions (0, 45 and 90 degrees). Design/methodology/approach – This study focussed on uni-axial tensile test of produced test samples using Instron 6021 tester and a development of single-jersey knitted loop model using Auto Desk Inventor software (ADI). The knitted fabric material properties and knitted loop model was imported to ANSYS 12.0 software. Findings – Due to structural changes the tightness and thickness of knitted fabric decreases with increase in loop length The tensile result shows maximum breaking strength at course direction (13.43 kg f/mm2 at 2.7 mm) and maximum extension at wales direction (165.77 kg f/mm2 at 3.3 mm). When the l...


I am supposed to speak as a parent but I do not pretend to speak for all parents; in fact, I speak for nobody except myself, although I hope that most parents would share some of my views. It has been said that in education everybody is an expert, a remark that is sometimes quoted sardonically by teachers and educational administrators to imply, I suspect, that it is unfortunate that the non-professionals entertain the illusion that they have any right to an opinion, and that educational progress would be more rapid if the professionals were not impeded by politicians, the Church, employers and, above all, parents. I dissociate myself completely from any such view.


Purpose: The study emphasized on perceived career success of female faculty members working on the basis of Basic Pay Scale (BPS) in public sector universities of Punjab, Pakistan.
Design/Methodology/Approach: A Total of 253 female academicians working in public sector universities had participated in this study. The survey questionnaire was adopted from authentic sources and evaluated for validity and reliability. MPlus software has been used for statistical findings.
Findings: It has been estimated statistically that perceived organizational justice has partial mediating effect between political personality traits and perceived career success. Whilst having full mediating relationship between HRM practices and perceived career success of female faculty members.
Implications/Originality/Value: It might be concluded that all the public sector universities must follow the same policies and laws but there are some cultural differences. However, federal chartered universities are paying different salaries from the Punjab/provincial chartered universities. It creates disparity amongst the faculty members working in government sector universities. The study highlighted such issues.


A single-stage process for simultaneously removing 90% of the NO/sub x/ and SO/sub 2/ and 99.9% of the particulate material from coal-fired flue gas is reported. The process utilizes a novel contactor/filter with a moving bed of copper oxide absorber-catalyst.


The Myrtaceae plants are cultivated for their edible fruits and folk medicinal uses. Likewise, their leaves, flowers, and fruit essential oils (EOs) are described to have antiproliferative, antimicrobial, and antioxidant activities. This work analyzed the chemical compositions and evaluated the antiproliferative activities of essential oils (EO) of Myrcia bella Cambess, Myrcia fallax (Rich.) DC., Myrcia guianensis (Aubl.) DC., Eugenia aurata O. Berg, and Eugenia punicifolia (Kunth) DC, from the Brazilian Cerrado. EOs were obtained by leaf hydrodistillation and analyzed by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) plus Gas Chromatography-Flame Ionization Detector (GC-FID). The major component in M. bella was α-cadinol (14.4%); in Myrcia fallax (Rich.) DC., guaiol acetate (14.4%); and in M.guianensis, (E)-iso-g‑bisabolene (17.5%). For E. aurata and E. punicifolia, bicyclogermacrene (25.3%) and (E)-caryophyllene (18%), respectively, were the most relevant chemical constituents. The EOs were tested against the human tumor cell lines UACC-62 (melanoma), MCF7 (breast), 786-0 (kidney), NCI-H460 (lung), OVCAR-3 (ovarian), HT29 (colon), and K562 (leukemia) and one non-tumor cell line (VERO). Eugenia aurata presented the most promising effect against HT29 (TGI = 1.5 mg/mL), K562 (TGI = 5.0 mg/mL), and no toxicity against non-tumor VERO cells (TGI> 250 mg/mL). For the other EOs, moderate to no activity was observed. So, in conclusion, E. aurata EOs revealed a good potential for anticancer applications.


Passive jamming is one of the important ways for withstanding millimeter wave terminal guidance radars,and it includes smoke jamming,chaff jamming and so on. Based on the principle of millimeter wave passive jamming,effectiveness analysis of passive jamming is given, the performance indicators are proposed,and then the corresponding performance analysis model is established.


The proposal that the "hybrid bison" of Wood Buffalo National Park (WBNP) be exterminated and replaced with "wood bison" has no taxonomic justification. The subspecies Bison bison athabasca e Rhoads 1897 is based on the inadequate descriptions and taxonomically invalid criteria - i.e., body size and morphometrics. Its accepted pelage features are based on studies of the same herd of Nyarling River (NR) bison from Elk Island National Park (EINP). These pelage features, assumed to be genetically fixed, are ecotypic confinement effects, which NR bison share with EINP bull elk and moose. In bison the display hair acts analogous to deer antlers, which reflect their bearers' access to high-quality food during their growth. NR bison in captivity, in the Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary (MBS), and the original wood bison are "northern plains bison." Nor are WBNP bison distinguishable from MBS bison. A "wood bison" phenotype was also described as diagnostic for southern plains bison (B.b. bison Linnaeus 1958); the northern plains bison was named B.b. montanae Krumbiegel 1980. Consequently, B.b. athabascae = B.b. bison , as the latter has priority. Yet captive and introduced NR athabascae = montanae . Some WBNP bison resemble B. priscus , supporting the view that B. bison evolved as a hybrid between American and Siberian large-horned bison. Hybridization in large mammals need not be a tragedy for conservation. Key words: wood bison, plains bison, taxonomy, phenotype plasticity, ecotype, display organs, morphometry, subspecies, conservation


In the molecule of the title compound, C14H7Cl2NO3, the phthalimide ring system is virtually planar, with a dihedral angle between the fused five- and six-membered rings of 4.02 (3)°. In the crystal structure, intermolecular C—H⋯O and O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds and C—Cl⋯O close contacts [Cl⋯O = 3.0123 (13) Å and C—Cl⋯O = 171.14 (7)°] link the molecules, generating R 2 2(16), R 4 2(19) and R 4 4(22) ring motifs by C(6) chains to form a three-dimensional network. A weak π–π interaction between the six-membered rings of the phthalimide ring systems further stabilizes the structure, with a centroid–centroid distance of 3.666 (3) Å and an interplanar separation of 3.568 Å.


The present study aimed to investigate protein expression levels of intra- and extracranial atherosclerosis in rabbits following administration of a high-fat diet. Rabbits were randomly divided into control (group A; n=9) and high-fat diet (group B; n=9) groups. At week 12, tissues were sectioned from the common carotid artery (CCA) and middle cerebral artery (MCA). Pathological analysis was performed. Differential protein expression levels were examined by 2-D gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and mass spectrometry (MS) analysis and validated by western blotting. Serum lipid levels, the intima-media thickness (IMT) and degree of atherosclerosis of the CCA and MCA were increased at week 12 in the high-fat diet group compared with rabbits that received a normal diet. 2-DE and MS analysis of the protein extracted from CCA and MCA detected >439 different proteins; the expression of 25 proteins was altered, and 8 proteins [albumin A chain, tropomyosin α-1 chain (TPM1), heat shock protein 70 (HSP70), α-smooth muscle actin, β-galactose binding agglutinin, TPM4 isoform 2, cell keratin 9, single octylic acid glyceride β-2) demonstrated significant alterations in expression levels. Due to limited antibody sources, only three differentially expressed proteins (TPM1, HSP70 and α-smooth muscle actin) were examined by western blotting. The results of our previous study demonstrated that hyperlipidemia affected the IMT of intracranial and extracranial cerebral arteries. In the present study, protein expression levels of TPM1 and α-smooth muscle actin from extracranial cerebral arteries were significantly increased compared with intracranial cerebral arteries; however, protein expression levels of HSP70 from intracranial cerebral arteries was increased compared with extracranial cerebral arteries. The differences may be closely associated with cell proliferation and metastasis, and oxidoreduction, in intra- and extracranial cerebral atherosclerosis. HSP70 may have protective properties against atherosclerosis via underlying anti-inflammatory mechanisms, furthermore, differential protein expression levels (TPM1, HSP70 and α-smooth muscle actin) between intra- and extracranial cerebral arteries may facilitate the identification of novel biological markers for the diagnosis and treatment of cerebral arteriosclerosis.


Single levitated microdroplets of aqueous potassium chloride (KCl) solutions are investigated as a function of temperature and humidity of their surroundings. Supersaturated solution droplets are obtained from the evaporation of water. The phase transition into solid microparticles is investigated as a function of temperature and humidity, where the experimental conditions favor homogeneous nucleation. The heat of solution of supersaturated KCl-solution droplets containing variable salt concentrations is derived, which is compared to previous results on dilute and saturated KCl-solutions. It is found to be negative, contrary to saturated and dilute solutions. This gives evidence for the formation of KCl clusters in supersaturated solutions prior to nucleation. The rates of homogeneous nucleation from supersaturated KCl solutions are reported, where the temporal evolution of homogeneous nucleation is investigated. Processes occurring on different time scales are identified. These are discussed along with previous works on homogeneous nucleation of pure water and salt solutions.


Allergic sensitisation, usually reported by specific immunoglobulin E (s-IgE) or skin prick test, is a significant predictor of asthma, allergic rhinitis and food allergy. Also, polysensitisation as well as higher levels of s-IgE to any one particular allergen appears to be associated with severe and/or complex (comorbid) allergic disease. However, information on early infant allergy sensitisation is largely lacking, and with conflicting results. In the Danish DARC birth cohort 12.5% of 3-month old infants were sensitised, while 16.7% of the 404 infants were sensitised at six months.


In recent years, much progross have made on the mechanism of tumor tumorigenesis and development. Research has showed the tumor cell expressed the inhibitory molecules and formed a suppression microenvironment to avoid the cytotoxicity from the effctor immune cells. In this circumstance, tumor cell was able propagate limitless. In this study, we investigated the frequency of inhibitory cell CD4+CD25+ Treg cell, the mRNA expression in plasma and the serum concentration of TGF-β in the 40 cases of non-small cell lung cancer patients and 40 health physical examination volunteers. As it expected, in the peripheral blood, the frequence of Treg cell, the FOXP3 mRNA in the cancer tissue cell and the serum TGF-β in the NSCLC patients is significant higher than the health voluteer. In addition, Foxp3 expression was interfered in human lung cancer cell line A549, which were co-cultured with CD4+ T cells, to investigate the effect of Foxp3 on the proliferation of lung cancer specific T cells. Compared with control group, A549 cells with reduced expression of Foxp3 significantly promoted the proliferation of CD4+ T cells and resulted in a significantly low level of TGF-β (P<0.05). In conclusion, the CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ Treg cells and TGF-β were significantly increased in NSCLC patients. Elevated expression of Foxp3 in lung cancer cells was involved in the inhibition of the proliferation of tumor-specific T cells.


Abstract. The best way to assess fetal condition is to observe the oxygen status of the fetus (as well as to assess the condition of infants, children, and adults). Previously, several fetal oximeters have been developed; however, no instrument has been utilized in clinical practice because of the low-capturing rate of the fetal oxygen saturation. To overcome the problem, we developed a doctor's finger-mounted fetal tissue oximeter, whose sensor volume is one hundredth of the conventional one. Additionally, we prepared transparent gloves. The calculation algorithm of the hemoglobin concentration was derived from the light propagation analysis based on the transport theory. We measured neonatal and fetal oxygen saturation (StO2) with the new tissue oximeter. Neonatal StO2 was measured at any position of the head regardless of amount of hair. Neonatal StO2 was found to be around 77%. Fetal StO2 was detected in every position of the fetal head during labor regardless of the presence of labor pain. Fetal StO2 without labor pain was around 70% in the first stage of labor and around 60% in the second stage of labor. We concluded that our new concept of fetal tissue oximetry would be useful for detecting fetal StO2 in any condition of the fetus.


This qualitative study examines the Hamka's approach in performing an exegesis of selected Quranic verses regarding takwa, in the chapter of al-Baqarah. Thus, Hamka's work on the exegesis of the al-Quran, the Tafsir al-Azhar has been studied. Previous works have discussed major developments in the Quranic exegesis and the various approaches taken by different Islamic scholars in their attempts to study the al-Quran. In addition, other scholarly works from universities as well as public libraries have also been considered. A deductive method was applied to study the usage of takwa terminology in al-Baqarah. An attempt was also made to generally compare the Hamka's methodology of exegesis with other scholars' approaches. Furthermore, a descriptive method was used to prepare the overview of knowledge needed in the Quranic exegesis, Hamka's biography and detailed data as a result of the Hamka's exegesis of verses regarding takwa in al-Baqarah. Findings have shown that the Hamka's methodology is compatible with Islam, although it is mainly of his personal understanding and it has few references to other scholars' views. His opinion on takwa is concurrent with the exegesis of his peers as well as the perspective of authoritative scholars. This study has also established that the Hamka's exegesis is built on the synthesis of Islamic knowledge, sciences, human psychology, international laws, opinion of medical experts, economics as well as other contemporary knowledge which is particularly beneficial to Muslims of Southeast Asia. This finding has also contributed to consolidate local efforts in the Quranic exegesis, together with the integration of scholarly works left by Hamka.


This articfe investigates. on a comparative basis. the current status of information literacy at school level in both the
Netherlands and in South Africa. It is argued that information literacy has become one of the most important skills in the
information society and that governments have a specific responsibility towards their citizens to prepare them for the
challenges posed by the era in which we are living. The concept of information literacy is introduced and the link between
information literacy and information education is illustrated. The current Dutch and South African educational systems
are discussed from an information literacy perspective. It is concfuded that both governments understand the importance
of information literacy. but still focus on leT literacy. It is furthermore argued that libraries can play an important role in
the introduction of information literacy at school level.


Using transition metal-organic chromophores with strong charge-transfer transitions as sensitizers for efficient lanthanide luminescence is a new approach developed during the past decade.This review article outlines briefly the relative electronic properties of lanthanide ions and the simplified energy transfer modes between organic ligands and lanthanide ions,and introduces systematically the approaches for efficient sensitized(near-infrared,NIR) lanthanide luminescence,and highlights the advances to achieve lanthanide luminescence through d-f energy transfer together with the applications in various fields.Particularly,recent progresses in our group are summarized concerning the designed syntheses of a series of d-f heteronuclear complexes with bifunctional acetylides as the bridging ligands for achieving lanthanide(Ⅲ) luminescence.Finally,the hot topics and the research trends on lanthanide luminescence in near future are discussed.


It is not commonplace for men in mid-career to practice writing memoirs. But neither is it commonplace for a black man to have had educational experiences ranging from the typical Southern Negro elementary schoolroom to the classroom (as student and professor) at prestigious white universities, especially a black man in economics. This glimpse of the author suggests that the reader can expect to find in the book a broad sweep of analysis from the personal to the public in education. The author has attempted to identify and interpret the facts, fallacies, and failures of education in their personal as well as public dimensions. Emphasis is on the personal dimensions. It was an ambitious task. I t should be expected that the results are mixed. Depending upon the reader's perspective, the book will be roundly rejected and rousingly praised: rejected as an insensitive and disparaging commentary on black education; praised as a no-nonsense assessment of the past, present, and future for the educational development of blacks. As a black man (also over 40 and working in different areas of the same . profession) who survived a Southern-Northern educational experience without the benefit of "tracks," enrichment programs, and the like, I regard much of Part I of the book as an overextension of 125 pages to reflect on a sample of one-the personal education of Thomas Sowell. There is a mixed mode of precocious child, brash adolescent, arrogant intellectual, and premature elder statesman. The image which emerges is that of the "Special Negro." Perhaps in the current jargon, it should be put as a "Super Fly," who gives black folks the shaft. From my black perspective, an inordinate amount of the book rates as just so much "ego-tripping"-Thomas Sowell vs. white radicals and liberals; vs. black militants; vs. deans (except the medical school dean who agreed


This paper reports the band gaps of silicon and germanium diodes using diode thermometers. We used diode thermometers to measure the temperature and voltage relationship at a constant current. From this we found the band gaps to be 0.63±0.01 eV and 1.29±0.03 eV for germanium and silicon diodes respectively. The uncertainties in our data do not fall in the range of accepted values of band gaps for intrinsic germanium (0.67 eV) and silicon (1.12 eV) at room temperature (300 K) [4]. We were also able to confirm the linear relationship between the temperature and voltage in a diode at a constant current.


This paper concerns telecommunications technologies prioritization for long-range RD especially those concerning baseline budget level selection and the scope of research activities. >


We present algorithms for estimating the location of stationary and mobile users based on heterogeneous indoor RF technologies. We propose two location algorithms, selective fusion location estimation (SELFLOC) and region of confidence (RoC), which can be used in conjunction with classical location algorithms such as triangulation, or with third-party commercial location estimation systems. The SELFLOC algorithm infers the user location by selectively fusing location information from multiple wireless technologies and/or multiple classical location algorithms in a theoretically optimal manner. The RoC algorithm attempts to overcome the problem of aliasing in the signal domain, where different physical locations have similar RF characteristics, which is particularly acute when users are mobile. We have empirically validated the proposed algorithms using wireless LAN and Bluetooth technology. Our experimental results show that applying SELFLOC for stationary users when using multiple wireless technologies and multiple classical location algorithms can improve location accuracy significantly, with mean distance errors as low as 1.6 m. For mobile users we find that using RoC can allow us to obtain mean errors as low as 3.7 m. Both algorithms can be used in conjunction with a commercial location estimation system and improve its accuracy further.


Since 1980, the Society for Information Management (SIM), a co-founder of MIS Quarterly Executive and MIS Quarterly, in collaboration with a team of MIS academics, has conducted a survey of its members to identify and study the most important IT management issues. Over the decades, the SIM IT Trends Study has been updated and expanded into an insightful and comprehensive investigation of IT issues, management practices, and leadership. The study provides both practitioners and academicians valuable trends analyses as well as a snapshot of the state of information systems (IS) management. This preview highlights a few topics from the 2018 study. The complete report will appear in the March 2019 issue of MIS Quarterly Executive. Data collection was conducted over the course of nine weeks, from April 9 to June 11, 2018. During this period, the research team contacted 3,971 SIM members via personal e-mail, SIM's two e-newsletters, and social media presence on LinkedIn and Twitter. A chapter competition was also conducted to improve response rates. A total of 1,295 completed responses were received (32.6% response rate), representing 793 unique organizations and 495 CIOs. SIM member organizations come in all sizes and from more than 30 different economic sectors. The findings in this preview are those of the senior-most IT executive in the 793 organizations.


A reliability setting is considered for comparing two competing equipments based on a fixed number of observations. A two stage failure censored design is proposed in which a preassigned number of items are randomised equally at the first stage and the better items are examined exclusively at the end of the second stage. Here at each stage, we consider type II censoring (see e.g. Miller (1981)) . That is, observations are made upto a common prefixed proportion of failures at each stage. For exponential responses, the exact bias and variance of the estimated failure rate difference at the end of the trial are derived. Competitors of the proposed procedure are also suggested. Some asymptotics related to all these procedures are also obtained.


Detection of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) overexpression in many carcinomas provides important diagnostic information, which can influence patient management. The use of PET may enable s ...


Aim  Our goals were (1) to assess the levels of chloroplast DNA variation in a narrowly distributed plant restricted to continental islands, (2) to ascertain whether a phylogeographical structure is present in plants restricted to coastal linear systems, and (3) to interpret the results in the light of the known palaeogeography of these islands.


Highly connected nodes in biological networks are called network hubs. Hubs are topologically important to the structure of the network and have been shown to be preferentially associated with a range of phenotypes of interest. The relative importance of a hub node, however, can change depending on the biological context. Here, we provide a step‐by‐step protocol for using the Contextual Hub Analysis Tool (CHAT), an application within Cytoscape 3, which enables users to easily construct and visualize a network of interactions from a gene or protein list of interest, integrate contextual information, such as gene or protein expression data, and identify hub nodes that are more highly connected to contextual nodes than expected by chance. © 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.


This article is devoted to the classification of audiovisual and computer means of presenting learning Вестник КГУ им. Н.А. Некрасова 234  2014, Том 20 SUMMARY material, particularly in teaching foreign languages as a factor of students' cognitive activities.


The present invention relates to an ophthalmic apparatus and a control method. In the anterior segment photographing mode is selected in the case, to improve ease of operation by the examiner. The ophthalmic apparatus comprising area changing means for moving the optical region of the optical unit comprises a measuring light path is changed in the anterior segment of the selected photographing mode for photographing a subject's eye with the anterior segment of the case except in selected different regions in the case where the mobile mode other than the anterior segment photographing mode.


AIM: To investigate the effect of bilirub in on acute lung injury (ALI) and the mechanism. METHODS: 30 male Wistar rats were divided into normal group, ALI group and bilirubin treatment group. Lung specimens were examined by histopatho logical te chnique. Lung index (LI) and lung permeability index (LPI) were measured. Moreov er, white blood cell (WBC) count, neutrophil percentage (PMN%) and the content o f protein (Pr) in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), as well as the conten ts of sup eroxide dismutase (SOD), malonaldehyde (MDA) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in the lung homogenate were determined. RESULTS: (1) In ALI group: LI, WBC count, PMN%, Pr and LPI incre ased significantly compared with normal group (P0.01). In bilirubin treatm ent group, all the values determined decreased compared with ALI group (P0.01; P 0.05). No notable discrepancy between bilirubin treatment group and normal gro up (P 0.05) was observed. (2) In ALI group, the content of MDA was significantly high er (P0.01), but the contents of SOD and GSH-Px were significantly lower th an those in normal group (P0.01). In bilirubin treatment group, the conten t of MDA decreased significantly (P0.01) but the contents of SOD and GSH-P x increase d significantly (P0.01; P0.05) compared with ALI group. No notable d iscrepancy between bilirubin treatment group and normal group was observed (P 0.05). CONCLUSION: Bilirubin relieves ALI induced by LPS in rats via an tioxidation.


The main objective of this study is to design a ZnO base beam bridge MEMS piezoelectric pressure sensor. A theoretical mathematical modeling of the design is derived for the structure. Factor effecting the output or efficiency is studied base on mechanical and electrostatics step by steps. A simulation is conducted on Comsol Multiphysics Simulator for the design for validating the theoretical modeling and a comparative study are made between the analytical and simulated result. This study will help to find the optimum design structure for piezoelectric pressure sensor base on bridge beam structure.


Many companies face the challenge of competing on the global stage, and alliances have been touted as one approach to gain competitive advantage. Over the last 20 years, the number of alliances has grown almost exponentially, but the rate of failure still holds at about 60 percent. A command-and-control approach will not work in today's world, yet to managers whose traditional way of doing business resists collaboration, an alliance mindset does not come naturally. This chapter examines why managers haven't gotten better at alliance management. We are interested in understanding why some firms are more successful at alliance management and which skills result in a higher rate of success. The construct of alliance competence is explored and its various elements defined. Also articulated are different strategies a firm might employ to develop these skills and capabilities in its alliance managers, including organizational structures and processes. Alliances are about people, so we emphasize the interpersonal dynamics of alliance competence.


This article intends, using the idea of "constructive destruction", to observe the contemporary Afro-Brazilian poetics, through the brief analysis of some compositions of Criolo, with the aim to understand how some formal resources used by him, such as deglutition, collage, breaking linearity of time and the destruction of frontiers between spaces contribute to our thinking in the ways how a subjugated culture can, in a context of globalization, bring up its own discourse, resisting values supported by a certain elite. Besides, we will notice how the use, via poetic creation, of African mythology, Yoruba language, peripheral tradition and cultural hybridization contribute to a critical review of stereotypes regarding black man throughout Brazilian history.


A sliding cradle in a mobile terminal has a body housing, and a sliding and pivotable housing adapted to rest in a slanting position on the body housing after being slid on the body housing. The sliding cradle comprises a first member fastened to the body housing, a second member fastened to the sliding and pivotable housing, and a sliding guide part arranged between the first and second members to guide the sliding movement of the sliding and pivotable housing. The sliding guide part has a pivot for pivoting the second member apart from the first member. A fixture member is fastened to the first member to face the sliding guide part. A pivot control device is connected to the first and second members to substantially prevent the sliding and pivotable housing from pivoting during the sliding movement and to enable the sliding and pivotable housing to pivot upon completion of the sliding movement.


Blockchain technology can play a vital role in the space industry and satellite communication. This disruptive technology can build decentralized and secure protocols for processing and manipulating space transactions in the form of space digital tokens (SDTs). Tokenizing space transactions in the form of SDTs will enable various blockchain-based applications in the space industry. Moreover, blockchain protocols based on smart contracts can be utilized to authenticate many space transactions and P2P communications in a transparent, verifiable, and secure manner. This paper proposes a new blockchain-based solution for managing and securing satellite transactions using a novel concept called SDT. SDT is then used to develop a new blockchain protocol called proof of space transactions (PoST), which is then used in proposing a new blockchain-based protocol for authenticating satellite transactions. The proposed PoST protocol is implemented and simulated using the Ethereum blockchain. Five metrics are used to evaluate the protocol's performance: Ethereum GAZ, read latency, transaction latency, read throughput, and transaction throughput. The performance evaluation results proved the efficiency and reliability of PoST in managing and securing satellite transactions.


The studies and the experimental work for constructing an electron cyclotron resonance ion source (ECRIS) for the new tritium linear accelerator (TRILAC) at the Institute of Atomic Physics are presented. The absence of consumable parts, the low neutral pressure, and the high ionization efficiency with light elements make ECRIS very attractive for this accelerator. Some special configurations for the microwave system and for the plasma chamber are presented. A suitable modified structure of a power helix‐type traveling wave tube (glass envelope with helix) in conjunction with its corresponding lateral rectangular waveguide tapers is presented. Application of an iris‐loaded circular waveguide (traveling wave structure of a linear accelerator) as a slow wave structure is also under study. Problems like unstable tuning and arcing, which are encountered in the known structures, could be avoided by using slow wave structures of traveling wave type.


. In this paper we introduce f -rough weighted statistical limit set and f -weighted statistical cluster points set which are natural generalizations of rough statistical limit set and f -statistical cluster points set of sequence respectively. Some new examples are constructed to ensure the deviation of basic results. So both the sets don't follow the nature of usual extension properties which will be discussed here.


This report directly compares caregiving activities of mothers and nonfamilial care‐givers in the context of the Israeli kibbutz, where responsibilities for chiidrearing are typically shared according to formalized kibbutz social norms. For comparison, the study also included full‐time homemaker mothers from typical, urban nuclear families in Israel. The frequency and sequence of common caregiving activities showed similarities and differences among mothers and caregivers, as did patterns of associations among mother and caregiver behaviors and patterns of interactions between mothers and infants as well as between caregivers and infants. Infants themselves differed in exploration and vocalization with different caregivers. Caregiving activities, interactions, and developmental processes provided by kibbutz mothers and professional nonfamilial caregivers are discussed in terms of a "division of caregiving responsibilities," and they are compared with caregiving provided by homemaker mothers.


The No.1 BF at SISG resumed its high-production rate rapidly in the maiden operation after repairing by taking the following measures: careful planning and preparation for the operation,well following the maiden operation procedures of blast furnace,properly controlling the distribution of gas flow,and employing steep air injection to decrease silicon content.


High cycle fatigue (HCF) behaviors of the bimodal size lamellar O phase microstructures of Ti–22Al–25Nb alloy are studied at the potential service temperatures. The axially‐tensile‐compressing HCF strength limits of this alloy are measured to be 470 MPa at 650 °C and 400 MPa at 700 °C via the small sampling up‐and‐down method (SSUDM). The ratio of the maximum stress and the minimum stress (R = σmax/σmin) is −1 while the run out fatigue life is 107 cycles. It is found that transformation B2 → β + O occurs in the mode of cellular precipitations at initial B2 grain boundaries during the HCF tests. The transformation results in inhomogeneous regions in the microstructure. In those transformed regions, the acicular O phases are clearly coarser than in the normal regions. The HCF micro cracks preferentially initiate in the inhomogeneous regions along the slip lines in β phase or at the O/β boundaries perpendicular to the slip lines. The cleavage fracture characteristic of the bimodal size lamellar O phase microstructure of this Ti2AlNb‐based alloy has significant effect on the HCF crack propagation. Flat fracture surface will form on cleavage planes in B2 grains. Moreover, different directions of cleavage planes in different B2 grains will deflect the straight HCF crack at B2 grain boundaries. It is the B2 matrix rather than the lamellar O phase in the bimodal size lamellar O phase microstructure that provides the crack‐tip shielding effect. B2 grain boundaries are also beneficial to increase the inhibition of HCF crack propagation.


Evaluation of the physico-chemical properties of Malachra capitata root, stem and leaf samples indicate that the dry weight and acid soluble ash was found maximum in stem sample, while water soluble ash value was higher in root and stem samples; the ash properties show variation among the dry powdered samples of Malachra capitata. Water insoluble ash value, acid insoluble ash, sulphated ash and residue on ignition were shows maximum value in the leaf sample; the fluorescent properties of the Malachra capitata dry powdered samples (root, stem and leaf) emit various colours under day light and UV-light conditions and the extractive value of different parts of Malachra capitata stem and leaf showed the highest extractive value in water while in root it was more in methanol extract. Life Sciences


—In this paper, based upon the Gom-pertz model of population growth, we have reformulated the stochastic Lotka-Volterra Competition model with N interacting species. By means of Ito's lemma and some simple changes of variables, we have succeeded in deriving the N -dimensional joint probability density function of the stochastic modified multi-species Lotka-Volterra model in closed form. With this joint probability density function, an analytical likelihood function can be constructed readily, and thus model-fitting procedures become feasible and efficient.


The utility model discloses a battery protection circuit for an electric vehicle. The battery protection circuit comprises a main circuit, a voltage detection module, a battery loop current detection module, a battery temperature detection module, an electric vehicle inertia detection module, an electromagnetic relay switch module and a single-chip microcomputer control module. The detection modules detect a battery cell voltage, a battery loop current and a battery temperature, and transmit signals to the single-chip microcomputer control module for the analysis of variation tendency of the current, the voltage and the temperature. With the battery protection circuit, not only the detection of the external voltage and current of the electric vehicle battery, and the cut-off protection under abnormal states, such as states of over-voltage, over-current, under-voltage, etc. are realized, but also the prediction of the output characteristics of the battery, and the detection and protection of charging abnormity of the battery are realized; besides, vehicle inertia detection is performed, so that when the electric vehicle fails with the battery intact , a power supply circuit is enabled to be cut off in time to prevent the burning and explosion of the battery.


It has been shown that a class of drugs for diabetes control, the thiazolidinediones, leads to increased apoptosis in osteocytes. Considering the correlations between osteocytes and cementocytes, the aim of this study was to demonstrate the apoptosis on cementocytes of wild type mice that had received rosiglitazone. Twenty-four male C57BL/6 mice were divided into 3 groups: 1 control, which received only the vehicle administration via oral for 1 week (PBS+DMSO 10%) and other two groups, which received 10 mg/kg of RGZ+PBS+DMSO 10% for 1 or 2 weeks, respectively. Upon completion of the time courses, mice were killed by CO2 and the mandibles were dissected and subjected to routine histotechnical processing. The sections were analyzed through transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) and 4',6- diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining of nuclear morphology (α=0.05). Control group showed significantly lower apoptotic cells/total cells ratio when compared to the experimental groups with TUNEL and DAPI methods (p=0.010 and 0.004, respectively). TUNEL method showed approximately 20% TUNEL-positive cementocytes in control and 26% in both experimental groups, while the DAPI technique showed approximately 32% of DAPI-positive cementocytes in control and 38% to 40% in experimental groups. The rosiglitazone systemic administration can lead to cementocytes apoptosis in mice. Despite the differences between the experimental and control groups, the death of cementocytes occurred as a physiological phenomenon, important in understanding the role of these cells in periodontal tissue.


Population cages with Drosophila melanogaster and D. simulans in competition were maintained under high predation pressure. The cages were established under three different conditions. One group of cages was started with a large population (150 adults) of each species. In these cages D. melanogaster was quickly depressed to low levels by D. simulans. A second group of cages was established with a small population (15 adults) of each species. These cages showed a great deal of diversity of both population size and dominant species. The third group of cages was established by mixing the populations of the cages of the second group and redistributing this mixed population among separate cages. In this last group of cages, the D. simulans population resembled those observed in the cages started with large populations, but the D. melanogaster populations had changed. Instead of being depressed to extinction, D. melanogaster was observed to maintain an apparently stable population. Interspecific competition bet...


The author of the paper makes an attempt to identify the problems of development of the institution of public service in the Russian Federation on the example of the prosecution service. The purpose of the paper is to study the features of service relations in the prosecutor's office for their compliance with modern trends in the development of the state and society that determine the need for fundamentally new personal and professional characteristics of prosecutors. The paper highlights the imperfection of the current administrative and legal regulation of individual elements of service relations. Based on the results of the study, the author puts forward proposals for the introduction of qualitatively different approaches to the selection, training, retraining and employment of the personnel aimed at improving professional qualifications and competitiveness of staff members, their compliance with high moral and ethical requirements for this category of employees, ensuring openness and transparency of prosecution offices egencies and their employees. In particular, it is proposed to enshrine in law qualification requirements for all positions in the prosecutor's office and for candidates applying for such positions, develop and implement a system of key performance indicators for the service and rating of candidates for the personnel reserve, a national database of applicants for managerial positions, intensify work on holding patriotic events, strengthen the status and significance of the procedure of taking the oath. In order to democratize public-service relations in the prosecutor's office, the paper focuses on the need to revise a number of legislative provisions.


Modern computing devices such as smartphones and personal computers provide multiple network interfaces such as WiFi and 3G/LTE cellular network. Multipath TCP (MPTCP) is a commonly proposed method of aggregating the bandwidth of these interfaces. However, how MPTCP affects the quality of experience of existing services, especially to variances in bandwidth and latency among the individual paths over the wireless networks is not well-known. In this work, we explore the quality of service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE) of adaptive video streaming using MPTCP over wireless network given its vast popularity and significant bandwidth demand. Unlike prior works, we conduct systematic measurements over three mobile network operators, AT&T, Verizon Wireless (VzW), and T-Mobile, along with WiFi. Based on extensive measurements, we show that MPTCP can improve the QoS and QoE of video streaming only if the network interfaces have the roughly similar bandwidth and latency. Our studies also show that MPTCP can perform worse than TCP in case of extreme differences between the network interfaces.


1 The purpose of this multi-study investigation was to examine observation as an intervention 2 for the manipulation of individual collective efficacy beliefs. Study one compared the effects 3 of positive, neutral and negative video footage of practice trials from an obstacle course task 4 on collective efficacy beliefs in assigned groups. The content of the observation intervention 5 (i.e., positive, neutral, and negative video footage) significantly influenced the direction of 6 change in collective efficacy (p < .05). Study two assessed the influence of content 7 familiarity (own team/sport v unfamiliar team/sport) on individual collective efficacy 8 perceptions when observing positive footage of competitive basketball performance. 9 Collective efficacy significantly increased for both the familiar and unfamiliar conditions 10 post-intervention, with the largest increase for the familiar condition (p < .05). The studies 11 support the use of observation as an intervention to enhance individual perceptions of 12 collective efficacy in group-based activities. The findings suggest that observations of any 13 group displaying positive group characteristics are likely to increase collective efficacy 14 beliefs, however, observation of one's own team leads to the greatest increases. 15


Postpartum Hemorrhage ( PPH) is a leading cause of maternal morbidity and mortality relating to pregnancy especially in less developed and developing countries, as it accounts for about 44,000 - 60,000 death yearly. This study is designed to extract the risk factor(s) associated with PPH. A  logistic regression analysis was used to develop a model for predicting the likelihood of a patient (mother) developing PPH, significant risk factors associated with PPH were identified and suggestions on ways of reducing  PPH occurrence were made. Risk factors such as Type of delivery, professionals who handled the delivery and maternal age were found to be significantly associated with PPH (p 0.05 and hence not significant.


Sympathetic interaction between transformers would lead to mal-operation of transformer differential protection. Based on the fact that the waveform of internal fault current has the sinusoidal features while the sympathetic inrush has not, a weighted mathematical morphological method is proposed for the identification of sympathetic inrush. In the simulation studies, the identification results have proved that the proposed method can identify sympathetic inrush even when the current transformer is seriously saturated, where as the traditional second harmonic restrain method may misjudge the differential current as an internal fault current. Moreover, with the data window of half a cycle, the proposed method can reduce the processing time and achieve a better performance.


Objective: To estimate the level of complementary feeding pattern (CFP) among children aged between 6 to 23 months and to identify the determinants in individual, household and community level in Bangladesh. Methods: From secondary data of Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey (BDHS) 2011 was used in this study. A total of 2,373 children aged between 6 to 23 months were selected. To estimate the level of CFP dimension index and the "score of the index" was used as dependent variables. Statistical analyses and tests were guided by the nature of the variables. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to identify the significant determinants of CFP. Results: The overall level of CFP among children aged between 6 to 23 months was low. More than 95% of the children experienced inadequate (92.7%) CFP level. The mean levels of CFP as well as percentages of no or inadequate (94.1%) CFP were significantly lower among children of the youngest age group (06 months), uneducated parents, unemployed/laborer fathers, socio-economically poor families, food insecure families and rural areas. However, only few variables remained significant for adequate CFP in the multivariable logistic regression analysis. Adequate CFP was significantly lower among the children aged between 6 to 23 months (OR: 0.22, 95% CI: 0.10-0.47), children of illiterate fathers (OR: 0.32, 95% CI: 0.11-0.95) and socio-economically middle-class families (OR: 0.28, 95% CI: 0.09-0.86) as compared to their reference categories. Conclusion: Inappropriate and inadequate CFP may cause serious health hazards among children of 6 to 23 months in Bangladesh. It is ethical to take effective interventions and strategies by the government and other concerned stakeholders to improve the overall situation of CFP in Bangladesh.


This article is an assessment of the changes that are occurring in the Comunidad Valenciana's system of social services: 1) contextualization in a historic axis that concludes the current search for a "retrograde consensus" for dismantling the public system and social resistance movements; 2) The displacement of the containment of social crisis from the social services to the system of social security; 3) The institutional transformations produced by budgetary procedures; 4) The "boomerang effect" on Social Services produced by the implementation of the Law "Promoting Personal Autonomy and support for Dependency Situations"; and finally 5) an axis that analyzes the process which transforms the concept of decentralization and introduces deconcentration: a "structural" change in design responsibilities and interdependencies.


This paper models daily returns, volatility, and 'news' in the parallel foreign exchange market of a small developing economy, namely the Dominican Republic, during the period 1989–2001. The research adopts a non-linear specification that encompasses several members of the GARCH family. A leftward tilted news impact reveals that positive shocks (depreciations) have a higher impact than negative ones (appreciations) on the volatility of exchange rate returns. This result has significant implications for policymakers. For instance, it could help in the assessment of the potential effect of central bank interventions in the foreign exchange rate market.


This paper presents the results of a pressure surge analysis for a 30 km (19 mile) long sewage pipeline in Sacramento, California. Several surge control strategies (e.g., spring-loaded sewage vacuum relief valves, pressurized surge tanks, flywheels, and open surge towers) were developed to eliminate the possibility of vapor pressure conditions within the sewage pipeline following a loss of power to the pump stations. Each surge control strategy was compared on the basis of constructability and cost. The installation of spring-loaded sewage vacuum relief valves on the pipeline were selected as the preferred surge control strategy. In addition to their ease of installation, sewage vacuum relief valves saved approximately $22 million when compared to the costs associated with installing and operating pressurized surge tanks at the pump stations, which was the second most preferred surge control strategy for the sewage pipeline.


Each year in Georgia, approximately 5 million Bobwhite quail are produced and marketed for use at hunting preserves and plantations. In addition to many plantations in adjoining southern states, approximately 175 public-use hunting preserves are permitted annually in Georgia by the Department of Natural Resources. The total number of hunting preserves and plantations in the southern region provides an excellent market for Bobwhite quail producers. With recent droughts, volatile market prices and other problems associated with agronomic crops in Georgia, Bobwhite quail production has received attention as an alternative enterprise for many farming operations.


Significant changes have been occurring in the demographic structure of students experiencing within the last few decades. These changes have affected their gender, family, and especially the age structure. Gender changes of students is affected by more than just two factors: the emergence of new professions; migration, due to which more and more men are involved in the system of higher education. Changes in the demographic situation also refer to the students' families, which is being manifested by high popularity of the same-sex marriage. There is a process of «maturation» of students. We have reasons to mark out three generations of students. The first involves the students under 30, the second includes more mature students of older age, and the third includes people of pre-retirement and retirement age. The object of the study was the community of older learners. The purpose of our paper was to identify how demographic factors influence structural changes of the students' community. We assumed that «students' maturation» and acquisition by older learners characteristics of the particular group will force the system of higher education to become more flexible and elaborate new principles of interaction with the students and new educational technologies.


PATRIOT Script is an application that executes Patriot batch runs. This document provides a description of this application and how to run it. The basic user access tool PATRIOT Client allows a user to generate several most reliable paths in one run: one can specify a list of sources (origins) and targets, and PATRIOT finds for a given architecture option and one choice of device all the most reliable paths between all these sources and targets. The main objective of PATRIOT Script is to provide a tool for making automatic PATRIOT runs not only for a prespecified set of sources and targets, but also for a pre-specified set of devices and various architecture options. Running PATRIOT Script requires two basic steps that will be explained in more detail next: (1) Pre-preparation of an excel spreadsheet with the information about the desired runs; and (2) Opening the PATRIOT Script application, reading in the excel-spreadsheet and running the desired scenarios. Sections 1 and 2 explain each of these steps, and section 3 describes the output of the PATRIOT Script. For a detail description of the models and data behind PATRIOT and a detailed explanation of all the architecture options see [1]. Formore » instructions of how to run PATRIOT Client see [2].« less


The paper analyses the inevitability of virtual tour group in tourism planning, claims that virtual tour group is the evolution trend of China's tourism planning, then discusses the main obstacles and crucial factors to success in implementation of virtual strategies.


A thermodynamic formalism describing the efficiency of information learning is proposed, which is applicable for stochastic thermodynamic systems with multiple internal degree of freedom. The learning rate, entropy production rate, and entropy flow from the system to the environment under coarse-grained dynamics are derived. The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality has been applied to demonstrate the lower bound on the entropy production rate of an internal state. The inequality of entropy production rate is tighter than the Clausius inequality, leading to the derivative of the upper bound on the efficiency of learning. The results are verified in cellular networks with information processes.


THE BASIS OF THE ROLLER TESTING RIG IS THAT RAILS ARE REPLACED BY ROLLERS. THE PART OF THE RIG WHICH CORRESPONDS TO THE RAIL CONSISTS OF TWO ROLLERS AND IS CHARACTERISED AS A BASIC CELL. THE RIG HAS MADE IT POSSIBLE TO STUDY THE ROLLING BEHAVIOUR OF A TRACK TYPE UNIT WITH A SINGLE SET OF WHEELS, THE BEHAVIOUR OF BOGIES AND VEHICLES, AND THE EFFECT OF INDIVIDUAL COMPONENTS SUCH AS SUSPENSION, DAMPERS AND MASS DISTRIBUTIONS ON ROLLING BEHAVIOUR. MOREOVER THE EFFECT OF VARIABLE RAIL DATA ON ROLLING BEHAVIOUR IS TO BE EXAMINED. IN THE PROGRAMME TO RESEARCH THE LIMITS OF THE WHEEL/RAIL SYSTEM, A COMPREHENSIVE THEORETICAL SIMULATION MODEL OF THE VEHICLE/ROAD SYSTEM IS TO BE PRODUCED. THE TEST RIG SHOULD ENABLE THE EFFECT OF TRACK PLAY, RAIL GRADIENT, ACCURACY OF RAIL POSITION AND ANY DESIRED COMBINATION OF THESE FACTORS AND THE RAIL PROFILE TO BE EXAMINED. IT ALSO ENABLES DATA TO BE OBTAINED ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW VEHICLE COMPONENTS OR COMPLETE RAIL VEHICLES. THE INTERACTION OF THEORETICAL WORK, TESTS ON THE RIG AND TESTS ON SECTIONS IS DESCRIBED IN DETAIL. FINALLY ONGOING AND PLANNED TESTS ARE OUTLINED.


Not only because of prohibition of excessive prestressing of the concrete members but also development of consistent theory of structural concrete members, partial prestressing should be considered with importance. To find out the deformation characteristics for concrete members, an experiment of tension members are performed as the most basic test. Considering different bond characteristics of reinforcing bars and grouted post-tensioned prestressing strands, 3 direct tensile specimens with varying prestressing extent with similar nominal strength were carried out in this study. The test results are compared with the analytical results by EC2 and MC90 which have relevant provisons on the partial prestressing members. The measured values of mean strain of steel show good agreement with design values, while reinforced concrete shows better agreement than partial prestressed concrete member. However, the calculated values of crack width show overestimation of the design provisions, where the difference is mainly caused by mean crack spacing. Further, the comparison between measured crack width and calculated one from measured mean strain and crack spacing is made, which shows large scatter for partial prestressed concrete member while reasonable agreement for reinforced conncrete member. It shows the assumption of first order model of bond is questionable for prestressing steel encased in sheath by grouting concrete. Further research is needed for crack behaviour of the bonded, post-tensioned prestressed concrete members.


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The general goal of this study was to look at impact of strategic anticipating money related execution of business banks in Kenya; an instance of Kenya business bank. This investigation was guided by key target which was; to decide if strategic arranging impacts learning and development of Commercial bank of Kenya. The contemplate was an instance of Kenya Business Bank, and it particularly focused on the strategic arranging of its managing an account division. From this objective, it was hypothesized that there is no significant relationship between competitive advantage and strategic business planning. The results of this study showed a positive statistically significant influence as competitive advantage explained on strategic business planning. The results of this study showed a positive statistically significant influence as business environment explained lesson strategic business planning. The research was not exhaustive and the researcher recommended the following areas for further research. Challenges of implementation of strategic planning practices. From the research it was evident that employees were not fully involved in strategic planning, so there may be challenges when implementing the strategy. Further research should therefore be done to find out how strategic planning is implemented and the challenges that banks face when implementing the strategy. key words:- Strategic Planning, Financial Performance, Kenya Commercial Bank