Researches in the field of the labour market has allowed the identification of certain specific mechanisms for employment promotion; at present, on the Romanian labour market we find passive policies, concretised in financial aids paid to the unemployed, along with active policies, constituting the most efficient social protection activity addressed to the unemployed (they aim at counterbalancing the inefficiencies determined by the granting of financial allowances, help population to find a job by actions of information, professional training and contributing to the encouragement of the labour force mobility). The paper refers to some theoretical considerations related to the influence factors of employment stimulation, as well as to the unemployment – correlated adequate measures synapse. The applied research comprises the analysis of statistic documents; the method used is the case study, i.e. the activity of employment stimulation carried on by the County Agency for Employment Caras-Severin, in the period 2004-2012. The conclusions highlight the impact of the activity of the institutions involved in the system of social protection and security within the labour market.


Spatial variation of negative resistivity has been studied through computer simulation by considering experimental bias current and the device capacitance of single drift (n+ np+) silicon IMPATT diode operating in the X band. From the total device negative resistivity and reactivity, device negative conductance, susceptance and the diode series resistance have been calculated. Computed values of series resistance nearly fit with the experimental results. The present analysis also gives an idea about the load conductance of the circuit in the small signal condition.


High accuracy air density measurements are needed in calibrations of OIML E1 and E2 class mass standards, becoming more vital when calibrating a secondary stainless steel mass standard from a primary platinum-iridium (Pt-Ir) standard due to the large difference in volume between them. Current state of the art air density measurements using the conventional CIPM-81/91 method can measure air density to about 1 part in 10 to the power of 4 (k = 1). However, gravimetric air density artefacts offer the opportunity to measure moist air density to about 1 part in 10 to the power of 5 (k = 1), which would reduce the uncertainty on stainless steel – Pt-Ir calibrations by up to 50%. The moist air density measurements made using gravimetric artefacts presented in this report have demonstrated excellent agreement with the CIPM-81/91 method and offer an improved uncertainty of 1.1 parts in 10 to the power of 5 (k = 1).


Recent research on soil dynamics and machine foundations has revealed that there are correct design principles for vibrating foundations which can be used without dependence on empirical methods.The most important discovery has been that any ground can oscillate at its own particular natural frequency, and machines and ground quite often vibrate in resonance. Stress waves, some with similar properties to light and sound waves, are of considerable and often of paramount importance, for their interaction can lead to structural failure.The authors have considered only steadily running machines and have merely indicated the mathematics, the designer being advised to consult the proper engineering text-books for a fuller account. They hope that the problem has not been over-simplified and that their conclusions may form a sound basis for future design practice.


Purpose – Much has been written about the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the need to assure its importance through formal regulation and reporting requirements. Little reflection has taken place on the role of the market in achieving effective regulation and behaviour changes in this area through an analysis of stock values. This study seeks to fill that gap by presenting an analysis of CSR influences on stock values facilitated by the regulatory methods of the stock markets.Design/methodology/approach – The 90 shares of the US Dow Jones Sustainability Index were chosen as the sample of firms with "value‐generating CSR". The performance of these individual shares was analysed by comparing their return with the relevant indexes, with the respective industry and on a risk‐adjusted basis, for the six years and the ten years ended 30 June 2006. Several tests were carried out to see whether or not the sample contained a value/growth/core/large cap bias.Findings – The results were impre...


The authors define the kBrocard point of a convex Ngon,and establish a class of the inequalities involving lengthes L(k) of kBrocard lines.


The results of a study of the dynamic loading and subsequent fragmentation of a wide variety of brittle materials using a torsional Kolsky bar apparatus are presented. In the experiments, solid cylinders of various materials were loaded in torsion at shear strain rates in the range 10/sup 2/ to 10/sup 3/s/sup -1/. The energy required to fragment the specimen was determined for each test. In addition, the fragments resulting from each test were collected and analyzed by various techniques to determine their mass and size distributions. The results of our tests indicate a correlation between fragment distribution parameters and material properties, which is in agreement with an energy based analysis of fragmentation.


In the conventional analysis for laminated composite materials, the composite interface is always assumed to be rigidly bonded. However, due to the low shear modulus and poor bonding, the composite interface can be nonrigid. Based on the previously developed inter laminar shear stress continuity theory and a linear shear slip law, this study presents a so-called interlayer shear slip theory to investigate the effect of the interfacial bonding on the behavior of cross-ply laminates. Closed-form solutions for the cases of the cylindrical bending of long composite strips with [0/0] and [0/90] sequences are obtained. Numerical results for the laminates with different length-to-thickness ratios are presented. They reveal that the interlayer shear slip theory is valid for cross-ply laminates with rigid and nonrigid interfaces. It is also concluded from this study that at some special locations, namely, singular points, the transverse shear stress or in-plane normal stress remains insensitive to the condition of interfacial bonding.


Direction of arrival (DOA) estimation algorithms based on eigen-decomposition are very sensitive to sensor gain/phase response errors, then it is important to calibrate the errors. We consider the unique planar equispaced array (PEA) and propose a blind calibration algorithm that can estimate 2-D DOAs of incident signals and sensor gain/phase responses jointly, without the need for any reference source. They are estimated separately by using an iterative approach but without the need for good initial guesses. The ambiguities in the estimations of 2-D DOAs and sensor gain/phase responses are also analyzed. We show that the ambiguities can be remedied by assuming two sensor phase responses of the array have been previously calibrated. The behavior of the proposed method is illustrated through simulation experiments. The simulation results show that the convergent rate is fast and the convergent precision is high.


An interlacing property of the line spectrum pair frequency (LSF) is proved on the basis of the logarithmic spectral difference function defined by the autoregressive models of successive orders. The property that the LSFs of an order are interlaced with those of lower order, provides a tight bound on the formant frequency region.


Determination of mango fruit maturity is the main factor in mango fruit quality. Mango ripeness is still identified based on direct vision (visual). However, the weakness of visual vision is the way the operator sorts which is subjective so that it is less consistent in the classification process. This study aims to calculate the maturity level of mangoes using the Fuzzy C-Means classification method. The image sample uses the image of mango skin. Through the image of the mango skin, feature extraction is carried out to get the RGB value. The RGB values are then used to get the HSI and YCbCr values using the color space transformation. Classification of Golek Mango fruit maturity levels into 3 levels, ripe, half ripe, and unripe, using Fuzzy C-Means with HSI and YCbCr parameters obtained using feature extraction. The accuracy results of the classification of mango fruit maturity level with Fuzzy C-Means obtained an accuracy of 88.33%.


This study is on the effect of institutional support on the health and the well-being of vulnerable children in some selected orphanages in Ido local government of Ibadan Oyo State, Nigeria. For some decades now, the increase in the number of vulnerable children has been on an alarming rate. Some factors for the increase are natural disasters, war, religion and political crisis, HIV/AIDS and poverty. A descriptive survey research design was used for this research. The sample used for the study is one hundred and twenty (120) vulnerable children purposively selected from orphanges in Ido Local Government Ibadan. A structured survey instrument was used in collecting data from a sample of 120 respondents. Data were analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The findings revealed there is a significant effect of institutional support on psychological well-being of vulnerable children in Ido Local Government (f (8, 111 )= 23.276, p<0.05). Also there is a significant effect of institutional support on social well-being of vulnerable children in Ido Local Government, Ibadan (f (8, 111)= 14.288, p<0.05). Finally, there is a significant effect of institutional support on the health of vulnerable children in Ido Local Government, Ibadan  (f (8, 111)= 33.824, p<0.05). This study confirmed that institutional support had significantly improved psychosocial well being of vulnerable children. It is, therefore, recommended that the Government should partner with the private individuals and other international bodies to see to the capacity building in the area of social protection, programme planning and implementation as well as for the general care of the vulnerable children.


An embodiment provides a method for alarm suppression and the optical network device according to the present invention, by determining the wavelength of all the received signals LOS alarm corresponding; determining the wavelength of the fault signal includes the wavelength of all the received signals LOS alarm corresponding to, and if yes, to suppress the LOS alarm, if so, then the suppression LOS alarm, to solve the problem regarding the same fault downstream optical network device repeatedly reported LOS alarm to a certain extent.


Experiments on unsteady infiltration, through rain-impact soil crusts on an albaqualf, employed 70 mm diameter cylinders surrounded by airsplash-exchange areas. Significant throttling effects resulted. Circular, fabricated flaws of varying diameter caused strong bypassing of the crust by infiltrating water. As the percentage of total area flawed rose from 1% to 10%, infiltration rates rose from near those of fully-crusted values to those of uncrusted values, further areal increases bringing little change. This result suggested three-dimensional water movement beneath flaws. Sheltering by plant covers produced flaws in the rain-impact soil crust. However, sheltered areas often acted as traps for incoming, finely comminuted, airsplash debris which, once deposited, could also throttle infiltration. Moreover, the compacted layer, the main throttling agent of the rain-impact soil crust, often extended laterally into sheltered areas. Wheat-straw stems, less than a drop diameter apart, were effective flaw preservers, even under heavy airsplash, inhibiting formation of the compacted layer and stimulating removal of airsplash deposits. Grass covers, dense enough to intercept all raindrops, were also highly effective against infiltration throttling because intercepted raindrops were converted, via the double-edge effect, into non-erosive, fine, impact droplets which could not disturb the soil.


Hypertension is a risk factor of cardiovascular disease. Endothelin-1 is a strong vasoconstrictor and related with angiotensin II in the arteria pressure regulation. This regulation influence in pathologic condition such as hypertension, congestive heart failure and cronic renal failure. The aim of this study is to compare the levels of endothelin-1 between the patient of hypertension stage 1; stage 2 and no hypertension person. The design of this study is cross sectional. Subjects were resident in the territory of District Health Center 2 Mlati, Sleman, DIY, men and women, aged 18-75 years. Hypertension Stage 1, Stage 2 and no hypertension groups were determined according to Joint National Committee (JNC) 7 criteria. Research subjects used randomly with stratification, fasting at least 8 hours before blood samples were taken for examination to measure the level of endothelin-1. There are 43 patients with hypertension stage 1, 54 patients with hypertension stage 2 and 54 non hypertension person. The difference of endothelin-1 level among groups were analyzed by Anova. This research shows that the increasing levels of endothelin-1 is in a row with increasing of blood pressure in hypertension stage 1 and 2; and the increasing more clear and meaningful in the 50-75 year age of group.


The paper aims at analyzing various DC fault detection and protection techniques. In the proposed model of a DC ship system, various AC-DC, DC-DC and DC-AC converters are used. Different converters, controlled or uncontrolled, six or twelve pulse converters are used. The paper aims at modeling and simulation of different converters in Matlab Simulink and the RTDS environment to analyze DC fault effect on the DC side and its propagation from the DC to the AC side. Comparisons are made between the simulations in the real time and Simulink environments. By comparing the results of the different converters, a strategy for developing fault identify and removal for DC shipboard distribution systems will be determined. The effect of fault resistance on fault parameters is also highlighted in the paper.


The purpose of the study was to find out the effect of aerobic and anaerobic training on forced vital capacity. To achieve this purpose, forty five female students from Annamalai University, Tamilnadu, were randomly selected and divided into three groups of fifteen each. This study consisted of two experimental variables aerobic training and anaerobic training. The allotment of groups was done at random, thus Group-I aerobic training, Group-II anaerobic training for three days per week for twelve weeks, Group-III acted as control. All the subjects were tested prior to and after the experimentation period. The collected data were statistically treated by using ANCOVA, and 0.05 level was fixed as a test the significance. When the obtained 'F' ratio was significant, Scheffe's post hoc test was used to find out the significant paired mean differences. The results of the study revealed that there was a significant difference among aerobic training and anaerobic training groups as compared to control group on forced vital capacity. And also it was found that there was a significant improvement on forced vital capacity due to aerobic training group as compared anaerobic training group.


Due to the rapid adoption of cellular and webbased communication, modern cultures are becoming less reliant on fixed environments, moving more frequently for work and play. In this paper, ongoing research by the author will be presented along with design work done by third-year architecture students at The Pennsylvania State University (Spring, 2008). The projects shown explore branding and the use of global shipping standards to promote opensource, mobile prefabrications capable of urban installations. This dwelling, termed a Jump Box, explores the possibilities for combining vertical structures, dwellings, and RVs. Examples will be shown of theoretical solutions from Apple, BET (Black Entertainment Television), Burberry, Leatherman, Puma, and Under Armour.


Given a suitably parameterised family of equilibrium models and a higher level criterion by which to measure an equilibrium state, mathematical programs with equilibrium constraints (MPECs) provide a framework for selecting good or even optimal parameters. An example is toll design in traffic networks, which attempts to reduce total travel time by choosing which arcs to toll and what toll levels to impose. Here, a Wardrop equilibrium describes the traffic response to each toll design. Communication networks also have a deep literature on equilibrium flows that suggest some MPECs. We focus on mathematical programs with complementarity constraints (MPCCs), a subclass of MPECs for which the lower level equilibrium system can be formulated as a complementarity problem. An MPCC can be immediately written as a nonlinear program (NLP) but, regrettably, the constraints of the latter lack some stability properties that are considered essential in analysing and solving NLPs. A related issue is that MPECs and MPCCs are generally nonconvex, which is a consequence of the upper level objective clashing with users' objectives in the lower level equilibrium program. While global optimisation of MPECs and MPCCs is in a state of infancy, the last decade of research has paved the way for finding local solutions of MPCCs via standard NLP techniques if not off-theshelf NLP software. We give a selective review of these advances. Special attention is paid to Lagrangian techniques which have become essential in describing what "stationary" means for MPCCs, and how to solve MPCCs computationally.


Gestational age on the birth certificate is the most common source of population-based gestational age data that informs public health policy and practice in the US. Last menstrual period is one of the oldest methods of gestational age estimation and has been on the US Standard Certificate of Live Birth since 1968. The 'clinical estimate of gestation', added to the standard certificate in 1989 to address missing or erroneous last menstrual period data, was replaced by the 'obstetric estimate of gestation' on the 2003 revision, which specifically precludes neonatal assessments. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these measures, potential research implications and challenges accompanying the transition to the obstetric estimate.


We will describe measurements of the beam in the Fermilab Booster during the first five milliseconds. Most of the particle losses in the Booster are over after the first few milliseconds. At high intensity of 4 x 10{sup 12} the transmission is 75%. Such high beam loss can be a limiting factor for future high repetition rate operation of the Booster. The evidence, although indirect, suggests that the losses are the result of incoherent space-charge effects at low energy.


Abstract – Information whether political, social, or economic creates reactions in the stock market leading to fluctuations. Such information could be internally emanating within the country or externally caused by events outside the country. Our study assessed the Covid-19 100thday information effect on health firms' stock returns in Nigeria. We adopt an event study approach and utilize stock prices of the firms covering 131 days to estimate abnormal returns within the event day. The study result shows a positive abnormal return for health firms in Covid-19 100th day. Considering the significance of the return, the t-test shows a value of 1.58 which is less than 1.96. This means that investors reacted positively to the information of Covid-19 100th day, but this positive reaction was insignificant. We, therefore, conclude that Covid-19 information into the Nigerian Health industry is a boost to activities in the sector with a positive returns. This calls for adequate attention to be given to the sector by relevant authorities to utilize the best possible opportunity presented by the health challenge.


By using a simplified model, it was shown that because of the relativistic variation of the electron mass, there may be hysteresis (damping) behavior for mode-converted electrostatic plasma waves near the critical layer. This erect will increase the resonant absorption of obliquely incident p-polarized light in plasmas. This increase is due to the larger size of the large amplitude region of the plasma waves. When the light intensity exceeds the threshold intensity for the occurrence of hysteresis, the absorption coefficients would be much larger than the results from the linear calculations


Different approaches to the synthesis of enantiomerically pure (1R,2S)- and (1S,2R)-1-amino-2-phenylcyclohexanecarboxylic acids (trans-c6Phe) through a racemic pathway followed by semi-preparative HPLC of a racemic precursor have been studied. The complete diastereoselectivity of the Strecker reaction and the high efficiency of the subsequent transformations into the amino acid favour this method in comparison to the Diels−Alder route. The relative stereochemistry of the amino acid and its precursors has been unambiguously assigned. The preparation of the final enantiomerically pure amino acids and their corresponding N-Boc derivatives was carried out by HPLC resolution of one of the intermediates using a cellulose-derived chiral stationary phase. (© Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2004)


Ami-dong Crematorium in Busan was established as one of the public facilities in 1929(the period of Japanese Occupation). It is the originator of Busan Yeongnak-Park(永樂公園), the funeral facilities of Busan municipality. The crematorium of Busan region was accepted at an earlier stage inside Japanese Concession in accordance with the opening a port. As Ami-dong Crematorium was constructed as a public facilities, the precedent has been maintained so far, providing a background equipped with the leading public corporation facilities in Busan area. This study was based on the expansion construction document founded by National Archives in Korea. Above all things, this research revealed the establishment and change of Busan Ami-dong Crematorium as the historical point for the formation process of recent public funeral facilities.


The Neutral Beam Test Facility (NBTF), Padua, Italy, is a facility devoted to the test and optimization of the Neutral Beam (NB) Injector for ITER. A full-scale prototype, called MITICA, is under construction at NBTF and has to demonstrate all the design parameters for ITER, among which a stable beam operation at the energy of 1 MeV. To test and optimize the stable high voltage holding of 1 MV, a dedicated campaign is foreseen for 2022–2023, utilizing realistic mockups of MITICA ion source and accelerator. During the campaign, the mockup of the ion source will be biased with an increasing potential up to −1 MV and the discharge toward the grounded electrodes will be observed. In this way, possible weak points of the geometry will be detected and possibly mitigated. As diagnostics for arc discharge position and intensity, a system of cameras was designed, including visible cameras, high-speed camera, and IR camera, placed on the available viewports of beam source vessel, and pointed toward the areas with higher probability of electric discharge. The results of this optical diagnostics will be then compared with the electric measurements of the discharges taken on a dedicated ground electrode, for a cross check. This article describes the motivations of the choice of the type and number of diagnostic cameras adopted during the experiments, the optimization of their layout, which includes also the use of mirrors, and the design of mechanical supports.


Entrepreneurship contributes to the achievement o f development goals by encouraging economic growth and improving the standards of living of the people. The Government o f Kenya has established various funds in an effort to enhance equity among socially disadvantaged groups like women , the disabled and unemployed youth. Despite these efforts, the uptake of these funds remains low due to unfavourable lending conditions, leaving a financing gap. This study employed a non-experimental research design, conducted in four randomly selected administrative sub-counties in Nakuru County. Fro m an approximated sampling frame o f 650 MSEs, a rando m sample o f 248 was selected. A structured questionnaire, with a Cronbach Alpha coefficient of 0 .72, was ad ministered to the sample. Results o f a linearized logarithmic regression showed that credit amount and challenges faced in accessing credit accounted for close to 14.0% (R 2 = 0.139) of per formance o f the MSEs in Nakuru County. The study concluded that credit access had a positive significant effect on the performance o f MSEs. Policy implication was that the Central bank, in collaboration with commercial banks, should ease borrowing terms to increase MSEs" access to credit. Also, the government should offer incentives to lending institutions so that they can lower the


An analysis was carried out on milk, fat and protein yields, fat and protein content and lactation length for 79,396 cows from 864 herds in the recording year 1984/85. The effect of herd was absorbed in the analysis which included cow grade, month of calving and lactation number as fixed effects. Mean (? s.e.) lactation figures were: 5424 ? 142 kg milk, 191 ? 5.5 kg fat, 176 ? 4.9 kg protein, 35.1 ? 0.36 g/kg fat, 32.5 ? 0.10 g/kg protein and 282 ? 4.4 days lactation length. When included in a preliminary analysis, regressions on day of calving were -7.6 kg day1, -0.27 kg day-1, 0.24 kg day1, for milk, fat and protein yield, respectively, and -0.4 kg day1 in lactation length. Day of calving had no effect on fat or protein content. A total of 20,862 records representing 327 sires with 10 or more progeny were analysed to give estimates of genetic parameters; a second set of genetic parameters were estimated from 5279 heifer lactations progeny of 98 sires. Heritability estimates (? s.e.) were 0.30 ? 0.026, 0.33 ? 0.028, 0.32 ? 0.027, for milk, fat and protein yields, 0.43 ? 0.033, 0.58 ? 0.042 and 0.19 + 0.018 for fat and protein content and lactation length, respectively. Genetic and phenotypic correlations together with least squares estimates of production traits for grade of cow, month of calving and lactation number are also presented.


This paper conducts a comparative analysis of two alternative approaches to freight generation modeling: ordinary least square (OLS) and cross classification. OLS models were estimated to identify a functional relationship between the number of freight deliveries per day and a set of company attributes used as independent variables. Cross-classification techniques aim at identifying a classification structure that provides a good representation of the freight generation process. To that effect, multiple classification analysis was used to identify groups of independent variables explaining freight generation, which provided the basis for constructing cross-classification tables. In both cases freight generation is explained as a function of company attributes. The model estimation process used data obtained from commercial establishments located in Manhattan and Brooklyn, New York. More than 190 different variables were tested as predictors for the number of deliveries received or carried per day. Six linear regression models found to be statistically significant and conceptually valid are discussed. Establishment attributes such as industry segment, commodity type, facility type, total sales, and number of employees were found to be statistically significant. The OLS models indicated that industry segment and commodity type are strong predictors of freight generation. It was also noticed that many of these variables played a significant role when interacting with economic variables such as total sales or employment. Twelve different groups of independent variables predicting freight generation were found to be significant as part of the cross-classification models. Results indicate that as in the case of regression models, commodity type, industry segment, and employment are strong predictors for freight generation.


Long intergenic noncoding RNAs (lincRNAs) are a series of novel transcribed regions expressed in cancers that may represent candidate biomarkers for lung squamous cell carcinoma (LSqCC) treatment. In this study, we evaluated the lincRNA profile in LSqCC patients and screened valuable lincRNAs for diagnosis and prognosis.


The aim of the presented research is to apply the method of punch deformation for the simulation of textile systems behaviour in serve conditions and on the basis of it create original method and find new criteria for shape stability evaluation. The research was done with the help of three devices of punch loading originally created at Kaunas University of Technology (Lithuania), which were attached to the standard tensile testing machine. Creep tests were performed by a special device, clamping radius of which was R=56.5 mm. Creep process was controlled up to the stabilisation of shells height, i.e. after t=48 h. Tests were carried out in wet and dry states of the specimen. Two different types of textile systems (I+K and K+I) composed of two layers were investigated (where K – outer material; I – interlining).


The liquidus curves of the Bi-Cu, Bi-Ag, and Bi-Au systems were re- determined by means of a sampling method. The Bi-Ag curve,was somewhat shifted from the previously determined location. The eutectic was found at 262.5 {+-} 0.2{degrees}C at 4.95 {+-} 0.05 atom % silver (2.62 wt %). The Bi-Cu liquidus agreed fairly well with Kleppa's data over the range investigated by him. The discrepancies in the literature in regard to higher copper concentrations were resolved. The.eutectic was determined to be at 270.6 {+-} 0.1{degrees} C at 0.46 atom % copper(0.14 wt % ). The Bi-Au liquidus did not agree well with the few experimental data available. Below the peritectic temperature, a completely new liquidus curve was established. The peritectic.was found to be at 371 {+-} 2{degrees} C by.means.of differential thermal analysis. The composition is 23.1 atom % gold (24.1 wt %). The eutectic is at 13.4 {+-} 0.2 atom % gold (14.1 wt %) at.241.5 {+-} 0.5{degrees}C.


This paper reports upon a study which attempted to ascertain, by analyzing publishers' adoption lists, who is using computerized business simulations. Tabular data is presented and the adopters are analyzed with respect to a number of characteristics, such as type and location of adopter. The analysis of the results indicates that the majority of adopters on the lists are United States educational institutions. Within this group analysis reveals that adopters tend to be 4-year rather than 2-year educational institutions, public rather than private and large rather than small. Some limitations of the study are presented along with suggestions for further research.


We analyse long‐term (1900–2017) rainfall data in the southern part of the winter rainfall region of southern Africa to understand the spatial patterns of recent and long‐term trends and contextualize the 2015–2017 rainfall anomalies which led to the so‐called "Day Zero" drought in Cape Town. Our analyses reveal cohesive spatial patterns and seasonal differences in rainfall trends across a range of timescales. These suggest that rainfall is subject to regional driving mechanisms, predominantly manifested at the 20–50 year timescale, but the influence of these mechanisms is modified by subregional and seasonally specific processes, frequently resulting in trends of different magnitudes and even sign. Trend patterns are consistent with multidecadal‐scale quasi‐periodicity, with only the most recent phase (post‐1981 drying) corresponding to the expected regional response to hemispheric processes linked to anthropogenic climate change. The spatial and seasonal patterns of drying observed since 1981 alone do not explain the pattern of 2015–2017 drought anomalies, although they share a strong autumn and weak mid‐winter signal. These results have implications to the interpretation of drought in the context of observed rainfall trends. Furthermore, we identify directions for improvement of the conceptual understanding of drivers of rainfall variability and the role of anthropogenic climate change in the winter rainfall region of South Africa.


Most studies of the history of Persian prose fiction begin with the apparently accepted myth that the Iranian novel and short story were imported to Iran from the West. Yahya Ariyanpur inAz Saba" ta" Nima" (From Saba to Nima) goes so far as to say that ''Iranian novelists were tempted to write novels only because they had read and enjoyed foreign novels. . .'' Similarly, Hassan Mirabedini in Sad Sa" l Da" sta" n nevisi-ye Ira" n (One Hundred Years of Fiction in Iran) explains the beginning of the modern Persian novel and short story in part through resorting to the same idea. To illustrate the deficiencies of this myth, I shall concentrate on Mirabedini's book, which I believe is one of the most comprehensive reference books on the topic of modern Persian fiction. In the introduction to his book, Mirabedini describes the socio-political situation of the Constitutional Revolution period (1905^1911) and, following the tradition of many other critics and authors such as Jamalzadeh and Ariyanpur, argues that the revolutionary movement necessitated a literary revolution (Da" sta" n nevisi, 17). He then implies that this necessity was fulfilled only because Iranian intellectuals found suitable models in European literature. As proof, he merely quotes a few literary and political figures such as Akhundzadeh (Da" sta" n nevisi, 18), Maraghe'i (26), Ariyanpur (30), and Jamalzadeh (77), who consider the Persian novel=as well as Persian literary criticism=a direct imitation of European traditions. The unconditional acceptance of this idea ignores many important points which are pivotal in assessing these claims. Statements made by these political^literary figures were uttered during a period when Iran was going through a socio-political revolution (The Constitutional Revolution) and the social confrontations involved had absorbed most of the intellectual energy of the society. This led to the domination of a political discourse which imposed many of its elements on other social fields, including art and literature. Therefore, the above statements should be evaluated in this context. Furthermore, it should be noted that this political discourse was located in a revolutionary framework within


One of the interventions in tuberculosis (TB) control is to screen people at high risk for TB with chest radiography [1]. Chest radiography in TB screening programmes are usually read by a radiographer or a pulmonologist specialised in TB. In recent years, computer-aided detection (CAD) software has become available for automated reading of CXRs and identifying people with presumptive TB [2, 3] and for TB screening [4, 5]. A systematic review published in 2016 concluded that the evidence of diagnostic accuracy of CAD was limited by the small number of studies, co-authored by owners of the only CAD software on the market at that time, and not generalisable to low TB and HIV settings [6]. The application of CAD software for TB detection has to our knowledge not been assessed in Europe. Automated reading of chest radiographs in a tuberculosis screening programme can reduce human reading to less than 20% of the chest radiographs, avoiding unnecessary TB examinations while maintaining high sensitivity https://bit.ly/3kCFWmq


The reactivity of CCl 4 with pyrite was investigated by measuring the CCl 4 transformation rates and products under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Under all reaction conditions, >90% of the CCl 4 was transformed within 12-36 days in the presence of 1.2-1.4 m 2 /L pyrite at 25 o C. A zero-order dependence on the CCl 4 concentration supports a surface-controlled reaction mechanism wherein the rate of reaction depends on the absorbed CCl 4 concentration


A novel Active Flap System (AFS) has been developed at DTU Wind Energy, as a result of a 3-year R&D project following almost 10 years of innovative research in this field. The full scale AFS comprises an active deformable trailing edge has been tested at the unique rotating test facility at the Risø Campus of DTU Wind Energy in Denmark. The design and instrumentation of the wing section and the AFS are described. The general description and objectives of the rotating test rig at the Risø campus of DTU are presented, along with an overview of sensors on the setup and the test cases. The post-processing of data is discussed and results of steady, flap step and azimuth control flap cases are presented. Keywords—morphing, adaptive, flap, smart blade, wind turbine.


This paper describes the process of psychodynamic psychotherapy with an infant and his family, during a developmental phase in which the infant's mental organization was in transition from the level of interactions to representations. The treatment of a 23-month-old boy suffering from a severe sleeping and eating disorder was initiated in a parent – child psychotherapeutic setting. The sleep disorder was a consequence of separation anxiety. Additionally, phobic avoidance of new oral experiences led to an eating disorder. These symptoms had developed in the context of dysregulation of the triadic family relationships (mother – father – children), which tended to split into two-plus-one relationships. After one year, the setting was changed to alternating individual and family sessions. Due to his developing symbolic capacities, the boy was able to express his inner concerns and his internalised affect-laden experiences through play and actions. His internal world could now be addressed by interpretations. ...


Objective
To observe the expression of death receptors 3 (DR3) isoforms and DR3 mRNA variants in tissues of human's breast cancer.

Methods
Twenty women with breast cancer admitted to our hospital for surgery from January to December 2018 were selected in our study. All patients were in clinical stage Ⅱ-Ⅲ, with a median age of 51 years. Intraoperatively, fresh cancer tissue was taken for cryopreservation. Then the expression of DR3 molecule isoforms in different pathological types of cancer tissues was measured by Western blotting. The expression of DR3 mRNA was determined by fluorescence real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Adjacent normal tissues near breast tumor served as a control.

Results
Western blotting results showed that DR3 isoforms were expressed in all observation groups and control groups. The expression of DR3 isoformswere different amongfour pathological types of breast cancer, and it were significantly reduced in Three Positive Types cancer compared with the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). However the expression of DR3 isoformsshowed no significant differencein triple negative breast cancer compared with the adjacent normal tissues. There was a significant difference in the expression of DR3 mRNA variants between the observation group and the control group. The expression of variant 1, 4, 7, especially variant 7 in the control group was significantly higher than that in the observation group (1.004 691, 42.884 210, 2.092 605+ E7; 0.014 625, 0.705 964, 0.010 859), however variants 2, 4, 12 were hardly expressed in the control group. In the observation group, the expression of variant 4 was the highest, followed by variant 12, while the expression of variant 7 was very weak (0.705 964, 0.052 545, 0.010 859).

Conclusion
The expression of DR3 mRNA variants was significantly different between breast cancer tissues and theadjacent normal tissues. DR3 maybe plays an important role in the occurrence and development of breast cancer.

Key words:
Breast cancer; Death receptor 3; Isoforms


The causation of cirrhosis of the liver, its course and diagnosis, have been the subject of several interesting recent discussions, and certain new facts seem to have been arrived at by a closer investigation of the phenomena. In alcoholic cirrhosis, as Sir Dyce Duckworth1 remarks, the malady is far from being a local one, for simultaneous changes affect almost every tissue of the body, and with the appearance of cirrhosis a gradual cachexia supervenes. If, indeed, the liver is not the weak point of the 1 Practitioner, 1897, 235.


The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships among internal branding, brand orientation, brand identification, brand commitment, and employees' intention to stay. The paper also examines the mediating roles played by brand identification and brand commitment on the relationship between brand orientation and retention.,Data were collected from 702 business-to-business salespeople working in 15 cement and building materials companies in Thailand. Hypotheses were tested and analyzed by means of a confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and a bootstrapping procedure.,The results revealed that establishing an internal brand has a positive effect on brand orientation, which has a positive impact on brand attitudes, namely brand commitment and brand identification. Such attitudes in turn are positively related to employee retention. The direct relationship between brand orientation and intention to stay was found to be partially mediated by brand identification.,The current research took place among customer-facing staff (e.g. salespeople), which can be extended to back-end employees in order to better reflect the overall internal branding effort.,Organizations may improve employee retention through an internal branding process, and internalization of brand attitudes. Such efforts are not only the job of brand managers, but a shared responsibility of all employees at all levels. The collaboration between brand management and human resource (HR) interventions is crucial to successfully implement these efforts.,This study extends the existing knowledge by investigating the relationships that have rarely been discussed in the HR management and employee retention literatures. It shows the importance of a brand-building mechanism at the cultural level, and the influential effect of brand attitudes on the turnover of salespeople.


The invention relates to an excreta detection device for digestive system department, which belongs to the technical field of medical apparatus and instruments. According to the scheme of the invention, the excreta detection device comprises a detection device main body, a chemical analysis device and a distribution box, wherein a display is arranged on the detection device main body, a touch-control liquid crystal display screen is arranged on the display, the front side of the display is provided with an operation panel, a keyboard is arranged on the operation panel, the front side of the keyboard is provided with a function key, the right side of the function key is provided with a mode switching key, the right side of the mode switching key is provided with an external data transmission hole, the right side of the operation panel is provided with a control device port, a control motor is arranged in the control device port, a control rod is arranged on the control motor, a handle knob is arranged on the control rod, and the right side of the display is provided with a mechanical device exit. The excreta detection device for digestive system department is fully functional, convenient to use, and flexible to operate when used for detecting excreta, and thus can reduce burden on medical workers.


PERNICIOUS ANAEMIA. A DISCUSSION on pernicious anaemia tcolo place at the meeting of tlle Medical Society of London on Novenmber 13tlh. The President, Lord DAWSON OF PENN, was in the clhair. Dr. P. N. PANTON, 'in opening the discussion, said that he, with two colleagues, had succeeded in collecting 117 cases from the records of the London Hospital over a period of eleven years, and all but sixtcen of these cases lhad been followed up. Pernicious anaemia was an uncommon, but not a


Nanocomposite materials present interesting mechanical properties due to the high surface area to volume ratio of the dispersed reinforcement. The vibration weldability of these new composites has not yet been reported inthe open literature. This research examines the effect of the vibration welding parameters of weld pressure and target meltdown on the strength of butt welds made from two polypropylene-based nanocomposites. The results of unreinforced polypropylene are shown for reference. The nanocomposites were made by melt compounding two levels of organoclay with polypropylene. All welded assemblies were assessed by tensile testing. The results show that 3-6% of organoclay causes a significant decrease in weld strength.


the tales with remarkable realism, including the colorful language, and with an irresistible vitality. Her style is both vigorous and relaxed, salty and poetic. This book is full of laughter and fond remembrances. Its gusto and enthusiasms are contagious; to borrow a phrase from James Thurber, it embraces life instead of straight-arming it. The people "carried with them a built-in readi ness to handle whoever and whatever was going to happen." These are people that John Steinbeck would have liked. The reader will like them too.


Abstract As an important part of the pantograph and catenary system, the pantograph slide receives increasing attention from investigators, mainly focused on the interfacial bonding and characteristics, electrical conductivity, and friction and wear characteristics under current-carrying circumstances. In the article, hybrid reinforcements of titanium silicon carbide (Ti3SiC2) and nano-alumina (nano-Al2O3) particles pretreated by electroless plating process were firstly blended with copper powders and then prepressed and vacuum hot pressed to fabricate the hybrid reinforced copper-matrix pantographs (HRCPs). The relative density, mechanical and electrical properties of Ti3SiC2/Al2O3 HRCPs were calculated and measured. The tribological performance of the HRCPs reinforced with 1 wt%~5 wt% of alumina particles and 20 wt%~40 wt% of Ti3SiC2 reinforcements was also analyzed.


Significant changes have occurred in the mix of students attending tertiary institutions in New Zealand over the last decade. The number of adult students involved in this level of study, in particular, have increased substantially. While there is growing overseas interest in the needs and behaviour of this student market little research appeared to have been conducted of this group of New Zealand students. This study therefore examined adult students in the Canterbury region to establish why they elected to return to study and the problems that they confronted. Lesley Williams is a Lecturer in Marketing in the Department of Economics and Marketing, Lincoln University, Canterbury. Johnathan Wells is a Lincoln University graduate, and currently International Marketing Coordinator, CoalCorp NZ Ltd.


In order to study tolerance to shattering, 5 spring rapeseed genotypes including Option 500, Sarigol, RGS003, Hyola 401 and Hyola 60 were evaluated in a split plot experiment with 4 replications during two years. The main plots were included 4 harvesting dates including H 1 : harvesting at seed color changing of ninety percentage of pods in main stem (physiological maturity), H 2 : harvesting 10 days after the first harvesting of each genotype, H 3 : harvesting 20 days after the first harvesting of each genotype and H 4 : harvesting 30 days after the first harvesting of each genotype. Sub plots were included 5 studied genotypes. The differences of seed yield of each genotype in different harvesting dates with compare to its seed yield in first harvesting date (H 1 -H i ) were considered as indices of shattering. Combined analysis of variance based on split-plot experiment revealed significant mean squares for genotypes, harvesting dates and harvesting × genotypes interaction effects and also year and its interaction effects to each studied factors. In this study, Hyola 401 and Sarigol had 3994 and 3267 kg.ha, respectively. Significant mean square of genotype × harvesting dates revealed different ranks of shattering of genotypes in different harvesting dates. Amount of seed yield shattering was increased in third and fourth harvesting dates. On the basis of shattering index, Hyola-60 and Hyola 401 were more tolerant to shattering and Sarigol as well as Option 500 were more susceptible to shattering.


This fat (848 pp.) and attractively printed book combines die functions of a book editor's style guide, a grammar, a usage guide, and at least with respect to problematic Australian slang and borrowings from Aboriginal words a dictionary. (The one area where it does not venture is pronunciation.) Most usage guides simply list a selection of ancient shibboleths, occasionally spiced up by the prejudices of dieir compiler. This guide's main innovation is its use of information derived from the recendy-completed Australian Corpus of English (ACE), a computer database containing a million words of published Australian English from a range of sources, ranging from the academic, through the literary, to the journalistic. This information makes it possible for Peters to describe what writers actually do in particular formal and informal contexts, rather than to prescribe what they ought to do in the form of rigid rules. She also derives information from other recent guides based on databases that are written from a similar descriptive perspective.


PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable positioning of a body part to be tested stably for a long time by providing a case with a closure valve type suction port for sucking a gas from the case where the gas is supplied to fill the case with small particles up to a particle failing capacity making a specified sub part of the maximum expansion capacity thereof. SOLUTION: A support aid 11 has numerous synthetic substance pellets 15 existing in a case as laminate of an airtight fine porous PTFE. The case 13 is filled with the synthetic substance pellets 15 to a small part of the maximum expansion capacity of the case 13 and a gas is sucked from the case 13 or fed into the case 13 using a suction port 17 of the case 13. A closure valve provided inside the suction port 17 prevents the gas from flowing through the suction port 17 during the closing of the closure valve in a state where the support aid 1 is exhausted. After an arm or a hand 19 of a patient to be inspected is placed, an exhaustion is performed and the synthetic substance pellets 15 are packed into the case 13 almost to the full capacity. The case 13 is exhausted almost to the particle filling capacity and acts as compressed package. COPYRIGHT: (C)1996,JPO


Gameplay videos contain rich information about how players interact with the game and how the game responds. Sharing gameplay videos on social media platforms, such as Reddit, has become a common practice for many players. Often, players will share game-play videos that showcase video game bugs. Such gameplay videos are software artifacts that can be utilized for game testing, as they provide insight for bug analysis. Although large repositories of gameplay videos exist, parsing and mining them in an effective and structured fashion has still remained a big challenge. In this paper, we propose a search method that accepts any English text query as input to retrieve relevant videos from large repositories of gameplay videos. Our approach does not rely on any external information (such as video metadata); it works solely based on the content of the video. By leveraging the zero-shot transfer capabilities of the Contrastive Language-Image Pre-Training (CLIP) model, our approach does not require any data labeling or training. To evaluate our approach, we present the GamePhysics dataset consisting of 26,954 videos from 1,873 games, that were collected from the GamePhysics section on the Reddit website. Our approach shows promising results in our extensive analysis of simple queries, compound queries, and bug queries, indicating that our approach is useful for object and event detection in gameplay videos. An example application of our approach is as a gameplay video search engine to aid in reproducing video game bugs. Please visit the following link for the code and the data: https://asgaardlab.github.io/CLIPxGamePhysics/


For complex microprocessors, micro-architectural analysis and precise path analysis constitute the most expensive steps in worst-case execution time (WCET) analysis. We introduce a parameterized compiler optimization to reduce analysis time and memory consumption during the two steps. The optimization makes use of a synchronization instruction, which flushes queues in the memory subsystem. By injecting this instruction at selected program points, analysis uncertainty about the state of the pipeline and the memory subsystem can be drastically reduced, at the cost of an increase in execution time. A parameter allows the user to control the trade-off between increased analysis efficiency and decreased worst-case performance. We have developed a prototype implementation of the optimization for the PowerPC instruction set architecture, and evaluate it using a version of AbsInt's WCET analyzer aiT for the PowerPC 7448, a high-performance microprocessor used in safety-critical real-time systems. On a set of Mälardalen benchmarks, we observe an analysis speedup of around 635% at the cost of an increase in the WCET bound of 6%. Moreover, under a traditional ILP-based path analysis, the WCET bound is decreased by 5% while the analysis is sped up by 350%.


This Research in Progress abstract describes the concept of financial distress, estimates of financially distressed workers in the U.S., development and use of a scale to measure financial distress, and implications for employers, financial educators, and practitioners. Financial distress can be defined as a reaction, such as mental or physical discomfort, to stress about one's state of general financial well being. In particular, this includes perceptions about one's capacity to manage economic resources (such as income and savings), pay bills, repay debts, and provide for the needs and wants of life. Financial distress is a subjective phenomenon. Two individuals in the same financial situation may have different levels of perceived financial distress. Distress about financial matters is increasingly prevalent in society, with half or more adults reporting moderate to high levels of stress and worry about money matters in survey after survey (American Express National Survey, 2003; Credit Card Study, 2004; 2nd American Express, 2004; 2 Edition, 2004; The MetLife Study of Employee Benefit Trends, 2003).


The NIST fiber probe is a Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) probing system intended for diameter and form measurement of micro features and small holes. This Moore M48 CMM at NIST can measure holes down to 500 μm diameter with the Movamatic probe; the NIST fiber probe extends the range to less than 100 μm diameter. Over the last several years, we have performed numerous precision dimensional and form measurements using this probe mounted on the M48 CMM. We have measured size (diameter and thickness) and form (circularity, sphericity, straightness, flatness, conicity) on artifacts such as fiber optic ferrules, fuel injector nozzle holes, knife-edge and cylindrical apertures, ruby spheres, gage blocks, micro gears, and other micro-features on meso-scale components. We briefly describe the probing system and then present a few of the different applications we have studied, highlighting the challenges they represent and the measurement advances our probing system has offered. More importantly, these applications serve to highlight a new calibration service – the dimensional measurement of micro-features at ultra-low forces that NIST can now offer industry.


In an open letter to Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Sophie Windsor argues why the NHS cost recovery scheme is dangerous for women accessing maternity care


Objective To assess the exaqmination values of high-frequency color doppler ultrasonography for congenital abnomal development of vertebral artery.Methods A total of 77 cases with vertebrobasilar insufficiency were examined using high-frequency ultrasonography.The vascular morphological changes and hemodynimics of the vertebral artery were observed.Results In the cases with doubtful vertebrobasilar insufficiency,the rate of congenital abnomal development of vertebral artery is 31%,the rate of congenital stenosis of vertebral artery in one side is 27%,the entry position of vertebral artery into the foramen of transverse process of cervical vertebrae are abnormal in 3 cases,vertebral artery was C bends in 1case.Conclusion High-frequency ultrasonography can display Extracranial vertebral artery clearly,so congenital abnomal development of vertebral artery can be estimate by high-frequency ultrasonography.The color Doppler ultrasonography may become a general examination method for the vertigo.


Huntington´s disease (HD) is a pathological condition that can be studied in mice by the administration of quinolinic acid (QUIN), an agonist of the N‐methyl‐d‐aspartate receptor (NMDAR) that induces NMDAR‐mediated cytotoxicity and neuroinflammation. Mast cells (MCs) participate in numerous inflammatory processes through the release of important amounts of histamine (HA). In this study, we aimed to characterize the participation of MCs and HA in the establishment of neural and oxidative damage in the QUIN‐induced model of HD. C57BL6/J mice (WT), MC‐deficient c‐KitW‐sh/W‐sh (Wsh) mice and Wsh mice reconstituted by intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) injection of 5 × 105 bone marrow‐derived mast cells (BMMCs), or i.c.v. administered with HA (5 µg) were used. All groups of animals were intrastriatally injected with 1 µL QUIN (30 nmol/µL) and 3 days later, apomorphine‐induced circling behavior, striatal GABA levels and the number of Fluoro‐Jade positive cells, as indicators of neuronal damage, were determined. Also, lipid peroxidation (LP) and reactive oxygen species production (ROS), as markers of oxidative damage, were analyzed. Wsh mice showed less QUIN‐induced neuronal and oxidative damage than WT and Wsh‐MC reconstituted animals. Histamine administration restored the QUIN‐induced neuronal and oxidative damage in the non‐reconstituted Wsh mice to levels equivalent or superior to those observed in WT mice. Our results demonstrate that MCs and HA participate in the neuronal and oxidative damages observed in mice subjected to the QUIN ‐induced model of Huntington's disease.


This paper presents a novel transient analysis of the universal motors taking into account the time-varying brush-contact resistance and mechanical loss. The transient current, torque and speed during the starting process are computed by solving the electromagnetic, circuit and dynamic motion equations, simultaneously. The computed performances have been validated by tests in a 500-W, 2-pole, 50 Hz, 100 V, 8.0 A, 19200 min−1 universal motor.


OBJECTIVE To explore the comprehensive treatment measures for the elderly patients with hip fractures so as to provide theoretical bases for the prevention and control of perioperative infections,improvement of prognosis and life quality.METHODS The comprehensive treatment measures for 167 elderly patients with hip fractures during the perioperative period were retrospectively analyzed,the incidence of the perioperative infections was observed,and the effects of the treatment measures on prevention of infections were explored.RESULTS The effective follow-up has been conducted for 136 cases,the majority spent through a peaceful perioperative period,only 13 cases of relevant complications occurred,including 6(4.4%)cases of pulmonary infections,and no case died in the study;the daily living abilities of the patients have been basically recovered,with the therapeutic effect satisfactory;the excellent good rate of Harris core was 90.0%.CONCLUSIONTo conduct preoperative assessment and preparation for the eldely patients with hip fracture,choose appropriate surgery approach,prevent the complication,and carry out preoperative and postoperative early functional rehabilitation exercise can ensure the perioperative safety and postoperative therapeutic effect,prevent the perioperative infections,and improve the life quality of the elderly patients.


In the framework of the large extra dimensions (LED) model, we investigate the effects induced by the Kaluza-Klein (KK) gravitons up to the QCD next-to-leading order (NLO) on the $W$-pair production followed by a subsequential $W$-decay at the CERN LHC. We depict the regions in the $\mathcal{L}-M_{S}$ parameter space where the LED effect can and cannot be observed from the analyses of the $pp \to W^+W^- + X$ and $pp \to W^+W^- \to W^{\pm}l^{\mp}\stackrel{(-)}{\nu} + X$ processes. We find that the ability of probing the LED effects can be improved by taking the cutoffs for the invariant mass of $W$-pair and the transverse momentum of the final lepton. Our results demonstrate that the NLO QCD corrections to observables are significant, and do not show any improvement for the renormalization/factorization scale uncertainty on the QCD NLO corrected cross section, because the LO result underestimates the scale dependence.


Objectives: research and discuss publications on support for grieving parents who have lost a newborn child. Materials and method: The CINAHL, Embassy, PubMed, PsycINFO and Scopus databases were searched for a critical review of literature. The focus was on articles published between January 2010 and July 2017. The collected data were subject to a thematic analysis. Results: Three thematic categories were created: 1) support and assistance for parents who experience the loss of a newborn child; 2) the feelings of parents in situations involving death and grief; and 3) participation of the parents in their child's treatment and prognosis. Several needs were highlighted; namely, better preparation on the part of medical professionals, adequate communication, formation of a memory of the newborn, the parental bond in the process of death. Conclusions: Cultural diversity is evident in the mourning experience and should be taken into account when caring for the mourner. The continuity of the bond with family members after the death / dying process involving a newborn can help to prevent disorders during grief. Reflecting on guidelines, policies and expanded curricular training can make a difference for the health team in terms of assistance during grief and also when it comes to mental health.


Occupational therapy services are provided for habilitation, rehabilitation, and the promotion of health and wellness to those who have or are at risk for developing an illness, injury, disease, disorder, condition, impairment, disability, activity limitation, or participation restriction. Occupational therapy addresses the physical, cognitive, psychosocial, sensory–perceptual, and other aspects of performance in a variety of contexts and environments to support engagement in occupations that affect physical and mental health, well-being, and quality of life (American Occupational Therapy Association [AOTA], 2011). The overarching goal of occupational therapy is to support people in participation in life through engagement in occupation for "habilitation, rehabilitation, and promotion of health and wellness for clients with disabilityand non–disability-related needs" (AOTA, 2014b, p. S1).


This challenging analysis of the gift, which begins with Marcel Mauss's seminal work and continues with Lacan, Derrida, Deleuze, Heidegger, Nancy, and the like, has a misleading title. Had it been called 'Philosophy of the Gift', or otherwise conjured up French abstract theorization of the gift, the uninitiated reader might be better prepared for the meat inside. How then does this intelligent thinker justify the term 'politics'? Moore concludes as a philosopher: 'The respective sites of philosophy and politics are perhaps the same after all, kept apart only perspectivally, by the minimal difference between virtual and actual, aneconomy and economy, the gift and its sacrifice' (p. 197). I shall be flat-footed and predictable in pointing out one gap, even in such a philosophical account: namely, that the considerable contribution to the 'politics of the gift' made by feminist writers or other female theorists is accorded only passing mention. Sixty-nine works are cited often enough to be given an acronym — not one by a woman. It is true that the Introduction opens with Nicole Kidman (playing Grace, 'a beautiful young runaway', in Dogville), but maybe that confirms my point. I shall risk what may be mocked as political correctness by pointing out that the theorization of the gift (with some roots in colonial ethnography) could also be related to issues around ethnocentrism and racial politics. In the penultimate paragraph of the book, for instance, there is an opportunity to do this as Moore cites Derrida's response to the question of whether the Australian government should apologize for persecution of aboriginal peoples. However, Moore's commentary on this immediately veers into the philosophical question 'what is it to apologize?', swerving away again from the context of the political question in hand. For me, the beauty of Derrida is his ability to keep the decisive compromises of politics (including in their most urgent contemporary guise) ethically in play with his rigorous analysis of what the words mean, but this requires keeping difference between politics and philosophy. It would be fairer, however, to Moore's complex treatment of twentieth-century continental philosophical (and anti-philosophical) history, and its intersection with psychoanalysis and social science, to focus on what it does do. This is to position 'the French philosophical moment' as something which has at least one origin in Mauss, and which is 'defined in relation to Bataille's response to Kojève', known for his 'anthropologization' of Hegel (p. 194). At least one origin, as Moore is too sophisticated to be trapped in a single genealogy, and Nietzsche (sometimes via Foucault) is critical to his account. For Moore then, the excess of the gift 'ungrounds' essence, 'revealing politics and economics as responses to the absence of foundational metaphysical structures' (p. 197). Politics must then affirm ungrounding: 'a politics of the gift is both more and less than revolutionary' (ibid.), breaking free of the circle and yet showing the impossibility of beginning again.


[Objective]To explore the status of lumbosacral algesia and the main causes in Tank Crew of the army,provide scientific basis for treatment and prevention.[Methods]Investigation on lumbosacral algesia was conducted in Tank Crew and Non-tank Crew in the army,the causes were analyzed with unconditioned Logistic regression analysis.[Results]1 782 army forces were investigated,the morbidity of lumbosacral algesia was 30.58%.Of the 932 Tank Crew,the morbidity accounted for 37.45% while it accounted for 23.06% in 850 Non-tank crew(P0.01).The morbidity of different type of the disease in Tank crew was higher than that in Non-tank Crew(P0.01 or P0.05).After unconditioned regression analysis,the related main causes of the disease in Tank Crew were as follows in turn: heavy training,uncomfortable posture,more training during night,heavy vibration,poor environment in the Tank,while they are heavy training,long service duration in the army and injury in Non-tank crew.[Conclusion]The morbidity of lumbosacral algesia was higher in Tank Crew,it was related to occupational injury.


Digital audio watermarking still remains one of the most interesting techniques for multimedia copyright protection. In this paper, bat inspired optimization approach is exploited to design an optimal audio watermarking algorithm for copyright protection. First, the original audio signal is decomposed by the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) into low and high frequency parts. The low frequency part is then segmented into several 2-D blocks, and QR factorization is subsequently applied to each one. The watermark, which is a binary logo, is embedded by quantizing the coefficients of resulting R matrices. Since the quantization step is signal-dependent, bat algorithm optimization is used to find a suitable one for each audio signal. This allows to obtain the highest possible robustness without losing the transparency of the watermark. Simulation tests show that the proposed method not only maintains high quality of the audio signal, but also is robust against common signal processing manipulations such as noise addition, re-sampling, filtering and MPEG 1 Layer III compression.


According to recent research related to space charge in polymer dielectrics, the internal space charge behavior is an important factor in the evaluation of insulation. In the case of a high-voltage oil-impregnated dc cable, polypropylene laminated paper (PPLP) is used as an insulation material, however, its space charge characteristics have not been observed in detail. We measured the transient phenomena of space charge accumulation in a PPLP sample using the pulsed electroacoustic method. In this paper, we describe the space charge behavior in PPLP samples impregnated with several types of silicone oil. The results suggested that space charge accumulates at the interface between the electrode and polypropylene under dc voltage application, and decreases exponentially. The time constant depends on the type of insulation oil. Thus it is revealed that the space charge observation provides usuful information in the evaluation of dc characteristics of PPLP insulation systems.


Abstract The surface plasmon technique is used to measure the local refractive indices in the quasi-nematic layers of a cholesteric liquid crystal with an accuracy of about 10−4. The local linear birefringence reflecting the orientational order of molecules in the quasi-nematic layers shows a temperature dependence characteristic of a nematic and in good agreement with the theory of nematic ordering.


A study of several natural Ag-amalgams has been undertaken together with a reinvestigation of the phase relations in the synthetic Ag-Hg system. The genesis of the natural amalgams is discussed by comparison with the demercuration process observed on the synthetic products. The detected compositional ranges of the identified phases: α (mercurian silver), β (schachnerite) and γ (moschellandsbergite) are in agreement with crystal-chemical considerations


Now it is increasing the necessity for micropayment system according to activation for trade on internet. Because of the reason, it is requesting safety for personal information as well as for payment cost. But current micropayment systems cannot support anonymity or have heavy overheads in payment process. This paper suggests a micropayment system to keep anonymity of users and also to keep payment cost safe. The proposed system is to use blind signature anonymous ID which is combined nonce with an encryption of personal information. It also keeps payment cost of users by reconfirmation payment cost and product from certification and increases the computational efficiency by using secret key and session key instead of public key.


The Blacksburg Electronic Village is a project to link an entire town in Southwestern Virginia with a 21st centry telecommunications infrastructure. This infrastructure is being deployed to bring a useful set of information services and interactive communications facilities into the daily activities of citizens and businesses


Introduction: Defibrillation of ventricular fibrillation (VF) and pulseless ventricular tachycardia (VT) is an effective treatment for patients with cardiac arrest (CA). Identifying the rhythm duri...


ABSTRACT Spatially targeted policies have been a crucial component of the development strategy pursued by the Chinese government. This paper provides novel empirical evidence in the debate on place-based policy by testing whether the presence of economic development zones is associated with higher values of industrial output and their impact is heterogeneous across territories in the counties/districts in Guangdong province during the period 2000–14. The results show that the level of industrial output is positively correlated with the presence of economic development zones and offer support to the idea that place-based policies have heterogeneous effects across territories.


In this work, Malaysia's natural sugarcane bagasse fibres and Portland cement were used as precursors for composites, with styrene butadiene (SBR) latex as a binding agent. The matrix was Portland cement whilst the filler and reinforcement was bagasse fillers. Various compositions of SBR ratio; ranging between 3-18 %wt were prepared for evaluation. These samples were then evaluated for mechanical property measurement as well as morphology. It was found that the composites with 6 % of SBR content showed the highest stiffness. Composites with the highest stiffness and elastic modulus value were then subjected to radiations between 10-70 kGy. The electron beam radiation technique at different doses was carried out in order to modify the microstructure of the bagasse/cement composites. It was noted that the elastic modulus was greatly improved by 26.5% with 30 kGy radiation dose. Analyses by the scanning electron microscopy on the microstructures of the irradiated composites indicated that the voids within the matrices were greatly reduced, which therefore increases the mechanical properties of the composites, as a whole, than those of unirradiated ones.


The Indo-Pacific (IP), the region covering the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Region, is concurrently shaping the posture of international affairs. As a littoral state and critical partner in the IP construct, Malaysia's responses to this stance are inevitable due to its geostrategic location in the construct. This article argues that Malaysia's posture vis-à-vis the IP as that of a 'neutralist'. The discussion is divided into two sections. The first section describes weaknesses in the quadrilateral security dialogues (Quad) centrality using the features of regional security complex theory (RSCT). The second section discusses Malaysia's neutrality vis-à-vis the IP construct. The article argues that, while opportunities can be seen in terms of strengthening the existing relations and tapping into new areas of partnership, Malaysia may face challenges in the form of marginalisation and entrapment. Apprehension is still prominent; therefore, the concept is in a 'wait and see' mode. The article concludes that the catalyst is found by drawing a more effective vision of the concept and is the key, particularly if the IP aspires to attract and appeal to Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia.


Cause-related marketing (CRM) has become an integral part of companies' corporate communications programmes. Under the umbrella of CRM many companies choose to build partnerships specifically with education establishments. These activities are called In-School Marketing (ISM). This study explores parents' attitudes and behaviours towards ISM as key stakeholders in the process. It focuses specifically on how they assess the value of schemes, whether they have concerns about commercial involvement in their schools and how the diffusion of ISM has affected their expectations. The study found that parents were generally positive about commercial involvement in their schools. However, their attitudes and expectations of ISM were evolving and their evaluative criteria had become more complex. The key factors affecting their evaluation were the company's ethical reputation, perceived motivation for the involvement and approach taken. They were less concerned about detrimental effects on their children but this was mediated by their trust in the head teacher as gatekeeper. Key implications are that whilst parents are open to ISM, they are increasingly demanding that it is provided on their terms. Whilst sales promotional ISM schemes may have been acceptable and effective in the past, this may not be the case in future.


This study general objective was to understand the signification process
of organizational violence from an employee�s perspective. This study
hypothesis was: the signification that the employee makes of
organizational violence is susceptible of breaks (discontinuities)
because the employee as an individual sees an incoherence between the
violent experience and the tipification that he/she possesses about work
relationships. It is a qualitative study with 12 participants, 6 male and
6 female. The research technique was an in-depth interview. The
analysis categories were significants, reflexive capacity and social
knowledge. The analysis was inductive crossed. The results reveal that
individuals follow a process of signification that show a particular
pattern, initial signification, signification in crisis and outcome
signification. The individuals modify the sense of the organizational
violence experience based on the dynamic between their reflexive
capacity and their significants.


The cloud feedback in response to short-term climate variations is estimated from cloud measurements combined with offline radiative transfer calculations. The cloud measurements are made by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite and cover the period 2000‐10. Low clouds provide a strong negative cloud feedback, mainly because of their impact in the shortwave (SW) portion of the spectrum. Midlevel clouds provide a positive net cloud feedback that is a combination of a positive SW feedback partially canceled by a negative feedback in the longwave (LW). High clouds have onlyasmallimpactonthenetcloudfeedbackbecauseofaclosecancellationbetweenlargeLWandSWcloud feedbacks. Segregating the clouds by optical depth, it is found that the net cloud feedback is set by a positive cloud feedbackdue to reductions in thethickest clouds(mainlyin the SW) anda cancellingnegativefeedback from increases in clouds with moderate optical depths (also mainly in the SW). The global average SW, LW, and net cloud feedbacks are 10.30 61.10, 20.46 60.74, and 20.16 60.83 W m 22 K 21 , respectively. The SW feedback is consistent with previous work; the MODIS LW feedback is lower than previous calculations and there are reasons to suspect it may be biased low. Finally, it is shown that the apparently small control that globalmeansurfacetemperatureexertsonclouds,whichleadstothelargeuncertaintyintheshort-termcloud feedback, arises from statistically significant but offsetting relationships between individual cloud types and global mean surface temperature.


The paper described the function of green manure from the view of soil nutrient elements,physical and chemical properties,balance of carbon and nitrogen,restraining soilborne diseases and so on,summed up the application of green manure in the production of tobacco leaf,discussed the prospects of green manure application in tobacco production,and put forward a few simple tactics and suggestions on green manure application.


Objective To observe the effects of Zuogui Jiangtang Recipe(ZJR) on inflammatory factors of NF-κB signaling pathway in the type 2 diabetes MKR mice raised by high fat feeds.Methods Thirty MKR mice are randomly divided into the control group(CG),the model group(MG) and the ZJQR group(ZG).Except for CG mice which are raised by standard animal feeds,others are both raised by high fat feeds to exacerbate disorders of glycometabolism and lipid metabolism.Then ZG mice have been administered by ZJQR for 4 weeks.Fasting blood-glucose(FBG),fasting serum insulin(FINS),triglyceride(TG) and total cholesterol(TC) are examined,and RT-PCR is used to analyze the gene expressions of IKB,TNF-α and MCP-1 in the brain of mice.Results The gene expressions of TNF-α and MCP-1 on mRNA level in MG mice are elevated compared with CG,and so are FBG,FINS,TC,while TG is decreased significantly;ZJQR decreases the gene expressions of TNF-α and MCP-1,and it decreases FBG,FINS,TG and TC,too.Conclusion ZJQR can reduce the infalmmation injury in the brain of MKR mice through controling the activation of NF-κB signaling pathway.


PURPOSE: A manufacturing method of a semiconductor device is provided to improve the aperture ratio of a pixel of a reflective or a transmissive LCD(Liquid Crystal Display) without increasing the number of masks and without using a black mask. CONSTITUTION: A manufacturing method of a semiconductor device improves the aperture ratio of a pixel of a reflection-type display device or a transmission-type display device without increasing the number of masks and without using a black mask. A pixel electrode(167) is arranged so as to partially overlap a source wiring(166) for shielding a channel region of a TFT(Thin Film Transistor) from light. Thereby, a high pixel aperture ratio is realized.


Light curtain exists as a means to detect the intruder now. However, it is necessary to adjust the position of the light detecting element accurately in order to receive the irradiating laser light. We propose the new type Safety Light Curtain System that uses the hemisphere side mirror and LED in this research. The hemisphere side mirror can reflect surroundings of 120° in the vertical direction and 360° in horizontal direction. If LED is a position that is higher than the hemisphere side mirror, Even if LED is arbitrarily set up, it is possible to reflect the light with the hemisphere side mirror. The light of LED is intercepted when the intruder passes between LED and the hemisphere side mirror, and the output voltage of the light detecting element decreases. When the output voltage becomes less than threshold, it is judged that the person passed between LED and the hemisphere side mirror, and sounds the warning sound. The threshold is set by the PSoC microcomputer. The light of LED modulates to 10kHz because the light of LED reduces the influence of the turbulence light.


Summer dry Wairarapa hill country can be farmed profitably. Most of the profit is created by fully feeding the stock in the spring from September to early December. My economic farm surplus to total capital involved has given me a return of 811% over the last 4 years. The key ingredient is to maximise the most profitable enterprise and then fit the other stock options around it. I maintain that a 2-year cattle finishing policy fits the pasture growth pattern best and achieves the desired financial results.


Progress in the design and fabrication of a 5-kWe free-piston Stirling power conversion system is described. A scaled-down version of the successful 12.5-kWe Component Test Power Converter (CTPC) developed under NAS3-25463, this single cylinder prototype incorporates cost effective and readily available materials (steel versus beryllium) and components (a commercial linear alternator). The design consists of a displacer suspended on internally pumped gas bearings and a power piston/alternator supported on flexures. Non-contacting clearance seals are used between internal volumes. Heat to and from the prototype is supplied via pumped liquid loops passing through shell and tube heat exchangers. The control system incorporates several novel ideas such as a pulse start capability and a piston stroke set point control strategy that provides the ability to throttle the engine to match the required output power. It also ensures stable response to various disturbances such as electrical load variations while providing useful data regarding the position of both power piston and displacer. All design and analysis activities are complete and fabrication is underway. Prototype test is planned for summer 2008 at Foster-Miller to characterize the dynamics and steady-state operation of the prototype and determine maximum power output and system efficiency. Further tests will then be performed at Auburn University to determine start-up and shutdown characteristics and assess transient response to temperature and load variations.


BACKGROUND Prehypertension is common in adolescence and young adults and even normal blood pressure nowadays due to a marked increase in the sedentary lifestyle, job profile, psychological stress. Blood pressure (BP) in this age can linearly progress towards elevated levels of BP when associated with risk factors like body mass index (BMI). Along with lifestyle modifications, non-pharmacological interventions are also recommended to manage prehypertension and delay progression towards hypertension at a young age. Isometric handgrip training (IHGT) is emerging as a popular non-pharmacological therapy. Research has demonstrated hypotensive effects with IHGT in various sets when performed at 30 - 40 % maximum voluntary contraction (MVC). The purpose of the present study was to find the effect of isometric handgrip strength training (IHG) on blood pressure and pulse pressure in normotensive and prehypertensive population. METHODS An experimental study design where 26 participants meeting the inclusion criteria were selected by convenient sampling. They were equally grouped into normotensive and prehypertensive training groups after measurement of baseline BP. All of them performed five 2 - minute sustained isometric contractions, at 30 - 40 % of MVC, using 90 an inexpensive spring hand grip trainer, for six sessions per week for 2 weeks. MVC was determined by a hand dynamometer. Pre - to - post BP and PP were compared in the present study. RESULTS After 2 weeks, t-test and repeated measures of ANOVA revealed a significant reduction in systolic blood pressure (SBP) [Mean Difference 4, 9] and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) [Mean Difference – 5, 5] (P = 0.01) but PP did not change in normotensive (P - 0.64) and prehypertensives (P = 0.40). CONCLUSIONS Practicing IHGT using an inexpensive spring handgrip trainer for two weeks consecutively reduced blood pressure but not pulse pressure. KEY WORDS Isometric, Handgrip. Blood Pressure


Aims: To provide data on the influence of common germination aids for additional pepper species than Capsicum annuum, additional species and wild types have been tested with priming media applicable to both hobby and commercial growers. Place and Duration of Study: Germany, January to September 2017. Methodology: 3x 50 seeds of four different Capsicum cultivars "CAP357" (C. pubescens L.), "Ancho Poblano" (C. annuum L.), "Ulupica from La Paz" (C. eximium Hunz.) and "Inca Surprise" (C. baccatum var. baccatum L.) were primed with either deionized water, 1%(w/v) KNO3, 1%(w/v) gibberellic acid or 1%(w/v) acetylsalicylic acid. 3x 50 untreated seeds of each cultivar were as control. The seeds were then put to germination on moistened filter paper, maintaining constant temperature (29 ± 1°C) and air-humidity (85 ± 5%). Seeds were evaluated daily regarding radicle formation for 30 days. Results: Highest germination rate and germination speed were observed using gibberellic acid as priming agent with overall germination >90%, followed by potassium nitrate, which improves germination especially for seeds that take longer to germination. Acetylsalicylic acid caused Original Research Article Jäkel and Witzler; JEAI, 20(3): 1-7, 2018; Article no.JEAI.39311 2 germination rates and speed to decrease. Hydropriming with water showed no significant effect compared to unprimed seeds. Conclusion: Priming with appropriate media can effectively speed up germination on varieties that take longer to germination such as wild types. On already fast germinating seeds the effect is smaller. However, a more uniform germination can be achieved.


It is shown how, starting from the (experimental) knowledge of scattering phase shift, energies of bound states and renormalized coupling constants, one is able to determine completely the parameters of a quantum field theoretic model previously considered by the authors, the so‐called Dyson model. The very same conclusion holds for the case of potential scattering, which is also briefly considered.


San Diego-Analyses of subjective and objective outcome parameters indicate wavefront-guided LASIK offers better quality of vision compared with conventional LASIK, according to Steve C. Schallhorn, MD.


This paper gives a summary about the slope stability technologies which include anti-slide pile,retaining wall,shotcrete and rockbolting,mould bag concrete,protective net,geotechnical synthetic materials,etc.during the highway slope processing.Combining a certain engineering example with monitoring data obtained during operational period,implementation effect of the slope processing is tested,indicating that the traditional slope stability technology,to some extent,has disadvantages and limitations.Learning from the former slope design theories and engineering practices,the author gives a deep thought about the concepts of the slope stability technology,and comes up with some relevant opinions,hoping they can play a promotion role in the slope technology development.


This paper presents a mobile application for capturing images of printed multi-page documents with a smartphone camera. With today's available document capture applications, the user has to carefully capture individual photographs of each page and assemble them into a document, leading to a cumbersome and time consuming user experience. We propose a novel approach of using video to capture multipage documents. Our algorithm automatically selects the best still images corresponding to individual pages of the document from the video. The technique combines video motion analysis, inertial sensor signals, and an image quality (IQ) prediction technique to select the best page images from the video. For the latter, we extend a previous no-reference IQ prediction algorithm to suit the needs of our video application. The algorithm has been implemented on an iPhone 4S. Individual pages are successfully extracted for a wide variety of multi-page documents. OCR analysis shows that the quality of document images produced by our app is comparable to that of standard still captures. At the same time, user studies confirm that in the majority of trials, video capture provides an experience that is faster and more convenient than multiple still captures.


The rechargeable sealed Nickel-MetalHydride (Ni-MH) battery is one of the latest developments in battery technologies. Its main advantages are environmental friendliness and high energy density. The control of the internal pressure in these sealed rechargeable NiMH batteries is very critical. The design of the battery allows an increase in pressure up to 15 bars. This pressure increase is related to the high gas generation rate, especially during extreme operating conditions, like overcharge and overdischarge. During battery operation the main reactions, occurring at the Ni and the MH electrode can be represented by:


The use of simulations is prevalent across business schools in colleges and universities. Research has shown that they can be useful in bridging theory with practice and preparing students for "real world" employment. However, there is limited research on determining the best pedagogical approaches for using these tools in a classroom setting. In this study, two approaches to using the Capsim "Capstone" online business strategy software are explored and measured for overall effectiveness and meeting learning outcomes. Results show that the pedagogical approach matters less in determining learning success as compared to other variables including average team logins, individual login behavior, experience of the instructor in using the simulation, and the 168 The BRC Academy Journal of Business Vol. 11, No. 1 simulation industry environment itself (i.e., number of studentrun teams versus number of computer-run teams). The results have implications for the delivery of computer simulations in class as well as their use as part of a course grade.


The full load transportation problem is researched to satisfy the demand of production enterprises.Based on the exclusive characteristic of this problem,it's concluded that the total transportation cost is determined by the empty-load transportation cost.Then the open vehicle routing problem with full load and soft-time windows is transferred to a multi-depot open vehicle routing problem with soft-time windows and a mixed-integer mathematical model is presented based on the transferred asymmetric graph.PSO algorithm with near neighbor interactions is given to solve the problem and is verified through an example.The experiment results prove the high efficiency of the algorithm to solve the open vehicle routing problem with full load and soft-time windows.


Clinical Microbiology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Applied Microbiology Research, Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Basel, Switzerland; Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland


Various methods for unzipping carbon nanotubes are described, which differ only in the method of acting on multi-walled carbon nanotubes which leads to obtain a partial unzipped carbon nanotubes or the creation of a defective hybrid structure in carbon nanotubes.
By electrochemical anodic oxidation in 80 % sulfuric acid of multi-walled carbon nanotubes synthesized partially unzipped nanotubes and shows the results of the study. Using the methods of X-ray phase analysis, electron microscopy, and Raman spectra, it has been established that, as a result of electrochemical anodic oxidation, partially unzipped multi-walled carbon nanotubes are obtained. Two-layer oxygen electrodes were made, where synthesized materials were used as an active layer. Studies of the electrocatalytic characteristics of oxygen electrodes from partially unzipped multi-walled carbon nanotubes were carried out in a mock up of fuel cell with alkaline electrolyte. It is established that the degree of unzipping of multi-walled carbon nanotubes depends on the time of electrochemical oxidation. It has been suggested that it is possible to control the process of synthesis of partially unzipped nanotubes. It has been established that one of the methods for estimating the degree of unzipping of multi-walled carbon nanotubes can be studies the electrochemical characteristics of oxygen electrodes based on these materials.
Electrochemical investigation has established that the obtained samples of partially unzipped multi-walled carbon nanotubes are promising materials as catalysts carrier for oxygen electrodes of fuel cells. The developed method synthesis of partially unzipped multi-walled carbon nanotubes allows obtaining electrode materials for chemical current sources. Oxygen electrodes, based on such electrochemically produced materials, were stable for six months at a discharge current density of 200 mA/cm2. Partially unzipped multi-walled carbon nanotubes are promising catalyst carrier for electrodes of chemical current sources, as well as a material for hybrid nanocomposites with predetermined characteristics.


This chapter addresses a number of issues associated with athletes acquiring celebrity status based on their television performances. It first discusses what draws the public to watch sports on television and follow the lives of athletes. Second, this chapter highlights the benefits and burdens that athletes receive and endure from the public participation in their sports as observers on the field and off. This section will also highlight athletes rights to privacy and to publicity. Finally, this chapter addresses the responsibility of athletes, both amateur and professional, to behave in a responsible manner both on and off the court.


. The article is devoted to analyzing the problem of the importance of self-improvement for the future teachers' professional mobility formation. During theoretical and methodological analysis of the scientific fund, it was established that in the conditions of today's rapid changes, professional mobility is an important component of the qualification structure of the future teacher. The purpose of the article is to theoretically substantiate the essence of the phenomena «self-improvement» and «professional mobility», as well as to determine the dependence of the future teachers' professional mobility formation on self-improvement during training. As a result of the analysis of psychological and pedagogical literature, it was established that scientists interpret the essence of professional mobility in different ways and define it as follows: removal of individuals, groups and values in the professional space; change in individual's professional affiliation as a result of qualitative positive offsets in the structure of human capital that a person uses and is accompanied by a change in his / her status and access to economic values; individual's internal self-improvement, which is based on stable values and the need for self-improvement, etc. The results of the theoretical study of the mentioned problem showed that professional mobility is closely related to self-improvement. Examining the essence of the future teachers' self-improvement, it was established that this pedagogical phenomenon is multifaceted and complex and is determined by the spectrum of socio-economic, cultural, professional, personally-oriented factors. Having systematized different approaches to the problem of research, under the future teachers' self-improvement we understand their awareness of professional activity and self-realization in it due to sustainable motivation, formed qualities and worldview. Professional self-improvement is based on the psychological mechanism of constantly overcoming internal contradictions between the existing level of professionalism («I-real professional») and its imaginary state («I-ideal professional»). The dependences of the formation of the future teachers' Self-concept during training have been determined.


Thio-substituted Butynes and Butadienes from Polychlorobutenes and Thiols

Hexachlorobutene (1) yields compounds 2–4 with thiolates in water-containing ethanol solutions at room temperature. Reaction of 2b with potassium tert-butoxide yields compound 5b. The tris(arylthio) derivative 4b is formed by reaction of 3b with sodium 4-(methylthio)phenolate in DMSO. A tris(arylthio)-substituted butatriene 7b is formed by HCl elimination from 4b. The butatriene 7b obtained partly isomerizes to give the tris(arylthio)butenyne 8b at room temperature.