Measurements of the dielectric properties of lead iodide powder, at 20° and at frequencies in the range 200 c./sec. to 300 kc./sec., indicate a dispersion of the dielectric constant of 4·3–5·2, with dielectric absorption significantly higher than that previously observed in alkali halides. The values of the real part of the dielectric constant are compared with the diverse values given for lead iodide in the literature, and a possible mechanism for the dielectric absorption is suggested.


A novel image denoising approach based on iterated median filtering is proposed. It is well suited for removing white noise and produces visually pleasing smooth surfaces while preserving edges and without producing artifacts. The denoised image is the fixed point of a nonlinear operator and can be obtained as the limit of a convergent sequence. We show that the sequence converges at an exponential rate. An algorithm implementing the proposed method is described; in addition to the fixed-point iteration, it automatically selects a suitable window and optimizes a scalar parameter based on an assumed noise level. The results of preliminary simulation experiments on well-known test images are presented. While the proposed method does not outperform earlier methods, it offers a theoretically well-understood foundation for future development; promising further research directions are discussed.


The objective of this tutorial is to introduce to the simulation communtty another tool that is now available. This tool is best known under the name of Fuzzy Set Theory. This tutorial contains a brlef discussion of the current trends in simulation which we believe justifly the need of this new tool. Kept to a mintmum, the introduction to fuzzy sets will be strictly limited to the case of a finite number of elements. Most attention will be devoted to fuzzy logic. It is precisely fuzzy logic 'which lends itself to growth in the simulation of situations that arise in real life either because of the inexactness of the environment, or because of the inexactness/lmprecislon of the available data. The state of the art in simulation Although still young, the science of simulation developed through the years because of advances on two clearly recognizable , and roughly parallel tracks. On one track, computer languages have made progress through four or five generations so that a user now has only the emberassment of making a choice. On the other track, a multitude of problems of increasing complexity ars recognized that can be solved by using the appropriate languages. 1) Research partially supported by NSF Grant No. IST8411688. 2) Research partially supported by NSF Grant No. IST840343 1. 3) Research partially supported by a Max Kade Fellowship and by NASA Grant No. NCC2-275. Sergei Ovchl nni koV2) Dept. of tlathematlcs San Francfsco State Unlverslty San Francisco , CA 94132 (4 15) 4691387 Klauis-Peter Adlassnig3) Dept. of Computer Science University of California Berkeley, CA 94720 (415) 642-4956 First encountered were problems with physical processes which were well understood, and for which known laws hold and good data can be obtained. These were basically problems of a deterministic nature. Then gradually more probabilfstic features were introduced Into the simulations, such as the Monte Carlo techniques. These were still applied primarily to problems with well defined, or well substantiated characteristics. An example is the class of simulation which depends on critical events. Optimization was often considered a suitable tool for many of these problems. Clearly, as the physical processes became more involved and, at the same time less clearly understood or defined, success in simulation decreased. Furthermore, the quality of data which had to be used in some form or another for most of the current problems, for which simulation would be highly desirable, also worsened. The uncertainty associated with data has been partially alleviated bg probability or randomness considerations. However, there exists another type of uncertainty for which probabilistic/randomness assumptions do not suffice. Why? We believe a challenge exists to simulate real life situations for which imprecision/inexactness are a state of nature. Namely, one wishes to simulate within an inexact environment and wlth Inexact data. For example, simulation in the usual sense of the word, does not yield goud results when applied to the interesting sets of problems which operate on heuristics. It is precisely on this set of problems that the tools that stem from fuzzy set theory have begun yielding a great deal of successes.


Professional accreditation has become a defacto standard that implies quality of curricula and graduates, with ABET now accrediting programs in more than 28 countries outside the United States. While the focus in recent years has been on having a continuous improvement process that closes the loop and provides a mechanism to ensure a high quality education, there are many other issues that programs must address in the self-study report. Issues range from ensuring that policies and guidelines, which meet ABET criteria, are in place to having proper documentation that provides needed evidence. This paper briefly reviews ABET accreditation policies and procedures and provides details regarding the basic requirements that need to be fulfilled to ensure a successful ABET visit. This is discussed from the perspective of an institution that has been recently visited for its engineering technology programs and is preparing for a similar visit for its engineering programs. This information is especially helpful to an engineering program that plans to go through accreditation for the first time.


The creation of a daycare center comes from all the necessities that father and mother because of their job occupations could have, these occupations do not allow them to have enough time to take care of their children. The Kinder Kollege daycare center through a high quality staff pretends to offer the special attention that a child could need, combining a right administrative process and specific child development. The daycare center pretends to help mother and father that usually work. The main objective is to serve the community, generate profit for the owners of the company, and create more and new job positions. This project tries to explain the creation and running of a daycare center, describing all daily operations, human resources, marketing and finance. The viability of this project is shown between two scenarios with a loan and without it, a similar project needs to define its market sector and constantly upgrade all new educational techniques.


SUMMARY Satellite broadcasting of 4K / 8K ultra-high definition tele- vision (UHDTV) was launched in Japan in December 2018. Because this system uses the amplitude and phase shift keying (APSK) modula- tion scheme, there is a need to improve the non-linear characteristics of the satellite transponders. To meet this requirement, we have been de- veloping a 120-W-class Ku-band solid state power amplifier (SSPA) as a replacement for the currently used traveling wave tube amplifier (TWTA). In this study, we developed a gallium-nitride (GaN) SSPA and linearizer (LNZ). The SSPA achieved an output power of 120W while maintaining a power added e ffi ciency (PAE) of 31%. We evaluated the transmission performance of 16APSK in this SSPA channel in comparison with that in the TWTA channel.


The digital turn, and with it increased use of location-aware technologies, has yielded innovative image applications and posed new questions about the status and value of the image. These applications rely on algorithmically defined relations between the viewing subject and the world viewed, offering robust alternatives to the visual economies of the past. If we take seriously Heidegger's insights regarding the Welt-bild as a metaphor for the modern era, the algorithmic reconfiguration of subject-object relations in this emerging visual regime potentially offers insights through which we can reflect upon the current era – and a metaphoric alternative. This article uses two entry points to explore this possible reconfiguration and, with it, the question of value. Downloadable applications such as Photosynth aggregate location-tagged photographs into a near-seamless whole, and offer a way to consider such issues as collaborative authorship of the image, unstable points of view and the repositioning of subject-object relationships – all elements that fundamentally challenge western representational norms dominant in the modern era. In this new regime, the spatial referents of greatest value are points of uniqueness sought out and built upon by the program's algorithms – and not those perceived by the viewer. The viewer is in turn free to explore an extensive and dynamic image space unconstrained by (and, indeed, without access to) an authorised or 'correct' viewing position. A second case, built upon certain augmented reality applications, works by 'recognising' particular spaces and, through the use of computationally enhanced viewing screens, superimposing new images over real space. In this case, a system of virtual spatial annotation depends upon the 'correct' positioning of the viewer (and portable computing device) in the world. The two cases stand in a roughly reciprocal relationship, turning on different notions of algorithmic intermediation and subject-object relations and dynamics for the generation of meaning and value.


The recognition of arterial atherosclerosis in all its stages is critical for the prevention of cardiovascular future events, including death. Recently, the measurement of endothelial function through the microcirculation in patients emerged as a useful tool to evaluate the presence of atherosclerotic plaque in different vascular beds. The classic risk factors are associated with impaired endothelial function and lead at least in part, to a loss of control of the homeostasis of the vascular endothelium. However, despite the recognition of these risk factors studies have shown that a significant number of individuals with low risk of cardiovascular events presented. Two studies evaluating endothelial function through the thermography and correlated with risk of cardiovascular events by established methods. From these results we concluded that the study of endothelial function by thermography can be used as a surrogate marker to improve stratification of cardiovascular risk and might also be useful for the evaluation of therapeutic strategies.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18073/2358-4696/pajmt.v2n1p23-25


Organs and tissues comprise diverse cell types, each with a unique ensemble of active genes expressed from a characteristic epigenomic landscape. Determining the gene expression programs that are responsible for cell-type-specific phenotypes has become a major quest of biological research in multiple disciplines (Allis et al., 2015). Each gene expression program is driven by its complement of transcription factors (TFs) that bind to enhancers to activate expression from nearby promoters. The processes of gene activation and transcription typically change epigenomic signatures, including modification of DNA and histones, and some modifications have been implicated in epigenetic memory of gene expression. In general, studies aimed at working out gene expression programs in individual cell types have been limited to transcriptome analysis, as the amplification of transcription can often provide sufficient amounts of mRNA from flow-sorted or laser-microdissected cells (Otsuki et al., 2014). However, obtaining sufficient cell-type-specific DNA from tissues for epigenomic analysis is especially challenging for complex tissues such as the brain. This is unfortunate, because the epigenome is far more information-rich than the transcriptome and because the epigenome maps both the drivers of the program, such as TFs and enhancer marks, and downstream effects on the chromatin landscape, such as gene-body methylation. In a technological tour de force described in this issue of Neuron, Mo et al. (2015) provide the first high-resolution cell-type-specific epigenomic map for a mammal using the isolation of nuclei tagged in specific cell types (INTACT) strategy for purification of specific neuronal types from the mouse brain (Figure 1). The INTACTmethod is based on affinity purification of nuclei using magnetic beads, where cell type specificity is achieved by expression of a nuclear envelope protein under control of a cell-typespecific promoter (Deal and Henikoff, 2010). An advantage of INTACT is that relatively large quantities of purified nuclei can be rapidly and efficiently obtained from tissues without treatments to dissociate cells, which might cause stress that can alter expression programs. INTACT was originally used to obtain purified populations of Arabidopsis root epidermal cells by expression of a nuclear pore protein fused to an epitope tag. INTACT has also been applied to Drosophila neurons using an epitopetagged SUN domain nuclear envelope protein (Henry et al., 2012). Mo et al. (2015) expressed aGFPandMyc-tagged SUN domain protein under control of inducible Cre recombinase, which excises a ''roadblock'' between a constitutive promoter and the fusion construct, resulting in expression only in cells expressing Cre. When this construct was introduced into the mouse germline and was induced, progeny were healthy and fertile, and when Cre was specifically expressed in different neuronal types, GFP was observed to decorate the nuclear envelope of only the expected subset of cells. One excitatory and two inhibitory (PV and VIP) interneuronal cell types were isolated using INTACT. Importantly, VIP neurons were purified to 98% homogeneity with 50% yield, even though they accounted for only 1%–3% of the total, which demonstrates the applicability of INTACT to even rare cell types. Although this study was limited to neu-


The results obtained are set out in Tables I-VI. No statistically significant differences could be detected between the three groups at any stage during the course of the experiment in the levels of serum protein, albumin, amylase activity, and total lipids_ The initial cholesterol values were· not significantly different in the 3 groups, but the changes from the initial values to those obtained after 1 week differed significantly in the whole-milk group (average increase=82 mg_/ 100 ml.) from tho~e in the skimmed-milk group (average increase= proteins,IO cholesterol,ll phospholipid12 and total lipid ;13 and serum-amylase activity was determined according to the method of Smith and Roe14 with modifications as ~uggested by Fishman and DoubiIeU5 . The 3 sets of results were analysed statistically in conjunction with the results of a fourth trial conducted under similar conditions and designed to test the effect of acidified whole milk on kwashiorkor patients. For the purpose of the present report the results obtained with the latter diet, which were not significantly different from the results of the whole-milk group, are not given separate consideration_ The different groups of patients were compared by means of the Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance.16 In cases where a significant difference was found, all combinations of pairs taken from the groups were further compared by means of the V-test of Wilcoxon, Mann and Whitney.l6 In all the statistical tests a probability level (two-tailed) of 1% was regarded as significant. These tests were applied to the initial biochemical values obtained in the different groups and then to the changes in the levels after 1 week, 2 weeks and 3 weeks of treatment. The differences between the first and the third weeks were also compared.


The goal of this research is to explore the role and position of questioning at Japanese elementary schools that utilize inquiry-based learning. The question investigates how precisely questioning plays a role in the implementation of inquiry at a Japanese elementary school. In an age where curriculum frameworks are seeing a shift towards student-centeredness, questioning skills are crucial as they are an essential component for students to direct learning both intrinsically and divergently. The present research suggests that a variety of strategies to initiate curiosity are being used by teachers and that these lead students to question the content of their lessons in a variety of ways. After assessing the evidence of the types of questions that students ask, how the teachers incorporate these questions to adjust their curriculum will be reported. Further, at the end of the chapter, recommendations will be offered for improving inquiry-based classrooms in Japan.


Objective To investigate the role of Chinese herb medicine to counter the abnormity of blood circulation and the muscle atrophy caused by simulated weightlessness. Methods 120 rats were divided into 6 groups: control group, head down tills - 30° group (HDT), DanHuangci group (HDT + Dan Sheng, Huang Qi, Ci Wu Jia), ShenChuanShu group (HOT + ginseng, Chuan Xiong, Shu Di), ShenShanDu group (HDT + American ginseng, Haw, Du Zhong ), ShenYingSheng group (HDT+ ginseng, the leaves of gingkgo, Sheng Di). The body weight, erythrocyte deformability (DImax, IDI), erythrocyle shape, hemalocrit(HCT), blood viscosity, plasma Cbrinogen, blood cell aggregation index, muscle weight, the type and size of muscle fiber were observed following HDT for 30 days. Results After 30 days - HDT, the body weight of rats, muscle weight,size of muscle fiber and the percentage of I type muscle fiber decreased distinctly (p 0.05, 0.01, 0.001) . The blood viscosity in low and middle shear, plasma fibrinogen and the rate of erythrocytes with abnormal shape increased significantly due to HDT ( p 0.001) , and erythrocyte deformability (DImax, IDI) and hematocrit(HCT) decreased distincdy (p 0.001 ,p 0.01) . Chinese herb medicine were available to improve the hemorheological parameters, and increased the weight of gastrocnemius under simulated weightlessness (p 0.05). Conclusions It is suggested that Chinese herb medicine are effective to meliorate the changes of blood circulation and muscle under simulated weightlessness.


Six years since its release, the main reveal of David Wagner's Trade Queen is no longer socioculturally sensational given how drag culture has been integrated into mainstream media. The dialogue-less film, nonetheless, artfully delivers a nuanced story of identity, tension between one's exterior and interior, between what happens in the compartmentalized nine-to-five and after-hours self-states. It raises the question of gender performativity through subtle looks and gestures – how Mr Schmidt and Mr Jonas navigate their complex relationship.


EFORE examining the work of cultural production in the South Asian immigrant community through two films, Fire and Junky Punky Girlz , and the mythological text of the Ramayana , I would like briefly to discuss the generational character of South Asian immigration. In Desis in the House , Sunaina Maira writes of the differences South Asian parents and children have about culture (Maira 2002). While parents have a fossilized sense of 'Indian culture', their children note the dynamism of cultural change in their visits to India. Maira writes that South Asian youth hold 'situational identities', by which she means that there is a strict compartmentalization of 'Indian' and 'American' identities (87). In Junky Punky Girlz , a young Indian woman works actively against this strict compartmentalization. Instead of feeling tension and guilt about straddling the two different worlds, being in a queer identity formation with her American friends and being South Asian, Anita tries to bring her B w K U L V I N D E R A R O R A .......................................................................................................


A general methodology has been developed for failure mitigation in satellite-based navigation systems. This new approach is founded on the direct evaluation of integrity risk under the unified consideration of all single-element failure hypotheses and the no-failure hypothesis. It is applicable to fault-tolerant estimation and integrity monitoring. In particular, the algorithm has been investigated for application as an airborne element of the Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS) integrity monitoring architecture. In this system, GPS ranging measurements from multiple ground-based reference receivers are to be used to mitigate the effects of reference receiver failures. The multiple hypothesis algorithm has been evaluated through analysis and simulation and has been shown to provide the tightest realizable protection limits for LAAS. The operational performance of the new algorithm has been compared with that of the approach currently under consideration by RTCA Special Committee-159. The performance of the multiple hypothesis algorithm has been demonstrated using experimental data collected during a series of LAAS prototype flight tests in a Beechcraft King Air.


Two examples best illustrate Yuan Shi-kai's impact on the development of the mineral industry in Zhili: regaining the mining right of Kaiping Coal Mine and supporting Qixin Cement Company,the success of which exerted positive influences upon the society then and Zhili was regarded as the model province for the whole country,replacing Hunan.In late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China,our country met one of the golden ages in the economic development,which would have been impossible without the efforts of some government officials including Yuan Shikai.The academia used to put undue stress on the idea of saving the country by industry and emphasized civil actions.It is biased and inadvisable to pay more attention to thought than to practice.In the late Qing Dynasty,the ideological trend of emphasizing industry became widespread and Yuan Shikai was the one who put them into practice.


Aim To observe the efficacy of atorvastatin in prevention of symptomatic cerebral vasospasm after subarachnoid hemorrhage.Methods 47 cases of spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage were randomly divided into study group (24 cases)treated with 20mg/d of atorvastatin on the basis of conventional treatment and control group (23 cases) treated with conventional treatment.Results The mean flow velocity of middle cerebral artery in study group at the 7th and 14th day were significantly slower than the control group,showing statistical significance (P0.05); the incidence of symptomatic cerebral vasospasm and cerebral vascular spasm in study group were significantly lower than the control group (P0.05),but the incidence of delayed cerebral infarction was not significantly different compared with the control group(P0.05).Conclusions Application of atorvastatin can reduce the occurrence of symptomatic cerebral vasospasm after subarachnoid hemorrhage.


Using search engines or directories, users usually experience difficulties in locating specific relevant portions within a long retrieved document. Our system, based on the Probability of Co-occurrence Analysis technique, creates content dependent Table of


Free-running diode lasers cannot meet the demands for the line width in the applications due to their broad line width such as Raman scattering and so on. Therefore, it is quite necessary to develop diode lasers with narrow line width, steady wavelength. A reflective holographic grating is taken as a line width narrowing component, and a 405 nm diode laser with external cavity in Littrow configuration is studied. As the introduction of the reflective holographic grating, a coupled external cavity is built between the surface of the grating and the emitting surface of the diode laser, and it improved the line width performance of 450 nm diode laser to a large extent. The experiment results show that, by adding the 2400 line/mm reflective holographic grating, the threshold current of the diode laser is reduced from 31 mA to 22 mA, and line width is reduced form 1 nm to 0.03 nm of free-running, and narrow line width output is realized. A 28 mW output power of the narrow line width laser is got at 100 mA which is 31.7 percent to the power of the free-running diode laser. Besides, by changing the angle of the reflective holographic grating, continuous wavelength tuning of 3.5 nm is realized in a large tuning range of injection current.


This review on avian blood leucocyte responses to stress covers the literature from the early 1980s. It considers only non-infectious hormonal responses of leucocytes to stress mediated either by n...


Africans and Muslims, photography and cultural studies – these are the subjects and objects of this cultural-political intervention combining humanist portrait photography, collaborative ethnography and oral history. The Somali Elders Project is located outside of the academy, in a community-based arts and educational centre in Cardiff, Wales. It is a mode of socially-concerned research, photography and representation in which marginalized voices, images and experiences are brought to the fore – with the subjects' active participation. This polyvocal essay, combining text, voices and images, reflects on the project and suggests that it might provide a useful model for work in African cultural studies.


This study is an attempt to explore the frequency of pragmatic content occurrence represented as three speech acts of requesting, refusing, and apologizing in global and local English Language Teaching (ELT) textbooks. Three global elementary ELT textbooks, namely Interchange, Top Notch, and American English File along with the local elementary textbooks of Iran Language Institute (ILI) Series, were examined for their pragmatic content. To analyze the pragmatic content of these textbooks, the researchers used three different frameworks. The results indicated that while both global and local ELT textbooks shared a sufficient number of speech acts of request and refusal, they failed to pay enough attention to the speech act of apology regarding its frequency and the strategies through which it is performed. To sum, the findings of this study highlight the differences in the frequency of different speech acts and the strategies used to perform them in global and local elementary ELT textbooks, which bear some implications for ELT textbook developers and language instructors.


Background Cardiovascular involvement in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has been reported to range from 4-78%. Complications can affect all structures of the heart, including the endocardium, myocardium, pericardium, and valves. Pericarditis is the most common manifestation, with an incidence of 11-54% in SLE patients. Pericardial effusion is often observed in patients with pericarditis, and can be confirmed by echocardiography.
Objective To determine factors associated with pericardial effusion in children with SLE.
Methods We conducted a restrospective cross-sectional study by reviewing medical records of children with SLE aged less than 18 years who underwent echocardiography at the Dr. Sardjito Hospital. Yogyakarta, from January 2011 to March 2018. Patients with congenital heart disease or incomplete medical records were excluded. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was done to determine factors that independetly associated with pericardial effusion.
Results Among 165 children with SLE, 73 fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The prevalence of pericardial effusion was 54.8%. Median age was 13 (range 5-17) years and the female-to-male ratio was 8:1. Hemolytic anemia (OR=4.135; 95%CI 1.039 to 16.453; P=0.044) was significantly associated with pericardial effusion.
Conclusion Hemolytic anemia is significantly associated with pericardial effusion in children with SLE.


In recent years, aluminum alloy has been increasingly used in building structures, becoming an important construction material for metal structures. Currently, aluminum alloy is commonly used in buildings as beam–column components, profiled roof panels, and door and window frames, among other forms. However, there is limited research on the mechanical properties of aluminum alloy roof panels with irregular curved surfaces. In this study, a full-scale curved double-layer anisotropic riveted aluminum alloy roof panel was subjected to a load test to analyze its deformation patterns and failure mechanisms. The results indicate that the load-bearing capacity of the roof panel meets the design requirements. During failure, neither the upper nor lower layers of the panel enter the plastic deformation stage, indicating sufficient safety redundancy. The failure mode observed is a ductile failure with noticeable deformation with the weak points of the component being the riveted connections of the stiffeners. A finite element model was established for numerical simulation and the results matched well with the experimental data. Finally, a theoretical calculation for the ultimate load-bearing capacity of the roof panel was derived, providing a reference for design purposes.


"Hotspotting" is a geometric technique used to assess the self‐consistency of absolute plate motion models under the assumption of fixed hot spots. Geometric data constraints (typically seamount locations) and the plate motion model are used to determine the optimal locations of hot spots; in a self‐consistent model these should match the assigned hot spot locations. While self‐consistency is a desirable model attribute, it is not sufficient by itself to guarantee a geologically meaningful model. Hotspotting is the study of seafloor flow lines and may be considered a pattern recognition algorithm similar to the Hough transform. Flow line analysis can yield insight into the importance of particular geometric constraints and yield age predictions for undated features. Hotspotting cannot easily be used to derive improved rotation parameters but instead is used in concert with methods that determine plate motions to ensure the aforementioned self‐consistency.


Organization should provide a safe and healthy environment for its employees. Safety is concerned with the protection of the physical health of employees in the workplace. The Health and Safety Policies aims to create a healthy workplace by reducing hazards affecting the performance of employees. Hazardous working conditions will increase the health risks leading to high rate of absenteeism and attrition. Any unexpected event likely to cause any type of injury to the person or damage to the property and environment is called to be the accident. Frequent exposure of the worker to the unhealthy working conditions slowly develops accumulated effect over an extended period of time causing occupational diseases. All the accidents involving the element of fatality or injury which disables a person from working for more than 48 hours are considered to be the reportable injuries. Occupational hazards are the potential conditions both internal and external transforming into a series of events causing loss. Death, injuries and illness can arise out of safety violations or negligence. Accidents and Injuries happening in the course of employment will cause enormous financial loss to the organization. Safety is the protection against uncertain risks caused by the hazards of electricity, machinery, slip or trip, explosion causing injury, death or damage to people and property. This study aims to describe the fundamentals of industrial safety management for hazardous industries in India.


Objective: The study's main purpose has been to analyze the international scientific production that describes the support of virtual communities for diabetes mellitus, available on the ISI Web of Knowledge/Web of ScienceTM database. Methods: It is a bibliometric study, in the time frame between 1945 and 2018, with descriptive analysis performed with the aid of HistCiteTM software. Results: There were identified 175 articles, published in 113 different journals, written by 817 authors linked to 322 research institutions located in 30 countries, 7,023 references were used, with an average of 40 references per article. Conclusion: Although the number of studies on social media and diabetes is growing, the literature still points to the lack of longitudinal studies that broaden the understanding of the meanings usually attributed to the disease and identify recurrent cognitive lapses in these spaces, as well as the quality of the information that is posted and shared online, thus highlighting the need for future studies that investigate their impact on users


The exploration of seabed cobalt crusts is proposed, and the oscillation technology involving allied control by mechanism, electron, hydraulic pressure and gas pressure is studied. The oscillation frequency is controlled by means of adjusting variabledisplacement hydraulic motors, the oscillation swing is controlled by changing eccentricity distance without causing any deleterious horizontal vibration. The results show that the equipment can carry through the cobalt crusts fragmentation at the complicated and mutable seabed terrain neatly and efficiently.


Objective:To investigate the effects of connective tissue growth factor(CTGF)in pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy(DN),and to observe curative effects and mechanism of fluvastatin on DN by influencing CTGF expression.Methods:Thirty-eight DN patients whose 24-hour urinary albumin(24h-UA)was between 150 and 500mg,were randomly divided into 3 groups:Valsartan treated group(group Val),fluvastatin treated group(group Flu),and fluvastatin+Valsartan treated group(group FV).Their 24h-UR excretion rates(UAER)and blood CTGF concentrations were determined by using ELISA before and after 3 months of the treatments,and the results were analyzed.Results:Fluvastatin reduced serum CTGF concentrations and 24h-UA excretion rates,and the curative effects were more obvious when combination of fluvastatin and valsartan was used.Conclusion:Fluvastatin has protective effect on kidney,and can delay DN development.


Installation of passive elements on the skin (whole-part covered soft skin) and inside joints of the robotic hand becomes a key-technology to remarkably enhance the stability of object handling and manipulation and adaptability to external forces. Based on this idea, in this paper a sophisticated mechanism design of TWENDY-ONE hands with mechanical springs in DIP and MP joints and whole-part covered soft skins is presented. In addition, we present a design method of tactile sensors for highly dexterous robotic hand, whish are necessary for recognition of volume and softness of objects grasped as well as improvement of handling and manipulation more stably. Evaluation experiments focusing on kitchen supports using TWENDY-ONE hands indicate that this new robot has high dexterity due to the hand and will be extremely useful to enhance the quality of life for the elderly in the near future where human and robot co-exist.


Whole-plant corn silage (WPCS) was harvested with a pull-type forage harvester equipped with crop
processing rolls. Variables considered were crop maturity, theoretical length-of-cut (TLC), processor roll speed difference
and roll clearance. Whole-plant particle size, whole cob and coarse fiber fractions, level of kernel breakage, and kernel
fraction particle-size were used to quantify crop physical properties. Compared to unprocessed WPCS cut at 9.5 mm TLC,
WPCS cut at 19 mm TLC and then processed had greater whole-plant particle size, less whole cob fraction, fewer
unbroken kernels, smaller kernel fraction particle size, and greater estimated surface area of the kernel fraction. The
processed treatments at 19 mm TLC and 3 or 5 mm roll clearance required similar specific energy and produced similar
harvesting rates compared to the control unprocessed treatment at 9.5 mm TLC. Feeding dairy cattle WPCS (~33% of
DMI) increased fat-corrected milk yield by about 4% and fat yield by about 2%. Compared to unprocessed WPCS cut at
9.5 mm TLC, WPCS cut at 19 mm TLC and processed with 1 mm roll clearance increased in situ DM disappearance by
seven percentage units. Based on crop physical properties, harvester energy requirements and dairy cattle lactation
performance, the recommended settings when harvesting WPCS with an on-board crop processor would be 19 mm TLC
and 1 to 3 mm roll clearance.


As communications services are evolving, users are increasingly faced with a confusion of devices, subscriptions and numbers. Consumers are growing to expect ubiquitous, constant connectivity and access to all manner of information applications. Service providers, large and small, must simultaneously find ways to offset the declines in traditional sources of revenues while drive top-line growth. Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) solutions are promising to offers advantages for both consumers and service providers and is gaining momentum in the marketplace as operators are realizing the market opportunities for creating new revenue-generating services. FMC solutions are promising to deliver the long awaited hand off of calls/calling features between wire-line and wireless networks. This article first defines the concept of FMC and it then several prominent concepts in the fixed mobile-convergence are analyzed. The article l addresses the business model, architecture, competitive and technological issues and summarizes the progress being made toward this network evolution.


The aim of the paper is to do a quantitative comparison of the manifestos from a number of European parties that are being put in a mutual party family often referred to as "radical right-wing popu ...


In this article, an Active Disturbance Rejection Control (ADRC) is proposed for the Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) task on a Direct Drive (DD) wind turbine. The used model takes into account the flexibility of the shaft coupling the blades' rotor with the permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG). The proposed linear control scheme offers a high degree of robustness and good tracking performance, despite the presence of significant disturbances and the fact that a large part of the dynamics is ignored and treated as an unknown disturbance. The ADRC method also avoids measuring the entire set of phase variables of the system. Realistic digital computer simulations are provided that test the validity of the approach.


In the continuous fermentation apparatus for producing a continuous chemical by fermentation using a separation membrane, efficiently perform cleaning the separation membrane, and to provide a method of manufacturing a chemical performing stable fermentation. Method for producing chemical products by continuous fermentation of the present invention, the fermentation process and, two or more separation membrane module from the fermentation broth converts the fermentation material into fermentation liquor containing chemicals by microbial fermentation or culture cells alternating with recovering chemicals as filtrate, comprising: a membrane separation step of refluxing the unfiltered liquid to the fermentation liquid, wherein the membrane separation step, a filtration treatment and the filtration stop process for a plurality of separation membrane module by upon performing intermittent filtration operation repeated, and controlling the timing of the filtration stop processing of each separation membrane module.


The phyllosphere mycoflora of C. incanus L., A. unedo L. and Q. coccifera L. and its seasonal variation were studied by means of a tape impression culture method. The number of colonies per cm2 was highest on leaves of C. incanus and lower on A. unedo and Q. coccifera. The seasonal fluctuation of 27 fungal forms is illustrated. The dominant fungal species were Aspergillus niger, Cladosporium cladosporioides, Mucor hiemalis, Penicillium frequentans, P. funiculosum, P. verrucosum, Rhizopus stolonifer and Trichoderma pseudokoningii. The abundance of each fungal species was different in the four seasons. There were 6 resident fungal species: Alternaria alternata, A. flavus, A. versicolor, C. cladosporioides, T. pseudokoningii and white sterile mycelium.


A new and improved visual-oriented grayscale frames in- terpolation method consists of partially changing, step by step using growing structuring elements, the morphological S transforms of the foreground content of an input frame with the morphological S trans- forms of the foreground content of an output frame. Better perfor- mance comes at the expense of not very great computational com- plexity. Computer simulations illustrate the results. © 2009 SPIE and


This paper proposes a framework for logic programming with different type systems. In this framework a typed logic program consists of a type specification and a Horn clause program which is well-typed with respect to the type specification. The type specification defines all types which can be used in the logic program. Relations between types are expressed by equations on the level of types. This permits the specification of many-sorted, order-sorted, polymorphic and polymorphically order-sorted type systems. We present the declarative semantics of our framework and a resolution procedure for typed logic programs. Resolution requires a unification procedure for typed terms which is based on a unification procedure for the type theory. An interesting application is a type system that combines parametric polymorphism with order-sorted typing and permits higher-order logic programming. Moreover, our framework sheds some new light on the rôle of types in logic programming.


1 Partial Differential Equations and Their Classification Into Types.- 2 The Potential Equation.- 3 The Poisson Equation.- 4 Difference Methods for the Poisson Equation.- 5 General Boundary Value Problems.- 6 Tools from Functional Analysis.- 7 Variational Formulation.- 8 The Method of Finite Elements.- 9 Regularity.- 10 Special Differential Equations.- 11 Eigenvalue Problems.- 12 Stokes Equations.


Ca²⁺ : Cation Antiporter (CaCA) family homologues are found in both prokaryotesand eukaryotes, while bacterial Murein Precursor Exporter (MPE) family homologues are found only in prokaryotes. CaCA family homologues have 9- 13 transmembrane spanning alpha-helical segments (TMSs). We demonstrated that the 10 TMSs topology arose via three sequential duplication events as following : 2 TMSs ------ -> 4 TMSs -------->5TMSs --------->10 TMSs. Homologous fall into 6 phylogenetic clusters that correlate with function. Comparisons between proteins and 16S rRNA trees revealed that horizontal gene transfer was frequent in prokaryotes, but rare in eukaryotes. Early gene duplication of a gene encoding common ancestral protein probably gave rise to the major cluster.These paralogues were then transmitted vertically to give rise to sub- families of different substrate specificities and characteristics. MPE family members are homologous to CaCA proteins. These proteins have 9- 10 transmembrane spanning alpha-helical segments and probably evolved via the same pathway as CaCA family members although this could not be demonstrated. MPE family proteins fall into 7 clusters. Early gene duplication events may have given rise to these different clusters with Cluster 1 and 4 homologues diverging early, and Cluster 3 diverging more recently. Homology was also established between several ancient transporter supperfamilies, all which appear to have evolved from a common 2 TMSs hairpin structure


prognosis is conss:dered to be good. Many, notwithstanding their burden of mental tension, can be kept usefully employed by supportive out-patient treatment with short periods in hospital during exacerbations. For some, however, their distress becomes so overwhelming and their functional efficiency so serious!y impaired that they are obliged to remain at home or in hospital in a state of invalidism. The patient described here became incapacitated in this way, and leucotorny afforded a striking and continued relief of symptoms. The general change in personality similar to that which has been described by others (Hoch, 1949) has not materially interfered with her social rehabilitation.


The five pupils were enrolled in a public elementary school. The con ditions existing in this school are like those found in too many public ele mentary schools, e. g., overcrowded classrooms, and limited supervision. Four criteria were used in selecting the five pupils ; these criteria were applied in the selection of pupils in the order in which they are presented. First, pupils were to be selected from grades four, five, and six. Second, in the opinion of their teachers, pupils must seem to have average or better than average mental capacity but, for some reason or reasons that their teachers had not been able to discover, they had not made satisfactory prog ress in learning to read. Third, each pupil's capacity reading age must be 10-0 or higher. Fourth, each pupil's reading level must be a second reader or lower as evidenced by his ability to read in a 1945 series of basal readers. It was thought that the selection of pupils according to these four criteria would give the writer a group of pupils who had made satisfactory progress in learning to read spoken words and, therefore, should succeed in learning to read printed words. The problem was to make a study of each pupil which would show his maturity ages. It was thought that, with a knowledge of each pupil's maturity ages, it would be possible to plan a reading program which would make learning to read possible. DEFINITION OF TERMS


The research study was executed on the variables of self-esteem and academic performance among the secondary school students in online learning amidst COVID-19. These students were studying in private schools in Lahore. The purposes of the research are to check the difference between the progress of secondary level students in their academic accomplishments over personality and their self-assurance, to examine these factors among girls and boys, and to review the connection and role among personality, self-esteem, and academic achievement. For the current study, the Descriptive Survey Method was used. Random samples were collected for this study (about 200 girls who were in Secondary schools in Lahore districts). For the difference between internet aversions scores inspecting the significance of a t-test was conducted. The data was collected and measured with the 11.5 SPSS and the independent t-test to find the distinction between the variables to furnish the results whereas the test Pearson correlation was conducted to calculate the alliance within the mentioned variables. So, there was no such significance between self-confidence and academic achievement. Therefore, the research demonstrates the null hypothesis.


The carousel and bumper cars were long gone. Seidel's Skee Ball, the five-cent fortune telling machine, Izzy's Knishes, the shooting gallery, teenage crooners harmonizing at Waller's frozen custard stand: I saw them all vanish when I was still a boy. The three-story concrete watchtower that protected us from Nazi submarines was rubble. I played at dusk in the field where it fell, walked beams of the bowling alley that rose in its place. I was gone myself before it became glass-faced condos with a horizon view over flattened dunes, before the storm took apart everything time had left behind. On the news I saw a woman walk where the boardwalk was now nothing but pilings. The beach was scattered across the island beneath the glare of morning sun.


There have been no epidemiological studies identifying associations between systemic inflammatory diseases and actinic keratosis. This study used a large nationwide database to investigate the associations between actinic keratosis and systemic inflammatory diseases. Records of patients over 20 years of age newly diagnosed with actinic keratosis (n = 64,659) from 2012 to 2017 were analysed. A control population of individuals without actinic keratosis, matched for age, sex, and year of claim, who visited an outpatient clinic, was sampled at a ratio of 1:1 (n = 64,659). Both cohorts were analysed for the presence of systemic inflammatory diseases within at least 5 years prior to diagnosis of actinic keratosis. Patients with actinic keratosis exhibited higher odds ratios for rheumatoid arthritis (1.336; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.161–1.537)) and psoriasis (1.513; 95% CI 1.435–1.595) compared with the control group on multivariate analysis. However, the proportions of Behçet's disease, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, and multiple sclerosis in the actinic keratosis group were not statistically significant.


Prompted by concerns for their county's water resources, Kane County officials funded a multifaceted project to be conducted by the Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) and Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS). The project, initiated in May 2002 and scheduled to conclude in May 2007, will provide baseline water-resources data, analyses, and tools for future analyses of water resources available to the county. This report presents and discusses groundwater data and analyses performed as a part of the ongoing investigations in Kane County. Shallow aquifers considered include the unconsolidated sand-and-gravel aquifers and the uppermost bedrock (i.e., the shallow bedrock aquifer). Deeper bedrock aquifers, including the productive Ancell Group and Ironton-Galesville sandstones, are not within the scope of this study, but are discussed in other ISWS reports. The study area includes Kane County and adjacent townships covering a total area of 1260 square miles. A network of 1010 private, public, industrial, and commercial wells was assembled during the inventory phase (May 2002-August 2003). During the synoptic phase (September-October 2003), water-level measurements were collected from those wells. Water-level data were used to construct potentiometric maps for four shallow aquifers: the unnamed tongue below the Batestown Member, the Ashmore Tongue, the aggregated Glasford Formation sands, and the shallow bedrock. Using only groundwater data to constrain the potentiometric surfaces of individual aquifers, the potentiometric surfaces still closely correlated with perennial stream configurations and land-surface topography. The Fox River and Marengo Ridge are the most influential features that determine regional groundwater flow patterns in the county. Groundwater flow west of the Fox River is predominantly to the south and east. East of the Fox River, flow is to the south and west. The interim potentiometric maps can be used to characterize regional groundwater flow, identify areas of groundwater recharge and discharge, determine regional effects of groundwater withdrawals, and provide a baseline for comparison with future groundwater conditions. The maps will be useful in developing a conceptual model of groundwater flow and mathematical groundwater flow models for a wide range of analyses, including aquifer development scenarios. In 2003, 46 high-capacity wells accounted for 6.3 billion gallons or 97 percent of the total reported groundwater withdrawals of 6.5 billion gallons from the shallow aquifers in Kane County. If unreported withdrawals also are estimated, total withdrawals in 2003 may have been as much as 6.9 billion gallons. Groundwater withdrawals appear to have locally influenced the head surfaces, particularly in …


The Forest, Its Role and the Threat from Acid Deposition. Hypotheses Advanced to Explain Forest Death. Ionic Imbalances in the Soil--Causes and Effects. Cationic Nutrients in the Soil - Inputs, Recycling, Storage, Losses and Their Effects. The Inorganic and Organic Nutrient Systems and Their Functions in the Tree. Diagnostic Fertilization and Amelioration of Forest Decline. The Deposition of Acids to Forest Ecosystems. Contributing and Other Potentially Predisposing Causes-Abiotic and Biotic Factors. Forest Damage Surveys. The Forests, Their Decline, and the Predisposing Causes-A Summary. Appendix.


We introduce a symplectic no-core configuration interaction (SpNCCI) framework for ab initio nuclear structure calculations, in a correlated many-body basis which encodes an approximate Sp(3,R) symmetry of the nucleus. Such a scheme potentially provides a means of restricting the many-body space to include only those highly-excited configurations which dominantly contribute to the nuclear wave function. We examine the symplectic symmetry structure arising in an illustrative ab initio SpNCCI calculation for 6Li. We observe both the dominance of symplectic symmetry in individual wave functions and the emergence of families of states related by symplectic symmetry.


Pulse transit time (PTT) has been widely used for cuffless blood pressure (BP) measurement. However, it requires more than one cardiovascular signal involving more than one sensing device. In this article, we propose a method for cuffless continuous blood pressure measurement with the help of left ventricular ejection time (LVET). A microelectromechanical system (MEMS)-based accelerometric sensor acquires a seismocardiogram (SCG) signal at the chest surface, and then, the LVET information is extracted. Both systolic and diastolic BPs are estimated by calibrating the system with the original arterial BPs of the subjects. The performance evaluation is done using different statistical quantitative measures for the proposed method. The performance is also compared with two earlier approaches, where PTT intervals are measured from electrocardiogram (ECG)–photoplethysmogram (PPG) and SCG–PPG pairs. The performance results clearly show that the proposed method is comparable with the state-of-the-art methods. Also, the estimated BP is compared with the original one, measured through a reference system. It gives the mean errors of the systolic and diastolic BPs within the range of −0.197 ± 3.332 and −1.299 ± 2.578 mmHg, respectively. The BPs estimation errors satisfy the requirements of the IEEE standard 5 ± 8 mmHg deviation, and thus, our method may be used for ubiquitous continuous BP monitoring.


The development and application of machine learning has been a hot topic in recent years, and enabling machines to read people's emotions is of great importance in many aspects of social development, such as healthcare, products development and human-computer interaction. This study recognizes seven human emotions by building a model of a neural network and training dataset. Using a large-scaled video dataset, Dynamic Facial Expression in-the-Wild (DFEW), trains the ResNet50 model and outputs the precisions. There are three possible training results, if the accuracies are all above 80%, then the neural network is well-performed; if partial classification accuracies is above 80% while others are above 50%, the neural network is partial well-performed; if the accuracies are all under 50%, the neural network is poor-performed.


This article describes the Y//▽ balance general principles of transformers,wiring diagrams,Derived Y//▽ transformer balanced three-phase-Two single-phase side voltage and current relationships and imbalance were calculated,Application Matlab on Y//▽ equilibrium of pure single-phase transformer with resistive load power system modeling,simulation.We know that electric traction transformer is an important power system load,the Y//▽ electric traction balance transformer can be solved in the general railway traction power supply system caused by negative sequence current,in large part to improve the three-phase asymmetric power system operating state,by a 2 kV·A the Y//▽ balance transformer prototype proved the feasibility and practicality.


Xaythavy LouangvilayKing Mongkut's Institute of TechnologyLadkrabangInternational CollegeFaculty of EngineeringBangkok 10520, ThailandandKing Mongkut's Institute of TechnologyLadkrabangHybrid Computing Research LaboratoryFaculty of EngineeringBangkok 10520, ThailandSomsak MitathaKing Mongkut's Institute of TechnologyLadkrabangHybrid Computing Research LaboratoryFaculty of EngineeringBangkok 10520, ThailandMasahiro YoshidaNoriyuki KomineTokai UniversitySchool of Information Technology andTelecommunication EngineeringDepartment of Embedded TechnologyJapanPreecha P. YupapinKing Mongkut's Institute of TechnologyLadkrabangNanoscale Science and Engineering ResearchAlliance (N'SERA)Faculty of ScienceBangkok 10520, ThailandE-mail: email@example.com. A new method of optical cryptography using dark-bright solitonconversion control within a modified add/drop optical filter is proposed.Apair ofopticalkeysisrandomlygeneratedandtransmitted intothe trans-mission line, where finally the corrected keys between Alice (sender) andBob (receiver) can be retrieved. In principle, the coincidence (orthogonal)dark-bright soliton pair has shown promising behaviors, especially whenthey propagate into the π∕2 phase shifter, i.e. beamsplitter, the shift inphase of π∕2 between dark and bright solitons is occurred and separated.Such behaviors can be used to form the orthogonal light modes (solitons),which are useful for cryptographic application, where in this case the long-distance cryptography can be easily managed. We have derived andpresented a new concept of multi-orthogonal solitons generated byusing dark-bright soliton pulses within the modified add/drop optical filter,which is known as a PANDA ring resonator. By using the dark-bright soli-ton conversion control, the obtained output of the dynamic states can beused to randomly form the multi-orthogonal soliton pairs, which can beavailable for computer and communication security applications, espe-cially for long-distance link.


In order to save energy,the high efficacy heat stored annealing furnace is applied in Xining Special Steel Group Co.Ltd..The paper introduces the main technical parameters of the annealing furnace and illustrates its work principle,technical characteristics and application effects.


This paper synthesizes two widely researched contemporary issues in Thai education through an exploration of the extent to which elements embedded in Thai culture impede a much needed paradigm shift from traditional Thai teaching methodologies to greater student-centeredness on campus and in the classroom. Drawing on archival research, and twenty years of experience the authors as participants and observers in universities in Thailand and overseas, explore the interface between education and culture in Thailand.  The central question is how to preserve the best of Thailand's unique and defining cultural values while overcoming the negative impact of certain cultural interventions on pedagogic practice. The aim of this paper is to encourage dialogue rather than propose any single or simple prescription for change. It argues that teachers themselves, properly coached, have the ability to facilitate change by making it possible for students to develop initiative and practice self-reliance rather than foster teacher-dependence. It is suggested that this may be achieved, in part, by raising awareness of those cultural paradigms which on closer analysis will be seen to conceal problematic pedagogic flaws. KEY WORDS: Thai culture, cultural interventions, student centered learning.


The following is an account of a hectic two-week visit to Berlin in February 2005, during which I attended a wide range of cultural events, including a literary reading by a holocaust survivor, productions of plays by two of Germany's most significant twentieth-century dramatists and numerous exhibitions and films. These events, together with reports and articles in the broadsheet and tabloid press, both about the events in question and other related issues, stimulated a series of reflections on the issue that figures most prominently in the culture of the new Berlin Republic. Perhaps inevitably, given that 2005 marks the sixtieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War and the liberation of Auschwitz, as well as others besides, as we shall see, that issue is clearly the challenge of the nation's past. What precisely do the events in question have to say about this perennial issue? Are writers, artists, theatre and film directors, curators, journalists and politicians simply revisiting old ground, or are there now fresh perspectives on offer? If so, what light do they cast on Germany's political culture and its viability as a modern open society? My first evening took me to the ''Literaturhaus'' in Schöneberg to hear Israeli author Aharon Appelfeld reading to a packed audience from his latest publication Geschichte eines Lebens (Story of a Life). It quickly became clear that his life story encapsulates the complexity of twentieth-century German-Jewish history. He was born in 1932 in the city of Czernowitz in Bukowina, a region that until 1918 belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and thereafter to Rumania. Its polyglot population comprised a mixture of Ukrainians, Hungarians, Jews, Rumanians and Poles, as well as Austrians and Germans. His grandparents were traditional Jews who spoke Yiddish and his parents assimilated Jews who were part of the educated German-speaking bourgeoisie. He was only eight years old when German troops invaded Rumania in 1940, herding the Jews into camps, shooting dead his mother and interning him and his father in a camp from


These notes contain the material covered during a mini-course given at the University of Helsinki, 22 29 April 2009. The reader wishing to see more on pseudo-finite fields can also consult the notes on the course given in Madrid (November 2005), posted on my web page. The main part of this course is based on a paper by James Ax [A], The elementary theory of finite fields. The interested reader can find a very complete account of the theory of finite fields in the book of Fried and Jarden [FJ]. The course was funded by the Finnish network MALJA. I also thank the audience for their enthusiasm and comments.


The first therapeutic choice for the treatment of cutaneous sporotrichosis is oral itraconazole; however, the increase in cases of zoonotic transmission outbreak necessitates a search for effective and safe treatment alternatives.


The orientation and interfacial location of both the cation and anion of the ionic liquids 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium methyl sulfate and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium methanesulfonate have been determined by sum-frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. The results indicate that both the cation and anion occupy the first layer at the gas−liquid interface. Further, the methyl groups of the cation and anion are directed away from the liquid phase into the gas phase.


Tyr-d-Ala-Phe is a "message sequence" of naturally occurring opioid peptides, deltorphin I (Tyr-d-Ala-Phe-Asp-Val-Val-Gly-NH2), deltorphin II (Tyr-d-Ala-Phe-Glu-Val-Val-Gly-NH2), and dermorphin (Tyr-d-Ala-Phe-Gly-Tyr-Pro-Ser-NH2). Analogous heptapeptides containing l-alanine instead of d-alanine are not biologically active. In a previous paper (J. Phys. Chem. B 2004, 108 (14), 4535−4545), we reported X-ray and NMR data for Tyr-d-Ala-Phe. In the current report, we present structural studies of Tyr-Ala-Phe, a "false message sequence" of opioid peptides. It has been found that Tyr-Ala-Phe crystallizes in two forms, as anhydrate (Form I) and dihydrate (Form II). Crystal and molecular structure of both forms was established by means of low-temperature X-ray measurements. Form I is orthorhombic with space group P212121, while II is hexagonal with space group P65. Solid-state NMR was employed to study the structure and molecular dynamics of I and II. Analysis of cross-polarization buildup curves and 13C chemical...


Up to now, scientists and engineers have not shown much interest in the right of free expression as it applies to the dissemination of their research. One specialist makes the point this way: "Scientists are not a First Amendment consumer group." Journalists, of course, are the prime example of a First Amendment consumer group. Scientists generally invoke two principles to support their claims to open dissemination of scientific and technical information: 1) the norm of openness for the enterprise of science and 2) academic freedom for university research. The norm of openness in science rests on assumptions about the nature of scientific advance and discovery. Independent critical scrutiny and replication of findings are thought to be essential. Restrictions on the flow of information interfere with processes by which scientists' results are built upon or challenged by others. In the university context, the norm of academic freedom supports open dissemination of scientific and technical information. Restraints on communication hamper the university in performing its two main functions, research and teaching. Moreover, free exchange within an academic community not only provides a model for the wider society but has intrinsic worth; it is valuable in its own right. These rationales are very familiar, and scientists generally view them as adequate for protecting their interests in open dissemination. One might go so far as to say that scientists have been averse to characterizing the values at stake as First Amendment rights, as issues of free expression. When they encounter threats to openness from government restrictions, scientists appar-


Scalability has become an increasingly critical problem for successful data mining and knowledge discovery applications in real world where we often encounter extremely huge data sets that will render the traditional learning algorithms infeasible. Among various approaches to scalable learning, sampling techniques can be exploited to address the issue of scalability. This paper presents a brief outline on how to utilize the new sampling method in [3] to develop a scalable ensemble learning method with Boosting. Preliminary experimental results using benchmark data sets from the UC-Irvine ML data repository are also presented confirming the efficiency and competitive prediction accuracy of the proposed adaptive boosting method.


BrooklynVegan magazine has premiered GOD MOTHERs new music video, for the song Enkla Svar off sophomore album Vilseledd, discussed in the recent ...


The surface ionization phenomena of Na- and K- compounds are studied by applying the samples directly on a tungsten ionization filament. The transient variations and the steady state characteristics of the ion emission seem to be due to the sample supply taking place by diffusion along the hot filament surface to the ionization spots, and hence it is supposed almost impossible to expect the precise quantitative mass analyses of sample compounds by means of the surface ionization of this sort.


Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) is the main specie exploited in the salmon complexes. The reason is the plasticity and resistance to changes in environmental and disease factors, and due to fast growth rate obtained by the processes of selection and improvement that specie has undergone. In order to achieve the highest production and appropriate quality, a special role has the breeders and their performance. In addition to environmental conditions and nutrition, very important features which contribute to achieving valuable production, are: breeding age, physiological state and morphological indices. In this context, the authors propose to characterize the four populations of breeding females, taking into consideration the following factors: age, body mass index and the main morphological traits. It was followed by dynamic growth and development of breeding females aged three, four, six or eight years. The results obtained, on the reproductive performance of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), may help the formation of competitive breeding groups in the context of increasing economic efficiency of trout in Romania. The experiment was conducted in Fiad trout farm, Bistrita-Nasaud County, in June 2009.


2-Pentadienyloxypyridine N-oxides (3) are smoothly transformed on heating into N-pentadienyloxy-2-pyridones (4) and N-hydroxy-5-pentadienyl-2-pyridones(5). These reactions are shown to be regiospecific and are believed to proceed in a concerted fashion. The [5,5) sigmatropic rearrangement (3)→(5) takes place under moderate conditions and in good yield, although it presumably involves a ten-membered cyclic transition state.


The utility model relates to a manual type rapid plugging device and a socket spanner thereof for plugging the mouth of a well and a pipeline and facilitating maintenance of an oil and gas pipeline and plugging of the mouth of a dead well or maintenance well. The manual type rapid plugging device comprises a plugging drawbar, a decompression channel and a decompression valve are arranged inside the plugging drawbar, an expanding mechanism and a rubber tube are sleeved outside the middle of the plugging drawbar, and the lower portion of the plugging drawbar is connected with a straightening mechanism through adjusting threads. A user can rotate the plugging drawbar to expand the rubber tube to plug the pipeline or well. The socket spanner of the mutual type rapid plugging device comprises a sleeving tube and a connection bar, wherein the sleeving tube is arranged at the bottom of the connection bar and provided with a T-shaped anti-release hanging lug, and the T-shaped anti-release hanging lug is matched with hanging pins on the periphery of the press cap mounted at the top of the plugging drawbar. According to the manual type rapid plugging device and the socket spanner thereof, a user can plug the cross section of the pipe or a sleeve head through manual operation to complete the plugging process, so that massive mechanism equipment for plugging the well mouth can be omitted, low cost, economical and safe effects and convenient and rapid operation can be achieved, and accidents such as environmental pollution due to well mouth oil leakage can be reduced.


PURPOSES
Photon counting CT is a new imaging technology that can provide tissue composition information such as calcium/iodine content quantification. Cadmium zinc telluride CZT is considered a good candidate the photon counting CT due to its relatively high atomic number and band gap. One potential challenge is the degradation of both spatial and energy resolution as the fine electrode pitch is deployed (<50 µm). We investigated the extent of charge sharing effect as functions of gap width, bias voltage and depth-of-interaction (DOI).

METHODS
The initial electron cloud size and diffusion process were modeled analytically. The valid range of charge sharing effect refers to the range over which both signals of adjacent electrodes are above the triggering threshold (10% of the amplitude of 60keV X-ray photons). The intensity ratios of output in three regions (I1/I2/I3: left pixel, gap area and right pixel) were calculated. With Gaussian white noises modeled (a SNR of 5 based upon the preliminary experiments), the sub-pitch resolution as a function of the spatial position in-between two pixels was studied.

RESULTS
The valid range of charge sharing increases linearly with depth-of-interaction (DOI) but decreases with gap width and bias voltage. For a 1.5mm thickness CZT detector (pitch: 50µm, bias: 400 V), the range increase from ∼90µm up to ∼110µm. Such an increase can be attributed to a longer travel distance and the associated electron cloud broadening. The achievable sub-pitch resolution is in the range of ∼10-30µm.

CONCLUSION
The preliminary results demonstrate that sub-pixel spatial resolution can be achieved using the ratio of amplitudes of two neighboring pixels. Such ratio may also be used to correct charge loss and help improve energy resolution of a CZT detector. The impact of characteristic X-rays hitting adjacent pixels (i.e., multiple interaction) on charge sharing is currently being investigated.


The reliable solution of nonlinear parameter estimation problems is an important computational problem in chemical process engineering, both in on-line and off-line applications. Conventional solution methods may not be reliable since they do not guarantee convergence to the global optimum sought in the parameter estimation problem. We demonstrate here a technique, based on interval analysis, that can solve the nonlinear parameter estimation problem with complete reliability, providing a mathematical and computational guarantee that the global optimum is found. As an example, we consider the estimation of parameters in vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) models. Twelve VLE data sets are fit to the Wilson equation. Results indicate that several sets of published parameter values correspond to local optima only, with new globally optimal parameter values found by using the interval approach.


The book Representing Mass Violence by Joachim J. Savelsberg, professor of sociology and law, about representations of violence in Rwanda, is a very thoughtfully conceptualised and written work. Though the theme of media analysis may sound limited, the way in which this research was planned, carried out and interpreted demonstrates a high level of theoretical and empirical craft. Savelsberg, along with his team, analysed 3387 news reports and conducted interviews. The outcome is this book, divided into 4 parts: Justice versus Impunity; Aid versus Justice: The Humanitarian field; Peace versus Justice: The Diplomatic Field; and Mediating Competing Representations: The Journalistic Field. Before the first part, the author gives a brief introduction to the research.He starts with a famous quote by W.I. Thomas, "If men define situations as real,they are real in their consequences". This statement represents his guiding line in exploring the violence in Darfur in the first decade of the 21st century, which he does through perspectives of human rights, criminal law, humanitarianism, and diplomacy. The conflict was widely covered in the media but the coverage was influenced by various sources, which alone does not explain the variation in the representations of violence in Darfur. The author states that his main discovery is a response to the question ''How do global actors, national contexts, and distinct fields interact to create at times conflicting social constructions of reality?''. Among the important components of the research are discussions of the criminalization of human rights violations, the embeddedness of actors in competing fields (of criminal justice, diplomacy and humanitarian aid), the role of the media, interactions between global and national actors, and the consequence of knowledge on responses to violence.


Economic philosophy is the product of the development of philosophy and economy, as well as the demand of social practice, Marx is the model of the research of economic philosophy. At present, the duty of economic philosophy is inheriting the tradition which Marx had started ,integrating with the research of Marxist and western economics to suit the need of the development socialist market economy.


The advances in digital imaging systems combined with the availability to register CBCT data with digital models had made possible in fabrication of orthognathic surgery, CAD/CAM designed splints ,customized brackets ,and indirect bonding systems. Thusstereo lithography is used in wide range of dentistry, which helps in creating asymmetries ,fabricating, coating and land marking synthetic mandible. This article describes about stereo lithography and its application in various fields of dentistry. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Date of Submission: 19-04-2020 Date of Acceptance: 03-05-2020 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Due to their mechanical, thermal and chemical properties, nickel-based alloys are generally included among materials that are hard to machine. An experimental study has been performed to investigate the capabilities of conventional and high-pressure jet assisted (HPJA) turning of hard-to-machine materials, namely Inconel 718. The capabilities of different hard turning procedures are compared by means of chip breakability. The obtained results show that HPJA method offers a significant increase in chip breakability, under the same cutting conditions (cutting speed, feed rate, depth of cut).


We study the role of the Standard Model Higgs condensate, formed during cosmological inflation, in the epoch of reheating that follows. We focus on the scenario where the inflaton decays slowly and perturbatively, so that there is a long period between the end of inflation and the beginning of radiation domination. The Higgs condensate decays non-perturbatively during this period, and we show that it heats the primordial plasma to much higher temperatures than would result from the slowly-decaying inflaton alone. We discuss the effect of this hot plasma on the thermalization of the inflaton's decay products, and study its phenomenological implications for the formation of cosmological relics like dark matter, with associated isocurvature fluctuations, and the restoration of the electroweak and Peccei-Quinn symmetries.


A new mealybug, Crisicoccus ziziphus sp. nov. (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Pseudococcidae), collected on the leaves and twigs of Ziziphus jujuba (Rhamnaceae), is described from China. All the female developmental stages (adult, third-instar, second-instar and first-instar nymphs) are described and illustrated. Keys are provided to separate the female instars and to identify adult females of Crisicoccus species from China.


Present communication deals with the sources and physico - chemical characteristics of effluent of Galvanizing Industry. Analysis of effluent revealed acidic pH, high BOD and COD load. The effluent contained number of metallic pollutants comprising Fe, Zn, Pb and Cr.


New CW THz detectors based on graphene nanoelectrodes photomixer are completely investigated. The graphene nanoelectrodes are placed on low-temperature-grown (LTG) GaAs as photoconductive material. Due to the high transparency and high conductivity of graphene, increasing carrier densities were obtained which leads to the high performance detection of THz induced photocurrent being one order of magnitude higher than for conventional metallic interdigitated photomixer. The THz measurement was performed in the range of 50 GHz to 1.1 THz.


The performance of broiler chicken on four litter materials consisting of chopped Khakshir residues (KH), wood shavings (WS), a mix of 33% Khakshir and 67% a mix of garden hay residues with fine particle size (KH+PR) and a mix of 50% Khakshir hay with 50% wood shavings (KH+WS), were studied. Type of litter had no significant effect on average daily gain, carcass weight, carcass yield, mortality and efficiency of production (P>0.05). The mean feed intake and feed conversion efficiency during 1-14d were significantly better for birds reared on KH litter (P<0.05). The mean litter moisture at 28d, pH at 1 and 28d, objectively assigned dustiness score at 14 and 28d and nitrogen content at 56d significantly influenced by type of litter (P<0.05). The surface temperature significantly differed for various litters at 1 and 28d. Temperature at 30–40 mm of depth was only significantly influenced by type of litter at 42d (P<0.05). At the same ambient temperature (at 150–200 mm above floor), the KH and KH contained litters was found consistently cooler than WS litter at all ages. It may be concluded that, chopped Khakshir residues alone or in combination with fine-particle sized plant residues or wood shavings, could serve as a potential source of litter for broilers in extreme ambient temperatures.


Expression of metallothionein isoform 3 (MT‐3) was initially reported to be confined to neural tissues. However, it was recently demonstrated that MT‐3 is expressed in epithelial cells of the human kidney. This motivated the current examination of the expression of MT‐3 in the human prostate.


Aging is a complex regulatory process,involving alterations of the telomere's length,DNA damage,DNA methylation and cellular oxidation.A lot of theories have been proposed to explain the aging process,and the telomere hypothesis of cellular senescence is becoming one of hot spots.The structures and functions of telomere-telomerase and the correlation between telomere-telomerase and senescence were reviewed,which will manifest important theoretic and practical significance in antiaging.


Cancer chemotherapy is complicated by a lack of selective drug targets. However, tumor chemotoxicity of drugs can be enhanced by precisely targeting them to tumor receptors using tumor-specific probes. Peptide phage display offers a convenient approach to screen for tumor selective probes. Herein, we describe the use of landscape phage libraries for deriving specific phage probes for PC3 prostate tumor cells. Phage probes bound to the surface were collected by elution with acid buffer (Eluate fraction) whereas the phage probes internalizing into the cells were collected following the lysis of cells (Lysate fraction). Selected clones were tested for their target binding efficiency in cell association assays. The probes identified by these protocols will be studied as potential targeting ligands for liposomes and other nanoparticulate drug vehicles.


AMIA has been the home for informatics professionals for 22 years, and has undergone a remarkable evolution during that time. Its autumn meeting continues to be a vibrant setting for the best in informatics science and practice, building on a tradition that started with SCAMC (the Symposium on Computer Applications in Medical Care) in 1977. Its journal, created in the early 1990s, is now arguably the preeminent journal in our discipline, combining cutting-edge science with important insights from the practice community. I have been honored to serve as AMIA's President during the past 3 of those 22 years and would like to take a moment to reflect on our recent accomplishments while acknowledging our ongoing challenges and exciting opportunities for the future. Among our recent accomplishments:


Data compression is an important component of communication and storage technologies, directly contributing to the efficiency of these systems. Lossy data or signal compression, while not applicable to all applications, usually allows for much higher efficiency. In this paper we propose a method for adopting the concept of mixed-transforms and evaluate it for vehicle trajectory data. In mixed-transform methods, compression residuals from the first representation of a signal are passed to a second transformation stage where further compression is applied in that domain. The final residual which represents error resulting from the compression and decompression process, is then used as a cost to be minimized by adjusting the configuration of each transformation stage. An adaptive algorithm from earlier works is adopted to iteratively adjust the configuration of each compression stage (selection of coefficients from each transform) to minimize the error. A hierarchical realization of the iterative adaptive algorithm is presented that uses preset compression ratios and optimizes the coefficient selection accordingly. We show that using DCT followed by Haar in the proposed method, it is possible to efficiently compress vehicle trajectory data. The results show that a higher quality for reconstructed data can be achieved using this method, compared to using a single transform compression. For trajectories with sudden movements, the method has a more notable improvement.


The physical and mechanical properties of Guadua aculeata culm are shown in this paper. The study material was collected from the locality "Las Margaritas" Hueytamalco, Puebla, Mexico. The marking, felling and testing was performed with reference to ISO standards ISO 22157-1 and ISO/TR 22157-2. The average values of the results of low, middle and upper sections are shown; the basic density (dry weight / green volume) ranged from 560 to 660 kg/m3 of the lower to upper culm section. The average total contractions were 13,9% in thickness; 7,1% in diameter and 0,1% in length. In the case of mechanical properties were found that the maximum shear stress varies from 6,0 to10,5 MPa; the maximum stress in compression parallel to fiber increased from 28,2 to 56,7 MPa from low to top section and the modulus of elasticity from 13,7 to 20,7 GPa. The modulus of rupture in bending varies from 51,9 to 79,6 MPa and the modulus of elasticity from 15,1 to 24,1 GPa. The strength in tension parallel to the fiber also increased from 58,5 to 92,2 MPa and modulus of elasticity ranged from 8,2 to 9,8 GPa. The studied specie has the same physical, mechanical and geometric properties to G. angustifolia that it is used in the construction in countries how Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela and Ecuador.


For Pt. I see ibid., vol.37, no.5, p.1327-141 (1991). For a linear, time-invariant, discrete-time channel with a given transfer function H(f), and information rate R bits/T, where T is the symbol interval, an optimal signal set of length K is defined to be a set of 2/sup RK/ inputs of length K that maximizes the minimum l/sub 2/ distance between pairs of outputs. The author studies the minimum distance between outputs, or equivalently, the coding gain of optimal signal sets as K to infinity . He shows how to estimate the coding gain, relative to single-step detection, of an optimal signal set length K when K is large. >


A process for preparation of 2 - ((R) -2-methylpyrrolidin-2-yl) -1H-benzimidazole-4-carboxamide in solid crystalline form, wherein the crystalline form is Form 2 which, when measured at 25 with radiation at 1.54178 A by a powder diffraction pattern having respective 2θ values of 13,4o, 17.1o, 21,6o, 21,9o, 24.1 °, 24.7 °, 26 is characterized, 9th, 27,3o, 27,8o, 30,3o, 32,4o and 34,2o and is essentially free of peaks below 11.5 °, comprising: a) providing a mixture comprising 2 - ((R) -2-methylpyrrolidin-2-yl) -1H-benzimidazole-4- carboxamide and methanol, in which 2 - ((R) -2-methylpyrrolidin-2-yl) -1H-benzimidazole-4-carboxamide it is completely dissolved in methanol; b) concentrating the mixture at 35 ° C until the 2 - ((R) -2-methylpyrrolidin-2-yl) -1H-benzimidazole-4- carboxamide is dried to constant weight.


A framework is developed for the design and analysis of single-viewpoint catadioptric cameras that use two or more mirrors. The use of multiple mirrors permits folding of the optics which leads to more compact camera designs than ones that use a single mirror. A dictionary of camera designs that use two conic mirrors is presented. We show that any folded system that uses conic mirrors has a geometrically equivalent system that uses a single conic mirror. This result makes it easy to determine the scene-to-image mapping of a conic folded system. In addition, we discuss the optical benefits of using folded systems. As an example, we choose a camera design from our dictionary and optimize its parameters via optical simulations. This design is used to construct a compact video camera that provides a hemispherical field of view.


This report discusses the application of modern signal processing techniques to characterize parameters governing the vibrational response of a structure. Simulated response data is used to explore the feasibility of applying these techniques to various structural problems. On-line estimator/indentifiers are used to estimate structural parameters, validate designed structures, and detect structural failure when used with a detector.


[1] The influence of the eastern Pacific equatorial circulation on the dynamics of the Northern Humboldt Current System is studied using an eddy‐resolving regional circulation model forced by boundary conditions from three distinct ocean general circulation models. The seasonal variability of the modeled nearshore circulation and the mesoscale activity are contrasted in order to evaluate the role of the density forcing. The seasonal variability of the surface and subsurface alongshore currents strongly depends on the amplitude and timing of the seasonal eastward propagating equatorial waves. The equatorward flow and upwelling intensity are also impacted by nonlinear processes, such as the seasonal generation of nearshore mesoscale eddies, which create alongshore pressure gradients modulating the surface current. Boundary conditions affect differently the intensity and phase of the eddy kinetic energy, as baroclinic instability is triggered by coastal waves during austral summer and fall, whereas it is sustained by the wind‐ driven upwelling during austral winter.


Key Points Question Does the implementation of multiple Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) pathways across 1 health care system affect ERAS guideline adherence, length of stay, complications, readmissions, and mortality? Findings In this quality improvement study, comparison of pre-post–ERAS cohorts found that pathway implementation was associated with increased guideline adherence, from 52% to 76%; decreased unadjusted length of stay, from a mean of 9.4 to 7.8 days; and decreased adjusted length of stay by 0.71 days, with no differences in serious complications or 30-day mortality. Meaning These results suggest that implementation of multiple ERAS pathways could provide system-level improvement in ERAS guidelines adherence and length of stay.


The diagnosis of gastrointestinal tuberculosis is challenging as it presents with a variety of symptoms. A high index of suspicion is essential. The most common site of involvement of the gastrointestinal tuberculosis is the ileocaecal region. Ileocaecal and small bowel tuberculosis presents with a palpable mass in the right lower quadrant and/or complications of obstruction, perforation or malabsorption especially in the presence of stricture. Rare clinical presentations include dysphagia, odynophagia and a mid-oesophageal ulcer due to oesophageal tuberculosis, dyspepsia and gastric outlet obstruction due to gastroduodenal tuberculosis, lower abdominal pain and haematochezia due to colonic tuberculosis, and annular rectal stricture and multiple perianal fistulae due to rectal and anal involvement. The arrival of genetic tests, laparoscopy, improved endoscopy and radiology have aided the surgeon in arriving at an earlier diagnosis. Medical treatment is the mainstay of therapy. However, the high cost of treatment, the development of multidrug resistant strains, and infection with atypical mycobacteria in immunocompromised patients have all increased the incidence and severity of abdominal tuberculosis. The role of surgery is principally in diagnosis and the management of complications. The study was conducted on patients admitted at Government Stanley Medical College Hospital, Chennai. A total of 42 patients were included in the study group from June 2007 to August 2009.


Abstract By confronting variable use, the variationist method can reveal patterns of subjectification of grammatical morphemes. Applying this method to the analysis of salir(se)  'go out' variation in Mexican Spanish oral data, we conclude that subjectification is manifested structurally in the tendency for middle-marked salirse  to co-occur with first-person singular or referents close to the speaker, positive polarity and the past tense. Further comparative dialectal and diachronic data indicate the origins of the se -marked form in physical spatial deviation. Usage of the form then extends to situations that denote deviation from social norms. We thus propose that the locus of subjectification of this counter-expectation marker is an increasingly speaker-based construal of expectation. This semantic change appears to proceed via absorption of contextual meaning in the frequently occurring + de  'from' construction.


Abstract A broad view of our field is offered in A Roadmap for Sound and Music Computing. However, additional topics should be considered. The roadmap could go further by suggesting study and involvement in economic and policy analysis. Also, the roadmap does not stress the importance of tool building to support the discipline. It could be beneficial to address directly the issues of ''high'' art vs. entertainment and popular culture, and the field should work to adopt both under the unifying theme of sound and music computing. Because the field tends to be dispersed both in terms of specializations and geography, the potential for collaboration is especially important. These and other topics are discussed in relation to the roadmap.


The compounds of formula I (FORMULA) wherein R1, R2, R3, Q, Y, Y '' YR HAVE THE MEANING SET FORTH IN MEMORY AND ITS acid addition salts PHARMACOLOGICALLY exploitable CAN BE USED FOR TREATMENT OF INFECTIONS CAUSED BY MUSHROOMS.


In this research, modified PWM has been applied to the multilevel inverter (MLI) single‐phase three‐level diode clamp full bridge. Modified PWM is performed to produce minimum Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) the voltage because the quality of the good voltage is indicated by small THD. The THD indicates the quality of AC voltage source. The THD standard by the IEEE STD 519‐1992 Harmonic Voltage Limits is 5% and the Pacific Corp standard is 8%, if the THD value is greater than the THD standard it can cause the electronic load to be damaged due to the damaged waveform. Modified PWM is applied by adding a 50 Hz sinusoidal reference signal with a sinusoidal signal which has a certain amplitude, frequency and phase shift angle. The frequency of the adder signal is the frequency at which the value of the individual harmonic voltage appears (n harmonic). To get maximum result, optimization using Genetic Algorithm (GA) method to determinate amplitude & phase shift angle done. The result of implementation hardware with modified PWM shows smaller THD voltage compared to the THD voltage with Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation (SPWM) switching up to 0.19 or decrease 65,51 % for modified PWM of harmonic injection n = 7 with GA optimization ma = 0.8 (A=0.0936 and ø = 0 rad) and up to 0.08 or decrease 12,30 % for modified PWM of harmonic injection n = 22 with GA optimization ma = 0.4 (A=0.1221 and ø = 0 rad).


A large body of literature has discussed the benefits and the shortcomings of the use of games in education. Studies in this area of inquiry have indicated that games are not
significantly correlated to student academic performance. Rather, they facilitate knowledge acquisition and sharing among students. However, implications from existing
literature on the use of games in education suggest that futher research needs to be done to explore how games are used to enhance students' social and problem-solving skills.
This study attempts to investigate students' perception of the collaborative task of game making for language classrooms and the challenges in creating such games. To address the research questions in this study, we used Role Play Game Maker MV to create a customized game for a language classroom. We employed both qualitative and
quantitative method to address the research questions. The findings suggest that students viewed the collaborative task of making a game interesting and fun. Students were
confident that this type of project was beneficial for them to learn a subject matter. Some of the challenges that students encountered were related to technical issues of game making, limited time to design the most appropriate activities and modify the provided templates.


Recently, life-sized humanoid robots been developed and evaluated through competitions involving a series of missions under simulated human-made and natural disasters. However, it is difficult to generalize about the software architectures for humanoid robots that can perform various tasks such as rotating valves, picking up objects, and opening doors. Furthermore, even though there a number of effective tools like Robot Operating System (ROS) for robot software architectures, it is hard to define their structure or function set. In this paper, we present a simple and well-structured software architecture with a generalized function set. Its hierarchy is suitable for simulation as well as actual experiments for various tasks, and it can perform various tasks by combining the function set properly. The effectiveness of the proposed architecture was verified through a valve rotating task by using a humanoid robot platform.


The main objective of working with gifted children in the school is to create a set of different conditions and means that are aimed at improving the system to identify, support and development of gifted children in educational environment of the school. One option for support of development of gifted children in the school is to implement the program of extracurricular activities. The most common form of organization of extracurricular activities of students with the same interests are subject mug. They are designed primarily for students whose interests go beyond the program, but do not rule out the possibility of visiting their all students. It is advisable to work with gifted children to systematize the results of children´s art in the following forms: creative projects, portfolios, book of children´s creative work, the results of contests, competitions, conferences to promote the needs of students to realize their creative potential.


The 3-RPS parallel manipulator analysed in this paper is developed for the ankle rehabilitation device. Its architecture was achieved through novel methodology introduced in [1]. Three revolute axes intersect at one point that becomes the center of rotation of the ankle rehabilitation device. The intersection point will be placed as close as possible to the ankle joint. By using algebraic approach, namely the Euler parametrization, the manipulator is described by a set of seven constraint equations. A primary decomposition is computed over a set of seven constraint equations. It turns out that the 3-RPS parallel manipulator with intersecting R-axes has two 3-dof operation modes, namely x1 =0 and x2 = 0. These two operation modes are different from operation modes belong to the 3-RPS parallel manipulator introduced by Hunt [2]. The moving platform in both operation modes can perform coupled rotational motions and one vertical translational motion. However, the motion types in each operation mode cannot be easily distinguished. Therefore, the workspace of each operation mode is parametrized to recognize the physical characteristics of position and orientation of the moving platform.