With the development of the internet finance,the wide use of the electronic currency has brought a huge influence onto commercial banks. In order to research the electronic currency influence on the systematic risk of listed banks in the internet financial environment,the influencing factors on systematic risk of the commercial bank are analyzed based on the financial data of 14 commercial banks between 2007 and 2013.The results show that the use of electronic currency has a significantly negative influence on the systematic risk of commercial banks,which provides a new idea of how to guard against the systematic risk of commercial banks.


Edible oysters of the genera Crassostrea and Saccostrea
occur in the estuaries, backwaters and coastal areas of India.
Crassostrea madrasensis is the dominan~ oyster along Indian
coast. In the recent years, extensive surveys were conducted in
the estuaries of Tamil Nadu to study the potential oyster resource
(Rao et al . 1987; Sarvesan et al.. 1988; Thangavelu and
Sanjeevaraj. 1988). Along the Kerala coast oyster beds are
distributed in the coastal zones and estuaries.


Introduction - S Irudaya Rajan Emerging Dempgraphic Change in South Asia PART ONE: TRENDS, DIFFERENTIALS AND SPATIAL VARIATIONS South Indian Fertility in Past Times - Ravindran Gopinath The Colonial Period Mapping Out Fertility in South India - S[ac]ebastien Oliveau Methodology and Results Fertility Trends and Differentials in Andra Pradesh - P Ramachandran and P Ramesh Fertility Transition in Karnataka - T V Sekher, K N M Raju and M N Sivakumar Levels, Trends and Implications Fertility in Kerala - S Irudaya Rajan and Sabu Aliyar Fertility in Tamil Nadu - S Irudaya Rajan, P M Kulkarni and T Thenmozhi Levels and Recent Trends PART THREE: FIELD STUDIES AND QUALITATIVE APPROACH Causes of Fertility Transition in Tamil Nadu - S Krishnamoorthy, P M Kulkarni and N Audinarayana Low Fertility and Female Discrimination in South India - St[ac]ephanie Vella The Puzzle of Salem District, Tamil Nadu Family and Fertility Decisions - K N M Raju An Anthropological Enquiry PART FOUR: QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS AND FERTILITY MODELING Significance of Medical and Paramedical Personnel in Demographic Transition - K Srinivasan and S Kumar An Empirical Analysis An Analysis of the Determinants of Fertility Behaviour in South India at the Village Level - Manisha Chakrabarty and Christophe Z Guilmoto Decline in Fertility in Andhra Pradesh - K S James and S V Subramanian A Re-Examination of Conflicting Arguments Fertility Decline in India - Christophe Z Guilmoto Maps, Models and Hypotheses


Building on the success of the large nuclear plants, small modular reactors (SMRs) offer the potential to expand the use of clean, reliable nuclear energy to a broad range of customers and energy applications. In this work, a model to describe the neutronics parameters of a SMR core that can produce up to 530 MW of thermal power was developed. Using this model, several configurations of fuel enrichment to obtain the most homogeneous distributions of the power inside the fuel assemblies during all the core lifetime were studied. Temperature reactivity coefficients and mass variation of the principal isotopes for the optimised core were calculated. Finally, a model that allows the thermal hydraulic evaluation of the hottest section of the fuel elements was developed. The outlet coolant temperature, temperature distributions in the pins and the radial temperature distribution in the hottest pin were calculated.


Studies on Sulphochlorination of Paraffins. X. The Application of Additive Increments for the Interpretation of 13C-N.M.R. Spectra of Alkane Mono- and Disulphochlorides and of Chloroalkane Sulphochlorides

Increments which consider the influence of chlorine and sulphonylchloride substituents on the 13C-n.m.r. shifts of alkanes were calculated and discussed. The application of additive increments for the calculation of 13C-n.m.r. chemical shifts of alkane-1,2-disulphonylchlorides, branched alkane monosulphonylchlorides, sulphochlorinated 1-alkylchlorides and chlorinated 1-alkane sulphonylchlorides is demonstrated. The limitations of the method are discussed.


This paper provides a preliminary assessment of electromagnetic wave propagation in focusing media which departs from those previously studied, ideal lenses and continuous media with square-law index variation. New approximate methods are described for obtaining the transverse beam width, phase constant, and ray trajectory in continuous lens-like media, and for determining stability conditions in lens waveguides, where the lenses contain spherical aberration and the continuous media contain fourth-order or higher-order terms of variation in index of refraction. It is proven that only in aberrationless-lens waveguides or in a continuous medium with square-law index variation will the shape of a beam injected off axis or with an angle to the medium's axis remain constant about a beam axis which oscillates about the axis of the medium. In non-square law media the beam will spread, but knowledge of the coefficients describing the medium and the position and angle of the injected beam enables one to specify the maximum radius within which all of the energy will be confined. The following is an example of the type of solution obtained for non-square law media: for a medium characterized by the transverse index variation $n_a (1-{1/2}a_4 x^4)$ and assuming no index variation exists in the direction of propagation, the radius to the 1/e point infield is approximately $w_e = 0.666{\lambda^{1/3} \over a_{4}^{1/6}}$ and the phase constant is $\beta = {2\pi \over \lambda} - {0.256(a_4 \lambda)^{1/3}(m + 1)^2 \over \left({m + 2.5 \over 2.5})^2/3}$ where the free-space wavelength $\lambda_0 = n_{a} \lambda$ and m is the order of the mode, m = 0, 1, 2 … Quite generally, non-square law media show dispersion, and unlike the square-law media the various modes travel with different group velocities. Expressions are given to allow these effects to be evaluated for small perturbations on a square-law medium as well as for higher-order index variations. The transverse beam shape associated with any law of index variation is shown to be as well approximated (in the region of signifteant power density) by a cosine function or Ga1lssian function as is the field for an ideal lens-waveguide approximated by a Gaussian function in the presence of typical diffraction losses. Normal mode shapes are obtained for resonators with fourth-order and eighth-order mirrors by the method of Fox and Li; diffraction 108se8 for a few Fresnel number8 are also given. In a certain range of Fresnel n1lmbers, fourth- and eighth-order mirrors give lower diffraction losse8 than spherical mirrors. An approximate method for solving the paraxial ray equation for rather general (non-square-law) media is outlined. Requiring only reciprocity and symmetry about the medium's axis, it is shown that tlu) radial position of the ray (x) is related to distance (z) along the axis of the medium by $x = \sum b_m cos m\beta z$ where m = 1, 3, 5, 7 …. Moreover, it is shown that this series converges very rapidly, making it possible to get a good approximate representation with only a few terms. For example, for the fourth-order medium described above, an approximate solution is $x = x_{0} \{0.959 cos \beta z + 0.041 cos 3 \beta z \}$ where $ \beta = x_{0} \sqrt{1.44a_4}$ . It is characteristic of all non-square law media to have a ray period 2Π/β which is a function of the peak ray displacement, x 0 Lens waveguides with fourth- or higher-order terms in the focusing or index function can of course exhibit increasingly strong focusing for energy departing farther from the medium's axis, and if the lenses are suitably spaced might be useful in reducing the magnitude of beam wander due to imperfections or guide-axis curvature. However, for a given beam spot size, non-square-law lenses must be placed closer together than square-law lenses. Use of non-square law lenses or distributed media in transmission systems will most probably require repeater-system techniques which are operable with multi-mode signals at the receiver input.


The general goal of the research was to develop Design of Experiments (DOE) methods that can be used during the production process. They differ from classical DOE because new experiments are incrementally defined based on the outcome of previous experiments. A first step consisted of comparing a heuristic online optimization strategy, the simplex, with the most basic form of sequential response surface modeling (sRSM), a factorial augmented with steepest ascent, called factorial EVOP in this text. The comparison was made using the mathematical model of a real physical process. The optimization methods were programmed in Matlab ® . To compare these methods, a set of hundred randomly chosen starting points was obtained as an input for all methods. Several comparisons were made: number of steps needed to reach the optimum, quality of the optimum… The first results are presented and discussed. Statistical Design of Experiments has been used for decades to optimize a variety of industrial processes. One of its greatest failings has always been that the production process usually has to be stopped for the experimentation to be carried out. Such one-shot optimization presents a problem in processes that drift in time. Not only process drift is of concern, modern industrial processes are often highly complex and are difficult to model. The higher the complexity of the model, the more experimental runs are necessary, resulting in high costs. Therefore, it is interesting to look at methods that can continuously optimize a process without stopping the production line. In this paper an adaptation of Evolutionary Operation (EVOP) by George Box (Box, 1957), and the simplex algorithm, as described by Nelder and Mead (Nelder & Mead, 1965), are compared. More information about the simplex method can be found in (Walters et al., 1991).


Person-centered care moves beyond the biomedical framework to get to the real person.The woman who sat across the table from the testing psychologist was terrified and trying unsuccessfully to hide it. She desperately wanted to convince anyone she met (and maybe even herself) that she wasn't in the early stages of Alzheimer's Disease. Although she lived on her own, her daughter found herself doing more and more for her mother. Her mother was afraid of making mistakes that would suggest to others she was slowly changing. Although she was aware something was changing, it was difficult to face the reality of what it might be. This experience is common among people facing the early stages of Alzheimer's.But she is not just a person with early- stage Alzheimer's Disease: she is an intelligent, sensitive woman, and a loving mother and grandmother, with an interesting life story and much to offer the people around her. However, all of this seems to be forgotten now that she is facing a diagnosis of Alzheimer's. She is forget- ting because she is overwhelmed by the fear of what this means for her and her future. Her daughter is afraid that she will lose the mother she loves and is starting to feel the weight and sacrifice of providing increasing amounts of care.How Does Person-Centered Care Differ with Early-Stage Alzheimer's?What does it mean to be person-centered in the context of early Alzheimer's Disease? In early dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), person-centered approaches begin with the initial diagnostic assessment. They can draw upon the person's remaining strengths in order to better understand their perspective and integrate this into person-sustaining care plans as he or she heads into the inevitable progressive decline. As the points below illustrate, person-centered care concerns the way providers and caregivers think about and interact with the person with dementia, and it influences assessment and subsequent care planning.1. One of the basic tenets of person- centered care is that individuals are still full persons even when they become cognitively impaired. Although cognition is critically important to the person and their functioning, their value as a human being is not diminished by their inability to remember or manage tasks of daily living. The hyper-cognitive approach has been rightly critiqued (Post, 1995), but can nonetheless creep into our thinking in subtle ways in early-dementia care. For example, initial diagnostic assessment often focuses almost ex- clusively on cognitive and functional changes, without an accompanying evaluation of psycho- logical and social strengths that likely will remain stable. Individualized care plans can take advantage of these strengths.2. People are best understood within the context of their relationships, community, and worldview-not just through brain pathology and its associated cognitive deficits. People experience cognitive decline within the context of their personal histories, hopes, and fears for the future. These aspects of the person's life influence the way they experi- ence and respond to cognitive changes, and their experience of living with cognitive impairment. In early dementia and MCI, a person-centered approach takes time to understand these less cognitive aspects of the person and seeks to convey their importance, thus demonstrating in a concrete manner that the person is more than the sum of their deficits.This approach also appreciates common early dementia experiences, including fear about the diagnosis and the future, tension between promoting a sense of autonomy and an increas- ing need for supervision, and adapting to living with cognitive and functional changes (Hodgson and Cutler, 2003; French et al., 2011; Judge, Menne, and Whitlatch, 2010; Husband, 2000).3. Moving beyond a biomedical frame- work to include psychological, relational, and spiritual dimensions of the person's life and experience broadens the initial assess- ment and opens avenues for person-centered care planning that recognizes the individual- ity of each person. …


Yirus attack, hacking, file corruption were among the identified threats against file system residing in computer systems. The file system contains user data, programs, authorization information application and system files. The ability to monitor these file system for unauthorization or unexpected changes gives system administrator valuable data for protecting and maintaining their systems effectively. An lntegity Checking Software which act as a security application will be developed to help system administrator and user in monitoring a designated set of files and directories for any changes. The system will notify system administrator of corrupted or altered files so that appropriate corrective actions may be taken This report describes how the Integrity Checking Softwre usess a "signature" routine to identifiy changes in files, analyze problems and design system with Unified Modeling Language(UML). Also presented are software tools that were used in the system development process and how the capabilities of Java prograrnming language were being taken advantage of during the implementation.


The Idaho Waste Processing Facility, the Mixed and Low-Level Waste Treatment Facility, and the Mixed and Low-Level Waste Disposal Facility are new waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities that have been proposed at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL). A prime consideration in planning for such facilities is the selection of a site. Since spring of 1992, waste management personnel at the INEL have been involved in activities directed to this end. These activities have resulted in the (a) identification of generic siting criteria, considered applicable to either treatment or disposal facilities for the purpose of preliminary site evaluations and comparisons, (b) selection of six candidate locations for siting,and (c) site-specific characterization of candidate sites relative to selected siting criteria. This report describes the information gathered in the above three categories for the six candidate sites. However, a single, preferred site has not yet been identified. Such a determination requires an overall, composite ranking of the candidate sites, which accounts for the fact that the sites under consideration have different advantages and disadvantages, that no single site is superior to all the others in all the siting criteria, and that the criteria should be assigned different weighing factors depending on whether a site is to host a treatment or a disposal facility. Stakeholder input should now be solicited to help guide the final selection. This input will include (a) siting issues not already identified in the siting, work to date, and (b) relative importances of the individual siting criteria. Final site selection will not be completed until stakeholder input (from the State of Idaho, regulatory agencies, the public, etc.) in the above areas has been obtained and a strategy has been developed to make a composite ranking of all candidate sites that accounts for all the siting criteria.


Experts in Team is a compulsory subject for all master students at NTNU. Here students collaborate in inter-professional groups with the goal of improving their own knowledge and skill of teamwork and cooperation through exploring innovative solutions on problems relative to the village's theme. One of these themes is 'VR/AR for learning and training'. Learning Assistants, known as facilitators, are employed to support the students during the course. At this village some groups may elect to collaborate remotely with another group located on another NTNU campus. This has caused problems for the facilitators, as there are no tools or specific guidelines for facilitating collaborative groups in VR/AR. The purpose of this master was to explore the concept of facilitating groups in VR/AR and try to provide a prototype solution for group facilitation in VR/AR. Our solution was to develop a mixed reality application in Unity, based on an already existing application developed in Unreal. Our version was to include support for Microsoft's Hololens, merging VR and AR into one platform. This platform is known as Mixed Reality. Our findings, together with theory show that there is a need to provide the facilitator these tools, and by testing the prototype we also propose some requirements for such tools.


The paper taking the dam earth filling of Songta hydroelectric station as the example,illustrates the quality control points of the dam earth filling,and sums up the respective quality control measures from the earth materials and the field earth filling,so as to ensure the dam earth filling quality and ensure the construction safety.


Heather A. Hedburg and Bruce A. Blackwell, B.A. Blackwell andAssociates Ltd., 3087 Hoskins Road, North Vancouver, British Columbia,Canada, V7J 3B5Pages 18-20 in J.A. Trofymow and A. MacKinnon, editors. Proceedingsof a workshop on Structure, Process, and Diversity in SuccessionalForests of Coastal British Columbia, February 17-19, 1998, Victoria,British Columbia. Northwest Science, Vol. 72 (special issue No. 2).Acrobat


Darwo, Bogidarmanti R. 2016. The cultivation of bintangur (Callophyllum soulatri) prospects to be developed in peatlands. Pros Sem Nas Masy Biodiv Indon 2: 267-270. Peatlands have limited species to be developed as industrial plantations forest. Bintangur (Callophyllum soulatri Burm.F.) is one of the original species in the peatland area. Currently, bintangur has not been developed extensively as industrial plantations forest. Economically, bintangur has a high value of benefits that wood can be used as raw material for pulp and fruit can be used as a source of biofuel. The aims of this study were to evaluate the extent of its ability to grow and characteristics of bintangur in peatland area. The trial planting at a spacing of 3 x 3 m2 and observation made after 4 years old after planting with the measured parameter were the diameter at breast height, total height and survival rate. Data analysis was conducted to know the average and standard deviation. The results showed that bintangur easily propagated from wildlings and seeds. At the age of 4 years gained an average diameter at breast height of 3.82 ± 0.90 cm and a total height of 3.39 ± 0.72 m in diameter increment of 0.95 cm/year and high increment of 0.85 m/year. Bintangur can grow well in open peatlands with survival rates of 75 ± 15.2 % and the age of 3 years has borne fruit. Therefore, the plant bintangur potential to be developed as plantations producing wood pulp and energy.


This letter provides a brief explanation of echo state networks (ESNs) and provides a rigorous bound for guaranteeing asymptotic stability of these networks. The stability bounds presented here could aid in the design of echo state networks that would be applicable to control applications where stability is required


Background and Aim: COVID-19 is a deadly disease and treatment personnel have an important role in the care and control of this disease. The prerequisite for this care is infection control measures with good knowledge and practice in this field. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the knowledge and practice of medical personnel in military clinics in Abadan in 2020.


OBJECTIVE
To identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) perceived by childcare staff for preventing childhood overweight.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Qualitative study using an interpretative phenomenological approach; 18 in-depth, semi-structured interviews and 12 focus groups with 89 key informants working in six Mexican public childcare centers (CCC) were conducted. Through content and SWOT analyses, experts further ranked fifty-nine recurrent perceptions regarding healthy feeding and physical activity (PA), using the Delphi method.

RESULTS
Strengths: Acknowledgement of the CCC's responsibility in fostering healthy feeding, availability of organizational regulations, and access to PA infrastructure/indoor activities. Weaknesses: Disregard of preschool overweight as a health problem, nu- tritional misperceptions, and perceived risk of child injuries while conducting PA. Opportunities: Willingness to reduce children's access to junk foods, and parental active play with children during weekends. Threats: Limited family nutritional education, and restricted parental time/economic constraints/access to safe public spaces for PA.

CONCLUSIONS
The identified SWOT must be considered when developing obesityprevention interventions targeted at CCC.


ix Historically, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has been a recognized world leader in rehabilitation , appreciating the value of rehabilitation and its far-reaching effects. In a field where efficacy of treatment may prove difficult to measure [1], VA's rehabilitation programs demonstrate that even a slight improvement in a person's quality of life is a real, if not always tangible, rehabilitation result worth considering. Bearing that in mind, VA sponsors four national rehabilitation special events each year: The National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic, The National Veterans Wheelchair Games, the National Veterans Golden Age Games, and the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival. These events, open to veterans served by VA medical facilities, promote healing of the body as well as the spirit through challenging competitions that push participants to their limits. This healing of the spirit does not depart from the scientific. It is purely the by-product of successful physical, recreational, and art therapy programs that help veterans overcome their physical limitations. Established in 1987, the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic introduces veterans with spinal cord injuries or disease, neurological conditions , or blindness to adaptive sports and recreational activities such as Alpine and Nordic skiing, rock climbing, scuba diving, ice hockey, horseback riding, and fishing. Through this recreational therapy, disabled veterans practice movements and exercises that help them improve their motor skills and independence, while gaining self-confidence. * Beyond the physical benefits achieved through these activities, disabled veterans improve their emotional and social functions by exchanging treatments, rehabilitation methodology, and best practices with fellow veterans living with the same type of physical limitations. Held at the Rocky Mountains each year, the Winter Sports Clinic is an informal symposium of living research, which over the years has resulted in state-of-the-art adaptive ski equipment, world-class athletes, improved physical conditioning of profoundly disabled veterans, and an enhanced understanding of disabled people by all who come in contact with the event. Like the Winter Sports Clinic, the National Veterans Wheelchair Games provide rehabilitation to disabled veterans. Established in 1981, the Games are the largest annual wheelchair sports competition in the world. This event gives newly disabled veterans the opportunity to gain or enhance sports skills in a therapeutic environment, while introducing them to experienced wheelchair athletes who serve as their guides or mentors. According to their ability, participating veterans compete in basketball, soft-ball, rugby, slalom, swimming, and track and field to …


In present work the regularities of electrochemical dissolution of iron with the participation of industrial three-phase AC 50Hz in aqueous solutions of HCl and H 2 SO 4 were studied the first time. The features of the dissolution of iron electrodes at polarization with alternating current in acid solution to form ions of iron (II) were studied and the influence of various factors was examined. Based on the study results a new and efficient method of synthesis of iron salts which are widely used as a coagulant in water treatment was proposed.


considerable and criticalinsight into imperialist racialism, and that in effect Lord Jim can be read as a criticism of racialist attitudes. When I say Conrad criticizes "racialism," I am using this word in the sense as Oxford English DiclioJZaTy defines it: "Belief in the superiority of a particular race leading to prejudice and antagonism towards people of other races・" Criticism of racialism in Lord Jim seems to focllS in particular on the idea of "superionty" that European characters feel an idea that the narrative shows to be unfounded, dangerous, and self-destructive・ I should like to consider this topic throughthree key incidents in the novel: the EllrOpean CreW's abandonmellt Of the Asians on the ship Palna; the


This article is due to the fact that the study of ways of reflecting culture in language and human society contributes to the knowledge of other cultures and mentality, serves the development of intercultural communication. The purpose of this work is to identify the origins and trace the development of cultural linguistics as an independent scientific discipline, as well as to analyze its current state.


Why should the Home Office remain the monopoly supplier of prisons? Peter Clarke argues that privatisation and a system of incentives for the new owners could reduce recidivism.


Objective The aim of prospective randomized controlled trial to evaluate the clinical effect of glass fiber-reinforced post core and casting-post-core system applied in the restoration of molar residual crown and root.Methods 215 molar residual crowns restored by spiral-post combined with glass fiber-reinforced post core and casting-post-core respectively and united with full crown werer observed for 4 year.Results The failure ratio of class fiber-reinforced post core group(2.73%)was less than that of the casting-post-core group(14.29%).There was statistical difference on the failure.Conclusion On the restoring of the molar residual crown,the class fiber-reinforced post core group shows the better clinic effect than the cssting-post-core system.


The sector of the printing industry is formed by a long supply chain , ranging from the
same paper making , through the provision of inputs for the transformation of raw
materials into graphic products and including related services such as content
design , the use of graphics for advertising promotion in which COLOR PRINT
INTERNATIONAL is positioned in a niche market that offers printed products
including safety features, ensuring its customers that their documents virtually
impossible to counterfeit or adulterated.


The invention relates to a method for preparing water-soluble graphene by a titanate coupling agent modification process, which comprises the following steps: heating expandable graphite at the high temperature of 1100 DEG C to obtain vermicular expanded graphite, oxidating the expanded graphite to obtain graphite oxide, dispersing the graphite oxide in a hydrosolvent, and stripping by magnetically stirring or the like to obtain graphene oxide; sequentially adding a titanate coupling agent and hydrazine hydrate into the graphene oxide dispersion solution to obtain a mixed solution; reacting the mixed solution by a water bath heating process to reduce the graphene oxide and graft the titanate coupling agent molecules; and filtering and cleaning the obtained mixed solution repeatedly to remove the excessive hydrazine hydrate and titanate coupling agent, and carrying out vacuum drying to obtain the powdery modified graphene. The invention has the advantages of simple technique, high production efficiency and environment-friendly production process and product, and the prepared graphene has high dispersion stability in water and can be stored for a long time; and thus, the invention is suitable for preparing composite materials and coating materials.


In recent years the authors of scholarly publications have relied on e-resources. But e-resources have raised the question of permanency on the web. In this context, this article investigates the availability, persistence of Uniform Resource Locator (URL) citations cited in two Library and Information Science (LIS) journal articles published by Emerald Publishers during 2008 and 2012. In total, 2477 URLs cited in 406 research articles published in two LIS journals spanning a period of five years (2008– 2012) were extracted. The study found that 23.81 per cent (2, 477 out of 10, 400 references) of URLs were cited in these journal articles. 49.53 per cent of URL citations were not accessible and the remaining 51.47 per cent of URL citations were still accessible. The study used W3C link checker to identify HTTP errors associated with missing URLs. HTTP 500 error message—'page not found' was the overwhelming message that represented 39.18 per cent of all HTTP error messages. This study attempts to focus on URLs link rot and its implications for electronic publishing.


Abstract Introduction: Median arcuate ligament syndrome (MALS), sometimes called Dunbar syndrome, is an extremely rare condition caused by external compression of the celiac trunk and/or ganglion b...


Standard estimation methods for linear mixed models are sensitive to influential observations. However, tools and concepts for linear mixed model diagnostics are rudimentary until now and research is heavily demanded in linear mixed models. In this paper, we consider two diagnostics to evaluate the effects of individual observations in the estimation of fixed effects for linear mixed models. Those are Cook's distance and COVRATIO. Results of our limited simulation study suggest that the Cook's distance is not good statistical quantity in linear mixed models. Also calibration point for COVRATIO seems to be quite conservative.


An experiment was designed to examine whether the fertilizing life of spermatozoa in the female tract could be influenced by treatment of t he female with estrogen. Female rabbits and ferrets were inseminated long before ovulation occurred by which time the fertilizing life of spermatozoa was nearly at an end. It was expected that by comparing the proportion of fertilized eggs in the estrogen-treated and control females a beneficial or adverse influence of exogenous estrogen might be revealed. There was no difference in the proportion of fertilized eggs between the estrogen-treated (60% of 66 eggs) and control rabbits (63% of 91 eggs) when a large number of spermatozoa were inseminated. When a relatively small number of spermatozoa were inseminated the proportion of fertilized eggs in the estrogen-treated (26% of 82 eggs) appeared to be higher than that in the control rabbit (13% of 82 eggs). In the ferret the proportion of fertilized eggs also appeared to be higher in the estrogen-treated (22-26%) than in the control ferrets (0 to 13%). Although the proportion of fertilized eggs appeared to be higher in the females treated with estrogen when the number of spermatozoa inseminated was reduced the difference was not statistically significant.


This case study shows how the use of mobile digital services through smartphones can enhance known value chains of services by increasing the lateral margin value. The particular case discussed relates to a mobile application for charity organizations, i.e., non-profit organizations with the intention of providing help and raising money for those in need. The paper is of relevance for researchers and practitioners, as it demonstrates how computer and business science can be linked to analyze human computer interactions, which may help to solve problems in existing business processes through the use of mobile technology. Based on empirical data gathered from research and interviews during the case study, the paper identifies the most prevalent problems of charity organizations, such as lack of awareness and information, trust, transparency and convenience, and demonstrates how mobile technology can support these deficits in business processes and service value chains. Keywords-mobile technology; charity; value chain; value added; location services; mobile design


The main purpose of this study is to analyze the differences and similarities between the constitution's theories of Rudolf Smend and Konrad Hesse with a particular attention to the interpretation of fundamental rights. Beginning with the strict connection between constitutionalism and fundamental right presenting the prevalent ideas in the two theories and at the end evaluate how the theories of Smend and Hesse aren't exactly opposite and have many points in common, especially on the fundamental rights interpretation. The review of aspects of the two theories may be useful in the difficult task of giving greater effect to these rights. Keywords: constitutionalism, fundamental rights, Rudolf Smend, Konrad Hesse.


Machine learning for studying EEG data has been widely published. On sub-area of research is the identification of mental states by applying machine learning to EEG recordings. The current study adds to the body of literature first by adding additional algorithms that are not widely analyzed in the literature. Furthermore, the current study examines previous published results along with the current study to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the efficacy of machine learning to identify mental states. By using a multimodal approach (directly testing new algorithms and comparing to existing studies) a more comprehensive understanding of identifying mental states is achieved.


Increased atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition has been found to alter processes and functions of terrestrial ecosystems including the biogeochemical cycling of N and other elements, e.g., phosphorus (P), calcium (Ca), and potassium (K). Nevertheless, how N deposition changes sulfur (S) cycling is largely unknown. Based on a meta‐analysis and a lab N addition experiment, here we show that N addition significantly suppresses the activity of soil arylsulfatase, which is a major enzyme involved in the mineralization of organic S. The evidence suggests that N‐induced decrease in soil pH is responsible for the decrease of arylsulfatase activity. Soil buffering capacity plays a critical role in mediating the extent of arylsulfatase activity response to N inputs via its regulation on soil pH. Our results suggest that N deposition may slow down S cycling by suppressing soil organic S mineralization.


In this work epoxy-clay nanocomposites were synthesized by in situ polymerization of a prepolymer (diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A) [DGEBA] crosslinked with methyl tetrahydrophthalic anhydride [MTHA] filled with organically-modified and natural montmorillonites. The morphology of epoxy-montmorillonite composites was assessed by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. A phosphorus containing fire retardant monomer, 2,2-Bis (3-diethyloxyphosphonyl-4-hydroxyphenyl) propane [BisP] or 5,5'-Bis (diethyloxyphosphonyl)-6,6'-dihydroxy-3,3,3',3'-tetramethyl-1,1'-spirobiindane [SpiroP], was copolymerized with DGEBA to prepare a halogen free fire retardant polymer/layered silicate nanocomposite suitable for electrical and electronic applications. Thermogravimetry shows that in nanocomposites the epoxy matrix chars in nitrogen as in air, independent of the presence of the phosphorus-containing comonomer, whereas the pure epoxy matrix chars only in air. The rate of heat release in the nanocomposite combustion is strongly reduced as compared to the pure epoxy resin. An additive or synergistic fire retardant effect is found in nanocomposites prepared by copolymerization of the phosphorus containing fire retardant materials.


Yellow nail syndrome is a very rare and complex syndrome associated with aberrant nail growth multiple digits, in this case, the report we offer this as a solution to a challenging and rare condition.

 A 56-year-old lady underwent nail ablation and reconstruction with a full-thickness skin graft (FTSG).

 The patient had good cosmetic results.

 Yellow nail syndrome is a rare but complex condition that is not yet fully understood. Nail plate deformity and discoloration are on the way the disease can manifest itself. Although not often encountered by plastic surgeons; The role of surgical excision for patients affected by dystrophic nails in yellow nail syndrome was given more emphasis within the literature. It is an effective technique that can be adapted as a standardized treatment modality


We present methods for calculating the Fermi-Dirac density matrix for electronic structure problems at finite temperature while preserving physicality by construction. These methods model cooling a state initially at infinite temperature down to the desired finite temperature. We consider both the grand canonical ensemble (constant chemical potential) and highlight subtleties involved with treating the canonical ensemble (constant number of electrons) that have been overlooked in previous works. We hope that the discussion and results presented in this article reinvigorates interest in density matrix minimization methods.


Experiments were carried out to investigate the flow characteristics with/without heat exchange in vertical and inclined tube-bundle channels. In the experiments, the influences of flow directions and heat exchange upon the flow characteristics were studied. Experiments showed that the flow friction in tube-bundle channels had relations to the flow directions, and the liquid temperature difference at the inlet and outlet of tube-bundle channels. And these influences were comparatively obvious in the laminar flow regime. In the experiments, the transition from laminar to turbulent flow was carefully observed. The flow characteristics of single phase flow through tube-bundle channels were different from those in circular tubes and those in annular channels. The flow friction in tube-bundle channel is larger than that in normal circular tube. And the transition from laminar flow to turbulent flow in tube-bundle channel is different from that in normal circular tube. The influences of flow direction and heat exchange on the friction were also studied. The results were gained to provide the basis for the further investigations on the two-phase flow in tube-bundle channels.Copyright © 2012 by ASME


According to a previous study on the receptivity of a hypersonic flat-plate boundary layer to surface roughness [1] , no very strong transient growth was induced by small amplitude surface roughness. Furthermore, the technique of linear boundary condition transfer was proved to be valid only when the height of surface roughness was smaller than approximately one thirty-fifth of the boundary layer thickness. In order to excite stronger transient growth, one can use steady blowing-suction disturbance or finite height roughness. In this paper, the receptivity of the same hypersonic flat-plate boundary layer to steady three-dimensional blowing-suction is studied by numerical simulations. The free-stream flow conditions are the same as those of Maslov et al.s leading-edge receptivity experiment [2] . Steady base flow is firstly computed by solving compressible Navier-Stokes equations with a combination of a fifth-order shock-fitting method and a second-order total variation diminishing (TVD) scheme. In receptivity simulations, steady blowing-suction periodic in spanwise direction is introduced on the flat plate. The subsequent responses of the hypersonic boundary layer are simulated by solving three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations with a fifth-order shock-fitting method and a Fourier collocation method. Effect of blowing-suction amplitude on the receptivity is investigated by considering three cases of receptivity simulations. The numerical results show that counter rotating streamwise vortices are induced by steady blowing-suction. Compared with small amplitude surface roughness, steady blowing-suction is more efficient in i nducing streamwise vortices. Transient growth excited by steady blowing-suction is stronger than that excited by small amplitude surface roughness. As a byproduct, it is noticed that the linear properties of steady blowing-suction disturbance are valid up to the amplitude of ǫ = 1.0 × 10 −3 . For even higher amplitude steady blowing-suction, the nonlinear effect becomes important. New method is needed to measure the transient growth.


Facebook 1.18 billion daily active users Facebook is a social media and networking app that allows people to connect with others through profile pages and their newsfeed via content posts. Facebook introduced live streaming in 2016. Text, Images, Video, Live Streaming, Messaging Page post enagement, page likes, clicks to website, website conversion, app installs, app engagement, event response, offer claims, video views, local awareness, slideshows, carousel ads, dynamic ads, lead ads


Carboxylated nanoporous graphene (G-COOH), an excellent adsorbent, were successfully synthesized by an in chemical vapor deposition method and used for the removal of Cd (II) ion from aqueous solution. The synthesized G-COOH were characterized by SEM, XRD and FT-IR techniques. Various operational parameters such as pH, initial Cd (II) ion concentration and contact time in batch systems were investigated on the use of G-COOH. Equilibrium data obtained have been fitted to the Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms. Langmuir isotherm best fits the experimental results. The sorption kinetics exhibited the best fit to the pseudo-second order equation and the equilibrium followed Langmuir isotherm model. The maximum sorption capacity qmax in Langmuir isotherm of Cd (II) ion 3.37 mg/g showed onto GCOOH, Isotherms had also been used to obtain the thermodynamic parameters such ΔG0 indicates the feasibility and spontaneity of the adsorption process. The positive ΔH0 suggests the endothermal nature of the adsorption. The positive values of ΔS0 reflects the affinity of G-COOH towards Cd (II) ion. The results indicated that Cd (II) ion adsorption onto G-COOH composite might be a physical adsorption.


This work aims at proposing enunciative principles to study of second language acquisition in in a formal educational setting. In order to achieve that, in first place, we present a study about different approaches which deal with second language acquisition in search of an enunciative point of view. Based on this research, we observed the lack of such approach on studies in Second Language Acquisition. In second place, we present a conception of language derived from the reading of Émile Benveniste's enunciative theory (1966/2005; 1974/2006).Based on this, second language acquisition is considered as a "phénomène général de l'énonciation" (BENVENISTE, op.cit.). In third place, with the support of the study developed by Silva (2007; 2009), we present principles for an enunciative approach in second language acquisition, which operates according to the enunciative structure (je – tu – il) – IL. This structure contains: the speaker-L2 learner ("je"), the interlocutor-teacher ("tu"), the references ("il") produced by "je" and "tu", all of which are included in culture ("IL"). By proposing the principles, we intend to contribute to second language teaching and to the fields of Second Language Acquisition and Linguistique de l'Énonciation.


Transient time-of-flight methods with voltage pulse injection have been adapted to determine the field dependent mobility of holes in the electroluminescent polymer, MEH-PPV. The time-resolved current response confirms that gold forms an Ohmic contact to MEH-PPV and that there are very few traps in the polymer. These conclusions are in agreement with earlier interpretation of steady-state current-voltage measurements.


High resolution photoionization mass spectrometry shows that S+ from CS2 and COS, and CS+ from CS2 appear at the thermochemical dissociation limits with no kinetic or internal energy release to the fragments, accompanied by zero energy electrons. S2+ is formed from CS2 by a bimolecular reaction of CS2+(?) of very high cross section, as well as by unimolecular fragmentation. Five new Rydberg series of COS leading to the ? and ? states are identified, and empirical observations on resonance peak shapes which differ in different channels are presented.


A three-mirror Fabry-Perot etalon may be used to discriminate an optical signal modulated at a particular reso- nant frequency from those modulated at higher or lower fre- quencies. This bandpass behavior is well predicted theoretically from the structure's transfer function and physically arises from the exchange of energy between two potential wells in an action analogous to an inductance-capcitance LC circuit. This reso- nance behavior is tested experimentally using a visible diode laser-based tunable repetition rate optical spectroscopy appara- tus.


One common framework for data integration in practice is federated search. Here an agent queries disjoint sources simultaneously, and then clusters the returned records in the absence of unique keys. However, formulating the correct queries to the sources can be challenging because of the possible query value variations. For instance, some sources may contain a first name as "John" while other sources use the name "Jonathan" for the same person. If the underlying sources do not support sophisticated matching then a single query of "John" will miss many records from the "Jonathan" sources. This paper presents an approach to formulating queries for federated search that leverages automatically discovered transformations such as synonyms and abbreviations to create the set of possible queries for the given sources. Our preliminary results demonstrate that indeed, transformations mined from a subset of sources will apply to a new, distinct source, thereby allowing query expansions based on the discovered transformations.


We compute explicitly the peakon–antipeakon solution of the Camassa–Holm (CH) equation ut − utxx + 3uux − 2uxuxx − uuxxx = 0 in the non-symmetric and α-dissipative case. The solution experiences wave breaking in finite time, and the explicit solution illuminates the interplay between the various variables.


Harvest of nearshore fishes off California, particularly species in the recently expanded live-fish fishery, has impacted inany of these stocks. Important taxa are cabezon, sheephead, lingcod, greenlings, and the rockfishes included in the subgenus Pteropodus. Life-history information and fishery-independent abundance indices are badly needed for the development of management strategies for these stocks. The California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) surveys can provide indices of abundance for larval stages of many species, including cabezon, sheephead, kelp and sand basses, lingcod, and several species of rockfishes. This paper presents, as examples, data on the distribution and abundance of cabezon, sheephead, and Paralahrax (kelp and sand bass) larvae in the Southern California Bight region and compares these with data froni other nearshore ichthyoplankton surveys conducted in the region. Trends in landings for cabezon generally match trends in CalCOFI larval indices, supporting use of the larval catch data as fishery-independent abundance indices. The principal recommendation for improving nearshore larval time series is to reestablish plankton tow stations on CalCOFI survey cruises off central California, where standard plankton tows have not been taken since the survey area was reduced in 1985.


DEFINITIONS The patching consists of closing an opening in the wall of a vessel by fitting and sewing to its edges a flap taken from another vessel or from some other structure such as the peritoneum [1]. For example , a portion of the wall of a carotid artery may be removed and the opening thus produced closed by a patch taken from the external jugular vein. The anastomosis by the patching method consists of extirpating a vessel together with an area or patch from the vessel of origin, the patch being so cut that the mouth of the extirpated vessel is situated in the center of the patch. The edges of the patch are then fixed to the edges of a suitable opening made in the wall of another vessel. For example, a spermatic artery of a dog was dissected and removed with a triangular patch of the wall of the aorta surrounding its mouth. The edges of this patch were then sutured to the edges of a suitable opening, made in one of the femoral arteries. The spermatic artery was thus anastomosed to the wall of the femoral artery (Figure 1). AIM We have attempted to develop a method of anastomosing blood vessels so that even in case of slightly imperfect tech-nic resulting in the deposition of fibrin on the lines of suture, the circulation would not be disturbed. In methods hitherto employed, a fault of technic was sufficient to cause hindrance or even stoppage of the circulation. In the simple transplantation of the kidney, for instance, the wall of the renal vessels is cut and sutured. Then it happens that, in case of infection, or fault of technic, fibrin deposits itself on the line of suture and occludes the lumen of the vessel, that gangrene or atrophy of the organ are very liable to result. In the anastomosis by the patching method the wall of the renal vessels is respected. Instead of cutting the vessels themselves, we extirpate a patch of the aorta and vena cava, in the center of which is located the mouth of the vessel, The edges of the flap are sutured to the edges of the aortic opening. If infection occurs, a clot can be produced on the line of suture. But this suture is located far from the


The precision of the photoassociation spectroscopy of Yb dimer in degenerate gases is enough to improve the constraints on the new short-range gravity-like forces if the theoretical knowledge of the Born-Oppenheimer interatomic potential and non-Born-Oppenheimer interactions is refined [M. Borkowski et al. Sci. Rep. A 9, 14807 (2019)]. The ground-state interaction potential of ytterbium dimer is investigated at the eXact 2-component core-correlated CCSD(T) level of ab initio theory in the complete basis set limit with extensive augmentation by diffuse functions. For the small basis set the comparison is made with the four-component relativistic finite-nuclei CCSD(T) calculations to identify the contraction of the dimer bond length as the main unrecoverable consequence of the scalar-relativistic approximation. Empirical constraint on the number of bound vibrational energy levels of the Yb2 dimer is accounted for by representing the global ab initiobased Born-Oppenheimer potential with the model semianalytical function containing the scale and shift parameters. The results support the previous evaluation of the Yb dimer potentials from the photoassociation spectroscopy data and provide an accurate and flexible reference for future refinement of the constraints on the short-range gravity-like forces by ultracold atomic spectroscopy.


Back projection(BP) imaging algorithm,whose low efficiency reduces its applications in practical projects,could be applied in non-uniform apertures.According to this,many scholars have presented some fast back projection(FBP) algorithms based on the sub-aperture method.But how to compensate the motion error after sub-aperture dividing is awaited for further studying.The motion compensation method for FBP algorithm at different motion error levels is studied.Three situations denoting different motion error levels,which are only non-uniform azimuth aperture,tracks of two-dimensional motion error and highly nonlinear even curvilinear flight tracks,are discussed.Then an FBP projection imaging algorithm for arbitrary aperture is given,and this algorithm needs highly precise position information.Finally,an outside experiment is made to prove the algorithm's availability.


14C-labeled 4-amino-6-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-3-(ethylthio)-1,2,4-triazin-5(4H)-one (ethiozin)3 was metabolized more rapidly in tolerant than in sensitive wheat, Triticum aestivum L., cultivars. After a 6-h herbicidal pulse, the main metabolites were conjugates at all incubation times up to 48 h. The levels of deaminated and dethioethylated metabolites never exceeded 4% of the extractable radioactivity and also did not differ between tolerant and sensitive plants. On the contrary, 92% of the extractable radioactivity was in conjugates after 24 h in the leaves of tolerant plants compared to 25% in the leaves of sensitive plants. The differently sensitive wheat cultivars conjugated metribuzin, 4-amino-6-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-3-(methylthio)-1,2,4-triazin-5(4H)-one, at about half the rate that was observed with ethiozin. This finding may explain the fact that most wheat cultivars are more sensitive to metribuzin compared with ethiozin.


Buffer overflow vulnerabilities have been known for a long time, are widespread and relevant today. To protect against buffer overflows, developers of operating systems usually use standard mechanisms of operating systems, but they are not very effective in attacks using return-oriented programming techniques. The article proposes a model for checking the legitimacy of program control flow transitions when executing a return instruction, based on an access graph. The article also provides a model for checking the legitimacy of program control flow transitions when executing a return instruction, based on the use of a shadow stack, a model for generating a program control flow. Modeling was carried out in the specification language based on set theory, first-order logic and temporal logic of actions, models were checked using the Model Checking method. The constructed models can be refined to the required level of abstraction, used to create mechanisms for protecting operating systems based on Linux from attacks using the return-oriented programming technique.


Today a medicinal natural product to profit for treatment of numerousness illnesses. Juniperus communis is pharmaceutical plant from erea in Golestan province in Iran. From point of view ecophysiology organs, this species grows on dry, cold-tolerant, variety of soil types including,acidic and calcareous sands, pH of 4.5, which is rated as strongly acid, genuse plant and withdrawal May month, morning time have more effect of chemical materials and antibacterial. That inguiry had tried different organs J. communis point of essensial oil female cone and leaf. I had stady instance some of the bacteria E.coli, Staphylococcus, Sodomunas. That used with equisetum, taraxacum and urtica dioica against UTIs, infection, cancer, and various urinary tracts kidney disorders. In this study ethanolic extracts of fleshy feale cones of plants that collected in May 2005 from natural habitat in Charbagh village (1950 m) from Golestan. Juniperus communis is one most important conifers in Iran and since are most tolerance trees against the cold and drought stesses and have noticeable important in mountainous areas in Iran. Oil from representative samples of population as well as from individual samples was studied. The oils consisted mainly of monoterpene hydrocarbons. Analysis of essentials oil, dried fruits was detected after disitillation by GC-MS.The results indicated that effeciacious materials of this plant were different, significantly. In J. communis 27 essential oils were detected that its highest values were α-pinene and αcedrol, DETA.3-carene, α-terpinolen, and terpineol-4. In this study.


In recent years, Cellular-Vehicle-to-Everything (CV2X) has been an emerging area of interest attracting both the industry and academy societies to develop, which is also a prominent emerging service for the next generation of the cellular network (5G). In the time of the development, standardization, and further improvement of 5G, so simulations are essential to test and optimize algorithms and procedures prior to their implementation process of the equipment manufactures. And CV2X communication is used for information exchange among the traffic participants with network-assisted which can reduce traffic accidents and improve traffic efficiency. Moreover, it is also the primary enabler for cooperative driving. But CV2X communication has to meet different Quality of Service (QoS) requirements (e.g., ultra-high reliability (99.999%) and ultra-low latency). Guaranteeing high-level reliability is a big challenge. In order to assess system performance, accurate simulations of simple setups, as well as simulations of more complex systems via abstracted models are necessary for the CV2X communication. For checking the performance of the C-V2X communication on a highway scenario, a system-level simulator has been implemented. And, this simulation has been carried out on the network (system-level) context. Finally, the analysis and the simulation results for the C-V2X communication are presented, which shows that different objectives can be met via system-level simulation.


Abstract A kinetic study of the thermophilic anaerobic digestion of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) sorted in an industrial plant is carried out. Two kinetic models are used to form the basis of the study: one is the first‐order model and the other is the step‐diffusional model proposed by the authors. Estimated kinetic constants are compared to those obtained in mesophilic conditions.


theory of psoriasis development as the side effect of rituximab, at least in two of our reported patients. Because of a low number of observed patients, who experienced the transition from PV to psoriasis, it is not easy to speculate regarding the underlying pathogenesis. However, switching from a B cell-mediated autoimmune disease to a T cell-mediated disease suggests a significant change in immune responses in such patients. In order to better understand the switching from PV to psoriasis, more studies are essential. For example, evaluation of the immunological profile to find biomarkers for psoriasis development risk assessment in PV patients may shed light on this complex issue.


In the present study we report the synthesis and antibacterial activity of a new series 2-(1-methyl-4-nitro-1H-imidazol-5-ylsulfonyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazoles (6a-c). Compounds 6a-c were tested in vitro by the conventional agar dilution method against a panel of microorganisms including gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. Compound 6b with 5-(5-nitrofuran-2-yl)-residue on 1,3,4-thiadiazole scaffold have shown promising antibacterial activities against gram-positive bacteria including Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Bacillus subtilis.


ABSTRACT To estimate the Lyme borreliosis (LB) risk for forest workers, totally 646 blood samples were tested for IgG and IgM anti-Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. (anti-B.b.) antibody occurrence using ELISA tests confirmed with western blot. To clarify the varied LB risk, additionally, the data from the Forest Data Bank determining the detailed forest habitat type in particular forest inspectorates were used. The occurrence of the anti-B.b. antibody was confirmed in 22% (8.7% IgM, 17.8% IgG) of forest workers. Analysis of the influence of the habitat type (forest types) indicated the significant positive impact of the occurrence of the deciduous and mixed-deciduous forests on the seroprevalence of anti-B.b. IgG level among forestry workers. However, the share of forest type cannot be the only factor taken into account when assessing risk.


Although Treponema pallidum, the causative agent of syphilis, has not been cultivated in vitro, it is possible to maintain motile organisms for several days in an artificial culture medium. Thus, Nelson (1948) described a chemically defined medium in which the "half-life" of the organisms was as much as 6 to 8 days at 30 C. Other workers have not found Nelson's medium consistently satisfactory for maintaining the motility of T. pallidum (Magnuson and Thompson, 1949; Portnoy et al., 1953; Saurino, 1953; Nielsen, 1953; Boak and Miller, 1954; Wilkinson, 1954). For many years, a medium containing human serum ultrafiltrate, inactivated rabbit serum, phosphate buffer, sodium pyruvate, and physiological sodium chloride solution has been used by investigators in this laboratory for maintaining the motility of T. pallidum for periods of several days. The use of this medium for drug assay work with T. pallidum as the test organism has recently been described (Doak et al., 1958). It was noted that when the treponeme suspensions were diluted with water, the number of motile organisms was always significantly greater than when the dilution was made with physiological sodium chloride solution. This observation raised the question as to whether sodium chloride in physiological concentration was detrimental to T. pallidum, and led to an investigation of the effects of inorganic ions on the in vitro survival of T. pallidum.


OF THE THESIS Microservice Pattern Identification from Recovered Architectures of Orchestrated Systems By Aaron P. Matthews Master of Science in Software Engineering University of California, Irvine, 2021 Assistant Professor Joshua Garcia, Chair Microservice architecture has become widely-used in industry, with tech giants like Amazon, Twitter, and LinkedIn leveraging microservices to evolve their web-scale applications. Microservice architecture brings benefits such as scalability and technological heterogeneity, although at a cost of complexity. A number of microservice patterns have been proposed to address this cost. This thesis explores the use of microservice patterns in recovered microservice architectures; however, there have been few attempts at recoveries of microservice systems. The contributions of this thesis are: 1. A definition of microservices as an architectural style, 2. A recovery technique for orchestrated systems which has been applied to three benchmark systems, and 3. A microservice pattern identification technique for five patterns, and applying it to the three recovered systems. In our results, 4 of the 5 patterns in all three benchmark systems were successfully identified.


Abstract Research on the bilingual development of refugee children is limited, despite this group having distinct characteristics and migration experiences that could impact language development. This study examined the role of language environment factors, alongside age and cognitive factors, in shaping the Arabic as a first/heritage language and English as a second language of recently arrived Syrian refugee children in Canada (N = 133; mean age = 9 years old; mean family residency = 23 months). We found that Arabic was the primary home language with some English use among siblings. Children did not engage frequently in language-rich activities in either language, especially not literacy activities in Arabic. Parent education levels were low: most had primary school only. Hierarchical regression models revealed that stronger nonverbal reasoning skills, more exposure to English at school, more sibling interaction in English, more frequent engagement in language-rich activities in English, and higher maternal and paternal education were associated with larger English vocabularies and greater accuracy with verb morphology. Arabic vocabulary and morphological abilities were predicted by older age (i.e., more first/heritage language exposure), stronger nonverbal reasoning skills and maternal education. We conclude that proximal environment factors, like language use at home and richness, accounted for more variance in the second language than the first/heritage language, but parent factors accounted for variance in both languages.


This paper addresses the issue of the functioning of regional facilities for the processing of municipal waste in the light of the provisions of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act of 16 February 2007. The authors seek answers to the question of whether in certain specific situations it is possible to conclude that a given facility holds a dominant position on the market in which it operates. Two situations will be subjected to close analysis, namely those in which only one or two facilities with RMWPF status operate in a given region of municipal waste management.


A comparison theorem of the Kobayashi metric and the Bergman metric is obtained on generalized Thullen domains in C2. This theorem is then used to obtain a lower estimate for the Kobayashi metric. It is noted that the lower estimate obtained is best possible.


ABSTRACT This paper describes how multi-user domains (MUDs)—a specific type of online discussion forum—can be used as a tool in tourism studies. MUDs provide a communication channel with specific characteristics that support discussion on particular topics, such as tourist-related activities. The findings gathered from the study of one specific tourism MUD are presented, including quantitative and qualitative data concerned with the content of the discussions. The principal conclusion of the paper is that the MUDs may have significant implications for tourism research and tourism marketing.


Power factor correction may be applied either by an electrical power transmission utility to improve the stability and efficiency of the transmission network or correction may be installed by individual electrical customers to reduce the costs charged to them by their electricity supplier. Many control methods for the Power Factor Correction (PFC) have been proposed.


In this appendix, we formalize the theoretical arguments presented in the paper. We focus on two questions: (1) how competition affects media owners'choice of political bias; and (2) how a politico-economic tradeoff drives the entry of commercial newspapers (as opposed to Party papers). The framework has the following three important features: (i) Consumers have heterogeneous preferences for media bias (propaganda) as opposed to nonpolitical commercial content;1 (ii) The ownership of newspapers is decentralized to local governments (CCPCs), which have the autonomy to distribute profits and decide the level of bias and the entry of the newspapers under their administration; and (iii) Local governments have a politico-economic dual goal —they care about exposing the audience to biased content (propaganda) and pursuing profits. These three features match the empirical setting of Chinese newspaper. The first feature is consistent with readership survey evidence.2 The last two features regarding ownership are as discussed in Section 2 of the paper, and numerous case studies regarding differences in local governments'political valuation of propaganda can be found in Zhao (1998, 2008) and Lei (2016), among others. Features (i) and (ii) described above define a problem analogous to a product-positioning problem in the IO literature where a firm designs its product to attract consumers with different levels of willingness to pay for brands or quality. Feature (iii) implies that a Chinese local government itself has a preference for the characteristic of a product (media bias) in addition to monetary payoffs. Regarding feature (iii), we also assume that the political valuation of media bias differs across local governments. One micro-founded explanation is that the political value created by bias exposure, such as regime stability, is a public good that can be used non-exclusively by other CCPCs in an area. Further, political effects, such as social unrest or protests, This is similar to the setup in Mullainathan and Shleifer's (2005) theory of media bias. 2 In a randomized readership survey conducted by Western researchers in 2005, 36% of readers in Beijing selected Party Dailies as primary information sources for important news while others viewed commercial papers as more relevant (Stockmann 2011). In another survey conducted by the Beijing Bureau of Statistics in 2007, 53.6% of the surveyees reported that they read Beijing Evening most frequently, while 17.1% ranked Beiing Daily as their primary newspaper (Beijing Public Opinion Research Center 2007).


Contents: The Status of Women in the France of Raymond Queneau's Early Novels: 1903-1940 - Women in Queneau's Life - Mothers and Mediators - The Autobiographical Novels: A Focus on Women. This book is the first to analyze Queneau's portrayal of women and the first to organize hitherto fragmented biographical data into a narrative. It will interest specialists in twentieth-century French literature, autobiographical studies and women's studies, as well as the educated general reader who knows some French and is familiar with Queneau's work.


The invention discloses an implementation method of a serial port multiplexer with the transmission priority. The method is able to multiplex a plurality of serial port (named extended serial port) data to a serial port (named main serial port) to transmit. The method comprises the following steps: distinguishing all extended serial ports by a mode of adding a frame head and a frame end; setting one of the extended serial ports as the extended serial port with high transmission priority, or setting all extended serial ports into the extended serial ports with low transmission priority; performing data transmission for the extended serial ports at high transmission priority through the main serial port preferentially, wherein each extended serial port is equipped with a receiving data cache area and a sending data cache area which are used for caching serial port data; a single-chip microcomputer is used for controlling time-division transmission of data within each cache area. With the adoption of the method, the problem of small serial port sources of a device in the actual application is solved, the transmission priority of the extended serial port can be set at the same time, and the delay of data transmission of the serial ports at high transmission priority is minimized. The method has the advantages of being fast in communication rate, small in error rate, flexible to configure, simple, practical, and small in cost.


Migration has taken place throughout human history. However, push and pull factors for migration have changed, and some have not been identified during long periods of time. Since 1970, migration s ...


The title complex, (C6H16N2)[WS4], consists of tetrahedral [WS4]2− dianions and organic dications. There are two crystallographically independent 1,4-dimethylpiperazinium (1,4-dmpH2) dications in the asymmetric unit, both of which are located around a centre of inversion, while the anions are located in general positions. The anions and cations are connected by hydrogen bonding.


One of the advantages of 3D woven composites is the ability to create unique fiber architectures in which tows can be individually arranged to optimize performance to meet specific structural requirements. This flexibility may lead to a design with unintended mismatch of thermal properties in areas of the composite, creating the potential for manufacturing issues such as process-induced microcracking. This paper presents results of a case study in which various architectures were analyzed, including some that led to intra-tow microcracks in the molded composite and others that did not. The objective was to develop an approach using meso-scale finite element modeling at the unit cell level to evaluate the propensity of these architectures to microcrack. Analysis results showed that the transverse principal stresses which developed in tow elements during cooling from cure to room temperature were significantly different in the various architectures. Comparison to the micro-computed tomography scans of the molded composites established strong correlation between regions with microcracks and areas of high predicted transverse principal stresses in the simulations. This study suggests that meso-scale finite element modeling of 3D woven architectures can be used in the design cycle to reduce or eliminate microcracking in the finished composite parts.


The purpose of this paper is to explore the Messianism in the Second Book of Baruch, an early Jewish literature written in Israel around 100 AD. To achieve this goal, texts from 2 Baruch that describe the Messiah and Messianic Age were selected (29-30, 39-42, 72-74). After analyzing the three Messianic texts in consideration of the larger context of the Old Testament and early Jewish literature, a conclusion was reached by synthesizing the results of each analysis. A summary of Messianic thought in 2 Baruch is as follows. In 2 Baruch, the Messiah is described as the warrior-king Messiah who destroys and judges Israel's unrighteous oppressors, and as the protector of the righteous remnant of the end times. He is also the pre-existing Messiah who will appear at the appointed time to usher in the age of salvation in the world. With his advent the age of the Messiah begins, which is described as the ideal state of the Garden of Eden. The Messianic Age is also described as a great Banquet in which the two primordial monsters, Leviathan and Behemoth, will be provided as food for the "remnant." This Banquet is described as a time of continuous abundance. Healing dew, manna, fruit of the earth and wine will also be given. In other words, the Messianic Age is the restoration of creation to its pre-fall state, or the restoration of a nutritious paradise for the remnant. In a word, the Messianic Age is a 'New Creation.' Also, when the monsters of the beginning are destroyed, the desert is restored to the garden, and God gives manna to his people again, it is the 'New Exodus.' This image of the Messianic Banquet implies the role of the Messiah as a priest. Then, the Messiah in 2 Baruch can be said to be the pre-existing 'warrior-king-priest Messiah.' The Messiah's time is limited, and when his reign is over, the Messiah returns to God, followed by the resurrection of all the dead. After that, it is said that the true new world, the 'World to Come' will come.


The majority of industrial controlled induction machine drives are connected to the mains via a diode bridge. However, if reduction of harmonic currents and / or regenerative operation is desired, replacing the diode bridge by an active front-end (AFE) is required. This paper describes two models of an AFE: a power balance model disregarding switching effects, and an ideal switching model of a pulse width modulation (PWM) converter. Both models are controlled utilizing space phasors in a voltage oriented reference frame. Voltage oriented control (VOC) of the mains converter can be compared with field oriented control (FOC) of a machine converter. Design and parametrization of the main parts—synchronization with mains voltage, current controller and DC voltage controller—are described in detail. Additionally, simulation results proving the implementation and demonstrating possible investigations as well as an outlook on further enhancements are presented.


In an attempt to persuade drivers to leave their cars and ride the bus, the Chinese city of Guangzhou has established a satellite-based positioning system to improve overall bus efficiency. The $81-million Automatic Public Transport Monitoring and Dispatching System is designed to enable the city's four bus operating companies to manage their fleets more efficiently and not rely upon individual dispatchers without real-time information to move buses along their routes. The initiative was funded by the World Bank. One big challenge for the system's designers was that many bus routes run under elevated highways for long distances, making satellite-derived positioning difficult. The solution involved a back-up locational system using on-vehicle door sensors, which send a signal to a control center allowing it to track the vehicle along the length of its route. A brief accompanying article describes Guangzhou.


Pedagogical revisions to the undergraduate Haub School of Business curriculum at Saint Joseph's University employing the SAP R/3 system encompass the core accounting courses traversing the sophomore and junior years.  The entire accounting curriculum was overhauled in order to integrate SAP R/3.  Each course progressively builds upon and expands the knowledge base in the prior course(s).  Substantive pedagogical modifications have been integrated into the material delivered and methodologies utilized in selected sections of the required sophomore and junior accounting courses.  SAP supported material, created and modified by a student team, is delivered in the classroom using a team-oriented format within a business case context.  It is envisioned that the SAP material will seamlessly present accounting issues currently in the curriculum, while allowing the students to observe the capabilities of SAP R/3.  This paper discusses the design, implementation, and execution of collaborative supply chain business scenarios using SAP R/3 as the platform.  Its use within an undergraduate curriculum is assessed and evaluated.  Sample scenarios and a demonstration case are included.


The operation Dataplex is the most significant provider (with possessing approximately 50 per cent of the shares of the free area capacity) of the infocommunication outsourcing services (such as…


A new method to compact Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) pavement was recently developed in Japan, consisting of a relatively small, seven tire pneumatic tire roller that can be operated in the vibratory mode--a vibratory pneumatic tire (VPT) roller. It was previously found that the VPT roller could achieve the required level of density in a HMA mix using fewer roller passes and that the roller achieved a more uniform degree of density throughout the thickness of the HMA pavement layer. In 2005, three additional test sections were constructed to further evaluate the capabilities of the VPT roller. The first project was at the Bakersfield Airport in California where the density achieved with the VPT roller was compared with a static pneumatic tire roller that weighed more than twice as much. The second trial was conducted in Georgia where various roller combinations were tested. The third project was located in Japan where it was confirmed that the use of the VPT roller would provide for a uniform density distribution throughout the depth of the pavement layer. The combination of the kneading action of the pneumatic tires and the vibratory force applied through the pneumatic tires provides "the best of both worlds" regarding the compaction of HMA mixtures.


To compute the Keetch-Byram Drought Index only requires three variables, which are the intraday maximum temperature, relative humidity, and rainfall. This is the major advantage of the KBDI due to the data can be easy gained in local fire agency. The paper introduces the theory and application method of the drought index. Meanwhile, fire danger analysis has been done for Guangzhou district in 2001-2002 fire seasons. The results indicate that the drought index can be used to forecast the fire danger. Compared with the results of the current fire danger rating system of Guandong province, the results of KBDI have more third and fourth fire danger rating days. It can be concluded that the drought index can be used in local fire agency for early warning in forestry.


We propose a new self tuning fuzzy modeling by means of fuzzy clustering. Based on fuzzy clustering, the adaptive fuzzy inference is used to modify the fuzzy system. Moreover, based on this modified fuzzy system, the paper presents an on line identifying algorithm with which the on line parameter estimation of nonlinear system is realized. To demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method, simulation results relative to a few examples are presented in the end.


Impulsive behavior is a characteristic of children with specific learning disabilities (SLD), and is related to learning ability. The present study aims to identify impulsivity behavior in children with SLD who attend inclusion schools, from their resource room teachers' perspectives. A 31-item questionnaire that addressed four subscales was designed, and the study sample consisted of 103 resource room teachers of children with SLD from various inclusion schools in Al-Zarqa city in Jordan. The results revealed that the main problem was related to lack of premeditation, followed by lack of perseverance and urgency. The results also indicated that there were statistically significant differences only for the Lack of Perseverance subscale, with regard to level of disability, whereas there were no differences attributed to teacher gender, child gender, and age. Based on these findings, implications and recommendations are discussed.


Transsexualism as a phenomenon clearly contrasts the common understandings of sexuality. This can lead to conflicts for the transsexual himself as well as for those being confronted. Medical care and legislative offer some assistance for patients, which has been proofed as suitable and helpful. These strategies have not been developed by a theoretical approach but pragmatically and can still be further improved. To be able to receive a higher acceptance of this phenomenon in society and to achieve concrete improvement of the patient's personal situation the challenge still exists to understand mechanisms underlying the transsexual experience.


Australia's National Broadband Network has come under intense domestic scrutiny and is also being closely monitored by international stakeholders. However, the focus on local political and legal issues obscures a broader potential problem: ensuring compliance with Australia's obligations under the World Trade Organization agreements and bilateral trade arrangements. In an attempt to reveal the nuances of international trade law and its relationship to the government's plans, this article highlights several areas of possible complication, including the creation of NBN Co as a government business enterprise, the identification of points of interconnection to NBN Co's network, and the policy goal of achieving uniform national wholesale pricing for NBN Co's services. International trade law deserves greater consideration and transparency in the implementation of Australia's National Broadband Network, which may also offer lessons for other countries pursuing analogous projects.


Many of the problems facing Native Americans today stem from bias, stereotype, and basic misunderstanding on the part of non-Indians. As racist tendencies and generalizations begin at an early age, education and proper treatment in textbooks is essential in remedying the problem. However, education and learning do not end in one's teen years. Perceptions (both positive and negative) can be molded, reshaped, or solidified in later years. Thus, while adequate and accurate coverage of the role of Native Americans in the American governmental system should be standard fare in college textbooks, it is not. In this paper we analyze the way in which Native American issues are addressed in some of the leading American government and democracy textbooks being used at the college level. Our examination considers the texts on two levels. First, we look at the amount of space devoted to Native Americans relative to other minority groups and between the federal government and other subnational units of government. An examination of index references and a simple word count should reveal where the priorities of various authors lie. (We assume that areas given greater weight by an author will be written upon more extensively.) Second, we examine the texts for any bias or the fostering of misunderstanding. For example, simply lumping Native Americans into a section on minority politics is inherently misinforming if the separate legal status of American Indian nations as well as Indian individuals living in Indian Country is not specified.' (By admission, our word count analysis appears to lean toward the same style of categorization but it is unavoidable since Native Americans are among the many ethnic minority groups in the United States; however, the term "Indian" or "Native American" also connotes a particular political or legal status). Other possible areas of bias include the discussion of tribes with regard to


We measure highly spatially resolved primary organic aerosol (POA) concentrations in three North American cities (Oakland, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore) using an aerosol mass spectrometer deployed on a mobile laboratory. We conduct between 10 and 20 days of repeated mobile sampling in each city, covering a wide range of urban land use attributes. We derive two POA factors using positive matrix factorization of the measured organic mass spectra: cooking OA (COA) and traffic-related OA (hydrocarbon-like OA; HOA). Both the COA and HOA concentrations vary substantially within and between cities. The COA and HOA concentrations in Oakland are about a factor of 2-4 higher than Pittsburgh and Baltimore. Within a city, the concentrations vary by a factor of 2-5. The COA concentrations are higher than the HOA in each city, indicating that cooking is an important POA source in the US. In each city, the concentrations are higher in the downtown and near large sources, showing the linkage between land-use activities and POA concentrations. We develop land-use regression (LUR) models for COA and HOA using the measured concentrations and available land-use covariates. We find that a similar set of land-use covariates explain the variability of measured POA in each city. The LUR models are moderately transferable between sampling cities. An external validation effort using literature data shows that our models predict the previous point measurements in six North American cities reasonably well. We are applying our LUR models for a national prediction of the concentration surfaces of COA and HOA. We plan to apply the national estimates for the epidemiologic and environmental justice analysis of POA in the United States.


The K+/Cl– co‐transporter KCC2 maintains the low intracellular chloride concentration required for fast synaptic inhibition and is exclusively expressed in neurones of the CNS. Here, we show that the KCC2 gene (alias SLC12a5) has multiple transcription start sites and characterize the activity of 6.8 kb of mouse KCC2 gene regulatory sequence (spanning 1.4 kb upstream from exon 1 to exon 2) using luciferase reporters. Overexpression of neurone‐restrictive silencer factor repressed the reporter activity in vitro, apparently via a neurone restrictive silencer element (NRSEKCC2) within intron 1 of the mouse KCC2 gene. In transgenic mice, however, KCC2 reporters with or without deletion of the NRSEKCC2 were expressed exclusively in neurones and predominantly in the CNS with a similar pattern and developmental up‐regulation as endogenous KCC2. Moreover, a third transgene with just a 1.4‐kb KCC2 promoter region lacking the NRSEKCC2‐bearing intron 1 was still expressed predominantly in neural tissues. Thus, developmental up‐regulation of the KCC2 gene does not require NRSEKCC2 and the 1.4‐kb KCC2 promoter is largely sufficient for neurone‐specific expression of KCC2.


We consider the mixed integer nonlinear programming problem over a bounded closed box.To avoid the drawback of the nonsmooth penalty function,we use a differentiable penalty function sum from i=1 to π(sin~2πx_i).By this way,we propose a smooth continuity method,and present several theorems about the mixed integer nonlinear programming problem,and give detailed proofs.The obtained results show that either unconstrained or constrained mixed integer nonlinear programming problems can be converted into nonlinear continuous global optimization problems,and improve those existing results to our knowledge.


This study analyzes the processes of enunciation of the editorial cartoon through the articulation of its constitutives elements in relation to all the compositional; and proposes a methodological-theoretical apparatus of analysis of the production of its meaning effects. Is conceptually the editorial cartoon in the field of graphic humor, making the necessary distinctions with the caricature, cartoon – gag humor, comic strip and editorial illustration. To obtain success a hundred charges was examined in order to verify the enunciatives strategies in their graphic and verbal discursivity. To understand the phenomenon of dialogic interaction between interlocutors situated in time and space, the work is based on the perspective of language made by M. Bakhtin, assisted by the principles of discourse analysis by the Dominique Maingueneau's point of view, among other contributions.


In this study, the optimum conditions, the decolorization rate and the possible degradation mechanism were explored for the degradation of Acid Red B by the combined technology of ozonation and high voltage pulsed discharge (HVPD). The results suggested that the decolorization rate of the Acid Red B fitted the pseudo-first-order kinetics with initial dye concentration. The optimum ozone dose and pH was 4.0 g h−1 and 8.0, respectively. Compared to ozone alone, the combination of ozone and HVPD enhanced 25% of the decolorization rate. At the same time, a proposed degradation mechanism was put forward according to the degraded intermediates, which were analyzed by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry for nitrobenzene and benzene sulfonamide acid and were detected by ion chromatography for nitrate and sulfate ions and formic, acetic and oxalic acids. Therefore, the combined technology was a very promoting technology in the wastewater treatment.


The learning of a difficult discrimination task was investigated in a laboratory simulation of a quality control task. In an earlier experiment, observers were trained to discriminate between 2 brief, masked stimulus patterns. Then, a trained and an untrained group of observers were tested on the same stimulus-discrimination task. Response latency as well as P(Dis) were measured in a forced-choice reaction time paradigm. Untrained observers responded with a mean probability of correct discrimination, P(Dis), = .65 for stimuli with 30-msec. duration and mean P(Dis) –.90 for those stimuli with 100-msec. duration. Trained observers produced discrimination scores of P(Dis) greater than or equal to .90 for all stimulus durations tested. Despite this large, reliable training effect of P(Dis), response latencies did not differ reliably between the two groups but instead were a negative function of stimulus duration for both trained and untrained observers.


Workers'remittances have been in the focus of researchers and policy makers for years due to their magnitude and positive impact on a micro and a macro level. However, the interest in this topic has resurged recently as a result of the upward trend of migrant remittances and especially of the striking increase of remittance inflows to the developing countries. Workers' remittances are an extremely important source of external financing for most of the Western Balkan countries. During the latest global financial crisis, they helped these countries to maintain their foreign exchange reserves stable and to decrease their current account deficits. This study aims to investigate the macroeconomic effects of remittances sent to the Western Balkan countries, especially in times of financial shocks, such as the latest global economic and financial crisis 2008/2009. To achieve this objective, we estimate a model with fixed effects of period using panel quarterly data on migrant remittances per capita as a dependent variable and gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, gross monthly wages, unemployment rates, consumer price indices' and total imports of goods as explanatory variables for four Western Balkan countries (Macedonia, Croatia, Serbia and Albania) over the period 2007-2015.


To extend a carrier mobility improvement by strain engineering in high-density and small-gate-space complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) circuits, we have proposed a new stress memorization technique (SMT) that uses a strain proximity free technique (SPFT) to demonstrate the mobility improvement through multiple strain-gate engineering. The electron mobility of n-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) field-effect transistors with the SPFT exhibits a 14% increase over counterpart techniques. Compared with the conventional SMT, the SPFT avoids the limitation of the stressor volume for the performance improvement in high-density CMOS circuits. We also found that the preamorphous layer (PAL) gate structure in combination with the SPFT can improve the mobility further to 31% greater than standard devices. Moreover, an additional 30% mobility enhancement can be achieved by using a dynamic threshold-voltage MOS and combining the PAL gate structure with the SPFT, respectively. The gate-oxide reliability and the channel-hot-carrier reliability are also analyzed. Our results show a mobility improvement by the SPFT, a slightly increased gate leakage current, and degraded channel-hot-carrier reliability.


Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic, inflammatory autoimmune disease characterized by joint inflammation that often leads to joint destruction, severe disability and increased mortality. Up to 40% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis experience progression toward an erosive pattern in the early stages of the disease. It is known that most joint erosions occur within the first two years of the disease, and there is growing evidence that only therapeutic intervention early in the course of the disease leads to satisfactory disease control, less joint damage, and a better prognosis. As the current therapeutic strategies in rheumatoid arthritis recommend increasingly aggressive regimens early in the course of the disease, diagnostic tests with high specificity are desirable for choosing the optimal treatment. If, in addition, this test could be used both to monitor disease activity and to indicate adequate treatment, it would be an irreplaceable diagnostic and prognostic tool. The introduction of biologic agents into the therapy of rheumatoid arthritis has opened a new era for rheumatologists to fulfill the desired conceptions of early disease control and prevention of joint damage. Despite an impressive overall clinical impact, more than one quarter of patients still have a poor response to these biologic agents on the basis of both clinical and radiological evaluation. So far, no reliable indices have been identified as possible predictive factors for the clinical response in patients undergoing therapy with biologic agents. An important topic in view of these new biologic treatments, such as TNF blockade, is therefore the identification of biomarkers that predict response to treatment. Circulating antibodies are the main effector molecules of the humoral immune system and, at present, the only practical indices for monitoring the immune response in certain autoimmune diseases. The value of the different RA-associated antibodies as diagnostic markers has been broadly analyzed in the past and comparison clearly indicates that anticyclic (anti-CCP) antibodies show a better diagnostic and prognostic performance than RF. The role of anti-CCP as an early predictor for identifying patients at risk of more aggressive and erosive disease is of great importance, as it has been suggested that early and aggressive treatment, even with the use of biologic agents, can prevent the progression of joint damage. The arising question is if anti-CCP can also be used to successfully monitor treatment, especially with biologic agents, in rheumatoid arthritis patients. So far, only a few studies have analyzed the variations in the titer of anti-CCP antibodies and RF during treatment with TNF inhibitors, with inconsistent results. A correlation between RF titers and clinical disease activity has been reported. Because RF titers decrease with successful treatment, particularly methotrexate, this suggests an indirect link with disease activity. Allessandri et al showed a significant decrease in the titer of anti-CCP and RF in sera of patients after 24 weeks of infliximab treatment. De Rycke et al found different effects of infliximab treatment on IgM-RF and anti-CCP: RF titers decreased significantly, but concentrations of anti-CCP antibodies did not change. Both the differential effect of infliximab treatment on IgM-RF and the anti-CCP antibodies, as well as the different correlation to acute phase reactants during infliximab treatment, support the emerging evidence that RF and anti-CCP antibodies are two different, independent autoantibody systems in RA. The use of anti-CCP as diagnostic marker is undisputed these days. Its use to successfully monitor treatment seems to depend on the patients, response to therapy and the disease duration. However, it might not be suitable for all RA patients. To monitor the clinical course of the disease, the combined use of RF-isotypes and CCP still seems to be the most powerful prognostic and diagnostic approach and has the greatest value for the clinician to choose a more aggressive treatment early in the course of the disease to delay articular damage and preserve joint function.