A wide range of services has been developed for vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs), ranging from safety to infotainment applications. An essential requirement for such services is that they are offered with quality of service (QoS) guarantees in terms of service reliability and availability. Searching for feasible routes subject to multiple QoS constraints is, in general, an NP-hard problem. Moreover, routing reliability needs to be paid special attention as communication links frequently break in VANETs. In this paper, we propose employing the situational awareness (SA) concept and an ant colony system (ACS)-based algorithm to develop a situation-aware multiconstrained QoS (SAMQ) routing algorithm for VANETs. SAMQ aims to compute feasible routes between the communicating vehicles subject to multiple QoS constraints and pick the best computed route, if such a route exists. To mitigate the risks inherited from selecting the best computed route that may turn out to fail at any moment, SAMQ utilizes the SA levels and ACS mechanisms to prepare certain countermeasures with the aim of assuring a reliable data transmission. Simulation results demonstrate that SAMQ is capable of achieving a reliable data transmission, as compared with the existing QoS routing algorithms, even when the network topology is highly dynamic.


It is well known that rational multiplication preserves normality in base $b$. We study related normality preserving operations for the $Q$-Cantor series expansions. In particular, we show that while integer multiplication preserves $Q$-distribution normality, it fails to preserve $Q$-normality in a particularly strong manner. We also show that $Q$-distribution normality is not preserved by non-integer rational multiplication on a set of zero measure and full Hausdorff dimension.


This study focuses on the detection of ABR magnetic fields by means of a SQUID magnetometer. We developed a highly sensitive dc-SQUID system. The SQUID magnetometer has a first-order gradiometer with a variable baseline, which is the distance between two co-axial coils. When magnetic fields are measured with the gradiometer, both the performance of the signal detection and the effect of noise canceling depend on the baseline. ABR signals are very weak fields generated by the brainstem, which lies deep in the brain. We measured the ABR magnetic fields using three gradiorneters with different baselines: 30 mm, 50 mm, and 80 mm. In this experiment, we were able to obtain the best signal-to-noise ratio by using the gradiometer with the 50 mm baseline.


A purpose of the present invention is to generate a multi-perspective image as a three-dimensional image dependent on the degree of confidence in the estimated parallax based on L and R images. A left perspective image (L image) and a right perspective image (R image) suitable for three-dimensional image display are inputted, parallax information is generated based on the left perspective image (L image) and the right perspective image (R image), and the degree of confidence in the generated parallax information is calculated. For example, different degrees of confidence are calculated by performing different types of analysis processing, a weighting is applied to the calculated degrees of confidence, and a final degree of confidence is calculated. The generating conditions for the virtual perspective image are then changed in accordance with the calculated degree of confidence. For example, the parallax distance is increased in the virtual perspective image when the degree of confidence is high, and the parallax distance is decreased in the virtual perspective image when the degree of confidence is low.


Under laser pulse heating, a non-equilibrium heat and mass transfer model based on the non-Fourier law is developed for surface rapid melting and solidification process (RMSP) of Uniphase binary alloys. Non-equilibrium kinetics and Aziz's continuous growth model are introduced in the model to describe the moving solid/liquid interface and to explain the departure from the interface equilibrium thermodynamics. This problem involves heat and mass diffusion with a moving boundary of solid/liquid interface and is solved by an implicit Von Neumann's difference format with second-order precision and interface tracing method. Using this model, we have analyzed laser-irradiated surface melting and solidification of dilute binary Al-Cu alloys. The calculating results show that there are very prominent effects of solid overheating and melt undercooling resulting from the high energy density of laser and interface non-equilibrium kinetics on the process. Large variations of interface velocity are. also seen during the process and depend on the substrate material and heat flux. The interface temperature, velocity, solute concentration and non-equilibrium partition coefficient varying with interface location are calculated. And the fluctuation of the interface velocity and solute concentration during the solidification is also predicted.


Abstract : Proliferation of advanced weapon systems and increasingly complex aircraft, coupled with multiple control of aircraft in a tactical environment, has placed a demanding workload on the aircrew. This report summarizes the studies and analyses to more efficiently accomplish man-machine interaction with the flight control system, the weapon systems, and the navigation system. A detailed trade-off study was performed to determine the accuracies of navigation systems that would be required to meet performance goals with both precision inertial reference units and strapdown inertial units. Operation, with messages incoming to the cockpit via data link, was evaluated and a pilot-in-the-loop simulation was accomplished to determine an acceptable method to keep the pilot informed of command and control directives. Methods for entering this data into the guidance and control system were also analyzed. In the approach used, the cockpit consisted of CRT displays and a real-time trajectory generation routine. The data-linked information was entered directly into the central processor and acted upon by the trajectory generation. This information was then displayed to the pilot for approval/disapproval prior to being incorporated into the active flight plan. A brief discussion of follow-on recommendations is also presented. (Author)


An Inverse Source Problem for a One-dimensional Wave Equation: An Observer-Based Approach Sharefa Mohammad Asiri Observers are well known in the theory of dynamical systems. They are used to estimate the states of a system from some measurements. However recently observers have also been developed to to estimate some unknowns for systems governed by partial differential equations. Our aim is to design an observer to solve inverse source problem for a onedimensional wave equation. Firstly, the problem is discretized in both space and time and then an adaptive observer based on partial field measurements (i.e measurements taken form the solution of the wave equation) is applied to estimate both the states and the source. We see the effectiveness of this observer in both noise-free and noisy cases. In each case, numerical simulations are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of this approach. Finally, we compare the performance of the observer approach with Tikhonov regularization approach.


Abstract : This paper presents the results of our empirical studies of current management practices in services acquisition in the Army, Navy, and Air Force. The primary objective of these studies was to develop a comprehensive understanding of how services acquisition is being managed within, as well as across, individual military services. In these empirical studies, we developed and deployed a Web-based survey to collect primary data. Specifically, we studied the current management practices in such areas as contract characteristics, and acquisition management methods including regional- or installation-level acquisition, use of project management approach, acquisition leadership and ownership of requirements. We also studied other program management issues such as scope and ability of personnel responsible for acquisition, adequacy of acquisition billets and their fill rates, and training provided to services acquisition personnel. We found that for the most part the services contracts awarded and administered conformed to our expectation. For example, most service contracts are competitively bid fixed-priced awards with a minimal use of any type of contract incentives. The survey data also confirmed that the Navy uses regional approach in services acquisition, while the Army and the Air Force use installation-level approach. These differences, in turn, appear to be having important implications for other acquisition management practices such as the use of project management and contract surveillance. One surprising finding of the study was that the project teams are often led by the contracting officer as opposed to a formally designated project manager responsible for the overall service project success.


The acceleration of charged particles at shock waves plays an important role in many fields of astrophysics, but only a few shocks can be observed by in-situ measurements. Extraterrestrial measurements at Earth's bow shock and interplanetary shock waves show that supercritical, quasi-parallel shock waves are accompanied by large-amplitude magnetic field fluctuations (so-called steepened wave structures) in the upstream region. Test particle calculations with modelled electric and magnetic fields of such steepened wave structures yield the acceleration of thermal electrons up to nearly relativistic velocities (kinetic energy in the keV range). For smoothly varying magnetic fields an analytical treatment is possible in the framework of adiabatic theory. These analytical calculations show that the acceleration of electrons is caused by a particle drift in the direction of the electric field due to a noncoplanar component of the magnetic field at the steepened field structures. As an application of this result the generation of solar type II radio bursts – the radio signature of electrons accelerated at coronal shock waves is briefly discussed.


Reflection measurements of pigments used in artworks will be performed in the THz spectral range, utilizing the THz sources available at the ENEA research center of Frascati in collaboration with CISA3, University of California.


In recent years, there is a growing effort in the learning algorithms area to propose new strategies to detect and exploit sparsity in the model parameters. In many situations, the sparsity is hidden in the relations among these coefficients so that some suitable tools are required to reveal the potential sparsity. This work proposes a set of LMS-type algorithms, collectively called Feature LMS (F-LMS) algorithms, setting forth a hidden feature of the unknown parameters, which ultimately would improve convergence speed and steady-state mean-squared error. The key idea is to apply linear transformations, by means of the so-called feature matrices, to reveal the sparsity hidden in the coefficient vector, followed by a sparsity-promoting penalty function to exploit such sparsity. Some F-LMS algorithms for lowpass and highpass systems are also introduced by using simple feature matrices that require only trivial operations. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed F-LMS algorithms bring about several performance improvements whenever the hidden sparsity of the parameters is exposed.


We establish a Gelfand-Naimark-Segal construction which yields a correspondence between cyclic unitary representations and positive definite superfunctions of a general class of $\mathbb Z_2^n$-graded Lie supergroups.


Stochastic resonance (SR) in the bistable system can reduce the noise level, reveal the waveform's outline prominently, and improve the quality of the system output. Under the support of SR techniques, the extraction accuracy of the civil aero-engine rotor vibration information is lifted, especially when treating the signals contaminated by heavy noise. Results indicate that the SR signal preprocessing method via tuning the relative parameters is effective to reflecting the real vibration of the aero-engine rotor. It can also monitor the short-term failure phenomenon in the sampling data.


After analyzing the data of industrial experiment about the application of membrane filter process to deal with smelting wastewater contains heavy metal ions such as Ni+,Co,Cu, the project design data had been obtained as following: the reasonable process flow, the exact ratio of ferrous flocculants and aluminum flocculants and the adding amount of compound flocculants, the processing data of membrane filter. This industrial experiment provided the basis to the wastewater treatment design and successfully put it into the practice.


In this age of 40-microcent transistors, it is easy to become complacent about the consumption of resources. Easy, that is, until your design no longer fits in the desired target device. This paper revisits techniques for multirate, multichannel filter design that were used from the mid-1970s through the 1980s and applies them by using contemporary development tools and hardware. It demonstrates a 7∶1 reduction in hardware resources over intellectual property (IP) supplied by field programmable gate array (FPGA) vendors.


The purpose of the research is to reduce the specific energy consumption of extruders in the protein feed preparation, namely a sunflower cake, and at the same time to increase productivity without product quality deterioration. The research objective is to develop a mathematical model that describes the performance of the improved extruder. As a result of the experimental and theoretical studies using experiment design methods, a mathematical model of the sunflower cake obtainment process was designed, it describes the performance of the improved extruder. The analysis of two-dimensional sections of the combination of X1 - X2 factors shows the nature of the response surface of an ellipsoid shape, X1 - X3, X2 - X3 are of a paraboloid, and the centers of the experiment are located in the investigated area, which allow determining rational parameters for combinations of these factors. As a result of a multifactorial experiment, the optimal values of the factors were determined: the mixture temperature at the exit from the extrusion auger of the matrix is 133.67 °C, the extrusion auger winding pitch is 7.58 mm, the area of the discharge hole of the matrix die is 323.89 mm2. With a combination of factor optimal values, it is possible to obtain high-quality sunflower cake with the highest extruder capacity, which is 0.87 t/h.


Abstract : A Light Medium Tactical Vehicle (LMTV) was tested on a chassis dynamometer at the US Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) test labs from the months of August through October of 1998. The purpose was to determine the strains and accelerations in the driveline system and to determine the effect of different driveline configurations on these values. Tested variations included the OEM 3.5 inch diameter rear driveshaft, a larger 4 inch diameter (Al) rear driveshaft, a straightened and balanced OEM driveshaft and a Michigan Scientific Driveshaft modified to eliminate hinging. Other driveline changes included replacing the OEM flywheel with a nodular iron version an replacing the yokes utilizing straps, to hold in the driveshafts to full rounds yokes, and lastly using nylon versus metal thrust washers in the universal joint end caps. Results showed that the replacement components, namely the 4 inch diameter driveshaft with nylon thrust washer and full round yokes, and the nodular iron flywheel housing, yielded more favorable results than the original equipment.


The present paper verifies the assumptions about the importance of parental attitudes for the mechanism of formation of aggressive behavior in adolescents. It was carried out on the basis of a series of three studies. The aim was to assess the significance of any links between: parental attitudes and expression of aggressive behavior of the respondents in the second phase of adolescence (N = 237). The basic research question concerned the problem of stability and change during aggression in relation to the gender of respondents and their parenting attitudes. The study used: Parental' Attitude Scale (SPR-2) (Plopa, 1987, 2005), tools for the study of aggression (Wojcik) and BPAQ (Buss, Perry, 1992). The research found that there are: (1) significant differences between girls and boys in their late adolescence in the manifestations of aggression, (2) a significant relationship between specific parental attitudes and adolescent aggressive behavior depending on the gender of children a,nd their parents', (3) changes in the manifestation of aggressiveness depending on the cultural context. Constellations of parental attitudes have diagnosed, which substantially relate to the intensity of adolescent aggressive responses and the occurrence of physical forms of aggression. It was also found that the influence of parental attitudes on growing children's aggressive behavior is limited by gender of the child and the parent.


LiSr(2)(NCN)I(3), the first extended compound containing empty tetrahedral Sr(4) entities, is synthesized using a new flux route, and it exhibits two interpenetrating three-dimensional networks made up from Sr tetrahedra capped by NCN(2-) anions on their triangular faces and vertex-sharing LiI(6) octahedra.


The article is devoted to a comprehensive study of the assessment of biodegradability of polymer based on acrylic acid and its copolymers, used as an impregnation of paper napkins, by microorganisms of soil and activated sludge biocenosis. Experimental studies were carried out with 10%, 1%, 0.1%, 0.01%, 0.001% and 0.0001% aqueous solutions of polymer based on acrylic acid. The assessment of the biodegradation ability of polyacrylates by microorganisms of soil biocenosis and activated sludge was carried out on the basis of changes in the respiratory activity of microbiocenoses under conditions of introduction into the soil and waste water, respectively, of the analyzed polymer samples based on acrylic acid and its derivatives. Based on the changes in the respiratory activity of microorganisms in the presence of polymers, it was revealed that polyacrylates are biodegradable and can be used by soil microbiocenosis and activated sludge microbiocenosis as a substrate. The results of quantitative counting of microorganisms of activated sludge by the method of limiting dilutions in the process of long-term cultivation in the presence of polymer samples correlate with the results of determining the respiratory activity of microbiocenoses and indicate the possibility of using polyacrylates by microorganisms as a substrate. In the process of experimental studies, it was proved that in the aquatic environment both large respiratory activity of microorganisms at low concentrations of the polymer and a higher inhibitory activity of the polymer at its high concentrations than in the soil are observed. The results indicate the promise of using solutions of polyacrylates as impregnation of paper napkins, since the methods of processing and disposal of used napkins meet the requirements of environmental friendliness.


The harm of aphids and the related aphid-spread virus disease on strawberry production and main prevention and control measures were summarized.The research progresses on the breeding technologies for controlling the virus disease and aphids of strawberry were emphatically expounded,which mainly included the early traditional breeding technology and the recent biotechnological breeding for controlling aphids and the virus disease with the traditional cross breeding.Finally,the main existing problems in the research of strawberry resistance to aphids and the related aphid-spread virus disease were discussed.And the foreground was predicted.


This paper details a longitudinal study into the e‐mail habits of first year students at Charles Sturt University. This study is part of ongoing research investigating the factors and barriers that can influence the successfully adoption of technology into the learning environment. The findings from this study illustrate that e‐mail applications are very popular in terms of both useage as well as the high level of confidence that students exhibit. The survey identified two main areas that need to be addressed, namely the disadvantage of rural students in accessing e‐mail and second that male students tend not to be as frequent users of e‐mail compared to their female counterparts.


The morphology and crystalline structure of banded spherulites of poly(butylene adipate) (PBA) were investigated by polarized optical microscopy (POM), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). It was found that after purification and fractionation, the obtained PBA fractions with different molecular weight formed ring-banded spherulites at different temperature ranges. Pure a and b form of PBA can form regular ring-banded spherulites. AFM and SEM observations of the thin film revealed that the alternative ridges and valleys along the radial direction consisted of edge-on and flat-on lamellae, respectively, indicating the ring-bands in PBA spherulites are the consequence of lamellar twisting. In addition, sequential growth of a and b form in one PBA spherulite at the same temperature is reported and interpreted by competition of primary nucleation and radial growth of the two crystalline modifications. At a certain temperature range, the a form PBA has larger primary nucleation rate but lower radial growth rate than the b form PBA, leading to formation of spherulites consisted of a form at center and b form at the outer region. But finally, a layer of a form ringless region appears at the outside of the b form ring-banded region before impingement of the neighboring spherulites. These results suggest that besides crystallization temperature, molecular weight has considerable effect on the formation of crystal modification of PBA and the corresponding


During the season 2013–2014, Greece suffered an influenza epidemic that resulted in 145 fatalities [1]. We retrospectively analyzed patients with cancer who were infected with influenza and hospitalized in our intensive care unit (ICU) from september 2013 to June 2014. our department is a six-bed ICU in a cancer hospital. Diagnosis was based on an influenza-like clinical syndrome along with a positive real time rt-PCr testing of oropharyngeal swab for influenza virus. six patients, four women and two men, 26–71 years old (median age 53.5), fulfilled our criteria (supplementary table I, available online at http:// informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/0284186X. 2014.974830). two patients suffered from multiple myeloma, one of whom had autologous stem cell transplantation five years ago, but had subsequently relapsed. Four patients had solid tumors – one had breast cancer, one ovarian cancer and two had sarcoma. three of the patients with solid tumors had metastatic disease. all patients received chemotherapy within three weeks prior to ICU admission and one with sarcoma received additionally autologous stem cell transplantation. notably, none of the patients had been vaccinated for the seasonal flu. Upon admission all patients had a ratio of Pao2/ Fio2  100 with bilateral infiltrations on chest x-ray and two patients were neutropenic. all patients received oseltamivir 48 h after their symptoms began. all had positive oropharyngeal swab for H1n1pdm09 and received care with invasive mechanical ventilation, antibiotic coverage, vasopressors and/or inotrops, and four patients received steroids. oseltamivir was prescribed at a dose of 75mg q12h for all patients and two had their dose increased to 150mg q12h. length of stay in the ICU ranged from 2 to 45 days (median 5 days). thirty-day mortality was 83.3% (5 patients) and ICU mortality was 100%. all patients died from respiratory tract infection and multiple organ failure. three patients suffered superinfection, two of those had transient clinical improvement and died after 45 and 17 days, respectively. the patient that died after 45 days, while on clinical improvement, managed to receive chemotherapy (bortezomide and dexamethasone) for multiple myeloma. one patient was bacteremic since eight days prior to his admission and died on his second day in the ICU despite receiving directed antibiotic treatment. among our critically ill cancer patients infected with influenza, no one survived to discharge. other authors have also published mortality rates up to 100% [2,3] in similar populations that required invasive mechanical ventilation. alarmingly, none of the patients was vaccinated for seasonal influenza and all received delayed oseltamivir treatment. Current guidelines recommend vaccination for all adult cancer patients, except those receiving anti-B-cell antibodies or intensive chemotherapy, since these two patient categories cannot mount an adequate serologic response [4,5]. thus, consideration of influenza vaccination should accompany cancer diagnosis and antecede immunosuppressive treatment if feasible. From the few available data, vaccination rates for influenza in Greece are not high and for this, misconceptions about the gravity of influenza and the safety of vaccination have been implicated [6,7]. additionally during the year 2013–2014 in Greece there was a shortage of vaccines substantial enough to shift guidance towards early use of antiviral drugs [8]. We cannot emphasize strongly enough that timely vaccination and targeted information on influenza prevention and treatment may prevent future fatalities in cancer patients.


The Parachute Creek member of the Green River formation is an approximately time-equivalent zone across the Uinta Basin of Utah, as shown by the correlation of extensive thin tuff beds within the member. The top of the overlying Evacuation Creek member is regarded as the base of the Uinta formation. This formation boundary rises stratigraphically toward the center of the basin, as also shown by the correlation of tuff beds. Much of the lower part of the fluviatile beds of the Uinta formation as exposed along the Colorado-Utah line grades westward into beds that are in considerable part of lacustrine, playa, and mud-flat origin in an area of which Indian Canyon is the center. These beds, formerly considered a saline facies of the Green River formation, are here included as part of the Uinta formation.


In ATM networks, two levels of connections are defined: virtual path connections and virtual channel connections. Virtual paths are the building blocks of the virtual channels. This hierarchy, known as "the virtual path concept", provides considerable advantages in the design of high-speed networks. In the paper the authors show that this concept has the advantage of providing a means of improving the survivability of virtual channels. To this end, they present a simple rerouting protocol, which can be invoked upon the failure of an intermediate link or node of a virtual path. This protocol reroutes all the affected virtual channels to an alternative virtual path. Due to the simplicity of the protocol, it can be completed rapidly, thus fulfilling an essential requirement of any rerouting scheme.<<ETX>>


Cerebral stroke is one of the leading disease-causing death and disability in a large number of patients globally. Brain damage in ischemic stroke is led by a complex cascade of events. The Rho-associated kinase-2 (ROCK2) has a significant role in cerebral vasospasm, vascular remodeling, and inflammation. It is activated in cerebral ischemia and its inhibition led to a neuroprotective effect.

The present study is designed to identify potential inhibitors of ROCK2 using a molecular docking approach.

We docked phytochemicals of Withania somnifera (WS) into the catalytic site of ROCK2 and compared results with inhibitor Y-27632. ADME and drug-likeness properties of WS phytochemicals were also analyzed.

Results suggest that 11 phytochemicals exhibited higher binding affinity toward the ROCK2 catalytic domain compared to the Y-27632 inhibitor. Among these phytochemicals, Withanolide G formed H-bonding and established hydrophobic contacts with key catalytic domain residues of ROCK2.

Our findings suggest that Withanolide G has the potential to inhibit the action of ROCK2 and can be developed as a neurotherapeutic agent to combat cerebral ischemic insult.


This paper discussed the way and method for analyzing the correct copy range and exposure tolerance of offset plates based on detecting and getting the resolution of offset plates..The correct copy ranges and exposure tolerance of three different brands of PS plates were detected and analyzed.


This paper deals with the design, the setup, and the operation of a rotating contactless energy transfer (CET) system. The system is used to replace the slip rings of an electrical excited synchronous machine and to transfer energy onto the rotor of the machine without mechanical contact. A compensation topology with an autoresonant circuit to generate the high frequency voltage is presented. Furthermore, the required parameters of the CET system are calculated. Based on these calculations, the system consisting of the power electronics, the compensation network, the magnetic path, the control system, and the electrical excited synchronous machine with controller, is set up. Finally, the calculated parameters are verified by measurements.


1046 www.anesthesia-analgesia.org October 2016 • Volume 123 • Number 4 Copyright © 2016 International Anesthesia Research Society DOI: 10.1213/ANE.0000000000001502 Smartphones have been one of the most rapidly adopted technologies in the history of humankind.1 When these devices are coupled with the near-ubiquitous availability of wireless Internet connectivity, each of us holds previously unimaginable access to information literally in the palm of the hand. This shift in access to information has had far-reaching effects on every aspect of society from our social connections to commerce to health care. Personalized medical data through companies such as 23andMe2 provide the motivated patient an unprecedented ability to learn much about their medical conditions, perhaps more than their physician, depending on the rarity of the conditions. In fact, 23andMe recently partnered with Pfizer to conduct a genome-wide association study of over 75,000 individuals with depression to discover 15 previously unknown genomic regions associated with higher rates of major depression.3 More and more, this decentralization and democratization places the patient in the driver seat and relegates the physician to the role of a (trusted?) mentor. Surely, many of us have encountered at least 1 patient with a differential diagnosis made in consultation with "Dr. Google." This sort of revolution currently is limited to the diagnostic realms because licensed providers must still be used to legally prescribe any medication or perform any interventional procedures, although it does certainly represent a sea change in the dynamic of the doctor–patient relationship. The smartphone is fast becoming the technological lynchpin of this revolution in health care. The device itself contains a processor capable of impressive levels of data analysis, given its size. Furthermore, the other onboard technologies such as lights, cameras, microphones, and accelerometers allow for further data acquisition that can contribute to more robust analysis. Some innovators have developed external hardware attachments that allow more specific data acquisition and thus further analytical capabilities by the phone's central processing unit. Tying all these hardware devices together are specific software programs to turn the data captured into useful information for the user. We know these unifying software programs as applications or "apps." Most Americans spend about 37.5 hours a month on their smartphones and use about 26 apps per month.4 Even though much of this time is used for entertainment purposes such as games, music, and video, the use of apps specific to health and wellness is soaring as well. The market for such apps is expected to generate US$26 billion in 2017.5 The presence of such a large market has attracted the attention of the innovator and regulator alike. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has had difficulty keeping pace with innovators and has had to rethink its regulatory approach to this rapidly shifting landscape to achieve its mission of "protecting consumers and enhancing public health" while still allowing innovation to flourish. In February 2015, the FDA published a statement to clarify its position on the status of what it terms "mobile medical apps," which it defines as a software application for a mobile device that is intended to be used as an accessory to a regulated medical device or to transform a platform into a medical device. Given the vast number of applications that could fall under such a broad definition, though, the FDA indicated that they intend to apply this regulatory authority only to "those mobile apps whose functionality could pose a risk to a patient's safety if the mobile app were to not function as intended." These guidelines are derived from older FDA policies governing computer software in which if software is used in a medical device, as a medical device, or to manufacture a medical device, then that software is a medical device. In its current guidelines, the FDA states that "the intended use of a mobile app determines whether it meets the definition of a 'device,'" where intention refers to both the labeling and marketing efforts surrounding a potential device. Realizing that this could still apply to a vast number of application-based products, the FDA further stated that they intend to exercise their "regulatory oversight only to those mobile medical apps that are medical devices and whose functionality could pose a risk to patient safety." For instance, the FDA has an extensive, but not exhaustive, list of the types of applications for which they intend to "exercise enforcement discretion" (ie, not require FDA approval at this time). These include mobile medical apps that provide tracking/organizing functions of health care data, routine clinical calculators (eg, body mass index or Apgar score), or access to reference data. The focus of the FDA's regulatory oversight is for those mobile medical apps that "use a sensor or electrode attached to the mobile platform or tools within the mobile platform itself" for specific Smartphone Application-based Medical Devices: Twenty-first Century Data Democratization or Anarchy?


With its fittingly dramatic design, "Courbet and the Modern Landscape" accompanies the first major museum exhibition specifically to address Gustave Courbet's extraordinary achievement in landscape painting. Many of these carefully selected works produced from 1855 to 1876 - gathered from Asia, Europe, and North America - will be new to readers. The catalogue - which accompanies an exhibition at the Getty Museum to be held from February 21 to May 14, 2006 - highlights the artist's expressive responses to the natural environment. Essays by the curators examine Courbet's distinctly modern practice of landscape painting. Mary Morton's essay situates his landscapes in relation to his work in other genres, his critical reputation, and his role in establishing a new pictorial language for landscape painting. Charlotte Eyerman's essay investigates how later generations of nineteenth- and twentieth-century artists responded to Courbet's example. The catalogue also includes an essay by Dominique de Font-Reaulx, curator of photographs at the Musee d'Orsay, on the relationship between Courbet's work and landscape photography of the 1850s and 1860s. Full-page colour plates are organized thematically by subject matter: cliffs and valleys; forests and streams; rocks and grottoes; the sea; snow; plus the late, melancholic visions of Swiss lakes and mountain ranges painted during Courbet's exile. It is lavishly illustrated in colour and mono.


AbstractThere is now a substantial literature that has noted serious limitations in the quantitative component of the Psychology curricula. In particular, training in the areas of statistics, measurement, and research methods tends, largely, to be rooted in past traditions, rather than exemplifying current advancements in the area of quantitative methods. The purpose of this paper is to highlight salient weaknesses in our current training of graduate students, and to suggest ways by which these limitations may be addressed through a strengthening of the quantitative methods component of the curriculum.Traditionally, psychologists have considered themselves as leaders among social science researchers in addressing statistical, measurement, and research design issues. However, recent research reported by Aiken, West, Sechrest, and Leno (1990) and others (e.g., Aftanas, 1994; Cone & Foster, 1991; Meier, 1993; Uleman & Weary, 1995) suggests that while this perception was likely quite accurate in the past, the same perception today may be somewhat dubious. In particular, they noted a failure on the part of psychologists to match advancements in their substantive areas with advancements in the areas of statistics, measurement, and research methods. Both the causes and the consequences of this finding can be linked to the current structure of education and training in Psychology. The intent of this paper is to highlight salient weaknesses in our current training of graduate students, and to suggest ways by which these limitations may be addressed through a strengthening of the quantitative methods component of the curriculum.PAST PERSPECTIVESIn the 1960s and early 1970s, the quantitative component of most Psychology programs typically included the teaching of correlation/regression analysis, analysis of variance, and some factor analysis. In addition, the study of psychometric theory was generally required, and courses in attitude measurement, psychophysics, and scaling were offered. At that time, these courses were quite sufficient in providing students with the research skills necessary to address virtually any statistical, measurement, or methodological problem encountered in their particular research area.Over the past two decades, however, important advancements in quantitative methods, as well as in the various substantive areas of Psychology have taken place. We turn first to the area of quantitative methods. In statistics, for example, we have witnessed the development of (a) path analysis (Duncan, 1975); (b) the analysis of covariance structures within the frameworks of both confirmatory factor analysis (Joreskog,1969) and structural equation modelling (Bentler, 1980; Joreskog & Sorbom, 1979); (c) discrete multivariate analysis that includes logic and probit regression models for use with categorical variables and correspondence analysis (Greenacre, 1984); and (d) time series analysis (Box & Jenkins, 1976). In measurement, there has been the development of (a) multidimensional scaling (e.g., Shepard, Romney, & Nerlove, 1972); (b) item response theory (e.g., Hambleton & Swaminathan, 1984; Lord, 1980); and (c) generalizability theory, (Cronbach, Gleser, Nanda, & Rajaratnam, 1972). Finally, the area of research methods has identified (a) new issues and designs capable of addressing problems inherent in large - scale research projects that involve social experiments (Riecken et al., 1974), longitudinal data (e.g., Nesselroade & Baltes, 1979), multilevel data (e.g., Burstein, 1980), and quasi - experimentation (Cook & Campbell, 1979); and (b) the development of meta - analysis (e.g., Glass, McGaw, & Smith, 1981) as a means to the quantification and statistical analysis of entire research literatures.As noted by Aiken et al., (1990), however, most of this past development work in the area of quantitative methods has been advanced by social science researchers other than psychologists. …


In order to overcome the limitation, some traditional distance measurement methods in some special occasions go beyond measure flaw. This design centres on P89LPC932 and realizes non-contact air measurement by use of an ultrasonic sensor, which fully considers the close relationship of velocity and temperature, thus temperature compensation, further get measurement distance about 700cm, optimal precision at 1%. This design has some features, such as the strong anti-jamming capability, simple installation, small size, low power consumption, easy to embed in other system.


Abstract. This editorial introduces the five articles included in the sixth "Hotspots in Psychology" of the Zeitschrift für Psychologie. With the new edition, the format enlarges it focus beyond meta-analyses and systematic reviews to new developments such as big data in psychology. The included five articles span a diverse array of topics, that is, the application of individual participants meta-analyses as a way to replicate studies, the role of the degree of anthropomorphism ("human-likeness") in human-robot interactions, the challenge of multiple dependent effect sizes when conducting a meta-analytical structural equation model, the value of using log data of online platform as a way to predict learning outcomes, and the utility of a block-wise fit evaluation in structural equation models with many longitudinally measured variables. To promote the open science philosophy, the papers present supplemental material that can be accessed via the repository PsychArchives ( www.psycharchives.org ).


To improve efficiency of non-invasive monitoring of the internal brain temperature, a small-size single-channel microwave radiothermograph consisting of a miniature radiometer and a radiometric sensor based on a printed antenna was developed. Such solution is necessary to provide physicians with a system of non-invasive monitoring of diagnosis and treatment processes. Mathematical modeling and experimental verification of the technical solutions obtained are described in this paper. A miniature radiothermometer was developed. It is a balance modulation radiometer designed on the basis of the R.H. Dicke's circuit with two loads. Taking into account the requirements of miniaturization, a radiometric sensor was developed by means of numerical simulation. As a result of calculations, optimum antenna dimensions were determined (the total size: o30 mm, the size of the foil flane substrate: o23 mm, dimensions of the emitter slot: 16 mm×2 mm). According to the mathematical modeling, the depth of detection of thermal anomalies was not less than 20 mm for the printed antenna which is practically the same as for the waveguide antenna successfully used at present in brain radiothermometry. The standing wave coefficient was determined for various head regions: frontal, temporal, parietal, occipital and the transient between the occipital and parietal regions. Experimental tests of the radiothermograph on water phantoms and biological objects have been carried out. A very good coincidence between the data of numerical simulation and the physical SWR experiment in a range of 1.04–1.8 was obtained. As a result of the study, it has been found that the radiothermograph with a printed slot antenna enabled measurement of internal brain temperature with an acceptable accuracy (±0.2 °C). This will ensure control of craniocerebral hypothermia in patients with brain stroke and allow doctors to promptly change the hypothermia tactics. Small size of the created unit will make it possible to combine it with medical robotic systems to improve treatment effectiveness.


With the continuous development of technology, the digital economy is around us all the time. Under these changes, online advertising become more and more prevalent and they affects people's behaviors imperceptibly, so the marketing plan in each company is also innovating ceaselessly to pursue consumers to purchase. This article begins by finding some literature on the digital economy, marketing innovation, and e-commerce media to understand today's marketing trends and developments. Then, it summarizes how marketing innovation affects consumer behavior by combing through existing research. The research results show that the digital economy has brought a lot of convenience to consumers' lives and enriched their lives, but it is also accompanied by some problems. At the same time, in addition to many social networks on the Internet, most stores will use the Internet and other social networks to increase the promotion of the products they sell, thereby attracting consumers. Finally, this paper summarizes several behaviors of consumers under marketing innovation, and puts forward some suggestions for marketing measures under the digital economy.


The influence of the pH of the medium on the absorption curves of the orotic-Zn (II) complex is studied, observing in them the existence of an isobestic point at a wavelength of 290 millimicres for pH values comprised between at least 6.25 and 9.5. The stability over time of the ornithic complex-Zn (II) is also studied, observing that it has stability for at least 4 hours.The complex complies with the law of Lambert-Beer although the slope of the corresponding straight line is significantly influenced by the concentration of orotic acid used.A method for the determination of Zn (II) in the concentration range between 0 and 49 ppm is proposed, establishing the error and its reproducibility.It is established by the spectrophotometric methods of Job, Harvey and Manning and Yoe and Jones the stoichiometry of the complex at pH 8 which turns out to be 1: 1. If we compare the results obtained in our previous work with those summarized in it, we conclude that the behavior of the orotic acid as a reagent for the spectrophotometric determination of Cu (II), Co (II) and Zn (II ) is very similar, similarly the results obtained by the corresponding described methods and even the stoichiometry of the complexes formed by the spectrophotometric methods are similar.


This paper investigates the minimum requirements to implement compensation schemes for saliency based sensorless control schemes that will work successfully irrespective of the method or machine type. The paper focuses on analyzing the saliency disturbance components due to the machine only, by simulating a machine with a FEM model, and coupling this to a simulation of a full sensorless control which uses ideal power electronic components. The initial results show common saliency harmonics which can therefore simplify the setting up of the filters used to clean up position estimates in sensorless drives.


Spatial resolution of digital images is limited by practical considerations of digital imaging systems. Single image super resolution is therefore required to create images that allow better identification and interpretation of details. A number of investigations have been carried out on image super resolution using the discrete wavelet transform. In this paper, a comparative study is made of different interpolation based methods for the estimation of high frequency sub-bands for the super resolution image. An investigation of the effect of different parameters in bicubic interpolation kernel is also carried out. Based on the result, a new algorithm is proposed for single image super resolution using the discrete wavelet transform and incorporating iterative back-projection. The proposed method is tested against other approaches and found to give superior results in terms of peak signal to noise ratio and structural similarity index measure.


admitted that this was true in the case of many of our foreign stations. Thus, the death-rate of the British soldier in India averaged (up to 1855) 69 per 1,000, the rate at home being 9 per 1,000 among men at the soldier's age. But when the causes of this high mortality were enquired into, it was found that by far the largest number of deaths were due to a few diseases of the zymotic class; so that, when the Indian Sanitary Commission presented their report in 186*3, they were able to say that," were it possible wholly to put an end to deaths arising from the various classes of fevers, from cholera, dysentery, amd diarrhoea, together with hepatitis and its consequences, the troops serving in India would become as healthy as any body of men in the world." The Commissioners pronounced the opinion that these diseases were, to a large extent, " dependent on removable conditions and habits." I may mention that one of these habits was the drinking of the fourth part of a quart bottle of raw spirits every day, as


Seven species and 1 variety from Elatostema J.R.Forster G.Forster (Urticaceae) are reported as new records to six provinces in China,viz,Elatostema glochidioides W.T.Wang and E.polystachyoides W.T.Wang for Guangxi,E.retrohirtum Dunn.for Guizhou,E.atroviride W.T.Wang and E.cyrtandrifolium (Zoll. Mor.) Miq.for Hainan,E.nasutum Hook.f.var.puberulum (W.T.Wang) W.T.Wang for Hunan,E.filipes W.T.Wang for Sichuan,and E.tenuicornutum W.T.Wang for Yunnan.


The great usefulness of 8-hydroxyquinoline suggests that the juxtaposition of the phenolic hydroxyl group and the basic tertiary nitrogen atom of the attached fused heterocyclic ring, makes available a specially valuable chelate grouping and suggests the trial of similarly constituted substances." This idea has already been exploited by Erlenmeyer and Ueberwasser (Helv. Chim. Acta, 1938, 21, 1695 ; cf. also Helv. Chim. Acta, 1938, 21, 709), who prepared several metallic derivatives of 4-hydroxybenzthiazole (II), and showed that this substance was quite suitable for the quantitative estimation of zinc, copper and nickel.


The impact of the contemporary period of economic crisis and austerity on particular social groups and communities has been the subject of much public debate in recent times. One facet of this conjuncture has been the impact of austerity politics and policies on minorities, whether it be longer established communities or refugees and asylum seekers who have arrived during the past two decades or so. Indeed, as minorities have faced an increasingly hostile environment in many European societies, as well as in other geopolitical environments, it has become clear that we need to develop a fuller understanding of the current social and political environment that confronts minority communities. This Symposium on Minority Women and Austerity by Leah Bassel and Akwugo provides an opportunity to explore this question from a variety of angles, and it also engages with the complexities of the changing dynamics of gender, racism and austerity in the contemporary environment. The book draws on extensive bodies of research by Bassel and Emejulu in both France and Britain, and it seeks to situate the everyday practices of survival and resistance that have helped to shape the experiences of minority women in both countries. The Symposium brings together four critical reflections on the book by Gargi Bhattacharyya, Kim Allen, Alexandra Kelbert and Nicole Gregoire. All four of the discussants address the substantive contributions of the book as well as make suggestive points about issues that need further debate and research. The Response by the authors engages with key points raised in the four commentaries and outlines issues that need to be part of an ongoing conversation.


Design and operation of a fluid motor in the Peach Bottom Power Reactor are described. This motor pulls the reactor control rods down from the bottom of the core to increase reactivity. (R.J.S.)


This article examines Martinican Édouard Glissant's geopolitical and decolonizing approach through the concepts with which he conceives literature, art and —in broader terms— Caribbean "language": Relation, repetition, accumulation, opacity and baroque aesthetics. The focus of this paper is on Glissant's aspiration to integrate Caribbean poetics with American (the "other" America) poetics and to put together an autonomous tradition that favors inter-Caribbean and inter-American connections over metropolitan colonizing strategies.


In this paper,we selected 2012 annual report data about purchase of enterprise annuity and other financial data from companies listed in Shanghai Stock Exchange and employed the Tobit model for the empirical study.Our Findings showed that these companies' enterprise annuity application strategy was significantly affected by effective tax rate,firm size,credit constraints and human capital level,while the effects of managerial self-interest or stock market expectation could be ignored. In addition,enterprises had different sensitivities towards each factor depending on their different ownership structures. Finally,we suggested that more favorable tax policies should be enforced to increase the enterprise annuity coverage and improve the old-age security system.


The essay examines local resistance to the New Deal rural electrification program in the United States before World War II as a crucial aspect of socio-technical change. Large numbers of farm men and women opposed the introduction of the new technology, did not purchase a full complement of electrical appliances, and did not use electric lights and appliances in the manner prescribed by the goverment modernisers (the Rural Electrification Administration) and manufacturers. These acts of 'transformative resistance' helped to shape artefacts and social practices.


Competition and cooperation pervade most aspects of our life. In the free enterprise system which dominates our economic life business and industry operate on a competitive basis. Yet, individuals in even the most competitive businesses must work together if their companies are to survive. In sports, the primary emphasis is also on competition, and great importance is attached to being on a "winning" team. But, a team can't win without team work and cooperation between members, for victory often depends on such combined efforts. A similar mixture of cooperation and competition exists in our schools, as Stendler et al. (10) point out. In many classrooms, children are assigned grades on a competitive basis, and, at the same time, they are encouraged to be cooperative and to work with others. As a result of their social importance, cooperation and competition have been the subject of much research. Many of these studies already have been reviewed by Maller ( 3 ) , Cartwright and Zander ( 1 ) , Roseborough (9 ) , Murphy et al. ( 7 ) , and May and Doob (4) . It is not the purpose of this article, therefore, to provide another summary of this research. In a recent review (8 ) , however, one of the writers pointed out some conceptual and methodological difficulties in this research. In the present article these and other points are elaborated, expanded, and more fully developed.


As a new and young member for national development, college students require high ideological consciousness, firm political position and profound theoretical understanding. To enhance the sense of gain from college students' ideological and political theory courses is a hot topic of concern for Chinese ideological and political scholars in recent years, and it is also an important teaching goal for ideological and political teachers in colleges. On the basis of analyzing the connotation and influencing factors of college students' sense of gain in ideological and political theory courses, and in grasping the combination of domestic peer research experience and actual teaching situation, we will continue to explore teaching designs and strategies to enhance the sense of gain by understanding students' previous learning experience and development needs, adjusting the teaching strategy according to students' listening situation, introducing visualization technology, and incorporating blended teaching practice.


Cooking stove (30) having a drive assembly (40) for the drive to be used with the cooking hob (30) Food processing pan assembly (20) in (10), wherein said drive assembly (40) and the said base stove cooking hob (30) is associated. In particular, the drive assembly (40) includes a driven motion transmission means (41) movably disposed in said cooking hob (30), having a coupling adapted to be coupled to the food processing assembly (20) portion (47,48a, 48b); and a pot fixing means (44) for engaging the pan (10) and thereby prevent the pot during the drive assembly (40) operating (10) and said motion transmitting They moved together means (41). At least the top member of at least one member (41, 44) of said drive assembly (40) and the base of the stove (31) in said cooking hob (30) displaceable relative to one another.


This research aims to examine more deeply the development strategy of Aek Biru's development as a tourist destination in Cit Village, Riausilip Sub-district, Bangka Regency, Bangka Belitung Islands. This study is important to do in order to see how the results of the efforts that have been planned by the managers of the Aek Biru area so that the development process runs optimally and sustainably so that it can benefit society. Tourism of Aek Biru located in Cit Village, Riausilip Sub-district, Bangka Regency, Bangka Belitung Islands, which is still in the development stage of the construction process is managed by BUMDES, village officials, youth groups and the community also assisted by UBB KKN Students in 2019. The development process is of course inseparable from supporting factors so that development can develop and run well. Then, it can make the community prosperous, especially in terms of its economy with the existence of tourist destinations in Cit Village and it is also inseparable from the factors that will hinder the development process. Therefore, it must make various efforts so that its development of construction activities run as expected. The method used in this study is descriptive qualitative research methods. The results of this study indicate that there are several factors that become obstacles and support in the development process of the construction of Aek Biru as a tourist destination as well as several efforts or strategies that have been prepared so that the development process goes according to expectations and it can makes Cit Village prosperous after the tin mining ceases to operate.


Encoding images in a visually lossless manner helps to achieve the best trade-off between image compression performance and quality and so that compression artifacts are invisible to the majority of users. Visually lossless encoding can often be achieved by manually adjusting compression quality parameters of existing lossy compression methods, such as JPEG or WebP. But the required compression quality parameter can also be determined automatically using visibility metrics. However, creating an accurate visibility metric is challenging because of the complexity of the human visual system and the effort needed to collect the required data. In this paper, we investigate how to train an accurate visibility metric for visually lossless compression from a relatively small dataset. Our experiments show that prediction error can be reduced by 40% compared with the state-of-theart, and that our proposed method can save between 25%-75% of storage space compared with the default quality parameter used in commercial software. We demonstrate how the visibility metric can be used for visually lossless image compression and for benchmarking image compression encoders.


The ae temperature technique is used to deve10p a ca10rimeter for measuring heat capacities and activation energies for ionic conduction in solid electrolytes" It can rr~asure these properties changes of 1 part in 103 with a temperature resolution better than 10 m~ from 4°K to 380°K in the neighborhood of a phase transi tion" Thi'i ca).otimeter has used to study the 209°K phase transition of RbAg415"


It's easy to take our eyes for granted. It is no exception when we determine our daily diet. Just like the rest of our body, the eyes require proper nutrition. Our eyes have specific nutritional needs of which most people may not be aware. Good nutrition can enhance vision, reduce age related degenerations, and help prevent many other eye conditions. Here are the top 10 nutrients for healthy eyes.


Photograph of Lower Valley School students in costume for the end of year play, "He Couldn't Take It." The students are standing on the porch of the teacherage building.


A powerful approach for dynamic optimisation in the presence of uncertainty is to incorporate measurements into the optimisation framework so as to track the optimum. For non-singular control problems, this can be done by tracking active constraints along boundary arcs and using neighbouring-extremal (NE) control along interior arcs. Essentially, NE control forces the first-order variation of the necessary conditions of optimality (NCO) to zero. In this article, an extension of NE control to singular control problems is proposed. This article focuses on single-input systems, while the extension to multiple-input systems is investigated in the companion paper. The idea is to design NE controllers from successive time differentiations of the first-order variation of the NCO. Approximate NE feedback laws are also proposed, which are both easily implementable and tractable from a real-time optimisation perspective. These developments are illustrated by the case study of a semi-batch chemical reactor.


At the beginning 20 years of 21~(st) century China face an important period to realize modernization,all-round well-off society and sustainable development.So we can not achieve the goal that the GDP is double and the per capita GDP is expected to reach USS3000 by 2020 without the supporting of nature resource and ecological environment.In our paper we analyze the consumption of nature resource and ecological environment for the social-economic development after Chinese revolution from 1980,expound the relationship between development and resource,and evaluate the base of nature resource and ecological environment for the present.


The present invention discloses a transparent antistatic polycarbonate material and a preparation method thereof. The polycarbonate material is a mixture of polycarbonate and an ionic liquid according to a mass ratio of 100:0.01-10. The preparation method comprises: (1) respectively carrying out vacuum drying on polycarbonate and an ionic liquid for 24-48 h at a temperature of 100-120 DEG C, (2) adding the dried polycarbonate and the dried ionic liquid to melting mixing equipment according to a mass ratio of 100:0.01-10 to carry out melting mixing at a temperature of 240-270 DEG C to obtain a mixture, and (3) discharging the mixture from the melting mixing equipment, and cooling to a room temperature to obtain the polycarbonate material. According to the present invention, the polycarbonate material has excellent transparency and good antistatic property, the preparation method only requires the commonly used melting mixing equipment, and the industrial preparation is simple.


Summer legumes are commonly used worldwide in crop rotations as a nitrogen source. One particular legume, sunn hemp (Crotolaria juncea), is a fast growing, high biomass yielding, tropical legume that may be a possible southeastern bioenergy crop. When comparing this legume to a commonly grown summer legume—cowpeas, sunn hemp was superior in biomass yield (kg ha-1) and subsequent energy yield (GJ ha-1). Interlinked with energy yield, the sunn hemp energy content (MJ kg-1) at the greatest maturity sampled (after 12 weeks) was 19.0 MJ kg-1. This was 6% greater than that of cowpeas. Even though sunn hemp had a greater amount of ash, plant nutrient concentrations were lower in some cases of minerals (K, Ca, Mg, S) known to reduce thermochemical conversion process efficiency. Pyrolytic degradation of both legumes revealed that sunn hemp began to degrade at higher temperatures as well as release more volatile matter. This volatile matter would be amenable to downstream conversion processes to generate either heat or synthetic fuels.


This paper presents a new method to apply support vector regression (SVR) to reconstruct chest lead electrocardiogram (ECG) signals. The reconstructed V2, V3, V4, and V5 signals are obtained from SVRs using Lead I, Lead II, V1, and V6 signals as the input features. Only QRS complex, T wave, and P wave of ECGs are selected to ensure the inclusion of useful information and to reduce the size of training set. We use the 4-fold cross validation to select the best SVR models based on their regression performances. The root mean square (RMS) error of less than 0.2 mV is achieved by the SVR-based models on the test sets.


When children have a number of different carers they can become confused about what is expected of them. Lindy Hardcastle explains


We report measurements of the homodyne light-scattering correlation function, ∣S(k, t)∣2, for the rod-like virus M-13 over the concentration range 0.20–2.0 mg cm–3. In dilute solution the correlation function shows the usual double-exponential behaviour expected for a rod executing essentially free translational and rotational diffusion. At higher concentrations the initial decay is less rapid and there is clear evidence of a slowly decaying long-time "tail". Experimentally we find the initial slope in the semi-dilute regime to be about half that found in dilute solution and at long times ∣S(k,t)∣2∝t–1.1 ± 0.2. The above results are in good agreement with the recent theoretical predictions of Doi and Edwards (DE). However, at the wavevectors probed in the present study the DE equation for S(k, t) leads to rather unphysical estimates for both the rotational and translational diffusion coefficients. A possible rationale for this behaviour is briefly discussed.


Recently, many researches all over the world are focusing on ways of utilizing either industrial or agricultural wastes as a source of raw materials for the construction industry. The aim of this study is to determine the optimum proportion of durian saw dust as partial replacement for fine aggregate. These wastes utilization would not only be economical but may also help to create a sustainable and pollution free environment. Durian sawdust is one such fibrous waste-product from durian skin. In this paper, untreated durian sawdust has been partially replaced in the ratio of 0%, 5%, 10% and 15% by volume of fine aggregate in concrete. Fresh concrete tests like compacting factor test and slump test were undertaken along with hardened concrete tests like compressive strength test and UPV test. The result shows that durian sawdust of 5% partially replacement of fine aggregate can be used for structural and non-structural purposes.


This experiment was aimed to investigate the effect of ration containing fish oil and its processed on in vitro rumen fermentation. The protected fatty acid's was in the form of dried carboxylate salt mixture (DCM). The data were analyzed using a completely randomized design with 2x2 factorial models; feeding trial (non CGKK, with CGKK and with fish oil) as the first factor and rumen liquor as second factor (the origin of buffaloes and cattle). The results showed that no interaction was found between the two factors on all parameters. The supplementation with DCM had significantly higher dry matter and organic matter digestibilities. Rumen NH3 of buffalo was lower compared to those of cattle. It is concluded that DCM supplementation does not disturb rumen fermentation.


The fast alpha-particle kinetic effects in fusion plasmas of deuterium and tritium are studied in the perspective that they can give rise to minority populations of fast fuel ions. The resulting modification of the neutron emission spectrum is computed fo


Advancesincomputerandcommunicationtechnology haveenabledthetransferofhigh-qualityradiologyimagesfrom distantcentrestospecialistunitsforconsultation.Theaimof thisstudywastoexaminetheroleofteleradiologyinthe managementoftheinter-hospital transferofneurosurgical patients, especiallyintermsofsafetyandearlytherapeutic interventions.Datawerecollectedprospectively,comparing eventsduringtheinter-hospitaltransferofpatientsfroma districtgeneralhospitaltoatertiaryneurosurgicalcentre,before andaftertheavailabilityofteleradiology. FromMarchto December 1995, 50 referrals made without teleradiology were compared to 66 referrals after teleradiology installation. Head trauma accounted for 50% of cases, cerebrovascular events 41%and tumour or infection 9%. The GlasgowComa Scale ranged from3 to 15 (mean 10, SD 4). The results showed that for patients referred with teleradiology images, unnecessary transfers were reduced (21%), more therapeutic measures before transfer were implemented (27%versus 20%, P=0.41), adverse events occurring during transfer were significantly reduced (8%versus 32%, P=0.002) and transfer time was shortened (80 min versus 72 min, P=0.38). Thepotential advantages of teleradiologyinfacilitating safer transfers, faster management of emergencies andreducingmorbidityandmortality thereforemerit further study. Teleconferencingin therapeutic endoscopy


The purpose of this research is to design and validate a unique, simple, and effective RP-HPLC analytical method using the QbD methodology. The QbD methodology not only confirms the method's robustness but also aids in the development of repeatable and reliable data. The goal of this work is to develop and validate a simple analytical RP-HPLC method for determining Cefpodoxime Impurity (Cefpodoxime Acid) in pharmaceutical formulations using the Analytical Quality by Design methodology (AQbd) in accordance with ICH Q8 guidelines. The Analytical Quality by Design technique was used in the proposed study. Cefpodoxime impurity (Cefpodoxime Acid) was chromatographically evaluated using an Inertsil C18 (5 m) column. The mobile phase was phosphate buffer and methanol pH 4.0 in the ratio of 60:40, which was driven onto the column at 0.8 ml/min using an isocratic elution protocol. 222 nm was discovered to be the detection wavelength for impurity estimation. Design expert 11 (Trial edition) software was used to investigate the effects of the mobile phase composition, flow rate, and pH. The analysis of cefpodoxime acid took 20 minutes to complete & at 15.6 minutes, the impurity was eluted.


The widespread adoption of portable devices and of embedded processors for professional embedded systems, and the technology underlying such devices raise new challenges. We propose physical and logical data structures to provide efficient, energy saving and endurance preserving access to data, managed by means of a DBMS. The paper relates on a project studying innovative data structures at the logical and physical level, to be adopted in very small databases hosted by portable devices/embedded systems, characterized by Flash EEPROM storage. The task is in fact part of a complete methodology for designing very small databases.


Enteric neurons are able to alter their neurotransmitter content during adaptation to new artificial conditions. The aim of the present study was to investigate changes in vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), sub - stance P (SP) and galanin expression during culture of myenteric neurons from the ovine abomasum. In order to accurately reflect the in vivo situation cryostat sections from the ovine abomasum were used. Cultured and non-cultured myenteric neurons were immunohistochemically stained with a mixture of antibodies raised against Hu C/D (neuronal marker) and VIP, SP or galanin. Double labeling revealed that Hu C/D-IR/VIP-IR myenteric neurons were very rare in cryostat sections (1.4 ± 0.2%) but significantly increased to 21.3 ± 1.7% when cultured for three days. A significant increase in Hu C/D-positive/VIP-positive myenteric neurons were also found in 6- and 9-days cultures (23.9 ± 1.9 and 24.5 ± 2.0%, respectively). In vivo, the expression of SP was found in 9.7 ± 1.0% of myenteric perikarya. After 3, 6 and 9 days of incubation the proportion of Hu C/D-IR/SP-IR myenteric perikarya significantly increased to 19.3 ± 1.3%, 22.3 ± 1.2% and 24.1 ± 1.7% (respectively). When compared to the in vivo situation the proportion of galanin-expressing myenteric neurons was unchanged after 3, 6 and 9 days of cultur - ing. In conclusion, alterations in VIP and SP (but not galanin) expression occur during neuronal culturing. Our results supports the idea that both VIP and SP may act as factors which increase neuronal survival.


Phytotherapy is the ancient practice of treating diseases with plant products. Herbal products were used in traditional medicine in both eastern and western medical ayurvedic traditions since ancient times. Periodontal diseases have been a major oral problem affecting humans for ages. The application of phytotherapy in treating periodontal diseases can help in solving many issues and answering many unanswered questions.
This review on phytotherapy for periodontal diseases explains in detail about different plants and their products, which are used in various forms for treating bacterial, fungal, and viral infections causing periodontal diseases.


The continued expansion of industrial growth has contributed significantly to the economic development of many countries. However, untreated discharge from the textile factory significant impacts freshwater and public health. The aim of this study is to explore the economical-local wastewater treatment for local textile industries. The experiment used the waste bones as a source of calcium-phosphate nanopowder (CNP) biocomponent, adsorbent for azo dye effluent treatment. An isolated biocomponent was analyzed using FTIR and UV-VIS, and its adsorption isotherm was also calculated. The FTIR analysis of CNP showed carbonates, amide, and high-intensity phosphate peaks of 1008 cm−1 and 1337 cm−1. The effect of contact time analyzed by UV-VIS absorption spectra revealed that 70% of color removal was achieved within 30 minutes and 60 minutes for disperse red 1 dye (DR1D) and DCT reactive blue 109 dyes (RB109D), respectively. In addition, the effects of the condition parameters on percentage color removal were analyzed using DOE response surface methodology. The maximum color removal performances are 98.65% and 96%, respectively, for DR1D and RB109D at neutral pH. The Langmuir isotherm was observed in the adsorption of RB109D effluent with an R2 value of 0.994 and the Freundlich isotherm in the adsorption of DR1D with an R2 value of 0.993. Finally, the gauge of the effectiveness of treatment was analyzed by COD, BOD, and TSS values before and after treatment. The maximum deduction percentages of COD, BOD, and TSS were 82, 87, and 70% from RB109D; 89, 90, and 89% from DR1D; and 82, 89, and 71% from the industry sample, respectively. Generally, the study showed that the current adsorbent was a good substitute for synthetic adsorbents.


We examined the replication behavior of the X chromosome in diploid 8.5- and 9.5-day parthenogenetic LT/Sv mouse embryos showing growth retardation and morphological anomalies. A single late replicating X chromosome was found in the extraembryonic as well as in the embryonic regions. However, the frequency of cells with a late replicating X was significantly lower in the extraembryonic region of the parthenotes than in that of normally fertilized embryos.


We have made a likelihood statistical analysis of the angular correlations in the COBE-DMR two-year sky maps by Monte Carlo simulation of the temperature fluctuations. We assume an open universe and consider the primordial power spectrum of Harrison-Zeldovich, P(k) =Ak. We find that the flatness of the universe is not implied by the data. The quadrupole normalization amplitude, Qrms-Ps, is related to the density parameter, 0, by Qrms-Ps = 10.67 + 55.810128.5902 + 81.2603 ilK. We have determined the probability distribution function (pdf) of 0 arising from cosmic plus sampling (i.e. 20° galactic cut) variance which generically shows a bimodal shape. The uncertainty as given by the rms is ~ 0.35; therefore, to constrain 0 better, experiments sensitive to higher multipoles (/ > 20) should be considered.


In a very thick application such as tire, not only the design of the vulcanisation system but also the technique used to measure the level of vulcanisation is important. A traditional method employed to inspect the curing efficiency is a direct temperature measurement by thermocouple. The disadvantage of this measurement is that the tire must be destroyed. Therefore, an innovative technique to determine the vulcanising level using ultrasonic waves was proposed to solve the problem. The aim of this study was to follow the crosslinking determination of rubber vulcanisates by using ultrasonic testing which is an application of nondestructive technique. The first section of this study focused on the capability of ultrasonic measurement to determine crosslink density of rubber. It was apparent that ultrasonic velocity was not sensitive to the difference in crosslinking in this range. The change in attenuation of ultrasonic signal was only observed. It indicated that better propagation of ultrasound wave occurred when the chemical network was more densely produced. Good accuracy and precision of the ultrasonic measurement could be obtained by controlling the applied force against the transducer to rubber sample. The highest sensitivity to the variation in crosslinking was achieved by using 5 MHz frequency of transducer and the deviation was reduced when the measurement was performed at fifty times. For the effect of thickness, a decrease in attenuation coefficient with increasing specimen thickness might be due to the poor distribution of crosslinks in rubber. However, the 9 mm thick rubber sample was the most suitable for ultrasonic testing in this study. Furthermore, the small difference in crosslinking would be clearly determined by ultrasonic measurement when the elastomer was completely vulcanised. The second part of this study focused on monitoring the change in crosslinking of vulcanisates with the rubber additives by ultrasonic measurement. The results revealed that the ultrasonic technique could not be employed to investigate the variation in crosslinking in filled natural rubber compounds with an increase in surface area of filler and carbon black loading because the obtained attenuation results were interfered by the effect of filler-elastomer and filler-filler interactions inside rubber molecule. Furthermore, the crosslinks in oil filled natural rubber compounds could be followed by ultrasonic measurement when oil loading was varied. However, types of oil did not affect the change in the loss of ultrasound intensity.


Inorganic scintillators activated by charge transfer luminescence Yb3+ are considered promising ultrafast material to break the ps timing barrier for future high energy physics applications. Inorganic scintillators in ceramic form are potentially more cost-effective than crystals because of their lower fabrication temperature and no need for aftergrowth mechanical processing. This paper reports an investigation on Lu2O3:Yb and Lu2xY2(1−x)O3:Yb scintillating ceramic samples fabricated by Radiation Monitoring Devices Inc. All samples show X-ray excited luminescence peaked at 370 nm. Ultrafast decay time of 1.1 ns was observed by using a microchannel plate-photomultiplier tube-based test bench at Caltech. Considering its intrinsic high density (9.4 g/cm3), Lu2O3:Yb ceramics are promising for future time of fight application for high energy physics experiments.


In order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of institutional change, researchers need to go beyond a snapshot view of significant events but consider events in their temporal setting. Pierson (2004) advocated that the events that lead to institutional change should be placed in a moving temporal context, as this will not only add to our comprehension of the dynamics of change, but also enrich the existing research and enhance the theories we employ to give meaning to these events. Pierson (2004) laid the foundation for the research that was later developed by Thelen (2009) that considered incremental endogenous shifts in institutional thinking that can often result in fundamental transformations. The central issues of Pierson's (2004) thesis lay in his interpretation of history and its relationship with path dependence. He claimed that once an institution has chosen a particular path to follow, it can become locked into that pathway and so the options of choice are restricted. This then presumed that an institutions first choice of action is crucial to whether they become locked into a successful course of action or not. The result of the first choice being successful or not would be dependent on the presence of increasing returns. The explication Pierson proffers of increasing returns is different to an economic one in that it is based on positive feedback processes and politics in time. The implications of Pierson's work and those that followed have a very serious place in our understanding of institutional change.


The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the evolution of health care expenditure in Spain during the period 1980-1997, and to comment on the cost containment measures put forward to control its growth. The paper is divided into three separate sections. The first offers a brief description of the Spanish Health Care System, with emphasis placed on the issue of expenditure control and health planning targets. The second part outlines a set of cost containment measures that has accompanied the process of extending universal health care coverage which occurred during the mentioned period and which has helped keep public expenditure under control. Finally, the third part describes some of the more recent proposals for reform of the Spanish Health Care Sector. The policy measures on cost containment we will focus in this paper are: *Changes in the financing system of the hospitals in Spain, by moving from reimbursement methods to a full purchasing of services based on activity (the evolution since 1986 of the Catalan contracting-out method, the 1991 State Hospital Contrato Programa and some other proposals in the Basque Regions). *The creation in 1993 of a negative list of drugs which could no longer be reimbursed by Social Security (800 speciality groups), some experiments (Valencia, 1997) on reference pricing (the maximum that the authority is willing to pay) for the most prescribed drugs, and some proposals for new increases on co-payments for drug consumption. *Effects from extending the MUFACE system (a public financed choice of public or private health insurer), now restricted to civil servants, to the rest of the population. *Changes derived from the Primary Health Care reform (started in 1984 and not yet concluded), departing from a system based on capitation and a few hours of work to a system closely related to salaries and a full time schedule in the new Health Centers. *Analysis of the diversity in the way health services are managed among the decentralised regions in Spain. *Efforts for the creation of a basic package of publically provided health care (or the Guaranteed Health Care Entitlement of 1995).


Abstract The effect of local topography in modifying the structure and variability of the Florida Current is examined using shipboard acoustic Doppler and PEGASUS acoustic current profiler data. PEGASUS absolute velocity data were obtained during 16 cruises in the Florida Current at 27°N as part of the Subtropical Atlantic Climate Studies (STACS) program. The ensemble average of all PEGASUS velocity data shows that the effect of the constriction imposed on the mean Florida Current by Little Bahama Bank can be detected up to 30 km into the Straits of Florida. A simple model is proposed to explain how this effect can produce the subsurface maximum of northward flow commonly observed in the eastern Straits. PEGASUS and acoustic Doppler data obtained during the March 1984 STACS cruise are ~used to describe the temporal and spatial variability of the flow. It is shown that intermittent southward flow can exist in a band 10–15 km wide off Little Bahama Bank; one such event was detected during this cruise. The P...


The current research dealt with the rapid development of industrial product design in recent times, and this development in the field of design led to the emergence of modern trends in many terms and theories to direct greater interest in the cognitive foundations of design and its relationship with the components of other natural sciences, and despite the impressive technological development, nature remains With its content of formative values and structural dimensions, it is the first source of inspiration and the source of all modern mathematical sciences and theories, as God made them tend towards organization to continue to provide us with endless inspiration. Hence, the fractional one, which is an important part of dedicating the design identity, as well as symmetry, complexity, self-organization and difference, and gives a new entrance and vision for the formation of forms characterized by complexity and of great importance to enrich the design process. The problem was identified by the following question: Defining the concept of fractionalism and its implications in the design of industrial products. The research included two important topics. We will address them successively.


The role that mechanical factors deriving from blood flow play in the growth of blood vessels was most probably mentioned for the first time by John Hunter in his "Treatise on the Blood Flow, Inflammation and Gunshot Wounds," published in 1794. Hunter was an anatomist who kept a deer herd in Richmond Park. He described enlargement of the carotid arteries in deer, coincident with the development of new antlers, which is known to involve intensive vascular growth. Almost a century later, Thoma (1) demonstrated that ontogenetic growth of vessels is caused by a combination of hemodynamic forces — increased blood flow, blood pressure, and wall tension — and mechanical stretch of vessels owing to the growth of the surrounding tissue. The importance of flow for capillary development was later shown in tadpole tails by Clark (2), who exposed to observation under the microscope the same site over many days, and in wound healing in the rabbit ear chamber (3). Today, the roles in angiogenesis of mechanical factors such as shear stress, circumferential stress, stretch, or physical forces owing to modification of the extracellular matrix are widely studied in tissue culture.


The numerical solution of various systems of linear equations describing fluid infiltration uses the Picard iteration (PI). However, because many such systems are ill-conditioned, the solution process often has a poor convergence rate, making it very time-consuming. In this study, a control volume method based on non-uniform nodes is used to discretize the Richards equation, and adaptive relaxation is combined with a multistep preconditioner to improve the convergence rate of PI. The resulting adaptive relaxed PI with multistep preconditioner (MP(m)-ARPI) is used to simulate unsaturated flow in porous media. Three examples are used to verify the proposed schemes. The results show that MP(m)-ARPI can effectively reduce the condition number of the coefficient matrix for the system of linear equations. Compared with conventional PI, MP(m)-ARPI achieves faster convergence, higher computational efficiency, and enhanced robustness. These results demonstrate that improved scheme is an excellent prospect for simulating unsaturated flow in porous media.


Let T be any time scale such that 0, 1 be subset of T. The concept of dynamic equations on time scales can build bridges between differential and difference equations. This concept not only gives us unified approach to study the boundary value problems on discrete intervals with uniform step size and real intervals but also gives an extended approach to study on discrete case with non uniform step size or combination of real and discrete intervals. Some basic definitions and theorems on time scales can be found in 1, 2 . In this paper, we study the existence of positive solutions for the following nonlinear four-point boundary value problem with a p-Laplacian operator:


Background: Meaningful intergenerational interaction can help older adults view aging more positively, provide a means to pass on their cultural identity, and support general well - being. However, maintaining intergenerational relationships may be difficult due to geographical separation, lack of common conversation topic, scheduling challenges, and recently, pandemic related restrictions. We explored music co - listening over a typical video - conferencing platform to see how such platforms can support a rich and sustained connectedness between grandparents and teen grandchildren. Research Aim/question: In this research we explored the following questions: What interaction and conversation patterns happen when older adults and grandchildren share their music with each other over a synchronous video conferencing tool? What types of intergenerational interactions around music co - listening online should communications technology support, in order to support inter - generational conversation? Methods: We conducted a qualitative study where a grandparent and teen grandchild co - listened to favourite songs and had conversation about them. Results: From this exploratory study, we found that the inclusion of music provided a 'Ticket - to - Talk' between our dyads (6 dyads, 12 participants) by supporting peripheral quality interaction to music. Our 'Private DJ' mechanism simpli-fied the process of co - listening to music online and conversing around it for the dyads. The planning of songs to share, anticipating the other party's song selections, watching the partner's song selection, and having time between


The Coalition Battle Management Language (C-BML) is intended to be an unambiguous language for expressing and exchanging plans, orders, and reports across command and control (C2) systems, modeling and simulation (M&S) systems, and robotics systems. In March 2006, the Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization (SISO) approved initiation of a Product Development Group (PDG) to generate a standard and guidance document for C-BML. The PDG laid out a 3-phase development effort to (1) specify a sufficient data model to unambiguously define a set of military orders using the Joint Command, Control, and Consultation Information Exchange Data Model (JC3IEDM) as a starting point; (2) develop a formal grammar (lexicon and production rules) to formalize the definition of orders, requests, and reports; and (3) develop a formal battle management ontology to enable conceptual interoperability across software systems. This paper reports on the technical approach and status of development of the C-BML Phase 1 Specification.


Renewable resource tailored tough, elastomeric, biodegradable, smart aliphatic hyperbranched polyurethanes were synthesized using castor oil modified polyol containing fatty amide triol, glycerol, diethanolamine and monoglyceride of sunflower oil via an Ax + By (x, y ≥ 2) approach. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the synthesis of solely aliphatic hyperbranched polyurethanes by employing renewable resources. The synthesized polyurethanes were characterized by Fourier transform infrared, NMR and XRD techniques. The hyperbranched polyurethanes exhibited good mechanical properties, especially elongation at break (668%), toughness (32.16 MJ m−3) and impact resistance (19.02 kJ m−1); also high thermal stability (above 300 °C) and good chemical resistance. Also, the hyperbranched polyurethanes were found to show adequate biodegradability and significant UV light resistance. Moreover, they demonstrated excellent multi-stimuli-driven shape recovery ability (up to 97%) under direct sunlight (105 lux), thermal energy (50 °C) and microwave irradiation (450 W). The performance of the hyperbranched polyurethanes was compared with renewable resource based and synthetic linear polyurethane to judge the superiority of the hyperbranched architecture. Therefore, these new aliphatic macromolecules hold significant promise as smart materials for advanced applications. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry


Insurance market, as an important part of the international financial markets, is playing an important role in current global economic recovery. Insurance is an important way of earthquake disaster crisis handling. However, the existing engineering earthquake premium rate making only concentrates on net premium but measures risk additional charge by experience. As a result, the compensation of risk can't be reflected in premium, which is the bottleneck of engineering earthquake insurance development. By introducing Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) in financial market to pricing analysis of engineering earthquake insurance, from the perspective of capital market, the application of the model in engineering earthquake insurance pricing is discussed, which makes up for the inherent defect of traditional engineering earthquake premium rate making and makes premium calculation more scientific and reasonable.


The article describes an advanced approach to modelling magnetic properties of reinforced concrete structures taking into account the anisotropic effect due to rod layers orientations. The equivalent model has been validated in the computation of a test problem. For comparison, simulations have been carried out with a detailed 3D FE model that describes each of the steel rods. The equivalent model has required a few times less finite elements than the detailed model. A comparison of the fields obtained has demonstrated a very good match, even for the distances comparable with the rebar rod gaps.


A field study was conducted to compare the efficiency of Dicyandiamide (DCD)-coated urea with some natural essential oil and their derivatives viz. Mentha spicata oil, dementholized oil (DMO) and terpenes coated urea on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) yield, nitrogen (N) uptake, and apparent N recovery on a sandy loam soil of Central Uttar Pradesh, India, where excessive loss of N due to NO3 leaching is a serious problem due to its light texture. Significant increase in grain and straw yield, N uptake, and apparent N recovery was observed on application of these nitrification inhibitors. However, their performance varied with the percentage used: it was higher with the higher level of application. All the three natural coating materials retarded nitrification significantly, throughout the growth period of wheat as compared to DCD coated urea as well as uncoated urea treated soil. Apparent N recovery by wheat with the application of these materials at 0.50% (v/w) level of coating on urea were 29.61%, 27.27%, and 22.73% with DMO, M. spicata oil and terpenes, respectively. Corresponding values at 1.00% (v/w) level of coating were 47.01%, 38.68%, 23.24%, respectively. With DCD coated urea (at 1.00% level of coating, w/w basis) it was 33.13%, while the corresponding value with uncoated urea was 22.78%. Economic analyses were done for the use of these natural coating materials for wheat cultivation. Benefits obtained from the use of DMO, M. spicata oil and terpenes at 0.50% level of coating were Rs. 5,210 ha−1, Rs. 1,400 ha−1, and Rs. 450 ha−1, respectively. While at 1.00% level of coating, corresponding profits were Rs. 9,040 ha−1, Rs. 4,570 ha−1, and Rs. 575 ha−1, respectively. Benefit obtained from the use of DCD at 1.00% level of coating was Rs. 1,005 ha−1.


Racine exhibits a marked indebtedness to the Machiavellian conception of virtue and prudence in several of his tragedies. It has been said that Racine had one great theme, love, and its many manifestations and effects, but in Bérénice, Britannicus, and Athalie he emphasized the clash between public responsibility and personal interest. Machiavelli never developed a concise doctrine concerning the term virtù, and his writings inconsistently invoke the notions of virtue and virtuosity. In // Principe Machiavelli expounds upon the virtue of personal achievement by urging the prince to reach his objectives through ingenuity and foresight. A well-conceived stratagem, well-executed plot, or ingenious deception elicit distinct praise from Machiavelli, especially if they serve some long-term civic purpose. Nonetheless, he is not oblivious to previous conceptions of virtue or devoid of moral sentiment. Virtue for Machiavelli is a cluster of attributes or traits that enables the state to achieve stability, dominance, and finally the communal virtue of justice. His stress on "active citizenship" may have only a tenuous connection to Christian virtue and his clear disdain of the doctrine of humility removes him from the Christian tradition, but in identifying the separate traits of virtue and prudence, he follows the lead of earlier philosophers and theologians. The Scholastic conception of virtue as expressed by St. Thomas Aquinas emphasizes order and habit, two notions that find repeated emphasis in Machiavelli's Discorsi. St. Thomas argues, as does Machiavelli, that virtue creates order and prudence preserves it, and that a man's habit or disposition is not readily changed: