A regional coastal ocean observing system being developed under the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System, a Global Ocean Observing System contribution, is the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System (GCOOS). A wide range of users will be provided with estuarine and marine system products, information, and data by GCOOS, which will be a sustained ocean observing system. GCOOS is being developed through the GCOOS Regional Association. GCOOS building activities include real-time physical data connection via the Internet from extant observing systems to the National Data Buoy Center, extant observing systems inventory development, and mechanism establishment and implementation for ongoing identification of regional need priority pilot projects, and stakeholder priorities and requirements. Identification of products and measurements emergency responders and managers need for better southeastern United States and Gulf of Mexico inundation and storm surge prediction and mitigation is being provided through an inundation and storm surge workshop. GCOOS enhancement funding from private and governmental sources is being sought. The authors argue that new federal resources for regional coastal ocean observing systems must be committed for GCOOS to evolve to its full potential.


Paper is devoted to political-philosophical research of the problem of «the open society» in limits of its projecting as an ideal and (or) a project. The way of Russia to «the open society» is like to «zigzag »: from one side, Russia aspires to «the open society» as nearest or even if remote goal of its development, but, from another side, some archetypes of contemporary political consciousness brake this movement.


REVIEW - I comme Iran – I for Iran. Dir. Sanaz Azari. 50 mns. Persian with French subs. CVP, 2014.


The recent global economic crisis has led to reduced confidence in the self-regulation of banks and has facilitated a debate on how governments across the world intend to engage with the corporate governance of banks. In providing insights into this debate, this conceptual paper discusses the sectoral peculiarities of banks' corporate governance and in particular how these shape the philosophy and configuration of corporate governance regulation in banks. It presents a case study of the Nigerian banking sector in order to bring perspectives from sub-Saharan Africa which suffers from the dearth of literature. Taking into consideration the regulatory challenges in the Nigerian banking sector, it examines the regulatory role of government and enforcement of regulations, and argues that more governmental involvement is needed in the corporate governance of banks (as opposed to other companies). This paper adds to the very limited studies on the role of government in the corporate governance.


We define accelerated capacity building as a step-by-step approach to meet the demand for trained people, especially in developing countries. The focus is on "training-the-trainers" and "learning-by-doing". Elements include: 1) taking part in eLearning courses and exams, 2) participating in hands-on training workshops, and 3) passing knowledge on to national and regional colleagues by mentoring and using standard training materials at seminars and/or workshops. Accelerated capacity building is an integrated approach that demands good cooperation and coordination among affiliates, both in-house and externally. This ensures coherent information/approaches, avoids duplication of work, reduces costs, and broadens expertise. Further, it facilitates the development of regional centres of experience. The target audience of accelerated capacity building is staff in Member States working in the field of sustainable food security. Accelerated capacity building depends on eLearning, as this provides virtually unlimited training opportunities. Fundamental to the eLearning strategy is the re-use of information, thus avoiding unnecessary duplication. An open source eLearning platform implements Webbased standards, such as Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) to enable sharing of content. Resources, student management and communication tools are key elements in the eLearning system. Experts foster knowledge creation and preservation through the development of high-quality, harmonised eLearning courses. Their action expresses the belief that sharing knowledge is powerful and will drive development. Gatekeepers, peer-review and feedback to the editors ensure the quality of the materials. The concept of accelerated capacity building has clear benefits while placing demands on training organisers and end-users. Benefits include sharing and focussing resources and using them more efficiently; however, teamwork, close cooperation and coordination are essential. Similarly, strong commitment of individual end-users and their management is necessary to allow efficient utilization of available training opportunities and contacts with regional training centres and mentors. It is concluded that accelerated capacity building provides the opportunity for a multiplier effect, and can thus promote sustainable development and foster decentralisation and empowerment of partner institutions.


Autonomous robot (AR) control tasks in underwater search and survey missions are considered. The problems of AR equipment with informational and measurement facilities, adaptive control algorithms and experimental investigations data are discussed.<<ETX>>


This paper motivation is to find the most accurate technique to predict the ground level ozone at Al Jahra station, Kuwait. The data on the meteorological variables (air temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, direction and speed of wind) and concentration of seven pollutants of environment (SO2, NO2, NO, CO2, CO, NMHC, and CH4) were applied to forecast the ozone concentration in atmosphere. In this report, three methods (PLS regression, support vector machine (SVM), and multiple least-square regression) were used to predict ground-level ozone. We used Fifteen parameters to evaluate the performance of methods. Multiple least-square regression, partial least square regression (PLS regression), and SVM using linear and radial kernels were the best performers with MAE (mean absolute error) of 9.17x 10-03, 9.72 x 10-03, 9.64 x 10-03, and 9.12 x 10-03, respectively. SVM with polynomial kernel had MAE of 5.46 x 10-02. These results show that these methods could be used to predict ground-level ozone concentrations at Al Jahra station in Kuwait.


Switching of target-reaching in cats following a change in the location of the target is described kinematically as alterations in horizontal orthogonal velocity components. Alterations observed during real movement deviations are theoretically explained. Such deviations can be initiated by altering a single velocity component in isolation.


Objective
"Logsplitter" injury as a kind of unique ankle fracture with the inferior tibiofibular syndesmosis separation caused by varieties of violence does not catch the attention of domestic orthopedic surgeons enough in the past years. This passage is to discuss the damage mechanism, clinical treatment and prognosis evaluation of this kind of injury through the analysis of the case of "Logsplitter" injury.

Methods
Retrospective analysis 23 patients of " Logsplitter" injury from December 2006 to December 2014, male in 17 cases, female in 6 cases, average age (43.68±12.67) years (21-60 years). Hurt injury in 9 cases, sports injury in 1 case, falling injury in 2 cases, traffic injuries in 10 cases, crushing injury in 1 case. Open injures in 10 cases, of which the Gustilo Ⅱtype in 7 cases, Gustilo ⅢA type or above in 3 cases, closed injuries in 13 cases. According to the AO/OTA fracture classification, 44c type in 19 cases, 44b type in 3 cases, 44a type in 1 case. Fibula fractures in 22 cases, 19 cases of medial malleolus fracture.

Results
23 patients received follow-up, with an average period was (0.91±0.26) years (0.4-2.37 years). 21 cases underwent open reduction internal fixation (ORIF), 2 cases underwent closed reduction external fixation and K-wire fixation.17 cases were fixed with the syndesmosis screws, among them,1 screw was used to fix 14 cases, two screws were used to fix 3 cases;the utilization rate of 3.5 mm screws is higher, at 94.1%, and all screws were entered through 3 layers of cortical; Combined with medial malleolus fracture cases were fixed with cannulated screws/K-wire internal fixation. Average healing time of the skin surrounding the ankle skin was (2.26±1.91) weeks; average healing time of fracture was (15.34±5.13) weeks; Joint pain ocurred combined with joint space narrowing after loading in 18 cases, at 78.3%; Postoperative infection, 2 cases, the proportion was 8.7%; Fracture delayed union 1 case. Functional examination of the ankle joint (angle measurement method): Dorsiflexion average angle (23.9±2.21) degrees, Plantar flexion average angle (32.1±4.13) degrees. Average angle of introversion was (23.91±2.24) degrees. Hallux valgus average angle (27.6±3.81) degrees. 75 points and over were got in AOFAS in 21 cases, the ratio of excellent was 91.3%.

Conclusion
"Logsplitter" injury represents a kind of important and unique ankle fracture, dislocation and the inferior tibiofibular syndesmosis separation caused by varieties of violence, accompany with potentially soft tissue injury and " platford" injury, according to existing treatment principle and treatment strategy summarizied by us,the clinical therapeutic effect of this damage is ideal, functional recovery is relatively satisfactory prognosis.

Key words:
Ankle injuries; Fractures, bone; Fracture fixation, internal


The underwater target's bearing resolution capability of conventional beam forming method is strictly limited by Rayleigh limit and influenced by media's inhomogeneity heavily. Minimum variance distortionless response (MVDR) algorithms have broken through the Rayleigh limit restrictions and make higher resolutions possible. For the complexity of the marine environment and multi-path affection, time reversal mirror (TRM) is a new technology which can self-adaptively correct distortion caused by variety of multi-path effects. The concept of TR-MVDR based on vertical array is introduced and the high resolutions of TR-MVDR are studied theoretically, which can realize the focus on original position of multiple objectives with higher spatial resolution and focus gain than conventional methods. Due to the poor robustness of TR-MVDR, robustness algorithm based on fixed diagonal loading and RCB have been studied, which can improve the robustness of high-resolution location. Simulations and experiments in freshwater and the sea proved it is feasible and practical


Diagnosing obstructive airway disease...............p. 1 Better health through better lifestyle ...................p. 3 Bandolier's 10 steps to healthy living ..................p. 4 Better prescribing of NSAIDs ...............................p. 5 Statins reduce risk of fracture ...............................p. 6 Coffee and the risk of Parkinson's disease ..........p. 7 The views expressed in Bandolier are those of the authors, and are not necessarily those of the NHSE


the paper discusses the prospects of utilizing solar Photovoltaic (SPV) system in a public building as a partial green solution to the shortage of generated energy in the Gaza Strip. The paper compares different types of SPV systems implemented worldwide and focuses on the pros and cons of each system while discussing the suitability and conformity of each system to local electrical environment in the Gaza Strip. The case study presented in this paper deals with retrofitting AL-NASER hospital in Khanyounis by 50.4kWp Building Applied Photovoltaic (BAPV) design featuring hybrid ACcoupled SPV system with battery and/or diesel generator backup as spinning reserves. When the grid is online, system's energy export and import is monitored by means of a bidirectional smart energy meter. In case the grid is offline, the SPV system shall be optionally coupled to the existing diesel generator through the use of a smart PV-diesel controller feeding the protected loads. Energy efficiency is also addressed by replacing existing inefficient lamps with LED lights resulting in about 60% power reduction dedicated to lighting. The aggregate PV system is expected to generate a total of approximately 73MWh per year contributing to major economic impacts for the hospital budget comprising reductions in diesel fuel consumption and electricity bill in addition to minimizing Green House Gas (GHG) emissions. The calculated annual savings shall be about 19kUSD while the investment cost shall be retrieved by the end of the first twelve years of operation.


Question Answering(QA) system is a system that puts the question and the answer into a database and organizes them.This system can answer students'questions automatically by a technology named semantic understanding used for understanding natural language.The design and implementation of QA System are presented.This system adopts two-sides mostly matched method,intellectual question match pattern and semantic analyze means which are based on dependent parsing tree for the ques-tion analyzing.A great deal of corrective rate and answering call-back rate in our test show that this system is a new good system.


This research aims at laying out some basic features of question design in presidential press conferences to describe their use to convey adversarial proposition. Underlying some of the observations is the suggestion that the innovation in question design can be an important element of social change in the political interviews context, and broadcast journalism more generally. It is hypothesized that present-day press conferences and political interviews differ from those of the past in their aggressiveness, and this can be conveyed through question design.For this study, two U.S. presidents George W. Bush (2001-2009) and Harry S. Truman (1945-1953) were selected. Four press conferences were sampled and analyzed. Two press conferences for each president, and each question is analyzed in terms of three basic aspects of adversarialness in question design (a) Question Complexity, (b) Assertiveness, and (c) Accountability.


The article covers studying of the European culture problems at the close of the XIX beginning XX century. It assays to determine the place of artistic communities in the cultural process. It analyses of manifesto's importance for artistic communities' forming of the referred period.


ROAD MAP OR MAZE? ONE SCHOOL'S EXPERIENCE OF RESTRUCTURING WITHIN THE MASSACHUSETTS CARNEGIE SCHOOLS GRANT PROGRAM FEBRUARY 1992 MALCOLM L. PATTERSON, B.A., BOSTON UNIVERSITY, M.Ed., BOSTON UNIVERSITY, M.A., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS, Ed.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS Directed by: Professor David E. Day Although by reputation and performance an effective school, the staff and principal of Adams School in Northtown, Massachusetts sought and won a state-funded grant for school restructuring. Seeking increased autonomy and "more say," the Massachusetts Carnegie Schools Grant Program was seen as a vehicle to facilitate and legitimize the reformtype activities already in progress at the school. The complexity of the restructuring process soon became apparent. Certain staff referred to as "the doubters" questioned the feasibility of restructuring. Lacking a real transfer of power to the school site con¬ firmed the doubters' skepticism. Encountering numerous obstacles, the complex process of restructuring is seen as more analogous to moving though a maze than following a road map.


Appointed at the turn of the year Donna Iriving is the incoming Teaching and Learning in Action Regular Feature Editor, in this quarters issue Donna presents and overview of Regular Features over the past five years to share examples of your best practice.


Commentary on : Larsen TB, Rasmussen LH, Gorst-Rasmussen A, et al. Dabigatran and warfarin for secondary prevention of stroke in atrial fibrillation patients: a nationwide cohort study. Am J Med 2014;127:1172–8[OpenUrl][1][CrossRef][2][PubMed][3].

Randomised trials have shown that patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) who are treated with a non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC), compared with warfarin, have similar or lower rates of stroke and major bleeding, markedly reduced rates of intracranial bleeding and a consistent pattern of reduced mortality.1 Dabigatran 150 mg two times a day is the only NOAC that can significantly reduce ischaemic stroke compared with warfarin and can produce even greater ischaemic stroke reduction in patients with prior stroke.2 European guidelines endorse the preferential …

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 [3]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=25193361&link_type=MED&atom=%2Febmed%2F20%2F3%2F117.atom


New divergence measures are introduced for change detection and discrimination of stochastic signals (time series) on the basis of parametric filtering — a technique that combines parametric linear filtering with correlation characterization. The sensitivity of these divergence measures is investigated using local curvatures under additive and multiplicative spectral departure models. It is found that when the time series contain dominant spectral components (such as sharp peaks and notches) of similar characteristics, the new divergence measures are more effective in detecting the dominated spectral deviations than the conventional spectral divergence measures such as the Kolmogorov-Smirnov spectral distance and the Kullback-Leibler spectral divergence. Simulation results are given that illustrate and confirm the theoretical findings. Key wards and phrases: Characterization; Discriminant Analysis; Distortion Measure; Filter Bank; Pattern Recognition; Signal Processing; Spectral Analysis


In Refs. [1] [3], I suggest a concerted computational effort to study profile control of spheromaks, in anticipation that it is timely to incorporate the q < 1 regime of RFP's and spheromaks into an integrated advanced toroidal confinement program, together with improvements in tokamaks and stellarators now being pursued. For profile control of spheromaks by neutral beam injection, with care to avoid super-Alfvenic beam instability the main issue is excitation of tearing modes that can be studied using the NIMROD code already calibrated to MST and SSPX. In this note, I show that profile control on spheromaks could be demonstrated in a device the size of SSPX, leading ultimately to a very compact ignition facility, and possibly modular fusion reactors with a shorter development path. 1. Numerical Study of Profile Control Following Ref. [4], profile control could first be studied merely by adding a force term to Ohm's Law of the form: ∂A/∂t v x B = F/e ηj (1) Success depends on the existence of a stable state, jS(x). That interesting stable states probably exist is discussed in Refs. [3] and [5]. Our task is to find a force F giving the stable jS(x) as was done successfully for MST [4]. Given the existence of a stable jS(x), an existence theorem for a force F yielding this state is found by choosing a rising function a(t) → 1 in steady state, writing j = μo∇x∇xA = a(t)jS(x) in Eq. (1), and solving for F(x,t) [3]. More practically, we would seek a trial function for F corresponding roughly to a realizable array of NBI or RF current drive. Linear analysis


Using data from extensive on-site interviews conducted in 1997, 1998, and 1999, the authors examine trends in job content and earnings in selected jobs in two American banks. Firm restructuring and technological changes resulted in higher earnings for college-educated workers. The banks followed different strategies in implementing these changes for lower-skill jobs, with different effects on bank tellers in particular. The authors conclude that technological change can provide opportunities for workplace reform but does not determine its effects on jobs and earnings; these effects are contingent on managerial strategies. This focus on organizational processes and managerial strategy provides a complement to accounts of growing inequality that center solely on the role of individual skills and technological change.


We classify graphs and, more generally, finite relational structures that are identified by  C^2 , that is, two-variable first-order logic with counting. Using this classification, we show that it ...


Mathematical models of complex objects in the form of interval differential equations have become widely used for decision-making. Such equations are built on the basis of the obtained experimental interval data within the limits of the inductive approach. At the same time, there is always the problem of completeness of the model, which consists in the fact that the model must reflect all the properties of the object that are significant from the point of view of the purpose of modeling, since the difference equation does not sufficiently interpret the physical properties of the object. The method proposed in the article makes it possible to construct a differential equation on the basis of its analog interval difference equation. The developed approach creates opportunities for the identification of interval models of complex objects based on the analysis of interval data according to a single universal scheme of intelligent calculations based on the behavior of a swarm of honey bees, or any other method of solving an optimization problem. On the other hand, the method makes it possible to ensure the completeness of the built model and to interpret the physical properties of the modeled object according to the classical scheme.


Kinetic theory is regarded as a phenomenological theory of macroscopic physical systems. The kinetic equations are constructed as continuity (Liouville) equations corresponding to the time evolution equations of a representative particle subjected to averaged, effective forces. Through the effective forces the unique character of the systems under consideration is expressed. The phenomenological kinetic theory is validated by establishing its relationship to equilibrium thermodynamics and hydrodynamics. A unified approach to the study of relations among dynamical theories formulated on different levels is proposed.


Thirteen compounds are isolated and purified from ethyl acetate fraction of ethanol extract of Cynanchum saccatum. On the basis of physicochemical properties and spectroscopic analysis,their structures are identified as 4'- hydroxyacetophenone(1),3,4- dihydroxyacetophenone(2),2,4- dihy- droxyacetophenone(3),2,5- dihydroxy- acetophenone(4),cynanchone A(5),3,5- dihydroxybenzoic acid methyl ester(6),4- dydroxybenzoic acid(7),2,5- dihydroxybenzoic acid methyl ester(8),3,3'- dimethoxy- 4,9,9'- trihydroxy- benzofuranoid lignan- 7'- ene- 9- O- β- D- glucoside(9),gagaminine- 3- O- β- D- cymaropyranosyl-(1→4)- β- D- oleandropyranosyl-(1→4)- β- D- oleandropyranoside(10),qingyangshengen-- 3- O- β- D- cymaropyranosyl-(1→4)- β- D- cymaropyranosyl-(1→4)- β- D- oleandropyranosyl-(1→4)- β-D- cymaropyranoside(11),β- Stitosterol(12),and β- daucosterol(13). Among them,compound 9 is isolated from the genus Cynanchum for the first time,and compounds 1--3,5--8,10,11 and 13 are isolated from this plant for the first time.


In recent times, there has been the general public admission that it is possible for Ifá divination to be performed via smartphones and laptops. The implication is not far-fetched – the extinction of the babaláwo/ìyanifá, in the trio communication which comprises them, the client and Ọ̀rúnmìlà, the Yorùbá deity. What kind of education regarding the use of African ritual archives for contemporary problems can thrive? What are the possible educational problems and challenges that computerised Ifá divination may encounter in the long run? Will this make Ifá divination more effective and reliable since there is a disturbing number of quack babaláwo/ìyanifá around in recent times? Are there some important spiritual elements sacrosanct to divination that technology bypasses which may in turn diminish the accuracy of divination outcome(s)? How can these spiritual elements be overcome in a future development of technology for Ifá divination? How can original and fake Ifá priests be detected? What is the healing process in traditional Yorùbá medical practice and what role does Ifá play? In this pience, I engage Professor Danoye O. Laguda to consider these mind-boggling posers only to realise in the end that technology can be improved toward a better and improved divination technique, which cannot, do without the genuine babaláwo/ìyanifá. More so, the connection among pedagogy, technology, divination and spiritually are examined from a socio-economic dimension. This is able to illustrate the important role which pedagogy plays in the appreciation of traditional African ritual archives and how they function in making life meaningful in the face of the challenges posed by technology in a jet age.


The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic resulted in economic concerns and disruptions in daily life for many families, which may amplify relational strains and create new tensions between romantic partners. Economic stressors may be particularly salient to later relationship quality in the context of more negative relationship functioning. This study investigated dyadic trajectories of relationship satisfaction in 116 different-sex couples over a 6-month period during the pandemic. We explored the impact of unstable work experiences on later relationship satisfaction, and if this effect was exacerbated by higher levels of negative communication. Men and women had different initial levels of relationship satisfaction, but indistinguishable rates of change in satisfaction. For men, reports of unstable work experiences early in the pandemic were positively associated with declines in relationship satisfaction, but this was not the case for women. The consequential impact of unstable work experiences did not differ based on levels of negative communication, nor was negative communication early in the pandemic related to either partner's change in satisfaction over time. We conclude by highlighting the importance of accounting for the context in which relationships develop. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)


A new on-line learning algorithm that yields a reduced-rank Wiener filter (RRWF) is proposed. The RRWF is defined as the matrix of prescribed rank that provides the best least-squares approximation of a given signal. This implies that an RRWF determines only a subspace, but is not endowed with information of basis functions or axes for the subspace. In other words, even if we want to reduce the rank of the estimated RRWF, we should learn another RRWF of "more reduced rank" again. Our goal in this paper is therefore to establish a learning rule that simultaneously tracks basis functions yielding a matrix that gives an RRWF. To this end, we reformulate the optimization problem of RRWFs, which will be solved by a gradient-based algorithm derived within the framework of differential geometry. Numerical examples are illustrated to support the proposals in the paper


Large-angle inelastic scattering is considered using the Glauber approximation for the scattered wave function, but without the additional approximation of purely transverse linear momentum transfer. At large angles, the electron-proton interaction dominates and has Rutherford ${q}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$ behavior. Furthermore, with the direction of $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{q}}$ unrestricted the $\mathrm{L}\mathrm{y}\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\alpha}$ radiation is found to be, in general, elliptically polarized.


To increase the usage of electric vehicles (EV), a safe and convenient method to charge the vehicles is essential. Recently, an efficient mid range wireless power transfer that uses magnetic resonant coupling, WiTricity, was proposed, and has received much attention due to its practical range and efficiency. Studies show that the resonance frequency of the antennas changes as the gap between the antennas change. However, when this technology is applied in the MHz range (which allows small sized antennas), the usable frequency is bounded by the Industrial, Science, Medical (ISM) band. Therefore, to achieve maximum power transmission efficiency, the resonance frequency has to be fixed within the ISM band. In this paper, the possibility of using impedance matching (IM) networks to adjust the resonance frequency of a pair of antennas at a certain distance to 13.56MHz is studied. The simulations and experiments show that the IM circuits can change the frequency to 13.56MHz for different air gaps, improving the power transfer efficiency. Experiments also show that IM can be achieved just by observing and minimizing the reflected wave.


The idea of a dynamic PCB assembly system to integrate the assembly and the kitting operations introdu ced as "integrating internal and external setups" is inves tigated in this paper. Carryover sequence-dependent setup time, which is a new form of setup time representing the actual impact of setup dependency in real applicati ons, is considered. The problem investigated is NP-hard and necessitates the development of lower bounds to pr ovide an estimate of the optimal values. A lower bounding me chanism based on the underlying concepts of Column Generation and Branch-and-Price is developed. Some optimal principles are established that are essentially used i n computationally simplifying the approach developed.


The International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project's (ISCCP) First ISCCP Regional Experiment (FIRE) project is a program to validate the cloud parameters derived by the ISCCP. The 4- to 5-year program will concentrate on clouds in the continental United States, particularly cirrus and marine stratocumulus clouds. As part of the validation process, FIRE will acquire satellite, aircraft, balloon, and surface data. These data (except for the satellite data) will be amalgamated into one common data set. Plans are to generate a standardized format structure for use in the PCDS. Data collection will begin in April 1986, but will not be available to the general scientific community until 1987 or 1988. Additional pertinent data sets already reside in the PCDS. Other qualifications of the PCDS for use in this validation program were enumerated.


The theories of transaction costs and information economics have explored pioneeringly the nature of organizations, especially that of enterprise organizations; however, they fail to explain the nature of enterprise clusters—that not only contains relationship of transaction, but also contains the organization of manifold competitive relations due to their focus on transaction relationship. Based on basic unit of analysis—information, this paper discloses the differences among enterprise clusters, enterprise organization and market organization because of difference of information production and the way of flow, showing that cluster is an essential institutional arrangements to save information costs, rather than a single saving transaction costs device. This paper not only draws the conclusion that the industrial clusters is an effective information space, but also provides new visual angle to analyze the nature of organization.


A piano fingering is an indication of which finger is to be used to play each note. Good piano fingerings enable pianists to study, remember and play pieces fluently. In this paper, we propose an algorithm to find a good piano fingering automatically. The tabu search algorithm is a metaheuristic that can find a good solution in a short amount of execution time. The algorithm implements an objective function that takes into account the characteristics of the pianist's hand in complex polyphonic music.


The propagation of a detonation wave in a channel with linear expansion in a two-fractional suspension of aluminum particles in oxygen was investigated. Fractions of particles with diameters 3.5 µm and 1 µm were considered. The verified semi-empirical detonation model was used taking into account transition from diffusion to kinetic regime of combustion of micro-sized aluminum particles. The influence of the fractional composition of the mixture on propagation regimes and formation of transverse waves of cellular detonation is established.


In this paper we propose a projective LED low-beam headlamp of motorbikes. An ellipsoidal reflector is used to collect light emitting from the LED source. A baffle plate is located in the focal point of the ellipsoidal reflector to form the cut-off line.Then the light is redistributed by an optical lens. We set the measuring screen as an semi-circular zone and divide it into many small lattices, divide the spatial angle of the LED source into many parts and make relationships between them. According to the conservation of energy and Snell law, the lens is generated by freeform optics design method. Then the optical system is simulated by Monte Carlo method using ASAP software. Light pattern of simulation could meet the national standard. The low-beam headlamp is finally fabricated and assembled into a physical object. Experiment results can fully comply with regulations GB5948-1998.


This paper deals with a systematic construction of higher spin operators, defined as conformally invariant differential operators acting on functions on flat space Rm with values in an arbitrary half-integer irreducible representation for the spin group. To be more precise, the higher spin version of the Dirac operator and associated twistor operators will be constructed as generators of a transvector algebra, hereby generalising the well-known fact that the classical Dirac operator on Rm and its symbol generate the orthosymplectic Lie superalgebra osp(1,2). To do so, we will use the extremal projection operator and its relation to transvector algebras. In the second part of the article, the conformal invariance of the constructed higher spin operators will be proven explicitly.


Abstract "Systematic combining" is a non-linear, non-positivistic, approach to case study research. The paper describes the central features of this research framing with regard to two basic processes: matching and direction/re-direction. These processes impact, and are affected by, two significant forms of interplay: theory vs. empirics, and the analytical framework vs. the evolving case. Major diversities in relation to the mainstream literature on case studies are discussed with regard to the perspective on the research process, the view of multiple and single case studies, the relevance of replication and generalization, and the role of the context. Moreover, three current challenges for qualitative research are identified. First, increasing methodological specialization and sophistication tend to disintegrate methodology from the important linkages to theory and research phenomenon. Second, mainstream requirements for replication and generalization lead to isolation of the research phenomenon from the empirical context, thus undermining the main advantage of the case study approach. Third, in order to improve the scientific recognition of qualitative case studies, researchers need to develop their abilities to convince readers about the relevance of their findings by providing better accounts for the research approach applied.


This study was aimed to determine the genetic distribution and characteristics of the
bacterial family in the Batang Ai reservoir and their possible sources of transmission into
the lake water. Surface water samples were collected from twenty-seven sampling points
scattered around the Batang Ai reservoir and four fish samples were obtained from an
aquaculture farm located within the water reservoir. The samples were plated on Violet
Red Bile Agar (VRBA) plates for the isolation of Enterobacteriaceae. A total of 141
bacterial colonies were isolated from the culture plates and subjected to (GTG)5 PCR
analysis to determine the genetic similarities among the isolates. A dendrogram was
plotted based on the (GTG)5 PCR patterns and the representative isolates were selected for
identity confirmation using 16S rRNA sequencing. Based on the sequencing, five genera
of Enterobacteriaceae were identified as Enterobacter, Escherichia, Shigella, Klebsiella
and Pseudocitrobacter, consisting of 12 identified species, namely Enterobacter
hormaechei, E. hormaechei subsp. xiangfangensis, E. cloacae, E. cloacae subsp.
dissolvens, E. kobei, E. tabaci, Shigella boydii, S. flexneri, Pseudocitrobacter faecalis,
Escherichia fergusonii, E. coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae. A total of 14 antibiotics from
seven anti-microbial classes including penicillins, cephems, monobactams,
aminoglycosides, tetracyclines, quinolones and fluoroquinolones, and phenicols were
tested against the isolates. A total of seven species within the isolates were found to have
multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index below 0.2, suggesting those isolates were
derived from low risk of antibiotics contamination sources. With the exception of
ampicillin and tetracycline, all antibiotics have 25% or less bacterial species displaying
resistance. Most (70%) of the bacterial species showed resistance toward ampicillin. The
fish isolates demonstrated multiple antibiotic resistance indexes ranging from 0.214 to 0.5.
The presence of multiple antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the water reservoir may pose the
risk of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections through water-related activities and
consumption of fish harbouring antimicrobial resistance bacterial species. It was proven
that Enterobacteriaceae were transmitted from the activities and surrounding
environments to the water reservoir, thus it is proposed that a guideline for activities to be
carried out in the water reservoir is created and imposed.


The present invention relates to a control list such that by using at least two templates display list element data from disparate is unity. The template defines the layout for the list element data. Templates are aided by the calculation of the layout interface. The interface provides information regarding the at least one grid line location. List layout for the element data is based on that location. List control implements the interface, so, should the heterogeneous templates to rely to a single interface that provides a grid line location. To take into account the requirements of each list element for the grid line location, the interface requests information relating to preliminary gridline location for each list element and final grid line location is based on the information. Template, grid lines, list control


Finally I wish to draw particular attention to the following facts:— 1. The striking diminution in the case-mortality at the Mile End Hospital which followed the systematic use of antitoxin. 2. The subsidence of the epidemic during the season when diphtheria is commonly most prevalent. 3. The opening of the schools in September without any increase in the prevalence of the disease. 4. The persistence of diphtheria bacilli for long periods in certain of the convalescents and contacts. 5. The success of preventive measures based upon the belief that diphtheria is spread mainly by personal contact, and through the inter-mediation of healthy persons and other who by the means usually employed are not recognised to be suffering from the disease.


The 13C nmr spectra of α, αα, and αα′ substituted trans-fused bicyclo [4,n,0]alkan-3 ones, are described. Substituent effects are discussed in terms of their electron withdrawing character, axial o...


Basil ( Oscimum sanctum ) is herbal that is spread widely in Indonesia. Basil contains abundant of substance s. One of the functions on basil was anti- thrombocytes effect. This effect is associated with platelet function as a mechanical plug in the vascular injury during the normal homeostatic response. The dis ruption in thrombocytes function leads to disturb the blood clotting process. Therefore, The aims of the research were to prove the impact of basil on the number of thrombocytes . This research used mice that d ivided into 3 groups, as a group I dose 250 mg/day (basil leaf infusion) , group II dose 500 mg/day and the control group. We used clopidogrel as a positive control to determine the effectiveness of anti platelet effect . Data were analysed by ANOVA showed that the existence of anti- thrombocyte effect in the basil dose 500 mg/day was significant ly different . This result prove d that basil has anti-thrombocytes effect by decreasing thrombocytes number.


There have been several studies on the effects of gravity and flowrate on laboratory relative permeability measurements. Most of these studies have concentrated on the effect of these parameters on the flooding front. Miller's (1983) data showed that the influence of these and other variables are not understood. The study found that the calculated recovery at breakthrough was different than the observed recovery at breakthrough. The calculated recovery at breakthrough was based on theory derived from Buckley-Leverett piston-like displacement. This study attempted to determine how gravity or core positioning and flowrate of the displacing fluid might be used to achieve a stable flooding front. A relative permeameter with unsteady-state flow was used for the apparatus. The core material was an unconsolidated silica sand. The core was 2 in. in diameter and 20 in. long. The fluids were refined white mineral oil and salt water. All measurements were done at room temperature. This study found that gravity had no significant effect on the difference between calculated and observed recovery at breakthrough. It also observed that an increase in flowrate would increase the flooding front instabilities. Therefore as flowrate decreased the calculated and observed breakthrough approach a single value. 23 refs., 56more » figs., 25 tabs.« less


Objective To explore changes of serum cystatin C in neonate with hyperbilirubinemia,and evaluate its effect on function of glomerular filtration.Methods Serum cystatin C,blood urea nitrogen(BUN) and creatinine(Cr) of neonates in hyperbilirubinemia group and of neonates in the control group were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA).Results There were no significant difference in serum BUN and Cr levels between the hyperbilirubinemia group and the control group.Serum Cys C levels in the hyperbilirubinemia group were significantly higher than those in the control group(P 0.01).When serum hyperbilirubinemia levels was decreased,serum Cys C levels was decreased too.Conclusion Serum Cys C can be considered as a marker of damage function of glomerular filtration of hyperbilirubinemia neonates.


An electrical connector assembly for a utility power transmission system includes a first conductive member having a first hook portion and a first base wedge portion with the first hook portion extending from the first wedge portion and is adapted to engage a main conductor. A second conductive member includes a hook portion and a wedge portion with the hook portion extending from the wedge portion and adapted to engage a tap conductor. The wedge portion of the first conductive member and the wedge portion of the second conductive member are adapted to nest with one another and be secured to one another by hand without specialized tooling.


The characterisation of an 8 mu m infrared photovoltaic detector based on InAs/GaSb superlattices is carried out at 77 K for the first time. The built-in field is established by the Fermi level difference between the superlattice surface and the InAs buffer layer. The photocurrent is from photoexcited carriers traversing through the superlattice conduction miniband. A current responsivity of 0.07 A/W has been obtained, implying that one out of 10 photoexcited electrons has been collected.


—In home automation systems, and even more in build- ing automation systems, the interoperability of installations from different vendors constitutes a significant problem for planners, construction companies and users. A generic communication infrastructure on All-IP basis, which can be used by several building automation applications like lighting, heating, ventila-tion, air conditioning (HVAC), access control, evacuation support, etc., can help to reduce costs during the whole building lifecycle. These applications perform control tasks with distributed sensors and actuators; many of these tasks are highly safety and security relevant. During the project Robust Facility Communication (ROFCO) we explored the requirements of a generic, but robust communication infrastructure in a building automation environ- ment, designed and implemented a prototypical solution, and conducted a validation trial at the site of our project partner Techno-Z Salzburg.


A parent's struggle to manage their emotions may have significant impact on small children. Helping a child understand in the here and now about what is going on for the parent, without blaming that parent or the child, may be useful for the child. It may also lead the child to seek different models of managing emotions and selfconcepts. Reading books with children, or bibliotherapy, could be useful for parents who experience stressrelated "meltdowns" or perhaps live with mental health conditions such as borderline personality disorder, and for those working with small children in educational, child care or child protection settings. This brief uses Meltdown Moments, a picture-story book written by an experienced mental health clinician and illustrated by a professional artist with lived experience of emotional turmoil, as an example of what may help in conversations about what is going on in the family. Introduction E of the more common mental health conditions such as postnatal depression and anxiety on small children are often documented and discussed. Less well-known but recently summarized1,2 are the effects of turbulent parental emotions. Tumultuous parental emotions vary from occasional "meltdowns" to a diagnosable mental health condition such as borderline personality disorder (BPD). Problems for infants living with mothers with BPD are identifiable within the first few months of life3 and onwards. Attachment problems are sometimes evident at 12 months,4 behavioral problems in childhood5 and intergenerational transmission noted by the time some offspring reach young adulthood.6 BPD can cause great disruption to the lives of the parent with the diagnosis, his or her children, and his or her family. When children live with emotional turbulence caused by significant parental mental health problems there may be other indirect effects. These include exposure to the general stigma around mental illness and negative societal attitudes about these difficulties.7 Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is perhaps even less well understood within the general community than conditions such as depression and anxiety8, and may also be more stigmatized. Thus, children living in families with parents with BPD may have few opportunities to understand why their parents may have rapid mood changes, outbursts of anger, and impulsive behavior. However, there is a paucity of work to guide interventions that may help parents with these challenges and alter potentially troublesome outcomes for the children. Bibliotherapy may provide one avenue for change. Key Points: Bibliotherapy, Mental Health Literacy and Children Bibliotherapy provides a narrative or story that children can relate to, thereby normalizing the problems. "I am not alone in the world – this happens to other people". It may help children of parents with mental illness by improving the child's understanding of difficulties in their lives.9 Bibliotherapy can also provide information to improve the child's and parent's mental health literacy. Mental health literacy relates to people's knowledge, beliefs and understanding of mental health prob1 Sved Williams and Jonsson-Harrison: Using Picture-Story Books to Help Families Published by eScholarship@UMMS, 2018 lems. Jorm et al. (1997) outline the components of health literacy as the ability to recognize mental health disorders, knowing risk factors and causes, and knowing how to provide self-treatment and how to seek professional care.10 Improving mental health literacy is proposed to promote recognition, management, prevention and appropriate help-seeking for mental health concerns. A recent summary by Riebschleger, Grove, Costello, & Cavanaugh (2018) documents children's problems stemming from low mental health literacy.11 They also describe the benefits of ensuring open discussion of parents' mental illnesses. Potential benefits include better mental health understanding in general and the possibility that children will become more engaged in activities focused on actively learning skills to manage emotions. Activities that increase and improve family communication about mental health are strongly recommended in the Think Family Whole Family program, which actively promotes communicating about parents' illnesses.12 Using Picture-Story Books Picture-story books, particularly when relatively realistic, can perhaps provide such psycho-education for small children. Reading together may lead to open discussions on the topics portrayed.13 Understanding mental health and mental illness may be particularly relevant for parents with mental health conditions such as borderline personality disorder (BPD) and their families, as the thoughts and behaviors of a person living with BPD may be hard to understand. In addition, the person living with BPD may have difficulty understanding the thoughts and behaviors of others, including their children. Reading children's cues is an important component of parenting. When a parent living with BPD is upset, their ability to understand what is going on in their child's mind or what is prompting their child's behavior may be compromised. Thus, finding a pathway for parents to discuss mental health and mental illness with their children may be particularly relevant for all family members and may contribute to more positive relationships. One example of using a picture story book to help families discuss managing emotions and parental mental illness is Meltdown Moments14 (MM). MM is written by a perinatal psychiatrist and illustrated by an artist with lived experience of emotional turmoil. The book illustrates a story about a Mum who experiences intense outbursts (meltdowns) and the experiences of the other family members, Dad, and siblings Nate and Jane. The book demonstrates how children may cope with their parents' behaviors – Nate by withdrawing and hiding away, and Jane by responding with a series of emotional outbursts herself. It also shows how Mum and family can get help for Mum's mental health condition. The book shows the reality that family members love each other but, at times, don't know what to do: "No-one knows now what to do. Not Mum, Not Dad. Not Nate, Do you?" Eventually, Dad suggests that Mum needs helps and although she initially rejects this idea, the family goes to their local doctor who is kindly and knowledgeable. Mum is referred to a mental health professional for help and Mum improves in the way that many people will improve – slowly, and initially inconsistently, and yet with a forward trajectory: "Sometimes she's better. Sometimes no way. Tomorrow will be better than it is today". The book concludes with six pages of psychoeducational material for parents that provide information aimed at helping family members understand mental health, mental illness and coping.


We constructed a methodology for thermostabilizing a G‐protein coupled receptor (GPCR) in the inactive state whose wild‐type (WT) structure is unknown solely by multiple amino‐acid mutations without the ligand binding. It is a combination of our recently developed theory based on statistical thermodynamics and site‐directed saturation mutagenesis, a method often employed in evolutionary molecular engineering. First, the WT structure is predicted using the homology modeling. Second, a key residue is determined by our statistical‐thermodynamics theory using suitably modeled mutant structures. Many of 19 different single mutations for the key residue are expected to produce significantly higher stabilization. Third, we undertake to mutate not only the key residue but also a few more residues whose side chains are close to the side chain of the key residue. The whole mutational space is then efficiently explored by introducing site‐directed saturation mutations, and a gene (mutant) library is constructed using the small‐intelligent and fully automatic single‐tube recombination methods. Each mutant is expressed in Escherichia coli cells, and highly stabilized mutants are sorted out using a fluorescence‐screening technique. The methodology was illustrated for the serotonin 2A receptor, 5‐HT2AR, for stabilizing its inactive state. We could identify a double mutant whose apparent midpoint temperature of thermal denaturation is higher than that of a thermostabilized double mutant previously reported by ~8.9°C and that of the WT by over 15°C. Moreover, it exhibits higher binding affinity for spiperone, an antagonist which was previously proved to stabilize 5‐HT2AR in the inactive state.


On Friday, 10 April 1998 the Agreement between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of Ireland was signed, heralding a historic opportunity for a new political beginning. The Good Friday Agreement, as it became known, included plans for a Northern Ireland Assembly and cross-border institutions; under the section on policing and justice it made provision for a wide-ranging review of the criminal justice system in Northern Ireland. Arising from the recommendations contained in the review, the Intergovernmental Agreement on Cooperation on Criminal Justice Matters was established, providing a framework for co-operation between the two jurisdictions. That work is continuing through the recently completed 2010 Agreement. Under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Agreement Working Group, the Public Protection Advisory Group (PPAG) was formed as a subgroup and is jointly chaired by the Director of the Probation Board for Northern Ireland (PBNI) and the Director of the Probation Service (PS) (Ireland). The PPAG has provided a formal structure for the engagement of the PBNI and the PS and strengthened connections with the other important stakeholders in the Criminal Justice System. It has been meeting since early 2006 and has addressed a range of topics related to increased cross-border cooperation, the sharing of best practice and cross-border offending. This paper sets the context, traces the history of formalised co-operation between the PS and the PBNI from 1998, and describes the structure, scope and activities of the PPAG as a model for bilateral co-ordination and co-operation.


Synthesis of New Azo Dyes with 1,6-Methano[10]annulene Partial Structure

Bridged quinone hydrazones 1 are transformed by aromatic acyl chlorides to the corresponding azo dyes 3a –6. Nitro derivative 1a reacts analogously with p-tolylsulfonyl chloride, acetyl chloride, methyl chlorocarbonate, and dimethylcarbamoyl chloride to give the corresponding azo dyes 7 and 8a –c. Reaction of 1a with diphenylcarbamoyl chloride unexpectedly leads to Berson-Wilcott rearrangement with formation of the azo dye 9. Acylations of 1a with the bifunctional acyl chlorides diphosgene and terephthaloyl chloride yield the azo derivatives 11 and 12.


Specialized recombination reactions involving DNA inversions have evolved as a mechanism to generate genetic diversity within a population. They often function to preadapt a portion of a population to a sudden change in the environment or to allow a portion of a population to take advantage of a new situation. Site-specific DNA inversion reactions are characterized by recombination events which occur at defined sites and are usually catalyzed by an enzyme dedicated to that particular reaction. The low rate of inversion is believed to be primarily limited by the extremely low amounts of the Hin protein present in cells since overexpressing Hin coordinately increases inversion rates. In vivo studies have demonstrated that integration host factor (IHF) and leucine-responsive regulatory protein (LRP) participate in the fim inversion reaction. These two DNA bending proteins are believed to function together to help promote synapsis between IRL and IRR. FimB- and FimE-promoted inversion rates are also decreased in lrp mutants. LRP is a moderately abundant DNA binding and bending protein that functions as a global regulator of various genes involved in amino acid metabolism and fimbria biosynthesis. Recombination catalyzed by the Hin and Gin DNA invertases has been intensively studied in vitro, and the basic outline of the reaction is well understood. DNA inversion occurs in a simple buffered salt solution without the need for a high-energy cofactor other than the requirement for a negatively supercoiled substrate.


The Stent‐In 2 trial randomized patients with malignant colonic obstruction to emergency surgery or stent placement as a bridge to elective surgery. The aim of this study was to compare the oncological outcomes.


ABSTRAK : Fuzzy linear fractional programming problem (FLFPP) is general form of Fuzzy linier programming (FLPP) problem. FLFPP can be solved by not changing the fuzzy data become crisp on the objective function and the main state. Numbers are used in fuzzy linear programming is a triangular fuzzy numbers. In this thesis learned methods that have been developed by Al. Nachammai dan P. Thangaraj for solving FLFPP problem in triangular fuzzy number using metric distance ranking. From case studies are given, obtained metric distance ranking method on triangular fuzzy number is the appropriate method to resolve FLFPP problem because this method can show the maximum results. Keywords: Triangular Fuzzy Number, Metric Distance Ranking, Fuzzy Linear Programming, Fuzzy Linear Fractional Programming


The present invention provides an infrared barrier film and a preparation method thereof. The infrared barrier film comprises a transparent base material layer of which the reflectivity is 60-70% at 850-1150 nm, and the transmittance is greater than 90% at 380-780 nm; a first high refractive index layer which is arranged on the transparent base material layer and of which the refractive index is 2.0-2.5; a first silver alloy layer which is arranged at one side of the first high refractive index layer far away from the transparent base material layer and of which the refractive index is 0.05-0.5; a second high refractive index layer which is arranged at one side of the first silver alloy layer far away from the first high refractive index layer and of which the refractive index is 2.0-2.5. By the above layers, the infrared barrier film has the higher visible light transmittance and infrared reflectivity, thereby improving the heat insulation property of the infrared barrier film, and further improving the reliability of the infrared barrier film.


Laboratory of Tumor Biology, The Second Clinical Collage of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province 510120, People's Republic of China Abstract: Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play crucial regulatory roles in fundamental biological processes, and deregulations of lncRNAs have been linked to numerous human diseases, especially cancers. Of particular interest in this regard is lncRNA GAS5, which is mainly identified as a tumor suppressor in several cancers. GAS5 was significantly low expressed in multiple cancers and was associated with clinic-pathological characteristics and patient survival, indicating a novel potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarker, and a therapeutic target for cancer. Functionally, GAS5 is involved in cell proliferation, metastasis, invasion, apoptosis, epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), and drug resistance, among others, via multiple molecular mechanisms, such as binding to DNA sequences, forming RNA–DNA triplex complex, triggering or suppressing the expression of genes, binding proteins to form chromatin-modifying complex, which activates or represses gene expression, and acting as miRNA sponge to suppress miRNA expression, leading to regulation of miRNA target genes. This review provides an overview of the current state of knowledge and role of GAS5 in clinical relevance, biological functions and molecular mechanisms underlying the dysregulation of expression and function of GAS5 in cancer. Finally, the potential prospective role as diagnostic and prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target in cancer is discussed.


Business organizations around the world engage in e-commerce (EC) and e-business to support business
operations and enhance revenue generation from non-traditional sources. Studies focusing on EC
adoption in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) are just beginning to emerge in the extant information systems
(IS) literature. The objective of this current study is to investigate factors impacting the acceptance of
EC in small businesses in SSA with Nigeria as an example. A research model based on the Diffusion of
Innovation (DIT) and the Technology–Organization–Environment (TOE) frameworks were used to guide
this discourse. Such factors as relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, management support, organizational readiness, external pressure, and IS vendor support were used to develop relevant hypotheses.
Questionnaires were administered to respondents in Nigeria and data analysis was performed using the
Partial Least Squares (PLS) technique. Predictions related to relative advantage, management support,
and IS vendor support were confirmed; the other hypotheses were unsupported by the data. The study's
implications for research and practice are discussed in the chapter.


To the Editor:— It has occurred to me that the great prevalence of allergy to inhalants (other than pollens) could be markedly reduced if manufacturers of pillows, mattresses, cushions, upholstered furniture, automobile upholstery, stuffed toys, and so forth could be persuaded to make such articles only with nonallergic stuffing such as foam rubber or other suitable nonallergenic synthetic material. In fact, if such a program were effective, the entire allergy situation in this country would be dramatically ameliorated; it would serve as a nationwide prophylactic measure. For example, when exposure to certain inhalants is materially reduced, there is a change in incidence of sensitization to those materials in our population. This is illustrated by the change in the incidence of sensitivity to silk and to rabbit hair. When I first became interested in children's allergy and began doing intradermal tests in 1933, positive skin tests and serious clinical sensitivity were


E-Health applications generally involve human users' privacy information such as identity and medical data. To protect these data, authenticated key exchange (AKE) protocols are provided as an underlying security mechanism in many communication techniques for E-Health application. For example, the international communication standard for wireless body area network (WBAN), i.e. IEEE S02.15.6, provides a number of AKE protocols for different E-Health scenarios; the Bluetooth specification 5.0 also defines four AKE protocols applicable in different applications of E-Health. However, all of these AKE protocols in use cannot resist to the emerging side-channel attacks (also known as leakage attacks). This paper thereby aims to enhance security and privacy in E-Health by designing an AKE protocol which can resist side-channel attacks. In particular, a leakage-resilient AKE protocol is proposed by combining the blinding technique with the Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman key exchange protocol (ECDH). In addition, to make the protocol friendlier to capability-limited nodes such as medical devices which are widely used in E-Health applications, we transfer some time-consuming computations from a limited node to its communicating partner which is generally more powerful. We also realize a prototype and carry out a series of experiments to study its performance. The proposed AKE protocol has stronger security and higher efficiency than similar protocols in IEEE 802.15.6 and Bluetooth 5.0.


This paper investigates transient recovery voltages across vacuum circuit breakers used for switching mechanically switched shunt capacitor banks in a wind power plant. Simulation case studies are conducted which investigate the transient recovery voltages with the original bank configuration and a number of modified configurations. It is shown that using the original configuration, with inrush current limiting reactor in series with the capacitor, can result in a breaker failure under most onerous conditions. A number of alternative configurations are proposed which allow the management of transient recovery voltages within the breaker withstand level.


In this letter, the method to reduce peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) is studied in the pilot-embedded orthogonal time frequency space modulation where guard symbols with zero padding are introduced to avoid the interference between data and pilot symbols. By permitting the guard symbols to be padded with signals of small magnitudes, an efficient PAPR reduction method based on the iterative clipping and filtering (ICF) framework is proposed. In the proposed method, first, the clipping noise other than the clipped signal is filtered; second, the filtering coefficients for the clipping noises in the data-plus-pilot region and guard region are set to be different values to achieve good tradeoff between PAPR and bit error rate (BER) performance. Simulation results show that the proposed method can reduce the PAPR efficiently with mild BER performance loss.


IN THE PRESENT PAPER, a macroscopic free energy potential for shape memory alloys in the pseudoelastic range of their behavior is derived. It is assumed that the macro-element made of Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) is composed of austenitic and martensitic phase. It is stipulated that on the mezo-scale level, the micro-constituents obey generalized thermoelastic Hooke's law, in which eigenstrains connected with martensitic phase transformation are present. The primary target of the paper is not determination of the specific form of the macro free energy but revealing its structure resulting from the micro-macro transition. This structure is of a fundamental significance for subsequent development of macroscopic constitutive relations for Shape Memory Alloys. Micro-macro transition procedure allows for identifying the correspondence between the actual micro-phenomena and individual terms appearing in the free energy macro-potential. The performed calculations throw a new light on the so-called accommodation energy, a part of which is the interaction (coherence) energy appearing in contemporary literature. On the application side, it was possible to explain a certain paradox appearing in the attempts made to describe the behavior of some TiNiX ternary alloys (TiNi alloy) undergoing R-phase transformation.


Following meiosis II in Taxus microsporangia a small proportion of the tetrads regularly degenerated. Despite frequent inequality in the frequency of ribosomes between the spores of a tetrad, partial degeneration within a tetrad was never observed. The initial wall of the young spores was found to resemble the wall of the mother cell in containing a fibrillar layer, and the two walls may possess similar isolating properties. The symmetry of the tetrad was regularly iso-bilateral. The formation of the sporoderm began as the spores were released into the loculus by the rapid dissolution of the wall of the mother cell. Osmiophilic droplets emerged from the spore protoplast and entered the wall. The fibrillar layer ceased to be recognizable and the droplets coalesced to form an outer layer on which up to six sporopollenin lamellae, probably of tapetal origin, were deposited. The accretion of a single layer of sporopollenin droplets, in no recognizable pattern, gave rise to the outer verrucose part of the exine. Cytochemical tests showed that the tapetum was rich in acid phosphatases from the beginning of meiosis. Towards the end of its degeneration the tapetum intruded into the loculus and could therefore be regarded as partly invasive.


Introduction Ectopic eruption of a first permanent molar" is a developmental disturbance in which the mesially directed path of eruption results in resorption of the second primary molar. Pulver and Bjerklin found no specific etiologic factor for ectopic eruption, but noted that it appeared more commonly among siblings^ and was not specific to any quadrant. Different modes of treatment have been proposed in the literature, ranging from orthodontic band and springs" to Croll's bilateral band and wire appliance" and Grim's removable Hawley appliance with a kick spring to distalize the trapped molar. These appliances required the patient's cooperation, and some needed preparation of the first permanent molar. Like previous band and wire appliances, the wires also tend to impinge on the gingiva or the occlusal surface, making the appliance ineffective and difficult to use. In severe cases, when extracting the second primary molar and regaining space for the eruption of the ectopic first molar are necessary, cervical headgear and the ACCO appliance have been used to distalize the first permanent molar. Elastic separators, deimpactors, and helical springs have been used for the correction of ectopically erupting permanent molars. However, they cannot be used on moderate or severe cases and the spring does not provide sufficient force to move the permanent molar. The purpose of this article is to present a simple technique using both a metal and elastic separator to correct ectopically erupting permanent maxillary and mandibular molars. The technique does not use an impression, laboratory time, etching or involve damage to the permanent teeth and can be used in mild, moderate, and severe cases.


When Windows dropped its support of 16 Bit and 32 Bit MSDOS programs in favor of 64 Bit Programs, a considerable amount of useful statistical software was lost, seemingly forever. Fortunately, there is a free software program, DOSBOX that allows a user to emulate the right architecture to run these. These are useful interactive programs written and verified over dozens of real applications, and widely used by others in the past. Here is how to obtain and run this writer's four programs. You can get the links below electronically by Googling Jonathan Shuster UF, and get directly to his Department Web Page.


Background Hemorrhoids are a very common anorectal disorder affecting a large number of individuals throughout the world. This study aimed to evaluate the causal effects of four adiposity traits including body mass index (BMI), body fat percentage, waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio on hemorrhoids by Mendelian randomization (MR). Methods We used summary statistics of BMI (N = 461,460), body fat percentage (N = 454,633), waist circumference (N = 462,166), waist-to-hip ratio (N = 212,244), and hemorrhoids (N = 337,199) from large-scale genome wide association studies of European ancestry. Univariable and multivariable MR were carried out to infer causality. The MR Steiger directionality test was used to test the causal direction. Results The primary MR analysis using the inverse variance weighted (IVW) method showed that there were positive effects of genetically determined BMI [odds ratio (OR) = 1.005, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.003–1.008, per standard deviation (SD), p = 7.801 × 10−5], body fat percentage (OR = 1.005, 95% CI: 1.001–1.008, per SD, p = 0.008), waist circumference (OR = 1.008, 95% CI: 1.005–1.011, per SD, p = 1.051 × 10−6), and waist-to-hip ratio (OR = 1.010, 95% CI: 1.003–1.017, per SD, p = 0.003) on hemorrhoids. These findings were robust in multivariable MR adjusting for physical activity. The Steiger directionality test showed evidence against reverse causation. Conclusion Our MR study supports a causal role of adiposity in the development of hemorrhoids. Adiposity prevention may be an important strategy for reducing hemorrhoids risk.


7558 Background: ABI-007 (Abraxane TM), is an albumin-bound, nanoparticle form of paclitaxel with an improved therapeutic index that may be related to biological interactions with endogenous albumin receptors (eg, gp60) and binding proteins (eg, SPARC). The albumin-binding protein SPARC (osteonectin) was overexpressed in primary and metastatic malignant melanomas but not in normal melanocytes (Ledda et al, J Invest Derm 108:210, 1997) and was a predictor of clinical outcome in thin melanomas (Massi et al, Human Path 30:339, 1999). Methods: We conducted a Phase II study of ABX administered weekly for 3 weeks q4w without premedication in chemotherapy-naive (CN) (150 mg/m2) and previously treated (PT) (100 mg/m2) patients (pts) with measurable metastatic malignant melanoma (MMM). Results: 13 CN and 36 PT pts have been enrolled; 11 CN and 13 PT pts are currently evaluable for toxicity and response. Median age was 59 (range, 32–79); median number of metastatic sites was 2 (range, 1–8); median ECOG PS was 0 (ra...


Abstract There are currently four Higher Education Institutions offering a 4-year Bachelors of Science Honours degree programme in the Republic of Ireland; three of these are based in the capital city, Dublin, at Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin and The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and the fourth situated in the south-west of the country at University College Limerick, with approximately 150 students graduating per year from these programmes. Entry to undergraduate physiotherapy education in Ireland is highly competitive and necessitates, for the majority of applicants, the achievement of high grades equivalent to the top 5% of candidates taking the Final Leaving Certificate Examination in a particular year, as well as a number of designated additional places for mature students, those from 'disadvantaged' schools, or those with disabilities. The first School of Physiotherapy in Ireland was established in 1905, the first degree programme in physiotherapy education commenced in 1983, and the first physiotherapist in Ireland was awarded a PhD in 1982. The Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists (ISCP), founded in 1983, is the sole body representing the physiotherapy profession in Ireland and, as such, it establishes and maintains educational accreditation standards including that all physiotherapy education should occur in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The HEIs maintain close links with clinical providers and all students undertake 1000 hours of supervised clinical practice in a variety of clinical training sites as part of their undergraduate degree training under the supervision of Placement Educators and Practice Tutors. The ISCP is currently designated by the Government as the competent body for the regulation of the physiotherapy profession in Ireland, including the credentialing of graduates from accredited programmes, assessment of applicants from non-accredited overseas programmes, implementation of the Continuing Professional Development Policy and the awarding of Specialist Membership. However, the recent Government-approved Health and Social Care Professions Council is currently being established and will supersede current arrangements. There are also new initiatives underway to develop graduate entry programmes in physiotherapy in Ireland for individuals with a primary degree to gain entry to an accelerated MSc physiotherapy programme, in response to Government policy and public interest.


The invention relates to an air spring failure indication and braking device system, which is respectively connected with a brake pipe and additional air chambers of two air springs on a bogie, and comprises an indicator and three different valves, specifically, a double pneumatic control differential pressure operating valve, a shuttle valve and an air relief valve; the double pneumatic control differential pressure operating valve is communicated with the additional air chambers of the two air springs, the shuttle valve is connected with the double pneumatic control differential pressure operating valve and the air relief valve, and the air relief valve is connected with the brake pipe. The air spring failure indication and braking device system has a simple and reasonable structure, when the air springs are failed and leak air quickly, the air spring failure indication and braking device system can start the indicator by the double pneumatic control differential pressure operating valve to send visual or audio information to train staffs; and pressure difference of two air springs on the same bogie reaches 0.15 MPa, the system starts an emergency braking device, the system also can close a cut-out cock to prevent the air in the brake pipe from leakage, and normal operation cannot be influenced.


There is a significant need to objectively evaluate layout analysis (page segmentation and region classification) methods. This paper describes the Page Segmentation Competition (modus operandi, dataset and evaluation criteria) held in the context of ICDAR2003 and presents the results of the evaluation of the candidate methods. The main objective of the competition was to evaluate such methods using scanned documents from commonly-occurring publications. The results indicate that although methods seem to be maturing, there is still a considerable need to develop robust methods that deal with everyday documents.


The stabilization of a symmetric tree‐shaped network of Euler–Bernoulli beams described by a system of partial differential equations is considered. The boundary controllers are designed based on passivity principle. The eigenfrequencies are analysed in detail and the asymptotic expansion of eigenvalues are presented. It is shown that there is a set of generalized eigenfunctions for the closed‐loop system, which forms a Riesz basis with parentheses for the energy state space. This concludes the spectrum‐determined growth condition and the exponential stability of the closed‐loop system. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


In order to model groundwater flow effectively, one is faced inevitably with the problem of suitably estimating the various subsurface parameters in the differential equations governing the flow from measurements, over time, of the piezometric head at various well sites, together with certain ancillary data. A new method is presented that allows for the estimation of an anisotropic hydraulic conductivity as the unique global minimum of a convex functional.


disciplines will have shared this reviewer's repeated gratitude for the instant and reliable responses provided by its handy format and its no-nonsense approach to the complexities of Muslim royal nomenclature and precise A.D./A.H. equivalences. Since this is the kind of Hilfsmittel which belongs on a bookshelf rather than in a pocket, all users should appreciate the considerably more comprehensive coverage signalled by the much more substantial appearance and larger format of The new Islamic dynasties. Over half as long again as the old version, this improves significantly on the well tested virtues of the original format by adding patronymics wherever possible to all names in the lists of rulers. This economical device provides a most useful substitute for genealogical tables, particularly in conjunction with the further information provided in the expanded paragraphs of the accompanying texts, to which updated bibliographies are appended. Most welcome of all, though, is the very considerable expansion in the inventory of dynasties covered. In keeping with the everwidening range of scholarship on Islam over the last decades, there is a large extension of geographical coverage to Africa, from Mali to Harar, and to South-East Asia and Indonesia, from Malacca to Brunei. Many of the previous chapters have been greatly expanded internally, as in e.g. the listings of the Spanish Muluk al-tawa'if, the petty dynasties of the Arabian peninsula, the post-Seljuq rulers of Anatolia, the Central Asian successors of the Mongols, and in a much more generous sample of Indian sultans, nawabs and nizams. It hardly needs saying that this volume is characterized by the same meticulous scholarship which marks all Bosworth's work, and all working Islamicists are encouraged to update to this splendid new version of a trusty old friend.


During the Survey year. legislation was enacted relating to twenty-seven of the sixty-five articles of the CPLR . Additionally, there have been significant developments in the decisional law of res judicata. These and other areas should be of interest to the practitioner.


Based on the characteristics of the meaning,extension,communication and versatility of internationalization of higher vocational colleges,the effectiveness of internationalization of higher vocational schools can be measured from 8 dimensions: open international view,organization system and policy assurance;comprehensive hardware and software construction;specialties and curriculum setting and internationally recognized qualifications;specialty teaching staff with international standard;exchange students and mutual dispatching of students;cooperated school-running and training programs with foreign schools;study and development of international academic and technological communication and cooperation projects;building of international campus atmosphere.The above 8 dimensions can be built into a cobweb model which can directly manifest the international level and features of higher vocational colleges.


Ultrasonic motor is a motor driven by the stator via frictional contact forces generated from ultrasonic vibration of piezoelectric elements. In order to control the ultrasonic motor, it is essential to measure accurately the motor characteristics with respect to driving parameters such as frequency, voltage, phase difference and duty ratio of the driving signals. In this paper, a PC-interfaced evaluation device is developed, and the characteristic curves of the fabricated ultrasonic motor are measured with those parameters. All driving parameters are processed digitally. The developed evaluation device can facilitate charateristics measurements effectively, and provide a base for digital control of the ultrasonic motor.


The aim of this study was to calculate the cut‐off values of liver enzymes to identify the risk of incident type 2 diabetes (DM) and to investigate the association between liver enzymes and incident DM in participants with or without obesity.


A synthetic form of a human antimicrobial peptide (37 amino acids), belonging to the cathelicidin family, with antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, immunostimulating and potential antineoplastic activities. Upon intratumoral injection of the cathelicidin LL-37, this peptide increases p53 expression, and induces phosphatidylserine externalization, DNA fragmentation, cell cycle arrest and caspase-independent apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF)/ endonuclease G (EndoG)-mediated apoptotic cell death in susceptible cancer cells. T his suppresses tumor cell proliferation. LL-37, a protein secreted by bone marrow cells, circulating leukocytes, and various epithelial tissues, plays a crucial role in the innate host immune defense via the regulation of leukocyte chemotaxis and cytokine production; it also promotes wound healing. Qeios · Definition, February 2, 2020


Quantifying cell type percentages from bulk brain RNA‐sequencing enables researchers to better understand the components underlying disease pathogenesis. Despite being designed for single‐cell RNA‐sequencing (scRNA‐seq) data, MuSiC deconvolution algorithm can use single‐nuclei RNA‐sequencing (snRNA‐seq) data generated from brain tissue to estimate cell type proportions in bulk brain RNA‐sequencing data but does not fully compensate for sequencing differences between bulk and snRNA‐seq data. We modified MuSiC's gene weighing scheme to compensate for this sequencing bias.


The purpose of this study was to identify the impact of the educational program to improve the coordinative abilities on learning some offensive skills in handball for preparatory school girls (second grade). An experimental one-group design method was used in a sample of 30 second grade girls from Alnahda preparatory school, Assuit province.The researsher designed two experts' questionnaire forms to indicate the most appropriate abilities for the subjects, determine the tests of coordinative abilities scale and prepare the proposal educational program; physical and skill tests. The findings showed that there is a correlative relation between the coordinative skills and the level of offensive skills performance in handball (under research). The researsher recommends improving the coordinative abilities in the educational program by influencing speed of learning and acquired motor skills.


Introduction: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality in Western nations, and associated health‐care costs are escalating. The aim of this study was to describe the current pattern of resource use and direct medical costs associated in managing lung cancer in South Western Sydney, Australia.


This paper describes the complementary application of in-situ and remote measurement of ocean currents to deliver solutions to the offshore industry. The critical requirement for calibration of satellite altimeter derived geostrophic currents is explained, along with the benefits of putting short term in-situ data into the longer term context. The paper focuses on two proposed drill sites offshore South Africa which can be impacted by the Agulhas Current. Satellite altimeter data provides a good representation of this feature after calibration against site specific deepwater mooring data. Other regions where satellites might capture the key oceanographic processes are considered


A novel plant differentially expressed gene cloning technique called cDNA-AFLP-SSPAG was descrybed. Using this method, Differential mRNA expression was found between high and low heterosis groups of maize. Differential cDNAs were easily obtained from silver stained cDNA-AFLP separated on polyacylamide gels. The cDNA was then reamplified, cloned and fragments were sequenced. Sequenced clones were used as probes in northern dot blot analyses and library screening. Full-length cDNA was cloned from a library suggesting that the cDNA-AFLP technique combined with silverstaining polyacrylamide gels provide a novel and very powerful gene cloning method.


This article on abortion reform in South Africa opens by describing the racist population policies of the government during apartheid and noting that prior to 1975 common law permitted abortion if pregnancy threatened a womens mental well-being. Well-to-do White women had many abortion options but women of color often had to resort to clandestine abortions or attempted self-abortions. The article then reviews how the medical establishment and womens groups sought to expand options for legal abortion in a climate dominated by fears of population stagnation among Whites. The resulting 1975 Abortion and Sterilization Act actually made it more difficult to obtain an abortion while appearing to increase the circumstances under which abortion was permitted. The article continues by discussing how this act failed as a health policy (reviewing the methods and costs of treating incomplete abortions in public-sector hospitals) and regional variation in the incidence of complications of abortion. Next the article explains that access to legal abortion was an essential part of the health program drafted by the African National Congress during the 1994 elections but that the 1997 Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act was passed only after a struggle. The article outlines the stipulations of the Act and identifies outreach provider education accessibility and availability and monitoring of implementation as vital to the ability of the new Act to improve reproductive health. The conclusion notes that despite continuing implementation challenges approximately 30000 women obtained legal abortion in the first year of the Act and the number of women experiencing complications or death from incomplete abortion decreased significantly.


ABSTRACT Background: The results of a preliminary study by interviews with the head space conducted by researchers at the health center Kalasan on October 6, 2015, found the number of people suffering from dengue from January to March 2015 as many as 27 people and one family there are two persons affected by the disease DBD. Objective: To identify level of knowledge about dengue haemoraghic fever in dusun kledokan, selomartani, Kalasan, Sleman, Yogyakarta.      Methods: This study used quantitative methods of observational analyticwith cross sectional design. Sample in this research are PKK members in RT 4-6 Dusun Kledokan, Selomartani, Kalasan. Research tool used is a questionnaire for the level of knowledge and observation sheet for the existence of larva, engineering analysis using Chi Square (x2). Results: The level of knowledge of DBD on PKK members in RT 4-6 Dusun Kledoakan, Selomartani, Kalasan in both categories 82 respondents(92.1%), while the presence of larvae were classifi ed as no larvae namely 62 respondents(69.7%). The results of research that is no relationship between the level of knowledge of DHF in PKK with the existence of larva with ƿ-value = 0.001 <0.05. Conclusion: Based on the results that the relationship between the level of knowledge of DHF in PKK with the existence of larva in Hamlet Kledokan, Selomartani, Kalasan, Sleman, Yogyakarta.


Membrane separation technology has been recently attracted more attention as an option for gas separations due to its compact system, ease of operation and low power consumption. In this study, polymer membranes with different percentages of polyurethane were synthesized and submitted to permeability and selectivity tests for the following gases, CO2, N2, O2 and CH4, at two pressures of 4 and 8 bar and at room temperature. The membranes were characterized by FTIR-ATR, Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD). At low pressure of 4 bar and room temperature, the membrane with low percentage of PU, 10 %, presented the higher selectivity to CO2 in relation to both N2 and CH4. The same behavior was observed at a high pressure of 8 bar, with higher selectivity to CO2 in relation to all studied gases, N2, O2 and CH4, compared to the already analogous reported membranes submitted at greater pressures.


Ashwagandha is one of the important medicinal plant commercially cultivated for long period. The investigation was performed in Randomized Complete Block design for all the twenty one traits of sixty seven ashwagandha genotypes on Rabi 2016-2017, 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 were studied to assess the genetic variability and associations of morphological and biochemical traits to root yield. The analysis of variance showed a wide range of variation and significant differences for all the traits under study, indicating the presence of sufficient amount of variability among the ashwagandha genotype. From the analysis, high heritability coupled with high genetic advance as percent of mean was recorded in fiber content in root (96.00%; 70.63%), carbohydrate content in root (75.00%; 39.35%), dry plant weight/plant (68.00%; 61.56%), fresh root weight/plant (63.00%; 44.03%), fresh plant weight/plant (61.00%; 69.48%). This suggested that it was due to additive gene action and selection for that particular desirable trait will be beneficial and effective in phenotypic selection. Positive and significant association of dry root weight/plant with fresh plant weight/plant and no. of berries/plant at phenotypic and genotypic level respectively. Path analysis revealed that fresh root weight/plant, dry plant weight/plant, fresh plant weight/plant, no. of berries/plant, root diameter, root branches, should be considered for direct selection in ashwagandha as these traits must bring an improvement in the dry root weight of the plant.


The pattern of the vegetated landscape in Beijing was analyzed using fractals and the GIS software ARC/ INFO. Patch complexity was examined for a range of defined vegetation types. Significant positive linear correlations were found between fractal dimensions calculated using two different methods, and between each of the two fractal dimensions and average patch size. Fractal dimensions for the types within a type in the higher level are more similar than those not within a type in the higher level. Two domains of scale were identified: those larger and smaller than about 2. 7km2. Patches in the large domain are more complex than those in the smaller domain. The main reason for which is that large patches are of ten inlaid with smaller ones while this phenomenon rarely occurs among smaller patches.


The present invention discloses a technique which uses solid alkali to catalyze idesia polycarpa var.vestita bites to prepare biodiesel. After the extracted idesia polycarpa var.vestita bites is treated by the processes of degumming, alkali refining and deacidification and decolorization, solid alkali Mg-Al composite oxide is utilized to catalyze low-carbon alcohol, so that ester exchange reaction occurs between the low-carbon alcohol and the idesia polycarpa var.vestita bites to prepare crude biodiesel, and after depressurization and distilling, the light-colored refined biodiesel is produced. The yield of the biodiesel prepared by the technique is high, the product reaches the national standards, meanwhile, the production cost of the biodiesel can be reduced, the service life of equipment can be prolonged, the subsequent separation process can be simplified, and the drainage of industrial waste water can be reduced.


The ligands iodide (I−) and thiocyanate (SCN−), alone or in admixture, in combination with a non-ionic surfactant, Triton X-100, were evaluated as washing agents for heavy metal desorption from a contaminated soil. After seven successive washings, selective sequential extraction (SSE) was performed to determine the heavy metal content that remained associated with each geo-chemical fraction of the soil. The surfactant with 0.336 mol L−1 of ligand I− removed 75% Cd and 23% Cu, whereas the mobilization of Zn and Pb were not significant after 7 washings. At a concentration of 0.286 mol L−1, the ligand SCN− in the presence of surfactant removed 36% Cd, 44% Cu and 77% Zn. Among the washing agents, the combination of I− and SCN− produced the highest desorption efficiencies 95% Cd, 48% Cu, and 3.1% Pb, but not for Zn. The SCN− ligand extracted the most Zn (77%). The SSE procedure indicated that the I− removed metals from the exchangeable, carbonate and oxide fractions whereas SCN− removed metals only from the exchangeable fraction. Both ligands, in the presence of surfactant, removed Cu from all fractions except the exchangeable sites, whereas only SCN− plus surfactant removed Zn from all fractions. The ligand mixture plus surfactant mobilized only limited quantities of Pb from the oxide and residual fractions.


Istanbul Strait is one of the most important and dangerous maritime passage in the world. In this study, the hazards for possible accidents of the tankers carrying various chemicals through the Istanbul Strait were investigated and a significant risk was identified due to the intensive transportation of the chemicals. The purpose of this work is to define some risk control options in order to establish an efficient management system which can minimize the probability of accidents and hazardous effects of possible chemical spills to human life and environment. The risk is assessed by using the Formal Safety Assessment Methodology of the International Maritime Organization. Following this methodology hazards of accidents were identified through a questionnaire which is applied to a group of experts focussed on a passage of Istanbul Strait. In addition to this, a frequency analysis of the accidents was carried out on the defined sections along the strait using the accident database in order to determine the geographical distribution of the type and cause of the accidents. On the other hand, the maritime traffic of the Istanbul Strait was simulated using computer based software in order to investigate the effects of the local traffic on the passage. As a conclusion of the simulation the hot spots were defined as the potential locations for collisions. Also the consequences of such probable accidents were evaluated by using different dispersion modelling software for the spilled chemicals. As a result, a comprehensive management system for preparedness and response to chemical spills in the Istanbul Strait were proposed by taking into account the current management system and response equipment. Furthermore, a detailed economic analysis of the proposed system was also performed.


Concrete channels find use at the periphery of irrigation networks, for expansion and to replace small earthen channels given the relative ease of maintenance and elimination of seepage losses. In design, it is important to account for control system performance when dimensioning the channel infrastructure. In this paper, the design of a distributed controller is investigated in terms managing water-levels, and thereby the depth profile (i.e., amount of concrete) needed to support peak flow load under the power of gravity.


With improvement of people's living standards,the proportion of weather sensitive loads for cooling and heating purposes is growing larger and larger and weather is presenting ever greater influence on the loads of the power grid.This paper introduces weather factors such as the Sensorial Temperature,Index of Comfort,Index of Chill and Durative Weather Factor into the research process for forecasting loads,so that more useful factors and "key groups of weather factors" can be taken into consideration in the study of connection between weather factors and weather sensitive loads and that analysis can be done on section basis,thus reaching results closer to the actualities in research of influence of weather change on the power loads.