Many systematic reviews of effectiveness of interventions for people with dementia have highlighted the variability in the outcomes assessed. This prevents comparisons of effectiveness across studies. This study, embedded in the Neighbourhoods and Dementia programme www.neighbourhoodsanddementia.org, seeks to develop a COS for use within non-pharmacological intervention studies aimed at people living with dementia at home. Public involvement in COS research is a developing area, to which this study is significantly contributing. The 4-phase study design includes: qualitative interviews/focus groups (including people living with dementia) and literature review; Delphi process; systematic review; and stated preference survey. This presentation will provide an overview of phase 1 and report on the development of a 'long list' of outcomes for the design of the Delphi (phase 2). This presentation will focus on how the experiences of people with dementia have been privileged in the development and design of the Delphi survey.


" although the old woman was addicted to drink, the fact that she had been a nurse under Florence Nightingale commanded some sympathy." Showing his sympathy in a practical form, he sentenced the culprit to a month's imprisonment as a second-class misdemaanant. Sad as it is to see a woman with an honourable past in such a position, it is gratifying to find that her association in earlier days with Miss Nightingale was not lost sight of by the magistrate.


Introduction: It investigated in a population of 50 students of Universities, qualifying the courses for research in groups of: Mathematical, Physical Education and Others Courses respectively, in the elaborate questionnaire, the rank of satisfaction of the matters of education to the distance. Materials and Methods: They were ascertained us students the comparisons of a questionnaire developed (SEVERINO, 2000) for argument about the relation how much their student/internet learning in the on-line matters. In the research also were lodgers interviews, that are in the body of the text, with opinion of students and technicians in data processing evaluating that the system need technical support must, for nonchalance of the matters with orthodox approaches in what is said to respect to what itself knows of education to the distance. Results: For analysis we have like base: medium arithmetic (16,3), average (11.4) fashion (24.2) and detour standard (6.7) for ages, and, medium arithmetic (80,3), average (58) fashion (91.5) and detour standard (8.9) for perception of quality of the EAD. Discussion: Concluded very bad results for the visibility of the EAD in the Universities. The which verify the dissatisfaction of the students how many any kinds of on-line matters, therefore entertainment, interactivity and motivation is lacking.


The purpose of this study was to develop an evaluation tool that could help pre-service teachers develop their teaching skills. As for the research method, the Delphi technique was used to collect opinions from physical education professor evaluation experts. The survey was conducted three times and various opinions of experts were collected and analyzed. The newly constructed evaluation tool consists of 46 questions for class preparation (the creation of the learning environment), the introduction (routine activities, learning goals, and task presentation), development (class strategy, observation and interaction, and the maintenance of the learning environment), and conclusion (routine activities, summary, and closure). It was designed to increase the accuracy of evaluation by developing evaluation criteria for each question. An evaluation tool including quantitative and qualitative methods for use in pre-service physical education teacher education was developed. The significance of this study is the development of an effective evaluation tool that can evaluate the core teaching behaviors in the field of physical education. This evaluation tool should be used as a learning tool that includes planning, operation, evaluation, and seeking improvement measures through reflective activities. If pre-service teacher education institutions apply this evaluation tool in their teacher training programs, it would be a great chance to learn how to develop and sustain teaching abilities and effectiveness.


This paper concerns the fault prediction modeling for Condition-based Maintenance (CBM) of on-board railway train control systems. Based on the field data from the CTCS2-200H on-board equipment, the imbalance problem of the fault and fault-free samples is investigated, which makes it difficult to realize effective model training for a fault prediction purpose. A data-driven system fault prediction framework is established. Based on that, a data balance-enhanced AdaBoost (Adaptive Boosting) approach is proposed, which uses an integrated Borderline-SMOTE method to improve the class distribution of the training samples. With this method, effective modeling using the AdaBoost algorithm can be enabled with enhanced datasets. Field data collected from the practical on-board train control equipment is utilized to demonstrate the proposed approach. Comparisons with the different dataset conditions and training algorithms illustrate the superior performance of the proposal and show its potential in the fault prediction-enabled intelligent maintenance systems.


The depth at which the amplitude of the frequency‐domain electromagnetic fields due to dipole and square loop sources over a homogeneous half‐space fall to 1/e of their value at the surface is compared to the conventional plane‐wave skin depth. The skin depth due to a local source depends on the transmitter frequency, half‐space conductivity, transmitter altitude, and transmitter‐receiver offset, and may range from a fraction of to more than twice the plane‐wave skin depth. Unlike the plane‐wave skin depth, the "local‐source skin depth" is different for electric and magnetic fields, and may be nonunique for some transmitter geometries and field components. For all transmitter geometries, however, the local‐source skin depth approaches the plane‐wave skin depth as the transmitter altitude and/or receiver offset increase. The concept of the local‐source skin depth has direct application to survey design and data interpretation. A theoretical example demonstrates that it is possible to predict, for a given s...


Law inference aims at getting an effective outcome of court decision on the basis of specified law. Therefore, efficacy is an important factor of law inference. The law inference includes: 1.efficacy in the form, i.e. in logics; 2. efficacy in content, i. e. in law.


Despite numerous attempts sought to provide empirical evidence of adversarial regularization outperforming sole supervision, the theoretical understanding of such phenomena remains elusive. In this study, we aim to resolve whether adversarial regularization indeed performs better than sole supervision at a fundamental level. To bring this insight into fruition, we study vanishing gradient issue, asymptotic iteration complexity, gradient flow and provable convergence in the context of sole supervision and adversarial regularization. The key ingredient is a theoretical justification supported by empirical evidence of adversarial acceleration in gradient descent. In addition, motivated by a recently introduced unit-wise capacity based generalization bound, we analyze the generalization error in adversarial framework. Guided by our observation, we cast doubts on the ability of this measure to explain generalization. We therefore leave as open questions to explore new measures that can explain generalization behavior in adversarial learning. Furthermore, we observe an intriguing phenomenon in the neural embedded vector space while contrasting adversarial learning with sole supervision.


Key words: First Person Singular Pronouns, Malay Child Language
ABSTRACT
This study had been carried out in order to investigate the first person singular pronouns used by children in Malay. In this language, the most prominent first person singular pronouns are "saya" and "aku". However, for kids, the usage of these pronouns sometimes has been substituted by other pronouns. This research used a comedy drama entitled "Lontong" as a text to seek for the findings. The results showed that besides "saya" and "aku", children also use "kita" as well as their own names as the first person singular pronouns. In terms of politeness, using names is considered as the most humble way, followed by "kita" and "saya". Hence, using "aku" is deemed as impolite. Nevertheless, it is not unusual to see "aku" used by kids among their close friends.


Plasmids coding for resistance to chloramphenicol, erythromycin, kanamycin, streptomycin, and tetracycline have been found in strains of Corynebacterium xerosis isolated from patients with otitis media.


A structure for the green venture fund (GVF) and explain the design rationale, operating principles and key parameters for two funds of funds for technology innovation and deployment is proposed. Some key issues to be considered, including differential treatment of public and private investors and possible approaches to setting technology priorities are highlighted. [Working Paper No.245]. URL:[http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/1424899].


Subjective ideas of resources and barriers in realization of personality's values in a period of early youth are studied. Empirical research shows that high realizability of personality's values reveals itself in orientation to internal resources and disposition to percept barriers as constant. High barrier of personality's values is expressed by support of external resources and fixation on barriers, on overcoming obstacles. The results demonstrate that the barrierrealizability tendencies of personality's values manifest in specifics of personality's ideas of resources and barriers.


We investigate the interaction between zinc–porphyrin and oxygen molecule in zinc–porphy-rin(oxygen) complex using the first principles calculation. At first, we study the electronic and geometric structures of zinc–porphyrin and compare with other metalloporphyrin (metal = Mn, Fe, Co, and Ni). We demonstrate that the electronic structures of zinc–porphyrin are completely different with other metalloporphyrin, therefore its interaction with oxygen molecule is also different. In the ground state, the complex prefers the form 3 ( 1 ZnP– 3 O 2 ). The singlet oxygen generation can be accessed through 1 (ZnP–O 2 ) complex. The excited singlet state of the complex prefers the form 1 ( 1 ZnP– 1 O 2 ) and allows the interaction between ZnP and O 2 via charge transfer. Furthermore, we construct a mechanism for the quenching of 3 ZnP induced by 3 O 2 where ZnP–O 2 complexes act as the intermediate states.


Objective To investigate the curative effect of modified endoscopic sinus surgery operation to treat Killian ′s polyp of children.Methods 65 children with Killian ′s polyp were divided into 2 groups:the A group(35 of them only received functional nasal endoscopic sinus surgery,)and the B group(30 of them received functional nasal endoscopic sinus surgery and Caldwell-Luc surgery).The 65 patients with Killian ′s polyp were followed up for 2 years after operation.Results The recurrence rate of the A group was 11.43%.there wasn′t recurrence in the B group.Conclusion The modified endoscopic sinus surgery operation offers a better curative effect in recurrence than only nasal endoscopic sinus surgery.


Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell performance and materials degradation, particularly associated with the cathode catalyst layer (CCL), can be directly attributed to the structure and chemistry of individual material components, as well as their uniformity/homogeneity within a CCL. The individual material constituents used to form the CCL within the membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs), which include the electrocatalyst, catalyst support, and ionomer films, and especially the critical interfaces that are formed between these various constituents, are critically importance in controlling fuel cell perfomance. Understanding the specific microstructural characteristics of the individual materials within the CCL, and how the materials interact to "form" the CCL, is important for identifying materials optimization parameters that can significantly enhance performance and durability. Materials in several states/conditions, e.g., prior to incorporation in the CCL (as-synthesized), after MEA preparation (CCL), and after fuel cell testing, are beig evaluated and quantified using a combination of advanced electron microscopy methods, which are used to interrogate the materials constituents and interfacial structures and chemistries from the μm- to the A-level. The as-processed (prior to and following incorporation into a CCL) microstructural evidence is directly correlated with observations of materials-specific degradation mechanisms that contribute to fuel cell performance loss, and are then used to identify potential processing variables (materials-based mitigation strategies) to improve the microstructure and compositional homogeneity within the electrode structure, and enhance MEA durability and stability during fuel cell operation. Research efforts at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are focused on the high-resolution microstructural and microchemical characterization of MEAs fabricated using different electocatalysts (typically Pt-based) and catalyst loadings, carbon-based support materials, and ionomer solutions, as well as the same MEAs subjected to accelerated stress tests (ASTs) designed to degrade specific MEA components. While a significant microscopy effort has been aimed towards understanding catalyst degradation (e.g., coarsening, de-alloying), recently, high-resolution analytical microscopy methods have been used to directly image/map the distribution and chemistry of the ionomer films/layers within CCLs, results of which are being combined with high-resolution imaging and 3-D tomography data of powder materials and MEAs, to provide unprecedented insight into the MEA architecture and interfaces (ionomer/support, ionomer/catalyst, catalyst/support, ionomer/pore). This presentation will focus on understanding materials distributions within CCLs as a function of materials used and ink/MEA processing variables, e.g., initial ionomer and/or ink chemistry, electrocatalyst (type, content, and dispersion), and the type of carbon support used. Additionally, the stability of the ionomer films, electrocatalysts, and support structures in CCLs following ASTs designed specifically for either catalyst degradation or carbon corrosion, will be evaluated. ________________________________________________________________________ Research sponsored by (1) the Fuel Cell Technologies Office, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy and (2) Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS), which is a U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science User Facility.


High temperature effects on the impact ionization of the n-channel fully depleted (FD) SOI MOSFET are investigated over a wide range of temperature from 300 to the 600 K by using TCAD. In particular, we have studied the current voltage characteristics (Id-Vd and Id-Vg ) , threshold voltage (Vth)and transconductance (gm). By the simulation results, we have analyzed that impact ionization decreases with increasing the temperature and vice versa. Furthermore, we have observed that threshold voltage and transconductance are both inversely proportional to the temperature. Keywords— Impact Ionization, Fully Depleted, TCAD Transconductance.


In the penultimate scene of the Ecclesiazusae, the young man who has come to see his lover is accosted in succession by three old women, each insisting that the new legal code requires him to sleep with her first. In lines 999–1000, the first of these old women, faced with his refusal to cooperate sexually, swears by Aphrodite


The objective of this article is to identify the content of globalization processes in financial markets. The universal method of investment is offered in order to save the interests of investors – to expand the geography of investment, not leaving without attention innovative activities. This method has become global in financial market segment and thus strengthening the financial system's ability to contribute significantly to the globalization, sustainability and cost-effectiveness of education. It was decided to use adequate investment portfolio model for investment decision making, random fields of stochastic optimization ideas and methods. Findings present sustainable return on investment possibilities. The analysed indicator is expected investment value, measured with a certain size of return and composition of reliability maximization. There are strategies, which allow taking the positive decisions that ensure the optimal portfolio structure in global financial markets. Illustrating the possibilities of their idea, authors provide investment strategies in global foreign exchange and capital markets. The set of results of investment performance, allows the reader to monitor the long-term investment experiment.


This research focuses on integration testing of enterprise systems, more concretely on how to automatically generate the initial test data to be entered into the relational database to support each test case. Existing approaches generate initial database entries for each test case one-by-one, but there are two problems with this approach. The first problem is that switching initial database states for each test case is too time consuming when we use the generated initial database states for testing. The second problem is that the total number of DB records tends to be large because many initial database states are generated. As a result, the total size of test data becomes large, which increases the cost of managing the test data and the time needed to switch initial database states for each test case. To solve these problems, we propose a framework for generating initial database states that are shared by multiple test cases. We list up the three key challenges (test case grouping, DB record arrangements, and initial database state constraint generation), and then introduce simple and reasonable solutions for each challenge. Using industrial-level enterprise systems, we confirm that our proposal reduces the number of initial database states by 49%, and the total number of DB records by 47%.


We report that transparent polymer coatings imprinted with tilted planar waveguides significantly reduce optical loss caused by the scattering of incident light by front metal contacts of solar cel...


In this paper we develop a method for constructing all the integrals of motion of the SU(p) Haldane-Shastry model of spins, equally spaced around a circle, interacting through a 1/r2 exchange interaction. These integrals of motion respect the Yangian symmetry algebra of the Hamiltonian.


We use the theory of convex projections (also known as projections onto convex sets) to reconstruct images in CT. Convex projections has been frequently used to recover images from partial data and prior knowledge. In this paper we describe how convex projections can be used directly to reconstruct an image from an arbitrary collection of line integrals and any prior knowledge that might be available.


The development of comics in Indonesia at this time so rapidly besides the interest and public interest especially among children and teenagers so big. The tendency of comic visuals in Indonesia is dominated by Japan and America. Many of them have not yet learned that comics in Indonesia have been started since the past as the tradition of making reliefs on temples, wayang beber paintings as well as in ancient texts such as the tradition of writing on palm leaves. The creation of tradition comics in Bali can be seen in works of art such as kamasan puppet paintings and manuskrif lontar prasi. Kamasan puppets paintings is a visual-speaking media of his era, which raises stories related to the philosophy and teachings of the Balinese view of life. As a medium of information the form of this tradition works to have common elements and aspects of modern comics. This research is to know the elements of traditional comic formation as media of information in its era. And the shift of symbol values in the form of the work of the tradition. This study uses qualitative methods and visual analysis with data collection and information techniques using observations, interviews both structured and unstructured and observe traditional objects. Then to confirm the field data is done by literature study either book or via the internet. As a form of artwork, the tradition of a great ancestral heritage needs to be preserved the values and local wisdom it has.


Is it necessary to integrate psychology into a unifying science? Is it possible to do so? How to do so? These are highlight problems that are heatedly argued in psychology today. Postmodernism criticizes this view in every respect by its deconstructionism and pluralism, which deals with the integrational necessity and possibility and basis, etc. On the whole, postmodernist criticism has not only rationality part, but also unilateralism part. In order to make psychology develop healthily, therefore, it is necessary to analyze and re consider it dialectically.


[Read before the Section on Diseases of Children, June, 1883.] Because of the diverse views held by the profession at large, and especially the members of the district society which I have the honor to represent in part in this Association, I feel great interest in the discussion of the question, are Diphtheritic and Membranous Croup—the "Cynauche Trachialis of Cullen," the "True Croup" of other nosologists—convertible terms, modified only by difference in local expression, or are they distinct diseases, requiring opposite site modes of treatment? In the hope, then, of eliciting a discussion of this subject, which may at least secure a uniform therapy, I will assume the affirmative. Ours does not claim to be an exact, but a progressive science. At one time vensection was regarded the "sheet anchor" in the treatment of Asiatic cholera. Some of us have cured pneumonia—the cases amenable to the vis medicine of that


The individual liberation is the most important topic during the May 4th period. Love and marriage became the most popular subject. A large number of novels about love and marriage appeared during the May 4th period to support the individual liberation. Lu Xun' s novels represented the highest level in this subject. During the May 4th period writers had revealed individualists' tragedy at different angles. Zi Jun' s tragedy was the representative of women' s misfortune destiny. Many writers treated the individual liberationin with lopsided views which restricted their writing, while Lu Xun related the individual liberation with social liberation all along the way. Other writers became asceticalor indulged in carnal pleasures in their novels. Lu xun criticized both of them and insisted that spirit and carnal desire are both important in love and marriage.


Abstract Ramalina celastri is a highly variable, widely distributed pan-subtropical lichen species. In Australasia the species had been separated into two subspecies; R. celastri subsp. celastri and R. celastri subsp. ovalis. This study compares morphological variation, substratum preference and sequences of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and intergenic spacer (IGS) regions of ribosomal DNA from a range of specimens from New Zealand and one from Australia. Bayesian and ML trees generated using the sequence data form two well-supported clades corresponding to the two previously recognized subspecies. Molecular, morphological and geographical differences support the recognition of R. ovalis at the species rank.


The purpose of this research is to evaluate the relation of music and depression in Kerman city Azad University. The research method is descriptive and in correlated method and under evaluation sample includes 200 individuals chosen from Kerman Azad University who were selected randomly. To gather data the researcher made questionnaire is used which is about depression and tribunal structure. The research data were analyzed by the use of SPSS software and then the spearman test was performed. The result showed that there is meaningful relation between the traditional music listening and depression in students and also there is direct and meaningful relation between the rap, jazz music listening and depression as well. And there is no meaningful relation between the music listening degree and student depression.


Piezoelectric aluminum nitride thin films were deposited by reactive dc magnetron sputtering under various experimental conditions on a silicon (100) substrates. These films structural and microstructural properties were studied using x-ray diffraction (XRD), selected area electron diffraction (SAED), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in order to determine the optimum growth conditions that improve the piezoelectric coupling. A highly c-axis oriented AlN film (002) was identified from XRD and SAED. An average grain column size of about 40 nm was determined from TEM. The root-mean-square surface roughness measured using atomic-force microscopy was less than 7 nm. The optimum experimental parameters found for AlN deposition on Si(100) substrates were then extrapolated to its deposition on a ST-cut quartz substrate for the investigation of the influence of substrates on the surface acoustic wave (SAW) propagation. The AlN/Si and AlN/ST-quartz SAW devices were formed using the photolithography proces...


Abstract Plasma has a unique characteristic that can be detected remotely. If there is such a plasma at the interior of the tornado's vortex, then there exists a new method of tornado detection.


The invention discloses a line width measuring method for a line on a printed circuit board (PCB). The method comprises the following steps of: (1) determining direction of a line to be measured on the PCB to be measured and determining a movable region of a pixel wide template on the PCB to be measured; (2) translating the pixel wide template based on a step h in the direction perpendicular to the line to be measured, and calculating an edge detection function every time the pixel wide template moves a step h to obtain four maximum peak values, wherein A and B are two adjacent regions on the line to be measured; gray values of the regions A and B are shown in the specification; nA and nB are numbers of pixels at the regions A and B; SA and SB are gray variances of the regions A and B; and e is a normal number; (3) finding positions corresponding to four maximum peak values from an original drawing corresponding to the PCB to be measured so as to obtain an upper line and a lower line for line width of the line to be measured, wherein vertical distance between the upper line and the lower line is the line width. By the method, the size of the line width of the line on the PCB is automatically and precisely measured, and the measuring accuracy is high.


The concept of controlled drug delivery has been traditionally used to obtain specific release rates or targeting of active ingredients. The phenomenon of bioadhesion has been studied extensively in the last decade and applied to improve the performance of these drug delivery systems. Recent advances in polymer science and drug carrier technologies have promulgated the development of novel drug carriers such as bioadhesive microspheres that have boosted the use of "bioadhesion" in drug delivery. This article presents the spectrum of potential applications of bioadhesive microspheres in controlled drug delivery ranging from the small molecules, to peptides, and to the macromolecular drugs such as proteins, oligonucleotides and even DNA. The development of mucus or cell-specific bioadhesive polymers and the concepts of cytoadhesion and bioinvasion provide unprecedented opportunities for targeting drugs to specific cells or intracellular compartments. Developments in the techniques for in vitro and in vivo evaluation of bioadhesive microspheres have also been discussed. Keywords: - Bioadhesion, Bioadhesive Microspheres, Development, Polymers.


Objective To compare the diagnostic value of MR and X ray of bilateral hands and wrists in patients with RA. Methods Ninety eight patients with polyarthralgia were randomly selected to undergo MR scanning and X ray of the bilateral hands and wrists. Follow up continued until a final diagnosis was determined. ROC analysis was made. Results Seventy six patients received final diagnosis with follow up. Fifty four patients were diagnosed RA. ROC analysis indicated that there were significant difference ( P 0.01) between MR and X ray with a=1.88, b=0.73, Az=0.9359 on MR and a= 0.49 , b=0.54, Az=0.6673 on X ray. Conclusion MR was superior to X ray obviously on diagnosing RA.


In the present study was attempted to know the effect of eyestalk ablation on the biochemical composition of the crab, Portunus sanguinolentus. After 3 days experimental period, proximate composition was estimated both control and eyestalk ablated crabs. The protein content of the unilateral eyestalk ablated (39.81 ± 1.83%) crabs was higher than that of control crabs (36.15 ± 1.22%). The carbohydrate content of eyestalk ablated crabs (2.89 ± 0.85%) was relatively higher when compared to intact control crabs (2.48 ± 0.23%).The lipid content of the present study was higher in eyestalk ablated crabs (1.81 ± 0.03%) rather than intact control crabs (1.54 ± 0.07%). The ash content of eyestalk ablated crabs (7.83 ± 1.29%) was relatively higher when compared to intact control crabs (7.62±0.40%). The moisture content in eyestalk ablated crabs (79.15 ± 4.58%) was higher when compared to intact control crabs (78.24 ± 3.58%). The total essential amino acids with eyestalk ablated and control crabs were 47.541% and 46.535% respectively. However, the non essential amino acids were 49.126% and 48.65% in eyestalk ablated and control crabs respectively. The results of the present study clearly shows that eyestalk ablation influenced the biochemical composition, of P. sanguinolentus.


: Flash floods happens when dams break, when levees fail or when an ice jam releases a large amount of water by melting or as huge ice block slides and change of sudden climatic condition due to Global warming Flash flood is a destructive type of natural hazard incident. The main danger due to velocity and speed with which flash flood develops and resulting powerful water flows. The risks arise from related phenomena such as tangible assets & debris flow, ice jam melts, surface water flooding, etc. The most comprehensive way to provide warnings is to install gauges both at and upstream of areas at risk and to use the outputs from forecasting models to help to extend warning lead times. This article tries to focus on the causes of flash flood and specially the remedial part which is optimum utilization of flash flood for agricultural irrigation purpose.


This thesis presents the development and use of a performance analysis methodology suitable for use in the evaluation of multiprocessor interconnection networks. The study is grounded in a detailed evaluation of the Cedar multiprocessor. Using characteristics of the behavior exhibited by the benchmarks studied on that system, a burst-traffic model is developed. The performance predictions of the model for adaptive and oblivious virtual-channel routers used in a 2D torus are compared to those of an open-loop random-traffic model, and significant differences are shown to exist.
The design of a novel adaptive router, the Shunt router, is proposed. Proofs of its freedom from deadlock and livelock are provided, showing its suitability for use in the construction of a shared-memory multiprocessor. The burst traffic model is used to drive simple versions of the Shunt router and compare its performance to those of the virtual-channel routers discussed previously. The Shunt router is shown to provide a suitable base for explorations of alterations to the routing algorithms and size of buffers within the router, due to its simplicity of structure.
The Shunt router is then augmented with a variety of adaptive routing algorithms. The performance of these algorithms, as well as two oblivious routing algorithms, is evaluated. The results show that structure in oblivious routing is important, and several adaptive routing schemes perform equally well. The Shunt router is also used to evaluate the impact of queue sizes on performance, as well as the interaction between queue lengths and adaptivity. Finally, a traffic-throttling network interface is used, with results that show it is primarily useful in cases of limited router buffering.
Analytic performance bounds are developed, and used to place the improvements due to adaptive routing into perspective. These bounds are derived from considerations of the systems topology and the structure of the burst-traffic model. Minimum latency, bisection-width, and a complex mean value analysis model are developed, and each is shown to have utility in different areas of performance prediction and comparison. Given the context of the performance bounds, the adaptive routers are shown to achieve a significant percentage of the potential performance improvement.


Accounting from the very beginning is confined to record only those business transactions which can be expressed in monetary terms. This study seeks to empirically investigate the relationship between human resource costs and financial performance of quoted companies in Nigeria. Panel data on different types of human resource costs and financial performance spanning from 2016-2017 were collected from financial reports and accounts of quoted companies on Nigeria stock exchange and federal Inland Revenue Service. Ordinary Least Square Multiple Regression, Auto Regressive Lag. Augmented Dickey-Fuller, Co-integration test, Granger Causality Test, Error Correction Model was used in analyzing the data with the aid of E-view version 12. The empirical results indicate that human resource cost significantly relate to financial performance, explaining about 80.1% of the total variation in revenue, human resource accounting were found to significantly relate to financial performance. The study conclude that human resource cost relate positively and significantly to financial performance and recommends that Management should not recruit more staff and should consider retaining only efficient staff, this implies that insurance firms should downsize their number of staff and focus on training and re-training of the most efficient members of staff. Management should make retirement benefits attractive so as to attract best brains to their respective firms, and there should be a well-coordinated program for staff development if the firm's profitability and performance are desired to increase positively.


Agricultural land extraction is an essential technical means to promote sustainable agricultural development and modernization research. Existing supervised algorithms rely on many finely annotated remote-sensing images, which is both time-consuming and expensive. One way to reduce the annotation cost approach is to migrate models trained on existing annotated data (source domain) to unannotated data (target domain). However, model generalization capability is often unsatisfactory due to the limit of the domain gap. In this work, we use an unsupervised adversarial domain adaptation method to train a neural network to close the gap between the source and target domains for unsupervised agricultural land extraction. The overall approach consists of two phases: inter-domain and intra-domain adaptation. In the inter-domain adaptation, we use a generative adversarial network (GAN) to reduce the inter-domain gap between the source domain (labeled dataset) and the target domain (unlabeled dataset). The transformer with robust long-range dependency modeling acts as the backbone of the generator. In addition, the multi-scale feature fusion (MSFF) module is designed in the generator to accommodate remote sensing datasets with different spatial resolutions. Further, we use an entropy-based approach to divide the target domain. The target domain is divided into two subdomains, easy split images and hard split images. By training against each other between the two subdomains, we reduce the intra-domain gap. Experiments results on the "DeepGlobe → LoveDA", "GID → LoveDA" and "DeepGlobe → GID" unsupervised agricultural land extraction tasks demonstrate the effectiveness of our method and its superiority to other unsupervised domain adaptation techniques.


As increasing the use of pesticides both in number and amount to boost crop production, consumer concerns over food quality and safety with respect to residual pesticides are also continuously increasing. However, there is still lacking of information that can effectively help to remove residual pesticides in foods. In recent years, contaminant removal by gas (or) glow discharge plasma (GDP) attracts great interests on environmental scientists because of its high removal efficiency and environmental compatibility. It was shown to be effective for the removal of some organophosphorus pesticides, phenols, benzoic acid, dyes, and nitrobenzene on solid substrate or in aqueous solution. This work mainly focuses on the removal of wide range of residual pesticides from fresh fruits and vegetables. As for preliminary study, the experiments were carried out to investigate whether GDP can be used as an effective tool for degrading target pesticides or not. With this objective, 60 selected pesticides drop wised onto glass slides were exposed to two types of GDP, dielectric barrier discharge plasma (DBDP) and low pressure discharge plasma (LPDP), for 5 min. Then, they were washed with 2 mL MeCN which were collected and used for determination of remaining concentration of pesticides using LC-MS/MS. Among selected pesticides, degradation of 18 pesticides (endosulfan-total was counted as one pesticide) by GDP could not be examined because control treatments, which were left in ambient environment, of those pesticides recovered less than 70% or even did not recover. However, majority of tested pesticides (42) were degraded by both types of GDP with satisfactory recovery (>80%) of control sample. Pesticides degradation ranged from 66.88% to 100% were achieved by both types of plasma except clothianidin which degradation in LPDP was 26.9%. The results clearly indicate that both types of gas discharge plasma are promising tools for degrading wide range of pesticides on glass substrate.


Abstract Neural networks have received a great deal of attention over the last few years. They are being used in the areas of prediction and classification, areas where regression models and other related statistical techniques have traditionally been used. In this paper we discuss neural networks and compare them to regression models. We start by exploring the history of neural networks. This includes a review of relevant literature on the topic of neural networks. Neural network nomenclature is then introduced, and the backpropagation algorithm, the most widely used learning algorithm, is derived and explained in detail. A comparison between regression analysis and neural networks in terms of notation and implementation is conducted to aid the reader in understanding neural networks. We compare the performance of regression analysis with that of neural networks on two simulated examples and one example on a large dataset. We show that neural networks act as a type of nonparametric regression model, enab...


The representation of a wide variety of nonlinear functions by means of the interconnection of unstabilized operational amplifiers is discussed. The nonlinear functions described include rectification, saturation functions, coulomb friction, dead space, and starting friction. The use of operational amplifiers alone to produce square waves and triangular waves, as well as gating operations, is also discussed. These latter circuits are combined to give a time division multiplier using only standard operational amplifiers as components. Accuracy capabilities for all of these nonlinear operations are the order of 0.01 to 1 per cent.


In this experiment,wheat,soybean and oat were used to intercropping cucumber to explore impacts of different intercropping patterns on cucumber growth and soil environment.The results showed that:three crops interplanting significantly reduced the soil bulk density,significantly increased the total soil porosity.During the entire growing period,three treatments significantly reduced the accumulation of salt in soil,and in the latter part of fertility,the value of EC decreased 38.96 % than in the control;the content of organic matter in the treatments(wheat intercropping cucumber)and the treatments(oat intercropping cucumber)were significantly higher than the control;the number of fusarium of the treatments(wheat intercropping cucumber)was dropped by an average of 69.44 %.The three treatments obviously promote the cucumber growth and increase its yield.Cucumber intercropping wheat has the best effect and achieves the objective of relaxing the soil obstacle brought by successive cropping in greenhouse.


The power demand is more than the generation and it is not economical & reliable to increase the generation by conventional sources. Day by day the use of non-conventional sources has been increased due to their economy and pollution free characteristics. This paper deals with the synchronization and stability of non-conventional source like Pico and micro hydro plant with thermal based synchronous generator as a major objective. The other objectives of this paper are controlled voltage and frequency for variable load. The various papers on this issue with and without controller are referred and conclusions are summarized in the results for considering V and f for stabilization.


In this paper Elliot W. Eisner argues that the distinctive forms of thinking needed to create artistically crafted work are relevant not only to what students do, they are relevant to virtually all aspects of what we do, from the design of curricula, to the practice of teaching, to the features of the environment in which students and teachers live. It was originally given as the John Dewey Lecture for 2002, Stanford University


Growing degree-days (GDD) above base temperatures of 0, 5 and 10°C provide a useful indicator for assessing seasonal crop development in the Atlantic region of Canada. GDD statistics can be useful for a variety of agricultural management decisions. This study presents seasonally accumulated average values of GDD above 5°C for all geographic regions of Atlantic Canada based on data from the 30 yr period 1956 to 1985. Values ranged from a high exceeding 1800 GDD in several areas of the Maritimes to less than 800 for the northern tip of Newfoundland. 'Rules of thumb' procedures were established for estimating the probability that selected threshold GDD values were exceeded and for estimating accumulated GDD at selected probability levels for all 3 base temperatures. Average accumulated GDD for base temperatures of 0°C and 10°C were highly correlated with values for 5°C (r2 2 0.97). Available GDD at probability levels of 5, 10 and 25% were related to the mean accumulated GDD for all 3 base temperatures using linear regression relationships (r2 2 0.97). Also, the probability of exceeding selected threshold values of accumulated GDD were related by second order regression functions (r2 2 0.84) to the average GDD for each base temperature. By using these regression relationships, mean GDD > 5OC can be used to estimate GDD over a range of probabilities and probabilities for a range of GDD thresholds for 0, 5 and 10°C base temperatures.


[Review of] Emotion, affective practices, and the past in the present : edited by Laurajane Smith, Margaret Wetherell and Gary Campbell, Oxon and New York, Routledge, 2018; £29.99 (pbk); ISBN: 978-1-138-57929-3 (pbk); £110.00 (hbk); ISBN: 978-0-815-37002-4 (hbk); £15.00 (ebk); ISBN: 978-1-351-25096-2 (ebk).


Internet flows characteristics are important reference for network behaviors research. However, there are few latest related studies and comparative analysis on different networks is especially rare. Based on traffic traces from CAIDA and CERNET, this paper presents a detailed and comprehensive comparison on Internet flows characteristics, including the fine-grained distributions of lifetime, size, rate, life stage, port and protocol of flows. Our comparative research and conclusion can provide a latest data support for other studies of network behaviors, traffic classification, network performance and network security etc.


This article discusses the use of literature from agenda-driven sources, such as policy authorities and lobby groups, in business education. Notwithstanding issues around objectivity and peer review, this piece advocates the inclusion of such literature and recommends methods for doing so constructively. The methods recommended include attention to facts/argument distinctions, pursuit of balance alongside quality media, exploring methodology aspects of subjectivity and direct engagement of policy and lobby topics. Following this there is explanation of how these methods are deployed throughout a business degree course in practice. Finally, there is reflection on these aspects in the context of relevant pedagogy.


In order to detect outliers in temperature time series data for improving data quality and decision-making quality related to design and operation, we proposed an algorithm based on sliding window prediction. Firstly, the time series are segmented based on the sliding window. Then, the prediction model is established based on the history data to predict the future value. If the difference between a predicted value and a measured value is larger than the preset threshold value, the sequence point will be judged to be an outlier and then corrected. In this paper, the sliding window and parameter settings of the algorithm are discussed and the algorithm is verified on actual data. This method does not need to pre classify the abnormal points and perform fast, and can handle large scale data. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can not only effectively detect outliers in the time series of meteorological data but also improves the correction efficiency notoriously.


In this paper an analysis is made from the point of view of benefits and limitations of the Stirling engines as prime movers in micro –CCHP systems. The thermal efficiency is better for micro-CCHP systems with Stirling engines followed by reciprocating engines. Stirling engines use an external heat source, which simplifies design, minimizes noise and vibration, and allow multi-fuel use. These features make the Stirling engine a promising alternative to the internal combustion engine.


This invention relates to a method of active control of the temperature differential coefficient in a gas turbine engine, comprising the steps of injecting fuel into a combustion chamber of a gas turbine engine through one or more injectors fuel circumferentially arranged, determining a coefficient of initial circumferential temperature difference in the combustion chamber and regulating the fuel flow through one or more selected fuel injector (s) on the basis of the initial circumferential temperature differential coefficient to obtain a temperature differential coefficient circumferential modified in the combustion chamber. The step of determining an initial circumferential coefficient of thermal gap in the combustion chamber can in turn comprise the steps of detecting a chemiluminescent signature in the combustion chamber, the signature correlating chemiluminescent an equivalence ratio, and calculate the circumferential coefficient of thermal gap based on the equivalence ratio. Alternatively, the step of determining an initial circumferential coefficient of thermal gap in the combustion chamber may comprise the steps of measuring temperatures at a plurality of circumferential positions at the outlet of the combustion chamber, then calculate initial coefficient of circumferential thermal difference on the basis of the measured temperatures.


The purpose of this case analysis is to determine the inadequate application of financial planning and its influence on the decision making of the company. Automotores Villena Cia. Ltda., from the city of Ambato, to explain in a better way, because for the content of the present investigation it was necessary to collect the information, surveys were applied, within this the incidence of financial planning was analyzed, analyzed by means of indicators as liquidity, solvency, and indebtedness; In this way, results were obtained regarding the application of financial planning, of the workers and administrators of the company, Automotores Villena Cia. Ltda., and the causes for poor decision making, ignorance of budgets, and the application of accounting control, as the purpose of the use of research techniques such as the survey, in addition financial planning is a tool that helps to prepare to face possible future situations, allowing thereby to direct efforts towards achieving real performance goals, for which ignorance of budgets, caused the entity, do not plan their purchases, maintain low levels of liquidity for the originating entity losses economic for the entity generating that the owners of the Automotores Villena Cia. Ltda. have a breach of financial goals.


Tang Yongtong (1893-1964) is a Buddhist scholar representative of modern China. With the publication of History of Buddhism in the Han, Wei, Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties, Tang Yongtong made a history of the study of ancient Chinese Buddhism. He systematized the complete branches of philos...


Remnants of Tropical Dry Forest persist in urban and peri-urban areas and are essential for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.  However, the challenges facing the conservation of these respective forests have intensified with the encroachment of the urban frontier, mining activities, deforestation, and cattle ranching.  In this context, our study aims to estimate the diversity of the order Chiroptera and characterize the diet of the family Phyllostomidae.  This approach allows us to gain insights into the ecological dynamics and assess the status of Tropical Dry Forest fragments located within the urban and peri-urban areas of Cúcuta, Colombia.  Field sampling was conducted from January to September 2018, with a total sampling effort of 2,160 hours/meter/net.  Bats were sexed, morphometrically characterized, and had their feces collected for diet analysis before being tagged and released. We identified three families, nine genera, and 11 species.  A total of 276 individuals were captured.  Seven species were observed in the urban area and ten in the peri-urban zone; Artibeus lituratus and Carollia perspicillata were the most abundant species in both locations.  The diet included seeds from the families Moraceae, Anacardiaceae, and Rosaceae.  Our findings reveal that in areas with dense vegetation, such as peri-urban zones, frugivorous bats prefer to consume fruits of domesticated species, including economically significant fruits like guava and tomato.  This dietary shift could alter seed dispersal patterns and the dynamics of the Tropical Dry Forest, highlighting the ecological importance of these flying mammals in ecosystem regeneration.


The compositional profiles and the electrical properties of the bilayers of CdS and CuInSe2 films in CdS/CuInSe2 solar cells are presented and compared with those of the individual layers alone. The CuInSe2 bilayer shows that the two individual layers have mixed, except for the last‐to‐deposit 0.2–0.4 μm, which is semi‐insulating and copper poor. This bilayer remains p type and highly resistive during the cell processing steps. The CdS bilayer consists of an almost stoichiometric layer close to the junction and a top In‐doped low‐resistivity layer. The CdS/CuInSe2 may possibly operate as a P‐S‐N device, where the S layer is defined largely by a semi‐insulating CuInSe2 layer.


management, corruption and vested political interests have made Kenya's sugar industry so inefficient that the country's goal of attaining self-sufficiency in sugar production will remain unattainable for a long time. To explain the persistence of this situation, the article examines the management practice in the industry, prevailing production arrangments and the problems associated with it, focusing on the politics that pervades the entire system Introductionpaper has two objectives. The first objective is to discuss the management of Kenya's sugar industry and to shed insights into the politics surrounding the management of the industry. The second objective is to suggest a way forward in terms of an effective policy framework for the effective management of the industry. In an attempt to meet these objectives we have provided a historical background to the sugar industry in Kenya including information about the various actors involved in the industry since its inception to date. These include sugar-cane farmers and their organizations, the owners of capital, both local and international, that have invested in the industry, the managers and the state through its various institutions. The paper then examines the production structure of the sugar industry including the production arrangements and the problems associated with the production system that has been put in place. The final part of the paper suggests a way forward in terms of policy. An attempt is made throughout the paper to highlight the politics affecting the management of the sugar industry. The argument of the paper is that poor management, corruption and vested political interests have made the sugar industry so inefficient that the aim of making Kenya self-sufficient in sugar is likely to remain elusive for a long time to come. Data for this report was obtained from both secondary and primary sources.


Objective To study the phenomena and the law of apoptosis about osteoclasts of SD rat cultured in vitro. Method The phenomena about apoptosis of osteoclasts of SD rat cultured in vitro were investigated through morpholog and DNA 3-OH terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxyuride tiphosphate nick-end labeling by microscope, and the law of apoptosis was suspected. Result The phenomena of apoptosis was observed, the number and the ratio of osteoclasts in apoptosis were increasing by the time of culture. The ratio of apoptosis of osteoclasts were 10, 14, 34 and 50 percent at the date of 3, 4, 5 and 6 respectively. Conclusion Apoptosis is existed in osteoclasts of SD rat cultured in vitro, the ratio of apoptosis of osteoclasts is increasing by the time of culture.


A suite of numerical experiments is conducted to extend our previous studies to explore the effects of linear, ambient wind shear on simulated mammatus‐like clouds. Increasing values of unidirectional shear result in banded cloud bases, and for the strongest shears roll‐type quasi‐two‐dimensional convection results rather than three‐dimensional lobe morphology. Two observed soundings were used, and the sounding with a drier, shallower sub‐cloud layer appeared to be most strongly affected by the presence of the ambient shear. The drier sounding also had less snow in the mammatus lobes owing to sublimation. Copyright © 2009 Royal Meteorological Society


seven cases of abduction, the average amount of abduction was 9°, In the eight cases of adduction, the average amount of adduction was 12°. A neutral position was present in four cases, and two patients were not examined. In the eight cases of external rotation, a high average of 22° was present, owing to two cases in which the extent was 37° and 45° respectively. In two cases internal rotation was present, but was very slight.


Objective To investigate the changes of gastrointestinal hormone and body composition in patients with gastric cancer after gastrectomy.Methods Thirty-eight patients with gastric cancer were divided into three groups: distal gastrectomy group,proximal gastrectomy group and total gastrectomy group and 9 volunteers as control group.The nutrition status and gastrointestinal function were evaluated by four times.The time of postoperative first anal exsufflation and defacation,hospital stay and complications were recorded,and the pre-meal and the post-meal level of gastrointestinal hormones 1 month after operation were detected.Results Compared with control group,the basic levels of somatostatin(SS),cholecystokinin(CCK) and motilin(MTL) of distal gastrectomy group,proximal gastrectomy group and total gastrectomy group significantly increased(P0.01).The post-meal level of gastrointestinal hormones significantly increased as compared with the pre-meal level in each group(P0.01).The CCK in proximal gastrectomy group was lower than that of distal gastrectomy group and total gastrectomy group(P0.01).The postoperative body weight and body composition in each group decreased.One month after operation,patients of total gastrectomy group got the lowest body weight(P0.01).The decreasing level of fat free mass(FFM) was listed by total gastrectomy group,proximal gastrectomy group and distal gastrectomy group.The edema index had significant difference in distal gastrectomy group,proximal gastrectomy group and total gastrectomy group(P0.01),and total gastrectomy group was the most obvious.The postoperative passing flatus and defecation time and average hospital stay in total gastrectomy group were significantly prolonged (P0.05).The gastrointestinal symptoms score among three groups was significantly different(P0.05).Conclusion There are different changes of gastrointestinal hormone and body composition in patients with gastric cancer after different gastrectomy,the basic levels of SS,CCK and MTL of distal gastrectomy group,proximal gastrectomy group and total gastrectomy group are higher than those of control group.The CCK of proximal gastrectomy group is lower than that of distal gastrectomy group and total gastrectomy group.Patients received total gastrectomy lose much body weight and FFM and get higher edema index.


In the midst of a federal investigation that resulted in the conviction of thirty-one Philadelphia police officers, the Philadelphia Inquirer, which referred to the city as a "petri dish for corruption,"' described the elements that made Philadelphia one of the leading examples of systemic police corruption in recent years. A hierarchical and lucrative system of payoffs from pimps, video gambling machine purveyors, and numbers operators cut through several layers of the police force, extending as far as the second-in-command of the entire city. 2 Through a series of federal investigations and prosecutorial efforts that netted several high-ranking police officers, some of whom turned state's evidence and broke what the chief prosecutor called the conspiracy of silence, the Philadelphia situation was brought to the forefront in a country which had experienced several significant police scandals in recent years. As the chief prosecutor explained, "[t]he message has been sent that officers cannot trust anyone to insulate them from the consequences of their wrongdoing.'" In other major American cities, corruption episodes were also coming to the attention of authorities. In New York City, several members of the 77th Precinct were indicted after they were suspected of extorting money from crack dealers. 4 In Boston, officers were convicted of activities including extorting payoffs from vice purveyors. 5 In San Francisco, an initiation


An organizational architecture consists of a number of decisionmakers, the information processing and decisionmaking functions they carry out, and their interactions. A constraint in the design of an organizational structure is that no decisionmaker be overloaded. Two performance measures are used to analyze and evaluate alternative organizational designs: (a) the accuracy of the response, as measured by a cost functional, and (b) the timeliness of the response as measured by the expected delay between the time a task is received and an output or response is produced.


When I started my acupuncture career in 1995, I bypassed pregnant patients. Besides not knowing exactly what to do for them, there was a bit of trepidation that these patients were high risk for malpractice. In fact, Medical Acupuncture rarely approached this subject, articles were infrequent if not nonexistent in the journal, and seldom did the topic or demands from the readership query thoughts in this direction. So, why the change? Over the years, I heard ''tales'' that in Australia and New Zealand, pregnant females were routinely treated with acupuncture more so than in the United States. But still, that did not inspire my motivation for a ''reconciliation'' of this patient population. When I again avoided to treat a near-term female's back pain and told my staff, ''We do not treat pregnant females,'' I probably came to my senses and asked myself, ''What makes these patients so different not to treat them?'' I finally made the decision and approached Vicki Cohn, Chief Editorial Officer, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers, to make her aware of my embarking on a Special Edition of Acupuncture and Pregnancy. Right from the start, I can tell you that it was difficult to find guest editors to help spearhead this project. I persisted, and eventually people volunteered for this edition. And despite being encouraged that we might receive many articles, nothing happened for quite a while. Again, not being discouraged easily, we decided to launch a roundtable discussion to discuss the virtues of acupuncture and pregnancy. And it took place. Wow! I was impressed with these experts, as they exceeded my expectations on this subject. I had invigorated enthusiasm to push forward with this Special Edition. And now you are reading the culmination of many months of hard work and dedication from all the participants as you leaf through the journal. In fact, the response from the readership, slow at the beginning, was so enthusiastic that a second Special Edition dealing with Acupuncture and Pregnancy will be published in the December 2019 issue. What did I learn? First, I learned from the roundtable discussion that pregnant females should be treated like any other nonpregnant patient. The risk for malpractice is very low. Pregnant females respond very well to acupuncture and will be very grateful to you for helping combat their pain, especially back pain. Perinatal depressive disorders can affect 50–80% of all mothers. Many types of antipsychotic medications and mood-stabilizing drugs such as lithium may be dangerous to the nursing mother. In the article by Nader Soliman, ''Auricular treatment of maternal depressive disorders,'' auriculotherapy may be a realistic substitute for medication that could negatively impact the newborn. Yang et al. guide us with the challenges of polycystic ovary syndrome. Their ''Commentary on the use of acupuncture in overweight/obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome'' reminds us that acupuncture may offer help to these patients by overcoming stress, irregular menstrual cycles, and infertility. If you are ever requested to treat with acupuncture postpartum voiding dysfunction after vaginal delivery or catheter removal, you will be glad you read Sudhakaran's article dealing with ''Urinary retention in pregnancy and puerperium-acupuncture treatment.'' One of the mentioned review articles states 92% woman achieved spontaneous micturition within 1 hour. Sudhakaran's treatment advice will prove to be very useful. How many of the readership have asked to treat patients undergoing in vitro fertilization? I certainly have been asked on many occasions. In ''A UK support network for maternity acupuncture: A survey of acupuncturists belonging to the acupuncture childbirth team,'' Debra Betts et al. describe 114 invitations that were sent out to this network and 99 replies received back dealing with conditions that acupuncture treated. We learn that 65.8% referrals came from medical health professionals for pregnancy challenges, in particular 19.5% for fertility and 9.7% for menstrual conditions. But the article is more informative than I mention here. Do we have any other organized networks elsewhere? Murali Chakravarthy and Anitha Prashanth in their clinical trial entitled ''Evaluation of percutaneous nerve stimulation of the auricle for relief of postoperative pain following cesarean section'' achieved reasonable pain control by electrical stimulation of the thalamus, shenmen, and the uterus points. Patients can be treated with a portable full-time ear stimulator. This is a very unique innovation. We all wonder in what manner acupuncture can play a role to enhance an IVF program. In their article ''Electroacupuncture can enhance the number of mature oocytes and fertility rates in IVF program through inhibition of granulosa cell apoptosis,'' Kusuma et al., focused on Bax, Bcl2, GDf9, BMP-15, and oocyte maturation index, delineate an in-depth focus of electroacupuncture in fertility challenges. If all of these articles are not enough to demonstrate the relevance of acupuncture for the various stages of pregnancy, several interesting case reports are also included: ''A discussion of GV 20: Its role in in vitro fertilization and frozen embryo transfer: A case report'' by Torrents, ''Successful natural pregnancy using whole systems Traditional Chinese Medicine in a complex, anovulatory patient after multiple unsuccessful in vitro fertilization treatments: A case report'' by Rosenthal et al., and ''Pre-labor acupuncture to prepare normal delivery in multiparous over forty years old: A case report'' by Handayani and Balgis. I wish to thank our guest editors for their editorials, recommendations, and numerous reviews. Thanks also to our editorial staff who helped with an overflow of reviews. Most importantly, I have to acknowledge with deep gratitude and thanks Dr. Yael BenPorat, DAOM, MPH, the Managing Editor. How she kept things straight and on track is beyond me? She is my ''Wingman!''


Higher order M-ary phase shift keying (MPSK) and differential phase shift keying (MDPSK) (M≥ 4) are used in optical communications for increased spectral efficiency. This paper proposes a unified and systematic approach to predicting the error probability of MPSK with phase reference error (PRE) and MDPSK with residual phase noise (RPN) in additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel. It is shown that AWGN leads to an equivalent additive observation phase noise (AOPN), whose probability density function (pdf) conditioned on knowing the received signal magnitude is Tikhonov. For high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), the Tikhonov pdf can be accurately approximated by a Gaussian pdf. This AOPN can be combined with the PRE/RPN, and the distribution of the combined phase noise (AOPN + PRE/RPN) facilitates the computation of the probability of the received signal phasor falling in any sector in the complex plane. It thus enables us to express the symbol error probability of MPSK/MDPSK with phase noise as one Gaussian Q-function. Moreover, it facilitates the analysis of bit error probability (BEP) with Gray code mapping for MPSK/MDPSK. All the new BEP expressions obtained are linear combinations of single Gaussian Q-functions, and do not involve the product of Gaussian Q-functions. It is shown that our Gaussian AOPN + PRE/RPN model provides a simpler and quicker way to accurately estimate the error performance as a function of the phase error variance. Our unified approach is increasingly more accurate as M increases.


An electron paramagnetic resonance spectrograph operating at a wavelength of 3 cm is described. The sensitivity of the spectrograph is 5 x 10/ sup -9/ mole for a resonance width of 2.7 Gauss and a signal-to-noise ratio of 5: 1. (tr-auth)


This chapter presents a case study from India of a knowledge database which assembles a wide range of agricultural data relating to land holding, soil analysis, cropping patterns, past yield and fertilizer use. The case demonstrates how mobile phones are used to relay information to farmers. Particular attention is paid to investigating how a multiplicity of agencies, both government and private, can make use of such data. Because agencies and farmers themselves require tailored information packages, the 'broadcasting' of information is of limited value; rather 'narrowcasting' targeted information serves the farmers' needs better and it is more likely that the farmers will act upon the advice. The chapter assesses the use of tablets made available to farmer facilitators, for uploading/updating farmer data as well as downloading and sharing information with the farmers, and relaying information to experts in other locations.


Ngā Kupu Whakataki: Abstract

The study focuses on identifying how the reconstruction of the whānau and its approach to childrearing through the colonisation of Māori society can be perceived within the experiences of the case study of four generations of one whānau. A kaupapa Māori approach to research provided a framework for members of our whānau to socially construct their realities regarding the dynamics of our four generation whānau collaboratively. Socio-cultural theoretical frameworks were used to analyse approaches to whānau and childrearing.


This work describes a proposal for a platform focused on modeling and simulation (sequential or distributed) of quantum algorithms. More specifically, the integration between the environments VPE-qGM and VirD-GM is considered, providing a solution to the high computational cost associated to the simulation of quantum algorithms on classical computers. In this context, the algorithms are visually programmed and the details of distribution, communication and synchronization, required for the execution in distributed systems, are transparently managed by the execution environment. The validation and performance analysis consist in simulating a quantum search algorithm, obtaining results which demonstrate the performance gain of the platform compared to the sequential simulation.


A complementary two-step MOCVD growth technique for the self-aligned laser is described which eliminates any possible difficulty associated with regrowth on a high composition AlGaAs layer by placing the regrowth interface outside the stripe region. Single-longitudinal-mode operation with stable near and far-field patterns has been obtained to more than twice the laser threshold current.


With the threat posed by climate change becoming more and more apparent, many are pushing for greater use of more sustainable energy sources, such as wind power. While these 'green' energy sources can attract generous subsidies from government, can this investment be justified in comparison to their reductions of greenhouse gas emissions? Joseph Cullen takes an in-depth look at the cost of wind power, compared with the value of emissions avoided. He finds that given the current social cost of carbon, subsidies are not the most cost-efficient way to mitigate climate change.


Abstract Antibiotic‐resistant strains of bacteria such as methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus are a threat to human health, and effective treatment options against them are needed. This study aimed to determine whether the insecticide permethrin was capable of inhibiting the growth of S. aureus or if some other component of a permethrin cream was responsible for a decrease in scabies associated bacterial infection previously observed. Ten S. aureus strains were grown in the presence of permethrin and formaldehyde both alone and in combination with percent inhibition determined by viable counts. Also, a time‐kill assay was conducted on S. aureus exposed to the same conditions. Finally, the morphology of S. aureus grown in the presence of permethrin was examined by scanning electron microscopy. Bacterial inhibition by permethrin ranged from 0% to 41% whereas inhibition by formaldehyde was 100%. The time‐kill curves of permethrin exposed cells were very similar to the positive growth control while the formaldehyde and combination exposure showed complete inhibition even at the 0‐hr time point. The scanning electron micrographs of permethrin grown S. aureus showed healthy cocci cells with no sign of cell damage. Our results show that permethrin is not capable of inhibiting the growth of bacteria enough for it to be termed bactericidal. Formaldehyde is a known antiseptic and therefore was responsible for the antibacterial effect observed after the use of permethrin cream.


The Aircraft Sound Description System (ASDS) is a method of describing aircraft noise. It has been established as the basic FAA technique for predicting community noise exposure caused by aircraft operations. This report (in four volumes) contains a description of the manual and computer techniques for applying ASDS as well as a current set of noise exposure contours. In this volume, a general introduction to the application procedures is presented. The material in subsequent volumes is described, and the required data preparation and basic methodology used in performing an ASDS application are presented. (Modified author abstract)


The achieved results proved, that the conventional wheat production release the CO2e amount of 0, 5581 kg into the air compared to 0, 4624 kg of CO2e produced by organic wheat. Higher amount of emission reached within conventional farming is primarily contributed to high volume of CO2 emission released from easily dissolving conventional nitrogen fertilizers. An evident difference in emission load and greenhouse gases production is reached within flour production as well. It is 12% (0,5855 kg CO2e) lower when the organic flour is produced compared to the conventionally produced flour (0,6664 kg CO2e). Also transport plays an important role as far as the emission production is concerned. It has been proved, that regional transport (distance up to 50 km) contributes to the release of CO2e by 0,0137 kg compared to super-regional transport (distance up to 400 km) producing the CO2e amount of 0,1094 kg. Based on the achieved results it is evident, that the environmental load is affected by the farming system applied and observance of the principles of regional activity as well.


Industrial rotating machines may be exposed to severe dynamic excitations due to resonant working regimes. Dealing with the bending vibration, problem of a machine rotor, the shaft—and attached discs—can be simply modelled using the Bernoulli-Euler beam theory, as a continuous beam subjected to a specific set of boundary conditions. In this study, the authors recall Rayleigh's method to propose an iterative strategy, which allows for the determination of natural frequencies and mode shapes of continuous beams taking into account the effect of attached concentrated masses and rotational inertias, including different stiffness coefficients at the right and the left end sides. The algorithm starts with the exact solutions from Bernoulli-Euler's beam theory, which are then updated through Rayleigh's quotient parameters. Several loading cases are examined in comparison with the experimental data and examples are presented to illustrate the validity of the model and the accuracy of the obtained values.


The Postapocalyptic Black Female Imagination offers a capacious, revealing sense of Black and African diaspora fiction, and expressive culture more broadly, that can be read in a speculative vein and that envisions forms of aftermath or change following cataclysmic events and crises. In particular, a case is shaped for the contributions made by women writers, inviting a reappraisal of Afrofuturist and science fiction canon formation, and for a corpus that includes together African American and Anglo-Caribbean literatures, with gestures also to African literatures as well as figurations of Africa. Montgomery affirms "the role of vernacular culture in the creation of futuristic imaginaries that betray a postapocalyptic sensibility" and poses an investigation into a narrative tradition that limns the potential of catastrophe to catalyze "a radically transformed social landscape with reimagined race, gender, and sexual configurations" (6-7). Although the approach is sometimes somewhat diffuse, this is a significant inquiry both in terms of the focus on and delineation of the postapocalyptic in Black cultural imaginaries, and in terms of the striking combination of material.


Temporal action localization (TAL), which involves recognizing and locating action instances, is a challenging task in video understanding. Most existing approaches directly predict action classes and regress offsets to boundaries, while overlooking the discrepant importance of each frame. In this paper, we propose an Action Sensitivity Learning framework (ASL) to tackle this task, which aims to assess the value of each frame and then leverage the generated action sensitivity to recalibrate the training procedure. We first introduce a lightweight Action Sensitivity Evaluator to learn the action sensitivity at the class level and instance level, respectively. The outputs of the two branches are combined to reweight the gradient of the two sub-tasks. Moreover, based on the action sensitivity of each frame, we design an Action Sensitive Contrastive Loss to enhance features, where the action-aware frames are sampled as positive pairs to push away the action-irrelevant frames. The extensive studies on various action localization benchmarks (i.e., MultiThumos, Charades, Ego4D-Moment Queries v1.0, Epic-Kitchens 100, Thumos14 and ActivityNet1.3) show that ASL surpasses the state-of-the-art in terms of average-mAP under multiple types of scenarios, e.g., single-labeled, densely-labeled and egocentric.


This chapter describes the Conceptual view and the Realization view. Both views are supported by a set of submethods to describe multi-disciplinary design, for example several decompositions and models are provided. Distribution This article or presentation is written as part of the Gaudí project. The Gaudí project philosophy is to improve by obtaining frequent feedback. Frequent feedback is pursued by an open creation process. This document is published as intermediate or nearly mature version to get feedback. Further distribution is allowed as long as the document remains complete and unchanged. All Gaudí documents are available at: http://www.gaudisite.nl/ version: 1.5 status: finished September 9, 2018


Previous studies have shown that silent information regulator 1 (SIRT1) expression is elevated in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. However, whether gene polymorphisms in SIRT1 gene associated with RA in a Chinese Han population remains to be discussed.


In this paper the recently recovered records of the Li family are discussed. These records answer many questions surrounding the start of taijiquan. This corrects many prior assumptions, and the documents reveal new insights into how various certain martial arts originally developed.


Preface1. A Multiple Birth: The European Discovery and Naming of Manhattan: Angoul me, New Amsterdam, New York, New Orange, and Forever After, New York2. A Multireligious Destiny: The Early Establishment of Religious Pluralism in Churches and Schools3. Seafaring Splendor: The Shaping of New York's Destiny as a World-Class Seaport4. Merchant Princes: The Lure of Marketing, Merchandising, and Moneymaking5. Peopling New York: Asia, Europe, and Africa Transplanted6. A City of Contrasts: Ascent of the Rich and Struggles of the Poor7. Broadway: The Metamorphosis of a Manhattan Street8. Brooklyn and Staten Island: The People, Parks, and Ambience9. The Bronx and Queens: The People, Parks and Ambience10. Politicians for all Seasons: Peter Stuyvesant, Thomas Dongan, Fernando Wood, and Fiorello La Guardia11. Triumphs of Architecture and Urban Engineering: Buildings, Bridges, Parks, and the City's Underground12. Painting, Theater, Music, and Dance: New York's Rise as an International Center in All Phases of the Arts13. Communication as Art and as Industry: Literature, Newspapers, Printing, and Publishing14. Sports for All Seasons and All Fans: Take Me Out to the BallgameNotesBibliographyPicture CreditsIndex


A rgument by analogy poses problems for philosophers,1 but the rest of us love it. It lets us question the analogy and avoid the issue. Hernan's2 argument, for example, is a bit hard to follow, and the congruence between the numerators (a published article vs. a case) and the denominators (all articles published in a journal vs. all cases occurring at a facility) seems somehow inexact. But no matter. The analogy may be arguable, but the point is clear: epidemiology and good sense dictate that numerators and denominators be of the same logical type. The frequency with which articles in a journal are cited, divided by the number of articles the journal publishes, is a ratio whose interpretation is dicey. A large ratio can result from a large numerator or a small denomina tor, and vice versa. The defects in the impact factor are legion (aberrations in counting, citation of nonresearch articles, gaming the system, inappropriate use for academic promotion, etc.).3'4 Rectifying the fraction by making numerator and denominator congruent will not solve the problem. As Douglas Altman has pointed out in an ongoing conversation on the listserve of the World Asso ciation of Medical Editors (email@example.com), the impact factor does not measure quality, but rather the frequency of citation-not at all the same thing. To use an analogy with social network analysis, the IF measures centrality, the extent to which a "node" (the journal in this case) is connected to others. Judgments about that centrality (prominence, importance, influ ence) are revealed only with a lot more information about those connections. These arguments have been around for some time, so why is the measure still with us? Tried and true? Tested by time? Corporate control? Faute de mieux? No. I would like to suggest that we have not abandoned it because, warts and all, it works for classifying journals. The big journals have large impact factors, and the lesser journals, smaller ones. Like it or not, the impact factor reflects, with occasional miscarriages, a pecking order that we all recognize. The New England Jour nal of Medicine has a higher impact than the 3 epidemiology journals that Hernan cites. Within the microcosm of epide miology, those 3 journals have a higher impact than the one I edit. But more important, those 3 are clearly not very different from each other (small variation in impact factor notwithstanding), and represent first-tier journals within the field. The one I edit shares the second tier (impact factors in the 2's) with a number of others-an order we all recognize. But if the impact factor simply designates the obvious, why bother with it? For editors, publishers, and sponsors, it provides categories for qualitative judgment, and permits appraisal of change (I have gone from "1" to "2"). We should jettison its cloak of pseudoquantitation: fix the numerous distortions, but abandon the 3 significant digits, and leave only the truncated integer (no rounding up, please). A jour nal's number would then better reflect the tier, and meretri tious microdistinctions can be avoided. A journal can be judged by the company it keeps and the company it strives for. To use a final analogy, like the philosopher Mr. Ramsey who managed to get to "Q" in his thinking,5 perhaps I can get to "3."


Five 10Ar/39Ar mineral age determinations were performed on two gneissic rocks in the state of Rondonia, Brazil, in the southwestern part of Amazonian Craton. These samples were taken from the crystalline basement of the Rio Negro-Juruena province, which is characterized by medium- to high-grade metamorphic rocks overprinted by polyphase deformation and retrograde metamorphism. This was intruded later by rapakivi granites and associated mafic rocks, as welt as by late tin-bearing granite phases over the time interval 1.57 to 1.0 Ga. Reconnaissance Rb-Sr studies on the country rocks from Rondonia yielded a whole-rock Rb-Sr isochron age of 1539 ± 36 Ma, which is interpreted as the timing of the regional metamorphism. Granitoid gneisses from the area dated by the SHRIMP U-Pb method on zircons reveal that their crystallization occurred at 1750 ± 17 Ma and 1570 + 17 Ma, The Younger Granites of Rondonia and associated mafic rocks in the area have Rb-Sr and U-Pb dates that range from 1.08 to 1.0 Ga. The new 40Ar...


Introducing the Author, the Chairman said We have a very important lecture tonight before our annual dinner, this being one of the principle evenings of the year Commandant BORIS has been good enough to come to give us a Paper which I think will stimulate a good deal of discussion We can listen to him with much respect, for he is a man with enormous flying experience—some 6,000 hours total, with 400 hours in helicopters He is managing director of Hehcop-Air, which is Hiller's representative in Europe He had a considerable number of racing successes in light aeroplanes in his early flying days, and during the last war he had a very distinguished aviation career, which is shown by the fact that he has the honour of being a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire a well as being an Officer of the Legion d'Honneur with the Croix de Guerre, the Resistance Medal and many other distinctions


BACKGROUND
Dry mouth is associated with salivary gland hypofunction, which may result from several conditions such as Sjögren's syndrome (SS), head and neck cancers, and side effects of medications. The Saxon test is a useful diagnostic method for hyposalivation in clinical settings. However, previous reports indicate that the test has mostly been used for patients with SS.

OBJECTIVE(S)
In the present study, we focused on patients with dry mouth who were not diagnosed with SS (patients without SS).

METHODS
For patients without SS(n=302), we examined the factors affecting Saxon test scores using multiple regression analysis. Additionally, we performed a correlation analysis comparing the Saxon test with other diagnostic methods.

RESULTS
In 57.6% patients, the Saxon test score was more than 2.00 g/2 min, which is considered negative for hyposalivation. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the age and sex of patients significantly influenced test scores. The mean Saxon test score was less than 2.00 g/2 min in older patients and women. Moreover, the test showed a significant correlation with other methods used to measure salivary flow.

CONCLUSION
The Saxon test is useful for not only patients with SS but also patients without SS.


An adequate supply of plant resources is an important fact for the sustainable city development. In this paper, the relationships between the seedling standard and seedling survival rate,the seedling standard and form of plant planted ,and the seedling standard and greening investment were analyzed. The analysis revealed that the selection of the seedling standard not only improved the survival rate of seedlings, but also accumulated green resources effectively and promoted the healthy development of nursery base.


Shear stress distributions, arising at the corners of the active region of buried heterostructure laser diodes, are calculated for a given mismatch and various dimensions of the buried stripe and also for a single and a multiple quantum well structure. The locations of high stresses are compared to the nucleation sites of shear stress induced defects, as observed by transmission electron microscopy in real lasers. The implications of the defects are illustrated and discussed for the case of an overstress tested diode as well as possibilities to prevent the defect formation.


A method to identify the turbulent mixing sources within the marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL) based on the shipborne coherent Doppler lidar measurements is introduced in this paper. Combining with the coherent Doppler lidar signal‐to‐noise ratio, vertical velocity skewness, turbulence kinetic energy dissipation rate, and wind shear intensity, the categories of turbulent mixing sources and the specific turbulent mixing sources could be determined. The method is applied into two voyages of MABL observation during May 2021 in the South China Sea and during April 2022 in the Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea. The turbulent mixing processes are captured and the classification of the turbulence driven sources within the MABL are realized. The temporal‐spatial evolution characteristics of the turbulence mixing process in the MABL are investigated under different weather conditions containing clear‐sky day, cloudy‐sky day, and sea‐fog day. The convective mixing process is recognized in the daytime of the clear‐sky day and the intermittent cloud‐driven turbulence exists below the cloud layer. Additionally, the turbulent mixing is weak which could not act as the main driven source during the sea‐fog day. Furthermore, the dominant turbulence scale analyses of different turbulence sources are conducted based on the cospectra of the vertical velocity and the horizontal speed measurements. The turbulence parameters of different turbulence sources are statistical analyzed and compared in different sea areas. The classification method has the broad application prospects on the study of the air‐sea interaction.


The stability of Couette flow between concentric cylinders of two immiscible fluids with different viscosities and different densities is studied. Two approaches are proposed, both based on the energy method. The first one consists in decomposing the solution at time t into a steady solution defined on the evolution configuration plus a disturbance. An energy estimate is derived, involving and interface term which is not calculable in general. We show that, if this interface term is integrable on R + , then stability occurs. We calculate the interface term in the case of rigid motions. We show that under a rather general assumption on the contact angle between the interface and either cylinder, and the end walls, the interface term reduces to a time derivative of some function. Hence the interface, which is solutions, is obtained by minimizing some potential. The second approach is possible only when an explicit solution is known. When gravity is neglected, a radial solution exists which corresponds to a cylindrical interface. The motion at time t is decomposed into ? Etude de la stabilite de l'ecoulement de Couette entre deux cylindres concentriques de deux fluides non miscibles avec des viscosites et des densites differentes. On propose deux approches basees sur la methode d'energie


Platooning is nowadays one of the most promising applications for vehicle-to-vehicle communications. Platooning makes multiple vehicles travel as closely as possible to get the maximum driving efficiency. The problem here is that the view of the rear vehicle driver may be blocked by the front vehicle. In order to improve rear driver's safety and psychological stability, video streaming among vehicles aims to provide the front view of the platoon leader to rear vehicle drivers. In this paper, we first focus on measurement of realtime video streaming performance using IEEE 802.11p broadcast in the platoon. As a result, packet delivery ratio dropped to 48 % in the worst case that the collision and hidden terminal problem coexist. To mitigate the frame loss, we use pseudobroadcast that can recover frames by retransmission instead of broadcast. In addition, we employ Request-To-Send/Clear-ToSend whose transmission power increased by 5 dB to solve the hidden terminal problem. Consequently, we can prevent the frame loss and increase the packet delivery ratio up to 96.8 %. Our proposal enables vehicle-to-vehicle communications to exploit a new method integrating characteristics of unicast and broadcast to solve this problem. Besides, our proposal can easily apply to existing devices by updating a device driver without any hardware chip level modification.


The Highland High Way is a high level route running for 105 miles from Loch Lomond to Fort William. This book describes an eight-day route, taking in about 23 mountains. It contains route descriptions, sketch maps, mountain safety information, and historical and geographical highlights.


The literature to date has predominantly adopted a between- individual perspective to understand family-work enrichment, assuming that some individuals have a high level of family-work enrichment, ...


Communication among bacterial cells through quorum sensing (QS) system in Pseudomonas aeruginosa is responsible for antibiotic resistant infections in hospitals. This bacterium can regulate its virulence gene expressions through its QS systems. It is now known that inhibiting QS can leave bacteria vulnerable. Therefore, it is necessary to determine natural sources to obtain potential quorum sensing inhibitors. This study aims to investigate the QS inhibitor (QSI) bioactivity of the culture extracts obtained from lichen-forming fungi (LFF) of five Cetrelia species against P. aeruginosa. Extracts were applied to monitor strains and all samples have shown varying amounts of QS inhibition activity. Our study demonstrates that LFF cultures can be utilized to produce QSI compounds instead of collecting slow growing natural lichen thalli. We believe that this research will cast a new light on identification and isolation of active compounds from the extracts and assessment of their compatibility for future drug research.


The field o f protein engineering has grown significantly over the past decade. The solution o f many new protein structures combined with extensive functional analysis has lead to significant advances in our knowledge o f how enzymes are constructed to perform their unique functions with near perfect efficiency. The next step in this evolutionary process is the use o f this knowledge to construct proteins and enzymes with new functions. The goal o f this project was to generate a new enzyme which would perform two functions. We proposed that if we could target a non-specific nuclease to the LTR o f HIV-1 then this might be useful as an anti-HJV gene therapy. This enzyme might also function as a new rare-cutter restriction enzyme. Specifically, one which would be capeable o f cutting at any DNA sequence desired. The specificity o f each enzyme could be determined prior to gene fusion of the DNA recognition domain and the nuclease domain. The result o f this design process was the construction of Splase. Splase, or sometimes known as HSplase due to the presence of a histidine tag for purification, is comprised o f the zinc finger DNA recognition elements from the Spl transcription factor and the nuclease domain from Fok\. My research focuses on the improvement o f this unique enzyme, Splase, with the hope o f generating an enzyme which could fullfill the intended functions and find it's way into the biotechnology marketplace. There were several obstacles to this dream. The initial problem was that the enzyme was very unstable upon purification. This would eventually be solved by expressing the protein as a gene fusion with Glutathione-STransferase. The majority o f my work was dedicated to achieving this result. The second problem was that the substrate was not completely turned over. Research in several other laboratories had shown that zinc fingers have very long dissociation half-lives. This dissociation constant appeared to be modulated by the off" rate o f the peptide from the DNA target. The protein structure revealed the presence o f two types o f interaction between the protein and the DNA. I have termed these affinity and specificity residues. The affinity residues are responsible for general peptide DNA interactions and may be used to modulate the overall affinity o f the peptide for the DNA target thus allowing us to modulate the binding constant via the off rate. If successfull this would lead to an enzyme with an improved off rate and thus an improved turnover o f substrate to product. However, mutagenesis experiments at the positions identified as possible affinity residues resulted in significant negative perturbations to the activity o f the enzyme. We concluded that before this approach could be utilized in this situation we must extensively study the structural and functional properties of both the zinc finger as well as the Fokl restriction enzyme before any further engineering is conducted. At the conclusion o f this work the idea behind this project is very much alive, however, the experimental design toward improving the functional properties of the enzyme must take another path before Splase can become a reality.


By application of the pion electromagnetic form factor and also the P-wave isovector ππ scattering phase shift parametrizations, following from the first principles, like unitarity and analyticity, for a description of the corresponding accurate data, it is clearly demonstrated that the ρ0(770) meson mass and width values obtained by the Gounaris-Sakurai model in a description of the same data can not be accepted as correct ones.


Recent advances in communications, controls, and embedded systems have changed the perception of a car. A vehicle has been the extension of the man's ambulatory system, docile to the driver's commands. It is now a formidable sensor platform, absorbing information from the environment (and from other cars) and feeding it to drivers and infrastructure to assist in safe navigation, pollution control, and traffic management. The next step in this evolution is just around the corner: the Internet of Autonomous Vehicles. Pioneered by the Google car, the Internet of Vehicles will be a distributed transport fabric capable of making its own decisions about driving customers to their destinations. Like other important instantiations of the Internet of Things (e.g. the smart building), the Internet of Vehicles will have communications, storage, intelligence, and learning capabilities to anticipate the customers' intentions. The concept that will help transition to the Internet of Vehicles is the vehicular fog, the equivalent of instantaneous Internet cloud for vehicles, providing all the services required by the autonomous vehicles. In this article, we discuss the evolution from intelligent vehicle grid to autonomous, Internet-connected vehicles, and vehicular fog.