We propose and demonstrate the adaptive conversion of input beam with unsymmetrical intensity distribution into a near-diffraction-limited flattop beam with desired parameters in the near field based on a combination of dual phase-only liquid crystal spatial light modulators (LC-SLMs) and the stochastic parallel gradient descent (SPGD) algorithm. One phase-only LC-SLM redistributes the intensity of the input beam to the desired distributions at the other phase-only LCSLM plane, and the other phase-only LC-SLM compensates the wavefront of the output beam. The SPGD algorithm adaptively optimizes the phase distributions of dual phase-only LC-SLMs to reduce the variance between the actual beam shape and the target beam shape. The experimental results on a prefabricated unsymmetrical input beam show that the technique is capable of adaptively creating near-diffraction-limited flattop beams with desired parameters.


This paper draws on data from a case study of the agri-political group CANEGROWERS which represents the interests of over 6000 cane farm owners in Australia. The key focus is on the electoral system of the organisation. Using interviews with fifteen elected members, document analysis and participant observation the author examines the way in which women's lack of representation in any of the 181 positions of organisational leadership is explained by a discourse of merit. While this discourse presents the electoral system as being open, objective and gender neutral, elected leaders descriptions of their own paths to leadership reveal an electoral system which is closed, subjective and distinctly gendered.


Finite State Machines (FSMs) are mathematical abstractions which have a rich use in computer applications. If we build a FSM for software, then it becomes much easier and simpler to understand, debug and modify. The insights developed in FSMs have had great influence on various domains. FSM is as important as any other computer science tool. This paper minimizes the gap which currently exists between software development and the formal method of theoretical computer science. So importance of FSMs has been explored over various such domains in this article. These domains include spoken web technology that enables a user to access a massive network of voice sites through speech. Information transfer protocol for Vehicular Computing is another domain, where users can get on road support services using vehicular sensors and global position system. Adding on to the domain list, we have modeled FSMs for Ankle Monitor and Sensor Dust which are applications of mobile ad-hoc networks. Ankle monitor is primarily used to track movements of an individual through wireless communication and Sensor Dusts are tiny sensors which monitor the environment in which they are deployed. We have also modeled Palm Operating System, which is a mobile OS that runs on Linux kernel. This paper presents the FSM for the booting sequence and the user interface of Palm OS. To conclude with we have taken up the domain of satellite simulation and have presented a FSM for the steps involved in Satellite launching and Image Handling within a satellite. Therefore, by modeling a range of applications using FSM we attempt to add-on to the significance of this concept and at the same time provide a single document comprising numerous FSM models. This concept can be used by software developers for easy modeling of their designs and can further use it to verify and debug the model whenever required.


Abstract:  This article describes the development and implementation of a computer‐based remote monitoring system for the temperature monitoring of an 11 span segmental, post‐tensioned concrete box‐girder bridge. Monitoring has been carried out for 5 years. The extensive data collected is analyzed using software that has been developed to provide engineers with information that can be used in the evaluation of the long‐term behavior and performance of the bridge. The software has been used to determine the maximum and the minimum bridge temperatures, the vertical temperature differences through the bridge cross section, and the horizontal temperature differences in the transverse directions. Comparisons have been made with design specification provisions and with recommendations proposed by previous researchers. In addition, software has been developed to determine the relationship between the daily maximum temperature differences and the air temperatures inside the box‐girder. This approach is also used to develop the relationship between the maximum stresses due to temperature differences and the air temperature inside the box‐girder. This article shows the benefits from using a computer‐based monitoring system to provide a continuous evaluation of data collected on the bridge.


In order to provide more evidences for the mechanism of phasic change 4-year old (mature phase) apomictic seedlings of crabapple 〔Malus hupehensis (Panlp.) Rehd.〕 were selected as trial material, and 1-year-old seedling and 4-year-old grafted plant developed from the adult-phase bud were used as contrasts of juvenile zone and adult zone of perennial seedlings respectively. The height-associated characteristics of leaf physiological indexes were investigated. The result showed that, based on the fresh weight of leaves, the amounts per unit of total soluble sugar, reducing sugar, soluble protein, total nucleic acid and RNA increased with leaf position height rising in mature seedling, on the contrary, the content of DNA decreased. Their contents at different leaf positions above the lowest flowering point remained at the same levels. The content of non\|reducing sugar of leaves did not vary with different leaf positions in mature seedling and grafted plant. Total nucleic acid content per unit of fresh leaf weight increased along with the leaf position height of seedling, it is due to the increasing of RNA content. The amounts per unit of total soluble sugar, reducing sugar, soluble protein, total nucleic acid and RNA could serve as markers to assess characterization of phasic change.


The purpose of this study is to determine the mediating role of brand image in the relationship between product quality and price perceived of Oppo smarthphone purchasing decisions. This research uses quantitative methods, where 110 samples were taken randomly from Oppo smartphone buyers at Lab Persada Lumajang City. Analysis was carried out with Path analysis. As the result, this research can be concluded that 1) the quality of the product has a positive and significant effects on the brand image 2) Prices perceived by consumers do not affect the smartphone purchase decision. 3) There are positive and significant effects of each brand image, product quality, and price perceived on purchasing decisions.


The purpose of this study is focused on evaluating the flexural behavior of concrete beam, which are arranged by mechanically spliced reinforcing bar. This splicing method related to parallel threaded coupler is registered newly on KEPIC 2005. To compare the existent lapping method with newly registered splicing method, four cases of concrete beam are tested to be failed flexurally by monotonic loading. The co-relation between load and displacement, ductility, maximum load and max. displacement were comparatively analyzed. Based on test results, ductility of specimen mechanically all spliced by parallel threaded coupler is approximately 4 times better than those of other specimens.


This paper presents a practical quality management framework for embedded software(QMFES) after the standards relevant to software quality management are analyzed.In the framework,it applies the fundamental frame of ISO9000 series standards and adopts the special requirements of software in CMM,GJB2786 and DO-178B.The test-practice in three enterprises shows that not only can the framework meet the software quality management requirements,but also it can be applied to the quality management of integrated system with hardware and software,and especially the framework is fit to the enterprise that has certificated with ISO9000 standard.


The design of EDWIE(Integrated Environment for Enterprise Data Warehouse) adopts the open thought and the software is based on the.NET software architecture,so the flexibility,reliability,expansibility and security of this system are favorable.


Lee, Jimin (2020). A Case Study on the Translation of a Licensed Musical: Problems Identified and Suggestions Offered through Translators' Participation in the Production of "Urinetown". Interpreting and Translation Studies, 24(1), 149-166
This case study aims to identify the problems in the translation of the licensed musical "Urinetown" and offer suggestions while discussing the roles the translators played during the production of the musical. The researcher and two students in the Department of Interpretation and Translation of Keimyung University - one in the master's program and the other in the doctoral program - participated as translators in the production of the musical "Urinetown" by the School of Music and Performing Arts at the university in preparation for a nationwide musical contest. The translation team joined the musical company for the table read, and the two sides worked together in the following processes - sitzprobe, scene-by-scene exercise, dry-run exercise, and dress rehearsal - and discovered numerous mistranslations and translatese in the musical script that could cause difficulty for the audience in properly interpreting and understanding the musical. In addition to mismatches between accents and keywords in the lyrics of songs, the translation team also found that the humor intended through the characters' symbolic names, mismatches between the characters' names and appearances and the parodies of well-known classic literature and musicals were not effectively delivered.


Insulin is a peptide hormone produced by -cells of the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas. It significantly influences regulation of intermediary metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins and fats and maintains entire homeostasis too. Its task is to increase deposits of glucose, fatty acids and amino acids in the cells. Insulin also has anabolic function in organism. Glucagon, which has catabolic function, is the antagonist to insulin. Glucose, fatty acids and amino acids are released by glucagon into the bloodstream. Insulin and glucagon have opposite effects thereby they participate in keeping glucose levels in the blood.
Insulin travels through the blood to the target cells, where binds on its receptor, which is composed of two - and two -subunits. Once the insulin molecule makes contact with its receptor, both the molecule of the hormone and the receptor undergo large conformational changes. This process causes a number of reactions leading to movement of glucose transporters to the membrane and consequently to connection to the membrane. Then, glucose transporters can uptake glucose from blood and transport it to the cell.
Depending on the dysfunction of the insulin receptors, various diseases can be manifested. Leprechaunism (Donohue syndrome), Rabson-Mendenhall syndrome and insulin resistance type A are very serious genetic defects of the insulin receptors. The other pathologies are insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and diabetes mellitus.


Abstract Surface sizing chemical (mostly oxidized or enzymatically modified starch) flows into the pores of cellulose network and also remains on the surface affecting the surface and intrinsic properties of paper. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) can be used for surface sizing because it is a water soluble polymer and has high film forming ability. Due to economic constraints, using PVA alone for surface sizing is not a good option. Current study explored the effects of using oxidized starch and PVA in mixed ratios (80:20, 50:50 and 20:80) on mechanical and surface properties of paper. The surface sizing with sizing weight of 3.5±0.3 g/m2 was done. The results of the study showed that the breaking length, burst index, air permeance, gloss, Cobb60 and optical properties like brightness, whiteness, flouroscence of paper were better for mixed ratios in comparison to only oxidized starch. After surface sizing with PVA, the value of air permeance (time of air leak) was increased to 200 Gurley second in comparison to 9 only for base paper. Surface sizing with blends of oxidized starch solution and PVA solution i. e. 80S+20P, 50S+50P and 20S+80P increased the time of air leak by 900 %, 1455 % and 1788 %, respectively in comparison to base paper.


In this paper we investigate non-renewable resource extraction in a political economy framework, thereby accounting for the institutional framework and political context of resource depletion in many resource-exporting countries. In particular, we consider an economy where the political elite possesses discretionary decision making power regarding the state-owned resources. Our motivation to deviate from the optimality framework of a Social Planner is the fact that a large share of the world's non-renewable resource deposits, such as oil and gas, are to a certain extent controlled by the respective country's government or exploited by state-owned or state-controlled companies. Prominent examples comprise resources extracted in for instance. The BP Statistical Review of World Energy estimates that 70 to 80% of the world's oil and about 75% of the world's gas reserves are located in the aforementioned countries (BP, 2014). The extraction decisions of the politicians in these countries hence determine both their societies' welfare and a considerable share of global CO 2 emissions. Governments and politicians do not usually act as social welfare maximizers. Van der Ploeg (2011a) observes the need to " introduce political economy features " in order to explain economic outcomes that do not comply with the Hotelling and Hartwick rules. Another motivation is the debate about the 'resource curse': it describes the stylized fact that resource rich economies tend to exhibit sluggish growth rates. However, we are not 91 92 CHAPTER 4. POLITICAL RESOURCE EXTRACTION striving to add another explanation to the already very abundant resource curse literature. Rather, we want to assess the effects of a politician, who has discretion over a country's natural non-renewable resources, on the extent to which the country really benefits from its resource wealth, and the consequences for the resource extraction path and hence global climate change. Furthermore, analyzing resource extraction in a political economy framework might reveal what actually is the attainable second best for resource-rich countries with a state-owned resource stock and politically controlled resource extraction. Dasgupta (2001, p. C2) remarks that " intertemporal welfare economics was developed for a society in which the State is not only trustworthy, it also optimizes on behalf of its citizens. Policy prescriptions emerging from the theory are for Utopia, [...] ". It seems reasonable to assume that decisions on natural resource depletion taken by politicians (in case the resources are state-owned or the resource management is state-controlled) are not only based on social welfare …


Through crowdfunding an activity is financed by the contribution of a lot of people, initiators of innovative projects, people or organizations with beneficial ideas, coming to support the others, but who have no money for that, are put in contact with citizens, with thousands of users willing to support such proposals. Donors feel involved in the community and help to make a change. This activity fits perfectly into the category which is recognized in practice and theory as "solidary economy", "the third sector of the economy" or "social entrepreneurship". In fact, is is a form of offering new and innovative solutions for older needs, proving its ability to contribute to satisfying some needs such as social, economic and environmental problems, which the countries of the world, their economies and population are confronting.


The immigration in Three Gorges area accelerates the process of urbanization but in the process of urbanization,the immigrants are short of necessary self-consciousness and initiative because of the special characteristics of the immigrants."Urban peasants",a new social phenomenon,appear in Three Gorges area because industrialization development lags behind,because there are fewer non-agricultural positions and because the society does not pay much attention to it.The phenomenon of "urban peasants" needs us to think and to solve.


When spin-orbit torques are measured using spin-torque ferromagnetic resonance (ST-FMR), two alternative ways of analyzing the results to extract the torque efficiencies -- lineshape analysis and analysis of the change in linewidth versus DC current -- often give inconsistent results. We identify a source for these inconsistencies. We show that fits of ST-FMR data to the standard analysis framework leave significant residuals that we identify as due to (i) current-induced excitations of a small volume of magnetic material with magnetic damping much larger than the bulk of the magnetic layer, that we speculate is associated with the heavy-metal/magnet interface and (ii) oscillations of the sample magnetization at the modulation frequency due to heating. The dependence of the residual signals on DC current can interfere with an accurate extraction of spin-torque efficiencies by the linewidth method. We show that the discrepancies between the two types of analysis can be largely eliminated by extrapolating the window of magnetic fields used in the linewidth fits to small values so as to minimize the influence of the residual signals.


Femicide in Ecuador is one of the cruelest manifestations of power exercised over women. Actions have been executed, but they are still insufficient. Therefore, it is necessary to study the factors that cause its high level of incidence. By doing so, we intend to provide the government with a tool that makes it possible to focus some measures in order to reduce and/or eradicate it. The objective of this research is to analyze these factors through neutrosophic cognitive maps. This technique is chosen because of the advantages it offers compared to other soft-computing techniques, in terms of interpretability, scalability, aggregation of knowledge, dynamism and its ability to represent feed-back and indeterminacy relationships. This way, decision-making by the government will be facilitated by hierarchizing the incidence factors, launching new strategies to eradicate femicide and to protect the right to life.


As improvement of industry and society, some potential crisis happened in working and living environment is taken into account by human people. Meanwhile, different kinds of protective appliances develop rapidly, and composite boards with cushion and puncture-resistance property are required consequently. This study aims to develop a cushion/puncture-resistance PU foam protective composites. This paper used Polyol and Isocyanate to prepare porous PU foam composite via foaming and curing process. By changing foam density and addition amount, cushion and puncture-resistance property were tested and then evaluated to seek for PU foam composite with cushion and puncture-resistance property. Result shows that, when density was 80 kg/m3, PU foaming composite board had the optimum resilience rate of 44 %, lowest impact remaining load of 638 N and best puncture-resistance force of 138.3 N.


In the present essay, we will start by providing an overview of Barton's theory of money and of gold's primacy in markets and civilization. Then, we will describe the historical claims made by the author in defense of his thesis and proceed to a review of the relevant literature, in order to assess the likelihood of his interpretation of historical facts.


Home Security is a critical issue in today's life when everyone is staying outside for either personal or professional reason. It becomes difficult for them to keep track of the happenings at home. They are extremely particular about who is entering their house when they are outside and deciding who should enter into the home. There are system installed in houses to ensure the security of the house like alarms and video cameras they do not provide end to end security and are less focused on heterogeneous environment w.r.to protocols and standards they use can't be integrated within the solution. This work aims to provide a secure, efficient and reliable system that can help users to keep track of happenings at their home or even in their office. This system informs the user about the visitor whose entry can be restricted by the owner irrespective of the location. This work proposes a framework using Internet of Things that includes intelligence in networking while sending data to the user. Inclusion of intelligent network within the system makes this framework robust for fast and efficient communication from end device to cloud and vice versa. This framework would provide a uniform access to devices and information and would facilitate different kind of interactions among them. The framework would ensure end to end security, management and automation within the system with reduces delay and enhances reliability.


The design and implementation of a pair of 100 mm-long grazing-incidence total-reflection mirrors for the hard X-ray beamline Nanoscopium at Synchrotron Soleil is presented. A vertically and horizontally nanofocusing mirror pair, oriented in Kirkpatrick-Baez geometry, has been designed and fabricated with the aim of creating a diffraction-limited high-intensity 5 − 20 keV beam with a focal spot size as small as 50 nm. We describe the design considerations, including wave-optical calculations of figures-of-merit that are relevant for spectromicroscopy, such as the focal spot size, depth of field and integrated intensity. The mechanical positioning tolerance in the pitch angle that is required to avoid introducing high-intensity features in the neighborhood of the focal spot is demonstrated with simulations to be of the order of microradians, becoming tighter for shorter focal lengths and therefore directly affecting all nanoprobe mirror systems. Metrology results for the completed mirrors are presented, showing that better than 1.5 °A-rms figure error has been achieved over the full mirror lengths with respect to the designed elliptical surfaces, with less than 60 nrad-rms slope errors.


This article describes Funetics, a game for teaching French. The structure of this game is analyzed in terms of definitions of general intelligence and gifted intelligence. The principles stated are embodied in the game and explained against a backdrop of psychological theory. The definition of gifted intelligence grounds the discussion of how gifted students process the game. Furthermore, articulating the game's pedagogical value for gifted students is a continual concern. The conclusion suggests future study concerning the possible connection between the pleasure of learning and types of intelligence.


As a response to land scarcity, climate change, the decreasing stock of fossil fuels and the pressure on the drinking water system, this proposal proposes to extend cities onto the water within a floating, modular and self-sustaining neighbourhood. This proposal includes research into floating mechanisms, modular systems, and various systems to realize self-sustainability regarding energy, water and wastewater. These systems can work on a small scale, but also on a larger scale when combined. When certain resources regarding water and energy are shared between household, the system becomes more economical and the stock of resources becomes more stable. A modular system that enables the interplay between the resources has been chosen. Therefore, a plug-in system is proposed where houses can connect to the neighbourhood, to become self-sustainable, each contributing to the system. Keywords: land scarcity, climate change, water, energy, floating, modular, self-sustainable design


The contact toxicity,repellent effect,adult longevity and reproductive capacity and population growth of Aphis gossypii were studied by different concentrations of mepiquat chloride(DPC).The results show that there was no contact effect.Within the same time after treatment,the repellent effect on aphids was enhanced with the concentration gradient increased.48h repellent rate was 33.3% treated by concentration of 400 mg·L-1;and 48 h repellent rate was 18.2% treated by 25 mg·L-1.In the same concentration,the repellent effect increased with the processing time.On the 7 th day,48 h repellent was 66.4% treated by concentration of 400 mg·L-1;48 h repellent rate of 46.2% treated by 25 mg·L-1.On the first day,the Aphis gossypii life span and reproductive capacity of adults were not inhibited,and life expectancy was reduced only in the treatment of 400 mg·L-1.As time moved on,Aphis gossypii adult life and reproductive capacity were tapered,which indicated that Aphis gossypii life and reproductive capacity of adult were affected with cotton growth in DPC treatments.DPC also had good effects on Aphis gossypii inhibition.


Abstract Timbers are essential material for structural applications owing to their desirable physical and mechanical properties. This study investigates physical properties and solution absorption potential of some timber species that are in commercially use in Nigeria. Four timber species namely Ayin (Anogeissus Laocarpus), Teak (Teetona gradis), Mahogany (khaya ovoriasis) and Iroko (Milicia Excels) were observed to examine their rate of absorption of water in fresh and salty water, respectively. Thus, three different kinds of environment; dry, fresh water and saline (standard solution of inorganic salt, NaCl) were considered and the tests were performed over a varying period of 7, 14, 21 and 28 days. The absorption behavior of each timber species was monitored by the weight of each specimen taken at an interval of 7 days after immersion. The test results revealed the timbers having decreasing order of absorption of Iroko, Teak, Ayin, and Mahogany in terms of weight before immersion in both solutions. Hence, Teak timber absorbed least, followed by Iroko, Ayin and Mahogany, respectively.


: Degenerative diseases occur in person old deal with decreased metabolism. A strict diet in person old ages is very difficult. The study aims were to evaluate increased of glucose and subcutaneous adipose abdominally tissue that impact to decrease of the coronary arteries diameter. This study is an experimental study using 28 Wistar rats, male, age 52-54 weeks, divided into 5 groups, Group1 (normal control), Group2, 3, 4, and 5 were fed high fat, Group 2 (lemon and garlic), Group3(ginger and lemon), Group4 (negative control), Group5 (garlic, ginger, and lemon), treated as long 30 days. Parameters measured are glucose, subcutaneous adipose abdominally tissue and coronary artery diameter of the heart . The results showed glucose levels in negative control was the lowest (p = 0.001). Subcutaneous adipose abdominally tissue lowest in a group treated with garlic and lemon (p = 0.641). The smallest diameter of the coronary artery occurred in the group treated with garlic, ginger, and lemon (p = 0.952). The study showed an aqueous extract of garlic, ginger, and lemon could reduce blood sugar levels and subcutaneous adipose abdominally tissue. This study needs to be developed, especially study in bioactivity of active compound that regulated lipid profiles.


This study aimed to evaluate the effect of Chitosan and Xylo-oligosaccharides on broiler performance. A total of one hundred and sixty-five old-day birds were used in this study. The birds were randomly assigned into four treatments (13 chick/replicate). The control (T1) received a basal diet, T2 received (1 g/kg basal diet) Chitosan, T3 (1 g/kg basal diet) Xylo-oligosaccharides, and T4 mixed (0.5+0.5 g/kg chitosan and Xylo-oligosaccharides). The results showed that the supplementation of diets with chitosan, Xylo-oligosaccharides or mixed significantly increased body weight (g), body weight gain (g). On the other hand, birds treated with Chitosan and Xylo-oligosaccharides showed a significant difference in feed intake and FCR compared to the control treatment. We concluded that dietary supplementation of Chitosan and Xylo-oligosaccharides can improve broiler performance.


Background— The CHA2DS2-VASc (Congestive heart failure, Hypertension, Age ≥75 years, Diabetes mellitus, previous Stroke/transient ischemic attack [TIA], Vascular disease, Age 65–74 years, and Sex category [female gender]) schema recently has been introduced to complement the CHADS2 (Congestive heart failure, Hypertension, Age >75 years, Diabetes mellitus, and previous stroke or TIA) score and improve the identification of atrial fibrillation (AF) patients at "truly low risk" for thromboembolism. We tested the predictive ability of the CHA2DS2-VASc, CHADS2, and van Walraven risk stratification schemes in a cohort of "lone" AF patients with a 12-year follow-up. Methods and Results— We conducted a registry-based, observational cohort study of 345 patients initially diagnosed with "lone" AF between 1992 and 2007. At baseline, all patients had the CHADS2 and van Walraven scores of 0, and 262 (75.9%) had a CHA2DS2-VASc score of 0. During follow-up (or within a year prior to stroke), 228 (66.1%), 234 (67.8%), and 150 patients (43.5%) retained the CHADS2, van Walraven, and CHA2DS2-VASc scores of 0, respectively. The overall rate of ischemic stroke was 0.19 (95% CI: 0.18–0.20) per 100 patient years. In the multivariable analysis, only the CHA2DS2-VASc score of 0 was significantly related to the absence of stroke (odds ratio 5.1, 95% CI: 1.5–16.8, P=0.008). Only the CHA2DS2-VASc score had a significant prediction ability (c-statistic 0.72 [0.61–0.84], P=0.031). Conclusions— The CHA2DS2-VASc score reliably identified the "lone" AF patients who were at "truly low risk" for thromboembolism, and was the only tested risk stratification scheme with a significant predictive ability for thromboembolism among lone AF patients.


Failure analysis and its effects are major reliability concerns in electronic packaging. More accurate fatigue life prediction can be obtained after the consideration of all affecting loads on the electronic devices. When an electronic device is turned off and then turned on multiple times, it creates a loading condition called power cycling. WLCSP use a package technology at the wafer-level, which is an extension of the wafer fab process where the final device is a die with an array pattern of the solder interconnects. The die is the heat source causing non-uniform temperature distribution. The solder ball reliability assessment of wafer level chip scale package (WLCSP) is done through Finite element analysis (FEA) under two different loads. In this paper, the power cycling is done to check its solder ball reliability by estimating stresses and failure life cycles. The mismatch in coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) between components used in WLCSP and the non-uniform temperature distribution makes the package deform resulting in thermal stresses. Cross-sectioning of the PCB was also performed and it has been observed that the life of any assembly also depends on the copper content in the PCB board. This study shows the contradictory results from the literature, i.e. the reliability of thinner board will be more compared to thicker boards. The thermal cycling test is also done on the same package to compare the effect of power cycle and thermal cycle. For more comparative analysis, accelerated thermal cycling (ATC) is performed on WLCSP. The internal heat generation from power cycling shows more failure and more accurate results compared to thermal cycling.


Orbital fractures are an important public health problem. The evaluation of this study was focused on patients with orbital floor fractures, showing the risk involved in anatomical structures, as well as the importance of clinical-tomographic correlation to determine the diagnosis. Precise and better adaptation of the implant to rebuild the floor of the eye socket. A descriptive, retrospective, cross-sectional study of the clinical-epidemiological characteristics of patients with orbital floor fractures treated surgically by titanium mesh reconstruction was carried out in Maxillofacial Surgery at the XXI Century National Medical Center. In the period from 2013-2018. The results were 159 patients with orbital fractures, of whom 157 were surgically managed: 157 with titanium mesh reconstruction and 2 surgical explorations without implants. The mean age 39.35 years (max: 86 min: 18), prevailing in males: 84.27%, 70 cases with orbital floor fracture, 69 orbital floor and medial wall fracture, 20 orbital floor fracture with another facial fracture, and 1% in panfacial fractures. 84% were secondary to physical aggression and 16% accidents of which 11% were by motorcycle, bicycle or falls and 5% by vehicle, 97% with periorbital edema, 40% with limited eye movements, 30% ecchymosis, 29% hyposphagma,18% emphysema, diplopia in 88%, 1.25% presented amaurosis.


This paper reviewed the preparation methods of vanadium oxides and vanadium oxides-graphenecomposite materials,introduced vanadium oxides-graphene composite materials' applications in the fields ofelectrode materials,catalysts and so on. And we discussed its present research progress and prospected itsdevelopment in the future.


This paper characterizes incentive-compatible allocations when types are multidimensional and the single-crossing condition may not hold. This characterization is used to obtain the optimal contracts in multidimensional screening as well as the equilibria in multidimensional signaling models. Then, we determine the implications of signaling and screening models when the singlecrossing condition is violated. The unique robust prediction of signaling is the monotonicity of transfers in (costly) actions. Any function from the space of types to the space of actions and an increasing transfer schedule can be rationalized as an equilibrium pro…le of many signaling models. Apart from the monotonicity of transfers in actions, we obtain an additional necessary and su¢ cient condition in the case of screening. In one-dimensional models, this condition states that the principal's pro…t as a function of the agent's type must grow at a higher rate under asymmetric information than under symmetric information. JEL Classi…cation: D82, D86, J41.


In order to study arecoline hydrobromide for antitapeworm drug and to supply science base for clinic dosage,the experiment that arecoline hydrobromide's time-effect and dose-effect relationship on propulsive ratio of mice's small intestine was studied.The results showed arecoline hydrobromide could boost propulsive ratio of mice's small intestine,and had dose dependence.


(11) Hydrogen fluoride and other airborne fluorides settle upon and some are absorbed into vegetation. When forage crops containing 30-50 ppm of fluoride measured on a dry weight basis are regularly consumed over a long period the teeth and bones of cattle may show changes, depending upon age, nutritional factors and the form of fluoride ingested. Such changes may or may not have any economic effect. Fluorides at these levels do not necessarily cause injury to the forage plants themselves. However, injury may be produced in certain species of vegetation upon long-term exposure to low levels of atmospheric fluorides


But Easter to me is even more strange. Spring chicks and Easter eggs decorate the shops but in the churches harvest festivals are celebrated and the notion of Spring being synonymous with Easter, a time of resurrection in nature as well as within the soul, is completely destroyed...I still have to stop and think what season we're having. (Gwen Good, 'Wish You Were Here', ABC Radio Perth, 16 March 1965).


growth of countless string workshops in music across the entire continent. The American String Teachers Association has sponsored the development of many of these projects. In addition, private camps, educational institutions, symphonic organizations, all stress the inducements provided by the specific merits of their particular geographic location, and the opportunities for participation in numerous musical activities. Many organizations welcome the entire family and provide suitable musical activities for the children. The met-


This article is based on primary survey conducted in the year 2006–2007 and supplemented by the secondary data collected for the pre-and post-survey period from the years 2004–2012. Statistical tests reflect variation in the mean values and standard deviation. The datasets of responses received and the usage are compared to find the strength of association between these two variables by means of Karl Pearson's coefficient of correlation (r). The figures representing the ranks for the mean, standard deviation and coefficient variation of two variables under study, i.e., responses and the usage before and after the survey period show weak relationship. The reasons attributed are – lack of awareness about e-resources and their accessibility, speed and also poor infrastructural facilities in pre-survey period and the high bandwidth and techniques of accessing the e-resources in the postperiod show variance in the mean and standard deviation. It is concluded that surveys should be supplemented with secondary data for the same period and statistically tested to arrive at logical and precise interpretations and conclusion. This study is guidance for researchers undertaking research in the field to interpret data statistically and arrive at conclusions.


In the production method of the alkyl aromatic hydrocarbon composition, X-ray diffraction pattern including the condition alkylation of olefin hydrocarbons and aromatics mixture, 12.4 ± 0.25, the distance d up to the value of 6.9 ± 0.15, 3.57 ± 0.07 and 3.42 ± 0.07A thereby having a minute contact with an aromatic alkylation catalyst selected from a heterogeneous acid catalyst and a homogeneous acid catalyst, which contains its own. Olefinic hydrocarbon mixture is the empirical formula C When sulfonated to the alkyl aromatic hydrocarbon product, biological alkylaryl sulfonate mixture showing the advantageous properties, such as light water and the cold water-decomposable and performance is generated.


A manufacturing system with one machine producing one part type is considered in this work. Making use of the method of thinking in adaptive control theory, the control process was divided into finite length periods according to certain rules. In each period, without the knowledge of the distribution function of the time between failures and the repair time, the perturbation analysis estimates of first and second derivative of performance function are put into the second order stochastic approximation algorithm which recursively optimize the threshold value of the flow control model in the manufacturing system. An adaptive control scheme is given. Numerical example is provided to demonstrate the convergence of the algorithm.


Peru is in a region of considerable geologic and seismic complexity. Thrust faulting along the boundary where the Nazca plate subducts beneath the South American continent has created three distinct seismic zones. The angle of subduction of the Nazca oceanic plate beneath the South American plate is not uniform along the entire segment of the Peru-Chile Trench. Furthermore, subduction is affected by buoyancy forces of the bounding oceanic ridges and fractures such as the Mendana Fracture Zone (MFZ) to the North and the Nazca Ridge to the South. This narrow zone is characterized by shallow earthquakes that can generate destructive tsunamis of varied intensities. The present study examines the significance of Nazca Ridge's oblique subduction and migration to the seismicity of Central/Southern Peru and to tsunami generation. The large tsunamigenic earthquake of 23 June 2001 is presented as a case study. This event generated a destructive, local tsunami that struck Peru's southern coasts with waves ranging from 3 to 4.6 meters (10-15 feet) and inland inundation that ranged from 1 to 3 km. In order to understand the near and far-field tsunamigenic efficiency of events along Central/Southern Peru and the significance of Nazca Ridge's oblique subduction, the present study examines further the geologic structure of the region and this quake's moment tensor analysis, energy release, fault rupture and the spatial distribution of aftershocks. Tsunami source mechanism characteristics for this event are presented, as inferred from seismic intensities, energy releases, fault plane solutions and the use of empirical relationships. The study concludes that the segment of subduction and faulting paralleling the Peru-Chile Trench from about 15 to 18 South, as well as the obliquity of convergent tectonic plate collision in this region, may be the reason for shorter rupture lengths of major earthquakes and the generation of only local destructive tsunamis.


In the immediate post-World War II era, researchers with the US Naval Research Laboratory's Radio Counter Measures (RCM) Branch was active in developing electronic intelligence (`elint') technologies and techniques for collecting information on the Soviet Union and its allies. The work of the Branch was often hidden behind unclassified research and engineering programmes at the Laboratory. The first result of this effort was `Project PAMOR' (PAssive MOon Relay), which built radio antennae for capturing Soviet radar signals reflected from the moon's surface. Starting in 1954, RCM engineers established a working relationship with the Laboratory's Radio Astronomy Branch. The cooperation was directed towards the development of a 600-ft radio telescope for dual-purpose use in intelligence gathering and astronomical research. Although the 600-ft telescope was never built, a satellite-based alternative, called `GRAB' (Galactic RAdiation Background), was launched in June of 1960. Again, this was a dual-use system...


IL-12 is a pleiotropic cytokine that potently stimulates anti-tumor cytotoxic T and NK cell mediated immunity. Recombinant IL-12 reduces tumor growth in multiple mouse models, but its therapeutic application has been limited by severe toxicities. Protease dependent activation of therapeutics with high on-target, off-tumor toxicities may be used to localize activity to the tumor but achieving sufficient exposure of the activated therapeutic in the tumor microenvironment remains a challenge. We have previously shown our design strategy for masked, protease activated IL-12Fc that included optimization of blocking modules, fusion geometry, and linker design. Here we have further expanded our mechanistic evaluations by combining masked, protease activated IL-12Fc with attenuated potency engineering, and selected a lead candidate (ZW270) based on anti-tumor activity and non-human primate (NHP) tolerability.
 The relative activity of masked and unmasked IL-12Fc variants comprising wild type (wt) or attenuated (att) IL-12 potency was evaluated in CD8 T cell activity assays. The wt IL-12Fc displayed comparable potency to recombinant IL-12 and up to 100x reduced potency when masked. Introduction of attenuating mutations to the p40 subunit reduced the potency of the IL-12Fc by up to 20x and addition of the protease cleavable mask further reduced the potency to up to 5000x compared to wt IL-12Fc. In a single dose NHP study, masked att IL-12Fc was well tolerated up to 31.8 mg/kg, while wt IL-12Fc demonstrated a maximum tolerated dose of below 1.3 mg/kg.
 Despite the reduced potency of att IL-12Fc in vitro, in in vivo efficacy studies in a human PBMC engrafted xenograft model the masked att IL-12Fc was able to control tumor growth whereas masked wt IL-12Fc and wt IL-12Fc showed limited anti-tumor activity, suggesting the approach of masked, protease activated att IL-12Fc might be able to achieve a higher exposure of active cytokine in the tumor in comparison to the masked wt IL-12Fc and wt IL-12 comparator. To further investigate the potentially superior exposure response relationship of masked att IL-12Fc, we developed a quantitative systems pharmacology (QSP) model based on our experimental data and literature data. In this model the predicted ratio of IL-12-receptor occupancy by active IL-12Fc in the tumor vs. blood was 18x greater for masked att IL-12Fc than for wt IL-12Fc, whereas the ratio was under 10x greater for masked wt IL-12Fc vs. wt IL-12Fc.
 In summary, the affinity attenuated, masked IL-12Fc lead ZW270 has potent and superior anti-tumor activity to wt IL-12Fc and masked wt IL-12Fc, and is well tolerated in NHPs to >30 mg/kg. Our data suggests that the combined strategy of masked, protease activated IL-12Fc and attenuated IL-12 potency has the potential to widen the therapeutic index and to have superior activity to masked, protease cleavable wt IL-12 and unmasked wt IL-12 fusions.
 Citation Format: Maya C. Poffenberger, Jennifer L. Bishop, Ryan J. Blackler, Kevin G. Haworth, Steven Booth, Shalla Hanson, Jeff R. Proctor, I-Ting Shao, Nichole K. Escalante, Dayananda Siddappa, Joel Smith, Gursev Anmole, Saki Konomura, Nicholas A. Dawson, Sifa Arrafi, Desmond Lau, Gerry Rowse, Rupert H. Davies, Thomas Spreter von Kreudenstein. ZW270, a conditionally masked IL-12 cytokine fusion protein displaying potent anti-tumor activity absent systemic toxicity [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 2935.


Reciprocating extrusion for different passes was carried out for industrial pure magnesiums at 150,175,200,225,250 ℃.The effects of extrusion temperature and passes on grain refinement were studied by optical microscopy.The results show that the minimum temperature for reciprocating extrusion of industrial pure magnesium was 150 ℃.With the increase of extrusion temperature,the plasticity of industrial pure magnesium increased and the extrusion stress decreased,but the grain refinement effect became worse.With the increase of the extrusion passes,the grain size was refined further.The best extrusion temperature was 200 ℃,and the optimal extrusion passes was 4.


Barrett′s oesophagus is a recognized precursor to the development of oesophageal cancer. Guidelines from the British Society of Gastroenterology recommend 2-yearly surveillance for those at high risk of developing cancer, providing they are fully informed of the risks and benefits of surveillance. A qualitative study was undertaken by Karen Bailey to explore whether patients on a surveillance programme for Barrett′s oesophagus were fully informed of these risks and benefits. Thematic analysis revealed the patients were accepting and knowledgeable about their condition and reasons for surveillance, and all were aware of the low risk of cancer. Most were satisfied with the information received, but interestingly just over half (53%) felt too much information could be worrying and preferred to have more detailed information as and when appropriate. All were happy with the care they received and felt reassured at being monitored.


The aim of this paper is to analyze the sudden disappearance of the wax printing technique in the Central Plains area during Song dynasty. We analyzed historical literatures, textile archaeology, and various other methods to summarize the main reasons leading to the disappearance of the wax printing from three aspects: political, economic, and technical factors. Political factors are reflected in the promulgation and implementation of dyeing injunction in the Song Dynasty; the government did not support this technique in folklore for the process wasted a lot of resources. Economic factors are reflected in the difficulty to obtain a large number of beeswax, the raw material for wax printing, because of the reduced territory in Song Dynasty. Technical factors are reflected in the generation and widespread of the new alkaline printing process, which accelerated the demise of wax printing.


RU 486,a potent progesterone antagonist,was testedfor its mutagenic potential at different levels:1)Gene mutations were detected in Salmonellatyphimurium strains recommended by Ames (TA98,TA100,TA1535,TA1537 and TA 1538),over a range of RU 486concentrations from 100 to 5000μg/plate,both withand without rat liver S9 fractions (S9 mix) asmetabolic activation.2) Chromosome damage was


Some properties of raspberries named Schonemann, Canby, Th. Loganberry and blackberry named Ollallie Black were determined by comparably as fresh and processed products. Freezing at -30°C and frozen storage at -1 8 °C were selected for frozen products and marmelade were made from fresh fruit samples. In fresh and processed raspberry and blackberry samples; totadry matter, Brix value, pH, total acid content, pectin, ash, vitamin C, total and invert sugar contens were determined by selectively. Color, tests and results were given as total scores. VVeight and sizes of fresh samples were also taken. Fresh and frozen samples didn't show any differences except decreasing of total acid, antocyanin and vitamin C contents in frozen samples correspondingly fresh samples.


The prognostic impact of t(11;14) in multiple myeloma (MM) needs to be better understood to inform future treatment decisions. The Australian Lymphoma Leukaemia Group embarked on a retrospective, observational cohort study using real‐world data to interrogate treatment patterns and outcomes in 74 MM patients with t(11;14) [t(11;14)‐MM] diagnosed over 10 years. This was compared to 159 and 111 MM patients with high‐risk IgH translocations (IgH HR‐MM) and hyperdiploidy (Hyperdiploid‐MM), respectively, from the Australian Myeloma and Related Diseases Registry. No appreciable differences in age, gender, ISS, LDH levels, 1q21 or del(17p) status, or treatment patterns were observed between groups. Median PFS‐1 was not different between groups but both t(11;14)‐MM and IgH HR‐MM had an inferior PFS‐2 vs. Hyperdiploid‐MM: median PFS–2 8.2 months, 10.0 months, and 19.8 months (p = 0.002), respectively. The 3‐year OS were 69%, 71%, and 82% (p = 0.026), respectively. In the t(11;14)‐MM group, gain or amplification of 1q21 at diagnosis predicted for poorer OS (HR 3.46, p = 0.002). Eleven patients had received venetoclax with 45% achieving better than a very good partial response. Results suggest that t(11;14) MM may confer an unfavorable risk profile and that the use of targeted therapies such as venetoclax earlier in the treatment algorithm should be explored.


The following paper discusses whether the construction enterprises need overall management of building industry after implementing endowment insurance management,proposes measures to strengthen labor insurance management,studies the transformation and reform from plan as a whole to insurance combined with social insurance of peasant-workers,and analyzes the adjustment of labor insurance charges' appropriating policy and the validity of labor insurance management,in order to do well labor insurance management.


With the advent of various smart devices in the recent years, image processing has been increasingly used in a diverse range of technologies. This work focuses on the development of one such technology directed towards solving the problems faced in the measurement of resistor values. Resistors are the most fundamental and commonly used electronic components in everyday electrical and electronics circuits. Bulk usage of resistors for commercial purposes, measurement problems in high voltage circuits and the state of people with deficient color vision, calls for a need to develop a simple and efficient system for automatic in-situ measurement of resistor values. This work introduces one such technique of real-time measurement of resistor values from resistor images using image processing.


Effective clinical communication is essential for delivering safe and high-quality patient care, especially in emergent cases. Standard communication protocols have been developed to improve communication accuracy and efficiency. However, traditional training and evaluation require substantial manpower and time, which can be infeasible during public crises when training is most needed. This research aims to facilitate autonomous, low-cost, adaptive clinical communication training via artificial intelligence (AI)-powered techniques. We propose a conversational system for clinical communication training supporting user-defined tasks. Two data augmentation (DA) methods, term replacement and context expansion, are proposed to allow non-professional users to create Al models with a small number of samples. Equipped with biomedical ontology and pre-trained language models, our system is able to simulate clinical communication scenarios, provide timely evaluation, and adapt to new tasks with minimal editing. Various experiments demonstrate that our proposed algorithms can achieve satisfactory performance using a small amount of training data. Real-world practice in local hospitals shows that our system can provide expert-level evaluation and deliver effective clinical communication training.


The slow adsorption of propane on aluminum has been observed using SIMS. The adsorbed hydrocarbon species give rise to a characteristic ''cracking pattern'' in the mass spectrum. The main ion peaks resulting are C3H8 +, C3H7 +, C3H5 +, C3H3 +, C2H5 +, and CH3 +. The hydrocarbon ions have very low energies. Electron‐induced desorption of hydrocarbon ions was also observed, but in this case the cross sections for ionic desorption were very small.


In Kenya, the teaching of physics faces the challenge of poor performance due to inadequate laboratory equipment and trained teachers. These challenges have caused students to lack motivation in pursuing the subject. Further, some students have missed to get into careers that are physics based due to under achievement. Earlier studies have revealed that teaching through experiments greatly improves students understanding and retention of scientific facts. This study specifically sought to determine the effects of Discovery Experimental Method (DEM) on secondary school student's achievement in physics in Kenya. The Solomon four group experimental research design was used in the study. The study was carried out in four secondary schools in Uasin Gishu County in Kenya. Students in experimental groups were taught using the DEM while those in control groups were taught using the Teacher Demonstration Method (TDM). Pre-test exam was administered to one experimental group and one control group to determine whether students had any pre- existing knowledge on the topic of cells and simple circuits in the form two physics syllabus. This study established the effects of discovery method (DE) on secondary school students' achievement in physics. The study revealed that the DEM had significant effect on the achievement of students by enhancing knowledge retention and instilling confidence.


Evaluating complex systems is the subject of this paper, the third in a series investigating prototyping. It provides an interesting and helpful overview of how to evaluate systems prototypes and outlines the iterative stream of developer-user interactions that is replacing older approaches to testing and evaluating new military systems, which promise to reduce the time required to develop and field future military capabilities. Changes to the acquisition process, such as those the paper sketches, will facilitate the nation's rapid transit through its current revolution in military affairs.


Scientific literature which deals with the study of human behavior and crew interaction in situations simulating long term space flight is summarized and organized. A bibliography of all the pertinent U.S. literature available is included, along with definitions of the behavioral characteristics terms employed. The summarized studies are analyzed according to behavioral factors and environmental conditions. The analysis consist of two matrices. (1) The matrix of factors studied correlates each research study area and individual study with the behavioral factors that were investigated in the study. (2) The matrix of conclusions identifies those studies whose investigators appeared to draw specific conclusions concerning questions of importance to NASA.


This paper details some of the Requirements, Design, Architecture, History and Lessons learnt in implementing Visual Tcl (Vtcl) - A distributed multiple GUI toolkit extension to Tcl oriented initially and mainly at generating User Interfaces for System Administration use.


Rahab at her window, delivering the Israelite spies to safety via a scarlet cord as pictured in the early fourthcentury Via Latina Catacomb, is as much a Christian symbol of her maternal role in the lineage of Jesus as it is a commentary on the high christological connection to the saving power of the paschal blood for all Israel. The image of Rahab acting as an initiatory wisdom figure is key to understanding the sovereignty of Israel's God and matters of rightful kingdom. This study combines points of style, iconography, text, and patristic commentary in order to develop a new and more holistic view of late antique textual reception and its subsequent visual model for female piety in memorial art. DOI https://doi.org/10.18809/sba.2016.0110


1. Basic pharmacology 2. Preparations and products for conditions affecting the immune system 3. Preparations and products for conditions affecting the nervous system 4. Preparations and products for conditions affecting the GI system 5. Preparations and products for conditions affecting the respiratory system 6. Preparations and products for conditions affecting the integumentary system 7. Preparations and products for conditions affecting the musculoskeletal system 8. Preparations and products for conditions affecting the reproductive system 9. Preparations and products for conditions affecting the urinary system 10. Preparations and products for conditions affecting the sensory organs 11. Preparations and products for conditions affecting circulatory system.


The Pritzker Prize, recognized as the highest award in the field of architecture, should be given to selected winners without any controversy. Laureates, that are not only recognized by juries, but also by architects in different countries, related professionals, and others, should be nominated. Therefore it is possible to say that nominated laureates represent architectural trends of the time. The purpose of this study, is largely divided into two. First is to understand the trends of architecture by analyzing the jury citation of each laureates. The second purpose is to easily analyze 38 jury citation by utilizing the natural language processing technology, and to present the possibility of applying this method to the field of architecture. This research has been carried out through the following process. Jury citation have been filtered and analyzed using the 'Stanford Parser'. Also previous studies have been reviewed to establish a suitable research method. Then, main contents of the citation, which can be divided into 9 categories, have been derived and reviewed to understand the trends of architecture. Change in architectural trends have been analyzed based on the categories of expression characteristics and architectural ideas, trends of times, inhabitant, surrounding environment, materials, technologies, light, space and function, and morphological specifics. This research has significance not only in terms of understanding value trends but also in terms of utilizing natural language processing technology, an unfamiliar tool in the field of architecture.


On the basis of investigation and research this article demonstrates some constructive opinions of how to improve physical and mental health conditions in the police group.


T HE serious question of whether diet is or is not an important factor in producing atherosclerosis with its associated coronary and cere-bral disease has not yet been tested. In the spring of 1960, a group of scientists met to explore ways and means for conducting such a test. As a result of these deliberations, The National Diet-Heart Study was undertaken. Experience in the conduct of a large-scale study had to be acquired before such an experiment to demonstrate an association between diet and heart disease could be undertaken. The proposed diets increased polyunsaturated fatty acids and decreased saturated ones as well as cholesterol itself. The free-living participants of the study required accustomed food products easily available, a requirement necessitating specially processed foods to implement dietary changes. Patterns of eating were emphasized because the word 'diet' suggests to lay persons something highly restrictive and often distasteful. It was uncertain whether or not the confirmed eating habits and pleasures of most persons could be changed, even with their consent. Consequently, it was the purpose of the two-year Feasibility Trials of The to develop technics for testing the hypothesis that diet ultimately is important in preventing coronary heart disease by lowering the cholesterol content of the blood. This paper pre-sents highlights of the recent report 1 of the study. or twice during the base line period, three times during the first year, and twice during the second year. Serum triglyceride levels, fatty acid composition of serum cholesterol esters and of adipose tissue were also determined on subgroups of participants.


The facts are really not all like fish on the fishmonger's slab. They are like fish swimming about in a vast and sometimes inaccessible ocean; and what the historian catches will depend, partly on chance, but mainly on what part of the ocean he chooses to fish in and what tackle he chooses to use—these two factors being, of course, determined by the kind of fish he wants to catch. By and large the historian will get the kind of facts he wants.


In this paper we present a general asymmetric brane model involving arbitrary energy transport to and from an embedded 4D Friedmann–Robertson–Walker universe. We derive a locally defined mass function for the 5D spacetime and describe its time evolution on the brane. We then specialize our model to the two cases of graviton production in the early universe and radiating black holes in the bulk.


Finding suitable ways to develop models for predicting unknown data classes is a challenging
task in data mining and machine learning. The improvement of the quality of
data sets and combining AdaBoost with a weak learner is an important contribution to
the development of these prediction models.
The objectives of this thesis are to build accurate, stable and effective breast cancer survivability
prediction models using breast cancer data obtained from the Srinagarind
Hospital in Thailand. To achieve these objectives, five approaches were proposed including:
1) £-means and RELIEF to improve accuracy and stability of prediction models
generated from AdaBoost algorithms; 2) C-Support Vector Classification Filtering (CSVCF)
to identify and eliminate outliers; 3) a combination of C-SVCF and oversampling
approaches to handle both outliers and imbalanced data problems; 4) a hybrid
AdaBoost and Random Forests to build stronger prediction models; and 5) C4.5 to form
breast cancer survivability decision trees and rules. To illustrate capability, performance
and effectiveness of these approaches, extensive experimental studies have been
conducted using W E K A version 3.5.6, AdaBoost M A T L A B Toolbox, L I B S V M and
C4.5 program.


The paper is minutely on construction techniques for glass fiber grid to prevent-tackle reflection of asphalt pavement along with essentials for quality contorl.


Examines how the birth of a technology does not necessarily occur at the time of its invention or discovery. As an example, explores the origins and evolution of the microwave cavity magnetron. Suggests that the birth of a technology is not necessarily equivalent to inventorship. The latter could be at birth, or it could be well before the birth with evolutionary developments after invention and even after birth. Producing good histories of technology can help us in assigning credit to pioneer workers in technology.


A fiber optic receiver is apt to be disturbed by electromagnetic interference by adjacent circuits because of its low input power level. Therefore, in a duplex optical datalink consisting of a transmitter and a receiver, the crosstalk from the transmitter to the receiver may become an obstacle in increasing the packaging density. An approach to fabricating a transmitter on one side of an FR-4 four-layer printed wiring board (PWB) and a receiver on the other side, thus suppressing the interference between the two circuits and realizing a compact and low-cost optical digital datalink, is described. The receiver using this new packaging technique achieved an optical sensitivity of -- 32 dBm for a 10-9 bit error rate (BER) at a transmission rate of 8.192 Mb/s for the CMI data format. Since the output optical power of the transmitter is -15 dBm or more, this optical datalink provides transmission over a 700 m distance using a 15 dB/km loss optical fiber.


Carbon monoxide is a toxic, colourless and odourless gas that is produced during incomplete combustion of organic fossil fuels. Symptoms of acute poisoning vary widely from mild neurological symptoms including dizziness, headaches and flu-like symptoms [1] to more serious effects mainly affecting the central nervous and cardiac systems. We present a rare case of hyperkalaemia that resulted during hyperbaric oxygen treatment and discuss the implications of both carbon monoxide poisoning and various possible causes of hyperkalemia in this case.


Free bulging process is an experimental technique which can be used to characterize a sheet material under conditions of biaxial tension during hot forming. Analytical and semi-analytical models of this process are usually based on the hypothesis offering certain relations between the geometrical characteristics of a bulge during forming. The paper presents an original relation between a specimen thickness at the dome pole and the dome height which is used by the semi-analytical method for simulation of free bulging process. The finite-element computer simulation results are generalized to obtain this relation. The influence of the material constants on the geometrical parameters of the bulge is studied. It is shown that the sheet thickness corresponding to a specific dome height is dictated by the strain rate sensitivity index of the material. The equation describing the influence of the strain rate sensitivity index on the dome apex thickness is presented.


This study was designed to determine if a need exists to teach decision making skills to paramedic students in San Bernardino County. Perhaps one respondent best characterized the need for the study when he commmented, "the biggest problem I see is the whole process. Paramedics are educated one way, by the book, trained in two ways, and required to perform in another. Therefore make the training consistent with the demands, expectations, and reality you are required to perform in." Questionnaires were given to physicians, registered nurses, and paramedics. The study determined that decision making skills need to be part of the paramedic curriculum, especially if the graduates are to meet the demands of a continually changing work-place. Also, the study determined the best method to teach decision making skills and where to include decision making skills in the curriculum. Data indicated that decision making should be taught to paramedic students through formal presentations in the didactic component of the program.


The influence of the output electrical characteristics of the resonant power sourse of high-voltage electrodischarge installations for the processing of carbon-containing gas to obtain carbon nanomaterials on their productivity at different pressures in the technological reactor was investigated. The regularities of the implementation of interdependent electrical and technological characteristics for the implementation of high-productivity obtaining of nanocarbon materials from carbon-containing gas have been determined. It is shown that with increasing pressure of carbon-containing gas in the reactor, it is possible to obtain higher productivity values at same interelectrode gap.


This is a tutorial paper on encoding the waveform of voiceband data signals into digital form for digital transmission. The encoding algorithms covered are PCM, DPCM, and DM with and without quantizer adaptation. Coder bit rates from 16 to 64 kb/s are considered. Most digital Codec's on voiceband channels are designed primarily for speech and their performance with speech is well known. However, since many voiceband channels may contain other signals such as voiceband data, adequate performance with such signals is a necessity. Much of the paper is a summary and an interpretation of previous work in encoding data signals. Some new perspectives and material are presented, especially for DPCM. Topics covered include the sampling phase effect, fast and slow acting quantizer adaptation algorithms, comparison between speech and data performance, dual-mode coders, network considerations, and the effect of quantizing noise on the phase integrity of data signals.


It is the task of the English teachers to train student' s ability of using the language. It' s the basis to build up the good relations between the teachers and the students. It' s a new theory to do the English task teaching well. In English school teaching, it' s very important for teachers to pay attention to the education of feeling and training the students actively manner in order toset the firm learning basis for the students in all their lives.


The objective of this study was to evaluate the BRS capiaçu grass silage combined with different hays of banana crop residue on fermentation profile, aerobic stability and nutritional value. The treatments consisted of elephant grass cv. BRS capiaçu (Pennisetum purpureum Schum.) ensiled with 37.44% banana peel hay, 36.06% banana pseudostem hay and 37.00% banana leaf hay, on a dry matter (DM) basis and control silage (no additive). The experimental design used was completely randomized, with five treatments and five replicates. Forage was collected when it reached 3.5 meters in height (90 days). Experimental PVC silos of known weight, 50 cm long, 10 cm diameter, were used for silage making. For all treatments, silage aerobic stability breakdown started after 64 hours exposure to air. The BRS capiaçu grass control silage or silage combined with pseudostem hay (mean of 73.15 kg t GM-1) presented effluent losses 40.46% higher than those observed for BRS capiaçu grass silage + banana leaf hay and 69.17% in relation the BRS capiaçu grass silage + banana peel hay. The inclusion of banana crop residue (hay) when ensiling BRS capiaçu grass decreased 13.93% gas losses compared to the control silage (mean of 3.11% DM). Higher values of total digestible nutrients, metabolizable energy and digestible energy content was found in BRS capiaçu grass silage + with banana peel hay. The greater in vitro dry matter digestibility and in vitro neutral detergent fiber digestibility was observed for BRS capiaçu grass silage combined with pseudostem hay. The inclusion of 37.44% banana peel hay improves the fermentation profile and aerobic stability of BRS capiaçu grass silage.


Corrosion inhibition activity of 2-cyclohexylthiophene (2CHT) for mild steel in acidic media was predicted using QSAR tool. The model used two descriptors namely; Moran autocorrelation of lag4 weighted by mass (MATS4M) which explained the linearity and branching of the compounds and largest eigen values n3 of burden matrix weighted by mass (SPMAX3-Bh(m)) describes the nature and size of the neighboring atom. The modeling results revealed the potential of the compounds as a good corrosion inhibitor with percentage inhibition efficiency (%IE) of 76.5%. Quantum chemical calculation using DFT with 6-311G++(d,p) basis was used to evaluate the performance of the predicted compound as corrosion inhibitor by quantum chemical parameters such as EHUMO, ELUMO, Energy gap (Egap), hardness (?), softness (S), dipole moment (µ), electronegativity (X), electron affinity (A), ionization energy (I) and total energy (TE). The results obtained from quantum chemical parameters were found to be consistent with predicted result.


Due to the new rapidly developed technological equipment for radiotherapy available in cancer clinics, the study of the optimal combination of topometric preparation of a patient with planning and the delivery of treatment in order to achieve the main goal of radiation therapy – maximum exposure of the foci with minimal damage to healthy tissue. The reduction of dose to critical or-gans and healthy tissues in general is an important and urgent task. The purpose of the paper is to explore the possibility of optimization of the combined radiation therapy in patients with rectal cancer, with account of advanced approaches to topometric preparation of a patient and dosime-try planning. Six patients 47-59 years of age, with the stage III of the lower ampullary rectal can-cer, received two-phase pre-operative combined radiotherapy at the Tomsk Cancer Research In-stitute NMRC. The Phase 1 – distant radiation therapy delivery in standard mode with a single fo-cal dose (ROD) of 2 Gy, 5 times a week, totally 20 fractions, to focal dose (SOD) of 40 Gy. The Phase 2 – intracavitary radiation therapy, ROD – 3 Gy, SOD – 15 Gy, locally in the tumor area, 2 times a week, total number – 5 fractions. The conventional radiation therapy planning was carried out with the use of the XiO 3-D dosimetry planning system for the "Theratron Equinox 80" (radia-tion of the isotope Co-60, Egamma=1.25 MeV), gamma-therapeutic apparatus, and for the SL75-5-MT (Electron braking radiation, E=6 MeV) linear accelerator. For conformal radial therapy the plan-ning system for linear accelerator «Elekta Synergy» (electron brake radiation, E=6 MeV) is used. For intracavitary radiotherapy the dosimetry planning system HDRPlus for the apparatus "Multi-Source" (radiation of isotope Co-60, Egamma=1.25 MeV) is used. Radiation doses to critical organs of pa-tients with lower ampullary rectal cancer exposed to combined course of radiotherapy was calculated. It has been shown that the use of advanced techniques for pretreatment topometric preparation of a patient and dosimetry planning makes possible optimization of combined radiotherapy with account of radiation doses to critical organs.


With the exception of smallpox, the infections so far considered are still relatively common in Western Europe, including the British Isles, though some, for example infections with poliomyelitis viruses are more prevalent in under-developed sub-tropical lands. There remains a heterogenous group of infectious diseases which are rarely or never met in these islands ; yet against which persons leaving them, whether merely temporarily (as on holiday) or to take up permanent or prolonged residence abroad, should be protected by vaccination. This requirement may be for one or both of two reasons : either for the protection of the community visited, or to safeguard the individual. The first may be the main aim with protection of the traveller a minor objective when the traveller has resided in, or passed through, an area where the particular infection may be acquired by an unprotected person and so be imported by him to a place where it has either not existed before or has been eradicated. Vaccination may then be compulsory under International Sanitary Regulations, though usually only for travel by air. Failure to meet this requirement may lead to refusal of permission to embark or to detention in quarantine on arrival. The infections against which governments may demand that those arriving in their country be vaccinated are smallpox (already considered), yellow fever and cholera, for which three diseases standard International Certificates are in use and any other type may be unacceptable. Vaccination against typhus fever is sometimes demanded of entrants to · certain areas under conditions specified by the local authority. Vaccination against the enteric fevers is never a compulsory travel requirement, but may often be advisable in the traveller's own interest ; while vaccination against plague can occasionally be desirable. or even necessary, though the incidence of plague is now very low. Apart from being, from a British viewpoint, diseases of foreign travel, these infections have little in common and the vaccines used against them differ widely in nature and potency, including, as they do, a living virus (yellow fever) and killed rickettsiae and bacteria, with effectiveness ranging from a high level of relatively long-lasting protection (yellow fever again) to doubtful value for only a short time.


Alain Lipietz's essay deals with the historical and methodological relations between Marxism and ecological politics. On the historical level, he blames Marx's world-view for the ecological and political failures of Soviet-style communism. In identifying Marxism with Stalinism, however, Lipietz ignores the. entire history of Stalinism's submergence of Marxism's rich ecological legacy in theory and practice. As recently shown by John Bellamy Foster, this legacy begins with Marx and Engels but extends through the entire history of Marxism up until Stalin's counter-revolution in the 1930s. Lipietz also ignores the role of the USSR's isolation and external attack by the West in promoting the adoption of capitalist technologies and the goal of "production for production's sake," the result being widespread ecocide in the USSR itself.


The problem of the study is that the Sudanese international airports suffer from the application and development of international standards by bringing them to the ground and the process of evaluating them, this is a result of the scarcity and lack of specialized Sudanese experts in the field of applying, auditing and monitoring international standards at airports, as the positive image of the Sudanese people must be reflected by spreading their cultures through the Sudanese international airport portal, while the aim of the study is to Establishing Secure Framework for Khartoum International Airport, and to clarify the current situation of the Sudanese international airports, and what global airports have achieved in applying global standards, knowing that the study methodology is the methodology of systems analysis and design, and in the study tools, the enterprise Architect program was used in the analysis of UML diagrams, and the XD Design program in the design of the study, and in the implementation it used the Android Studio package, the results of the study were in determining the proposed a new security framework for KIA, which includes the standards to be applied in Sudan's international airports, as well as the criteria for the nature and specificity of its environment and its distinctive geographical location in the African and Arab map, and the recommendations of the study lie in developing and sending an integrated Sudanese team that works on developing and implementing international standards, and spreading Sudanese cultures around the world.


Combined the roughcast expansion technology for double curvature high rib integral panel part from a certain type of aircraft, a rapid and precise expansion method for the part is realized. The part base expansion method uses geometric simulation modeling method based on the hypothesis of the siding material deformation in thickness direction is negligible and the siding neutral layer surface area is unchanged, and determines reinforced structure and internal milling information on panel body based on mapping theorem and intersection algorithm. Finally, a machine panel as an example, the geometry simulation modeling approach is introduced step by step.


Infrared absorption spectra for molecular beams of Ne⋅OCS have been observed with a diode laser for the vibrational transition near 2062 cm−1 correlating with the monomer ν3 mode. The linewidths were ∼150 MHz (FWHM), giving rotationally resolved spectra and allowing the upper and lower vibrational state A, B, and C rotational constants to be determined along with the frequency of the band origin. No broadening in excess of that expected from Doppler effects and laser linewidth was observed, setting a lower limit of 10−9 s on the lifetime of the upper state. Rotational transitions for the vibrational ground state were observed by microwave–infrared double resonance experiments. The ∼150 kHz linewidths in these experiments increased the precision of the rotational constants and permitted the quartic centrifugal distortion constants for the ground state to be determined. The effective structure of the Ne⋅OCS complex was calculated from the rotational constant data. The vibrational frequency and structural re...


It seems that analyticity properties of scattering amplitudes judging if nothing only by the amount of papers on the subject has turned out to be quite a useful tool in the study of strongly interacting particles. The attractiveness of the method stems from its model independence in fact all the proofs of the dispersion-relations are based essentially on such simple assumptions as the spectral condition and micro-causality. On the other hand most of the work is done these days assuming the validity of the Mandelstam representation, an assumption that to my knowledge has not been proved even in all orders of perturbation theory so far. It is therefore a challenge for the theoretical physicist to try to understand better the basis on which the analyticity properties rest (this is the moral background of the first contribution) and to derive new results.


Combining the instruction of "Tiancheng Millennium Home" design, the concept of courtyard space is introduced into the plan of housing. In the plan, we studied how to strengthen the aggregation of living space and make the intercourse of residents feel secure, how to strengthen the attribution of living space and give a safe living space, and how to fit the development of modern life and settle the new problem. We proposes the viewpoint of "the revival of courtyard" and try to create a contemporary courtyard space with substance and mental comfort.


Performance appraisal of employees is one important aspect in human resource management within a company. An effective performance appraisal process can provide significant benefits, such as identifying employees' strengths and weaknesses and measuring individual contributions to company goals. PT La Vida Herculon has implemented employee performance appraisal as one instrument to measure employee performance. This study involves observation, interviews, and analysis of the existing performance appraisal process in the company. The research also refers to current theories and practices in human resource management and performance appraisal to support the analysis and recommendations presented. The hope is that this research can provide a deeper understanding of employee performance appraisal at PT La Vida Herculon and make a positive contribution to the development of a more effective and relevant performance appraisal system aligned with the company's needs. With an increased understanding of the importance of effective performance appraisal, PT La Vida Herculon can create a more productive work environment, motivate employees to develop, and enhance overall company goal achievement. Through this research, it is expected to provide useful information for PT La Vida Herculon in improving the employee performance appraisal system and achieving competitive advantage in this increasingly competitive industry.


Cerebral blood flow (CBF) is exquisitely controlled to meet the ever-changing demands of active neurons in the brain. Brain capillaries are equipped with sensors of neurovascular coupling agents released from neurons/astrocytes onto the outer wall of a capillary. While capillaries can translate external signals into electrical and Ca2+ changes, control mechanisms from the lumen are less clear. The continuous flux of red blood cells and plasma through narrow-diameter capillaries imposes mechanical forces on the luminal (inner) capillary wall. Whether-and, if so, how-the ever-changing CBF could be mechanically sensed in capillaries is not known. Here, we propose and provide evidence that the mechanosensitive Piezo1 channels operate as mechanosensors in CNS capillaries to ultimately regulate CBF. Patch clamp electrophysiology confirmed the expression and function of Piezo1 channels in brain cortical and retinal capillary endothelial cells. Mechanical or pharmacological activation of Piezo1 channels evoked currents that were sensitive to Piezo1 channel blockers. Using genetically encoded Ca2+ indicator (Cdh5-GCaMP8) mice, we observed that Piezo1 channel activation triggered Ca2+ signals in endothelial cells. An ex vivo pressurized retina preparation was employed to further explore the mechanosensitivity of capillary Piezo1-mediated Ca2+ signals. Genetic and pharmacologic manipulation of Piezo1 in endothelial cells had significant impacts on CBF, reemphasizing the crucial role of mechanosensation in blood flow control. In conclusion, this study shows that Piezo1 channels act as mechanosensors in capillaries, and that these channels initiate crucial Ca2+ signals. We further show that Piezo1 modulates CBF, an observation of profound significance for the control of brain blood flow in health and in disorders where hemodynamic forces are disrupted, such as hypertension.


As the laser pumping source, the light emission efficiency of pulsed xenon flash lamp is crucial to inertial confinement fusion proj ect. The flash lamp pumping efficiency have a lot to do with the amplifier efficiency. In this paper, a kind of flash lamp with annular section is developed to acquire high performance. Comparison between the annular-section flash lamp and the traditional flash lamp has been investigated in the aspect of the electrical characteristics, the discharge channel, radiation and fluorescence behaviors of Nd:glass. Results shows that resistance increase in the new structure lamp will lead a high entering energy and lower current. As a result, the intensities of radiation and fluorescence are improved by 9%~ 12% and 10%~ 11 % respectively in the certain size. We also find that the in the annular-section flash lamp, the plasma can fill the inner space more quickly. The experiment also indicates that when the current increases, the spectrum of the new structured lamp is much higher than that of traditional lamp and dominated by continuous spectrum. After the peak of current, the spectrum of the new structured lamp is similar to the traditional lamp. The mechanisms of the improvements and the further optimization for the new structure are discussed.


Accurate and reliable life predictions of mechanical components subjected to stress at elevated temperature may be difficult since the mechanical properties of the material are expected to change. The constitutive equations describing the creep behavior may also change due to softening or hardening processes caused by the applied loading conditions. In this paper the response of AISI Type 316 stainless steel at 650 degrees Celsius when subjected to a static tensile stress is examined. A testing technique has been applied to the test material to evaluate the effect of short periods of high temperature deformation on its mechanical properties. Round tensile specimens were subjected to constant tensile stress levels under high temperature of 650 degrees Celsius for periods of time varying from 2 to 8 hours. The specimens were then annealed and tested in tension under room temperature. Test results indicate that the AISI Type-316 exhibited hardening due to short period creep. Yield strength and ultimate tensile strength have increased by 58% and 20%, respectively, after 8 hours creep, over that of the virgin material. Creep was also found to cause a reduction in the ductility of the AISI Type-316 over the temperature and stress levels used in this investigation. Moreover, the changes in these properties were found to increase as creep time increased. From the present work, an empirical equation was obtained for predicting the amount of hardening in the material due to creep. Such an equation may be useful in more involved problems of combined creep and fatigue.


One of the problems that most affect the current teaching of Spanish-literature is its lack of functionality at the expense of motivational activity and creative abilities of students; therefore, in this work the need to improve the teaching proceed in the subject through the application of Communicative Approach and Teaching problemic, to make each class a space for constructive interaction between the student and the object of knowledge argues.


The old WCDMA authentication protocol,because of the use of symmetric encryption,is not undeniable and hides some trouble while working.It developed a new authentication protocol from the old one by using EXTR-ElGamal cryptography and modified for the protocol itself.The new protocol is undeniable and the hidden troubles in old one is overcome,while the experimental results show the reality of new protocol.This protocol is more secure than the old one and can be used into reality.


Asthma is a complex disorder affected by numerous factors, both genetic and environmental. This article aims to build a profile of the patenting activity in the area of asthma drugs over the past five years and indicates the most prolific companies in terms of the numbers of patents published. Also presented are the details of those antiasthma agents which are currently under preclinical evaluation or in Phase II/III clinical trials.


Abstract Collaborative learning, a form of active learning, can be used in computer classrooms to provide effective library instruction. Librarians have used collaborative learning in traditional classrooms and are beginning to incorporate it into hands-on computer classrooms. As librarians develop computer-based collaborative environments, they will likely face issues that lead them to reconsider how they approach facility design, curricular strategies, student expectations, teaching styles, and classroom time management. This article makes a case for using collaborative learning within library computer classrooms and describes how librarians at a medium-sized university made the transition from hands-on individualized learning to hands-on collaborative learning.


To many people, the term "e-commerce" conjures up the image of the dot com madness of the late 1990's. As we know well by now, Amazon.com has not made brick-and-mortar bookstores obsolete; neither did electronic exchanges replace physical supply chains. However, e-commerce as a utility function has become an integral part of as well as a permanent fixture to businesses of all sizes, large and small. With the proliferation of devices such as cell phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs), as well as digital cameras, embedded microprocessors, miniature sensors, radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, and wireless networks like 802.11 and Bluetooth, we are currently witnessing a trend in which technology is moving away from desks into our pockets, purses and even onto our walls and furniture. Traditional products ranging from cars, refrigerators, to toys and alarm clocks also begin to acquire computing, sensing, and communications capabilities. In short, technology is increasingly blending into our everyday environments, following us every step of the way, creating a world that is always on, always active and always aware. We coin the term "ubiquitous commerce," or u-commerce for short (Gershman, 2002), to refer to this new reality, which promises, and perhaps ultimately demands, that businesses be available at the times and places where people use these products and services rather than just through the Web or at physical stores. This emerging reality also presents a new set of challenges and opportunities, and redefines what we mean by personalization.


While much of the focus has been on handoffs occurring in healthcare facilities, handoffs in the outpatient setting, or as the patient is being transferred between inpatient and outpatient care, are equally risk prone and thus merit consideration. It is important to recognize that any time more than one clinician is providing care, there will be some type of handoff that potentially sets the stage for communication errors.


In this project some practices of mineral oil were made to determine the quality for its application in the electrical industry. Then the practices were developed in the laboratory of the Faculty of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering at Universidad Veracruzana using the Megger OTS 60 PB equipment, according to the current IEC 60156 and ASTM D1816 standards, new oil was used in a first analysis which proved to be of correct quality according to the standard, In the second case, oil polluted by the environment was used and it was of less quality since it did not pass the test according to the standard, and finally, degraded oil was used, which was less quality (15°C) and heat was supplied up to 40°C, taking readings at 40°C, 35°C, 30°C and 25°C, giving favorable results due to the influence of the temperature on the mineral oil. In conclusion, according to the results of the test and the comparison with the parameters of the standards, the OTS60PB equipment operates correctly and the results of the equipment are reliable and it can be recommended that mineral oil can be used in transformers.


(57) Abstract: used in the inspection system by electronic machine vision (12) or manual microscope for inspecting a reflective surface (10), consecutive soaking - while providing diffuse light environment, the discontinuities removing variations in the surface brightness caused by the reflection, a method and apparatus, the object is observed through the viewing window to allow visual inspection of the object (20). Observation object and the light source on an observation axis (14, 24), but is illuminated out with the observation axis light source (22), for each light source is controlled by a separate brightness control, equalizing with respect to the object - diffused light environment is provided Do.


The case for longtermism depends on the vast potential scale of the future. But that same vastness also threatens to undermine the case for longtermism: If the future contains infinite value, then many theories of value that support longtermism (e.g., risk-neutral total utilitarianism) seem to imply that no available action is better than any other. And some strategies for avoiding this conclusion (e.g., exponential time discounting) yield views that are much less supportive of longtermism. This chapter explores how the potential infinitude of the future affects the case for longtermism. We argue that (i) there are reasonable prospects for extending risk-neutral totalism and similar views to infinite contexts and (ii) many such extension strategies still support standard arguments for longtermism, since they imply that when we can only affect (or only predictably affect) a finite part of an infinite universe, we can reason as if only that finite part existed. On the other hand, (iii) there are improbable but not impossible physical scenarios in which our actions can have infinite predictable effects on the far future, and these scenarios create substantial unresolved problems for both infinite ethics and the case for longtermism.


ABSTRACT Quality function deployment (QFD) is methodology designed to improve customer satisfaction by increasing the quality of new products and services. Unlike traditional quality methods that focus on solving existing, known problems to achieve "zero defect," QFD is driven by the voice of the customer to explore high-priority spoken and unspoken needs that must be met for a new product or service to be accepted. To achieve this first-time quality, developers must know what problems the customer has, how important those problems are to helping the customer do their job better, and what level of improvement is necessary for the customer to accept it in place of their current practice. Thus, QFD is highly dependent on the customer and their business, the industry of the product or service, and what competitive alternatives the customer has access to. This article will discuss how these same methods are used to write the QFD standard itself.