In recent years, the development of customer centric marketing strategies has grown rapidly. At the same time, the increasing of social networks users has forced marketing to consider these systems as tool for attracting, maintaining and managing clients, as well as for collecting data on market trends and products acceptance. As a consequence, the online scenario represents a new platform for supporting the relationships with clients and adapting firm communication strategies.This chapter aims to advance our knowledge on the use of social networks as Facebook as tool for improving Customer Relationship Management, by focusing on a case study. In particular, the chapter investigates the adoption of Facebook by Calabrian managers in order to understand the impact of the social networks on their marketing strategies and on the relationships with clients in order to outline some useful data for researches and practitioners.Furthermore, the research has an interdisciplinary value, involving Psychology, Marketing and Organizational point of views.


Objective To examine the application effect of intelligent simulator(SimMan) in comprehensive skill training among doctors and nurses.Methods Totally 168 doctors and nurses were chosen as the training object,6 people (4 doctors and 2 nurses) formed a work team.Comprehensive training course was in accordance with 2010 American Heart Association guidelines for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and emergency cardiovascular care science.Real clinical situation was designed by using the third generation SimMan of Norway laerdal company.Trainees were administered two tests before and after training,in which there were two parts containing specialized operation ability and non-technical ability.Overall qualification rate,average mark and treatment time of qualified teams were compared before and after the training.SPSS 16.0 software was used to analyze the data and P <0.05 signifies statistically significance.Results Overall qualification rate,average mark and treatment time of qualified teams were 71.43%,(84.70 ± 3.15),and (449.25 ± 77.0) s respectively before training while 100%,(93.55 ± 3.86) and (323.71 ± 42.26) s after training.There were significant differences in results of two groups before and after training (P =0.002,0.000,0.000).Conclusions Application of the third generation intelligent simulator (SimMan) in comprehensive training will obviously improve training effectiveness and cultivate the non-technical ability.

Key words:
Intelligent simulator; Comprehensive skill training; Medical-nursing team


Scheduling and routing are important for a shipping company. In this paper a scheduling and routing model is developed to solve a shipping company problem. The model is different to some previous models since it considers the company's constraints such as number of ports that can be visited in one route, number of calls in each port and minimum gap between consecutive visits. The model is applied in one shipping company in Surabaya, Indonesia and is solved using insertion heuristic and simulated annealing. The result shows that simulated annealing method can reduce 18.2% of total distance compare to previous company's schedule and routes.


We have investigated the solution conformation of the functionally relevant C‐terminal extremes of α‐ and β‐tubulin, employing the model recombinant peptides RL52a3 and RL33b6, which correspond to the amino acid sequences 404‐451(end) and 394–445(end) of the main vertebrate isotypes of α‐ and β‐tubulin, respectively, and synthetic peptides with the α‐tubulin(430–443) and β‐tubulin(412–431) internal sequences. α(404–451) and β(394–445) are monomeric in neutral aqueous solution (as indicated by sedimentation equilibrium), and have circular dichroism (CD) spectra characteristic of nearly disordered conformation, consistent with low scores in peptide helicity prediction. Limited proteolysis of β(394–445) with subtilisin, instead of giving extensive degradation, resulted in main cleavages at positions Thr409‐Glu410 and Tyr422‐Gln423‐Gln424, defining the proteolysis resistant segment 410–422, which corresponds to the central part of the predicted β‐tubulin C‐terminal helix. Both recombinant peptides inhibited microtubule assembly, probably due to sequestration of the microtubule stabilizing associated proteins. Trifluoroethanol (TFE)‐induced markedly helical CD spectra in α(404–451) and β(394–445). A substantial part of the helicity of β(394–445) was found to be in the CD spectrum of the shorter peptide β(412–431) with TFE. Two‐dimensional 1H‐NMR parameters (nonsequential nuclear Overhauser effects (NOE) and conformational CαH shifts) in 30% TFE permitted to conclude that about 25% of α(404–451) and 40% of β(394–451) form well‐defined helices encompassing residues 418–432 and 408–431, respectively, flanked by disordered N‐ and C‐segments. The side chains of β(394–451) residues Leu418, Val419, Ser420, Tyr422, Tyr425, and Gln426 are well defined in structure calculations from the NOE distance constraints. The apolar faces of the helix in both α and β chains share a characteristic sequence of conserved residues Ala,Met(+4),Leu(+7),Tyr(+11). The helical segment of α(404–451) is the same as that described in the electron crystallographic model structure of αβ‐tubulin, while in β(394–451) it extends for nine residues more, supporting the possibility of a functional coil → helix transition at the C‐terminus of β‐tubulin. These peptides may be employed to construct model complexes with microtubule associated protein binding sites.


Rigorous research has reported reformist figures from Islamic education in Patani Thailand, such as Tuan Guru Haji (TGH) Abd Rahman al-Fathani. This paper discusses the role of TGH Abd Rahman al-Fathani in the development of Islamic education in Ma'had Tsaqafah Islamiyah Pombing Patani Southern Thailand. This study uses field studies with in-depth interviews, observation, and a literature search. The results showed a critical point that the development of Islamic education in Muassasah Ma'had Tsaqafah al-Islamiyah since its inception until now is inseparable from the work and thought innovations of Muassasah leaders with the help of elements in Muassasah's organizational structure. This illustrates the role of TGH Abd Rahman alFathani in the development of Islamic education by modernizing Islamic boarding schools, spreading literacy in Islamic education, conceptualizing institutional curricula, and sparking effective learning methods. Supporting factors include togetherness in managing the curriculum and teaching and learning process, adequate facilities and infrastructure, and experienced teachers. Inhibiting factors include different abilities and psychological abilities of students, low community participation, and poor management of funds.


: A linear combination functional model, formed from the single-differenced functional equation for baselines from a roving GPS receiver to three or more reference receivers, is proposed. In this model, the orbit bias and ionospheric delay can be eliminated, and the tropospheric delay, multipath, and observation noise can be significantly reduced. As a result, the ambiguity resolution technique that can be employed for medium-range GPS kinematic positioning is similar to that used for the short-range case. Kinematic tests have been carried out in Sydney, Australia, with distances from the nearest GPS reference stations of more than 30 km. The carrier-phase ambiguities could be resolved for every epoch with just a single epoch of data, and the success rate (correct identification of the integer ambiguities) was 100 percent. This technique is well suited to real-time precise GPS kinematic positioning.


Poly(butyl acrylate)(PBA)and poly(butyl acrylate-co-styrene)(SBA)latex were prepared via seeded emulsion polymerization.Then core-shell structure of acrylic impact resistant modifiers were successfully synthesized by grafting styrene and methyl methacrylate on PBA or SBA seed latex in emulsion polymerization.These modifiers were blended with PVC to prepare ACR/PVC blends.The influence of ACR composition on the property of PVC resin was investigated.


Objective To analyze the relationship between cerebral arteriosclerosis patients' serum lipid and tongues presentations and to explore the application of tongue inspection.Methods 130 cerebral arteriosclerosis patients were collected to determine their serum lipid,and observe their tongues presentations.The relationship between their tongues presentations and serum lipid were analyzed.Results There was a significant positive relationship between TG and red tongue(P0.05),dry fur(P0.01),and yellow fur(P0.01).There was a negative relationship between TG and white fur(P0.05).There was a negative relationship between HDL and dark tongue(P0.05).There was a positive relationship between LDL and dark tongue,thick fur(P0.05).Conclusions Haemostasis and phlegm muddy as Chinese medical pathological products play the role induced by lipid disorders in cerebral arteriosclerosis,being presented in tongues presentations.


A model of pedagogical conditions for fourth grade pupils is represented in this article for successful social adaptation of intermediate pupils. This model was tested experimentally and differentiated according to its functional application.


A Conference on the Efficacy of Caries-preventive Strategies was organized by Professor M. Curzon with the help of Mrs. S. Mason, both from the University of Leeds (UK). The Scientific Conference Programme Committee consisted of Professors D. O'Mullane from the University of Cork, G. Koch from the Postgraduate Institute ofJonkoping, M. Curzon, and Drs. D. PurdellLewis from Unilever Research, P. Golding from Oral-B Laboratories Ltd, and M. Edmondson from the Biscuit, Cake, Chocolate and Confectionery Alliance. The event was sponsored by the Food and Drink Federation (UK), Unilever Research, CocaCola International, SmithKline Beecham Consumer Brands, Oral-B Laboratories Ltd, The North American Branch of the International Life Sciences Institute, and Colgate-Palmolive Ltd. The conference was hosted by the European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry and was held in Leeuwenhorst Congres Centrum, Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands on 5-6 March, 1992. An interesting scientific program attracted 134 delegates from 14 different countries. The proceedings of the conference will be published in full as a special supplement to Caries Research. The conference was opened by Professor Curzon and an introduction given by Dr. A. Roberts from Unilever Research (UK). The first session reviewed the efficacy of systemic fluorides. Professor J. Murray from the University of Newcastle (UK) demonstrated that continuous residence in a fluoridated area gives maximal protection against caries. Using available data from 113 studies in 23 countries, he demonstrated a modal percentage reduction in dmft of 40-49% and in DMFT of 50-59%. The beneficial use of supplemental dietary fluorides was discussed by Professor K. Stephen from the University of Glasgow (UK). Professor Stephen reported that although fluoride tablets have been shown to be effective in reducing caries, both homebased distribution and delivery in schools depend on the compliance rate, which is extremely variable. He stated that although the use of fluoride tablets has been held responsible for an increase in fluorosis prevalence, blind data now exist to show that a dosage of 0.25 mg F/day from birth does not cause fluorosis and that the latter is due to injudicious use of other fluoride-containing vehicles. Professor W. Kunzel from the University of Erfurt (Germany) reported on the current status of fluoride added to salt, sugar, and milk. The second session reviewed the role of microbiology and tooth morphology in dental caries. Dr. Alaluusua from the University of Helsinki (Finland) reported on a three-year longitudinal study which showed that salivary tests were not as good as past caries experience in predicting caries in a group of teenagers with low caries activity. Dr. P. Marsh from Porton Down Research Station (UK) followed with a paper on antibacterial agents and vaccines. He postulated an "ecological plaque hypothesis" where factors trigger an etiological change in plaque. He stated that antimicrobial agents, applied either professionally or delivered from dentifrices or mouthwashes, could reduce caries by controlling plaque formation, suppressing cariogenic species, or inhibiting bacterial metabolism. He showed results of a study by Sandham et al. (1988), in which Streptococcus mutans were eliminated from saliva in 21 out of 33 subjects for up to 33 weeks when chlorhexidine was applied as a varnish to fissures. Regarding vaccination, Dr. Marsh reported that studies on primates had achieved 55-90% reduction in dental caries, but as yet no clinical trials have been carried out on humans. Professor L. Ripa from the State University of New York at Stony Brook gave the final paper of the session and reviewed the use of fissure sealants. He said that there were three generations ofsealants: The first generation was initiated by ultraviolet light, the second generation is autopolymerized, and the third generation is polymerized by visible light. Clinical retention has been found to be greater for second-generation sealants compared with first-generation, which are no longer marketed. Reports indicate that retention is similar for second and third systems, but longer evaluations are necessary. He queried the rationale for the use of fissure sealants containing fluoride, since it has not yet been established whether the fluoride is effective on the tooth or on the mouth as a whole and whether the fluoride addition improves caries inhibition. The third session reviewed current concepts on diet. Dr. I. Johanssen from the University of Umea (Sweden) gave a paper on diet counseling and behavioral change. She reviewed various intervention studies carried out in Sweden in attempts to reduce fat intake in the diet. The results from the First North Karelia Youth Project (1978-1980), an intervention study on 13-yearolds, were reported. The overall conclusion was that it is in fact extremely difficult to influence behavior. Professor T. Imfeld from the University of Zurich (Switzerland) reviewed artificial sweeteners and sugar substitutes. He concluded that although all these products have little or no cariogenic potential, only saccharin, aspartame, and xylitol could be considered active against caries, and that the clinical relevance of some bacteriostatic and/or cariostatic properties ascribed to the aforementioned remains to be corroborated. Professor B. Burt from the University of Michigan indicated that despite a reduction in the prevalence of caries, the mean consumption of total sugars has not changed, but nowadays less sucrose and more high-fructose corn syrup is eaten. He reviewed the problem of different health categories, such as heart disease and dental caries, requiring apparently conflicting dietary recommendations. Professor M. Edgar from the University ofLiverpool (UK) discussed the recent report by the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy (COMA) on sugars. He explained that the COMA panel had classified sugars into two major groupsintrinsic sugars and extrinsic sugars. Intrinsic sugars are suggested as those 'naturally integrated into the cellular structure of a food" and extrinsic sugars as those "which are free in the food or added to it". The former are mainly those in whole fruit and vegetables, while the latter include milk sugars (almost entirely lactose) as a special subgroup, together with nonmilk extrinsic sugars, including fruit juices, honey, and added sugars. He discussed the recommendations to reduce the daily intake of extrinsic sugars and pointed out that intrinsic sugars tend to be eaten at mealtimes, whereas extrinsic sugars are eaten between meals. Additionally, currently available advice suggests that foods containing intrinsic sugars also have a cariogenic potential. The fourth session reviewed the benefits of topical fluoride. Professor K. Konig from the University of Nijmegen (The Netherlands) gave a paper on toothpastes. He concluded that the continuing reduction in caries is associated with increased usage offluoride toothpaste and that fluoride is an indispensable ingredient in toothpaste. Professor S. Wei from the University of Hong Kong gave an update on the use of topical fluoride gels, referring to a review article on the subject by Professor Ripa. He stated that 2% neutral sodium fluoride gels have been developed because APF gels may etch porcelain and composite fillings. However, more studies are needed to determine the efficacy of sodium fluoride gel in caries reduction. Since gels can be applied in trays, the whole mouth can be treated at once, thus saving time. Dr. L. Petersson from Halmstad (Sweden)


ABSTRACT This article discusses methods for automatic annotation of political texts for semantic fields—groups of words with related meanings. This type of annotation is useful when studying political communication, such as legislative debate or political speeches. We present three types of automatic annotation: unsupervised clustering, dictionary-based approaches, and a method based on relevant experimental data. All methods are applied to analyzing Margaret Thatcher's political rhetoric. For this data, we find that unsupervised clustering is most useful for tracing topics; dictionary-based methods are most effective in a comparative setting; whereas the last method is the most promising for detecting off-topic, singular uses of semantic domains, which are often rhetorical tools used to achieve a political end. Applicability, strengths, and weaknesses of each method and of their combinations are addressed in detail.


Enteroviruses have been examined for their possible role in the etiology of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) for nearly 40 years; however, the evidence remains inconclusive so far. This article provides new findings from Cuban studies suggesting the involvement of enteroviruses, either with the clinical T1DM onset or the pre-clinical stages of the β- cell autoimmunity in populations with low incidence of diabetes and high enteroviral circulation. Potential mechanisms of pathogenesis such as direct β- cell lysis and molecular mimicry are also discussed


The paper looks into multi-channel/multimodal biometric systems that are adaptive to environmental variations. We introduce a general formulation that addresses the environmental robustness of multi-channel fusion in biometric systems. Based on the formulation, two audio-visual biometric systems are developed. The first relies on confidence measures derived from environmental conditions to weight the contributions of the biometric channels dynamically; whereas the second considers the multiple channels jointly to adjust the fusion parameters optimally according to the current environmental conditions. Experimental evaluations with varying testing conditions show that both systems achieve lower recognition error rate compared with a baseline non-environment-adaptive audio-visual system. It is further shown that incorporating joint optimization of multichannel fusion parameters to cater to environmental changes, as in the second system, consistently leads to improved recognition accuracy over other systems, and, at the same time, it is guaranteed to perform no worse than any of the individual biometric channels under all environmental conditions.


Battery cyclic loss is a key parameter to assess lithium-ion battery degradation in electric vehicles (EVs), while machine learning (ML) methods can be used in evaluating and predicting the degradation trend of battery health due to cyclic loss. The accuracy of ML methods is influenced by the input parameter selection of the model. This paper develops a feature selection strategy based on the utilization of a data pre-processing method, which extracts useful model input parameters from the battery data. To show the advantages of the method, eight widely used ML algorithms are applied to a case study and compared for battery cyclic loss prediction. The results show that the developed feature selection method has improved the prediction accuracy by at least 9%, in the case of LASSO regression The results also depict that the random forest (RF) regression, Gaussian Process Regression (GPR), and XGBoost methods, when applied in combination with the developed feature selection method, show an improvement of 44%, 48% and 52% in the prediction accuracy, respectively.


We have characterized by capacitance‐voltage and deep level transient spectroscopy measurements the only defect detected in Si‐doped GaInP layers. This defect exhibits an ionization energy of 0.435 eV but is located only at ∼20 meV below the bottom of the conduction band. All its characteristics, i.e., energy level, apparent capture barrier, ionization energy, can be understood if the defect is a donor associated DX center. Its cross section for electron and hole capture have been measured. The effect of an electric field on the ionization energy confirms that the defect is indeed shallow and a donor.


The resistances of three sets of rice near-isogenic lines(NILs) with Lijiangxintuanheigu,CO39 and IRBL backgrounds to Magnaporthe oryzae from Tengchong and Luoping rice blast nurseries,and their utilization potential were evaluated by spray inoculation at seedling stage.The results showed that the NILs C101A51(Pi-2(t)),IRBL-22(Pi-9(t)) and IRBL-23(Pi-12(t)) were the most resistant with the resistant frequencies of 94.22%,93.50% and 90.61% respectively.The analysis of associative resistance of two blast-resistant genes indicated that the gene combinations Pi-2 + Pi-9 and Pi-2 + Pi-12had the associative resistance coefficients of 0.88 and 0.86 respectively,implying that these gene combinations may be used for rice blast resistance breeding.


In general, RC columns are reinforced by spiral or tied steel and a strength of confined concrete is more increased than this of unconfined concrete. And strength and ductility of column are increased by a confinement effect. A confinement effect is affected by concrete strength, spacing, volume and strength of confinement steel. Many researchers suggested various confinement models which reflected these parameters by many experimental results. In this study, a load-strain relationship is evaluated by a confinement model in EC2, and it is compared with Mander model, Saatchioglu-Razvi model and Cusson et al. model. As results, it is appeared that a confinement model in EC2 is able to apply all kinds of concrete strength and a consistency in sectional analysis can be secured using material models in EC2. In parameter studies using material models in EC2, a confinement effect is more affected by a confinement steel than a concrete strength.


In this paper, we investigate slot allocation for diverse quality of service (QoS) types in orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) based IEEE 802.16e wireless MAN systems. For a downlink scenario, we propose flow metrics that dynamically capture the extent to which flows of diverse QoS types merit bandwidth allocation. Using these flow metrics, we propose a scheduling rule for a mixture of real-time, non real-time and best effort traffic. Our system model uses queues implemented as finite length buffers for each of the downlink flows. Simulation results are presented to compare the performance of the proposed rule with that of existing rules.


In this paper, we describe part of a study on brachiation robot for monitoring/surveillance tasks conducted over the infrastructure provided by electric powerlines/electric shield wires. Among the most relevant tasks that can be carried out by this robot are forest patrolling, environmental mapping and wildlife monitoring. The robot uses a statically stable variation of the brachistochrone motion to move along electric shield wires/electric power lines overcoming the standard obstacles. The paper describes the kinematics and basic simulation results on the dynamics and control of the robot. The control strategy is based on optimal control, minimizing error to reach desired angles. Finally, We present results of the experimental implementation of the proposed controller in order to validate our control strategy. The proposed algorithm is applied to brachiation robot. A BRACHIATING robot dynamically moves from handhold to handhold like a long armed ape swinging its arms, as depicted in Fig. 1.


In the manufacturing industry, the random failures of machines introduce unexpected disruptions to the production. It is preferable to replace those aged machines with new ones before they fail. In this paper, the machine preventive replacement problem in serial production lines is discussed. To obtain an optimal machine replacement policy, the problem is formulated as a reinforcement learning problem and solved with the Q-learning algorithm. A reward function is proposed based on the production loss evaluation of the serial production lines. The data-driven modeling of serial production lines is used during the training process of the agent. A simulation study is conducted to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed method.


The geometry, electronic structure and optical properties of pure and 3d transition metals-doped anatase-phase TiO 2 were studied by using the plane-wave ultrasoft pseudopotential method based on the density functional theory. The calculations show that the formation of impurity energy level is mainly contributed by 3d orbital of the transition metal doped in TiO 2 , and the position of impurity energy levels in the band gap is the dominating factor that decides whether the absorption threshold wavelength has a red-shift or not. The doping of Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Co and Cu causes the absorption wavelength to red-shift, and the absorption coefficient in the visible light region is increased; whereas the doping of Sc, Zn causes the absorption wavelength to blue-shift, but leads to higher absorption coefficients in the visible region. The doping of V not only causes the absorption wavelength to red-shift and strengthens the absorption in the ultraviolet light region, but also gives rise to extremely big absorption coefficient in the visible region.


The theory that market economy is economy ruled by law means that it is a basic logic that the market can't operate properly without law system.Suppose it signifies the legal justice to support the small and medium sized enterprise in terms of providing guarantee service by specialized institutions,it is necessary to take the living environment for such institutions and the society as the starting point to construct the legal system.However,it is not to build an order,but to damage the order,if the policy paper taking place of the legislation,abstract wording describing the rules,rule maker's subjective judgment taking place of the market rule,and so on.In the long run,it should comply with the rule of "coming from the society and going to the society" for Chinese small and medium-sized enterprise guarantee system.


Freescale Semiconductor decided to make it easier to move between its 8 bit and 32 bit lines with the introduction of the Flexis microcontrollers. These are parts that have identical pinouts and on-chip peripherals but different processors cores: some have the 8 bit S08 core, derived from the 6805 architecture, and the 32 bit products are based around the ColdFire version 1 - the first follow-on to the company's 68000 architecture.Thanks to the use of more aggressive process technologies, large-memory 32 bit microcontrollers are making inroads in embedded systems.


In the last decades of the XIX century grew the interest of Mexican physicians for new topics. With avidly, they wanted to know everything that was taking place in Europe. As a part of this hurry to reach the old continent, teratology and hysteria arrived to Mexico.  I ask in this essay about the reasons that explain the interest of Mexican doctors precisely in these topics: what was exactly what they looked in them and what allowed his posterior rooting? In an attempt for answering these questions, I investigate in the leagues between the monster, the hysterical and  modernity, in this way, while I open the teratology speech to  the problem of race, I put in the center of the discourses about hysteria  and  mental illness the question about the person. Without these two questions it is not possible to understand today the modernity that we endure.


clonotype appeared at weeks 15-16 (tracks B2 and C3) and then died away. Rats D and E had biclonal spectrotypes at weeks 12 and 16, respectively (tracks D3 and E4). The acidic clonotype of rat E was replaced by a new one at 27 weeks (track E6). Similar changes occurred in the spectrotype of rat F, a dominant group of basic bands appearing at 20 weeks (track F5) to be replaced in turn by a clonotype of four bands (arrows, tracks 6 and 7). Thymectomy followed by sublethal irradiation was shown to induce autoimmune thyroiditis in rats by Penhale et al. (1975). Lymphocytic infiltration of the thyroid and production of anti-thyroglobulin lead to destruction of thyroid follicles with a more delayed time course compared with the immunized AUG rat model. IEF spectrotypes of anti-thyroglobulin autoantibodies were much more restricted in the PVG rat model, only one or two clonotypes being present in most cases. This resembles the pattern given by a minor population of Hashimoto's patients (Stott et al., 1986) and may be due to T-cell regulation of the number of responding B-cells (Rose et al., 1981). Pronounced changes in spectrotype occurred as clonotypes died away and were replaced by new ones, reflecting changes in the response of B-cell clones. Some clonotypes persisted over the period of the study. giving a maximum lifespan for an autoantibody secreting B-cell clone of at least 16 weeks.


Recent research on overlay networks has revealed that user-perceived network performance could be improved by an overlay routing mechanism. However, most of these studies only consider end-to-end delay and packet loss ratio, and there are few works focusing on bandwidth-related information such as available bandwidth and TCP throughput that are important performance metrics especially for long-lived data transmission. In this thesis, we first investigate the effect of overlay routing using both delay and bandwidth information, using the public measurement results of delay and available bandwidth of network paths between PlanetLab nodes. We consider three metrics for selecting overlay route, end-to-end delay, available bandwidth, and TCP throughput. We then present that the available bandwidth-based overlay routing provided significant gain, compared with delay-based routing. The effectiveness of overlay routing is caused mainly by the policy mismatch between the overlay routing and the underlay IP routing operated by ISPs. However, this policy mismatch causes "free-riding" traffic problem in routing overlay networks, which may become harmful for ISPs' cost structure. Therefore, we define the free-riding problem in routing overlay network, and evaluate the degree of free-riding traffic to reveal the effect of the problem on ISPs. We introduce the numerical metric to evaluate the degree of the free-riding problem, and confirm that most of relay paths that has better performance than direct path bring the free-riding problem. We also discuss the guideline of selecting paths that are more effective than direct path and that mitigate the free-riding problem.


Genetic knowledge of germplasm diversity among parental inbred lines has significant impact in the development of improved maize hybrids in the breeding program. The aim of our study was to assess maize inbred lines for variability in molecular traits and to estimate genetic distance among different parental lines. Maize inbred lines were genotyped through 200 SNPs markers. The results revealed low levels of variability across the lines. Two major clusters of lines were observed where the first major group was made of 16 sub-groups of 28 lines. The genetic distance between the studied lines was low. Therefore, the prediction of the heterosis effect of the crosses between the maize parental lines would have been in the negative way.


Background: Tracheal intubation is used in general anesthesia and often leads to traumatization of the airway mucosa. These complications can cause postoperative morbidity. This study was designed to determine the effect of ketamine spraying on the endotracheal tube cuff on sore throat, cough, and hoarseness during the first 24 hours of the postoperative period. Methods: 120 healthy women with term singleton pregnancy scheduled for elective term cesarean delivery under general anesthesia were enrolled. Patients were randomized into two equal groups. 1 ml (50 mg) ketamine was sprayed on the endotracheal tube cuff in group K as a study group and 1 ml normal saline was sprayed on the endotracheal tube cuff in group N as a control group. The patients were interviewed for sore throat, cough, and hoarseness at  1, 6 and 24 hours after general anesthesia. Results: In group K, no patient reported sore throat, cough and hoarseness in the first hours after surgery. However at the same time in group N the incidence of these symptoms was significantly higher than group K. The incidence of combined moderate and severe sore throat, cough and hoarseness was significantly lower in group K compared with group N, not only in 6 hours after surgery (1.67%, 0, 0 in group K vs 13.34%, 18.34%, 16.68% in group N, p<0.05) but also 24 hours after operation (1.67%, 0, 0 in group K vs13.3%, 16.6%, 11.67% in group N, p<0.05). Conclusion: Ketamine spraying on the endotracheal tube cuff reduces the incidence of sore throat, hoarseness and cough in patients undergoing operation under general anesthesia.


Lightning is a common natural phenomenon and is a typical air discharge on a large spatial scale. The stepping of lightning leaders and space stems of thunderstorms are similar to those of negative discharges in the laboratory. There have been extensive experimental observations and theoretical research on positive discharge but less research on the negative form. This paper conducts an experiment on a 1-m rod–plane gap under a negative impulse voltage. To observe the thermodynamics of the negative discharge, a Mach–Zehnder interferometer combined with a high-speed video camera was set up. The Abel inverse method was used to quantify the thermal parameters for negative channels. The space stem is of great interest, and its bidirectional propagation and connection with the electrode were captured. When a space stem formed, the gas temperature within the stem ranged 320–550 K. Two negative leaders connected in space and formed one negative channel. The connection region was about 800 K while the temperature on the two sides of the negative channel reached 1500–1800 K. After a negative channel formed, it expanded, and its thermal parameter distributions tended to be uniform owing to thermal conduction and convection losses. The gas density near the discharge center was about 20%–30% of the ambient density, and the corresponding temperature was 1000–1500 K. The experiments provide deep insight into the thermodynamic properties of a negative leader discharge.


Conventional multiply-accumulate (MAC) operations have long dominated computation time for deep neural networks (DNNs). Recently, product quantization (PQ) has been successfully applied to these workloads, replacing MACs with memory lookups to pre-computed dot products. While this property makes PQ an attractive solution for model acceleration, little is understood about the associated trade-offs in terms of compute and memory footprint, and the impact on accuracy. Our empirical study investigates the impact of different PQ settings and training methods on layerwise reconstruction error and end-to-end model accuracy. When studying the efficiency of deploying PQ DNNs, we find that metrics such as FLOPs, number of parameters, and even CPU/GPU performance, can be misleading. To address this issue, and to more fairly assess PQ in terms of hardware efficiency, we design the first custom hardware accelerator to evaluate the speed and efficiency of running PQ models. We identify PQ configurations that are able to improve performance-per-area for ResNet20 by 40%-104%, even when compared to a highly optimized conventional DNN accelerator. Our hardware performance outperforms recent PQ solutions by 4x, with only a 0.6% accuracy degradation. This work demonstrates the practical and hardware-aware design of PQ models, paving the way for wider adoption of this emerging DNN approximation methodology.


This study proposed a conceptual framework based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and Social Cognitive Theory of Information System (SCT-IS) to investigate tutors' acceptance of Learning Management System (LMS)-enabled blended learning in distance education (DE). Anchored on embedded mixed method (Quantitative + qualitative) design, the questionnaire and interview guide were utilized for data collection. Consequently, quantitative data was drawn from a sample of 267 tutors from DE study centres across Ghana who responded to the questionnaire, while 15 of them were interviewed for the qualitative component. Analysis of the quantitative data utilized the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) technique while thematic analysis was used for the qualitative data. Findings from the research revealed key factors of tutors' LMS-enabled blended learning uptake intention as attitude, self-efficacy, previous technology experience and effort expectancy. However, the Importance Performance Map Analysis (IPMA) results proved that attitude towards LMS-enabled blended learning was the most important and performing factor shapening the intentions of tutors towards blended learning acceptance in DE. Furthermore, the study established non-linear relationships among both personality factors (attitude, self-efficacy, previous technology experience and anxiety) and effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions) towards behavioural intention. It also proved the existence of relationships between and among


Boundary integral techniques provide a convenient way to study the evolution of an interface between inviscid liquids. Several studies have revealed that standard numerical approximations tend to lead to unstable methods, and various remedies have been introduced and tested. In this paper, we conduct a stability analysis of the linearized equations with a particular objective in mind---the determination of how the discrete system fails to capture the physical dispersion relation precisely for the available discrete modes. We discover two reasons for the typical failure in numerical discretizations: one is the inability of the mesh to represent the vorticity created by surface tension effects on the finest scale; and the other is the inaccuracies in the evaluation of the boundary integral for the velocity. With the insight gained from our linear analysis, we propose a new method that is spectrally accurate and linearly stable. Further, the exact dispersion relation is obtained for all the available discrete modes. Numerical tests suggest that the method is also stable in the nonlinear regime. However, our method runs into difficulties generic to methods based on Lagrangian motion. The markers accumulate near a stagnation point on the interface, forcing us to use an ever decreasing time step in our explicit method. We introduce a redistribution of markers to overcome this difficulty. When we redistribute according to equal arclength, we find excellent agreement with a method based on preserving equal spacing in arclength.


This report provides a chronology of recent events involving Pakistan and Pakistan-U.S. relations. Sources include, but are not limited to, major newswires, the U.S. Department of State, and Pakistani news outlets. For a substantive review, see CRS Issue Brief IB94041, Pakistan-U.S. Relations.


The invention belongs to the technical field of medicine and particularly relates to a synthetic method of the medicine for treating leprosy. The synthetic method is characterized in that phthalic anhydride and glutamic acid are used as raw materials, one-pot operation is performed, direct synthesis is performed, and then a finished product is obtained after purification. Yield is improved from 50% to about 80%. Simultaneously, N, N-dimethylformamide and other solvents are adopted in a condensation step. Compared with a solvent pyridine used in the original process, environment pollution is reduced, and cost is saved. Dimethyl sulfoxide is used as a solvent during purification, and purified mother liquor is recycled. Compared with the solvent N, N-dimethylformamide adopted by the original process, the low-toxicity solvent is used, the problem that the original process is much in impurities and unqualified in residual solvent is solved, and the purified mother liquor is recycled so as to reduce product cost further.


A model for conceptualizing the change process in cross-cultural counseling is presented, using worldview as a unifying construct. Drawing from anthropology and counseling process research, key understandings regarding culture and change are combined into a coherent framework that provides guidance to counselors on how to enhance the therapeutic relationship and effectively facilitate change in a cross-cultural counseling context. After the model is outlined, its operationalization in counseling and assessment is described and illustrated Finally, it is concluded that although further research is needed worldview appears to be a viable unifying construct for understanding change within cross-cultural counseling.


The friction coefficient of electronic origin is analyzed, appearing in the Fokker-Planck equation for the motion of a chemisorbed hydrogen atom on a metal surface. The Newns-Anderson model is employed. Analysis is made with the aid of the Friedel sum rule. Electron correlation brings strong temperature dependence to the friction coefficient.


Everyone knows that Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region is a big cultural resources region.But what kind of cultural resources on earth does it have and what can be developed and used as the tourism resources? These are needed to be chosen and organized scholarly through a scientific,systematic and standardized way.Then we can find out the "Comparative Advantage" of the local ethnic cultural resources.Because of its specific characteristic on stocks and distribution,the choice and organization of the cultural resources have to be proceed from the easy to the difficult,from the big to the small,from the surface to the centre,then proceed the overall structural integration from one point to one line,from the line to the whole area.


The prediction of ejection forces in tubular moldings (pipe fittings, cups, ..) is relevant for the optimization of the ejection systems in molds. An instrumented mold (pressure, temperature and force) for a tubular part was developed for measuring the actual ejection forces for two amorphous materials, polystyrene and polycarbonate. The ejection forces depend mostly on the holding pressure and the mould core temperature. The experimental data is used to validate a thermo-mechanical model that predicts the shrinkage and internal stresses.


The invention discloses an interactive information push method used for a television interactive system, used for attracting users to participate in the interaction with television playing videos in a television video playing process. The method comprises: receiving the access request information sent by a user terminal within the effective time of interactive information; and sending the interactive interface corresponding to the interactive information on a television picture to the terminal according to the request information. The method allows the user watching television videos to utilize, such as a mobile terminal device, to obtain the interactive information of television video, accesses to an interactive system in a television video playing process, and obtains the user response information specific to the interaction of television videos through pushing the interactive interface to the terminal and detecting the operation on the interface. The method can attract users to actively participate in watching and interacting with television playing videos, increase the ratings of television programs, and improve user participation interactivity and visual experience.


Model-based polarimetric target decomposition (TD) generally solves scattering components and parameters under a preset decomposition base; then, decomposition features are also obtained. However, a preset base could not be adjusted according to different scenes. Furthermore, solving the polarimetric parameters needs exploring additional information or considering limiting conditions to build equations, which is hard and easily brings negative effects into decomposition features. To this end, we regard the TD as a process of learning decomposition base and features by deep learning. Then, the polarimetric decomposition feature learning (PDFL) model is proposed in this article. Strictly, this model is not an incoherent TD method but a learning-based method. It does not need to construct the parameter solution equations or fixed base. Then, the decomposition base and feature can be adaptively learned according to the scattering characteristics of the current dataset. Due to the characteristics of unsupervised reconstruction, the deep autoencoder (DAE) is used as the model foundation. Then, some adjustments and constraints are utilized to make the DAE fit closely with TD. The encoder extracts the latent vector from polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) data, and then, the decoder reconstructs pseudodata on this latent vector. The reconstruction can be regarded as the inverse process of TD, so the base matrix of the decoder and the latent vector indicate the learned decomposition base and features when the model converges. The effectiveness of PDFL is verified on simulated and real PolSAR datasets. Compared with representative algorithms, the proposed model gains more discriminative features and achieves competitive performance on terrain classification and segmentation tasks.


Many countries in the Asia-Pacific, enabled by rising defence budgets and aggressive marketing by major arms-producing states, have since the middle of the 1990s greatly expanded their war fighting capacities beyond the mere modernisation of their armed forces. While such purchases are intended to aid deterrence and defence, they may have the unintended consequences of undermining regional security and stability by contributing to arms races or arms competitions leading to a classical 'security dilemma'.


Low temperature resistivity anomalies have been observed in dilute PdRh alloys that are attributed to temperature dependent modifications of inter-band s to d scattering, rather than to the usual Kondo mechanism. It is suggested that resistance minima in other palladium alloys can also be explained in this way, and may even be used as a criterion for the presence of s to d scattering.


I n the two decades since the regulatory construct has been devised, Regional Transmission Organizations and Independent System Operators (together, ISOs) have benefited consumers by knitting together the electricity transmission facilities of individual utilities into a common marketplace. Those larger networks have become platforms where a more efficient and seamless trade in electricity can occur. An ISO therefore should be understood as an operational, corporate and regulatory innovation: a "software" solution that reduces production costs and promotes the sharing of power-generation capacity. The advent of ISOs has also had a "hardware" component. It has become easier to build transmission projects because the ISO's tariff is a vehicle that can more easily allocate costs across multiple utilities, when transmission provides benefits beyond a single one.


Purpose – Sustainability has the potential to bring enormous benefits to our built environment. To release this potential, a change in business models is required. The purpose of this paper is to investigate green business models (GBMs) transformation by adopting five essential elements of green value creation and capture: green value proposition (GVP), target group (TG), key activities (KA), key resources (KR), and financial logic (FL). Design/methodology/approach – In this qualitative study, 19 semi-structured interviews were conducted. Interviewees were selected purposively. The emergent data were analysedwith the aid of themes. Findings – It was observed that significant effort was being made towards enabling the transformation of certain elements pertinent to green value creation: KA and KR. This was particularly so when compared to other elements like GVP, TG, and FL. Practical implications – Findings from this study should encourage construction managers to align their extant BMs to green activities hence enabling new approaches to green value creation and capture. Furthermore, the study will aid in improving the environmental and economic positions of the value chain within the construction sector. Originality/value – This research is one of the few empirical academic works investigating GBMs in the construction sector.


This study aims to determine how the physical condition and mood profile athletes son Unimed Hockey Club in 2012. The method used in this research is descriptive method of test and measurement techniques and the distribution of questionnaires given to 18 people sampled are: Athlete Son Unimed Hockey Club in 2012.
The results were as follows: for the physical condition of an athlete profiles son Unimed Hockey Club as a whole is in the medium category with an average value of 2.98, and for the mood Unimed Hockey Club mens athlete of 44.56% is rather low in this category. For the physical components of the average speed of 2.83 a category. For the components of the physical condition of the leg muscle explosive power average value of 2.72 with less category. For the components of the physical condition of the arm muscle strength average value of 3:11 by category. For the components of the physical condition of abdominal muscle endurance average value of 2.77 with less category. For the components of the physical condition of anaerobic endurance average value of 3:27 by category. For the components of the physical agility average 3:00 a category. For the components of the physical condition of the average value of flexibility 3.61 with moderate category. For the components of the physical condition of aerobic endurance average 2:55 with less category. For fatigue mood state at 36.19% with a rather low category. For the mood mood of anger at 41.75% with a category is rather low. For the mood feeling ready for 57.30% by category rather low. For mood state at 43.49% strain with the category rather low. For the mood of self-assessment by 60.00% to the category rather low. For the confused state of the atmosphere mood for 44.29% with categories rather low. For Depression mood state at 28.89% with a rather low category. Between profiles of physical condition and mood there is no significant relationship. It can be seen from the results tcount -0.20


Consider a time-harmonic electromagnetic plane wave incident on a medium enclosed by a bounded domain in . In this paper, existence and uniqueness of the variational problem for the direct scattering are established. An energy estimate for the scattered field is obtained on which the Born approximation is based. The Fréchet differentiability of the scattering map is examined. A new continuation method for the inverse medium scattering, which reconstructs the scatterer of an inhomogeneous medium from the boundary measurements of the scattered waves, is developed. The algorithm requires only single-frequency scattering data. Using an initial guess from the Born approximation, each update is obtained via recursive linearization on the spatial frequency of a one-parameter family of plane waves by solving one forward and one adjoint problem of the Helmholtz equation.


High data rates give rise to frequency-selective propagation effects. Space-time multiplexing and/or coding offer attractive means of combating fading and boosting capacity of multi-antenna communications. As the number of antennas increases, channel estimation becomes challenging because the number of unknowns increases, and the power is split at the transmitter. Optimal training sequences have been designed for flat-fading multi-antenna systems or for frequency-selective single transmit antenna systems. We design a low-complexity optimal training scheme for block transmissions over frequency-selective channels with multiple antennas. The optimality in designing our training schemes consists of maximizing a lower bound on the ergodic (average) capacity that is shown to be equivalent to minimizing the mean square error of the linear channel estimator. Simulation results confirm our theoretical analysis that applies to both single- and multicarrier transmissions.


From March to July in 2010,the drag-reduction agent was applied to Fushun-Bayuquan products pipeline,when(10~15) ×10-6 drag-reduction agent was added,the rate of throughput increased by 23.9%,the target task was accomplished.Through analysis of the drag-reduction agent characteristics,the suitable friction calculation formula for Fushun-Bayuquan products pipeline was put forward,and based on the data of industrial application,the increasing rate of throughput and drag reduction efficiency through adding different concentration drag-reduction agent were calculated under different max output working conditions,then the variation trend curve of increased throughput rate and drag reduction efficiency under different conditions through adding different concentration drag-reduction was regressed.


The bandwidth performance of a thinned phased array consisting of a circular array with 16 elements with various tapped delay line configurations was investigated. Five- and nine-jammer scenarios are considered. A brief description of the broadband array model is presented. Simulation results for the steady-state nulling performance of the adaptive array with one, two, and three tap configurations are presented for five- and nine-jammer environments. It is shown that the use of a tapped delay-line improves the nulling performance of the adaptive antenna, as expected.<<ETX>>


The luminescence properties of III–V quantum wells under the influence of field‐effect‐tuneable and laterally modulated potentials are reviewed. Large electric fields generated in the quantum well plane cause a modulation of the quantum well absorption via the Franz–Keldysh effect as well as a reversible separation of optically excited electron–hole pairs. The electron–hole pair separation by field effect can prolong the recombination lifetimes by many orders of magnitude and yields a controllably delayed reemission of luminescence radiation. Dynamic in‐plane electric fields caused by the propagation of surface acoustic waves on piezoelectric heterostructures make possible spatially and temporarily delayed luminescence whereas a two‐dimensional modulation of the electrostatic potential enables the delayed storage of optical images. Spatial modulation of the quantum confined Stark effect via the out‐of‐plane electric field is employed to realize tuneable excitonic traps and to study macroscopic transport of long‐living, spatially indirect excitons in suitably designed double quantum wells. This is possibly paving the way for the observation of excitonic Bose–Einstein condensation in quantum well structures. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


The article is dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the famous Don scientist, archaeologist, professor Victor Pavlovich Kopylov. V.P. Kopylov is one of the leading experts in the field of Scythian-ancient archeology of the Northern Black Sea Region, for many years he was a lecturer at the historical faculty of the Rostov State Pedagogical University and Southern Federal University. Under his leadership, a whole series of monuments of the Scytho-Ancient period of the North-Eastern Azov Sea was identified and introduced into science. It was fundamental importance in the framework of solving the problem of relationship between ancient and barbaric cultures in the South Russia. The most important part of the scientific work of V.P. Kopylov is the study of the nodal monument of the Scythian-Antique time in Eastern Europe – the Elizaveta fortress on Don. V.P. Kopylov is the author of more than 150 scientific articles and several monographs. The Scientific and Methodological Center of Archeology, created by him, for many years represented the Don archaeological science at the highest international scientific level. Viktor Pavlovich is a vivid representative of the academic school of archeology. Respected by colleagues and employees, the beloved teacher of students, who brought up more than a generation of students, he continues to actively pursue his favorite business and do for the benefit of Russian science.


Objective To analyze the stability of the medical personnel in the county-level hospitals and the factors that influenced the stability,in order to promote the stability construction of medical team in county-level hospitals.Method A field survey was conducted through the on-the-job medical personnel in the 12 county-level hospitals of 4 provinces in China,and the statistical data was analyzed using descriptive and Chi-square test method.Result There were 51.9% of the investigated medical personnel in the county-level hospitals who expressed that they thought to leave their work units.And the high level talents had higher turnover intention.The factors that influenced the stability of the medical personnel in the county-level hospitals included the shortage of business activities funds,too much overtime work,no working team,low prestige and unharmonious interpersonal relationship.Conclusion It is key to stabilize the talents through various channels for the long-term development of the county-level hospitals.


The InfraRed Imaging Magnetograph (IRIM)1,2 is a two-dimensional narrow-band solar spectro-polarimeter currently being developed at Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO). It works in the near infrared (NIR) from 1.0 μm to 1.7 μm and possesses high temporal resolution, high spatial resolution, high spectral resolving power, high magnetic sensitivity. As the detector of IRIM, the 1024 × 1024 HgCdTe TCM8600 CMOS camera manufactured by the Rockwell Scientific Company plays a very important role in acquiring the high precision solar spectropolarimetry data. In order to make the best use of it for solar observation, the characteristic evaluation was carried out at BBSO and National Solar Observatory (NSO), Sacramento Peak in October 2003. The paper presents a series of measured performance parameters including linearity, readout noise, gain, full well capacity, hot pixels, dark, flat field, frame rate, vacuum, low temperature control, etc., and shows some solar infrared narrow band imaging observation results.


In the first decades of the twentieth century, Bolivian intellectuals and politicians debated how the country's Indian population should be incorporated into social and political life as the nation became increasingly integrated internally and forged stronger links to the world market. Public health was central to this discussion because of elite fears of contagion due to greater contact between Indians and non-Indians and the realization that if Indians were to be productive members of society, then their physical well-being had to be considered. This study examines the proposals of two Bolivian doctors, Jaime Mendoza and Nestor Morales, for improving the health of the native population in the context of the larger national debate about ethnicity and citizenship.


An alternative method for computing chemical hardness, based on the Janak's extension of density-functional theory for fractional occupancies, is employed in the study of the maximum hardness principle for HCN, HSiN, N2H2, HCP, and O3H+ isomerizations. The hardness is found to be a good indicator of the more stable isomer in all cases. The hardnesses and the energy profiles, as a function of the reaction coordinate, are generally opposite in nature only for the isomerization reactions of O3H+ and HSiN, for which there is a negligible variation of the chemical potential. The electronic and nuclear-repulsion energy changes show good correlation with the relative stability of a species even when the constraint of constant chemical potential is not obeyed.


Radar and communication integrated on the electronic war platform is an effective method to reduce the volume and electromagnetic interference.With the rise of share-aperture concepts and software-defined radio techniques,the technology of integrating communication functions with radar systems has received considerable attention in recent years.Following the principle of signal sharing,the system of integrated radar and communication is presented based on LFM signal,and the method adopts Chirp signal under same frequency modulation rate and different initial frequency.Under the premise of not affecting the radar performance,the system can transmit binary information excellently.The design of special signal make the communication signal ensconce in the radar signal.The method enhances the anti-jamming capability of the system and the low-intercept probability of signal.Finally,the resolution ability of initial frequency and the capability of demodulation of the integrated system are analyzed.The simulation result shows that the proposed integrated system has lower SER and higher robustness.


Farm management deals with organization of a farm with objective of maximizing profits from the farm business on a continuing basis. Farm management is a science in which the proper combination and operation of production factors including land, labour and capital and the choice of crop and livestock enterprises to bring about a maximum and continuous return to the most elementary operation units of farming. Farm business which have a bearing on the economic efficiency of the farm. Soybean grower can increase the use of human labour, bullock labour, machine labour and plant protection in soybean production. In soybean based farming system, farmer can give more importance to soybean in kharif, wheat in rabi and groundnut in summer season for increase the profit. In this framing system, farmer can give more importance to crossbred cow herd as compare to buffalo herd.


Recall that the Hilbert (Riemann-Hilbert) boundary value problem was recently solved in \cite{R1} for arbitrary measurable coefficients and for arbitrary measurable boundary data in terms of nontangential limits and principal asymptotic values. Here it is developed a new approach making possible to obtain new results on tangential limits. It is shown that the spaces of the found solutions have the infinite dimension for prescribed collections of Jordan arcs terminating in almost every boundary point. Similar results are proved for the Riemann problem.


Researches show that fatigue driving is one of the important causes of road traffic accidents, so it is of great significance to study the driver fatigue recognition algorithm to improve road traffic safety. In recent years, with the development of deep learning, the field of pattern recognition has made great development. This paper designs a real-time fatigue state recognition algorithm based on spatio-temporal feature sequence, which can be mainly applied to the scene of fatigue driving recognition. The algorithm is divided into three task networks: face detection network, facial landmark detection and head pose estimation network, fatigue recognition network. Experiments show that the algorithm has the advantages of small volume, high speed and high accuracy.


According to Law No. 14 of 2005 in Indonesia regarding teachers and lecturers, Article 36 paragraph (1) mandates that teachers who have achievements, are extraordinarily dedicated, and/or work in a special area are entitled to receive awards. However, in determining or choosing an exemplary teacher is not as easy as imagined, this is because there are many teachers who can be used as candidate for exemplary teachers, this is certainly a difficulty for decision makers, in this case, namely the principal to determine exemplary teachers, it cannot be denied that too selection is often done not objectively due to unclear judgments. This study aims to design a decision support system using the Profile Matching method. This method was chosen because the assessment through a decision support system with profile matching has a better level of objectivity, this is done by measuring the value of each indicator of the assessment variable which is then derived again using sub-indicators and weighted using the assessment parameters then calculated using the decision-making mechanism assuming that there is an ideal predictor variable level that must be met by the subject. The output of this study is in the form of recommendations for exemplary teachers who have criteria in accordance with the criteria set by the relevant parties.


The effects of dietary supplementation of pacific saury on anti-hyperlipidemic activities were investigated using an animal test study in which normal rats were fed four different parts of saury, such as the whole body, meat, internal organs, or a mixture of head, caudal fin, and bone. Serum total lipid and triglyceride levels were significantly (p<0.05) reduced in rats fed saury meat at a dose of 200 mg/kg of body weight compared to hyperlipidemic control rats. There were also significant decreases in serum total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol levels in the rats fed saury meat at 200 mg/kg of body weight. In addition, the atheroscrelosis index and superoxide dismutase in blood lipids were significantly (p<0.05) lowered in rats fed saury meat at 200 mg/kg of body weight compared to the control rats. In conclusion, our results indicate that saury meat contains unknown physiologically active components as than compared to other parts of saury, and has potential for use in the prevention of hyperlipidemic arteriosclerosis.


The prevalence of telogen effluvium (TE) has increased during COVID-19. In this study we describe the clinical characteristics of patients with COVID-19-related TE and review the current literature on COVID-19-associated TE. We conducted a retrospective chart review of 66 patients, all of which had COVID-19 infection (confirmed by PCR or antibodies) and had either non-scarring hair loss or TE in Elmhurst, Queens. Our data suggest that this form of TE is similar to other forms of TE, after which many patients experience regrowth within several months.


Integer Motion Estimation (IME) is an important tool that explores the temporal redundancies in video encoders. It stands out among the most time-consuming and memory intensive tasks in the encoding process. Most of the IME processing is spent on the computation of similarities between pixel blocks, usually using the Sum of Absolute Differences (SAD) as block selection criterion. Designing high-throughput and energy-efficient SAD units is an effective way of increasing the performance of IME architectures. This paper proposes an optimization of SAD units considering the state-of-the-art High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard, which avoids the computation of candidates that will surely not be selected in the IME search, by applying Partial Distortion Elimination (PDE). The method achieves, without any loss in coding performance, an average reduction of 16.41% and 11.64% in the energy consumption for 1080p and 2160p (4K) videos, respectively, when compared to an HEVC SAD implementation without PDE.


Based on a multiple qualitative case study design, this study investigated the impact of early language learning experiences on language teaching beliefs of Turkish in-service EFL teachers and aimed to find out how these experiences influenced their current practices. The participants included three Turkish EFL teachers working in English preparatory programs of different state universities. They were determined through purposive sampling so that they could provide rich and in-depth data for the study. The data were collected in the spring semester of 2014-2015 academic year through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, stimulated recalls and reflection reports. As for the data analysis, qualitative content analysis scheme of Creswell (2012) and the constant comparison method of Strauss and Corbin (1998) were used. The results revealed that the influence of prior language learning experiences was quite noticeable on the participant teachers' language teaching beliefs and practices. It was also demonstrated that the participants had very initial conceptualizations on how languages were learnt and taught based on their language learning experiences in the past which included their teachers, language learning habits and language learning aptitude. Based on these findings, this study calls for further research that will focus on the notion of apprenticeship of observation among EFL teachers. Keywords: Apprenticeship of observation, EFL teachers, Language teacher cognition The impact of early language learning experiences on EFL teachers' language teaching beliefs and practices Based on a multiple qualitative case study design, this study investigated the impact of early language learning experiences on language teaching beliefs of Turkish in-service EFL teachers and aimed to find out how these experiences influenced their current practices. The participants included three Turkish EFL teachers working in English preparatory programs of different state universities. They were determined through purposive sampling so that they could provide rich and in-depth data for the study. The data were collected in the spring semester of 2014-2015 academic year through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, stimulated recalls and reflection reports. As for the data analysis, qualitative content analysis scheme of Creswell (2012) and the constant comparison method of Strauss and Corbin (1998) were used. The results revealed that the influence of prior language learning experiences was quite noticeable on the participant teachers' language teaching beliefs and practices. It was also demonstrated that the participants had very initial conceptualizations on how languages were learnt and taught based on their language learning experiences in the past which included their teachers, language learning habits and language learning aptitude. Based on these findings, this study calls for further research that will focus on the notion of apprenticeship of observation among EFL teachers. Keywords: Apprenticeship of observation, EFL teachers, Language teacher cognition


The water sector as a critical industry has shown its ability Has the temporary re-appearance of wildlife close to our to adapt fast during the corona crisis. Hardly any major break-downs of water supply have been reported. It is worth complimenting the water sector for having passed this major test of resilience. The corona crisis has been playing out globally for almost half a year now. Even though the number of daily new cases is still on the rise, the number of daily deaths globally seems to be falling –with all the uncertainty there is in the global numbers. Stillwedon't knowwhen thiswill endandmanyquestions still remains to be answered, but it is as if we have increased our personal, national and global proficiency in regard tomanaging the disease. Hence, we seem to slowly shift from emergency mode to learning mode and the number of articles and papers on what we are learning from this global crisis is increasing. One example is from the field of wastewater. New methods to trace the spread of SARS-Cov2 virus in municipal wastewater systems seem promising. Based on the detection of RNA strands in wastewater the methods can potentially help communities monitor the prevalence of the virus in its population and be an important early warning for second or third waves of epidemics. The disease monitoring technology has been discussed for a few years now, but what recently seemed like a futuristic idea of monitoring the general health in communities now moves into reality faster than imagined. What else has the water sector learned? Has the activation of emergency operations taught us anything new about emergency preparedness?


This article describes a new combination of methods which has been used successfully for two years to teach design.in digital electronics. In addition, an analysis is carried out to determine the ingredients more generally required for a training in design, and to indicate what teaching methods might best be used for this purpose.


This paper reports a study of the predictors of intentions to commit driving violations. It generalises Ajzen's 1985 theory of planned behaviour, which suggests that intention to perform a given behaviour may be predicted by three primary antecedents: (1) attitude to behaviour; (2) subjective norm; and (3) perceived control. The authors investigate the hypothesis that the addition of measures of moral norm and anticipated regret to the three primary predictors improve the prediction of intention. A pilot survey of over 200 drivers used standard procedures to identify modal salient beliefs and referents in relation to commission of the following violations. The first is cutting across lanes of traffic to leave a motorway at the correct junction. The second is weaving in or out of lanes of slow- moving traffic on a dual carriageway, to make faster progress. The third is overtaking on the inside lane of a motorway. The beliefs, identified in the pilot survey, were incorporated in the main interviews, to measure attitudes to the violation and subjective norm. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to assess the model's ability to predict intentions to violate. For each of the three driving violations, the model's predictive power was significantly improved by adding the two predictors of personal norm. The results show the importance of internalised ideas of right and wrong in forming attitudes to the commission of anti-social behaviours like driving violations, of which there is public condemnation. For the covering abstract of the seminar see IRRD 859703.


The present invention relates to a license renewal method and apparatus for the broadcast channel. The present invention then sets a timer, and driving the set timer, by the time the timer is complete, so as to update the license stored in the storage unit, a driving license for a broadcast channel to operate independent of the broadcast receiving module by a broadcast It can help to renew the license for broadcasting via the receiving module to enable the seamless broadcasting in the process. DRM, licenses, renewals


This paper aimed to quantify the effectiveness of power walking exercises prescription for type 2 diabetes control.Type 2 diabetes subjects were recruited for the three month study.The total walking steps were increased substantially;the average effective steps increased to 4956 from 3640(net increase = 1316),the total daily steps increased to 14311/daily from 8917(net increase =5394).The fasting glucose and the average HbA1c was decreased so the effective power walking may benefit the type 2 diabetes from both glucose control and lipoprotein metabolism.


The mechanisms of the title reactions between 1-aza-2-azoniaallene cations and isocyanic acid or isocyanates have been theoretically explored at the B3LYP/6-31++G** level. It was found that all of these reactions proceed in asynchronous but concerted pathways. The substituent effects are also obvious; e.g., the presence either of an electron-withdrawing chlorine substituent on the 1-aza-2-azoniaallene cation or of an electron-releasing methyl substituent on the isocyanate both favor the cycloaddition reactions. For the [1,2]-shift reactions, all the substituents lower their activation barrier, especially Cl substituents on the 1-aza-2-azoniaallene cation, but when Cl substituents are present on the 1-aza-2-azoniaallene cation the rearrangement product is not as stable as others. In addition, solvent effects with the PCM model are also reported, and a model reaction has been investigated at the MP2/6-31+G* and QCISD/6-31+G* levels as well as by DFT. (© Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2004)


Baker´s yeast S. cerevisiae has been engineered in order to enable xylose uptake and utilization from lignocellulosic biomass as this yeast cannot naturally metabolize this pentose sugar. However, xylose is not recognized as a fermentable sugar by S. cerevisiae and recent studies on the effect of xylose on the three main sugar signaling pathways (Snf3p/Rgt2p, SNF1/Mig1pt and cAMP/PKA) have indicated that S. cerevisiae cannot sense extracellular xylose. In parallel, it was recently shown that the combined deletions of HOG1, IRA2, GRE3 and ISU2 gave epistatic interactions resulting in improved growth and xylose uptake in recombinant S. cerevisiae strains containing the XI pathway. The objective of the present study was to explore the effects of those gene deletions on sensing and signaling for the three sugar signaling pathways. Deletions of IRA2, ISU1 and HOG1 were constructed in S. cerevisiae strains containing the XR-XDH pathway as well as a biosensor for each of the signaling pathways and the response was recorded using flow cytometry. Results confirmed clear effects of the deletions on all the signaling pathways, with ira2Δ mutants mimicking high glucose signal with constitutive activation of PKA and hog1Δ mutants giving low glucose responses. When combined with the deletion of ISU1, the SNF1/Mig1p pathway was clearly affected since subpopulations were alleviated.


Much research questions the president's ability to lead public opinion. Yet most of this research does not directly assess how news coverage might influence presidential leadership of public opinion. If presidents can affect the tone of news coverage, then presidents may be able to indirectly lead public opinion. We argue that public exposure to the president's policy positions through news media increases public access to the president's positions. This exposure increases the president's influence over public opinion. To examine whether the tone of presidential rhetoric affects the tone of news coverage and public opinion, we analyze an original dataset of presidential speeches, media coverage, and public opinion on Iraq from 1990-2008. Our findings suggest that analysis of presidential leadership of public opinion should carefully consider indirect leadership effects through the media. Doing so may lead to more favorable assessments of the president's ability to influence public opinion through speechmaking.


Panneton and Burton in 1981 (JCN 199:327–344, 1981) described the central projections of primary afferent fibers innervating the cornea of the cat. They stated the cornea had a dual representation in the medullary dorsal horn (MDH) with separate projections to lamina I and II. Nevertheless, it has always disturbed us that the cornea, versus all other body parts, would have a double representation in the MDH. Either the cornea, supraorbital n. or infraorbital n. were injected with 300–500nl of an HRP cocktail, while more was injected into the conjunctiva of rats. The injections of the cornea and conjunctiva were subepithelial, while the nerves were injected intrathecally. In some rats, the supraorbital and infraorbital nerves were sectioned prior to injecting the cornea. After 50 hrs the rats were sacrificed and their brains processed for TMB histochemistry. Central projections of the cornea showed dense projections to the ventral Sp5I‐MDH border but no label more caudally, nor to rostral subnuclei. Injections into the conjunctiva resulted in dense projections to the DH near the medullary‐spinal junction, as well as to the SP5I‐MDH junction and rostral subnuclei. Injections of the supraorbital and infraorbital nerves somatotopically overlapped the projections of the conjunctiva but were more extensive. This suggests a single representation of the cornea in the MDH of the rat.


Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a multifunctional cytokine that contributes 13 to the progression of several cancers. MIF overexpression has been reported in head and neck 14 squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients. However, the exact role of MIF in HNSCC is not fully 15 understood. Our aim was to evaluate the amount of secreted MIF and the role of MIF in the 16 proliferation, cell cycle, and apoptosis in HNSCC cell lines. The MIF levels in conditioned media from 17 human primary (HN18 and HN30) and metastatic (HN17 and HN31) HNSCC cell lines were 18 evaluated using ELISA. The HNSCC cell lines were treated with recombinant MIF and its effect on 19 proliferation, cell cycle, and apoptotic status was determined by MTT and flow cytometry, 20 respectively. The HNSCC-secreted MIF concentration ranged from 49.33‒860 pg/ml. Exogenous MIF 21 (25 ng/ml) significantly increased HN18, HN30, and HN31 cell proliferation. Moreover, MIF induced 22 cell cycle progression and inhibited apoptosis in these cells. However, MIF did not affect growth or 23 apoptosis in HN17 cell. In conclusion, the HNSCC cell lines were evaluated secrete MIF. Exogenous 24 MIF promotes various effects on proliferation, cell cycle, and apoptosis in HNSCC cells. 25


Objective:Developing a computer software for analysis of arterial blood gases for clinical and teaching use,which can analog display the process of diagnosis and analysis.Methods:The software was edited by means of elanguage and combined with Windows operating system.Results:The software accurately determined different acid-base imbalances and respiratory dysfunction.The software analog displayed that the process of diagnosis and analysis of blood gas analysis by the six-step.After determining the type of acid-base imbalance,the software provided the incidence of the causes,clinical manifestations and treatment recommendations of it for clinicians reference.Conclusions:The software can be used as a reference by clinical doctors in diagnosis and analysis of blood gas analysis,it could also be used for teaching and training.It is scientific,advanced and valuable in clinical practice.


ABSTRACTThe paper deals with an analytical study of effect of solar flare on the cosmic ray intensity in relation to the sudden increase in the longwave signal from Radio Tashkent on 164 Kc/s. monitored at Delhi. A good correspondence has been found to exist between the two effects for a number of cases. An attempt has been made to explain the results obtained.


According to Reference Group Influence Theory,this study tests the differences in reference group influence between publicly and privately consumed products and luxury brand and mass-market brand.The study finds that reference group influence is more significant in purchase decision of luxury brand and publicly consumed products.Informational and value-expressive reference group influences are particularly sensitive for purchase decision of luxury brand.Utilitarian and value-expressive reference group influences are particularly sensitive for purchase decision of publicly consumed products.


This chapter focuses on voters' opinions regarding political representation at the local level. The study analyses voters' attitudes as well as actions. Most voters agree that representation reflective of gender and age, and to a somewhat lesser degree ethnicity, is important in local government. Most important, however, is the representation of various sub-municipal areas. Norwegian local elections are based on party lists, but voters may give candidates an extra personal vote. The candidate's point of view regarding major issues and political experience are the most important factors when voters cast a personal vote. Furthermore, the voters emphasize the candidate's attachment to a particular geographical part of the municipality, while the candidate's ethnicity, gender and age are less relevant. The chapter shows that the characteristics of the candidates that the voters cast personal votes for correspond to the voters' general attitudes towards gender and geographical representation. Attitudes towards the representation of age and ethnicity do not have an impact in this regard. In the 2019 local elections, many voters elected representatives to the local councils in new, merged municipalities. Voters living in former small municipalities that were to be merged with other municipalities paid more attention to geographical representation than other voters.


We calculate an effective action and measure induced by the integration over the auxiliary field in the matrix model recently proposed to describe IIB superstrings. It is shown that the measure of integration over the auxiliary matrix is uniquely determined by locality and reparametrization invariance of the resulting effective action. The large-N limit of the induced measure for string coordinates is discussed in detail. It is found to be ultralocal and, thus, is possibly irrelevant in the continuum limit. The model of the GKM type is considered in relation to the effective action problem.


We obtained spectra with the Kitt Peak coude feed telescope, a 3 k pixel long CCD camera 5 and grating A of some stars whose published Stromgren photometry was similar to that of known field horizontal-branch (FHB) A-type stars. Although none of these seven stars are FHB A stars, they all have surface gravities appropriate to giants and rotational velocities greater than that expected for HB stars. HD 48567 was found to be a binary star. HD 15042 has metal abundances about 0.1 solar. Candidate A-type FHB stars must always be checked by other measures, e.g., ultraviolet spectra, high dispersion spectra and radial velocities, to confirm their membership in this class.


It remains challenging to control Tomicus spp., a pest with fast spreading capability, leading to the death of large numbers of Pinus yunnanensis (Franch.) and posing a severe threat to ecological security in southwest China. Therefore, it is crucial to effectively and accurately monitor the damage degree for Pinus yunnanensis attacked by Tomicus spp. at large geographical scales. Airborne hyperspectral remote sensing is an effective, accurate means to detect forest pests and diseases. In this study, we propose an innovative and precise classification framework to monitor the damage degree of Pinus yunnanensis infected by Tomicus spp. using hyperspectral UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) imagery with machine learning algorithms. First, we revealed the hyperspectral characteristics of Pinus yunnanensis from a UAV-based hyperspectral platform. We obtained 22 vegetation indices (VIs), 4 principal components, and 16 continuous wavelet transform (CWT) features as the damage degree sensitive features. We classified the damage degree of Pinus yunnanensis canopies infected by Tomicus spp. via three methods, i.e., discriminant analysis (DA), support vector machine (SVM), and backpropagation (BP) neural network. The results showed that the damage degree detected from the BP neural network, combined with 16 CWT features, achieved the best performance (training accuracy: 94.05%; validation accuracy: 94.44%).


This chapter reviews the architecture and functions of sleep, how to interview patients on their sleep histories, how to evaluate for sleep disorders, commonly encountered sleep disorders and their pathophysiology, and the conventional and integrative therapies for each. The evaluation process includes a conventional sleep study as well as addressing vitamin D, B, and magnesium status. Sleep disorders discussed in this chapter are obstructive sleep apnea, insomnia, restless legs syndrome, periodic limb movement disorder, rapid-eye-movement behavior disorder, circadian rhythm disorders, and narcolepsy and other central hypersomnias. The role of conventional tools and times when alternative and complementary therapies may be considered are discussed in detail. Treatment covered include continuous positive airway pressure, oral appliance, myofunctional therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia, physical modalities, acupuncture, light therapy, melatonin, nutraceuticals, and other supplements that aid with sleep and daytime symptoms.


Heterogeneity and complexity of hydrological processes offer substantial challenges to the hydrological modeller. Some hydrologists try to tackle this problem by introducing more and more detail in their models, or by setting-up more and more complicated models starting from basic principles at the smallest possible level. As we know, this reductionist approach leads to ever higher levels of equifi-nality and predictive uncertainty. On the other hand, simple , lumped and parsimonious models may be too simple to be realistic or representative of the dominant hydrological processes. In this commentary, a new approach is proposed that tries to find the middle way between complex distributed and simple lumped modelling approaches. Here we try to find the right level of simplification while avoiding oversimplification. Paraphrasing Einstein, the maxim is: make a model as simple as possible, but not simpler than that. The approach presented is process based, but not physically based in the traditional sense. Instead, it is based on a conceptual representation of the dominant physical processes in certain key elements of the landscape. The essence of the approach is that the model structure is made dependent on a limited number of landscape classes in which the topography is the main driver, but which can include geological, geomor-phological or land-use classification. These classes are then represented by lumped conceptual models that act in parallel. The advantage of this approach over a fully distributed conceptualisation is that it retains maximum simplicity while taking into account observable landscape characteristics. 1 What is the issue? The hydrological world is complex and heterogeneous. Yet we know that the reductionist approach: combining so-called physically based small scale basic principles (such as the Darcy, Richards, and Navier-Stokes equations) with detailed distributed modelling, leads to equifinality and high predic-tive uncertainty, mostly because these methods ill account for heterogeneity, preferential pathways and structural patterns on and under the surface. This reductionist approach is not appropriate at the catchment scale, as has been observed by many (e.g. McDonnell et al., 2007). At the same time, we know that – in spite of the high apparent complexity – hydrological behaviour is often unexpectedly simple, whereby parsimonious conceptual models often outperform much more complex ones, and with much less predictive uncertainty. Apparently, catchments are intermediate systems: highly heterogeneous systems with some degree of organisation (Dooge, 1986), where relatively simple models can do the trick. Catchments belong to the realm of organised complexity …


Let A be a subset of N. We say that A is m-full if P A = [m] for a positive integer m, where P A is the set of all positive integers which are a sum of distinct elements of A and [m] = {1,...,m}. In this paper, we show that a set A = {a1,...,ak} with a1 < � � � < ak is full if and only if a1 = 1 and ai ≤ a1+� � � +ai−1+1 for each i, 2 ≤ i ≤ k. We also prove that for each positive integer m / ∈ {2, 4, 5, 8, 9} there is an m-full set. We determine the numbers �(m) = min{|A| : P A = [m]},�(m) = max{|A| : P A = [m]},L(m) = min{maxA : P A = [m]} and U(m) = max{maxA : P A = [m]} in terms of m. We also give a formula for F (m), the number of m-full sets.


Owing to the requirement that paved surfaces should be smooth and even, and still have a specified minimum thickness, new plans are constantly being devised to improve the surface quality of newly constructed surfacing. In this paper the problem is discussed with reference to the construction of bituminous overlays on existing airport pavements. It is shown how to deviate from a theoretically perfect plane to a plane deformed within certain tolerances without decreasing the serviceability. Thus the quantity of material required may be considerably reduced with corresponding financial benefits. Particulars of the method with respect to surveying, tolerances, the computer program, plant and construction techniques are given. /TRRL/


Celtic oppida from Late La Tene period are often interpreted as the earliest towns in temperate Europe. But it seems clear that some of the open agglomerations built on plains in the third and second century BC, like the site of Aulnat, were also proto-urban settlements. These two types of large settlements, fortified on a hilltop or open, have in fact "ancestors", often dated from the end of the first Iron Age and the end of the Late Bronze Age, like Bourges or Corent in central France. The aim of this article is to discuss the features and status of these sites which are older than celtic oppida, in central and eastern Gaul. Some of them are only the result of a concentration of rural settlements, or correspond to the development of an aristocratic house. But others, like Bourges, are clearly urban sites although they weren't occupied for a long time. They show there were different waves and ways of experimentation during the earliest history of urbanisation.


Objective: Effects of s-ethyl cysteine (SEC) and s-methyl cysteine (SMC) upon lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute lung injury in mice were examined. Materials and Methods: The acute lung injury was induced by intranasal injecting LPS, 10 μg in 50 μl phosphate buffer saline. Eight hours after LPS challenge, SEC or SMC was supplied in drinking water at 0.5 or 1% for 3 days. Blood and lung were collected. Lung wet/dry weight ratio, myeloperoxidase activity, and lung level of oxidative and inflammatory factors were measured. Western blot analyses were used to determine the protein expression of associated factors. Results: LPS increased lung myeloperoxidase activity, neutrophil counts and edema. SEC or SMC post-intake attenuated these events. SEC or SMC treatments limited LPS-induced lung expression Original Researc h Article Hsia et al.; JAMMR, 23(7): 1-10, 2017; Article no.JAMMR.35419 2 of nuclear factor-κB, p-p38, NADPH oxidase and Bax, and decreased the production of tumor necrosis factor-alpha, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, prostaglandin E2 and reactive oxygen species in lung. Conclusions: These findings suggest that SEC or SMC could protect lung through their antiinflammatory, anti-oxidative and anti-apoptotic activities.


Image content features: COSTUME: Jewelry; PEOPLE: women; NATIONALITY: African American.
Title and other data comes from a curatorial worksheet compiled at LC in 1992-93.
Forms part of the Louise Imogen Guiney Collection.
Cite as: The Louise Imogen Guiney Collection, Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division.
Transfer; Manuscript Division; 1934 (DLC/PP-1934:33).
Anonymous gift to the Library of Congress, 1934.


Porous polyvinyl butyral and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)polystyrene sulfonate fibers (porous PPPS-f) and non-porous PPPS-f solid fibres were fabricated via electrospinning. The microwave absorption characteristics were investigated for single and bi-layered structures.


This study discusses the utilization of Rice Straw Ash (RSA), Fly Ash (FA) and alkali activator (NaOH) to bind laterite soil (LS). RSA and FA are geopolymer activated with 12M NaOH. Geopolymer mortar strength was tested, where the percentage ratio of RSA/FA/LS was 16.67/41.67/41.67. Flow testing on fresh geopolymer shows that all materials are well bound and segregation does not occur. Specimen were cured with three variations, namely immersed in water, immersed in Na2SO4 and immersed in H2SO4 solution until 28 days to evaluate its durability. The compressive strength and stress-strain relationships are analyzed to study the behaviour of hardened mortar geopolymer. Method of treatment and age of mortar can be effective for compressive strength. The geopolimeryzation show increased strength in the immersion of sulphate solution. The XRF test results confirm that the pozzolanic from RSA can be bound by geopolymers. The results of this reactivity are very promising in terms of the potential reuse of ash in the cementing systems.


The distribution of glutathione S-transferase Mu 1 (GSTM1) gene deletion was examined in 151 healthy, unrelated individuals from an Estonian population. The study was carried out using the polymerase chain reaction technique. The frequency of individuals with allele GSTM1*0 in homozygous state in Estonian population was 0.503.


In our study, we present the results of the implementation of SHA-512 algorithm in FPGA. The distinguished element of our work is that we conducted the work using OpenCL for FPGA which is a relatively new development method for reconfigurable logic. We examine the loop unrolling; as the OpenCL performance optimisation method, and compare the efficiency of the different kernel implementation types: NDRange, Single-Work Item, and SIMD kernels. In conclusions, we compare metrics of the created FPGA accelerator to the corresponding GPGPU solutions. Also, our paper is accompanied by the source code repository to allow the reader to follow and extend our survey.


This review suggests that there is a critical need to renew understanding of adverse events and complications within interventional radiology and to redefine a robust commitment to patient safety a...


7R principles of packaging were explained,which were Remove,Reduce,Reuse,Recycle,Renew,Revenue,and Read.Their applications in processes of design and production of commodity packaging were analyzed.The methods to prevent excessive packaging and to develop sustainable packaging were put forward.The procedure of packaging design system was discussed.