THIS paper is a discussion of quantity discounts, not because they are legally unique, but because they typify the mounting confusion of courts and the Federal Trade Commission as to the impact of section 2(a) of the Robinson-Patman Act on its avowed purpose of fostering competition.1 The precise questions on which the paper focuses are: Does Robinson-Patman require (or even authorize) condemnation by the courts and FTC of virtually all discounting systems based either on quantity of individual purchases, or volume of total purchases during the preceding year? Secondly, if it does, is this an economically justifiable proscription? Finally, do section 2(a) quantity limit orders have the same economic impact as cease and desist orders? The paper concludes that Congress intended Robinson-Patman to protect individual competitors as well as competition. But injury to competition and injury to competitors are not the same. Since the courts have generally equated the two concepts, they often have condemned discounts without economic justification. It is suggested that the standard adopted by the courts for measuring a quantity discount's impact on competition, injury to individual competitors, is inaccurate and is the key to explaining confusion in the law of this subject which now exists. Because of this confusion, the courts and Commission have failed to see that some quantity discounts may, in fact, benefit the consuming public. Finally, it is contended that this situation is not a necessary concomitant of the Robinson-Patman Act, but rather results from the interpretation which it has been given.


Soil compaction after sowing reduces overall porosity, increases thermal conductivity and heating of the upper layer, which increases the contact of seeds with the soil, accelerates water consumption, swelling and germination of seedlings of crops. Currently, the most part of drills, including seeding systems, press the soil by the rolls of different modifications simultaneously with sowing. After sowing crops, the upper (0-10 cm) soil layer has insufficient compaction (less than 1.00-1.05 g/cm3) and increased non-capillary porosity (more than 50%), which leads to moisture losses from the upper layer. The researchers found out that rolling-up contributes to increasing of the top layer clumpiness on 5.8% on average and reduces erodability of the field surface on14.4% with weak soil response to deflation (less than 50 g). The experimental results on effectiveness of additional pressrolling after sowing SKP-2.1 on the fall variants of the steam field treatment to a depth of 20-22 cm showed that seed germination was increased on 11.3%, and grain increase was 0.09-0.15 t/ha or 4.2-7.2%. On minimal steam treatment, (depth of 10-12 cm) additional soil press rolling was not sufficiently effective. On the black-earth soils of the forest-steppe of Western Siberia, press-rolling of the soil after sowing SKP-2,1 contributes to additional grain yield of winter rye and durum wheat to 0,14-0,23 t/ha (6,1-11,0 %). Additional rolling after sowing by SKP-2,1 and John Deere 1820 with pointed tines for autumn backgrounds increases grain yield in the second wheat after steam from 2.52 to 2.74 t/ha, or 8.7%.


SUMMARYPatientswith uncomplicated urinary tract infections, who had previously failed to re spond to a course of amoxycillin or who were infected with an organism resistant to amoxy cillin were treated with Augmentin. Twenty-one patients entered the study and overall a clinical response rate of 90.5 per cent was reported. The severity of symptoms was greatly reduced in the 2 patients who were not completely cured of their presenting symptoms although the infect ing organism was eradicated in both. All of the infecting organisms were cleared. However, one patient developed an asymptomatic bacter iuria of mixed organisms at follow-up. Treat ment was well tolerated by all patients.


The article proposed and studied a coplanar waveguide CPW‐feed antenna. In this design, broadband structure covers from 2.43 to 7.2 GHz, which has impedance bandwidth above of 100%. The resonant frequency was obtained by adjusting the length of notch and the distance between radiation patch and ground plane. Furthermore, embedded the symmetrical slits close to a quarter wavelength on the rhomb patch and ground plane, respectively. It plays a role as a filter to eliminate the useless band. The proposed antenna with band‐rejection characteristic is calibrated for WiMAX (worldwide interoperability for microwave access, IEEE 802.16a/d/e/2004) applications which cover the band from 2.495 to 2.69 GHz, 3.3 to 3.8 GHz, and 5.25 to 5.85 GHz. And, this antenna has advantages of good radiation characteristic, compact size, and omni‐directional patterns. Details of the proposed antenna configuration and the experimental results are discussed. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 49: 2503–2508, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI 10.1002/mop.22777


A unique case of spontaneous external drainage of a renal abscess through a persistent nephrostomy tract is reported in a patient with a history of two subsequent percutaneous nephrolithotomies 11 years earlier. Nephrostomy tracts can open up even after several years to provide an exit path for infected urine or renal abscess drainage.


The human machine interface (HMI) provides recommended HMI conventions to use when designing satellite operations systems.Summarizes the development of aerospace product test and evaluation system and research results. Lists the different methods and systems of HMI design, points out the necessity of using aerospace product test and evaluation to deal with a lot of data generated in aerospace product testing and identification of HMI, and gives a list of principles in future HMI design.


Effective masses of {sigma}, {omega}, {pi}, and {rho} mesons in nuclear matter are calculated based on a cutoff field theory. Instead of the traditional density-Feynman representation, we adopt the particle-hole-antiparticle representation for nuclear propagators so that unphysical components are not included in the meson self-energies. For an estimation of the contribution from the divergent particle-antiparticle excitations, i.e., vacuum polarization in nuclear matter, the idea of the renormalization group method is adopted. In this cutoff field theory, all the counterterms are finite and calculated numerically. It is shown that the predicted meson masses converge even if the cutoff {Lambda} is changed as long as {Lambda} is sufficiently large and that the prescription works well also for so-called nonrenormalized mesons such as {pi} and {rho}. According to this method, it is concluded that meson masses in nuclear matter have a weak dependence on the baryon density. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}


A model of different species competing for the same environment is presented, and possible explanations of peaceful coexistence or rather internecine conflicts are consequently derived. By means of a Lotka-Volterra dynamic system we describe the evolution of two populations (bees and locusts) that differently approach the management of those natural resources they contend for, and thus make a simple parable of today's societies playing the current environmental scenario.


Comparative studies of sound localization have placed almost exclusive emphasis on obtaining minimum audible angles for sources positioned symmetrically around midline. Little attention has been paid to the ability of animals to localize sounds within the lateral fields and reports of minimum audible angles for off‐midline positions are rare. A recent study by Kavanagh and Kelly [Behar. Neurosci. 100, 200–205 (1986)] indicates that the albino rat has great difficulty localizing a brief acoustic stimulus in the lateral fields, a finding that is unexpected from estimates of midline acuity. The present study was undertaken to determine whether other small mammals might experience similar difficulty. Minimum audible angles were obtained for 0, +60, and −60 deg azimuth using a broad‐spectrum single click in a two‐choice spatial task. The minimum audible angles as defined by 75% performance levels were 28 deg for midline and 48.5 deg for the lateral fields indicating that the grasshopper mouse does have difficu...


1 Licenciatura em Computação, IFTO Campus Araguatins, firstname.lastname@example.com 2 Licenciatura em Computação, IFTO Campus Araguatins, email@example.com 3 Professor Mestre em Informática com ênfase em Processamento de Imagens – UNB, firstname.lastname@example.com 4 Professor Mestre em Engenharia de Produções e Sistemas – UNISINOS, firstname.lastname@example.com The Geek and Science, Education Center project aims to introduce computer science to the study of science, innovating in teaching practices, using technology to apply content and encouraging students to delve into this area. The CESG aims to quantify qualitative results, through applications and exploratory analyzes. The action was carried out over a period of six (6) months, with a class of twelve (12) special education students (CRAS). The methods that have been applied for the proper purposes, are given to the use of digital tools and mobile software, such as: Virtual reality glasses (VR), augmented reality (RA), computers and internet, with evaluations in a playful and participative way. During the project students were very participative, asking questions, answering the questions that were asked, even with the difficulty and lack of technological resources in the school and leisure environment, they committed themselves, they learned, they were interested in the technological area, they were active to the point of asking for playful assessments that were applied to measure knowledge and reinforce learning. Learners, once trapped in archaic study and teaching practices, are 'free' to learn the way they feel best, find a variety of possibilities for researching and seeking knowledge. For the technologies provide a more diverse and broader communication and interaction, in a plural way. Therefore, working with digital technologies gives communication and interaction to students with special educational needs is to empower their abilities and develop their cognitive skills and passion for knowledge, making them students more active and willing to participate in proposed school activities.


Challenges to the use of mass media for climate change mitigation among arable crop farmers in Oyigbo Local Government Area, Rivers State was investigated with special focus on describing the socio-economic characteristics of arable crop farmers in the study area; identified the climate change mitigation strategies communicated by the mass media to the arable crop farmers; and identified the constraints to communication and adoption of the mitigation strategies for arable Crop production

https://iiardjournals.org/get/IJAES/VOL. 8 NO. 1 2022/Challenges to the Use.pdf


Vertebrate nonmuscle cells express two actin isoforms: cytoplasmic (cid:1) - and (cid:2) -actin. Because of the presence and localized translation of (cid:1) -actin at the leading edge, this isoform is generally accepted to specifically generate protrusive forces for cell migration. Recent evidence also implicates (cid:1) -actin in gene regulation. Cell migration without (cid:1) -actin has remained unstudied until recently and it is unclear whether other actin isoforms can compensate for this cytoplasmic function and/or for its nuclear role. Primary mouse embryonic fibroblasts lacking (cid:1) -actin display compensatory expression of other actin isoforms. Consistent with this preservation of polymerization capacity, (cid:1) -actin knockout cells have unchanged lamellipodial protrusion rates despite a severe migration defect. To solve this paradox we applied quantitative proteomics revealing a broad genetic reprogramming of (cid:1) -actin knockout cells. This also explains why reintroducing (cid:1) -actin in knockout cells does not restore the affected cell migration. Pathway analysis suggested increased Rho-ROCK signaling, consistent with observed phenotypic changes. We therefore developed and tested a model explaining the phenotypes in (cid:1)


Introduction The global COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented effect on human behaviour and wellbeing. However, researchers have not yet considered how coping responses to stress related to COVID-19 could influence mental health. Objectives This study aims to evaluate the mental health status of Portuguese during the national lockdown; examine how study participants cope with stress during the national lockdown; and assess the association between coping and mental health status. Methods We cross sectionally analysed data from a convenience sample of 430 adults living in Portugal. Mental health was measured using the five-item Mental Health Inventory. Coping strategies were assessed using the Brief COPE. We examine the univariate associations between mental health status and coping responses. We performed a multiple hierarchical regression analysis controlling for sex and age, to test the predictive importance of coping responses on mental health status. Results Participants' mental health was lower than the cut-off point for poor mental health (p<.001). The use of instrumental support, emotional support, self-blame, venting, denial, behavioral disengagement, and substance use were positively significantly associated with mental health, while active coping, positive reframing, acceptance, and humor were negatively significantly associated with mental health. The multiple hierarchical regression analyses showed that sex and age accounted for 6% of the variance of mental health. Coping strategies accounted for an additional and statistically significant 30% of the variance of mental health. Conclusions The findings provide support for the impact of the coping strategies on mental health. We encourage future research on the present topic.


A matlab based method—soil SEM quantitative image analysis system is presented.Using customer subsystem and processing subsystem as the main frame while four function modules(image reading,image processing,data drawing and data saving) as the core,the system can realize soil microstructure characteristic parameters extraction through the interaction modules.Taking Kunming substantial knocked clay as an example,the system is reasonable and practical by drawing different data from microstructure SEM images.


Enterprise resource-based Theory which has emerged in recent years is regarded as an important theory of strategic management.Starting with a discussion of the ground-breaking literature on Enterprise Resource-Based Theory,this paper makes a review and analysis of its origin and development.In addition,the paper probes into the future developing tendency of the theory: both the further development of the theory itself and its horizontal integration with other fields.Suggestions are also put forward to improve and innovate the relevant research methods.


The authors have found that the conventional exponentiated split operator procedure is subject to difficulties in energy conservation when solving the time-dependent Schrodinger equation for Coulombic systems. By rearranging the kinetic and potential energy terms in the temporal propagator of the finite difference equations, one can find a propagation algorithm for three dimensions that looks much like the Crank-Nicholson and alternating direction implicit methods for one- and two-space-dimensional partial differential equations. They report comparisons of this novel implicit split operator procedure with the conventional exponentiated split operator procedure on hydrogen atom solutions. The results look promising for a purely numerical approach to certain electron quantum mechanical problems.


This paper presents an explanation of a possible mechanism underlying the shape of the universal curve of Scaling Law for Earthquake Recurrence Time Distributions. The presented simple stochastic cellular automaton model is reproducing the gamma distribution fit with the proper value of the parameter $\gamma$ characterizing Earth's seismicity and also imitates a deviation from the fit at the short interevent times, as observed in real data.
Thus the model suggests an explanation of the universal pattern of rescaled Earthquake Recurrence Time Distributions in terms of combinatorial rules for accumulation and abrupt release of seismic energy.


It is argued that there exists a relatively neglected distinct sub-group of pathological gamblers, described in the clinical literature, who display intermittent episodes of uncontrolled gambling superimposed on a background of prolonged intervening periods of abstinence. This sub-group is characterised by intense bouts of impaired control over gambling that meet core diagnostic features for pathological gambling during such defined episodes. However, they are unlikely to display significant symptoms of pathological gambling if screened during intervening periods of abstinence and report no persistent or progressive urges or preoccupation with gambling between episodes. This article discusses the concept of binge gambling with reference to illustrative case studies and by comparison to two other recognised binge behaviours, binge drinking and binge eating.


Citrus Health Network, Miami, FLIn the following essay, I set out to rethink the concept of the empirical by following thephenomenological train of thought that the empirical is always tied to a mode of livingand can therefore not be thought of as existing independently from subjective modes ofengagement. This does not mean that every experience is henceforth to be understoodas a subjective experience because the subject is just as much constituted by the objectas vice versa. This dialectical interpretation of lived experience is best exemplied inHeidegger's interpretation of experience as a strife between earth and world. Thisconcept is developed further and used to reanchor experience in a thirdness betweensubject and object. Finally, suggestions are made of what it will mean to adopt theconcept of strife as the basis of a new kind of empirical psychology.Keywords:


In order to study the damage problem caused by the transmission tower fatigue cracks and bolt pretightening force loss ,this paper proposes a transmission tower damage identification method based on concurrent multi-scale model, namely establish solid model on nodes of fatigue crack and bolt looseness based on large scale model., subdividing elements size. Take a practical engineering 500kV transmission towers as an example to establish a concurrent multi-scale models. This paper simulates 8 kinds of conditions including bolt pretightening force loss and angle steel crack, research shows that the sum of wavelet packet energy curvature difference can effectively identify minute damage, and then get the function relation between damage level and damage index with no noise interference, also this provides a theoretical basis for it as actual damage monitoring indicators index.


Women all around the world are affected by Cervical Cancer (CC). Nearly 5, 00,000 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer and more than 270,000 women die every year. Cervical Cancer is the second most typical form of Cancer in females worldwide. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of an awareness programme on knowledge and attitude regarding CC among women. Quasi experimental research design was selected to evaluate the effectiveness of an awareness programme. Non–probability convenient sampling method was used to select 60 women from setting. Self-prepared multiple choice questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge level of women and 5 point likert scale (uni-dimensional scale for collecting opinion) was used to assess the attitude level of women. The Results were discussed by using mean, SD, paired "t" test and chi-square test. Data were collected & gathered. Knowledge levels were 2.87±1.50 and attitude level was 6.37±13.35 reported in the control group. But the knowledge and attitude levels in the experimental group were respectively 9.73±2.60 and 12.87±14.72. It concluded that the CC awareness program was successful in changing women's attitudes through knowledge.


SEVERAL LOCAL SCHOOL boards in Florida recently passed resolutions urging that state education standards be revised to say that biological evolution is not a proven fact. Supporters of these measures propose that creationism or "intelligent design" be included in public school science curricula in addition to evolution. Those who disagree with such proposals will find renewed support for their views in a publication issued earlier this month by the National Academy of Sciences. At a Jan. 4 press conference at NAS headquarters in Washington, D.C., scientists and science administrators released and discussed "Science, Evolution, and Creationism," the latest edition in a series of publications the academy has issued since 1984 on the controversy over public schools teaching evolutionary biology and creationist ideology. The booklet describes evolution, notes that scientific evidence from many fields has confirmed evolution experimentally, and argues strongly against the inclusion of creationism in public sch...


Our study describes a 16 months (Nov 2005 – Feb 2007) continuous bird species monitoring conducted in a 368 km2 area in direct adjacency to the Etosha National Park (ENP). In order to discuss the suitability of the studied area to serve as an effective buffer zone for the ENP, we used birds as bioindicators for an indirect assessment of the habitat's quality and structural complexity. We developed the method in combination with a rhino tracking procedure (regularly driven tours between the camp site and rhino activity areas). We validated our findings using the cumulative species curve method, which also highlights the importance of the time scale for such a habitat assessment. We found a clear seasonal effect, not in terms of the relative proportion of different ecological groups – but with regards to the beta diversity (Sørensen index: 0.6). We discuss the bird species range in view of seasonality (availability of water) and additional habitat-related features. Based on the study area's proximity to the ENP and the occurrence of two geological formations (with distinct vegetation types), the number of bird species (n = 148) indicates a remarkable proportion (21.5 %) of all bird species occurring within Namibia present in the study area. Although this area has been used for intensive livestock farming over several decades in the past, we can assume its notable level of structural complexity and suitability to possibly become an effective buffer zone for the ENP in the future.


The purpose of this study was to evaluate the intragestational role of ghrelin in offspring development and reproductive programming in a mouse model of ghrelin imbalance during pregnancy. Female mice were injected with ghrelin (supraphysiological levels: 4 nmol/animal/day), antagonist (endogenous ghrelin inhibition with (D-Lys3)GHRP-6, 6 nmol/animal/day) or vehicle (control=normal ghrelin levels) throughout the pregnancy. Parameters evaluated in litters were growth, physical, neurobiological, and sexual development and, at adulthood, reproductive function. Litter size and initial weight did not vary between treatments. Male pups from dams treated with ghrelin showed higher body weight increase until adulthood (31.7±0.8 vs control=29.7±0.7, n=11-14 litters/treatment; p<0.05). Postnatal physical and neurobiological development were not modified by treatments. The antagonist accelerated male puberty onset, evidenced as earlier testis descent and increased relative testicular weight (antagonist=0.5±0.0% vs ghrelin=0.4±0.0% and control=0.4±0.0%, n=5-10 litters/treatment; p<0.05). At adulthood, these males exhibited lower relative testicular weight and reduced sperm motility (63.9±3.6% vs control=70.9±3.3 and ghrelin=75.6±3.0, n=13-15 animals; p<0.05), without changes in plasma testosterone or fertility. Female pups intragestationally exposed to the antagonist showed earlier vaginal opening (statistically significant only at day 25) and higher ovarian volume (antagonist=1085.7±64.0mm3 vs ghrelin=663.3±102.8mm3 and control=512.3±116.4mm3; n=4-6 animals/treatment; p<0.05), indicating earlier sexual maturation. At adulthood, these females and those exposed to ghrelin showed a tendency to higher percentages of embryo loss and/or foetal atrophy. In conclusion, ghrelin participates in reproductive foetal programming: alterations in ghrelin activity during pregnancy modified body weight increase and anticipated puberty onset, exerting (or tending to) negative effects on adult reproductive function.


This investigation was aimed at determining the social, cultural, economic, and geographical features of the township of Los Planes de Renderos. The research team used a multimodal design since qualitative and quantitative techniques were used. The qualitative techniques helped to collect the elements linked to cultural identity in the township. The quantitative techniques were used to collect the historical, geographical and socioeconomic data in said township. The study was descriptive and a total of 306 residents participated, thus generating data which showed a 92 % of confidence [interval] and a margin of error equal to 6 %. An ethnographic study was also conducted by means of an in-depth interview; 40 residents participated. Said residents were selected on the basis of the time of residence; they had to have resided there for at least one previous generation; their testimonies were validated through a qualitative triangulation. The main results include the following: the leading income emanates from remittances and semiformal employment in the services area; social violence is a high-impact condition that exerts a strong influence in the development of the local economy; these two elements are related to the cultural imaginary of the locals and their lack of a rooted identity with the customs and traditions of the locality.Entorno, october 2016, issue 62:  27-33


Significant information concerning the characteristics of a Lithium battery is provided by the electrical impedance measurements. The reference method of analysis consists of performing electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Although robust, it usually cannot be used for an embedded system, such as the hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) because it is an expensive, complex, and very time-consuming method. The contribution of this paper allows to overcome these issues and to address embedded applications. This article proposes a passive methodology for impedance estimation that consists of using the natural current and voltage profile produced by the battery through its regular use without adding any excitation signal. The validity of this impedance estimation is proved by obtaining similar impedance measurement of the same battery with a different passive current and voltage profile. Moreover, this impedance measurement is used for estimating the battery state of charge (SoC) through an extended Kalman filter (EKF).


An IoT platform is a multi-layer system that enables linked device automation. IoT platforms are enabling software that connects various hardware devices, access points, and networks to other sections of the value chain. Virtual objects are now essential in any IoT platform. In this work, we design and create a cloud-based IoT platform that allows users to register and initialize virtual objects, then consume them via the IoT marketplace and integrate them into IoT applications. The proposed IoT platform differs from previous IoT platforms in that it provides both hardware and software services on a single platform. The proposed IoT platform is distinct from the IoT marketplace where users can buy and sell virtual things. Based on virtual items in CoT, IoT platform and IoT marketplace experiments are undertaken. The proposed IoT platform is easy to use, secure, and trustworthy. An IoT testbed and a case study for reusing virtual objects in a residential environment are developed. It allows for virtual object discovery and sharing. Virtual objects can monitor and operate IoT devices.


This paper reviews the literature on local government efficiency by meta-reviewing 360 observations retrieved from 54 papers published from 1993 to 2016. The meta-regression is based on a random effect model estimated with the 2-step Random Effects Maximum Likelihood (REML) technique proposed by Gallet and Doucouliagos (2014). Results indicate that the study design matters when estimating a frontier in local government. We find that studies focusing on technical efficiency provide higher efficiency scores than works evaluating cost efficiency. The same applies when using panel data instead of cross-section data. Interestingly, studies that use the Free Disposal Hull (FDH) approach yield, on average, higher efficiency scores than papers employing the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method, thereby suggesting that in this literature the convexity hypothesis of the production set is a matter. Finally, the efficiency of local government increases with the level of development of the analysed countries and is positively related to the national integrity of the legal system. The opposite holds when considering the corruption.


Pansharpening is an image fusion process aiming to generate high-resolution multispectral (HRMS) images from a pair of low-resolution multispectral (LRMS) images and a high-resolution PAN image. It is a fundamental and significant task for the widespread use of remote sensing images. This article proposes a new residual-learning-based multispectral pansharpening network constrained by two deep physical models, collectively termed as P3Net. It mainly consists of the mainstream PDFNet and the other two auxiliary physical models, M2PNet and H2LNet. Unlike the existing methods of processing only one image scale, the proposed PDFNet fully extracts the spatial details from the multilevel image pyramid with decreasing spatial scales. Then, the spatial information is injected into the upsampled LRMS image. Since the pansharpened result should be consistent with the observed inputs under the physics models, we learn deep pansharpening physics models to reflect the inverse relationships. In detail, we propose the lightweight M2PNet and H2LNet to represent the latent nonlinear mappings from the HRMS image to the panchromatic (PAN) image and the LRMS image, respectively. The two pretrained physics models are frozen and guide the training of the PDFNet, so as to drive clear physical interpretability and further suppress the spectral and spatial distortions. The comparative experiments with the existing state-of-the-art pansharpening methods on the QuickBird, GaoFen, and WorldView test sets demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method in terms of both quantitative metrics and subjective visual effects. The codes are available at https://github.com/KSJhon/PyramidPanWithPhysics.


Myiasis is the infestation of tissues or organs of animals or man by fly larva1. The common sites are skin wounds. Eyes, nose, nasal sinuses, throat, and urogenital tract are rare sites. Ocular involvement occurs in about < 5% of all cases of human myiasis2. Oestrus ovis is the most common cause of ophthalmomyiasis externa worldwide3.The severity of myiasis depends on the location of the infestation. External ophthalmomyiasis is mostly benign and self limiting. However, in cases of internal ophthalmomyiasis caused by larvae from other species such as Hypoderma, the larvae can penetrate the sclera and burrow into subretinal space leading to iridocyclitis, endophthalmitis or loss of vision4. Ocular myiasis is more frequent in tropical than temperate regions5


A plethora of studies from various linguistic trends have been devoted to causative constructions (e.g. Shibatani 1975, 1976, Ritter & Rosen 1993, Song 1996). The specificity of this study is two-fold. First, it does not deal with 'the causative construction' in general, but exclusively focuses on four causative verbs, viz. 'cause', 'get', 'have' and 'make', the most frequent periphrastic causatives with no or little semantic content on their own, apart from the causative meaning of 'bringing about' (unlike for instance 'force', which, besides causation, also clearly expresses coercion). Although those verbs are dealt with in most grammars, no satisfactory account is given of the circumstances in which each of them should be used, nor the consequences of the use of a particular type of complement (infinitive, past participle or present participle). The second distinguishing feature of this study is that it is based on corpus data, so that it should give a better idea of how causative verbs behave in authentic present-day English (precise meaning, frequency, diatypic variation, registers, combinatorial properties, etc.). This presentation will fall into two parts. First, I will show how causative constructions such as 'John made her laugh' or 'I had my watch repaired' can be retrieved from corpora (semi-)automatically. More specifically, I will compare the results achieved with a concordancer like XKwic, a piece of software developed at the University of Stuttgart which can carry out highly refined and specialised linguistic searches, and with ICECUP, the program designed to query the International Corpus of English (ICE) and working on the basis of 'Fuzzy Tree Fragments' representing the grammatical structure of sentences. This comparison will highlight the fact that, although ICECUP has higher precision and recall rates, as long as it cannot be used in conjunction with other (larger) corpora, a more 'classical' concordancer will be needed to thoroughly investigate relatively rare phenomena such as periphrastic causative constructions. Secondly, I will present the preliminary results reached on the basis of ICE-GB (1,000,000-word corpus), the British component of ICE. Following the functional 'one meaning, one form' principle, I put forward the hypothesis that there must be differences between the four causative verbs 'cause', 'get', 'have' and 'make'. In order to test that hypothesis, the causative sentences retrieved were examined both quantitatively and qualitatively with respect to a number of syntactic, stylistic and semantic parameters. The syntactic survey focused on the types of structures that are available for each causative (bare infinitive or to-infinitive, present participle, main clause or subclause passivization). From a stylistic point of view, I investigated whether the four verbs and their non-finite complements were stylistically differentiated by comparing their frequencies in speech and writing, as well as in the different genres of ICE (e.g. novels/stories, business letters, face-to-face conversations, etc.). Semantically speaking, finally, I followed Fillmore and his theory of Frame Semantics (cf. the FrameNet Project) in viewing causative constructions as made up of three 'Frame Elements', viz. The explosion (Cause) caused the temperature (Affected) to rise (Effect). Each Frame Element can be described in terms of various features, such as animacy of the Cause and the Affected, volitionality of the Effect, or degree of coercion involved. The semantic study also includes a collocational analysis, whose aim is to determine the preferential lexical company kept by each causative verb. Only the most significant results will be outlined here. It should be emphasised, however, that those results are based on a relatively small number of instances (40 constructions with 'cause', 101 with 'get', 77 with 'have' and 150 with 'make') and therefore need to be substantiated by further and more extended research.


Background: The emergent of many pharmaceutical companies producing their own generic type of drugs after the patent of innovator drugs expired can improve the general healthcare delivery systems as well as de creasing the healthcare costs. But it also raises a few issues with one of it is the widespread of substandard and counterfeit product. Post surveillance study to assess product parameter of various generics drug marketed is


This article employs the classical Euler–Bernoulli beam theory in connection with Green–Naghdi's generalized thermoelasticity theory without energy dissipation to investigate the vibrating microbeam. The microbeam is considered with linearly varying thickness and subjected to various boundary conditions. The heat and motion equations are obtained using the modified couple stress analysis in terms of deflection with only one material length-scale parameter to capture the size-dependent behavior. Various combinations of free, simply-supported, and clamped boundary conditions are presented. The effect of length-to-thickness ratio, as well as the influence of both couple stress parameter and thermoelastic coupling, are all discussed. Furthermore, the effect of reference temperature on the eigenfrequency is also investigated. The vibration frequencies indicate that the taperedmicrobeammodeled bymodified couple stress analysis causes more responses than that modeled by classical continuum beam theory, even the thermoelastic coupled is taken into account.


437 IBRAHIM ALI M. JIBREEL et al., ABSTRACT This paper provides a historical, analytical and thematic discussion related to the concept of translation strategies clarifying translation methods in contrast with translation strategies and procedures. During the review, those divisions of translation strategies which are considered as a "patent" or priority-due to the scholar/s are presented as "taxonomies" and any other category-wise review is presented as "classifications". After a historical survey and analytical discussion of the literature review, the paper suggests a proposed refined classification of the translation strategies that can be applied while translating written discourse. That refined classification is adopted based on two criteria: workability and appropriacy. By Workability, the researchers mean the possibility of the application of the strategy. Besides, the chosen strategy should be appropriate to the students' lexicosemantic level of competence and thus not ambiguous. In addition, it should be appropriate to the mode of the text i.e. the written mode, so those strategies related to verbal discourse interpretation are excluded. Due to the importance of translation strategies, these strategies shall be taught explicitly with more practice in the classroom.


Dendritic polymers have received increasing interests from polymer scientists because of the unique structural characteristics, synthetic methods as well as application fields. The (meth)acrylated dendritic poly(ether amide)s were synthesized by a divergent manner and characterized by 1H NMR, VPO and FTIR measurements. Their UV curing properties were investigated by Raman, Photo DSC and DMTA measurements. Over 80% of unsaturation conversion has been obtained for the systems in the presence of a photoinitiator under UV irradiation, and the polymerization rate at peak maximum was promoted with increasing the concentration of double bonds. The softening and glass transition temperatures of their UV cured films were also promoted with increasing the concentration of double bonds.


Submitted for the DPP10 Meeting of The American Physical Society Electrostatic solitary waves in an ultra-relativistic degenerate quantum plasma A.A. MAMUN, P.K. SHUKLA, Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum — Electrostatic solitary waves in an ultra-relativistic degenerate quantum plasma sphere have been investigated by the reductive perturbation method. The modified Korteweg de-Vries equation has been derived, and its numerical solutions have been analyzed to study the basic features of spherical electrostatic solitary structures in such an ultra-relativistic degenerate quantum plasma sphere. The implications of our results in some interstellar objects, particularly in white dwarf, have been briefly discussed. A .A. Mamun Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum Date submitted: 15 Jul 2010 Electronic form version 1.4


The problem involved in this study was to carry on an experiment of two methods of teaching eighth-grade geography and to compare the two. Briefly stated, the problem of this thesis was to determine the value of the use of free materials as compared with library supplements.


The High Energy Photon Source (HEPS) is a 6-GeV, ultralow-emittance light source to be built in China. The injector is composed of a linac and a full energy booster. To increase the threshold of TMCI in the booster, the HEPS linac design has been evolved with several iterations. The important middle-version design is a 300 MeV linac with rms bunch length larger than 20 ps. One bunch lengthening system is proposed and discussed in this paper. INTRODUCTION The High Energy Photon Source (HEPS) is a 6-GeV, ultralow-emittance storage ring light source to be built in China. The HEPS is composed of a 500-MeV linac [1], a full energy booster [2] with 1 Hz repetition frequency, a 6GeV storage ring [3] and transport lines. The bunch charge threshold of TMCI of booster is a very important issue. A FODO lattice design of the booster is chosen after iterations. One important guidance to the lattice optimization of the booster is to increase the momentum compact which influences TMCI threshold. The HEPS linac also has been iterated for several times to meet the requirements that can increase TMCI threshold of booster. At the early stage, the HEPS linac was an S-band (2998.8 MHz) normal conducting 300 MeV linac with sub-harmonic bunching cavities, one macro bunch per pulse and bunch length in 5 ps, namely V1 in this paper. With the study of TMCI the requirements for linac have been changed. The pulse mode chose multi-macro-bunch per pulse using 2998.8 MHz prebuncher instead of sub-harmonic cavities. The rms bunch length was changed from 5 ps to 20 ps by introducing bunch lengthening system. So the middle version design of HEPS linac is a 300 MeV linac with multi-macro-bunch per pulse and rms bunch length in 20 ps, namely V2 in this paper. One bunch lengthening system was included in the design. With in-depth study and exports' suggestion, the 500 MeV linac is more beneficial for physical design. After comprehensive consideration the HEPS linac is adopted at last, which of energy is 500 MeV, pulse mode is multimacro-bunch per pulse and rms bunch length is 5 ps [1] without bunch lengthening system, namely V3 in this paper. The evolution of HEPS linac layout is shown in Fig. 1. As a very important stage the middle version scheme (V2) of linac was carefully designed. The main parameters are shown in Table 1, which is composed of gun, bunching section, accelerating section and bunch lengthening section. In this paper the design of bunch lengthening system is presented. Table 1: Main Parameters of 300 MeV Linac Parameter Unit Value Frequency MHz 2998.8 Energy MeV ≥300 Bunch charge nC ≥2.5 Macro-bunch length ps ≥20 Emittance nm ≤70 Energy spread % 0.5 THEORETICAL ANALYSIS According to basic theory and the transfer matrix, the particle position can be calculated by the following formula: 56 o i i s s R    (1) Where so is the output longitudinal coordinate, so is the input longitudinal coordinate, δi is input energy spread. If the input beam is similar to linear distribution in longitudinal phase space and can be expressed as:


This study uses the vector form intrinsic finite-element (VFIFE) method to investigate the inelastic large deflection behavior of steel frames with semirigid joints. The structural connections are modeled by the two-node, multidegree-of-freedom spring system and dummy element with stiffness but without actual mass and length. The proposed model is first verified by comparing its numerical solutions with the published results. The various structural behaviors, such as the bifurcation instability, the snap-through buckling, and the inelastic structural response with beam element fracture, are then fully studied. The numerical results show that the semirigid joint reduces the global stiffness of structure. Therefore, as expected, the simplified rigid joint will over estimate the loading capacity of the structure. The fracture analysis of the multi span frame shows that when the beam fractures, the structure elements would absorb more energy and thus, the reduction ratio of loading capacity after beam fractur...


In a pot experiment in the greenhouse of the National Research Centre, a study aimed to evaluate the influences of mono potassium phosphate (MKP) or MKP+ urea (U) and irrigation by diluted seawater on growth and some chemical constituents of jatropha plants. The treatments of salinity: irrigation by diluted seawater with 3.91 and 7.82 dS/m more than that irrigated by fresh water as a control. MKP in the rate of 1g/L (45 and 60 days) were sprayed and control plants sprayed by the same quantity of distilled water. Plant height, root length and number of green leaves did not show any significant differences as a result of irrigation by diluted seawater. However, area of green leaves, fresh weight of different plant parts and root and whole plant dry weight were significantly responded. A positive relationship was detected between MKP application and most of growth traits of jatropha plants i.e. fresh weight of roots, stem, leaves and top and area of leaves/ plant. Top dry weight showed the same response. Combined urea in the rate of 3 g/L as foliar fertilizer enhanced the increment in the above-mentioned characters. Meanwhile, root and stem dry weight responded similarly to the both fertilizer treatments. Top dry weight increased only by this combination. Furthermore, root length and leaves dry weight seemed to be without effect. The mineral status responses to MKP and U and salinity were included.


The diploma begins with Rudyard Kipling's biography and bibliography, the author of The Jungle Book. Kipling is the youngest laureate of The Nobel Prize (he received it when he was 42 years old). In the continuation follows a summary of the speech at the handover of the award, as well as the presentations of other Nobel Prize laureates for literature, who wrote youth literature.
Data, about the availability of Kipling's works in the Ljubljana City Library (Mestna knjižnica Ljubljana) and the National and University Library (NUK), is presented. Curriculum for Slovene and currently accessible readings for elementary school, where Kipling was mentioned as the author and sugested to teachers for coverage in primary school, is reviwed. Curriculum is also reviewed for mention of the other Nobel prize laureates, who wrote youth literature.
In the chapter Literary comparison the qualitative data provided a comparison between the original, The Jungle Book, by Rudyard Kipling, and adaptations in the form of a picture book, a film and a puppet show. Works have been compared on the basis of the following elements: literary genres, the extent of literature, characters, literary time, literary space, literary matter, theme, motif, the addressee and the storyteller.
Chapter Summary and conclusions contains summary of qualitative research. The possibilities of usage of the adaptations for teaching literature is discussed in the chapter Use of the adaptations in the classroom.. This is based on a study of Marjana Kobe.
In Conclusion hypothesis are accepted or declined.


This study aims to analyze the access and needs of poor women in the Tallo district in relation to preaching activities. This study used a preaching communication perspective to identify the challenges of preaching strategies and empowering poor women in urban areas. This study used a mixed method between quantitative and qualitative research. The data was collected through literature study, observation, questionnaires, and in-depth interviews. Data analysis used in this study was the interactive model of Miles & Huberman. The results showed that most of the poor women in the Tallo district defined preaching as a lecture and face-to-face activity. They consider that the government should be more responsible for its implementation rather than other organizations or communities. Most of them prefer the theme of worship, family, and morals when dealing with preaching messages. The preferred media for delivering preaching is through lectures and face-toface compared with electronic and social media.


Histamine has been identified as chemical indicator to estimate the spoilage of food particularly in fish and fish products. Histamine produced in the fish muscle tissue by the action of bacterial decarboxylase enzyme on histidine, can cause poisoning if histamine content in spoilt fish exceeds the FDA safety limit of 100ppm. Ion Selective Field Effect Transistor (ISFET) was introduced by Bergveld in 1970 for the detection of H+ ions. Since then there has been a lot of progress on the applications of ISFET for the detection of other ions by applying a selective membrane on the gate insulator layer. In this report the ionophore-based sensor which employed potentiometry form of transduction made ISFET as a component for the detection of histamine. The selection of ISFET is done before the deposition of membrane on the gate insulator layer. Two types of polymers PVC and polyurethane were used for the membrane materials. These membranes were prepared by dissolving the polymer and the ionophore [Mn(TPP)Cl] in THF as the solvent. After depositing the membrane on the gate of the ISFET, it is left for the solvent to evaporate. A third membrane used was acrylate. In this case the membrane was photo-cured with a stream of nitrogen gas. From the sensitivity test it was found that PVC showed the highest sensitivity (36 mV/decade) followed by urethane (18.5 mV/decade) and acrylate (0.75 mV/decade). The modified ISFET is a promising device for detecting fish freshness. The advantage of ISFET being small and its ability to be integrated with electrochemical and silicon technology makes signal processing and on-site evaluation possible.


Thermal shock of instantaneous temperature on piezoelectric pressure transducer is introduced,tight force,nature frequency and sensitivity of transducer can be changed,instantaneous temperature error is formed.The special film structure of transducer can reduce greatly the instantaneous temperature error from the thermal shock.Through the experimentation research on the thermal shock of two piezoelectric pressure transducers,inference of the thermal shock on the transducer is expounded.Measured data and analyzable results are presented.


Objective: This review assessed the effectiveness of health e ducation in community-based malaria prevention and control interventions in sub-Saharan Africa (SS A). Methods: We systematically reviewed published and unpublish ed literature, searching 7 databases and 3 websites namely Malaria Journal, World Health Organ iz tion and Centre for Disease Control and Preventi on to find relevant studies. Study designs included were randomized controlled trials, non-randomized trials , quasi experiments, before and after studies, and surveys. A narrative synthesis was performed on the extract ed data. Results: Seventeen studies were included in the review. Nin e studies covered health education interventions on Insecticide Treated bet Nets (ITNs), three utilised health education to promote Intermittent Presumpti ve Treatment in pregnancy (IPTp), four reported on the eff ct of health education in home-based managemen t of malaria whilst one study focused on environmental m nagement in malaria control. Factors found to affe ct health education in malaria control and prevention interventions included educational level of partici pants, the nature of health messages and the level of communit y involvement. Conclusion: The results of the review suggest that health educ ation interventions are effective and remain a valuable tool in community-based malaria prevention and control interventions in SSA. This review foun d moderate evidence that health education interventio ns influence the uptake of community-based malaria prevention and control interventions, enhance knowl edge about malaria and generally improve malaria prevalence and mortality in children under five and pregnant women.


Experimental constraints on melting temperatures in the MgO-SiO2 system at 1 lower mantle pressures 2 3 Marzena A. Barona,b*, Oliver T. Lordb, Robert Myhillb, Andrew R. Thomsonb,c, Weiwei 4 Wangb,c, Reidar G. Trønnesa,d, Michael J. Walterb 5 6 a – Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics (CEED), University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1028 7 Blindern, Oslo, N-0315, Norway. 8 b – School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, Queens's 9 Road, Bristol, BS8 1RJ, UK. 10 c – Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, Gower Street, London, 11 WC1E 6BT, UK. 12 d – Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1172 Blindern, Oslo, N-0318, 13 Norway. 14 15


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the clinical usefulness of measuring anti-RNA polymerase (RNAP) III antibody with a commercially available ELISA in Japanese patients with SSc.

METHODS
This multicentre study involved 354 patients with SSc, 245 with non-SSc CTDs and 102 healthy controls. ELISAs were used to detect anti-RNAP III antibody, anti-topo I antibody and ACA. The presence of anti-RNAP III antibody in selected serum samples was confirmed by immunoprecipitation (IP) assay.

RESULTS
By ELISA, anti-RNAP III antibody was detected in 38 (10.7%) patients with SSc, 3 (1.2%) with non-SSc CTD and no healthy controls. The clinical specificity for SSc was excellent (98.8%), although a small number of false positives occurred. The sensitivity of the anti-topo I and ACA ELISAs for SSc was 59.9%, which increased to 68.2% without a reduction in specificity when the anti-RNAP III measurement was added. Clinical features associated with positivity for the anti-RNAP III antibody include dcSSc, a high total skin score and a trend towards high prevalence of renal crisis, consistent with previous studies that used an IP assay. Furthermore, on clinical severity scales, SSc patients with anti-RNAP III antibody scored highest for skin and renal involvement among patients subgrouped by the presence of individual SSc-related antibodies.

CONCLUSIONS
The measurement of anti-RNAP III antibody by ELISA is useful in routine clinical practice, because it helps diagnose SSc and identify a disease subset with severe skin and renal involvement.


The purpose of study is to provide valuable information to BPR as Director's consideration in conducting strategic operations, in order to be able to stay competitive and obtain high profitability. There are 141 Rural Bank (BPR) in East Java areas, which the Directors served as the respondent to the questionnaire. Relationships among the variables were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM., AMOS 6), based on primary data available through questionnaire and unstructured cross-sectional interviews to executive's of BPR. Result of the analysis showed that Executive's Characteristics, Inter-individual relationships, and Organization system as market orientation antecedent have a significant positive impact to BPR market orientation. Market orientation itself provided significant positive impact to BPR's performance. Market changes as external factors has significant influence on market orientation and its effect to performance. Competitive Intensity is proved as external variable which had an interaction to market orientation effect to BPR's performance. The impact of competitive intensity differed when it was perceived as high or low. In the interaction model, when competition is perceived as low, market orientation will provide significant positive impact towards performance, and when competition is perceived as high, market orientation will only provide insignificant impact. This implied that severe competition may pose threat to Company's sustainability. Government policies, as the third external variable in this research also have significant interaction with internal variables (market orientation) to deliver performance. Government regulation had not strengthen the impact of market orientation towards performance, as reflected on the result of this research, 80 out of 141 respondent (57%) claimed that many of government policy related with BPR operations had still become a burden, it's related to the weakness of BPR. Keywords: antecedent; market orientation; performance; external factors


Task-based language learning and blended learning have become an ideology in modern EFL teaching and are considered to be an effective trend in teaching English as a foreign language. Thus, the present study explored the effect of integrating hybrid language learning into task-based language learning on Iranian male and female intermediate EFL learners' reading comprehension ability. Initially four groups including two experimental groups and two control groups were formed. The two experimental groups were taught through blended integrated task-based language learning. In so doing, Staker and Horn's (2012) blended learning model was integrated into Ellis' (2017) task-based model in order to improve participants' reading comprehension ability. In this innovative approach, learners were involved in a series of offline and online focused and unfocused task-based reading comprehension activities, whereas, the control groups were taught through conventional reading comprehension method using traditional reading strategies. Accordingly, the results of ANCOVA indicated that learners in experimental groups achieved higher scores than those in the control groups. Further, the results of two-way ANOVA revealed that there was not substantial difference between the female and male learners across groups. Finally, the pedagogical implications of this study suggested that the syllabus designers and material developers can incorporate the innovative notion of integrating blended learning into task-based language learning method to transform the learning environment into more student-centered classroom. More importantly, the teachers can develop learners' critical thinking and metacognitive skills by designing interactive reading comprehension online tasks.


The bit-error probability performance of coherent binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) in the presence of narrowband (tone) and wideband (modulated tone) is investigated. The impact of the interference on both the carrier-tracking loop (assumed to be a conventional Costas loop) and the data detection are considered both individually and in combination. It is shown that, for loop parameters of practical interest, the dominant effect is the degradation induced on the data-detection process, which, depending on the relative frequency offset between the interferer and the desired signal as well as their relative power ratio, can be quite significant.


Through evaluating the load rate of output value,it is clear that the tax payers' revenue was comparatively light in the early period of Tang Dynasty.However,the quota tax system was not equal and the difference of trade tax rate,and many populations moved from countryside to the towns,which caused the low efficiency of social resources arrangement.Thus,"Zu Yong Diao Zhi"(租庸调制)in the early days of Tang Dynasty made the contributions to restoring,developing and strengthening the agricultural economy.


The notion of Health Technology Assessment (HTA) has evolved significantly since its inception and currently it is acclaimed as the holy grail of decision-making in the pharmaceutical sector. The elaboration of an HTA report constitutes a resource and time-demanding process. In this saga, overall survival (OS) has been acknowledged as the gold standard in elucidating the value of an oncology treatment modality, broadcasting what matters the most to patients and the community. OS along with health-related quality of life (HRQOL), falls under the "patient-centered clinical endpoints". Patient-centered clinical endpoints describe the endpoints that measure a direct patient clinical benefit, such as individuals' survival or feeling of wellbeing. In principle, clinical trials should focus on OS. However, in certain cases, it is hard or even unattainable for companies to submit mature OS data since the evolution in the pharmaceutical sector has led to significant survival gains. In this sense, the timeframe of a single trial is usually insufficient to capture the full spectrum of OS. Moreover, the design of trials, as in the case of cross-over studies, further hampers the use and the clarity of OS as an endpoint. In this backdrop, much effort may be devoted to validate surrogate endpoints; however, surrogate endpoints are used specifically because they are more easily accessible. Discovery and validation of surrogate endpoints, which can be gathered at an early stage of the disease and most significantly, can demonstrate strong predictive causality with OS. In oncology, surrogate endpoints are tumor-centered clinical endpoints that infer clinical benefit to the patient and are employed as a proxy for a patient-centered clinical endpoint. These endpoints refer to biological markers, either laboratory or histology ones, such as tumor response, circulating tumor cells, disease-free survival (DFS) and progression-free survival (PFS), which can define therapeutic response to an intervention. The rationale of surrogate endpoints is nested in the prediction of survival well in advance, thus perpetuating to fewer patients and shorter and cheaper trials. In some cases, as in the cases of crossover to subsequent treatments, the use of surrogate endpoints is justified. A validation must precede, which constitutes an intricate but obligatory process. Many surrogate endpoints, which meet the criteria of being assessable earlier in a patient's life, have been assessed. Nevertheless, a simple correlation does not suffice (Table 1). The surrogate endpoints, according to Prentice, must meet four operational criteria:


Audio media is one of the most neglected areas in the Hypermedia / Multimedia domain. To play sound files in traditional hypermedia systems, for example the World Wide Web (WWW), users click upon links (or hyperlinks) within a browser. This action will download the sound file to the local machine and then activate an application to play the file. More recently however, applications can stream the file over the network instead, thus reducing the overhead of having to download it first. In multimedia applications such as Microsoft Encarta, users click on areas of the screen called "hot-spots" that will cause an event to occur. This event could cause an audio file to be played, a picture to be displayed or it could cause some other event. In both of these systems audio is usually just the result or side-effect of some action caused by the user. In the Hypermedia domain the information required to traverse the links is embedded within the document using the HyperText Markup Language (HTML). In multimedia systems the link information is stored in an internal format, which the user does not have access to. This creates problems because only the original author of the hypertext or multimedia document can modify, edit or create new links. Therefore because this link information is difficult to modify, these systems are known as "closed" systems. The aim of this research is to investigate how audio could be used in Open Hypermedia Systems, specifically how links can be used with streaming audio.


The probability density function (pdf) of the r th ,1 ≤ r ≤ n and the joint pdf of the r th and s th ,1 ≤ r<s ≤ n , concomitants of order statistics are derived for bivariate Pareto II distribution introduced by Sankaran and Nair (1993) and their moments and product moments are obtained.


HIV-AIDS has a global and local presence with both developed and developing countries affected by this disease. South Africa has the largest HIV-AIDS epidemic in the world1. It has been almost 30 years since its discovery and significant gains have been made toward HIV-AIDS prevention, treatment and care. HIV-AIDS programmes have developed instantaneously across the globe in an attempt to assist state health programmes to care and treat for HIV-AIDS individuals. Key components of these programmes have focused on the pillars of HIV-AIDS care; prevention, treatment, wellness and care. However, new evidence is emerging to support a holistic, overarching approach to HIV-AIDS care, that being integrated care. This paper reviews the current landscape of integrated care in HIV-AIDS programmes and proposes smart practices toward optimal patient management.


The 4.4BSD network stack has made certain assumptions regarding the packets it will handle. In particular, 4.4BSD assumes that (1) the total protocol header length is shorter than or equal to MHLEN, usually 100 bytes, and (2) there are a limited number of protocol headers on a packet. Neither of these assumptions hold any longer, due to the way IPv6/IPsec specifications are written.

We at the KAME project are implementing IPv6 and IPsec support code on top of 4.4BSD. To cope with the problems, we have introduced the following changes: (1) a new function called m_pulldown, which adjusts the mbuf chain with a minimal number of copies/allocations, and (2) a new calling sequence for parsing inbound packet headers. These changes allow us to manipulate incoming packets in a safer, more efficient, and more spec-conformant way. The technique described in this paper is integrated into the KAME IPv6/IPsec stack kit, and is freely available under BSD copyright. The KAME codebase is being merged into NetBSD, OpenBSD and FreeBSD. An integration into BSD/OS is planned.


We report on the growth and characterization of epitaxial (010)- and (100)-YMn0.5Cr0.5O3 films on the corresponding YAlO3 substrates. It is found that the magnetic transition temperature increases from 75 K for the bulk sample to 120 K for the compressive-strained films. Along the c- and a-axes, ferroelectric polarization develops below 120 K with the saturation values of 0.17 and 0.05 μC/cm2, respectively, while it remains zero along the b-axis. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the ferroelectric polarization can be modulated by magnetic field. The displayed ferroelectricity is explainable by considering coexistence of the predominant bc-cycloidal and minor E-type antiferromagnetic orders.


Social information spaces are characterized by the presence of a social network between participants. In this chapter we present methods for utilizing social networks for information retrieval by applying graph authority measures to the social network. We show how to integrate authority measures in an information retrieval algorithm. In order to determine the suitability of the described algorithms, we examine the structure and statistical properties of social networks, and present examples of social networks as well as evaluation results.


Pharmaceuticals form a new class of micropollutants that poses a serious threat to our aquatic environment and its organisms. Advanced technologies in waste water treatment like membrane bioreactors (MBR) have proven better elimination of organic pollutants. But still their removal capacity might be not be sufficient to remove pharmaca and their metabolites completely. Biological wastewater treatment facilities e.g. in constructed wetlands might represent rather cost and labor saving technology for small communities. We studied the possible metabolism by plants of the intensively used nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug Diclofenac which causes massive problems due to its poor elimination during waste water treatment processes. In order to test phytoremediation as a tool for the removal of this drug from waste water, the uptake and metabolic pathway of the of the compound into plant tissues was addressed using Hordeum vulgare (barley) and Brassica juncea (Indian mustard) as model species. Diclofenac is taken up by all plant species and undergoes rapid metabolisation. Similar to its fate in mammalian metabolism the drug is activated in a phase I reaction resulting in the hydroxylated metabolite OH-Diclofenac which is conjugated in phase II to a glucopyranoside, a typical plant specific metabolite. This is the first study to address the fate of Diclofenac in plants. Further studies are required to investigate interand intracellular transport of the conjugates and to elucidate the potential to really incorporate the drug and its sugar conjugates into cell walls. With the present set of data available it is justified to propose the use of plants in wastewater treatment for a more efficient reduction of the effluent load with unwanted pharmaceutical residues to provide a healthier environment.


Preface Introduction MODELS AND APPROACHES Models of cancer development: genetic and environmental influences (Jandrig) Endogenous DNA damage and its relevance for the initiation of carcinogenesis (Epe, Fusser) The IARC Monographs Programme: cancer-hazard identification as a first step in cancer-risk assessment and cancer prevention (Baan, Cogliano) EPIDEMIOLOGICAL RESEARCH The role of epidemiology in cancer risk assessment of non-ionising radiation (Schuz, Berg-Beckhoff, Schlehofer, Blettner) The role of epidemiology in cancer risk assessment of ionizing radiation (Wakeford) ANIMAL STUDIES Animal studies on RF-EMF cancer effects (Dasenbrock, Buschmann) Animal studies in carcinogen identification: The example of power-frequency (50/60 Hz) magnetic fields (McCormick) GENOTOXICITY STUDIES Chromosomal aberrations in human populations and cancer (Obe, Lloyd, Durante) Cytogenetic studies in mammalian somatic cells exposed to radiofrequency radiation: A meta-analysis (Vijayalaxmi , Prihoda) OMICS - A NEW TOOL FOR CANCER RISK ASSESSMENT? Genomics and cancer risk assessment (Schweiger, Timmermann) Transcriptomics and cancer risk assessment (Kemmner) Proteomics and cancer risk assessment (Schramm) CURRENT USE OF OMICS STUDIES FOR CANCER RISK ASSESSMENT Omics in cancer risk assessment: Pathways to disease (Portier, Thomas) What have omics taught us about the health risks associated with exposure to low doses of ionizing radiation? (Morgan, Sowa) Current use of omics studies for cancer risk assessment: Transcriptomics approach in RF-EMF research (Mevissen) Proteomics approach In mobile phone radiation research (Leszczynski) CHALLENGES FOR RISK MANAGEMENT Evaluating the reliability of controversial scientific results (Lerchl) Comparative risk assessment with ionising and non-ionising radiations (Kiefer) Communicating about uncertainties in cancer risk assessment (Wiedemann, Schutz) The Precautionary Principle and radiofrequency exposure from mobile phones (Marchant)


In 1978, Italy became the first European nation to radically change its mental healthcare system. Psychiatric hospitals were shut down, and a community-based publicly-funded system of mental healthcare took its place. This reform sought to restore dignity to those with mental illnesses through rehabilitation and increased participation in the community and daily activities. Though characteristics of marginalization and exclusion were relatively eliminated, covert stigmas surrounding mental illness remain a persisting problem. This review seeks to 1) evaluate the historical progression of mental health reform as well as the effectiveness of the current system of mental healthcare in Italy 2) explore theoretical perspectives of stigma and investigate the embeddedness of mental illness stigma (MIS) in Italian culture 3) review research regarding how to combat MIS, as well as criterion for effective anti-stigma projects 4) assess recent literature on the Italian response to the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of mental healthcare, and the extent to which the current system can withstand public health crises of such magnitude. More high-quality information regarding the effectiveness of the current system is needed to provide all people in Italy with equitable quality and access to psychological care.


This case study focuses on the best strategic initiatives of Shangri-La hotels (Malaysia) Berhad
(SHMB) in strategy building and sustaining competitive advantage.It presently owns nine
branches, namely Shangri-La's Rasa Ria Resort, Kota Kinabalu, Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru
Resort and Spa, Kota Kinabalu, Putrajaya Shangri-La, Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Traders
Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Traders Hotel, Puteri Harbour, Johor, Malaysia, Golden Sands Resort,
Penang, Shangri-La's Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa, Penang and Hotel Jen Penang (Formerly
Traders Hotel, Penang).The group is engaged in the ownership and operation of hotels and beach resorts, a golf course, investment properties and a commercial laundry. Hotel business represents a critical part of the tourism sector, which plays a pivotal role in driving the nation's economic transformation agenda.Therefore, the Malaysian government is constantly implementing various policies and agendas to uphold the industry's competitiveness and profitability growth. Although, the concerted efforts are underway, but some hoteliers are still facing several challenges in today's highly competitive and rapidly evolving market.Hence, why certain hotels succeed in a dynamic competitive environment while rest fail? The answer might be simple and straightforward, but it is not easy.Hotels that grow and change are hotels that know how to build resilient strategies that secure and sustain competitive advantage.The notion of strategy building and sustaining competitive advantage are at the very heart of business success.In view of that, this case study mainly intends to analyse a case of successful SHMB from a strategic management perspective.There is an urgent need to look into the true competencies of SHMB in overcoming the
challenges in the 21st century based on the right strategy formulation, implementation, evaluation, direction and decision making process and recognize their efforts to attain high income nation in 2020 as well as continuing to grow in the industry it now dominates.


The present article has two goals. Firstly, to trace the presence of Polish theatre, from 2009 until today, on Brazilian stages, recording – and briefly commenting on – both performances by Polish artists in Brazil, and Brazilian productions of Polish dramatic texts. This retrospect is not intended to be an exhaustive panorama of Polish presence in Brazilian theatre life over the last ten years. But it allows us to bring out important issues concerning the Brazilian translations of Polish drama and texts for the stage. I draw a few reflections on this subject at the intersection of Polish Studies, Theatre Studies and Translation Studies.


Over the last decade there has been rapid growth of Online Banking. This research examines the benefits of Online Banking and how Canadian Banks accommodate various financial activates through different service channels, including Online, telephone, ABM and in-branch. A Framework is introduced for categorizing the most common activities by their need for physical interaction and assistance and to align activities with their ideal service channel. This research is concluded with the presentation of strategies for integrating these different customer channels.


Little is known about how the media cover the social sciences. Some basic questions about social science coverage in particular, are answered in this article. Empirical examinations of media coverage of social science are, according to the author, non-existent. Case studies and commentary on media coverage of social sciences were alternatively studied. The basis of the study rests on three data sets and provides some preliminary answers to the questions mentioned above. The author found that data from the studies surveyed, supported the contention that social science receives more media attention relative to other kinds of science. The suggestion is made that if a significant amount of data could be gathered over periods of time on this topic, extensive studies could be executed and certain predictions made.


Ever since virologists produced the poliovirus from scratch in 2002—triggering an intense debate about the risks of synthetic biology—researchers have said the same might be possible for the much bigger smallpox virus, which was eradicated in 1980. Now, they know for sure. A team led by virologist David Evans of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, has quietly synthesized horsepox from DNA fragments ordered online and delivered in the mail. The same strategy could be used to recreate variola, the virus that causes smallpox, researchers say. The unpublished study may put to rest discussions about whether to destroy the two remaining stocks of smallpox, but it has reopened the debate about how far research with dangerous pathogens should be allowed to go.


Objective: To investigate the diagnosis and surgical treatment of pancreatic duct stones. Methods: The clinical data of 43 patients undergoing surgical procedure for pancreatic duct stones during the past 6 years in our hospital were retrospectively analyzed. Results: The male-to-female ratio among the patients was 2:1.The main symptom of the patients was upper abdominal pain and some of them had accompanied lower back pain.The diagnosis of all cases was confirmed by imaging examinations.Thirty-four cases underwent pancreatic lithotomy with a side-to-side Roux-en-Y pancreaticojejunostomy(two cases had a synchronous resection of the body and tail of the pancreas),five cases underwent duodenum-preserving pancreatic head resection,and pylorus-preserving pancreaticoduodenectomy,classical Whipple procedure and resection of the body and tail of the pancreas with splenectomy were performed in one case each,respectively,and unresectable tumor was found in one case during surgical exploration.The period of follow-up ranged from 5 months to 6 years.Of the 43 patients,23 cases had their abdominal pain completely alleviated and 18 cases had varying degrees of improvement. Conclusion: Imaging examination is the main modality for diagnosis of pancreatic duct stones,and the surgical procedure for this condition should be individualized to the specific patient.Pancreatic lithotomy with a side-to-side Roux-en-Y pancreaticojejunostomy is the main operative procedure for pancreatic duct stones,and other procedures such as duodenum-preserving pancreatic head resection or distal pancreatectomy may be recommended depending on the patient's situation.


The optical transmittance and absorption of thin films of monoclinic lead phthalocyanine have been studied as a function of exposure to chlorine and air. The effect of chlorine on the refractive index and dielectric constant of freshly prepared films was estimated from reflectivity data in the photon energy range 2.1–2.6 eV. Responsivity and recovery from gaseous exposure were studied with regard to the applicability of lead phthalocyanine to the fabrication of an optical chlorine sensor.


THE GWSC, UNDP/WB water and sanitation programme together with some local agencies including the Department of Community Development, Environmental Health Division of the Ministry of Health, Department of Social Welfare assumed responsibility for executing the Bolgatanga Community Water Supply and Sanitation Pilot Project otherwise called 'The 50 Well Project' in July 1988 with funding from CIDA. The Bolgatanga Community Water Supply and Sanitation Pilot Project was designed to find out whether communities were willing and able to take responsibility for managing their water supply and sanitation systems. The project objectives were therefore to develop a strategy for transferring maintenance responsibilities to the communities with fund mobilization, saving and spare parts distribution as important elements. The project was also to promote the installation and use of household latrines and help to promote general hygiene and sanitation in the project area. The other objective was to emphasize the involvement of women in playing lead roles in the community management concept. The project was therefore by nature a multi-sectoral one with a high integration of its components (i.e. community management, hygiene and sanitation, water supply and women development activities).


Yacon is a tuberous root that stands out for its high concentration of prebiotic oligosaccharides, mainly fructooligosaccharides (FOS), and some specific phenolic compounds such as chlorogenic acid. However, the presence of these phenolic compounds makes yacon susceptible to enzymatic browning, due mainly to the activity of polyphenoloxidases (PPO). The action of these enzymes can decrease the nutritional value of the product, and also affect its appearance and taste, making it unacceptable for consumption. Thus the objective of the present work was to determine the optimum pH for the activity and for the stability of the yacon PPO, and establish the conditions that result in lower activity of this enzyme using a mild acid treatment, since FOS are susceptible to acid hydrolysis. Following this, a CCRD (Central Composite Rotatable Design) was used to evaluate the effect of different concentrations of citric acid (CA) and different immersion times in the treatment of yacon roots, aiming to inactivate the PPO. It was observed that CA was effective for the partial inactivation of PPO, Nara Menezes Vieira1, Ana Paula Dionisio2*, Talita de Souza Goes1, Idila Maria da Silva Araújo2, Raimundo Wilane de Figueiredo1 1 Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC), Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos, Fortaleza/CE Brasil 2 Embrapa Agroindústria Tropical, Fortaleza/CE Brasil *Corresponding Author Ana Paula Dionisio, Embrapa Agroindústria Tropical, Laboratório de Processos Agroindustriais, Rua Dra. Sara Mesquita, no 2270, Planalto do Pici, CEP: 60511-110, Fortaleza/CE Brasil, e-mail: email@example.com Cite as: Optimization of the acid treatment of yacon for the inactivation of polyphenoloxidase with maintenance of the functional properties. Braz. J. Food Technol., v. 21, e2016063, 2018. Received: June 07, 2016; Accepted: Nov. 08, 2017 http://bjft.ital.sp.gov.br 2 Braz. J. Food Technol., Campinas, v. 21, e2016063, 2018 Otimização do tratamento ácido do yacon para inativação das polifenoloxidases com manutenção de suas propriedades funcionais Vieira, N. M. et al.


Multifunctional Dynamic voltage restorer (DVR) is a power electronic converter based custom power device used to compensate for voltage variations and to limit the fault current. This study proposes a new scheme for multifunctional DVR based on a simple inverter scheme and a different control scheme. In the proposed DVR, a ac-dc converter is attached to the grid. The dc-link voltage is regulated by a different control scheme including voltage and current control. This results in better quality of output voltage in both deep and shallow voltage sags. It is important to emphasis that the existing inverter-based DVR topologies do not have the capability of third harmonic elimination, Consistency in DC link voltage, Better output for inverter section, efficient modulation scheme incorporation etc. The system model is carried out in MATLAB/SIMULINK environment. With the aids of the proportional-integral controllers, dq0-abc transformation Level shifted pulse-width modulation control technique; the inverter control system is managed. Phase lock loop (PLL) is used to lock grid frequency and phase. The design of low pass filter used at the inverter output to remove the high frequency ripple is also discussed and the obtained simulation results are presented.


The 2-wheel mobile robot features the ability to easily perform spin turns and transverse motion. The problem, however, is that the robot is prone to slow damping vibration in the turning direction. Usually, a guiding algorithm controls the position and heading only. Without considering dynamics, it is difficult to suppress vibration. We propose a method to prevent vibration by taking the dynamics of the robot into consideration. A mathematical model of the robot demonstrates that the turning accelerative and elastic torques act reactively on the motors of the left and right drive wheels. Although these two torques act on each motor with equal magnitude, they have different signs. A difference in the reactive torques occurs, and this is thought to be the main cause of vibration. Our proposed method is to suppress vibration by imposing feedback of the difference of the reactive torques. Experiments have shown significant results in suppressing vibration by means of this technique.


We plan to create a method of clustering a social network graph. For testing the method there is a need to generate a graph similar in structure to existing social networks. The article presents an algorithm for the graph distributed generation. We took into account basic properties such as power-law distribution of the users communities number, dense intersections of the social networks and others. This algorithm also considers the problems that are present in similar works of other authors, for example, the multiple edges problem in the generation process. A special feature of the created algorithm is the implementation depending on the communities number parameter rather than on the connected users number as it is done in other works. It is connected with a peculiarity of progressing the existing social network structure. There are properties of its graph in the paper. We described a table containing the variables needed for the algorithm. A step-by-step generation algorithm was compiled. Appropriate mathematical parameters were calculated for it. A generation is performed in a distributed way by Apache Spark framework. It was described in detail how the tasks division with the help of this framework runs. The Erdos-Renyi model for random graphs is used in the algorithm. It is the most suitable and easy one to implement. The main advantages of the created method are the small amount of resources in comparison with other similar generators and execution speed. Speed is achieved through distributed work and the fact that in any time network users have their own unique numbers and are ordered by these numbers, so there is no need to sort them out. The designed algorithm will promote not only the efficient clustering method creation. It can be useful in other development areas connected, for example, with the social networks search engines.


Advances in motion detection, tracking, and classification have made available many applications in telerehabilition. Monitoring of the elderlies and physically impaired, sports medicine, and physical therapy, are some of the active research areas in telerehabilition. In order to gain acceptance by the general public, a telerehabilition system should have high accuracy in tracking movements and be low in cost. This work investigates the suitability of Leap Motion, a computer input device, for telerehabilition purpose. Its accuracy and tracking reliability are compared to that of Nintendo's Wii Remote Controller (Wiimote) that was studies in our prior work. Wiimote can be used as a handheld device for patients to perform repetitive motions in physical therapy sessions in an autonomous remote setting. The Leap Motion, on the other hand, seems to fit physiotherapy sessions that require free motion without any props. Patients can use such an instructional system at home without the effort and time incurred with visiting a medical office. At the same time, the public health care system also benefits from such devices due to reduced cost and broader delivery of programs.


Objective: To investigate the anaesthetic method and the key points in tracheal reconstructive operation with pulmonary tissue flap. Methods: According to experiment research on 24 animal dogs′ , the key points and the relevant techniques of the anaesthesia concluded. Results: Successful of management of anesthesia was obtained during tracheal reconstructive operation in 24 dogs and 4 patients. Conclusion: The anaesthetic cooperation is successful.


Background: Hemorrhagic shock and resuscitation is well known to result in myocardial dysfunction and injury. Stimulation of the Na + -H + exchanger plays an important role in the pathway of myocardial injury. The purpose of the present study was to examine the protective effects of blocking the cardiac Na + -H + exchange, using 100mM ethyl-isopropyl amiloride (EIPA), a specific Na + -H + exchanger blocker, on myocardial contractile function on ex vivo resuscitation of isolated rat heart following one hour of hemorrhagic shock. Methodology: Sprague- Dawley rats were assigned to hemorrhage, hemorrhage + EIPA, sham hemorrhage and sham hemorrhage + EIPA groups. Rats were hemorrhaged for one hour. Hearts were harvested and ex vivo treated and resuscitated by perfused in the Langendorff System. Myocardial function was determined. Results: The results showed that inhibition of the Na + -H + exchanger using EIPA improved the post-resuscitation myocardial contractile function. Conclusion: Blocking the Na + -H + exchanger using 100mM EIPA following 60 minutes of hemorrhagic shock improved myocardial function.


PRISONERS' rights have developed slowly in the United States. For many years, courts considered a prisoner to be a "slave of the State" who "not only forfeited his liberty, but all his personal rights . . ."' Many jurisdictions adhered to the infamous "hands off" doctrine which held that the judiciary must always defer to the judgment of prison administrators with regard to prison regulations.2 In this context, many courts held that they lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate prisoner complaints. 3 While later decisions have recognised that prisoners have constitutional rights,4 recent Supreme Court cases continue to limit prisoners' rights. In the Fourth Amendment context, for example, the'court continues to defer to "reasonable" and "necessary" regulations established by prison officials. 5 In this light, the recent Israeli prisoners' rights case of Katalan et. al. v. Prison Authority (hereinafter, Katalan),6 decided by the High Court of Israel' on


This paper discusses the dynamics and vibrational control problem of an underwater inverted pendulum system. The system's equations of motion are obtained by using the Lagrange equation. The vibrational control technique is applied to stabilize the inverted pendulum in water. Furthermore, stability analyses in terms of stable-unstable region for the underwater inverted pendulum system is presented. While a number of control techniques for the stabilization problem of an inverted pendulum in air by oscillating the support point have been developed, but a similar technique for the system in water has not yet been investigated. The dynamics of any system in liquid is strongly influenced by the density of the liquid and the relative velocity of the surrounding liquid. Also, it becomes a challenging task to stabilize the system in the presence of the hydrodynamic forces acting on it. Simulation results reveal that the application of the vibrational control technique newly developed in this paper can successfully stabilize the system in water under the influence of hydrodynamic forces.


We estimate multiplicative character sums taken on the values of a non-homogeneous Beatty sequence {⌊�n + �⌋ : n = 1, 2,... }, where � � � ,


Kaluza's metric with the cylinder condition is considered without the weak gravitational field approximation. It is shown that these hypoteses lead to a non-gauge-invariant electromagnetic theory in a curved space-time. The problem of electro-gravitational unification is considered from this point of view.


Abstract This exploratory paper uses public choice theory to assess the susceptibility of South African municipal councils to government failure using the taxonomy of local government failure developed by Dollery and Wallis (2001) and extended by Byrnes and Dollery (2002). The paper also seeks to expand this typology of local government failure by including an additional category termed 'administrative incapacity and forced integration'. Various kinds of empirical evidence are used to evaluate the performance of South African municipalities within the confines of the expanded taxonomy. The evidence seems to show that, in the contemporary South African institutional milieu at least, municipalities are more prone to government failure than higher levels of government in terms of 'voter apathy', 'councillor capture', 'iron triangles', 'fiscal illusion', 'political entrepreneurship', and 'administrative incapacity and forced integration'. These tentative findings are broadly in line with the results obtained by Byrnes and Dollery (2002) on local government failure in the Australian state of New South Wales.


To design a financing system for reducing catastrophic health expenditure,the present paper constructs four interactive models for critical illness insurance based on the reinsurance and coinsurance approaches in the context of China's New Urbanization Plan. Besides,the mechanisms are empirically simulated with data of China Family Panel Studies( 2012).Our findings show that the four interactive mechanisms could alleviate the incidence and severity of catastrophic health expenditure,especially the incidence of model Ⅲ could be reduced to 0. 55%,which fully meets the mechanism goal.


The maximum likelihood estimator of the parameters of a zero-mean normal stationary first-order autoregressive process is in-vestigated. it is shown that the likelihood function is uniquely maximized at a point in the interior of the parameter space. A closed-form expression is obtained for the estimator.


With the advancement of the dual-carbon goal and energy consumption revolution, demand-side management relying on smart grids has gradually become the focus of related research. Due to the obvious surging and high uncertainty of the power load of energy-intensive enterprises, it is difficult to obtain the best control strategy for demand charge. In this paper, we solve the problem of multi-equipment demand charge control for multi-batch tasks with discontinuous production by controlling the load of controllable equipment to reduce electricity costs. To solve the problems of long-time sequence with time coupled and complex systems with difficult modeling, we established a Markov decision process (MDP) model for real-time demand charge control innovatively. To avoid the curse of dimensionality caused by the increasing state space, we introduced the deep Q learning (DQN) algorithm, which successfully solves MDP problems with large state space. Moreover, we introduced constrained deep Q-learning (CDQN) aiming at a large number of action constraints in the problem, which selects the optimal action from the feasible action zone instead of the whole action space to improve the training efficiency and data utilization. Finally, we conducted experiments on simulation case experiments. Under the basic day-ahead production scheduling plan, real-time demand charge control can reduce costs by 10.4% compared with uncontrolled, indicating that this method has achieved excellent performance in obtaining demand charge control strategies.


Three-dimensional (3D) microwave imaging has been proven to be well suited for concealed weapon detection application. For the 3D image reconstruction under two-dimensional (2D) planar aperture condition, most of current imaging algorithms focus on decomposing the 3D free space Green function by exploiting the stationary phase and, consequently, the accuracy of the final imagery is obtained at a sacrifice of computational complexity due to the need of interpolation. In this paper, from an alternative viewpoint, we propose a novel interpolation-free imaging algorithm based on wavefront reconstruction theory. The algorithm is an extension of the 2D range stacking algorithm (RSA) with the advantages of low computational cost and high precision. The algorithm uses different reference signal spectrums at different range bins and then forms the target functions at desired range bin by a concise coherent summation. Several practical issues such as the propagation loss compensation, wavefront reconstruction, and aliasing mitigating are also considered. The sampling criterion and the achievable resolutions for the proposed algorithm are also derived. Finally, the proposed method is validated through extensive computer simulations and real-field experiments. The results show that accurate 3D image can be generated at a very high speed by utilizing the proposed algorithm.


We present an overview of two recent experiments in which photoelectron angular distributions from light-polarised He and Ne atoms are studied, with the emphasis on theoretical description of photoionisation. Polarised He (Ne) atoms are prepared in the 1s4p, 1s5p, or 1s6p (2p53d) states with linearly polarised synchrotron light and ionised with a tunable infrared laser. The asymmetry parameters extracted from the measured velocity map imaging spectra agree well with the calculated asymmetry parameters.


Collective scattering of CO2 laser light on electrons is used to determine the radial scale length of the discharge structures occurring in a closed cycle magnetohydrodynamic generator. Hetero‐ dyne detection of scattered radiation is used to obtain a spatial resolution in the submillimeter range and to increase the signal to noise ratio. A discharge model is formulated to interpret the measured signals. The scale length of the electron density fluctuations is found to be (2.5±0.5) ×10−4 m.


Considering the inter-story stiffness changes caused by the earthquake load,a calculated method of the lateral load distribution for RC frame structures with steel adding storey is presented.Through pushover analysis and nonlinear time-history(NTH) analysis,the method is validated by comparing response quantities such as story displacement,inter-story drift ratio,and distribution of plastic hinges.It is shown that the distribution of plastic hinges obtained from pushover analysis is accorded with that of NTH analysis under practical earthquake load;story displacement and inter-story drift ratio are also in accord with the result of NTH analysis.