The aim of this paper is to assess the structure and distribution of large and medium (L&M) scale manufacturing industries in Ethiopia and to investigate the level of their productivities by disaggregating them into public and private firms using firm level panel data (from 2003 to 2005) for manufacturing industries. The paper employs Cobb-Douglas type production function estimated using three alternative techniques: Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), Fixed Effect (FE) and Generalized Method of Moments (GMM). The GMM results are found to be unbiased estimates for our dataset. Considerable regional variations are observed in the distribution of firms in Ethiopia, more so after 1991 than in the period before it. Significant regional variations are also observed in terms of production capacity and capital intensity. Compared to their counterparts, public firms employ substantially higher level of factors inputs and hence produce equivalently larger amount of output. Nevertheless, the GMM estimations reveal that despite public firms' substantial access to factor inputs, no statistically significant productivity differential is observed between the two sectors. Finally, while only indirect and material inputs are found to significantly influence publicly owned firms' productivities, all of the model variables (physical and human capital, indirect and material inputs, and workers' experience) are found to determine the productivities of private firm to a great extent.


We say a Riemann surface R has extension or R is extendable if it is conformally embedded in a larger Riemann surface R as a proper subregion. In this paper, we shall investigate the relationship between the extendability of R and its Fuchsian model. Let G be a (possibly infinitely generated) Fuchsian group acting on the unit disk ∆ = {z ∈ C; |z| < 1}. The limit set Λ(G) of G is the set of all accumulation points of the orbit G(0) = ∪g∈Gg(0) on ∂∆. It is known that G acts properly discontinuously on Ω(G) = Ĉ−Λ(G). We call G of the first kind if Λ(G) = ∂∆ and of the second kind otherwise. If G is of the second kind, then R = ∆/G has "visible" ideal boundary (∂∆−Λ(G))/G called border. However, for Fuchsian groups of the first kind, we can obtain little information, from the limit set itself, about the ideal boundary of R (cf. [6]), and about the extendability of R. On the other hand, there is the following statement about the conformal deformation of Fuchsian group of the first kind:


Polygonum flaccidum Meissn. is an annual herb, native to Bangladesh, and well known for its analgesic, anti‐inflammatory, diuretic, purgative and insecticidal properties, and also for its use against snake‐bites. The analgesic and the diuretic properties of α‐santalone (1), isolated from the aerial parts of Polygonum flaccidum, were assessed by the acetic‐acid‐induced writhing method and the Lipschitz test, respectively. Complete 1H and 13C NMR data of 1 are also presented. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


It is required to take the "three representations" as a guidance and fulfil the requirement of " three representations" in order to make the education of ideality and faith accord with the practices of social development. By means of developing advanced productivity and culture, we can embody the people's benefit. In this way, the common ideality of Chinese- characterized socialism and ultimate ideality of communism can be realized.


Aiming at defects of "high concentrations of poisoning",zero drift,slow response times,the short life affected by the high temperature and humidity and other gases,under the premise of the growing maturity of the near-infrared spectral control technology,this paper presents a laser methane sensor based on spectral absorption principle.The laser methane sensor can timely and accurate detect methane gas source,concentration,which has a very important significance for coal mine safety production.


Microcalorimetry has been found wide applications in drug activity evaluation in the last few years,particularly when drug discovery,microorganism inhibition and antimicrobial drugs screening,basic theory of traditional Chinese medicine,and drug interactions with biomacromolecules are under consideration.Recent progress in these fields is preliminarily reviewed.


Adiponectin/GBP28 is a novel collagen like plasma protein specifically synthesized in adipose tissue, the adiponectin gene termed apM1 is located on chromosome 3q27. This review shows that adiponectin may have antiathero sclerotic, reducing insulin resistant and antiinflammatory properties. Decreased plasma adiponectin may play a causative role in the development of atherosclerosis, obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus. However, the specific function and mechanism of adiponectin have not been elucidated.


Objective
To evaluate the efficacies of endoscopic cystocisternostomy in the treatment of middle fossa cysts(MFC) in children.

Methods
Retrospective analyses were performed for 156 MFC children from January 2007 to December 2013.There were 122 boys and 34 girls with a mean age of 52.8±6.6 months.All children underwent endoscopic cystocisternostomy according to the brain magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) features of suprasellar cistern medial adjacent to cyst.The cysts were left(n=104), right(n=46) and bilateral(n=6). And their types were Ⅰ(3 cysts, one side of bilateral cases), Ⅱ(87 cysts) and Ⅲ(72 cysts) on the basis of the Galassi classification system.

Results
During a mean follow-up period of 10.3±5.1 months, cyst disappeared in 114 cases(73.1%), shrunk over half in 90.4% cases and diminished in 96.8% cases.Two unchanged cysts were reoperated.Subdural hygroma disappeared in 51% in 3 months and 87.7% in 12 months.Two cases of subdural hygroma underwent subdural-peritoneal shunt.And 7 cases of subdural hematoma had hemorrhagic drainage.No statistical significance existed between the emergence of subdural hygroma and operative age(P>0.05) or between cyst fate and cyst size(P>0.05).

Conclusions
Adequate communications between cysts and cisterns via a mini-invasive endoscopic fenestration may alleviate cyst compression to brain, improve symptoms and promote brain development.And subdural hygroma and subdural hematoma should be detected timely and watched closely.The prognosis is satisfactory after active interventions.

Key words:
Cranial fossa, middle; Cyst; Surgical procedure, mini-invasive


A numerical heat transfer model of vertical ground heat exchanger was developed based on finite volume method, and the influence factors on performance of ground heat exchanger was investigated. Simulation results indicate that higher conductivity of pipe material is more benefit to enhance the performance of ground heat exchanger. The heat transfer of ground heat exchanger increases with the augment of borehole length, while the heat transfer rate per unit length goes in the opposite direction. The flow rate of the fluid should be maintained at a lower level when the fluid is under turbulent flow conditions. Operation mode has large effect on performance of ground heat exchanger, and the design of ground heat exchanger should fully consider the load characteristics and operation mode.


The current study intended to explore how English learning affects young Korean learners' acquisition of their L1. Three groups of young learners different in terms of English learning context participated in the study: EFL, Immersion, and ESL. In order to investigate the possible effects of L2 learning on L1 acquisition among Korean children, their acquisition of phonological processes, lexico-grammatical knowledge, and reading comprehension at discourse level were examined. The results showed that the impact of L2 learning varied across the areas of L1 acquisition, with the most clear-cut difference among groups in lexico-grammatical knowledge. The EFL and immersion children were found largely comparable in their L1 phonological development and reading comprehension. The findings from this study partly supported, but raised questions at the same time about, claims made in previous studies, implying that the impact of L2 learning on L1 acquisition could vary depending on specific contexts of L2 learning to which learners are exposed and the linguistic similarities between the two languages involved.


The aim of this work was to estimate the total phenolic and flavonoids content, and to evaluate in-vitro antioxidant activity of ethanolic extract of Albizia procera. The ethanolic extract of Albizia procera was showed significant free radical scavenging activity than that of various standards. The greater amount of phenols and flavonoids were found in ethanolic extract of Albizia procera than that of other extracts. The radical scavenging activity was found to be concentration dependent manner. Further studies on isolation of constituents from the extract and their biological activities are under investigation.


instance, it is estimated that an amount of US$ 24.83 billion will be annually spent in the medical equipment maintenance market by 2022 [20]. However, maintenance outsourcing for medical equipment is yet to be fully explored by current research (Cruz & Rincon [5]). Warranty policies define responsibilities for both parties: the OEM and hospital managers. Indeed, the OEM is responsible for repairing the devices' eventual failures related to problems of equipment design, manufacturing and/or quality. The customers in turn should make proper use of equipment, i.e., they must comply to the specifications defined by the OEM (Rahman & Chattopadhyay [32]). Given that, a new trend has been intensified by manufacturers, selling an additional, optional coverage, which begins after the expiration of the base warranty, called Extended Warranty (EW) (Murthy


At low frequencies (1–100 Hz), the deep-ocean ambient noise field is a mixture of many source types, including seismic activity, marine life, ship traffic, seismic airgun surveys, and nonlinear surface wave interactions. The location of the sensors used to monitor these types of noise typically result in an extremely dynamic recorded ambient noise field. This study proposes the use of correlation matrices as a tool for identifying the predominant noise sources present in samples of ambient noise. These correlation matrices work by identifying frequency ranges in which the noise levels tend to change at the same time, thus identifying frequency ranges where noise is driven by one particular source mechanism. The effectiveness of this strategy will be demonstrated using low-frequency deep-ocean ambient noise recorded in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) hydroacoustic monitoring system.


Abstract In 2006, Shieh et al. proposed an efficient remote mutual authentication and key agreement scheme which uses smart cards and requires only hash function operations. In this paper, we show that Shieh et al.'s scheme is vulnerable to guessing attacks, forgery attacks and key compromise attacks. To eliminate these weaknesses, an improvement of Shieh et al.'s scheme with increased security is proposed. The security and efficiency of the improved scheme raises the attractiveness for implementation.


To study the diversity of streptomycetes in mercury contaminated area,
streptomycetes were isolated from rizosphere soil samples of purple nut sedge
(Cyperus rotundus L.) around the quarry. Starch Casein Agar (SCA) and
Raffinose-Histidine Agar (RHA) were used to streptomycetes selective isolation.
The ability of mercury resistant streptomycetes was determined by stages of
testing


In the past few decades, cutting-edge information and communication technology has been used in several ways to keep an eye on the marine environment. Underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) can measure the amount of water and soil conditions, such as soil salinity, moisture, and movements, to predict landslides. UWSNs are made up of many wireless underwater sensor nodes (WSNs) that are spread out across the thalassic environment. These networks have several uses, including data collection, navigation, resource analysis, surveillance, disaster prediction, etc. Nowadays, energy efficiency becomes a complex issue to handle in the design of the UWSN due to the limited battery capacity and the challenges associated with changing or charging the integrated batteries. According to previous research, clustering and routing have already been effective methods of improving energy efficiency in the UWSN, as unreplaceable batteries and long-distance communication delays are particularly vulnerable. As a result, one of the UWSN's critical issues is determining how to extend the network's lifespan while balancing its energy consumption and shortening transmission distances. In UWSN clustering, the most important considerations are acquiring a suitable count of clusters, constituting the clusters, and picking the most satisfactory cluster head (CH) for each cluster. Based on several factors, such as residuary energy, total energy consumption, and other considerations, our proposed approach picks CHs and arranges them into clusters. Also, the proposed SS-GSO method constructs a fitness function by including various sources of information, like total energy, residual energy, and luciferin value. Several simulation runs were executed to test how much better the SS-GSO approach worked. The comparison results showed that while evaluating clustering time, our proposed SS-GSO technique performs 22.91%, 50.03%, 42.42%, 58.06% better, in case of Total energy consumption 27.02%,14%,33.76%,41.97% more energy efficient, in Cluster lifetime 9.2%,19.88%,35.91%,40.54% less and in Packet delivery rate 8.29%,14.05%,17.67%,23.97% better as compared with other heuristic techniques, such as ACO, GWO, MFO and LEACH.


Reviewer agreement and the predictors of publication judgments were investigated for first-submission manuscripts to the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin during a 3 1/2—year period (i.e., one editor's tenure). Among the findings were the following: Reviewers' judgments of manuscripts were multirather than unidimensional; reviewer agreement about methodology and overall recommendation was greater among high-prestige than mixed-prestige reviewers; authors with high prestige and authors with low professional experience submitted longer manuscripts than their counterparts; author prestige and text length were positively related to publication judgments of reviewers and editors; and author gender was related to editor's decisions with female authors receiving less favorable decisions than males. The possible mediation of these findings and their implications for understanding the peer-review process in personality and social psychology are discussed.


Objective: To observe the clinical effect of breast conserving surgery combined with radiotherapy for patients with breast cancer.Method: The control group were treated with radical mastectomy for breast cancer,and the experiment group received the treatment of breast conserving surgery combined with radiotherapy.The metastases rate,recurrence of tumor,survival rate and adverse reactions in 2 groups were compared and analyzed.Result: 3-year metastases rate,recurrence rate of tumor and survival rate of the control group and the experiment group was respectively 2.78%,13.89%,91.67% and 0,2.63%,94.74%.The difference between two groups in 3-year pelvic metastases rate and survival rate had no statistical significance(P0.05).3-year recurrence rate of tumor of the experiment group was lower evidently than that of the control group,which had statistical significance(P0.05).The incidence rate of adverse reactions in the control group and the experiment group was respectively 27.78% and 23.69%,which indicated that the difference between 2 groups had no statistical significance(P0.05).Conclusion: Breast conserving surgery combined with radiotherapy treating patients with breast cancer can receive aesthetic effect and reduce tumor recurrence,which is worthy of application and promotion in clinical practice.


This project is co-created by wheelchair users worldwide by posting their experiences and ideas on the map application, also provides details of suitable alternative routes.We propose these measurement methods and constructed the evaluation model. We believe these are useful as reference values for facility development, analysis and evaluation in future cities and regional spaces.


Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused the current pandemic situation worldwide. Studies based on different factors affecting the pandemic are useful in order to find effective measures against COVID-19. Therefore, this study aims to explore the association between meteorological parameters and COVID-19 positive cases, along with a number of fatalities. In this study, the number of identified COVID-19 cases along with death figures, daily records of rainfall, temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed were collected from April and May 2020 for eight major divisions in Bangladesh. Significant positive association (r = 0.24 to 0.58) between relative humidity and COVID-19 cases across the cities was found in this study, while for temperature both positive and negative associations (r = -0.23 to 0.72) were observed. Similarly, a positive association is found between humidity ((r = -0.012 to 0.384)) and numbers of COVID-19 death cases. Rainfall and wind speed exhibit positive correlations with COVID-19 positive cases and numbers of death cases. The findings of the study surely help the policymaker for further decision making, conducting new study and initiate the mitigation measures against COVID-19.


Abstract : The three dimensional shock wave turbulent boundary layer interaction generated by several shock generators defined solely by angles has been carried out at a Mach number of 3. Interactions with thin boundary layers were used to obtain overall characteristics, while interactions with thick boundary layers permitted detailed high resolution surveys. Investigations of the interactions were carried out by mean and high frequency surface pressure distribution measurements, surface flow visualization, and mean total head, yaw, and static pressure distributions through the flowfield. Major new data sets were obtained for the interaction of the shock wave generated by a 20 deg fin, and by a 24 deg wedge swept at 60 deg to the incoming flow. A series of tests were carried out to examine new concepts of three-dimensional interactions and extensive 'non-steady' results were obtained from the high frequency surface pressure distributions. Close coordination of the experiments with major computational efforts, support new concepts of flow structure and physics for these complex interactions. Keywords: Three-dimensional shock wave interactions; Conical similarity; Scaling laws; Conical/cylindrical boundary; Unsteady flow; Non-steady characteristics; flow physics and modeling; Supersonic characteristics.


Hadron masses and their quark-mass dependence are imporatant observables in strongly coupled QCD. We apply holography, a string theory technique, to this problem, and find a qualitative coincidence with observed data of baryon spectra. This talk, presented on 9th Feruary 2010 in "NFQCD" workshop at YITP, is based on three papers written with my collaborators [K. Hashimoto, T. Hirayama, F. L. Lin and H. U. Yee, J. High Energy Phys. 07 (2008), 089, arXiv:0803.4192. K. Hashimoto, T. Hirayama and D. K. Hong, Phys. Rev. D 81 (2010), 045016, arXiv:0906.0402. K. Hashimoto, N. Iizuka, T. Ishii and D. Kadoh, Phys. Lett. B 691 (2010), 65, arXiv:0910.1179.]


Euphausiids were identified, measured and then dried during a research cruise to sites in the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean and shelf waters of the Celtic Sea in late summer. The lengths of furcilia larvae and later stages were measured in three ways, and regressions relating each pair of measures were calculated for different developmental stages of each species. Four hundred and ninety-three dried specimens of nine species were weighed and length-weight regressions were calcu- lated. A subset of 187 specimens was selected for analysis of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) content soon after return to the laboratory. The C and N contents of a further 122 specimens were determined after the specimens had been stored for 9 years. No consistent differences in percentage C and N content were found between the two groups, indicating no systematic change during prolonged storage in desiccators. Calyptopes of Nyctiphanes couchi contained a lower percentage of both C (mean 36.2%) and N (mean 8.6%) than later stages (means: 40.6% C, 11.0% N). Carbon content and C:N ratios of a group of specimens of Thysanoessa longicaudata, including some juveniles, adult males and adult females, were distinctly higher (>46% and >5.0, respectively) than those of the majority of specimens of the same species.


° 1981 The University of North Carolina Press 0018-1498/81/650023-03$00.30/0 Critical reading can be viewed as a hierarchical process which requires the mastery of elementary skills. The instructional implications of this view are embodied in skillscentered curricula. A second view recognizes that elementary instructional materials are not suited to the interests of older students. The proponents of the latter approach therefore recommend that critical reading skills be developed with special materials that are stimulating to older students but which have simplified vocabulary, syntax, and organization. The instructional implications of this position are exemplified by most commercial critical reading materials. There are drawbacks to both approaches.


Emerging evidence indicates that NK cells play an important and complex role in autoimmune disease. Humans with autoimmune diseases often have reduced NK cell numbers and compromised NK cell functions. Mechanisms underlying this NK cell degeneration and its biological significance are not known. In this study we show that, in an experimental model of human autoimmune myasthenia gravis induced by a self-Ag, the acetylcholine receptor, NK cells undergo proliferation during the initiation of autoimmunity, followed by significant degeneration associated with the establishment of the autoreactive T cell response. We show that NK cell degeneration was mediated by IL-21 derived from autoreactive CD4 (cid:1) T cells, and that acetylcholine receptor-immunized IL-21R-deficient mice, with competent NK cells, developed exacerbated autoimmunity. Thus, NK cell degeneration may serve as a means evolved by the immune system to control excessive autoimmunity. The Journal of Immunology, 2006, 176: 5247–5254.


The histological observation was experimentally conducted on in vitro cultured mouse embryonic myocardium cells and myocardiumoid cell mass. The mouse embryo tissue were cultured and regular pulsatile myocardiumoid tissue could be found. During in vitro culture, the myofilament bundles in the cell were gradually increasing and strongly connectted each other with embryonic age and there were loose muscle fibers initially and intercalated discs were close to each other. The lose myofilament bundles were developed in muscle fibers with age and the distance between intercalated discs was enlarged. There were myofilamentoid structure in inactive cells and filament peripherily.


Robotic stapled cystgastrostomy and pancreatic debridement as a surgical technique is minimally described in the literature. This paper describes a robotic technique that includes a thorough, ultrasound guided pancreatic debridement in combination with a stapled cystgastrostomy in patients with walled off pancreatic necrosis. We report that pancreatic debridement can be employed for pancreatic pseudocyst in patients with a history of pancreatitis using robotic technique.


A child is admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) 2 weeks after birth due to respiratory failure. He required an uneventful short stay in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) after birth before going home. Intubation is difficult and only marginally successful in securing ventilation and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is initiated. Over the next few months, after ECMO has been weaned off, it is determined that the child has a severely compromised tracheal anatomy and is in need of tracheal reconstruction. The reconstruction is done, but due to the anatomical structure of the child's airway, it is not ideal. He required a tracheotomy that only achieves relative stability. This relative stability means that on a good day he is a normal happy child with Trisomy 21, sitting up laughing and playing, but any time the tracheotomy tube comes out he arrests nearly instantly often requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and vasoactive medications. Over time, almost 2 years, he is weaned off the ventilator and enjoys what would otherwise be a normal development. He requires repeated bronchoscopies and dilations, and the surgical group continues to attempt to reconstruct his trachea toward a permanent fix. Until that can be found, this child must remain in the PICU because of the alarming suddenness of decompensation when he decannulates, which requires emergent response. Over time, he becomes increasingly interactive and requires more ''daycare'' than intensive care. However, in spite of being in the PICU, and though he has recovered from many decannulations leading to arrests and CPR in the past (no less than 10), he sustained a neurologic insult during a decannulation event. The nursing staff unanimously thought this to be an inevitable outcome. He was often paired with other patients because of his relative stability in spite of this feeling by staff that there would be an eventual incident that would cause irreversible harm; though even keeping a caregiver with him at all times would likely not have prevented the outcome. Now this child has a severe neurological injury. He has been in the PICU for 3 years. His parents wish to continue treatment in hopes of restoring his function. He undergoes several more procedures for his airway. Meanwhile, his primary nursing team recommends withdrawal citing best interests of the child. Due to administrative issues, the hospital's deliberative and decision-making policy for harmful or non-beneficial care is not initiated. Some of the staff believes this is because the arrest happened in the hospital and administration does not want the bad publicity. There are myriad ethical questions brought forth by this case but one in particular is, prior to his neurologic devastation what do you do with a child like this in a PICU? Can an outcome be inevitable? Although it could be said that most patients in the PICU have potentiality, this child presents a different question due to his apparent lack of actual critical status, only his potential critical status.


To study the embryo culture method of Aconitum camichaeli Debx.for the first time.Swollen embryo was taken as explants.The best callus inducing medium was screened out as MS+2,4-D 1 mg/L.The best seedling differentiation medium was screened out as MS+6-BA 4 mg/L+NAA 0.05 mg/L.The best proliferation medium was screened out as MS+6-BA 4 mg/L+NAA 0.3 mg/L and the proliferation multiples reached 20.The best rooting medium was screened out as 1/2MS + IBA 1 mg/L + KT 1 mg/L.The best transplanting substrate was screened out as the mixture of vermiculite,perlite and turves with equivalent volume.Survival rate of transplanting culture seedling reached 80 %.


Traditional cleaning techniques (sandblasting, chemical, ...) turn out to be ineffective or damaging on some ceramics and plaster objects. It's especially true on outdoor ceramics covered with black crust or indoor biscuits wares and plasters exposed to dust and repeated handling. The use of lasers to remove dirt, such as for stone, has then been considered. This paper study the behavior of these materials under the impact of different type of lasers irradiation (Nd:YAG first and third harmonic, excimer,...). According to the type of dirt and underlying material, the effectiveness of cleaning depends on the laser wavelength and its energy density. The results are satisfactory with no damage and no coloration change on plaster cleaning by Nd:YAG third harmonic.


Discussion of how transcriptional responses of neutrophils contribute to the resolution of inflammation, and direct studies of human innate immune responses.


EDWA is an optical amplifier that uses a waveguide to boost an optical signal, analogous
to an erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA). It also for amplifying and controlling signal
power in optical transmission system. For a single channel system, the gain variation is
not a problem. However, as the number of channels increases, the transmission problem
arises because a conventional EDWA has intrinsic non-uniform gain. EDWA gain
depends on the large contribution from the device parameter such as erbium-ion
concentration, amplifier length and pump power. To increase the gain- bandwidth of an
amplified lightwave system several methods can be used [1]. In this project, an
improvement of optical transmission system will be investigated by adding Fiber Bragg
Grating in EDWA which it is therefore can be used as an in line optical filter to block
certain wavelengths, or acting as a wavelength-specific reflector. The design of EDWA
using Fiber Bragg Grating is developed by using Optysystem software and it also
responsible to analyze the performance characteristics in term of gain, the effect of
Erbium ions concentration, pump power, signal power and waveguide length.


The 4th industrial revolution or Knowledge Age enhances the transition to knowledge-driven organizations that rely on data, technologies and learn how to manage all the variables involved in their digital transformation (DT). How should firms manage their knowledge during their DT is an underdeveloped research issue, especially in the SMEs' context. Employing a mixed inductive-deductive approach, this multiple case-study of 35 SMEs tries to shed light on which are the critical knowledge factors required to support and hinder DT in SMEs' context.


Aggressive s-shaped compressor transition ducts are important components in the connection between the upstream boosters and the downstream high-pressure compressors. The flow has a strong three-dimensionality, which is easy to cause flow separation. Therefore, this paper takes an aggressive s-shaped compressor transition duct in a geared turbofan engine as a prototype and proposes a method for controlling the flow separation through combined boundary layer suction. The study found that combined boundary layer suction can reduce the total pressure losses to a greater extent. On the premise that the location of blade suction remains unchanged, the optimal location for the circumferential slot of hub suction is located at 20% of the axial chord length of the strut, whereby the total pressure loss coefficient decreases by about 30% compared with no suction. Besides, when the mass flow rate of suction accounts for 3% of the inlet mass flow rate, compared with the case where all suction is in the hub, the total pressure loss in another case with the mass flow rate of blade suction accounting for 0.5% and mass flow rate of hub suction accounting for 2.5% is further reduced by approximately 1.6%. The distribution of the mass flow rate for combined boundary layer suction has an optimal ratio.


Data from a variety of inhalation exposure studies have been presented and compared in an effort to better understand the deposition, clearance, and long-term retention of diesel particles in the lung. In response to observations of the apparent linear increase of the lung burden after inhalation of high concentrations of diesel exhaust particulates (250, 750, 1500, and 6000 ..mu..g/m/sup 3/) for a long period of time, a mathematical model of particulate transport in the respiratory system was developed to evaluate and interpret the experimental findings. Tracing the diesel particles was accomplished by tagging the particles with /sup 14/C which were inhaled by test animals. Results of the experiments indicate that low doses of diesel particulate material are rapidly cleared by the lung defense system but that species differences do exist in clearance and retention mechanics.


ABSTRACT
 The Humboldt Current that bathes the west coast of South America is affected by different influences at daily to decadal periodicities. Environmental influences such as upwelling or coastal trapped waves as well as climate influences such as El Niño southern oscillation and Pacific decadal oscillation events interact and modify the thermonutricline depth of this Humboldt Current System. The position of this thermonutricline plays a key role in Humboldt Current System functioning by driving sea surface temperature (SST) and primary production variations. As filter feeders, bivalves are particularly affected by SST and primary production, and their shells can provide information about these two environmental factors. Using sclerochronology, we studied three bivalve species from different ecological niches living along the Peruvian—Chilean coast. Depending on the species, thick or thin sections, etched or not, were studied using an optical microscope. Increment thicknesses were measured at the surface of the shell and/or in cross-section. Moreover, the mineralogical composition of the different layers of the studied shells was determined on thin sections by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic analyses. Growth results were then interpreted tentatively in terms of environmental variations. For the free-living, short-lived Pectinidae Argopecten purpuratus, the daily growth rhythm is linked to the solar period whereas growth amplitude seems to be related to the occurrence of spawning events, probably triggered by specific water temperature patterns. tidal regime and SST seem to be the major environmental parameters that govern shell growth rhythms and/or increment thickness for two nearshore species—the Mytilidae Choromytilus chorus and the Veneridae Eurhomalea rufa—which grow more slowly and have a life span longer than A. purpuratus, and have a strong potential for paleo-environmental and paleo- El Niño southern oscillation reconstruction. These results need to be confirmed studying multiple shells to quantify individual growth variations and to enhance the significance of the findings on the different environmental parameters recorded in the growth patterns of the South American bivalve species studied.


Since the mid-nineties international financial integration has advanced gradually in the emerging areas of Asia, while it has progressed rapidly in Central and Eastern Europe. This process has helped provide long-term benefits for the economies of the two regions in terms of faster productivity growth and deepening of domestic financial markets. The strong surge of international capital inflows since the early years of the current decade has, however, also potentially increased the financial vulnerability and the external sources of contagion for a number of countries, particularly those in Central and Eastern Europe that have seen a significant increase in their foreign borrowing, and also those with still relatively underdeveloped financial systems. We thus analyze the risks of financial instability and asset bubbles in the emerging economies of the two regions, taking into account the degree of development of their domestic financial systems. We conclude by discussing possible policy responses to these challenges by the monetary authorities of the concerned countries.


Objective: To observe the joint rehabilitation of new liquid spray ribavirin treatment of herpetic angina clinical effect.Methods: Herpetic 78 cases of angina were randomly divided into treatment group 39 cases, 39 cases of the control group.Two sets of the same basic treatment, the treatment group plus ribavirin spray the new liquid spray orifice and Rehabilitation Department eraser ulcers.The control group plus ribavirin and intravenous infusion of watermelon frost spray, two sets of treatment is 5 days, compared two groups of clinical efficacy.Results: The treatment group was markedly effective rate 64.1%, with a total effective rate 94.87%, the efficiency of the control group were 30.77%, with a total effective rate 74.36%, the difference was statistically significant (P 0.05).Conclusion: Ribavirin sprays joint rehabilitation of a new liquid treatment of herpes angina clinical apparent good compliance can be used as the treatment of angina herpes treatment of choice for one of the options.


Objective\ To investigate the efficiency of a new analogue of chloroethylnitrosoureas (CENUs) which is 2 chloroethyl 3 sarcosinamide 1 nitrosourea (SarCNU) against the human glioma SHG 44 xenograft. Method\ SarCNU, BCNU and VM26 were intraperitoneally given to observe the growth of the subcutaneous or intracranial tumor and the weight of the nude mice.Results\ As compared with control group, SarCNU can inhibit tumor growth apparently and prolong the survival of mice with the human glioma xenografts. Conclusion\ SarCNU has a stronger inhibitory effects on human gliomas than BCNU and VM26 which are clinically commonly used at present.\;


Chiral Lagrangians are used to compute the production rate of photons from the hadronic phase of relativistic nuclear collisions. Special attention to the role of the a1 pseudovector is paid. Calculations that include strange meson reactions, form factors, the use of consistent vector spectral densities, the emission from a quark-gluon plasma, and primordial nucleon-nucleon collisions reproduce the photon spectra measured at the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS). Some predictions for the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) are made.


This paper provides an overview of the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) and its mission, as a part of NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS). The design of the re-imaging system and its detectors and the test set-up used to characterize the field of view response will be presented. Measured system Response.optical response profiles will be presented for each of the four infrared spectral bands (3.5-5.3, 5.1-9.1, 8.3-12.2 and 11.1 - 15.4μ ) supported by TES. Specific emphasis will be placed upon the comparison of these measured optical response functions with the results of an analytic model of the response. The model includes a simple yet accurate representation of the detector response function, which includes the photo-generated electron's diffusion length.


Industrial studies of the effect of supplying a liquid catalytic fuel additive to 4 clinker kilns operating according to the dry method on the quality characteristics of clinker, the operation of technological equipment and environmental indicators have been carried out. The supply of REDUXCO catalytic additive with a flow rate of at least 100 mg/t of fuel into the primary air channels of the furnace burner and the air supply channels to the calciner helped to reduce the specific energy consumption of fuel by 3.6–6.7% when using anthracite as fuel; for petroleum coke - by 3.4–3.6%; mixtures of coal and RDF - by 5.7%. An increase in the content of alite - the main component of clinker - by 0.46–0.9% and a decrease in the content of free calcium oxide by 0.9% as a result of an increase in temperature in the sintering zone due to the intensification of gas-phase combustion reactions. Experimental confirmations of the improvement of the stability of the clinker kiln operating modes and the reduction of the carbon monoxide content in the exhaust gases were obtained. Bibl. 14, fig. 7, table. 1.


Finite element method (FEM) has been widely employed for simulation of rolling problems, such as thermal field [1,2], stress-strain field [3], microstructure distribution [4], rolling force [5], rolling pressure distribution[6], plate view shape [7,8], roll deflection [9,10], tracing the evolution of macrosegregation [11]. As the development of FEM, there are three important ways for the application of FEM in analysis of rolling problems recently. Firstly, rapid FEM, and its on-line application [12-14]; secondly, coupled multi-scale FEM, macro FEM & micro FEM & crystal FEM, coupled the macro-deformation and microstructure evolution and texture distribution [15-16]; third, tracing the defects in whole rolling processes [11, 18-21]. Defects might appear in materials, such as cracks, inclusions. The evolution behavior of defects in steels during rolling severely affects the rolled products quality. In this chapter, the author summed up the previous researches on the evolution of cracks and inclusions during rolling, mainly contains the researches on the evolution of surface cracks by 2D thermo-mechanical FEM, the evolution of surface cracks during vertical-horizontal (V-H) rolling by 3D FEM, the evolution of internal cracks during V-H rolling, the evolution of inclusions during flat rolling.


The allocation of quay cranes and yard trucks is related to the efficiency of the container terminal which is important to the handing of container.According to the division pile up of the container yard and berths' loading and unloading requirements,the quay cranes operation time and container trucks transportation time are considered.To improve the efficiency of the container terminal,this paper puts forward the cooperation optimization model of quay cranes and container trucks,so as to minimize the total time.The results of the model prove that the optimized model is helpful for the decision-making of port management.


The presence of only 10 mol % of PhSeH, PhSeSePh (reduced in situ to PhSeH), and, to a lesser extent, PhSH has a dramatic effect on the efficiency of stannane-mediated free radical rearrangement reactions owing to the superior hydrogen donating qualities of PhSeH and PhSH. Slow radical rearrangements can be prevented altogether, and the yields of even moderately rapid rearrangements significantly diminished. The addition of 10 mol % of PhSeSePh to stannane-mediated aryl radical cyclizations is advantageous as the initial, rapid, 5-hexenyl rearrangement is not impaired but the subsequent, slower neophyl rearrangement is effectively minimized, resulting in the formation of vastly improved 5-exo/6-endo ratios. 2 tabs.


Abstract : The Sippican Corporation conducted a study for the Office of Naval Research to prove the feasibility of incorporating a Model T-7 XBT and a self-calibrating interface circuit into the AN/SSQ-36 Sonobuoy. This would improve the accuracies of the buoy to those of the XBT system (+ or - 0.2 C, + or -2% of depth) and increase depth capability to 760 meters. Further investigation was then made into the costs associated with this improvement. This report details the results of these investigations. (Author)


ABSTRACT A transient pulsed arc was studied with narrow band 696.5 nm filters. The arc energy distribution was considered by a ratio: a certain region energy (intensity × region area)/sum. The results indicated a large intensity region appeared with a pulsed arc, which were considered as high-energy regions. They increased while the low-energy regions were compressed. The distribution ratio was changed by the 'waves rush' pattern with a large current or pulsed arc. Spurious energy concentration was found at the bottom of the arc. The pulsed arc with 10 kHz at 100 A had optimal characteristics in geometry and energy distribution. The essence of the pulsed arc was considered as constricting energy regions and creating high-energy density. 'Onion-Kasuga' algorithm was proposed to reconstruct the arc intensity.


Utopia. Consider that benefactor of the race, Mr. Everett True, whose reforming activities are pictorially narrated from day to day in the comic section of the Chicago Evening Post. There is something refreshing about the summary manner in which the portly Mr. True disposes of the pessimist, the unchivalrous, the ill-mannered, the impostor, the waster of other people's time, and every sort of human nuisance. Nothing in the range of cartoon satire could be more praiseworthy. The comic hero walks among his victims with a becoming air of inerrancy and omnipotence. Despicable in their selfishness, they fully deserve their fate. Right, armed with might, deals out poetic justice-cartoon justice-to the unsocial offenders against cultured and humanized society. But the prosaic mind cannot long indulge the picture of this noble sport without misgivings and regrets. After all Mr. True as a reformer has his limitations. You cannot translate him into


Modeling G‐Protein Coupled Receptors (GPCRs) is an emergent field of research, since utility of high‐quality models in receptor structure‐based strategies might facilitate the discovery of interesting drug candidates. The findings from a quantitative analysis of eighteen resolved structures of rhodopsin family "A" receptors crystallized with antagonists and 153 pairs of structures are described. A strategy termed endeca‐amino acids fragmentation was used to analyze the structures models aiming to detect the relationship between sequence identity and Root Mean Square Deviation (RMSD) at each trans‐membrane‐domain. Moreover, we have applied the leave‐one‐out strategy to study the shiftiness likelihood of the helices. The type of correlation between sequence identity and RMSD was studied using the aforementioned set receptors as representatives of membrane proteins and 98 serine proteases with 4753 pairs of structures as representatives of globular proteins. Data analysis using fragmentation strategy revealed that there is some extent of correlation between sequence identity and global RMSD of 11AA width windows. However, spatial conservation is not always close to the endoplasmic side as was reported before. A comparative study with globular proteins shows that GPCRs have higher standard deviation and higher slope in the graph with correlation between sequence identity and RMSD. The extracted information disclosed in this paper could be incorporated in the modeling protocols while using technique for model optimization and refinement.


In recent years, with the rapid development of computer storage capabilities and network transmission capabilities, users can easily share their own video and image information on social networking sites, and the amount of multimedia data on the network is rapidly increasing. With the continuous increase of the amount of data in the network, the establishment of effective automated data management methods and search methods has become an increasingly urgent need. This paper proposes a retrieval method of human motion data based on motion capture in index space. By extracting key frames from the original motion to perform horizontal dimensionality reduction and defining features based on Laban motion analysis, the motion segment is subjected to vertical feature dimensionality reduction. After extracting features from the input motion segment, motion matching is performed on the index space. This paper designs the optimization method of the phased dynamic time deformation algorithm in time efficiency and analyzes the optimization method of the phased dynamic time deformation algorithm in time complexity. Considering the time efficiency redundancy, this paper optimizes the time complexity of the phased dynamic time deformation method. This improves the time efficiency of the staged dynamic time warping algorithm, making it suitable for larger-scale human motion data problems. Experiments show that the method in this paper has the advantage of speed, is more in line with the semantics of human motion, and can meet the retrieval requirements of human motion databases.


During the 2007-2008 financial crisis, the stock market return dropped significantly. Furthermore, there is a possibility that households' expectation of the future volatility of stock market return also increased as a response to this event. Since these two events happened at the same time, evaluating the effects of the increase in households' expected volatility of the stock market return and the drop in the stock market return on households' consumption decision separately is particularly hard. In this paper, I construct and estimate the households' dynamic model to capture the effect of the stock market collapse during the 2007-2008 financial crisis on households' consumption and stock market participation decision. I find that the drop in the stock market return and the increase in the expected future volatility of the stock market return between 2006 and 2008 decreased the consumption of stock holding households by 9.3% in average. Furthermore, I find that the consumption decision of wealthy households was almost not affected by the increase in households' expected volatility of the stock market return for the next period between 2006 and 2008, in contrast to households at the bottom of the wealth distribution who were affected significantly. . Moreover, I show that the drop in the risk-free rate, due to the change in the monetary policy regime during the 2007-2008 financial crisis, triggered larger effect on households' consumption decision in comparison to the stock market collapse and substantially decreased the consumption inequality among households.


Introduction. Acetaldehyde that is present in alcoholic beverages or formed endogenously from ethanol is a Group 1 human carcinogen. One daily drink, or 10 g of ethanol, significantly increases the risk for oral cancer. A single sip of an alcoholic beverage causes exposure to carcinogenic concentrations of acetaldehyde in the …


In recent years, NPM which initiated in UK, then spread to all the western countries has had the deepest influence among the administrative reforms which caused by the seeking for economy and efficiency. This article focuses on discussion and analysis of the reasons, characters and impacts of NPM. and conclude that some experience could be used for reference in our ad- ministrative reform nowadays.


Author(s): Hanson, Susan Christina | Advisor(s): Aouizerat, Brad | Abstract: Though efavirenz is an effective antiretroviral therapy for the treatment of HIV, its use is associated with pronounced interindividual variability in plasma concentration (exposure) and toxicity, increasing the risk of adverse events or therapy failure. Both genetic and non-genetic factors contribute to efavirenz exposure variability. This dissertation research contributes to our understanding of this phenomenon by modeling the influence of genetic and non-genetic factors on efavirenz exposure and describing a broad spectrum of symptoms and side effects and their association with genotypes that influence efavirenz exposure. A total of 182 SNPs and 45 haplotypes in 9 genes were analyzed with previously identified non-genetic factors in relationship to efavirenz drug exposure in 111 women on efavirenz who had undergone 24-hour blood sampling following a witnessed dose under routine conditions. Area-under-the-time curves (AUC) were calculated. We observed three alleles from two genes associated with an increase in efavirenz exposure: CYP2B6 (rs3745274); CYP2B6 (rs28399499), ABCB1 Haplotype A1 (rs27779562 and rs4148745). Of all the non-genetic factors assessed only orange juice consumption and increases in alanine aminotransferase remained statistically significant when genetic factors were included in the final multivariate model. CYP2B6 rs3745274 and rs28399499 can be combined into the CYP2B6 Metabolizer diplotype. Metabolizer diplotype was associated with an increase in efavirenz exposure for both slow and intermediate metabolizers. Risk alleles associated with increased efavirenz exposure were evaluated for associations with a broad spectrum of symptoms and side effects. Variation in CYP2B6 rs28399499 was associated with a perceived change in the amount of fat in the buttocks and change in buttock fat. Variability in CYP2B6 rs3745274 was associated with report of dietary changes to influence body shape. SNPs in the ADME pathway are associated not only with efavirenz exposure but also side effects. Pharmacogenetic testing may improve efavirenz outcomes and reduce symptoms and side effects associated with efavirenz exposure variability. Key Words: ADME pharmacogenetics, adverse events, antiretroviral therapy, ATP-binding cassette (ABC) B1 haplotype, body habitus changes, cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2B6 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), CYP2B6 metabolizer diplotype, drug exposure, efavirenz, gene variations, HIV, plasma concentration, side effects and symptoms.


A one-dimensional mathematical model was established for a semi-coke pneumatic transmission system.In this connection,a variety of semi-coke pneumatic transmission processes were taken into account.They include:solid particle movement,convection and radiation heat exchange between gas and solid,precipitation and combustion of residual volatile component in semi-coke,combustion of coke,reduction of CO2 on the coke surface and combustion of CO in gas phase etc.The pilot plant of coal topping and its systematic configuration were described,and the model thus established was used to numerically simulate the material transmission and distribution system.A variety of parameters in the semi-coke transmission process were obtained,including sectional gas-solid average speed,en route pressure loss and gas-solid two-phase temperature etc.,providing guidance for the running of the pilot plant.The calculation results show that in the semi-coke pneumatic transmission process,the combustion of coke can be neglected.The combustion of volatile component can lead to an increase of gas temperature from 180 ℃ to 800 ℃.An increase of gas speed will increase the pressure loss.In the meanwhile,it can also result in a serious wear and tear of pipes.Hence,a variable tube-diameter transmission method is recommended for the pilot-plant test.


Deuteron magnetic resonance spectra were observed in ND4Cl, ND4Br, ND4ClO4, ND4BF4, ND4IO3, and (ND4)2SO4 in their powder form. Absorption patterns characteristic of the rapid reorientation of ND4+ ions were obtained. For the first four compounds, the absorption line consists of a sharp single line; for the remaining two it has structure which is due to small quadrupole coupling. For (ND4)2SO4, the angular dependence of the resonance pattern was measured with a single crystal specimen. The following values of the quadrupole coupling constant and asymmetry parameter were obtained: ND4IO3:  |eqQ|/h=3.9±0.3 kc,η=1.0−0.8,(ND4)2SO4:  |eqQ|/h=4.17±0.05 kc,η=1.0−0.95, and |eqQ|/h=2.00±0.05 kc,  η=1.0−0.8. The results of the experiment were discussed in relation to the crystal structure, crystalline field effect, and the deformation of ND4+ ion in the crystal. It was concluded that the observed quadrupole coupling for ammonium sulfate is mainly due to a direct effect of the distortion of the ammonium ion in the c...


Galaxies are surrounded by low-density, highly-ionized clouds of gas, called the Circumgalactic Medium (CGM), which provides insight into galaxy evolution. CGM observations are sensitive to ionization levels, which requires studying ionization types: photoionization (PI), more density-dependent and associated with cooler gas, and collisional ionization (CI), more temperature-dependent and associated with hotter gas. We analyzed PI and CI components for oxygen ionization states using cosmological galaxy simulations. For each ion, we plotted mass distributions into PI and CI phases and created 2D covering-fraction projections of column density at different thresholds. We analyzed changes for different mass-bin galaxies. Our results are: O vii and O ix are the only predominantly-CI ion states. O vi is a local minimum in both PI and CI gas. Column density distributions greatly emphasize higher ion states. Shapes of covering-fraction plots at higher thresholds resemble the 3D-plots. CI gas dominates more in higher mass galaxy simulations.


The objective of this study is to analyze the influence of audit committee independence and institutional ownership on earnings management. Institutional ownership is measured by the number of proportion of shares held by institutional shareholders divided by the number of shares issued. Earnings management in this study were measured by using the value of discretionary accrual. The population in this study is manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (BEI) in 2008-2009. Based on purposive sampling method, the number of samples in this study of 70 samples. Testing the hypothesis using multiple regression analysis. The results of hypothesis testing indicate that audit committee independence, had a significant negative effect on earnings management. Instead institutional ownership had not influence on earnings management. Keywords  : earnings management, audit committee, insitutional ownership.


NaNO{sub 3} is one of the primary {open_quotes}solid{close_quotes} components in mixed (radioactive/chemical) wastes produced during the cold war era. Since radiolytic damage of ionic materials results primarily from the inelastic scattering of low-energy secondary electrons, we have measured thresholds, yields and velocity distributions of the O{sup +}, O{sup -}, O({sup 3}P{sub 2,1,0}), NO{sup +} and NO ({sup 2}{Pi}{sub 3/2, 1/2}) fragments produced during low-energy (10-100 eV) electron beam irradiation of NaNO{sub 3} crystals. The yields and thresholds ({approximately}20-30 eV) demonstrate the importance of electron-hole pair production, Auger decay, and exciton localization at the interface. Collectively, these processes can lead to enhanced {open_quotes}G-values{close_quotes} and nonthermal chemistry. Since it is likely that the waste contains a large fraction of colloidal particles, the importance of these interfacial reactions to the production of tank waste gases, such as N{sub 2}O, will be discussed.


The necessity of control of bed temperature and bed pressure in 300MW CFB boiler was introduced,factors influencing bed temperature and bed pressure were studied,and control method was mainly discussed,which provided reliable guarantee for the safer,stabler and more economic operation of boiler.


Background Differentiating jugular foramen from hypoglossal canal in computed tomography (CT) scan is vital for correct diagnosis of posterior fossa pathologies; however, it has been shown that the ability for differentiating these skull base elements is limited. The purpose of this study was to produce a simple algorithm for differentiating the jugular foramen from the hypoglossal canal in axial CT scan on two levels (top level where bony carotid canal is evident and lower level where bony carotid canal is not evident). Methods Data derived from axial CT scan of 250 patients (500 sides) were used for producing algorithm. At top level petro-occipital fissure utilized for recognizing occipital condyle in which hypoglossal canal is located; and, at lower level the distance between the posterior border of the anatomic element (jugular foramen or hypoglossal canal) and the tangent to the anterior bony part is used for producing algorithm. Results The mean age of patients was 38.1 ± 19 years. The petro-occipital fissure can be used in all patients for differentiating hypoglossal canal. At lower level the distance between the anterior tangent and the posterior border of the element was significantly lower for hypoglossal canal (P value < 0.001). The distance more than 3.5 mm with sensitivity 83.8% and specificity 97.1% differentiate jugular foramen from hypoglossal canal. Conclusion Simple algorithms based on quantitative morphologic features of the jugular foramen and hypoglossal canal can be used with high sensitivity and specificity to distinguish these elements.


The paper addresses a problem of partial fracture of a lattice by a propagating fault modelling a crack bridged by elastic fibres. It is assumed that the strength of bonds within the lattice alternates periodically, so that during the dynamic crack propagation only weaker bonds break, whereas the stronger bonds remain intact. The mathematical problem is reduced to the functional equation of the Wiener-Hopf type, which is solved analytically. The load-crack speed dependence is presented, which also has implications on the stability analysis for the bridged crack propagating within the lattice. In particular, we address the evaluation of the dissipation rate, which is found to be strongly dependent on the crack speed. In this lattice model, our results also cover the case of the supercritical crack speed.


With the improvement of ultrasound methods, specialists are better ready to identify ovarian cyst and polycystic ovary. In any case, these cysts are frequently benign. The ovary is a significant organ in the body, so it is not remarkable that any pain or inconvenience at this level causes us to feel pressure and rapidly go to a specialist's counsel. Among these reasons for uneasiness: The presence of growths on the ovary. Regardless of whether we find its reality by some coincidence, this makes us ask our temperament, particularly our ripeness. During each menstrual cycle, another ovarian follicle develops, and afterward, at a specific second, given an ascent in hormones, it detonates to discharge an egg prepared for fertilization. Yet, now and again hormones break down. The follicle keeps on growing and transforms into a pimple that will continuously decrease its expansion. Here we are discussing clinical ovarian cyst, where the body of evidence authorities prompt against any treatment. It is accounted for that this ordinary move happens to an enormous degree consistently however it is to some degree hard to analyze. In the event of any questions, the specialist demands the patient to experience an ultrasound to affirm the nearness of a useful swelling and attempt to screen three phases of its continuous decrease. If this is not wanted, a laparoscopy can be performed (without an entry point in the mid-region) to affirm what is happening inside.


This article makes visible the onanistic references and their literary meaning in the early poetry of Luis Cernuda. Even though Cernuda's poetry has always been seen from the critical lens of narci...


This article summarizes the findings of the Inter-Agency Group to Monitor Vaccine Development, Production, and Usage on the safety of hepatitis B virus vaccine. Because this vaccine is prepared in the US from human plasma containing hepatitis surface antigen, concerns had been raised about its safety and efficacy. The Inter-Agency Group found the following: 1) immediate side effects are minimal after receipt of the vaccine, 2) no longterm reactions have been reported, 3) the purification and inactivation process is known to inactivate representatives of all known groups of animal viruses, 4) each lot is safety tested in primates, and 5) no known cases of hepatitis A or non-A/non-B hepatitis have been transmitted by the vaccine. The Group further found that no known occurrence of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) has been associated with the vaccine. The epidemiology of AIDS suggests an unidentified, uncharacterized blood-borne agent as a possible cause of the underlying immunologic deficit. Because AIDS occurs among populations that are sources of hepatitis B virus-positive plasma, this syndrome should be considered in regard to the inherent safety of hepatitis B virus vaccine. No cases of AIDS have been noted in vaccine-placebo trials involving homosexual men after 24 months of follow-up.


In order to design a safe,low-cost robot remote control system with good user experience,a real-time simulation and visual feedback based robot remote control system is introduced.The robot is manipulated by normal game controller in this system and a real-time simulation and visual feedback based robot monitor platform is also researched.Furthermore,the introduction of 3D-collision-detect technology which takes advantage of the characteristic of the simulation platform makes the system securer.Finally,experimental results show its correctness.


We discuss the importance of the Sun's large-scale magnetic field to the Sun-Planetary environment. This paper narrows its focus down to the motion and evolution of the photospheric large-scale magnetic field which affects many environments throughout this region. For this purpose we utilize a newly developed Netlogo cellular automata model. The domain of this algorithmic model is the Sun's photosphere. Within this computational space are placed two types of entities or agents; one may refer to them as bluebirds and cardinals; the former carries outward magnetic flux and the latter carries out inward magnetic flux. One may simply call them blue and red agents. The agents provide a granularity with discrete changes not present in smooth MHD models;
they undergo three processes: birth, motion, and death within the photospheric domain. We discuss these processes, as well as how we are able to develop a model that restricts its domain to the photosphere and allows the deeper layers to be considered only through boundary conditions. We show the model's ability to mimic a number of photospheric magnetic phenomena: the solar cycle (11-year) oscillations, the Waldmeier effect, unipolar magnetic regions (e.g. sectors and coronal holes), Maunder minima, and the march/rush to the poles involving the geometry of magnetic field reversals. We also discuss why the Sun sometimes appears as a magnetic monopole, which of course requires no alteration of Maxwell's equations.


Japanese companies have a collectivist culture that reinforces their organizational learning concept. They are highly skilled, communicate openly and are customer focused.

Before entering the Japanese market, managers in overseas companies need to fully understand the political, economic, technological and socio-cultural environment in order that they understand and accommodate the priorities of Japanese managers.

Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Method of satellite data correction, adjusting the standard atmospheric correction, is considered. Marine phytoplankton pigment concentrations were retrieved from SeaWiFS data using the correction proposed. Maps of chlorophyll distribution in region of Crimean South Coast were plotted, showing best correlation with biological data than when using standard methods. Sea water reflectance is usually linked with the ratio of backscattering to absorption bb/a. BothZ and bb are functions of wavelength which are determined by quantitative and qualitative structure of the substances dissolved and suspended in water. For reconstruction of biooptical properties of sea water components it is necessary to choose a small number of parameters being both informative, and enough general. Therefore total concentration of phytoplankton pigmentsK chl, absorption by nonliving organic matter Cddm and scattering by suspended particles bbp(�� 0) are chosen as parameters of model. The model of reflectance is


Abstract : A detailed analysis was conducted of armor operations to provide the basis for developing a set of platoon drills for combined individual and collective armor training. The analysis provided information on the stages of armor operations, the individual and collective tasks that are performed during each stage, training objectives for these tasks, leadership tasks that are performed during each stage, and the types of factors that affect armor operations during combat. An analysis or armor operations was conducted to identify, classify, and interrelate the activities performed during tank platoon missions. Volume III of this report contains lists of leadership tasks performed by platoon leaders, platoon sergeants, and tank commanders during the tank platoon operations identified in the analysis. Keywords: Platoon Operations; Armor Missions; Tank Team; Platoon Leader; Leadership; Collective Training; Tank Commander; Mission Analysis.


Whereas the popular image of Scottish clergy was once that of the fervent, censorious, pulpit-thumping preacher the caricature is now the lugubrious, hen-pecked and bumbling Rev I.M. Jolly brought to life on television by the comedian, the late Rikki Fulton. The fire and brimstone may largely have been extinguished but the beliefs that many Scottish clergy hold concerning the potential horrors that await 'the lost' continue to be dark and forbidding. All will not be well, if the majority of Scotland's clergy are to be believed. This paper reports findings from a survey of Scotland's ministers into what their beliefs as to what lies beyond the grave for those who find themselves outside of salvation. We look to the official positions of the Scottish denominations to set the findings in a doctrinal context. We then evaluate the available literature that offers a pastoral response to the implications of believing in hell and/ or its torments. Pastoral experience (from a number of years' ministry in such a context) illuminates how this doctrine works on the ground and will suggest areas of concern and further research.


Let G and H be ordered groups such that every full order on a subgroup extends to a full order on the group; then the direct product, GXH, need not have this property. In fact a stronger result holds. A group is called a V-group if every full order on a subgroup may be extended to a full order on the group. Kargapolov [2 ] showed that an arbitrary torsion-free group G is a V-group if and only if G has an abelian normal subgroup B such that (1) the factor group G/B is abelian, and (2) for arbitrary : in B and a in G-B there are positive integers m 5 n such that alt3ma = fn.l In particular, torsion-free abelian groups are V-groups. The necessity of Kargapolov's theorem is essentially due to Terehov [6 ]. LEMMA. Let G have the presentation G = { a, b I ba = abP }, where p is a fixed prime. Then G is a V-group. PROOF. First of all, G is torsion-free since it admits a full order [ ] (direct verification is not difficult). Next, we construct a subgroup B of G satisfying the conditions of Kargapolov's theorem. By definition of G, bP = a-lba, and so by induction bpk = a-kbak, all k > 0. Moreover (akba-k)Pk = ak(bk) a-k = b, so that we may define bp-k =akbak, all k > 0.


We have seen a lot of interesting developments and research in text summarization. While numerous approaches for summarization have been widely studied and applied in various domains in English, it is still an early stage in Vietnamese due to a few number of papers, systems, and the lack of benchmark datasets. Inspired to contribute to make a progress in Vietnamese language research, firstly in this paper we create a standard dataset for document summarization. To the best our knowledge, we are the first to formally publish the large benchmark dataset of summarization. Secondly, we make a comparison of traditional and state-of-the-art extractive and abstractive summarization on our dataset. We strongly believe that the results of our work will facilitate studies of text summarization in Vietnamese for the future.


Computer simulation was conducted to assess the effect of the rate of drying on stress in wood during drying. Numerical calculations for the simulation were carried out with an electronic computer FACOM 270-20/30. Examples of the flow chart and FORTRAN programs used are shown in the text where we assumed that the stress follows the integro-differential equation derived previously, and that the unknown factors in the equation can be decided as before2). However, six different levels in the rate of drying were assumed in this report.The results obtained are summarized as follows:(1) The increase in the rate of drying promotes the stress development.(2) The relation between the stress development and the moisture content does not depend so much on the rate of drying.(3) The maximum stress decreases nearly inversely with the increase of necessary drying time.(4) The maximum tensile stress appears somewhat earlier than the maximum moisture gradient.(5) The inelastic strain due to creep has a tendency to restrict the stress development and this tendency increases with decreasing the rate of drying.From these results, it is clear that the computer simulation provides many useful informations on the stress in wood during drying.


A parallel and pipelined Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) processor for use in the Direction of Arrival (DOA) estimation of a wideband waveform is presented. The selected DOA algorithm follows the Coherent Signal Subspace Method (CSSM). The target device for implementation is a Xilinx Virtex-5 Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The FFT processor was developed in MATLAB Simulink using the Xilinx System Generator block-set to auto-generate VHDL code. Although the parallel and pipelined architecture uses a large portion of the available FPGA resources, the architecture does yield a high throughput.


Keywords: Musee ; instruments de physique ; histoire de la physique Reference EPFL-ARTICLE-230423 URL: http://www.sps.ch/fileadmin/articles-pdf/2017/Mitteilungen_MuseedePhysique.pdf Record created on 2017-09-04, modified on 2017-09-04


The paper addresses the parametric variation found in the possessive systems of Italian dialects. Data come from AIS maps (Jaberg and Jud 1928–40; Tisato 2009) and the vast traditional and generative literature on the topic. We claim that variation mainly concerns lexical variation. Dialects differ from one another and from Italian with respect to the possessive forms available in their lexicon (clitic, weak, strong possessives; cf. Cardinaletti's 1998 extension to possessives of the tripartition of pronouns proposed by Cardinaletti and Starke 1999) and to the different lexical properties of kinship terms and common nouns (Giusti 2015). Much micro-variation is indeed found with kinship terms. Variation concerns the status of the possessive, the position of the noun, the occurrence of the definite article, and the paradigm of possessives, whether complete in the 3 singular persons or limited to 1st and 2nd person singular.


The current theory on teacher education which emphasizes the reflective-thinking development has gradually formed since the 1980s. The reflective teacher will become the goal for teacher's professional growth. Since reflective thinking is an essential quality for a reflective teacher,its theoretical connotation,its development level and its value to teacher's professional growth also become a hot topic in this field. This paper intends to reveal through theoretical analysis the inherent value in reflective thinking for teacher's professional growth.


There has been a growing concern among commentators about the disconnection between the apparent increase in the plurality of society, and the relatively limited facets of democracy practised in the corporate work place. Specifically, models of distributed leadership appear at odds with the dominant bureaucratic and unitary model of organizing. In addressing the problem, this article offers a model of Representative Leadership (RL) derived from a political institutional discourse and suggests that in settings of contested plurality, the representation of different organizational constituencies, by a wide range of individuals is central to effective organizing. This model of leadership is explored in the context of data derived from 31 senior managers in five different commercial organizations. Observations are provided about the causal relationships between organization context, managerial cognitions of plurality, personal interest, authority and politics. The potential for RL behaviour to inform future discourse on democratic governance is considered.


Introduction. Chemical factors in production conditions are sources of constant danger of health disorders, including immunological ones, in employees of a ferrous metallurgy enterprise with a full cycle of ferrovanadium production. The aim of the study was to assess the level of membrane, intracellular and intercellular immunoregulation indicators in employees of the ferrous metallurgy enterprise under conditions of excessive vanadium contamination. Materials and methods . 77 people working in various production conditions at the metallurgical enterprise were examined, including 44 people-employees of the Ferroalloy shop and duplex shop exposed to vanadium; 33 people who do not have professional contact with vanadium (administrative staff). The technology of flow cytometry was used to study and evaluate the immunoregulation parameters of membrane — CD25+, CD95+ and intracellular — p53, as well as the method of enzyme immunoassay of intercellular — TNFa. Results. It was found that those working on exposure to vanadium in the blood are higher than the reference values and the values established for working outside the exposure. For workers exposed to vanadium under the production conditions, the blood vanadium content is statistically significant (p<0.001), 3.2 times higher than the reference level and 5.2 times higher than the values obtained for workers who do not have professional contact with vanadium. It was found that the expression of CD25 + -marker and CD95 + -marker was statistically significantly increased (p<0.001) on average by 1.5 times compared to the values obtained in the subjects who were not exposed to vanadium. It was found that the expression of p53 and TNFa was statistically significantly reduced (p<0.001) (on average by 6 times) in relation to the values obtained in those working outside of contact with vanadium. Conclusions. It was found that immune dysregulation is associated with an increased content of vanadium in the blood of workers exposed to industrial factors. Employees of the ferrous metallurgy enterprise under conditions of excessive vanadium contamination have an imbalance of membrane (CD4 + CD25 + , CD3 + CD95 + ), intracellular (p53) and intercellular (TNFa) immunoregulation indicators. In the process of adaptation of the body to the effects of harmful factors of the industrial environment, an important role belongs to immunoregulatory mechanisms, the study and evaluation of which can be used for early identification of immune system dysfunction in order to form the prevention of negative health effects caused or mediated by chemical factors.


Background. Vegetable and fruit consumption helps reduce the occurrence of overweight, obesity, and other chronic diseases. However, only 50 % of young adults eat at least five servings of these foods daily. Based on the construct of the Theory of Planned Behaviour of Ajzen (1991) to which other constructs were added (descriptive norm, perceived regularity of the behaviour and past behaviour), this study aims at identifying the determinants in the intention of young adults in postsecondary education institutions to eat at least five servings of vegetables and fruit daily during the next three months. Methods. A sample of 385 students in two CEGEP (junior college institutions) in the Quebec City area participated in this correlation study on a volunteer basis. While attending class, they completed a self-administered questionnaire. Results. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that perceived behavioural controls and the perceived weight of facilitating factors and barriers to the behaviour, explained 75 % of the intention variance. Another 4 % was explained when the perceived regularity of the behaviour, the descriptive norm, and past behaviour, were added to the analysis. Logistic regression analyses show that individuals presenting weak/strong intention can be differentiated among themselves as to the perception of benefits derived from a daily consumption of vegetables and fruit (such as maintaining good health, eating foods that taste good), and as to facilitating factors/barriers that assist or inhibit such consumption (possessing more information on the nutritional value and taste of vegetables and fruit, or disposing of sufficient time to prepare them).


A photoinduced decrease in permeability at 77 K was investigated for the polycrystalline mixed garnets of (Y1−xRx)3Fe5O12 with 0⩽x⩽1 and R=Eu, Yb, Ho, Tm, Gd, Tb, and Er. The change of the effect is interpreted as simply due to the change in the magnetocrystalline anisotropy of the host material.


Abstract : The objectives of this experiment were to determine mooring loads on cables mooring a ship in the open and to collect data on the environmental forces (waves, currents, and wind) producing these loads. Waves and current data collected about 3 km from shore at Duck, North Carolina, are summarized. Six-hourly wave heights, periods, and spectra; 15-min average values of current speed and direction; and wind speed and direction are presented for the period between 1900 hours 14 November 1983 and 1430 hours 17 November 1983. The response of the coastal wave and current fields to passage of a local wind system is illustrated. Keywords: Mooring of ships; Ocean-atmosphere interaction; Ocean waves--Statistics; Ocean currents--Statistics; Wind waves--Statistics; Hydrodynamics.


Photographic identification and standardized zigzag surveys were used to study the distribution and abundance of bottlenose dolphins in Doubtful Sound, New Zealand. Forty individuals were identified from nicks and markings on their dorsal fins. Chapman's and Bailey's modifications to the Lincoln–Petersen estimate and the computer program CAPTURE were used to estimate the number of marked individuals in the population, which ranged from 30 to 40 animals for three survey periods (two summers and a winter). The proportion of identifiable individuals in the population was assessed empirically as 65.5%. These data resulted in a total population estimate of approximately 58 individuals. The majority of the dolphins in the catalogue were found in each survey period, indicating their residency in the fiord. Movements of dolphins around the sound were not predictable, but there were areas in which dolphins were more likely to be found and other areas in which dolphins were never seen. However, there were no obviou...


On Thursday October 10, 2013, an important milestone was reached in the progress of xenotransplantation toward the clinic. A genetically engineered pig heart, heterotopically transplanted into the abdomen of an immunosuppressed baboon exactly 1 yr earlier, remained beating, the first time any pig organ has reached this milestone. This greatly encouraging result was achieved by the research team at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD, USA, headed by Muhammad Mohiuddin and Keith Horvath. They are to be congratulated on this achievement. This work builds on previous studies by many others over the past three decades. It is more than 25 yr since the first pig-to-non-human primate (NHP) heart transplants were carried out [1–3] although reports of other pig organs being transplanted into NHPs date back to the 1960s (reviewed in [4]). It is more than 15 yr since heart transplants from the first genetically engineered pigs (transgenic for a human complement regulatory protein) [5–8] and almost 10 yr since the first a1,3-galactosyltransferase gene-knockout (GTKO) pig hearts were transplanted [9,10]. Six-month graft survival of a GTKO pig heart was reported by Kuwaki et al in 2005 [9,10], which the NHLBI group extended to almost 8 months using GTKO/ CD46 pig grafts in 2012 [11]. What factors have contributed to the present exciting result? Clearly, the introduction of a human thrombomodulin (TBM) transgene is key as this appears to have inhibited the development of thrombotic microangiopathy that has proved a major barrier in recent years [12,13]. Early studies of TBM transgenic pigs suggested their utilization would lead to significant improvement in this respect [14–16]. The Revivicor team (headed by David Ayares and Carol Phelps) in collaboration with colleagues at Ludwig Maximilians University Munich in Germany (headed by Eckhard Wolf and Nikolai Klymiuk) provided hTBM-expressing pigs to the NHLBI group and fully share the credit for the recent achievement. However, prevention of the adaptive immune response by an immunosuppressive regimen based on costimulation blockade is likely a contributory factor. Based on numerous studies in allotransplantation models, a costimulation blockade regimen was first tested in a xenotransplantation model in 2000 [17], since when several modifications have been introduced. Whether 1-yr survival would have been achieved if a conventional immunosuppressive regimen had been administered remains uncertain, but, using a tacrolimus-based regimen, median CD46-transgenic pig heart graft survival of 3 months was reported as early as 2005 [18]. The 1-yr heart graft survival follows reports on similarly prolonged survival of islets [19], neuronal cells [20], and corneas [21], but rightly or wrongly, organ grafts achieve a higher profile among both the medical world and the public than grafts of cells or tissues. The impact this milestone will make remains uncertain, but if it is repeated by the NHLBI group or others, then it is likely to be a major stimulus for renewed interest in xenotransplantation research. Hopefully, this will translate into increased funding. Furthermore, as we move closer to clinical trials and the prospect of eventual success, the doubters, critics, and naysayers among our medical and scientific colleagues will show renewed interest in the field. What is next? Clearly, it is necessary to demonstrate that this success can be repeated consistently in the heterotopic heart transplantation model, before proceeding to orthotopic transplantation. Newer genetically engineered pigs are becoming available that might make achievement of this goal easier. GTKO pigs expressing two complement regulatory proteins (CD46 and CD55) which also express two coagulation regulatory proteins (TBM and endothelial protein C receptor [EPCR], the latter of which is anticipated to enhance the effect of TBM perhaps 5to 20-fold), will soon be available to us for testing in NHPs. For a clinical trial, pigs that express neither Gal nor N-glycolylneuraminic acid will certainly be beneficial and likely essential; such double-knockout pigs have recently been reported [22]. Pigs transgenic for a mutant human MHC class II transactivator have already been tested and have shown a significant suppressive effect on SLA class II upregulation and thus on the primate T-cell response [23]. These various genetic manipulations


The recently discovered light vector boson X17 at ATOMKI can trigger new decay channels of neutron, which can be used to explain the neutron lifetime puzzle. In this article, we calculate all the possible decay widths and discuss the physical implications.


P Schuster, G Zundel and C Sandorfy (eds) Amsterdam: North Holland 1976 Vol 1 Theory pp viii + 389 Vol 2 Structure and Spectroscopy pp viii + 391–887 Vol 3 Dynamics, Thermodynamics and Special Systems pp viii + 889–1549 price $173.75 Anyone suffering under the illusion that the hydrogen bond is not of any great significance, and that adequate justice is done to it by the row of dots with which it is usually represented, will quickly change his ideas when he sees these volumes. They cover a wide canvas of theory and experiment and as might be expected, the 29 chapters have each been written by specialists in the particular topic which the chapter covers.


This article examines the impact of gender socialization in Malaysian families, especially on daughters regarding their perception towards work inside and outside the home. Hence, this study utilized in-depth interview as part of the qualitative methods to obtain quality data needed. The study establishes, that patriarchy environment, especially one with the classic model of 'breadwinner father, housewife mother' creates a pressure on women to bear more household responsibility. Thus, the dominant gender ideologies are entangled with 'motherhood mandate' and 'superior feminine virtue' that is associated with the reason women left the labour force. It was equally necessary to point out here that other agents of socialization such as media, peers and education played its part as well and influenced the respondent's conformity to patriarchal values.Keywords: Family conflict, gender, outside the home, socialisation, work inside


The NHS and some UK royal colleges profit by selling commercial advertisers access to pregnant women through promotions such as Bounty bags. These potential conflicts of interest are unacceptable, considers Margaret McCartney


The global outbreak of COVID-19 has witnessed a significant and widespread impact since its emergence in 2019. It caused serious negative effects on both population health and economy widely. Numerous researches have been done on the COVID-19 pandemic. There were many articles focused on respective environmental influencing factors of COVID-19. In this research, we reviewed the research examining the environmental factors influencing COVID-19 based on geographic information system technology. We found that five influencing aspects, namely the natural environment, air pollution, society, economy, and government management had significant impact on the transmission of coronavirus. These influencing factors affected the COVID-19 by affecting the virus, the infection opportunity, and the susceptible populations. As these researches indicated the connection between COVID-19 and environmental influencing factors, scientific communities and government should abstract the essences to make valuable decisions in the future.


This paper presents conceptual studies to evaluate the performance of the propulsor and its associated vehicle in the configurations of wake ingestion and boundary-layer ingestion. A power conversion analysis uses the power balance method to elaborate the power-saving mechanism of wake ingestion, showing that the Froude's propulsive efficiency as a figure of merit should be separated from the power conversion efficiency in these configurations. The body/propulsor interaction occurring in the boundary-layer ingestion configuration is qualitatively analyzed to clarify its influence on the performance of the integrated vehicle. The results suggest that the minimization of power consumption should be used as a design criterion for aircraft using boundary-layer ingestion.


Unwanted pregnancies are major contributors of maternal morbidity and mortality. Identifying at-risk women and associated risks factors should be one of the strategies to obtain further insight into this global problem. The most effective forms of contraception are listed and rated.


Positron Annihilation induced Auger Electron Spectroscopy (PAES), Electron induced Auger Electron Spectroscopy (EAES), and LEED have been used to study the sandwich‐like structure resulting from vapor‐deposition of Rh on Ag(100). Schmitz et al. found using AES, ISS, and TDS that the Ag layer diffuses to the Rh surface upon annealing to form a structure which Rh is sandwiched between a Ag cap layer and the Ag substrate. In this work, the top layer selectivity of PAES was utilized to study the mechanism of formation of the sandwich structure. The shapes and peak positions of PAES spectra for as‐deposited (173K) and annealed (573K) Rh films confirm that Ag diffuses to Rh surface upon annealing. The temperature at which Ag starts to diffuse to the surface was directly monitored by PAES as the films deposited at 173K were heated to 573K.


Neutron scattering measurements are known to be powerful tools for condensed matter physics. Single crystals are better but restrict materials. We can investigate magnetism of several quantum spin systems using neutron scattering measurements on powder samples. We determined a spin system in Cu2CdB2O6 or β-AgCuPO4 from data of powder samples.


In view of the technological features of the differential-pressure method in BOD detection,the points of attention are identified in this article for improving its acceptance rate during the assessment,based on the working experience of regular analysis and assessment with standard sample.


The component composition of bitumen obtained from brown coal of grade 1B of the Tyulganskoye deposit of the South Ural basin was investigated using destructive O-alkylation with n-butanol. The positive effect of alkylating treatment on the bitumen yield is shown. A number of individual compounds were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in the composition of the studied bitumoids: n-Tetracosanol-1, Docosanoic acid, Tricosanoic acid, Podocarpa-5,8,11,13-tetraen-7-one, 13-hydroxy-14-isopropyl, etc. Among the identified substances, biologically active substances are present in significant concentrations: β-Sitosterol, gamma-Tocopherol, Sugiol, Behenic alcohol, etc.


The manuscript presents maps of internationally important wetlands located in the Kis-Sárrét (Hungary) from 1860 to 2008. The study area is located in south-east Hungary, in the Körös-Maros National Park and covers 8048 ha. For the historic map review, we used digitized data of topographic maps from the period of two military surveys and the Second World War. We also made habitat maps of the area in 2007 and 2008. Data processing, and the establishment of a database of the mapped area, was made using QuantumGIS 1.7.0 and Esri ArcView GIS 3.2. Maps were produced using Esri ArcGIS 10.0 and show where and in what ratio the once extensive wetlands occurred, how they changed and in which part of the area they survived in different mapping periods. They provide a point of reference for the monitoring of wetlands, contributing to the long-term conservation of these valuable habitats. Maps and diagrams show that between 1860 and 1944 wetland extent decreased by half. The ratio of natural, 'purely' wet habitats reaches only 4.67% now. Wetlands typically occur in habitat complexes, therefore not 'purely' wet habitats (20.77%) also have to be taken into account. Considering this, and a recent habitat reconstruction, the extent of wetlands is more favourable today than it was in 1944. However, to sustain them requires care and well-planned management to which the maps presented here provide an important basis.


The effects of the severe geomagnetic storm in Feb. 1986 on ionospheric scintillations of VHF satellite signals at low-middle latitudes have been investigated, giving emphasis of the unusual scintillation activities and the characteristics of storm-time scintillation spectra computed by maximum entropy method at Wuchang. It is found that almost all of the scintillation spectra on Feb. 8 exibit a distinct knee at a spact scale about 500 m and have multiple spectral indices larger than usual, such as from 2.6 to 3.6 with an average 3.1 at the scale lengths longer than that at which the knee lies and from 3.6 to 5.9 with an average 5.1 at the shorter scale lengths. Moreover, more than one knee appear sometimes in a spectrum on Feb. 8, and the largest magnitude of spectral index reaches 8.0. In contrast, the spectra for Feb. 9 exibit almost no distinct knee and show smaller spectral index with an average 2.8. In order to explain some phenomena above, a preliminary discussion on the generation mechanism of the ionospheric irregularities causing the storm-time scintillations has been made.


At present the use of distributed generation (DG) units and shunt capacitors simultaneously in radial distribution system (RDS) is very common to reduce losses and to improve the voltage profile in the system. Optimal location and size of DG and capacitors are crucial factors to maximize the loss reduction and to enhance the performance of the network. This paper, proposes an efficient hybrid method based on Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) which helps to determine the optimal location and size of DG sources and capacitor banks simultaneously. The main objective is to reduce real power loss in distribution system by placing multiple DG sources and capacitor banks. The proposed method is implemented on IEEE 33 and 69 bus radial distribution systems and results show the method is more effective than the results presented by other hybrid methods such as GA/PSO and ICA/GA.