This paper describes an overview of the satellite market trends and the role of high-efficiency multi-junction solar cells in enabling the realization of the high-power spacecrafts for the geosynchronous orbit (GEO), the low-earth orbit (LEO) and interplanetary applications. The global GEO telecom satellite orders in the past few years have seen a relatively stable period since the year 2002 when only 13 satellites were on order worldwide. In the 2003–2007 period, however, 23 to 39 yearly orders were placed, totaling 136 satellite orders in 5 years. New markets such as digital radio and broadband, as well as, emerging markets in regions such as Asia have contributed to this trend. Science & observation and military satellites, typically operating in the LEO and polar orbits, and interplanetary missions to the Moon, Mars, Mercury and the Asteroid Belt have also expanded the smaller size spacecraft orders by government agencies. The gradual replacement of solar arrays powered by silicon cells with arrays powered with much higher efficiency multi-junction cells has significantly augmented the operational capabilities of these satellites. The most recent triple-junction solar cells, for example, exhibit 30% conversion efficiency under air-mass zero (AM0) conditions. These cells produce more than twice the end-of-life (EOL) power than the best space silicon solar cells ever produced. Higher performance (i.e., 33% efficiency) and thinner multi-junction cells, such as the inverted metamorphic (IMM) solar cell technology, presently under development will further enable higher power and lower mass (W/Kg) solar arrays, enabling satellites with greater power and capabilities.


On Monday, December 9th, a workshop for an ILSS1 class is taking place in the English and American Studies Library...


The present essay on the study of bovine brucellosis in the Province of Los Rios was carried out through documentary review in thesis, journals, scientific articles
 The objective is to strengthen the knowledge of all the people who are dedicated to the production and reproduction of cattle in the Province of Los Rios.
Bovine brucellosis is an infectious disease known as infectious abortion. This disease affects all bovines of all ages, but is most often found in animals that reach puberty, mainly in livestock and milk farms, and are susceptible to disease other species such as pigs, sheep, goats, horses and buffalo, producing in these different clinical signs.
Brucellosis is a zoonosis, since it is transmitted naturally from vertebrate animals to man, threatening the health of farmers and people in charge of handling milk extracted from sick animals.


fingers end, I knew there was but one way: for his Nose was as sharpe as a Pen, and a Table of greene fields" (Henry V, II. iii. I4-I8)'. By the first quarter of the eighteenth century, the last phrase had become unintelligible. When Lewis Theobald changed it to "a' babled [or "babbled"] of green fields", many felt that he had disposed of the crux. Even the formidable Dr. Johnson, no lover of Theobald or of conjectural emendation, agreed that the change seemed "uncommonly happy"O2 "The most celebrated of all textual emendations", "the palmary emendation of all time"-such is the tenor of more recent acclaim.3 Yet doubts as to the validity of Theobald's conjecture have been as persistent, if not as numerous, as the plaudits. Well-known scholars like Edmund Malone and C. J. Sisson have been numbered among the skeptics, and their objections to Theobald's revision, on paleographical and other grounds, have been cogent.4 But the skeptics have almost always proposed another emendation as a substitute for Theobald's; moreover, they have usually ended by printing "'a babbled" in the text and by relegating their objections to the notes.


SIR,-Like Mr. Victor Bonney (February 4, p. 303), 1, and every gynaecologist who has discussed the matter with me, regret that the review of fifty years' progress in our branch was restricted to one part of it. Those of us who have been privileged to see and to take part in the advances this halfcentury are fully aware that, important as are the advances in obstetrics, they are at least equalled by those in gynaecology. I do not know whether the Editor deliberately divided the subject and intended that gynaecology should be dealt with by another pen. As it stands it is rather like a description of Hamlet without any mention of the Prince. Much as we should have appreciated the subject being dealt with as a whole, it was better to omit it than to describe gynaecology as a mere branch of general surgery, which I gather would be Mr. Bonney's wish. This, however, is an old controversy, happily laid at rest by the foundation of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, one of the main reasons for which is the indivisibility of obstetrics and gynaecology.-I am, etc., Manchester. WILLIAM FLETCHER SHAW.


The fractional-order models, that is models described by differential equations of arbitrary real order, are gaining popularity in advanced control theory. In this study, an implementation of fractional-order elements in multibody dynamics systems is shown. A fractional-order model of elements is used in co-analysis between multibody system modeling tool and control system modeling tool. The co-analysis uses multibody dynamics software to solve all ordinary, integer-order differential equations and control system modeling software to solve fractional-order differential equations. Results of such simulation may be used in virtual prototype built in MSC Adams software environment to simulate behavior of multibody fractional-order system. Two example models are shown in this paper, one with 1 degree of freedom (DOF) and one with 6 DOF. The research was conducted in order to prepare software tools and methods, which can be used in modeling of bionic multibody systems with fractional-order elements. A co-simulation between control and multibody system modeling software tools enables accurate and cost-effective development of bionic devices. Furthermore, fractional-order models of bionic elements describe certain phenomena better than in integer-order models.


Energy restriction (ER) causes bone loss, but the impact of exercise during ER is less understood. In this study, we examined the impact of metabolic hormones and body composition on both total body bone mineral content (BMC) and local (proximal tibia) volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD) during short- (4 weeks) and long-term (12 weeks) ER with and without exercise in adult female rats. Our first goal was to balance energy between sedentary and exercising groups to determine the impact of exercise during ER. Second, we aimed to determine the strongest predictors of bone outcomes during ER with energy-matched exercising groups. Methods: Female Sprague–Dawley rats were divided into three sedentary groups (ad libitum, –20% ER, and –40% ER) and three exercising groups (ad libitum, –10% ER, and –30% ER). Approximately a 10% increase in energy expenditure was achieved via moderate treadmill running (∼60–100 min 4 days/week) in EX groups. n per group = 25–35. Data were analyzed as a 2 × 3 ANOVA with multiple linear regression to predict bone mass outcomes. Results: At 4 weeks, fat and lean mass and serum insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) predicted total body BMC (R2 = 0.538). Fat mass decreased with ER at all levels, while lean mass was not altered. Serum IGF-I declined in the most severe ER groups (–40 and –30%). At 12 weeks, only fat and lean mass predicted total body BMC (R2 = 0.718). Fat mass declined with ER level regardless of exercise status and lean mass increased due to exercise (+5.6–6.7% vs. energy-matched sedentary groups). At the same time point, BMC declined with ER, but increased with exercise (+7.0–12.5% vs. energy-matched sedentary groups). None of our models predicted vBMD at the proximal tibia at either time point. Conclusion: Both fat and lean mass statistically predicted total body BMC during both short- and long-term ER. Fat and lean mass decreased with ER, while lean mass increased with EX at each energy level. Measures that predicted total body skeletal changes did not predict site-specific changes. These data highlight the importance of maintaining lean mass through exercise during periods of ER.


Relevance. An attempt is made in present paper to generalize the results of observations of the not yet fully understood phenomenon, usually called "linear cloud anomalies" (LCA), observed over the areas of impending strong earthquakes or intensification of tectonic activity. In the English-language literature, you can find a more concise name "earthquake clouds". Despite the fairly rich literature on this issue, the physical nature of LСA remains unclear. Aim. It is the identificationof the physical mechanism of the formation of LCA before earthquakes that is the most urgent problem. In this work, we take a step forward in this direction, because the main aim of our study is to find the sources for the formation of LCA. Methods. We have obtained experimental evidence that LCA of all types have embryonic structures in the lower atmosphere at a level of about 100 m from the Earth's surface, which proves the connection between the LCA genesis and the processes initiated in the earth's crust. The source of information used to verify the formation of LCA is the meteorological data obtained near the earth's surface from the assimilative model GEOS FP. Results. An attempt is made to trace the genesis of LСA from the earth's surface to the level of the formed cloud structure, and a physical mechanism for the generation of LСA is proposed, including maintaining their geometric linearity under conditions of a turbulent atmosphere. This work was conceived together with A. V. Nikolaev, we will try to include in the work everything that was discussed with him during its preparation, including his principled opinion that "the lack of clarity of physical principles cannot be the reason for distrust of experimental results".


limulus amebocyte lysate test in the detection of infections. Of particular note is the comprehensive review of the subject by Erlin and Hosseini. I found the discussion of this paper by Levin and ten Cate particularly enlightening, as it addresses the old problem of the "gold standard" in the diagnosis of infections. The final chapter examines the epidemiological and statistical issues concerning studies evaluating the diagnostic value of endotoxin assays. Although some chapters are reviews of previously published material, the book's value lies in the fact that it gracefully coordinates the myriad of recently accumulated data in the subject of endotoxins and their detection. This volume would be of particular value to investigators concerned with the detection and biological effects of endotoxins. a pleasure to read. Surgical magnification, first employed by German otologists for inner-ear procedures on animals, was soon applied to otolaryngologic surgery and later to neurosurgery. Advancement in binocular surgical microscopes and instrumentation has resulted in the application of microsurgical techniques now throughout the surgical specialties. As a consequence, operative procedures have often been dramatically improved technically , and better results have been achieved. This multi-authored volume addresses the exciting contributions of microsurgical techniques to the field of neurosurgery. The text is divided into ten sections, comprising forty-six chapters, and is extensively and superbly illustrated with 968 figures, photographs, diagrams, and graphs. The sections cover the general principles and applications of microneurosurgery, pituitary and acoustic tumors, surgery of the skull base, cerebrovascular disease including EC/IC operations, aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations, microvascular ana-stomosis, cranial and peripheral nerve microsurgery, and vertebral column procedures such as microdiscectomy. Throughout the volume the surgical approaches, anatomy, and microsurgical techniques are splendidly illustrated and comprehensively discussed. Historical perspective, underlying neurological disease, indications for surgical management, and results of combined modalities are also discussed, and each chapter concludes with numerous up-to-date references. Although there are multiple authors, a writing style of consistently high quality and a textual organization designed to enhance comprehension are maintained throughout the entire volume. The comprehensive nature of Microneurosurgery, coupled with its excellent photographs and diagrams of operative approaches and microsurgical technique, will allow it to fill an important need in this rapidly advancing field. It is certain to become a significant resource, as were the earlier editions, for surgical residents, neurosurgeons, and otolaryngologists, and would be a valuable addition to any medical library.


Deletion of the Lsr2 gene in Streptomyces roseosporus up-regulated silent gene clusters and produced new secondary metabolites. An ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS) method was used to analyze metabolites of the mutant and wild-type strains, and recognize previously unreported sulfur-containing compounds based on their molecular formulas and fragmentation ions. The targeted isolation of unidentified compounds afforded six new sulfur-containing compounds, pyrismycins A–F (1–6), together with seven known analogues 7–13. Their cytotoxic effects were evaluated using four clinically relevant human cancer cell lines, gastric carcinoma SGC7901, breast carcinoma MDA-MB-231, lung carcinoma A549 and hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2. Compound 7 exhibited the most potent cytotoxicity with IC50 values of 1.7, 5.8 and 6.3 μM against the SGC7901, HepG2 and MDA-MB-231, respectively.


An account is presented first of practical problems in the national guidance services of the United Kingdom. Some differences of theoretical perspective between practitioners of 'differentialist' and 'developmental' approaches to vocational guidance are summarized and compared. An attempt is then made to reconcile these theoretical models, in the context of outline proposals for a computer-based system which embodies the principal features of both careers and occupational guidance.


Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is a form of digital modulation used in a wide array of communication systems. This paper presents a comprehensive performance analysis of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing system. We investigate the basic principle of OFDM system and through computer simulation we present the Bit error rate(BER) and peak-to-average power ratio(PAPR) of OFDM system for different modulation techniques.


RESPECT THE INVENTION COMPOSITION RELEASING PHOSPHINE, SUITABLE FOR EXAMPLE AS AGENT PEST. SAME INCLUDING A MIXTURE PHOSPHINE ALUMINUM POWDER ZINC FINELY DIVIDED IN ITS FORM OR IN THE FORM BASIC COMPOUND FOR EXAMPLE THE sTEARATE, OXIDE, THE hYDROXY CARBONATE, SULPHATE OR borate ZINC AND MATERIAL THAT CAN TO BREAKING DOWN OR OF DISSOCIATING GIVING THE AMMONIA OR AMMONIA ION, FOR EXAMPLE CARBONATE OR BICARBONATE ZINC CHLORIDE AMMONIUM OR CARBAMATE ZINC. COMPOSITION pROVIDES GAS PHOSPHINE WHEN eXPOSED TO VAPOR WATER OR LIQUID WATER WITHOUT AUTOIGNITION.


A modelling framework based on functional surface is presented to support conceptual design of mechanical products. The framework organizes product information in an abstract and multilevel manner. It consists of two mapping processes: function decomposition process and form reconstitution process. The steady mapping relationship from function to form (function-functional surface-form) is realized by taking functional surface as the middle layer. It farthest reduces the possibilities of combinatorial explosion that can occur during function decomposition and form reconstitution. Finally, CAD tools are developed and an auto-bender machine is applied to demonstrate the proposed approach.


Roadside Stations were first constructed in Japan by the erstwhile Ministry of Construction (now known as the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism) in 1993, when a total of 103 stations were set up. In 1999, this number had increased to 551, and by 2013, it had reached 1014. As of 2020, there are 1173 Roadside Stations. A Roadside Station system is a registration system for facilities with three roles: rest, offering information, and regional alliance functions. The activities of Roadside Stations lead to endogenous development. Therefore, we sought to measure their contribution to the economy. We used several simultaneous equation models, which include variables such as parking space, sales figures, management expense, number of visitors, number of events, and gross business expense. In previous papers, we calculated the ripple effect of the Roadside Station on the economy. Here, we demonstrate that the number of employees is estimated to have increased by 250 and 266 in the regions of Hanshin and Tajima, respectively. Moreover, according to our research, the effective multiplication factor in the Hanshin region in Hyogo Prefecture was 1.55. The annual sales of all Roadside Stations in Japan were estimated to be approximately 250 billion yen in 2015. If the research result in the Hanshin region is applied to this annual total amount, the economic ripple effect of Roadside Stations for all regions in Japan is estimated to reach 375 billion yen. In 2007 and 2010, two grants were provided to selected Roadside Stations. One was the 2007 Nou-san-gyoson Kasseika Project Shien Kofukin (Grants to Support Projects to Revitalize Rural Areas, GSPRRA), and the other was the Shakaisihon Seibi Sogo Kofukin (Comprehensive Grant for Infrastructure Development, CGID) in 2010. Of the 83 stations in this study, 27 received the new type of grant. The stations that received these grants saw a significant improvement in their business. Therefore, it is important to measure the factors that impact the sales of Roadside Stations in Japan.


A numerical study was undertaken to investigate the influence of ambient temperature changes on vibration-based detection of small-scale damage within a bridge deck. The structure under consideration was a two-span traffic overpass featuring integral abutment construction in which thermal expansion is accommodated through bending, rather than by expansion joints. Since vibration-based damage detection relies on the identification of small changes in dynamic properties to infer the presence and location of damage, damage-induced changes must be distinguishable from those originating from other sources, including thermal variations. It was found that temperature variations over the range expected at the bridge site produced significant changes in both the fundamental natural frequency and mode shape. Although patterns of mode shape changes due to thermal effects differed from those caused by damage, particularly in the vicinity of the damage, the temperature effects were found to be larger for the conditions studied and, thus, had the potential to mask critical damage indicators.


In the article the global trends in the process of intellectualization of the economy, shows the process of economic globalization and the development of higher education and science, made aware that globalization is constantly decreasing particle material production and increasing particle services and creation of new knowledge, products, which is characterized as intellectual property; hence a need for internationalization of research activities, which includes two main components: the migration of scientists between the two countries — the creators of knowledge transfer and consistent part of the creation of technological knowledge of the countries — the recognized leaders in this field in the old quarter that are actively developing, studied the internationalization of education, which carried out by the export of education.


A simulation is made of electrical characteristics of defect clusters (DC) using a self-consistent expression of the potential barrier height with the electric charge density. A power dependence of the initial charge-carrier removal rate on the semiconductor doping level is found. The regularities of changes in electrical characteristics with core radius, concentration, and defect level energy positions in the core are obtained. The dependence of the initial charge-carrier removal rate is shown to be defined by the energy positions of defect levels in the core and their concentrations. A comparison is made of the calculation results with the experimental data.

[Russian Text Ignored].


Man and woman are of equal rank but they are not identical. They are a peerless pair being supplementary to one another; each helps the other, so that without the one the existence of the other cannot be conceived, and therefore it follows as a necessary corollary from these facts that anything that will impair the status of either of them will involve the equal ruin of them both. In framing any scheme of women's education this cardinal truth must be constantly kept in mind. Man is supreme in the outward activities of a married pair and therefore it is in the fitness of things that he should have a greater knowledge thereof. On the other hand, home life is entirely the sphere of woman and therefore in domestic affairs, in the upbringing and education of children, women ought to have more knowledge. Not that knowledge should be divided into watertight compartments, or that some branches of knowledge should be closed to any one; but unless courses of instruction are based on a discriminating appreciation of these basic principles, the fullest life of man and woman cannot be developed. well-balanced personality culturally refined, emotionally stable, ethically sound, logically correct, mentally alert, intellectually competent , technically advanced, morally upright, physically strong efficient, spiritually mature, vocationally self-sufficient and internationally liberal. These words show the relation of education with life, character, ideas and ideals. with their parents looking for jobs. Girls' education was not given importance as compared to boys . Infrastructure facilities including toilet, drinking water, playground were not satisfactory. Casual parental attitude towards schooling and poor resource planning were also responsible for poor enrollment of children. The study recommended that incentives should be provided to low income families to encourage them to spare their daughters for school. Provision of roads/transport, upgradation of lower primary schools into primary and higher primary school and good infrastructure was also recommended. Impact of mass literacy programme among the (9-14 years) of tribal belt of Sundarban area. Education is the most vital input for improving the quality of manpower, and an important factor in accelerating rapid growth in social, economic and political domains. The study examined the proficiency of the neo-literates of Mass Literacy Programme (MLP) in reading, writing and numeracy with respect to gender and caste among 96 neo-literate children (9-14 years) of tribal belt of Sundarban area. "Literacy and Numeracy Achievement Test" was prepared on the basis of "Dave Committee Report, (1992)". Questionnaire was prepared for collection of information from MLP personnel. The scores of non tribal neoliterates was better than that of tribals in the 3 R's (i.e. reading, writing and arithmetic) . Also, the scores of male neo-literates were better than those of female neo-literates. The study revealed that the factors which influenced MLP were proper methodology of teaching, well-equipped literacy personnel, good quality teaching materials, well-knit organisation, proper academic and administrative supervision, profuse use of mass media to spread awareness, and universalisation of elementary education for children aged 6-11 years. Overall social and economic development, improvement in health, nutrition and sanitation, and population control are recommended for successful mass literacy programme in this area.


The IT solution to business operation and decision-making management on the basis of software and hardware is offered to meet the IT needs of car rental enterprises. The paper is designed to introduce the network for chain operation, analyses the functions of the main modules of the relevant information system and provides a typical case. This presents a reference model for operation and management with the use of IT for car rental enterprises and helps them better meet increasingly sharp competitions in the car rental industry.


345 Background: Decipher is a tissue-based genomic classifier (GC) developed and validated in the post-radical prostatectomy (RP) setting to help guide adjuvant treatment decisions for prostate cancer (PCa). We conducted the first prospective, randomized trial assessing the impact of GC testing on adjuvant therapy use. Here, we determine the impact of GC testing on patient reported (PRO) quality of life outcomes (QoL) in men at high-risk of post-RP recurrence. Methods: The G-MINOR trial is a prospective, unblinded, randomized trial which enrolled 356 patients from 12 centers in the Michigan Urological Surgery Improvement Collaborative (MUSIC). Patients were enrolled between Aug 2016-July 2018. Eligible patients had undergone RP within 9 months of enrollment, had pT3-4 disease and/or positive surgical margins, and a post-RP PSA <0.1ng/mL. Patients were assigned to either the GC or usual-care (UC) group using cluster-crossover block randomization assignments. Evaluable patients (338) were followed for at least 18 months. PROs were obtained using the Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite (EPIC-26) survey at baseline (before RP), 3, 6, 12, and 24 months after RP. Results: A total of 226/338 evaluable men (67%) had PRO data for this analysis (116 UC arm/110 GC arm). Median age was 65 years. Of the 226 men included in the PRO analysis, a total of 23 (9 UC arm/14 GC arm) had adjuvant treatment (p = 0.22). At 12 months follow-up, those in the GC arm had no significant change in adjusted mean difference in domain score from baseline compared to those in the UC arm for urinary irritative (UIR) function (1.0, 95% CI [-2.9– 4.9], p=0.6), urinary incontinence (UI) (0.8, 95% CI [-5.1– 6.7], p=0.8), or sexual function (SF) (0.5, 95% CI [-6.9– 7.9], p=0.9). This remained true at 24 months for all three domains [UIR; (2.3, 95% CI [-2.1– 6.6], p=0.3)], [UI; (-0.3, 95% CI [-7.3– 6.7], p=0.9)], [SF; (1.5, 95% CI [-6.8– 9.7], p=0.7)]. Conclusions: In the first ever randomized trial testing the clinical utility of a GC test in localized PCa, longitudinal patient reported QOL outcomes were not significantly different between men who underwent risk stratification with or without Decipher. Clinical trial information: NCT02783950 .


Hoisting of large span and large tonnage equipment often requires two or more cranes. Usually cooperative hoisting is carried out by multiple drivers under the command of one coordinator for the task. This leads to low lifting efficiency and low safety and it is desirable to automate this process. In this paper, the physical model of double cranes is analyzed to obtain the constraints imposed by cooperative hoisting. We first solve the direct and inverse kinematic problem, obtaining the kinematic relationship between load coordinates and cable lengths. Then we consider a hoisting operation defined by an assigned trajectory and by a particular trapezoidal velocity profile, parameterized by a constant cruising velocity. We show how to compute the optimal value of the parameter that minimize the hoisting time while ensuring the admissibility constraints are satisfied. Several simulations related to two industrial crawler cranes are presented.


A two-dimensional numerical computation was carried out for two cylinders in tandem changing unsteady flow regime. Mechanisms of heat transfer enhancement due to tandem two cylinders in unsteady flow were discussed based on the obtained flow and thermal fields. The simulation result shows that the center distance of two cylinders is the main factor of heat transfer enhancement. It also shows that the wake of the upstream cylinder acts periodically the near wall of the downstream cylinder and the tip of vortices plays an important role on the leading edge of the downstream cylinder. Base on the numerical results, it is observed that there locally exists the dissimilarity between the momentum transfer and heat transfer, which was related to the hot or cold fluid.


By means of Streptavidin-Peroxidase immunohistochemical staining assay, the expression of bc1-2 gene was investigated in 30 patients with acute myeloid leukemia(AML). The results showed: (1) The percentage of bc1-2 + cells in AML was 55 12% ±23 78% ( range, 19% to 93%), which was significantly higher than those in control( P 0 01). (2) According to French-American-British classification, the percentage of bc1-2+cells was higher in M1 and M2 types (60 58% ±19 05%), lower in M3 (21 50%± 6 22%) and the highest in M4 and M5 types( 69 64% ± 14 96%).(3) After the standard inducing therapy of AML, bcl-2 expression in complete remission group was obviously lower than that in resistant disease group( P 0 01). We conclude that bcl-2 expression in AML is higher than that in normal human myeloid cells. High expression of be1-2 is associated with a low complete remission rate after intensive chemotherapy.


The objective of this study was to evaluate psychosocial and behavioral predictors of weight loss success in patients that are obese enrolled in a weight loss program. It was a quasi-experimental design, with a convenience sample (n=127) of men and women aged 21-75 years with BMI >30 kg/m2 enrolled in a medically supervised comprehensive clinic-based weight loss program. We performed assessments at baseline and after program completion via behavioral and psychosocial questionnaires exploring correlates of weight loss. The weight loss program included nutritional, physical and behavioral therapies. Surveys and scales assessed baseline major and daily life events as stressors that may affect weight loss. Pre-treatment perceived importance and actual engagement in weight loss behaviors - monitoring of eating behaviors, of meals and physical activity - also assessed. Multiple linear regression models were used, and an alpha (p-value) ≤0.05 determined statistical significance. Participants obtained clinically significant weight loss of 7% from baseline. Pretreatment engagement in weight loss behaviors (p<0.05) was a significant and independent predictor of weight loss; depression was negatively associated with weight loss (p<0.05). Major and daily stressors were not predictive of weight loss success. Baseline weight losing behaviors increase the likelihood of success; baseline depression decreases the likelihood of success in weight loss. Appropriate pre-treatment screening of behaviors and depression treatment may improve weight loss program success.


A specially designed light‐scattering photometer with a measurable angular range of 15°–140° and with a temperature control of better than 0.001°C was used to study the angular dependence of the scattered intensity from binary critical liquid mixtures, consisting of a homologous series of alkanes as one of the two components, and β,β′‐dichlorodiethyl ether (or chlorex) as the other component. Both components were purified by preparative gas chromatography and subsequent vacuum distillation. Special care was taken to prevent contamination of the systems from moisture. Scattering data were obtained by means of cylindrical light‐scattering cells of different diameters (6 and 8 mm i.d.), detectors of different slit‐widths (one set consisting of two slits: 1 × 10 mm each and 20 mm apart, and the other set: 0.5 × 10 mm each and 20 mm apart) and incident light of different wavelengths (λ0 = 365, 436, and 578 mμ). Phase diagrams for n‐decane–chlorex and n‐dodecane–chlorex were carefully determined in order to pro...


A method of attaching a light emitting power diode (1) having a base (2) composed mainly of copper, on a heat sink element (3) essentially made of copper, wherein the base (2) of the LED is attached to the radiating element (3) by laser welding points (11).


Real-time communications of high definition video with the available limited channel bandwidth is a fundamental requirement for modern mobile and wireless networks such as Wi-Fi, WiMax, 3G, LTE and the emerging 5G. To fulfill this requirement, H.264/AVC and High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) or H.265 standards have been implemented to achieve high error performance over wireless channels and large compression efficiency thereby optimizing channel bandwidth. The problem of establishing and maintaining reliable communication paths among mobile users employing multiclass bitstreams to achieve high spatial diversity and coding gains is a big challenge for researchers. In practice, multimedia standards employ data partitioning where different levels of importance are assigned to the multimedia content.
The problem of transmission of coded HEVC data over wireless channels employing MIMO technologies to maximize high spatial diversity and coding gains has not been explicitly explored in existing research works. Moreover, to meet the demand of 5G networks in providing ultra-reliable low latency communications it is required to study fully the performance of multimedia data over wireless channels. To this end we propose, in this paper, to study and analyze the performance of coded MIMO systems employing a triple-class bitstreams source namely a high priority, medium priority and low priority class. The objective of our study is to promote Unequal Error Protection (UEP) as well as spatial diversity of the coded bitstreams without sacrificing the channel bandwidth and increasing the computational complexity. Space-Time Block Codes with Orthogonal properties and Hierarchical or Multi-level 8PSK modulation are considered in our analysis and the adopted approach will be shown, through numerical evaluation and simulations, that excellent UEP capabilities as well as high spatial diversity gains can be achieved.
New Bit Error Rate (BER) expressions in closed form are derived for independent and identically distributed Rayleigh channel in the presence of Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN). Single and multiple fading channel reception systems with Maximum Ratio Combining (MRC) are considered. The simulations of our proposed UEP transmission model are designed and implemented in Matlab Simulink® R2017. It is shown that the most important priority data gives a coding gain of around 11 dB over the less important one at a BER of 10--6 for an 8-diversity order Orthogonal Space-Time Block Code (OSTBC) employing Hierarchical 8PSK modulation. This work can be extended to evaluate the error probability of multiuser coded systems for 4G and 5G networks.


Multi-material design is a key technology for lightweight design and calls for combining different materials such as steels, light metals and composites like carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) into load-bearing structures. Due to the minor chemical affinity of such materials and contact corrosion aspects, the design of an appropriate interface is a current challenge. Aiming on highly performant single-stage manufacturing processes, the paper presents investigations on several surface treatment techniques like a laser pretreatment, the use of primers and a sol-gel coating. Beside investigations on the achievable joint strengths, the corresponding joining concepts to facilitate the in-mould assembly of hybrid structures are validated. In this case the intrinsic manufacturing methods of the Resin Transfer Moulding (RTM) and the Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) technology are presented. Furthermore corrosion protection measures for CFRP and aluminum are analyzed via immersion and salt spray tests.


This work presents rules that allow using the information coming from the operated relays and breakers to make the estimate of sections in failure in electric systems of power (EPS). It is possible to identify faults in bars, transformers and lines. The knowledge about the EPS is stored in the bases of knowledge like Facts and the outlines of the relays like rules. The inference mechanism, written in language Prolog estimates the section in failure with the justification of each operation of the relays and breakers. For the identification of the sections in failure are proven a hypothesis group which are established in hierarchical form, in such way that can give answer to any created situation, even in the event of multiple faults or failure of operation of the relays and breakers.


Medication errors continue to be a problem involving patients in both primary and secondary care settings. Current evidence suggests that medication errors are costly and increasing (Dobrzanski et al, 2002). For this reason, the Department of Health (2001) aims to reduce the incidence of medication errors by approximately 40% by 2005. Prescribing medication is a relatively new task for nurse prescribers and because of this, vigilance with regard to prescription writing standards is required in order to avoid mistakes in the writing of prescriptions. Nurse prescribers need to maintain the currency of their knowledge in applied pharmacology and therapeutics in order to prevent prescribing errors that involve medications with complex pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profiles.


A procedure is presented for determining the stability of cars and children on flooded roadways. From specifications provided by car companies, buoyancy forces were determined for a range of water depths. A force balance was then established, linking the buoyant force, weight, frictional resistance, and drag force due to flowing water and the product of water velocity (V) and depth (D) at the point of instability was established. It is shown that this product varies with depth. The same procedure was applied to the case of children and all the results combined to produce a safe envelope of V x D versus D. The graph can be used as a design aid where streets must act as floodways in times of major flood events.


A novel method for multi-motor synchronous system based on CAN bus is presented. A controller of the electric vehicle with multi-brushless-DC-motor system is designed, and the strategy with the function of synchronous control is also completed. According to the requirement and characteristic of this system, the control structure is proposed, the communication protocol is designed, and the flow charts are also given. At the end of this paper, the experiment results verified that the multimotor system is reliable, the control strategy is rational, and the electric vehicle applied this multi-motor system has better dynamic response and higher reliability.


This report compares traditional PID controller and fuzzy PID controller with simulink on the basis of the control theories of traditional PID and fuzzy PID. In order to reduce the numbers of attempts, the simulation deduces one appropriate range of quantitative factor and proportionality factor under given object function through simulink. Simultaneously, this paper makes conclusion of influence of quantitative and proportionality factor to the system. In addition, this paper analyses the performance of quantitative factor and proportionality factor under specific external interference. The results of simulation show that appropriate quantitative and proportionality factors which have important affect on steady and dynamic characteristic of fuzzy PID controller.


In general, a deep learning needs a lot of samples. However, in a practical pattern recognition problem, the number of training samples is usually limited. We investigate the effect of an image data augmentation by a perspective transformation on a convolution neural network(CNN) for handwritten digit classification in a small training sample size situation. The experimental results show the effectiveness of the image data augmentation by the perspective transformation on the CNN for handwritten digit classification particularly in the small training sample size situation.


Support vector quantile regression (SVQR) is capable of providing a good description of the linear and nonlinear relationships among random variables. In this paper we propose a sparse SVQR to overcome a weak point of SVQR, nonsparsity. The asymmetric e-insensitive loss function is used to efficiently provide the sparsity Experimental results are then presented; these results illustrate the performance of the proposed method by comparing it with nonsparse SVQR.


We are interested in examining the social responsibility of education through an explorative study on a sample of teachers and students. Teachers should promote some values that conduct the behavior of students. Our ambition is to introduce the idea that the "citizenship" could be an explanatory framework of successful learning. Two arguments can justify our idea. First, the social orientation is yet established through our religions and reinforced by our parents. Culture and others some endogenous factors may encourage this social trend. Second, the citizenship is in its self the output of learning strategies. This indicates that active learning is inherent to social responsibility of active citizens teachers and thereby citizens students. So is important to reveal this problematic in order to stimulate our teachers together with students to pursue a social responsibility in their behaviors to get not only an actual citizen generation but also to ensure getting a future citizen generation. Through this study we hope influencing people, (teachers and students in particular) to act and be stimulated toward correct and responsible behavior.


The hydrogel poly(vinyl alcohol)-groft-poly[(rac-lactide)-co-glycolide)] [PVA-g-P(LGA)], containing nine ester groups in the polyester grafts (lactide:glycolide ratio 50:50) grafted onto PVA to an extent of 13%, and crosslinked via terminal acrylate groups was subjected to degradation experiments in phosphate buffer solution (pH 7.4) at room temperature and at 37°c during 8 weeks. In the course of degradation, the properties of the hydrogel change as a result of the decrease of the polyester content. The increased temperature has a significant influence on the degradation rate but its amount varies with the methods applied. Thus, a large drop of the elastic modulus takes place in samples degraded at 37 °C with time and relative to RT. Thermal and IR analysis show changes while the initial difference between two sets of samples in contact angle is reduced with time.


Brawn is no longer the pre-eminent qualification for the majority of jobs in the technical-vocational field; the ability to read technical manuals and to use computer applications is. Schools must provide literacy instruction to help students prepare for work in today's increasingly demanding environment.


Peptides of plant and animal origin have good anti-diabetic prospects. The research objective was to use bovine colostrum peptides to reduce hyperglycemia in diabetic rats.
Bovine colostrum peptides were obtained by trypsin hydrolysis of colostrum proteins with preliminary extraction of triglycerides. The study involved four groups of Wistar rats with seven animals per group. Group 1 served as control; group 2 received 300 mg/kg of trypsin hydrolysate of bovine colostrum as part of their daily diet for 30 days. Groups 3 and 4 had diabetes mellitus caused by intraperitoneal injections of 110 mg/kg of nicotinamide and 65 mg/kg of streptozotocin. Group 4 also received 300 mg/kg trypsin hydrolysate of bovine colostrum intragastrically five times a week for 30 days.
Three peptides were isolated from the trypsin hydrolysate of bovine colostrum and tested for the sequence of amino acids and molecular weight. Their identification involved the Protein NCBI database, followed by 2D and 3D modeling, which revealed their chemical profile, pharmacological properties, and antioxidant activity. The diabetic rats treated with colostrum peptides had lower glucose, glycated hemoglobin, malondialdehyde, and catalase activity but a higher content of glutathione in the blood. Their leukocytes and erythrocytes also demonstrated less deviation from the standard. The antioxidant effect of colostrum protein hydrolysate depended on a peptide with the amino acid sequence of SQKKKNCPNGTRIRVPGPGP and a mass of 8.4 kDa.
Colostrum peptides reduced hyperglycemia and oxidative stress in diabetic rats. The research revealed good prospects for isolating individual colostrum peptides to be tested for antidiabetic properties.


The core-ionization spectra of mixed Be-Mg clusters are computed by accurate ab initio methods. They are found to exhibit a variety of strong and unexpected effects originating from the presence of neighboring atoms of the same (native) or the other (foreign) element. The spectra reveal unusually low-lying intense satellites and the band shapes are sensitive to the local environment of the core-ionized atom. Foreign and native screening processes compete with each other resulting in specific spectral features which uniquely characterize the clusters.


Analysis of Repaired/strengthened R.C. Structures Using Composite Materials: Punching Shear2010Fibre reinforced plastics (FRP) have been used widely in civil engineering in order to improve the structural response (deformation and stress). Most of the current codes for the strengthening of RC structures do not provide enough provision for the design of the column-slab connections strengthened with externally bonded reinforcement (EBR) due to the lack of research covering this area. This study is to investigate, both experimentally and analytically, the effectiveness of bonding pre-stressed carbon fibre plates to the tension surface of concrete column-slab connections in both the serviceability and ultimate limit state. The experimental programme comprises five full-scale specimens that are designed and fabricated to simulate an interior column-slab connection. The prestressing technique, application procedure and prestressing device are described in detail in this study. Different prestressing forces are applied to the FRP plates bonded to the concrete substrate. The structural response of the strengthened specimens are compared with a reference specimen in terms of punching shear strength, deflection profile, strain, crack opening displacement and failure modes. Furthermore, a finite element model using ABAQUS is built to obtain a further insight into the punching behaviour of the test slabs. Both experimental and numerical results are compared, and a parametric study on the effect of the FRP-concrete interface on the structural integrity is conducted. Results are also compared with Eurocode 2 and ACI for the prediction of the punching strength. It was found that bonding of prestressed FRP plates to the tensile face of the concrete slabs improved the serviceability, but was not able to enhance the ultimate behaviour as much as the non-prestressed FRP plates. The development of the critical diagonal crack (CDC) was the main reason for diminishing the ultimate strength of the strengthened slabs.


In this paper we focus on fair value measurements in the Financial Crisis and its (continuing) aftermath. We consider different ways of measuring fair value; and we use the experience of economies under stress, and where markets deviate significantly from textbook models of symmetric information and perfect competition, to trace some perverse economic consequences of fair value measurement choices prescribed by accounting standard setters. We draw on anecdotal and case evidence from the banking crisis and its aftermath for the wider economy. The discussion focuses particularly on banks' balance sheets and then on pension liabilities across all sectors.


COPYRIGHT © 2023 Cárdaba and Pelaia. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Editorial: Impact of system biology and molecular medicine on the management of complex immune mediated respiratory diseases, volume II


ow{permeable materials is a known method for the reduction of airfoil aeroacoustic noise. Detailed acoustic measurements on the noise generation at the leading edge of porous airfoil models were performed in an open jet wind tunnel using microphone array measurement techniques and three{dimensional beamforming algorithms. A set of three dierent grids provided the required inow turbulence. Measurement results are presented for the noise generated at the leading edge of porous airfoils, which are characterized by their air ow resistivity, compared to a non{porous reference airfoil. The comparison of the leading edge noise spectra measured for the reference airfoil with theory yields good agreement. The results of the acoustic measurements show that porous airfoils with low air ow resistivities lead to a noticeable noise reduction, which is assumed to be caused by the larger pores of these materials compared to porous airfoils with a higher air ow resistivity.


as 2450-2200 CalBC (Phase 1), followed by a period of disuse (Phase 2, 2200-1700 CalBC). Use of the cemetery resumed 1700-1600 CalBC (Phase 3), with the heaviest period of use within 1600-1300 CalBC (Phase 4). Infrequent burials continue 1300-1000 CalBC (Phase 5). The heaviest phases of use represents the second half of the Middle Bronze Age and the beginning of the Late Bronze Age. Channeling, bosses, spirals, and other decorations form the core of this heavy usage between 1600 and 1300 CalBC. Gone to Pot: Stylistic breaks in a radiocarbon-based ceramic chronology for the Eastern Hungarian Bronze Age Paul R. Duffy, Universi ty of Toronto; Györgyi Parditka, Universi ty of Michigan; Just ine Tynan, Quinnipiac Universi ty; Ádám Balázs, Déri Museum


Background and Objectives: India, the second most populous country in the world, has two-thirds of its population living in rural areas. Rural women in developing countries like India have worse access to healthcare compared to their urban counterparts. We examined the association between place of residence and various pregnancy and birth outcomes among Indian women. Methods: We analyzed data from the 2015-2016 India Demographic and Health Survey (DHS). Socio-demographic and reproductive health-related information were obtained from Indian women of reproductive age. We calculated the prevalence of selected pregnancy and birth outcomes among the study participants. We conducted adjusted survey log binomial regression to determine the level of association between place of residence and various pregnancy and birth outcomes. Results: About 66.4% of the survey responders resided in villages. When adjusted for covariates, rural women had increased likelihood of experiencing miscarriage, stillbirth, early neonatal, late neonatal and infant mortality as compared to urban women. Urban women had 22% higher likelihood (PR = 1.22, 95% CI=1.10-1.35) of having an abortion as compared to rural dwellers. Conclusion and Global Health Implications: Despite India's extensive efforts to improve maternal and reproductive health, wide geographical disparities exist between its urban and rural population. Interventions at various socio-ecologic and cultural levels, along with improved health literacy, access to improved health care and sanitation need attention when formulating and implementing policies and programs for equitable progress towards improved maternal and reproductive health.


This paper proposes an improved auction algorithm to optimize the efficiency of dynamic weapon target assignment (WTA) problem. Firstly, the dynamic battlefield environment of firepower-health model is analyzed and the constraints of weapon assignment problem are established. The firepower-health model is about the idea of adding constraints of weapon firepower and target health to promote the result of assignment more effectively. Secondly, in order to improve the computing speed of WTA algorithm, the penalty mechanism is introduced in the compensation auction algorithm. The main idea of improved algorithm is to reduce the extra consuming of the weapon during the assignment, from which penalty mechanism can optimize the assignment results and reduce the number of algorithm iterations by punishing the overkilled target under certain rules. Finally, the simulation results based on the dynamic firepower-health model show that the proposed algorithm can meet the requirements of firepower allocation, and can promote the effectiveness of assignment with high real-time response.


The purpose of this study is to apply some new RBF collocation schemes and recently-developed kernel RBFs to various types of partial differential equation systems. By analogy with the Fasshauer's Hermite interpolation, we recently developed the symmetric BKM and boundary particle methods (BPM), where the latter is based on the multiple reciprocity principle. The resulting interpolation matrix of them is always symmetric irrespective of boundary geometry and conditions. Furthermore, the proposed direct BKM and BPM apply the practical physical variables rather than expansion coefficients and become very competitive alternative to the boundary element method. On the other hand, by using the Green integral we derive a new domain-type symmetrical RBF scheme called as the modified Kansa method (MKM), which differs from the Fasshaure's scheme in that the MKM discretizes both governing equation and boundary conditions on the same boundary nodes. Therefore, the MKM significantly reduces calculation errors at nodes adjacent to boundary with explicit mathematical basis. Experimenting these novel RBF schemes with 2D and 3D Laplace, Helmholtz, and convection-diffusion problems will be subject of this study. In addition, the nonsingular high-order fundamental or general solution will be employed as the kernel RBFs in the BKM and MKM.


Interrelation between the contents of mineral compounds and organic acids to quality of German and Japanese wines was investigated. Minerals and organic acids in German quality wines (Qua litatswein mit Pradikat, 28 samples) and Japanese ordinary wines (18 samples) were analyzed. The results were as follows; (The figures were based on per liter of wines.) The mean contents of main minerals (K, Mg, Ca) in German wines were 1309, 150 and 109mg, respectively and K and Mg were found more abundantly in higher quality wines.


After analyzing the noise model in the shaped fiber image, a denoising scheme is presented to smooth the Gaussian noise and impulsive noise in the image. This scheme is based on Total Variation algorithm and median filtering, can keep the information of fiber edges while denoising. Meanwhile, based on the threshold of the parameters, the efficiency of the algorithm and the effects of denoising is well balanced. The experimental result shows the good performance of the proposed algorithm.


Eribulin mesylate is approved for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer after progression with anthracyclines and taxanes. Here we report the case of a woman with triple-negative breast cancer who, after nine lines of chemotherapy, showed striking primary tumor shrinkage and regression of metastatic lesions with eribulin treatment. This response allowed the patient to undergo debulking surgery. Even though the patient was heavily pretreated, eribulin was well tolerated and improved her quality of life. Biological analysis of tumor specimens was performed to investigate the underlying mechanism of action of the drug.


In recent years, the increasing sophistication of detection and tracking systems with multiple sensors has generated a great deal of interest in the development of new computational structures and strategies. The design of such spatially distributed systems involves the integration of solutions to the problems in data-association, hypothesis testing, data fusion, etc. More importantly, the design of efficient algorithms for these problems becomes all important issue as numerous distributed computational framework models are developed. In this paper, we present a survey of the recent research work conducted on the distributed sensor networks (DSNs) ranging from multi-sensor fusion methods, through target location, complexities of sensor deployment, probabilistic optimal surveillance to mobile agent based DSN (MADSN).


Introduction: Highland paterae [1-2] represent one of the most distinctive landforms on the Martian surface. The term patera (paterae if plural) was originally applied to any large, flat-floored depression with irregular margins identified in Mariner 9 and Viking imagery and included volcanoes as well as impact craters [3]. However, highland paterae represent an individual class of patera that is volcanic in origin and concentrated mostly around the Hellas basin region [1-3]. This class of patera includes Tyrrhena, Hadriaca, Amphitrites, and Peneus Paterae and is characterized by very low slopes of <1° to ~1.5° that are deeply in-cised by channel complexes which are radial to a prominent central caldera [3-5]. The similar morphologies and characteristics of these four paterae suggest a common origin that, based on the presence of abundant channels that cut into an apparently easily erodible surface, may have included explosive activity with effusive eruptions likely occurring later in their eruptive history [4-5]. They are among the oldest central vent volcanoes on Mars [6-7] and may represent a transition from flood lava eruptions, which dominated the early volcanic history of Mars, to more localized eruptions [4]. Here, I describe a recently started project that addresses the processes involved in the volcanic evolution of Martian highland paterae. These processes include the style(s) of volcanic eruptions, processes involved in caldera formation, and the construction and subsequent erosion of the edifice. Specifically here, I focus on Apollinaris Patera. Although Apolli-naris Patera, which is located along the northern low-land-southern highland transition, was not originally classified as a highland patera [i.e., 3; see also, 8], it contains many similar morphologic aspects including a large central caldera and extensively channeled and dissected flanks [8]. Thus, it may have an origin similar to Tyrrhena, Hadriaca, Amphitrites, and Peneus Paterae. Motivation: The broad, low-sloped, heavily chan-neled flanks of highland paterae make them an intriguing class of central vent volcanoes on Mars [i.e., 3]. Based on crater modeled ages of ~3.5 Ga [9-10], they also represent some of the oldest recognized central vent volcanoes on the planet. Therefore, studying highland paterae is critical because they further our understanding of Martian volcanic systems by providing a glimpse into volcanic processes on early Mars. In addition, because the constructs have existed for a majority of the planet's history, they undoubtedly must


Using a microfluidic method, it was found that YAP and TAZ are novel regulators of single-cell size and act independently of mTOR. YAP also influences cell cytoplasmic pressure and acts together with cytoskeletal tension to influence cell cycle progression.


Placing central venous catheters (CVCs) with ultrasound guidance is a widely accepted strategy to lower the number of mechanical complications, such as


The title deed for land and cliff sculpture in Eastern Han Jianchu Period in Tiaoshan, Fusheng , Shaoxing is the only Han cliff sculpture with unambiguous date, and it is the earliest and biggest title deed for land, so it is a double treasure of Han sculpture. Though tracing back to the discovering and using historical materials, the author discusses the cliff sculpture's value and status in epigraphy, plutonomy and calligraphy art.


The invention discloses a sitagliptin phosphate analog I preparation method, which comprises: dissolving a compound II in an organic solvent A, adding a reducing agent, carrying out a reaction for 25-35 min at a temperature of 0-40 DEG C, adjusting the pH value to 1-2, separating and purifying to obtain an intermediate, dissolving the intermediate in an organic solvent B, adding a dehydrating agent and an alkali at a temperature of 0-5 DEG C, carrying out a reaction for 20-25 h at a temperature of 0-40 DEG C, and separating and purifying to obtain the compound I. According to the present invention, the preparation method has characteristics of simple steps and high yield, wherein the sitagliptin phosphate analog I with the purity of more than 99% is obtained and can be used as the reference substance for quality analysis of the sitagliptin phosphate finished product so as to easily control the impurity and improve the quality of the finished product. The compounds I and II are defined in the specification.


Poverty-agriculture institutional nexus still becomes serious issue in developing countries and Indonesia is no exception, especially for cocoa smallholders development. Poverty trap for cocoa smallholders is a result of: (i) low quality of human resources, (ii) lack of agricultural assets, (iii) lack of access to social facilities, information and communication, and (iv) lack of income gained in economic activity. All this, however, cannot be separated of the weak role and inter-agency coordination, indicating the weak of smallholders institutional. By employing an Interpretative Structural Modeling (ISM), the research objectives are; (i) identifying the role of institutions in agriculture institutional, (ii) assessing the interest of education and training materials in smallholder development. The central point of ISM results show that, (i) Local Office for Forestry and Estate (Hutbun), (ii) Local Field Extension Officer for Plantation (PPL), and (iii) Marketing Institutions are the key institution actors in strengthening agriculture institutional of cocoa smallholders. This leads us to argue that maximizing the role of Hutbun, PPL, and Marketing Institutions could help smallholder institutional development, improving welfare in other words. Similarly, the role of education and training is also needed in helping smallholders. ISM results revealed that, materials set of (i) post-harvest management, (ii) marketing, and (iii) provision of agriculture inputs are the key elements in educating smallholders. An important implication of this finding is that, introducing materials of post-harvest management & fermentation, agriculture input provision, and marketing aspect in educating and training smallholders, could become a potential way to strengthen agriculture institutional towards cocoa smallholders welfare.


A zero discharge seawater desalination approach still appears to be very optimistic, especially when it comes to the large volumes of product water and associated brine (concentrate) that requires appropriate disposal. In addition to this, and although the technology advancements of mining for precious metals from brine show promising potential, it is still a challenge to use a single method to selectively extract valuable minerals from complex brine matrices. These two alternatives, (i) zero discharge and/ or (ii) mining for minerals (from brine) may not be the best selections when designing underwater discharge structures (at least for the foreseeable future). With the aim to protect the marine environment, regulations have been set to regulate the brine discharges and defining environmental criteria in the area close to the outfall. It was however noted, that such criteria are often adopted from generic benchmarks and sometimes from unadoptable locations. Robust and in situ research on the effects of the brine effluent on the marine environment is also lacking. Recent surveys, however, suggest that the ecological impact of brine outfalls can be very limited or even result in an improvement of biodiversity and marine abundance on the outfall structure. Such observations suggest that some environmental criteria may be archaic, which may result in needlessly expensive outfall designs. Additionally, the hard substrate that the outfall structure provides appears to be a good habitat for the enhancement of marine growth. We therefore propose, instead of only aiming to minimize impact, also to promote the ecological habitat function by optimizing the design criteria of underwater discharge structures. Our paper presents first guidelines/examples (of shapes and material use (e.g., Coating with eco concrete)) to promote coral growth, nursery ground for fish, etc. Furthermore, we provide initial ideas for the treatment of the desalination effluent to help the advancement of such marine habitats.


The invention relates to a process for operating a guided vertical chill, especially for casting steel, which is run in oscillation by a lifting device. According to the invention, the driving force (F), the lift position (x) and/or the lifting speed (v) of the chill are measured, a chill lifting movement is preset in a computer model as a reference and finally a difference in the lifting movement of the chill, representing the amount of frictional force between the casting shell and the chill, is taken via a circuit to actuators as a control value. The invention also relates to a continuous casting device for carrying out the process.


Twenty two subjects were required to see and identify the location of coloured discs superimposed on projected colour scenes of the urban road traffic environment. The discs were 33 minute of arc in diameter and located at one of four locations 6 degrees or 14 degrees to the right and left of the centre of the scene with the aid of a fixation point on a uniform field projected between presentation of the scenes. The purpose of the study was to establish the relative contribution of the four colours (red, blue, yellow and green) to conspicuity. It was found that the coloured discs were no more conspicuous than neutral discs of the same luminances with the exception of green discs at 6 degrees eccentricity. This is a different result from that of forbes et al. (1978) And odescalchi (1960) who found red and yellow colours (but not other colours) contributed sufficiently to compensate for the loss of conspicuity due to the lower luminance of coloured objects compared to white ones. Further work is needed but it seems that at best colour does not provide any net gains to conspicuity and its role is that of identifying the object and conveying information as a colour code.


With increased focus on the global computing infrastructure's vulnerability to cyber-attacks - the time is right for security integration across the computer science curriculum to contribute to a cyber-ready workforce. The challenges to integrating security into computer science (CS) curriculum are significant---lack of faculty to teach security, a dearth of effective teaching resources, and little room to spare in CS curriculum. This article describes an initiative that aims to develop faculty expertise in cybersecurity, provide a library of resources for security education, and build a community of CS educators to prepare computing graduates to meet current and future cybersecurity challenges.


This essay examines the treatment of honour in Behn's 1688 novella and argues that the texts' conservative, loyalist politics are undermined by its reliance on the unstable discourse of honour.


A spacing-adjustable ground wire clamp relates to a ground wire clamp and is used to mainly solve the inconvenient ground connection problem of busbars of different thicknesses during power maintenance operation. The spacing-adjustable ground wire clamp comprises an upper wire-clamp contact, a movable contact, a lower wire-clamp contact and a ground wire crimping plate. The upper wire-clamp contact and the lower wire-clamp contact are arranged in parallel up and down and are fixed in a chute on the ground wire crimping plate through screws fixed on the side surfaces. In addition, the movable contact is arranged between the upper and lower wire-clamp contacts. A spring is arranged between the movable contact and the lower wire-clamp contact. The lower part of the ground wire crimping plate is provided with a bolt connected with a ground wire. Through a clamping space enclosed by the upper wire-clamp contact and the movable contact and by the compression effect of the spring, the inconvenient ground connection problem of busbars of different thicknesses during power maintenance operation is effectively solved.


Steganography is not only the art of hiding the secret message in a cover media but also the existence of communication and secure data transferring. Today, there exist a lot of steganography techniques for building the secure data transferring communication between sender and receiver, but all of them are challenged and encountered by the steganalysis. This paper proposes a new secure technique flash video file (FLV) steganography that keeps the frame video quality and statistical undetectability. It looks to hide a secret message of any type inside a given FLV file. The secret message is divided into packets of the same length, reordered the packet bytes and then encrypted the bytes before hiding them at the end of a random selected video tags. The proposed method analyses the cover FLV file in order to find out the number and location of each video tag and then the data of secret message will be distributed randomly inside the random video tags through the Linear Congruent Generator (LCG) random generator. The existence of secret message is hard to be detected by the intruders or steganalysis due to the correct pre-knowledge that must be available for the receiver about the manipulation process, those knowledge are: the packets number, the packet length, the key of reordering secret message bytes, the key of video tag selection, the key agreement of decrypting method, the secret message length and the message extension. Experiment results explained that, the proposed technique satisfied the main requirements of steganography; visual appearance, modification rate, capacity, undetectability and robustness against extraction. It reached the maximum capacity for hiding the secret message with a modification rate equals 0.018.


Objective To explore the clinical features of silicosis on gem processing workers(GWS). Methods Analysis was applied on the clinical features of 90 GWS inpatients coming from 11 gem processing factories in Guangdong. Results The age of being diagnosed as silicosis and the duration of dust exposure in the cases were (27 99±4 86) years and (5 54±1 92) years respectively. Respiratory system symptoms were obvious with slight signs. Chest radiographic examination showed mainly small round opacities "q" and 13 cases were seen cotton patchy shadows. Some patients were complicated with pulmonary tuberculosis (12 22%), spontaneous pneumothorax (7 78%) or pulmonary emphysema (36 67%). Pulmonary ventilation capacity in 43 cases (47 78%) were damaged, which mainly expressed as the type of obstruction. 61 11% of cases were diagnosed as complete loss of labour capacity. Conclusion It was concluded that the features of silicosis in gem processing workers were young, short duration of dust exposure, high misdiagnosis rate, much complication, quick chest radiographic changes and poor prognosis. The hazards of gem dust on workers was serious. Moreover, great attention should be paid to prevention of GWS.


New powerful observational techniques require a careful planning of observing programmes. These requirements will be met within the proposed project MASCOT, A Multi-wavelength All-Sky Catalogue for Observations with groundand space-based Telescopes. MASCOT will be based on the world's largest digitized all-sky survey containing astrometric and photometric data, USNO-A V2.0, which will be cross-identified with catalogued astronomical objects (extragalactic sources, variable stars, double stars, pulsars, high proper motion stars, nearby stars, Solar System objects, Hipparcos/Tycho catalogue objects) as well as with major non-optical (radio, IR, UV, X-ray) surveys. A world-wide access to MASCOT will be provided via standard Internet tools.


Implementing fractional delay filters in FPGA needs a cost-effective approach. This paper tries to clarify a misconception in fractional delay filter design, especially the phase delay and group delay behavior of low pass and high pass filters. Starting with the ideal filter frequency response, followed by practical filter simulation, two important delay factors are compared side by side. Mathematical models and algorithms are derived to establish the relation between phase delay and group delay of high pass filters. Some application tips are given at the end of the paper.


The experiment undertaken at the Ramakrishna Mission's educational campus at Coimbatore, India, targeted developing pre-cast elements for masonry walls that will: reduce construction time; give stony outer appearance to walls; and use environmentally friendly methods, raw materials, and currently available technology. This paper describes methods and equipment for manufacture of pre-cast elements from coursed rubble stones and concrete, called here the Pre-Cast Coursed Rubble (PCCR) blocks, developed during the experiment. It will be clear that use of these blocks in walls speeds construction, requires less skilled labour, improves appearance, and reduces material and labour costs.


(3 ⁄36, 8.33%) presented with adverse events (erythema on eyelids, lips and perioral area that disappeared after 1–2 weeks) at week 1. Folliculitis was found in two of nine patients who received mometasone furoate cream (perioral area and forehead). In summary, the present study shows that tacrolimus ointment is effective and safe for the treatment of vitiligo with homogeneous repigmentation of the lesions. Especially lesions in thin, tender regions responded better to the tacrolimus therapy than the other areas. This study also showed that tacrolimus ointment therapy was effective in both active and stable stages and the efficacy of tacrolimus and hormone therapy was equivalent. Many studies also have shown that there is no statistically significant difference in clinical efficacy between topical tacrolimus and topical hormone. The present study also shows that the treatment of vitiligo with tacrolimus ointment is safe, with only three of 36 patients having slight, transient adverse events from which they recovered within 1–2 weeks. We suggest that topical tacrolimus ointment is an effective and well-tolerated alternative therapy for vitiligo especially involving the thin, tender regions. Because the number of patients in this study is insufficient, a multicenter, randomized double-blind and placebocontrolled clinical study will still be needed.


Keyphrases are single or multi-word expressions that represent the main content of a document. Key- phrases are useful in many applications such as document indexing or text summarization. However, most documents are not provided with keyphrases. To tackle this problem, researchers propose methods to automatically extract keyphrases from documents of various nature. In this paper, we focus on the difficulty of automatic keyphrase extraction in scienti- fic papers from various areas. Using five corpora representing five areas (archaeology, linguistics, information sciences, psychology and chemistry), we observe the difficulty scale and analyze factors inducing a higher or a lower difficulty. Mots-cles : Extraction de termes-cles, articles scientifiques, domaines de specialite, methodes non-supervisees.


In this paper, we study one-dimensional Wiener sausage. Using the property of Brownian motion and the contraction principle , we get moderate deviations and law of the iterated logarithm for the length of intersection of p one-dimensional Wiener sausages.


Conventional methods for surveying diadromous fish migration from marine coastal waters to freshwater habitats are mainly based on electrofishing, a non‐optimal technique for the study of fish migrations in rivers, and fishermen catch data. Underwater video has been recognized for a long time as a good alternative, but those approaches usually require intensive labour for retrieving the information from the video sequences. To overcome these problems, an underwater video system specifically designed for field work (low‐weight, low‐cost and autonomous) named BichiCAM has been developed for automatically counting, measuring and tracking fish observed in video sequences. The efficiency and precision of the BichiCAM system were tested by filming Sicyopterus lagocephalus juveniles passing through the camera field of vision in the Saint‐Etienne River, Reunion Island, Western Indian Ocean. The BichiCAM system accurately measured fish length of the observed individuals when lens distortion of the camera was corrected, and the error percentages on the measurements presented a standard deviation of 5.1% of the total length. The BichiCAM system provides a powerful tool that will not only facilitate research on migrating fishes and invertebrates' communities but also allow studies of the effectiveness of fishways associated to dams or the impacts of fishery activities. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


(57) Abstract: microcontroller core, an internal memory unit, all I / O pads interface unit and a number of I / O pads microcontroller formed on a single monolithic silicon substrate is presented. Internal memory unit is configured to store data. Chip select unit in the microcontroller core generates an internal chip selection dedicated to enable the storing operation in the internal memory unit (ICS♯). Major operating parameters of the internal memory unit is stored in a single programmable internal memory chip select registers located in the chip select unit (IMCSR). The size of the internal memory unit is fixed, eliminating the need to store the size information. Internal memory chip select register contains the base address field. Base address field contains the minimum number of most significant bits of the base address of internal memory units required to define that the internal memory unit is mapped to any non-overlapping sections of the physical address space. How to access the internal memory unit allows for backward compatibility with existing microcontroller product. Microcontroller core also includes an execution unit and a bus interface unit. The execution unit microprocessor instructions, preferably executes instructions from the x86 instruction set. Bus interface unit handles all data transfer operation for the microcontroller core in accordance with established protocols. I / O pad interface unit provides a microcontroller having an off over chip data transfer capability, the written data thereto or to read data from the external device to the microprocessor.


This manual describes the installation and use of the Xyce ™ XDM Netlist Translator. XDM simplifies the translation of netlists generated by commercial circuit simulator tools into Xyce-compatible netlists. XDM currently supports translation from PSpice, HSPICE, and Spectre netlists into Xyce ™ netlists.


Current Information Retrieval models do not directly incorporate context, which is instead managed by means of techniques juxtaposed to indexing or retrieval. In this paper, direct modeling of context is addressed by proposing the full recover of the notion of vector space base, whose role has been understated in the formulation and investigation of the Vector Space Model. A base of a vector space models document or query content descriptors. Moreover the semantics of content descriptors depends on context. Therefore a baseof a vector space is the construct to model context . Also, change of context can be modeled by linear transformations from one base to another. Matrix algebra can thus by employed to process context, its evolution and application. In particular, Relevance Feedback is shown to be an example of context change.


Chromosomal DNA of two dinoflagellate species, Gyrodinium cohnii and Prorocentrum micans, were studied electron microscopically. As suggested earlier, chromosomal DNA was shown to be composed of circular DNA molecules each representing a single chromatid of the polytenic chromosomes of these species. The chromatids released by dodecyl sulphate lysis were highly twisted and consequently the number of superhelical turns per circle could not be determined. Chromatids of Gyrodinium ranged from 25 μm to 35 μm and were 130–160 μm in Prorocentrum. Calculations based on quantitative DNA analysis and chromosome numbers suggest that the degree of polyteny in Gyrodinium is about 700 and in Prorocentrum about 1300. Their haploid DNA amounts are 3000 μm of double helix in Gyrodinium and 9860 μm in Prorocentrum or 2.1 and 7.0 times, respectively, that of the bacterium Escherichia coli.


Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) transdifferentiate into osteoblast‐like cells during vascular cal‐cification, inducing active remodeling and calcification of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Intracellular and extracellular enzymes, such as lysyl hydroxylase 1 (PLOD1) and lysyl oxidase (LOX), contribute to ECM maturation and stabilization. We assessed the contribution of these enzymes to hyperphosphatemia‐induced calcification. Human and murine VSMCs were differentiated into functional osteoblast‐like cells by high‐phosphate medium (HPM) conditioning. HPM promoted ECM calcification and up‐regulated osteoblast markers associated with induction of LOX and PLOD1 expression and with an increase in ECM‐insoluble collagen deposition. Murine VSMCs from transgenic mice overexpressing LOX (TgLOX) exhibited an increase in HPM‐dependent calcification and osteoblast commitment compared with wild‐type cells. Similarly, enhanced HPM‐induced calcification was detected in aorta from TgLOX. Conversely, β‐aminopropionitrile (a LOX inhibitor) and LOX knockdown abrogated VSMC calcification and transdifferentiation. We found a significant positive association between LOX expression and vascular calcification in human atherosclerotic lesions. Likewise, 2, 2′‐dipyridil (a PLOD inhibitor) and PLOD1 knockdown impaired HPM‐induced ECM mineralization and osteoblast commitment. Our findings identify LOX and PLOD as critical players in vascular calcification and highlight the importance of ECM remodeling in this process.—Jover, E., Silvente, A., Marín, F., Martínez‐González, J., Orriols, M., Martinez, C. M., Puche, C. M., Valdés, M., Rodriguez, C., Hernaindez‐Romero, D. Inhibition of enzymes involved in collagen cross‐linking reduces vascular smooth muscle cell calcification. FASEB J. 32, 4459–4469 (2018). www.fasebj.org


Contention Free Bursting (CFB) is an innovative Quality-of-Service (QoS) scheme specified in the IEEE 802.11e standard. To reduce the contention overheads, this scheme enables the stations that gain the channel to transmit multiple frames back-to-back in a burst. Most existing analytical models of the CFB scheme have been developed under the assumption of identical stations with saturated traffic loads. In this paper, we present an analytical model for investigating the performance metrics of throughput, end-to-end delay, loss probability, and energy consumption of the CFB scheme in the presence of non- identical stations with different traffic generation rates. The model is validated against extensive ns2 simulation experiments. Numerical performance results demonstrate the efficiency of the CFB scheme for improving the network performance. presented an analytical model for the CFB scheme under saturated conditions. The assumption of saturation traffic loads implies that all stations in the network always have frames to transmit. However, realistic network conditions are non- saturated as very few networks are in a situation where all nodes have frames to send all the time. Moreover, stations in realistic networks are non-identical with different traffic generation rates. Therefore, it is important to remove the assumption of identical stations with saturation traffic in order to obtain a realistic and deep understanding of the performance of the CFB scheme. This paper develops an analytical model for the CFB scheme in WLANs in the presence of non-identical stations with various traffic generation rates. The model is able to obtain the QoS performance metrics including throughput, end- to-end delay, and loss probability of the WLANs with the non- identical stations. The energy consumption per successful frame transmission is explicitly analyzed through the proposed model. Moreover, we investigate the efficiency of the CFB scheme and evaluate the impact of TXOP differentiation on the performance of WLANs.


: The adjustment measures include closing or opening new routes, but not adding new logistics sites. To achieve dynamic adjustment of the logistics network's route structure, including the closure or development of new routes, the aim is to minimize the number of routes affected by changes in cargo volume before and after the closure of DC9, while maintaining a balanced workload among the routes. Therefore, an Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm model is established, and MATLAB and SPSSPRO are utilized to solve the prepared table based on the ACO model. The obtained routes DC69→DC5, DC69→DC8, DC69→DC14, and DC69→DC62 have a cargo conformity rate of 97%, with an average route workload of around 7%. The remaining cargo across all routes is 11,280.7. This indicates that the overall results remain unaffected after deleting DC9 and adding the new route DC3→DC1, with no routes exceeding the required conformity, satisfying the practical requirements. Next, an evaluation is conducted to assess the importance of different logistics sites and routes within the network. Taking into account basic conditions, such as parcel quantities, transport frequencies, maximum transport capacities, transfer capacities, and other influencing factors, a TOPSIS (Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) analysis model is constructed. The processed table is used to analyze the network's robustness, determining appropriate settings for processing and transport capacities. The objective is to reduce the overall operating costs of the network while ensuring a more balanced distribution of network workload.


R. D. Laing's impact on the mental health profession over the last quarter of a century has been both complex and diverse. There is nevertheless one consistent and prevalent theme that has persisted in all of Laing's books that is readily discernible to anyone who is familiar with his message. Simply put, Laing's work is epitomized by his opposition to the use of any intervention that runs the risk of alienating one's patients from the very people who are trying to help them. Laing believed that many of the tools customarily employed by psychiatrists and psychotherapists, unbeknownst to themselves, often objectify the patients they treat. Those patients are made to feel less like persons who are desperately seeking their emancipation than treatment "entities" who are molded into a preconceived scheme. The most telling feature of Laing's clinical technique was his radical — some would say provocative — efforts to eliminate the enormous gulf that customarily exists between therapists and their patients. This is why Laing insisted that it is important to behave in such a way that reassures one's patients that they are in the presence of another human being like themselves; a person who is no doubt more together, but who nonetheless shares the same day-to-day concerns —and the same kind of pain. To whom was Laing indebted for this markedly ethical imperative in his work? While his intellectual influences can be traced to a variety of sources — Eastern


The primary purposes of this study were: (1) to determine the extent to which the strategic marketing planning process is being used in the Greek professional sport sector (football and basketball clubs), (2) to identify the key factors that discourage the Greek professional sport clubs from engaging in strategic marketing planning activities, (3) to identify the main similarities and key differences between the two samples and (4) to examine the relationship between the three levels of marketing planning and selected variables: (a) business performance, (b) managers' educational background and (c) managers' work experience.The questionnaire instrument was developed by the researcher based on the reviewed literature on strategic marketing planning as well as on input and suggestions from reviews offered by a selected panel of experts. Twenty two professional sport clubs (football and basketball clubs), which had continuous attendance in the first division of Greek Championships (Super league and A1, respectively) during the last three years (from 2007 to 2010), were surveyed. Responses were received from twenty one professional sport clubs with a response rate of 95,5 percent.The findings of the study were as follows:1.The strategic marketing planning process is applied to a little extent, as only the 23,8 percent of the Greek professional sport clubs were identified as strategic marketing planners.2.Professional sport clubs need to invest more on marketing strategies that play important role on company's success, such as service and product quality, new technology and the Internet, human resources, sport sponsorship.3.Insufficient training and lack of knowledge in planning procedures, insufficient financial resources, lack of marketing planning policy and resistance to planning by club's personnel, comprise the most important factors that discourage Greek professional sport clubs from engaging in strategic marketing planning.4.There was no statistically significant difference in the implementation of the strategic marketing planning process between basketball and football clubs.5.Professional sport cubs that were identified as strategic marketing planners had strong and positive relationship with the two general categories of business performance (satisfaction related to current year's objectives and satisfaction related to competitors). In the third category (satisfaction related to the last financial year's objectives), the relationship between business performance of sport clubs and the level of marketing planners was not statistically significant, however the mean of business performance of the strategic marketing planners was much higher than the mean of the other two groups of marketing planners (operational and intuitive marketing planners).6.The level of marketing planning was related to managers' educational background. 7.Finally, the level of marketing planning was not related to managers' work experience.%%%%Οι πρωταρχικοί σκοποί της μeλέτης ήταν: (1) να καθοριστeί ο βαθμός στον οποίο η διαδικασία του…


A Mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is a set of nodes that communicate together in a cooperative way using the wireless medium, and without any central administration. Due to its inherent open nature and the lack of infrastructure, security is a complicated issue compared to other networks. That is, these networks are vulnerable to a a wide range of attacks at different network layers. At the network level, malicious nodes can perform several attacks ranging from passive eavesdropping to active interfering. Wormhole is an example of severe attack that has attracted much attention recently. It involves the redirection of traffic between two end-nodes through a Wormhole tunnel, and manipulates the routing algorithm to give illusion that nodes located far from each other are neighbors. To handle with this issue, we propose a novel detection model to allow a node to check whether a presumed shortest path contains a Wormhole tunnel or not. Our approach is based on the fact that the Wormhole tunnel reduces significantly the length of the paths passing through it.


This paper presents the investigation of an extrinsic optical fibre bending sensor for dynamic spine bending measurement in 2D planes. The sensor consists of one input fibre and three output fibres, confined in two modified holders. The spine bending causes the tilting angle between these two fibres to change, thus modulating the light intensity propagating in each output fibre. The output ratio between the output fibres is applied to represent the bending angle as well as to provide signal referencing for the optical fibre sensor. The study shows that the fabricated sensor is capable of measuring the spine movement in flexion, extension and lateral directions continuously.


Mind the gap: Israel straddles the gap between Western medicine and Middle-Eastern cultural and political challenges. Maintaining state-of-the-art paediatric rehabilitation in an era of economic and political constrictions is described and analysed in this review.


ArianeGroup GmbH is developing a neutralizer with rf-ionization instead of thermionic electron emitters for their RIT-μX propulsion system. The RIT-μN neutralizer is designed to serve multiple RIT-μX thrusters at the same time. An introduction in the RIT-μX concept and its typical applications is given followed by a discussion of the basics of neutralization. RIT-μN is described and the corresponding test program is presented. The test program is part of a project in the frame of the European Space Agency's Global Study and Technology Program. A brief summary of the project completes the publication.


The goal of this dissertation is to investigate the process of verbal monitoring. Specifically, this thesis investigates whether internal and external monitoring proceeds via the same, perception-based process, as proposed by the perceptual loop theory. We compare verbal internal and external monitoring with the use of eye-tracking, fMRI and Parkinson patient data. The data obtained suggest that verbal monitoring is not perception based, and that is a domain general process. We therefore propose the improvement of current monitoring models by describing a domain general monitoring mechanism for internal monitoring and external monitoring, by which conflict is resolved in a process-independent manner.


This research aims at: (1) finding out whether talking book technique improves the students' reading comprehension of SMP N 24 Surakarta in Academic Year of 2014/2015 and (2) describing how talking book technique improves the students' reading comprehension of SMP N 24 Surakarta in Academic Year of 2014/2015. The method used in this research was a classroom Action Research. The research was conducted in two cycles to VIII – F grade of SMP N 24 Surakarta from June to July 2015. In collecting the data, the researcher used observation, interview, field note, and test (pre – test and post – test). In analyzing the data, t – test formula was employed to calculate the mean score of pre – test and post – test. In this study, the researcher applied talking book techniques to improve the students' reading comprehension. Talking book is learning method to make students work in discussion. Then the researcher collected the results of the students score and participation in learning reading of VIII-F class of SMP N 24 Surakarta. Based on the results, the reading comprehension of the students of VIII-F class of SMP N 24 Surakarta through talking book techniques has improved. The results of mean scores are pre – test (51,19), post – test 1 (67,77) and post – test 2 (70,03). Then the t-test value of cycle 1 is (80,51)and t-test value of cycle 2 is (13,65). Based on the finding, it can be concluded that the application of the talking book techniques can improve the students' reading comprehension of VIII–F Grade students in SMP N 24 Surakarta. Keywords :Reading Comprehension, Talking Book Technique, and Classroom Action Research.


The development of county economy is the key to national economy and the base of building well-off society comprehensively.Though the development of county economy of Langfang achieved some experiences,its level is low and unbalanced as a whole.Thus all the counties of Langfang need to increase their economic development and comprehensive competitiveness through forming characteristics,changing dual structure,developing recycling economy,economy of industrial park,and national economy,and enhancing infrastructure and soft environment.


We consider a metallic wire coupled to two metallic electrodes via two junctions placed nearby. A bias voltage applied to one of such junctions alters the electron distribution function in the wire in the vicinity of another junction thus modifying both its noise and the Coulomb blockade correction to its conductance. We evaluate such interaction corrections to both local and non-local conductances demonstrating non-trivial Coulomb anomalies in the system under consideration. Experiments on non-local electron transport with Coulomb effects can be conveniently used to test inelastic electron relaxation in metallic conductors at low temperatures.


The synthesis of the phosphoramidites and H-phosphonates of imidazoyl derivatives, including histidine and imidazoleacetic acid, blocked at the imidazole and amino groups and connected by a hexane linker arm, are described. These synthons have been used to synthesise novel 3'-conjugated thymidine derivatives using 5'-(dimethoxytrityl)thymidine. These synthons are being used to prepare oligonucleotides with terminal imidazole groups on the automatic synthesiser